Many people have asked how on earth we can survive off of spending just $50/week on groceries. I promise we aren’t starving ourselves and the kids get all the food they need…should they choose to eat it haha. It has been fairly easy for us to only spend $50/week even though we are a family of 5 including two adults, a 3 year old, and almost 2 year old, and a 4 month old who is nursing but will be starting food in the next few months.
November 2018 Update: Our baby is now 9 months old and eating solids but we are still able to keep the same budget since she normally eats what we eat. I don’t buy baby food, I never have since it’s so expensive! She just has whatever we are having that is soft. Bananas, avocado, organic yogurt, regular potatoes & sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, homemade applesauce, muffins…those are just some of the things she eats!
Here are some of the ways I save money while grocery shopping:
Shop the sales and store brands!
I know not everyone has an Aldi but they just built one in the past few years not far from us and I’m in love! I don’t care about name brands and Aldi sells mostly their own brand so it works great for us. They have all the basics at super affordable prices and a great organic and gluten-free selection. I love that they are moving more toward making their foods healthier by reducing the amount of artificial flavors and preservatives in them.
Once every couple of months or if I don’t have time to go to an Aldi, I will shop at HEB. HEB has always been my favorite Texas grocery store since they are also pretty affordable and have a great organic selection. Their HEB brand items are amazing as well and in some cases, I actually like their store brand better than name brand food. Before we had Aldi, I was still able to stay within my budget by shopping at HEB. It was just a little harder because they have so many delicious looking foods and great coupons on the shelves that entice you to buy things you don’t need.
I always look at the sales ads before I go shopping just to see what kind of deals the stores have that week. Then I try to figure out what meals I can make based on what is on sale. Sometimes, I just wing it and buy whatever the special is in store and figure out what to make with it later. Thank goodness for Google and Pinterest for helping me find new recipes!
Coupons have helped me save a lot of money in the past but I have found that now they are usually for junk food or other items that I don’t really need so I don’t tend to use them as often anymore. Many store brand items end up still being cheaper than the name brand items with coupons anyway so I just stick with those. Occasionally, when I see my husband’s favorite kind of cookies are on sale or there is a coupon for them, I will buy it but that’s always a treat.
Buy in bulk!
I tend to buy staples in bulk if they are cheaper, especially meats. The meat quality at Aldi isn’t the greatest some of the time so I do like to buy most of my meats at HEB or Sam’s. I’m slowly trying to increase the amount of grassfed and hormone free meats I buy since they can be pretty expensive.
But, for instance, I can buy a bigger pack of chicken breasts when they are on sale for less than $2/lb. Then, I will usually separate the big back of 6 chicken breasts into 3 freezer bags and freeze. This means that big pack of chicken (which is usually about $10) will last me for 3 meals! I do the same with ground beef. HEB and Aldi usually have a decent sale price if you buy it in bulk. I usually will buy the 5lb bulk package and separate it by pound into 5 freezer bags and freeze. Sometimes, I use more than just 1 lb for a meal so I just grab two bags but it has still saved us a lot of money!
Sam’s is one of my favorite places to stock up on certain items like meat, cheese, sugar, and things like that. The cheese is cheaper since you have to grate it yourself but I have always managed. I may or may not be looking into a grater attachment that connects to my Kitchenaid though haha. I will usually make a Sam’s trip once every couple of months. These bulk shopping trips sometimes make me go over my budget but they save us money in the long run and usually include things like toiletries as well.
Make enough dinner for two meals.
Many of the meals that I make will usually last us for two meals. I know not everyone likes leftovers, including my husband (honestly, I think he just doesn’t want to go through the effort of heating up leftovers haha), but our family has learned to like them. Last week, I made a huge pan of chicken parmesan using only 2 large chicken breasts. This meal ended up lasting us 3 meals! I know not every family can manage that but we are small people and don’t eat a whole ton so we make it work.
If you don’t like eating the same thing for a few days during the week, you can always freeze extra portions for future dinners. This is especially great for when you are in a rush or don’t have time to figure out what to make for dinner.
Just this past weekend, I made a chicken quesadillas mixture with tomatoes and onions but I only used about half of it so I froze the rest. Sometime next week or even next month, I can just take that out of the freezer and make some quick chicken quesadillas for dinner.
Cut grocery trips to just once a week or bi-weekly to cut down on waste.
