Food Bill

[writersblock42]

So..today I flipped out on my husband because he spent too much at the grocery store. The food bill or grocery bill I should say is our second biggest expense (house is first). What is your weekly budget and for how many people and what is your trick to keeping the grocey bill down. Also say how many times you go out to eat in a month.

 

[natenapril]

I spend aprox 560 a month on groceries. We are a family of 5 and that includes diapers and dog food. I go to the store every two weeks.

My DH is has a similiar reaction to the bill so I sent him shopping instead and now of course he understands

 

[ben's disneymom]

We spend about $100 a week for a family of 4 (3 adults and on 10 year old).
But we shop at Super Walmart where the prices are way below regular grocery store chains.

 

[frannn]

This does not include lunch money for school for the teens, toiletries, or dry dog & cat food. We eat out once a week (mostly diner or buffet) and take in once a week (Wendy's, pizza, or chinese). I usually don't buy the best cuts of meat, but sometimes I catch a decent sale. It does include my lunch, as I eat and work at home.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I spend about $700 a month on groceries, including toiletries,diapers, cleaners, etc. Oh, and Dh's carton of cigarettes

We are a family of 2 adults and 5 kids.

I shop on the first and the 15th only, sometimes running in for milk or something I forgot, but usually we do pretty well with it.

Some of the things I do to help with costs are:
use coupons for things I normally buy (usually saves approx. $50 per month),
shop with a list,
plan my meals,
plan at least two meatless meals per week,
avoid buying frozen/convenience foods
buy meat that is marked down
check out the dented cans section
leave the kids and dh at home whenever possible

We eat out about once every 3 months (that includes ordering pizza)

 

[Plantlady]

We spend 50 per week, that doesn't include pet food, but does include toiletries (pet food is 25 a month). We are a family of five.

95% of our meals are vegetarian, I think that makes a difference.

Meals are planned around what the grocery stores have advertised on sale. I shop at Aldi first, to see if their prices are cheaper than the sales, and go to the sale stores if needed.

I buy fruits and veggies that are in season. I shop once a week, using a list that is created for the meals I am fixing for that upcoming week. I stick to the list. Breakfast is either cereal or eggs. I pack the kids' lunches (they get one school lunch a week, that is a different budget though).

We don't have soda in our house, no chips, no cookies, very little snack foods. Those are the items that kill my budget. I make most foods from scratch, staying away from the boxed meals that are not economical (nor as healthy). I have about 14 -21 meals that I rotate through, to try not to create too much boredom in our "cheap" meals.

As far as the OP, I can't let my DH do the shopping, or he would triple the amount that I spend easily. In fact, he'll ask for things.. like calamari (sp?) olives... I priced them, and they were $6. I told him, it just wouldn't be happening.

If you go to http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com she has some very economical meals, and presents a $45 a week meal plan, that you can start from scratch, and buy everything needed for the meals.

Edited: We don't eat out very much. Maybe once a month. (although my 5 year old and I like to frequent mcdonalds after his preschool.. that money comes from a different budget as well)

 

[momto2inKC]

I spend between $150-200 a week for 2 adults, 2 kids (9 &7). We rarely eat at at restaurants, and maybe once a week eat fastfood for a lunch or dinner. This also includes lunch stuff for my son, as he takes his lunch to school. My daughter eats at school, so that's about $8 a week. Pet foods are not included, and that runs about $70 or so a month.

 

[kellia]

We are a family of 5, plus I have 3 daycare kids I feed. We spend about $150/wk on food/toiletries/cat/etc. We eat out 1 or 2 times a month, fast food.

I shop at Aldi for everything I can, meat and frozen veggies from Sam's club, Super Walmart for anything else, and of couse watch for the loss leaders and stock up when they go on sale.

Dh is not allowed to shop with me, he's worse than the kids! Plus, I can easily say no to the kids, him I feel the need to give in to!

 

[branv]

We spend a ton on food and it's just for 2 adults. We budget $100 week for groceries and $80/wk for dining out, though sometimes we go over on dining out and under on groceries. One of the reasons my grocery budget is so high is that we go to one of those make your meal places. Because it's just the two of us, we get the 6 serving meals split into 2 three-serving meals (DH and I will each have a serving at night, and he'll eat the 3rd serving for lunch). That way we get 24 nights/days of main dishes for about $220. Sounds like a lot, but we actually save money b/c otherwise we'd eat out even more...I really don't like to cook. So now we eat home all week, until Friday night when I go off the cooking clock until Sunday night (well, I might make the occasional breakfast or sandwich )

 

[wardfamily1]

I spend $70 a week on a family of 4. I shop at Aldi-look on the internet, there may be one near you. It is a German company that has and has been expanding over the U.S. the last few years. They sell their own brand of products, and I have never bought anything from them that seemed 'substandard'.

