Family of three how much should it cost

[redsonja76]

These days with soos much consolidation in the food industry, every brand of a product may actually come out of the same plant, and be identical. You have to be very careful because a high price may have no relationship to any difference in quality.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant, I buy the organic produce for at least the dirty dozen, and we buy a LOT of produce because we are trying to eat healthier. We eat very little boxed/bagged/canned food because it just isn't good for you. We buy minimally processed meat as locally as possible. I get my eggs from backyard chickens, I get my milk delivered from a local dairy. Local, local, local. And also minimally processed. Those are my first and foremost. But truth be told, I absolutely have a bag of lays potato chips and some candy corn in my cupboard, shhhhh don't tell!

 

[tvguy]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant, I buy the organic produce for at least the dirty dozen, and we buy a LOT of produce because we are trying to eat healthier. We eat very little boxed/bagged/canned food because it just isn't good for you. We buy minimally processed meat as locally as possible. I get my eggs from backyard chickens, I get my milk delivered from a local dairy. Local, local, local. And also minimally processed. Those are my first and foremost. But truth be told, I absolutely have a bag of lays potato chips and some candy corn in my cupboard, shhhhh don't tell!

I don't seek out organic produce, but so little of the produce anymore isn't organic, I'm sure I eat a lot more than I know.
I'm addicted to unsalted potato chips...and yes, there is a bag of candy corn on my kitchen table, a gift from a friend.

 

[scrapquitler]

Grab a cart and do the shopping, all of it. Yes all of it and you will see what its like. You might want to take your wife so when you faint, so she can tell the paramedics what happened... If they are women you might just get left in the aisle.... I really don't understand how you can make a decision, or a comment when you are not full aware of the cost of things.

About a year after DH and I got married, he made a similar comments and judgments, so he went with me, 1st to walmart for cleaning supplies, laundry supplies, personal care items, and a few grocery i.e.: Gatorade, bottled water, soda. While there he did get what's on the list and he added in several things that weren't on the list. he did looked shocked at the total, but he did not say anything... I never said a word. After that we hit the local produce stand which we both agreed that fresh is best, got the list and extras, again not a word. Then to the grocery store, on the ride over there he was like we aren't through yet, I said nope. So again he had the list, he did very good, but he threw in items, that he wanted to try, and lots of extras. When the cashier told us the total, he looked completely shocked, sorta green and pale all at the same time, so we checked out and headed home, he added up what he had spent at all three stops, and it was about 75 dollars more than what I normally spent.


I did have quite a lot of coupons for that trip, that we used at Wal-mart and at the grocery store... so without those more like 100 dollars.

You need to get a education on the cost of everything before you make a assumption...

Amen! My husband always tells me that I must be doing something wrong when I grocery shop, because there's no way food could cost so much.

But the last time he ever tried to do a week worth of grocery shopping was when we were in college (in the 80s). He thinks that bread is 50c a loaf, hot dogs $1 pack, milk $1.50 a gallon, hamburger 99c/lb, bananas 29c/lb. I took him to the store one day and showed him: bread $1.50 a loaf for the store brand that he doesn't like because it's not good enough. Hot dogs $4.49 pack for the all beef ones he likes. Milk $4.29 a gallon, hamburger over $5/lb. Then I showed him all the extras he likes: chips $3 a bag, Oreos $2.50 if if they are on sale, etc. And I didn't throw all his 'extras' in the cart. Like your husband, he looked like he was going to pass out at the register.

Now he never complains about the cost of groceries anymore.

 

[sksjasams]

But the last time he ever tried to do a week worth of grocery shopping was when we were in college (in the 80s). He thinks that bread is 50c a loaf, hot dogs $1 pack, milk $1.50 a gallon, hamburger 99c/lb, bananas 29c/lb.

Just wanted to share, I paid $1.59 for a gallon of skim milk at Aldi on Sunday! Almost a 1980's price Not organic, but it has no growth hormones...

 

[angierae]

I'm currently budgeting $100 a week for two of us, although I'm trying to get that down by stocking my pantry when things are on sale. My goal is to get it down to $75/week by the end of the year, we'll see how I do. That's breakfast, lunch and dinner for me, and sometimes two meals at home for DH and sometimes three (he's a sportswriter so on nights he covers games they feed him at the arena.)

I buy family packs of meat and split it up and freeze it. Right now I can get ground beef for $3.99/pound ($2.99/lb for a higher fat%, I use that on stuff where I'm going to drain it, like tacos) (Oh, how I long for when it was cheaper) so I buy 3-6# at a time and split it up into 1# and 1.5# freezer bags. That holds me until I can catch it on sale again.

 

[havaneselover]

Just wanted to share, I paid $1.59 for a gallon of skim milk at Aldi on Sunday! Almost a 1980's price Not organic, but it has no growth hormones...

Yep. I pay < $2 at Kroger. It's the eggs that are killing me though.

 

[Dashzap]

Family of 3 includes two teen boys. Suburb of Chicago and spend about $200/week for all meals, toiletries, paper goods, housewares, etc.

 

[Marionnette]

Just wanted to share, I paid $1.59 for a gallon of skim milk at Aldi on Sunday! Almost a 1980's price Not organic, but it has no growth hormones...

Pennsylvania has minimum prices for milk. The very least that a gallon of nonfat milk can retail for is $3.44 for the zone that I live in. For my brother (who lives in a different zone across the state) the minimum is $3.20. That includes 7-11, Aldi and Acme alike. This is what I mean by prices varying widely from one area to another for the very same thing. 24¢ for a gallon of milk doesn't seem like much, but that's just one routine grocery item. There's no way that I could ever find milk for less without driving far out of state (stores along the borders tend to charge just under the prevailing rate in their PA competitors).

 

[sksjasams]

Pennsylvania has minimum prices for milk. The very least that a gallon of nonfat milk can retail for is $3.44 for the zone that I live in. For my brother (who lives in a different zone across the state) the minimum is $3.20. That includes 7-11, Aldi and Acme alike. This is what I mean by prices varying widely from one area to another for the very same thing. 24¢ for a gallon of milk doesn't seem like much, but that's just one routine grocery item. There's no way that I could ever find milk for less without driving far out of state (stores along the borders tend to charge just under the prevailing rate in their PA competitors).

That's too bad...I never heard of that for milk. In Wisconsin, we have the minimum mark up law for gasoline. Plus, we also have some law that items can not be sold below cost...which negatively affects Black Friday here. Our Walmart BF ad is different for some items than nationally.

 

[potterfanatic]

We have a huge mark up on milk at our local supermarkets. Our milk goes for $4.89 a gallon! If we drive into the next state (45 miles) we can get it for $2.20. We like to make a big box store trip in that state once a month and get as much milk as we can fit.

 

[tvguy]

We have a huge mark up on milk at our local supermarkets. Our milk goes for $4.89 a gallon! If we drive into the next state (45 miles) we can get it for $2.20. We like to make a big box store trip in that state once a month and get as much milk as we can fit.

Yeah, milk prices drive me crazy. Our local grocery store OWNS their dairy, so no middleman. Their milk is nearly $1 a gallon more than Walmart, and Walmart buys from a distributor, not the dairy direct.

 

[1983DisneyFanatic]

I'm also from South Jersey and I spend between $150-$200 per week. I don't purchase toiletries or cleaning supplies from the grocery store. I go to BJ's once a month on top of weekly grocery store trips and spend an additional $300 or more. We are a family of six, though.