Grocery Budget and Menu - family of 4

[mefordis]

Would anyone with a family of 4 or more be willing to share their monthly grocery budget and weekly menu (including lunches if you have to pack them).

I am looking to slash my food bill in half if possible over the next few months. I feel I am spending a ridiculous amount on food!

People on these boards are the experts, so I'm coming here for advice!

Thanks so much for any help!

 

[kymom99]

There are 3 of us, but one is a teenager! This is my menu for the last week or so. I usually stay around $100 a week including hygiene and paper products. We also have garden items that we can such as pasta sauce and green beans.

1. Pasta of some sort

2. grilled brats, etc

3. chuck roast in the crock pot, carrots and mashed potatoes

4. grilled pork chops and baked potatoes

5. ham and bean soup

6. chicken and rice casserole and green beans

7. hamburgers and mac and cheese

I buy deli meats once a week. We eat a lot of cereal for breakfast. I buy some fruits, like bananas and apples and anything else I find at a good price. The key for me is stocking up on boxes of pasta and things like hot dogs when they are cheap. I almost always have something I can pull out for a quick meal if we get in a hurry. Last night we got home late from a track meet and I had a Freschetta pizza in the freezer for when we got home. I think I paid about $2.50 for it and it was really good. It saved us from the drive through.

Good luck! I think you can cut your spending, but it depends on prices where you live.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I will not have the least expensive budget...but I do shop value...

For a month
4 weekly FARM Co-OP boxes of fruits/veggies - $116 (7 types of fruits/veggies come in the box per week or 1 per day)
2 grocery store shops per week or 8 total stops (picking the best ads and stocking up on what's best for my family from Aldi's, Safeway, Giant, Wegmans) = $600-$650 - I pretty much don't buy anything full price unless it's milk - we just live without for a week til it is on sale
Keurig Cups (90 total - 2 for spouse, 1 for me) - $44 (will not buy unless they are under 50 cents/cup - this is our splurge item)

Total $760-$810/month

I do lunches every day for everyone, but I don't have a "menu". My spouse has breakfast at home and brings in a bag of apples, a canned prepared item (soup, chili, prepared pasta, etc - whatever the sale item he likes, I stock up for 2 weeks), and whatever snack is on sale (sometimes pistachios, sometimes chex mix, sometimes granola bars, etc). Everyone else eats here, so we always have a rotating fresh fruit and snack and then whatever main dish (last night's leftovers, lunch meat sandwich, cheese and crackers, PBJ, etc).

As for dinners (with pork butt 99 cents/lb, I made 1 and froze 1), this week we had...

Sun - Hawaiian shredded pork butt (liquid smoke and salt in crock) and caramelized farm onions over farm mashed potatoes and southern turnip greens
Mon - Pork soft tacos (yesterday's pork with taco seasoning, taco sauce, and fresh cilantro), sliced tomatoes with vinegar and chives, sliced oranges
Tues - Pork BBQ sandwiches (Sunday's pork with BBQ sauce added), bagged coleslaw kit (with a few fresh herbs), strawberries and bananas
Wed - Chicken Tenders with BBQ dip, leftover southern turnip greens, homemade poor man's garlic bread (all leftover rolls from the week), blueberries
Thurs - Ground Beef Hard Tacos (got double lettuce and tomatoes in my farm box and kids love them), black beans, last of sliced oranges
Fri - Lamb shoulder stew (gonna use 2 lamb shoulder chops, with farm box potatoes, carrots, carrot tops, onions, and baby bok choy - all from this week's box - with a beer and garden rosemary)
Sat - TBD - Might be a Subway meal to reward youngest for a successful dental visit. If not, it will be frozen pizza.

Hope this helps...

 

[Arich01]

Three of us here, but I don't think it would be much of a stretch for four

I think planning ahead has been the best way for us to slash our food budget. I keep up with blogs that price out my stores weekly ad and link any available coupons with the item. I try to purchase/ plan for my meals from this. I also will stock up on an ingredient if it's a really good deal. (ex: pasta was buy one get one last week with a $1 off 2 coupon, so I paid 18 cents I believe per box)

Lunches, I frequently eat bean and cheese burritos that I make myself. Quick, cheap, and easy I also do soup or egg salad sandwiches.

Dinner this past week was:
Steak, potatoes, and broccoli (splurge on steak, but DS and I split one)
Pork Chops and rice
Taco night
Roast beef in the crock pot with onions and carrots, stuffing on the side
French dip sandwiches with leftover roast beef, baked fries on the side
Spaghetti and meatballs.

Good luck! You can do it!

 

[keelyhealthnut]

Hey there! I kind of love the challenge of working on a budget with a family of 4. I'm always trying to whittle that budget down more and more! We are between $300-$400 for the grocery budget every month. That's a tight budget to me, but I know that others use much less and some use much more.

