Last month, I challenged my husband and myself to reduce our grocery bill. So, for the month of April, we challenged ourselves to not spend more than $75 per week on groceries (not including dining out).
To help us meet our goal, I attached an envelope to the front of the refrigerator, and every time my husband or I bought groceries, we put the receipt in the envelope. At the end of the month, here’s how we did:
- April 5: $36.02
- April 11: $38.06
- April 14: $12.32
- April 18: $56.75
- April 25: $49.80
Total: $192.95
Not too shabby, right?
So, here what really helped us save money at the grocery store this month:
- Meal planning (this was most important!)
- Incorporating on-hand ingredients into meals
- Using (and organizing) coupons
- Buying store brands
- Not buying too much (so nothing went to waste)
How did you do on your Grocery Budget Challenge last month?
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Thanks to everyone who entered! Here’s your winner: 53
53. Jessie, on April 29th, 2010 at 2:11 pm Said:
This is so handy! I try to stock up on things that I use a lot whenever they’re on sale…Oikos was 4/$3 yesterday at Kroger so you can bet I got a bunch!
Congrats, Jessie! Please email me at thaupert@nuval.com with your full name and mailing address to claim your prize.
Developed by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts, the 
Great savings! My april food bill was a little lower, too, but I’m afraid that’s probably because I got sick and went home for a while
Impressive! Coupons really help me…We’ve seen a drastic reduction since using them!
wow, I don’t know how you do it! my husband & I always seem to spend around $100 per week. I wish I had a grocery store within walking distance, I would love to shop meal-to-meal, I feel like I’d waste less food.
Tina, I think it is SO awesome that you and Mal were able to do so well with the budget challenge! Its a real inspiration to me to try to keep my grocery bills from running away from me. However, in the interest of your readers don’t you think it would be fair to note that a certain amount of the food you eat and therefore groceries is product reviews for the blog? That must certainly affect how much you spend if you’re reviewing a good amount for companies and Open Sky right? Not criticizing, just pointing out for those that might be baffled at how low your grocery bills are …
Wow! $12.32 for a week is incredibly cheap! Impressive savings
This is really useful for future reference… I’d definitely need to know how to save money as much as possible!
Wei-Wei
Although I read before that you feel you don’t need a ton of protein to feel full during the day, but how many times a month do you and your husband buy frozen meats? Do you buy them every time you shop, or do you do one large shop during the month, totaling more than $75?
edit: frozen OR fresh meats.
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congrats Tina! That’s awesome
wow that’s so impressive – were you using lots of staples from the pantry and/or freezer to keep it that low?
I challenged myself to keep under £300 for April and came in about £10 under and that’s just me by myself…food is definitely my biggest outgoing other than rent. I don’t think I eat THAT much but maybe I do!
- CJ
Wow, this is so impressive! Does this include eating out, too? That is always the struggle for me with my food budget!
This is very impressive. I’d spent over $100 a visit. I think i’m going to try this in May. I’ll see
[...] Trading Up Downtown » Blog Archive » Budget Challenge [...]
[...] Trading Up Downtown » Blog Archive » Budget Challenge [...]
You ought to take into account revising some of your sentences here, the grammar appears a bit odd and incoherent.
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