We usually go out to dinner once a month and spend about $30 when we go. WE go to the generic family sit-down place down the road.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

We go to Save-A-lot and a "damaged" grocery store. I also plan our meals for two weeks at a time. Try the site www.couponmom.com they list the best deals by state as well as all the drugstores. Minus the cat's food, for the two of us our bi-weekly grocery bill this week was 84.78. We only eat out on pay-day . It makes payday all the more special.

 

[trulygoofy]

We are a family of 7 and I usually spend $650 on groceries a month. This includes dog food, cleaning supplies and paper products. We go out to eat at a restaurant (not fast food) about once a week or once every two weeks. It is something we enjoy doing, and we use restaurant.com coupons. The 7 of us ate at a nice place last night for $22 including tip because of the $25 coupon. We get water because drinks for 7 really adds up. We eat fast food about once every two weeks.

 

[feedindy]

We are a family of 5 plus a dog, cat and ferret. I spend approximately $400 on food, diapers, cleaning supplies and toiletries. We rarely go out to eat at higher priced restaurants, but we do tend to pick up drive thru once a week or so. That's not included in the budget, but we've really been trying to cut it down lately anyway.

I am lucky to live in an area where the grocery stores double coupons. I save a lot by stocking up on items we use when they are both on sale and I have a coupon! I buy whatever meat and produce happens to be on sale and plan my meals accordingly.

My grocery budget is about to go up drastically as my 3 children were recently put on a gluten free diet. OTOH, I already buy a lot of fresh foods that are naturally gluten free so it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[MommaPooh]

We spend around $75 a week. Now we are a family of 4 and the two kids (age 11 and 13) are adult eaters and they have not eaten off of a kiddie menu since they were around 8 or 9 since no one ever believed us when we said they were only 8 or 9. They are often mistaken for being much older than they are. Plus our grocery budget includes our pets' food. We have a wemarainer(sp?)/lab mix, Jack Russell, two cats and a rabbit -so lots of pet food. We only eat out maybe two meals a month. DH makes his own lunch everyday and takes it to work. As well as all of his snack and sodas are bought in bulk at the grocery store and left in his office at work - so all of his food comes from the grocery budget - and a couple of dollars a day is not wasted by getting soda from the soda machine. We are homeschooled so the kids eat all meals from home. Basically we fix 3 meals a day for 30 days - minus the one or two times we eat out. The kids almost never eat sandwiches for lunch. It is almost always a hot meal.
A couple of my keys to keeping the budget in line are:
***I buy and stock up when things are on sale and combine coupons to make many things free or next to free. For example: Malt-O-Meal cereals go one sale every nine weeks as a b1g1 at one of our grocery stores. The price of the b1g1 is $2.09 - combine that with M-O-M coupons for 50 cents off that double to a dollar off, use one coupon for each box of cereal I ony pay 9 cents for two boxes of cereal. But add to that the $2 I paid for the 40 coupons (from ebay) and I got 40 boxes of cereal for $5.60. Yes, we will eat all of this. It was bought in October and none will expire until August - by then it will be long gone and I will have already restocked. I do this with many things, not just cereal. When sandwich meat is on sale, we use the coupons, stock it up and freeze it.
***I always go to Sam's and get meats in bulk that have been marked down for quick sale - hamburger meat for 99 cents a pound for 90/10. Boneless skinless chicken breat for $1.50 a pound. Roast for less than $2 a pound. Now I do not eat meat, so I only have to buy meat for three, but I do get soy meatless products for myself. Rice & pasta are bought in bulk. I am not paying $2.99 for a pound of ten-minute rice when for $5.68 I can get twelve pounds of rice that really only takes about twenty minutes to cook. (plus I cook it in mass quantites, divide and freeze it). The same is true for pasta. Noodles vary from $1 lb to $2lb depending on the type. I get penne pasta for $3.88 for 6 lbs and spagetti for $2.88 for 6lbs. Again, I cook it all at once, divide and freeze.
***I do not ever pay for any health and beauty aids by taking advantage of manufactures rebates, store rebates and combining coupons with sales. This saves us a huge amount on our monthly budget. For example: August of 2005 I ran up on a deal where with my coupons I got Soft Soap body wash for free - needless to say I purchased close to 65 bottles. A year and a half later I still have nearly 20 left. I have done the same with deodorant, shampoo, Purell, conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouse, hairspray and mouthwash, lotion. When I do weekly shopping I do not set foot in the H&B section - no need to.
***If it is cheaper to buy store brand, get it. I love coupons, but I am not going to pay a dollar more for an item just to save a quarter with my coupon.
***Know your prices. Make a price book that has the items you buy and the regular prices of them listed. This way when the grocery sale papers come out you can compare and see what is really a good deal and what is worth going and stocking up on. Personally it is not worth driving ten miles to save twenty-five cents on one item. But if there were several items on sale at that store, making it worth the drive, I would go.
***Make a coupon book. I use a three ring binder with the plastic sheets (like the ones that hold baseball cards - 9 slots to a page size). I divide each section of the book up like canned goods, breads, frozen foods, deserts, cereal, medicines etc....and organize the coupons accordingly. This makes for easy access and viewing. I took an envelope and taped it to my binder, it is where I put the coupons I am using as I pull them out of their slot while I shop. I also have another envelope that I put on the coupons I find at the grocery store (wine tags, coupon machines, etc..).

