Home-Cooked Roots - Learn How to Save Money on Groceries
As a grocery budgeting and meal planning expert, I'm on a mission to help you slash your grocery bills without sacrificing flavor or nutrition. My collection of plant-forward recipes, smart shopping tips, and weekly meal planning inspiration will revolutionize the way you approach cooking on a budget. Subscribe today for weekly tips and motivation to stick to your budget!
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How I make a week's worth of meals using pantry staples
Published 3 days ago • 7 min read
Grab your morning coffee or tea and settle in because it's week 2 of Budget Eats and Receipts!
I'm overwhelmed by the positive feedback I got on last week's email announcing this new budgeting series. It makes me so happy to know this kind of content is helpful and inspires you to stay on track to save money.
As much as I love sharing budget-friendly recipes, it's hard to illustrate how my recipes can actually save you money in the long run. But with this series, I'm able to show you how I'm using them in real life.
For the month of October, my goal is to stay under $400 on groceries. If I'm under budget on food by the end of the month, I'll use what I have left to stock up on my pantry staples.
If you are new to grocery budgeting and interested in figuring out how much you should spend on groceries every week, check out this helpful blog post: How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?
In that post, you'll see that my food budget is about $46 lower than the average cheapest grocery budget for 2, which means I typically spend significantly less than most Americans.
But as you'll see week over week, I think we eat pretty darn good. So while inflation is absolutely causing higher grocery bills, I think most Americans can save more if they want to.
This email series contains affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission for my recommendations at no extra cost to you.
P.S. If you know someone who would love this weekly series, send them this link to sign up and get on the list! 👉🏻 https://homecookedroots.com/subscribe
This week I spent $78.71 on groceries.
This week I went to 3 grocery stores:
Walmart Grocery Pickup ($57-$12.00 = 45.25)
Costco ($11.99)
Local health food store ($21.47)
I try to avoid going to 3 stores in a week, but we were completely out of coffee beans and they are by far the best deal at Costco. I usually buy the 3 pound bag of organic Kirkland beans, but the Peet's coffee beans were on sale and almost $1 cheaper per pound.
I also needed shiitake mushrooms, more kale, and fresh Thai basil, ingredients that are really hard to find anywhere else but the health food store.
While I was there, I bought apples because I forgot to add them to my Walmart order and a honey nut squash because I've always wanted to try one!
Overall this is more than I wanted to spend, but considering I won't need coffee for the next while, it's not terrible.
**My Costco receipt includes coffee, plus renewing our annual membership for $65.
My Walmart Grocery Pick-Up Order:
This cost $45.25 after I received $12 cash back on Ibotta!
Most weeks I get a majority of our groceries from our local Walmart neighborhood market because it's our cheapest grocery store with the best variety. I'm always pleasantly surprised by their variety of plant-based products.
We didn't need the Follow Your Heart Gouda or Ranch Dressing for this week's menu but it was on super sale on Ibotta and I know I can utilize it in coming weeks. Buying non-dairy products can be really expensive, so when I find deals I almost always stock up.
After the Ibotta cash back rewards, the Follow Your Heart Ranch came out to $2 per bottle and the cheese was $1.77 each 😲.
If you saw my receipt from my local health food store last week, you might remember I paid $6.49 for the same exact dressing! This is why it's important to shop at cheaper grocery stores where you can stack cash back deals!
If you use my code WVSUIJG when yousign up for Ibotta, you'll immediately earn an extra $5 when you submit your first receipt!
My Costco and Health Food Store Purchases:
Breakfasts/Snacks
In addition to our frozen breakfast options (go back to Week 1's email for the full recipes and details!), I also recipe tested a Pumpkin Oatmeal Bake (photo below) with pecans and chocolate chips!
It turned out good but needs a few more tweaks.
I also used up the purple barley I had on hand to make a Purple Barley porridge. I liked this Two Spoon's recipe even more than the oatmeal bake!
What we ate for lunch and dinner
Sunday: Lentil Sloppy Joe's
This is one of my favorite freezer meals to make - I pretty much always have 1-2 prepped bags on hand at all time. This week we ate it as an opened faced sandwich on multi-grain toast with Vinegar Slaw.
This fried rice recipe is a great way to use up random bits and bobs of produce. In addition to the frozen mixed vegetables, I added some random frozen cauliflower florets and frozen lima beans.
