I've been loving seeing people's grocery hauls on InstaStories, and it's made me a lot more conscious about my own process, so I figured I'd share what a random week looks like for our family.
Lately, no two weeks have been the same, so I can't really tell you that we spend X every week, or that I cook 5 times a week 100% of the time, because it just is so sporadic week to week lately, but last week was a pretty accurate look at how things go.
I meal planned on a Wednesday morning - right around 7am, and planned out 3 dinners.
Tuna Pasta Salad (this was a new one for us - and it's easy as could be. I added peas to ours)
Spicy Peanut Soba noodles & Asian salad
Besides needing everything for those recipes, I needed some standards too - milk, eggs, yogurt, butter, gold fish....you know - the necessities.
My grocery bill was $130 for the below - and I would say that's pretty fair.
The same as above, but just split with better lighting.
Most weeks, I end up going to the grocery store twice. Once during the week and then once during the weekend once we've decided we want to grill out, makes pizzas with friends, or do a double batch of chili to freeze.
On produce groceries (not including target or alcohol), for the entire week I bet we average close to $180/$200 a week. About once a month I also go to Trader Joe's to stock up on items that I prefer from there (peanut butter, sauces, waffles, snacks, frozen fruit, etc.) Joel and I both eat lunch at home or work most everyday, and I would say that covers about 4.5 cooked meals.
We eat fairly healthy, don't have tons of processed foods, and feel like we eat the food we buy and don't waste tons - but it's still a LOT of money to be spending on consumables every single week.
I know a lot of bloggers feel like they've made significant savings by shopping at Aldi - but I'd love feedback as to how groceries and meal planning and eating at home looks at your house too.
Love this post! I need to get better about what we spend too. I always try to get groceries on Sunday and Thursday. Sunday is 3 meals for the week and Thursday is junk for the weekend. Today I'm going to Trader Joe's so maybe I'll do a post on that!
ReplyDeleteI love this post. Grocery hauls are always fascinating to me. I do tend to hit aldi since it has such great produce buys but then I also hit the traditional grocery store as well. Jess at Just Jess
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I both bring our lunches to work (either deli meat wraps or leftovers), and my daughters (14 & 11 y/o) take their lunches to school (almost always a deli meat wrap, but occasionally will take leftovers, too.) We have been super frugal about eating out lately, so we've been cooking at home for almost all dinners. I try to start meal planning on Fridays when I get to the office. I'll work on it here and there over the weekend to give myself time to decide what we'll want to eat, to get an idea of the weather - if it'll be raining and we won't be able to grill, and to get a feel for what our evenings will look like (someone has an activity almost every day of the work week), etc. I make my final list on Sunday afternoons and head to the grocery store. I usually hit up Aldi first to get as much as I can there, then will head to Kroger for the rest (usually just ends up being deli lunchmeat and a few specialty items.) We try to make one Costco run a month for chicken, ground beef, pork loin, and the occasional flank steaks, along with paper towels/TP/dog food/etc. That trip usually runs us about $200ish. Our typical weekly grocery trips end up being around $100 total.
ReplyDeleteLately, our go-to's have been flank steak salads, tacos, baked chicken with brown rice and a veg, and some kind of soup. (We splurged on calories this week with chicken & dumplings from BooMama's blog. They are a fave for cool weather!)
Ugh! In trying to reduce our food costs, without the health costs, I find that I do better if I meal plan for 3 days at a time. And then usually give us a day to just scrounge to eat random stuff at the house. We bring our lunch to work most days and one kid always has a packed lunch, and the other is half and half. We are trying not to eat out that often (let's be honest, it isn't that fun with an 18 mo old). I am trying to add a freezer meal to our stash when I can, because that helps wit my time! I have got to get better with the slow cooker.
ReplyDeleteI meal plan on Sunday, and we primarily eat turkey, chicken, fish, and eggs for our protein. We do eat grassfed ground beef once every two weeks. We have a salad each night with dinner and a cooked veggie a lot of the time. Lunches are usually a sandwich or dinner leftovers. Breakfast burritos (without meat, which I typically make a dozen or more of and freeze), Kodiak pancakes, or healthy cereals are what we eat for breakfast. We love fruit and yogurt for snacks. We typically eat all meals at home (or pack to go) six days a week, We always dine out on Saturday night. I don't know how much we spend on groceries but it is a lot. I go to a variety of stores including Ralphs (Kroger), Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Bristol Farms, and Costco. I would rather spend money on healthy food than medical bills. It looks like you are doing a good job with your meal planning, especially with being pregnant!
ReplyDeleteYou know these are some of my favorite posts! I made a "blog every weekday" goal for October, so I'll make a note to track my meal planning and grocery shopping this week for a post next week!
ReplyDeleteLove this post! Your meal planning sounds pretty similar to mine on weeks when I'm on my game. We started shopping at Aldi and it really has helped, but I still make lots of Target runs. ☺️
ReplyDeleteWe pack lunches every day and I cook at home 6 nights out of the week. Including wine at a Hugh we spent £120 but last week I just went to Ali and everything was £70 for two of us. I really need to shop there more often because it makes such a difference!
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