Spending Less than $1000 in April | The Grocery Diaries — Week 1 Wrapup
If you missed the intro to this series, please check out this post!
The Grocery Diaries | Chelsey's Under $1000 April Challenge — Intro
Welcome to the first installment of The Grocery Diaries!
We made it through week 1! I have been meticulously tracking my spending this week and really being intentional about what I have been buying. In fact, because I knew I’d have to curate lists of all the food I bought, it actually made me choose not to buy things a few times. How’s that for accountability?
💪 Prepping for the Challenge
I did a few things in preparation for this grocery challenge. First, I threw out anything that was expired. I hadn’t done this in a while, so there were a good number of spices and condiments in the fridge that were past their prime. I also cleaned out any old leftovers and wiped out the fridge.
I then did a full and detailed inventory of the food and other items in our house like toothpaste, toilet paper, etc. This took approximately forever, but I think it was worth it, especially for the food. I was able to see what we were out of and it also allowed me to fully organize our pantry.
As I shopped, I updated the spreadsheet I made for the inventory. It really didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Now, one week in, I have a pretty comprehensive list of what we have to eat that I can pull up on my phone.
🛒 Grocery Haul
I had 5 in-person store transactions this week, 1 Amazon order, and 1 meat order from Butcher Matt (our neighbor and friend).
I shopped at Costco (twice), Kroger, Aldi, and Publix.
🗂 Breakdown by Store & Date
Here’s what I bought and spent during each of those 7 different transactions.
📅 Costco – 4/1/25
Applesauce pouches
Mushrooms
Cream cheese
Pistachios
Bananas
Blackberries
Chicken nuggets
Chicken sausage
Frozen strawberries
Riced cauliflower
Rotisserie chickens (2)
Ground beef (~7 lb)
Guacamole cups
Eggs (4.5 dozen)
Total: $169.61
📅 Aldi - 4/1/25
Frozen potatoes
Frozen corn
Mexican cheese
Pita bread
Low carb tortillas
Bread
Parmesan
Freezer bags
Corndogs
2% organic milk
Mini donuts
Hot sauce
BBQ sauce
Strawberries
Sugar
Flour
Tortilla chips
Jalapeno
Brown sugar
Total: $64.20
📅 Publix - 4/2/25
Peanut butter
Chobani coffee creamer
Gogurt
Pita bread
Total: $21.20
📅 Amazon - 4/3/25
Kid body wash
Dry shampoo
Detangler for Zoe
Salt
Total: $24.37
📅 Kroger - 4/4/25
Ice cream
Bananas
Total: $4
📅 Costco - 4/6/25
Rotisserie chicken
Total: $5.34
📅 Matt - 4/6/25
Bacon
Total: $12
🍽️ What We Ate This Week
It’s all well and good to see what I bought, but what did we actually eat?
First, let me talk about how I plan meals and what an average week of eating looks like for us during the school year. For breakfast, my kids are fine with the same thing for a really long time, so currently they’re eating some combination of the following: homemade waffles, eggs, toast, chicken sausage, smoothies, protein bars, and sometimes leftovers. Christian and I usually have eggs and vegetables or I have a protein smoothie.
For lunch, each kid has their own routine. Our oldest gets school lunch every day. Our second son packs the same lunch every day (chicken/rice/cheese burrito, fruit, and bag of something crunchy). The younger two mix and match based on what’s on the school lunch menu. If they want to pack a lunch, they usually take some kind of sandwich (ham, peanut butter & banana), fruit, something crunchy, and a water-based juice box. Christian and I eat leftovers, or I’ll cook some kind of protein in bulk and we eat that with vegetables. On Sundays, we make frozen pizza for the kids for lunch.
I have list of the foods required to make these various things for breakfast and lunch and consider those staples, so I check each week to make sure I have this stuff on hand.
For dinner, I have a bunch of meals I rotate through depending on what I’m in the mood to make. Once a week, Christian and I have date night at home and make something yummy while the kids eat something from the freezer.
For the first week of April, here were our dinners:
Instant Pot pulled pork, Instant pot mac and cheese, roasted green beans (from frozen), homemade hamburger buns, egg-free chocolate chip cookies
Burritos / burrito bowls, grapes
Frozen chicken nuggets, frozen french fries, and fruit (for the kids)
Roasted red pepper pasta and salad (for me and Christian on date night)
Dinner @ Community Group that I didn’t have to make
Beef stroganoff, pasta, broccoli
Frozen finger food (when I was out of town)
Rotisserie chicken, salad, rice, fruit
💰 Running Total for April
So far in April, I’ve spent $300.75 on food. That’s a little more than I’d like to have spent at this point, but I usually spend more at the beginning of the month than at the end. It will just mean adjusting my mindset on future grocery trips!
📝 Notes & Reflections
I didn’t go to the store until April 1, but we were hosting our community group the night before. I was planning to make chocolate chip cookies for dessert and didn’t have any eggs or brown sugar, crucial to my favorite recipe. I did a quick Internet search and found a recipe for egg-free chocolate chip cookies that used honey instead of brown sugar. While they weren’t as good as my normal recipe, everyone loved them! I could have run to Dollar General and bought super expensive eggs and brown sugar, but I was able to wait until I could get a good deal on both and still make what I wanted to make. I made a double batch and served the rest of the cookies the following night when we had some other people over.
I also made hamburger buns for that same dinner because then I wouldn’t have to buy them. I had all the ingredients, but considering how cheap hamburger buns are, I’m not sure it was worth it. That said, they tasted way better than storebought, and we didn’t use them all, so I now have homemade hamburger buns in the freezer for another meal.
Something annoying this month was that I bought pita bread at Aldi because I have been on the lookout for some that have pockets. They weren’t super expensive, but then the following day pita bread was BOGO at Publix for only 85¢!
I had planned to make a breakfast casserole on Sunday, April 6, but I was coming in from out of town and exhausted. I decided to run into Costco and I’m really proud of myself for successfully going into Costco and ONLY coming out with a rotisserie chicken.
Probably the best deal of the week was Chobani coffee creamer at Publix for $2.99/carton. This is the lowest I’ve seen it in a while. Of course, a few days later, it was on sale at Kroger for $2.49, which is an even better deal, but not one that I took advantage of. I have a mini fridge upstairs next to my coffee maker where I keep my coffee creamer, and since the creamer will be good for several months, I bought 3 bottles.
Another good deal was eggs at Costco. The kind I bought were in 18 ct packages, but the price worked out to less than $3/dozen, which is far cheaper than I have seen anywhere else. Most stores are at least $5 for a dozen.
🔭Looking Ahead
I’m currently attempting to stay under $1000 and also work the stocking up plan a la Southern Savers. If something we use regularly is on sale, I’ll try to buy 6 weeks’ worth. If I need something and it’s not on sale, I’ll price compare to find the cheapest option. So far I’ve been able to stock up on chicken broth, cream cheese, peanut butter, and coffee creamer.
I have $700 left for the rest of the month. Since I spent a little more this week, I am hoping to only spend about $200 this next week in order to balance things out. Tune in next Wednesday to see how I did!