It’s the beginning of 2023 and I thought we’d kick off the year with an 8-week Cut Your Grocery Bill Challenge. I’ll be sharing a weekly post here every Thursday with a task or challenge for you to complete/focus on to help you tweak, improve, or overhaul your grocery budget.
My hope is that we can all work together to crowd-source new ideas and fresh inspiration to be more thoughtful and intentional in our grocery budgets + hopefully save some money and instill some practices and principles and habits that will continue to save us money throughout the rest of the year.
Week #1: Set Up a Budget
Yep, you knew it was coming. You can’t really cut your grocery bill if you don’t know what your budget is in the first place!
What’s a realistic budget for your family? Well, first you need to decide what your budget will include. Will it include only groceries or will it include all food your family eats (if you eat out some). Will it include diapers, pet food, hygiene products, household supplies, formula, etc.? Pre-decide these things to help you better set up a number that feels realistic for you but also challenges you to be creative.
Other things to consider: Do you have food allergies? Do you eat all organic? Do you live where there aren’t many sales? These things will also likely mean you’ll have a higher budget than some people — and that is totally okay!
You want the number to motivate you not defeat you! So aim a little higher than might feel impressive. And remember that you can tweak it as we go along, but you need to start somewhere!
If you have no idea where to start and have never had a budget before, I’d say to go with $50-$60 per person per week to start out with. And then set a goal to shave that down a bit as we go along!
What We Bought at Kroger This Week
Speaking of your grocery budget, here’s what we bought at Kroger today…
Classico Pasta Sauce is on sale for $1.49/jar when you clip the digital coupon. You can get up to 5. I’ve got lots of cheese in the freezer, so I’m thinking we’ll have spaghetti and ziti sometime in the next week or two.
The Pop-Tart Bites + Nutri-Grain bites are just $0.99/box this week when you clip the digital coupon! You can get up to 5.
I got lots of great markdowns this week — including 3 bags of avocados for $0.99/bag!
All totaled, we spent $99.51 for all these groceries — right until our $100 weekly budget!
Week #1 Project: Decide Your Budget & Share it Here
Are you in for the Cut Your Grocery Bill Challenge? If so, I’d love for you to leave a comment and let me know that you’re in and tell us what budget you decided upon and what it will include (diapers, pet food, hygiene products, household supplies, formula, etc.)
Remember, there is no perfect budget number. The best number is one that serves your family well and also challenges and inspires you to get creative and intentional.
I definitely am glad I found this. Trying so hard.
We have allergies and celiac and hypothyroidism as well as a few other things going on so definitely special diets. And it’s expensive. Family of five, all adults, oldest helps out a ton by buying groceries but I hate how much she and I end up totalling up at Walmart. We do have a WinCo but it’s not close by but might be a good idea to check it out.
Looking down the pipeline finances are going to get a little skinny for a bit so I’m hoping to stay at $100 per week for food, pets not included, and $100 for toiletries/disposables for the month. Family of 8, husband, wife, six children ages 12 and under.
I guess we will be having lots of breakfast sausage and hotdog “sausage” meals unless my hubby blows the whistle (which is always a nice measure) and calls for a little beef. We have a few meals in the freezer. Nothing too fancy.
$65 dollars a week for just food for one person. With the rising cost of everything, I will see how this goes and adjust accordingly. I have already cut out nonessentials like cookies, caloric snacks, and pop.
I’m in! I’ve couponed, done refunds and shopped clearance all of my life but I need to reign in my grocery expenses and be more focused on what I spend. Looking forward to this.
Normally my weekly budget is closer to $150 for my family of seven but this month I am doing a pantry challenge and aiming for $100 per week.
That’s amazing! I would love to get down to this for my family of 5!
Fist bump! Hope it goes great. We are a family of 8! 🙂
I wanted to share if any of you have a WinCo Foods near you, run don’t walk! I got chicken breasts at the tiny price of 4.98 and it’s a 5 pound bag. This is a managers special. Chicken thighs are 4.20 for a 3 pound bag. Ground beef for 1.98 a pound. The bulk department is amazing! From flour to rice and in between! Peanut butter was at 5.98 for a huge tub, at least a months worth if not longer.
