Those families who spend $400 or less on groceries

[TwoMisfits]

I love Whole Foods and would shop there all the time...if money were no object...Because it is, I don't (except when I've got a Living Social deal...

As others have said, if you live in an expensive area and organic in all things is a must...it's just gonna be expensive. If you can live with organic items only when they are on sale and in season, it's gonna be alot cheaper. I make sure my family has fruit/veggies with every meal. But what I buy is based on the season and the sale. My family did not get peaches til this week, when they were 77 cents/lb (down from the $3/lb they'd been all season). And they didn't get cherries til the 2 weeks previous when they were $1.99/lb (down from $6.99/lb). They know and understand that apples/bananas/oranges/carrots/potatoes/salads will always be available year-round, but the nice stuff (all berries/cherries/corn on the cob/peaches/grapes/etc) is only bought when mom gets a good price and it's in season...

Kristy

 

[cmwade77]

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!

Ok, here's what we have bought for one week:
Pork Chops - $5.00 for 8 large
Mango Chicken Breasts - $0.51 x 2 Packages (2 breasts per package) = $1.02
Large container of Boneless BBQ Pork Ribs - $1.50
Polenta Cakes - $1.00
Pasta Sauce - $1.00
Individual Refrigerator Meals - 14 x $1.50 - $21 (Lunches)
Almond Milk - $2.50
Cereal - $2.50
Fruits & Veggies - $10.00
Pasta - $1.50

So, this comes out to $47.02 for the week for two people. Yes, this means we get creative with meals based on what is available on clearance, but that can be quite fun to come up with ideas of what to do.

Also, about 80% of the above is Organic, so it is doable, you just have to find the right store.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

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 (we love these too but with RED peppers LOL)
meatloaf, mashed potatoes(not boxed), green beans (real tend to cost less and make more)
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!

This is pretty much our diet LOL Add taco's because my whole family LOVES taco's

We do NOT eat chef boyordee or whatever the person was trying to imply in a previous post. I bought it one time as a "treat" for my kids and they turned their nose up at it because they like the Spinach and Mozzarella raviolis with olive oil that we get frozen at costco...

We do have farm stands and also we can get grass fed beef when we visit a local amish community and can stock up our deep freeze. I refuse to buy ground beef at a grocery store as costco carries 88% lean and organic beef for much less than the local grocery stores.

In addition I have taken to making more things from scratch such as homemade pizza and pizza dough, homemade Naan to go with our Chicken tawook kabobs, homemade desserts, LOTS of fruit since it is summer and readily available.

 

[Couchy]

DH and I easily spend $100 a week on groceries and we buy nothin g frivolous.
We spend $40 easily on just fruits and veggies.
I buy chicken and ground turkey or very lean ground beef but buy only when on sale. I also sometimes buy white fish of some sort. Again we buy whatever protein is on sale or marked down.
We both eat Greek yogurt for lunch so that is a big expense but so healthy and filling. One box of cereal a Week and I make homemade granola for Dh. I also buy 1 box of kashi crackers and one box of tricuits a week. 1 bag of coffee and milk , eggs and cheese, sometimes popcorn.

We eat very healthy and I have type 1 diabetes so some things I have to eat are more exPensive but are best for blood sugar levels. For instance kashi go lean is high I fiber and protein so it helps keep stable blood sugars and keeps me fuller longer.
Breakfast :
Me- kashi and coffee
Dh- oatmeal

Morning snack -
Me - fruit and crash veggies, sometimes small amount of cheese
Dh- homemade granola

Lunch
Me- Greek yogurt, fruit, raw veggies, kashi crackers
Dh- Greek yogurt, fruit, cheese, tricuits

Snack
Me - fruit
Dh- homemade granola

Dinner
Lean protein, salad, veggies, sometimes ice cream for dessert.

Sometimes popcorn later.

Don't know what I can do to make this cheaper. I buy on sale, in season stuff hardly any pre packaged stuff. I have tO eat something every 2-3 hours so I can't cut out the snacks.

 

[BlovesC]

I'm confused...you spend $800 a month NOW and you're trying to cut down from that, or you're trying to get TO spending $800 a month? I get that you commented after your first post and stated you don't actually spend $400 every single week, but I'm still not clear on what your budget's at now.

 

[Colleen27]

Wow! Averaged over a year, our grocery bill comes out to about $600/mo with another $100/mo or so spent eating out.

