A few weeks ago I wrote a post over on Family Friendly Cincinnati about a challenge that I’d signed up for, courtesy of Whole Foods Market – feed my family of 4 for a week on $100. So how did I do? Here’s the results.
First up – menu planning. What to serve, what to serve…
Breakfasts
- 365 Every Day Value cereal bars
- 365 Every Day Valuemilk
- Toast with Every Day Value Jelly
- Toaster pastries & apples
- Scrambled eggs with cheese
- Turkey, cheese omlets
- Fruit Salad – bananas & apples
Lunches
Four packed lunches for kids
- PBJ, Every Day Value veggie chips, milk (from school) and apples
- PBJ, banana, cereal bar, milk (from school)
- Small chicken salad with ranch dressing, milk (from school)
- Turkey roll ups using tortilla shells, Every Day Value veggie chips, banana
Lunches for the adults
- Whole Foods Chef Prepared chicken salad (2 for $5!) with greens, apple
- Cottage cheese, hummus & carrots
- Turkey sandwich, cottage cheese and banana
Dinners
- Grilled chicken salads – chicken, cheese, ranch, tomatoes (we had)
- Pizzas with 365 crusts – one cheese, one chicken, onion & BBQ
- Taco night – ground beef (and left over chicken), lettuce, shredded cheese, black beans and corn
- Dinner out
- Left over pizza, veggie chips with hummus, broccolli
- Grilled turkey sandwiches, quinoa & Mediterranean veggies
Photos from my trip to Whole Foods & my meals
Grand total… Drum roll please….
$105. 08! Super close to $100 and not bad at all considering I’d not done 100% of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods before. Pretty close to what I normally spend at the store that is close to my home. I would note that I traditionally can spend this amount and cover my family for about 5 days before we head back to the store.
How I saved.
The biggest thing that helped me to save was selecting items from Whole Food’s 365 Every Day Value product line. I was super surprised that these products (there were lots to choose from) were not only affordable, they were really good. The only two items from the whole trip that didn’t work for us were the peanut butter and the jelly (and I think that really is just because my boys are so picky). Also, I can’t stress enough how important THIS POST IS with Ways to Save When Shopping at Whole Foods. It made it so much easier. Also, I highly recommend taking the Savings Store Tour with Nick (also in the linked post above). It’s free, you get to try items and it really helps get you familiar with the store layout and brands.
Will I go back?
Even before the challenge, I shopped at Whole Foods – though mostly for items for the boy’s lunches at school and for my lunches at work. Now that I’ve taken the store tour and learned how to “work” the deals and in-store specials, I’ll definitely be visiting Whole Foods for more items for our family. While I did have to change brands for many of the products I’d purchased previously, for the most part all of the substitutions I picked up at Whole Foods were comparable in both price and definitely in quality. The only real items I felt were higher than normal (though I am sure better quality) were items in the meat dept (Chicken & Sausage) and I am sure I could still get those items, I’d just have to watch for, and stock up, during the sales.
Good news….
So the awesome news is that Whole Foods gave me a $100 gift card to giveaway to one lucky reader over on Family Friendly Cincinnati! Stay tuned as that post will be going live soon!.
Disclosure: I was invited by Whole Foods to participate in this Whole Foods Menu Plan Challenge. For the Challenge they provided me with a $100 gift card to do my shopping, a $100 gift card to giveaway on Family Friendly Cincinnati, and a final gift card as a thank you for participating.
