Budget Grocery Shopping: Our $60.54 Trip and What We Ate

When I recently decided I wanted to be more diligent following our $60 a week grocery budget, I started posting my weekly grocery receipts on my 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! 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 write this post and give anyone who cared an idea of what we eat in a week and how we keep the costs low.

We try our best to eat mostly whole foods, but we don’t have any dietary restrictions. Although I follow the Trim Healthy Mama plan, my husband and son are a little more lenient on the things they eat. (For instance, I make myself homemade bread that is on plan, but they eat bread from Aldi)

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.

Our menu for the week:

Breakfast: Eggs, baked oatmeal, fruit, or cereal. However, this week we also had some breakfast potatoes to use up some extra potatoes from last week.

Lunches: Grilled sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, quesadillas, or whatever leftovers are in the fridge. We also have fruit and possibly some chips and salsa. We don’t have a lot of variety for lunches, but we have leftovers often enough that I don’t usually go crazy.

Monday and Wednesday: Cheesy Enchilada Skillet

(Note: I have found that it saves us SO much time and money to “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 may want to freeze leftovers and then have the meal again a week or two later.)

Tuesday and Thursday: Creamy Cajun Chicken Spaghetti Squash

Friday: Our weekly family date night! We have a separate budget of $20 a week for our date nights.

Saturday: Homemade Taco Pizza

Sunday: Lasagna Soup in the slow cooker

Snacks: Fruit, cheese sticks, chips and salsa, goldfish

Finally here’s what we spent budget grocery shopping 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 under budget.

Budget Grocery Shopping at Aldi:

For Breakfasts:

1 gallon of whole milk $2.43
1 dozen eggs $.98
2 cartons of Half & Half $3.10
Stevia packets $2.49
Pink Lady Apples $3.49

For Lunches:
Slicked Cheese $1.15
Deli roast beef $3.99
Honey wheat bread $.99

For Dinners:
2 lbs ground beef $6.64
Heavy whipping cream $1.55
2 cans of tomato sauce $.38
2 cans of tomato paste $.58
Paprika $.99
Tortillas $1.99
Olive oil $2.49

For Snacks:
Cheese Sticks $1.34
Goldfish $1.78
Corn chips $2.49

Aldi total with tax: $39.58

Budget Grocery Shopping at Kroger:

For Breakfast:
Bananas $1.06

For Dinners:
2 spaghetti squash $3.87
3 tomatoes $.81
Shredded parmesan $2.19
1 large pack of chicken breasts $7.84
Enchilada sauce $1.99
1 can of chopped green chilies $1.19

Kroger total with tax: $20.96

Grand total: $60.54

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!