You asked, and here it is! I'm going to show you how to completely restock your fridge in this epic grocery haul, all while sticking to my budget. Plus, I'm sharing some behind the scenes meal planning hacks! Woot woot!
There are times when you basically run out of everything in your fridge and pantry and have to do a total grocery haul and restock trip. Maybe it's after vacation. That was definitely us last week! (We miss you, Hawaii!) Or sometimes the stars just align, and everything runs out at once. (Whyyyyyy???)
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Regardless of the reason, it is possible to get everything you need to restock your kitchen essentials while also staying within budget. Come follow along with me and see how I did it! Plus, you'll get a little BTS of my thought process when it comes to planning your meals for a busy week.
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Click HERE to watch the video online, or keep scrolling to watch my grocery haul for the week:
Whew, what a grocery haul, am I right?! Are you tired just thinking about putting all of those groceries away? If not, then keep on scrolling to get a quick recap! 🙂
HOW TO DO YOUR WEEKLY GROCERY HAUL
The key to staying within your budget is to know your prices and only go to one store per week. Some stores are better for different items. For me, Walmart is better for stocking up on fresh and pantry items. Whereas Costco is better for stocking up on prepackaged lunch items, bulk items, and cleaning supplies.
Since the twins were born, I've been a HUGE fan of grocery delivery. Yes, it's a luxury, but it's something our family has budgeted for because it makes life so much easier! Ordering your groceries ahead of time can actually save you a ton of money because it forces you to be intentional about meal planning. I pay the annual fee for unlimited free deliveries, but if that's not in your budget, try grocery pickup!
Walmart Grocery Pickup is life! Having them do your shopping for you makes it so convenient and really helps to keep those impulse buys at bay. You place your order on your phone, set a pickup time, then they load your groceries for you. Get $10 off your first purchase of $50 and be amazed at how life-changing it is for you! (And if you can't get out of the house, then let InstaCart do your shopping for you and deliver it right to your door!)
WHY I USE FETCH REWARDS
You guys know how much I love saving money and scoring freebies, right? Well, every single time I buy groceries, I earn points to use toward gift cards, thanks to a totally awesome and totally FREE app called Fetch! I love redeeming those points for Amazon or restaurant gift cards (hello, date night!). If you're not using it, you should be. Here are the deets:
- Scan Your Receipt to Rack up Points – You've gotta buy groceries anyway, so why not get paid to do it?! Just scan your receipts and watch those rewards roll in.
- Works for Delivery/Pickup – Grocery delivery fan like me? You can upload e-receipts, too! Cash-in on points even when you don't shop in person.
- No Stipulations – SO many apps only give you points when you purchase certain things. Not Fetch! No matter what you buy, you earn rewards.
- Weekly Bonuses – Each week, Fetch runs specials. By stocking up on certain items, you can earn extra bonus points and sometimes even double your rewards! Deals, on deals, on deals, you guys!
It's a no-brainer! Go ahead and download the Fetch app and be sure to use my special code, FUNCHEAPFREE, to score 4,000 points the first time you scan a receipt. That's almost enough for your first gift card. Sweet!
GROCERY HAUL ESSENTIALS
I rarely cook a recipe that I have to go out and buy specific things for. I cook using what I have on hand (hello, shelf cooking!) so that I never have one random ingredient just sitting around that won't ever get used again. Then, I make big grocery haul trips like this, where I stock up on my essential food items and replenish my stores.
Your goal should be to buy ingredients that you can make many meals out of! Here are the typical food items that I always try to keep on hand…
BREAD
- We get “adult” grain bread (that's a little more expensive) and “kid” bread. I also make my own bread when I have the time.
- Bagels for breakfast and lunch.
- Tortillas to make breakfast burritos, tacos, and to have on hand.
- French bread is a really cheap and versatile option. It freezes well wrapped in foil. I like to keep it on hand to make baked Italian sandwiches, pizza, or to go with pasta. I also make my own!
FRESH VEGGIES
- Potatoes are a super inexpensive, hearty side that store really well.
- Sweet potatoes are always good for a quick and healthy side. I poke them with a fork and cook them in the Instant Pot on manual high for 15 minutes.
