$175 Grocery Budget - Part 2

Click HERE if you missed Part 1 of the series. 

As you probably guessed, attempting a monthly budget of $175 takes lots of planning. My monthly grocery trip starts wayyy before I step through the doors of the store. It involves flyers, lists, meal plans and more.

The first thing I do is look through my pantry and freezer and make a list of what I already have and DON'T need to buy. This often includes the staples, like meat, cheese, butter, cereal, and crackers because I stock up on these items when I find a good sale.

Next, I go through all the flyers and write down the REALLY good sales on my grocery list. Now that I've been doing this for a while, I have what I consider really good sales and sales that are just okay. Really good sales are items that I'm going to stock up on no matter what because the price is good (Ex. Crispers for $1 at Walmart, I bought 6 bags. When cheese is under $5 I buy at least 3). Sales that are just "Okay" I keep in the back of my mind to check if I have a coupon, cashback or PC Plus pts to make the deal even better.

Third, I pull up PC Plus in my browser so I can load my offers for the week. If you haven't heard of this, it's a points program available at Loblaws, Superstore, Independent and No Frills. Purchasing certain in-store items gives you points plus you can get extra offers, personalized to your shopping habits, by signing your card up online and loading your offers every week. I have had this for about a year and I have almost 50,000 points which will give me $50 in free groceries when I redeem them.

At the same time, I grab my Ipad, to look through my cachback offers, and pull out my ziplock full of coupons. Although there are a few different cashback apps out there, the ones that I consider best are Checkout51 and Zweet. I have had Checkout51 for less than 6 months and have already earned over $50 back and I have had Zweet for a few weeks and already have $5 in my account. Coupons I get from all over. I mainly print or mail order them from websites like Smartsource, Websaver, P&G Everyday and Save.ca but I also often find them on the coupon board on my way into the store or in the aisles.

Once I have everything pulled up, I check for overlaps. I often find that I have cashback or PCPlus pts (or both) for a sale item. Also, the Checkout51 and Zweet offers will often overlap or I'll have a coupon for something that is also offering Cashback. If I have offers or coupons for an item that I don't often buy or isn't on sale, I will go on Walmart.ca to check the price and see if it's still a good deal. I add all good deals to the grocery list that I have going. I always write the price beside the item and note if it has a coupon, cashback, pts, pricematch etc. That way, when I am at the store, I won't grab the wrong item because I will notice the price difference and I won't forget which coupons I need to use.

Finally, once the deals are written down, I look over what I am buying, and what I already have and figure out a meal plan. Then I add missing items to my grocery list. For example, if ground beef and pasta sauce are on my list of good deals then I will make spaghetti part of my meal plan and add noodles to my grocery list. For extra items like these, I will usually buy the no name brand or whatever is cheapest at the store.

Once I have a general meal plan and a grocery list, complete with prices, it's time to review. I add up the prices and hope that my total is under $175.00. If it isn't, I will go back over the list and see if there's anything that we don't really need for the month and then cross it off. I also check if there's anything missing that I may be running out of. Potatoes and carrots, for example, are something I always keep in the house since they are generally cheap anyways.

It may sound like a ton of work but it isn't as bad as it sounds. It totally pays out in the end. Plus, I love feeling completely organized and prepared when I head to the grocery store.

Stay tuned for Part 3 and find out what I do while at the store to keep my bill under $175. 

Last Trip of 2014

Reg. Price: $57.20

I Paid: $19.84

Cereal: Paid $1.25 at Dollar Tree

Crispers: Wal Mart Boxing Day sale

Sweet Crisps: Cost $3.17 at Wal Mart with $3.00 cash back on Checkout51

Special K: $3.99 on sale at Shoppers with $1.00 cash back

Vector Bars: $3.47 at Target, used $1.00 coupon and got $1.00 cashback

Shredded Cheese: On sale $5.97 at No Frills, used $2 coupon

Onions: On sale $0.97 with $0.25 cashback

Minute Rice: Got $3.50 Cashback on 2

Catelli Sauce: $1.25 at Dollar Tree

Classico Sauce: $1.25 at Dollar Tree with $0.75 cashback from Zweet

Tuna: $1.00 Boxing Day sale at Wal Mart plus $0.25 cashback

Cheese: On sale $5.98 plus $3.00 coupon

Healthy Harvest Pasta: Paid $1.79 each and got $2.50 cashback 

$175 Grocery Budget - Part 1

Although it's hard to believe that it's already the end of December, I have decided to embrace the coming new year. Even though nothing specifically changes the second that the clock hits midnight on December 31st, new years always feels like a fresh start. I'm looking forward to 2015 and the new experiences and experiments that are coming with it.

With the 2015 just around the corner, I decided to look back over our budget and spending from 2014 and set some new goals. Throughout the last 6 months, I learnt a lot about meal planning, couponing, once a month shopping, cash back and price matching, along with a ton of new recipes. I believe that if I put all that knowledge into action in the coming months, I can keep our monthly grocery expense under $175 and keep the same basic eating habits. That includes feeding myself, my husband (who is apparently constantly "bulking") and our kitty.

