A large portion of my frugal lifestyle is dedicated to what I eat. Since I’m trying to save aggressively and cut back on expenses, the grocery bill can definitely become an obstacle.
Luckily I’ve learned how to successfully maintain a $300 monthly grocery budget for my family of three and stick to it each month. I’m aware that this is somewhat low, but I’ve seen lower and I’ve seen higher with some people spending $700+ each month on groceries alone. A $300 monthly grocery budget currently works very well for my family of 3. By no means are we skimping on portions, cutting out meals or on the edge of starvation.
We’re eating good, eating healthy, and spending less.
I personally love food and no matter how much debt I’m in I could never compromise my love for good quality food. I didn’t try to break down exactly how much money goes toward specific categories of our grocery budget like breakfast foods, snacks, and produce for example, but in this post I’m my best hacks that I employ each month to ensure we stay within our grocery budget so that you can apply what works for you and cut your own grocery spending. Enjoy!
Related: How to Save Money in Almost Every Area of Your Life
How I’m Saving Money on Expensive Work Lunches (And How You Can Too)
Check Out Newspaper Ads
The first thing I do when I’m preparing for a shopping trip is to check the circulars and local ads that come in the mail each year. Yes, those pesky weekly ads from local grocery stores are sent to your house for a reason – so you can actually utilize them! It only takes a few minutes to browse through the weekly ads to see fruits, meats and other items that are on sale that might interest you.
It only takes a few minutes to browse through the weekly ads to see fruits, meats and other items that are on sale that might interest you. I don’t just look for sales for random products. I highlight sales on items I’m actually interested in buying.
For example, my family eats a lot of seafood so if I notice a particular store has a sale during the week of my shopping trip, I’ll make note of it and pick up the item we need there. Grocery store circulars are also great for produce sales especially if you shop organic.
If you don’t feel like saving all that paper and looking through the sales manually each week, you can use a mobile app to gather weekly sales for you just like your newspaper circular would.
Flipp is a great app that lists updated circulars digitally so you can scan through sales from your phone. This free app gathers local flyers and even help you plan out your grocery list. Fetch Rewards is an app that helps you stretch your dollar even further by helping you earn points and rewards for your regular shopping. It removes the need for coupon clipping or shopping around for the best offer which is amazing. You can learn more about it here.
If you’re looking to actually earn a little money from shopping and scoring weekly deals at your local grocery store, I’d highly recommend checking out Ibotta. Ibotta is an app that pays you through cash back rebates you can earn before you start shopping. You can look for deals on the app, then go to the store and pick up the item you need.
After your shopping trip, you can upload a photo of your receipt and you’ll be rewarded with cash back in less than 24 hours. You can earn a $10 welcome bonus when you first start using Ibotta within the first 7 days.
Plan Meals, Make a Grocery List
Meal planning is essential if you want to cut your grocery bill down. Not to mention, making a detailed grocery list of exactly what you plan to buy can prevent you from spending too much time in the store as well. I used to hate when I didn’t make shopping lists because I would always find myself wandering around the store for well over an hour picking up extra crap that I knew I didn’t need. Making a list keeps you organized and on track with your budget.
I absolutely love meal planning but it takes a certain level of creativity to be able to switch things up so you’re not eating the same thing over and over. I check out food blogs for inspiration and I’m always up to try something new. This allows my family and me to eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of variety.
If meal planning and prep isn’t your forte, I’d highly recommend simplifying this aspect of your life by signing up for the $5 Meal Plan. For just $5/month you’ll get healthy and affordable recipes and shopping lists delivered to your inbox weekly. The $5 Meal Plan also has gluten-free and picky-eater-friendly recipes, plus you can try it out for free for 2 weeks. You’ll love it!
Cook Your Meals
I know this sounds obvious, but you actually have to cook your food if you want to save money on groceries. Buying ingredients and cooking your food is not only healthier than buying frozen processed food at the store, but it’s cheaper too.
I love to cook and discover new recipes but you don’t have to be Betty Crocker to do it either. Cooking doesn’t have to be a chore if you don’t make it one. There are plenty of easy and quick recipes you can look up online and you can even alternate cooking nights with someone else in your household.