I wasn't feeling very good this day so we ate leftovers and snacks for dinner. I had apples with vegan carameland multigrain toast (my favorite high protein bread pictured - 9 grams per slice!!).
My husband ate more of the fried rice and apples with peanut butter.
Wednesday: Vegan Ground Beef Tacos
We're kind of obsessed with my Vegan Ground Beef right now, so I decided to make more this week and serve as good ol' tacos.
This Mexican ricewas previously frozen in my 2-cup Souper Cube trays. I put it in this glass bowl directly from frozen and microwaved for 10 minutes. Perfectly hot and fluffy!
I do the same process for all my grains and beans!
Thursday: Taco Bowls
We ate more of the taco ingredients as taco bowls tonight. This is one of those meals we could eat every day, so we're always happy to eat it!
This was the first week we tried the dairy-free Violife sour cream and it is actually fantastic!! I think I like it more than Kite Hill.
Friday: Dinner with Family
We still have family in town from the wedding last weekend and invited them over before going out to dinner together.
We bought $39 worth of snacksand drinks for hosting and spent an additional $40 on dinner - this really goes to show that buying pre-packaged snacks and eating out on a regular basis will cost you SO much more compared to cooking from scratch.
It always pains me to spend this much on ONE MEAL - it feels so wasteful 🥲.
If you've read my tips on Cooking for Two on a Budget, you'll know I cook a majority of dinner recipes as is, and freeze the leftovers if I need to.
Most standard dinner recipes feed 6, so we'll typically eat 2 servings for dinner, 2 for lunch, and freeze the final 2 when possible.
This cuts down on food waste and ensures we always have a home-cooked meal on hand we can defrost in minutes.
If you're interested in investing in your own Souper Cubes, their Ultimate Gift Set 4-Pack is the best starter set! Or if you're on a tighter budget and want to start with just one, I use my 2-Cup Trays the most.
Here's what made it into the freezer this week:
Leftover Sloppy Joes
I like to freeze this in my 1-cup Souper Cube Trays- it's the perfect amount for a single serving on toast!
Purple Barley
I cooked all of the purple barley I had on hand in the Instant Pot and froze half of it in my2-Cup Souper Cube Trays.
The other half I used to make Barley Porridge for breakfasts.
Cooking refried beans from scratch is really easy and primarily hands-off, it just takes time. To speed up future dinners, I always cook as much as I can at once.
This week I cooked 3 pounds of the 8 pounds of beans I purchased at Walmart so I could freeze a ton for later (12 cups worth!).
I usually cook 4 pounds at once (2 pounds in each 6 qt Instant Pot), but I didn't have enough onions on hand to do all 4 pounds.
Ask me a question! 💬
Cooking on a budget can be really daunting if you're just getting started.
Hit reply and ask me any questions you may have and I'll answer them in next week's edition!
Lastly, don't miss these new blog posts!
25 Dinners You Can Make with a Bag of Frozen Mixed Vegetables
Got a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in the freezer and no idea what you can make with it? I've got you covered with 25 easy, budget-friendly dinner ideas that transform those humble veggies into dinners your family will actually be excited to eat!
Think canned pinto beans are boring? Think again! These 25 budget-friendly dinners prove that one can of pinto beans is all you need to create a variety of delicious, filling meals that won’t break the bank.
Attention Costco Wholesale shoppers!!! Did you know that if you purchase something and it goes on sale within the next 30 days, you can visit the help desk and receive a refund for the difference?
Some Costco stores will even price match you up to 90 days later! Yep, it's true.
This week I received $32.85 back for a price adjustment on clothing we had bought that I noticed went on sale.
So while you're browsing, make sure to look for sales on items you previously purchased.
Costco is happy to refund you - even without a receipt!
1500 Valley House Drive Suite 210 Rohnert Park, CA 94928
Home-Cooked Roots - Learn How to Save Money on Groceries
Easy Budget Recipes, Freezer Meals, and Meal Planning Tips
As a grocery budgeting and meal planning expert, I'm on a mission to help you slash your grocery bills without sacrificing flavor or nutrition. My collection of plant-forward recipes, smart shopping tips, and weekly meal planning inspiration will revolutionize the way you approach cooking on a budget. Subscribe today for weekly tips and motivation to stick to your budget!
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