It’s time for another installment of Monica’s Two Cents where I answer YOUR questions!
If you have a question for me, I would love to hear it. You can fill out the form on the Contact page or send me a message via Facebook.
Now, let’s dive in to today’s question.
When I posted my March Debt Freedom Progress Report, I received this question in the comments:
“Great job in meeting or exceeding almost all your goals! Also, I’d love a post about groceries. How do you spend only half of what you did a few months ago?”
– Catherine
Catherine is referring to how we spent more than $1,000 on groceries during the month of January. While in March, we spent only $586.73 on groceries.
This was still more than our $500 budget so reducing our grocery spending is still a work in progress. But we have improved in this area, and as I stated in our April Debt Freedom Progress Report, we are determined to keep our grocery spending under $500 for the month of May.
To answer the question, I first want to explain how we used to buy groceries, and then I’ll dive into the strategies we’re using now to keep our spending below $500.
Here’s how we used to buy groceries:
I’ve traditionally had the “just in case” mentality.
As in, “Let’s buy this ____ just in case we need it later,” or “Let’s keep this ____ just in case it comes in handy later,” or “I’ll pack this ____ for our trip just in case we need it.”
As you can imagine, that kind of thinking leads to stuffed pantries, stuffed closets, and stuffed luggage.
When it came to groceries, I would stock up on all of our staples just in case we ran out of our current supply. We used to stock up on whatever we thought we were running low on or would potentially run out of in the next few weeks.
My thinking was that using this approach would save us another trip to the store later. But as it turns out, there is always something more to buy. So we would make another trip to the store anyway and find more things that we should buy just in case.
The cycle never ends.
We used to buy as much organic food as possible.
Since hearing more and more about the benefits of consuming organic foods over conventionally grown foods the past few years, we’ve switched to buying as much organic food as possible.
As parents, we want to make sure that we’re feeding our kids high quality food without unnecessary pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. And we don’t want those in our bodies either.
But choosing organic foods can be costly. While I believe that choosing organic foods can be better for our longterm health, it sure can put a strain on our monthly grocery budget.
We would go through 3 or 4 gallons of organic milk each week.
Ever since our son started drinking cow’s milk, we’ve purchased organic milk for him.
The current price for a gallon of organic milk in our city starts at $5.49 – $5.99.
Our son LOVES milk. So much so that he would drink an average of 4 cups each day, and we would go through 3 or 4 gallons each week!
He would live on milk if we let him!
Buying that much organic milk each month definitely added a nice big chunk to our grocery spending.
All of these factors definitely contributed to the insane amount we spent on groceries during the month of January, and we’ve been working toward getting closer to our budget amount of $500.
Here’s what we do now:
In order to ensure that we stick with our $500 grocery budget for the month of May, we’ve established some guidelines.
1. We’ve adopted the “just in time” approach instead of the “just in case” mentality.
Now, we only purchase items we need for upcoming recipes. This allows our cash to remain as cash and not have money tied up in grocery items that sit in our pantry unopened for weeks or even months.
The only exception to this rule leads into the next one.
2. If an item is on sale that we know we will need in the near future and we know we have enough room left in our grocery budget for the month, we’ll stock up to take advantage of the bargain price.
3. We don’t buy as much organic food.
While we would like to purchase all of our food as organic, we have realized that that approach doesn’t fit with our budget right now.
So we try to follow the “Clean 15” and “Dirty Dozen” produce recommendations from the Environmental Working Group to save money. For the most part, we follow the rule that if a piece of produce has a peel that you don’t eat (i.e. bananas, oranges, watermelons) it is safe to buy conventionally grown, as the peel serves as protection from the harmful chemicals.
4. We’ve been limiting our son’s milk consumption. Our son doesn’t drink quite as much milk as he used to, but we’ve also implemented a new rule in our house — he has to drink a cup of water in between each cup of milk. This approach has gotten him down to drinking two cups of milk on most days. Now, we go through milk at a much slower pace and two gallons will last us a little more than a week.
We plan to stop buying more food when our grocery spending reaches $450 for the month and get creative. We haven’t implemented this rule yet, but we are going to this month. Putting a halt to normal grocery spending at $450 leaves room for buying more staples (like milk or eggs) if we need them before we get to our maximum budget amount of $500.
And it forces us to eat the food that we’ve already purchased rather than letting it sit in our freezer or pantry for another month or two. What a concept, right?
More considerations:
Finally, I’m assuming that you are reading this article because you want to save money due to your debt load. If this is the case, consider refinancing. A company I really like is SoFi.
Here are of our best articles that feature debt payoff resources and success stories
Alice and Scott Paid Off $200,000 In Debt In Just 7 Years
Yes, You Can Pay Off Debt When You’re Behind On Your Bills
Ron and Thu Paid Off $137,000 in Only 4 Years
What About You?
Participate in the conversation. How have you saved money on groceries? Do you have any rules or spending guidelines that you follow? Share in the comments below.
YES! I have suffered from the “just in case” mentality myself. SUCH a money-waster. We used to have food falling out of our cupboards because there simply wasn’t enough room for all the excess. Over the past few months we have been using what we already have, buying minimally at the store (except for the *necessary* staples, of course) and purging the old food that we don’t need. It has helped to bring balance to our hectic grocery-life. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful ideas, cheers!
