Groceries on a Dime

Well, maybe a little more than a dime.

John and I have managed to restrict our grocery budget to $300 a month, and many people have asked us how we do it - so I thought I'd share a few tips for keeping our grocery bill on the slimmer side.

Buy food when you need it
We go grocery shopping twice or three times a week. Of course, not a full grocery shop - but with our current lifestyle, we're not great at planning (and following through with) too many meals in advance. The benefit of shopping when necessary, is that we tend to use our cupboard contents to their maximum: very little goes wasted. Usually this means our cupboards have a bit of a bare look to them, but our tummies are full.

Exhaust your resources
It's nice to be a foodie, but living on a strict(ish) grocery budget doesn't always allow for that. We exhaust our food resources to their maximum: often, this means eggs with _____, or _____ in a wrap for breakfast/dinner/lunch. I'll be honest, sometimes it sucks to pair rice with black beans and spaghetti sauce (I'm not saying we're food connoisseurs over here), but then the next day we forget about it,  have empty cupboards, and buy everything we need to make two or three nice meals. Repeat.

Have a few reliable staples
We have a few items which we use with nearly every single meal. Our household staples are (usually) as follows: carrots, sweet potato, milk, honey, sugar, sour cream, eggs, wraps, avocados, barbeque sauce, and (most importantly) salsa.

With the above items, we can generally whip together some kind of meal: Quesidillas, breakfast burritos, pasta, rice & veggies... and then when we add whatever additional shopping we've done for the week, we have a meal.

Make soup... and lots of it
I've discussed before about how great it is to have a perpetual chicken broth on hand at any given time. Lately I've dropped the ball on this, but having chicken broth easily available means having soup easily available.

Adding a little veggies and cream to a good broth is a simple way to make soup - combine in a blender or with the emulsion blender and you have lunch! In the summer, sub in this rule for a good salad.

Dried fruits & nuts make a world of difference
We have a variety of dried fruits and nuts always on hand, which makes for a great snack or salad. The cost to purchase the initial fruits and nuts - and to re-stock when you run out - might make your budget a little more tough to meet, but in our experience we only tend to re-stock every 2-3 months, and each month we re-stock on something different.

Get on a kick
Unless you're desperate to provide variety, and I think you're amazing if you are, getting on a kick is an excellent way to keep the budget low. We cycle through Mexican-food kicks, Curry kicks and Pasta kicks like it's our job. Although the contents of the meal might change every night or two, the general "base" is the same: rice, pasta, bread, salad, etc.

Meal share
The organic chicken I buy to make perpetual soup (and set aside the meat for The Caterpillar) costs $20 - which is quite a lot, considering I don't need it all! So, my friend decided that she'd go in on the chicken with me and share the broth (considering it makes unlimited broth) and share the meat. This considerably reduces the monthly cost for broth and chicken - a savings of $40 a month!

We've also discussed doing other meal-sharing with friends in terms of bulk meals. This would look like us cooking a huge meal (casserole?), them cooking a huge meal (mac 'n' cheese?) and dividing the two. For families who value variety, this might be a good cost-effective solution! Remember, it's always cheaper to cook in bulk.

Try freezer meals
We have a few great recipes for freezer meals to make in bulk. Check out this link for those that have not sucked!

Do your research
Here are a few other great resources for how to grocery shop on a dime (ish):
This Rookie Wife shares on how the Bell family reduced their grocery bill and a few tips on keeping the kitchen simple
TLC Weighs in on how to cut your grocery bill in half
Grocery Shrink shows you how to have a monthly grocery bill of $50/person