Extreme Grocery Budgeting

Sometimes I get a little crazy and decide that I'm going to give myself "fun" challenges.  This week, I wanted to use only the cash I had on hand to buy our weekly groceries.

I had $80 in my wallet people.  Eighty....dollars....with which to buy an entire week's worth of food for our family, including one NEVER FULL tweenager.  Now, I don't know about you, but $80 bucks is less than half of what I normally spend.  That's right, I set out to cut my grocery budget by about 60% with no real advance planning or thought.  I'm crazy like that y'all....and yes, we really DO spend that much on groceries each week.  SWEET JESUS WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?

We eat almost every meal at home, perhaps we eat out together once per week but this is usually it.  All of our meals are made from scratch, we eat our leftovers and there is almost NO processed foods in our home.  In addition, we eat a fresh, plant based diet with very limited amounts of meat and we are about 95% organic.  So yeah....this gets expensive.  Like- FOR REALS.

I worked my magic, pushed myself to succeed in this crazy challenge and when all was said and done, I came in $15 under budget.  That's right y'all- I spent just $65 for a week's worth of food.  HELLS YEAH!!!!  Read on people and find out how I did this.  And how you can do this.  Because YOU CAN do this!

Proof Positive! Spent $65.33!!!

#1- Brainstorm and research.

Let's be honest, the only way this will work is if you make a list and STICK TO IT.

Get out a piece of paper and start brainstorming meals that are CHEAP, that will do double duty and perhaps provide you with an additional meal (a twofer!) and while you're at it- get on the Pinterest and search for cheap, healthy meals.

Don't forget to include meals you already have ingredients for or perhaps partial ingredients.  For example, you have a jar of marinara in your pantry and no noodles.  You should most definitely add "Spaghetti" to your list of meals to make this week.


#2- Take out the most expensive item.  MEAT.

Y'all.  Meat will drive your budget WAY up.  Like, a lot.

The truth of this is that you don't need meat to have a healthy, well balanced meal.  You just don't.  And I promise you that you will survive one week without it.  God's honest truth here- you'll be fine.

Instead- search out meatless meals and other cheap sources of protein.  A bag of dried beans cost $1 at my local grocery store and I can get at least two meals out of this.  Versus one pound of regular (not organic, not local, not grass fed, not special) ground beef at $3.99 per pound that will only make one meal.  If you are any good at math, you know that you've made one meal at .50 cents versus a meat based meal at $4.  No brainer y'all.

And for those of you who are completely unable to walk away and go cold turkey- re think how you use the meat in your meals.  If you MUST have meat, use it as a flavor enhancer rather than the star of the show.  Not everyone needs their own chicken breast at dinner time- take one piece of chicken and cook it up with lots of veggies and serve it stir fry style over some rice.  Your people still feel like they are getting meat but you know its WAY less and WAY cheaper.

#3- Shop your pantry.

To be clear, this method of EXTREME grocery budgeting is NOT meant to be used as your normal.  It's just not.  It's for week's where you don't have as much money, or you want to cut back a bit on your spending or perhaps save some of that grocery money for another area in your home and life.

So with all that being said- you should first be shopping your AT HOME GROCERY STORE, your fridge and pantry.  Use the ingredients you already have on hand to help you build cheap meals.  And if you've been building your freezer stockpile, now is the time to use one or two of those meals to help you keep your budget down this week.

#4- No frills.

This week is all about shopping the NEEDS and not the WANTS.  So things like cookies, ice cream, deli meat- yeah, not gonna happen this week.

You will also NOT be stocking up on anything this week.  I don't know about you but a regular part of my grocery trips include buying items that I know I will use later when they are on sale now.  Hard as it might be to pass these deals up- there's just no room in your budget to allow for this.  So just walk away mmkay....

#5- Leftovers are where it's at.