You can even rotate cooking responsibilities in your household or meal prep and cook ahead. This is something I’m trying to get into the habit of doing more. My husband usually has 1-2 off days during the week and he takes over cooking responsibilities and some nights I just cook a ton of food for two nights so we will have leftovers.
During the summer, my husband grills a lot and he cooks double portions so we can have leftovers the next day. I also have a hard time cooking on Fridays because it’s usually a busy day or a relax day. In order to avoid buying takeout, I stock up on a few frozen pizzas to throw in the oven and everyone is usually happy.
It’s not the healthiest solution, but a cheat day every now and then doesn’t hurt and it gives me a night off from cooking.
Limit Your Trips to the Store
When I make a shopping list I try to plan out meals and snacks to last us two weeks. This is one of the main reasons why I am able to keep my grocery bill so low. I really don’t like the crowded hustle and bustle of the grocery store anyway so shopping only twice a month is perfect for me. Limiting my trips to the store also limits the opportunities I have to overspend which helps me stay within the budget.
I really don’t like the crowded hustle and bustle of the grocery store anyway so shopping only twice a month is perfect for me. Limiting my trips to the store also limits the opportunities I have to overspend which helps me stay within the budget.
If you’re going to limit trips to the grocery store as well and shop less than once a week, you need to be mindful of the shelf life for certain types of foods.
For example, if your goal is to only go grocery shopping once every two weeks, you don’t want to buy a ton of produce and food that will go bad before the two weeks is up. You’ll wind up with a ton of food waste if you do that.
We usually throw all our meat into the freezer or seperate it beforehand if we know we’re not going to prepare it in the next 48 hours. We also freeze milk and bread sometimes. For produce, I happen to know how long certain foods will last off hand, but if you’re looking for a detailed guideline, this resource is great to tell you how long your fruits and vegetables will last so you can eat the more perishable ones first.
Buy Produce In Season
We love fruit in my house but let’s face it, there’s a season for everything. I love strawberries, cherries, and blueberries but in the winter they get super expensive, plus they don’t even taste good so there’s no need for me to spend extra money to buy over-ripe or under-ripe fruit.
Buying produce in-season is an easy way to save yourself a nice chunk of money each shopping trip. If I bought $7 bags of cherries in the winter, I probably wouldn’t be able to maintain my $300 monthly grocery budget.
Stockpile
Stockpiling is another crucial factor that helps me stay within my budget. I stock up on non-perishable goods, seasonings, condiments, flour, sugar, box cake mixes, pasta, dry beans, rice and anything else I know we will eat. Having a large stockpile allows me to be somewhat flexible with my meal planning and it also prevents me from having to run back to the store every week.
Since I have certain goods stocked up, I have the luxury of waiting until the next sale to stock up on that item again. You can also stock up on meat and other produce as well since you can freeze meat for several months. In the fall, I buy
In the fall, I buy fresh pumpkin and puree it then stick it in the freezer for yummy pumpkin snacks and meals throughout the year. To stockpile and freeze your food, you’ll just need more storage space like a large pantry and a deep freezer. Here is a great resource from FoodSafety.org that tells you how long you can store and freeze certain types of foods.
Buy In Bulk
If you know you eat a lot of something, buy it in bulk! I love my Sam’s Club membership (even though I don’t use it every single month) because I can stock up on some of our favorite foods for less.
Buying in bulk can save you lots of money even if you’re buying something other than food. My son loves fruit snacks and since we buy the organic kinds, it can get a little pricey.
However, we keep costs manageable by buying them in bulk because we get more for our dollar so everyone’s happy.
Coupon
I used to coupon and I’d like to get back into it. But since I haven’t done it much lately I can’t count couponing as a current factor that helps me cut my grocery bill down to $300/month.
However, couponing is an effective way to save money on items at the grocery store if you do it correctly. Currently, I’m on the lookout for coupons for natural, quality products as opposed to processed and frozen food.
Don’t Make Your Budget An Option
Another reason why I was able to stick to spending around $300/month on groceries for so long is because that used to be all the money we had set aside for food.
