How Our Family Saved Over $1000 a Month on Food

This expense was “eating” up a huge chunk of our monthly budget… and we had no idea! With this one change we were able to save enough money to live comfortably on one income.

When I lost my job three years ago, we lost half our family income! Here's how we made it on one income - THIS one change saved us over $1400 a month! #savingmoney Saving Money #budget

Updated March 2024 — Originally published in 2015, this post detailing our family’s easy weekly food budget is still our #1 most visited blog post of all time! Keep reading to learn exactly what our family did to save money on our food budget and live comfortably on one income.

How Can I Afford to be a Stay at Home Mom?

As a member of mommy support groups, I frequently see the question posed: how can I afford to be a stay at home mom?  

I’ve been a working mom, so I get it that some of us crave “adult time” and enjoy career accomplishments.  But I also know what a crappy feeling it is to leave your kids in the care of someone else all day.

Ultimately, I made the choice to leave the corporate world and I wanted to share the one lifestyle change that made it possible.

Note: This post contains affiliate links to the products and apps that helped make our weekly food budget successful, so you can try them too. Read our disclosure policy here.

The One Lifestyle Change That Allowed Me to be a Stay at Home Mom

In November 2015, I quit my job. The plan was for me to enjoy the holidays with my family and start the search for a better employer in the new year. I did that, and things went so wonderfully that my husband and I decided it would be best for our family (and my health) if I stayed home indefinitely.

There was just one problem— we cut our income in half.

While I was working, I always stressed about money. Even with two solid paychecks, it never felt like enough. How would we be able to make it on just my husband’s income?

Aside from monthly non-negotiables (housing, utilities, insurance), there was one expense that dwarfed them all. Once we seriously reevaluated our spending in this area, it freed up a huge chunk of our budget.

I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t our cable bill…

It was FOOD.

My husband has always loved to cook, and did so on a regular basis. However, we never planned out meals for the week. As a result, we were forced to pop in to the grocery store on multiple occasions throughout the week for whatever he decided to fix on a whim, or pick up take-out when we were short on time.

It seems hard to believe that food could have such an impact on the budget, so to prove it, I’ll show you what we used to spend.

Our former food “budget”

Wait!! Before you read the numbers below, keep in mind that I originally wrote this post in 2015, almost 10 years ago. As we all know, groceries and restaurant meals cost more now. In 2024 money, these numbers would probably be almost DOUBLE!

Here were our food expenses in 2015:

  • $240 – We made at least 3 grocery trips every week, spending about $80 each time.  Going to the grocery store without a list means you’re likely to forget items and end up having to return later.  Multiple visits make it easier to succumb to impulse buys, as you are tempted over and over.
  • $160 – We ordered take-out about four times a week.  Whether for lunch or dinner, with tax and tip it’s about $40 for our family.
  • $50 – While working, I spent about $10 per day on lunch.
  • $50 – Hubby also would order out food at work.

Add that up and you get $500 in one week!  That’s $2000 every month — wow! This doesn’t even take into account any occasions where we would go out to eat in a restaurant.

It was money we spent without even thinking — we had to eat, right?

And again, in 2024 money, that would probably be more like $4000, which is just wild!

The Weekly Food Budget That Saved us Over $1000 a Month

It was actually my husband’s idea to start weekly meal planning. Amazingly, a commitment to this one concept was the key to a budget that worked.

On Sunday evenings, my husband and I sit down and talk about what we’d like to eat for dinner each night.  To make it easier, we’ve designated days such as “Salmon Mondays,” so all we have to decide is sauce and sides. Other days, my husband might have a new recipe he wants to sample. When the week’s menu is determined, we make the grocery list so we know exactly what needs to be bought.

meal planner printable pages

Want to start meal planning…but not sure where to start? Grab The Ultimate Meal Planner Bundle and make keeping track of your weekly meal plan and food budget a breeze! It’s only $6 and worth every penny!

Why meal planning works

  1. No more inefficient daily trips to the store. We figure everything out in advance, which allows us to grocery shop once a week.
  2. Impulse buys are a thing of the past. We go in with a plan and don’t end up buying things that aren’t on our list.
  3. Bye-bye-expensive restaurant meals. Since we’ve got a meal planned for each night of the week, we don’t need to order take-out because we’re hungry and unprepared.
  4. Lunch is no longer a separate expense. My husband cooks for an army, so there are always plenty of leftovers for lunch.

Here’s a look at our weekly food budget now:

  • $150-200: One grocery shopping trip for the ingredients needed for dinner every night of the week.
  • With our couponing experiment, we slashed our weekly grocery bill to only $100-140, so our monthly food total averages less than $600!)
  • We also stock up on pantry essentials and save money buying in bulk. Click here for our free pantry checklist!

That’s it. We’ve gone from spending $2000 a month on food to no more than $600.

It’s an incredible change and all it took was setting aside 30 minutes on Sunday night to create a meal plan.

If you think about all the time saved by consolidating grocery trips, it might actually be less time to meal plan than to try to go through the week without one.

Of course, we’ve made other adjustments to our lifestyle since I left my job, but none as significant as the meal plan. Maybe it sounds overwhelming to cook every single night, but just look at how much money you can save (for us it was more than $1400 a month!)

An added bonus is that when you cook your own dinners, you know exactly what you’re getting — it’s healthier! (This helped me with my weight loss after baby).

Even if you don’t aspire to be a stay at home mom, you could put up to an extra thousand dollars in the bank every month. That’s a weekend vacation!

If you take a realistic look at what you’re spending on food, you might find that you don’t want to “eat up” a large portion your income any more.

And yes, this even works in 2024.

man cooking in chef's kitchen.
Even on vacation, my husband still cooks most of our meals!

Our Meal Planning Essentials:

Here are some of the tools and apps we’ve used to help save money on groceries and our food budget:

More Money Saving Tips

This really has changed our lives and I’m so excited to share it all with you! There’s no reason you can’t start saving money right away too!

This expense was "eating" up a huge chunk of our monthly budget-- and we had no idea! With this one change we were able to save enough money to live comfortably on one income.

Stacey aka the Soccer Mom
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112 Comments

  1. I have been for a very long time. I really appreciate how simple you try to keep things when it comes to explaining the who what and why of blogging. Sometimes reading other blogs is just so overwhelming that I just end up moving on. I do appreciate your openness to sharing your income and understand your feeling that you might be speaking over some of us. But why not mix it up a bit? Go ahead and tell us where you are at (it is then a wanna get there goal for newbies), and a this is what I did (past goal/accomplished), and then a this is what I want to do next ! I’ll be following no matter what!

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