How to spend $70 or less on a weekly grocery haul for two in the Philly area
A “gamified approach” to grocery shopping has helped these consumers save at the supermarket.
Asha Prihar rarely pays more than $70 for a week’s worth of groceries for her and her boyfriend.
That’s about half what even the most budget-savvy 20-something couples typically spend, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Philadelphia woman‘s secret: She’s made her supermarket trips fun.
“I have a very gamified approach to buying groceries now,” said Prihar, who is in her 20s. “How can I optimize what I’m eating this week to be the least amount of money possible?”
She meticulously meal plans, incorporating nonperishables she already has at home. She takes advantage of coupons and rewards, frequenting multiple stores to make the most of deals.
On her private Instagram, she often posts these grocery hauls, which in recent weeks have ranged from $28 to $57.
Hauls like Prihar’s have become increasingly common on Instagram and TikTok in recent years. Not all users highlight low-budget hauls, or even post the price of their shopping trips. Some focus on healthy eating or diversifying their meals.
But amid continued inflation and economic uncertainty, more consumers are looking for ways to save money, and the topic has infiltrated social media accounts beyond those focused on financial advice.
Grace Nenow, a lifestyle influencer who goes by @jadoregrace on Instagram and TikTok, said she gets direct messages whenever she posts a grocery haul. In response to the positive feedback, she is trying to share them more often with her more than 47,000 followers.
“A lot of people are just looking for ideas for what to cook during the week, what to buy at the grocery store,” said the 31-year-old Logan Square resident. And “saving money is always a really great engagement factor for content.”
Earlier this month, she shared a haul of high-protein, high-fiber foods from Aldi. The order was delivered by Instacart and included salmon, shrimp, ground beef, fruit, and tons of green veggies. In the video, Nenow said the total was $140 — “which is incredible, in my opinion.”
Full-time content creator Caroline Granger posted her first grocery haul on Instagram and TikTok earlier this month, having been inspired by other posts. The 25-year-old Old City resident shopped at Trader Joe’s and Riverwards Produce and said she spent about $120, though she didn’t include the cost in her video.
“This one was to show more healthy options,” said Granger, who goes by @carogranger9 on TikTok and @ccaroline.granger on Instagram and has about 86,000 combined followers.
In the future, she added, “I do see myself doing hauls on how to save money, especially living in the city.”
@carogranger9 riverwards + trader joe’s grocery haul!!🍓🥑🍌 i love watching these videos and decided to finally do one for myself! i am a huge @Riverwards fan and it is my happy place lol #grocery #groceryshopping #groceryhaul #grocerystore #localfood #food #foodtiktok #foodie #foodtok #foodhaul #traderjoes #traderjoeshaul #traderjoesfoodreviews #traderjoesmusthaves ♬ snooze sped up - astrycuh
Why grocery haul?
Sharing grocery hauls is just one way consumers have made saving money into a kind of competition.
Others have opted for social-media trends like No-Buy or Low-Buy 2025, in which people eliminate or drastically reduce spending on nonessentials. Some have committed to budgeting by hand.
The goals of these challenges vary, but can include building an emergency fund, paying off debt, or saving for a large purchase.
» READ MORE: These Philly-area residents are doing No-Buy 2025. Here’s how much they’ve saved.
For Prihar, chasing discounts on groceries allows her to save money for more fun activities in the city, such as seeing off-Broadway shows.
“This is a way that I can control what I’m spending,” Prihar said. “There are a lot of areas [like utilities] where you can‘t.”
It does require a time investment. Prihar estimated she spends one to two hours a week researching deals, clipping digital coupons, and meal planning, plus however long it takes to go to one or more grocery stores.
But over time, she said, she has streamlined the process. Sometimes, she clips coupons at a leisurely pace while relaxing.
“The alternative to me clipping coupons would be me scrolling social media,” Prihar said. Deal-hunting, instead, “is productive scrolling.”
And, she said, her new habits save her time and mental energy during the week. She used to stare at her kitchen cabinets after work, contemplating what she wanted to eat that night.
Now she’s left with less guesswork — and more money.
How to shop and save like a grocery hauler
Grocery haulers swear their money-saving habits eventually become second nature. Here’s how to get started.
Sign up for rewards programs at your local grocery stores: “You’re just leaving money on the table otherwise,” Prihar said.
Familiarize yourself with average prices of items. This makes it easier to comparison-shop and to determine whether supermarkets’ advertised deals really save money. “Sometimes Acme’s deal can still be more expensive than it is at Giant” at regular price, Prihar said.
Look at ads and coupons: Prihar writes out each store’s deals in a note on her iPhone, and then refers to the list when she and her boyfriend decide what they’ll eat for the week. She finds some supermarkets send personalized coupons that seem based on past purchases.
Meal plan. Usually at dinner Friday, she and her boyfriend decide together what meals they want for the next week.
Be realistic about what you’ll eat. Before Prihar meal-planned, she would throw away a lot of food that went bad before she could use it. Meal-planning has allowed her to reduce waste.
Don‘t overcomplicate meals. Nenow said she recommends keeping one meal consistent. For her, it’s breakfast. That makes it feel less overwhelming to meal-plan and shop. She often sticks to a similar rotation of foods for other meals and snacks, too, which helps her stick to nutrition goals and save money.
Don’t go the store hungry. If Granger does, “I will tend to impulse purchase,” she said.
Stock up on cheap nonperishables. Prihar takes advantage of sales on soup, chips, crackers, rice, applesauce, and the like, buying them in bulk when they’re cheapest. “I’ll see a sale and I’ll pounce,” she said. Recently, she stocked up on $1 packages of applesauce cups at Acme, because they have a long shelf life. She’s been enjoying them as a regular snack.