Dave Ramsey has entered my life recently, and as a result, I have been on a $200 a month food budget which translates to about $50 a week. I am also in the process of trying to lose weight. Combine these two goals of saving money and trying to be healthy, and it makes for a challenging food shopping list.
Creating the food shopping list has become a chore, but a necessary chore that saves me every day of the week. Here are some tips I use when prepping to shop and while shopping.
1. Look at the ads that come in the mail.
I first scan for coupons along the outer edge. If there is something I will actually use, I will clip the coupon. Next, I look for any specials that I may want to stock up on.
2. Create an electronic grocery shopping list on my Shop Rite app.
I don't even shop at Shop Rite, although they have cheaper prices, but I like the app because it gives me an estimate on what I am spending and it divides the items into categories so that when I shop at Stop & Shop, items are already grouped together and makes for quicker grocery shopping.
3. Stock up on high price items when they are on sale.
I have been buying this yogurt for weeks now, but it is over $2 for each one! I still buy it, because it is so tasty and good for me, but eeekk $2?! for a yogurt! I was overjoyed when I saw this yogurt go from $2.19 to $1.50 each. That's a savings of $.69 each! I bought 10. (Because I also couldn't stock up too much because of the expiration date).
4. Look for coupons in the store.
It's not always going to work out, but sometimes the coupons are there. I found these coupons for the same yogurt above for $.55 off each (not subject to doubling). To my delight, they DID double. I only found 4 of them, but that took off $2.20 of my $15 yogurt purchase. I got 10 of these yogurts, original price $21.90, for $12.80 (about $1.28 each). Still freaking expensive for yogurt, but I buy it because it serves me well.
4b. Stretch out the savings.
I make parfaits with the yogurts I love... but I figured, why does each parfait need a full cup of yogurt? So I took 3 cups of yogurt and spread it out over 4 jars to try to make this couponed purchase last even longer.
5. Cut out extras unless you have the money for it.
This was my full week's shopping... but as you can see, I bought things that I didn't need. For example, I didn't need seltzer water. But I had the money and it helps me look forward to my lunch. Also, you may notice I had no meat this week. I don't buy a lot of meat, because I don't like cooking it for one person. But if I do want meat, I have a lot in my freezer from when I stock up. If you are not someone who can go without meat, you could opt for no seltzer and pre-cut apples (about $6) and get meat instead. Or, below, you will see I was under budget by $10, so there was still wiggle room for meat.
Also, the vinegar doesn't need to be included in my grocery budget because I actually use it for household things (like laundry softener or cleaning product). I just included it because it's all on one receipt.
6. Look for spices outside of the spice aisle.
I was looking to re-stock onion powder, but in the spice aisle, it was easily $3.99+. I came across the Spanish food aisle and saw that the spices were way cheaper. This onion powder was $1.59 (or $1.89 - I forget), but substantially cheaper than the onion powder in the spice aisle. And they were similar sizes. I have found spices at Aldis for cheap as well.
6. Get what serves your lifestyle well.
What might be a waste for others may not be a waste for you. The snack packs below were on sale for $1 each. Yes, I could have bought all the ingredients separately and made my own for cheaper... but not cheaper than $3. $3 wouldn't have even bought me a bag of grapes. Buying all the ingredients would be cheaper for a family of multiple people, but I am one person, and it is actually cheaper this way for me and I will have far less waste.
Speaking of waste, I would have wasted a whole bag of apples, but not these pre-sliced red apples. Would it have been cheaper per pound to buy the bag of apples? Yes. Would I have ate them? No. I am one person working full time, trying to keep a clean home, and still have a social life. If it is within my budget, which it was, I would rather buy products I actually will eat rather than just buy a pile of lots of food that will go to waste.
My grand total this week was $40.09 - about $10 below budget. With the extra money, I can add it to a "Go Out to Eat Fund" or I can use it later in the month when I want to stock up on frequently bought items when they hit a good price.
Misc. Info:
Some meals/snacks I made with this purchase:
- Egg Salad
- Breakfast Parfaits
- Roasted Italian Vegetables (Used as a dinner and lunch)
- Omelette
- Apples and Peanut Butter
I usually always have stuff left over from the week before. That week, I had chicken noodle soup left over. Matter of fact, as I write this, I still have cauliflower left over and a lot of the eggs.
Leave a comment if you want to see more of my weekly grocery shopping on a budget of $50!
