Hi!! So, me and my husband have found it difficult to spend less than 80 or 90 dollars (USD) on groceries per week. We are looking for ways to save money and budget more, especially since I am in college and he is in his first year of his first full-time job. I have tried HelloFresh in the past and it's great for single life, not so sure about married life. I have done a little bit of research into Thrive Market and HungryRoot, but I am not sure which would be the best option. Should I just stick to my local store and/or Walmart? Or should I try a food/grocery/meal prep service? What are your guys' opinions, what have you tried, and what works best for a tight budget?
Options for online or in-store grocery shopping?
byu/AcceptableHeight451 inFrugal
Posted by AcceptableHeight451
12 Comments
I would first identify what you are buying. Is there a cheaper option? Do you do multiple plates per meals? I know it’s weird for a lot of people, but we prefer to have a bigger plate of pasta and only eat that than pasta, vegetables on the side, salads, etc. We are one meal household. No side dish here.
No meal service is frugal and for a tight budget. What you could do is look up recipes for meals you would enjoy, similar to what the meal services sell, and mimic. Frugal is going to be checking the ad(s) and choosing meals using the sale & loss leader items. Divide on sale meat into future meals by using freezer bags or sealer. Generally there is a sale cycle where items repeat about every 6-8 weeks.
Paying anyone to do the work, provide the packaging, and advertise to you is always going to cost more, even if it’s premade or pre-prepared foods from the grocery store.
Wash your own lettuce, chop your own carrots, plan your own menu. The tighter your budget, the more work you need to do for yourself. Buying carrots vs precut veggie sticks can save you half or more. Look at the unit prices or pre serving prices to verify.
You can be your own food service – plan a menu, buy the ingredients, prepare them, cook the food, portion it, eat some now and enjoy the leftovers later.
Have a weekly meeting with your partner to do the planning. Shop however you wish – online has added costs but avoids impulse purchases. If you shop online, avoid Instacart which jacks the prices for items, and find a local shop that gives you in-store prices and sales prices.
And then you’ve got to figure out what works for your family, in terms of workflow. I cook two or three things on the weekend and we eat them all week, plus I’ll cook a few quick meals throughout the week to fill in the gaps. Friday we make pizza. This is so individual to you and your needs, your schedule, and your tastes, there’s no single answer.
Batch cooking (making more than you need or doubling a recipe) is very helpful for one or two people, as most recipes serve 4 or 6. Ingredient prepping is also helpful – wash and cut your veggies when you bring them home. Make a salad dressing once a week. Make a pot of rice or grains. And planned leftovers or repurposed leftovers also helps – roast a chicken and eat it in different ways throughout the week.
Everyone’s going to tell you to buy bulk amounts – buy as much as possible! I think this is terrible advice. Buy what you’ll use – might be one carrot or onion, or you can buy a larger bag of rice to last the month. But have a plan for everything, avoid food waste, and use what you buy. Once a week I make a meal out of whatever’s left in the fridge – before we do the next shop.
Write down your plans so you can stick to them, so your partner can stick to them, and so that you can recycle them later. Plan around seasonal produce (it’s cheaper and nicer).
Hopefully you have several options available for buying food. Shop the weekly ads. If there’s a really good deal on things that you use regularly, stock up. I’m trying hard to be vegan and eat a lot of beans, chickpeas, and the like. Anything that comes dried, I buy bulk (online or cheapest place) and cook myself. I make large batches of beans and freeze in containers. It’s not gonna make me a millionaire but every little bit helps. Likewise, international stores have some great prices on things, especially spices. Warehouse clubs have some good prices on large size products, but NOT on everthing. The big thing is go online and check prices, make a list of who has what you need for the lease, and shop accordingly. I used to buy in bulk, like 10 pounds of beans. Precovid it worked well. Post covid stupid increase in prices, increase in shipping costs, I only buy one item bulk now. Most everything else wallymart.
Anything with service attached will cost more then getting stuff yourself or order for pick up from the store directly.
Personally I prefer buying things myself, especially produce or meat so I can pick the one I like more.
