Food Bill

[becca011906]

We spend $250 a month that is it, NO more i refuse to... i only go to the store 1time a month, then once a week for milk, ect. we do get WIC

First i make all food from scratch, no boxed about anything... i do buy bread but from a discount bread store for .49 a loaf and freeze it for the month.
We also feed 2 dogs 1 bag of 50# dog food a month, plus some scraps when they are lucky.

Also this in included tolit baby, laundry soap, shampoo, body soap.
I don't buy disposable ANYTHING NO diapers, NO plates, NO napkins, NO paper towls, NO swifter mop heads, NO dusting things, NO paper cups, NONE.
All these things i have replacments that i can wash.

My oldest eats breakfast and lunch at school every day for $20 a month(reduced ). My 4 y/o eats breakfast and lunch 4 days a week at school for free.

I shop at sams for tide, soap, dog food, water softner salt, and TP.
I shop at Save a Lot or aldies for dried goods, fruit and veggies.
I shop at a local butcher shop for meats .69 # for chicken legs/or whole chickens, 1.40 for breasts, .99 for # of hamberger, 2.00 # of roasts.
I go to walmart for whatever i don't get.
I get bread at the bread store for $5.00 the whole month worth.
My dh does eat our often for his job, he's an office that works 12hour shifts, he gets a discount most all places he eats.
If we are asked over to my inlaws, my moms, my grandparetns, friends house, ect we ALWAYS GO!!! (of course the favor is returned )

We don't order out but MAYBE 1-2 times a month. fast food, carry out, or pizza, ect.

And that's how i feed a family of 5, 2 dogs for less then $300 a month.... ok how about $400 if we didn't get wic and reduced luches...

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I have absolutely no idea how much i spend on food, and there are 3 of us, sometimes 4. If I were to guess, probably $100 to $150 a week in groceries, and perhaps $50-$75 dining out.

I should keep track for a month and see...

 

[kydisneyfans]

I budget about 40 a week on food and toiletries. We eat out 2 times plus have the school lunch money for the child.

We use Meijer triple coupons to stock up when they offer them, usually once a month. Most of our budget is fresh food, in season fruits, fresh meats, etc.

Toiletries are usually free at CVS with using extrabucks.

The key is to stock up on an item you usually use when on sale. Last weekend, Meijer offered a 5.00 certificate when you spend 25.00 (pre coupon) off of the purchase this week. I broke the order into 4-25.00 orders, spent 49.00 after coupons, and have 20.00 to spend this week.

Some recent stock up items:
Kelloggs cereal-1.12 a box with 1.00 off coupons on the box=.12 a box.
Muellers Pasta-half price, found 3.00 off 5 pasta coupons=free
Act mouthwash/reach toothbrushes-3.57 each-used 5-2.00 off coupons, plus received 8.00 off with a Meijer promo-paid pennies for mouthwash and brushes.
Healthy Choice frozen meals-half off plus the 50 cent off 3 coupon doubled, less than 50 cents each.

My freezer is stuffed, cupboards full, and the under the sink storage area is bursting full of unused items-on an average of 40 a week.

Also take advantage of rebates offered by the beer companies, some states do not require a beer purchase, KY is one of those. Look for tearpads at your grocery store for details.

Wal mart does not have tearpads-I only go there to price comp an item from stores I do not shop at.

 

[Misty89]

we are a family of 4, 2 a's + 2 dd's ages 15 and 7.
I do not have a set amount, I do things a little diffferent than some, I get paid every two weeks,( partime) so after the auto loan, and any other bills are paid, i take what is left and buy food.....most times around $75.00. I shop at aldi's for grocery items and veggies, walmart for toiletries & pet food, and a chain market for meats. We do not eat gourmet for sure, Hot dogs/ lasana, lots of ground beef recipes with some chicken for good measure LOL
Sometimes if there is extra $$, that is spent also....so it changes often. I also cook 98% of our meals, we go out to eat on rare occasions like birthdays or if I am willing to spend the money. My motto is = 1 meal out is 3 meals at home. We are living a very furgal life.

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

Our grocery budget is 460.00 a month (or 115. per week) We are a family of 5. We eat out/order in maybe once or twice a month. This budget includes everything; toiletries, paper products, dog food etc. My two youngest are home by lunch time each day, so this includes lunch for us at home. My oldest is allowed to buy lunch at school twice a week, the other three days, I pack it.

The only way I can stick to my budget is to meal plan, make a list and shop from that.

I do have to add; during wrestling season I may go over budget just a few dollars some weeks. My sons wrestle on Sat or Sun each week. The match is an all day affair. I have to pack breakfast and lunch for the entire family. Foods that can be eaten on the go tend to be a little more expensive than what I would buy to serve at home.

