We went to ALDI and Kroger on Sunday night and spent $81 total. Because I’ve been buying extra deals here and there over the last few weeks, we had more to work with this week and I didn’t need to spend as much this week — which was great!
Note: If you missed my post on Why I’m Back to Grocery Shopping, Menu-Planning, and Freezer Cooking, be sure to read it here.
Our Grocery Budget
We currently budget $125 per week for groceries for our family of 5. This does not include eating out once a week (we budget separately for that).
We also get some of our expensive groceries and personal products (such as makeup) via Amazon using credit earned from Swagbucks + we get the majority of our household products (cleaners, toothpaste,detergent, etc.) via credit earned from Grove.
I only spent $81 this week, which leaves me wiggle room to buy more markdowns at Kroger if I have time to swing by there later this week to see if they have some great markdowns. If I don’t have time or they don’t have good markdowns, I’ll roll over the extra $$ to next week.
Here’s what we bought:
ALDI Shopping Trip
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts — $5.49
- Dried Cranberries — $1.29
- Blueberries — $1.49
- Blueberries — $1.49
- 3 Macaroni & Cheese — $0.33 each
- Quick Oats — $2.39
- 2 loaves of 12-Grain Bread — reduced to $0.89 each
- 3 loaves Wheat Bread — reduced to $0.79 each
- English Muffins — $0.99
- Chili Beans — $0.59
- 2 cans of Black Beans — $0.59 each
- Bananas (4 lb.) — $0.58
- 2 Refried Beans — $0.79 each
- Diced Tomatoes — $0.59
- Peanut Butter — $1.49
- Cashews — $2.99
- 2 dozen large eggs — $0.49 per dozen
- Whole chicken — $5.23
- Feta cheese — $1.79
- Greek yogurt — $0.75
- Half & half — $1.89
- Baby carrots — $0.99
- Total with tax — $42.35 (Plus, I uploaded my receipt to Yaarlo & earned a little cashback for doing so. If you haven’t signed up with Yaarlo, use my coupon code MONEYSAVINGMOM when you sign up to earn more.)
Kroger Shopping Trip
- 2 dozen brown eggs — $2.99 per dozen
- 1 carton almond milk — $1.99
- 1 gallon milk (submitted for $0.25 iBotta rebate)
- 4 packages bread/buns — reduced to $0.99 each
- 2 packages bacon — $3 per package
- Salad mix — reduced to $2.49 (got $0.25 back via Checkout 51)
- 2 yogurts — reduced to $0.29 each
- Greek yogurt — reduced to $0.39
- 3 3-lb. packages of Butterball ground turkey — $3.99 each
Total with tax: $38.45 (Plus, I uploaded my receipt to Yaarlo & earned a little cashback for doing so. If you haven’t signed up with Yaarlo, use my coupon code CRYSTALP861 when you sign up to earn more.)
This Week’s Menu Plan
Interested in what we’re eating this week? You can see our menu plan for this week here. I plan our menu based upon what we already have on hand, so I didn’t have to buy every single item needed to make everything on our menu.
Struggling with menu planning? Check out this post on How to Be a Meal Planning Mama.
How much did you spend on groceries this week? Tell us in the comments!
You have inspired me. This summer we moved back to The South, and our new town has an Aldi. Today my 3-year-old and I are going shopping at Aldi, thanks to your Instagram post. Did you know they are owned by the same company as Trader Joe’s? My brother is in the grocery store business, and he told me that.
You got some great deals at Aldi! Our Aldi is more expensive than Walmart, which is less expensive than Kroger. Very annoying.
Boo, I couldn’t get your Yaarlo code to work. It kept saying it was invalid.
Good morning,
Thank you for sharing your grocery trips!! I enjoy seeing that, and your meal plans. Can you tell me what Grove is? Also, I’m not real tech savvy, and have signed up for Yaarlo, after seeing your posts. Can you tell me, or if a reader sees this, tell me how I upload receipts to Yaarlo? Thanks bunches!!
Just out of curiosity. I noticed you bought eggs at aldi for .49. And then bought eggs at Kroger for 2.99. I don’t understand why, when on a budget, anyone would spend so much for Brown eggs. They have no difference in taste or nutrition. It is just a difference in pigmentation is all. Thanks.
There’s actually a big difference in taste (to me) between these two brands/kinds. I was raised with chickens so I love, love, love brown eggs and think non-brown eggs have very bland taste. I bought the $0.49 eggs for baking and the other eggs for scrambled eggs. I know it’s a splurge, but because I eat a lot of eggs, it’s something I splurge on. 🙂
Too bad you don’t have a Trader Joe’s nearby. We buy brown eggs there for $1.29/dozen.
Oh wow! That’s an incredible price!!
Thank you for letting me know. I had them years ago and did not think they had any different taste. I too will splurge on my favorite items.
What a blessing to live where you do! My small town has one store and everything there would have cost me about $200. I can’t seem to keep us under $800-1100month (depending on if we have to stock up on meat). Any small-town Canadian mamas, feel free to reply with any money saving tips you’ve come up with! 🙂
Thanks for all you do, Crystal! I enjoy your posts ?
Hi carrie! I also live in a smaller town in manitoba and we have 2 store options for groceries + walmart. The best tip i have for keeping grocery costs low is to shop at costco. We have one about 1 hr away. When we go, we spend our budget for 2 weeks of food (250 so 125 per week) and we get plenty for 2 weeks. By buying in bulk, you gradually amass a stockpile which saves you from buying expensive items over and over again like toilet paper! Also making a giant stew,chili,soup each week helps. Those are really the only tips i have. Im just blown away that crystal was able to get feta cheese for 1.79! In my town it would be closer to 7$
Oh how I miss Kroger. 🙂 I’m so glad you’re back to shopping.
These post are inspiration to me! Thank you for bringing them back we are on a very tight budget of $30 for 3 of us a week and these give me ideas of meals that don’t have 10 ingredients to make! Happy Cooking/Baking! 🙂
I’m SO grateful they are an inspiration!
I wish we had ALDIS here!!! We have a similar place SAVE A LOT, but the deals are not nearly as good as you get there!!
I wish everyone had an ALDI nearby!!