"How in the world do you spend just $35/week on groceries?"
I read your blog every now and then and just read the post about Frugal Shopping. How in the world do you spend just $35/week? Does that include toiletries and household stuff? Thanks so much, RachelFor those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you probably know just about everything I have to say on this subject. However, since it's been awhile since I've tackled the topic much, I'll give a quick run-down of some of the things which have helped us to eat well on $35/week consistently for the last four years. And yes, the $35 includes toiletries, laundry soap, cleaners, diapers, medicine, etc. It covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all three of us for a week, other than the one meal a week we eat out. I can actually do it for less than $35, but that allotment gives us enough room to be able to purchase more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, some organic food, and farm-fresh hormone-free milk and eggs.
1. Plan a menu around what you have on hand and the store sales and stick to it. The most important step in lowering your grocery budget is having a plan and keeping it. Second of all, don't just plan a menu, go through your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer and use those as the basis for your menu. Start with what you have and creatively use that before you buy anything extra. Thirdly, check your store fliers (you can usually do this online) and see what is on a good sale and plan your menu around that, as well.
2. Shop at more than one store. Unless you live somewhere where you only have one store to shop at, don't do all your shopping in one location. I try to hit two-three stores each week buying just the best deals from each. I almost always hit Kroger - as I have found them to consistently have the best loss-leaders and I love their double-coupon policy. Plus, they often have Catalina deals (where when you buy 2 or 4 of a certain item, you get $x off your next shopping order). I usually always go to CVS, as well (more on that in a minute), and then, if I have a few staple ingredients I need to get or the deals are rather weak or my cupboard is rather bare, I'll hit Aldi. It varies from week-to-week depending upon what the sales are.
3. When something is on a good sale (for me, that means combining the sale with coupons it is free, close to free, or something we use often and the price is considerably cheaper than the Aldi price), stock up.
To give you an example of how this works, this past week, combining coupons with store sales, I got the Cottonelle for Kids toilet paper for $0.50 per 4-pack. This is half the Aldi price, and the rolls are twice the size. Obviously, since toilet paper is something we use around here on a regular basis, I stocked up and bought eight 4-packs. The deal will still be good this next week and each package has a coupon inside, so I'll probably get at least eight more on my next shopping trip. I'm guessing this will last us for the next 6-8 months, at least - probably longer. Instead of buying the cheap Aldi toilet paper when we were almost out and spending $1 each time, I bought higher quality toilet paper with twice as much on the roll, for half the price. So, in essense, I got it for 75% off the Aldi price. This is it works. By stocking up ahead of time, you stretch your gorcery dollars much farther.
4. If you have a CVS nearby, become a regular customer. By regularly shopping the ECB deals there and using their store coupons, $4 off $20 or similar coupons which often print, and stacking these with manufacturer's coupons, I rarely ever pay for toiletries or household items. This is how we paid for all disposable diapers we bought - using the overage earned from the ECB deals. For more help on CVS deals and getting started with CVS shopping, check out this board. I also have a fairly extensive primer in my Secrets to Supermarket Savings ebook.
5. Use a calculator and pay with cash. I bring $35 a week in cash to the store with me and no extra. No checkbook, no debit card, nothing else. This is one of the most helpful ways I guarantee that I stay within budget. As I add items off my list to to my cart, I add them to my running total on my calculator. By adding it up as I shop, I'm able to know exactly how much I've spent so far and whether or not I have extra to buy some items which are reduced for quick sale.
Those are some very practical ways to save while shopping. Some other things we do:
-Cut back on meat. We rarely have meat by itself as the main dish (steak, roast, fried chicken, etc.)
-Drink water (We use a Brita pitcher to filter our water - I got this free with ECBs from CVS.) We do not drink milk or soda (pop, coke, or whatever you call it where you live). We drink fresh juice made in our juicer a few mornings a week and iced tea or herbal tea on occasion.
-Find out when your local stores reduce their meat and produce and shop at those times. This is how I buy the majority of our meat and vegetables. The prices are usually reduced at least 50% - sometimes even more like 75-90%!
-Cook from scratch. Eliminating processed foods and boxed mixes from your diet is not only more healthful for you, it will also save you a lot of money. Make your own baked oatmeal or granola instead of buying boxed cereal. Keep homemade cookies and muffins made up and in the freezer for snacks instead of storebought cookies or chips. Bake your own bread. Make cakes, pancakes, and so on from scratch.
-Grow your own veggies and herbs in the Summer. Or, shop at your local Farmer's Market. Be careful that you know your prices going in, though, as I've found some of the prices at certain booths to be much more than I would pay at the grocery store. Scout out the whole place before you decide what to buy and make sure you are getting a good price. Sometimes there is a huge variance of price between booths.
-Don't be brand-dependent. If you really want to cut your grocery budget, you have to learn to branch out and try new things.
