Hey friends!
Last week I posted about my $50 a week grocery budget and got a lot of positive feedback, so today I’m back with week two!
I’ve been working really hard to stick to this month’s total grocery budget of $200 and so far I’m right on track! I may not post weeks three and four here on the blog because I don’t want to be repetitious but I’ll be sure to post on social media (Facebook and Instagram) or update you in my bi-weekly email if I was able to keep to my budget or not!
Some quick notes from last week:
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 your meal planning/grocery shopping, check out this post and snag my free grocery list printable!)
Note: I put an asterisk by items on the menu that we already had in the pantry or freezer. Obviously if you are starting completely from scratch you would have to spend a bit more than $50 to buy some of the basics.
Here’s week two’s menu with my $50 a week grocery budget! (Check out the menu for week one here.)
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Week Two Menu
Breakfast options:
Cold cereal, Eggs, *Oatmeal, *Pancakes, English muffins
Lunch options:
Quesadillas, Leftovers, *PB & J sandwiches, Salad with chicken
Snack options: *Pretzels, Apples
Dinners:
For our dinners this week we already had some basics on hand such as cooked rice in the freezer, pasta in the pantry, lettuce in the fridge, etc. Also, I only planned for six dinners because we went out to eat one evening for our anniversary!
- Teriyaki Chicken, rice, broccoli
- Baked Salsa Chicken, salad
- Sausage Pasta
- Baked Potatoes with Turkey Bacon (the bacon was leftover from last week), green beans, fruit salad
- Sausage with Potatoes & Veggies (I follow this recipe for the seasonings but then add whatever potatoes/veggies I have on hand along with about half or less the amount of sausage that the recipe calls for)
- Southwest Salad
I feel like it’s important to mention here that we don’t always stick right to my meal plan – I might change which days we have which meals, or we may have something else easy that was in the pantry or freezer, or my husband may decide to randomly treat us to takeout (I love it when that happens!) 😉
BUT, even if we don’t stick perfectly to my meal plan, at least I made one and knew exactly what to buy at the grocery store. This keeps me from blowing my $50 a week grocery budget by running back to the store every other day for items I forgot I would need!
Grocery List
This week I bought a lot of fruits and veggies – you’ll see that they make up a big part of my list. This goes to show you that you CAN eat healthy on a budget!
I did most of my shopping at Aldi. If you don’t have one near you, check out this Kroger grocery budget post!
Aldi:
- Chicken breasts – $8.16 ($1.89/lb)
- Milk – $1.77
- Eggs – $1.38
- Cheddar cheese (16 oz. shredded) – $2.49
- Orange juice – $1.99
- English muffins – $0.49
- Cereal – $1.39
- Apples (3 lbs) – $3.89
- Grapes – $2.51
- Strawberries (2) – $1.98
- Applesauce – $1.89
- Broccoli – $1.39
- Potatoes (5 lbs) – $2.39
- Avocado – $0.59
- Grape tomatoes – $2.09
- Frozen green beans – $0.79
- Tortilla chips – $0.89
= $36.08
Walmart:
- Smoked turkey sausage – $2.78
- Green beans (2) – $2.54
- Bananas – $0.86
= $6.18
Grand Total = $42.26
Check out Week One and Week Three and Week Four here!
Love saving money? Here are 15 ways to save money on your groceries!
That’s it for today! Thanks for stopping by my blog. 🙂 Oh and hey, if you’re not on my email list I’d love for you to sign up below! I promise I won’t spam you! I usually send out emails once a week (or less because, well, life happens!)