I usually only go grocery shopping once every two weeks. Honestly, I make this work so I don’t have to drag the three kids out every week so maybe me being lazy has helped us save money. Ha!
By trying to shop just once every two weeks, I tend to buy less extras. I know how easy it is to go into the store for the one thing that I need to make dinner and then ending up buying a couple other things that I don’t need but that look amazing.
Grocery shopping only twice a month has really helped me cut down on waste! At the end of the 2 weeks, the food we have tends to get more sparse but I figure out dinners to make with what I have in the pantry. Sometimes, that means we are eating Chicken Broccoli and Rice made with frozen broccoli or taking advantage of other meals we already have in the freezer but it works for us.
Focus on simple meals with fewer ingredients.
This is one of the ways we are able to cut down on waste. I don’t make a whole lot of fancy meals with excessive ingredients. Our dinners usually have a protein and some sort of veggie or starch as I like to keep it pretty simple.
Some examples of some of my “staple” meals that I make all the time are: Meatloaf with Bacon Green Beans, Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Broccoli and Rice, Nina’s Little Red Hen (another chicken over rice recipe which includes tomato soup but is so delicious!), Enchiladas and Rice, Parmesan Chicken w/ Parmesan Broccoli & Honey Roasted Carrots, Roasted Pork Loin with Carrots and Potatoes, Spaghetti with Garlic Bread & Salad, Loaded Baked Potato Casserole, BBQ Chicken Pizza, Chicken Bacon Ranch Flatbread Pizza, Chicken Pot Pie, BBQ Sandwiches with Baked Sweet Potatoes, BBQ Ribs with Potatoes, Baked Pasta, Salmon with Couscous & Biscuits, Stuffed Shells with Garlic Bread.
As you can see, we eat a lot of chicken but I usually make sure we have some variety. For instance, chicken one meal, then the next meals is pork or beef so we aren’t having chicken for 5 days in a row. I also try to only make one Italian or Mexican style meal per week so we aren’t eating the same type of food every day.
Cook from scratch.
I know how easy it is to just grab a frozen meal from the store but I have slowly gotten further away from doing that not only because these meals can be so expensive and I start thinking about how much cheaper it would be if I made it at home, but also the extended list of ingredients in these meals don’t look very healthy at all most of the time. Sometimes, I will grab a pizza when it’s on sale and I want to have a super quick meal on hand but that rarely happens because the price scares me away, honestly.
I do cook most of our meals from scratch and don’t like to use anything with canned soup so I make my own version of that too. Occasionally, I do use canned tomato soup since I haven’t been able to replicate that recipe yet but it doesn’t happen very often.
Make More Meatless Meals.
I’m sure everyone knows that the meat part of the meal is one of the most expensive parts. One way to save money is by making vegetarian meals or meatless meals.
As Traditional Catholics who follow the older church rules, we do not eat meat on Friday’s year round. This has helped us save a little money since we have to get creative and figure out what to eat without meat. Once you do this for a few months or years, it gets easier since you have a set menu of meatless meals that are easy to make. Macaroni N Cheese, Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Shells or Ravioli, Fish Sandwiches, Pizza, Stuffed Tortellini…these are some of the basic, affordable meals we make on Fridays. It can get a bit boring having the same meals over and over again but it saves us some money and we have survived so far!
But What About Fresh Produce?
Obviously, shopping every two weeks means I don’t have a lot of fresh produce on hand during the second week. Do I wish we had a farmer’s market with fresh produce just down the road so I could get fresh fruits & veggies every week? Absolutely! But we don’t have that option right now so we do what we can.
Fruit-My kids do get fruit once every day, usually with breakfast. They will get things like strawberries and grapes or whatever is on sale the first week. The second week, they will usually get apples and oranges since they tend to last a lot longer, especially organic. If I ever have extra fruit that I know is going to go bad before we have time to eat it, I will freeze it for smoothies or recipes. For example, frozen blueberries & strawberries are great for muffins and frozen bananas are great for banana bread.
Vegetables-When I buy fresh veggies, I make sure to make meals the first week with those that go bad the fastest. Once again, if I know something is going to go bad before I have time to use it, I will freeze it for future recipes (smoothies aren’t an option here for us haha). I also tend to always have things like celery and carrots on hand for snacking and for recipes since those will usually last a few weeks in the fridge.
