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Grocery shopping on a budget feels restricting sometimes. But you can feed your family well using less money than you think. Here’s how.

While wasting time on Facebook one day, I saw a challenge:

Try to feed your family on “just” $5 per person per day.  When I did the math, my mouth dropped.

For a family of 7, that amounts to $245 per week.

My grocery budget is $300 for two weeks worth of food for my family of 7.

Feeding my family at $5 per person per day was no challenge.  Shoot, we could have steak on that budget!

Back in the real world, grocery shopping on a budget is a reality for most of us.  But with a few tips, you can actually eat well on less money than you think.

Grocery Shopping on a Budget

Ideas for grocery shopping on a budget that will save money for your family.

I live in the mid-west.

Your circumstances, store availability, and other factors might make some of my ideas impractical for you.

These tips are a starting point.  Make adjustments to fit your own circumstances.

Save on Meat

Meat can be an expensive portion of your grocery budget.  Luckily, there are so many ways to save on meat!

At the grocery store, I try to never spend more than $3 per pound on meat.

Regular price on whole chickens in my area is 99 cents.  For boneless skinless chicken breast, it’s $1.99.

We eat a lot of chicken, but I’ll also “spring” for $3 ground beef and other meats from time to time.

Crock Pot Ham & BeansYou can fill the freezer with extra turkeys and hams when they go on sale at holidays.

Even with a larger family, a big turkey or ham will cover several meals.  Use leftovers for sandwiches, casseroles, soups, and more.

When you get it down to the bone, make stock from the turkey bones, or yummy crock pot ham & beans from a ham bone.

Another huge money saver is replacing just one or two meals per week with a meatless meal.  Get tips on how to get the family on board with meat free Mondays.

You aren’t limited only to the grocery store, so try these ideas for saving money on meat!

Know Your Price Points

Get price points for your most frequently bought items.

Personally, I don’t have the time (or the organizational skills) to keep up with an entire price book.  But I can handle a mini version.

Here's an idea of some basic grocery prices in my area.Since I have my price points memorized, I know when I’m getting a great deal and should stock up.  Here are a few of my personal price points I’ve set for myself:

  • I stay at or below 15 cents per ounce on cereal.  (We eat a lot of cereal these days, even though there are certainly cheaper foods to eat for breakfast.)  Sometimes sales are great.  Other times, I’ve bought bagged cereal or generics.  I’ve even found organic cereal on a better sale than regular cereal.
  • I try not to spend more than $1.50 per pound on produce, though I prefer it closer to $1 per pound.  We eat seasonally.  That means a big variety in the summertime, and sometimes only apples and oranges in the winter.
  • I prefer to spend 49 cents per box of pasta.  This happens only a couple of times per year. So when I see that sale, I make sure to stock up on enough to get me through to the next sale.
  • Butter freezes well, so I stock up when it hits $2. (This is getting harder to find these days! But I can still find it close to that at Sam’s Club and sometimes at Aldi.)

Shop Regularly

You might think that waiting to shop when you’re out of anything to eat saves money.

But I’ve actually found the opposite to be true.  These days, I go every other week (when we get paid).

Waiting to shop meant we’d sometimes have to run to the gas station to grab a couple of things that we needed.

Of course, those little stops add up.  But more than that, I was missing out on the benefits of shopping regularly.

  • Great sales on items we use often.
  • I had to buy so many things that I blew our entire grocery budget on must haves.  I had no wiggle room for buying extra boxes of items that were on a great sale.
  • Knowing that I’ll be back at the store in two weeks calms down that “gotta get everything now!” urgency that makes me buy extras.

Related:  Why You Should Skip the Pantry Challenge

You'll Be On the Ball With This Free Grocery List Template

List, Coupons, Meal Plan

Lists

I know, no one has time to write out a shopping list that you’ll just forget on the counter anyway.  I simplify my list by creating a  grocery list template of items that we use the most.

As I run out of an item, I add it to my Cozi shopping list.  Cozi is a life saver for me!  Since I started using this free app, I have not once left a grocery list sitting on the counter.

Then I only need to round out my list with the sale items for the week.

Coupons

I sometimes make the time to click on digital coupons. But honestly, I hardly spend time on coupons anymore.

The Fetch Rewards app has been my favorite way to save on groceries.  A couple of photos snapped of receipts when I get to the car, and I get easy points towards Amazon gift cards.

Click this link, use referral code PEWR4, and you can start with 2,000 points right off the bat!

Meal Plan

For a while I shopped monthly.  I’ve also tried weekly shopping.

But for me, shopping and planning every two weeks is the sweet spot.

It means I don’t have to go to the store quite as often, but I also don’t have to create a month long elaborate battle plan for shopping.

More Options

If you don’t have time to meal plan or write out a list, try a service like $5 meal plans. 

It might seem silly to pay money for meal plans in hopes to save money, but it really works.

And let’s be honest…sometimes the headache of all that planning is worth much more than $5!

That’s how you do your grocery shopping on a budget.

Feeding your own family on $5 per person per day might be realistic.  Or it might not.  Challenge yourself to beat your own budget a little bit more each week.

How about a shopping list that could cost you as little as $75 to feed your family for a week?  Yes, please!

500 Ways to Save Money: Build A Cash Jackpot for the Best Things In Life

How do you save money on groceries?