$400 monthly grocery budget for family of 4?

[MrsPete]

It was hand soap from bath and body works (on sale). I definitely splurge on certain things that I like and I know that about myself

Nothing wrong with a splurge -- unless you're genuinely in financial trouble -- but splurges should be carefully chosen.

 

[StacyStrong]

Nothing wrong with a splurge -- unless you're genuinely in financial trouble -- but splurges should be carefully chosen.

Agreed

 

[MrsPete]

Rotisserie chicken breast

A Rotisserie chicken is cheap food, but look around to see who has the best price. In my area Walmart is the cheapest "regular price", but Harris Teeter (which is usually quite expensive) marks them down even cheaper late in the day, and one day a week our HT offers them as a loss-leader. Sometimes they mark down ribs too; I can cook better ribs, but I cannot cook cheaper ribs. Same thing about chicken: I can roast a better chicken, but I cannot (often) roast a cheaper chicken.

@MrsPete I think you are my guru.

Thanks. Cheap is in my blood and bones.

No, they don't have COUPONS.

Forget coupons. With the exception of the occasional health & beauty or cleaning product, you can almost always do better by buying store brand or by buying the basics instead of highly processed foods.

 

[CGB]

$400 is my typical goal for groceries for a family of four adults. We also have some diet restrictions that make our selections close to yours... no red meat, low sodium & low saturated fat. We rarely eat out and everyone packs lunches. We also avoid hormone-disrupting chemicals in health & beauty aids and laundry/cleaning supplies. A few years ago I started out on the journey you're asking about... and it changed our financial future. I learned a lot of our money was going to "convenience", not food. Our diets have changed since then (no processed foods or canned veggies), but I still approach grocery-shopping the same way. Here are some quick adjustments you can make:
1. Meal plan. Eliminates stress and food waste.
2. Keep a pantry. Stock it when products are at their lowest prices.
3. Freezer. Buy meat in bulk and re-package for specific meals (to avoid waste).
4. Trade sodas/juices for water/drink mixes & iced tea. (Major money-saver).
5. Shop seasonally for fresh produce. (Add extras to the freezer when in season & cheap.)
6. Pack your own lunches.

Gardening (or buying produce in season), canning, freezing, baking, cooking from scratch, and weekly food prep are all ways to continue to chip away at your grocery costs. There's a learning curve to each one, but even 1-2 of them will help. Finding a store that fits your needs will also help. I normally shop Sam's Club & Aldi, with specific items that I buy at each. (I do keep an eye on the produce sales at other grocery chains and will jump in to stock up if needed!)

 

[MICKIMINI]

A Rotisserie chicken is cheap food, but look around to see who has the best price. In my area Walmart is the cheapest "regular price", but Harris Teeter (which is usually quite expensive) marks them down even cheaper late in the day, and one day a week our HT offers them as a loss-leader. Sometimes they mark down ribs too; I can cook better ribs, but I cannot cook cheaper ribs. Same thing about chicken: I can roast a better chicken, but I cannot (often) roast a cheaper chicken.
Thanks. Cheap is in my blood and bones.
Forget coupons. With the exception of the occasional health & beauty or cleaning product, you can almost always do better by buying store brand or by buying the basics instead of highly processed foods.

We live in NH and don't have many choices for supermarkets. Market Basket (famous for the "strike" four years ago) is where I shop and they don't do online, curbside or delivery. Their prices are great and they have many unadvertised deals each week but you have to look for them. I value my time and shop once a week rather than running to other stores. I never buy food at Walmart and have never heard of Harris Teeter. I like to think of my frugality as a gift from my Scottish born grandma!

The reward I get for decades of being financially smart is owning DVC (since 1996) and vacationing at WDW for two weeks a year and we gift our son and DIL two weeks as well. When DH retires in three years or so we plan to spend at least a month as snow birds at Disney. It's all good!

 

[barkley]

lots of great suggestions.

in addition to tracking your spending for insight into your buying habits you might also do a quick inventory of what you have on hand/bring into the home for the next couple of months. then look at what was actually consumed over that period of time. that way you can get a count on the items you use regularly so you can take advantage of sales (i know what i use to the single digits per year on what we consider basic items and with some since they locally go on massive yearly case sales i purchase a year's worth and then put aside the $$$ i'm not spending on those items each month for the next year's sale). this way you can also find out what you RARELY use b/c it never fails that there are items all of us think we absolutely must have on hand at all times but almost never use (so it's better to just buy it when it's actually needed vs. spending/tossing post dated/buying new/repeat....).

