Here we go again! Another week of budget grocery shopping on $60 a week. I think all of the grocery stores know everyone made a New Year’s Resolution, so there were lots of great deals on healthy foods this week. At the same time, I always brace myself the first few times I go grocery shopping in the new year, because all the produce (especially spaghetti squash) seems to be always out of stock! I keep reminding myself that February is coming, and everything will get back to normal.
Our menu for the week:
Breakfasts
Eggs, baked oatmeal, fruit, cereal, breakfast potatoes.
Lunches
Grilled lunch meat sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, quesadillas, homemade mac and cheese, or whatever leftovers are in the fridge. If we have extra time, I might cook some fried rice, but I don’t usually bother during the week. We also have fruit and possibly some chips and salsa. Not a lot of variety for lunches, but we have leftovers often enough that I don’t usually go crazy.
Dinners
Monday and Wednesday: Chicken Chowder soup from the Whole 30 book. This soup is SOOO good.
(Note: We usually “double” our meals during the week. This means that I cook once and we eat it twice. Not only does this save time on our busiest evenings, it also makes grocery shopping cheaper if you are just buying double of one recipe instead of two recipes. If your family objects to having the same thing twice in a week, you might consider making mostly “freezer friendly” meals, and then you could freeze the meal and eat it again a week or two later.)
Tuesday and Thursday: Burger Bowls
Friday: Our weekly family date night! We have a separate budget of $20 a week for our date nights. This week, we went to the library and then we used a Christmas gift card (I’m going to be saying that a lot the next few weeks!) and went to Applebees. This is a restaurant that doesn’t usually work with our budget, so it was fun to get out of the routine of our usual restaurants.
Saturday: Homemade taco pizza
Sunday: THM Chicken Florentine (page 46 in the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook)
We had ours this week over 100% whole wheat pasta, but if you are trying to stay low carb, you could have it over spaghetti squash. (Check out this post about my two favorite ways to cook spaghetti squash.)
Snacks
Fruit, cheese sticks, chips and salsa, Goldfish crackers, peanut butter banana smoothies, veggies with ranch, pickles
What we spent this week:
Finally, here’s how we spent $60 this week. Remember that these are recipes that my family eats quite often, so we have some stuff stocked in the pantry already. It might cost you extra the first few weeks as you stock up, but eventually you will be able to stay close to budget.
Budget Grocery Shopping on $60 at Aldi:
For Breakfasts:
1 gallon of whole milk $2.43
Unsweetened almond milk $1.69
Bananas $2.39
2 cartons of half and half $3.10
Pure maple syrup $5.89
Shredded wheat $1.39
2 dozen eggs $2.66
For Lunches:
Sliced turkey $2.29
Whole wheat bread $1.25
For Dinners:
2 cartons of Chicken Broth $2.38
Ground beef $6.53
Cream cheese $.65
Tomato sauce $.19
Chicken breasts $7.42
$5 off coupon
Aldi total with tax: $36.14
Budget Grocery Shopping on $60 at Kroger:
For Breakfasts:
5 lbs of potatoes $.99
For Lunches:
2 boxes of Annie’s mac and cheese $2.00
For Dinners:
Tomato $.72
2 cans of coconut milk $3.38
Whole wheat pasta $1.00
Broccoli $2.63
Lime $.59
Jalapeño pepper $.09
Frozen spinach $1.39
Shredded parmesan cheese $2.19
For Snacks:
5 lbs of adorbs (Kroger brand mandarin oranges) $4.88
Kroger total with tax: $20.36
Grand total: $56.50
Why Am I Posting About Budget Grocery Shopping?
When I recently decided I wanted to be more diligent following our weekly grocery budget, I started posting my grocery receipts on Instagram stories. This was really just for personal accountability. I didn’t actually think very many people would be interested in how I do budget grocery shopping on $60 a week! Each time I posted the receipts, I would get a bunch of questions. “What exactly are you eating?” “Is this really for a whole week?” Because of all these questions, I decided to start posting our menu and how much we spend on groceries to prove that it can be done.
We try our best to eat mostly whole foods, but we don’t have any dietary restrictions. Although I (usually) follow the Trim Healthy Mama plan, my husband and son are a little more lenient on the things they eat.
Except for special occasions, we eat 20 meals a week at home. That means my budget grocery shopping goal is $3 per meal for two adults and a toddler.
Like what you see here? Follow me on Facebook or Instagram! Planning to try some of these recipes and lower your grocery budget? Leave a comment and let me know how it goes! Be sure to pin this menu on Pinterest. Make sure you don’t miss any new recipes by getting my email newsletter every week!
