How I Cut My Grocery Bill From $200 to $75 a Week — Feeding 4 on a Budget
- earngrowgo
- Jul 13, 2025
- 5 min read
Just a few years ago, my husband and I were spending over $200 every single week on groceries — for just the two of us. Fast-forward to today, and we’re feeding a family of four for as little as $60 and never more than $100 per week. Here’s how we did it — and how you can too.
What We Used to Do (That Wasted Money)
No meal plan- our idea of meal planning was thinking about food we liked and buying it. We would have lots of wasted food, and lots of leftovers.
Impulse buying- my husband is the worst at this. If he sees something that he thinks looks good, he will just buy it without thinking about the cost. He is guilty of still doing this but he has gotten better!
Shopping without a list- thinking back, I can't believe we ever just "winged it" when we went grocery shopping! What were we thinking??
Too many convenience foods or takeout- we would spend money on groceries and then still order takeout? Make that make sense. Unless you plan one meal a week to order takeout, it simply doesn't make sense financially.
Buying name brands only- again, I'm sorry but this was my husband. He is a sucker for name brands. It took me a few years to convince him that store brands are just as good, if not better sometimes!
The Mindset Shift
Deciding to be intentional with money- when we had our daughter and went from 2 incomes to one income, we decided we needed to be a lot more intentional with our money. We could no longer afford to have impulse purchases. We needed to stick with the cheapest options.
Realizing where the waste was- we sat down and looked at what we were wasting our money on. We highlighted areas we could improve or get discounts.
Looking for creative ways to still eat well on less- I began couponing, which definitely saved our grocery budget. We also eat out so much less often. In fact, I would say maybe once a month, if any.
My Budget Grocery System
Break down what changed:
Meal Planning: I plan out our meals based on 1. what we like to eat and 2. what sales are going on that week. I never buy anything full price anymore unless it's absolutely NEEDED that week. And, most of the time I've already couponed for the essentials and we have backup in case there's a week we need it and there are no sales. (I'm talking about diapers, dog food, laundry detergent, etc.)
Shopping Sales & Clearance First- USE THE STORES WEEKLY AD! Start there. The weekly ad often has sales that may not be marked in stores or on shelves. Same goes with digital coupons. Always check clearance BEFORE you shop. I find bread there every single week. Dog food is also a big clearance item for us!
Using Cashback & Rebate Apps- These kind of apps pay you cash (or gift cards) for purchases and the apps are FREE!
My favorites are Ibotta (use my referral code: fqbiqcc when you download the app, for an extra $5 on your first receipt!) Fetch Rewards (use my referral code: XXAVWC when you download!) and Checkout 51 (you can get cashback on gas too)
Shopping at Different Stores: I know it seems illogical, but the cheapest stores I shop at are CVS and Kroger. Trust me, if you don't coupon you wouldn't understand. But I promise that once you get the hang of digital couponing, these stores will save you thousands of dollars! They've already saved us thousands on groceries, diapers, wipes, and household items like toilet paper and laundry detergent.
Buying in Bulk or Freezing Extras- I buy all our meat in bulk, because it can be frozen and saved for later. So, I wait until there's a great sale and some coupons and I stock up.
Using What We Have (Pantry Challenges)- Every once in awhile I notice our pantry is somewhat full but it doesn't seem like we have "meals". So I don't shop that week. I see what we can make with what we have. Then I continue every week until there's literally nothing else we can make.
What a Typical $60–$100 Grocery Haul Looks Like
Typically, I start with the exteriors of the store. This will get us the healthiest options, like fresh produce, meat and seafood. I'll buy a loaf or two of bread, at least 1-2 types of fruit, 1-2 types of fresh veggies. Then I move on to the meat. If we need meat, I will buy a few pounds of ground turkey, beef, or chicken. I tend to buy ground meat because it tends to be cheaper, has coupons, and you can basically use it for anything. I will buy some milk, some yogurt or cottage cheese for everyone, and we always buy peanut butter. Once I've got everything from the outside aisles, I move to the snacks if we can afford them that week. A lot of the times I can buy my kids a box or two of some kind of granola bar or cereal. I can get them very cheap with sales, coupons, and rebates. I head to the freezer section for some more veggies. Frozen veggies can be even cheaper than fresh and they don't go bad nearly as quickly.
I fill my cart up most of the time and my total will come to about $60-80 depending on if we needed anything extra that week. I credit all my savings to sales, coupons and rebates. I sound like a broken record but I can't emphasize this enough... sales, coupons, rebates. Trust me. I have cashiers in shock when I checkout. Especially because I'm not just buying 500 cans of corn or 25 bottles of Gatorade, like most people think couponers buy.
Final Tips:
Set a weekly grocery goal. Be realistic, but also hopeful. It can help to list out everything you need, the sales price, any coupons you might have and any rebates you might have. Then calculate based on that.
Plan before you shop- Plan for random cravings.. I know how it goes. You get there with a set list and once you're there something looks really good and you want to try. Make sure you factor at least one of those into your goal. (For example, if you calculate your items will cost $50 this week, add an extra $5 for a random thing you either might have forgotten or might want when you're at the store).
Get creative with leftovers- You don't have to eat the same dinner over and over. Repurpose it somehow. Get creative.
Focus on value, not just price- like I said, I focus on the healthier options first even though they do tend to be more expensive. But, I know once I calculate my cost on them I can determine how much I have left to spend on snacks or treats that may be much cheaper.
Check out my blog posts about extreme couponing!
Here's a good read about couponing in general
Here's a good read about my favorite rebate app: Ibotta!
Comments