Learn the fine of art of eating those damn leftovers.  If we didn't have leftovers, we would legit have nothing to eat for the majority of our lunches.  Because I almost NEVER buy "lunch" food- really, I just don't and instead I force my family to eat these leftovers for lunch.  And then sometimes again for dinner, because that's just how awesome I am!

A leftover is a meal you've already paid for- so don't waste it!

The easiest way to make sure you HAVE leftovers to begin with is to simply make a double batch of your dinner.  Two cups of rice versus one cup of rice, requires NO additional effort to cook on your part and cost you just pennies more.

Another easy way to make leftovers work for you, especially for packed lunches on the go, is to plan meals that pull double duty.  Think- cheese enchiladas and homemade refried beans.  Make a double batch and you get 2 meals out of the enchiladas and then use the leftover beans to make bean burritos for lunches one day.  You have now gotten 3 meals for the price of one.  THREE.

Another favorite is basically any soup or chili dish.  You can make a double batch, eat it once for dinner, twice for lunch and a third time over some rice or cornbread.  That's three meals for the price of one.  Dude.

#6- Cook from scratch.

By far the fastest way to rack up the dollar signs at the grocery store are to buy processed foods.  You might think they are cheap but the truth is- they aren't.  If you don't have the ingredients on hand to make foods from scratch- now probably isn't the best time to buy them.  It will require some initial "investment" and output on your part to get all your baking needs supplied.  So save that for another trip.

However, if you've already got the staples like flour sugar, salt, cinnamon, baking powder etc- you have an entire world available to you!

Instead of buying bread, make it.  Bake cookies for an after dinner treat, learn how to make tortillas or bake up some biscuits to go with your soups.  Even homemade pizza becomes MUCH cheaper once you've learned how to make the pizza dough at home.  And y'all- pizza dough is way easier to make than you think.

Look for foods in your meal plan that you can make yourself instead of buying.  Yes, this will undoubtedly require WAY more effort and time on your part (they don't call them convenience foods for nothing!) but in the end, the savings will be substantial.

#7- Sacrifice to stay within budget.

What I mean here is that instead of buying ALL organic foods like I would normally do, I have to make sacrifices and choices on what to buy conventional and what to spend that extra money on for organic.  The sad truth is that very few items make the cut and so when I am REALLY going hard core with my budget, very little organic foods make it into my shopping cart.

Organic is expensive.

Listen, I am not the person to blow smoke up your butt and give you all these great tips on how to buy organic foods on the cheap when you are knee deep in an EXTREME grocery budget challenge.  Yes, it can be done.  You can save money on organic foods.  But- the truth is that organic still costs more than conventional.  So if you are faced with having to decide between getting 2 pounds of conventional bananas or just one pound of organic bananas- you should ALWAYS set out to get the most bang for your buck.

Psst- this rule does NOT apply to your normal grocery budgeting.  I will always encourage you to purchase organic foods- especially fresh fruits and veggies for your family because I feel that they are healthier and better for your body and the environment.  However, when you are doing an EXTREME challenge, I want you to eat healthy and at the end of the day, purchasing fresh fruits and veggies needs to happen.  Organic or not.

Another way you might make some sacrifices at the store would be when it comes to brand shopping.  Let's say you ALWAYS buy Hunt's brand tomato sauce at $2.99 for a large can.  But this week the store brand tomato sauce is on sale for $1.50 for the same size can.  This week, you will be buying the cheaper alternative so that you can save the difference.

#8- The LIST.

Now- if you've followed all the steps outlined above, you are now ready to put together your master list for the store.

Take out a sheet of paper.  Fold it in half hotdog style.  Write down all your meals starting with breakfasts on the left hand side.  It should look like this:

Leftover biscuits and jam
Cereal

Leftover beans & tortillas
Tuna
Veggie wraps
Nachos

Cheese enchiladas & beans X2
Chili X2
Spaghetti X2
Vegan split pea soup & biscuits

Chocolate chip cookies

The LIST.  It should look like a hot mess
 when you're done.

