Here's How I Stretch A $120 Weekly Grocery Budget To Feed 5 People And Cover Nearly Every Meal
Hi! I'm Sydney. I'm a stay-at-home mom of three, and I make homemade meals for my Colorado family every week.
Although my current phase of life is a stay-at-home mom, I've also been a college student mom, and a full-time working mom — and each stage taught me valuable lessons around feeding myself and my family.
One of those lessons has been that meal prep and planning are essential for running a smooth household with three kids under 9. Figuring out all the meals ahead of time allows me to save time and stick to a budget each week. For a long time, that budget was $100 per week — but I've recently had to increase it to $120 due to everything being more expensive these days.
When planning each week, I start by looking at my local grocery store's weekly sales so I know what items will get me the most bang for my buck. This first step has become more important than ever to my planning and budgeting lately.
I never let the flyer completely dictate what my menu will look like, but I always allow it to provide inspiration. When I look at what different meats, produce, and pantry staples are on sale, I decide what direction I'll take.
With meal planning, up-front preparation is key — but it's also the most challenging thing. Here are a few tips and tricks that I use each week:
1) I pick recipes with ingredients that can be used for multiple meals (and in multiple ways). This also includes getting creative with leftovers. Sometimes, eating leftovers all the time can get old, but I try to remember that I can always use different components of my leftovers to create new meals. This also means that we don't always need to be scared of higher cost items. It just means that we need to be smart and think about how we can utilize those items in various ways to help stretch the budget as far as possible.
2) I prioritize what's on sale. I switched out a few things this week to optimize my savings and make my money stretch for certain recipes. For example, instead of using chicken breasts, I used chicken tenders after seeing them on sale. I was also able to get $0.99 milk, and berries knocked down from $3.50 to $1.67.
3) Clip your digital coupons. You can find lots of additional savings by clipping digital coupons (found on store websites or apps). Some items may not be on sale, but they could have great savings with a coupon. Conversely, some of the advertised sales state that you need the digital coupon to take advantage. This is easy to miss, especially if you're shopping in store. When you look at the fine print, you often see that even though the item is advertised as "on sale," if you don't have that digital coupon clipped, the price can be a lot more expensive!
4) I buy the cheapest store brand most of the time. Unless it's something that I'm unable to use due to the peanut allergy or an item I absolutely love (or if a different brand is on sale), store brand it is.
5) I ask my kids to help me. Feeding kids is a challenge. They change their minds constantly, and they seemingly get new taste buds every meal. When I ask them to help pick out recipes (usually with them looking at pictures), I find that they are more excited to eat them. I will also let them pick what they want for their lunch, snacks, and fruit and veggies for the week!
6) I shop AT the grocery store, I am not THE grocery store. I don't supply endless options. I'm not going to overbuy produce that will end up going bad in the fridge without being used. I'm not going to be a vending machine for pantry snacks. My kids get to pick what they want their non-recipe veggies, fruits, and snacks to be for the week, and we usually pick two options for each category.
Also, my kids are small! They do not have the same appetites as teenagers or fully-grown adults. I'm aware that my grocery budget will need to increase as they get older.
Lastly, I'm not a chef. I'm a mom who cooks meals for her family. I learn things as I go and pick recipes that seem manageable for me to keep up with — as I also try and be present with my family.
After making my plan for this week, my total sat at $123.93. I was able to save just over $5 from coupons, but the biggest savings came from utilizing the items that were featured in the sales flyer for the week.
Most weeks, I get my groceries delivered to save me time, gas, and impulse buys. (I also opt for delivery because if you've ever taken multiple young kids grocery shopping, you know the struggle!)
Thankfully, everything was in stock. I had a great shopper that communicated with me throughout the trip and picked out some quality produce! One lesson I've learned (a few times) with delivery is that you need to be so specific about the quantity you need. Sometimes, I assume if I put "1," it will mean 1 lb., but this backfired on me the other week when I received one (1) singular Brussels sprout.
