We have several meals that are dirt cheap but still nutritious that we can sprinkle through the month that really bring costs down. With only three people we can make them last for two nights:

Vegetarian baked ziti with spinach and olives. The ingredients usually come to about $15 (pasta, canned crushed tomatoes, one bag spinach, mozzarella and Parmesan, garlic). Might be a little more now with inflation. I split the recipe between two casserole dishes and freeze one, and one dish will last two nights, especially if combined with some fresh bread (homemade so just a couple dollars worth of flour and yeast).

That’s 12 dinners (3 people x 4 nights) for under $20. So less than $2 per meal per person.

We also do vegetarian rice bowls (mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, green onions with soy sauce, sesame sauce) for a similar amount (but can’t freeze so it’s just a two nigh meal) and red beans and rice (canned beans, peppers and onions, andouille sausage). If we do one meal like this every week (over two nights) it counterbalances nights with takeout or when we do more elaborate, expensive meals and really keeps costs down. Sometimes we’ll just eat like this all month in order to save money so that we can see splurge on an upcoming vacation or holiday without busting our budget. It’s not a hardship— these meals are delicious and easy to make.

We also make pizza at home (with homemade dough that we freeze ahead) instead of ordering pizza. It’s super easy (defrost dough, make simple sauce with crushed tomatoes and garlic, assemble with toppings) and is better than 90% of pizza we’d get delivered — there are some proper Neapolitan places that do it better but they also charge $25 a pie and we’d rather eat there in person. Our at home versions feed us for days and cost, at most, $6-7 a pie.

We spend about $1700 a month. I'd like to figure out how to cut this.

Yes that’s normal- actually it’s quite low. You’re doing a great job of saving.

We buy mainly at Costco and farmer’s markets, and we end up spending that much as well, although we are a family of 4. We were saving more when the kids ate school lunch, but now they want packed lunch. They are the school lunch all the way through to May, so I gave in.

We are three people and this is what we are spending too. Groceries are expensive.

Family of 3… I’ve managed to get down from $1200/mo. in 2020 when I was buying lots of extras to stock up, to about $800/mo. now. We also spend about $400 eating out/take out.

My only good tricks are cheap, repetitive weeknight meals, Home Chef a couple times a week sometimes, and growing expensive fruits & veggies (blueberries & tomatoes). DH and I aren’t breakfast eaters, and we usually eat leftovers for lunch.

It also helps to do grocery pickup so I only order exactly what I need and no impulse purchases. I do different stores for different items so I can save $$ that way. (e.g., it’s $4 cheaper to buy 3 half gallons of organic milk at Aldi than to buy the 3-pack at Costco). Using Instacart for ordering really helps you compare prices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to save you need to meal plan, cook from scratch, and cook in bulk. Freeze portions for later. Eliminate extras like coffee or dinner out.

Coffee is an essential, not an extra

I think the PP meant paying $12 for a venti latte.

Anonymous wrote:If you want to save you need to meal plan, cook from scratch, and cook in bulk. Freeze portions for later. Eliminate extras like coffee or dinner out.

Coffee is an essential, not an extra

Anonymous wrote:If you want to save you need to meal plan, cook from scratch, and cook in bulk. Freeze portions for later. Eliminate extras like coffee or dinner out.

We do all of this and easily spend over $1k per month.

Granted, we are a family of four not three, and two of the four are teens.

I just completed my Harris Teeter order for the week and it came to $185 and some change. It'll go down once the eVIC savings kick in after they shop the order and ring it up, but probably just to around $150-160. And I only buy the items on sale that week. I plan all my meals based on the meats on sale that week.

We really cut back on eating out now that prices have gone up. We used to eat out Friday dinner and Saturday lunch & dinner. The last time we did that as a family of 4, I realized we spent close to $300 eating out that weekend on top of the $200 I had just spent on groceries. Unacceptable.

Anonymous wrote:Inflation - heard of it? I picked up 3 organic tomatoes for $5 the other day. It is what it is.

That's a deal!

My local farmer's market charged $4/pound this morning. I greatly underestimated how much a single tomato weighed. I picked up 3 tomatoes and was floored when they rang up $10.62. I hated to be That Person, but I asked to put two back...

i think it sounds like a lot.

If you want to save you need to meal plan, cook from scratch, and cook in bulk. Freeze portions for later. Eliminate extras like coffee or dinner out.

Family of 3, we spend a lot less. Before the recent inflation, we spent around $550. Now it’s closer to $700, sadly. We buy very few prepared foods and do things like make our own bread and snacks. We could spend less but we do takeout or a restaurant meal 3-4x a month.

Anonymous wrote:If you include takeout in there, I probably spend over $1000 per month just for one person.

Fiji water, kombucha and ProBars (natural meal replacement bars) are killers for me. Also, I’m lazy and don’t like to cook.

Reverse osmosis filter under your sink costs about $50 a year for replacement filters (family of 4), supplies all our water. You can also get reverse osmosis water from the machines at grocery store. Buy a water tester and compare various waters with your fiji water. My filtered water is 15 ppm. My tap water is 175 ppm. I was at costco today and saw so many people buying 48 pack single use waters (kirkland). Like 2 or 4 packs in their cart. I hope they recycle those hundreds of bottles a month.

If you include takeout in there, I probably spend over $1000 per month just for one person.

Fiji water, kombucha and ProBars (natural meal replacement bars) are killers for me. Also, I’m lazy and don’t like to cook.