Woman Shows How She Buys Groceries For An Entire Month With Only A $40 Budget
No more buying food just to buy it. You buy what you need.
Drazen Zigic / Shutterstock Many people have used budgeting as a way to mitigate rising prices at the grocery store, and TikTok content creator Hannah Curtice is no exception. She recently shared a video about her shopping trip to Walmart that left viewers in awe of her monthly savings.
Curtice shared how she avoids spending over $40 on groceries in a month.
Curtice explained her method once she gets in the store is to start with the most expensive items and work backward.
For her, that meant starting in frozen foods. With pit stops for pasta, sauce, and veggies, Curtice explained that the most important item on her list was tortillas since they are the base for most of her meals.
“I like to make bulk food items and then meal prep them or freeze them for later,” she explained. “I have a lot of that in my fridge and freezer.”
Two important budgeting hacks: always buy store-brand items and choose perishables with the longest expiration date to ensure they last.
At checkout, including tax, 11 items cost her $25.80, which was well below her budget.
Curtice explained that keeping a pantry filled with cooking essentials is how she keeps costs low.
“My cupboard is stocked with lentils, potatoes, rice, beans, and even seasonings!" she exclaimed.
Having the basics means only buying immediate needs for meals and anything that could go bad, like fresh produce and bread.
Keeping a supply of basics like flour, beans, and spices takes planning too, however. You must schedule out weekly meals in order to have an understanding of what essentials work for your personal preferences and cooking abilities.
Of course, the most important part of the budgeting equation involves meal prep and planning.
Unsure of where to start when it comes to cooking good food on a budget? Fear not. Social media is chock full of great recipes that don't require a culinary degree to pull off.
While it takes advanced planning and some creativity, eating well on a budget is easily within reach.
Prioritizing eating at home is good for your health and the planet.
Cooking at home isn't just good for your bank account, either. It's common knowledge that when the majority of your meals are home-cooked it's a lot healthier than eating pre-packaged or fast food items.
But in case you need another reason to start using your stove regularly, it also has a major impact on the environment. In fact, 80 million tons of food is wasted per year, which is the equivalent of 149 billion meals. And don't forget about how impactful cutting out all the plastic packaging from takeout containers and microwave meals can be for the environment.
While Curtice's $40 monthly food budget might be more difficult for a family to achieve, cutting back on spending by cooking and planning meals in advance is a very real way to eat well without going broke. If you're just starting out, try tracking what you currently spend on food to get a feel for your current budget including eating out, start researching recipes, and try setting simple one-week meal plan and see how it goes. Chances are your wallet will thank you!
Lauren Reams is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news.