I Tried the “Go Low” Method and Have Never Saved More on Groceries (We Only Spent $407 for the Month)

Our grocery bills are extortionate, and I came under some fire a year ago when I wrote about our three-person family’s struggle to halve our $1,100 monthly grocery bill. This was still deemed too high by many readers, so last month we ran another experiment to see by how much we could really cut down our spending.

The answer: $407. I’m proud that we lowered our grocery bill by about 60% —  more than half again. We only went out for lunch twice, so the money we spent on groceries covered almost all our food costs for the month. I’m not going to say it wasn’t difficult (it absolutely was!), in part because we live on an island in the Pacific Northwest, where everything is more expensive; plus, the price of food is higher in general across the U.S. 

In the end, it was a great practice in cutting down, using up, and challenging ourselves — and we managed to save hundreds along the way. Here’s how.

This was the top way we saved money. I normally don’t set a budget, which allows me to buy, buy, buy with unpleasant financial results. For this experiment, I set a weekly limit of $150, which made me realize exactly how much I was spending and which items I’d need to avoid to keep my costs down.

Each week, we shopped at the farmers market first, building our meals around the vegetables that were available and spending about half our budget there. We skipped the other stalls at the market (no cheese, no bread, no dips) to curb our spending and bought other items at the grocery store instead. 

We didn’t buy any seafood, which we typically eat a few times a week, or any meat, though there was some in our freezer. And we steered clear of all treats: no beer for my husband, no soft drinks for my daughter, and no fun snacks from Trader Joe’s for anyone. In fact, we avoided Trader Joe’s all together (it’s too tempting). 

We also cut costs wherever we could, opting for the cheapest options of cheese, bread, bananas, tofu, and OJ at the grocery store instead. We passed on all premium foods, like grass-fed and organic, and switched to conventional store-brand eggs ($2.99 per dozen) in place of pasture-raised ones ($8.49); nonorganic milk also ran us $2 less per quart than store-brand organic.

In early October, I cleared out our kitchen cupboards and made a pile of foods — baked beans, farro, coconut milk, dried fruit, and split peas — to cook with throughout the month. I left the pile out as an ever-present reminder, and it was at least half-gone by the end of the month. I used up half- and quarter-empty bags of pasta; I emptied my jars of dried beans, cooked them all together and tossed them in with salads. 

I also wrote a list of meals I’d tucked in the freezer months ago, including lentil soup, butternut squash enchilada casserole, and a lasagna cut into portions. They weren’t helping anyone’s budget if they stayed in the freezer. We defrosted and ate them throughout the month — most just needed a side salad or a bread roll to complete the meal.

When I run out of something I replace it, but in October I used only what we had. I finished our white wine vinegar then subbed in apple cider vinegar for salad dressings. If you go through your second (and third!) best options, you’ll keep your costs down and cycle through what’s in your cupboard.

I made pasta sauces with what I had (hello frozen spinach, capers, tomato paste, and balsamic vinegar), made my own breadcrumbs, and swapped white wine for Vermouth when cooking and even curry powder for cumin and coriander — with excellent results, or just simply did without. I make my own granola, but I ran out of brown sugar, maple syrup and avocado oil. Instead, I used granulated sugar, honey, and olive oil. It’s not as yummy as my usual granola, but it’s still pretty good.

• Track your spending as you go. This helped us figure out what we should buy (and skip) from each place we shopped, and even which retailers to avoid.
• Plan meals around what you have. We planned our meals around the vegetables we mostly bought at the farmers market, and then added proteins (tofu, canned tuna, even sardines) that we had or could pick up for cheap.
• Give yourself a month off in between. Our plan going forward is to have a budget grocery month every other month, so our costs are a bit more palatable, in both senses of the word.

Got a tip for saving money on groceries? Tell us about it in the comments below.