Those families who spend $400 or less on groceries

[cah5525]

family of 5, we can spend $100/wk $120 if it's a week to pick up household supplies (soaps/hygiene/pet) I do a lot of the same as the above. Our grocery store marks meat down early in the morning if it will be expiring the next day...I grab that and freeze it. The best advice, as so many others have stated, go with a meal plan and stick to it. My Dh goes into the store, spends $75 and we eat for one day, and have snack crap...he has no clue!
Now, I have seen quite a rise in prices on the things I buy regularly and that means finding ways to stretch things even farther. We add rice to our meals (sometimes seasoned to compliment the meal, sometimes just plain.) We have sandwich night, now that it is summer...cold sandwiches are great! And sometimes it's grilled cheese and soup (made from meat and left-overs) we use a lot of chicken...right now, i'm boiling a smoked chicken carcass with pintos to eat tonight with grilled-cheese sandwiches. (yesterday we smoked the whole chicken, that was sunday's dinner, cut off the left-over meat, froze that for another meal)
I love fish, affordable and healthy. Fish night...the kids that hate fish, have mac-n-cheese.
I can't believe how expensive ground beef is! I buy the big family saver pack, take it home and mix it with one pound of ground turkey and one pound of sausage - both of these are cheaper than the beef! Then I divide for meals and freeze.
Breakfast for dinner is a great budget saver!
We have a garden - after seeing prices rise on essential, heathy fruits and veggies, we expanded our garden!
We have chickens for eggs and if we end up with too many roosters, they'll end up on the dinner table.
This year, my daughter and I will both be getting our hunting licenses! I've never agreed with sport hunting - but to FEED your family, this is the way to make it happen.
**with the droughts ... veggies will most likely increase in price, stock up now!

 

[smokeyblue]

Yes! Thank you! I meant a week. We spend $800 a month and I shop at our local King and sometimes Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.


We eat Organic and I try not to buy too many processed foods. We eat meat 5/7 days as well! And don't eat out often either! I am not including any take out in the $800. We will order Indian or sushi once a month, from a separate budget category

Thank you!

I love TJ's, if I had a TJ's around I'd spend that much too! You are probably spending a lot more buying organic. It's probably going to take a bit of investigating on your part to find out what is really important to buy organic and what is not organic and just as good. Do you have a local co-op that you can buy organic/health foods in bulk? Sometimes ours has excellent sales or even some of their daily prices are far less than the grocery store.

Have you ever considered buying frozen meat in bulk direct from the farm? That would be a good way to save money and know for sure that you are getting the kind/quality of product that you want for your family. I've never done this myself, but my brothers go in and buy a half cow and a pig together. They've been really satisfied with the meat and the price.

 

[KennesawNemo]

Yes! Thank you! I meant a week. We spend $800 a month and I shop at our local King and sometimes Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.


We eat Organic and I try not to buy too many processed foods. We eat meat 5/7 days as well! And don't eat out often either! I am not including any take out in the $800. We will order Indian or sushi once a month, from a separate budget category

Thank you!

I think $800 a month is very reasonable if you want to eat organic and sometimes do your shopping at Trader Joe's and whole foods.

I spend about the same amount a month on food, if not slightly more. I don't even eat an all organic diet. My grocery shopping is done mainly at Costco, local Publix and local Asian market. I’ll buy organic if it’s available in bulk from Costco.

I am trying to remember what I bought this week and below is a list with approximate price:

$26 of wild salmon.
$20 beef short rib.
$15 shrimp.
$10 pork chop
$5 chicken
$9 baby back rib.
$17 Greek Yogurt.
$10 Cherry
$8 apple
$5 watermelon
$10 orange and apple
$10 naked juice
$8 egg
$8 bread

I am adding about $150 here and I haven’t listed any veggies yet as I don’t remember the price for each. My total bill is about $230 this week, which is a little higher than my average. It should cover all breakfast, most lunch and dinner for the 4 of us. We will then spend about $50-$80 dinning out once during the weekend. I might have some leftover for next week, but won’t be too much.

Anyway, this is by choice. I can do $200 a month too, however food is one thing I am willing to spend money on. I am very frugal on other things.

 

[cah5525]

At one time, I was buying organic, non-processed for my son. That grocery bill was out of control! I googled everything I could about meals and recipes for kids who couldn't tolerate a lot of additives. That really helped me with preparing meals and not being limited to just the organic aisle at the store. Also, I downloaded an app called fooducate - you can scan a product and it will give you a rating and also list alternatives. Things that I thought were healthy...weren't.

 

[Pigeon]

Kings and Whole Foods and all organic are why you are spending what you are spending. They are both insanely expensive. If you really want to cut your grocery budget, you're going to have to do most of your shopping elsewhere and make some compromises on what has to be organic.

I have a family of four and we spend between $100-$150/week on groceries. I look at the grocery store flyers each week and tailor the shopping around that. I work full time and only typically have time to shop at one store, plus the occasional run to Aldi's, which is much cheaper on a whole bunch of staples (and some really nice treats), but is further away for me.