-Keep it simple. Stick to recipes with fewer, inexpensive ingredients.
-Most of all, enjoy the journey! I have so much fun saving money on groceries and seeing God bless and multiply our little budget to feed, not only our family, but to have extras to give away!
There is so much more I could say on this, but that's just a quick overview on some things which have helped us. For much more detailed information and help, I highly recommend you check out my ebook, Secrets to Supermarket Savings.
posted by Crystal Paine at 1:34 PM
23 Comments:
I really enjoy your thoughts on frugality, Crystal. That's one of the (many) areas of my life that I need to work on. I live in Southern California, where the average house costs $500,000 and the rent for a one bedroom apartment is at least $1,000. Needless to say, I need to save up every bit of money I can! Thanks again for your encouragement.
Hi Crystal,
I hope this doesn't sound nit-picky (I don't mean for it to be!), but I just read that you don't drink milk. How do you make sure that you and Kathrynne get all of the calcium you need...do you just eat a lot of cheese, etc.? I'm just curious!
Johanna
Johanna: People always ask that! :) I grew up in a family of nine and we never drank milk and we're all plenty healthy. It's kind of a controversial subject, but from what I've studied, you actually get a lot better calcium - the calcium which your body absorbs better - from vegetables. We do use milk in cooking and every once in awhile we have it on cereal (if we eat cereal). We also eat quite a bit of cheese. I personally do not think milk is all that great for humans to drink - after all, it was designed for baby cows - but that's just my own personal opinion. I do know that we save a lot of money by not drinking milk and we are also very healthy.
Oh, ok. That is interesting. I've never done any research on getting more calcim from vegetables. Thank you for filling me in! :) I can certainly understand the frugal side of not buying milk; it's incredibly expensive. A gallon here is almost $4. And we're one of the cheaper areas!
Johanna
Here is some interesting information on calcium: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/calcium.html.
I was going to ask the same question you addressed today. I'm glad to hear your input. It would be great to cut our grocery budget, right now we spend around $150/week! Yikes!
I do pretty much the same as you, but I have been going through alot more quanity of food as the family gets older and larger. We have 4 boys. my husband has to have milk, the boys drink some milk, but not alot, I will drink milk on a rare occasion and it has to be skim. I got out of the habit of it when we didn't have a fridge and the only milk we got was given to us by a neighbor and I didn't like the taste of it.
I think though you have to make sure you get enough calcium as i did this for a couple of years, and after I had had my second child (i was eating very healthy food when I ate, but not much meat at all) my foot broke. My bones were not doing so good and one doctor told me he only sees this in vegetarians and people who do not drink milk. I am sure there are vegetarians and others who compensate very well and do not have this issue, but it made me realize how much pregnancy takes calcium from your body.
Oh, and I failed to mention that we also eat quite a bit of yogurt - the kind without all the artificial colorings and chemicals, mind you. :) Kathrynne loves yogurt. And I really want to start making kefir soon...
Thank you so much for this information Crystal. I have always considered myself to be someone who finds ways to save money and live on our budget. However, reading your post on grocery shopping for $35.00s, I have a LONG way to go! Growing up I was never taught how to save by coupons, etc. In fact, I wasn’t really taught that saving while shopping was important at all because of my father’s income. I guess at 28 years old I’m not too old to learn. Besides, my husband is always greatly blessed when I save money at the grocery store – it gives us more options elsewhere. Thank you again for your frugal example!
I'd miss milk a TON...I was very active growing up: soccer, swim, rugby, ballet, so I needed every bit of anything I could get. But my parents only bought milk for me...my dad hates it, mom won't drink it, and my brother prefers soda (eew. I'd rather mud. It probably has more minerals.). But you definitely can get tons of calcium from leafy greens, yogurt, cheese, and other dairy products. I was a vegetarian for a while, and that's how I got mine (plus, a multivitamin. EVERYONE should take one.)
This article was wonderful...It reminded me of how lax we had gotten with our shopping and budget; now that I'm unemployed (was laid off today....*sigh*), we'll be back to the old budget! I kind of missed it anyway...
Crystal, one more question from the girl who still doesn't "get it" ;)
If I were to somehow figure out couponing, do you think it it possible for me to do better than Aldis by couponing at Giant Eagle? GE's prices are *sooooo* inflated I just can't see it.
We drink about 5 gallons, a week, of milk and we eat meat every night so, that explains why I could never match your grocery budget.
I will say that if you are savvy when shopping at CVS you can save big time. A local guy was on our local news and he saves $2000 a yr by couponing at CVS. He gets all of his toiletries there.
