A nosy grocery question!

[Toby'sFriend]

It kind of depends on what DS13 is eating at the time. He goes through spurts. Milk one week, bananas the next, baked potatoes with broccoli the next.

This week it is bananas. It is only Monday and he has already eaten 2 bunches of them and wants me to go to the store tomorrow for more. Generally we will drink 2 to 3 gallons of milk, a couple of boxes of Pop Tarts, 4 to 5lbs of hamburger, 2 to 3lbs of chicken breasts, a box of Hamburger Helper or whatever, a bag of apples, a bag of oranges, some grapes, and a couple bags of Dole Salad mix. On Saturday evening DH and I usually have Rib Eye steaks on the grill - but we make the kids eat Hamburgers or Hot Dogs. On Saturdays I take the to Costco for lunch and feed them samples.

Once we buy Pampers and infant food -- it's not hard to reach $200.

 

[gina2000]

LOL! I used to think mixing mashed potatoes and peas was pure serendipity!

 

[Boots]

Since my "food inhaler" got married about six weeks ago our food bill has really gone down. I now buy groceries every two weeks. Just stop and buy milk and bread. It is only DH and I so if I buy pork chops and there are six in a package, I divide them up for three meals. I put up a lot of veggies too so we eat them all winter. A regular can of veggies will last for two meals. I guess just on food I spend about $70 a week.

 

[Blue Skies]

Wow.

I guess our family is on the low end of food costs. Our budget is $55 per week for a family of three. Our son is only 5 yrs old though. The $55 includes all cleaning/laundry chemicals and sundries (i.e. cold medicine, toothpaste, etc.).

I'm a huge coupon clipper and store brands aficionado. We also rarely eat out. Not worth the $$ to us.


Melissa

 

[jsmith]

I thought my grocery bill would shrink when my older DS (6'6" and a competive runner) went to college-unforunately his brother has gone from 5'11" to 6'3" since May and I only see the difference in small areas. I buy the majority of my groceries in 1 month increments at the military commissary and just pick up milk, bread, produce and eggs in the off weeks. We also get wild meat and fish from my dad so I really can't compare my buget to some one elses but when both boys are home we use
8-12 gallons of milk
8-10 boxes of breakfast cereal
5 pounds of chicken breast
6 pounds of ground meat
6-8 pounds of steak or roast
2 dozen eggs
5 pounds of apples
6 pounds of bananas
3 gallons of oj
assorted fresh veggies
4 heads of lettuce

Interestingly we don't use much bread and I often have it go moldy-also I only buy potatoes if I know I am making something I will use them for. The boys eat rice and pasta but I limit both for DH and I and that is one area where I really see a drop off-I am hardly using any white starches since runner boy went off to school

 

[zurgswife]

Let's see....

6 gallons of milk
3 gallons of OJ
1 lb butter
1.5 loaves of bread
peanut butter (usually last a month)
Jam (Usually last a month)
Fluff (usually last 2 months
2 Raisin Bread loaves
2.5 boxes Cereal
2.5 gallons ice cream
bag of frozen corn(usually last 2 weeks)
bag of frozen peas(usually last 2 weeks)
1 pork roast loin
2lbs chicken
1lb hamburger
4 small individual pizzas
pop corn chicken (usually lasts 2 weeks)
2 bottles of ketchup

we don't do veggies or fruits very often....very bad parents

 

[DocRafiki]

Originally posted by 6_Time_Momma
Ummmm....okay......trust me, I have no evil intentions in mind with my question. No secret motives or anything. No intentions to shock or whatever you are thinking. It was a question, okay? I wanted to see how a "regular" family compares. Good grief.

Yes, what's the big deal? All of us "regular" folk are very interested in what the special people are buying, so back off!

 

[hercamore]

Hi,

Kristi, Wow, good luck you toyou budgeting all that food and yes, this is an interesting thread.

I have one son just graduated from college who is home "saving money" with us and looking for work. DD is in college.

Most of the time it is just dh and I who are light eaters. DH eats out at a nice restaurant at noon with guys from work so doesn't want much at night.

