Below is a real life example of a grocery plan I drew up for 1 week in January. I ‘m so used to it now that this is mostly in my head, and I don’t actually write it out in Excel, but you could do this via pencil and paper.
Governing principles
- It is simple. No fancy recipes (save for the tortilla soup, which to me is fancy), not very heavy on red meats, we don’t do pork and shellfish in our home
- Almost no liquids. I drink mostly water and my husband gets a coffee budget. Fun fact, you can work crazy hours and never depend on caffeine. I never grew up drinking caffeine so my body never needed it, but as an adult I also strongly believe you can break the habit (the withdrawal part is the worst).
- Keep as much of it shelf stable as you can. At any moment, I could be traveling for work, so I don’t like my groceries to spoil. You’ll see that I make sure that whatever I buy can be kept for at least 1 – 2 weeks if possible. A mark of “1” means that it is a shelf stable item
- It’s okay to have variety. I used to get this down to even about $30 per person per week, but we would often just eat chicken and rice for 5 days which ends up being pretty boring
The grocery list
I live in NYC, so I shop almost exclusively at Trader Joe’s, Associated Groceries (Hispanic focused ethnic grocer), or in Chinatown. These stores don’t run a lot of discounts as they’re mostly private label / fresh aisle. So essentially for the most part, my grocery costs are extremely predictable week by week. For those of you who aren’t in high cost cities, keep in mind that NYC prices are often double that of anywhere else in the country. So pay attention more to the items being bought.
The only mistake I made was buying milk thinking I needed it for brunch. Well I might throw it into a smoothie.
When I write “General” it means that this item could either be consumed as a full meal on its own, or could be applied to a variety of recipes. Keep in mind that because no one shops with an empty kitchen, many recipes use other things I already have on hand (e.g., chicken stock, rice), so anyway, it works out on a week to week schedule
Recipes and portions
Other than the brunch, which took 1 hour to make, almost everything else you see here can be made in 30 minutes or less of active cooking. Rice would be cooked with a rice cooker.
Omelettes: Beat eggs in bowl. Add to a hot pan. Add in toppings (bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, spinach). Close the top of the half when the bottom is solid.
Tortilla soup: I make a modified version of Rick Bayless’s Sopa Azteca that is very economical. I’ll share my secrets later 😉
Butternut squash soup: I made an Instant Pot version of this soup. I use chicken bouillon to make chicken stock. I use ginger powder instead of sliced ginger. Skip the sage, nutmeg, and pumpkin seeds.
Ravioli: This is a pre-made package of ravioli from Trader Joe’s. Boil water, pop in for 3 minutes, serve
Pasta with ground beef, cheese: Boil water, pop in spaghetti pasta for 10 minutes. Cook ground beef with seasonings (salt, pepper, red chili flakes) in olive oil until done. Top on the pasta. Top with optional cheese, pasta sauce.
Sausage and spinach scramble: Cut up the already-cooked chicken sausages. Heat in pan. When 1 minute away from done, add in spinach and briefly wilt.
Breakfast smoothies: Blend yogurt with frozen berries (also from Trader Joe’s), cut up oranges (we have some left over), banana.
Burrito lunch: Follow package instructions from Trader Joe’s to prepare a frozen burrito
Rice with Indian veggies: Heat rice in rice cooker. Microwave Trader Joe’s Indian vegetables in a box for 2 minutes. Serve.
Results
The above plan would make 21 lunch or dinner portions (NOT counting the brunch, which was a 5 portion brunch).
My husband drinks the smoothies for breakfast, I skip breakfast so that I only eat in an 8 hr window in a typical day. So for a 2 person household, and if you add back in the portions from the brunch, it equates to 7 days of meals.
Total cost: $78.43
Cost per person per day (assuming 7 days): $5.60
Cost per person per week: $39.22
