Back in January I introduced the 2014 Grocery Budget Challenge. I really wanted to reduce our grocery spending for my family of 4 from the average of $634 a month in 2013 to a budget of $450 a month in 2014.
It was a bold goal to reduce our spending by so much and I knew I would have to be very diligent with my meal planning. So I started the challenge to be more accountable and to be creative with our meals and grocery shopping so that we do not over-spend.
While we needed to stay on budget, I also didn’t want to make my family miserable with bland meals, boring snacks, and not enough food in the house. There is nothing worse than a family revolting in the kitchen.
Through out the year, my grocery spending ranged from $425 – 500 a month. I didn’t hit my goal of $450 every month, but there was a month or two where I was super diligent and spent even less, like in March, when I only spent $425.
As of today, I find myself spending an average of $500 a month, which is still quite a bit less than my last year’s average, so I do consider that to be a win.
The challenge did hold me accountable to my budget, because I didn’t want to report back here that I failed–LOL.
This challenge also caused me to think of meal planning differently. I tried new strategies, like freezer cooking and I used my crock pot more than ever before.
While I will no longer be writing a monthly Grocery Budget Challenge, I will continue to budget and plan our grocery spending. I figured I saved at least $1500 (and probably more) this year just by being very diligent each week with meal planning.
And that is money in the bank.
Previous Grocery Budget Challenge Posts:
Did you follow along this year with the Grocery Budget Challenge? What is your number one tip for saving money on groceries? Let us know in the comments.
Thanks so much for all you do to help us be better stewards of our money. I will be selfish and say that I do hope that you link this series together so that we can reference back to them from time to time. Hope you all have a very Blessed Christmas.
That’s a great idea. I’ll add the links to the bottom of this post. Thanks, Penny, for reading and taking the time to comment.
I just wanted to say thanks for doing the grocery budget challenge! In the spring, after doing lots of research and finding your blog, I challenged myself to reduce our rising monthly budget (family of 5 in Chicago) of $650-$700 to only $500. I felt a little crazy lowering our budget with food costs rising but I have been SO proud of myself for making it work!! We got a little off with a big move this summer but I am working hard to get back on track. Now I am wondering if it is possible to lower it another $50…..We will see! Thanks so much for giving great tips, accountability and helping to give me the courage to do this!
Heidi – thanks so much for the comments–you made my day! Congrats on lowering your grocery bill by so much. I’m going to continue to challenge myself and my readers to lower our grocery bills.
Thanks so much for this series, Kristia! In 2013, my average was $667 per month, but in 2014 I was able to average $555. While that is still higher than I would like, we do live in a remote area so our groceries tend to be a bit more expensive than a lot of areas. Also, another factor is that I have quite a bit of food stocked up for future use so I’m never quite sure how to factor that in. For 2015, I’d like to see if I can average $500. We’ll see. Thanks so much for your blog. You are a wonderful resource and an inspiration to all of us!
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Thanks for your kind words, Heather. Managing the grocery budget is a non-stop job. I’d like to get our average down to $450 in 2015, but we’ll see if I can manage that.