I am sticking to the same budget as last year – $475 monthly for my family of 6 in Northern Indiana. We are fortunate to have a Kroger nearby with great sales, and then I stock up on low priced necessities at Aldi or Walmart. I do include diapers, toiletries and paper products in our monthly budget, but I feel comfortable with that because I have long been a sales shopper!
Oooh, how fun! I have a full deep freezer right now and a well-stocked pantry, so I am aiming to keep my grocery budget low as I cycle through my current stock. Family of 10, and I am aiming for $100/week (no household or health & beauty items, just food).
Count me in! I used to do very well at budgeting and couponing to save money, however I haven’t lately. I have gotten busier over the last year and haven’t taken the time to plan shopping trips so I’m spending more time and money. I need to calculate a grocery budget.
I used to be great at spending $25/pp/wk, so in my family of 5 I would spend $125/wk including all toiletries and paper goods. My kids have grown up and we moved to CO and now it seems our food budget is much higher. Looking back at the past 6 months, Real Numbers- I have spent an average $478 grocery store, $489 Costco and $346 at Restaurants for a total food average of $1312/month. Sometimes, I think I should cut out my Costco runs and solely buy at the grocery store to keep “in budget”. If I add my grocery and Costco (I try to only have food purchases counted) together then my monthly “groceries” is really $967/month. I definitely would like to rein this in and lower this average. Everything has gone up and now our cheapest eggs cost $7/dozen (cage free only state) so I need to be more conscientious.
I also wonder what others spend on eating out. When our eating out is higher then our grocery bills are also lower.
I am with you on this one. We live in a mountain town in MT and I drive 45 min to the nearest Walmart just to keep our food and paper budget in the $850 – $900 range for our family of 5. We have made a point to eat out less, however, because the higher grocery bill is still way less than a restaurant bill. Good luck to us all!
Count me in for this challenge! Our food budget (food only) will be $525 month for 2 adults & 2 kids (11 & 9 yo). We live in Delaware and currently have a Walmart & 2 grocery stores. Aldi will be opening in our town in February. I’ve been shopping mostly at Walmart & the Aldi that is 25 minutes away. I tracked my food spending in November and found that we spent $650 on food, so the $525 will be a challenge. I think it is doable since my husband and kiddos hunt & we have plenty of venison in the freezer to reduce meat expenses. I do think that I’ll need to shop at several stores and change the way we eat some in order to keep up with rising food costs.
I need help with setting up budget and everything. We are not making it and struggling terribly!!! HELP! We are a family of 5 and trying to get our 11 month old off of formula. We have a 4 year old picky eater and growing teenager!
We have four boys under 10. For our kids in the 1-4 range we have some practices that help with the pickiness and save money too. 1) no juice. Ever. I basically don’t buy it unless it’s a very special occasion. The sugar suppresses the appetite so they don’t feel hungry for the good food. I limit milk too. They usually only have it at breakfast or snack time.
2) No toddler snacks like veggie straws or those puff things or sweet yogurt. Off brand Cheerios work and frozen peas warmed up work well too. And are much cheaper. And again, the kid doesn’t get full on snacks.
3) no grazing. There is a designated snack time and something fairly healthy is offered. If they don’t want the healthy item(s) then they aren’t hungry. There’s usually a variety of choices – fruit, cheese, carrot sticks, yogurt. But they aren’t offered close to a meal time so that they’re hungry by dinner.
4) Meat is frequently mixed in and there’s not as much of it. Preschoolers generally have a hard time eating meat chunks like chicken breast or roast beef. Double win: hamburger and dark meat are cheaper.
5) starting by 18 months the favorite part of the meal (ex: garlic bread or pretzels) is served after the less preferred part is eaten. For the toddler it’s often a one to one deal. Eat a bite of veggie, get a pretzel, eat another bite, get another pretzel. By the time they’re three they know they have to eat the main part of the meal first and don’t even ask for the garlic bread until the spaghetti is gone. Of course, there is grace if someone is sick or very tired. And no one has to eat a huge serving of something they hate. Just a few bites. We’re not regimental, just consistent.
And my kids are great eaters.