During the day I'm a pretty lazy cook; my older kids get their own meals since our schedules are all different, so I keep easy foods around. Breakfast is taken care of by 3-4 boxes of cereal (@$2ea), a dozen eggs (@$3), 2-3 gallons of milk (@$3ea), a loaf of bread (@$2) and whatever fruit is in season or on sale (anywhere from $5-15/week). So on the high side $40/week covers breakfasts.

Lunch tends to be cold sandwiches or salads. In a typical week I buy a lb of deli chicken salad ($6), a lb of ham ($5), a lb of turkey ($6), 2 lbs of some sort of deli cheese ($10ish), and when I can't pick salads from my garden, Dole salad kits ($3ea). Peanut butter ($7) needs restocked once a month, jam is homemade so it is hard for me to figure a cost. And lunch means another couple loaves of bread. So another $40/week covers lunches for the family.

Snacks are mostly fruit, string cheese, and yogurt, and run another $20ish depending on what's in season.

Dinners vary. I do a lot of stir-fries and kabobs, roasts and stews in the winter, pasta every other week or so, something Mexican one night, make-your-own pizzas pretty often, vegetarian one night. Most of our grocery bill is for dinners but I have a harder time putting numbers to it. We buy a lot of our meats direct (1/4 cow, 1/2 hog) so that comes in big $$ once in a while rather than smaller amounts every week, and buying produce in season is the same way. In the winter I might not buy any produce all week because we're eating out of the freezer or pantry, and in the summer I might spend $150 just at the farmers market for things to can/freeze.

 

[lurkernj]

I'm confused...you spend $800 a month NOW and you're trying to cut down from that, or you're trying to get TO spending $800 a month? I get that you commented after your first post and stated you don't actually spend $400 every single week, but I'm still not clear on what your budget's at now.

Thanks for pointing that out, I was scratching my head too as I thought they were trying to get to $800 per month from $1600-2000, but the update said they are at $800 per month.

 

[java]

We are a family of 6. I cook from scratch. (except on vacation!) Making a bread right now. That alone saves $.

We do meatless nights- like tonight is eggplant parm with a salad. It was requested. I love the summer. So many yummy fresh veggies that are an easy sell to my family as dinner. I am making sauce with canned tomatoes though. I prefer them in this particular sauce I am making *a bit spicy.

I am in NJ and I shop at Shoprite mostly- cheapest around here and great sales. I shop the flyer. I go to websites that combine coupons with sale items for my store. She saves me so much time.

I think of meat as an ingredient vs. a center star of the meal. things like stir fry with tons of veggies.

We don't have a whole foods near me so I can't comment on that one. I do shop farmers markets this time of year. I have a farm stand within walking distance and I grow some stuff myself.

I am going to make some jam out of wild raspberries I found under my deck. The bush took off and there are a TON of them under there. My boys have a couple friends coming over later this week. That will be their project for the day- picking raspberries. *(and a water gun fight)

I had to cut our expenses way down when my husband lost his job 2 years ago. Even now that he is back to work I have a hard time wasting that money on food. I was averaging $100 a week back then, Now I am more like $150.

 

[whoopsiedoodle]

I haven't had a chance to read all the posts so I am sorry if I repeat some things. We spend less than $400 a month for our family of 4 (kids 3 and 2). However, we don't buy meat in the grocery store. We got 1/2 cow for Christmas and my brother-in-law raises pigs so we purchse a full pig about every 6-8 months. We buy chicken when it goes on crazy sale (I don't pay more than 1.89/lb for boneless skinless breasts but that's not organic) I will buy a ton and portion it out and freeze it. This happens every 3-6 months. Do you have the opportunity to join a CSA for fruits and veggies?? It's a great way to cut down on costs and get some wonderful produce often times delivered to your door. These all cost more up front but are cheaper in the long run. I also make a menu before shopping, check my pantry and make a list. I am a huge couponer so I have a nice stock pile of most things pantry and hygeine wise.

 

[richmond282]

I know prices vary by location but, YIKES! $400/ week?? Our monthly grocery budget is $320 for a family of 3. I don't shop weekly. I try to do 1 big grocery trip a month and 1 or 2 smaller trip.
During the week, for breakfast we eat:
-cereal (whatever is on sale and not totally full of sugar)
-biscuits (I precook and freeze pop can biscuits. 30 sec. in the microwave and they are ready ot go)
-frozen waffles (I buy in bulk @ Sam's)
We do sometimes have bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, etc on the weekends, but not always.