I guess I could have a made a long story short by saying that the way we keep our grocery budget low is to buy when its on sale, combine sales with coupons, know your grocery store's typical sale cycle, stock up if its a great deal, do the rebates, and take advantage of buying in bulk.

Sorry this is so long - I just love to share was to save money - a sad hobby of mine.

 

[kilee]

We are a family of 3 (1 being a teenager). I typically spend about $75/wk. This would include the dog's food, tolietries, basically everything. Our local grocery store always doubles coupons up to $0.99. Then it seems about once a month they triple coupons up to $0.99 and once every 5-6 wks they do a double $1.00 coupon week. I really stick to shopping the sales w/ my coupons.

We do eat out usually twice a week for big meals. Just today I got really good coupon deals, example--

Scrubbing Bubbles Bath Cleaner- on sale $1.88- I had a $1.00/1 coupon- got it for $0.88.

All General Mills Cereal was buy 4 save $6.00- Then I had 2 coupons for saving $1.00 on 2 boxes. Then I had a store printed coupon (At our grocery store- it's a Giant chain- you can use the store coupon and the manufacturers coupon on the same item) for $1.50 off 3 boxes. So, I bought 4 boxes of cereal and saved $9.50 off them. They averaged $1.28 a pc.

Same thing happend w/ Vaseline lotion--- it was on sale 2 for $5.00. I had 2 store coupons for $1.00 off 1 and 2 manuf. coupons for $1.00 off 1. So, I got each lotion for $0.50 each.

My last good one today was International Delight Coffee Creamer- it was on sale 2 for $3.00. I had a $0.75 off 1 coupon- which they'll double (since it's under $.99). So, I only bought the 1, but it turned out free. I also got 2 packs of dog treats free today too. They were on sale 2 for $2.00 and I had 2 $1.00 off 1 coupons.

I usually average $25.00 in coupons a week. So, that takes down our budget by almost 1/4.

 

[MommaPooh]

Our local grocery store always doubles coupons up to $0.99. Then it seems about once a month they triple coupons up to $0.99 and once every 5-6 wks they do a double $1.00 coupon week.

I wish our stores doubled up to $0.99. We only get doubles to $0.50 and a triple is unheard of. You are so lucky!!! I am jealous!!!

 

[2angelsinheaven]

We go to Save-A-lot and a "damaged" grocery store. I also plan our meals for two weeks at a time. Try the site www.couponmom.com they list the best deals by state as well as all the drugstores. Minus the cat's food, for the two of us our bi-weekly grocery bill this week was 84.78. We only eat out on pay-day . It makes payday all the more special.

I know it's asking alot but do you mind sharing what meals/foods you bought for that. We are just 2 as well and I end up spending atleast 60-70 a week. Would love to know what you guys are doing it would help me out a ton!

 

[DaisyD]

I spend probably $400 a week on food. We also eat or order out at least once a week. There are 5 of us in the house but one is a teenage boy. He accounts for half of that bill!

 

[texasthree]

I spend about $80 a month at the commissary on Meat only. I grocery shop at super walmart once a week and spend about $100 per week. We eat fast food once a week and at a restraunt once a week. All together we spend about $600 a month on food. I didnt realize it was so high! I need to cut back or coupon clip better. That does include dog food, cleaning supplies, my husbands razors(about $8 a week!) and all my sons and husbands lunches for school and work.

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

We spend around 110 a week for groceries, and usually eat out once. There are five of us in the house. Can I ask where everyone gets there coupons, our local paper has some on Sunday, but I am lucky to get 2.00 off a week.