I am spending about $175 a week usually after averaging out from last year for my family of seven. That includes toiletries, diapers etc. This month I am doing a pantry challenge so aiming for $100 per week.
$700/month – so I do $150/wk and then have some slush funds for last-minute splurges if company’s coming, etc or to save a bit for the 5-week months.
We are 4 people: myself, my athletic (translation: protein-craving) husband and two teenagers. We homeschool so the three of us eat 3 meals/day at home. My husband WFH 2-3 days/wk so he eats lunch here those days. That works out to about 80 meals per month at home, plus we regularly have hoards of teenagers at our house (air popped popcorn is my cheap go-to snack for groups of kids).
This is just our food. I have a different $50/month in my budget for non-food stuff like dish soap, toilet paper , etc.
We currently run at 1200/month which includes everything grocery/paper/etc. for 6 people. It has been hard to come in under recently! I’ve also been less intentional in my grocery planning, and low-inspiration in my cooking as well.
In the new year, my husband’s asked me to be more intentional with my cooking and food planning towards eating fresh–lots of veggies, less processed, more mediterranean/japanese-style home-cooked meals. This really aligns with my health goals and I’m excited about it, but it will take some work on the planning front! (I’ve found execution is not too bad if I really have a good menu plan and grocery list…)
I think what’s most realistic right now, is not to try to take my budget down but to switch to more fresh foods in the same budget. I’m hoping that eliminating a lot of the more addictive processed foods, and being intentional (not limiting, just not wasteful) with protein servings will make up the difference.
By the way I was really appreciative that he brought this up–besides the fact that health goals are always easier when somebody else is leading the charge, it is helping focus my time priorities for this year+ I think it will help us reduce processed waste too!
Specifically, I think I’m going to aim for 150-200 in my weekly grocery runs, with the remainder available for costco staples, paper products, etc. 🙂
i might reduce eating out spending this way, too???
That sounds similar to my family 🙂 I have been finding it hard to stick to it lately !
There are three of us, two adults, and a 14 yo boy. My older kids (20 and 22) come home a few times a months for a meal and fellowship. Some times the 22 yo’s husband (our son-in-love) comes, too, and sometimes I try to make special meals just for them. Often I can use what I already have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer, but sometimes we splurge. We also have a dog and a cat that I figure in our grocery budget. Our budget is set for $100 a week with $50 set in the monthly budget to accommodate room for Costco or Sam’s Club purchases. (I usually don’t spend the full $100 a week on regular grocery shopping trips, so generally, a shopping trip to a wholesale club is about $100. I hope that makes sense. Regardless, I try to spend no more than $450 for groceries, including cat and dog food, cat litter, and toiletries for us.
I need to do this, we are saving for retirement in a few years. I have not used a grocery budget for years and am guilty of just buying without checking prices or having a meal plan, so it will be good practice for retirement. I think $120.00 for two people will be good to start with, I’m not counting eating out once a week, but we’ll be including dog food and toiletries.
We’re planning on doing $100/week for groceries, toiletries, and paper products. We’re two adults and two teens, one who is vegetarian due to health issues. No pets or eating out planned.
Looking forward to this challenge!
Lea
I would like to do this I have been shooting for 100 a month recently moved from WA to TN and do all my food shopping at ALDI, Walmart and Dollar Tree and use a list also thrift store shopping ie Goodwill Thrift Books wanting to start couponing as well. Thank you so much for all you do. Really enjoy your blog.
Family of 2.5 retirees in Indiana, mostly vegetarian
Grocery (food only) with 95% bought at Aldi: $100/wk (at the moment!)
Pet and wild bird feed: $50/mo mostly Rural King (bird feed only in winter)
Toiletries: $10 every other month or so (toothpaste, hand lotion, shampoo, 12 pack of TP every 6 weeks+/-)
Laundry and cleaning: I make Dugger family laundry soap about every 3 yrs for about $2, buy Clorox 2 for $12 twice a yr, and buy Azure Standard’s plant based dish soap (.18/oz), hand soap (.12/oz), toilet cleaner (.18/oz), and general cleaner (.09/oz) by the gallon or half-gal. about once a year or less–a little over $5/mo. No paper towels.
