After years of questions about how we feed out family on such a small grocery budget, I started sharing our family’s monthly grocery hauls.
I do my grocery shopping a little different than a lot of people. I don’t shop from a menu. I generally don’t shop from sales flyers. I don’t shop frequently. I just shop for ingredients that we’re lacking. That means I don’t buy everything every month.
Also, while this is our main monthly grocery shopping trip, I will make a few smaller trips throughout the month for things like milk and produce and great deals I find. If we grab pizza or any other form of eating out, it usually comes from this same budget too.
In August we wanted to get some freezer meals made, so on the way to the grocery store we planned a freezer meal session. I printed out a stack of recipes and my daughter read through them and helped me compile a list as I drove! Not very organized, but it worked!
July’s Grocery Haul
As usual, you can watch/listen to our grocery haul, or just scan the list below!
UPick Farm Produce Haul– $32
As you can see in the picture we got tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, lemon cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapenos, Armenian cucumbers, cantaloups, and watermelons.
When you arrive at the farm, they weigh your vehicle and check how many people you have with you. They direct you to the fields that are open for picking and let you help yourself. Some of the produce like the squahes and melons are pre-picked and readily available in big produce bins. Everything else you pick yourself.
On your weigh out they weigh your vehicle again to find the difference. You pay $.30 per pound with a $30 (100 lb) minimum. We just barely squeaked by above the minimum at 105 lb, which was exactly what we were aiming for since we were leaving town a few days later and wouldn’t have time to do much canning and freezing before we left.
Winco Haul– $118
- Fresh pineapple $1.98
- Penne pasta (16 oz) $.78 x 4 = $3.12
- Potatoes (10 lb) $2.48
- Bowtie pasta (16 oz) $.88 x 2 = $1.76
- Chow mein noodles $1.56 x 2 = $3.12
- Frozen corn (16 oz) $1.11 x 4 = $4.44
- Frozen berries (16 oz) $1.88 x 2 = $3.76
- Hashbrowns (16 oz) $1.06 x 2 = $2.12
- Steak fries (16 oz) $1.06
- Frozen whole green beans (16 oz) $1.37
- Frozen French cut green beans (16 oz) $1.11 x 2 = $2.22
- Yams $.88/lb x 5.18 lb = $4.56
- Limes $.20 x 5 + $1.00
- Refried beans $.88 x 4 = $3.52
- Tomato sauce (29 oz) $.98 x 4 = $3.92
- Tomato paste (15 oz) $.77 x 2 = $1.54
- Diced tomatoes (15 oz) $.58 x 12 = $6.96
- Spaghetti sauce (24 oz) $.88 x 6 = $5.28
- Salsa (16 oz) $1.48 x 2 = $2.96
- Salsa verde (16 oz) $1.48
- Cream of chicken soup (26 oz) $1.28 x 2 = $2.56
- Cream of mushroom soup (26 oz) $1.28 x 2 = $2.56
- Green chilis (4 oz) $.58 x 4 = $2.32
- Roma tomatoes $.98/lb x 4.82 = $4.72
- Onions (3 lb) $1.98
- Ginger root $2.78/lb x .12 lb =$.33
- Baby carrots (2 lb) $1.88
- Carrots (2 lb) $.88
- Celery $.78
- Small avocado $.88 x 2 = $1.76
- Kidney beans $.65 x 2 = $1.30
- Strawberries $1.48/lb x 2 = $2.96
- Dill $8.79/lb x .01 lb = $.09
- Red grapes $1.37/lb x 2.03 lb = $2.78
- Tortillas (35 oz) $2.79 x 3 = $8.37
- Bagels $1.98
- Whole wheat bread $1.78 x 12 = $21.36
Sam’s Club– $123
- Elbow macaroni (6 lbs) $4.98
- Shredded cheese (5 lbs) $11.74 x 2 = $23.48
- Ground beef ($2.33/lb) = $22.23
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts ($1.67/lb) = $10.54
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts ($1.67/lb) = $10.64
- Romaine $3.38
- Apples (5 lb) $4.98
- Peanut butter (2 x 40 oz) $6.98
- Cottage cheese (3 lb) $4.98
- Sour cream (3 lb) $4.42 x 2 = $8.82
- Bananas (3 lb) $1.23 x 3 = $3.69
- 2% Milk $2.39 x 3 = $7.17
- Cream cheese (48 oz) $7.87
- Spinach (16 oz) $3.28
So our total spending on monthly grocery shopping was $273. Since we budgeted $450 for groceries this month, that leaves $177 for mid-month shopping trips or eating out.
How about you?
- I would love to hear how your grocery shopping is different or similar!
- I would also love to hear what types of videos you’d like to see in the future.
Where is the upick farm? We live in the Sacramento area. That sounds awesome!
It’s Davis Ranch in Sloughhouse! Here’s the site: https://www.davisranchproduce.com
Holy, I’m so jealous at how cheap everything is! One bag of onions costs me $5.50, gallon of milk $4.98, 10 lbs of potatoes is $9.27
I love to hear more about your plans for Batch cooking. I only ever seem to do chilli or Bolognese. It’s so handy to have good food on hand.
I shop somewhat more like you. I dont really meal plan. I shop for items we need or will run out of in the month (i.e. tea bags, coffee and spices). I typically do look at the sales flyers to see if anything we regularly use is on sale so I can pick it up. I am not a major coupon clipper but I do clip digital to add to my Kroger card. The bulk of our grocery shopping is done at Kroger since it is less than 2 miles from my home. Aldi is 45 minutes from home and I don’t get there as much as I did before we moved 6 years ago. Anyway we “meal plan” based on what we have meaning we eat at home every night and figure it out every day as we go. It has always worked for us. In the summer time we purchase a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. I wish we had a place like you do where we could pick it like you talked about.
We usually do a major grocery haul at the beginning of the month as well, with some smaller trips thrown in later in the month. I do need to start planning my menus better though (or at all) because I’ve noticed we keep running out of grocery money by about the last week and a half, so I have to start getting a little more creative with meals and snacks 🙂 It means that the beginning of the month we tend to feast like kings, and at the end, we tend to eat a bit leaner, ha ha. Oh, well! It keeps things interesting 🙂