Once upon a time there was a young couple with two small children trying to live off of one income. Daddy worked 50 hours a week, and Mommy picked up any tiny little job she could to help pay for that week's gas or grocery money. They were only able to make minimum payments on the debts Daddy had from when he was given bad advice as a young adult, but rejoiced every year when the tax return came and they could use it to pay off their smallest debt.
Mommy regularly perused Pinterest, more interested in finding ideas for pinching pennies or making things at home that one could not afford than she was in pinning cute clothes, tattoos, or gourmet meal ideas. And thus she came across things all the time like "How my husband and I got out of debt on one income," or "How to put $50,000 in savings this year," or her personal ironic favorite "How to save $100 a week on groceries."
She found these very humorous, because the couple who got out of debt lived in their parent's basement, had no bills other than a phone bill, and were given a small inheritance when a grandparent died. Whereas she had been given a broken table, 4 rickety chairs, and a bookshelf when Daddy and her got married. $50,000 in savings was silly because Daddy and her made about half of that after taxes. And her grocery budget for four people on a good week was $75, so obviously she couldn't spend $100 less.
Does this story sound familiar to you? If it does, and you just solemnly wish there was someone out there who actually knew some of the financial hardships you'd been through, I want you to know that I understand. If you didn't know what you were going to eat the next day because the only food you had was half a jar of peanut butter and nasty homemade pickles, and you were 7 months pregnant living a mile from a grocery store without a working vehicle, I understand. If your friends at church small group think "hardship" means they have to wait a paycheck before they can buy that $3000 dollar couch instead of buying it now, I have been there.
So today, I wanted to share with you a real life grocery trip day. One many of you can relate to. For those of you, who like me, have hungry men to feed on a very tight budget, and a husband who is a foodie(as in won't just eat whatever you put in front of him), then this post is for you. I will tell you what my groceries and meals looked like this week, and share some of the ways I did it. And before you prepare for the worst, I have to tell you this week has included NO rice and beans, and only 1 meal with chicken.
Diving in then, I will share with you the concept that has recently really changed the way I meal plan and grocery shop. I have come to realize, that though tedious and a little time consuming, using coupon apps and other similar ways to save is totally worth it! The thing that actually made me be willing to give this a shot, was listening to Dave Ramsey's daughter talking about the way her mother always had coupons when they went shopping. And I thought if I could leave a financial legacy like the Ramsey's did for their family, I didn't care if that meant clipping coupons!
What I tell my husband when he sees me looking through every grocery store ad we get in the mail(and you can find them free online as well if you don't get a newspaper with local ads delivered) is that if I spend an hour more than normal because I am planning around what is on sale and taking pictures of receipts, and I spend $15 less than I would have just winging it, than I just made $15 an hour.
For instance, I love the app Ibotta!! It even has Aldis and my local state grocery store now. It is a cash back app, so if I buy a Pure Leaf Herbal Tea for example, I get 50 cents back for that. My rule with this, is the amount I spend(and this does NOT include the math of what I will be getting back) still has to stay inside my grocery budget. So I sometimes plan portions of my menu around what I will be getting cash back for, and sometimes I just carefully do my math as I shop and whatever little extra I have left over I use on Ibotta items as an extra treat. Dessert and beverage items are where I get most of my cash back from. With Ibotta, I have made about $25 in the last month(I get a little bit better at getting deals every week), which means when I shop next, I only am taking $50 out of our paycheck for groceries instead of $75.
Planning around coupon apps, planning around what is on sale, being willing to hit up 4 or 5 different stores, and calculating what I'm spending as I go is how I save a lot of money, but don't have to survive off of beans and rice.