For lunch:
-sandwiches w/ something like chips, fruit, string cheese
-leftovers
-pizza (only very occassionally)

For dinner (I freezer cook and use a 2 week rotation. I make 4 of each meal so I end up with 8 weeks worth of food at a time. The menu does vary depending on the season):
-turkey w/ dressing & veggies (bought a whole turkey, cooked, divided)
-ham w/ pineapple slices and squash casserole (bought a half ham, cooked, divided)
-breakfast (bacon, eggs, pancakes or biscuits)
-hot dogs/ hamburgers w/ mac n cheese
-spaghetti w/ green beans & salad
-Italian shells w/ french bread & a veggie
-cornflake chicken w/ hashbrown casserole (I buy family size packs & divide, I also divide my casserole in half)
-bbq pork chops w/ rice & veggie (Buy in bulk @ Sam's and divide)
-pizza (frozen or order it)
-potato soup w/ grilled cheese (make a huge pot and divide)
-broccoli cheese soup w/ baked potatoes (Make a huge pot & divide)
- Tacos (pre-cook and freeze meat)
-Chicken salsa dip w/ tortilla chips (pre-cook meat, mix ingredients, freeze)
-stir fry (pre-cook meat, veggies, & rice. Freeze. heat in skillet)

Sometimes, it costs me a little more when I'm actually cooking the meals. However, I usually can get by on $100/month when I have meals pre-cooked. As for toiletries and such, those items come out of our grocery budget too. I try to use coupons and stock up when I can, but I dont have time to run all over town, so I just do the best I can.

 

[AntePrincess]

There's no trick to it: we just cook from scratch and we eat pretty light (staying thin is cheaper and healthier, after all). A typical week for us includes breads or porridges with fresh fruit for breakfast; vegetable soups, salads, and sides like sweet potatoes for lunch; and meatless meals most nights of the week (red beans and rice on Mondays, split pea soup and pancakes on Thursday, fish on Friday, etc) with a roast dinner on Sunday. Desserts are all homemade except for the occasional ice cream in summer, but we just as often make that because it occupies the kids and is cheap entertainment.

For all the other sundries on the weekly bill, we use few disposables (cleaning wipes and paper napkins are my vice...) and we buy them in bulk because they aren't going to go bad.

 

[Nanu57v]

Admittedly, I don't have time to read all 4 pages. We save lots by doing freezer cooking. For example, I'll wait to buy chicken when its $1.99 a pound and make a bunch of different meals with it and freeze them. That way, you don't have to worry about waste and can buy bigger sizes and divide over multiple meals.

Here's a blog post with a bunch of ideas:


http://www.themommysaver.com/2011/03/freezer-cooking-there-are-28-meals-in.html

If you look around the site you'll find some other recipes too.

 

[KY*Figment]

We spend about the same as you. We are big eaters and we eat mostly seafood, veg, fruit, cereal hot/ cold/ bars, nuts, wheat bread, Silk soy & coconut, and so on... I do get quick meals for ballgame nights such as frozen pizza & chicken strips. Supplies are about $200 w/ hygiene, cleaning, cat, and so on. We are working on cutting out most if not all meals out. The healthier food costs us more than junk. Some say it's cheaper to eat healthy but I disagree.

 

[littlebit0863]

I have a very strict grocery budget of $80 a week, and that includes diapers, pull ups (HOPEFULLY almost done with those), formula, and wipes. If we have anything left over we can eat lunch out. We try to stick to meals that are baby friendly too so my 7 month old daughter doesn't have to eat too much baby food. It also helps that I'm vegetarian, so the meat I do buy is only split between my 3 year old and husband.

My son eats breakfast at daycare, my hubby always skips breakfast (shame on him, but he says it makes him sick, and the baby and I eat oatmeal and toast. On Saturdays we make breakfast, usually migas, and then church offers free breakfast on Sundays. I usually help out with the prep or serving, but if not it's $3 per person.

Lunch I pack for all of us, it's usually a sandwich, banana or apple, and a snack like goldfish, yogurt, or chex mix. My son and I like pb&j, hubby likes meat & cheese, but you can find great coupons for deli meat. My son likes meat & cheese wrapped up with a pretzel stuck through it, and I usually get the pretzel out of the chex mix. I am a coffee freak, and I HATE to make my own coffee, so I do buy the pre packaged iced coffee ($4). My hubby's weakness is also a drink, those MIO packs, and ds likes gummy worms or strawberries. Those are our "luxury items"lol.

