Curious how people actually track their weekly groceries. Do you plan by store, by budget, or just wing it?
I have been mapping how much prices vary between stores and seeing some wild gaps ($15 to $35 swings on the same basket).
If you already keep a consistent list, I will love to compare notes privately. You can just reply “I do” and I’ll message you.
No survey links, no forms… just trying to understand habits before we crunch more data.
How do you organize your grocery list each week to avoid overspending?
byu/gamerwalt inFrugal
Posted by gamerwalt
23 Comments
Totally exposing my inner geek here, but I use a Google Sheet with three tabs: staples, weekly meals, and prices. The staples tab lists things I always buy, and I just tick off what I need that week. The meals tab has ingredients for a few go-to recipes. When I plan for the week, I copy over what’s needed and the sheet totals the estimated cost.
I know how much I have to spend weekly and I do my very very best to stick to it. It’s getting much more difficult.
I see what we already have available and try to plan meals around that – filling in gaps as needed. We always need milk and a few other items, so I just grab those where it (we drink Fairlife – it’s bougie, but solved “the problem”) is least expensive. We have several store options – Meijer, Kroger, Target, Aldi, etc – so I’ve learned who has the best prices on things (typically NOT Kroger).
If I have cash left over after shopping, it goes towards backstocking the basics (pasta, sauce, flour, etc).
Once a month I get meat from Sam’s Club.
We have some must haves (like the milk) so I watch for sales. Not always a perfect system.
Things have gotten so much more pricey and I’ve definitely had to watch my spending. Trying to make more from scratch has helped.
I go through fridge, freezer and pantry and connect what I already have to the future dishes I will prepare with the new ingredients I’m adding to my list. This morning, I found frozen chicken breasts and frozen broth. I left them outside to defrost and went to the supermarket. I need burger buns for my chicken patties and mushrooms for my chicken meatballs, and 1 pumpkin for my broth. So from the 2 big pieces of chicken breast, I’m making burgers for the boys, I’m eating a few meatballs with mushrooms, sweet sauce and egg noodles from my pantry, we can have a cup of soup on the side or just have the soup tomorrow with some arepas filled with some cheese. Does that make sense?
before I go shopping I look at what’s on sale but only of the things I usually buy.
then I make a list accordingly. for the rest I usually know what store has the best price.
also my list is usually:
oats
rice
red lentils
eggs
fresh veggies/fruits (for these I adapt with the sales, season …etc)
frozen veggies
sometimes: yogurt and cheese
buckwheat flour or cornmeal (occasionally , also I am gluten intolerant so no wheat for me)
occasional fish
By store, by budget, and by list.
I have a monthly budget more so than a weekly budget. Some things I buy monthly, some bi-monthly, some weekly, some bi-weekly, so my spending isn’t the same each week.
I keep my meals to around $8/day ($250/month), so I also work out how much things are per serving vs. just the whole price as a way to help me put meals together.
I keep a very well stocked pantry. Every kind of canned bean, dry beans, pasta, quinoa, rice, flour, sugar, oils, vinegar, every spice under the sun, dried fruit, nuts, coconut milk, lard, oats, canned tomatoes, condiments. I always have lemon and lime juice. I always have frozen peas, edamame, corn and frozen homemade veggie or chicken stock that is made from leftovers. I usually buy fresh half and half, eggs, bananas, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, ginger, garlic, cauliflower. I buy meat when it goes on sale but don’t consume much meat at all. I probably eat .5 pounds per month.
I use a grocery app, add stuff to my cart esp when something I like to buy is on sale, it’s also great because most of them let you instantly reorder (well put back in cart) the staples you buy most and always need, so I can quickly build up the list of things I grab every trip and keep an eye out for when they’re on sale too. Idk if I explained that well at all but basically I use the grocery app as my list and then just order it when the most stuff is on sale or as needed (w free pickup)
Ofc using the app for your list doesn’t mean you need to order through an app. It can also just be shopped in store as normal, using it like you’d use any list
Shop pantry 1st. Meal plan for the week and add whatever I don’t already have to the Out of milk app which I also use for house inventory
Sometimes I will pop into sprouts for a specialty item or bogo checking Flipp app
Family of 3.5 we spend about 125week.
-produce/ creamer/ceral/yougurt lol
Ever 4months or so we stock up on pantry staples at Costco $150-$200
Beans/Grains /Tofu pack / chips/cleaning supplies/Milk/TP/Burgers/Pizza/Bread/frozen fruit/hygiene
I meal plan and then shop based on that. When I’m shopping for myself only I usually keep the weekly total at $40-50.
