Grocery budget is supposed to be $100 a month per person?

nickssweetheart

Money is tight right now, so I've been managing my finances closely. I don't eat meat, eggs, or dairy, which helps significantly, and I'm in the Midwest, which helps too. I stocked up on proteins in early September when there were a LOT of vegetarian items on sale near me:

boca vegan patties: 4/2.99 (bought 2 for 8 meals worth)
boca crumbles (1 lb beef equivalent): 2.99 (bought 2 for 8 meals worth)
boca chicken patties 4/2.99 (bought 3 for 12 meals worth)
tofu: .99 per block (bought 8: all the store had for 24-32 meals worth)
lentils: .79 per lb (bought 4: 24 meals worth)

So about 35 dollars for the protein parts of 76-84 meals. Call it 76 meals and it works out to 47 cents a meal. I've added other bean-based proteins too, from Aldi: chickpeas at .65/can and ff refried beans at .85/can, which are good for between 1 and 3 meals. Since then I've just been filling in with whatever produce I can get on sale: I bought a bunch of red bell peppers when they were 3/1.00, whatever variety of apples/pears/oranges is on sale, cucumbers at 2/1.00. Cabbage is a staple and great this time of year. I always keep spinach and romaine hearts in the house but they're also really great value at Aldi. I eat 1/2 ounce of walnuts a day which I scored in bulk when they were 3.99/lb, and I make a special trip to WalMart for value sized jars of natural peanut butter, pickles, soy sauce, and frozen veg. I hit Sprouts every other week on a Wednesday when they have double sales, etc.

My grocery bill this week was 13.49. Last week it was 13.39. The week before the sales were great so I bought enough apples and pears to carry me through this week and spent around 35. So I think I could do $100 per month and eat pretty healthy. I'm on an 1800 calorie a day plan.

BUT (and this is a BIG but) I've been out of work, so I have time to get the absolute best price on everything and plan even while looking for work, plus I can prepare my lentil stews and lentil bolognese, and homebaked bread and pizza crusts, pizza sauce, etc, from scratch. My current favorite dinner is 1 cup whole wheat pasta, 2 cups sliced cabbage, tossed with a peanut sauce, green onions if I have them, and topped with some marinated soy/pineapple tofu out of my freezer:

pasta: 11 cents (1/8 of 88 cent package)
cabbage: 20 cents (1/6 of 1.20 head of cabbage)
peanut sauce: 22 cents (peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, crushed red pepper, and a lime: makes 2 meals worth for about 45 cents)
tofu: 25 cents (1/4 of a block)

Wow, that got WAY longer than I anticipated.

Cliffs Notes version: In my part of the country you can eat super healthy and super cheap, but not super fast.

ktilton70130

idk how but okay
I spend $100 a week for a family of 5 so $400 a month and this is simply getting the bare minimal. Protein, fruit, veggies. I try to shop for sale items and prep meals for the entire week. If i want to splurge for the kids as in buy snacks I would have to spend $125-$150 for that week.

Treece68

I shop very frugally and for two (me with celiac) we spend about $180 a month on grocery's and we both eat at home all the time ... again because of celiac.

MamaMc3

I have a family of 5, and we spend $150 - $200/week ($600 - $800/month). We live in the midwest, so our costs are a bit lower. We eat pretty well . . . chicken, pork, ground beef. We have steak or seafood sometimes, too. I do make eggs for dinner occasionally (we all like them), and may have sandwiches for dinner one time a week because of our crazy schedules. We do a lot of frozen veggies and a few canned or fresh. I meal plan, and I'm pretty careful to make sure we use whatever we buy. It works well for us!