Before Daniel and I moved into our first apartment, I spent a lot of time researching food. Specifically, I was preparing for our future grocery list. I am super exciting.
I did this because a) we’re poor now b) we knew for sure the minimum money we’d be able to spend each month, based on Daniel’s assistantship alone (because I still don’t have a job) and c) that wasn’t much money at all.
I was unanimously voted head of the financial division of our household and I honestly really enjoy it. I had fun taking my Econ courses in college, and I like dividing up the money we have toward our expenses - bills, food, insurance, rent, etc.
Also, food has been an issue for me before, as you probably know. In college, my biggest expense was food. It’s kind of ironic - an anorexic spending all her money on food - but it was true. I want our family to be good stewards of what we have, to quickly pay off my 18,000 in undergrad debt, and eat healthy. So I made a plan for us to spend 150 dollars every two weeks, totalling 300 dollars per month for our food.
That includes everything - groceries, eating out, coffee, water, drinks at the pub, ice cream runs. 300 a month, max. No going over, nope. So far, a week in, we have spent our 150$, we have more than enough for the next week and have been able to get some fun treats. And we’re also eating really well.
I thought I’d share what our grocery list looks like. I know it’s hard. I’ve seen many of my newly married friends asking on Facebook how they’re supposed to do this. I didn’t know. It’s chaos having your own first place and paying for things and trying to keep yourself AND your spouse alive.
So, hopefully, this helps you. Or maybe you can improve this system Dan and I use, or straight out tell us we’re spending too much money on food. I’m down for whatever you have to say. I’ve divided out grocery list into 6 categories, to help show how we broke our spending down: fruit, vegetables, grains, protein, dairy, and other.
FRUIT
The cheapest fruits you can buy are pretty much the following: small apples, kiwi, bananas, melons (particularly cantaloupe), pears, and maybe oranges, depending on where you live. We got the following:
6 pears, four kiwis, 3 bunches of bananas, a bag of apples (about 4$ was the cheapest I could find for that), 5 pears, a huge tub of strawberries, a cantaloupe, and one pineapple.
The main keys to fruit shopping were buying a mixture of nearly ripe and not ripe at all fruit. We’ve eaten about ¼ of what we bought in the past week - what was ripe - knowing that the rest wouldn’t be ripe until week 2, so we could guarantee we’d have fruit around. Similarly, I looked for the cheapest deals. Target has the cheapest bananas around; Aldi has cheap strawberries; and walmart was for the rest. No amount of fruit except the apples was allowed to be over 3$. That’s roughly 26 dollars we spent for fruit for two weeks.
Other tip: I froze a cup of each kind of fruit we got for smoothies - except bananas for which I froze 5 bananas - and to make a fruit sherbet ice cream, because we can’t afford frozen delicacies yet. Take it or leave it :)
VEGETABLES
6 92 cent bags of frozen vegetables. A 95 cent bag of baby carrots, two small squash, one green pepper, a bag of potatoes, and an onion. About 12$.
We prepare one bag of vegetables every other day, consuming half of it and saving the other half for the off day when we don’t make a new bag of vegetables. The carrots are one of our snacks we can eat whenever, and the rest are for specific meals.
GRAINS
Two loaves of bread, a canister of Quaker Oats, 2 boxes of blueberry muffin mix, one box of cornbread mix, one 95 cent cranberry orange muffin mix, a pumpkin bread mix, a thing of bagels, two boxes of cereal, and one of those huge cheap bags of cereal from Walmart, whole-wheat pasta noodles, tortillas, whole-wheat buns, 4 oven pizzas, and some 95 cent crescent rolls.
This is a pretty big category, but it was surprisingly cheap! First, I sent Daniel to Aldi to get whatever he could from this for cheaper than a few dollars, which knocked out a chunk of it. The rest we got at Walmart - again, everything had to be under 3 dollars, with the exclusion of the big bag of cereal, which cost about 5.
