Grocery Budget for 2 - How are we doing?

[loveshak22]

Like many people, I am starting out 2014 with a budget! We are usually really good at saving but we bought a house in May 2013 and we've not been so good building our savings back up. So I'm going to tighten our budget where we can.

I've set our grocery budget at $150 a week and we usually hit that. We are two adults, we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies as well as meats. We get some junk food but not a ton (crackers, chips, coke). We also have a weekly allowance and we use that to probably order pizza once a week, get lunch out at work occasionally, and eat out once a week. We try to make the grocery budget cover breakfast, snacks, lunch (most days), and dinner 5 nights. I feel lucky when we hit our goal but in the back of my head I feel like this is a huge grocery bill for two people?? Out of curiosity I thought I'd get opinions from the budget board experts!!

If it matters we have a separate house supply/toiletry budget which is about $100 a month on average. I usually go to Target once every 3 months and load up on supplies and it costs between $200-$300.

I'd love to coupon and I've tried but it never works for me. I might save $10 for a couple hours of coupon hunting. There usually aren't coupons on meat, fruits, and veggies. Maybe I should try again for at least our household supply shopping. For me though, time is money so unless I can save a decent amount couponing doesn't pay off.

Thanks for thoughts on this!!

 

[happymommy]

I find that it helps to focus first of all on shopping at one or two main stores. For me it's our local grocery chain (Giant in MD) and Costco. I see what meats and produce are going to be on sale, and then (in my ideal dream world, which may or may not exist depending...) plan meals around them. Most meat and produce, though, for my family, is cheaper at Costco (we eat a lot of fruit!).

Planning meals, making ahead and freezing (like on one Sunday afternoon making some things for the week) helps a lot! There are lots of websites to help with make ahead meals!

Don't underestimate using coupons. It depends, though, on if your state has stores that double. Here in Maryland they double up to 99 cents, so I can use them with much success. I also have friends that use CVS for their deals on toiletries with the extra care bucks - I just don't have time for that now though.

I think for 2 people, you could maybe shave some off that, but don't know how your stores are priced. Definitely making your own meals is less expensive than eating out, and usually healthier too!

 

[loveshak22]

I find that it helps to focus first of all on shopping at one or two main stores. For me it's our local grocery chain (Giant in MD) and Costco. I see what meats and produce are going to be on sale, and then (in my ideal dream world, which may or may not exist depending...) plan meals around them. Most meat and produce, though, for my family, is cheaper at Costco (we eat a lot of fruit!).

Planning meals, making ahead and freezing (like on one Sunday afternoon making some things for the week) helps a lot! There are lots of websites to help with make ahead meals!

Don't underestimate using coupons. It depends, though, on if your state has stores that double. Here in Maryland they double up to 99 cents, so I can use them with much success. I also have friends that use CVS for their deals on toiletries with the extra care bucks - I just don't have time for that now though.

I think for 2 people, you could maybe shave some off that, but don't know how your stores are priced. Definitely making your own meals is less expensive than eating out, and usually healthier too!

We live in DC so I'm guessing the prices are similar to MD. I don't know if they do the double couponing here but maybe I should look into that. We mainly shop at Safeway and Harris Teeter. I tend to think Safeway is a little cheaper but they don't have the sandwich meat we like and I don't want to make two trips so typically shop at Harris Teeter. I never look at sales ahead of time so maybe doing that will help. We're not picky eaters so that's a good idea to shop around what's on sale. We do cook some of our food in advance but we have been talking about doing that more frequently because when we get in trouble is when we come home tired and don't want to cook!

I need to look into Costco. Do you have to buy in bulk or pay an annual membership for Costco? Sorry if that is a dumb question!!

I have a CVS card and get the extrabucks but then always let them expire. Hmmmm...maybe I should spend February trying the couponing thing again and spend some time reviewing sales before shopping.

Thanks!

 

[Darcy03231]

I live in southern NH (just north of Boston) and I spend between $150-$200/wk for 7 adults and that includes all of our paper products and toiletries.

We also eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and meats. I rarely use coupons because even with coupons on brand name items I can buy the store brands for less. Our stores don't have double or triple coupons.

$150/wk for 2 people sounds high to me.

 

[HeatherC]

Seems high to me too. We are in MA so pretty high cost of living. We are a family of five with three teens. We spend between $150-175 a week. Everyone takes lunch from home every day as well and I cook dinner every night. We also eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I think you may be able to shave some off that amount for two people.