totally agree with meal planning around sales or better yet-what you already have on hand (can't emphasize enough the value of doing an inventory of all your existing foods).

shop sales-if you like chicken and have a freezer, when drumstick go on sale stock up. do the same with thighs and breasts. i agree that whole chickens can be less expensive but these days i can't get a whole for the 99 cents a pound that drumsticks and thighs go for, and once in a blue moon i can get multi packs of breasts for as low as $1.49. we use an air sealer and put them up in freezer packages. seems these days ground beef is crazy expensive but some of the cuts of nicer beef are going on good sales. if that's the case i grab the sale beef and ask the butcher at the store to grind it up for me-they never have an issue with it.

costco-you really have to know your prices to find the deals. i've found that on their frozen veggies that i can get them cheaper on sale in easier to use smaller bags at the grocery store (so take a calculator and check out the per pound price before you buy that 5 pound bag there). unless you know that you will use the amount of beans and rice they sell in those massive packages and have appropriate storage then it will go to waste so get the smaller bags at other stores on sale. i used to buy my meats there but in recent years they've become more expensive than other stores on most items. if you do go to costco-always save your receipt b/c if any item you buy goes on sale within 30 days of purchase you can take your receipt to the membership counter for a refund of the difference.

She is super picky but also underweight so we need to hide protein into her meals

have you tried benecalorie? it adds 300 calories and 7 grams of protean to whatever you mix it in to. my son was a skinny minnie/picky eater (exacerbated by autism pickiness) and we could mix this into applesauce, yogurt, hot foods he ate and he never knew (i tried it-could not detect a texture of flavor difference in the food once added). it worked well for us.

 

[WeatherLights]

I think you could get it down to 400 per month if you are diligent about meal planning based on grocery sales and introduce beans into your diet. Both canned beans and dried beans are inexpensive and a great protein source! There are many varieties and they are super versatile--can be used instead of meat in most casserole or one-pot type meals.

 

[Dakota731]

I have saved 25% per week shopping exclusively at Aldi now so I suggest giving them a try

 

[barkley]

thought of a couple of others-

spices (dry)-if you use them frequently consider buying the large containers off amazon b/c it's a much better deal to spend $5.47 for 6 ounces of mccormick's spices than much more for the half ounce bottles in the store.

if you are'nt 'married' to a particular brand of an item give the store brand a try. i grew up in a household where canned beans were always s&w, veggies green giant but once i tried the store brands i found i liked them better and the cost savings was great.

 

[disneychrista]

thought of a couple of others-

spices (dry)-if you use them frequently consider buying the large containers off amazon b/c it's a much better deal to spend $5.47 for 6 ounces of mccormick's spices than much more for the half ounce bottles in the store.

Also check out the ethnic section for spices. We have a large Hispanic population. And the “Mexican spices” are always way cheaper. They are generally in cellophane bags not jars but for 50cents vs $4 who cares.

 

[Takeme2WDW]

@CGB
Great suggestions!

 

[BarlowFamily]

So many great suggestions! Even for myself, and I think I'm a pretty good budget grocery shopper. I prefer pen and paper to keep track of our budget, but I have friends who love the Every Dollar app. That may be a great way to keep track of what you are spending on groceries throughout the month. If you are purchasing groceries and other household items, just separate them out and make two transactions so you can really see how much you spend on just groceries. Meal planning is a big help for me. The grocery store trips where I "just wing it" are usually when I overspend. I agree with others that going from $800 a month to $400 a month is a drastic cut! First, figure out what your actually spending and then decide on a better (realistic) budget. You can do this!

 

[tcufrog]

You're not looking at the problem holistically. I noticed 2 issues:

1. You're shopping at lots of stores. How far apart are they? Does the savings outweigh how much you're wasting on gas?

2. You have a separate eating out budget. How big is the budget and how often are you eating out? Are you getting the food delivered or are you picking it up? Sit down restaurant with waiters or fast-casual? If you really want to save money on food, your biggest bang for your buck will be examining that. Depending on how you're eating out, there are easy ways to save money in that area without sacrificing eating out.

 

[Jmljasmine]

Things you're doing right:
- You're buying mainly healthy foods.
- You're not buying shredded cheese -- you know they put a thin layer of cellulose over shredded cheese to keep it from sticking together? Money aside, ICK!
- Eggs are very cheap right now -- Walmart is selling them for something like $2.60 for FIVE DOZEN. How do the farmers make any money? Consider omelets, quiches, etc. When my oldest went away to college, she was thrilled that the cafeteria served B4D (breakfast for dinner) every Thursday night; we adopted the habit in our own home.
- Fish is affordable (about $1/piece) IF you buy basic white fish in big frozen packages. It's only expensive if you're looking at salmon or deli-counter stuff. Let's not talk about my love of scallops and shrimp, and Swordfish is for anniversaries or other special meals -- not an everyday meal.
- Giving up "mostly organic" was a smart choice. By and large, organic is an advertising thing more than a health thing.
- I don't see you mentioning drinks, so I assume you're not buying sodas, juice or alcohol. I read somewhere that the average family spends 30% of its grocery budget on drinks, most of which add no nutrition to their diets.

