I have so many recipes that I need to blog! Sigh…. I think it is the last leg of pregnancy backlog.. Hopefully, I’ll get to them soon, because they are good, and I don’t want to forget them!
I often tell people that I spend less than $500 on groceries per month, often less than $400, and most months, it is like $300 for groceries for my family of 6 (soon to be 7!). We have fresh fruits and veggies all the time, my fridge is packed full, and we eat meat. I do not even find it difficult to do it for so little. I buy our boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts in bulk every 6 or so months. I grind our own Chicken burger from those and it is plenty to get us by. The total for that usually comes out to around $15-$20 per month for our chicken. That is the majority of the meat we eat. I pick up boneless Pork Roasts at Costco – last time they were only $1.29lb! We stock up and fill up our freezer at that price! I occasionally pick up shrimp or a Pot Roast when on sale as well.
I honestly believe the key to eating healthy and cheaply, is to eat what is on sale and in season. I plan my meals around what is on sale that week! If Eggplant is on sale, we eat Eggplant Parmesan or Eggplant Burgers – at $.99 each, it feeds the family! If Pot Roast is on sale, we eat Pot Roast and then make the rest of the leftovers into other meals for the whole week. I only buy my kids the fruits that are on sale. They may love grapes, but I am not paying $4 lb for them! Stock up when items are on sale and buy in bulk, so you don’t have to buy when those items are not on sale! We also cook from scratch are rarely eat pre-packaged or convenience food.
I rarely spend more than $50 per week at the grocery store. I’ll spend about $100-150 at Costco per month, and then just the Chicken cost at about $15-20 a month…
My husband deals with some people who complain there is no way they can eat healthy and they complain they never have enough money for that (they also live on assistance). When I showed my husband what all I picked up today, we are always flabbergasted when people complain about that!
Here is EXACTLY what I purchased today at my favorite Fred Meyer – for LESS than $45 and it will feed our family for a week (at least!) – I did not clip any coupons either! I will not be back at the grocery store until at least next week (when we run out of bananas! ha!).
- Gain Laundry detergent ($2 e-coupon)
- Tide Laundry Detergent ($2 e-coupon)
- Bags of Lettuce
- 2lbs of Organic Mini-Carrots (great for lunch boxes!! I buy these every week)
- 3lbs of Bananas
- Greek Yogurt
- 3lbs of Broccoli
- 4lbs of Oranges
- 18 Kiwi – yes 18… My kids eat 6 in one sitting
- 4lbs of Apples (another lunch box staple here!)
- 3lbs of Cauliflower
- 4 boxes of Whole Wheat Pasta (in-ad coupon)
- 1.5lbs of LARGE Shrimp
- 4.5 lbs of Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts (they were a GREAT price, because I usually don’t buy at the store!)
- 3 Cans of corn (in-ad coupon)
- 2 cans of beans (in-ad coupon)
- Cans of tomatoes (in-ad coupon)
- 3 cans refried beans
- 2 jugs of apple juice
As you can see, a majority of what I spent money on was fruit/veggies and meat/seafood. I picked up cans of food and pasta since they were on sale and keep my pantry filled. Milk and bread were on sale last week, so I stocked up on those enough to get us by for 2 weeks, when it will go on sale again next week!
Seriously, if you are having issues with groceries and spending too much, just make your lists around the weekly ad, you will notice a difference quickly! The only coupons that I had to clip were from the weekly ad (which you can just get at the store!) Stock up when things are on sale – you may not need it this week, but you may next week and you’ll have to pay full price next week. Buy in bulk on other items that aren’t on sale as often (I do this with meat, eggs, flour, sugar, yeast, spices, goldfish crackers, etc.). You can spend wisely by shopping sales and eating in season!