- Asparagus, broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, sugar snap peas, zucchini, spinach/arugula mix, lettuce, mushrooms, green beans, cilantro, and butternut squash are all good for quick snacks or healthy sides. This week I ordered butternut squash to make a batch of this amazing squash soup.
- Buy more than you need (as long as it's within budget) so that you have extra for additional meals.
- As I've mentioned before, don't buy pre-diced fruit and veggies. It's so much cheaper to chop them yourself.
FRESH FRUIT
- Apples
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
- Bananas
- Grapes
REFRIGERATED ITEMS
- We always stock up on almond milk for Mac, who is lactose intolerant, and get regular milk for the rest of the crew. Fun fact: we don't eat cereal for breakfast, but we do for snacks. Another fun fact? You can totally freeze milk and use it later.
- We go through eggs fast! I like to buy a box of 60 eggs for make-ahead breakfasts for the week.
- Cream cheese for breakfast. I always buy the double pack because it freezes well.
- Fruit salad ingredients – frozen raspberries, whipped cream, cottage cheese, and sugar-free jello.
PANTRY ITEMS
- Canned fruit makes a quick and easy side. We always keep mandarin oranges and pineapple chunks on hand in the pantry.
- I always, always keep my pantry stocked with canned goods.
- During this week's grocery haul, I got a ton of oats, because everyone has been out of them lately. We use them in cookies, pancakes, and of course, oatmeal.
- Grape energy sticks are liiiiife! I'm not a big soda drinker, but I drink these with water when I need a pick me up. I mix it with some collagen peptides and call it good.
- Rice is a great thing to buy in bulk. I keep a small container handy and refill as it gets low.
- Flour is essential, so if it's on sale, grab a few. Our poor delivery driver had his hands FULL this week!
MEAT
I buy my meat in bulk, so I rarely have to buy any on my normal shopping trips. We literally bought half a cow a few months ago, so our freezer is full of red meat. In general, I stock up when meat is on sale and freeze it. This really helps you to save so much money! This week I got chicken. I will freeze one pack, and then cook the other pack in the crockpot and shred and freeze for later. You can go see how I keep it all organized in my freezer tour.
TOTAL GROCERY HAUL AMOUNT
My total this week was $289! Yes, it's a little over budget, but I decided to buy formula for the twins, which set us back $72.96. Our normal weekly budget for our family of 10 is $250, so without that formula, we would have been golden! And considering all of the fresh produce, restock items, and pantry staples we got, I'm pretty darn happy. I hardly ever go over budget, I'm actually usually under every week because I only buy the necessities. So I'm okay with going over a little bit for a major grocery haul trip like this!
HOW I'M MEAL PLANNING WITH THIS GROCERY HAUL
Now, what do I do with all these groceries? Glad you asked! I use my Productivity Planner to plan my meals for the week. I look over what all we have going on, then figure out our meals based off of our schedule.
This week's meals are TBD, but here's our general plan:
- Something with chicken. Since I just bought a bunch, I'll probably shred some and make quesadillas. It's the best way to make that meat go further! Taco soup is another easy meal we love.
- One or two leftovers nights. Leftovers make dinner so much easier on those busy nights and they're great for when you need a break from cooking, too!
- Pizza is always a Friday thing for us! We usually keep frozen pizzas on hand for this.
The beauty of shelf cooking is that you can wing it if you need to! Now that we're restocked on groceries, we have options GALORE using other staples we already had.
And that's that! Now that you've seen my grocery haul, how would YOU make meals for the week? Let me know in the comments and let's all share our different ideas!
Looking for more?
- Only have $25 to spend for the week on groceries? Come see how I can feed my family of 8 on the cheap!
- Get some great tips on how to save on your groceries without clipping coupons!
- Come dive into some common budgeting dilemmas and how meal planning will save your sanity in the kitchen!
Happy hauling, Freebs!
