Grocery diary: Family of 3 in a MCOL
About Us
Household size: Two 40s adults and one 10yo kid, all pretty active so we like to eat!
Total 2025 grocery spend was $7362 (just under $615/mo). In 2026 we spent $2865 (about $715/mo) in Jan-Apr, so we are potentially ahead of last year. We do often do a bit more spending early in the year and less over the summer so the increase may be smaller by the end of the year. For Jan-Apr of 2025 we spent $2637 so we are ahead of the same period last year.
Grocery habits: We do an approximately weekly grocery shop at Aldi, mainly for fruit/veg, milk, and eggs. I also pick up a few items at Trader Joe’s every couple of weeks. We purchase quite a few items in bulk, either online (favorite suppliers are Country Life Natural Foods and bulkfoods.com) or more recently at Costco. We got a Costco membership earlier this year after running some math and figuring we would at least break even on the membership fee. The location nearest us is not super convenient so our plan there for the moment is to do a stock up a couple times a year on items like olive oil, cheese/butter, flour, nuts, etc. All the bulk shopping does mean our grocery spend can be quite irregular month to month, but we do seem to eat through it all.
Cooking: We eat most meals at home and cook a lot from scratch. I use my Instant pot a LOT, definitely my favorite cooking device ever. I WFH which does make finding time to cook a lot easier. We are not vegetarian but do eat a lot of plant based meals and I also am of the “meat as a condiment” school of thought for meals that do involve meat. Our school district provides free lunch and our kid eats it, so I do not have to pack a lunch for him during the school year (hooray!).
On with our week!
Monday
At the moment, Monday is my typical Aldi day. I spend $55.27 this week and get eggs, milk, swiss cheese, frozen broccoli, peas, and corn, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms, garlic, cilantro, avocados, bananas, grapes, and a mango. There are also some reduced-for-quick sale pork chops, I pick up 6 lbs. We will have some this week but freeze most for later. Aside from the pork chops, this week was a slightly lighter spend than usual as we happened to already have a fair bit of food leftover from last week.
Breakfast: we eat the same breakfast of oatmeal and eggs M-F, plus coffee for my husband and myself. I add some mixed seeds to the oats and kiddo also likes peanut butter on his. This will be my last mention of breakfast until the weekend 😄
Lunch: We have some leftover green beans and potatoes, so husband and I eat those along with some seitan (I make a bulk batch of seitan in the instant pot every couple of weeks, highly recommend for a cheap source of vegan protein), and orange slices.
Dinner: Minestrone topped with a cottage/mozzarella cheese mixture, bread, fruit & yogurt.,
Snacks: I eat a slice of PB toast, a smoothie (frozen berry/cherry blend from Aldi, banana, pea protein powder) and a chocolate chip cookie. Not sure about other family members.
Tuesday
I need tortillas for the taco night we are planning later this week and I prefer Trader Joe’s tortillas to Aldi, plus it’s within walking distance. I get tortillas and also two lemons to make a lemon drizzle cake at the weekend ($3.97). On the way back, I stop at a local bakery and pick up a To Good To Go bag I reserved yesterday. For $6.58, I get a bag of day-old pastries: 2 ham and cheese croissants, a blueberry danish, 2 giant coconut macaroons, and a cupcake.
Lunch: Leftover minestrone with seitan, pita with hummus and sprouts, orange, and husband and I split a croissant.
Dinner: I make chili in the instant pot, using a lot of beans and also some pulled pork I found in the freezer. I decide to make cornbread to go with it, and since that involves turning on the oven, I also roast some broccoli/cauliflower and a tray of onion, bell pepper, and zucchini. We eat the broccoli/cauliflower with dinner, and will use the other vegetables for lunch bowls. After dinner we have a pastry tasting and try the danish and macaroons. Kiddo announces that coconut is gross, but the danish is a hit.
Snacks: mixed nuts and apple slices
Wednesday
Lunch: last of the leftover minestrone, tuna melt and the other croissant, grapes
Dinner: Tacos and slaw salad. We have some apple crumble I made on the weekend for dessert, with yogurt
Snacks: PB toast, smoothie, couple squares of chocolate
Thursday
Lunch: Assorted leftovers: slaw salad, potatoes, seitan, grapes
Dinner: Chili & cornbread again. I roast some frozen Brussels sprouts in the toaster oven as well.
Snacks: nuts, smoothie, couple squares of chocolate
Friday
Lunch: Roast veg, potatoes, seitan, split an enormous cosmic crisp apple with my husband.
Dinner: Husband makes stirfry! Cashew tofu+chicken (from the freezer), and vegetables (cabbage/carrot/mushroom/celery) over rice. After dinner I pull some bananas from the freezer and make banana nice cream, which we all eat while watching a movie together.
Snacks: PB toast, nuts, smoothie, couple squares of chocolate
Saturday
Breakfast: Last weekend I made bagels, we ate some and froze some. Today I pull from the freezer stash and we all have bagels for breakfast, plus a cheese and mushroom omelet.
Lunch: I made a lentil vegetable soup in the instant pot in the morning, so for lunch we have soup, seitan, and pita toasts with half hummus & sprouts, half chicken liver pate (I make a batch of this pate periodically and freeze it in an ice cube tray, then defrost as needed).
Dinner: Saturday is husband’s regular night to cook dinner, this week he does pan-fried pork chops with mushrooms, rice, and green beans. Kiddo and I also make a lemon drizzle cake earlier in the day so we have that for dessert.
Snacks: Pistachios, celery with hummus, and a chocolate chip cookie
Sunday
Breakfast: I mix up some waffle batter, husband cooks waffles while I go for a walk. Waffles with yogurt and stewed apple for breakfast.
Lunch: Waffle pizza (top a waffle with tomato sauce and cheese, pop it in the toaster oven), lentil soup, seitan, grapes
Dinner: Tuna pasta skillet, because I spend most of the day in the garden and it’s easy. I mix in some sliced zucchini so we have a vegetable. Lemon drizzle cake with yogurt for dessert.