This is a great exercise to get a more realistic view of what we spend: $8060 for home consumption. Now, if we would spend a little more on home consumption we would save a LOT on meals not eaten out (very rough estimate of 3 times a week at $25 per visit would be $4000/yr!)
I’m keeping $160 a week. We just moved from CA to WV. Food is cheaper here but we decided not to move our food so I will be stocking up a little too. I’m needing though to find out what a good price to purchase things when on sale.
I have my daughter who is a student still at home and 2 cats We are also in the UK so things are very different here in relation to coupons ect though we do get mark downs. Im aiming for £50 (around $60) per week for all things grocery and household and pet related. It won’t include ordering in or eating out
I’m thinking $75 for the two of us.
I’m aiming for $125/wk and that includes all toiletries and any paper products (we don’t use much). Always following along, you inspired me to make a bigger goal this year!
Budget $250 a week for 5 people including 2 dogs and will include household supplies, hygiene products and diapers.
I’m in! Our budget used to be $100 per week/$400 per month. But I think I will up it to $120/week. This is for 2 adults, a toddler, and a newborn. I’m including toiletries, formula, diapers, and household items. This does not include pets (2 birds and 1 rabbit) or eating out.
I’m in! Our budget used to be $100 per week/$400 per month. But I think I will up it to $120/week. This is for 2 adults, a toddler, and a newborn. I’m including toiletries, formula, diapers, and household items. This does not include pets (2 birds and 1 rabbit) or eating out.
I want to say a realistic number is $175 including household supplies, hygiene products, & pet supplies. I have a family of 4–2 adults, a teenager, & a pre-teen boy. My teen is a vegetarian so I have certain things I buy just for her. Pet supplies are minimal because I have a chinchilla & gecko but I haven’t been budgeting their supplies & feel like I need to.
I love this. I need to stop my grocery store spending! It seems like I am forever running to the grocery store! We are a family of 4 — 2 adults and 2 teenagers 19 and 15!
Paula, I have found that being stingy in using the car has really helped cut off my extra trips to the grocery!! If we go to town, we try to put every stop we might need to make into that trip list and refuse to go to town again!!
We take a disabled friend out to lunch and the grocery once a week, so I make a real effort to have semi-planned a list of meals and make a written list of what needs to be replaced in my “inventory”, then remind everyone that if it isn’t on the list it won’t be bought!! (The problem remains that if I am uncertain about something I will go ahead and buy it, and so we end up with more than we really need of this or that, so I am really working on keeping that grocery list up to date!)
My dogs eat raw and it is through a co-op. We buy for 11 to 12 weeks at a time. 200 pounds of dog food only costs 457. 53 and that will last our two dogs for 11 to 13 weeks. They just had to increase the price but it is still less expensive than the better dog foods you can buy and it has cut down on vet expenses! It is just my husband and I. We are lucky and have Kroger, Aldi, Dollar Tree and WinCo foods all within a few miles from our house. For just food our budget is 50.00 a week. I also get eggs for 1.99 a dozen at Natural Grocers which is 5 blocks from us. That is a HUGE life saver! so for dogs and us it’s a grand total of 87.00 a week for food. We have been blessed that Albertsons and Kroger are having a chicken breast price war and they have been 1.50 to 1.99 a pound the past few weeks. I have been stocking up! For Christmas I got a 50.00 Natural Grocers gift card and that will be used for eggs. My husband eats the same thing for breakfast every day, 3 scrambled eggs and sausage.
We budget $650/month for 3 adults, one with Celiac Disease. The budgeted amount includes food, paper products and sometimes miscellaneous things. We do have a separate budget category for toiletries. I usually don’t spend the whole chunk each month, but we often have out of town family with us for long visits and host family reunions as well. The extra I’m able to save each month covers food when we have additional people at the house.
I’m in! My budget is $200 per week for a family of 6.5 ( my step daughter is here every other weekend.
I don’t have a budget. This is one of my goals, to get food cost under control. Based on your suggestion, I will start with 50.00 per person. This will be 250.00 a week. This sounds like a good starting point. I will include food, toiletries and paper products. Wish me luck!
