This month I had a $50 weekly grocery budget to spend on my family of four. Here’s my grocery shopping list and meal plan for week one. $50 may not seem like much but it is totally doable!
Hi friends!
Way back in 2018 I had the idea of writing a blog post sharing what we ate in a week on a $50 grocery budget. This blog post was the result and due to it’s popularity I have since shared many more similar posts.
As this blog post has continued to receive traffic I’ve come back to it several times to make some updates. As you can imagine, the grocery prices in 2024 are not the same as the ones back in 2018.
With this update (in January of 2024) I was able to keep the grocery budget at $50 but snacks are no longer included in the meal plan. Instead I’ve listed a few snack suggestions for those who want to spend a bit more.
For a more recent meal plan check out my $125 grocery list for 2 weeks of dinners or see all my frugal meal plans here.
And now here’s my original blog post . . .
Back when Pablo and I first got married (six years ago this month, wow!) I was very careful about sticking to our $50 weekly grocery budget. When I went grocery shopping I would add everything up on my phone’s calculator until I got a little more used to the prices. I did a pretty good job for awhile with sticking to that $50 weekly grocery budget!
Well, then the kids came along, and as you know, grocery shopping with kids can be a bit crazy. So, for the last little while I have not done such a great job at sticking to my list and ultimately my budget. Oops.
Well, this month I determined that I was going to do better! We usually budget a little bit more than $50 a week now that we have two kids but for this month we decided to challenge ourselves. So, I’m working with a $50 weekly grocery budget for the month, trying to come in a little under $50 when possible!
Check out some of my other meal plans + grocery lists here: $50 Week Two // $50 Week Three (low-carb) // $50 Week Four (no oven) // $60 Week One // $60 Week Two // $65 Meal Plan // $75 Meal Plan // $80 Meal Plan // 5 Meals for $40 // $120 Two-Week Meal Plan
Keep in mind that when I say grocery budget I truly mean just that. This does not include any paper products or anything like that. We budget those types of items separately.
To simplify my meal planning, I mainly plan for dinners and just keep some basic items on hand for breakfasts and lunches. (For help with regular meal planning, check out my Meal Planner & Recipe Binder!)
Below is our menu for last week!
Note: I did not include some of the basics on this list such as spices or condiments that you would typically already have on hand. Obviously if you are starting completely from scratch you would have to spend a bit more than $50 to buy some of the basics.
You may also be interested in: The Best Cheap Foods to Buy When You’re Broke
My $50 Meal Plan (for our family of four)
Breakfast options:
Cold cereal, eggs
(I also typically have ingredients for oatmeal and pancakes on hand)
Lunch options:
Quesadillas, leftovers, salad (can be topped with hardboiled eggs), *PB & J sandwiches
*I always have peanut butter and jelly on hand. They are not included in my grocery list below.
Dinners:
- Spaghetti + salad
- Beans and Rice (topped with corn)
- BLTs + baby carrots
- Roasted Chicken + homemade bread and broccoli
- White Chili (I halve the recipe for 2 adults and 2 small children) – served with shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips
- Breakfast for Dinner (eggs, turkey bacon, toast)
- Chicken Fried Rice + salad
You may also be interested in: How to Save Money on Groceries With Prices Rising
I kept things simple by buying only two kinds of meat for our meals – turkey bacon (used for two meals) and a whole chicken.
After we ate roasted chicken for one meal I took the rest off the bones to use for the white chili (using the chicken bones to make the broth, yum!) and the chicken fried rice. I can usually plan on getting at least 4 cups of chicken off the bones after our first meal.
Below is my $50 grocery list with the exact prices of all the groceries I bought. I bought everything from Walmart.
You may also be interested in: 75 Frugal Family Friendly Dinner Ideas
My $50 Grocery List
Note: This $50 meal plan / grocery list does not include snacks. However, for about $6 more you could purchase a bag of apples and a bag of pretzels. Or, you could make some simple homemade muffins.
Milk (2 gallons) – $5.56
Eggs (2) – $3.68
Sour Cream – $1.18
Shredded Cheese (Cheddar or Mexican blend, 16 oz) – $3.98
Turkey Bacon – $3.72
Black Beans (uncooked) – $2.28
Rice – $1.64
Tortillas – $1.98
Cereal (2 boxes) – $3.94
Bread (2 loaves) -$3.74
Spaghetti – $0.98
Spaghetti Sauce – $1.62
Canned White Beans (2) – $1.64
Tomatoes (3) – $0.63
Frozen Corn – $0.98
Frozen Broccoli – $1.16
Romaine Hearts – $2.74
Baby Carrots – $0.98
Whole Chicken – $7.21
Grand Total = $49.64 (prices current as of January 2024)
I hope that this meal plan and grocery list for four on a $50 weekly grocery budget has given you some helpful ideas!
What are your favorite cheap meals to make for your family? I’m always looking for more meal ideas because it’s easy to get stuck in a rut, so share your favorites with me below in the comments!
