It’s been a while since I shared our monthly grocery haul. This past year has been a whirlwind, so I haven’t been as organized and intentional as I like to be. With rising food prices, our grocery spending has been higher than it ever has. Still, in the past 12 months, our average monthly spending on food for our family of 8 has only been $711.
Even with inflation, you can still feed your family without breaking the bank.
Of course this just doesn’t happen. I have specific strategies that I use to keep our budget low. I share those strategies in my course Grocery Budget Hero. The course includes 20 lessons that build on one another. The 4+ hours of video content is divided up into manageable chunks so no matter how busy you are, you can still find time for this valuable training. Use the code SAVE20 to get $20 off and get your grocery budget under control.
Before making May’s monthly grocery shopping trip, I made a very well thought out plan. I planned all of the meals that I would be making and wrote down all of the ingredients, then checked the pantry and freezer to see what we already had. Everything else went on my grocery list.
I have found that homemade freezer meals work best for our family. We have busy schedules, so having ready-made meals that just need to be thawed and heated works really well for us. I am planning for us to eat 5 freezer meals per week (20 per month). My goal is to make 40 at once so that I have a good variety to stretch over two months. We’ll see how it goes with freezer space though.
We keep our food storage, pantry, and freezer pretty well-stocked, so we don’t shop for everything every month. This month I shopped at Sam’s Club and Winco. You can either watch the video below or just scroll down for the exact prices.
Sam’s Club- $227
Powdered Sugar (7 lb) $6.98 x 4 = $27.92
Honey (48 oz) $9.98
Clementines (5 lb) $5.92
Bananas (3 lb) $1.47 x 4 = $5.88
String Cheese (48 ct) $9.74
Cottage Cheese (3 lb) $4.88
Shredded Cheese (5 lb) $12.18
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (5 lb) $11.87
Romaine $3.58
Spinach (16 oz) $3.38
Tortilla Chips (96 oz) $11.98
Southwest Salad Kit (12 oz) $2.38 x 3 = $7.14
Kale Salad Kit (12 oz) $2.88
Rotisserie Chicken $4.98 x 2 = $9.96
Meatballs (6 lb) $17.98
Pork Sausage (2 lb) $6.98 x 3 = $20.94
Sour Cream (3 lb) $5.28 x 2 = $10.56
Milk, 2 % $3.04
Milk, whole $3.38
Half and Half (1 qt) $2.48
Kit Kat Ice Cream Cones $7.88
Raisins (60 oz) $9.78
Large Flour Tortillas (54 oz) $7.92 x 3 = $23.76
Winco- $180
Yogurt (32 oz) $2.36 x 3 = $7.0
Frozen Broccoli (16 oz) $1.33 x 4 = $5.32
Eggs (5 dz) $13.97
Ground Beef (5 lb) $13.98
Garbanzo beans (1 lb) $1.48 x 4 = $5.92
Kidney beans (1 lb) $1.28 x 4 = $5.12
Granny Smith Apples $.98/lb x 5 lb = $4.99
Honeycrisp Apples $.98/lb x 6.4 lb = $6.27
Strawberries (1 lb) $1.28 x 24 = $30.72
Shell Pasta (1 lb) $1.18
Dried Apricots $5/lb x .38 lb = $1.90
Limes $.25 x 4 = $1.00
Salsa (32 oz) $3.28 x 2 = $6.56
Graham Crackers $2.18 x 6 = $13.08
Potatoes (5 lb) $98 x 2 = $1.96
Cilantro $.57
Coriander $4.48/lb x .06 lb = $.27
Baby Carrots ( 1 lb) $1.28 x 2 = $2.56
Carrots (2 lb) $1.48
White Onions $.78/lb x 3.2 lb = $2.52
Yellow Onions $.68/lb x 5.75 = $3.91
Oranges (8 lb) $5.98
Green Chilis (4 oz) $.78 x 4 = $3.12
Roma Tomatoes $1.28/lb x 5.3 lb = $6.82
Bread $2.55 x 8 = $20.40
English Muffins $2.58 x 4 = $10.32
Corn Tortillas $3.26
So in May we spent $408 on our monthly grocery haul. We will still make other small shopping trips for more produce and lots of milk (we go through nearly a gallon a day, but we already had milk in the fridge when I went shopping), but the bulk of our shopping is done.
In addition to making lots of freezer meals, I will be making homemade yogurt, granola, oatmeal packets, cornbread, and rolls (freezing balls of dough from this recipe for rolls) in bulk so we are set for the month.
I would love to hear how these prices compare to what you are currently paying. And if you’re surprised that my prices are better than you’d expect for California, you’re not wrong. Knowing where to shop and what to buy really is a game-changer. I would have to pay twice as much if I just went to a regular grocery store in my area. It’s definitely worth it for me to drive 30 minutes away to do my monthly shopping where I do.