As you continue to build your pantry, it's easier to spend within budget because you'll utilize staples you have already acquired. But for the purpose of this post, several pantry staples (like oats, flour, and rice) were included in the $123.93 I spent. The only staples I did not include were oils and spices.
Here was this week's grocery haul:
(Produce: limes, lemons, cilantro, guacamole, blood oranges, navel oranges, avocados, pomegranate, mint, lettuce, shallot, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, parsley, yellow squash, zucchini, raspberries, red pepper, green pepper Dairy: pepper jack cheese, sour cream, half & half, Parmesan, yogurt, milk Meat: rotisserie chicken, chicken thighs, ground beef, chicken tenders, Canadian bacon Pantry: salsa, black beans, white rice, arborio, tortillas, dijon mustard, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine, Panko, flour, sugar, angel hair pasta, oats, dried cranberries Misc: orange juice, eggs, tzatziki.
Here's how the week went!
I was able to pick up a rotisserie chicken for $5.99, and since I didn't shop until later in the afternoon, I was thankful to have a recipe that leaned on pre-made ingredients. I knew 7 Layer Chicken Burritos — with its base of rotisserie chicken and jarred salsa — were going to be the ticket to getting everything together with everyone's sanity in check.
The majority of this recipe was just adding salsa into different things, so to say things were pretty straightforward would be an understatement.
I always try to have some sort of independent activity ready for my kids while I'm cooking because otherwise, they decide to run in circles around the kitchen — which usually also includes stumbling over the dog waiting for any morsel to fall.
Today was a bit of painting.
My son actually ended up being the only one that made his meal into a standard burrito, with everyone else opting for a burrito bowl!
We are in the phase of Colorado spring where it is switching between a snow blizzard and shorts weather every other day. After dinner, we took advantage of the sunshine and headed out for a sunset stroll.
Once the kids were in bed, I made some dough for two different sourdough loaves. One plain and one with cinnamon and dried cranberries. (The cinnamon recipe actually calls for raisins, but we love cranberries instead!)
One budget flop I did make this week was accidentally spending more than intended on the dried cranberries. Oftentimes, I will add things to my shopping list way in advance so that I don't forget to add them when it comes time to shop. A past version of me decided it would be a good time to stock the pantry with dried cranberries. However, I never took off the bulk purchase when I realized my plans had changed for the week, and I ended up spending $12 on dried cranberries. 🥴 I'm trying not to think about all the other things I could have added in.
Rise and shine — time to bake! The very first thing I did when I woke up was get my sourdough ready for the oven. I quickly made some hardboiled eggs in my air fryer for breakfast, and then everyone was able to have a slice of bread fresh out of the oven before heading off for the day.
I made my sourdough starter using flour and water awhile back. Although I didn't create the actual starter this week, it's one staple now in my house that we always lean on. Last week, I tried to give my 2-year-old a store-bought piece of bread, and she threw an absolute fit telling me she wanted the homemade sourdough. At the end of the day, it's shocking how much money I save each week by taking 10-15 minutes every few days (that's the pace in our house) to make a loaf or two!
While the bread was baking, I packed the kids' lunch boxes with leftover chicken burritos from the night before.
I added some fresh fruit and veggies on the side!
The day was spent trying to get as much physical activity in as possible and spend time outside because we were lucky to get another beautiful day.
Since things were going pretty leisurely, I decided it would be a good time to prepare some yogurt to have on hand for breakfasts and snacks for the week. My daughters love yogurt and will eat everything we have very quickly, which can be a real budget buster. So instead, I buy a small container of yogurt and some milk. Then I use the Instant Pot to heat, cool, and incubate the yogurt to make it grow into... more yogurt!
Many Instant Pots have a specific 'yogurt' function — but mine does not, so I use these instructions. This process is extremely simple, but it does take patience. In terms of the budget, half gallons of milk were on sale for only $0.99, and the individual serving of yogurt was $1.25!
While the yogurt did its magic, I started preparing dinner. It's prime time for citrus right now in my area, which means excellent sales. Simple Orange Citrus Salad was the perfect meal to make on such a sunny day, and required minimal attention so I could also multitask the yogurt.