Back when my income was lower and I wasn’t as financially stable, going over the budget wasn’t really an option. Now, we maintain our grocery budget because we like to save money and because we can. It doesn’t negatively affect us in any was since we’re still eating well and eating healthy.
If you set a grocery budget/limit, and commit to it like you have no extra room in your monthly budget to overspend, you will be able to successfully cut your grocery bill down to a reasonable amount for you and your family.
Ready to get serious about budgeting and regain control of your finances? Check out the Love Your Budget course so you can finally stop worrying about money and live life on your own terms.
This is how we eat delicious, nutritional and well-balanced meals while sticking to our monthly budget. Would you try any of these methods? Are you comfortable with your current grocery budget and if not, what are you currently doing to cut your grocery bill?
My Favorite Resources
Rakuten – This is my favorite and easiest way to earn cash back for regular online shopping. Rakuten partners with most online retailers to help you apply coupons to your purchases AND cash back. They pay me a nice check every quarter with my earnings.
CapitalOne 360 – My favorite high-yield online savings account. Earn $25 when you open an account.
Survey Junkie – Earn money taking surveys online
Opinion Outpost – Another legit survey company I like. My husband uses this site to earn extra money we can spend on dining out
Get 7 Days of Meal Ideas!
No idea what to cook tonight? Receive my top 7 healthy budget-friendly meal ideas + 3 custom meal planning printable worksheets for free.
Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom says
We spend about $70 a week on groceries and consumables/beauty stuff. Our inlaws feed us a solid meal twice a week, which makes the budget a little too easy. We stil. find room to buy a lot of crap.
This month we’ve stopped eating at restaurants. I’m hoping that next month we’ll start adding healthier options to our meal plan. I’m also hoping that once I’ve ate through all the Christmas treats I won’t buy mroe!
I’ts awesomet hat you do a two week shop. We go weekly, but I love when we’re able to stretch that. A surprising amount of fresh stuff will last two weeks (or more). We don’t stockpile much anymore, and don’t coupon much either, but I do try to keep our pantry stocked, and I find that really works!
Chonce says
Sounds like you’re doing an awesome job keeping the grocery bill low. I agree meals from family definitely help. I used to eat at my mom’s house on weekends because I was always over there for work and that helped a ton. But I absolutely love having a stocked pantry. Without it, I get a bit nervous.
C@thesingledollar says
This is a great list, and I’m impressed! I spend $250 a month (give or take) just for me 🙂
Chonce says
That seems reasonable if it fits in with your overall monthly budget and I bet allowing yourself some wiggle room with the grocery bill helps to prevent excessive take out/trips to restaurants.
Christine says
Impressive! We spend about $400 a month for the two of us. I think it’s harder to stockpile as we don’t have a car so our trips are more frequent. I’ve thought about whether it would be cheaper for us to take a cab home from the grocery store…might be worth trying!
Chonce says
Having a car does make it easier to stock up at the grocery store but if I didn’t have one I’d probably be going more often too like once a week. A cab might work if the store is nearby but there’s also foldable carts used to carry more bags that are perfect for the local bus. I have one that I used a lot when we lived in a larger apartment with a ton of floors and I loved it!
Tonya@Budget and the Beach says
ah the grocery budget. This is one area that I’m pretty much giving up feeling guilty about because I spend aprox that amount for just me. There are lots of reasons and probably a million ways I can improve, but it’s just one sticky part of my life. It’s like to me, exercising is super easy and I can sit and think, “hey it’s so easy for me, why shouldn’t it be easy for someone else?” but it just isn’t always the case. 🙂 I.e, I’m forgiving myself and my food budget. I think that should be a post. 🙂
Chonce says
That sounds like a great idea for a post actually 🙂 You make a pretty good point though, I’m one who finds it super hard to stick to exercising regularly but I can budget my groceries and plan shopping trips in my sleep if I had to. When budgeting expenses like these it’s good to just find an honest and comfortable balance that works for you and since you don’t dine out much, having a higher grocery budget seems perfectly fine.