Good luck!

 

[njcarita]

we are a family of 5 plus 2 dogs and our budget is $100/wk...... i dont use coupons..... and cook from scratch and meal plan......... and our budget includes toiletries and paper products

 

[JillianMarie]

We're 2 and generally speaking we max out at $75 a week. We try to stay away from junk food and cook at home as much as we can. I've switched to shopping a lot more at our local co-op and that drives up the prices. When I was doing the couponing thing I think we were spending about $40. I personally can't imagine spending $150 on food every week - but we don't eat all that much meat either so I suppose that could make it more expensive.

 

[QVCshopper]

I also think your budget is high. We are a family of five in SE PA. We usually spend $80-100 one week and $30-50 the next. I do coupon fairly heavily, go to different stores (no more than 2-3 per week) and buy the loss leaders and cheap sale items. We only eat in season veggies and fruit, otherwise frozen, and I strictly buy boneless skinless chicken breast and ground beef, unless I find a good deal on soon to expire meat. I also just buy store brand (Wegmans) for everything unless on sale. We buy nothing that you drink beside coffee, milk/1/2 and 1/2, and juice boxes for kid lunches.

My cleaning products and toiletries are incredibly cheap. I stockpile from CVS and clean mostly with vinegar and water, with the exception of toilet bowl cleaner and magic erasers.

 

[Sadie22]

There are just two of us now, so I spend about half of what you do. I do not do a large shopping trip every week, although I may shop for perishables that often. I have to eat healthy since I am a type 2 diabetic.

Safeway tends to be one of the more expensive stores around here, although occasionally I will purchase lean ground beef and stew meat there. I tend to go there on Sunday afternoon because they will mark down packages that have a sell by date for that week. Last week I picked up about a dozen pounds of sliced deli meats at 75% off.

I mostly shop at ShopRite with the occasional trip to Wegman's. I check the sale ads (you can find them online and/or have them emailed to you and/or your store may have a smartphone app) and I shop the loss leaders and half-price sales on items I use as much as I can. I do a lot of batch cooking for the freezer. I stock up on staples, canned and jarred goods, cleaning supplies, frozen vegetables, chicken, fish, and turkey breasts on sale, with coupons if possible. I always a good variety of different items on hand. I keep the pantry and two freezers and the bathroom cupboards full.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Like many people, I am starting out 2014 with a budget! We are usually really good at saving but we bought a house in May 2013 and we've not been so good building our savings back up. So I'm going to tighten our budget where we can.

I've set our grocery budget at $150 a week and we usually hit that. We are two adults, we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies as well as meats. We get some junk food but not a ton (crackers, chips, coke). We also have a weekly allowance and we use that to probably order pizza once a week, get lunch out at work occasionally, and eat out once a week. We try to make the grocery budget cover breakfast, snacks, lunch (most days), and dinner 5 nights. I feel lucky when we hit our goal but in the back of my head I feel like this is a huge grocery bill for two people?? Out of curiosity I thought I'd get opinions from the budget board experts!!

If it matters we have a separate house supply/toiletry budget which is about $100 a month on average. I usually go to Target once every 3 months and load up on supplies and it costs between $200-$300.

I'd love to coupon and I've tried but it never works for me. I might save $10 for a couple hours of coupon hunting. There usually aren't coupons on meat, fruits, and veggies. Maybe I should try again for at least our household supply shopping. For me though, time is money so unless I can save a decent amount couponing doesn't pay off.

Thanks for thoughts on this!!

We are a family of 5. 2 adults, 2 year old, almost 5 and 9 year old. We also have 2 dogs and 2 cats. We have a budget of 240.00 every two weeks. We do not clip coupons but I do use MPerks. We shop at Meijers and Costco. We used to have a much smaller budget when we were trying to get out of debt. We buy fresh fruits, salads and vegetables along with various meats. We typically buy a meat of box that lasts a few months for 100.00. The meat comes from A Amish run store and has 10 Pds ground beef, 4 rib eyes, 4 porterhouse and 4 sirloin steaks.

We also buy 10 Pds of boneless skinless breasts, 3 pounds of salmon or tilapia, 2 pounds of shrimp and a pork loin (half for chops and half for roasts) we keep the meat on hand and that way we can rotate what purchase at any given point and do not have to buy it all at once from Costco.

