$400 a Month. How I Do It.

People are often amazed that, without coupons or multiple store visits, I can feed my family as extravagantly as I do for about $400 a month. That works out to roughly $100 a week. We do our shopping twice a month. The first half of the month, I spend around $300. The second half of the month, I spend about $100. I set aside a little cash for extra purchases, but never more than $20 a month extra.

Here's what I bought today, on my mid-month shopping trip to one store. My total was $90.64.

• 3 bottles Diet Pepsi (my weakness is really Diet Coke but Pepsi is on sale for 99 cents)


• 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes


• confectioner's sugar


• gallon of dill pickles


• split peas


• vegetable oil


• white cake mix (yes, mix. gasp!)


• all-purpose flour (5 lb. bag)


• powdered pectin


• cake pans


• 2 lb. salted butter


• refrigerated pie crust (another short cut!)


• whipping cream


• 2 large cartons sour cream


• 5 lb extra sharp cheddar cheese


• 2 blocks cream cheese


• pint of half & half


• gallon of milk


• 2 - 18 packs large eggs


• 1 lb frozen peas


• 1 lb frozen blueberries


• 1 lb frozen corn


• 1 lb frozen broccoli


• 2 whole chickens


• 1 lb bacon


• boneless ham steak


• 2 snack cakes for the darling children


• 1 loaf of bread for immediate use


• 2 lb lean ground beef


• 3 lb lean ground pork


• 5 lb baking potatoes


• shitake mushrooms


• 6 lemons


• 2 beefsteak tomatoes


• 2 heads of green cabbage


• 2 bunches of green onions


• 3 Braeburn apples


• 2 lb carrots


• cucumber


• 1 head lettuce


• 1 lb pinto beans


• 2 cans black beans


• 1 can crushed pineapple


• yellow rice


• couscous


• frozen strawberries


• bag of frozen chicken thighs


• cornstarch


• jar of jalapeno pickles all eaten up already