In recent years, grocery shopping has gone from a routine task to a financial challenge, as rising food prices have made it difficult for many of us to fill our carts without breaking the bank. Inflation has been especially hard over the last two years, making it necessary to get creative about how to stretch a dollar. I used to never like leftovers, but now when I cook and freeze meals in bulk, I am essentially making leftovers in advance! These tasty frozen meals can be easily defrosted and heated. My only real issue is my freezer is on the small size—learning to play Tetris is really paying off now.
I came across an interesting website that helps people see where they fall in the income tiers based on location, income, and household size. According to this tool, I am in the lower income tier, along with 31.6% of adults in Florida and 28% of adults nationally. When considering other factors like education, age, race, and marital status, I’m in the lower-class category with about 17.6% other American adults.
The 2022 US Census Bureau reports $74,580 is the average household income.
Lower class: less than or equal to $30,000
Lower-middle class: $30,001 – $58,020
Middle class: $58,021 – $94,000
Upper-middle class: $94,001 – $153,000
Upper class: greater than $153,000
By God's provision—and some incredible coupons—I've managed to keep my grocery costs much lower than expected during the last couple of months. I can't say I have eaten this well over the last year, but I am thankful for what I have today. I remind myself that even though I’m eating smaller portions than I would like, repeating meals, scrimping on herbs, spices, and extras, and doing without desserts, I’m still fortunate to eat better than many.
In this post, I’ll break down what I bought, share the prices and my final total, I'll briskly walk through how I plan to prepare and store the food to make it last. I hope this will not only offer some helpful shopping and meal planning tips, but also shed light on the real challenges of living on a limited income.
Purchased Items
Grocery Item | Regular price with sales and coupons | single serve meals |
5 Boneless Pork Loin Chops  | $5.00 regular price | meal 1-5 I put the pork chops in the slow cooker, season with pepper, add thinly cut up cabbage and onion, add 1 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar. cook on low for 5 - 6 hours. |
1 lb Green Cabbage  | $2.29 regular price $0.75 sale price ($1.50 off) | meal 1-5 cut the cabbage thinly to ensure it cooks by the time the pork chops and onions are finished. |
1 Jumbo Red Onion  | $1.19 regular price | meal 1 - 5 I slice the onions, then cut the slices in half. I've never used red onion, but the store was out of the yellow onion I typically buy. |
Stove Top Savory Herbs  | $3.29 regular price $2.00 sale price | meal 1 - 5 When the pork chops are nearly finished, I pop the stuffing in the microwave, using only water, for five minutes, and start preparing five meal containers to refrigerate or freeze depending on my mood. |
8 80/20 Beef Patties  | $10.00 regular price | meal 6 - 13 Pepper Jack Mushroom burger on Cinnamon bread with some variation using one potato steamed, fried, potato salad, etc. I usually freeze the burgers and take them out one or two at a time to cook. |
8 Pepper Jack Sliced Cheese  | $2.79 regular price $0.00 ($2.79 off coupon) | meal 6 - 13 1 slice per burger, place on burger towards end of cooking. |
8 oz Sliced White Mushrooms  | $2.29 regular price | meal 6 - 13 1 oz of mushrooms I saute in pan a few minutes while the burger is cooking. When softened, place on burger then top with cheese. |
Pepperidge Farm Swirl Cinnamon Breakfast Bread  | $4.49 regular price
$2.24 sale price
($2.25 off)
| meal 6 - 13 Buying different bread choices is a way to bring more flavor and variety. Bargain priced is a win win—for my tummy and bank balance. |
5 lb Russet Potatoes (11 potatoes)  | $3.79 regular price $3.39 sale price ($0.40 off) | meal 6 - 8 hamburger/steamed potato with yogurt.
