Couples with no kids.. grocery budget?

[martini]

I am in LCOL so this may not be helpful to you if you are in HCOL...
I meal plan. On Sunday I grocery shop, so before I go I look at our week in terms of what is going on, work schedule, etc to determine how many meals I need to make. Then I fill in what I feel like making and make out a list of what I need. Really saves me from having to make extra stops at the store throughout the week or throwing away food I bought that we didn't really need.
I make simple foods for the most part, nothing really extravagant. One of my favorite easy and inexpensive meal is roasted boneless skinless chicken thighs and red potatoes. A little olive oil and some garlic/rosemary seasoning. Things like that.
Also, if we are doing Mexican, I halve the meat and mix in black beans. Makes it go a little farther. We try to stick with alcohol on weekends or maybe one night a week so we aren't buying a lot of beer and wine.

[mich1]

I probably spend about $600/mo between the grocery store and Costco. We probably go out to eat about once for lunch and once for dinner each week. So maybe another $400/mo for that, so $1000 total. It's fairly easy for me, as I am home most of the day so can (and do) cook. I know when I worked, we ate out more and we had a lot more food go to waste (we'd buy groceries, then be too tired to cook).  For instance, SO put a pork butt in the smoker this morning early, so we'll be having pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad for dinner tonight.  Chili is also on the menu this week, since I use chuck roast it takes longer to cook.

This doesn't include our wine though.....the last few months, one of the local restaurants have had a dinner and wine pairing put on by local vineyards (LOTS of 'em in WA). We now have about 6 cases of wine stacked up in the LR!

[arterr0]

Where do you live? Do you only eat organic? Do you spend a lot on alcohol? Are you throwing out a lot of wasted food?
This sounds like a budget for a VHCOL area. Our grocery/dining out/alcohol spending for 2 adults, occasional meals expensed is around $1k in a MCOL area when I don't really budget.

[Pom]

A cheap month (no company, no fancy meals out) = $700 for groceries and dining. This doesn't happen very often.

More often we are more like $500-600 groceries plus $1200+ for eating out and entertaining.

[redredwine]

We spend around $500-$600 on groceries for the both of us and we eat rather healthy (lots of produce, chicken breasts, frozen salmon, etc) We go out to eat together 1-2 times a week (we've been trying to cut back for health and budget reasons) so probably $250/month on eating out. We are huge coffee addicts but rarely go to Starbucks anymore and end up making our own.

What really helps is meal planning-we actually will write out what we're going to eat for the entire week and try and prep things on Sunday. For example, this week we did a crockpot chicken dish that we had last night, Tuesday and again on Thursday. Tonight we're grilling steak and veggies (prepped last night, steak is pre marinated from TJ's) which we'll also eat on Wednesday and Friday. We have a party on Saturday night and then back at meal planning on Sunday. It helps with calories and budget, so win win!
We do love going out, but have been fine with cutting it to once a week.

I also try and focus on recipes using ingredients I already have or need to use up vs. making a recipe that has like 10 new ingredients I need to buy or ones where I only need a small portion of a large item.

[Deleted]

Disregarding eating out, I keep my grocery bill low (when I'm single or in a relationship) by doing the following (which are also mostly for health reasons, but are certainly MM):

I don't buy any juice, soda, milk etc. The only thing I drink at home is water or alcohol.

I used to be a vegetarian, but then got lazy, so the only meat I cook is chicken with the occasional fish or shrimp if I want to splurge. I'd say that 2 out of 4 meals per week don't involve meat. I like stir fry, large salads, protein with a side of veggies, veggie omelets, etc...pretty simple and quick cooking.

I don't really snack at home. If I do buy a snack it's 1 thing and it's something like popcorn, salsa and dip, etc.

So pretty much I shop on the exterior of the store and get fruits, veggies, chicken, eggs, greek yogurt, tuna, etc. It may sound kind of boring, but it works for me. I splurge on eating out and order whatever I want and don't feel bad about eating out 1-3 times per week since I know my grocery bill is low.

Average grocery bill for me is $50-$100 per week for 1 or 2 people. 

[my3bears]

2 people, Philly suburbs. I budget about $150/week for groceries and household things (toilet paper, soap, etc.). We average about $75/week eating out and fast food. Add in DH's liquor store purchases (I don't drink), we're right at 1k/month.