CappuccinoLife: Does Giant Eagle have loss leader sales? Do you routinely check their ads? You might consider going there at least a few times a month and stocking up if they have sales which beat Aldi prices. However, if you shop at Aldi and don't buy a lot of their processed foods, you can actually eat quite well for very inexpensively. I just prefer to utilize a few more stores which are very close by to save even more money and give us more variety.
I always try to absorb all the frugal advice you give. :)
Being stationed in Germany all we have is the commissary. I go major grocery shopping twice a month and save anywhere between $15-$20 each time in coupons. The people at the registers know mw very well...LOL. But commissary prices are going up a little.
Once in a while I will shop on the German economy but I rarely take euro out because the exchange rate is terrible. Say I have $50, well, I would only get about €35 or less for that. It's not worth it sometimes. But like I said, when we do have some euro on us, we hit Aldi, Wal-Mart and LIDL to check out their deals. German chocolate is dirt cheap at Aldi, but their meat is a little high.
Soda is one thing my DH and I drink waaaaaaay too much. It's addicting!!!! And I know we need to remove that from our grocery cart very time we are at the store cuz it's just not healthy. Every time we finish a 12 pk. we always say "no more"...well that lasts maybe for a day..LOL.
We have to use bottled water here for cooking and drinking but it's fairly cheap so I don't have a problem with that.
Ahhh...looking forward to getting back to the States next year...or maybe this year if the Lord sees it fit. :)
Bless you Crystal and all BW readers! <><
Dawn
Hi Crystal! I just posted my bi-monthly items which I purchased over the weekend. I spent around $70 (which is for 2 weeks) so I spend around $35 a week too. My website also has my dinner menu plans for this week. I find that planning the menu is the key to not overspending. I am very grateful to have an Aldi nearby to shop at!I make our meals from scratch as much as possible, even shopping at Aldi. Blessings!
Crystal... I have a few questions. Is your Kroger a Dillon's store or an actual Kroger. Also what is a loss leader add and an ECB from CVS. I am knew at all this coupon stuff:)
Thanks!
On my blog I just posted a different way to save money on food, by checking discount and dented can bins along with guidelines for safety! If you do not have access to many coupons like myself, this may interest you! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/martha
Just a comment about Giant Eagle, our Giant Eagle rarely ever has good sales even with the double coupons, same goes for Shop and Save. I usually go to Martin's(or Giant Foods depending where you live).
I found some discussion on weekly Giant Eagle deals here:
http://forums.families.com/giant-eagle,f566
Thanks Crystal. I will just have to keep studying this until I do get it.
I haven't been doing as well as I'd like with Aldis, either. :(
Thanks for sharing your tips Crystal! As a frugal spender and budgeter extroidinaire, I was inpressed by your $35 a week spending!
Not eating meat is a huge help, as is not eating meat analogs (fake meat). We also buy most of our fresh produce from a local organic farm in which we have a "share". We pay them in the beginning of the planting season, and then pick up our share once a week. Supporting the local farmers and eating organically, are more important to me than saving a bit of money by getting produce at Aldi (where I have to drive 40 minutes to reach), but we do shop there for most of our 'other' goods once a month.
We also belong to a health food coop so buying my whole wheat flour, brown rice, millet, dried beans, unbleached beet suger, etc. in #25 bulk bags is another way we save.
Good for you for not drinking milk! As you are probably aware, it is detrimental to your health and can only do harm. We use soymilk when called for and our two foster children have really begun thriving since they've stopped drinking cow milk. No more skin problems, colds, ear infections, etc. I haven't had a glass of cow's milk since I was about 6. I've never broken a bone, and I was very active as a teen (I'm 30 now).
Can't wait to read more of your frugal tips! So glad I found your blog throught Tammy's recipes.
Dana,
You bring up a good point - I am a person with dairy allergies and have had them my whole life, only I didn't always know that. As a child I had many ear infections, with one ear being scarred now. That plus many antibiotics - as an adult I have chronic health issues. I am sure dairy was detrimental to my health. I feel the same as Crystal & yourself, that cow milk is for baby cows.
I'd like to encourage any mother that is having a child with these issues to search this out for their own child.
By the way, it seems this post is getting posted on a lot of different forums and people are coming up with all kinds of crazy notions - like the fact that I spend hours couponing each week. Not true in the least. Many weeks, I spend a total of 30 minutes planning and around 1 1/2 hours shopping at 2-3 different stores (I usually only shop one day a week). If there are a whole lot of good deals where I will save a hundred dollars or so more than usual, I might spend an extra hour planning (that's like getting paid $100/hour!), but usually I just do it in bits and pieces here and there throughout the week and make sure to sit down and write out a list and menu 1-2 days before I go to the store. To save thousands of dollars a year, it is very worth it for me. It takes a little time to get the hang of it, but it is every bit worth it if you are looking to save money.
Also, if you are new here, be sure to check out this follow-up post:
http://tinyurl.com/2pjweo
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