I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
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It’s Week 2 of my $70 Grocery Budget Challenge and I’m excited to see how this week goes! I’m loving hearing from so many of you who are sharing how this challenge is motivating you to look for ways you can cut your grocery bill, too! That just thrills my heart!
Here’s an update on what I bought the past three days:
Saturday Kroger Shopping Trip — $15.58
- 3 boxes Ronzoni Pasta — on sale for $0.99 each, used $0.50/1 Kroger Digital coupon (can use it up to 5 times in one transaction) — $0.49 each after coupons
- Chorizo — marked down to $2.29
- Cinnamon Rolls — marked down to $1.99
- 2 bags of yellow/orange peppers — $0.99 per bag
- 1 bag of apples — $0.99
- 2 grapefruit — $0.99
- 5 packages of Keebler cookies — $0.99 per package (Saturday only deal with digital coupon)
- Total with tax: $15.58
Saturday Dollar Tree Shopping Trip — $4.39
We hosted most of the 4 families from our Community Group yesterday and I needed some plasticware and paper plates/cups for that. So Dollar Tree to the rescue! My total with tax was $4.39 — which is why I’m such a fan of Dollar Tree (read about my 25 Favorite Things to Buy at Dollar Tree here.)
Remember the Sourdough Bread I got marked down last week? Well, we used that plus some of the eggs I got marked down to make some amazing French Toast for lunch on Sunday and we have enough leftover to also have it for dinner tonight with fruit and bacon (that we got for $1.99 last week!)
And we served it yesterday with Berry Smoothies that I made with some frozen berries I had in the freezer already (from ALDI) and the frozen Cottage Cheese plus some vanilla and raw sugar and almond milk.
Monday Kroger Shopping Trip — $9.23
- Capri Sun (for school lunches) — $2
- 2 packs of applesauce cups — on sale for $2, used $1/2 Kroger Digital coupon — $1.50 after coupon
- 5 boxes of Ronzoni Pasta — on sale for $0.99 each, used $0.50/1 Kroger Digital coupon (can be used up to 5 times in one transaction) — $0.49 each after coupon
- 2 bunches of bananas marked down — $1.63 total
- 2 packages of Bic razors — $2.99 each, used 2 $3/1 coupons — FREE after coupons
- Total with tax: $9.23
Go Get Your FREE Razors!
Walmart and Kroger both have these priced at less than $3 making them free after the $3 off coupon. Do note that since the price of the item is less than the coupon, the coupon will likely beep and they’ll have to manually push it through — and some cashiers are leery of doing that.
Just be kind and polite and if they refuse to do so, just graciously ask for them to take those off your order and take the coupons back. And then you can try again another day with another cashier.
(Note: This is a 100% legitimate use of coupons, it’s just that when coupons beep, some cashiers get a little freaked out about it. It’s usually because they’ve seen coupon abuse in the past. That’s why I think it’s always so important for us couponers to be as kind and gracious and polite as possible. Let’s give couponing a good name!)
Be sure to submit your receipts to Ibotta. They usually offer one $0.25 cash back offer per week for just taking the 15 seconds to submit your receipt — no matter what you purchased! $0.25 isn’t much, but it’s something and for the time required to submit it, that’s a pretty good return! 🙂
This Week’s Super Simple Menu Plan
This menu is subject to change a little if I find some great deals or markdowns! ?
Breakfasts
Cereal, Oatmeal, Eggs, Fruit, Toast
Lunches
Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Chips, Fruit, Veggies, Applesauce Cups, Capri Sun, Banana Bread, Fried Eggs, Salad, Leftovers
Dinners
Monday — French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Fruit
Tuesday — Sausage/Potatoes/Carrots/Onions in the Crockpot, Fruit, Rolls
Wednesday — Taco Salad, Fruit
Thursday — Dinner Out (Spirit Night for Kaitlynn’s school at a local pizza place.)
Friday — Chorizo with Eggs (haven’t decided on sides for this — I’ve never made Chorizo before, what goes with it?)
Saturday — Goulash, Rolls, Salad
Sunday — Snack-y Dinner (fend for yourself — cereal, popcorn, etc.)Total spent so far this week: $29.20
Total left to spend: $40.80 (Stay tuned for updates over the next few days if I score any great deals!)Cash back so far: $0.25 from Ibotta for submitting my receipt
In case you missed it, I spent $68.22 total on groceries last week. And here was our menu for last week.
Love all your shopping/menu plan posts no matter what the budget is! You always offer such great ideas. Couple of quick questions… Are you still having a salad for lunch each day with this meal plan? Do you plan to eventually role over the money you didn’t spend into the next week’s budget or always keep it under $70?
I’m shooting to always keep it under $70… I might eventually roll some over if there’s a big bulk purchase I want to make or something. We’ll see!
And yes, I usually have salad every day for lunch. If I don’t have salad for lunch (because I’m out and about or something and just need a super quick lunch), then I have it for dinner — I usually just pile whatever protein we’re having on top of a big plate of lettuce!
We have chorizo regularly and I usually dice up potatoes, fry them and then add the chorizo and eggs. Always a good filler! Refried beans are commonly served with chorizo where I live.
Thank you so much!
