How is everyone’s 2013 grocery budget holding up? Brian and I haven’t made any changes to our grocery budget this year. We are still spending $200 a month for the two of us, usually split up into $100 for the first half of the month and $100 for the second half. This pays for all of our breakfasts, lunches and dinners, fruit and snacks. Here’s how a recent $100 broke down:
At Superstore, we spent $44.45:
- 1L apple juice – $0.99 (plus recycling and deposit fees $0.12)
- canned soup – $1.66
- 3 vermicelli instant noodles – $0.99
- 2 ramen instant noodles – $1.36
- canned corn – $0.87
- frozen grape punch – $0.64
- 6-pack of 100g yogurt – $4.47
- rice cakes – $0.99
- harvarti cheese – $4.87
- 200g deli meat – $3.51
- whole wheat bread – $1.78
- 1lb cooked shrimp – $3.98
- 3 large pork tenderloins – $13.21
- 4 bananas – $0.69
- 2lbs carrots – $1.48
- 1 English cucumber – $1.47
- 1 red mango – $0.77
- 1 chayote squash – $0.48
At the bakery, we also picked up 3 stuffed buns for $2.65
At the local market, we spent: $1.31
- 3 tomatoes – $0.36
- 4 bananas – $0.95
At Shoppers Drug Mart, we spent: $6.28
- 1 dozen eggs – $2.29
- 1kg peanut butter – $3.99
With what I’ve purchased, I’ve already made several meals:
- 6 sandwiches, using the deli meat, cucumber and havarti cheese. We still have cheese left for breakfasts.
- 4 servings of stir fry, using the chayote, carrots and frozen beef slices that I bought previously.
- 6 servings of fried rice, using the eggs, carrots, canned corn and shrimp.
I’m also planning on making:
- 6-8 servings slow cooked pork tenderloin with carrots and possibly other veggies
- ramen, with shrimp and veggies
After all that, we have $45 for the remaining for these two weeks. We’ll need to get more bread, fruits and veggies, but I will probably not buy more meat – we still have lots stashed away in the freezer. If I didn’t have meat in the freezer, I’d probably pick up some cheap 99 cents/lb chicken legs (for baked chicken, stripped for stir fry meat and soup, or fried in marinade) or a large roast (cut into a small roast and slices for stir fry and sandwiches). I may also have to pick up more milk and cheese, but we’ll see.
How does your grocery budget look this month?
