How this St. Albert family of 7 spends $700 a month on groceries and gas

The high cost of food can be highly demanding on a family's monthly budget. However, a St. Albert family of seven has found a way to reduce their spending.

The Koch family doesn't spend more than $350 every two weeks on groceries and gas.

According to Canada's Food Price Report 2025 from Dalhousie University, the forecasted annual spending on groceries in 2025 will cost a family of four $16,833.67. The Koch's annual budget for groceries and gas puts them at $9,100 – again, for seven people.

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As the sole income of the family, Chad Koch has worked in retail ever since he was 14 years old and knows the ins and outs of shopping on a budget.

"Having as many kids as we've had, we've had to always try to make sure that we're doing the most cost-efficient grocery shopping we could," Koch told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

"When online shopping first came out, I loved it because you could put your budget together and then buy all your groceries and make sure you hit your budget … oftentimes we would buy our core groceries, and then I would sort to what is the absolute cheapest thing you could get in the grocery store."

Chad Koch (right) and two of his five kids, having snacks at the dinner table on Dec. 31, 2024. (Nav Sangha/CTV News Edmonton)With five children aged five to 18, Koch said it's important to pay attention to the unit cost instead of the total price.

"If something's $5, it'll tell you in the bottom corner (that) maybe it costs 99 cents per 100 grams. You can really figure out what is the best value – it could be a smaller size or it could be a club pack," he said.

If something on your list is on clearance, Koch said load up. While other things will need to be skipped when they're priced higher than you budgeted for.

Collecting and spending points at grocery stores can also add more room to your budget.

"To date, this year, we have over $800 in groceries bought just with the free points (we've collected)," he said. "Between the money that we spend and then the points … it's about $400 every two weeks or so."

According to his app, Koch spent nearly $11,000 in points on groceries and gas over the past 10 years.

He said using flyer apps like Flip, or paying attention to in-store promotions, can save families money just by going to the right places.

Jodie Kachkar, a professional home economist, told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday reducing the number of trips to the grocery store can also benefit your budget. She suggests people looking to save should start by shopping online.

"When you shop online, you don't wander the aisles and look at things," said Kachkar. "I'm buying the things and I'm looking at the choices online, but I'm not hitting the potato chip aisle or the candy aisle."

Having different grocery store apps can help compare prices across stores, Kachkar said.

"It helps to know your prices of the things that you buy the most often, so that you can recognize a good deal when you see it," she said, adding that shopping at big-box stores like Costco might not be the best bang for your buck.

"It's not easy out there. I see people saying that they spend $1,000 a week for four people … you don't have to do that," Koch said.

"I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do things. No matter what you set your budget at, you're going to need to spend more than that at some point. I think just having a base budget … is a good idea, because then you've got a number to kind of stick to," he said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nav Sangha