After one week, we’ve barely dented the above. This was more than enough for us.
PROTEIN
** This will probably be different for you! Daniel and I are not carnivorous. I only eat bird meat, and Daniel decided to do this with me because it’s super CHEAP. One of the reasons I love ‘em, the scrooge.
We got 2 canisters (I don’t know what to call them) of ground, low-fat turkey meat for super cheap, a bag of frozen chicken breasts from Walmart, 4 chicken drumsticks, a Jiff low-sodium peanut butter, and 24 eggs.
We make one meal per day with protein in it. For the first two weeks we chose the following “big” meals we would have: spaghetti with turkey meals, BBQ chicken legs, turkey burgers, Sloppy Joe’s (made with turkey), Chicken Fajitas, Baked Chicken.
That’s six meals, but we them each twice, so we have Chicken Fajitas once a week. Every two weeks, we will pick 6 meals and do the same. For the 7th day, we use one of our oven pizzas or have breakfast for dinner, which is a great way to save money.
DAIRY
½ gallon of almond milk (I can make it last a month), 1 and ½ gallons of 1% milk for Daniel, a package of American Cheese, and a knock-off container of yogurt.
That’s it. We don’t use butter, oil, or margarine in our house. 1) It makes me sick (lactose and a dairy allergy) and 2) I want our family to get our fats from nuts and fish, preferably. Or in the junk food we get.
** I use mashed bananas as a substitute for all oil. It tastes way better and doesn’t make your stomach feel gross at all!
OTHER
Bag of coffee beans, two Diet knock off 12 packs from Walmart ($2.52 each), a 12 pack of walmart lemonade (2.52), a small bag of flour, sugar, and brown sugar, salt, and pepper, sloppy joe mix, fajita mix, a bag of doritos, orange juice, and coconut oil spray for cooking.
That’s it.
For us, the first shopping trips cost $30.08 (Aldi), $3.00 (Target), 2$ (Publix), and $79.52 (Walmart). That’s $114.60, leaving us $15.40 to spend. We spent that the next few days - buying orange juice, the lemonade, yogurt, another thing of bananas, a pineapple, and the doritos. We had enough left over for the two boxes of additional Walmart cereal, where we both got to pick what we wanted. We have spent 150 and we will not spend any more until next Monday. We will have more than enough until then, and we’ve been able to have snacks, seconds, and smoothies throughout the day.
If you have any thoughts let me know. Or, better yet, more tips to save money! We aren’t gonna coupon though, because ain’t nobody got time for that.
Some other things, before we go.
As I said earlier, we have one “big meal a day.” Usually dinner, and usually Daniel makes it, which is awesome, because I’m a terrible cook. So with that, Daniel usually has a sandwich or leftovers from the night before for lunch. I usually have a peanut butter sandwich, a few pieces of fruit, leftover vegetables, and some cereal. Or we eat a big brunch. I cook crepes every few days, and I love to bake. I’ve made muffins and pumpkin bread and I like to make smoothies, so we’re eating a lot and staying full.
Definitely make sure you’re eating enough and giving into your cravings. If you want something sweet, eat something sweet. If you want to eat some doritos, get a bag. But make smart choices. Get knock-off brands, even if you think they “don’t taste as good.” Save your money now until you get jobs where you can get actual cereal and not the Walmart brand. You’ll make it until then.
Drink water instead of soda and coffee. This is HARD for me, but I’ve gotten it down to one a day, so we don’t have to buy as much.
Grow your own vegetables and spices! I cannot wait to grow our own basil, mint, tomatoes, and rosemary. It’ll be fresh and lovely and something to take care of.
I hope this helps you and your little family, wherever you are and however poor you are. Eat. Break bread together. Work and love each other. It'll all be okay.
I hope this helps you and your little family, wherever you are and however poor you are. Eat. Break bread together. Work and love each other. It'll all be okay.
