Save $20 on Your Next Grocery Run: $80+ per Month!

The rising cost of living is killer right now, especially when it comes to groceries!

According to data from the Census Bureau in the United States in 2024, families with kids spend an average of $331/week on groceries.

Our family of 3 has been averaging $240/week on groceries over the past year, nearly $100 less than the overall average, and that means we're saving $4,700+ MORE than the average U.S. family on groceries per year!! 

So today, I’m going to share with you 3 ways to save at least $20, likely more, on your next grocery run – or $80+ per month!

Hi, I’m Katie – a mama, coach & podcaster focused on supporting eco-minded mamas to live sustainably: saving thousands of dollars and living a life that is in alignment with their core values so they can care for their families and their environment! 

Let’s get into it, going from low-to-high cost savings… 

Resources Mentioned in the Episode: 

• Saving Money with Plant-Based Meals
  
  
• Average cost of groceries for families in USA
  
  
• ✨Download 5 Hacks to Start Saving $2,000 in Your Kitchen Today!✨

Ready to start seeing HUGE savings with simple swaps that are sustainable for your family, your budget, and your planet??

➡️ ➡️ Join our online community inside The Eco-Minded Mama Collective to receive instant access to digital guides, videos, Live Q&As, challenges + giveaways, and consistent real-time support!! 

Transcript

Katie Kurpanek: 0:00

The rising cost of living is killer right now, especially in the United States, and especially when it comes to groceries. According to data from the Census Bureau in the United States in 2024, families with kids spend an average of$331 per week on groceries. Our family of three has been averaging about $240 per week on groceries over the past year, that is nearly $100 less than the overall average. And that still hurts. But we are very thankful for the savings. So today, I am going to share with you three ways that you could save at least $20 or likely more on your next grocery run. And that could average around $80 a month. Hi, I'm Katie. I'm a mama a coach and a podcaster who is empowering mamas just like you to live sustainably, saving 1000s of dollars in the process and living a life that is in alignment with your core values, so that you can live with less stress. So if that sounds like something you are interested in, let's get into it going from low to high cost saving tips. Okay, money saving tip number one, buy produce in season as often as possible. So when fruits and veggies are in season, then there is an abundance more locally available, so then the grocery stores will typically lower the costs of those things. So typically, if strawberries are not locally in season, for example, then they may cost about $7 per pound. Once they are in season, then that price will typically drop to about $3 or $4 per pound. So let's say that you just started with two varieties of produce per week that you buy locally. So think of the produce that your family enjoys most often. And I can link some resources for you in the episode description but you can figure out when those varieties of produce are actually in season. If you just picked two of them to start buying only when they are in season, then you will likely save $6 Just through that one step per grocery run. And of course, you will be saving more if you commit to more. Money saving tip number two, buy foods in their whole form rather than processed as often as possible. So one big money saver example for families is smoothies or smoothie pouches Squeezy pouches. If you bought a 16 ounce bag of frozen mixed fruits from Walmart, currently priced at $2.38, you could likely make at least 12 Kid sized decent sized smoothies for that price $2.38. If you were to buy a 12 pack of popular Squeezy pouches from Walmart, a brand that I won't name, but very popular, it would be priced at currently $7.78. So the cost savings there is about $5 for the same amount of servings. Let's say that you make your own smoothie batch with a bag of frozen fruits. And you also decide to make a batch of muffins at the very beginning of the week, instead of buying a bunch of packaged snacks, then those two things combined could save you roughly $10 In that one grocery shopping trip. So then combine that $10 with the tip number one that I just gave you, and now you've saved $16 in one grocery trip. Now for money saving tip number three, which has potential to be the biggest saver depending on how you get into it. Incorporate plant based recipes into your family's weekly meal planning. Now hold up before you turn off this episode and skip to the next one. I am not going to tell you to go fully vegan to give up meat or dairy or whatever. I am not going to even get into this from like an ethical or personal perspective. Let's just look at the money for right now. According to a survey of over 1000 Americans that I will link below, consumers on meatless diets spent an average of $23 less per week on food. And then that number goes up for the people who were buying organic or nitrate free, non GMO, all of that meat. Meatless Mondays alone, so just one day a week of not eating meat could save you$3.30 On average for the one day. So okay, if you only swapped one day out of your whole week with plant based recipes, meaning just meatless that's not even taking out dairy. Then if you did that, and you combined with the first two tips that I just gave you, now you have saved roughly $19.30 in one grocery run. So then if you also decide to cut out dairy for that one day as well, let's say you wanted to do like a fully plant based day, one day a week for your family. Well now your savings is going to be over $20 for that one grocery run, and so on. So if you were to do that even more, maybe experiment with more plant based recipes, throughout different times of your week, the savings is just going to continue. So now, if you were to take all three of these tips and feel them out, feel what works best for you and your family. If you start really simple, and you just save that simple $20 a week that we outlined, then that is going to equate to about $80 for an average month. And then that's an extra $1,040 per year. If you start applying these tips even more, so even more of your purchases, changing up more of your habits, buying even more whole foods rather than processed or buying more produce in season, incorporating more plant based recipes. If you were to just like switch this up over and over again, then you could experience what my family is doing, which is currently saving$91 a week more than the average family. Like we outlined at the very beginning, we're averaging about $240 per grocery trip, so once a week, rather than you know about $330 For the average family in America right now. So when you calculate that out, we are saving an extra $4,732 compared to an average US family every single year. This is just scratching the surface of how much you can be saving with sustainable swaps for your family. So check out the episode description for more resources, you can go to eco minded mama.com to download your FREE guide with five more hacks to saving over $2,000 hiding in your kitchen with sustainable swaps. And then if you are really ready to commit to saving 1000s of dollars every single year, way beyond what I just described, then you could consider joining The Eco-Minded Mama Collective. We are an online membership program and we are unpacking monthly challenges together, saving money every day, and at the time of this recording we are heavily focused on saving money and time and food waste in the kitchen. That is the theme for this month and we will constantly come back to that if you are listening to this episode at a later date. So check out those links in the episode description. I hope that this helped you today and I will be back next week with more sustainable living tips.