The last couple things I do that save us a lot on groceries are bake most of our "snacks" and supplement our grocery budget with plasma donation money. For that first one , my boys and hubby need constant snacks, so every Saturday morning I bake up homemade bread, cookies, brownies, muffins, etc depending on what they requested that week. If you are not really a baker, you can still do this!! Buy the long $1 loaf of french bread at Walmart, buy cheap brownie, cookie, or muffin mixes that are really hard to mess up. Think about how fast your family goes through a bag of chips, which can often cost twice as much as the ingredients for 3 dozen cookies.
And lastly, my husband and I both donate plasma(which I completely understand isn't for everyone). When an unexpected bill comes up, I often use the grocery money for that and am so thankful to have my plasma money as a backup. And my husband takes about a third of his plasma money to Sams Club and buys easy food he can throw in the fryer or oven in the case he is still hungry after I feed him, I try a new recipe and he's not a big fan of it, or I am too tired to make a nice meal. This is a big lifesaver for me, and I am very grateful he is willing to spend a good chunk of his spending money on it!
If you want to know what this looks like, below are the groceries I got this last week, as well as what we actually ended up eating meal wise. My total ended up being $95(see picture at top of post), which was helped out by my plasma money, and $10 of it was for some events I needed to bring food to. Hope you can glean some insight from it!
Local State Grocery: $18.62
Zevia Soda-$4.99
Pop-Tarts-$0.99
4# Ground Beef-$9.00
10# Russet Potatoes-$2.99
Aldis: $50.09
2 Bags of Shredded Cheese-$2.79ea
20 ct Tortillas-$1.99
2 boxes of Butter-$2.88ea
Cookies(kids wanted something immediately)-$0.89
Hot Dogs-$2.49
4# Sugar-$1.73
Coffee Grounds-$3.79
3 cans of Fire Roasted Tomatoes-$0.89ea
Bread-$1.89
Snacks for GameNight at Work-$9.38
1/2 Gallon of Whole Milk-$1.39
Applesauce-$1.95
Shaker of Parmesan Cheese-$2.59
Refried Beans-$0.85
Dozen Eggs-$0.75
Dark Chocolate-$5.97
Local Grocery Store: $10.06
1# Asparagus-$2.09
Bag of Apples-$3.99
Watermelon-$1.99
4 Peaches-$1.70
Walmart: $15.08
Paper Towels-$3.67
String Cheese-$2.18
Deodorant-$2.92
3 pack of Sponges-$2.96
Pretzels-$2.68
Menu for the Week(Fri-Tue):
Hubby Work Meals:
Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes
Homemade Batter Herb Bread
Pop-Tarts
Peaches
Friday:
Breakfast: Cheese, Apples, Cookies
Lunch: Hot Dogs
Supper: Boys joined Hubby and I for Date Night at Pizza Ranch
Saturday:
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs
Lunch: Taquitos
Supper: Leftovers and Work Event Potluck
Sunday:
Breakfast: Apples, Cheese, Cookies
Lunch: Leftovers
Supper: Open face Pork(leftover from last week)Sandwiches.
Monday:
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs
(Taquitos for Hubby)
Lunch: Hot Dogs
Supper: Sheet Pan Chicken, Potatoes, and Green Beans
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Meat Sticks(hubby picked these up with plasma money) and Peaches.
(Taquitos for Hubby)
Lunch: Hamburger, Shredded Cheese, Watermelon, Baked Oatmeal
Supper: Scrambled Eggs and Potato Hash with Cheese.
My menu can get a little complicated since my boys and I have the normal Breakfast, Lunch, Supper at normal times, but my husband's 3 meals are Breakfast, Supper, and 2am Dinner at work. So I have to make sure to have a whole separate plan just for his 2am meals, but I have a lot of flexibility to eat random or cheap or easy things at lunch since I don't have to feed hubby, and my boys and I are not very picky.
There you have it.... My real life grocery shopping and meal planning ways. If you have a very tight grocery budget as well as picky family members, or family members who can't eat certain things, I just want you to know that it is possible, but it takes some extra work, and a willingness to put the right outlook on your struggle to pay for food.
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