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Our 64 dollar grocery budget trip to Target ended up being a great score for the house. It also helped that we didn’t spend the whole 64 dollars. That was a huge surprise for me since Target has always seems to be the expensive place to grocery shop in our area. As promised in the last grocery budget post, here is the complete breakdown of everything I purchased for around 54 dollars (10 dollars left over), plus which items had an extra 5% discount with the Cartwheel by Target app. I’ll also list the meals I’ve created from what I purchased.
2 pints of mushrooms – for 3.00
5lb bag of Russet potatoes – 1.89 (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
12oz bag asparagus – 1.99
2 14oz cans Market Pantry Italian-style tomatoes – .70 each (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
1 can Goya pinto beans – .97
1 bag Goya lentil beans – 1.32
2 bags Market Pantry flour tortillas – 2.03 (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
2 boxes Market Pantry whole wheat pasta – 1.04 each
1 bag Market Pantry egg noodles – 1.79
4 cans of Market Pantry tuna – .82 each
1 loaf Nature’s Harvest 100% whole wheat bread – 1.99
2 pints of strawberries – 1.42 (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
2 1-pound packages of ground chuck – 3.49 with 1.00 coupon on the package
2 packages Market Pantry frozen spinach – .76 each (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
3 packages Market Pantry frozen California vegetable medley – 1.41 each (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
Market Pantry 2% milk – 3.12 (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
4 dozen Market Pantry large eggs – .99 each
Half gallon Market Pantry lactose free milk – 2.84 (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
32oz Market Pantry plain yogurt – 2.14
2 bags Market Pantry shredded cheddar cheese – 2.21 (5% off with Cartwheel by Target app)
3.82 pound Perdue roast chicken – 7.22
A 10.00 mobile coupon sent to my phone
Total: 53.08
Breakfast meals
- 12 breakfast burritos – using tortillas, 1 dozen eggs, 3 potatoes, half a bag of cheese, and 1 can pinto beans.
- 24 Hard boiled eggs (this will also be an option for lunch)
- Homemade strawberry yogurt – 160z yogurt and chopped strawberries (this will also be a snack to add to lunch)
Lunch
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Chicken salad wrap – made from some of the white meat of the roasted chicken and plain yogurt
- Egg salad – made from hard-boiled eggs and plain yogurt
- Tuna, asparagus and cold noodles
Dinner
- Roast chicken with roasted potatoes and California vegetable mix
- Lentil soup – using chicken stock made from the carcass of the chicken, chopped up roasted potatoes and half a bag of spinach (save some lentils for a later meal)
- Pasta Primavera – made from 1 pint mushrooms, canned tomatoes, California vegetable mix, sliced asparagus (half the bag), two dollops of yogurt, and whole wheat pasta
- Faux crab cakes – made with 3 cans tuna, 1 egg, 1 slice of bread (chopped finely). With a side of lentils, and pan-sauteed potatoes
- Chicken cheese noodle casserole – using leftover dark meat chicken, 1 egg, 1 bag egg noodles, 1/2 cup milk, 1 bag of cheese (half in the casserole, half on top), chopped asparagus and half a bag of spinach.
- Beef tostadas (using this recipe, and ground beef instead of brisket) – 6 tortillas, ground beef seasoned with Mexican seasonings and cooked with the canned tomatoes, half bag shredded cheese, dollops of yogurt, and a side of California vegetable medley
- Hamburger steak over noodles – 1 pound ground beef, 1 pint mushrooms, 2 slices bread soaked in milk, cooked whole wheat pasta, 1 bag spinach sautéed with garlic.
That’s 7 dinners, 4 lunch options and even some breakfast options! I still have a few eggs left and bread which can be used for other meals, or another lunch option. This was a very surprising experiment and I love that the Cartwheel app gave me so many instant savings.
In the next few months I want to commit to finding ways to save at Target since I visit at least 2 to 3 tines a week. Here are some things I started 1) go to target.com for coupons 2)I get prescriptions filled at Target so I signed up for the prescription rewards card. Each time I fill a new prescription or pick up a refill the card is scanned. The rewards are a 5% off purchase coupon and brand name manufacturers coupons abotv4 to 6 times a year 3)Just started taking advantage of using Target Cartwheel account during my visits. Sign up using Facebook account You will save 5 to 20% on purchases of items offered. I have the app on my Android phone. You insert items into cartwheel and purchase at end of your shopping , the associate scans bar code from phone and discounts taken off 4)Buy Target Up&Up brands if available for general brands. The Up&Up brand is less than bran. Read labels and compa
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Love all of these tips, cocoa mommy! Take a peek at the first part of this post where I used the cartwheel app exclusively to get all of these deals. I listed the savings in this post, but you may not have caught that. Here is the link to the original post, and I hope you share it with friends and family: http://4hatsandfrugal.com/2014/04/64-dollar-grocery-budget-at-target.html
Use red card for additional 5% off. It’s a debit card tied to your bank account.?
