Feed Your Family with a $100 Grocery Budget
About a year ago, I came across Amiyrah Martin’s $64 Grocery Budget on 4 Hats And Frugal. We were looking for ways to cut spending and I had already trimmed the budget to accommodate private school tuition for Alexandra. Excited about this new possibility, I gave it a go. I failed…miserably. Frustrated with my unsuccessful attempts I decided to try $75 per week. Nope. Nada. Not happening. Feeling a little dejected I decided to stop setting a goal and just pay close attention to what I bought each week. I found that I can feed my family of 4 on a $100 grocery budget each week using three simple to follow steps.
Excited about this new possibility, I gave it a go. I failed…miserably. Frustrated with my unsuccessful attempts I decided to try $75 per week. Nope. Nada. Not happening. Feeling a little dejected I decided to stop setting a goal and just pay close attention to what I bought each week. I found that I can feed my family of 4 on a $100 grocery budget each week using three simple to follow steps.
$100 Grocery Budget Tip #1 – Shop Small
I find it best to shop at smaller stores. “Discount” chains like Aldi, Sav-A-Lot, and Priceless provide the same food as your big name grocers, and usually for less. You can still buy fresh meat, fresh produce, and even some name brand items from these stores. Spending less money for food doesn’t mean buy you have to buy lower quality food.
$100 Grocery Budget Tip #2 – Only Buy What You Need
Growing up my great-grandmother cooked dinner for all four generations of our family. Â EVERY. DAY. Grocery shopping with her was a chore. A chore for which I somehow got assigned her assistant. She shopped every week, always bought the sale items in multiples, had 1,000 coupons, and bought far more than we could ever use.I carried that mentality into how I shopped as an adult. One time our deep freezer powered out. It wasn’t until then that I realized how much food we’d collected and lost. In all honesty, we likely would never have used it all.
I carried that mentality into how I shopped as an adult. One time our deep freezer powered out. It wasn’t until then that I realized how much food we’d collected and lost. In all honesty, we likely would never have used it all.
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Prepare and plan to buy only what you need for the week. Use your store circular to find what’s available on sale. Add those items to your list first, then build meals around them.
Once in a while, buying more than you need is worth the spend. It’s hard to buy one pound of ground beef for a good deal. But overall, I buy what we need and no more. When we run out, we run out. I’ll go to the store again next week.
$100 Grocery Budget Tip #3 – Use What You Have
If you do buy 2-3 lbs of ground beef one week, be sure to keep that in mind when you shop the next week. Use what you’ve got in your pantries and freezers. You spend less and waste less food in the long run.
Check out this video I shared on The Mom On the Move Facebook Page to see how many meals I was able to purchase with less than $100 from Sav-A-Lot.
Do you think you can feed your family for $100 or less per week? Are you spending less than that already? Share your story in the comments below.Â
I need to attempt to do this because I know I spend well over $200 a week on food and probably a lot more. $64 will never happen but I can see doing $100. Thanks for the tips. Let me get my life together.
These are great tips. I have an Aldi by my house and tempted to walk in. Will check it out. I totally agree on using what you have sometimes I’m like “what to cook?” and find things in the pantry or freezer. It really helps with not wasting your money.
Using what you have is key. We eat organic and I spend about $75 per week. I go for the produce and goods that are on sale and create my menu from there.
Thank you for the tips. I don’t think I ever spend more than $100 or close to that when shopping for my family of three… Thanks to Trader Joes and sales lol
It’s definitely doable. With my son and myself I’ve always been able to maintain a good budget on $50.00 with us two.
These are great tips! We try and stick to a good budget with our family of 5, but have not made it quite this low of a budget. That would be amazing to do! I will try out these ideas and see. Thanks!
I’ve added couponing to my grocery shopping and it has helped out A LOT! Great tips
Yes, I do all of these, but I wish Aldi was closer to me! The best one people overlook is the “use what you have” tip. That saves me so much every week!
Hmm, I love these tips especially as I am learning to spend less. You are right about buying just what you need if you are on a budget. Thanks for sharing!
That was so very helpful! I usually coupon but I’ve gotten bored with the process but now that my stockpile is dwindling I need to pick it up again. I’ll be sure to incorporate your tips. Thanks.
These are such great tips! I always go over my budget and I’m actively trying to reduce that. Plus I eat out way too much! I need to meal plan better and cook at home!
These great tips that we all can utilize saving money is always a good. #2 resonates with me a lot, because we I go to the store I always see stuff I want but don’t need.
Good tips! I’ve managed to spend much less than this each week because I shop at ALDI. It affords me to be able to get my favorite treats at my bougie stores. 😉
Honestly, I would love to get my bill down to $100!!!! It seems so impossible to me, but maybe with these tips I can try!
You totally can! I used to spend $200-$250 per week. We still eat pretty much the same things, and I spend half of that. It’s doable!
Great tips! I also find that making menus really helps me dial in my budget. And I love recipes that make tons of leftovers.
My family rarely eats leftovers unless it’s one of their favorite dishes. That’s another reason we cut back. But when we do have one of those meals, I do spend less.
I budget $200 for groceries every two weeks. We are also a family of four. Some weeks I spend more and other times I spend less. My grocery budget also includes household items like laundry detergent and the like.
Exactly! A budget is a guide. We use the cash envelope system so if we have some left over we roll it to the next week.
I love this idea, and we need to trim our grocery bill. Seems like the grandmothers really knew what they were doing, mine was the same way!
Yes! I am the queen of working that budget. I tell people all the time you can feed your family, and feed them well for less money. Love this post.
You really can. I think we’re too label conscious and that makes the mindset shift difficult.
These are great tips. Right on time for me since my husband recently lost his job and we are doing some serious budgeting. Using what we already have and only buying what is needed make a huge difference. I also started using rebate apps like Ibotta and Checkout 51.
I haven’t tries rebate apps yet. I’ve heard good things about IBotta.
Right now while ,y son is young I think I can do it. His appetite is eve increasing though and I’m constantly trying to figure out where he’s putting it all at 2! LOL
You can do it. My 12 year old eats us out of house and home, but she’s always got something to eat.
We are getting better about not spending so much on groceries by using what we have. I make a menu plan every 2 weeks because that is how we shop due to paychecks. I try to use what I have first then fill in what we don’t.