I need to put the brakes on all of my spending. My adult son lives with me and he has no income. Our medical expenses are high. I am going to aim for 125 a week for our grocery budget. I am trying to do a household budget too. Wish me luck.
I am a household of one plus two cats.
I have never had a set budget amount before but I do shop sales and look for markdowns as well. I am setting my budget at $50.00 per week for my household.
I budgeted very strictly and very well in the past, but for the last two years I have not touched a budget! I was single then, now I have a husband and a baby (Praise Jesus!). So I’m budgeting $150 to start based on how I know I shop and what I used to spend (about $200/month). Mine doesn’t include pet supplies or hygiene items. I add those in when I know I need them.
We have been spending over $800 a month, My goal for this month is $700
I’m thinking 200-250 per week. But I’d love to make it less! That’s just where I’m starting. It’s for 6 of us and will include toiletries etc. My kids use tons of face wash etc because they are teens 😂 Feeding 3 boys ages 20, 17 and 14 (and an 11 year daughter) is exciting! Lol
$60.00 to start for one person that includes everything….food, toiletries, cleaning, etc. will adjust as necessary. And I work in EMS so some of that budget will go towards quick and easy foods to eat on the run.
I actually just reviewed our budget yesterday and tweaked some things. Our budget for groceries (food, hygiene, household, pet food) and gas is $275 a week for 2 adults, 6 kids (6-16yrs old), and 1 dog.
I’m hoping to stay under 400.00 this month (household supplies included) for my 17 yo daughter, me, and my boyfriend (who eats here on the weekends). I work from home, so I eat every meal here. My daughter goes to school half days, so I pack her snacks and she eats lunch/dinner here. I’ve been doing HelloFresh and EveryPlate for a few months and found them to be very economical for our family. There is very little waste and I don’t have to add much at the grocery store. I noticed that I have waaaaaay too much food in our pantry, freezer and spare fridge that needs to be eaten through, so this challenge comes at a perfect time.
My budget will include groceries household items and pet food. I’m going to aim for 160 per week
We are a household of 3 adults (college son is commuting) also small home childcare, sometimes foster child or 2, and we also host our parents and adult children and grandchild and friends when we can! We are looking at 2023 budget, we will budget $800/month for all food and paper items ect…I get aldi delivery weekly. Also a trip target weekly. $800 covers all of that. This is up from $600/month in 2022. We went over that the last couple months.
I’d love to save money on my weekly grocery list! I seem to always go way over budget!
I live in Connecticut and have been using Walmart pickup. “Everyday low prices” are not low anymore! I do have an Aldi within 20 mins. However, I just don’t care for all their products and I need to make one grocery stop per week. They do not always have everything I need and time is of the essence with our busy household. I have been spending around $400 for my family of 5 (2 parents, 2 teens and an 8yr old) for food and some cleaning and paper products. I would love to keep it at $250-$300. Yikes! I look forward to reading more on this for ideas in this crazy economy! With less trips to the grocery store!
Hey I agree about the Walmart and we are in Louisiana. My most clutch is Dollar Tree+ Aldi. However sometimes Target runs a spend $50 on toiletries, get $15 gift card and we find that to be very reasonable. Maybe this will help? Good luck!
We are a family of 5, 2 adults and an 8 year old, 3 year old, and 9 month old. I try to stick around 100 a week for us. I tend to go over when there are really good sales, but am able to cut back towards the end of the month and focus on eating what’s in the pantry/freezer. I’ve gotten pretty good at utilizing the coupon ads we receive each week from Brookshires and Albertsons. Then, I finish off with Walmart for the remainder of our staples. (We have all three stores in our small city, so it’s not like I’m driving for hours on end to each store lol). I don’t include our toiletries or formula.
We need this challenge and we are ready. We are two empty nesters with some dietary issues. The budget is for food only and is set up at $480 per month. We cook from scratch, eat at home and brown bag our lunches. Plus we are very thankful we can grow food in our small vegetable garden.
Check Ibotta – I had a 75 cent rebate on the poptart bites.
$1200 month for groceries and household items.
My goal is about $160 a week for a family of five plus 2 dogs.
