Our Grocery List: How I Feed Two Adults for Less Than $50/Month!

I've just written "16 Tips to Get Your Grocery Bill Under $25/Person Each Month" in which I shared with you some of my personal guidelines for buying food on the cheap. Well, as promised, here is my actual grocery list along with the breakdown of prices for each item. You will see that, on average, I feed two very active adults for less than $50 a month. 

A Typical Month's Grocery List  

-Organic Tamari 

-Bulk Oats 

-Bulk Rice

-Bulk Beans 

-Bulk Organic Flour or Wheat Berries 

-Cooking Oil 

-Yeast 

-1-2 luxury items, such as herbal tea, lemon juice, nuts, raisins, or seasonings

Canning Supplies (July-Oct. Only)
-lids
-vinegar
-sugar 
-salt
-spices
-produce 

Here is the price breakdown for my grocery list:

Item	Source	Package Quantity	Price	Used/Month	Price/Month
Organic Hard Red Wheat Berries	Honeyville (online)	50 lb bag	$1/lb	10 lbs	$10
Pinto Beans	Bulk Food Depot	2 lb bags	$0.98/lb	4-5 lbs	$3.92- $4.90
Brown Rice	Bulk Food Depot	25 lb bags	$0.60/lb	4 lbs	$2.40
Organic Tamari	San-J brand from Bulk Food Depot	20 oz bottles	$8.12 ea	10 oz	$4.06
Oats	Bulk Food Depot	5 lb bags	$0.85/lb	½ -1 lb	$0.42- $0.85
Sunflower Oil	Hain Pure Foods Brand (grocery store)	32 oz bottle	$8.29 ea	32 oz	$8.29
Dry Active Yeast	Red Star Brand from Bulk Food Depot	1 lb	$4.66/ lb	¼ lb	$1.17
				Total	$30.26 - $31.67

At about $30/month for staples, that leaves about $9-10 for luxury items and seasonings. This bring us up to $40/month, so where is that extra $10 coming from? Well, don't forget that I also can my own fruit and veggies for the winter. I estimate that this costs me about $10 each month, if you spread the cost out through the year. Here's how I got to that:

I can about 300 jars a year. Canning lids are 16 cents apiece, so 300 lids comes out to $48.  I already have enough jars that I don't have to buy any. Canning is much more expensive if you buy the jars from the store, but it is very easy to get free or cheap jars from garage sales, curbs, flea markets, etc. Have your relatives keep an eye out for you. If I bought reusable tattler canning jar lids, this would cost me less over time, but I just don't have to money to pay for them up front right now. I grow all and can all of my own vegetables, which is why you don't see any produce on my grocery list.

White sugar costs about $0.60- $1/lb.  I estimate that I use about 15 lbs between canning and a little for regular cooking/baking, probably less, but let's round up. At $0.80/lb, that comes out to about $12. 

A gallon of white vinegar costs $2.40. I'd estimate that I use about 4 gallons, so that costs me $9.60. 

Spices are really variable so let's  just say that I spend about $10 on spices. I also use a 4 lb box of canning salt (I use some of this for other purposes, other than canning), which cost me $2.75 at the Bulk Food Depot. 

This year, I also purchased $40 worth of canning tomatoes, peaches, and peppers at the farmer's market, so we'll add that to the bill. 

Total that all costs $122.35. Divided by 12 months, that comes to $10.20/month. That $10.20 combined with about $30 worth of staple items, and about $10 worth of luxury items, brings us to about $50 each month. 

A couple of notes on some of the items on my grocery list:

Organic Red Wheat Berries

These only cost $5 more than the non organic wheat berries from Honeyville, so I feel like I can afford to go for the organic. It is also the food that we eat the most of, so I especially want it to be organic. They do not sell organic wheat flour, so we just grind our own fresh, which is more nutritional anyways and give me the option to sprout it first. 

Honeyville is a company that sells bulk food online. They have really great prices on certain things, especially wheat. The real bargain with them, though, is that they only charge $5 for shipping anywhere in the United States, no matter how much you order. 

Beans

I buy pinto beans, because they are generally the cheapest beans. I bought them for $0.98/lb at Bulk Food Depot in Athens, OH, but you can generally find that at a price close to this in most grocery stores. 

Rice

I buy brown rice because it has more nutrients than white rice, although it is more expensive. I can buy it for $15 for a 25 lb bag at Bulk Food Depot. This is an excellent price and you won't generally find this price at grocery stores. I'd recommend buying rice in bulk, although I haven't found a lower price than this at any other bulk food stores. The brand is Riceland Foods. 

Organic Tamari

While some might see this as a luxury, we really love tamari so we make an effort to fit it into our budget. Although organic is about twice as expensive for soy sauce, I definitely think it is worth it to avoid unneccessary additives and exposure to the many agrochemicals that are sprayed on soy. 

Sunflower Oil

While I cannot afford organic oil (although I really wish I could), I can avoid GMOs buy purchasing oils made from crops that I know are not genetically modified. I generally go for sunflower but if I cannot find that, I go for peanut oil. I do not buy as much cooking oil as one might expect, because I supplement it with home canned lard. 

Yeast

Because I bake all of my own bread products, I do use quite a bit of yeast. While it isn't a huge purchase, it is worth it to go for the 1 lb packages of red star yeast that you can purchase online or from bulk food stores. I got mine from Bulk Food Depot. If yeast is not in the budget, I will simply make my own sourdough. Sometimes I will make sourdough on top of using yeast as well, just because it is delicious and healthy. 

Sugar

You may have noticed that I did not include sugar on my monthly grocery list. It is not that I do not use it, although I try to keep it to a minimum. I included the sugar that I use in the canning supplies just to make this a little less complicated. I use most of that sugar for canning, though, as I prefer to use natural sugars in my every day foods. I do not buy these as I make my own maple syrup and my father raises bees, so he supplies me with free honey. While organic sugar is too expensive (it costs 2.5x or more what regular sugar costs), I can by non GMO sugar made from sugar cane. Domino sugar, which can be found in most grocery stores, now has non-GMO project verified products at a low price. 

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Disclaimer: This blog is just my own opinion, nothing more. While I try my hardest, everything may not be completely accurate or complete. Sorry, I'm only human, so do not hold me accountable for anything you do to harm yourself or the world around you. I do make money from this blog. If you click on any of the links in my blog I may make money from it, at no extra cost to you. I'm not sponsored by any of these people I just honestly love these products and want to give you the resources to find them. I am not a medical practitioner; consult a health professional before using any herbal remedies. I am not claiming to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any ailment.