Want to see what we bought for this week’s $70 grocery budget? I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
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This Week’s $70 Grocery Budget
I told you we were doing a 100 Days of Summer Fun Challenge this summer. We’re currently on Day 10 and it’s been so good. This photo was taken at the top of Fort Negley in Nashville.
We went there as a family to have a picnic dinner one night this past week. It was my idea — and well, let’s just say, the kids weren’t as excited about it as I was.
(You can read more about our evening there here… and hopefully it helps you remember that we’re far from perfect over here!)
I bought some marked down salmon a few weeks ago and it was a fun addition to my daily salads this past week. Yum!
On Tuesday evening, I made a big batch of Pizza Hot Pockets. I used the basic idea from Ham & Cheese Pockets, but I used pasta sauce, browned ground beef, and cheddar cheese.
I made two pans and it was enough for two nights (plus some extras for lunch) and these were a hit!
Kroger Shopping Trip #1
I loved the $0.50 salads. The second day, I added some of the cooked salmon to it and it tasted amazing!
Did you download your free Sprouts coupons??
Sprouts Shopping Trip
I got both of these for just $0.20 out of pocket at Sprouts!
Note: I accidentally picked up the non-organic peppers. I realized my mistake at the register when the coupon didn’t come off! I offered to go get the organic peppers so I could exchange them with these and the cashier said, “Oh, don’t worry about it! I’ll just take those off your order!”
If you missed my post from last week and you love Dollar Tree, be sure to check out my thoughts on 5 Things You Should Not Buy at Dollar Tree.
Dollar Tree Shopping Trip
While I was at Dollar Tree taking photos for the above post, I also picked up 4 bottles of lemon juice (for my Gallon of Lemon Water a Day habit) and I picked up some Coconut Oil cooking spray to try out.
I asked on Instagram if anyone had tried the coconut oil cooking spray. Some of you said you loved it. Some of you said it didn’t work at all. So I guess I’ll just have to try it for myself and see! 🙂
And of course, we had to stop by Sonic for their $0.50 corn dogs on Thursday!
I was so excited about the fun deals at Kroger for Memorial Day weekend! (And the kids were super excited about sweet tea, cookies, and ice cream bars!)
Someone told me that they use the Deluxe Grahams for s’mores! We’ll have to try that!
These are so great to have on hand for hosting people over the summer!
Kroger Shopping Trip #2
- 5 packages of Keebler cookies — $0.99 each with the Weekend Digital coupon
- 1 pack of Snapple — $1.99 with the Weekend Digital coupon
- 5 boxes of ice cream bars — $0.99 each with the Weekend Digital coupon
- 5 packages of hot dog buns — $1.19 each
- 4 boxes Cinnamon Frosted Flakes — marked down to $1 each
- 2 bags of avocados — marked down to $0.99 each
- 1 package Butterscotch chips — marked down to $1
- 2 packages turkey — on closeout for $2 each
- Pickle relish — $0.79
- Kroger pickles — $1.59
- Mustard — $0.49
- Dijon mustard — $1.25
- 3 salad kits — marked down to $1.49 each
- Total with tax: $39.79
Practicing Hospitality on a Budget
A question I often get is how we can afford to practice hospitality with a $70 grocery budget. We love opening up our home and I love finding creative ways to do it frugally. (See my post here for some ideas for hospitality on a budget.)
Some friends from India were in the states and we wanted to have them over along with a few other families. I knew that our Indian friends actually enjoy real American food so I thought a traditional cookout would be fun!
We had about 20 packages of beef hot dogs and beef brats in the freezer — that I’ve picked up when they’ve been on great sales over the past 3-6 months. So I invited everyone to come and said we’d provide the hot dogs, brats, buns, and condiments. Everyone else brought a side and/or drink.
This made it easy for everyone and also really simple to pull off! It was such a wonderful evening of games, laughter, and good conversation!
Headed on a Road Trip!
On Saturday morning, we left for a quick family road trip to visit three states we haven’t all visited before (Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa). We brought snacks for the road, some food for some meals, and we are staying at hotels with free breakfasts. We love to splurge on one meal out at a local restaurant each day on our trip.
(Follow along on Instagram stories to see what we’re doing, seeing, and eating in these states!)
What We Ate On Our $70 Grocery Budget This Past Week
Note: When you see the meals below, please remember this: I buy ahead often. Which means that when I find a great deal on something I know we’ll use, I buy as much as I can afford in our budget to have on hand.
This means that you aren’t going to see all of the groceries my shopping trip that I used to make all of the meals we ate.
Please also remember that I’m putting this out there and it’s not a perfectly balanced menu. This is just really what we ate — and I hope that it encourages you to see the real-ness and lack of perfection here.
Our Menu Plan
Breakfasts:
- Cereal, Pancakes, Oatmeal, Scrambled Eggs, Toast
Lunches:
- Ham Sandwiches, Carrots, Oranges, Salads, Leftovers, Cookies (We also got a few $0.50 corn dogs at Sonic in the afternoon.)
Snacks:
- Fruit, Peppers, Popcorn, Cookies, Hard Boiled Eggs, Cereal, Granola Bars, Chocolate Milk
Dinners:
- Sunday — Fend for yourself
- Monday — Grilled Beef, Twice Baked Potatoes, Hawaiian Rolls, Oranges
- Tuesday — Homemade Pizza Pockets, Oranges
- Wednesday — Leftover Pizza Pockets, Peppers, Creme Brulee
- Thursday — Pancakes
- Friday — Cookout with five other families at our house (we provided all of the Brats/Hot Dogs — I had these stockpiled in the freezer from recent deals — plus the condiments and buns. Everyone else brought a side/drinks.)
- Saturday — We stopped at McAlister’s on our way to Madison, WI.
$70 Grocery Budget Totals
Total spent on groceries: $70.64
Cashback earned this week: 100 points for submitting my receipts to Fetch rewards + $0.75 for submitting my receipt to iBotta rewards and buying snack bars + a snack.
