I love a challenge, don’t you? Especially when it comes to food, cooking, grocery shopping or saving money. I’ll always look for the more frugal way to do something. Not because I’m a cheapskate. I find it rewarding and it confirms what I know and that there is always a cheaper way to do things around the home so you have the money for more important things in your life. Here’s how I fed my family of 4 on $60 per week for a month.
I set the November Grocery Savings Challenge up for the members of my Shop Smart, Eat Well Facebook Group that if they reduced their grocery budget each week during the month of November, they could put that money aside for the extra, indulgent Christmas purchases we all face.
Why did I choose $60 per week?
I chose $60 per week because I already am pretty low with a budget of $75 per week (well, actually $150 per fortnight). I find that fortnightly shopping with a budget of $150 is more than enough to get everything I need.
I wanted to shave a little bit off that so I had around $60 by the end of November (4 x $15 savings) to purchase seafood for our family’s Christmas lunch. I don’t believe that you should go all out just because it’s Christmas, especially if you’re already doing it tough.
Growing up, I enjoyed huge family Christmas functions where we ate regular food with the addition of a special plum pudding or Christmas cake. Nothing extra. Nothing fancy.
We were all left feeling full and very satisfied as the food was beautifully prepared, there was plenty of it and it was more about the time spent together than what we were actually eating.
What I already had before I started
I already had a well stock pantry before I started. Not bulging but all the usual ingredients I keep on hand to make the meals my family eats.
I had a bit of meat and frozen vegetables in the freezer and some usual ingredients in the fridge like cheese, butter, some fruit and some fresh vegetables.
So here’s how I did it for the 4 weeks.
Breakfast & Lunches for $60 per week
Just so I’m not repeating myself, our breakfasts and lunches were always pretty much the same every day throughout the month, and for any month really.
My family aren’t big breakfast eaters. The food is there if anyone wants it. My husband and son eat the cornflakes, I have granola or oats with Greek yoghurt and frozen fruit or there was raisin toast, normal bread for toast with the usual spreads like Vegemite, honey, peanut butter etc. I might’ve even made pancakes one weekend.
For lunch, my husband takes sandwiches and fruit and maybe a baked item. Same with my son and daughter. I’ll have a sandwich, a salad, yoghurt or sometimes I’ll grab something for lunch if I’m out with girlfriends. I tried to limit that during this Challenge just to prove that it can be done on this amount of money.
Snacks were baked goods, fruit or freshly popped popcorn.
Week 1
What I bought
(Check out the grocery haul video)
- sugar
- vegetable oil
- 1 x packet spaghetti
- frozen brocolli
- 1 whole sugarloaf cabbage
- bird seed
- 4 pack honey leg ham
- 1 kg cheese
- tin pineapple
- capsicum
- 2 mangoes
- 2 apples
- 4 x 1 ltr milk
- large tin coffee
- 2 x loaves bread
- 12 pack toilet paper
- Total Spent: $58.55
What we ate for dinner
Sweet & Sour Fish with Rice: White fish fillets from the freezer, cooked rice from the freezer and sweet and sour sauce from pantry staples and a few veg.
Spaghetti Bolognese: Beef mince from the freezer, tinned tomatoes, pasta etc from the pantry and tiny piece of Parmesan left in the freezer.
Mango Chicken & Rice: Chicken breast, 1 mango, sauces from the pantry, rice from the freezer, vegetables from the fridge.
Cajun Fish with Cabbage & Bacon: Fish, bacon and vegetables from the freezer, cabbage from the fridge, spices from the pantry.
Pork Schnitzel & Coleslaw Sandwiches: Pork leg steaks from the freezer, bread from the freezer, homemade coleslaw from vegetable ingredients, homemade coleslaw dressing ingredients.
Homemade Pizza: Homemade Greek yoghurt & flour pizza base, toppings from pantry, fridge and freezer.
Homemade Pancakes with Ice Cream & Maple Syrup: All ingredients from pantry and last bit of ice cream from freezer.
Week 2:
What I bought
(Check out the grocery haul video)
- 2 packs plain Naan bread (reduced)
- 1 loaf bread
- 1 box my favourite Granola
- 1 kg Greek yoghurt
- 6 x 1 L longlife milk
- Apple & Mango Juice
- Fruit Cordial
- Frozen diced mango
- Frozen spinach
- 1 kg beef mince
- 2 kg chicken drumsticks
- 4 pack ham
- 1 kg frozen green vegetable mix
- 1kg onions
- 5 x tomatoes
- 2 x mangoes
- 2 x Granny Smith apples
- 2 x oranges
- 1 kg carrots
- Total: $62.74
What we ate for dinner
Beef Chow Mein with Rice: Beef mince, cabbage, frozen vegetables, cooked rice from the freezer and pantry sauces.
Potato topped Fish Pie and Vegetables: Frozen fish, vegetables from the fridge and freezer.
Variety: No one was really hungry so we ate whatever we were prepared to make ourselves. There were 2 minute noodles or toasted sandwiches which everyone was happy with.
