The Household Grocery Budget

Mrs. U over at Making a House a Home, recently lamented the high cost of groceries. It can be a real challenge to provide our families with nutritious meals without breaking the bank! When we first married, four years ago I set our grocery budget at $50 per week. As a single lady, my grocery budget was $34 a week and I didn't even use all of it most weeks. I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to feed George for an additional $16 per week. And, it was easy, at first. And, then it became increasingly more challenging, especially when George decided he wanted milk that costs $8 a gallon.

When I'm in a big hurry I would love to be one of those people that runs to the store without considering what's on sale, making a list, and just throw whatever looks good in the cart, But I've come to realize that's not me. I need to have some sort of a game plan for the grocery store, or I spend way too much money and have nothing to make a meal of.

So, What Do We For $50 a Week?

Every family's grocery budget looks a little different. What you spend for food depends on income, the season of life you are in, special dietary considerations and preferences and how much food costs in your neck of the woods. Here's a look at what we routinely get for our $50 per week and our special considerations that affect cost:

First off, we just have the two of us to feed and that alone is a big money saver. My husband doesn't eat a typical breakfast or lunch 5 days a week, but he does go through a jar of peanuts every other week to help keep mid day hunger at bay and he eats a really big meal at night. I have special dietary need of a little higher lean protein than average due to weight loss surgery.  Other than that we don't have any special foods we need. We aren't "all organic, never buy anything in a box people" either. But we do like lots of fresh veggies, fruit and dairy. My idea of a convenience food is a bag of frozen vegetables.

If you read my weekly menus you have a pretty good idea of what we eat for supper day in and day out, so we will start with that.

Our most commonly eaten dinner meats are the following (all purchased at sale prices)

Fish (free; well except for the license and tackle, but that comes under entertainment in our budget)
Pork Loin (about $1.79lb)
Ground Round (about $2.29lb)
Chicken Breast (about $1.79-1.99lb)
Chicken Thighs (about .99lb)
Good Steak (about 1x per month $5.99 to 7.49lb)

Sometimes we eat the protein portion of our supper in a form that stretches it out a bit; like a Mexican dish or casserole of some sort. The sides for our suppers are pretty simple: salads, fresh or frozen vegetables. We grow a pretty good sized garden and eat from that for most of July and August. We preserve onions, peppers and corn and share the rest of what we don't eat right away with friends and family.

Other items we buy frequently:

Ice Cream (Breyer's $2.50)
Milk ($2-$3 a gallon)
Cottage Cheese ($2)
Greek Yogurt ($2-$4)
Sour Cream ($1-$1.50)
Cheese ($3 - $4/lb)
Albacore Tuna ($2)
Salsa ($2)
Bread ($2 -$3)
Fresh and/or frozen fruit and veggies (about $10-$15 each week)

Items we use fairly often, but buy only occasionally due to stocking up on a great sale, or buying in a larger quantity:

Oils (olive, coconut, walnut)
Butter
Flour
Sugar
Stevia
Tea
Coffee
Crackers
Oats
Rice
Pasta
Beans
Peanuts
Tomato Sauce, Paste, etc
Gum
Taco Shells
Spices
Condiments

Over all, I think we eat a pretty healthy diet on our $50 a week budget. Since we nixed the $8 a gallon it's been a lot easier to stick to $50, but it still presents a fun challenge. I think the main reason we are able to stick to a pretty conservative grocery budget is mostly because of what we don't buy or only buy as a rare treat or convenience. Many items we think of as staples or must haves, actually cost quite a lot of money per serving. Some examples are: many types of cold cereals, breakfast bars, juice, pop, frozen dinners or desserts, canned soup and out of season produce. Of course, if you match up a good sale with a coupon, many of these items can be had very cheaply and sometimes I do that.

 We Splurge Too!

That said, it might surprise you to find out we do include some expensive items in our grocery budget.  Such as gum (is that even a food?!) well, it is to me because it comes out of the grocery budget. My husband must go through 6 packs of this a month. I also buy the good tuna -- the expensive Starkist albacore pouches. I just don't like the light tuna. Does that make me bad? I match up sales with coupons to the extent that I can to keep the cost lower, but sometimes I pay full price for a package. Please note, if I were feeding a crowd of hungry kids, I would be very tempted to serve the .59 a can cheap stuff!

We also buy Stevia, which is a gazillion times more expensive than regular sugar. I routinely buy the more expensive brands of Greek Yogurt like Chobani, Stoneyfield Farms and Fage which, is very pricey per serving -- but I really, really like it. Oh, and we also buy the good bread that's about $4 a loaf but we get that on sale for $2 -$3). Sometimes I make homemade, which is much tastier and cheaper, but not that often. And, don't forget the steak. About once every month or so I've been buying a couple of pounds of really good steak.  There are plenty of items we are willing to skimp and buy the cheaper version so we can splurge on the things we really like.