 

[golden1]

Wow! I can never get over how cheaply people buy food. I really hate cooking. I probably spend $150-200 a week for a family of 4, 2 adults and a preschooler and toddler. That included household goods and everything. I do buy convenience foods, but in a lot of cases, I think it saves me money. I would rather buy a $5 frozen pizza than pay $10 for a take out one. I suppose I could make one for $3 from scratch but like I said, I hate cooking. We don't buy steaks or lobster and shop at the cheapest grocery store in the area. I am not good with coupons and forget them a lot of times. I hardly ever go out to eat, maybe once a month and my dh brings his lunch from home.

 

[Skatermom23]

I spend about $600 a month on normal food items and another $100-200 in Costco for water and extra bulk stuff. This is for a a family of 4 with 2 teens. Some months we spend more, but never less..

 

[mlwear]

I have absolutely no idea how much i spend on food, and there are 3 of us, sometimes 4. If I were to guess, probably $100 to $150 a week in groceries, and perhaps $50-$75 dining out.

I should keep track for a month and see...

Me too -- I can't give a good figure. I don't budget $X for groceries. I should, but it varies so much. I buy what I need. Sometimes I stock up, esp. if there is a good sale. Other times, I use what I have on stock and supplement here and there.
My boys 9 and nearly 12 have really pushed my bill up in the last year. I knew it would increase as they got older, but not by this much. Those "family size" things usually don't cut it. Now, I make two and have some leftovers.
My bill is less if I have planned out meals and made a list. Otherwise, I am constatly running to the store or we end up eating out. That is my best advice.
Eating out: I am trying to get it under control. We don't like fast food, so we don't do drive thrus very often. But, darn that Applebees carside to go. It is just too easy. We are getting better and going out to sit down Chilis, Red Lobster type places once every two weeks. I bought two certificates from restaurant.com to places we like at 60% off, so I am hoping that helps.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Apparently I am doing something way wrong! We are a family of 5 (soon to be 6! ) and I spend at least $1000. a month on food! The only eating out we really do is the occassional pizza or McDonald's for lunch. Once in a while we will go to a family restaurant or the diner. I used to be great woth coupons and I admit I have been slacking a bit, but even with coupons, I still spend alot. There are no coupons for meat and we like variety. I do buy what's on sale, and we have a freszzer so I can stock up. I also buy alot of fresh fruit and veggies. We are not a huge snack family or prepared food eaters. I buy store brand on alot of things but homestly I have no idea how to cut our food bill any more!

 

[AlleyKat]

I spend probably $400 a week on food.

 

[Microcell]

I am gonna have a heart attack here! I spend $60.00 a week on food, toiletries, cat food and I am stockpiling 12 weeks out. That is for a family of four! Please for the love of God go, right now to www.thegrocerygame.com !!! Register at the message board (for free) and look around. They have a 4 week trial of "Teri's List". Some prices I normally pay:

No more than 80 cents for a dozen eggs
hamburger no more than 1.19 a pound
Bread, buns no more than 70 cents
Apple Juice- no more than a dollar for 64 ounces, sometimes I have gotten it free
Sanitary Napkins (or tampons) free since I started the game in July
fruit snacks usually between 50 cents and 1 dollar for name brand
Spaghetti sauce between 50 cents and 75 cents a jar
Shampoo- Pantene free to 75 cents a bottle, Sunsilk free

At target I have gotten these deals: Taco mix free, taco shells 29 cents, sour cream free, taco chips they paid me 50 cents to take home, Goldfish crackers- free, Motts Apple Juice 25 cents for a 64 oz bottle...

I could go on and on! Check it out!

 

[lovemygoofy]

We are a family of 2 adults and I shop twice a month. My total is usually around $100, especially now that we don't buy cigs and that includes toiltries and a trip to Sams. We eat out maybe once or twice a week. It used to be alot more with our hours but we are determined to do better.

I sit down ahead of time and make my calendar menu. I have a big dry erase board in my kitchen that lists the days and the menus. Sometimes they get switched around mid week because of late night hours or hectic schedules. After I make my calendar for two weeks then I make sure there are recipes for all the dinners and put them together in one place so Matt can start dinner if he gets home ahead of me. During the week, we seldom make anything that is difficult or takes more than an hour to make. I really really make use of my crockpot and make two or three meals in it a week.

I also do not buy soda but we do like juice, particularly v-8 for him and tropicana apple juice light for me which isn't cheap. I buy a carton of ice cream or stuff to make a cake and it has to last the two weeks or when it's gone it's gone. This is the same for any chips or snack food we eat. I buy at least one week of fresh fruit and veggies and then we switch to either can or frozen fruit and veggies. I personally hate can veggies and find the frozen much more fresh.

At Sam's I buy the big box of small cans of fruit that can be thrown in a bag or lunch bag and I buy the big box of granola bars for the same reason. Essentially if we run out of something besides milk before the two weeks is up then thats just too bad.

 

[drcmk]

WOW i can't believe how much some people spend on food budget, we spend $250 a month that is it,
If we are asked over to my inlaws, my moms, my grandparetns, friends house, ect we ALWAYS GO!!!
We don't order out but MAYBE 1-2 times a month.

