Hit $50 a week on groceries for two people and it felt like a win

I started meal planning around the sales flyer at my local ShopRite in Newark after my budget got tight in January. Last month I actually managed to keep our weekly total under $50 for three weeks straight, including lunches. Anyone else ever try the "cook once eat twice" method and notice a real difference in their weekly spending?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_burns91mo ago

danielh81 said stretch it into three meals... yeah, I do that but I take it even further. I'll make a huge batch of chili or soup on Sunday, eat it for dinner that night, then portion out the rest for lunches through Thursday. By Friday I'm usually combining the last little bits of whatever leftovers are hanging around into a "kitchen sink" rice bowl so nothing goes to waste. It's not fancy but it keeps my fridge clean and my wallet happy.

danielh812mo ago

My wife and I did the "cook once eat twice" thing with a big pot of chili last week. Cost us about $12 for the batch and we stretched it into three meals (two dinners and a work lunch). The trick is to double the recipe and freeze half right away, otherwise you get sick of it by day three.

jason1122mo ago

You do know that $12 batch of chili probably has about $4 worth of ground beef in it if you're lucky, right? Freezing half doesn't change the fact that chili is basically just beans and tomatoes with a little meat flavoring. Who actually wants to eat chili more than once a week anyway?