Room for improvement:
- Get out of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Unless you're popping in for a single loss-leader, those are not budget stores.
- Echoing others, get rid of those chicken nuggets. Easy but very expensive for what you get. If your kids are attached to them, maybe you can still use them ... but less often. Make them a special treat.
- Still thinking of chicken: I just bought a huge pack of Chicken Tenderloins at Lidl yesterday -- $9 for the pack, and I divided it into FOUR smaller packages for the freezer (6 tenderloins per pack for my family of three). That's $2.25/meat cost per meal (that was a sale, but it's not something that's all that unusual). Walmart almost always has big packs of chicken breasts for $1.99/lb. Dividing up a big pack takes about 10 minutes and can save real money.
- Similarly, we LOVE chicken thighs, and they are often cheaper than other cuts. I can almost always get boneless skinless thighs at Target -- delicious in soups or baked, they're one of our go-tos. A chicken thigh recipe I found this summer /am making constantly -- good hot or cold for leftovers: https://redheadcandecorate.com/2018/01/chicken-loretta-2/
- You don't specify what type of yogurt you're buying, but that can be pricey. Look into making your own yogurt. You can make a gallon of yogurt with only 15 minutes or so hands-on time, and it'll cost less than $2. Emphasize to the kids that they can choose their own fruit.
- You don't say where you're buying, but we love Aldi's for cheese. Their selection is good, and their prices are always lower.
- You mentioned scratch-and-dent stuff. Are you also buying reduced-for-quick-sale meats? My freezer is full of nothing but yellow-tagged foods. Yesterday, for example, I bought three packs of chicken legs at Target (6 legs per pack?) -- they were $1.00, $1.04 and $1.04 respectively. They will find their way to the grill tomorrow night ... with homemade BBQ sauce.
- Yes, meat prices have skyrocketed lately. Instead of filling a plate with a piece of meat + veg, look for recipes that stretch meat. For example, we eat LOTS of stir-fry at our house; I chop a single chicken breast or a single steak between the three of us. An excellent stir-fry sauce that mixes with ANY protein and veg: 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup sesame oil, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, fresh garlic and ginger. Very inexpensive, and it's my youngest daughter's favorite.
- Are you soup eaters? I keep a medium-sized plastic tub in my freezer, and when I have a spoonful of green beans or half a chicken breast left over, I pop them into that container. When it gets full, I add broth, and it's soup. FREE soup.
- I don't see beans and rice in your line-up, but they're a budget saver. Look up a recipe for Red Beans & Rice. SO GOOD. You can add chopped chicken or kieobasa sausage, if you wish.

Questions & Comments:
- You say you're buying lots of veg. Are you buying bags of chopped veg prepared for the steamer, or things you prep yourself? The price difference is significant. It's hard to beat the cost of plain store-brand frozen veg, and the nutrition is the same as fresh -- but for some recipes, fresh is necessary
- Are you buying your chips at Aldi? Lidl is cheaper still, but Aldi's chips are pretty cheap. Do note that their sizes are sometimes smaller, so be sure you're "being honest" about pricing. No, chips aren't healthy or cheap, but don't beat yourself up over it. Most of us aren't buying as much healthy stuff as you are.
- Do you shop at Walmart? (Or its little brother, Walmart Neighborhood Market, which is quicker in-and-out?) They always have a big loaf of Italian bread (sliced or unsliced) for $1 -- sometimes it's in the day-old for less. Excellent for garlic bread or French toast.
- Similarly, do you have Jimmy John's in your area? They sell their day-old sandwich bread two 12" sandwich rolls for $1. You can drive-through and get JUST the bread. They often give you 3 rolls for the $1. I think they think I'm poor.
- Look around for other food-places in your area. We love to go to the Chinese grocery store, the Chef Store, a small butcher, and more. Not everything in all these places is a bargain, but we like buying certain things in those spots.
- You didn't mention food storage. Are you buying /storing things when they're on sale? My small chest freezer cost $40 from Craigslist. Do you have a pantry so you can stock up on canned olives, etc. when they're on sale? If not, could you get a freestanding pantry cabinet, even if it has to store in a hallway or the dining room? Here's a website I like; it's slanted towards the Mormon Church, but no reason others can't use the information: https://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/
- Have you ever read The Tightwad Gazette? It's a book that was very popular around the time I got married -- 30 years ago. It's a dated now (you won't relate to the prices she quotes), but the strength is in the methods. If you can get your hands on the first book OR The Complete Tightwad Gazette, read about her grocery store notebook method. Very analytical. In a nutshell: the author created a method for monitoring prices at multiple stores, and (after several months of recording prices) she figured out who was cheapest for peanut butter, who was cheapest for bread, how often chicken breasts go on super-sale, etc. And then she developed a list for each store so she could shop Store A this week and stock up on all the cheapest things, Store B next week for their cheapest things, etc. I know that when I started keeping records, I found that my hunches on who's cheapest weren't always true. It'll be work initially, but this is probably the only way to really get to rock-bottom.
I think $100/week is possible, but it would require a good bit of effort. On the other hand, I think you can hit $150/week without much work -- and that can include a reasonable amount of fresh veg and enough splurges that it won't feel like a sacrifice at all.
Maybe it varies from place to place, but I can pretty much always get chicken breast on sale (in big packs) for $1.99/lb. On the other hand, whole chickens vary wildly in price -- I won't pay more than $5 for a whole chicken. I have seen them in the $13 range, which is decidedly not a good deal.

