Right now I am just feeding three people yet I have been having a REALLY hard time spending less money at the grocery store. I’ve been shopping a week at a time (we eat a LOT of produce) and I do add household items and food for the dog in that total as well. I would REALLY like to get back to $100 per week and I’m hoping some of the brilliant minds out there could show me where I can do that.
So here is my most recent grocery trip:
The cold stuff… of the bags of chicken were for the dog and the coffee creamer is non-negotiable!
The junk food… disclaimer: the crackers and cereal were a pretty good price, the cup o’ noodles are getting packed off to my husband and the caprisuns were a one time buy because we were going to have some friends with kids over this weekend.
The produce, already the broccoli, celery, pepper, cuke, and most of the carrots, apples and grapes are gone. Produce gets eaten like it’s going out of style around here.
This is what my fridge looks like pretty well stocked.
Maybe I just have to realize that living in Hawaii with two growing kids (my daughter is almost as tall as I am now) that this is as good as it’s going to get. I do plan on trying some cracker recipes, my kids LOVE homemade granola bites, I can’t keep them on hand!
Sink Or Swim 
My mother used to have an expression that stated, “You can have anything you want and this is what you want.” We grew up very poor so that tied us over when funds were short. Even today, I look over the grocery sale ads and choose only items on sale (unless it’s a special occasion) Then I load up on those and freeze them. So I still can create great meals around $2- $3 that way for the two of us. This post brought back memories of learning discipline the hard way, but I’m so grateful for those early values. Thank you for your post.
I THINK about $100/week and it is about a $100/2 X week or maybe the reality if I really look at it is twice that! I can’t look this month because I purchased for Jacquie and her visiting family of five for the weekend… eight adults and two teen/adults. Hay carumba! You do keep me focused, though, Reb! I do need to get a job! Love, Mom
Rarely do I buy brand names, I also try as often as possible to buy local. I shop for my produce at farmers markets (there are a lot up here in Mililani/Wahiawa) and when there are good prices I stock up and freeze a lot.
I buy some stuff at Sam’s Club and some stuff at the commissary. That puts just the two of us at around $130/wk and we eat a ton of produce (we eat mostly vegan) but don’t really buy a whole lot of meat/dairy.