As part of our journey to becoming debt free, one of the things our family has implemented is a fairly strict grocery budget (among other budgets). Unlike utilities and mortgage, the grocery budget is something that I feel we have much more control of. We are in charge of the meals we cook, the ingredients we pick, the stores we choose to shop at, and whether or not to use coupons, store discounts or take advantage of the promotions that are being offered.In our household (for a family of 6), the grocery budget is set for $150 per week. To maximize our budget and still choose mostly healthy options, I take advantage of store offers for the week and shop at a variety of stores, all of which are in my daily commute (because if you have to drive 10 miles to get to a store and pick up just an item or 2, the savings may not be worth it).
Every Friday (or most of) I will be posting my receipts and sharing with you all how I managed to stay within my budget.
I plan out my weekly menu and the kids lunch menu. Using that as a guide, I make my grocery list using the iPhone app “list ease”. Although there are several apps for grocery list, I prefer using “list ease”, because once you make the purchase, it allows you to move the items into a “pantry” section and store them for future use. Once I have made my grocery list, I scroll through the pantry section to make sure there aren’t any items that I may have forgotten. Recurring grocery items such as milk, eggs, and bread are usually stored in the “pantry” section. After making my initial grocery list, I move these items from the “pantry” section in to the “grocery” section. These are the items I HAVE to buy that week. In addition to these items, I keep a lookout for deals on items I can stock up on for future use.
Also, we have a mostly organic policy. This means that I try to purchase ALL milk and produce from the organic section of the market. In addition to that, there are times when organic options are just as affordable as non organic. In those in instances, I prefer to purchase the organic items.
∇ = items purchased on sale, promotion or coupon
This week I went to Trader Joe’s, Sedanos, Publix and two the Halal Stores:
Total spent: $148.46
Here’s what I bought:
MEATS-
Boneless chicken cubes (Halal Store)
Ground Beef (Halal Store)
DAIRY-
Milk (3) (Trader Joe’s)
Cheddar Cheese (3) (Publix) ∇
Montery Jack Cheese (Publix) ∇
Eggs (Publix)
PRODUCE-
Cilantro (2) (Sedanos)
Cucumbers (2) (Trader Joe’s)
Grapes (Publix)
Onions (Sedanos)
Serrano Pepper (Target)
Tomatoes (Sedano’s)
BREAD/BAKING-
Bread (Publix)
Burger Buns (Publix) ∇
Croutons (Sedano’s) ∇
Homestyle Paratha (Halal Store)
Hot Dog Buns (Publix) ∇
Malaysian Paratha (Halal Store)
Naan (Halal Store)
CANNED/ DRY GOODS–
Chana Daal- Lentils (Halal Store)
Cumin (Halal Store)
Frosted Flakes Cereal (2) (Publix) ∇
Masoor Daal – Lentils (Halal Store)
Canned Crushed Tomato (Sedano’s) ∇
Canned Tomato Sauce (3) (Sedano’s) ∇
DRINKS–
Danedar Tapal Tea (Halal Store)
HOUSEHOLD–
Promotions, Coupons and Deals:
Its been a hectic week, so I wasn’t too concerned with deals this week. However, I did manage to get a few. As usual, I get my milk from Trader Joe’s, since it’s the cheapest in my area. This week though, Publix was also running a sale on milk. It was $0.50 less, but I didn’t see it till after I had already bought them. Other deals at Publix that I was able to take advantage of was the BOGO (buy one get one free) on Frosted Flakes, and the hot dog/ burger buns. Publix also ran a 2 for $5 deal on cheese so I stocked up on it (cheese blocks can be shredded and frozen to use later). Croutons and canned tomatoes were on sale at Sedano’s but I had needed it and happen to be having to pick it up from there so I probably would’ve picked it up even if it wasn’t on sale, but I was happy that it was.
Here, I will post the individual Receipts:
