How much do you spend weekly or monthly on groceries?

[aprilgail2]

I spend about 125.00 a week on food and that is for the 3 people that live here and a brother who stops by EVERY DAY at dinnertime for food!!!

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

Originally posted by Aimeedyan
For DH and I, we spend about $50 a week total (including cleaning supplies, health products, etc)

Maybe $200 a month total?

That's approximately where we're at too, but when hubby was laid off I got it down to less than half that.

 

[zurgswife]

family of six dd13, ds11, ds10, dd7.....$650 per month approx...includes paper goods and household stuff...

 

[Lisa F]

We probably spend about $125/week for two people including household goods, but I agree that it costs more to eat healthy foods than crap. I buy most of my meats in bulk at BJ's for less than in the store and separate into reasonable 2-4 person (if I want leftovers) portions and freeze them that way, but the fruits and veggies just plain cost a lot no matter how you slice it.

My MIL's hobby is grocery shopping. She clips coupons all the time (she has a whole big wallet thing for her coupons organized by theme and expiration date) and she will go to the 4-5 area supermarkets a couple of times a week and only buy what is on sale with a coupon and she tends to stock up on things like crazy. I don't have time to hit a supermarket or two every single day and I tend to want what I want when I want it (if I want asparagus for dinner I will just get it at the most conveninent supermarket and not either wait for it to go on sale or go around to the 4-5 closest supermarkets and see where it is cheapest). She thinks I waste a lot of money on food, I think she wastes a lot of time on shopping.

One thing that I have found that really makes it easier to not have to stop at the supermarket EVERY day for fresh veggies and fruit is having a new fridge with humidity controlled crispers! My veggies and fruits easily last a week, sometimes two in those bins! In my old fridge they'd rot in 2-3 days. Everyone knows running in for just this or that always leads to at least a $25 expenditure!

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by Lisa F

One thing that I have found that really makes it easier to not have to stop at the supermarket EVERY day for fresh veggies and fruit is having a new fridge with humidity controlled crispers! My veggies and fruits easily last a week, sometimes two in those bins! In my old fridge they'd rot in 2-3 days. Everyone knows running in for just this or that always leads to at least a $25 expenditure!

The thing I found to work awesome is a vacuum sealer. I will use half an onion, half a squash and vacuum seal the rest and it will last over a week like that. I buy meat at the butcher and break it down to small servings ( I won't eat leftovers) and vacuum seal them in small bags and they won't freezer burn and last much longer than ziplock bags.

 

[N.Bailey]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
The thing I found to work awesome is a vacuum sealer. I will use half an onion, half a squash and vacuum seal the rest and it will last over a week like that. I buy meat at the butcher and break it down to small servings ( I won't eat leftovers) and vacuum seal them in small bags and they won't freezer burn and last much longer than ziplock bags.

I thought about getting one of these, but I really thought buying the bags would actually waste more money than is wasted on food. I know they're pretty expensive. You don't find that to be the case?

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

There are 3 of us: me, DH and DD 13. Then there are 5 cats and 1 dog.

I'd say we spend $200-300 a month including all pet foods. This does not include toiletries and cleaning supplies.

 

[aprilgail2]

They have them in Cosco so I buy them in bulk.....a roll lasts a pretty long time if you cut them to size and not to big. I don't buy the pre-cut ones since I find them to be either to big or to small.

 

[The Princess]

I second the food sealer. I buy my meat in bulk and same with all the veggies from the garden. It has been well worth it for me. You can reuse the bags which helps save alot.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by minnie56
But,
We are a family of 4 and spend approx $2000 per month.

I have 2 teenage daughters that are always dieting too...somebody's eating a lot!

We are a family of 4 also and spend about $1500-$2000 a month. We are two adults, one 15 y/o DS, and a 5 y/o DD. It seems that DS and DH eat the most. This also includes eating out which we do probably 3-4 times a week on average.

 

[cgcw]

I'm going to guess we spend about $200 per week.

We are a family of 4 (who eat out alot) but I also have 6 daycare kids here every day for breakfast, lunch & snack. We go through a gallon of milk every 1 1/2 days. I could buy apple juice (always 100%) by the truckload and still run out. For lunch today, I made sandwiches and used an entire loaf of bread. We can go through 3/4 pound of lunch meat easily for sandwiches. We always have fresh fruits/vegetables which they get at every meal. In my house, french fries don't count as a real vegetable so we always have an additional fruit/vegatable (I tell them the french fries are dessert ).

I'm also finding with DS9 that he must be hitting the growing years. He will easily eat 2-3 sandwiches at a time. Omelettes he can eat 3 without even blinking an eye. He's really not a big kid but he certainly can pack it away when he wants to.

I try to buy when I find it on sale. Our deep freeze went out a couple of weeks ago which limit just how much I can buy. We'll be shopping for a new one soon.

 

[IandGsmom]

I budget in $600 a month but will go over/under as needed. We are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids.

 

[Divamomto3]

We are a family of 5...3 sons ages 11, 9, and 3. We also have one cat. We spend about $900 a month. This does not include eating out or school lunches, but it does include toiletries and cleaning products.

 

[N.Bailey]

Maybe I'll have to look into the food sealers again. My husband really wants one, but I just didn't think they'd be that great of an investment. He'll be happy to hear what you've all had to say about them.

I forgot about school lunches. My kids buy everyday. It's the cool thing to do ya know. Actually, the cooler thing is to skip lunch, but I refuse to allow that. Lunches adds roughly another $100 a month to our food budget during the school year.