Long time – no post! Sorry guys, things got crazy over the holidays between work and having family here – the blog took a huge backseat. But I’m back and trying to get back on my posting game. I just got back from the grocery store & wanted to share with you guys my meal plan for the week & give you an idea of what our grocery budget looks like these days.
How Much We Spend on Groceries
I don’t know about you but I want to cry every time I go to the grocery store because the prices are just….horrendous. I posted a grocery haul two years ago (and I commented on how high prices were) but little did we all know – groceries have probably doubled. I try my best to keep my budget in check but I do include some “luxuries” like soda and snacks. I allow my kids to pick out a couple of things (hot pockets, Oreos, Nutella and Takis are usually on the list) and the rest I use to plan around our meals. So this week I spent around $200 and that is for breakfast, lunches and dinners. To stay within our grocery budget I shop sales, and use whatever we have in the pantry and freezer to make my budget stretch. For the month we usually spend anywhere from $800-$1000 a month for our family of four.
This week I went to Food Lion – but in two trips. My first trip was $66.89 (basically it included milk, sodas, taco cheese, and things to make burrito bowls – tomatoes, jalapeños, pinto beans, sour cream, cilantro, peppers, a red onion, avocado, and Tostitos). My second trip was essentially everything else I needed for the week (deli lunch meat, bread, ingredients for dinners and some meat) – and that came to $139.80. In total I spent $206.69 ($15.99 of which was fresh flowers). If you subtract the flowers, I spent $190.70 on actual food for the week, which isn’t bad for a family of 4. I filmed a quick tik tok on my last grocery haul so if you are interested to see what I got – you can check it out here.
The Plan For The Week
We ate out quite a bit last week so this week, unless the universe has different plans, we are sticking to the meal plan. My husband and I both work full-time so I have planned quite a few crockpot meals. His hours are crazy due to a training and at least one night a week I work late. Weekends we plan for more of elaborate or time intensive meals because we are both home.
So without further ado, here is our dinner plan for this week.
Meal plan for January 21st-January 27th
Sunday: Chicken Piccata with White Rice and Asparagus
Monday: Crockpot Chicken Taco Soup
Tuesday: Crockpot Pot Roast and Mashed Potatoes
Wednesday: Pork Chops with Rice & Beans
Thursday: Chicken Teriyaki over Rice
Friday: Crockpot Beef and Noodles
Saturday: Spaghetti & Meatballs with Garlic Bread & Salad
Like I had mentioned earlier, we have most of the meat I’ll be using this week in the freezer, so I did not buy a lot of meat this trip (just 1 package of chicken breasts, 1lb of ground beef, and Italian sausages). For lunches, we can have salads, turkey or chicken sandwiches, hot pockets, or PB&J. For breakfast we still have cereal, pop tarts and pancake mix in the pantry, and I just bought a bunch of fruit. We also have eggs in the fridge.
Ways to Save on Groceries
I highly recommend using the Fetch rewards app to help you earn money back from buying things at the grocery store. You can also redeem your receipts from restaurants, big box stores like Walmart or Target, sporting goods stores, clothing stores, pet stores – you name it. All you have to do is scan your receipts and they give you rewards points from those receipts.
You have 14 days from the date on the receipt to scan and earn points. You can scan up to 28 receipts in a 7 day period. Every time you scan a receipt you will receive points. Points can be redeemed for gift cards which you can use in your favorite stores like Target, Amazon or Starbucks. I usually let my points accumulate throughout the year and then redeem them for gift cards to make purchases for Christmas gifts.
Right now Fetch is offering 1,000 points by joining through my referral link. Click here to get your first 1,000 points from Fetch!
I hope you guys enjoyed a look into my weekly grocery trip and budget. For more recipes and meal planning ideas, check out my Pinterest page. I hope this helps some of you see what I buy and how I make our budget stretch through the week – sometimes two weeks. Let me know in the comments below how you budget for your groceries!
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Keep in mind that I may receive commission or rewards when you click the links and make purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Oh wow! I think you’re doing great! Do you send your kids prepared lunch to school? That’s my struggle – I wanted them to get better meal but I’m running out of ideas on recipes that won’t hurt our budget.
Sometimes – they either eat the school lunch or will pack a sandwich. They are of the ages that they make their own stuff to bring to school and are still usually hungry when they come home so I make sure I have a lot of snacks like fruit, ramen, hot pockets and such that they can quickly grab and make. To keep things budget friendly I usually grab things on sale or have coupons to keep the prices reasonable. About once a month I make a trip to BJs (which is like Sam’s/Costco) and I will buy some snacks in bulk. I just limit my trips there to 1x a month or sometimes every other month because of how expensive it can be.
Great tips! I’m such a big fan of couponing and grocery store apps, it truly does save so much money! Your recipes for the week look delicious as well.
Great tips for saving some extra $$$ at the grocery store, especially with food prices the way they are! Also, Chicken Picatta sounds heavenly. I’m going to have to get that on the menu soon!
Love it when I see numbers with actionable plans. The menu looks amazing!
This is interesting, love to have a good plan for meal and grocery to help with saving money and more.
I never keep track how much I spend on groceries. I focus on earning more money. But I liked your advises. Will try some day!
These budgeting tips were so helpful. The dinners you made sound so delicious too!