This month marks the first of my '2 Week Grocery Challenge' journey for the next 12 months. I have set a goal to reduce my grocery budget right down to where it was around 5-6 years ago. This will total just $30 per person per week, for our family of 4. I have budgeted $50 per person for the main shop in my first week ($200) and then just $30 for my top up shop in the second week of the fortnight. That is a total of $230 for the 2 weeks.
Starting this challenge I really needed to take some time to strategize how I could stick to such a low budget. Each fortnight I will be looking at any discount, free rewards $$$ and offers that I can to get the most out of my money. For example if I can get $300 worth of groceries for only the $230 cash out of pocket then that is a successful result. I will talk over the coming months what I will be doing to get as much 'free money' as possible.
2 strategies I'm working on to begin with are
- Cutting down on processed packaged snacks - As a time saver and convenience we have gotten into a habit of having a lot of single serve packs of things like chips, Shapes, Oreos, LeSnacks etc. Especially with me working outside of the home and not having a lot of time to prepare foods for everyone. There are other options I will be looking to replace these with as a slow small lifestyle change for our family.
- Smarter uses with meat - Usually when making different dinners I buy different cuts of meat. Purchasing for example a larger beef roast and cutting it down myself to use for different things like, roast rolls, casserole, stir-fry etc. It's not usual for me to do this with chicken, but thinking in bulk and smarter with what I can do is going to be key.
Over the coming months there will be more strategies that will come to light I'm sure and I will share these with you all.
I made sure I used my meal planning pintables when I was planning to ensure I got the most out of everything! These pintables are FREE for all VIP members, by simply selecting them in the shop here on the website and then entering your special code at checkout. They are an instant download and ready for you to print once you have saved them to your computer..
So be sure to watch the matching grocery haul to see if I stay under budget !
Some tools I used to do my meal planning were:
(VIP's use the shop code found on the private Facebook Group to download FREE)
- 7pk Monthly Meal Planner + Shop Your Pantry Meal Ideas + 40 Dinner Theme Night Idea's + Blank Family Favorite Meals Sheet - INSTANT DOWNLOAD
- A Easy Grocery Calculator - INSTANT DOWNLOAD
- 2pk Grocery List Budget + Grocery & Meal Planning Wish List - INSTANT DOWNLOAD
- Lunch Box Meal Planner - INSTANT DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE
- Daily Meal Planner For The Busy - INSTANT DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE
Print out these using the VIP shop code found on the Facebook Group!
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So that is where I'm at this week. Be sure to check out the matching grocery haul vlog if you want to see what I got and how I went with staying within my budget.