Also, in my area I have some non-chain stores that are cheap and do not offer pick up ordering
Meal prep food seems like a thawed frozen dinner you just heat and eat that’s more expensive, which is weird to me.
I have Walmart delivery. While I’m not the biggest fan of Walmart their delivery isn’t expensive and you do all your shopping at home. Shopping online can help with meal planning, finding the cheapest price per unit without someone waiting impatiently for you to move, you aren’t tempted by impulse buying (ignore the ads for stuff!), you can look at reviews if you haven’t bought it before and if you limit yourself to your monthly or bimonthly budget (over 35 bucks) and that’s it you just stay out stores. Include items you might buy at convenience stores and eliminate the impulse there.
Walmart delivery comes with other benefits like gas savings, free Paramount Plus, a free service you can call a vet to get advice about a sick pet, free shipping on *everything* that’s not some independent seller (also good to prevent impulse buying). If you’re paying for the delivery service already might as well save money on stuff other than food. Some things like hygiene stuff, OTC medicine, kitchen stuff can also be delivered with your groceries.
If you’re into fast food you can find good stuff to recreate it at home. Walmart has good sauces. Like the secret sauce on Big Macs or hot mustard nugget sauce (a bit hotter than the McDonald’s sauce), Taco Bell sells their seasoning packets and taco sauces at Walmart. That kinda thing will help curb fast food spending. Cheers.
When I want to stick to a budget, I do online shopping. That way I can pay close attention to the totals and grand totals and edit my cart without making a mess. My local store will shop for you for free if you spend at least $35
Your spending is pretty reasonable so it’ll be a little hard to cut.
Drinks are an easy cut. Drink only tap water and that saves a lot. Or switch from cans to 2 liter bottles, off brand, etc.
Shop the sales. I think chicken is normally $3 a pound or something like that. When it’s on sale for 99 cents a pound, I get it and freeze it. If they’re sold out, I get a rain check.
Shredded cabbage for Cole slaw normally costs $2 a bag but goes on sale for $1 a bag. I get it and eat it right away when it’s on sale.
Shift your spending where possible. Can you buy limes instead of lemons? they’re cheaper.
Instead of chips, can you snack on microwave popcorn?
If you tend to make impulse purchases, can you order through Target pick up? (it’s the easiest for me)
If you have time to go to 2 grocery stores, be strategic in what you buy where. If I’m going to jewel (Albertsons) and aldi, I know to get most items at Aldi but get my sale items and limes at Jewel.
Know what’s a good price. Today, I was looking for juice for my husband and found Tru lemon lemonade at Walmart for 57 cents a box. I thought it was an error because those cost more than $2 a box. It wasn’t a mistake so I bought all 12 boxes on the shelf. So I paid $7 when I’d normally pay $25 for that. It’s shelf stable and I tend to drink one a day so 12 boxes isn’t even a years worth (10 servings per box).
My husband is an impulse buyer, and it was a major chore going into the store and fighting with him about our purchases. I found online shopping less stressful and more streamlined. You can pick up the items (I don’t, it’s very helpful for me at age 69 to not have to carry the bags from the car into the house). We do groceries once a month, and if we run out, oh well. Cheaper in my book.
[USDA Food Plans: Monthly Cost of Food Reports | Food and Nutrition Service](https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/cnpp/usda-food-plans/cost-food-monthly-reports) How much do you think you can cut out? 20 years ago 80/90 was closer to the month range than the week range, but that was 20 years ago. You’re already on the low side of average. Can you look around to other parts of your spending to find somewhere with a little more fat to cut?
YouTube has a ton of lovely people who put together intense weekly food budgets and they always assume you have nothing.
You probably have flour and salt so you can make bread for example and they won’t assume you do.
Look up “$50 budget a week for 2” and you’ll find a lot of creative methods.
Stick to Walmart. Meal plan, make a list, buy generic when possible, batch cook and enjoy your leftovers. There are also some great YouTube channels that focus on frugal meals/grocery shopping.