Ok- so.....take a look at how the meals are organized.  And then, on the right hand side of your paper, write down the ingredients you'll need to purchase and the quantity.  Then use your super shopping knowledge to write the estimated price down next to each item.  It is VERY important to write down the FINAL price for the quantity you need.  So if you're purchasing two cucumbers at $1 each- then you would write down $2 next to your cucumbers.  Make sense?  If you don't know the price, look it up online at your grocery store's website.  It will look like this:

Milk $2.39
pound dry pinto beans $1
jalapeno's X2 $.50
tortillas $4.99
cucumbers X2 $2
cheese X2 $8
spaghetti noodles X2 $2
chocolate chips $2

The next step in your list is to gather your coupons or add sales to your grocery store app.  I shop at Safeway and before I go, I always browse the app and make sure I've added all my sales, deals and coupons.  Check to see if you've got any freebies on your app (I typically have one or two each week) and make sure you add those to your list.  Even if it's something you don't normally buy- FREE IS FREE.  You can then go back and adjust your prices if need be.

Now add it all up.

My goal is to ALWAYS be $10 under budget.  Because y'all- once you get to the store, it is VERY hard to resist things.  This $10 will give you a little wiggle room.


#9- Shopping.

Now you've reached the most crucial part- the actual shopping.  A word to the wise- DO NOT TAKE YOUR PEOPLE WITH YOU.  Seriously- this EXTREME trip needs to be done as a solo act, trust me on this one mmkay....

Make sure you've grabbed your list and a pen and get cracking!  While you are in the store, when you put an item in your shopping cart, cross if off your list and write down the actual price on the opposite side if it differs from your estimated price.  Here's an example below.

$2.29 Milk $2.39

The $2.39 price on the right was your estimated price.  However, as is very common, the store may have had an in store only sale going, or perhaps you bought a cheaper brand or there was a .10 cent off in store coupon.  So write the actual price to the right.

By doing this one simple act, it will help you stay on budget and know where you can splurge a bit on.  Remember back to those sacrifices I talked about?  Well let's say you would really like to buy the organic bananas but they cost .10 cents more per pound.  If you've been able to unexpectedly save .10 cents on milk- you'll know that you have that .10 cents to spend elsewhere- like on the organic bananas.  Make sense?

Once you've added all your items to your shopping cart, take a moment and add up all the prices.  Make sure you are within your budget.  If you were able to come in under budget- now you can go back and add a few "luxuries" to your cart or things that you had passed up on in sacrifice to your budget.  Or you can choose to save that money and use it for other treats- like a Starbucks, or a cheeseburger.


A few words on this EXTREME budget-

I don't shop this way every week.  Yes, I have a general budget and I do meal plan to help me stay on budget.  However, I am not normally this OCD and strict when it comes to my grocery shopping and I do find myself routinely going a bit over my budget.  By occasionally doing an EXTREME trip like this one, or even my NO Grocery Store Challenge, I'm able to even myself out each month.

Shopping this way takes work and planning.  Be prepared to put in the effort, otherwise it won't work.

Your people might not like it.  Let's face it- this is a NO FRILLS sort of trip.  So many of the foods and items they are used to seeing in the fridge and pantry each week, simply might not be there this time around.  Anticipate the unhappy grumpy and move on.  They will deal.

Try to incorporate a few of these tips into your regular weekly grocery trip.  Once you come down from the high of this EXTREME trip, you can add in one or two of these tips found here.  If you never done a meal plan, give it a try.  Or perhaps you never estimate prices or look for sales and deals before hitting up the store.  Just one or two of these cost saving ideas added to your regular weekly grocery trip will really help you in the long run.

As with any challenge I do, it's meant to be fun.  Don't take it too seriously but rather- push yourself.  See how well you can do, try to beat your lowest weekly budget, set a crazy goal (like $50 for a whole week) and see if you can do it.  It's meant to be extreme and fun- not sad and depressing.

Good luck!