We do takeout fairly often because we can have drinks/booze on our own, plus we don't have to tip. We both try really hard to pack lunches and not eat out. When we met, DH was buying his lunch every day and I did the math of how much he was spending per year and he transitioned easily to packing lunches!

I have had better luck meal planning lately, really trying to use everything. I did a pasta that needed 2 eggs, so I hard-boiled the rest for breakfasts for the week. I made a salad that needed walnuts and cranberries, so I divided the rest into ziplock bags for lunch during the week. We cook Monday, leftovers Tuesday, cook Wednesday, leftovers Thursday, go out Friday, then cook Saturday and leftovers Sunday. It's working well for us!

I also had to stop going to Costco. We would buy too much!

[lifeisinteresting]

With 2 kids our budget is about $200-400 a month. Some months we add $60 eating out. I'd look into some more budget ways of preparing healthy meals and decrease the eating out.
And we don't eat processed food either.

[foodiemom]

When we were DINKs ours was obscene. I never even tracked it closely but I would estimate $1200 a month minimum, plus eating out. I thought nothing of dropping $300 on a dinner party, not including alcohol. I threw elaborate dinner parties, I love to cook and sometimes with obscure ingredients. All pre-kids of course. Eating out probably averaged $700 a month.

I truly wish I had tracked it back then, we had a huge adjustment after our first kid when I went part time and my salary was cut in 1/2. It should not have been as tight as it was and we definitely should have had more saved.

Those years were so much fun, it's hard to regret it so I don't.

[kadams767]

How much of that was eating out vs. how much was groceries?

[mbcdefg]

We don't keep a spreadsheet.

I probably spend an average of $100/week at the grocery store. I'm not counting pet food or litter, which runs me about $125/month.

Eating out ... maybe $200 month on dinners for us, and I spend about $100/month on lunches and coffee at work.

So I'll say around $700/month total.

[genet313]

We're no long DINKS, but when we were in NYC (so VHCOL) and eating out a ton, $2K/month for all food items sounds about right.  We'd be between $1500 and $2000 every month.  Sometimes more if we had a more expensive dinner for a special occasion or something. 

Even though DD is breastfed so she doesn't really count, the biggest thing that's changed for us was moving to the suburbs and eating way more meals at home.   We're pretty well under $1K/month right now.  I expect us to be right around $1K-$1200/month once I go back to work and start eating lunches out more.  

I've always found that making 1-2  meatless meals per week has a big impact - pasta, bean-based soups and meals, etc.  Breakfast for dinner is another great one (though DH hates it).   If I have to buy spices, I try to fit the same ones into multiple meals per week that way I'm not throwing away $3 on basil I'll only use once, for example.

Two of my favorite cheap meals are chili (I do use meat, but I double the beans and tomatoes so it makes more) and macaroni and cheese, as a main course.  Serve with a simple salad and you're good.

[scout8]

We are under $1000 and we both eat lunch out every day. We rarely eat dinner out unless we have social plans. Things we do to save money:

--only drink water or alcohol at home
--don't have many snacks at home (mainly because my H has no willpower)
--eat lunch out instead of dinner, order water to drink
--try to cook vegetarian about 1/2 the time
--make sure to eat leftovers and not toss them
--have a garden in the summer so we grow a lot of our veggies

[babsbunny]

We rarely eat out without a gift card though I get fast food about once a week. We eat planned meals and so I buy extra when items are on sale. We drink at home once a week. LCOL. Our non-travel food costs are about $350 a month. We don't entertain. Eating while on vacation gets lumped into our vacation budget.

[sarapocalypse]

We're right at about $1000/month including alcohol. We do pub trivia every week so DH and I each have a couple of pints. Usually they have a food truck or we have pizza delivered there so that adds up quickly. We do lunches out on the weekends too so all that eats up our dining out budget.

For groceries, we do okay. DH has cut way back on soda and we limit our snacking pretty well. We've started doing Hello Fresh about every other week since we suck at coming up with meal ideas. It's actually helped a bit even though it is a little pricy. It helps us not feel the need to go out every night of the weekend.