I also roasted a few chicken thighs and put the remaining thighs in the freezer for later in the week.
I was worried if I told the kids the blood oranges were actually called "blood oranges" that they would stop right there. Honestly, I can't blame them. I know if I heard "blood oranges" as a child, I would have been STRESSED.
After lots of ideas of what I could tell them they were called, I ended up going with "they're purple and special, eat them." Seemed to work!
After a nice, long incubation period, I finished off the yogurt by straining it into some storage containers. We ate a bit for breakfast with some fresh raspberries.
I ended up yielding about 2.5 larger containers, and I knew we would be set for the rest of the week!
For lunch I used the leftover citrus salad, but needed something additional since the chicken was gone from the night before. I used a few of the hardboiled eggs and made a version of this egg salad sandwich.
I didn't want the leftover guacamole browning in the fridge for too long, so for dinner I chose taco potatoes. I was also able to use the remaining cheese I had already shredded from a few nights before as well.
While I baked the potatoes, I browned the meat and got all the various toppings ready.
There are two things my son will not eat: rice and potatoes. Usually, I always put a bit of everything on the kid plates so that they always have an opportunity to try things, but he has been very clear for long enough that he doesn't like them so I no longer serve him those things.
Since most of us made burrito bowls Monday night instead of actual burritos, we had a lot of tortillas left, making it a perfect swap for my son.
I knew the yogurt needed a little crunch, so I made up a batch of my favorite homemade granola. Being a nut-allergy household, granola is really something we have a hard time buying so this recipe for vanilla granola is a slam dunk.
The granola has such a subtle sweetness, which I love, and it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare. The rest of the time it takes to prepare is very hands-off with just baking and cooling.
Yogurt breakfast round 2 — this time with the ~crunch~.
A quick side note: I've also added oat butter into the yogurt bowl before and that is so creamy and a delicious addition. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get oat butter into the budget this week — probably because I spent $12 on dried cranberries I didn't need. 😒
Both of the school kids got DIY tacos for lunch, which turned out to be a hit! Both brought home boxes that were totally empty.
We had one more afternoon of sunny weather before a cold front moved in. We continued to take advantage of the warmer temps while we could.
Greek Chicken Kebabs were on my mind for dinner. Once I pulled out all the ingredients, I decided I would roast the chicken instead of grilling it on skewers, because although we've had a few nice days, I haven't actually gotten the grill ready for prime time after being buried under snow for a few months.
I cut up some tomatoes, cucumbers, and took out some store-bought tzatziki. You can actually make your own tzatziki very easily and pretty cheap, but sometimes, you need to consider your sanity as well! In the future, I would love to try this recipe with fresh herbs instead of dry.
I was prepared to have a lot of rice to utilize for the week, so while I made some to pair with the Greek chicken, I made sure to make double what I normally would.
I recently got the cookbook Meal Prep Magic by Catherine McCord, and when I saw this rice pudding recipe, I had to give it a try! Although the recipe I followed was from the book, there is a similar recipe here.
I certainly snuck a few bites while the rice pudding was still warm — and it instantly brought me back to my grandma giving us leftover rice with butter and cinnamon sugar on the top for dessert as a kid.
I put everything into a storage container and placed in the fridge to set.
Breakfast was rice pudding topped with raspberries.
I still thought this was a delicious, cold breakfast — but I definitely enjoyed it more while it was warm!
Lunch was a very quick leftover throw-together since I had a morning and afternoon filled with drop-offs, pick-ups, appointments, and very little wiggle room in terms of timing it all.
Once the chaos of mid-day was over, I wanted to make a quick snack. The rice pudding had me thinking of childhood treats I loved, and I remembered an at-home Orange Julius recipe we loved to make.
I didn't have all the required ingredients for the exact recipe so I improvised with the leftover blood oranges, yogurt, and orange juice. The blood oranges turned the whole thing purple, which worked well because that just happens to be my daughter's favorite color.
I left the sugar out of my rendition, and no one seemed to even notice!