Serve your chorizo and eggs with avo or guac! Another time, try a one-pot chorizo rice bake–cook chorizo with onions, garlic, black beans, whatever other veggies you like, add spices or taco seasoning, then your rice/broth and boil then simmer it like any stovetop rice dish. I served mine with green enchilada sauce and green onions, also great with guac–and leftovers are freezer-friendly, just store in a container that you can transfer to reheat in the oven!
Thanks so much for sharing that!
Chorizo breakfast burritos!! Yum!!!
Yum!!
We love Chorizo and eat it all the time!!! I guess because we live here in the southwest (Arizona). But if you cook it up in a skillet, add about a dozen eggs and stir until the eggs are cooked then put into a tortilla with a little cheese and wrap. That’s it! So easy and sooo good. Sometimes the chorizo is a little spicy so I like to have mine with some sour cream to tame the heat a little. They are also great in a lunch box the next day!! Enjoy!!
Oh yummy! Thanks for the suggestion!
I’d serve refried beans or pinto beans, or fried potatoes, with the chorizo and eggs. Chorizo is a little spicy and crumbly so it mixes well. You can also mix chickpeas in with the chorizo, and throw in a bit of spinach too.
Thank you so much for the suggestions!
Off topic a little, but what brand is your griddle? It looks nice and sturdy with a good cooktop. I had a George Forman that came free with the grill many years ago and recently replaced it with a cheap one, but I know won’t last nearly as long.
This is the one we have: https://amzn.to/2JKOeVJ Jesse got it as a gift for me and I love it! We use it all the time!
We’ve been living overseas for the last three years and will be back State side for a while. These posts are helping me think about what our grocery budget might be. I also love the emphasis on clearance.
I’m so glad that you’re finding them to be helpful!
I grew up eating chorizo and egg tacos with cheese, side of beans. You could add fried potatoes on the side or rice. Migas were always delicious with chorizo!
Yum! Thanks for sharing!
Here is a Chorizo recipe which is a one dish dinner with a breakfast flair from a blogging friend. I think you purchased a few of the ingredients. You could always adjust the ingredients to your family’s taste.
I’m interested in your $70 grocery budget plan. We are way over on the grocery budget and need to get back on track! I cannot even believe I let that Kroger .49 pasta deal slip by me! https://domesticallycreative.com/mexican-chorizo-breakfast-skillet/
The Kroger pasta deal is still available! It should be good for at least another day or two!
And thanks so much for the link to the recipe!
We love chorizo for two recipes in particular…
Empanadas: https://myheartbeets.com/paleo-empanada/
&
Frittata: https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/paleo-sausage-sweet-potato-frittata/
Both a amazingly yummy! Have so much fun experimenting.
Thank you for sharing!
We use chorizo in our stuffed peppers and stuffed zucchini. Love that you’re doing old school deal posts again!
Thanks for sharing!
We love chorizo for breakfast burritos! If you find some tortillas at a good price you can use the “fixins” from your taco salad night and have a burrito bar with eggs and chorizo as your main filling.
Chorizo is just a little bit more of a spicier sausage and more crumbly. I actually like it in queso dip. It might be a great addition to your taco night.
Thanks so much!
Thank you for posts like this! This is why I fell in love with your blog in the first place. 🙂
I’m having so much fun going “back to my roots” and doing these posts!
I love it that cookies still make the cut even with the frugal budget! 😉
I thought they’d be great to have on hand for when we’re hosting groups and need finger foods!
Thanks for these posts! I’m really enjoying them! Finally found the reduced produce box at my Dillon’s! 🙂
Yay for the reduced produce shelf!
Kale and chorizo soup. You can Google the recipe. It’s really good and the best part is you can make it in the crockpot!
I’m already planning to just make Chorizo with Eggs since that’s what most people suggested! I am just trying to figure out what to serve it with. Fried potatoes? I’m not sure!
Chorizo is basically a mexican sausage. If you are making Chorizo and eggs, you can add anything else breakfast related to it like toast, pancakes, waffles, fruit.
Good to know — thank you!
Potatoes are good, but I would also recommend a vegetable or salad (the sausage can be a little heavy/greasy).
Good to know! Thank you!
Refry some black beans. I really don’t use a lot of oil, just enough to saute enough finely chopped oniins. Then I add the beans, a little garlic salt, and let them cook a bit. Finally I mash them. Easy Least. Easy and cheap.
Thanks so much!
Aren’t you getting blades through Dollar Shave Club?
I have gotten some through them, but I can’t pass up FREE! 🙂
Also, I want to show people how you actually can buy everything on a $70 budget… so my plan with these posts is not to use credit from Grove or Dollar Shave Club for the grocery budget posts to show that you can actually do this and buy everything you need! And I’m only going to be using a little bit of Swagbucks credit here and there for my grocery purchases (probably no more than $25 per month, since that’s very realistic for someone to earn without having any referrals) and I’m going to take that credit out of my $70 weekly budget even though I’ll use my Swagbucks credit to pay for it.
Hopefully, that makes things more realistic and attainable for people — even if you’re not a blogger and don’t have the ability to share great deals and earn referral credit! Thanks for asking since I’ve been meaning to say that!