Weekly for two

3 gal
milk
l roast
l chicken
2 chops
3 bags of salad veggies and some fruit, radishes, seasonal veg.
eggs and a bag of chips or two
soda
fruit bars
cottage cheese and sticks

Pretty much it. If ds is home, we usuually buy more meat.

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

I spend about $75 per week since DS moved out, but geez when he was home!!!!! The grocery bill was little over double that amount. He eats like a horse and we never knew who else would be at the dinner table from night to night! It took me a while to adjust to cooking for three.

 

[crazyme5kids]

You mean your supposed to keep track ??!! The only thing I know for sure is milk. We go through 7 or 8 gallons a week. I also know I don't use that much meat (just thinking of it is clogging my system LOL!). Fruit and veggies vary week to week. I don't keep a lot of junk food in the house. Even what I spend varies week to week.
Kristy I am amazed that your two older ones will eat two pork chops at one sitting! My 17 year old daughter and 14 (well just about 15)year old son will only eat one each. My 11 year old will eat one or most of one, and I usually split one for the 5 and 2 year olds, even then they won't always finish one. I'd say you've got some hardy eaters there LOL!

 

[AirForceRocks]

Originally posted by 6_Time_Momma
Well, my kids are not big on green vegies. They get a little in a small salad and that's about it. Oh yes, we MUST have corn with our mashed potatoes..........for some reason, they feel the need to mix those two together......

That's us too, Kristy - mashed potatoes without corn really isn't worth it my house, since DH is the only one that doesn't eat them mixed together.

 

[my3kids]

For our 5:

We go through what I thought was a lot of milk...probably 2 gallons of skim each week. Probably 2 gallons of OJ...maybe a little less. For your pork chop dinner, I would fix 2 for dh and 3 for me for and the children. (so 5 for the 5 of us) I'd probably eat a little less than one. 13 yo probably the same, and elementary age kids about a half each. If I baked potatoes, I'd fix 4. Some carrot sticks or something like that. Rarely dessert.

I buy snack type packages of things but they are forbidden except for school lunch boxes and snacks in the book bag. (I buy snack foods for regualar eating....but the individual ones are only for packing.)

Lots of cheese..way too much. A ten pound bag of potates would sprout and rot before I finished it. Frozen vegetables here, but no one much eats them, so I add them to rice mixtures or pasta dishes. Canned tomatoes are the only canned item.

A bag of frozen chicken breasts(if presented with a whole chicken...I wouldn't have a clue!) will last 2 weeks probably. Lots of pasta type of dishes, and at least one frozen Stouffers entree item each week because of hectic sport and dance schedules. We pick up pizza once a week for the same reason and probably eat out at a nicer place at least once a week.

I didn't find the origional question strange or odd. It is interesting to see the differences among families.

 

[Galahad]

We shop a little differently, so I'm not sure I know how much of any particular thing we go through in a week. It is DW, DS#2 and me at hope (DS#1 away at college). We shop at the commissary and we go twice a month. We spend about $500 a month, but we put a lot of stuff in the freezer and buy larger quantities of things that keep a long time. I know we go through about 1 and 1/2 gallons of milk a week becuase DS is the only one that drinks it. We have Chicken 3 or 4 times a week and beef or turkey the rest and we use the "George Forman grill" a lot.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Interesting thread, and I do NOT question why you started it! It is hard for me to relate, since our "kids" have been grown and away from home for awhile now. I do remember those days though! It is amazing to me how much a growing boy can eat! We used to fill him up on potatos! I doubt we ever went through more than 2 gallons of milk a week though. DS was not much of a milk drinker (nor am I), but DD is a big milk fiend. I would hate to see your grocery bill when you have a bunch of teens in the house!

 

[piratesmate]

We're like Galahad in that we buy in large amounts - although we shop weekly. We spend about $75/week...it's hard to say because we mostly buy what's on sale - so some weeks it's more than others. We don't use Costco much because we can do about the same or better (w/o the annual fee) by buying when things are on sale. Our Wal-Mart is not a "super" store, but we buy cleaning & paper products there because it's cheaper than the grocery sales.

DS (22) got married a couple months ago & I was shocked to find out that our food consumption went to by about half! I wouldn't have thought he ate that much! Of course, we no longer have his friends over for meals either... We couldn't fill him up with potatoes, though. Once he hit puberty he wanted TONS of meat!