Great example of how you can really reduce your grocery budget if you want to…..although, don’t you ever have snacks?
Travis lol! Yes! With a few of the potatoes, I can make potato chips in the microwave, and the strawberries with yogurt is a favorite snack in our home. The point was to highlight the HEALTHY items we can purchase. Plus, remember, I still had 10 dollars left over. That could have been used for popping corn or chocolate. Mmmmmm chocolate.
I wish those same savings were available in Florida. Only North Florida has double coupons, and we pay higher food prices due to the tourist tax on foods. we dont have double coupons in my area, and many stores put up a fight when you try to use legal coupons from their store! Even Dollar General now has a new rule, that if the $5 off coupon they give you puts your total under $25, you cant use the coupon (the total was over $5 before the coupon)!
HI Kamiko!
I actually don’t use coupons anymore, and didn’t use coupons for this trip to Target either. I gave some really great tips on how to attain these savings, even if you live in an area that has higher food prices. Our food prices here in NJ are very high, so I totally feel you. Good luck!
Target’s website has great printable coupons for their store brands. I almost always find them for staples like chicken breasts, frozen pizzas, deli meat, etc. Just search “coupons” on the site
What would the gluten free be. I need to feed 2 adults and 3 girls gluten free meals for a 7 day menu. Please help this budget issue thanks ..hope there is an answer only have 70.00 weekly for grocery.
Hi Penny,
I’m actually starting a special project to help moms just like you. We have 2 kids with special diets in our home too and still stay on budget. Please email me at 4hatsandfrugal@gmail.com and I would love to include you in the project and help you.
Very smart! I love Target and the Cartwheel app is amazing. I just filled a prescription at Target (instead of my closer CVS) and Target called me and gave me $50 off and they said they will keep doing it for as long as I have the prescription. Which was great, because it’s the only medication that ever cost me $60 per 30 days supply (my son’s ADHD meds).
I do a lot of shopping at Target. In addition to using the prescription rewards card and the. Cartwheel app, I also have a Target debit (not credit) card, which saves me an additional 5%. You are also able to stack all 3 of those to get triple the savings.
What a great shopping trip… I love the healthy meals you made. I love the Faux Crab Cakes… my Mom made “Tuna Patties” during my childhood. My hubby’s family had never heard of them… they always had “salmon patties”. I love them both. My Mom purchased the tuna because it was more frugal even in the 1970s/1980s and because the canned salmon had to be picked through to get the skin and bones out of it. Now they make canned salmon that is ready to go like tuna. I am going to try the Hamburger Steak over noodles… sounds good.
This is great for people on a strict budget. Thanks for posting!! We don’t have a Target in our area, but we do have a super Walmart (thank God!). I plan on taking your list and modifying it a bit since I am gluten free, allergic to tuna, and my hubby hates chicken, lol. A way to use your left over eggs and bread would be to have poached eggs and toast for breakfast or French toast with fresh strawberries (of you reserved a few berries). Also, you could make egg salad sandwiches using the yogurt in place of mayo for lunch
See, now you have 5 lunches and several breakfasts out of that! Thanks for the inspiration to keep on saving!
Would you mind sharing the number of people that you are feeding and the ages?
This would give reference to how much I need to increase this to feed my family…of 10.
Thank you.
Hi Brenda! We are a family of 5 now. It’s my cornfed husband :), my 9 year old son, 4 year old daughter, and our newborn.
This is so helpful…any chance you could post the actual recipes? Thanks.
Most of these things are pretty simple, but I’ll work on that for you, Maria!
I was so bored that I thought I would compare it with grocery prices In the UK the best I could get it using discount supermarkets was $81 , which is probably a fair comparison everything in the UK being far more expensive
I’m so glad that you were bored. Ha! I love this comparison. Thank you for doing it, Kaye!
Great ideas! Our grocery budget is $60 a week, so this is very helpful for me. For the faux crab cakes, do you use any particular seasonings?
I used old bay seasoning, to bring home the “seafood” flavor. Seasoned salt would also be a good option!
This grocery list is surprising because I have never shopped Target for food. I go to three food markets every week: a local cheap farmers market, supermarket and Whole Foods. But I’ll look into Target, we have a superstore nearby. To be honest though, its not hard to put together one weeks worth of food for $64. I could probably do it for less using ethnic foods such as Mexican or Indian which use more beans/rice in place of meats and fish. The real challenge Amiyrah is to come up with a months worth of meals that don’t repeat for around $50-70 per week.
