How We Will Save On Groceries In 2026( Part 4)

According to the USDA on the thrifty plan for August(latest data), I should be paying $ 517.10 on groceries for the two of us. We are not spending anywhere near that while we are eating from the pantries so my grocery money is building up. That way when my freezers are empty except for turkeys, I can do a big shop for meat as I see rock bottom prices. I will keep my eyes wide open when that happens. The Camillo Sloan Market that I talked about in a prior post will be where I will get most of my meat. Their prices for prime meat are less than any other place where I can buy it. My stock of beef is really down so that will be the first thing I buy.

The thing I like the best about this market besides their prices is the fact that they are family owned. I don’t know about you but I am tired of lining the pockets of places like Walmart whose profits are just soaring year after year. I truly believe that we are being gouged. Last week as I took a walk through both Walmart and Top’s, many, many prices were up $.75 to $1.00 from the week before. Walmart and my Top’s tries to tell us it is because of the tariffs. 80% of Walmart’s food products are American made. So we are being lied to. I would expect that Top’s percentage is probably even higher.

On Sunday while I was listening to the football game, I cleaned out the two freezer drawers in my refrigerator. They seem to get messy very easily. I found a package of strip steaks that I bought on sale last July that only cost me $12.76 for both of them. I was thrilled to thaw them and have them for dinner Monday night. I made baked potatoes with butter, sour cream and bacon bits and broccoli to go with them. It has been snowing here since Sunday so there was no grilling them outside but Hubby grilled them inside. They were delicious. There were leftovers for a steak sandwich yesterday. It just felt good to eat such a bargain when strip steaks are so high in price in my area now.

I did get to Aldi’s the other day. I got celery for $.95, 2 packages of brown gravy mix for $ .29 each, and 2 bags of cranberries for $ .99 each. They had no potatoes and their onions had gone up to $ 1.65 instead of $ .99. My fault that I didn’t get there on time. But I really appreciate Belinda letting me know. I also had to pick up a prescription at Walmart so I got 4 more of the heavy cream on rollback.

So I went to my family owned, Niagara Produce, and got a 5 lb. bag of russet potatoes for $1.99 and a 10 lb. bag of onions for $ 3.99. This is another store that I will frequent in 2026. Some of the onions I will be dicing up and freezing in portions. The rest we will use up within a couple of weeks. We will use the potatoes for baking and mashed. It won’t take long to use them up.

It has been snowing here since Sunday. We have a lot for our area so early in the season. But that does put a damper on my shopping. I did brave the snow to go to the dentist on Monday. But I am not braving it today to go to my hair salon. However, Hubby says he will drop me off there and come back to get me when I am done. It is only a couple of miles away.

Let’s go back to the USDA food plans. For the low cost plan, groceries for the two of us should cost $ 548.60. For the moderate plan, it should cost $674.50. For the liberal plan, it would be $ 817.30. We are trying to set our budget for 2026. The liberal plan seems extremely high. I don’t think we will spend that. I could use some help here. Does the government plans really mean anything? Don’t forget these plans are for August 2025 so they do not take into account the prices that have gone up month after month. UGH! What do you guys spend per person per month for food now that prices are so high? Would you mind sharing the amount per month and the number of people that you feed? Meanwhile Hubby and I will look at what we have spent over the past two years and try to figure this out. One thing is for sure, with all the price hikes, it won’t be the $200. per month that we used to spend. Thanks in advance for your help.