For that "pork chop meal" we have 4 chops (2 for DH, one each for DD & I), 3 baked potatoes & a whole bag of frozen veggies!

 

[ckmommy]

This thread is really interesting to me! Thanks Kristy!!

My family does not yet eat that much. We have a DD-5, DS-3 and DS Twins-10 mos.! I have wondered what was going to happen to our food bill in a few years. 3 boys in high school at the same time--Uh-oh! I have hd trouble handling the food bill when the formula went up (and I stopped nursing) to 2 1/2 Sam's Club ($30) cans a week! I hope my DH keeps getting good raises--so I can go Grocery shopping LOL.

My DH is less worried about the food bill and more worried about the insurance bill with all 3 boys in HS, with drivers licenses, at the same time. What did we get ourselves into?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Mishetta]

I rate this thread a big thumbs up!! Thanks for starting it Kristy!

Anyway, for a family of 4(DH, DS8 DS2 & Me), we go thru aprox (naturally, the weeks vary)

2 to 3 gallons of milk
1 loaf of bread
1 bag of bagles
1 box of cereal
4 lbs of grapes (seedless only)
4 lbs of apples (Fugi only)
1 bunch bananas
2 fresh broccoli bunches
5 lbs of potatos
1 lb of pasta
5 - 6 chicken breasts
5 to 6 pork chops
aprox 2 lbs of ground meat (1 lbs goes in tomato sauce)
1 28 oz can of tomato puree
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 1/2 lbs of onions
1/2 to 1 head of cauliflower
1 lb of fresh green beans
3 to 7 yogurts
olive oil (I cook only with Olive oil when oil is necessary)
cake mix or brownie mix
1/2 dozen eggs
fresh salmon (1 pkg of Salmon gets about 3 meals)

and I'm sure there is much more I'm not listing (oh...like a lb of lunchmeat & another lbs of deli sliced cheese) and of course, the goodies for lunch boxes, like chips & cookies (for DH & DS8). I use the lemonade powdered mix & put that in DS's lunch. I also buy almost all my fresh meat & fresh fish at Sam's or Costco's & divide it up so I usually only buy meat once every 3 weeks or so. I do produce shopping weekly & spend about $35 to $40 because we LOVE fresh veggies & fruits. I think on average I probably spend about $120 every 2 to 3 weeks at Sam's or Costco's & then every other week about $40 at Meijers & another $35 to $40 at the fresh veggie/fruit market ~ so that is about $120 per week or close to it. That doesn't include diapers! Can't wait till little guy is potty trained!!

Kristy ~ I'd be interested in knowing how much you spend in diapers & how many years you've been buying them!! You should start a diaper thread!! Now that would be a shock factor thread!

 

[Pembo]

Awesome thread Kristy!

I shop every 2 weeks but I'll make a good guess and don't really keep track but I know we go thru 3 boxes of cereal, 3-4 gallons of milk, and 1-2 boxes of poptarts. As for the rest I'm not sure how much I buy or where it all goes but it seems like we are always out of food. DD 14 mo, can't be eating that much?!

Another family that doesn't eat a lot of veggies. No body really likes them, including dh & I. I know we should eat them, but we don't.

 

[Mishetta]

Don't tell me I'm the only one who has kids that pretend they are dinosaurs eating trees when they eat fresh Broccoli??? (I guess, whatever works, huh??)

 

[Chattyaholic]

FOJMO: I'm curious to know WHY you would be curious to know why she would post the question??? Isn't that what the board is for, to post a variety of questions and get a variety of answers in return? Duh.....

I, for one, find this thread interesting. It's interesting to see what other folks buy!!

My DSIL's family numbered 7 when he lived at home and for EACH meal they would go through a gallon of milk, that's 21 GALLONS in ONE WEEK!!! I found THAT very interesting!!!

I don't shop weekly as it's just DH and myself home now, but I think I average about $200 a month. I'm not big on cooking, and we do eat out some too. We only use about one loaf of bread per week, and sometimes not even that so it molds....maybe a gallon of milk a week as we basically just use it on cereal. I'm dieting so buy several "Lean Cuisine" meals each week, and for DH he's easy to please and will eat just about anything I put in front of him.