My family of 3 survived for a while on a $100 a week grocery budget. Here are all my tips for how I would spend $100 a week on groceries.
It is possible to eat well on a small budget! For years, before we had kids and I had more time to coupon, we were able to spend $30 a week on groceries. After our first son was born, I had less time to coupon, but was still able to feed the 3 of us on a budget of $100 a week.
Here is how I was able to do it:
Take inventory
Every Thursday I go through all the food we have and set up my post for Food Waste Friday. This has been the biggest way I’ve learned to save money on grocery shopping. Through inventory I am able to better know what we will need and not need for the next week of meals.
Check weekly ads
On Sunday afternoons I sneak away from my husband and son for a few minutes to check the Publix weekly ad and coupon match ups on the True Couponing website. I always check to see what their BOGOs for the week are because that is where I save the bulk of my money. I stopped clipping coupons and I only use printed coupons and store coupons from Publix.
Meal plan around weekly ads
While I’m checking the weekly ad I also try to get meal planning ideas. I learned long ago that I should plan my meals around what is on sale, not what I want to eat that week.
On Sunday evenings I meal plan. This is very informal. Sometimes I meal plan and write it on my calendar, other times I put the meal plan in a note on my phone. Other times I write it down at my desk. The point is, I get it done every single Sunday night so I’ll be ready for grocery shopping on Monday afternoon.
Follow the first in, first out rule
I try to live by the “first in, first out” rule for food. We always eat leftovers before cooking something new. This helps me buy only what we need at the store and nothing else.
Buy a minimal amount of processed food
I’ve found that the less processed food I buy, the less money I spend. Everyone always says that real food is expensive and I understand that argument to a certain point, but I can tell you from experience that a bag of carrots and hummus lasts me longer as a snack than a bag of chips. And the carrots and hummus are cheaper per serving. Chips, cookies and other processed foods aren’t cheap. I’d much rather spend my money on real food.
Stick to the list
There are obviously times that I mess up and buy something that wasn’t on the list, but for the most part, I stick to my list and put my blinders on for everything else. Once you get in the habit of sticking to the list you don’t care to look at other items anymore.
Always have a backup
My backup meals consist of frozen chicken, frozen tilapia and frozen vegetables. I make sure we never run out of those staples. You can cook a frozen chicken breast in 40 minutes and have dinner on the table in less than an hour when you combine it with frozen veggies. Having this backup meal ensures that we won’t run out of food options for the week and feel like we need to go to the store, or worse, buy takeout.
Always put the staples on your list
I buy non-dairy milk, eggs, bananas and apples every single week, even if we aren’t out. I rarely have to throw those out and would rather have too much than too little. Once again, making sure we have these staples keeps me from doing random grocery trips in the middle of the week.
2017 UPDATE: As a family of 5, we no longer only spend $100 a week. We now spend $150-200 a week. We recently increased our food budget to allow for fresher and more expensive food because cooking makes me happy.
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What are your favorite tips and tricks for staying on budget at the grocery store?
Thanks for talking about this! I’ve been trying to figure out where to start with couponing & keeping a budget when grocery shopping. :-)
Thanks Yolonda! This is what works for me with a toddler. I know I could save even more if I put more effort into it, but this works well for us right now.
Do you have an Aldi near you? I recommend shopping there..we completely stopped shopping at Publix because they have become so unbelievably expensive. Even with their Buy One Get One Free sales which cuts the price of the product by 50%, Aldi ist STILL cheaper without any sales. They keep their prices low by cutting out all the extras like no bags, no baggers, you have to return your own cart, etc.
I wish we had an Aldi near me! We had one in one of our towns, but that was years ago. Right now I’m stuck with Publix, Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Costco, Sams and Trader Joe’s. There is a Winn Dixie that is slightly further away that I may start using, but right now Publix is the closest and cheapest compared to Fresh Market and Whole Foods. I live in a retirement town so things seem to be a bit “ritzy” for the old folks with money. I’ve been told before that I’m the only person who uses coupons at our Publix!
Hannah, speaking of Winn-Dixie, check this post out: http://www.couponersunited.com/free-horizon-organic-cookies-or-crackers-at-winn-dixie/
I agree! I love my Aldis! They have come a long way. Aldi’s offers fresh produce and now you are able to purchase by the pound, gluten free options, and lots of organic options.
I love all the organic options too!
I second Aldi but I think you told me recently that you didn’t have an Aldi near you.
Yay for being able to use the $5/$30 Fresh Market coupons at Publix! I stopped shopping at Publix as much pretty much as soon as the $5/$30 Winn Dixie coupons that I had expired (the new Enjoy the City books don’t have them).
I also used to draw up my menus based on what on on sale. However, I now draw up my menus based on what I already have on hand. I use recipes that I see in (free) magazines or the many many recipes that I already have and substitute ingredients for what I already have. I stock up for chicken, etc when I can get it on 50% off or better clearance and freeze the meat. This has allowed me to feed us for $50 or less for the past 2 months (after coupons and rebates, of course) and I feed 2 adults and 2 teens.