I change things up a lot from week to week. I'm not the type to be able to eat the same thing over and over. I've heard that it can be a good thing for the budget (and the waistline!) to have some simple meals always in the rotation and I'd benefit from both of those things, but I can't seem to do it!

I actually wrote this all down a few weeks ago for another purpose so I'll copy/paste what that was. It's drastically different from week to week though. LOL That's what my family ate that week, for the most part, but I usually have some sort of pureed soup for me to sip out of a mug at breakfast too. I don't do well with sweet breakfasts and my stomach is sensitive in the morning so it's a good start to the day. I also tend to snack on soup too. DH eats lunch at work (for free) half of the time, but I also send food with him because he gets tired of the same foods.

Monday
Breakfast: old fashioned oats w/ coconut oil, raisins, hemp seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup
Lunch: tofu or tempeh BLTs, homemade creamy white bean pesto soup
Dinner: raw stuffed avocados salad (w/ walnut "meat")
Snacks: fresh fruit, pita chips/veggies & hummus

Tuesday
Breakfast: slow cooker refried bean burritos, fruit
Lunch: veggie fried quinoa
Dinner: salt & pepper tofu, leftover quinoa, roasted cabbage
Snacks: smoothies

Wednesday
Breakfast: old fashioned oats w/ coconut oil, raisins, hemp seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup
Lunch: slow cooker chickpea & cabbage soup, mandarin orange
Dinner: homemade veggie burgers on ww buns, sweet potato wedges, steamed green beans
Snacks: homemade banana muffins

Thursday
Breakfast: non-egg based french toast, fruit
Lunch: tempeh, sweet potato wedge, green bean, mustard wraps
Dinner: black beans, brown rice, plantains, green beans
Snacks: homemade banana muffins

Friday
Breakfast: old fashioned oats w/ coconut oil, raisins, hemp seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup
Lunch: slow cooker chickpea & cabbage soup, mandarin orange
Dinner: black bean & veggie fajitas in slow cooker, guacamole, tortillas, pico de gallo, lettuce & tomato salad
Snacks: smoothies

Saturday
Breakfast: ww bread w/ homemade coconut oil cocoa spread and banana slices
Lunch: leftover black bean & veggie fajitas in slow cooker, guacamole, tortillas, pico de gallo, lettuce & tomato salad
Dinner: eggplant parmesan w/ cashew ricotta, steamed broccoli w/ hemp seeds
Snacks: fresh fruit, pit/veggies & hummus

Sunday
Breakfast: overnight oat waffles, maple syrup, bananas
Lunch: leftover eggplant parmesan w/ cashew ricotta, steamed broccoli w/ hemp seeds
Dinner: tofu piccata, pasta, steamed broccoli w/ hemp seeds
Snack: lentil soup, homemade ww bread

I should add that we shop at Costco, Kroger, Aldi, and occasionally at Whole Foods.

 

[worm761]

There are 5 us here. I average $150 a week for groceries. There are me, DH, DS19, DD5, and Dad. Kids usually have cereal for breakfast. I usually have an egg or grits. My dad normally has eggs, cereal, or oatmeal if he eats breakfast. DH skips breakfast except on weekends. We do a big breakfast on Saturday mornings.

This week was
Sat: tuna burgers for DH and dad, regular beef burgers for DS and I, nuggets for DD
Sun: Szechuan veg stir fry over rice (broccoli, bell peppers, onion, bok choy, carrots, water chestnuts, baby corn, and bean sprouts)
Mon: Jack Daniels mac and cheese w/ chicken strips
Tues: my version of a turkey pot pie
Wed: roast chicken thighs w/ rosemary roast carrots
Thurs: Ground beef and biscuits casserole
Fri: Mexican noodle bake (pasta, corn and black bean salsa, diced tomatoes, chiles, tomato sauce)

Last week was:
smoked pork tenderloin w/ broccoli slaw
mile high meatless lasagna pie
bruschetta chicken w/ salad
stuffed bell peppers
teriyaki salmon/chicken w/ sriracha cream sauce, veg, rice.

How much you spend depends on where you live and how you eat. If I had an Aldi's near me I would spend a lot less. I live on the Gulf Coast and seafood is cheap here.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Two pieces of advice I have that are simple and an immediate savings...

If you're buying fresh herbs right now - don't. It is beyond easy to have a little herb garden in a container or in a tiny plot in your yard. Rosemary, thyme, basil, sage, and mint will not die and are so easy to grow (and you can dry the end of season herbs in an oven to last you through winter - but do no plant mint in your yard unless you want it everywhere - dill and cilantro are a little tougher, but still not too bad...you can buy $2 plants now (if you didn't do seeds) and never buy anymore herbs until next year...herbs are ridiculously priced in grocery stores...