Helpful Meal Prep Resources
Another Helpful Resource For Saving Money On Groceries
I also highly recommend this ebook from Crystal Paine at MoneySavingMom.com. It shares 25 simple and effective ways to cut your grocery bill and I found it very helpful. I’m an affiliate for Crystal’s products because they are always well done and worth what she charges (which I can’t say for a lot of ebooks and courses out there!)
If you’re interested you can check it out here!
As always, thanks so much for stopping by my blog!
Be sure to check out my YouTube channel for more easy meals and frugal grocery hauls!
Great ideas!! I’m a regular Aldi and Costco shopper and I live new ideas for meals from their selections.
Thanks Janet! Yay for Aldi and Costco!!
This is amazing. I don’t leave my supermarket without spending $150 or more every 10 days. I am thankful for apps like Ibotta to get some money back!
Ibotta is great!! I wish I could use it for Aldi but I definitely do for purchases from other places!
Aldi is a life saver for us. As a family of 8, my budget is I’m a wee bit larger than yours, but Aldi is the only way we can make it work!
I’m from a family of 13 so I completely understand. Yay for Aldi!
This is seriously impressive. I have a hard time sticking to our budget and it’s way more that $50 a week.
Sticking to a budget is hard, I agree!! But when I do it’s definitely rewarding!
Thank you! This is great. We spend wayyy too much on our weekly Walmart runs. I need to stick to something like this!
Ahh Walmart – why is it so easy to overspend there?!
Hi. Six ingredients or Less by Carlean Johnson is a slow cooker cookbook I have been using a lot these past few years. I especially like it in the summer so I don’t turn on the oven.
Oh cool, that sounds like my kind of cookbook, I’ll have to check it out!
Wow! That’s awesome! Your meal plan for this week sounds so yummy–I need to do breakfast for dinner more often!
Did you use ground meat you already had for the spaghetti?
I love, love Addis, too!
I will often use ground beef or ground turkey if we have it on hand but for this particular week I just planned for the spaghetti to be a meatless meal. 🙂
This meal plan looks alot like ours. We spend a $100 a week but have 6 people in our family. Last week we only spent $70. And it all was healthy whole foods. Its nice to know there are other families out there that are just as frugal. Some of our friends and family think we are crazy for spending so little, but we are pationate about getting out of debt.
Nerdymommyof4. com
Good for you guys!! Getting out of debt is going to feel so good, way to go!
What’s your brand and rice recipe?
Sorry for such a late reply! I don’t follow a specific recipe for my beans but here’s how I make my rice: https://www.thetexmexmom.com/2017/02/06/how-to-cook-brown-rice/
How bigs your family?
There are five of us, but my kids are five and under so they don’t eat a huge amount … yet! 🙂
I love your article about a 50.00 a week grocery budget. I feed 3 grown ups. this is very hard on that amount. I don’t have a grocery budget, I have a BUGGY budget, if it goes in the buggy it has to fit the budget. Any kind of soap, paper, batteries, cleaning supplies. My buggy budget is 60.00 a week. The closest Aldi store is 75 miles from my house. I have a Save a lot, Walmart and Cashsaver (not shopping at that 1). So I do the best I can.
Where do you live that you can find these foods for so cheap ?
I live in Texas, but prices were similar in SC as well when I used to live there.
What if you have a gluten free husband? Gf bread is 6 dollars a loaf and it is tiny. Gluten free cereal is almost 5 dollars a box. Gluten free pasta is 2.50 for 8 oz. if I buy 2 of each I am already at 27 dollars for 3 ingredients. Not to mention living in the city even Aldi prices are high. Not realistic for our family.
That would definitely make things tough! 🙁
On this little blog I just share what works for my family. I am aware that what works for us will not work for everyone!
Hi! This is very impressive. Just curious though, does this mean the only option for fruit is apples? I would like to try something similar but probably would need to stretch the budget a bit more for fruits and veggies.
Hi Tina! For that particular week I only purchased apples (my kids eat them every single day) but we often have other fruit on hand too. It just depends on the week. 🙂
My best secret for saving money on groceries and more is simple: https://ibotta.onelink.me/iUfE/8cc13c64?friend_code=lrxmroo
I have earned over $50 in cash back just by buying my groceries as usual! Happy saving everyone! 🙂
Where are you shopping? How are you getting these prices? I’d love to buy these things at those prices. Lol even my aldi in Indiana dosent have any of the things on your list at that price. Maybe I need to move😂. I’m still gonna try this list and see what my cost is. Thank you for sharing this .
Believe it or not these were the prices exactly a year ago (Aug 2021) when I updated this post. Sadly they’re most definitely higher now a year later. 🙁 Oh and I live in Texas!
i am wondering how old your children are? My teen son alone would eat the entirety of your shopping.
Back when I originally wrote this post, I had three kids, ages four and under, so they definitely weren’t eating all that much compared to what they are now just a few years later! I’m anticipating my grocery bill will get higher and higher every year ha ha!