Lately, I've been buying a big, family sized package of boneless chicken breast every other week or so and grilling them. I freeze what we don't eat the first night, and use the leftovers sliced or diced for chef, cobb or taco salads, quesadillas, or tossed with pasta, grilled veggies and pesto. We get about three meals out of one package.

I use the freezer a lot, which keeps us from going out to dinner when I'm tired because I always have something on hand for a quick meal. I'll freeze chicken breast or boneless loin pork chops in marinade and either bake or grill them for a fast, easy meal.

We do lots of pasta, soups and stews.

 

[Lifeisgood1]

This is for those families who spend $400 or less (or even $500!) a week on groceries (including toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap).

Would you mind posting what a typical week's menus are? I have a family of four and we spend way more than that. I am looking to cut our budget down to about $800 a month.

Thank you in advance for your help!

We are a family of 5 myself, DH and 3 growing boys. And all I ever hear is mom I'm hungry...lol

We spend about $200.00 a week and that includes going out to dinner at least once a week, no where fancy maybe just Chili's or Chick fil A. I did find one great deal to share with everyone and that is Target... for the past 20 years I have been shopping at Publix religiously until a friend told me that you can sign up for the red card at Target which is hooked up to your debit card and every time you use it you get 5% off the entire bill! Not to mention Target's prices are better that Publix. I go to Costco for meat and cleaning supplies. Hope this helps.

**Oh and here is a super simple recipe I will share with you that I make at least once a week and it costs less than $10 and feeds about 8 people.

1 box Penne pasta
1 jar marinara sauce (or use your own if you make and freeze it)
1 jar light alfredo sauce
1 container mini mozzarella balls

Pour both sauces in pan and heat then pour over cooked pasta and throw in the mini mozzarella balls. My kids love this and so does everyone that I make it for. Enjoy!

 

[kirstenb1]

Each and every post has been SOOO helpful! Especially those that posted their menus! Thank you!

Question:

What do you think of these specials at Whole Foods this week?

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/storespecials/RCM_specials.pdf

Some are okay, some are still expensive. I don't shop at Whole Foods; their food looks great, I just hear too many people call it "whole paycheck". However, I have to admit although I buy plenty of fresh produce, the only time I buy organic is by accident.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I'm not an organic eater so I probably am not a ton of help.

We save by buying all we can at Costco - toiletries, meds, toilet paper, paper towels, etc (and when they have coupons on stuff we normally buy we stock up as much as they'll let us).

The only other advice I can give is to start to know your prices. I can walk in to the store now and know if something on sale is a "good" sale or an "ok" sale. Plan your meals based on your sales. I would also try to plan a "cheap" meal per week- I know organic foods are more expensive but some meals have to be cheaper than others. I do a crock pot meal every Sunday we're home and that makes a lot of leftovers since it's just the two of us.

Plan your meals and get to know your sales. I'd also look into ordering half a cow or something.

 

[mjantz]

Definitely add a few meatless meals to your diet. One of our favorites is:

-1 can black beans
-1 can corn
-1 jar salsa
-1 bag frozen mirepoix mix (onions, bell peppers & celery/diced)
-1 block cream cheese (NOT fat free/won't melt)

Put everything but the cream cheese in a crockpot. Add the cheese the last hour. Serve over rice. Also good in tortillas. You can double the recipe but trust me that it makes a LOT.

I try to do meatless a few times a week. Organic as much as possible. I find if you're spending the extra money for organic you need to make absolutely sure that you are utilizing your leftovers. Usually on Wed or Thurs we have leftovers for dinner. We also take them to work for lunch a lot as well. My daughter has a wide-mouthed thermos that she can heat in the AM for packing last nights dinner.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

This is for those families who spend $400 or less (or even $500!) a week on groceries (including toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap).

Would you mind posting what a typical week's menus are? I have a family of four and we spend way more than that. I am looking to cut our budget down to about $800 a month.

Thank you in advance for your help!

We are a family of 5 and I typically spend about 250 every 2 weeks and that is including feeding 2 cats and 2 dogs! I suspect it is less about your menu and more about where you are shopping as this can have a huge impact on your budget.

I am terrible about coupon clipping even though I do it when it is convenient but I do know prices and I do know where I can get the best prices on any given item and what that item is normally priced so I can spot when a "deal" is actually a savings.

It is rarely a good idea to buy paper products in the grocery store.

If your family is large you might want to spend the money to gain a membership in a warehouse store as the savings on meats and veggies alone offset the cost.

Stockup when shelf stable items are on sale.

I also do not run store to store to save but i do have 3 stores I routinely shop at.

Do price matching if your store offers it. Get the sunday paper at the very least so you can see what is on sale for the week..

Good luck!!!

 

[Alli76]

I can't help you out on lowering your grocery bill. We are a family of 4 from CT - and spend between $175 and 200 on an average week in groceries. (Plus for the summer months we also have a farm share). I agree with some of the other posts... you need to make some decisions. We are trying to eat as much organic as possible, we limit a lot of processed foods, and eat a LOT of fresh fruits and veggies. I pay attention to sales and coupons so that I can stock up when I can, but there are limited opportunities on the foods I buy. I know that if organic was not something that was important to me, I would spend a lot less. I have chosen to cut back in other places.

