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August Will Be A Low Spend Month For Groceries

Over the years, I have seen many people have what they call a Low Spend Month. So I have decided to do one for the month of August. If anyone would like to join me, let me know in the comments. I realize some of you are probably working on your stockpile so keep doing what you are doing. Being prepared for the Fall and Winter is so important!


Those who would like to do the Low Spend Month should inventory your freezers, refrigerators, and your pantries so that you know what you have. You have a few days to do this before the 1st. However for those of you who feel it is a daunting task, just look through those areas so that you have a pretty good idea of what you have.

I still have money set aside for stockpiling. If I see a great deal that fits into my stockpile, I will let you know. But in August I will be concentrating on spending less monthly grocery money. 

Most of the time, I have $500. for a month’s worth of groceries. I will be cutting that amount by 50% for August. So I will have $250. for all of our groceries. Any money leftover in July will be put back into our savings.

We will be eating from our pantry which is our usual BUT with a twist. How many of you have a grocery item or two or maybe 10 or more that you purchased or were given that you have never used? You know the ones that you see in your pantries all the time and ignore. I know I do. They keep staring me in the face. Pictured above is just a few of the items that need to get used. The tuna and pancake mix will get used in the next week. I will have to see how to make the quinoa and I can’t even remember what I bought the xanthan gum for. Any ideas? 

In August, I will be incorporating those items into our meals to use them up and not end up throwing them out which throws your money in the garbage. If I don’t know how to use an item, I will research for a recipe or ask you. I am hoping to use up a whole bunch of “odd to me” stuff.

I will let you know every day what we are eating and post recipes when I can. 

I will take “you along” on every grocery trip so that you know what I am buying and why. Only needs or family requests(Hubby makes requests on a regular basis) will be purchased with only one exception!  The things that West wants while he is staying with us for two weeks will be incorporated into my $250. grocery budget. I have to spoil my grandson while he is here visiting. That is just what Grandma’s do.

I will post our menu for the following week starting on Friday.

So you may ask, “Why are you doing a no spend month?” Because I thought it would be fun! We also have a savings goal that we are working on. We gave away $ XX,XXX. this month so we will be working on replenishing that money over the next year or so. Lowering the grocery budget will be a good start. Who knows, I may find out that we don’t have to spend $500. per month and continue to be able to save that 50% of our grocery money. 

When you don’t have a mortgage, car payments, or credit card payments, money from investments accumulate quickly. So they will also help replace our giving money. At our age, we rarely travel anymore so we don’t do a lot of spending on items or travel like we did when we were younger. We spend very little on gasoline. Most our money goes into things we want or need for our home. Needed items like pest control, landscape maintenance, and fertilizing services, home maintenance, car maintenance, etc. And of course there are the normal bills that come with owning a home like utility bills, taxes, cable, house phone and internet, insurances, and the cellphone. Gifts for family members are also very important to us.

I am also hoping this low spend month will keep us home more because we have some projects that we are working on. I don’t know how long each post will be in August. Some may be long and some very short but I will post every day. The length will depend on the topic and how much time I have that particular day. I will also keep posting our Frugal Things topic. 

So if you would like to do this low spend month right along with me, don’t forget to let me know in the comments. You can post in comments on each day’s post to let us all know how and what you are doing to keep some money in your pocket.    

20 replies on “August Will Be A Low Spend Month For Groceries”

Sounds fun. I wish I could join, but we are spending quite a bit right now on our house remodel. I will commit to trying to (continue to) keep our food expenses limited to almost entirely groceries vs takeout. It's a somewhat imperfect tradeoff, because we are buying more convenience food than usual, but it is still infinitely cheaper than takeout.

Oh this is fun! I wish I could join in, but I will be following along with you. With getting my stockpile more complete, I will focus on that, but I will follow your lead and take out the "odd ball" items from my pantry storage and commit to using them too. I don't love quinoa but I had a package and used a cup in my chili recipe to bulk it up. The rest I made a rice-like pilaf with sautéed veggies. I seem to have a lot of orange marmalade, some thai curry sauce, and a few random boxes of cereal, so I will look up recipes and move the cereal out to the counter so the boys will eat it up!

Hi Olga,

I am excited about it too. Follow along all you want. I realize so many people are stocking up right now. But the month will always be out there so if you decide to do one some other month, it will be on the blog. I will be so glad to use up some these odd balls things. Thanks for the tips on the quinoa! Yeah on using things up. We love SF marmalade mixed with some soy sauce on chicken.

Thank you AD! We just finished dinner…chicken legs (what I had) with an orange marmalade/soy sauce glaze! I made a plain white rice with it and spooned some sauce over the rice. DH and kids gobbled it up!

Would love to try it. At store today shelves looking empty again it scares me. Prices are rising fast. Store brand flour was higher than gold medal very strange. It is a must I tighten up and plan better. Joyce pa

Hi Joyce,

It is scary. Get yourself stocked up! The low spend month will always be out here so if you decide to do one later, all the info will be here. You are so right about the prices. Every time I go for specific things, the prices are up. That is weird about the store brand flour. Good luck with your stock up.

Xanthan gum is used to thicken sauces and added to low carb baked goods. Don't use too much or you may have stomach issues. I use it when making almond flour muffins.

It sounds like fun, but I need to continue to fill in holes in my stockpile caused by the stay at home order. I had a great stockpile at the start of the order and only went to the store once a month for 4 months. I am now back to my regular shopping every two weeks, filling in holes and stockpiling for winter. I'll probably do a low spend during the winter months when my stockpile is back to normal.

I try to avoid gums. I gave away ground lamb given to me, not going to eat lamb. I do have a few items i bought that probably will not be eaten unless i just do it.

Xantham gum is also used in gluten free baking. It acts as a binder, replacing the gluten. Useful if you have Celiac's disease, but yes it'll give stomach aches if you use too much.

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