[kadams767]

May 4, 2015 18:21:24 GMT -5 @bigreddog said:

I think a large part of the issue is going to the grocery store 3-4 times a week. As I mentioned, I shop at 4 different stores. I think I need to do costco once a month to get bulk meats. We usually buy their chicken, steaks and shrimp in bulk. I can try shopping exclusively at HEB for a month to see if it brings my bills down and go every Saturday with a meal plan. Whole Foods is out. I can't get in and out of that store without spending $75 on 5 random things that are gone by the next day. I'm going to ask DH to stop shopping and let me do it exclusively so I can track everything. Trader Joe's should probably be out too because they have too many tempting snacks and random foods. I will try to cut our dining budget but that's tough. I feel there's always an excuse.. it's someones birthday or we have a friend in town visiting... I would say now our average check is about $80 for the two of us for a dinner or maybe $60 for brunch. We go to moderate places and have 1-2 drinks each. If we do that twice a week, that's $600 right there.. Now I am seeing the light.

When we were trying to cut back on our restaurant budget (um, and our waistlines), we made a conscious decision to try and limit dinners out or takeout to once a week.  We didn't want to sacrifice having a drink or two with dinner or being able to go where we wanted, but we also felt that spending $150-$200 a week going out to dinner was ridiculous.  So we go out on average once a week now.  Sometimes we don't go out at all and just grab pizza or Chipotle, or we'll go out for brunch, and then another week we'll have a more expensive dinner or go out twice.  But the reality was that we could never go out for less than $50 or so, so we had to cut back somehow.  

To answer your question, we keep groceries to $100/week (average is something just under $90, but I did increase the actual budget to $100 for a cushion if a week is higher), so usually between $350-$400 per month.  This is all of our meals except the one dinner out, and we each usually go out for lunch once a week at work (but pay for it out of separate fun money).  It usually includes beer, because we frequently get beer at Wegmans, but not other alcohol, and a few toiletries like toothpaste, TP and paper towels (again, because we get those at the grocery store).  

Honestly, I do wonder if buying in bulk is part of your problem.  With two people, it's pretty easy to buy quantities needed every week or two.  I'd rather pay slightly more for a specific item like shrimp or chicken than get sucked into a place like Costco and end up buying large quantities and paying more for ALL items.  I don't find it a big deal for just two people to pay a slightly higher price per unit, it's easier for me to stick to a budget buying smaller quantities and just shopping more frequently.  I go to 3 places per week, usually, and am still able to stick to my budget pretty easily.

[AAM2012]

On a "normal" month: about $700-$800 for groceries and about $150-200 for eating out. I know that's high and we could reduce that but we can afford it and eat quite a bit of meat ($$).

Some things that have helped us:

-Plan the entire week of meals and write up a grocery list and stick to it as best as possible
-Definitely limit your shopping to 1-2 stores and only go 1x week. When we used to go multiple times a week we would always buy more (more snacks and impulse purchases and more do we have xyz product? not sure so grab it anyway!)
-Look at the prices for frozen fruits and veggies, many times they can be cheaper than the fresh produce and taste the same

-Switching to cloth napkins and rags for cleaning has drastically reduced our need for paper towels which used to be a big expense.

-Limit snacks. They're an extra expense and calories.

[crashgizmo]

This thread is actually making me feel a little better.

We budget $600/month for groceries and $600/month for eating out. 2 of us, HCOL. We have actually cut the eating out way back from over $1K/month.

I realized that meal planning for us worked, but only if I only planned 3-4 meals a week, not 7. I ended up buying too much food and it went to waste, especially when one of us worked late or we decided we just wanted cereal. Once I started doing that, it helped us use up the food we bought.

[kadams767]

May 4, 2015 20:44:04 GMT -5 @bigreddog said:

Would you be willing to look at my 6 day meal plan I came up with and see if it looks about right to stay in an average budget. I included two meatless dishes but also have filets and scallops on the menu, so I'm not really sure if I am being unrealistic to include those if I want to bring our budget in under $1000 a month.

1. Penne vodka, salad

2. Roasted garlic chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad

3. Grilled steak, probably costco filets, baked sweet potato with brown sugar butter, grilled asparagus, salad

4. Homemade mac and cheese and salad

5. Thai fried rice with pineapple and shrimp, Vietnamese Papaya salad

6. Seared scallops, grilled fennel, orzo with lemon, salad


Salad is usually a random mix of greens, carrots, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers with herbs and oil/ vinegar. 