 

[disny_luvr]

We are a family of four- two adults and seven-year-old twin boys. Our weekly budget for groceries and toiletries is $150 but I don't hit that every week. I went shopping yesterday and spent $106. I clip coupons and shop sales. We have a chest freezer so I buy meat when it is on sale. We eat lots of produce, too. DH and I rarely eat out for lunch and we typically eat out for dinner one time a week, depending on our schedule.

 

[blessedby3]

Your budget seems very high.
We are a family of 5, and I shop every 2 weeks. I make out a meal plan and make my list from that…and cut coupons.
I typically spend $250 for 2 weeks (so $125 for a week) on our family. This includes food, toiletries, paper goods, cat food, etc.

 

[Marionnette]

Like many people, I am starting out 2014 with a budget! We are usually really good at saving but we bought a house in May 2013 and we've not been so good building our savings back up. So I'm going to tighten our budget where we can.

I've set our grocery budget at $150 a week and we usually hit that. We are two adults, we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies as well as meats. We get some junk food but not a ton (crackers, chips, coke). We also have a weekly allowance and we use that to probably order pizza once a week, get lunch out at work occasionally, and eat out once a week. We try to make the grocery budget cover breakfast, snacks, lunch (most days), and dinner 5 nights. I feel lucky when we hit our goal but in the back of my head I feel like this is a huge grocery bill for two people?? Out of curiosity I thought I'd get opinions from the budget board experts!!

If it matters we have a separate house supply/toiletry budget which is about $100 a month on average. I usually go to Target once every 3 months and load up on supplies and it costs between $200-$300.

I'd love to coupon and I've tried but it never works for me. I might save $10 for a couple hours of coupon hunting. There usually aren't coupons on meat, fruits, and veggies. Maybe I should try again for at least our household supply shopping. For me though, time is money so unless I can save a decent amount couponing doesn't pay off.

Thanks for thoughts on this!!

We're pretty much empty-nesters. Our weekly budget is closer to $100 and we eat plenty of hearty grains, lean meats and fresh vegetables. I also stockpile sale items so that we don't necessarily "eat what's on sale" all week. I use my Foodsaver to vacuum seal and freezer meat that I get on sale and then rotate them. This week, boneless chicken breasts are on sale. Last week, it was eye of round. The week before, pork was on sale. You eventually get to know the sale cycles for your favorite grocery store and you just follow them.

I also use the Foodsaver when we clean up after dinner is over. I vacuum seal the leftovers and freeze them for an evening when I don't feel like cooking. Reducing waste is important to keeping the food budget in check.

I think that deli meats take a HUGE chunk out of a grocery budget. Why pay $10+/lb. for deli roast beef when an eye roast costs $4.99/lb? Or a boneless ham goes for $3.99/lb vs. $6.99/lb from the deli? We have a meat slicer for cutting down roasts and hams for sandwiches.

I also would not dismiss coupons. I have been able to find coupons for produce, dairy, chicken, fresh pork (not the marinated/flavored stuff) and eggs. You're not going to find coupons for every single thing that you buy, but you they are out there if you look hard enough!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We are a family of two and I spend $325 a month for grocery. I cook 5 nights, and the places we pick to eat out are cheaper, Cracker barrel or Bob Evans and on special occasions we go to TGIFridays, Red Robin or Chili's.

At least once a week we have breakfast for dinner. If I make spaghetti I make enough for left overs. The same thing with taco's.

I always coupon and it only take me 20 minutes on a Sunday to clip them. I shave about $20 - $25 off my bill weekly so that is almost $100 savings a month or $1200 a year! Not sure what it take OP hours to clip coupons

 

[KaLyn]

Seems high to me too. We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids, and we usually spend $75ish a week on food. I buy food for 2 weeks at a time and the cost is always $150-175.

 

[scrapquitler]

Your budget doesn't seem that high to me, but I think that the cost of groceries really depends on where you live. I see people posting prices of milk and meats here that seem WAY low to me, so maybe I'm just in an area that is more expensive for groceries.

We are a family of 4 (myself, DH, DD17 and DS10). They are all very picky eaters, but they eat a lot and I spend almost $200 per week, and we have an eating out budget on top of that (usually pizza 1X per week plus Mom and Dad eat out once on the weekend). I work in a group home and we shop for 4 adult males (3 meals & 1 snacks per day X7 days for them) and the budget is $200 and we are barely able to stay within that, and we shop at Walmart and buy virtually all store brand products.