Ways to reduce your bill even more: ditch the paper towels and use cleaning cloths. I recently took an old bath towel and cut it in squares but I also have cleaning cloths that I had bought a long time ago. I stopped buying paper towels last year (granted, I had just bought a 12-roll pack of Bounty towels but in that one year we used maybe 4 rolls, tops, and it’s been the teens and my husband who have been using them). Even changing the cleaning cloth once a day (or using 2 a day) won’t add much to your laundry load.
Based on your picture, I would also advise to buy the bacon when it’s on sale and you have coupons (which I think you did at Publix this week) and freeze it.
The green peppers can be bought when they’re at a super low price, cut up and frozen. That way you only take what you need from the freezer when it comes time to cook. That works great if you were planning on using the peppers in stir-fries or stews or in the crockpot. Don’t defrost them first, just throw them in your pan/pot while frozen. I do the same with onions, celery, green beans… I also get milk (we do use dairy milk) when it’s on clearance and freeze it. Ditto with bread or I bake my own.
For the berries, join the Driscoll’s Customer Panel. When you first start taking the surveys (using the code at the bottom of the berries package), you will earn a $0.50/1 printable coupon for each survey (you can print each coupon twice). After 5 surveys, you move up to Silver level and you receive $0.75/1 coupons. After 16 surveys, you move up to Gold level and you receive $1.00/1 coupons for the rest of the year. Publix doesn’t always carry Driscoll’s (at least mine doesn’t) but SuperTarget does if you have one near you and Target’s prices on berries are usually better than Publix (and check if there’s a Cartwheel offer too). http://www.driscollspanel.com
You and I are on the same page with paper towels! The only reason I splurge on Viva is because it takes us months to get through a package. I feel like I can afford the nicer paper towels because we use cloth napkins for meals and towels for cleaning. I really only have paper towels for guests, cleaning disgusting stuff, and blowing my nose. The Viva is soft enough to double as a Kleenex and big enough to use a lot when I am sick. I hope that doesn’t sound too gross!
I didn’t know that about the Driscoll Panel! I’ve done the surveys before and didn’t realize you could move up to $1! That is huge! Thanks so much for that tip.
I should have also mentioned: every Monday morning, Michele from IHeartPublix (www.iheartpublix.com) posts the upcoming weekly ad for Publix with the coupon match-ups. The prices might be slightly different at your Publix, but the sales are the same. Also on Wednesdays she posts unadvertised sales (her Publix starts the new ad on Wednesdays so she goes to the store and notes all the sales not advertised in the flyer. The post is usually entitled “The Happy Report”). This means that on Mondays you already know what will be on sale at Publix the following Monday (since you shop on Mondays). It’s a great way of knowing in advance what you should buy at TJ that afternoon vs. what might be on sale at Publix the following week… with a little (more) planning, you should be able to save even more, I think :)
Thanks! I have looked at IHeartPublix before and can’t remember why I went with TrueCouponing. I’ll have to check it out again. You’re right about it all depending on location. I used to LOVE Southern Savers, but her coupons weren’t always accurate with our location so I had to stop.
There were years that I did multiple stores in one week and enjoyed it. Right now with a toddler it is so much easier to focus on one store a week. Hopefully I’ll get back into several stores. When I did that, we only spent $40 a week! But that was before having a kid and meals were easier to plan. Thanks for your suggestions!
Great ideas! It’s funny, I was just talking to my husband a yesterday ago about how I think inventorying our freezers (main one and chest freezer down in the basement) would help us save on groceries. It’s a three step plan right now – (1) inventory what we have right now; (2) save on shopping because we’re going to get creative and use up everything we have on hand; (3) go to a butcher shop in this nearby town. They only sell in bulk but you can save big time. For example, chicken leg quarters are only $0.59 per pound when you buy 10 pounds whereas the cheapest I’ve ever seen them at our grocery store is $0.99 and most of the time it’s about $1.29. Anyway, all the meats are really awesome prices and we could package well and restock the freezer (taking a new inventory) so one trip will last us a few months then I just have to concentrate on veggies, dairy, etc and household supplies when I shop. Whew, sorry for the long comment, but that’s where your ‘inventory tip’ led me, lol :) I also really like the idea of having a meal plan but having a backup (or even two) on hand because sometimes I get to meal time and realize I really don’t want what I’ve planned, and sometimes its because of the work involved and I’d rather just do something simple. Anyway, great post! $91 is an amazing price especially considering that you got toilet paper and paper towels!
I’m oddly proud of the toilet paper and paper towel purchases too!
I would love to have a larger freezer so I could buy meat at those prices. I can’t wait to hear how that trip goes, keep me updated!
This is a great tutorial, and I seriously need to get to this point before baby number two arrives. When Jack was a baby I got crazy into couponing and I saved a ton of money. Now, I find it hard to find the time! Also it helped that I could print coupons at work (I can’t at my current job). I am thinking that I definitely have to get back into that!
Great tips! I think it’s the boring stuff that saves the most money for us: meal planning, making a list, checking sales, and shopping at a discount grocery store. (that and our in-laws feed us really yummy meals a couple times a week)