So you have 6 dinners here.  Are you making just enough for the two of you of each of these?  If this was my meal plan, I know that this is more food than DH and I will eat in one week if we use each for just one dinner. At first glance, the penne vodka, macaroni and cheese and fried rice would all make more than one dinner's worth of food.  Most likely the roasted chicken as well, because I tend to roast whole chickens rather than pieces.  So we'd be eating leftovers for lunches every day, plus at least one dinner of leftovers as well.  Doing it this way would definitely keep us under $1000 for the month.  But if you are trying to cook single servings or won't eat leftovers, and then are still going out to eat at least once, I think it would be tight.  But I'm also not very familiar with meat prices, as we don't eat it often.

[gt7301b]

We usually spend about $1000 a month on groceries and eating out.

The biggest difference between our meal plan and yours is that I usually only plan three meals a week. (Eat at home 5-6 nights, out at someplace like Chipotle/Pizza one night and a $50-$100 meal the other night) We usually get leftovers for one night and a lunch for me out of almost every meal I make. Something like seared scallops might be a one night meal, but pretty much everything you cooked would feed us for two nights.

For example your for the garlic chicken meal on your meal plan, I'd cut Costco chicken breasts in half and make enough mashed potatoes for a second meal. We usually both eat a snacks throughout the day so we don't have large dinners. I'm also lazy and like only cooking every night.

[arterr0]

May 4, 2015 21:05:19 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

We usually spend about $1000 a month on groceries and eating out.

The biggest difference between our meal plan and yours is that I usually only plan three meals a week. (Eat at home 5-6 nights, out at someplace like Chipotle/Pizza one night and a $50-$100 meal the other night) We usually get leftovers for one night and a lunch for me out of almost every meal I make. Something like seared scallops might be a one night meal, but pretty much everything you cooked would feed us for two nights.

For example your for the garlic chicken meal on your meal plan, I'd cut Costco chicken breasts in half and make enough mashed potatoes for a second meal. We usually both eat a snacks throughout the day so we don't have large dinners. I'm also lazy and like only cooking every night.

This is pretty much our plan as well. In a typical week, I only cook 3ish nights per week, we have leftovers twice, get take out once, and go out once ($40-125 for dinner out).

[kadams767]

May 4, 2015 21:00:24 GMT -5 @bigreddog said:

May 4, 2015 20:53:01 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

So you have 6 dinners here.  Are you making just enough for the two of you of each of these?  If this was my meal plan, I know that this is more food than DH and I will eat in one week if we use each for just one dinner. At first glance, the penne vodka, macaroni and cheese and fried rice would all make more than one dinner's worth of food.  Most likely the roasted chicken as well, because I tend to roast whole chickens rather than pieces.  So we'd be eating leftovers for lunches every day, plus at least one dinner of leftovers as well.  Doing it this way would definitely keep us under $1000 for the month.  But if you are trying to cook single servings or won't eat leftovers, and then are still going out to eat at least once, I think it would be tight.  But I'm also not very familiar with meat prices, as we don't eat it often.

With this plan, we would have leftovers with pasta, rice, mac and cheese and chicken. I will probably have leftover steak, DH won't. I am totally ok with eating leftovers the next day for lunch. I would prefer it so I don't have to think about making something in the morning. I didn't include a 7th day because we have at least 1 night a week we have plans where we are eating out with friends. 
 

Right, but is you having leftovers for lunch really going to finish all of this? Four meals that make leftovers is a lot, IMO, if you aren't having at least one leftover dinner and your husband having a leftover lunch or two. I think planning 6 relatively intensive meals might be part of your budget issue.

[AAM2012]

May 4, 2015 20:44:04 GMT -5 @bigreddog said:

Would you be willing to look at my 6 day meal plan I came up with and see if it looks about right to stay in an average budget. I included two meatless dishes but also have filets and scallops on the menu, so I'm not really sure if I am being unrealistic to include those if I want to bring our budget in under $1000 a month.

1. Penne vodka, salad

2. Roasted garlic chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad. That is a lot of food. Do you really eat a protein, starch (potato) and all those veggies (corn and a salad)?. Could you cook a whole chicken and use the leftover chicken for lunch or dinner another night (fajitas?).

3. Grilled steak, probably costco filets, baked sweet potato with brown sugar butter, grilled asparagus, salad. Again, lots of veggies which is fine...if it isn't going to waste.

4. Homemade mac and cheese and salad. That's a lot of carbs. Could you exchange for veggie chili which is likely cheaper: 1 sweet potato, 1 onion can of diced tomatoes, can of black/white/whatever beans, veggie broth and seasonings.