As boring as it is, regular meal planning, shopping the same stores consistently and paying attention to the prices goes a long way to figuring out the most economical approach for you/your family. That way you can recognize and take advantage of a good sale, you’ll notice price creep/shrinkflation before it hits the headlines and you’ll know when a promo is a bad deal.
Also, don’t shop when you’re hungry. That’s the easiest way to overspend, because your hunger is driving your choices. You’ll get home, eat and then half of the stuff you grabbed suddenly has lost its appeal.
Make a menu for the entire week using the grocery store’s ads.
Use up your fridge & pantry items too.
Prices will go up or down but having a menu & not wasting food will ultimately save you money.
Also, I only buy what’s on my list.
[removed]
I don’t. I buy what I need or want
I just buy the same things, after 4y of living alone I know exactly what food I will use and what I can’t get to use before expiring
But I come from a country where it’s easy to spend less without buying junk food or too calories/sugar. Idk if that method will work in the US, for example.
1. Find recipes for the week
2. Write the ingredients on the grocery list
3. Only buy what’s on the list
It’s how my family of 3.5 spends about $80/week on 5-6 dinner meals with leftovers for lunch.
I have a price point for the items I buy. If they’re discounted I’ll buy extra. If they’re over my limit I skip them. I try to also remember which stores have good prices for which items too. E.g. Wegmans and Costco usually give me chicken breast for $2.50/lbs and ground beef for $3.50. Stop and shop is cheaper for some items but the meats vary more. If I need meat, I’m not going to stop and shop.
I do most of my shopping at Aldi or Lidl, so everything is fairly cheap and I don’t need to worry about it, as long as I don’t buy too many snacks lol
By making a list of what I already have, this creates the dinner list. I eat once a day. Only dinner.
Then I check what’s on sale and see what kind of meals I can make.
I look for recipes using ingredients I already have.
Most people don’t know what they have and often buy things repeatedly.
This way my food supply stays fresher, by making sure I use things before buying more.
We have two stores that we regularly shop at, and we meal plan before we shop. We do look for sale items because I can build meals around that, and since we shop at Winco and Costco, often for meats we are buying double and freezing half to shop less the next week.
I budget for 2 persons breakfasts and lunches (7 days a week), ans 4-5 persons dinners (6 days a week). My budget is typically $150-$200 per week based on east coast prices.
What i usually do is check what i have in fridge, freezer, and pantry then check the local grocery’s weekly sale. Based on all of those, i make a meal plan. This ensures i dont waste any ingredients. So far my weekly spending has not gone over $180.
This may not be considered frugal to some, but i try to eat primarily organic or local/farmers market food. As most know, in the USA this can be very expensive. I dont like to go to multiple stores if i can help it, and i dont have the habit or enjoying making spreadsheets for my food…
My go-to way that has worked out for me is once a month ill withdraw the same certain amount of cash for the whole month, and all of the cash in my wallet is ONLY for food for the month. Toiletries are not included. When shopping, ill see where i am in the month and how much i have in my wallet. Sometimes at the check-out, i have to ask them to take a few things back. By the end of the month if i have extra cash, ill either save it for the next month, or use that money to go out to eat as a treat.
I go buy food when I need it.
I ‘reverse meal plan’
I look at the weekly flyers for all my local grocers and try to meal plan off that list. I also add a few staples that are always pretty cheap when I run out (pasta, rice, frozen meatballs (yes, a staple in my house haha), flour, etc)
Sometimes I hit 4 stores to get all the marked down items, sometimes just 1 store has everything for that week. Either way I know I can prep all my meals for cheap.
Example: chicken was on sale this week, so was pork. Some vegetables were on sale so I got those ones too. I bought a few pounds of each, along with some avocado oil (not on sale but oil is a staple). Have plenty of herbs and spices at home, and some vinegar. Made a bunch of marinades and pre-packaged my chicken and pork in the marinades before freezing. Each works with rice or pasta, and they pair with the veg I bought for cheap
I take inventory of what I have in the house, and then check the sale ads. From there I will create a meal plan, then a shopping list. I follow a lot of cooking accounts on social media, and have been inspired to make many meals with things already in my pantry/fridge. I also keep a large list of meals that my family enjoys, and it helps me not repeat the same dishes over and over while still sticking to a budget.