I know some people spend a ton of money on groceries every month and that amount may sound crazy low. I've also read and heard people say that it's impossible to eat well/healthy/enough without spending $300 - $400 a month but I diasgree. This year, our average bill was about $240 and, while our meals are not fancy or completely organic or anything like that, they have been fairly healthy and totally filling. Below are some examples so that you can get a better idea of who we are and what we eat.

Our Little Family 

Breakfast

Meat, cheese and pepper omelette

Peanut Butter on Toast

Banana

Milk

Sausage Cheese Scone

Peaches

Lunch

Tuna with Greek Yogurt

Crackers + Cheese

Peas

Baked Beans

Red Pepper + Cantaloupe

Homemade Bread 

Dinner

Lasagna

Homemade Garlic Toast

Peas

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Chicken Rice

Peas

We don't normally eat peas with EVERY meal (or barely every actually) but they just happened to be on sale the week I took pictures. As you can see, we definitely aren't starving or eating meals totally void of nutrients. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing more about how I plan to meet this goal of $175 a month, including information on couponing, cash-back apps, meal planning, things that I make homemade and some of my favourite cheap meals and recipes. Be sure to check Part 2 Here. 

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

Besides being my favourite food, chocolate is also a great stocking-stuffer. Thanks to Checkout51 and their Double Up December offers, I am now the proud owner of 10 free chocolate bars plus I got an extra $1.18 just for taking them off the shelf. 

Regular Price: $12.00

I paid: $0.00 (+ $1.18 Cashback)

I got all my chocolate on sale for $0.78 each and then got $10.00 cachback from the Checkout51. app. If you don't already have this app, it's time to check it out! 

Great Granola Bars

This has been one of my favourite things to make at home, even before I started comparing prices. These granola bars are so good, soft, chewy and I can spice them up with anything I want. Dried fruit, chocolate, candy, nuts, seeds and basically anything else I think might taste good. For the sake of the blog (and my budget) I was glad to see they are also cheaper than store bought.

Here is the recipe I use: http://www.madefrompinterest.net/2013/06/no-bake-granola-bars/

Simple Ingredients

The Final Product

What I really like to do with these (other than walking through the kitchen and stealing little chunks of granola bar all day long) is throw them individually into baggies, toss some in the freezer and then use them in my husbands lunches. I just put it in his lunch bag the night before (or that morning if I'm  being lazy) and it's thawed by lunch. 

Price Breakdown

These were the cheapest, most similar ones that I could find from the store. One box, with 5 granola bars, is $1.57

At the store: $0.31 per bar

Homemade: $0.26 per bar

We eat about 10 bars, or 2 boxes worth, each week. By making them homemade, I will have saved us about $25 in one year. 

Baked Beans

I have always loved baked beans. Anytime of the day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time. So easy and so delicious. I loved the homemade baked beans people used to bring to potlucks when I was younger but I basically forgot about them until this fall, when we went to a corn roast and someone brought homemade baked beans. So good. I decided to make my own a few days later and I'm so glad I did. Check out the recipe links below and the breakdown on the average price of homemade beans vs. store bought.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Cowboy Baked Beans

Boston Baked Beans

Dr. Pepper Baked Beans


Price Breakdown (One Can)

At the store: $1-$2
Homemade (with beef/pork/bacon): $1.01
Homemade (omit ground beef): $0.66

Buying VS Freezing: Time and Money

Washing, chopping and freezing fruits or vegetables when you can buy a premade bag at the store for less than $5 may seem totally ridiculous to some people but it can actually be a great way to save money. If you're used to simply grabbing a bag from the frozen section, it may seem like a lot of effort but I enjoy spending time in my kitchen (unless it's to do dishes), so I don't mind the work and the amount of money saved is worth it for us. I decided to do some calculating and give a little break down of the time involved and the money saved so that you can see if self freezing is worth it for you and your family.

Fruit:

In my area, a 600g bag of fruit costs about $5. The cost for me to freeze my own 600g of regular price raspberries would be $3.48 but I almost always get my fruit on discount meaning it`s usually closer to $2.22. We use about two bags per month. 

Savings per month: $5.56

Savings per year: $66.72

Even if I always had to buy my fruit at regular price, I would save about $36 a year. 

Freezing berries literally takes me about 1 minute. I rinse them in the container and then bag them and throw them in the freezer. Obviously other things like mango, peach and pineapple take a little longer because of the cutting. 

Vegetables:

To buy frozen vegetables is pretty cheap, I can get a 1 kg bag for $4 but freezing my own is even better. Today I froze a 1kg bag of carrots for $1.10. Generally, we use about two bags per month.

Savings per month: $5.80

Savings per year: $69.60

Carrots and other vegetables do take more time and effort than fruit, however. It took me about 10 minutes to peel and cut them and then just under 10 more minutes for the blanching process. 

I don't find that it's too much effort and I think it's worth the $125 for us. I don't know how big of a difference it makes, but I also like the fact that everything is processed by me in my own kitchen. It just feels healthier. Looking forward to growing and freezing my own garden vegetables next summer as well!