Sarah says
That is very impressive! The lowest I’ve ever been able to go (for my family of four) is $400. Since my daughter started on solids we’re up to about $550 a month for our family four. However, I do all of our shopping at once, so toilet paper, printer paper/ink, cleaning supplies, etc. is also included in that amount.
Chonce says
That’s not too bad Sarah. I only include actual food in my grocery budget but we probably spend about $40 or less on toiletries each month. I stock up at Dollar General on cleaning supplies, toothpaste, toilet paper etc. and this seems to work well.
Jessica says
We probably spend about that much for two adults, but I tend to eat a lot! I know I could do better though. My biggest problem is failing to have a plan. I tend to grab a lot of stuff because it’s on sale and I don’t always use it before it goes bad. I HATE food waste, so I’m really trying to be more mindful. Also, since I enjoy cooking I tend to throw random ingredients in my cart without having a plan for using them. I actually hope to go through my pantry/freezer/fridge and make a list of what I have on hand.
Chonce says
I agree I hate to waste food, especially produce because it is so essential in our diets. When I’m in the store I try to stick to my list but if have to question a purchase, I usually don’t get it and tell myself I can come back another day to purchase it. 90% of the time I never go back for it so I conclude that I never really needed the item at all 🙂
Erin @ Journey to Saving says
These are all great tips, especially the last one! Our grocery budget is around $300 for the two of us, though my fiance tends to eat a lot more than I do. Sticking to sales and looking at circulars are tried and true methods of keeping costs down.
Chonce says
The circulars that come in the mail are like hidden gems that people tend to overlook a lot. It’s like why would I buy chicken breasts at my usual grocery store when Jewel is having an amazing sale throughout the week?!
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
Love this! Any suggestions for food bloggers you like to follow for inspiration? I’m in serious need of meal planning inspiration myself. One of my goals for February is to buckle down and give meal planning and Sunday prep a shot….but I am definitely going to need some help!
I also love food too much to compromise quality and eating what I enjoy. This quote from Julia Child pretty much sums up my mentality on food: “people who love to eat are always the best people.” 🙂
Chonce says
Food prep/ meal planning helps me out so much and I highly recommend it. It’s really not that hard once you get used to it and I’m such a foodie 🙂 Here are my 2 absolute favorite food blogs. I’ve tried a few simple recipes from each and added my own twist and they turned out great each time. I also love to look through their recipe index when I am looking to try something new 🙂 Good luck on your meal planning!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/
http://www.thewaytohisheartblog.com/
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
Awesome, thanks! I’ll have to check these out to get some food ideas 🙂
DC @ Young Adult Money says
We plan our meals and make a grocery list. We also shop primarily at Target, where you can save a ton of money between the REDcard, Target coupons, manufacturer coupons, cart wheel, and more. We keep our grocery spend fairly low as well, and that’s even with eating pretty healthy (which unfortunately can be more expensive).
Chonce says
That’s impressive! Eating healthy on a budget is a bit tricky but it’s not impossible. I really need to start taking advantage of the instant savings and cash back programs at Target, it’s one of my favorite stores. And the text coupons really come in handy for me.
Jason @ TheButlerJournal.com says
That’s great that you only spend $300 per month on food. I’m only buying for myself and spend nearly $200. I cook my food most of the time, but I have to do better with coupons.
Joe says
We are going to start to incorporate some of these ideas. We tried to spend $600 a month for our family of 3 and can’t seem to even keep it that low. We are averaging around $700 to $800 per month and we struggle to get it any lower. I believe incorporating some of these ideas we should be able to spend less. We cook/eat in every meal except once a week we visit a chick fil a, chipotle or McDonald’s etc…just to get out. Groceries have been a difficult category for us to manage. Sometimes we feel pretty defeated.
Choncé says
It’s sounds like you have been making some progress. The key for us is planning. You can never over plan when it comes to your meals especially if you’re busy. Right now, I have so much going on and I literally have to jump whenever my realtor calls to look at a house because we are actively searching.
Planning out meals, prepping, and having some “emergency” frozen options keeps us on the right track.