Grocery Budget Makeover Part #3

Jenny/ June 20, 2019/ Thrifty Homeschool Mama Tips & Tricks

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So, it’s been 2 weeks since we grocery shopped and you may be wondering how my grocery budget redo is going.  Here’s my update and what I’ll be doing differently on this shopping trip:

Grocery Budget Update…

We still have food in the house!  Yes, we are out of snacks and fresh fruit (except for a fresh pineapple) but we still have plenty of frozen fruit. I’m down to 2 eggs and out of peanut butter, canola oil and maple syrup but other than that we are in great shape!

This shopping trip I’m adding 2 more dozen eggs for a total of 4 dozen. I’m also bumping up my peanut butter order (Dennis uses it in shakes and 2 kids love it).  I’ve already ordered a few things from Sam’s Club.

What I’ve changed…

One big thing we’re trying out this time is only going to Sam’s Club and Walmart instead of going to Aldi’s too. We used to do a huge portion at Aldi but with our membership to Sam’s Club we only buy a few things there now. So to save time we’re going to see if we spend anymore just shopping at the other 2 stores.

I still have plenty of meat, so this trip will probably not contain much meat which will be a huge help on the budget!

What we’ve been eating since our grocery budget redo:

I’ve been cooking lots of rice meals. With our instant pot it’s super easy and delicious. I throw brown rice, water or water/salsa, meat, cheese and cream cheese into it and turn it on. Within an hour I have a tasty, healthy, cheap meal.  I do this with beans also. Like last week, we’ve eaten a lot of oat waffles, loaded baked potatoes or oven fried potatoes.

Snacks: fresh and frozen fruit.  We did cheat and buy 2 fresh watermelons for a playdate. The fruit did last longer than normal. Perhaps it was because they were eating a more filling diet with the oat waffles and rice dishes.  Daddy had bought them some snacks on shopping day and they were rationed and lasted about a week which was a definite improvement!

At night time the snack was mostly homemade popcorn which is very filling and super cheap.

Do I feel like I’m missing out?

Actually, no!  Yes, I have given up some foods that I really like, but the knowledge that we’re saving so much money doing that makes it all worth it. And we’re not honestly doing without. I mean, I still grind coffee beans fresh every day and the food I’m making is delicious tasting.  An unexpected side benefit is I’ve been losing weight!

Why am I doing this?

Is my sole purpose with lowering our grocery bill to just say I can?  No!  I’m doing this because we do live on one income that many would consider small. We have been completely debt free for the last 12 years. I mean, no mortgage, no car payment, no consumer debt. And my goal is to stay that way!

However, it’s honestly not that easy to purchase cars, large appliances, ECT… completely debt free. It’s also hard to save when you have a larger family and tighter income. Our kids don’t cost much (contrary to popular opinion) other than food!  So, my goal is to lower our food bill as much as I possibly can, without us feeling deprived.

Then we can tuck the extra money we were spending on groceries away for large purchases such as a new (used) vehicle. As a general rule we keep our vehicles for 10+ years. So, if we save an extra $3,600/year we will have plenty to buy a nice used one when we need it. Just from grocery savings!!  That’s definitely worth a little sacrifice!

Want to join me in a grocery budget makeover?

So, how is your grocery budget doing?  Do you have something important you can do with your savings if you lowered your spending on food?

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