Small Victory: The Grocery Budget

I'm a very frugal person. I use coupons and absolutely love a bargain. Grocery shopping in the past year has been a real learning experience for me as I started following The Grocery Game and scouring the Sunday papers for coupons, researching sales and buying things at the most opportune time. I've mostly done very well with it, though I found some weeks frustrating when there weren't many coupons I could use or any sales that benefitted me at the stores. The holidays were especially slow with coupons and sales for non-holiday food items, which I found very discouraging.

HOWEVER - I'm back with a vengeance. This Sunday's paper was STUFFED with coupons and there were sales a-plenty.

This week also marked the first time I ever had a set amount to spend while grocery shopping. Usually I search for bargains and just spend whatever I end up spending. Because we're on such a tight budget, putting all the money we can towards paying off debt, we came up with a loose menu of dinners for the week, something I could build my shopping list around and give us something to plan for instead of the usual "what do you feel like having tonight?" conversation, which inevitably would lead to Subway for dinner when neither one of us feels like cooking anything. While Subway doesn't exactly break the bank, it is extra $$ we can use in other ways.

I set my budget for the next 2 weeks at $150, so after planning the menu, I figured I'd just split the goal in half for Sunday's shopping and made it my mission to only spend $75. I'm not very competitive, however I do enjoy proving an impossible challenge possible - especially when my only competitor is myself.

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday - Chicken Parmesean
Tuesday - Soft Tacos

Wednesday - Soup and Sandwich
Thursday - Taco Salad

Friday - Red Beans and Rice

After sorting through my list from the Grocery Game, and sorting through the fridge and pantry, I drew up my list of items I'd be needing for the menu and those that were on sale and a great deal with coupons.

Here's what I came home with:

That's 8 cans of soup, a pack of chicken, some veggie meat, beans, tomato sauce, granola bars, trash bags, Visine, cheese, lettuce, taco mix, chicken stock, bananas, corn, diet coke, tortillas, lettuce, frozen pizza (our weekend fall-back), hand soap, shampoo and hair products. The Visine I got money back on, the big refill of handsoap was $1.99, normally $8.99. The shampoo and hair products were free, the two bottles of handsoap were $0.35. While it wasn't a banner day with the sales (not everything I bought was on sale - which I normally don't do), I still saved $50+ at Walgreens and Tom Thumb alone. Including Walmart that means, yes, I went to 3 stores in 2 1/2 hours with an infant. It can be done!!

I came in just over my goal at $79.74 which I feel really great about, and which means my budget for next week is now set at $70. We're both already thinking about meals for next week and I'll be watching the circulars for ideas as well.

I'd love to hear your cost-cutting ideas, especially for grocery shopping. And, while you're at it, throw in your menu ideas as well.