How do you stay under budget when your kids eat a lot!! I planned four meals last week (I cook Sun-Wed) and then leftover/fend Thur-Sat because our weekends get super busy. I had zero leftovers because my kids ate everything during the meals (and I’m not talking small meals here). I made 10 salmon fillets one night along with sauteed veggies, salad, and fruit and it was gone that night. (Salmon is not cheap!) The next night I grilled eight pieces of chicken with roasted potatoes, fresh fruit and fresh veggies on the side. Gone again! I only have 4 kids (2 of which don’t eat a lot). It’s hard to keep up!
The best way to stretch your meat is to put it in a casserole, pasta or soup-type dish! Something that the meat is a part of the dish, but not the main thing. Rather than just having salmon filets, you could’ve made salmon tacos with beans and rice, plus veggies and fruit. They would end up eating less meat in one sitting and the beans and rice would help them to still fill up. Rather than just having 8 chicken breasts, put them into something that would help to stretch that meat and has other filling things with it. You could probably halve the amount of meat that you’re making each night and everybody would still fill up! You may not necessarily have leftovers (unless you doubled what you were making), but at least you’d be saving how much expensive meat you’re going through!
I’m so glad you mentioned this. We have 2 boys (family of 4) with appetites of grown men and since we try to eat alot of organic, clean, unprocessed food we spend as much as her family of 8. I don’t mean to sound negative but this is just not realistic for big eaters (oh, and we’re mostly gluten free so cheap breads etc are out.) In our opinion spending more on good quality food is nonnegotiable. You’re not alone, it can feel defeating to cook and not have leftovers but take comfort that you are providing your family with nutrient dense foods and prioritizing your health!!
After meals are cooked at our house, we portion out the lunches for the next day and put the remainder on the table. We still have enough to eat and if someone still feels hungry they can have extra fruit or a glass of milk. Once we instituted this at home, it was rare that we didn’t have leftovers.
That’s a great idea!
I just started weekly shopping and meal planning and it has been amazing! I do Tuesday to Tuesday shopping and meal planning because its the one day I have the most free time.
Our meal plan for the week was/is
Tuesday-Meatball Subs, and salad
Wednesday-Chicken bacon Ranch Pasta
Thursday-Homemade Hamdbuger helper Taco skillet
Friday- store bought take and bake pizza (got it on sale for $5.00!)
Saturday-Orange chicken over Jasmine rice
Sunday-Cheese stuffed shells, Meat sauce and garlic bread
Monday- White chicken chili
Next weeks meal plan is ready too!
Tuesday-Ham and cheese sliders with waffle fries
Wednesday-Bazked ziti, meatballs (left overs from this week!) and garlic bread
Thursday-Cajun Sausage and chicken one pot alfredo pasta
Friday-Cresent Pizza roll ups, sauce and fruit
Saturday-Cincinnati style chili (3 ways)
Sunday-Hobos (my aunt and uncle taught me)
Monday- walking tacos with leftover chili!
Oh wow, those all sound so delicious! And it’s great that you’re using leftovers to make new meals out of them, way to shelf cook!
Can I ask which brand of collagen peptides you use? Looking for a good recommendation!
THESE are great and are unflavored, so you can add them to anything!
What is the best store for stocking up on meat when on sale? You mention Costco for bulk, Walmart for pantry, and I love Aldi for produce, but which store is the best for meat/chicken/fish prices? I get the generic “any store works, just pay attention to sale prices” from other youtube/bloggers. But I would love a clear winner for the majority of the time. Whats your best choice? Thanks and I have loved watching your stuff for the past year, congrats on the new babies!! 🙂
Honestly, we stock up on it anytime it’s on sale. Costco sells premium meats, so they’re not as cheap but they are restaurant-quality. Walmart always has really good prices, at least in my area!
This is so great Jordan! I seriously love your meal plans because they are super realistic. We are just a family of 3 but your plans still help so much because it allows me to double what my family needs. Thank you!
I love to soak the whole bag of beans overnight then freeze them in 2 cup portions! Ready for soups or chilis!
Oh, that is SUCH a great idea!!! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
With grocery prices on the rise do you still recommend $100 per person?
With inflation we definitely think it makes sense to adjust grocery budgets up a little. You may need to try aiming for $115-$125 per person each month while prices remain high.