I’m putting the extra money saved from the grocery budget towards a savings account. I am a homeschooling mom with 3 kids.
Thanks for the challenge! Count me in!! I need such accountability…..this will be great!!
Not sure how I did this but so far I have spent for the upcoming week only $120 instead of the $160. When there’s a will, there is a way!!
Woohoo!!
I am going to budget $100 each week including paper products, personal hygiene and vitamins for our family of 4.
I’m so ready for this. We are a family of 5, 2 parents and our kids are 15, 9 and 5. Oh and a dog. We moved from Missouri to Colorado last year. All last year I tried to keep our budget at $800 a month for food, toiletries, laundry and dog food but always kept going over. I sat down, looked at all my grocery recipes (I do online pick up orders) and figured out that we were averaging about $1000 a month last year. UGH! So that is what the budget is. I wasn’t setting realistic expectations for us in my budget. I was still trying to budget for Missouri grocery prices not Colorado grocery prices. And I wasn’t raising my grocery budget when the cost of EVERYTHING was going up. My budget should have reflected that but it didn’t. I’m ready to get ahold of the grocery spending again.
Yes to All of this! I have been going over the budget every month and really my “wishful number or old number” was not valid and I really need to start working from where I am and try to cut back down. As a recent CO resident, I can relate!
We are budgeting $100 a week for groceries (not necessarily including toiletries, toilet paper, and dog food). We are a family of 5: mom & dad, 5 year old, 2.5 yo and baby + 2 small dogs.
I’m going to try to get ours to $600 a month, just food. I’m pretty good at keeping the household products in check, the food bill has got out of hand here lately. I’ve slacked off a lot due to work and taking classes
Our grocery budget is $700 for just food for our family of 5. We live in the Pacific Northwest and I have heard the cost of living is high here so I amsure that impacts our numbers. I’ve loved here my whole life so I don’t know any different.
I love this, need this right now and am looking forward to it! We’ve recently had some major lifestyle changes and are down to one income. I am trying to keep a $600 monthly budget for food, bulk shopping and paper goods (toilet paper, etc.). I shop multiple stores (Publix, Winn-Dixie, Walmart) and use Sam’s for warehouse shopping. An Aldi will be opening near us soon. In my household, we have myself and my husband, along with 4 kids, ages 6 – 14 … and my 3 boys eat A LOT!! I’d love some helpful ideas and to hear what you all are doing! Thank you!
$175 per week for a family of 7.
My budget will be $200 a week, food only. To make this work, I need to get back into meal planning.
My budget will just include food, as I get most of my toiletries from Sam’s or Amazon. I think I will start out with $200/week. It is my 3 teens, my 2 yr old, and myself for this budget.
My sister for her budget is going to be $100/week because she is both GF and DF and it is hard for her to find food that is on the less expensive side.
I have allowed $125 per week. That includes toiletries, detergents and cleaning supplies, etc… We have four adults in the house. Hubby, me, daughter who is a teacher but living at home and college student son. We try to eat healthy and make dessert about once a week. We have some food sensitivities and special diets. I have been using your shop the sales and shop ahead for about a year now. I love the system.
My budget will just include food, as I get most of my toiletries from Sam’s or Amazon. I think I will start out with $200/week. My sister for her budget is going to be $100/week because she is both GF and DF and it is hard for her to find food that is on the less expensive side.
My goal for years has been to try to stick to $1000/month for all food/household (not including out to eat) for the 7 of us.
But usually with teenage boys and school lunch it would creep to 1200/month-ish. But the past 9months+ with inflation.etc. it’s been anywhere from 1300-1500. YIKES!!! Really Really hoping to get things back to 1000/mo.
I am in on the challenge as we need to eat from our stock, so it doesn’t go to waste. I threw out a few things this past week and was like we can’t do this anymore. I have created a menu for January, and we are only spending this month on sale items and nothing extra. If we don’t have it we don’t get it this month. We need to rein in some from the holiday meals that were more than we planned. We budget $65 a week/4 people I am hoping we can stick it this year. We are only eating out where we have a gift card until May. We have a plan so here it goes. Praying for a better year of savings on food.