meal 9 - 13 hamburger / fries or potato salad steamed, cut up, cool, add mayo
meal 14 - 16 steak / steamed potato with yogurt
|
3 Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt  | $0.89 regular price $2.67 (3 x $0.89) | meal 6 - 8 steamed potato with yogurt/ burger
meal 14 - 16 steamed potato with yogurt/ steak
|
1 lb Green Asparagus  | $3.99 regular price $2.99 sale price | meal 14 - 16 steamed asparagus and potato with yogurt / steak |
10 oz Top Sirloin Steak
| $6.61 regular price | meal 14 - 16 steamed asparagus and potato with yogurt/ steak Steak divided into 3 equal pieces, I poke holes in the steak, marinade for 10 minutes in soy sauce and cook them in a pan with butter for about 8 minutes, This will make 3 meals. |
16 oz Mueller's Penne Pasta  | $1.99 regular price $1.49 sale price | meal 17 - 22 cook according to directions, cook 6 meatballs in pan, add half a jar of sauce. Divide into 6 containers. Add 1 slice of buttered garlic bread. Freeze or refrigerate. |
16 oz Mueller’s Ziti Pasta  | $1.99 regular price $1.49 sale price | meal 23 - 28 cook according to directions, cook 6 meatballs in pan, add half a jar of sauce. Divide into 6 containers. Add 1 slice of buttered garlic bread. Freeze or refrigerate. |
12 Roasted Garlic Basil & Romano Meatballs (1 lb)  | $7.49 regular price
$5.99 sale price
| meal 17 - 28 As these wont last too long without cooking, I cook both batches within a few days of each other. Finding them on sale is great as it is the same price as if I made them myself, except it's a nice flavor treat. |
Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce  | $2.19 regular price $1.99 sale price ($0.50 off coupon) | meal 17 - 28 I just use 1/2 of jar for each batch. It really makes a difference when you can stretch an ingredient to its limit. |
12 oz Lewis Bake Shop Half Loaf Artisan Style Bread  | $2.69 regular price | meal 17 - 28 Each pasta meal will have a slice of buttered garlic bread. When it comes time to re-heat the meal remove the bread and eat as is, or toast it. |
Subtotal | $64.75 | Regular prices are used to tabulate the subtotal. |
Coupons | -$25.00 -$ 9.23 | Kroger every few months offers a huge savings. Whether it is from sales, reward points, digital coupons or some other promotion, they have come through in desperate times. |
Final Cost after sale items and coupons. | $30.52 | If it wasn't for the coupons, and most orders typically have less than $6 in coupons, I would have had to pay $64.75. More realistically, I would have removed the steak, hamburgers, mushrooms, meatballs, cinnamon bread, and yogurt to bring it closer to $35. |
Average price per meal | $1.20 | 28 meals x $1.09 = 30.52 Ingredients I already have $3.00 / 28 = 11 cents each |
Fortunately for this order, I already have a stick and a half of butter, a few tablespoons of soy sauce, and 1/2 jar of mayonnaise and a handful of random spices. The potatoes, stuffing, steak, artisan bread, and cabbage could all use butter, but I most likely will only use it to make garlic bread (I have garlic powder) and fry the steak. I have to think ahead to next order. I will marinade the steak in the soy sauce, and make potato salad with the mayo. The slow cooker is filled to the top with onions and cabbage! I am going to use a slice of onion, a cup of cabbage, and mayo to make some cole slaw—I hope I can get them finely chopped. The onion was really big, so I will sauté a few slices when I am making the steak meals. It's nice to end up with a few unexpected sides!
These 28 meals need to last me for eighteen days. I could honestly eat it all in less than a week, but I wouldn't want to go hungry the other ten days or so! Whether I will eat them for breakfast lunch or dinner, I can't be sure. One or more a day, depends on how I am feeling. I really try to get the groceries and cook it all the day before or the morning of trash pick up, so I can throw the packaging and any food wastes away like the cabbage core and onion peel. Other items like the mushrooms and cheese, I transferred to single serve containers so each burger has a its own jar of rations. It is a good option for me so I don't have to recall and remember too much stuff when I am cooking. Once I have everything cooked up, my worry will be over for at least a couple of weeks. I'm grateful when new, inexpensive food ideas come to mind or sight before the next order.
It really is a matter of being creative and not picky! I have trouble trying new food, but I am learning. Food for me either is edible or non edible—and unlike many, my bar is really low for what I find edible. For example, in a chili competition, I wouldn't be able to say one taste better than another or even that I like one over the other—they are just different. I am really thankful for this ability, but it does make it awkward when others are saying yuck to some food, but I'm just grateful to eat, so it is yum yummy for me. To close, I'd like to say that while buying grocery has really become a challenge, I'm grateful for the ability to stretch each dollar and make the most out of every meal. The process has helped me grow creatively and practically, while reminding me of the importance of gratitude in even the smallest things. Each meal I make feels like a blessing—proof that with a little planning and resourcefulness, we can find ways to make ends meet, even in tough times. I hope these ideas and tips might inspire others who are on a tight budget to make the most of what they have, too.
1 Timothy 6:8 "But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."
Resources
US Census 2022 Report https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.pdf
Income Level Calculator - Are You in the American Middle Class?
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