Well, we spend about $200 per week for four of us (two adults, two elementary school kids) with no pets. That is just food. We have a separate budget for cleaning supplies/toiletries, etc. We also budget about $70 per week to eat out, but we go over a lot. We definitely plan our meals a week ahead of time (including our meals out) and make a list with very little impulse buying. But we like to buy organic eggs, produce and meat and that is pricey. Also my kids pack their lunches every day. We don't qualify for any reduced lunch/breakfast programs or WIC or anything like that.

We like to eat out and we try to choose new and interesting restaurants, rarely fast food. Eating out together is kind of a hobby and it is as much "entertainment" as "food." We don't spend much on entertainment, per se.

I guess I am at a different stage of life than you are. We are more likely to invite our elderly parents to our house for meals (at least twice per week) than to get invited out and we host most family holidays/parties at our house.

 

[kfeuer]

OP, here's my saving tip--don't send your DH to the grocery store
My DH is the same way! He offers to go in the spirit of helpfulness (which I truly appreciate), but he likes to go to the most expensive grocery store and just buy whatever catches his eye without regard to price. I just found a receipt from this weekend, he went to the store just to get some lunch fixings and ended up spending $28

You've gotten some great suggestions already, it's not easy changing habits but cutting most grocery bills is definitely doable. Good luck!

 

[HelenePA]

ugh I spend about 175$ a week on stuff but that includeds everything diapers/paperstuff/cleaning... that is for 3 adults and 3 kids. And i save about 12$ a week in coupons... wish it could be more but most of the stuff I buy never has coupons

 

[kellia]

WHERE do you guys get these coupons? Our Kroger doubles them up to (and including) $1, so once in a great while I get a good deal, but I only get the Sunday paper and never see that many great coupons, if I do, there's only one of them.

Help, please! I've tried some of the online coupons, but never really found any that had stuff 'normal' people buy! LOL!

 

[crjack]

Wow! I can never get over how cheaply people buy food. I really hate cooking. I probably spend $150-200 a week for a family of 4, 2 adults and a preschooler and toddler. That included household goods and everything. I do buy convenience foods, but in a lot of cases, I think it saves me money. I would rather buy a $5 frozen pizza than pay $10 for a take out one. I suppose I could make one for $3 from scratch but like I said, I hate cooking. We don't buy steaks or lobster and shop at the cheapest grocery store in the area. I am not good with coupons and forget them a lot of times. I hardly ever go out to eat, maybe once a month and my dh brings his lunch from home.

Golden1, my bill is slightly higher than yours for the same size family, and that's with me doing better than in the past, so I have often wondered the same thing with food bill posts.

One thing though that I think makes a difference is the region we live in. Here in Boston there are no Aldis, Wegmans (never even heard of these store before these boards) we have one small Walmart near us and finally Target is opening more stores in MA.

The cost of living impacts everything and I think the rent the stores pay, wages, etc. has an impact on our stores and the prices. We do have BJ's and Costco somewhat nearby but I often dont have time to go to different stores for one or two items so I buy at one supermarket.

For those of you that use so many different stores, how do you juggle that? Are you always stocking up so it's never a matter of running out?

 

[Natalie77]

We have been spending $150 a week for a family of five. Just recently I have joined the grocerygame and am now going to make a very strong effort to reduce this bill. I think where we get into trouble is that we have plenty of food but just don't want to eat what we have. I guess you could say we are a bit spoiled. No more, I am going to try to fix all of our meals for the mext month. Even when it seems that we don't have anything to eat, we almost always have eggs. I am going to make breakfast for dinner more. Oh and I forgot that I just started ordering Angelfood(will pickup on the 27th), so I am hoping this helps as well!

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I spend about $400 a week for 6 3 adults 3 kids. We have no reasonable stores around here and the Aldi's / Sava lots in the state are in bad areas where I will not go. We eat out maybe 2x's a month and thats fast food. DH packs his lunch. I do stock up on meats, etc at BJ's but we really don't eat that much meat. I admit to being brand loyal. My kids only get Juicy Juice and we buy Boars Head cold cuts. Name brand cookies and cereal as well. Food quality is the one thing I won't comprimise on just to save a bit. I wish I could but I just can't.

 

[funnygarcia]

I always find this type of posts interesting. I do not have a set amount of a food budget.
Some weeks I spend only $40 (bare essentials of milk, bread, eggs, and a bit of meat OR find really great deals at Super Target), other times I stock up on a good sale and spend $100 (fresh produce, big stock up on frozen vegies, snack food splurge).

There are weeks where we don't shop at all due to stock pile and wanting to save money for other things.

I just got back into couponing. Right now I am in stockpile mode so costs are a bit higher, spent $100 - GASP- last week due to sale deals and wanting produce.
This week will likely be cheap-- no produce, use coupons for free stuff.