I had a free window of time that afternoon — and decided to knock out a few prep-and-go meals for later in the week. First, I used my sourdough starter to make biscuits.
Then I made sheet pan eggs — a great option because the oven does all the hard work — and pulled out some Canadian bacon. My plan was to put everything together and make breakfast sandwiches.
I love prepping breakfast sandwiches, and making the eggs on a sheet pan is the ultimate trick! The eggs come out flat, which is perfect for stacking on a sandwich, and it allows you to easily assemble a large amount of sandwiches in a short amount of time. I used the biscuits as the bread component and wrapped them for the freezer for later in the week.
Once dinner time rolled around, though, I was feeling a little ~over it~. I took a peek at my grocery inventory and what remaining recipes I had on my menu, and TBH, I really wasn't motivated to make any of it. I did a quick search on my phone and found a recipe for easy Lemon Spaghetti. It was perfect!
The ingredients were few, and steps were minimal.
While the noodles boiled, I zested the lemon and made the sauce for the pasta.
Suddenly, 15 minutes had passed, and dinner was done!
My 4-year-old loved this meal. We had to tell her a few times to use her silverware because she kept digging in with her hands.
Here's where those grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches came in handy!
Since I didn't have to do much in terms of breakfast preparation, I was able to bake up another loaf of cranberry sourdough.
As I mentioned before, we love this stuff, and we keep a pace of a couple loaves a week!
We headed off to soccer for the rest of the morning!
My husband and I were going to be gone for the evening, so I wanted to make sure we all ate a hearty lunch. I made Creamy Tomato Risotto with Crispy Garlic Crumbs.
When I make this again, I'd add a bit more liquid! This could be an alteration needed due to higher elevation, but thought I'd mention it.
This reminded me of a bulkier tomato soup lunch. I was happy to have made something that would stick around for awhile since I knew we would be eating dinner a couple hours later than our norm.
On Saturday night, my husband and I attended a charity event for congenital heart defects. We ate, we danced, and I won a ~glam girl~ tea party for my daughters in the silent auction!
Most important, we were able to help raise money for CHD research.
Saturday morning breakfast was reheated breakfast sandwiches again — and then, we set out to plant some various seeds in a mini greenhouse that arrived for Easter earlier this month.
We are hoping for a prosperous garden this year so that we can rely more on our homegrown herbs and veggies!
We were all lagging a bit after the late night before, so lunch was very simple with quesadillas for the kids and leftovers for mom and dad.
When it came time for dinner, I wanted to repurpose the leftover lemon pasta from Friday. I thought Chicken Garden Medley was the perfect recipe to help achieve this makeover.
I wasn't really sure how the noodles would play out, but I figured the lemon flavors would be a natural fit with the rest of the recipe. I thawed the chicken thighs I put in the freezer earlier in the week and got to slicin'.
I definitely used more vegetables than the recipe called for, but I'm someone who always thinks there could be more veggies.
Since I was also using the leftover pasta, I wasn't sure we had the full 8 oz the recipe called for. I knew adding in extra veggies would be a good way to bulk everything up!
In the end, I thought this dish was a little bland. I oftentimes feel cream-based dishes like this can be a little lackluster, but how do we know if we never try?!
I was really thankful I used the lemon noodles for this dish, because the bright flavors still shined through!
While the rest of us ate breakfast sandwiches at home, my husband and daughter had donuts with Dad at school!
One good thing about saving my least favorite leftovers for the last meal of the week? It makes me extra excited to get a new week started. Instant motivation!
And that was my week! I hope this was helpful. Again, I don't share these plans assuming people will replicate them exactly. Every household is SO different — from palate preferences to cost of living to the amount of time available to cook. Still, I hope this provides some inspiration for new recipes, new planning ideas, or how to work with whatever your budget may be. You can find more of my articles with weeks worth of plans here!
For more, follow me on Instagram at @sydneyinsuburbia. That's where I give step-by-step breakdowns about how I plan my weeks, shop, and cook — hopefully helping you do it, too!
