Learning How to Budget for Groceries

Okay, as I stated in a previous post from this morning, my grocery budget is being chopped. It's being chopped maliciously, brutally, and painfully.

Actually, it's not that bad, but it is definitely a learning curve.

How I started this heinous task, was I started off by writing down our toiletries and such things that sprout up once and a while, often causing me to go over my budget as I've allotted more for food, than things like toilet paper. On my list I have things like:

dish soap
shampoo/conditioner
toothpaste
hair gel (for the boys)
face wash
face moisturizer (for me)
Bounce
paper towels
garbage bags
toilet paper
Borax (for homemade detergent)
Washing Soda
Ivory Soap
Lemi Shine (for homemade dishwasher detergent I have not yet tried)
Epsom Salts


I found a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent, and looking at the costs associated with creating the mixture, I will be better off making it myself. Plus, the chemical smells when the dishwasher goes off is enough to make me nauseated.

So beside each item I priced out what I normally would pay for the items if they are not on sale. I added them up and discovered that per month I am paying approximately (and rounded up) $120 for the things we use and need, but don't account for.

What I ALWAYS do, and would advise anyone to do, is inflate your prices when you're writing them down. Not anything super crazy, but for example, take dish soap. I can probably pick up the store brand for around $2 or $3. I know that's what the tag says, but there is tax on top of that, and I don't like going to a register with only cash in hand and being surprised there. I have had to take things off the belt because I can't afford them, and that is neither fun nor good for the pride.

So on my list, I wrote down dish soap for $5. I don't inflate everything so high, but I always round up. I also like numbers without decimals. Toilet paper is usually $8 something. I round it to $10. So on and so forth.

Then I took my list total ($120) and divided it by 4. So now I have $30 to spend off my normal grocery list. That's $70 left to spend on food. Uh oh. I decided to put that aside for now.

Moving onto the next task. Figuring out what I need for kids' lunches. Sandwiches, juice boxes and snacks are the usual staples in kid lunches. They eat at school for hot lunch once a week ($4/kid/lunch) and that amount does not come out of my groceries. That's factored into my husband's budget. It does however give me 4 instead of 5 school lunches to provide for. That's good!

At my first glance, I figured I usually spend $6 on bread, $7 on meat, $5 on cheese (condiments are in the fridge already and bought for other uses), $4 on juice boxes, and $10 on snacks. That's $32 a WEEK on kid lunches. I don't think so. Not anymore anyway.

I bought a huge, and I mean ridiculously huge, bag of sub buns from the store the other week. It cost about $6 and there are about 24 buns in there from my remembrance. That's $0.25/bun. That would then be $2/week on bread. $4 savings from my previous spending. Cheese I only buy every 2 weeks, so that is then $2.50/week. (let's round up. I hate that $0.50 lingering) I still spend $4 on juice boxes, but we don't always have SS. We only have him every other week. So my weekly spending on juice boxes goes down to $3.

And meat? Well...I have a hard time trimming down meat unless it's on sale. Sandwich meat isn't the healthiest option to start with, and I really don't want to feed my kids complete garbage.

Snacks. Oh, snacks. The kids each take 2 snacks to school. I'll take into account that we have SS half the time. It's 20 snacks per week on the weeks we have SS, and 10 snacks a week when we don't. Granola bars come in packs of 8 ($4), puddings in packs of 4 ($2), and raisins in packs of 8 ($4). That's $10 a week on the weeks with SS.

New lunch total: $10 (snacks) + $2 (bread) + $7 (meat) + $3 (cheese) + $3 (juice boxes) = $25

I for one, cannot believe I'm spending $25 a week on lunches. It's those darn snacks. Let's see. I could cut up carrots or other veggies, and give them ranch dip. Then I'd buy a bulk box of chips. I bet I could get that down to $5/week. Much better. $20/week max for school lunches.


I wrote down a whole whack of meals that I make and the prices associated with them (cost of ingredients). I then created my Meal Plan 1 assuming I didn't have any ingredients currently:

Mon: Beef roast with mashed potatoes and gravy
Tues: Chicken Fingers and Fries
Wed: Chili with Garlic Bread
Thurs: Beef Roast Sandwiches (leftovers from Monday)
Fri: BBQ Chicken with cucumber salad
Sat lunch: Kraft Dinner (CHEAP and easy. I try to avoid cooking on weekends)
Sat Supper: Sloppy Joes
Sun Lunch: Grilled Cheese
Sun Supper: Fish Burgers

Monday to Friday Breakfasts (oatmeal, texas eggs, bf quesadillas, muffins, fruit)


I tried to use similar ingredients within my week as well as leftovers. I have a lot more carb consumption this week than normal, but the next week should be better.

Anyway, that's just a sample week. I then wrote down the costs per meal and added it up: $122.

I took out the ingredients that I already have on hand and got it down to $65. However, that won't happen every time. I won't always have beef roasts on hand. So I haven't figured that part out yet.

Now my totals are:

$65 (meals)
$20 (kid lunches)
$30 (toiletries)

Total: $115

My budget is currently $100, so that won't do. Hopefully my process is going to help you, but it's back to the drawing board for me! My thinking is that I don't need to spend $30/week on toiletries. If I cut that amount in half to $15, I will just have to run through my list and check on supplies weekly and buy as needed. If nothing is needed, then I buy something that would be needed next. If I do that, I'm golden!

Now to plan week 2, 3 and 4, seeing if I can budget happier meal plans while saving more money and finding a way to replenish my roasts.