Even though they are kind of a lot of work to write up, I enjoy sharing my Our $200 Grocery Budget: What I Spent & Saved this Week posts with you all.
I don’t do these posts because I think the way we live and grocery shop is so amazing. I do them because I love to help people save money.
These What I Spent & Saved posts allow me to share ideas and tips with you that help me save on our groceries, and then, in turn, can hopefully inspire you and give you ideas on ways that you can save too.
Many people are frustrated because they feel like it’s impossible to eat healthy on a budget. By showing exactly what I purchase on a tight budget, it gives people a chance to see that yes, you really can eat pretty healthy without needing to go broke.
I know many of you enjoy these posts because you have told me that you were inspired or that you learned something new that is helping you save. And seriously, when that happens it totally makes my day because I realize that my goal for these posts was accomplished!
But I’ve had a nagging worry ever since I first started doing these What I Spent & Saved posts 5 ½ years ago. Occasionally I’ve addressed it in my spending posts and in my response to people’s comments. And I’ve said it countless times to readers that I’ve talked to in real life.
But I feel like it needs to be said here too, in a blog post that hopefully will be seen by most of you.
So what is it that worries me? Simply that these posts will make you feel inadequate or less than because you don’t have a $200 grocery budget, or because you don’t coupon as much as I do, or because you hate grocery shopping. I worry because I know that as women we are so quick to do that, to compare ourselves with someone else, to feel inadequate.
And I really, really don’t want to be an enabler of that.
So I just want to be perfectly clear: I don’t expect everyone else to have a $200/mo. grocery budget. And I believe that you can be frugal and spend more than $200/mo. too!
Here’s why.
Why You Shouldn’t Have a $200/Mo. Grocery Budget
(even though we do!)
1. We all have different strengths
One of my strengths is being able to save money. In fact, I’m wired in such a way that I almost can’t keep myself from looking at life through the lens of frugality!
But you know what? There are plenty of other things that I don’t do so well.
I’m not a natural when it comes to decorating. It takes a lot of thought and effort for me to make a room look lovely. And I feel totally overwhelmed if I try to tackle a craft project because for as long as I can remember, creating things like that has just felt frustrating.
And while I love the idea of preserving memories with beautiful scrapbooks, I’ve finally accepted the fact that it’s just not my thing and I don’t even bother to attempt it.
I don’t have a garden and I’m not an outdoor sort of person who loves creating beautiful flower beds.
Chances are, your strengths are quite different from mine and honestly, I think our diversity is part of what makes the world so interesting!
If being frugal doesn’t come naturally for you, that’s okay. No, it doesn’t give you a free pass to spend your money carelessly. But it does mean that how you spend your money is going to look different than what it does for me.
Or maybe you are frugal by nature, but still spend $450/mo. on groceries. You don’t necessarily need to feel bad about that either because….
2. We all have different needs and preferences
We eat fairly simple meals. I think that our meals are tasty and filling and honestly, we enjoy the way and don’t feel deprived.
But we pretty much never eat steak (unless we go out to eat!) and meats are often served more as a side than as a main dish.
In the winter, we eat a lot of soups not only because we love them, but also because they are frugal. And we don’t have food allergies or eat organic (unless I can get it really inexpensively).
Your family’s needs and preferences are going to look different than ours.
Your husband might really like to have large servings of meat at every meal and be pretty opposed to meatless meals. Or maybe he feels like soups shouldn’t really even be considered food.
You might have a child that is gluten intolerant. And eating only organic may feel super important to you.
That is okay! Your family is not mine, my family is not yours. There is no cookie cutter grocery budget that will fit everyone’s needs.
3. We all have different demands on our time
I’m not gonna lie. Shopping frugally, especially if you use coupons like I do, take a decent amount of extra time.
Many weeks I spend three hours planning my shopping trip and doing the shopping. It’s not that my life isn’t busy or that I don’t have plenty of other things to do, but for a variety of reasons, my husband and I have decided to continue to make this way of shopping a priority.
For us, at this point the benefits outweigh the negatives. But there may come a time when we decide otherwise.
You know your life, your schedule. Only you know what you have time for and it may be that even if you would love to coupon and deal shop, that you simply can’t right now due to life circumstances.
We all have to know our limits, to decide what is best for us.
The bottom line…
Yes, I think it’s important to shop smart and be mindful of how we spend the money that God has trusted us with.
But I think it’s equally important to remember that it is going to look different for everyone.
So, if you’ve been feeling bad that you spend more than $200/mo. on your groceries, go ahead and extend yourself some grace.
And remember, it doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t frugal!
However…if you are looking for more ways to lower your grocery budget, you might enjoy getting some inspiration from these posts!
Ruth Ann Stoltzfus
Thanks for this Lydia! I’ve been budgeting for a few years now and since we’re married I’ve been trying to cut down on my groceries. This month I cut back another $100 and have found it doable but I’m afraid it’s still more than your $200 a month! I was getting a little frustrated that I can’t get it down to $20 but as my husband pointed out, we do eat different due to my food intolerances. So it’s good to be reminded that as long as I do my best it’s ok.:) also, your Aldi post helped me out, I do nearly all of my shopping there and it’s good to know I’m not imagining it when I think I’m saving by doing so even if I’m not using coupons.
