It sounds scary, and sometimes it is. And we don't have coupons in Australia like they have in the States. But I have a few tricks I use to feed everyone without going over budget (most of the time).
First, I set a weekly budget based on what Jordan Page recommends. Her rule is to budget $100 per person per month, starting at $300, and then break it down by week. So a family of 1-3 people would still get $300 to spend each month, and about $75 each week.
Now Jordan Page lives in Utah, and there's quite a difference between the cost of living there and here, not to mention our currency isn't worth as much. So I plugged $600 into x-rates.com and use that as my monthly grocery budget. When I first did it, it came to $900 a month. Which was about $300 less than I was used to spending, but I thought I'd give it a go. Ever since starting to listen to Dave Ramsey, I'm always on the lookout for more ways to cut spending and save money. 900/4=225. So $225 is what I give myself to work with every week.
Here's another tip I learned from Jordan. She says before you go shopping, make a meal plan from the food you already have in your kitchen, and write the shopping list based on what you're missing in the meals you've planned. This has been a game changer.
Example: I find ground beef and cheese, and half a tub of sour cream. This screams tacos to me, but I don't have taco shells or tortillas. So I put those on my list, along with any other taco fixings we like.
Another example: there's most of a roast chicken in the fridge that needs to get used up. I dig around in the freezer and find a bag of broccoli. There's a yummy chicken and broccoli casserole that I make, so that goes on the meal plan. But I can't find any bacon to garnish on top, so bacon goes on the list.
See how that works? It's made a huge difference to the grocery budget, and in turn, our overall budget.
Another thing I do is look for marked down meat. If I have space left in the budget after I've got everything on my list, I'll stock up on sale meat or marked down meat, and keep it in the freezer for later. We bought a chest freezer when Caleb was born, so we have a ton of space for that kind of thing.
And I shop at Aldi as much as possible. Their prices are usually about 10-20% lower than Coles and Woolworths. When I do shop at the big supermarkets, I scan my loyalty card to earn points and money off my shopping. I try not to get sucked into the bonus offers, unless it's for something I need anyway.
I also use an app called Receipt Jar, which lets you scan your receipts and get points. When you get enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards or a bank deposit. I've already redeemed $30 this way (the first time I used $15 to put toward a new car battery when we needed one, and the next time I got Coles gift cards).
I'd like to say I only go shopping once a week, but I often go a few times for emergency chocolate runs. Which is totally a thing, by the way. Don't judge me.
First, I set a weekly budget based on what Jordan Page recommends. Her rule is to budget $100 per person per month, starting at $300, and then break it down by week. So a family of 1-3 people would still get $300 to spend each month, and about $75 each week.
Now Jordan Page lives in Utah, and there's quite a difference between the cost of living there and here, not to mention our currency isn't worth as much. So I plugged $600 into x-rates.com and use that as my monthly grocery budget. When I first did it, it came to $900 a month. Which was about $300 less than I was used to spending, but I thought I'd give it a go. Ever since starting to listen to Dave Ramsey, I'm always on the lookout for more ways to cut spending and save money. 900/4=225. So $225 is what I give myself to work with every week.
Here's another tip I learned from Jordan. She says before you go shopping, make a meal plan from the food you already have in your kitchen, and write the shopping list based on what you're missing in the meals you've planned. This has been a game changer.
Example: I find ground beef and cheese, and half a tub of sour cream. This screams tacos to me, but I don't have taco shells or tortillas. So I put those on my list, along with any other taco fixings we like.
Another example: there's most of a roast chicken in the fridge that needs to get used up. I dig around in the freezer and find a bag of broccoli. There's a yummy chicken and broccoli casserole that I make, so that goes on the meal plan. But I can't find any bacon to garnish on top, so bacon goes on the list.
See how that works? It's made a huge difference to the grocery budget, and in turn, our overall budget.
Another thing I do is look for marked down meat. If I have space left in the budget after I've got everything on my list, I'll stock up on sale meat or marked down meat, and keep it in the freezer for later. We bought a chest freezer when Caleb was born, so we have a ton of space for that kind of thing.
And I shop at Aldi as much as possible. Their prices are usually about 10-20% lower than Coles and Woolworths. When I do shop at the big supermarkets, I scan my loyalty card to earn points and money off my shopping. I try not to get sucked into the bonus offers, unless it's for something I need anyway.
I also use an app called Receipt Jar, which lets you scan your receipts and get points. When you get enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards or a bank deposit. I've already redeemed $30 this way (the first time I used $15 to put toward a new car battery when we needed one, and the next time I got Coles gift cards).
I'd like to say I only go shopping once a week, but I often go a few times for emergency chocolate runs. Which is totally a thing, by the way. Don't judge me.
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