I know some people require fresh fruit and veggies every week so this won’t work for everyone but it works for us at the moment! I also try to buy organic produce when it comes to the items on the Dirty Dozen list since those are more of a priority to buy organic. Read more about the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen HERE.
Keep breakfast, lunch, and snacks simple.
Like I said before, I like to focus on simple meals. I guess you can say KISS, or Keep It Simple Stupid, works great for us here, haha!
Breakfasts tend to be easy to make meals including things like pancakes, waffles, bacon/egg/potato breakfast burritos, yogurt & granola, cereal, and muffins. A batch of blueberry muffins made from scratch will usually last us a few days and since it is made from scratch, it tends to be super cheap! I made THESE last week, added a simple streusel this time, and they were delicious and even lasted a few days!
We save money on breakfast too since my family does not drink a whole lot of milk. After finding out many years ago that pus, blood, and antibiotics (Ewww, gross!!!) are in the regular whole milk from the store, I have always avoided it as much as possible. The kids occasionally get almond or coconut milk, and I usually have organic milk on hand for recipes. One of these days, I’m hoping to have the budget to be able to get raw milk from the dairy down the road since it has so many health benefits!
Lunches are either leftovers, sandwiches & chips, or homemade lunchables aka ham rollups, cheese and crackers. I also pack my husband’s lunch just about every day so he doesn’t have to spend money eating out when he is at work. His lunch is usually a sandwich, veggies or fruit, granola bar, & dessert (he likes the junk food like swiss rolls & peanut butter wafers-I’m trying to convert him to more healthy things but if I don’t buy them, he will buy them for twice the price ha).
Snacks for the kids usually end up being things like chips, pretzels(a whole bag of pretzels was just 59 cents at Aldi last week), granola bars, fruit, veggies & ranch, or yogurt.
Drinks!
If you are like us, you probably get tired of drinking water every single day. I have gone through the drink aisle at the store a few times looking for something decent to drink but then the price always scares me away, not to mention the ingredients. So, I don’t really buy drinks unless they are for my husband’s lunch (he loves HEB’s peach tea). Instead, if we want something other than water, I will make a gallon of homemade sweet tea about once a week (hello, we live in Texas where sweet tea is a requirement). Then, we make it last by only having tea with dinner and drinking water the rest of the day. The kids always get theirs half water and half juice or tea. This helps make it last a lot longer, not to mention Aldi brand iced tea is super cheap and tastes the same, if not better than Lipton.
So there it is, that’s basically the short version (haha) of how I save money and feed my family on approximately $50/week. Hopefully, I will have the time soon to break down one of my shopping trips specifically with how much things cost and what the price per serving is for each meal I make.
Last Saturday, I went to Aldi and spent $101 but that included a $9 bottle of liquor for my husband’s Father’s Day Gift. So I was able to stay under my $100 every two weeks budget since the groceries I bought will last at least two, if not three or more weeks. It even included things like organic yogurt, organic oranges, organic grapes, organic milk, and hormone-free chicken.
Obviously, some of these tips won’t work for everyone. None of my kids require special diets so we are able to eat whatever we want without having to worry about always buying organic or gluten-free items. I would love to buy only organic foods but right now that is just not an option for us financially. Like I said above, I do try to stick to buying organic milk, organic produce when it comes to the Dirty Dozen list, and hormone-free meats when I am able to. I am fortunate to be able to get fresh eggs and fresh turkey meat from family members as well at different times of the year. This obviously helps me stay in budget but it’s not always available and I know everyone doesn’t have that option.
One of these days, I’m hoping to be able to buy steak for the second time in my whole life without worrying about cooking it wrong, messing it up, and wasting all that money. I’m looking forward to being able to buy whatever I want, whenever I want without worrying about what it costs, but for now we are doing just fine living frugally out of necessity. I have always loved challenges so maybe I actually enjoy trying to figure out meals to make from few ingredients more than I care to admit!
And if you are wondering if we are ever able to have something on hand as a treat food-wise, the answer is yes. We usually have at least one container of Blue Bell ice cream in the freezer, more if there is a sale. That’s basically a requirement here in Texas and for our family (my husband would eat it for dinner every day if he could), and I am normally able to find a way to work it into the budget.
I hope this helps someone! Happy shopping!