DON'T THROW ANYTHING AWAY! When you buy something, use it (all of it). With a family of 4, that may mean you have to get creative to not throw extra away. For example, if you make burgers/pulled pork sandwiches, etc, you'll likely buy a bag of hamburger rolls which comes in packs of 8. If you only eat 4-6 buns for your meal, you now have 2-4 extra...so what do you do with them? Make croutons or make breadcrumbs or make garlic bread (my usual plan) or do something else. Or if you have veggies that are starting to go downhill, then it's time to pull out a soup pot/crock pot and make soup or stew or roast them/saute them and prep a quiche (going bad greens - kale, turnip, collard, spinach, etc - are great to toss in quiche. If you have fruits going down hill, pull out the blender and make a smoothie or have a basic muffin mix where you can toss in whatever fruit needs to go. Just always plan to use everything - that's another way to save very quickly on your bill...

 

[mefordis]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! So helpful. Question: How much do you spend on toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, toothpaste, etc.? I always include that in the food budget, for some reason.

 

[kymom99]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! So helpful. Question: How much do you spend on toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, toothpaste, etc.? I always include that in the food budget, for some reason.

I can't really say, but I am not brand loyal. I prefer certain things but I stock up when there is a sale. Like now, Kroger has buy 4 save $4. Downey is $3.59 and there are coupons to take it down further. I don't buy that stuff every week so I don't really know.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I include paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, etc) and cleaning supplies in my grocery budget. Toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, floss, flouride, deodorant, etc) are through Amazon or Target sales with coupons, so I get them pretty cheap and I stock up when they are cheap. I'd guess they'd add $10 week or $40 month (I am a touch brand loyal - Pantene, Crest, etc)...

 

[keelyhealthnut]

All of our household and personal supplies are part of our grocery budget as well. We make our own toothpaste so that initial purchase for supplies was expensive, but is just pennies to make batches of now. We use vinegar and essential oils to clean so pennies there as well. Bulk Dr. Bronner's soap is the foundation of DIY hand and dish soaps. We do purchase laundry soap and shampoo. We get the most natural affordable kind that we can find on Amazon. Toilet paper and paper towels come from Costco. I'm hoping to transition to cloth napkins soon.

 

[Arich01]

I buy my toilet paper and paper towels from Sam's or Costco for about $15 each for a big pack. The TP will last for about 2 months and the paper towels will last about the same ( we need to be better about not wasting them, bad us!) I like their "store brand" they are really good quality and I feel like it's a good deal even without coupons. When I couponed paper products, we would sometimes have less standard quality (to us) and at that point not so much a good deal any more.

 

[barkley]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! So helpful. Question: How much do you spend on toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, toothpaste, etc.? I always include that in the food budget, for some reason.

I include it in our food budget as well. I don't spend much to be honest b/c I buy my paper towels once a year at a case sale the stores here do. I can get cases for about 30% less than the best individual roll/pack sales during the rest of the year. for cleaning supplies it's largely orange based cleaner (and orange **** n span) both of which I save on by buying at the dollar store. toothpaste-if the name brand is at the dollar store I stock up (as I do w/ multi packs of good name brand toothbrushes, dh's deodorant/mine I stock up on from avon when it's 99 cents each), otherwise I wait for a good sale and stock up. detergent is probably the only thing I buy on a regular basis-and I end up getting it at walmart b/c they sell bigger boxes of my brand (arm and hammer unscented) with a much lower unit price than anywhere else around here. shampoo I tend to get a walmart (again bigger bottles/lower unit price). we don't use soap when we bathe-strictly body wash, and I've found that it's worth a bit more to get a better quality that lathers better so we end up using less so I wait till bath and body works has a great sale, then I look online for other discount codes and stack them to save more. I recently purchased 18 bottles of products and between all the discounts saved over 65% including shipping charges.

 

[mrssmith06]

Total for groceries and toiletries, cleaning stuff, etc - about $550-$600/month? There are 4 of us.

Some dinner examples we do often are: (I get a lot of recipes from Pinterest!)
-Hashbrown casserole
-Tater tot casserole
-Meatloaf
-Spaghetti
-Taco's (many varieties) - Tonight we are having chicken ranch taco's
-Spam with mac n cheese
-Homemade pizza's
-Salsa chicken (crockpot)
-Chicken enchilada's
-Baked chicken chimichanga's
-Pork chops - (again, many varieties)
-Chicken N Dumplings
-Parmesan crusted chicken

 

[kymom99]

I use salon shampoo but I have a niece who cuts my hair and she gets it at a discount. I seriously only buy it 3 times a year at the most. She gets me the big bottles and you really do use less than if you buy the grocery store brands. This is a case where you get what you pay for. I think it is about $30 total for a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner. That's not even $10 a month. She gave me a set for Christmas this year and I am still using it.

