I did it! I made it
through the entire year of 2024 on an extreme grocery budget of only $50 per month and it was amazing! It was eye opening and challenging, it really
tested my creativity as well as my resourcefulness, but most importantly it was
fun! I thoroughly enjoyed this
challenge.
This month I began with some apples, about a third of a bag
of carrots, half an onion, some cream, a little bit of whipping cream leftover from
Thanksgiving, a little bit of milk, half a container of sour cream, a 2# block
of cheddar (unopened), some grated parmesan, a package of cream cheese, 17 eggs
and more condiments then I had hoped to have at this point in my refrigerator
plus a box of apples in my garage. With a
deficit rollover amount of $2.97 my starting budget was $47.03. November was the only month this year that I
went over my budget. Every other month I
began with a positive rollover amount, so I had a little bit extra to start
with each time. All things considered, I’m
pretty happy about that.
I had only a few things on my LTFS list I was low on – apple
cider vinegar (I used quite a bit while canning this year) and coconut milk so
I restocked that by stopping into the dollar store and picking up three quart
size bottles of vinegar ($3.25) and four cans of coconut milk ($5.00).
While shopping with a friend at Wal-Mart I picked up a half
gallon of heavy whipping cream as it was the best price I’d seen in a while. This was plenty to see me through the holiday
baking and cooking as well as feed my coffee habit and that of another friend
of mine when she stops in for a visit.
Looking back over the year quite a bit of my budget was spent on cream
just to use in my coffee. Should I have
devoted so much money to that in lieu of having such an extreme budget this
year? Perhaps not, but we all have that
one item we don’t wish to live without and this is mine. Had it become a financial hardship I would’ve
adjusted accordingly, but I think this just proves that extreme grocery budgets
do not have to mean deprivation.
At Fred Meyer I picked up another half gallon of milk on
sale for $3.99 and a four pound bag of oranges on sale for $2.99. I really enjoy having oranges around at
Christmastime. Later in the month I
stopped into Winco for some fresh produce to have for holiday meals and
that was pretty much it. I had
everything on hand already in the house to prepare this year’s holiday meals so
I didn’t need to get much at the stores this month.
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| My last shopping trip of 2025! 😁 |
My creativity this year included lots of meal planning and savvy shopping – taking advantage of loss
leaders and good sales, markdowns and clearance items, digital coupons and FREE
offers, rebates, gift cards plus making a list/plan and sticking to it. I did my best to acquire whatever I needed at
the best possible price, even if it meant shopping at multiple stores to get
everything on my list.
Freebies:
- 7
bottles of salad dressing (donated) and a jar of mayonnaise (still unopened) – Kroger digital store coupon
FREE Offer
- 2
large zucchinis & a grocery bag full of pickling cucumbers from two
different co-workers (I ended up canning them)
- A
bag of grapes grown in someone’s backyard
- A
half pint jar of homemade chili sauce from a co-worker
- A
ham (still have leftovers in the freezer), a dozen eggs, three pounds of butter, two packages of cheese, a jar of
mayonnaise & a 5# bag of potatoes at Easter from my BFF (I still have quite
a bit of that ham left in the freezer)
- 8
peaches + a green bell pepper given to me by a friend, grown in her backyard
- 8
purple plums given to me by gentleman that comes into the senior center
- A
pint of pickled green beans from one of the lovely ladies that comes into the
senior center
- A
head of lettuce, a bunch of Kale and a green bell pepper from the Boise
Farmer’s Market free produce event at work.
- Winning
Raffle Ticket!!! – 4+ pounds ground beef, 2+ pounds stew meat, 1 sirloin steak,
1 round steak, 1 porterhouse steak, 1 package Korean style ribs (I did not use
any of this meat in 2024)
Gift Cards I Used:
- $25 Kroger – earned from scanning receipts for a year on Fetch Rewards
- $20 Kroger – earned from completing a city bus riding
challenge
- $10 Kroger – earned from participating in the city bus
riding rewards program
- $40 Costco – earned by getting a membership
- $50 Costco – earned by obtaining a Costco Visa credit card
I learned A LOT! One
thing I know is that I can more than adequately feed myself healthy and delicious meals for not a lot of money. I ate very
well. I was not only easily able to buy
plenty of fresh and frozen produce and dairy options, but also quite a bit of
meat. I was very aware of making sure I
used up what I had and did not allow it to go to waste. Over time I made my way back to the basics and cooked a lot of things from
scratch like I’ve done for ages and it felt good to get back on track with
that. As a result I began to eat a lot healthier and I found I enjoyed my food and the whole process of
shopping, cooking, baking and even preparing
so much more.
I thought I might have to ration some things or really put
my skills of stretching things out to the test, but that wasn’t the case. I even planned that there would be times when
I might have to go without something, but other than a week without cheese,
that wasn’t really the case. The only
reason I ended up going without cheese that week was because I simply didn’t
want to go to the store – pure laziness on my part. I even had to slow up a bit on my soup meals
from time to time because I’d get a backlog of other foods that needed to be
eaten or I’d acquire too many leftovers.
What a problem to have!
My extremely tight budget did not compromise my ability to
prepare meals and have guests over to join me.
In fact, I did a lot more entertaining this year than I did last
year. It did not impact my ability to
share or donate food either. I actually
did more of that this year too.
And! I did a HUGE amount of home canning and preserving as I replaced items I
had used and stocked up my LTFS. This year I filled every one of my canning
jars plus bought and filled four more flats of jars for an additional forty
eight jars of food to add to my LTFS. I half expected my deep freezer and LTFS
shelves would show signs that I’ve been on a budget challenge this year, but
both are FULL to capacity and, compared to last year, I have a bit of a
surplus. I actually came away with far
more food than what I started out with.
That part really did surprise me.
I had planned to redeem some of my credit card rewards
points I’d saved up for more grocery store gift cards, but I didn’t need
to. Looking back, that honestly
surprised me too. The thought also
crossed my mind that by the end of the year I’d have a lengthy list of
groceries I’d need to resupply myself come January. Guess what?
I don’t have a shopping list like that at all. In fact, it looks pretty normal.
My nonfood budget of $50 for the entire year was a bit
ambitious and although I did go over that amount it wasn’t by much. By the time all was said and done I was in
the hole $12.16, however I had enough money left from my fun and leisure budget
to cover that amount so I was good to go.
Spending only $62.16 for the entire year on nonfood items I think was
pretty darn good. Full transparency – in
August I did buy four new flats of canning jars which I used my Fun & Leisure budget on. For me I felt that was a better use of those
funds since at the time I wasn’t using them up and to me home canning and
preserving is a lot of fun so it just made sense. Had I not had those funds available I would’ve
made due without the extra jars, but I sure am glad I was able to get them.
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| $594.57 for 366 days = $1.62 per day! 😮 |
I am absolutely thrilled, beyond thrilled in fact, with how
well this challenge turned out.
Inflation be damned! I nailed
this! Stick around. Soon I’ll be sharing with you my grocery and
nonfood budget plans for 2025. Let me
know in the comments what you think. Did
you think originally I’d be able to do this well when I started out? What do
you think now?
