If you’ve been reading along, you know my tricks for spending just $175 a month on organic food and how I plan my meals. I kept track of all my grocery expenses for six weeks and calculated that I spend an average of $175 a month on groceries. What, exactly, do I get for that amount?
Here’s what I bought in one month:
$66.00 (Veggie delivery every other week at $33.00 each)
$ 3.94 (Fred Meyer: flour)
$ 9.97 (Fred Meyer: peppers, frozen spinach, tortillas)
$24.30 (Trader Joe’s: beans, olive oil, dried fruit, frozen beans, jam, shells and cheese, peanuts)
$17.59 (Fred Meyer: oil, spices, beans, popcorn, lime, lentils, cilantro)
$ 4.08 (Whole Foods: oats)
$13.40 (Fred Meyer: tea, yeast, eggs)
$6.66 (Fred Meyer: canola oil, onions, pretzels)
$10.10 (New Season’s: milk and eggs)
$155.96 TOTAL
(Note: Why did I buy oil three times in a month? Well, I ran out of canola oil and olive oil at the same time. When I went to buy canola oil, they were out, so I bought vegetable oil instead. The next time I went to the store, they had canola oil again, so I stocked up on it. Don’t worry–we don’t usually go through so much oil!)
During this month, I spent less than my average of $175. I tracked for two more weeks to arrive at that average. As you can see, I tend to go shopping frequently and spend just a little at a time. This is because I don’t have a car and walk to the stores. (I wrote about saving money by not buying in bulk here. Joy countered with her bulk-buying tips here.)
I know some people have strict food budgets. I don’t. It was interesting tracking my expenses for six weeks, but it wasn’t a habit I’d like to keep up. How do you budget for your grocery shopping? Any money-saving tips you care to pass along?
This post is a part of We are THAT Family’s Works for Me Wednesday blog carnival.
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May 19th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
My budget is $140 a week, although my emphasis is on natural, whole ingredients and avoiding chemicals (no food colors, no MSG, no BHA/BHT/TBHQ, no artificial sweeteners, etc.) We have 10 people in our family, including baby-to-come.
I blog my weekly grocery trips here
I wish I had a Trader Joe’s nearby! I use the Mexican markets as my greengrocer right now.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:54 am
While our food budget is $700 a month I do like to read ways to get quality food for the best price.
We like to shop at Fresh & Easy, Whole Foods and farmers’ markets. Since living in Vegas getting to farmers’ markets has been difficult. (they are few markets and Whole Foods in Vegas)
Thank you for sharing your tips!
May 20th, 2009 at 6:58 am
i have a line item in my budget for groceries because it’s obviously an area i’m going to spend money on every month but i don’t adhere to it very strictly. i give myself a generous amount so i can afford all the quality food i want and if i don’t spend that much it’s fine.
i save money on groceries by planning out all my meals based on what’s on sale and then buying exactly the right ingredients to fill in all the gaps. meal planning has significantly reduced my spending even though i’m buying much better quality foods now.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Trader Joe’s has great canola oil that’s expeller-pressed. (I wish we hadn’t moved away from TJ’s!)
We spend more than this in a month, but our grocery budget includes cleaning supplies, paper goods, toiletries, etc. so I’m not sure how it compares. I’m wondering, though: can you actually eat whole meals from what you listed above? It seems you would have to have bought a *LOT* of beans for that to be enough food. Or is there something else to your food budget that I’m missing?
May 20th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Rachel, my list includes cleaning supplies and paper goods as well; I just don’t buy many of those and didn’t happen to buy any in the six weeks I was tracking expenses. (I discussed this here.) I probably spend $50/year or so on all that stuff.
In my menu-planning post and breakfasts and snacks post, I showed exactly what we eat. We did indeed make breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks out of all of that, but they may not look like “full meals” to some, since we don’t eat meat.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:38 am
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