How to Slash Your Grocery Bills with Smart Shopping Strategies

I am actually feeling hopeful that I can bring down my grocery bills down significantly and I AM SO EXCITED. This week my spending is going to be artificially high, because I made 2 very large purchases, which I’ll describe in more detail below. One large purchase was from Butcher Box and it should get us through the end of the year (3 months). The other was from Amazon (ugh, I know) and it should last us 1-2 months.

Okay, now as to why I’m so EXCITED: I’m starting with that first.

Food Rescue Non-Profit Organization ($55 Spent)

When I tell you I discovered a cool organization in my general vicinity (about 100 miles away) that is going to help me reduce my grocery spending, I mean it is going to be an absolute game changer. There’s a food rescue non-profit organization that rescues food that restaurants and grocery stores would otherwise throw away and send to the land fill.

The food items are either nearing their expiration date, have a misprinted expiration or use by date, or for whatever other reason (the packaging changed, they got too much inventory, etc.). In my first box, I received items that still had a long time left before they expired and they were pristine, so I really don’t know.

When you buy an abundance “box” (I use this term soooo loosely for reasons you will understand in a minute), you get a share of this rescued food. A “box” costs $55.

Every week you purchase a box, you go to a specific point place to pick up your items. I have teamed up with a couple of other people in my general area to take care of the drive and pick up, so we each only have to make that drive once every 6 weeks. We are set up on an every-other-week schedule.

When I tell you the amount of food is INSANE, I truly mean it. They try to include the following each week: protein, produce, snacks, bread, and dairy. Sometimes they include household goods as well.

So what did we get? Here we go:

Image with lettuce, arugula, broccoli, snacks and French fries

This picture shows 4 giant restaurant sized bags of arugula, a restaurant sized bag of French fries, 4 huge bags of pre-chopped lettuce, 3 huge bags of broccoli, 1 bag of boba tapioca balls, and 4 boxes of Trader Joe’s dark chocolate filled mini-ice cream cones.

A plastic bag containing multiple packages of Thomas' chocolate chip muffin tops, with some visible labels stating 'GET UP AND GO'.

This bag had 6 bodes of the Thomas’ chocolate chip muffin tops.

Two loaves of Neo Tuscan artisan bread on a table, featuring packaging with nutritional information and ingredients.

This was two loaves of bread and a box of protein crisps (12 mini canisters inside).

A table filled with various bags of vegetables, including arugula, pre-chopped lettuce, and kale, alongside items like red onions and blackberries, with a box of protein drinks in the foreground.

Here you can see a plastic bag full of red onions (maybe 12-15 onions?), 2 heads of organic iceberg lettuce, a huge bag of marinated chicken tenders, 2 enormous bags of kale salad mix, a huge bag of baby bok choy, 3 bags of mini peppers, a half a case of sugar free Body Armour fruit punch, and 4 clamshells of blackberries. Of everything here, there were 2 soft mini-bell peppers and 3/4s of the blackberries weren’t edible.

A flat lay of various grocery items including two loaves of Neo Tuscan bread, a pack of salad dressing, a pack of sardines, a container of Lysol cleaner, a bag of almond flour, and several bottles of fruit punch drinks.

Finally, we got a huge commercial sized bladder of International Delights hazelnut coffee creamer, a tin of sardines, some Lysol, a box of 50 masks, and some plant based mayo.

Oh, I totally forgot that somewhere in there was an entire grocery sack full of baby spinach and another plastic grocery bag with goldfish and assorted individual sized bags of snacks. And a bag with 8 pre-made pizza doughs.

Now, it took me several hours to process all of this food. I washed, prepped, divided, and vacuum sealed the produce. Some went into the freezer, some went in the refrigerator. The blackberries that were still good went straight into the freezer. I divided the chicken into 6 bags, vacuum sealed them, and put them in the freezer.

I barely got all of this in my refrigerator!

Now, since we can’t eat gluten, we sent all of the bread and non-gluten free snacks, along with some fresh produce, to our daughter’s friend who was super grateful for it. To members of my community and my Buy Nothing Group, I found homes for all of the pizza dough, 75% of the arugula and lettuce (we cannot possibly eat it all), some onions, peppers, and broccoli.

Aldi ($81.55 Spent)

This was a curbside pick-up order that included a $1.99 charge for pickup, as well as $0.48 for paper bags. HOW WAS THIS $82 UNITED STATES DOLLARS???