 

[Echo queen]

This has saved me a bundle. Laundry detergent.

 

[froggibabey]

There's 5 of us, and we spend around $450 or so a month, a lot of that being milk.

We buy paper towels, a big pack once a year or so, we generally use washcloths or cut up recieving blankets for tissues, cleaning clothes, etc, unless it's something gross, so don't use much

We spent $12.97 on TP every 3 months or so, and we buy shampoo and conditioner and soap and hand soap every 2-3 months, everyone uses the same stuff.

We all eat dinner at home 6 days a week, (Sunday dinner is a big family event), and the baby and I eat lunch at home every day, while my husband packs lunch.

 

[hsmamato2]

Monday
Breakfast: old fashioned oats w/ coconut oil, raisins, hemp seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup
Lunch: tofu or tempeh BLTs, homemade creamy white bean pesto soup
Dinner: raw stuffed avocados salad (w/ walnut "meat")
Snacks: fresh fruit, pita chips/veggies & hummus

Tuesday
Breakfast: slow cooker refried bean burritos, fruit
Lunch: veggie fried quinoa
Dinner: salt & pepper tofu, leftover quinoa, roasted cabbage
Snacks: smoothies

Wednesday
Breakfast: old fashioned oats w/ coconut oil, raisins, hemp seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup
Lunch: slow cooker chickpea & cabbage soup, mandarin orange
Dinner: homemade veggie burgers on ww buns, sweet potato wedges, steamed green beans
Snacks: homemade banana muffins

Thursday
Breakfast: non-egg based french toast, fruit
Lunch: tempeh, sweet potato wedge, green bean, mustard wraps
Dinner: black beans, brown rice, plantains, green beans
Snacks: homemade banana muffins

Friday
Breakfast: old fashioned oats w/ coconut oil, raisins, hemp seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup
Lunch: slow cooker chickpea & cabbage soup, mandarin orange
Dinner: black bean & veggie fajitas in slow cooker, guacamole, tortillas, pico de gallo, lettuce & tomato salad
Snacks: smoothies

Saturday
Breakfast: ww bread w/ homemade coconut oil cocoa spread and banana slices
Lunch: leftover black bean & veggie fajitas in slow cooker, guacamole, tortillas, pico de gallo, lettuce & tomato salad
Dinner: eggplant parmesan w/ cashew ricotta, steamed broccoli w/ hemp seeds
Snacks: fresh fruit, pit/veggies & hummus

Sunday
Breakfast: overnight oat waffles, maple syrup, bananas
Lunch: leftover eggplant parmesan w/ cashew ricotta, steamed broccoli w/ hemp seeds
Dinner: tofu piccata, pasta, steamed broccoli w/ hemp seeds
Snack: lentil soup, homemade ww bread

I should add that we shop at Costco, Kroger, Aldi, and occasionally at Whole Foods.

I like the sound of your menus (except I would swap all the tofu/veggie stuff for meats since I have a wicked soy allergy) Would you care to share some recipes? I am also DF and GF,and keep all the meats free range/organic. Do you make your own cashew 'cheese'? I try to minimize grains-when I do grains it's either some brown rice or quinoa...The budget starts straining if I buy all these specialty items,so I am always looking for things I can make for less. I also shop costco which helps some...but I am way overspending on groceries lately... Though last nights HUGE pot of lentil/white bean soup will provide a lot of meals (I am freezing some)

 

[hsmamato2]

I have been trying to stretch our budget esp. where meat is concerned,since it's very $$$ for what I want to buy. ALWAYS check local circulars for sales,and I stock up if I find something.(last week I found a bunch of Organic chicken parts on clearance, bought them all,froze most of them b/c it was a close sell by date) I do a lot of stir fry for the same reason, I can take one 6 oz. organic steak and translate that into food for 6,with added veggies and brown rice. I keep the pantry stocked with what I use, like dry beans, dry quinoa,rice. Keep froz. veggies in freezer for creating meals. Whenever I cook any sort of chicken, it goes into a stockpot first with an onion and spices. This makes soup stock,which I freeze in containers and use as needed. (The chicken gets removed ,and final cooking is whatever recipe I plan to make that night,it is amazingly tender this way) So two for one there. Again, for me, it's finding prices on meats I can live with,since my stomach is too sensitive for so many things right now. Costco has Organic eggs for about 3.50 a dozen,as does my local grocery.I need all the help I can get, my guys eat a lot!

 

[magicmomms]

http://idigmygarden.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46863

This is a thread on a garden forum where people hypothetically make $100 last a month for all the food they need. It's a long thread, but you may be able to find some good hints, tips- things you just never thought of before that will help you.