In keeping with this month’s Grocery Budget Challenge, I made a conscious effort to really watch my spending this week. Like always, I cut coupons, planned meals, and kept my eyes pealed for sales at the grocery store. In the end, I only spent $36.02 on a week’s worth of groceries for my husband and me! Success! 
In this week’s cart:
- Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Flour Pita Bread (NuVal score: 65)
- Teddie Unsalted Old Fashioned Natural Peanut Butter (NuVal score: 49)
- Vanilla soy milk
- Nature’s Pride Whole Wheat bread with honey (NuVal score: 26)
- Bananas (NuVal score: 91)
- Apples (NuVal score: 96)
- Bisquick Heart Smart Pancake Mix (NuVal score: 23)
- Red bell pepper (NuVal score: 96)
- Zucchini (Nuval score: 99)
- Yellow squash (NuVal score: 99)
- Prego 100% Natural Italian Sauce Roasted Garlic & Herbs (NuVal score: 43)
- Plastic baggies
- Cape Cod Sweet Mesquite Barbeque Potato Chips (NuVal score: 31)
- Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Potato Chips (NuVal score: 25)
- Spinach (NuVal score: 100)
- Carrots (NuVal score: 99)
- Seapak Frozen Tempura Shrimp
- Broccoli (NuVal score: 100)
Trade
Bisquick Original Pancake Mix (NuVal score: 2) for Bisquick Heart Smart Pancake Mix (NuVal score: 23)
Prego Fresh Mushroom Italian Sauce (NuVal score: 27) for Prego 100% Natural Italian Sauce Roasted Garlic & Herbs (NuVal score: 43)
Save
I always check out the reduced produce area of my grocery store with the hope of finding some good deals. But, I only buy produce that I plan to use right away or have something in mind for it. It’s not worth buying damaged produce if I don’t end up using it– then it’s a waste of money!
This week, I found a bunch of bruised bananas that I immediately peeled and froze in the freezer for smoothies. In my opinion, frozen bananas are the best addition!
Developed by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts, the 
Thanks for the great grocery ideas:)
I have a few questions after reading this post and seeing what you bought.
First, I think I would find it helpful if you would say what are you planning to make for meals this week. Aside from giving us readers ideas for our own households, I personally would find it helpful to see how you’re using all these products.
Secondly, I notice that there is hardly any protein in what you bought, did you buy meat/seafood/vegetarian sources of protein in previous weeks and have it in the freezer? Even in last week’s purchases you bought Tofurky, eggs, and meat-free Tuscan breasts. I find that the bulk of my grocery bill is buying produce and healthy proteins.
My next question was actually asked by someone else as a comment in a previous post. Where do you get coupons for healthy foods? I too would want to use coupons, but I avoid processed foods and really only shop the perimeter of the market (produce, seafood counter, meat, dairy) and rarely get much from the middle of the store. But, sadly that’s where the the coupon bargains are found! I’m curious to know what your coupon source is so I can use it too!
@Jill: I post all of my meals on my personal blog, Carrots ‘N’ Cake (http://carrotsncake.com), so you can see exactly what I am eating this week.
I’m not an RD, but I personally don’t think I need that much protein in my diet. I’m typically satisfied with the bulk of my meals being carbs, fat, and produce.
I get coupons from all over the place! I talk about where I get them in this post: http://www.tradingupdowntown.com/2010/01/grocery-shopping-101-before-you-leave-your-house/
Good questions, Jill. I was also wondering how you were planning to use these items. There are two of us and we cannot seem to keep the grocery bill under $100 – do you plan eating out into your weekly meal plan? I would love to know how to stretch this amount of groceries for an entire week! We seem to include some kind of meat protein into every dinner, and that’s where a lot of the $$ goes.
Hi, Tina! I was wondering if one of these days you could do a post on the NuVal scores of potatoes. Do sweet potatoes and regular old white potatoes score the same? It seems like a lot of people avoid white potatoes like they do white bread and white pasta. Are regular potatoes really that bad? Thanks
@Jody: They don’t, actually. Sweet potatoes score a 96 and russet potatoes score a 93.
I totally agree about the bananas! Great job on the budget
I also noticed when I was buying spinach this weekend, it scores a 100, woo hoo!
The Kroger by my house usually puts bananas that are BARELY ripe, into a little white paper bag that says “Ready for Baking.” I mean usually they have a little green left at the top. But they’re always on sale for 39 cents a pound. I’ve literally bought like a dozen banana before for less an a dollar. I just put them in a brown bag on my counter to speed up the ripening and they’re ready for oatmeal, banana bread, or smoothies!
Great job on getting an abundance of healthy goodies for under $40. Eating well doesn’t have to break the bank. Bravo.
Ummm how in the world did all that only cost $36? I am grumbling to myself right now because the good market is 30 minutes away, and the one close to us is sooo pricey (but usually worth it). We usually spend $75/week… with one week every 5 weeks or so being about double that to stock our pantry (we currently have about 8 packs of flatout wraps in our freezer!). I love this challenge and can’t wait to keep reading!
Great post – I too often blog about how to save money and eat healthy which I think is very important to let everyone know that eating well can be done on any budget. Loved your husband’s challenge and you got so much!Great tips as always.
Hi Tina! I love your carrots’ncake blog and this is my first viewing of this one. I was wondering if you think it is more budget friendly to shop once per week rather than once every couple weeks. I work nights and my husband works days so meal planning is getting hectic! Thanks for all you great advice and healthy living tips.
~ Erica
Cape Cod Potato Chips! Yeah! I live on Cape Cod…love em!
I actually went to their factory and saw how they make em! 
This is a bit random, but thanks for mentioning that you unpeel the banana before you freeze it! I tried freezing a banana for smoothies with the peel still on once and… no dice.
I checked my local grocery store for damaged produce but sadly they don’t seem to offer any. Nice work sticking with your under $40 budget!
You got a great amount of food for only $40! I always just get whatever I want, but I bet if I planned a little better I could cut down on my food bill!
great idea! i find that when I get a boost of feeling healthy I spend soooo much more… or get a craving or great idea for meals (usually from food blogs) then make something new when I still have leftovers! Think I will try this challenge for a few weeks, & see how I do;)
Tina, I do the same thing with bananas. Or if I find them on sale I buy extra (more than what my husband eats in a week) and freeze those.
Great money saver and makes life easy.
Thanks for answering my question. I’m surprised that Russet potatoes score so high! I still like my sweet potatoes better though
It’s also helpful to note that in your Carrots n Cake blog you said that the tempura shrimp were free, due to a coupon you had to try a free Seapak product. That would have added $8 to your total
@Ananda: I said I had a coupon!
For your grocery budget challenge does that only include food items or does it include other “staples” like trash bags and shampoo?
I think we do a fairly good job with our food budget but the other necessities add a little extra each week.
@Stephanie C: Not usually. Those items are a lot more expensive at the grocery store, so I don’t usually buy them there. It’s actually one of my Grocery Shopping 101 tips!
How much do you spend eating out per week? Somehow my husband and I eat $100 worth of food per week, but we almost never eat at restaurants.
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