Good luck - probably not going to be a quick fix!

 

[clm10308]

I went to Trader Joes for the first time last week and I was not impressed. The organic produce was not any better quality than the organic and non organic produce at my local Smiths(Krogers). The meat was all vacuumed packed, but whith the higher altitude the packages had all expanded tellin me that the meat was all packaged at close to sea level probable shipped in from california.

I would much rather hit the local farmers market for local produce and go to the store where I can watch the butcher cut the meat.

 

[mefordis]

I'm not very impressed with Trader Joe's either. There are only a few things I like to get there.

I went to Trader Joes for the first time last week and I was not impressed. The organic produce was not any better quality than the organic and non organic produce at my local Smiths(Krogers). The meat was all vacuumed packed, but whith the higher altitude the packages had all expanded tellin me that the meat was all packaged at close to sea level probable shipped in from california.

I would much rather hit the local farmers market for local produce and go to the store where I can watch the butcher cut the meat.

 

[reginaastralis]

We live in a town where in less than five minutes I can be at a Winn-dixie, Sweet Bay, Publix, Aldi, Costco, Walmart, Target and more than a handful locally owned ethnic groceries. We also live in an area with year round produce stands, though the one I was able to walk to just closed.

That being said, we don't eat organic (though occasionally I shop at the organic fruit stand, it's just out of the way) but we do comparison shop at all of these places. I'll either price match the ad at the store I'm already going to be at ... or I'll go to the store itself. If I know I'm going to be on the side of town that has the Asian grocery I like a lot, I'll stop there ... but the key is a price book and to know what has an actual savings to it or not.

 

[davmill]

We spend about 500 a month on groceries. Buy two for one items, stock up on sale items, a good amount of hamburger...not a lot of sweets, but fruit...sales and comparison shopping...we would eat very, very well on 800 a month.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

People who buy lots of chef boyardee, tons of canned processed soups and stuff (and other things that have lots of coupons), as well as live someplace other than the northeast are going to have a less expensive food budget. Also, people who live where there is access to nice farms to buy their eggs, meat, produce are lucky and will also not have to spend as much.

We are right there with you, shopping at Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Our local Giant though is very expensive as well. Get the Whole Foods coupons online, they help.

I find that it is not the dinner food that is costly, it is everything else! Stuff for lunch, breakfast, and snacks can be costly.

Do you like beans? A small bag makes a nice big pot, very versatile, healthy, yummy, and inexpensive

 

[DVCisME]

Not sure where you live in NJ. We live by LBI. We used http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...zJjzBg&usg=AFQjCNGXNOUkg_TVs2Rfb4D_tNv6YV1G3A

We liked it but wasn't in love with it. It might be something you are interested in though. They deliver 6 months of organic food and you can pay at once or have monthly payments. The food was good, but as picky people we didn't want as much variety. Silly, I know. You must have an extra freezer as the fod took up my whole extra freezer.
BJ's is also starting to carry more organic food.

 

[mommyof2princesses]

Its really neat to see what everyone spends on groceries and what each family prefers to buy ie: organic vs. non organic!

We are a family of 4( 2 adults, 17dd, 8dd) and we spend $200 a week. Sometimes less, sometimes more. Our bill is so high because we buy some of our fruits and veggies organic (we buy much of it from Whole Foods and try to get it local. I love that Whole Foods sells local produce). Our meats and chicken have to be antibiotic free, not necessarily organic, but it costs more. We eat greek yogurt and we drink organic milk. I have found the healthier you try to eat, the higher your grocery bill.

We do buy staples at Walmart to help offset the price of meat and produce such as cereal, bread, snacks, etc. Things that are the same brand at regular grocery stores.

Usually we eat like this:
Whole chicken, cous cous, raw reggies and ranch dip
grilled steaks, baked potato, fresh fruit salad
Chicken kabobs with green pepper, onion and tomatoes over whole grain rice
meatloaf, mashed potatoes(not boxed), green beans
chicken fajitas
talapia, cole slaw, sweet potato fries
grilled chicken, grilled pineapple, cous cous
organic hot dogs, pork and beans, chips
taco salad
pork chops, apple crisp, green beans
baked ziti, garlic break

We always eat a baked chicken once a week. It is one of the most expensive things we buy: a whole chicken, but it is yummy and healthy!

 

[MindyDean]

This year, my daughter and I will both be getting our hunting licenses! I've never agreed with sport hunting - but to FEED your family, this is the way to make it happen.
**with the droughts ... veggies will most likely increase in price, stock up now!

I know lots of people are against hunting, but my husband and sons all hunt and fish and we eat every bit of what they kill. It does help the budget and tastes great.

 

[delmar411]

I think if you are shopping at those specialty stores that you won't ever get ahead. I'd do some research on organic fruits/veggies, etc and find out what is more important to purchase organic and what's not and then shop the regular grocery store for those items.

Also you are likely in an area where lots of people pay for organics so they can charge higher prices. Here, I get organic stuff half the price on a regular basis because barely anyone buys it. I'm not picky but I've learned to check the organics area each week before grabbing regular items.