As I’ve surveyed friends and readers about their grocery budgets (those who actually have them), I’ve found that the numbers are all over the board. Family size doesn’t seem to be the determining factor in how much a family spends.
Do you ever wonder what people actually spend their grocery budget on?
I’ve been making all of our personal finances public here for four and a half years. I’ve shared our low grocery numbers for years, but this year I’m committed to showing you what we actually buy. All of it! Even when I’m embarrassed (nothing too bad yet, but I’m sure it’s coming).
Why we do a big monthly grocery haul
Initially we did monthly grocery shopping out of necessity. While we were paying off six figures of law school debt, we lived in my in-laws’ basement which was 40 minutes away from the nearest grocery store and an hour away from the stores we like to shop at (Sam’s Club and Winco).
Our favorite stores are closer now, but they’re still not super close, so I usually only get down there once a month, which is why I continue doing monthly grocery hauls. We have a Grocery Outlet that’s close, so I go there a couple times a month to grab deals and get any milk, bread, or produce that we need.
Our February monthly Winco grocery haul is pretty different from January’s grocery haul and March’s will probably be different too!
I like to keep a well-stocked pantry and freezer, so the things I buy are often just replacing the things I’m out of. The groceries that I buy in a month don’t necessarily correlate with our meals that month.
For example, I almost never let our family run all the way out of peanut butter, a major staple for us. You’ll see that I bought four 40 oz jars in Febraury, because we were running “low” for us. In all reality, we won’t open any of that peanut butter until March.
It’s like the month ahead budget grocery style!
Okay, enough chatter. Let me show you what I bought!
In the video I go more into detail about why we bought certain things (the cookies, rice sides, and tuna, for example, are not normal purchases for us). You can see the prices for what we bought below the video.
What we bought (and what it cost)
Winco = $139
- Farina hot cereal- bulk (like Cream of Wheat) (10.28 lb) $12.75
- Parmesan cheese-bulk (1.37 lb) $5.15
- Tapioca pearls- bulk (2.5 lb) $4.41
- Baking cocoa- bulk (1 lb) $2.59
- Red hots- bulk (.6 lb) $.88
- Jelly hearts- bulk (.5 lb) $.71
- Brownie mix $.98 x 4 = $3.92
- String cheese (24 ct) $5.26
- Frozen broccoli (32 oz) $1.78 x 2 = $3.56
- Salt ( ) $.54 x 2 = $1.08
- Roma tomatoes (4.2 lb) $4.16
- Clementines (5 lb) $6.98
- Onions (5 lb) $1.98
- Strawberry jam (46 oz) $3.86 x 3 = $11.58
- Peanut Butter ( oz) $3.88 x 4 = $15.52
- Corn tortillas (32 oz) $2.18
- Tortillas (35 oz) $2.79 x 2 = $5.58
- Pretzel sticks (20 oz) $1.98 x 2 = $3.96
- Animal crackers (2 lb) $2.98
- Winco cookies $.98 x 4 = $3.92
- Winco oreo-type cookies $1.48 x 3 = $4.44
- Wheat bread $1.58 x 16 = $25.28
- Graham crackers $1.67 x 3 = $5.01
- Tuna ( ) $.68 x 4 = $2.72
- Rice sides ( ) $.68 x 4 = $2.72
Sam’s Club = $82
- 2% milk $2.45 x 2 = $4.90
- 1% milk $2.30 x 2 = $4.60
- skim milk $1.90 x 3 = $5.70
- Sour cream (3 lb) $4.69 x 2 = $9.38
- Cottage cheese (3 lb) $3.98
- Butter (4 lb) $10.89
- Block cheese (2 lb) $5.03
- Shredded cheese (5 lb) $10.98
- Spinach (16 oz) $3.79 x 2 = $7.58
- Romaine (3 hearts) $1.98 x 2 = $3.96
- Bananas (3 lb) $1.38 x 7 = $9.66
- Mandarins (5 lb) $5.98
So what meals are we going to eat this month?
Here’s what our meals look like in February. Spoiler: It looks a lot like what we ate in January!
Breakfast
It’s been a while since I’ve found a stock-up deal on cereal (like the kind where I buy 80 boxes), so we’re sticking to hot breakfasts for now. My husband has been making breakfast lately, as I’m catching up on sleep from being up with the baby at night.