Cheese Melt, 32 ounces ($5.19)
Salami Trio, 12 ounces ($10.89)
Smoked turkey breast, 6 ounces ($5.29)
Dry black beans, 32 ounces ($3.15)
2 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, 15.4 ounces ($4.45 each) – these were $4.05 in August
1 pint of blueberries ($4.19) – this has definitely gone up A LOT from $2.85 the week prior in September and $1.99 in August
2.38 pounds of organic bananas ($1.83)
4 containers of plain greek yogurt, 32 ounces ($16.60 total)
3 cases of sparkling water ($4.59 plus $0.60 CRV each) – In August these were $4.35
2 original potato chips, 10 ounces ($3.98 total) – to be fair, these were $2.09 each in August
1 salt and vinegar potato chips, 8 ounces ($1.99) – these were $1.65 in August

Amazon ($205 Spent)

While I try to avoid shopping at Amazon, desperate times call for desperate measures and I took advantage of Prime deals on drinks for my kids.

I’m not going to attach every single screenshot, but here’s what I got:

2 Alani Nu Variety Pack of the minis ($18.74 and $14.24)
2 OWYN Dairy Free Protein Coffee Drinks ($27.99 each)
1 OWYN Protein Smoothie Drinks ($32.89)
Alani Nu Sugar Free Energy Drinks ($19.98)
2 GEORGIE Sugar Free Energy Drinks ($22.39 each)

We have a 1 per day rule for energy drinks and 1 per day for the protein shakes, so the energy drinks should last at least 2 months. The protein drinks should last at least a month (we still have some left from the last purchase).

Trader Joe’s ($20.46 Spent)

I sent my son to Trader Joe’s for me. I didn’t get pictures, but here’s what we bought:

3 gluten free hamburger buns ($4.99 each)
32 ounce container of plain greek yogurt ($5.49)

Butcher Box ($661.29)

This was a VERY BIG purchase, but it should keep us until the end of the year, especially considering that each abundance box usually comes with protein of some kind. I’ve started incorporating more beans into our diet, which will reduce the amount of meat we eat. I used to set aside funds for Butcher Box purchases, but I quit doing that. So, this is coming out of my regular grocery “budget.” But lets be honest, there’s no such thing as a regular grocery budget when prices keep leaping up every five seconds.

Our deep freezer was nearly empty before this delivery. The only stuff that was in there were the 2 packages of ground turkey on the top shelf from last month’s Ralphs shopping trip and the bottom shelf and a half are packages of dog food. I also put some of the Butcher Box meat in my refrigerator freezer in the kitchen.

A well-stocked freezer filled with various meats, including packages of beef, chicken, and frozen meals, organized by type and size.

Since I only shop flash sales at Butcher Box, I’m able to get grass-fed, pasture-raised meat for less than I can at Aldi, Ralphs or other traditional grocers.

Image of various food items received from a food rescue organization, including bags of arugula, French fries, pre-chopped lettuce, broccoli, tapioca balls, and ice cream cones.

The chicken thighs came with 3 packages of 1 pound each ($5.87/pound), the steaks come with 2 in each package, the Burgers come with 6 pre-made patties (5.3 ounces each) per package, and the Seafood Bundle came with 2 pounds of salmon, 1 pound of scallops, 2 lobster tails, and a bottle of seafood seasoning blend. This was a splurge. The thick-cut ribeyes are 18 ounces each (about $16.97/pound) and they came with 2 filets (I think they’re 4 ounces each). I also got two 22 ounce bags of gluten free chicken nuggets.

An order receipt from Butcher Box detailing various meat items including chicken nuggets, chicken wings, ribeye steaks, and ground beef.

Each package of chicken wings comes with 3 one pound packages (making it $3.15/pound), the ground beef comes with 2 one pound packages ($5.63/pound), the Barbacoa packages are 1.5 pounds each ($8.80/pound for pre-made), and I honestly don’t remember what came in the deluxe steak bundle, but it was at a $60ish discount.

I just looked up how much a pound of grass fed ground beef is at Aldi and it’s $6.59/pound. Grass-fed ribeyes are $14.99/pound at Aldi, and grass-fed New York strips are $13.99/pound. Organic chicken breasts are $5.79/pound.

At Ralphs, grass fed ground beef is $9.99/pound, and grass-fed ribeyes and New York strips are $16.99/pound. Organic chicken breasts and thighs are $9.99/pound. I couldn’t find a per pound price for their wings.

October Week 1 Totals

In the first week of October, we spent $1,023.30. Is this a lot? Yes. Will it last us several months? Also yes.

For the rest of October, I anticipate getting 2 more abundance boxes ($110), yogurt (about $30), milk if there isn’t any in an abundance box ($5), blueberries if they aren’t in the abundance box ($10), and Honey Nut Cheerios ($20) if there isn’t cereal in an abundance box (previous boxes have had Magic Spoon cereal, which is gluten free). That totals $175, which would bring our October total to $1,198.30, which is still in line with previous spending. But, the real drop off will occur in November when I don’t have a huge Butcher Box purchase.

Frugal Forward