I decided to keep a running tab of all of our grocery spending for April. Ready for the great big break-down?
We are currently a household of 11. This includes 5 adults and six littles. Most days we feed extras like a fiance and a girlfriend of our boys #2 and #3. Plus any others we are blessed to enjoy at mealtime or after ball games!
Throughout the month, I typically:
- Head to Lincoln one time to stock up at Costco and Sam’s.
- Place several Walmart Pick-Up orders to supplement the fresh produce and other groceries we need.
- Get local milk at a farm once each week.
- Pick up WIC items and a few other groceries at a local grocery store close to our house.
Here are more specifics about what I bought and spent during the month of April 2022:
Walmart Pick-Up
In order to keep up with all of the fresh produce we eat at our house, I have been placing a Walmart Pick-Up order a few times each month. My friend Pam comes to help me with the kids each morning, and she is awesome enough to grab my pick-up orders when I schedule them right before her time to come over.
Walmart Pick-Up April 6: $112
Walmart Pick-Up April 12: $167 – I was prepping for a huge Easter dinner, so this order included candy for our Easter egg hunt plus some treats to supplement our big meal.
Walmart Pick-Up April 29: $127 – Justus graduated from college on the 30th, so along with fresh produce, I ordered brats and other food we needed to feed people who came to his reception.
Local Grocery Store
We have a very nice store just a few blocks from our house. They are great, however, their prices are usually higher so it’s hard for me to justify doing much shopping there since we buy so many groceries.
I run there a couple of times each month, though, to grab a few needed items, to take advantage of sales, and to get WIC items. (Three of our foster daughters qualify for WIC, which provides them with free formula, milk, cheese, cereal, produce, and a few other items. This is a huge blessing!)
Since these trips are short and sweet, I try to take one or two littles with me so they can have a fun outing and learn a little bit about shopping and obeying at the store. Here’s a summary of our April Grand Central Trips:
Grand Central April 3: $15 – I ran in and grabbed milk because we were almost out!
Grand Central April 11: $42 – I picked up all of our WIC items for the month, plus filled in a few gaps by grabbing some buns and frozen items we needed. WIC covered most of our cart that day, praise God.
Local Farm Milk: $40 – We are in a group that takes turns picking up farm-fresh milk each Tuesday. We get 2-gallons each week, and it is incredible milk!
April Trip to Lincoln
Costco – $420
- Bottled water
- Olives
- Granola Bites
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Clementines
- Apples
- Pears
- Canned chicken
- Tortilla Chips
- Gogurt
- Heavenly Hunk snacks
- Coffee
- Olive Oil
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- Almond butter
- Bread
- Brat rolls
- Croissants
- Boxes of chips
- Frozen pizza
- Tilapia
- Chicken thighs
- Chicken nuggets
- Mozzarella cheese
- Cheddar jack cheese
- Applesauce squeezies
- Yogurt squeezies
- Kombucha
- Italian dressing
- Mustard
- Fruit bars
- Cinnamon streusel bread
- Pizza making kit (with four crusts and sauce)
Sam’s – $229
- Boneless chicken thighs marked down!
- Red grapes
- Frozen cheese curds
- Frozen orange chicken box
- Case of canned baked beans
- Case of canned corn
- Spaghetti sauce
- Sliced pepper jack cheese
- Sliced colby jack cheese
- 2-pack of whole wheat sandwich bread
- Turkey lunch meat
- Potato salad
- Pepperoni
- Mixed greens
- Spinach x2
- Bananas
- Half and half
- Sour cream
- Hamburger patties
- Hamburger buns
- Applesauce
- Spaghetti sauce
- Fish sticks
- Raspberries
- Pears
- Apples
- Apple juice
Total Grocery Spending for April
$1,152
I try to keep our spending under $1,200 each month, so mission accomplished. We fed guests, we ate well, and as far as I can remember, we didn’t eat out at all this month.
Wait. I was sick one day so Matt ordered pizza while caring for so many littles while Mommy was in bed. :)
Care to share what your grocery spending was for April?
You are doing an awesome job! I am feeding a family of 6 and I spent at least $800 on food this past month.
Wow! Awesome job. I wish we were spending that amount. Ours is about $1500 or more. We have 8 kids but only 4 left at home. So, 4 adults and 2 kids. We are gluten free and a couple of us are dairy free. We eat meat a couple times a week but do consume eggs. I eat a lot of veggies and little fruit and that’s mostly it.
Thanks for sharing. It was interesting to see.
I’m not sure how else I can cut back except take meat completely out. I don’t buy much prepackaged food. We do some as I need it on hand for times that I’m too sick to cook or bake, but it’s minimal.
We are mostly sugar free as well. I do buy Lily’s choc chips for baking and use pure maple syrup or honey. Those can add up.
Anyways, you have encouraged me to look at our food budget again to see if there’s something else I can do.
2 adults and one 13 year old boy and we budget $1,300 a month just on groceries. Another few hundred eating out plus a few hundred more for non food items. Low cost of living area too and we are not particularly big eaters.
I’m impressed you can spend so little and wish I could be that gifted with shopping! Maybe one day I will learn…
I have a family of 6, with the 4 kids being all boys between 10-18. The goal is to spend less than $150 at the local grocery store each week and less than $300 at Sams Club once a month but is flexible and the budget says $1000 on groceries. (We also have an eating out budget for Friday night Pizza Night and occassional lunches including school lunches that is an additional $400) In April I was slightly over budget at $1062, but I’m still feeling good about that!
Very good. I have to work really hard to keep my budget under $1000 for 2 adults, 4 kids. Unfortunately, we do live in CA and that could be part of it.
We are in a high cost of living area in Colorado, some items have gone up 20-30% this year. My goal for 2 adults 2 older teens and 2 elementary kids is keeping it under $450/wk. We use Costco and local grocery store weekly, Azure once or twice a year, bulk meat when we can, food supply.store for some things. We have a lot of food sensitivities and allergies to work around too. If I buy in bulk, up our veggies and stretch our protein, and cook totally from scratch esp snacks it helps some.
Question – Do you write out a plan/list and then shop or do you just buy items you know you’ll use/eat and then cook from what you have? I am spending valuable time planning, but think it may be more beneficial to shop and then cook from what I have.