We usually have any combination of the following:
- Waffles
- Eggs (scrambled or fried) and toast
- Pancakes
- French Toast
- Oatmeal
- Cream of Wheat
- Fruit
Lunch
We are probably the most faithful PBJ family you’ve ever met. Seriously. Even hubby usually gets PBJs for lunch (I put 3-4 sandwiches in his lunch each day, but when he works at home he gets warmed-up leftovers). Depending on what we have on hand, everyone also gets fruit, a granola bar, crackers or another snack, and maybe a string cheese or yogurt . I get most of our lunch snacks at Grocery Outlet for amazing prices.
The lunch staple list includes:
- Bread (or ingredients for bread if I’m feeling ambitious)
- Peanut Butter and Jam
- Apple slices/ Bananas / Mandarin oranges
- Carrot sticks / Celery sticks
- Granola Bars
- Craisins
- Crackers/ Cookies
- Yogurt/ Applesauce
Dinner
Though some days this exhausted mom of five would like to just skip dinner (Didn’t we just have dinner last night?), we do eat every day. This list isn’t 31 meals long because I’ll make some of these more than once. Plus, we eat leftovers. Hooray for leftovers! I intentionally make more than we’ll eat in one meal so that we will have leftovers!
- Lasagna
- Mock Lasagna
- Spaghetti with homemade meat sauce
- Creamy Tacos (I make the cream of chicken soup from scratch now)
- Bean Burritos and Beef Soft Tacos
- Potato Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Hawaiian Haystacks
- Homemade Pizza
- Baked Potato Bar (still have lots of potatoes from last month)
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Baked Chicken Pesto Alfredo
- Taco Soup
Sides (for Dinner)
- Frozen Veggies (peas, broccoli)
- Spinach Salad
- Romaine Salad
- Soft French Bread
At the end of the month I will show you what we end up getting in our mid-month grocery hauls, so you get the complete picture of our grocery adventures.
How about you?
- I would love to hear how your grocery shopping is different or similar!
We are TERRIBLE with our grocery budget. I agree with you that family size doesn’t always correlate to budget size. There’s only 2 of us and we struggled for a long time keeping it under $400 per month. In April we are dedicated to only spending $200. We are approaching it on a weekly basis spending roughly $50 each time.
I like the monthly “grocery haul” approach though. We will definitely be implementing that soon! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for posting/linking the dinner recipes, I’m definitely going to try some of these out. I always find it interesting to peek into other peoples lives and see what they eat. What’s always interesting to me is that there are always similar trends from day to day. For example, standard lunches! Even though we aren’t a PB&J family we are a burrito family and so that is what we have for lunch most days, black bean burritos or beans and rice with cut in peppers (jalapeño and bell peppers).
I used to shop once a month, then go for fresh items during the month, but with just the two of us here now, and working now in an area close to many grocery stores, I shop every week. We eat much more fresh food than we used to eat, and almost zero processed food, by which I mean foods with preservatives, additives, chemicals, etc. We get most of our meat and dairy directly from organic farms, and 99% of our food from the store is organic, so our food bill is high for two people. We make clean food a priority, though, so we don’t have cable, almost never eat out, make our own detergent and shampoo, don’t have expensive plans (we share phone and Netflix plans with others) drive inexpensive, paid for vehicles, and wear mostly used clothing.
My husband and I both have chronic diseases, and eating a high bean/pasta/rice/bread/processed diet would make us both quite ill, especially with his Type I (juvenile) diabetes. Clean food, good fats, and nutrient dense choices are what we need, so we spend about $400 a month on just food for the two of us. I work hard not to waste any, and we definitely eat the leftovers. I’m not criticizing others’ choices, but for us, this is how it HAS to be.
Yep – take away the health issues and this perfectly encapsulates my battle! I keep going back and forth between, We should spend less on groceries, and We should spend more on groceries and eat healthy foods. At the moment we have the worst of both worlds, we spend too much AND we eat too many processed foods! I think I need to pick a side of the fence and stay there.
Well, I vote you stay on the healthy side :)! I understand your dilemma, though.
