We’ve finally discovered a plan that works for us in saving on our food costs. It doesn’t involve lots of coupons, because that just makes me buy lots of stuff I don’t need. I have tons of cake mix in my pantry that I may never use because I had coupons. It doesn’t involve going to 3 different grocery stores to get the stuff that’s on sale. That’s a waste of my time and gas. It’s much easier and takes minimal time.
First of all, we purchase 2-3 boxes from www.angelfoodministries.com each month. This gives us lots of meat to put in the freezer and use throughout the month. Usually the main box, and generally either a chicken or seafood box. We really love their new seafood box because it gives us healthy options that we can’t otherwise afford. We also usually get the fruits & veggies box so this gives us produce at a lower price. We spend anywhere from $50-$75 depending on what’s available.
Then each Wednesday, my husband looks through the grocery sales papers to find deals on other meats. We never buy ground beef over $1.69 or chicken breast over $1.99, and we stock up on ground turkey when we find it for $1.99. There are always good deals to be found…pork loin, beef tenderloin, whole chickens, and other frequently used meats are usually on sale about once every month. We pick whichever store has the best meat deals that week and stock up on the things we use the most that are on sale.
On Friday or Saturday, we all sit down and make up a meal plan for the next week. My kids get to provide input so they have a few of their favorite meals during the week which makes them happy, and my husband and I also plan a few of our favorites to keep us happy. I generally know what meats we have in the freezer so we base everything on that. I write the main dishes down along with sides and then go through the kitchen to see what we need. From there I make my list (making sure to include breakfast, lunch, and snack items as needed) and we head to the grocery store.
The grocery store trip typically happens on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Everybody in the family goes…my oldest has the list and his job is to keep everything marked off. He helps us stick to the list by asking “Is that on the list?” every time something goes in the basket and my husband and I also try to hold each other accountable. This minimizes our impulse buys.
Right now we’re averaging about $90/week in groceries. Our goal is to drop this down to $75/week so we’re spending $300 a month on groceries. I am not sure this is really possible with a family of 5, but I’m trying my hardest!
And if you’re curious, here’s this week’s menu. We’ve got several things going on this week that make dinners a little more challenging than usual, so this is not necessarily what every week would look like. We’re also heavy on salad as a side dish this week because we got lettuce on sale.
Monday: Frozen pizza and salad.
Tuesday: Taco soup in the crockpot with cornbread.
Wednesday: Bacon wrapped tenderloin with grilled eggplant and corn on the cob.
Thursday: Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a salad.
Friday: Spaghetti with a packaged Caesar salad and frozen garlic bread.
Saturday: Grilled pork tenderloin marinated in mojo sauce with green beans, black beans, and rice.
Sunday: Hamburgers and french fries.
One of the things that used to mess us up when we made a meal plan was not having the meat thawed when we needed it. So now I take everything out the day we go to the grocery store and put it in the top shelf in the fridge where it thaws slowly. So far, this has not led to any problems of stuff thawing too quickly and going bad before we use it. Breakfast staples are cereal, eggs, and oatmeal or Nutri-grain type bars. For lunch, we buy sandwich stuff but also eat a lot of dinner leftovers. All of this has led to drastic reductions in our monthly food bill which really helps our budget in other areas. As long as we keep it up, we should be able to survive this situation a little bit longer. And even when it’s over and we’re back in a better place I plan to keep it up so we can use our money elsewhere…like saving for a new car or vacation!