Tandoori Chicken Drumsticks & Naan Bread: Chicken drumsticks from the freezer, Greek yoghurt from the fridge, spices from the pantry, Naan bread reduced from the supermarket.
Indian Navajo Fry Bread: Ingredients from ‘bread’ from the pantry, beef mince from the freezer, tin of beans from the pantry, salad ingredients from the fridge and topped with Greek yoghurt to substitute sour cream.
Variety: It was a late lunch and very hot so some of us had cereal for dinner and I had a mango smoothie.
Homemade pizza: Using Lebanese bread from the freezer as the base, tomato or BBQ sauce, topped with ham, cheese and olives.
Week 3:
What I bought
(Check out the grocery haul video)
- lettuce
- cucumber
- capsicum
- tomatoes
- 1.5kg chicken breasts
- 1kg blog cheese
- 1 kg sausages
- 1 ltr Greek yoghurt
- 6 x 1L milk
- 1 500gm spreadable butter
- 1 425gm tin tuna
- large tin coffee
- dishwashing liquid
- 1 box 4 sachets tomato paste
- 1 packet spaghetti pasta
- Plastic cling film
- 2 x loaves bread
- blueberry muffins (reduced)
- 2 x Lebanese bread (reduced)
- frozen blueberries
- Total: $73.50
Note: This week’s grocery shopping was $13.50 over my $60 budget for the week. I put it down to trying to remember what I had on my list because I left my list at home. It’s so easy to think you’re going to stay under the budget but even a seasoned shopper as myself can go over budget.
What we ate for dinner
Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake: Chicken breast and spinach from the freezer, other vegetables from the fridge and remaining ingredients from the pantry.
Tuna, Rice & Salad Bowl: Tinned tuna, salad ingredients, cooked rice from the freezer.
Pie Maker Meat Pies, Homemade Potato Wedges & Salad: Used sliced bread as the pastry for the pies, beef mince from the freezer, potatoes and salad ingredients from the fridge and all other ingredients from the pantry.
Vietnamese Grilled Lemon & Coriander Chicken with Vegetable Fried Rice: The lemon/coriander sauce was a reduced items from months before. It did say “Indian” on the packet but I figured it was the same ingredients that suited Vietnamese food. I used cooked rice from the freezer and a selection of fresh and frozen vegetables plus pantry sauces for the fried rice, plus an egg from the fridge.
Pork Sausage & Onion Rolls: Sausages from the freezer, onions from the fridge and free bread rolls given to me.
Homemade Pizza: Lebanese bread as the base, pantry sauces, ham, frankfurts, onion and cheese for the toppings.
Homemade Fish Burgers: (Frozen fish fillets were purchased today.) Used free bread for the rolls, salad from the fridge and a few ready made oven chips from the freezer.
Week 4:
What I bought
(Check out the grocery haul video)
- 2kg potatoes
- 1/2 butternut pumpkin
- 5 x tomatoes
- 1 whole rockmelon
- 2 x oranges
- 1 xcucumber
- 1 bunch spring onions
- 1kg carrots
- 2ltr BBQ sauce
- 1 box gravy mix powder
- 1 box 14 frozen crumbed fish fillets
- 1 2L tub chocolate ice cream
- 1 large piece roast pork shoulder
- 1 dozen eggs
- Total: $60.43
What we ate for dinner
Roast Pork Dinner with Baked Vegetables: Pork from the freezer and fresh roasted vegetables with packet gravy (and juice from the meat).
Frozen Fish, Homemade Potato Wedges & Salad: Frozen crumbed fish fillets from the freezer, potatoes and salad ingredients from the fridge.
Leftover Pork Curry with Pumpkin & Rice: Leftover roast pork, pumpkin and onions from the fridge and other ingredients from the pantry.
Spaghetti Bolognese: Beef mince from the freezer, pasta and other ingredients from the pantry and cheese from the fridge.
Grilled Chicken & Salad Sandwich: Chicken breast from the freezer, free bread and salad ingredients. (Ice cream for dessert if anyone was still hungry.)
Homemade Pizza: Lebanese bread from the freezer and other toppings like ham, cheese etc from the fridge. (For those who didn’t feel like pizza there was cereal.)
Total Budget for 4 weeks @ $60 per week = $240.00
Total Spent for 4 weeks = $255.22
Balance = Overspent by $15.22
Compared to my usual budget of $300 per month (ie $150 per fortnight) =
$300 (usual budget) – $255.22 (actual spent in total in November) = $44.78
So even though I may have overspent on some weeks during the November Savings Challenge I set myself, I still came out in front by $44.78 compared to my usual fortnightly grocery budget of $150 per fortnight.
It doesn’t hurt to do this occasionally, especially if you have a big event coming up like school holidays, Christmas or Easter. I can now put an extra $44.78 towards buying a few extra for Christmas like seafood for lunch.
If you’d like to know more about how I can save money on groceries without meal planning, fancy ingredients and eat really well, check out my program Shop Smart, Eat Well.
