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How I am going to try to cut my grocery budget in HALF for the month of October. Come and join me!
Ok, confession time here! I spend way too much on groceries every week! So, for the month of October I am putting myself on a spending freeze!
Now, it is not a COMPLETE spending freeze, but I am going to endeavor to cut my grocery bill in half (actually, a little over half).
Now, I can already hear you say, "What? There is NO WAY I could do that!" And you know what, maybe I won't be able to, either! But I am going to try!
Another confession, I rarely make out a menu and grocery list when I go to shop. That is mistake #1! You (and I) should ALWAYS have a plan! Failing to plan is planning to fail - isn't that what they say? So, for the month of October, I will be menu planning and making out grocery lists.
I will be trying to use things that I already have in my freezer and pantry. Don't most of us have MANY things in our pantries that we have not used? Not everything in my pantry is Trim Healthy Mama Friendly, but I can feed some of those things to other members of my family.
So, what exactly will this look like? I’m not sure yet! But I am going to try to be open and vulnerable with you, my readers, as we try this out together! As an added challenge, I do not have an Aldi in Montana (sniff, sniff)! I will be doing most of my grocery shopping at Costco and Walmart.
My grocery budget before was roughly $125 per week for a family of 5. (Plus 8 dorm boys, which I feed a couple times per week.) My husband and I decided to try to cut our weekly budget down to $50 per week for groceries. (The money I spend on food for our dorm boys will be separate.)
Also, my husband is an avid hunter, so we have plenty of venison sausage and venison burger in our freezer already. We also have sausage from a pig we butchered earlier in the year. So most likely, I will not be purchasing a lot of meat this month.
Again, I have no idea what this will look like, but I think it will be a fun challenge! I will be documenting my progress through a series of emails.
I would like to include our menus, my grocery shopping lists, and my receipts and totals for the week!
If you would like to be a part of this challenge, enter your email below and join me!
I think this will be a fun time of learning for all of us! (And who know, maybe some new recipes will pop up along the way!)
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Kayla P
This sounds like a fun challenge! Last week my family decided to not go shopping and eat out of the pantry for the week. We had all sorts of interesting things, like barley soup, vegetarian quinoa chili, tuna casserole and egg bake with pancakes! The best part was that we saved about $250 by not shopping! My husband and I think we should try doing that more often, as we waste so much by not using the odds and ends of things before they go bad. Looking forward to see what you have in store for the challenge! ?
Sarah Hardy
Yes, thats awesome! I have rotten produce in my fridge right now. 🙁
Tara
Yes!! I cringe when I haven't used all my veggies and they go bad. It's a little less guilt free when it's produce from my garden, but still! I'm up for the challenge and am curious what the balance in my grocery budget will be by the end.
Jasmine
What a great challenge! I don't necessarily have a lot of meat in the freezer, but I do have plenty of food in the house. I totally ought to do this with you!
Sarah Hardy
Yay! Welcome!
Jasmine
So curious, I also have a family of five, two teenagers, and one preteen. My kids can eat a lot! How old are your kids? My husband is totally a meat and potatoes man, so those things are a must for him. ? We also have company on Sundays many weeks. Sometimes once, sometimes twice. That also adds up.
Sarah Hardy
Yes, that does add up. I have a 10 year old son, and 8 and 2 year old daughters. I think it is important to FOCUS on eating what you already have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer. The "half" of your budget can be for fresh produce, milk, etc. I'm certainly not saying everyone has to keep to $50 a week - thats just what I'm going to try to do! 🙂
Daylene Strickland
Awesome! I’ll make you a deal ... I’ll get the items you want at Aldi’s and ship to you and you can pay me with some meat! Never had venison or opportunity for anything hunted and prepared. That is a real money saver! (You know I’d do this, but kidding as it probably isn’t practical!). I love your recipes, follow your blog and you on a Pinterest... have a board with just your recipes! Thank you for all you do and share!
Sarah Hardy
That would be a great trade! My husband has always hunted and it is a BIG help! 🙂
Barbara
I'm in! Or honestly, at least I'll try..... I have some meat in the freezer, but much more in the pantry that needs to be used. I feed a family of 4. My husband and college student son take leftovers many days for lunch, my college student daughter is home for lunch most days so for us girls it should be fairly easy to throw something together. One thing we did start doing was making a big bowl of salad veggies and putting that with leafy greens. Hubs and son love those prepackaged salad kits...at $3-4 each x 4-5 per week 🙁 way too much $ going out on those. So now bulk nuts and seeds, etc go with for crunchy stuff on top and a quick dressing. Here's hoping I can save some more toward a vacation 🙂
Melissa Grieshaber
I've found menu planning really helps us out. I usually come up with dinners for the week on Sunday afternoon and then shop for whatever things I don't have already. My kids like it because they can see what the plan is for each day (and mentally prepare themselves if its not one of their favorites), it keeps me better organized and avoids the whole its 4pm, what in the world are we having for dinner question. 😉
I won't be joining you on your challenge though. I had to restock on almond flour, MCT oil and some other pantry essentials, my local grocery store had Lily's bars on sale and I'm an addict for buying marked down meat so I don't have to pay full price.
Tara
I've actually thought about doing a 30 day no buying term to use what I store in freezer and pantry, but I still haven't done it yet. I can, freeze, make "emergency meals" for when I'm super busy or ill and am unable to prep food, and buy essentials in back up so I don't run out. I'm in for the try!
Mariann
I learned to shop less and use what I have as base for choice meal of the day. I always use raw veggie bases and plan dinners for those first. yesterday I had zuccini starting to go bad. I took my veggie bullet and spiraled and froze it all for later. My big cabbage went into ground chicken meal and the rest cabbage steaks. I now plan dinners from what I have in fridge, not from what I feel like, makes sense?
Sarah Hardy
Yes, that makes perfect sense!!
Lorie
I'm in!! I spend waaaaaaay to much on groceries.
Btw just made your pumpkin chocolate chip muffins ????oh mylanta are they wonderful. Thanks so much
Dorcas
When you say groceries, are you talking just food items, or also household items, like paper towels, etc.? I get confused, because sometimes when ppl say "groceries", they're talking about food AND household items. Groceries to me means food items.
Sarah Hardy
For this challenge, I'm only referring to food. I am keeping my household items separate.
Ronna Berezin
love ur recipies!
Nancy
I’m a late comer...can’t wait to see how this turns out as I’ve been on this road for a little over a month now...trying to use up what we already have. It’s only the two of us most of the time so it doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal ~ for me it’s learning to un~shop, un ~ store things like I once did with the whole family and then some here!! This is such a great new way for me to learn as we are looking to be full time RV’ers next year...and that will most definitely have limited storage space!! I’ll be on board with you all in November!
I don’t know why/when I stopped making shopping list/menu(maybe when I stopped working outside of my home)...but it’s a habit I need again!
Thanks for all you do!