Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
This third-party story was written by a Canadian Budget Binder reader living in a small Ontario town.
Christine shares her insights into grocery shopping on a budget when your options and finances are limited.
My name is Christine, and I live in a small town in Ontario and have followed Mr. CBB since 2012 and participated in his Grocery Game Challenge.
Doing so has helped me to understand better where our grocery money is going and make better spending decisions for my family.
Table of contents
Our Small Town Grocery Budget
I shop for my family of 4, which includes my two adult children, my husband, and me.
We also can’t forget our family pet fat cat Stuart who also eats up a part of our grocery budget.
Related: How much does it cost to raise a cat in Canada?
Our grocery budget is $650 per month, so I have to make that money stretch, and living in a small town can make that challenging for me.
I have tried hard to keep things within my budget, but not always successfully. Grocery shopping on a budget has been a learning experience.
Small Town Grocery Shopping
When you live in a small town, you don’t have access to the variety of grocery stores larger cities have available.
One of the things I have had to deal with in trying to keep the grocery budget in line is that I live in a small town with roughly 6000 people.
Sadly, we only have two grocery stores to choose from.
One of our small town gems is a grocery store called Foodland which is part of the Sobey’s chain. Both of these stores are high-end supermarkets in Ontario, Canada.
Another of the small town grocery stores that we have is a Your Independent Grocer, part of the Loblaw’s chain.
Foodland is right across the street, so I can walk over and get what I need, a significant part of my small town life.
Living across the street also cuts down on time and petrol, another factor to consider when planning my grocery list.
Your Independent Grocer is at the east end of our small town, and I need to drive there.
I am limited to these two stores unless I go out of town, which I occasionally do.
However, this is not always an option depending on the weather, my husband’s health, and a lack of flyers for the out-of-town stores.
Most of the time, I shop at Foodland, which is available in most small towns.
It’s convenient and cheaper than the Your Independent Grocer store, another small town grocery store.
Product Pricing
Pricing underscores one of the most significant issues if you want to save money on groceries.
You need to know your prices if you want to save any money to stretch your grocery budget.
It doesn’t matter how many stores you visit. You still need to know the prices for regular items we buy.
Because there are only two options for my groceries, I don’t price match in town, although I shop the sales and use coupons.
I also use a grocery list every time!
If you know the regular prices on those items you buy regularly, you will know when a product is a reasonable sale price, an excellent price, or the best price.
Knowing my prices helps me plan my stock-ups by how reasonable the price is.
Foodland has the regular flyer deals, but they also have price cuts that last 4-5 weeks at a stretch.
I believe Food Basics is doing this now, although it tends not to be that great a sale.
Remember that every penny counts because it all adds up at the end of the month.
If the price cut is on what is considered an essential item for my family, I will try to pick up one or two items on the price cut every time I go.
By the end of the price cut time, I had a nice amount of product stocked in my pantry for which I didn’t have to pay total price.
I do the same for the weekly sales but usually on a smaller scale.
Coupon Clipping My Way To Grocery Savings
I also coupon, but not to the extent that some people do, but I use them.
The flyer inserts show up in our weekend papers, and sometimes I even get more than one copy of a coupon insert.
I look in the store while shopping for the tear pad coupons too.
The best source of coupons is online, in my opinion using printable coupons or coupon apps.
Sites like Gocoupons.ca, Save.ca, and Websaver.ca are great for printable coupons, and some companies mail coupons if you email them.
I always shop with a grocery list when I shop. You can print off lists online, like Mr. CBB’s Free Money Saving Tools.
I have my way to list what I need to buy with prices listed right on my list and if I have a coupon to use for the product.
Figure out what works best for you, and then make sure you use that list.
Hopefully, these ideas will help you save money on your groceries.
Posting on Mr. CBB’s Grocery Game Challenge helps us see what it is we are buying.
Speaking for myself makes me stop and think about what I am getting knowing that Mr. CBB will see what I am purchasing.
Below is a sample shop from January that I posted in the Grocery Game.
As you will see, I came so close to making my grocery budget, and without posting my shops, I might not have been able to track my grocery money so well.
Thankfully, I made it into No Frills this week for a quick prowl, but the rest of my grocery shopping was at Foodland.