Dinner we have various things, twice a month, except beans & rice are once a week. I stock up on staples like pasta, beans, rice, broth, and diced tomatoes so that I can usually make something. I tend to buy what's on sale. One week we may have 4 chicken dinners, one week 4 beef dinners.

I'm also lucky to have parents who have a garden so I can mooch off of them for squash, tomatoes, cucumbers (which become pickles), and corn.

Sample menu:

-Sunday- crockpot pinto beans and rice with a 1/2 pack precooked sausage
-Monday-spaghetti with frozen meatballs
-Tuesday-pasta skillet (cut up veggies and chik breasts in alfredo) cooked with pasta
-Wed - hamburger tacos
-Thurs - bbq chicken, mashed potatoes, squash
-Fri- sausage dogs/veggie dog - Leftover precooked sausage, cut up & put on hotdog bun, then the whole thing is cut up & served with crockpot chili & cheese (hb meat used from taco night too)
-Saturday -Frito Pie

 

[mom2val]

I.

 

[Jedana]

I spend about $800 a month for a family of three, plus one dog. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for all of us--if DS is eating at school, the lunch money comes out of here; same with DH's breakfast or lunch out while he's working (he does it once a week or so). Also, it includes our Tuesday night dinner and last Sunday of the month lunch (due to Scouts, we aren't at home in time for dinner/lunch either day).

BUT we go through probably 24 rolls of paper towels, 2-3 bottles of hand soap (for the automatic hand dispenser), 1-2 boxes of Press N Seal, and a box of trash bags (30) in a month (plus the ones for the kitchen, so another 20), due to DH's dialysis treatments. We have to pay OOP for those items.

Also, we can't buy processed foods--too high in sodium--no Hamburger helpers, Kraft mac-n-cheese, nada. If I want rice pilaf, I make it from scratch. Peanut butter--I have to buy the peanuts only stuff, with no oils or salt in them. No meat hot dogs--they have to be all beef only (due to fillers). No frozen fries--I have to soak them to leach the potassium out.

Typical meals include
Tacos (taco salad w/no tortillas for dh)
hamburgers w/fixings, fries
chicken, coated with panko crumbs and cheese and baked, rice pilaf, salad
pork chops, same as chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies
pasta w/homemade sauce, salad, maybe breadsticks or foccacia if I'm feeling up to baking
fish (depending on freshness/sale prices), rice, veggies

 

[bdcp]

I would love to buy all our food from Central Market or Whole foods but there is just no way we could afford it. Instead I try to get as much real food as I can from regular stores. We spend approx $400 a MONTH for groceries. I do 2 big shopping trips each month on payday 1rst and 15th and spend approx $150 each trip. The weeks between are $50 trips- bread milk, fresh fruits and vegs.

I shop at Aldi's, Walmart and the Mrs. Baird's bread store. We have a deep freeze so we buy whatever meat is on sale. For example steaks were just $3.99 a pound for the 4th of july. I bought 30 steaks. We wrap them in groups of 3 in butcher paper, date and label them and put them in deep freeze. We now have 10 steak dinners waiting for us. If there are no good deals on meat I will skip buying it and we will eat from the freezer.

I buy lots of fresh fruits and vegetables- not organic because price is sooo much higher. We buy lots of frozen vegs when they are on sale. I buy frozen fruit to use in smoothies when it is on sale.

OMG! Mrs Baird's. I love that bread. Only Texan's know what that is. I was born there and everytime we'd go back to visit I could just sit and eat a whole loaf. Sigh, I miss white bread.

DH and I spend about $150/week. I shop at Wegman's and Costco. We buy individually wrapped boneless/skinless chicken breasts, sirloin steaks, ground sirloin, italian sausage, boneless pork chops. We eat prewashed packaged salads, asparagus, green beans. In the winter, I make chili, pasta, roasts in the crockpot and we can get 2-3 meals out of each. We take lunch a lot of days-lunch meats and for me canned albacore tuna at least once a week. Sandwiches are made with high fiber multi grain breads. I also buy oranges, bananas, apples, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. Cereal-Kashi and other high fiber, oatmeal.

We had grilled pork chops, spinach salad with oranges and almonds and fruit salad for dinner tonight. Pretty typical meal. Last night-bbq roast, potato salad (homemade) and fruit salad. I make mexican about once a month-high sodium and calorie meal. We also eat out about 5-6 times per month.

