We’ve been pretty verbal about how we shop for groceries only once a month. A lot of people think it’s weird that we freeze milk, cheese, bread… (about everything except eggs). But I find that we spend FAR less money on groceries if I go JUST ONCE A MONTH. This means… the last week of each month, our fridge and freezer look like this:
…and we just make it work! How do we get by feeding ourselves and two angry birds on just $200 a month? We get reeeeeal creative the last week of the month! We’re talking some seriously strange meal inventions. I should have taken a more recent picture of the fridge before we got groceries yesterday, because the freezer was completely empty, and the fridge had a couple onions, half a container of sour cream, and two eggs (plus condiments).
So the moral of the story here is… you may feel like there’s nothing to eat in the house. But most of us could actually feed an army with what’s left in the pantry/fridge. Get creative!
For info on how we plan our meals, click here.
For some amazing/easy/delicious meal ideas (from YOU our readers!), click here.
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oh, you need a deep freezer. originally, i planned to get it off craig’s, but a few friends did that and they broke after a year so i grabbed mine at sams club for 250. it’s not huge, but if you stock it too much it’ll just go bad, and this size is perfect to be full but won’t cause you to over-buy a lot of stuff you don’t really need.
We have four kids (ages 8,10,12,14) and i spend 300 dollars a month, but i coupon. we have a gorgeous stock-pile and it makes me feel so great when the cashier says my bill is $65 bucks and i have a cart full to the brim of groceries. We too have pizza night, friday nights.
If everyone did this sort of thing, they’d have a little more in their bank account, or some extra money for seeing movies at the cheap theater with the kids. 🙂
good for you!
My boyfriend, my 16 month old and myself spend aprox. 110$/2weeks, if we shop at Aldi’s we spend only 80 to 90/2weeks. We have tater tot casserole, spaghetti, hamburgers, baked chicken with veggies, taco’s, you name it.
I find that I HAVE to have a list or I will go over my budget on things I don’t need. Also, shopping every 2 weeks we get more fresh produce where shopping once a month things might start to spoil. If you have leftovers, someone gets those for lunch, make sure you are using what you buy… Don’t make a meal that calls for a small amount of an expensive ingredient(s) without having a plan to use the rest before it goes bad. I never have a problem staying around my 180-220 budget, depending where I shop.
Bethany said…
Wow, this post caused quite a stir! You might be disappointed to learn that we don’t eat all that healthy. We have pizza at least twice a week (you can’t beat a $2 delicious meal!) and we have spaghetti and Hamburger Helper on occasion. I try to make a nice meal every other day. And I often use HALF the meat a recipe calls for because meat is so expensive. We buy 6 lbs of chicken each month, and 10 lbs of ground beef (divided into half lbs) two dozen eggs, 4 gallons of milk, 4 loaves of bread, etc. I don’t use coupons (too much work!) but I do look for sales and always get generic when possible. We don’t get snacks of any kind… ever. But I feel like the REAL KEY here, is to shop for the whole month. It forces you to be creative and plan accordingly. If you live down the street from a grocery store, this might be a lot harder for you, cause it would be so easy to just swing by and pick up something you ran out of! Our $200 monthly grocery budget does not include household items, diapers or or formula. But it does include the girls food that I puree. I buy frozen veggies and steam them for the girls, and I DO buy fresh fruit to puree for them. The only other produce that I buy that’s not frozen is onions and potatoes (for the whole month) and tomatoes and lettuce (that only last us the first week). Can’t wait to get my veggie garden going!! 🙂 AND… I need a deep freeze asap!
Sorry I already commented once, but I have been thinking about this post all day and I have a few more questions. Does your $200 budget include formula and diapers? Are household items like TP, Paper-towels, dish soap, etc purchased separately or with this budget? Do you use coupons?
I could never do this nor would ever try for my family. We need fresh greens and fruits.
Are you kidding me???? I can spend $200 for two weeks and sometimes more! We go through 4 to 5 gallons of milk a week and a large bunch of bananas every four days! How do you make it work??? Do you buy meat? What about fresh fruit and vegetables? I am totally amazed!
Yes, please do share! I feel like I spend $70 a week easily.
We are in similar places. I shop twice a month but that is really only because I don’t care for frozen milk. PS. You can freeze eggs, if you wanted. They don’t taste too off, especially if they are for baking.
When I read this I thought, “wow how impressive. We (the hubby & I) should do that. I the optimist. Then I showed my husband & he went berserk. He said how are we going to fit a month of groceries in the fridge when we go through a gallon of milk a day! We have a 7 year old & a 2 year old. “what do they eat, grass?!?!” He asked reluctantly.
I’d like to know too….I spend $100 a week or more for me, my husband, and our almost one-year old son. I’d love to know!! 🙂
How do you spend only $200 a month on groceries? We go through $30 a month in milk, $20 a month in apples, $10 a month in other fruits/veggies, $40 a month in meat, $20 a month in treats, $30 a month in eggs/butter/bread/etc, and we’re already at $150! We easily hit $300- 400 and I only have two adults, a 2 year old and a newborn. AND I shop sales! Share your secrets 🙂