Foodland Grocery Shop
- Tomato paste [email protected] 1.78
- Pasta sauce [email protected] 3.75
- Tomato sauce @1.88-5.64
- Can of breadcrumbs- 1.99
- Cider mix- 3.99
- Jug water- 5.49
- 2 eye-of-round roasts- 8.68+ 9.21, stockpile
- Tax- .52
- Total- $41.05; part was a stockpile
No Frills
- Yogurt- 5.97, 50% discount- 2.99
- Bear Paws- 2.44
- Frozen veggies [email protected] 8.91
- Hot Stuffs [email protected] 4.00
- 4l milk [email protected] 7.94
- Cranberry cocktail- 2.97
- Royale Toilet Paper- 7.97
- 144 count Tetley tea bags [email protected] 9.94
- Bagels- 1.97
- Pork loin- 5.21
- 2 packs X-lean ground beef- 9.48+9.92
- bananas- .96
- cole slaw- 1.27, 50% discount- .64
- 3lbs carrots- 1.49
- Sensodyne toothpaste [email protected] 7.94
- Dove body wash [email protected] 9.44, $2.00 coupon
- Vaseline body lotion- 4.97, $2.50 coupon
- Tax- 3.94
- Total- $98.60, $4.50 coupons, $3.63 discounts
Foodland
- Soup 2@ .79- 1.58
- Bananas- .30
- Onions- 1.99
- Cereal [email protected] 3.98, reduced
- Sweet and sour bbq sauce- 2.79
- 1 doz eggs- 2.99
- Apple juice- 3.29, 1.00 coupon
- Cider mix- 3.99
- Tax- .52
- Total- $20.43, 1.00 coupon
Small Town Weed Of Grocery Shopping
- Total budget for the month- $650.00
- Coupons used this week- $5.50
- Discounts this week- $3.63
- Total spent this week- $151.99
- Stockpile this week- $8.09, roast
- Total spent this month- $653.06+ $8.09 stockpile
- Over/under for the week- over $21.99
- Total over/under for the month- over $3.06
- Left for a month- $0.00
- Coupons/discounts for a month- $44.83
- Total carry over- $3.06
Total YTD- $653.06, $25.00 stockpile
Final Thoughts About My Grocery Month
So I finished the month spending over my grocery budget by $3.06 on a 5-week month!!!
Last year at the end of January, I was over by $200, so I’m doing better with the knowledge and practices I’ve applied to my grocery budget.
The roasts were an excellent deal as was the extra lean ground beef.
I broke the ground beef into several smaller meal-size packs for the freezer.
Having a stockpile amount helps my grocery budget for those extras I find on sale.
My coupons that were used at No Frills, the cashier just rang it in as one big coupon for $4.50.
The pork loin was a super reasonable price at $1.00lb as it was dollar days at No Frills so that I won’t argue with those prices.
I am pleased that this month went as well as it did.
The first three weeks were low, which helped with the last two weeks when stocking up was done.
I have had to wrap my head around four and five-week months as that was part of what messed with me last year.
All in all, a good start to the new year.
Helping Each Other Save Money On Food
We all have ways to save money on groceries, and we all have to work with what is available to us, whether it is the amount we can afford to spend or the limitations we have in places to do the actual shopping.
Another way to save on your grocery bill is to join us every night for the What’s For Dinner post on Facebook at Canadian Budget Binder. The post runs from 5 pm until 10 pm, 7 days a week.
We post what we are making for dinner that night, share recipes and general chatter, and have a lot of fun.
We are generous with our recipe collections, and if you need ideas on what to make for your family, we have ideas.
If you are wondering what is coming up on sale at your store, chances are someone can tell you as long as you ask.
If you bought something on sale and are wondering how to cook it, again, ask, as we are a diverse group of fans on Canadian Budget Binder from various cultures.
We can post recipes for you and everyone else to try, or you can check out the free recipes Mr.CBB posts from other food bloggers at The Free Recipe Depot on Facebook.
Another great free source for recipes to help keep your budget in check.
Small Town Love
I hope that if you live in a small town as I do, you don’t let the small shops deter you from saving money in your grocery budget.
Anything is possible because I’m proof of that as head of the grocery budget in our household.
Planning is essential, so if you want to save, the savings are there as long as you are willing to put in the effort.
Thanks for stopping by to read my story.
Christine W.
Discussion: How much is your grocery budget, and how do you save money living in a small town?
Please leave me your comments below.
Mr. CBB
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This is a terrific article. I agree that grocery lists are a necessity! We created my mygroceryflyer to help people save on groceries by automatically scanning weekly store promotions. And of course the service is free.
http://mygroceryflyer.weebly.com
Thank you!! Is your site Canadian flyers? I do get a few of the flyers from the nearest city to here but not the really good ones! I don’t get No Frills or Shoppers Drug Mart… Which is really frustrating. I have to get those online but I did find a site that works on my iPad with lots of flyers on it. I have complained at store level and to the head offices of both stores only to be told that we are outside the distribution area for the flyers. I will check out your site shortly!!
Good post Christine. I agree about grocery lists. We stockpile too. It’s comforting to know that we have that cache to fall back on when times are tight but we also know to take care to ensure that what we’re stocking up on is stuff we use on a regular basis so that the stock in the cupboard gets used up before it expires. I also put $75/month of our grocery budget aside into a planned spending account that allows us to buy seasonal food when it’s at its lowest price and best quality. I can produce/fish/meats purchased from this fund, and put it in the freezer too.
With rising food prices and stagnant wages, it’s getting more and more challenging to make the budget stretch to meet our needs. It’s good to have communities like this that encourage each other along.
Thanks Beth Anne!!! I have the $650.00 a month for my budget but I also have a small stockpile amount for those sales and such. I’m hoping to be ahead enough with either the regular budget or the stockpile that the boys and I can pick berries for jam come berry season…. I make some every year and just hope it lasts until the following June.
I worked in retail back before I was married and we had something called FIFO for stock and I use that in my pantry and freezers. It stands for First In, First Out….I’ll be getting some sugar tomorrow at Canadian Tire as they have a really good price and those bags will go behind what is there now. Have a good weekend Beth Anne!!!