Our grown sons and one's gf and our parents usually eat dinner with us every couple of weeks. Those meals add a bit to our bill.

In 1985 when my oldest DS was just over a year old I had a budget of $50/week including diapers and cleaning supplies and we were pretty frugal then. I can't imagine as a pp said only spending $80/week now.

I don't even know how we could eat on less than $100/week for just the two of us without cutting out many of our favorites. Groceries in No VA cost more than other areas in the country.

 

[mistysue]

We are at about $150/week and I feel like our budget is out of control... but a couple of tricks I've had help:

Supplement ground meat with lentils. This works really well with beef especially, you can mix about 1/2 lb beef with a similar size portion of lentils and use that for recipes for a fraction of the beef cost. I mix some red lentils in because they soften into almost a paste. I used to use TVP I would buy in bulk before DS had a soy allergy.

Also we use tortillas for wraps as sandwiches. If you use corn ones, you can get like 50 for a couple dollars.

Make and freeze pancakes or waffles. Every week or so DH makes waffles and they cover most breakfast for a week.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Op I guess you can tell from all the messages on here that only you can decide what is most important in your grocery budget. For me while I appreciate there are ways to make my budget cheaper still and the suggestions are interesting there is a certain standard I maintain and so I just try to maintain my budget but not skimp on quality.

PP mentioned only beef hot dogs and that is a must for my family as well, be it hebrew national, colemans all natural or ball park beef. It is first the quality and then second the price. So if one of those three has a costco coupon then we are not brand loyal but quality loyal LOL

Hope you can find a way to make some of these suggestions work for your family

 

[mrodgers]

I know prices vary by location but, YIKES! $400/ week??

Yes it certainly does vary by location. We spend $250/week for family of 4. Often, it is above that, but just as much it is in the $220-230 range as well.

These past few posts mentioned boneless chicken breast on sale for $1.89 and $1.99. Haven't seen prices like that since the 1990's.

Someone on another thread mentioned peanut butter on sale for $2.89 I think. I just happened to look at peanut butter in the ad, on sale for $4.99!

We shop at Walmart. Like I said in the other thread with the peanut butter, the grocery store has pasta on sale for 10 for $10 and people always talk about stocking up when they have $0.50 or $0.75 coupons on pasta. I don't see coupons like that. We get no coupons in the mail, it's not worth spending $2.00 for a paper because the coupons we could use would be no more than $1.00, and the coupon sites all have the same stuff over and over and over again. We tried the coupon thing. I spent hours and hours and hours looking for coupons. We used them grocery shopping. The following week, I punched out on the clock at 3:05 instead of 3:00. Made that 5 minutes of overtime probably 3 times what I spent hours and hours on coupons.

Here's a catch, we spend $250/week and we grow our own beef. Actually it's my father-in-laws, so we don't pay anything for beef. Granted we don't eat a lot of steaks and roasts (don't get many roasts and the steaks pile up, think I have 30 or so t-bones in the freezer) but do eat a lot of ground beef with spaghetti, hamburgers on the grill, and such.

We probably eat chicken twice a week. We don't buy the $4.99/lb. chicken breast (same as the $1.89 and $1.99 others mentioned or we would eat that.) We get the no hormone and no anti-bacterial additive chicken (not actually organic.) I think it is $5.99/lb at Walmart. It is so much tender and tastier than that rubbery stuff they sell for $4.99. If we could get the rubber chicken for $1.99, then we might change for the budget and get that.

Tried coupons on cereal. Always on sale 4 for $10. Sounds great! Add the coupon which what we always get isn't $0.50 to double but $1 off 2. That means can't double on the up to $0.99 rule at the store. The kicker is the cereal boxes on sale are the 10 oz boxes, with coupons would be 40 oz for $8. The 24 oz boxes are $4.39. I can get 48 oz of cereal for $8.78. That makes the "on sale with coupon" cereal costing $0.20 per ounce and the regular price cereal $0.18 per ounce. A no brainer there, the coupons get shredded up for the compost pile.

I have 2 grocery stores where I would shop at. I have compared the sale ads when we were trying to use coupons and the sale prices were always still about a $1 more than Walmart's regular price. Not only that, but many of the stuff we buy, we buy the generic brand, which is always cheaper than the name brand stuff with a coupon.


I see someone mentioned their budget is $80 per week and that includes diapers and formula? I can't see how this is remotely possible. I remember diapers costing us $30/week and formula about $40/week. That would leave $10 per week to eat on and all toiletries? Come on!