Grocery Cost Breakdown

Budgeting Essential:
Scroll down for a complete cost per serving breakdown of a ton of grocery items!

             My husband and I have been especially frustrated lately by how much time it takes to make dinner and then clean up the mess. We decided that enough is enough! We bought a stand-up deep freezer and we’re going to transition to once a month cooking. Due to this decision, we also picked up a larger food processor and tons of stove-safe glass Tupperware.

             We had already implemented a cash budget system for our non-bill purchases, but now our change to monthly cooking has opened up a new level of possibility for cost cutting! We can buy larger quantities of items, process them, divide into sections, and then freeze them. In the evenings, we just eat when we are ready and cleanup is minimal.
            When we decided to make the change, it was immediately apparent that we would need to put a lot more thought into the groceries that we buy. The first step for me was to find out how much each of the meals that I regularly make cost, so that I would plan meals for the month that would keep us on budget. This required me to find out how much each of the items that I use cost per serving.
            I don’t know any easy way to do this, so I just did it the hard way. I made a spreadsheet with all of the items that I was interested in and then broke them down by categories such as number of serving, serving size, and unit size. I’m not gonna lie, it was really awkward recording this information on my printed spreadsheet as I browsed my local Wal-Mart, but it was so worth it! How on Earth else could you accurately budget for a month’s worth of meals?

Budgeting Cost Breakdown