5. Thai fried rice with pineapple and shrimp, Vietnamese Papaya salad. Are papaya's in season?

6. Seared scallops, grilled fennel, orzo with lemon, salad  Again, a lot of food. Could you exchange the scallops for tilapia or some other fish?

Salad is usually a random mix of greens, carrots, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers with herbs and oil/ vinegar. 

[tacokick]

May 4, 2015 21:13:25 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

May 4, 2015 21:00:24 GMT -5 @bigreddog said:

With this plan, we would have leftovers with pasta, rice, mac and cheese and chicken. I will probably have leftover steak, DH won't. I am totally ok with eating leftovers the next day for lunch. I would prefer it so I don't have to think about making something in the morning. I didn't include a 7th day because we have at least 1 night a week we have plans where we are eating out with friends. 
 

Right, but is you having leftovers for lunch really going to finish all of this? Four meals that make leftovers is a lot, IMO, if you aren't having at least one leftover dinner and your husband having a leftover lunch or two. I think planning 6 relatively intensive meals might be part of your budget issue.

Wouldn't it? If you make 4 portions and both take it for lunch the next day, I don't see how this isn't a reasonable amount of food to make. We do this every week and never have leftovers for dinner.

[kadams767]

May 4, 2015 21:31:05 GMT -5 tacokick said:

May 4, 2015 21:13:25 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

Right, but is you having leftovers for lunch really going to finish all of this? Four meals that make leftovers is a lot, IMO, if you aren't having at least one leftover dinner and your husband having a leftover lunch or two. I think planning 6 relatively intensive meals might be part of your budget issue.

Wouldn't it? If you make 4 portions and both take it for lunch the next day, I don't see how this isn't a reasonable amount of food to make. We do this every week and never have leftovers for dinner.

Sorry, I read her post as only she would have leftovers for lunch, not him. My point was the same as yours, though, that they both need to be eating them for lunch or at least one dinner.

[AAM2012]

May 4, 2015 22:08:49 GMT -5 trident0 said:

I'm single, but $187/mo on groceries and $54/mo on eating out. I have no idea how you could spend $500pp on groceries and not throw out food. I know I am cheap for eating out, I don't usually get alcohol and typically will eat out for brunch, lunch or happy hour. I only do dinners for a major celebration.

When I lived in a LCOL area, I spent $140/mo on groceries and $23/mo on eating out. I used to be able to get dinner for $7-8 at the fun places in town. Not so much now. Parking is also $$ instead of free or $0.50.

Can you provide an example of your meals for a week? I really can't see spending that little unless we were eating beans and rice every night.

[scout8]

May 4, 2015 20:44:04 GMT -5 @bigreddog said:

Would you be willing to look at my 6 day meal plan I came up with and see if it looks about right to stay in an average budget. I included two meatless dishes but also have filets and scallops on the menu, so I'm not really sure if I am being unrealistic to include those if I want to bring our budget in under $1000 a month.

1. Penne vodka, salad

2. Roasted garlic chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad

3. Grilled steak, probably costco filets, baked sweet potato with brown sugar butter, grilled asparagus, salad

4. Homemade mac and cheese and salad

5. Thai fried rice with pineapple and shrimp, Vietnamese Papaya salad

6. Seared scallops, grilled fennel, orzo with lemon, salad


Salad is usually a random mix of greens, carrots, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers with herbs and oil/ vinegar. 

This would be meals for two weeks for us. Whatever I make, I make sure that there will be enough leftovers for the next night. So we get two dinners out of every meal. I know that you said you have the leftovers for lunch instead. Would it help the budget to try to plan cheaper lunch meals and make your dinners last for two nights? 

[scout8]

May 4, 2015 22:21:26 GMT -5 @bigreddog said:

May 4, 2015 22:13:22 GMT -5 scout8 said:

This would be meals for two weeks for us. Whatever I make, I make sure that there will be enough leftovers for the next night. So we get two dinners out of every meal. I know that you said you have the leftovers for lunch instead. Would it help the budget to try to plan cheaper lunch meals and make your dinners last for two nights? 

I don't know if lunches would be cheaper. I'm assuming bread & cold cuts would end up being more than leftover penne or mac and cheese. I also would prefer not to deal with preparing a lunch in the morning if I don't have to. I'm not a morning person at all and I'm usually rushing out the door.

