Having a tight grocery budget can be difficult. Whether you feel like your food budget is out of control and want to rein it in a bit or have a really tight budget already and feel frustrated that you don’t eat as healthy as you would like, this $29 grocery budget challenge is for YOU.
Growing up, my family was financially poor. As the oldest in a large family I learned at a young age how to get by on less and make as much from scratch as possible. In that way I had the “luxury” of learning how to be thrifty and stretch a dime very early in life.
It’s second nature to me, but I know that when you aren’t use to it or don’t have the tools I have had, such as having no choice, learning to grow food, and learning how to cook at a young age, it can be very difficult to see where and how the budget can be cut while stretching every dollar for fresh healthy foods.
Over the next 8 weeks I am going to be stretched in a new way. As many people don’t have the ability to shop around different stores, whether it is due to time or transportation, I am going to be sharing how our family will live on a $29 per person grocery budget by shopping at one store instead of shopping around. This is actually an increase in our grocery budget, which usually averages out to $120 per week, including all toiletries and paper products.
Because people all across the country have access to different grocery stores I am going to change up the stores I shop in to help give a better picture of how you can utilize the grocery stores around you.
This $29 grocery challenge stems from a challenge issued by the NYC Food Bank and the controversy over Gwyneth Paltrow’s attempt at it. No matter your political stance I think we can all agree that education is one of the biggest ways we can help equip women everywhere to stretch their dollars. My goal in this series is to educate, share recipes, and plan our way into both better budgeting and healthier eating.
Details for the next 8 weeks of meal planning on a $29 Grocery Budget.
- Starts May 1, 2015 ( I will be doing my shopping and planning this day for meals that start on Sunday)
- I will be shopping at one store each week – your choice whether you do this or shop around.
- I will be planning 7 meals and all snacks on a $29/per person budget, which is $145/week for our family. This is an INCREASE in our grocery budget as our average is $120/week including toiletries and paper products. However, I will be shopping at only ONE store each week. My goal is to spend LESS THAN this temporary budget.
- I will be buying milk and eggs from the farm as I usually do – milk is $4/gallon and eggs are $3/dozen, which is higher than the average prices at the store.
- I will have sponsored recipes over the next weeks. I will be taking that cost out of our grocery budget in most, if not all, cases.
As we go I will be sharing tips, recipes, and strategies for cutting the food budget, learning to live on less, and (hopefully) helping you with picky eaters who can make healthy whole food eating a little more difficult.
Sign up for tips on having fun at the grocery store while saving money and easy access to all $29 budget meal plans and printables.
And feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment with your challenges, questions, and tips.
I know this must be possible, but I honestly have always felt it was so impossible for me to make eating on a budget work. I am totally signing up, I NEED to learn how to make it work! Thanks for hosting!
So happy to have you! I am really excited to see how this helps people. I will also be offering packages for specialized budget planning designed specifically for people’s budgets, store options, and dietary needs/allergies/preferences if you ever feel you need something more tailored to your family.
Though I used to be the queen of frugal my budget has grown to WAY OUT OF CONTROL proportions. It’s time for an intervention! I’m not even sure I can do this, but I’m sure any effort in this direction will mean some SERIOUS savings for the month of May.
You may or may not feel able to but if you have a good stock of meat in your freezer you are already part way there. Make an inventory of what is in your freezer and utilize it. Set aside cash for groceries and when it is gone figure out how to make that freezer work for you if you struggle to stick to it.