We do love a whole chicken, and my husband always makes broth from the bones. He puts the bones into a colander pot inside the InstaPot. If we have any onion tops or other veg handy, he adds that. He pours the broth out in 2-cup measures into green-lidded dollar store plastic that we use ONLY for this purpose. Except for a bit of electricity, this broth is FREE.

If we don't have that broth, we use a concentrated jarred thing called Better than Boullion, which we buy at Walmart. It costs about $4 and lasts forever -- so much cheaper than paying for canned broth.
That sounds very reasonable.
Yes, deli meat also tends to be highly processed. Ask yourself WHY deli meat lasts longer than, say, a roast beef you cook yourself. The answer is chemicals.

For sandwiches, are you eating tuna salad and egg salad? They're cheaper than ham and cheese.
Nothing wrong with a splurge -- unless you're genuinely in financial trouble -- but splurges should be planned /carefully chosen. Otherwise you can go overboard without realizing it.

I wish those were egg prices here. I love eggs but ours are 2.60 for a package of 18 Large store brand.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I wish those were egg prices here. I love eggs but ours are 2.60 for a package of 18 Large store brand.

I hit Aldi's today...a few weeks ago, when they were the "national deal" at 47 cents/doz, my Aldi's said it wasn't participating, so I didn't buy the eggs (b/c they were $1.50/dozen, but it was the principle and b/c I didn't really need them)...

3ish weeks later, I'm in the store and now they are 50 cents/dozen...so, I bought my 3 dozen max b/c now I needed them, and that's a great deal - guess that 3 cents was important enough to not do the 47 cents (well, that, and a Lidl had a grand opening down the street 2 weeks ago - can you say competition is great b/c my Aldi's prices somehow got lower after having bumped up in the beginnings of the corona spring)...

 

[robinb]

Forget coupons. With the exception of the occasional health & beauty or cleaning product, you can almost always do better by buying store brand or by buying the basics instead of highly processed foods.

I totally agree. I never suggested coupons, the OP misunderstood me.

 

[The WDW 3]

MT

 

[MrsPete]

I wish those were egg prices here. I love eggs but ours are 2.60 for a package of 18 Large store brand.

These super-low egg prices are relatively new here -- I've been buying them for this price maybe 6-8 months. It may not last, but I'll enjoy it while it does. The only negative: that big 5-dozen box eats up my refrigerator space. My husband suggested that I start buying the 30-egg box that isn't quite as good a deal but is a more reasonable size for our family.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm gonna chime in again with some thoughts... I think if you want a REALLY tight grocefy budget like OP, a warehouse membership is money down the drain. You can find same prices on many items by shopping elsewhere. I think starting around $600,write down weekly spend, split into categories, etc Watch it for a month OP,and see if there's anything you can reduce based on those notes.
I *can* be done in a healthy way for this family,but do you *want* to do it? Like, a lot of healthy meatless meals, based on beans,legumes,rice etc are very inexpensive. However, it may be doable,but not comfortable.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm also gonna agree with some pp's..... my grocery bills changed drastically in this pandemic. the prices are higher ,less sales, less choices. so I tend to spend more to buy what I like.