I would try to do as others have suggested and cook meat for 2 nights and repurpose but DH will just eat what is available and it's hard to tell him not to eat the leftovers because we are using last night's roast chicken for tonight's enchiladas. I can try to push him not to touch leftovers so I can reuse them for another dish but it might backfire if he forgets and then we are left with nothing to make. 

See, my H knows how it works by now. He asks if there is enough for a second helping because he knows I will be mad if there aren't leftovers for the next night. I don't really do this so much to save money, but so that I don't have to cook every night.

[belovedbride07]

We're in LA and budget $450/mo for groceries, which includes alcohol and household supplies (toilet paper, cleaning products) but not personal care (toothpaste, shampoo). In actuality we are averaging about $500/mo; part of that is that my mom and stepdad stayed with us for several weeks earlier in the year and we threw an Easter party, and part of that is because we're too lazy to try to get costs down a little more. We budget $100 for our joint fun money, and then each have $80; any eating out comes from those pots (definitely less than $100/mo right now).

We primarily shop at Trader Joe's, supplementing with a mainstream grocery store. We've also started shopping at Costco again, but we are very careful about what we buy. I have an app to track prices, so there are only certain things we buy there. We also get a CSA box every 4 weeks.

We don't eat a lot of red meat -- frozen Costco chicken is our go-to protein. We really limit the fun stuff like chips and soda, although we always have ice cream in the freezer.

We cook a lot of simple meals because we both work full-time with 30-45 minute commutes, so evenings never seem long enough. This week's menu is especially low-key because I'm having my embryo transfer on Wednesday and I'm not helping in the kitchen for a few days after that. :-D We're having:
• Buffalo chicken wraps
• Butternut squash soup with cheddar biscuits and salad (soup and biscuits are homemade, frozen from an earlier meal)
• Cheeseburger wraps
• Tostadas
• Pizza (homemade)

It would be more typical for us to have a pasta dish with veggies, an easy Mexican dish (i.e., tacos/burritos/tostadas -- no homemade enchiladas on a weekday!), a non-chicken meat with veggies and starch, a salad/wrap and/or soup, and pizza. Weekends we cook meals that are a little more involved, often making larger quantities of things like soup, meatballs, and rice to freeze for later.

[Deleted]

May 4, 2015 22:11:46 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

May 4, 2015 22:08:49 GMT -5 trident0 said:

I'm single, but $187/mo on groceries and $54/mo on eating out. I have no idea how you could spend $500pp on groceries and not throw out food. I know I am cheap for eating out, I don't usually get alcohol and typically will eat out for brunch, lunch or happy hour. I only do dinners for a major celebration.

When I lived in a LCOL area, I spent $140/mo on groceries and $23/mo on eating out. I used to be able to get dinner for $7-8 at the fun places in town. Not so much now. Parking is also $$ instead of free or $0.50.

Can you provide an example of your meals for a week? I really can't see spending that little unless we were eating beans and rice every night.

I mentioned it up thread but I keep meals simple. I've been in a few different relationships over the years and it's always been that we cook about 3 meals per week which gives leftovers for 1 or 2 days, then eating out for 1 or 2 days.

Over the past week my boyfriend and I have had the following dinners:
-Indian spice chicken (6 drumsticks, enough for 2 meals...the chicken was marinated in a bunch of spices & coconut milk), sweet potatoes and kale (bought a lot of kale to also use in salads and juicing)
-tacos (boyfriend just whipped them up with chicken a bunch of spices and then all the random veggies we had in the fridge...peppers, onions, etc) with a side of green beans...enough for 2 meals
-chicken burgers (no bun) with salad and sweet potatoes....the chicken burgers had veggies like onions and peppers in them which were also used for the previous 2 meals...this is also enough for 2 to 3 meals...1 package of ground chicken made 8 medium sized burgers

Basically I always buy 2 things of meat, a bunch of veggies, fruits, Greek yogurt and eggs and then make different meals from that. Having a variety of spices and things like olive oil and coconut oil on hand make it easy to make different tasting meals out of similar ingredients. I will admit though I could probably eat the same 7 meals over and over again and not get bored because I save my splurging for eating out.

I shop exclusively at Trader Joes weekly and sometimes will add in a Farmers market or Whole Foods. I think I soent $55 last week, but already had the ground chicken.