$600 per month, food items only. I shop multiple stores (BJ’s, Aldi’s, ShopRite, Weis) to get the best deals since all of those stores are relatively close to us. Toiletries and household items like laundry detergent and cleaning supplies will have there own budget.
$150/wk for family of 5. This includes any hygiene products and bulk items.
$60/week for regular grocery shopping and an additional $150/month for Costco shopping. Just me and my husband at home but I do buy non perishables for my college age kids when I find great deals
Our Budget for family of 3 is $120 a week. Two of us are dairy intolerant & I’m gluten intolerant along with several other food sensitivities. This includes toiletries & household products. Also have a few Amazon subscriptions that is included & get Butcher Box delivered about every 3-4 months, really love their fish & I can’t always find marked down organic meats. Signed up when it was 2lbs of ground beef for life. Right now I am also receiving 3 meals a week from Hello Fresh, only $24, $35, $45 & $55 for each week so far due to coupon. I will cancel this after 2 more weeks.
My husband and I used to be able to do $60. Lately we’ve been doing $80. So that’s our number is $80.
We are doing $150 per week for 5 people in a rural smallish town with Wal-Mart, Aldi, and a local grocery store. I primarily shop at Aldi and buy eggs from a farmer. My husband and I eat primarily whole 30, we entertain a lot, and I have three additional little ones at home with me during the day. Nervous, determined!
This includes no household or bathroom products or pets.
My Hubby and I are pretty strict budget-ers, but add in chronic illnesses that depend on gluten free food, extra food allergies, inflation, and living in a very expensive area. Our grocery bill kept increasing month by month last year. We kept track and we spent between $800-$1,000/month in groceries/household/toiletry/vitamin goods in 2022 for a family of 4.
This year, I’d love to keep it around $700/month, which still sounds insane to my self before myself and a daughter got diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease, food allergies, extra nutrition needs, and we moved from the south to New England. But we do the best we can with what we have, where we are – and that’s my goal even with our grocery budget!
Grocery budget of $250 for 7 (4 adults, 3 kids 11-16) food only! Special dietary needs include a few gluten free and one vegetarian, some organics. Nearly all our shopping is Aldi and some BJs. Two of the kids get some free lunches at school which is nice!
I am looking forward to this challenge. I can’t set a budget rn because we are dealing with busted pipes from the freeze around Christmas. So having to deal with doing laundry at laundromat for me and my son……
It’s just two of us plus several pets. We’ve always included pet supplies and food in with our groceries and over the counter meds that we need. I’m going to try to make separate categories for these things. Food, cleaning supplies, paper goods will be in the grocery budget. Starting at $75 a week.
I understand that I could add the other things in, but I’m going to try separate categories.
Our grocery budget includes diapers, paper products, pet food, cleaners, basically all supplies. I have not been able to get below 250.00 a week, but desperately want to! I’m looking forward to this challenge!
I’ve not been budgeting, and the bank account shows it. We have some special dietary needs and two very picky eaters, so I’m going to start with $250 per week (all food – in and out of the house, plus the makings of food for our 70 lb. dog). I’m hoping that this will be quite high, but only time – and working at it – will tell.
Right now our budget is $200 every two weeks. We are a family of 6. One of those is a 9 month old. I’m in!
Our grocery budget has been $125 per week for food and paper products; $140 per month for pets; and $100 for cleaning and bathroom products per month. I have not stayed within this budget for a few years–that’s why I need this challenge!
I think we are going to try $150 a week for just groceries. We recently moved from the Midwest to California and the prices on a lot of things are significantly higher here.
I’m in!! My budget is $100 per week, including food, hygiene and paper products, but not laundry supplies. Im actually trying a pantry challenge for January and only spending about $50 a week.
Since prices are crazy in the Atlanta area right now and we’re pretty much on empty, I’ll say $150.
I’m in and going for 130/weekly. I know I can improve.😊
I’m in! I have wanted to do this for years, but it always seemed daunting. This is a good season of life for me to try. I would like to budget $100 for my husband and I. My teenage son is with me every other week so I will increase the budget to $150 when he is here. I plan to include ALL food, which includes eating out.