Amiyrah: Are you up to that challenge? Could you post a months worth of meal plans with the actual recipes?
Seeing as I have quite a few recipes on the blog, I could actually do this, Sona! Thank you so much for posting this. I’ll get my brain turning and get up this challenge as soon as I can
Thank you so much for sharing this. So few bloggers share in such detail how they actually save money, aside from crazy “couponners” and the others that do eat so much processed foods, it’s hard for me to get on board. We are currently a family of 3, but my son doesn’t eat solids yet (I’m relieved though, since I breastfeed and don’t have to buy him food – I just eat a little extra!).
I just found you on Yahoo today, I’m sure you’re getting a lot of traffic right now, what with being on TV and front page of Yahoo, but I am so glad you are. I am now following you on Pinterest and signed up for emails. I really hope to find more from you that I can benefit from.
Do you have any recipes posted for these? Would you mind posting them?
Hi Amanda! I just added links to the few online recipes that I use for some of these meals. Be sure to scroll back through to see them. I hope they help!
Great site! New, just checking it out. Hubby in oil, downturn has been killer on our finances- needing to scale back grocery budget ASAP! I don’t usually shop Target for groceries…seem to find better deals at Walmart. Any thoughts/apps for Walmart? Also…eggs are so expensive now- have cut them out quite a bit cause cost is so steep. Any suggestions? Thanks a ton…loving this site!
HI Jennifer! Yes, I agree: eggs are so expensive now! When I wrote this post, they were at such a great price. But, we still buy them. We’ve noticed that even with the increase, they are still on the inexpensive end when it comes to protein that our family will eat. Instead of buying our usual 3 dozen eggs, I’ve cut back to 2 dozen and use them very strategically. No more elaborate desserts that use up eggs. Ha! We also don’t use them as much for breakfast, opting to have oatmeal, ground sausage, or even peanut butter toast to fill us up. Walmart is on our list for our $64 Grocery Budget Series, so stay tuned for our tips and tricks for shopping there! You can find the current stores in the series here: http://4hatsandfrugal.com/category/64-dollar-budget-series
Its great to see that you are able to do this! We are a family of 4 and my grocery budget hits $200 dollars every week. My wife does not like to eat leftovers so we end up wasting a ton of food. I spend nearly $20 per week just on my 4 year olds school lunch. I will say that we eat a good deal of seafood and organic vegetables which drives our budget up- I almost decided to do Blue Apron to see how that would work but its not a cheaper option. Oh well, I guess Im stuck with a $10000 per year grocery bill…
Thanks for visiting, Charles! You’re definitely not stuck. Hopefully, you can come back and visit our site to get some small tips and tricks to get your grocery bill down. Have you signed up for our email list? It’ll be very helpful to you!
I like your tips. We do not have Target here. Most of our food comes from Grocery Outlet and Walmart. We have a freezer so we are able to stock up on sales items. I also cook dry beans and freeze them in one or two cup portions rather than buy canned beans. A can of beans costs about equal to one pound of dry beans. So for the cost of one can you get four or five.
We do the same thing, Lee! This was a “challenge” where I had to purchase what was available at Target. I think I did pretty good :D. We’ll be doing a $64 Grocery Budget Challenge for Walmart very soon, so be sure to sign up for our email list to me notified when it goes live. Thanks for visiting!
Thanks for the lists… and suggestions Not sure where everyone lives but that list in my area of Canada even with the sales at 3 stores cost $102. so close to double the price yikes !! It is interesting to compare the differences…
Okay first of all YEAHHHHHHHHHH you ! I pat you on the back for not buying instant junk like soup to make a meal ! Woohooo ! no boxed mac and cheese ! woohooooo ! WTG ! You don’t see that very often on blogs as of late. Usually I do a quick read, get disappointed, shake my head and move on ! GREAT JOB ! 2nd; This was a post from 2014 and prices from 2014. I’d love to see an updated version on the cost of this. Lets face it food is one thing that just keeps going up and up and up. Eggs alone.. OMG !! Again great job ! Refreshing to read your menu !
Thank you!
How do you make the hamburger steak. what do i need to do with the milk soaked bread? and is there any kind of sauce to use over the noodles?
Hi Lisa! I have a recipe for the Hamburger steak: http://4hatsandfrugal.com/2014/09/hamburger-steak.html
The soaked bread can be added to the hamburger to stretch the meal, and there isn’t a sauce, except the natural juices that will be created when you make the hamburger steak.