How Do I Keep Our Grocery Bill Under $150 per Week -- On One Income

 

Hey Friends!

Today on the blog, I'm sharing my biggest tips on how I managed to keep our grocery bill under $100 - $150 / week for the last several years and still today. There was a time, right before covid, I was only spending $80 / week on groceries. Now, more recently, (due to economic changes and having a teenager), it consistently stays under $150 / week.

Disclaimer: The advice in this post is to motivate you to stay within or under your grocery budget, whatever that may be for your family. Every income, family and household is different. It's just about learning the skill and self-discipline to make it happen.

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I've been a Homemaker for almost 17 years, so we are a one income family. Eight of those years, I've homeschooled our daughter, which means all three meals were/are eaten at home. Plus, most of the time, Mr. Breaux Farms come home for lunch.

Living on one income isn't the easiest but has taught us to live within our means. Some weeks I'm able to keep our grocery bill under $100, depending on what we need in the house. Other weeks, it's under $150. It takes a lot of practice and self-discipline to get started but once you do, it becomes much easier to manage.

Grow Your Basics

Naturally, I'll be starting with this tip. When we first started gardening, one of the reasons was to learn how to budget our money. Budgeting starts with your grocery bill because, I mean, you have to eat. Food is a big cost in a household, especially for large families or families with teens. Growing your own food helps save on most pantry staples. Foods (and Herbs) such as green beans, field peas, cucumbers, corn, peppers, butter beans, tomatoes, basil, cilantro and parsley grow in bulk, which means you can harvest a large amount at a time. Those few vegetables can give you a whole meal. You can also learn to grow your own meat. We've done 100 meat chickens for 4H and it packed the freezer with enough meat for a year. It helped us tremendously at the height of covid.

Examples of Meals:

Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce topped with Basil and a side of Green Beans

Field Peas and Rice with a side of Corn

Preserve Your Harvest

Whether you freeze, can or freeze-dry, preserving is preserving. Most vegetables need to be preserved in some type of form soon after harvesting. The more you grow, the more you can preserve and the more food you'll have stored. Even if it's just a simple jar of green beans. It's a side dish you don't need to buy.

Meal Plan

Meal planning is a fool-proof way to stay on budget. Knowing exactly what you will be eating or cooking that week, plus making a grocery list with the necessary ingredients. When you have a menu in mind and a list in hand, there's no confusion or room to overspend.

Keep Your Meals Simple

When you're just starting out learning how to budget your grocery bill, cooking fancy meals with intricate ingredients isn't necessary. Now, that I've learned what we eat and how to stay on budget with ingredients. Sometimes I branch out to fancy, 5-star Italian meals from my favorite cookbook. However, this comes with time. Focus on learning this budgeting skill first.

Shop Local

Have you ever heard the saying, "No Farmers, No Food"? Well, it's a fact! If you love shopping local farmer's markets, not only are you getting better deals on better quality food, but you're supporting another small business with the same values.

Buy Off-Brand

We are no strangers to the Great Value brand. When you're trying to budget your money, you can't afford to be picky about buying off-brand. Buying off-brand isn't the end of the world. Honestly, from experience, some off-brand products taste better or no different at all. Not everything but some.

Examples of pantry staples of off-brand items you can buy to cut costs:

Flour

Eggs

Butter

Rice

Sugar

Pasta

Oils

This can also include toiletries.

Stock up on Pantry Staples during a Sale

Always check the sales at your local market. Flour, eggs (unless you have chickens), Sugar and Butter are some of the ingredients used to make almost anything. Of course, you should definitely take advantage of meat sales. Meat is a big cost when it comes to feeding your family.

Cook Bulk Meals

Over the years, I've learned to cook a lot of the same meals every week. Beans can take you a long way when it comes to feeding a group of people. They are cost effective, and you can have control on how much you buy or grow. There are many bulk meals you can make with beans:

Examples:

Red Beans and Rice

Three Bean Soup

White Beans and Rice

All of these meals can make a lot and last for a few days. Plus, they freeze well. This all connects to growing and preserving your own food.

Other Bulk Meal Examples:

Gumbo

Soups

 Stews

When you're able to cook in bulk, it cuts down costs on your grocery bill. Most of these meals take minimal ingredients.

Cook from Scratch

Making things from scratch such as breads, desserts and pastries helps save on pre-packaged food costs. Instead of relying on Walmart's brand of muffins and frozen options, make some from scratch. Those snacks are overpriced anyway. If you've followed any of the above advice, you should already have your basics needed for these in your pantry...flour, sugar, eggs and butter.

Eat Leftovers

If I'm being completely transparent here, we still struggle with this concept. However, it's important to train yourself to eat the same meal for 2-3 days. It cuts down on ingredient costs, so you don't have to cook as much and it cuts down on waste, of product and money.

BONUS TIP: Stop Eating Out

Eating out should be a treat, not a daily ritual. I know many people lead busy lives these days, but one way to combat the urge to buy fast food (and convenience) is to utilize your crockpots, air-fryers and pressure cookers. I absolutely love my crockpot, and it gets used a ton during harvest seasons and the holidays. This is a great tip for a family with two working parents.

Those are my top tips and examples on what I've done to keep our grocery bill low, even through the tough, economic years. I hope this helps anyone looking to live more frugally and save money feeding their families.