Its a new month with a new challenge! That's right, a new challenge. In the month before you can see I went into a tight grocery budget challenge. Be sure to check out the previous 2 fortnights to see how I went. Coming off that challenge it put me in a mind space of how I handled things and what I could do moving forward to really improve my meal planning and grocery spending.
Previous to COVID I had a tight budget of $50 per person no matter the age for my main shop in the first week of my fortnight and then $50 for my top up shop in the second week. As you all probably remember I increased that budget when COVID hit as I just needed to! I couldn't get things as they were sold out. When I could get things there were limits, so often you would be buying different brands and shopping at multiple stores. Prices increased significantly due to shortages and stores (I believe) taking advantage of the situation! I just really needed more money in my budget to combat all of that.
After doing my challenges last month though I came to realize even though prices are still increasing and higher than previously, perhaps I could try and move my budget back to pre-COVID times. Watch the video above to hear my thoughts and what I'll be aiming for moving forward.
My NEW rule for setting a grocery budget is $50 per person for the main grocery shop in the first week of my fortnight and just $50 for the top up shop in the second week. The top up shop I base off my budget per person in the first week. As a family of 4 that is a total of $250 for the fortnight for food, drinks, toiletries, cleaning products etc anything you buy in a grocery store. I feel no matter where you are living in Australia - city, country or coastal states - it's a fair $ goal for your budget. However if you worry about starting this low, then perhaps increase it by $10 per person to begin with and work from there to see if you can reduce in a few weeks time.
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.