Yes – I am leaning towards eating healthy; I just have to be more firm with my kids! In Australia, there are stricter food quality laws than in the US – no meat has added hormones; milk is thoroughly tested for hormones and medication (my in-laws were dairy farmers; if one of their cows was on penicillin they had to keep the milk separate because even one cow on medication in a large herd would be detected and would mean their milk was thrown out); there are stricter controls on what pesticides and herbicides can be used on fruits and veggies. So really, I just have to stop buying the processed stuff. It shouldn’t be too hard; but I take the easy route, particularly where my kids’ lunches are concerned. It’s easy to stick in a few crackers or some chips. I’m lucky, though, in that my kids really love hummus and pita bread – so there’s a good alternative to crackers or chips. And if I was more conscientious with making up a big batch of cookies or muffins, that’d set them up for a more nutritious option to store-bought cookies. (Yes, I know, cookies and muffins aren’t healthy. Hey, give me points for trying here!)
Wow! I used to a monthly grocery haul and LOVED it! We have a smaller freezer now, but this post inspires me to at least go back to shopping for two weeks at a time. I absolutely hate grocery shopping, so I would love to be in the stores even less.
Stephanie,
Love to read your encouraging blog. I have one question. Why do you buy 3 types of milk? I always bought whole milk and saved money this way. My husband grew up next to a farm and he COMPLAINED loudly when I did not have whole milk. My kids always preferred it. While they were growing up I would buy a gallon of whole milk and split the gallon into 2 gallons of 2.5% milk. I poured half of the gallon of milk into another gallon jug that was half full of cold water. Then filled the other half gallon of milk with cold water as well. Since whole milk is approximately 5% the thickness (not certain if that is the correct description) was almost the same and they enjoyed it. In this manner I got 2 gallons of milk for the price of 1. My husband also loves half and half in his coffee. I found a cost effective solution for this. I mix 1 can of evaporated whole milk (12oz) , 12oz of whole milk and 6oz of water. The thickness and taste are identical.
I also am a mother of 5 who are all in college or have graduated. I understand the energy vs need to feed the family argument. Over the years our food budget was as low as $150 to the high of $350. On average it was $225 -250 . I was blessed with one daughter and four sons. For so many years I had friends and acquaintances ask “what do you feed all those boys?” All of my boys and my husband are 6′ to 6’4″ and very athletic. Our daughter is 5’2″ and so she was never the bottomless pit the men in the house were/(are). Over the years to economize I joined a vegetable co-op that was available for the fall and winter, shopped at every food outlet store I became aware, we had soup at least once a week and I always made enough for the rest meals/snacks for the rest of the week, and always bought in bulk when the cost was to good to be believed (example 50#butter for $20 or 50# popcorn kernels for $5).) We raise vegetables in the summer and have fruit trees and berry bushes on our property. We added chickens for eggs (4h project that lasted ) 15 years ago. We have 3 freezers and 2 refrigerators (we bought high efficiency units and the cost for running them for a year is less than a months groceries for our family ). I have been blessed that there have been literally hundreds of kids who have eaten at our house and I would say that the grocery budget was never our concern. Simple food always kept them happy!!!
I also taught my kids to cook and bake for themselves as soon as I felt they were ready. This meant that if they wanted a hot snack/meal they could cook eggs, macaroni and cheese, hot cereal etc. If they needed to bring baked goods for school, sports, church or other activities I would supervise but they had to be a big part of it. It made them realize that it takes a lot more than just volunteering to bring something. Today they all can cook and regularly will offer to make dinner.
I love that your husband is on the hunt for bargains! 🙂 The kitchen remodel is a great excuse to eat what you’ve already stocked!
We spend more than $220 total for the month, too. This is just our big shop for the month. Our monthly total will be closer to $400.
We spend way more than that. Typically I think, “It’s food, we’ll eat it eventually,” but now that I’m faced with the prospect of packing it all up for the kitchen remodel I’m thinking, “Grrrr, why do I buy so much food?”
I usually do a shop a week, but then DH will stop off at the grocery store 3 or 4 times a week too. It’s usually not because I’ve forgotten anything, it’s usually because he’s looking for bargains/markdowns. Since I am trying to eat down the pantries/freezers at the moment, last week I spent less than I typically do on groceries, and next week I will spend very little on groceries, but we will still spend way more than $220 for the month.
Food shopping on a monthly budget of only $220 is dedication. You have to be in a disciplined mindset to avoid certain food and portion size everything.
For the whole month our total will be closer to $400. This was just our big monthly shopping trip. 🙂 We had a $200 per month grocery budget when hubby was in law school, we only had two little ones, and we lived in the midwest (not California)!
Wow. Out of struggle comes progress and success. Congrats on getting through your challenges!