Every day I see the big unopened Costco box of organic chicken stock that I bought at least two months ago because I thought we were running low and wish that I had the extra funds for our grocery budget this month. It’s a great reminder to just buy what we really need in the immediate future next time I’m at the store. I’m glad you liked this post!
A real bummer that organic is often so much more expensive. Sometimes I wonder if items are really organic or if it is just clever marketing as truth be told, I can’t tell the difference in the taste. Anyway, sounds like you are getting it under control. So well done.
Thanks, Ursula! There is much controversy over whether spending more for organic is worth the higher price, but there are certain items where we feel it is definitely worth it. Thanks for the support and encouragement. 🙂
We spend so. much. money on groceries. It’s the biggest area in our budget for improvement. I am a former vegetarian, so when I buy any meat (which isn’t very often) it has to be the New Seasons kind, which is expensive. Add on the organic and shopping for 5 people and it’s just a lot. One tip I have – which is both good for the budget and good for other reasons – is this. Every few weeks I will roast a chicken. After dinner is over, I make a stock from the bones and then we have soup for another day at least, usually two. It hardly costs anything (just the cost of a few carrots, celery and an onion), it’s healthy, and it makes me feel good that we used the whole animal. Plus the stock will freeze well for later if you don’t use it all in the soup. Oh and also we do eggs usually once a week for dinner. I’m looking forward to our garden helping us out with the produce bills this summer! We’ve already got some lettuce coming up. Thanks again for the great post!
That is such great advice, Ali! I love the idea of using the whole animal! Growing your own food is such a rewarding process. It’s something we need to do more of. Glad you liked the post!
This is an area I need to track more closely. Running out to the store willy nilly whenever we run out of something is aggravating and costly and a waste of time! I think your last tip, putting a halt to grocery spending right before you reach your budget, is the smartest one here. Heck, you could just do that at the end of the month anyway. That’d force us to use up leftovers in the freezer and the last of the veggies before they go bad!
Yep! This rule alone will keep us under budget this month. Glad you liked this post, Catherine! And thanks for the question! 🙂
I find that our biggest expense is meat (I try to buy organic). Are you able to buy organic meats on this budget or was that one of the things that you cut out?
Buying organic meat certainly adds up. We still buy some organic meat but not as much as we’d like. We did order a quarter of a pasture fed cow that we’ll receive in June or July. The cows are not certified organic, but the farm follows organic practices. We expect the meat to last us a long time and help us reduce our future spending on groceries.
We also follow the Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen lists from EWG. That helps keep some of our grocery costs down. We also grow a large summer garden. But we know some months are going to be spendy, like when we buy a 1/3 a grass-fed beef cow every year and stock our freezer. Eating healthier is going to cost more sometimes and that’s OK with us, because we figure we are preventing paying for disease, sickness, and doctor visits later on.
I agree with you, Tracy! Spending more now on healthier food will save on doctor bills later. We haven’t done much gardening, but it is something I would like to do at some point. I think it would be a great activity to do with our kids when they get a little older.
I always love learning how different people manage their groceries; can always learn something from everyone! I do the same with organics: when I went mostly Paleo for my elimination diet, my budget was totally blown by groceries so now I focus on buying organic when it comes to certain foods and drinks and being lax on the rest.
It’s definitely a challenge to eat Paleo and keep a reasonable grocery budget. I like the idea of balance. When we’re 100% debt-free, we can re-examine our budget and allocate more funds to groceries if necessary, but right now, balance is helping us to reach our financial goals.
I very much like the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen approach for fruits and vegetables; I try to buy local, sustainable most of the time and also seasonal to help with our budget. Also find that buying at a farmer’s market or the farm stand is also more cost effective. Thank you for sharing your tips.
Those are great tips too! We don’t get to the farmer’s market as much as we’d like, but we do have a u-pick farm not too far from us we should check out.
The uptake of water is a great trick – most people do not drink enough water and mistake the need for water with eating or drinking other things. A huge portion of my grocery bill went down now that I don’t buy orange juice or soda and only get milk if I plan to cook with it, plus it helps you feel more full so I can have a second meal with leftovers.
I’ve recently upped my water intake too. I shoot for 100 oz each day. If I find that I’m hungry in the middle of the afternoon I drink a bottle of water and wait a bit before reaching for a snack.
Great strategies…and the cup of water between each cup of milk idea is a great one. We actually did that with our son when he was younger (now they drink milk only at meals). Milk is a great food, but kids don’t need as much of it as some people think.
Thanks, Melinda! I agree, and our son was drinking way too much of it. He wouldn’t be hungry for meals if he chugged his milk right before. He’s not loving the limitation, but it’s better for him and our budget.
Great job cutting your grocery spending by so much! I’ve never heard of eMeals before but it sounds super helpful and I might have to try it. We only buy half gallon milk cartons and I honestly wish my son would drink more, but he does drink it daily at school. I do a lot of stock piling and limiting trip to the store so we don’t go over budget. I’d also like to squeeze some more organic fruits and vegetables into the budget.
Thank you, Chonce! Costco has been getting more and more organic produce, and they have great prices! We’ve been buying more fruits and veggies there lately. 🙂