I do enjoy the challenge of seeing how little I can spend and how much we can save and pay off each month. Except for occasional times when I’m sick of counting every penny.:/
Thanks for writing!
ThriftyFrugalMom
So glad that you found this post, Ruth Ann. It’s one that I kind of wish that I could make mandatory reading for all of my blog readers. 🙂 And yes, your husband is a wise man. If you have food intolerances that most definitely makes it a lot harder to cut expenses! I know if we ever would need a special diet of any kind that it would increase our budget pretty significantly. And I hear you on the enjoying the challenge (most of the time). There are days that I’m pumped about figuring out how to make it all work….and then there are the days that like you, I’m just sick of trying to figure out how to stretch those pennies! Keep doing your best….and enjoy the success of cutting your budget by $100 last month. That’s worth celebrating!
Jen
At first I thought I was doing great thinking…I usually spend less than $200… then I read that is per MONTH not per WEEK 🙂 A lot of our budget goes to fresh, organic local food which can get pricey. But, we cut a lot out in other areas and to us, it’s worth it. Thanks so much for the great article!
ThriftyFrugalMom
Ha, yes week vs. month kind of makes a difference, right? But honestly, just because you spend $600/mo. (or whatever you spend) doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t doing great, you know. 😉
Kristina
I am inspired that you only spend $200/month on groceries. I think that it is also worth mentioning that it is also very dependent upon where you live…I feel that I am fairly frugal with our grocery budget, yet still end up spending $700/month (friends have said they spend upto $1000+/month). We live in Vancouver, Canada. I am constantly looking on ways to cut our food budget down significantly and appreciate the tips that you have provided. I look forward to reading and getting some inspiration for more!
I also really appreciate reading about not comparing yourself to others, as we all have different lives, and strengths!
Thanks,
Kristina
ThriftyFrugalMom
You are so right, Kristina! Location can make a huge difference as far as cost of things and even sales and deals that are available. For instance, where we live in PA there is a grocery store chain called Giant that offers gas savings when you purchase specific items each week. Nearly every week I am able to combine those gas saving sales with coupons and get things for free, nearly free or sometimes even make money on them! I realize that if I didn’t have this option, I would really struggle to stay within our $200 grocery budget. Not saying it couldn’t be done, but it would be extremely difficult….maybe impossible. At any rate, we wouldn’t be able to eat anywhere near as well as what we do now!
And yes, there is no cookie cutter grocery budget….and I’m rather grateful for that! 🙂
Jenna
Thanks for posting this! I was starting to feel overwhelmed at the prospect of meal planning more frugally and I’m really glad that you wrote this blog post.
ThriftyFrugalMom
So glad it was a blessing for you, Jenna! Trying to figure out all this homemaking stuff (meal planning, budgeting, keeping your house clean) can be so overwhelming. I think it’s great to be able to learn from others, but then the tendency is to feel “less than” if we aren’t doing it as good as they are or the same way that they are. It’s so important that we all realize it’s going to look different for each of us and give grace for that. (Oops! And now I just did another mini post about it, didn’t I?!) 🙂
Christine
I love that fact that your post is so open minded. It sounds like everyone that posted is doing pretty well. I am always trying to cut our budget and eat well. We have two adults and two elementary aged children. What you do is amazing. I read this article about grocery shopping, and from the sounds of it everyone that posted that thinks they are spending a lot really aren’t.
The article I read from 2009 said that the average costs of feed a family of four a healthy diet could range from $146-$289 a week. I try very hard to keep my month costs under $600, but it is a lot of work. Keep it up.
Christine
Sorry the article was from 2013. Here it is.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/01/grocery-costs-for-family/2104165/
ThriftyFrugalMom
Christine, thanks for linking to that article. What an interesting read! And yes, I think that unless you use coupons and deal shop 99% of the time, it’s pretty much impossible to keep your grocery expenses under $500 a month for a family of 4. And even that number, as you mention, is difficult to do. Food prices keep rising as well, so I think it’s only going to get more difficult to keep our grocery budgets low.
That’s part of the reason I thought it necessary to write this post. And I appreciate you adding your thoughts and the article link to help people get more perspective.
Blessings!
CLM
Thank you so much for posting. This brought tears to my eyes because I’m newly married and have high hopes to save money and meal plan, but I’ve been overwhelmed and have felt like a failure. Every meal I’ve been stressed about how much it costs. Thank you!
ThriftyFrugalMom
Oh, I wish I could give you a big hug! I remember so well how overwhelmed I felt when we first got married. And it didn’t help that my husband and I had different thoughts about how the food budget should look! Let’s just say there were some rather um, intense conversations about it numerous times. 🙂 Give yourself grace and remember that it takes time to get the hang of it all. For me it was about a 1 1/2 years until I really was at a place that I felt truly good about how I was doing. You obviously might get there more quickly than I did, but I just wanted to mention that so that you would realize you aren’t strange for finding it harder than you thought. There is just so much to learn about budgeting and meal planning, not to mention getting used to being married and keeping house etc. Keep taking baby steps with it all and you’ll get there! 🙂