I find that couponing isn't worth the time. I buy a lot of store brand things, and most coupons these days in my area seem to be $1.00 off a purchase of 2 or 3 of the items, so it won't be doubled because they only double up to 99c here.

I do usually buy multiples of whatever the loss leader happens to be, and I mostly buy the meat that is on sale or marked down because today is the sell by date. I have mostly stopped purchasing soda, and we use the soda stream when we want to drink soda. I do still buy about one 12 pack of diet coke each month, and I keep that at work for myself, it is my indulgence

 

[CopperWife]

I am glad you started this thread, OP. It's been eye opening to see what everyone is spending.

We are a family of four - 2 adults, one 10 year old and one 7 year old (and two Labrador retrievers that are included in our grocery budget) and I spend about $225 a week. I am trying to cut back to $200 max per week. I will admit that I do buy convenience items (bagged broccoli florets vs heads of broccoli, etc.) so I am trying to get away from that. I have also just recently signed up for Mperks through Meijer and will try to get back to couponing.

Good luck with your budget.

 

[loveshak22]

Wow!! I am so glad I asked! It looks our $150 a week plus $100 a month on toiletries/household good is way high compared to what other folks have posted.

I also have two dogs and their food/vet budget comes out of our miscellaneous budget. We usually buy their food/treats every 3 months (we buy 2-3 bags of food and treats at one time) and that cost is about $150! One of my dogs has food allergies though so there is only one store brand we can buy and on sale that is about $45 a bag. Plus we have to get specialty treats.

So...maybe I'll make it my goal to get to $125 a week and then down to $100 a week. I'm not sure where we're wasting though. I don't buy in bulk but will buy BOGO if it's something I'll use that won't go bad. We do end up throwing out extras so maybe the key is making enough of every meal to have leftovers and not have extra food in the house so we don't eat the leftovers.

This may be TMI but a weekly dinner plan looks something like this:
Sunday: Taco Salad
Tuesday: Baked chicken breast with veggies and salad
Wednesday: Order Pizza
Thursday: BBQ pork loin, veggies, salad
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: eat out

Lunches - sandwiches, fruit, veggies, yogurt, leftover

Breakfast - fruit, yogurt, eggs, toast

The extras we buy outside of the meal planning may be chips, crackers, coke, and condiments.

I usually stick to my list but I guess if I really think about it I probably buy more than I need for a week and then we end up throwing some out.

This month I will:
1. make realistic lists just for the food just for the week
2. plan leftovers for meals without "back-up" options that we make instead thereby leading to thrown out leftovers
3. Look at the sales at stores online to see where I might get the better deal each week
4. Look for some coupons (although not to the extent that I waste hours). I think this will really be helpful for non-food items. I bought some Zantac and Bengay today and that was $30 right there! I need to find those items on sale and use my CVS extra bucks smarter!

I think that incorporates the tips from the posts so far!

Thanks folks!!

 

[loveshak22]

I am glad you started this thread, OP. It's been eye opening to see what everyone is spending.

We are a family of four - 2 adults, one 10 year old and one 7 year old (and two Labrador retrievers that are included in our grocery budget) and I spend about $225 a week. I am trying to cut back to $200 max per week. I will admit that I do buy convenience items (bagged broccoli florets vs heads of broccoli, etc.) so I am trying to get away from that. I have also just recently signed up for Mperks through Meijer and will try to get back to couponing.

Good luck with your budget.

Thanks for the well-wishes! Good luck as well!

I thought $150 was good actually but I think that's because I know people who shop for items just as they need them instead of planning meals for the week and their grocery bill is ridiculous! To me, $225 for 4 plus the two pets seems like a great budget! But it sounds like I'm a little off

 

[JillianMarie]

I wonder how big of a role geography plays in this.

Actually, looking at the meal planning thread in here has been really helpful for me. It encourages me to actually sit down and make a plan which is helpful when I'm getting back late from rehearsal and I'm hungry. Knowing that I have some plan in place for dinner makes everything easier. But you probably have a food waste problem more than you have a spending problem. Treat the waste and your grocery budget will go down as a result. Because even assuming that you're buying everything brand new from Whole Foods there's no way that should cost $150.