Slash Your Grocery Bill Challenge

Lately I've noticed that my weekly grocery bill has been on a bit of a roller coaster, some weeks I'm great with planning and using coupons, deals, and featured products at the stores where we shop and other weeks I'm just all over the place which results in a bigger bill and somehow not enough of what we need. So I then end up making several miscellaneous trips through out the week.

It's nice to start the week off with a plan and I enjoy it when I make the time to put the effort in. I've been contemplating trying a 'no spend' month for a while now but I don't know if I can pull the trigger on that just yet. So, this week I decided to challenge myself to a grocery bill no larger than $60, to make a weekly meal plan using most of what we already have in the freezer, fridge, and pantry and only buy to fill in the gaps. We are a household of 2 adults, 2 children, and a baby on solids. Disclaimer: I'm no expert, I'm just giving this a try and bringing you along for the ride.

First, I went through and 'shopped my kitchen'-- making a list of everything I already had on hand. 

Next, I broke out my cookbooks and logged onto Pinterest and started piecing together meals using the things I had listed and trying super hard to only have to fill in small blanks. This is what I came up with, listed below.

After that was completed I got started making up my grocery list, working hard to keep it at $60. My kids are serial snackers so I had to think hard about what snacks I could make myself to have on hand for them. Like making Mini Pumpkin Muffins instead of buying Annie's cookies, Oatmeal Energy Balls instead of buying Clif Kidz bars, Micro Popcorn instead of Pirates booty (I was personally sad about that one), using Orange Juice to make Homemade Gatorade which doubles the life of the OJ bottle in our house and Watermelon, Feta and Mint salad for myself since I already had the feta and mint on hand!

 My grand total came in at $62 and since this was my first go at trying the 'slashing the grocery bill challenge' I'm going to consider it an accomplishment. Our weekly bill usually comes in at around $140-150 dollars. Also, if you have Peapod grocery delivery and pick up in your area they offered $20 off of a purchase of paper towels and bathroom tissue if you choose an on-site pickup. I did that this week instead of having them delivered to the house and basically stocked up (on those products) for the month while saving big time.

If you want to check out what Peapod is all about and if they are delivering to your area here is a link for you --> Save $25 on Each of Your First Two Orders and Free Delivery For 60 Days with code AUTUMN50 at Peapod.com! $50 off promotion includes $25 off each of your first two $100 orders. Valid until 11/18/17.


So, friends, are you challenged to slash your bill? What's your game plan? Be sure to come back and share your before-and-after. I bet you’ll have something to say!