Whats normal to spend on food each week?

[mirage0306]

Woohoo! My sister travels to NM quite often and love Trader Joe's. I've never been but to hear her talk about it I am SO excited because we are getting one in my neighborhood in two months!! I can't wait!

Trader Joe's is the best. You will love it! I have always loved a ton of their products, but I shop there almost exclusively now that my younger son cannot have any food dye. TJ's uses all natural ingredients. I know I could save a lot more money by couponing and shopping at Albertsons, but almost everything there has artificial dyes in it, so it's out.

They have so many great products, and really good prices on wine and beer (if you like that kind of stuff. ). Have fun!

 

[sleeperclan]

your life sounds a little like mine one ds is GF totally,so that does cost more than regular- I LOVE Bisquick GF,subscribe and save-get from Amazon- it saves time and money,and we can easily whip up biscuit,pancakes and quick casseroles now,and it tastes good!
Or Trader Joes has less expensive Gf options than whole foods, plus Bobs red mill has a good GF bread mix I get for less than 3.00.....

We discovered GF bisquick and love it, too! We've also tried the Betty Crocker GF brownie mix and it was a big hit at a gathering...no one knew it was GF until AFTER they ate it and they all gave it a big thumbs up!! Unfortunately, we don't have a Trader Joe's near us. As it is, we have to travel 2hrs up to Atlanta for the nearest Whole Foods! Thankfully, WalMart is starting to sell some GF snacks (crackers, etc) that are pretty tasty and rice pasta, so that does cut down some on cost.

 

[bettymae1121]

It's just DH and I (for now ) but DH has a very physical job so he eats enough for two. I spend about $525 a month just on food, but we also eat organic so that increases the bill a little bit too (so worth it though, just the quality alone is much better).

This month I'm spending more, a friend has come to stay with me until the baby is here, so I'm feeding her too. Plus I'm cooking and freezing meals ahead for when after baby is here. But, our grocery bill next month should be quite low.

 

[ccgirl]

I think just having a $$$ can sometimes be deceiving. Some people can spend $50 a week but it's probably going to be a lot of pasta and processed foods.

For my family of 4 (me,DH, DD9, DS4) I spend $125 a week total for food and paper/personal hygiene products.

I think the key is having a well stocked pantry to begin with. I am fortunate that I have a very large pantry closet. So, when I shop I ONLY purchase sale items. I have PeaPod by Stop&Shop come every two weeks. This past week it was under the $125 (that includes the delivery fee) and I go things like yogurt, fresh veggies, frozen veggies, fresh fruit, orange juice, milk, flavored water, bread, cereal, vacuum freezer bags (I buy family packs and separate them), london broil, Italian sausage, lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, salad dressing, soups, tuna fish, and apple sauce.

I also do menu planning and often I can get two meals out of one meat. For example, if I have a pork roast one night, I will have pulled pork sanwiches another. If I have steak, or a beef roast one night, I will have beef stroganoff another night.

We eat out maybe 1 or 2 times a week. Often it is with gift certificates from restaurant.com. Our local pizza place has 2 large cheese pizzas for $18 on Monday and Tuesday's so I will do that and make a salad to go along with it. It's nice to have a break from cooking.

We do a lot of crockpot meals too since both my DH and myself work full time.

Hope this helps.

 

[sksjasams]

As PPs have mentioned, this is the budget board, so keep that in mind when reading the responses. They do a tremendous job on saving money.

Your situation will determine a lot of how much you will spend per week. I work full time and have arthritis. I don't have the time or stamina to go to a bunch of different stores to buy different things. I go to one store - woodmans, where I feel I can do the best overall. We don't have a pantry or an extra freezer. That limits my ability to buy ahead.

I do plan all my meals ahead. We have pizza or subs 2-3 times per month, but otherwise don't eat out. I do buy more convenient quick meals than I should.

Could I do better? yes. Could I use more coupons? yes.

Lots of good suggestions posted for you. See if you can try any of them to get your cost down.

Good luck!

 

[neatokimmo]

About $40 a week. I only buy what is on sale and we live in a low cost area. I can get chicken for $1 pp, and fresh fruit/veggies for $1 pp also. We don't eat things from cans or a lot of mixes. Like if I want pancakes, I just make them from flour etc, I don't buy Bisquick or muffin mixes or things like that. There are two of us, DD who eats as much as I do (she is a little powerhouse lol). I pack her lunch 4 days a week and we both eat lunch out 1 day a week. We normally eat dinner out 1 night a week.

I don't include cat food & household items, those are in a separate column.

 

[mkel34]

You spend $200/month for a family of 6 with four adults? What do you cook each day?

I'd like to know too, unless a person lives on a farm it doesn't seem possible, even eating only marachan noodles and mac and cheese everday.

 

[charming23]

It is my mom, myself, and two cats and we spend about $250 to $300 a month on groceries and houshold items. I shop mostly at Target, Giant Eagle, and Aldi's. I use coupons when I can, especially on health and beauty items. I have a small stockpile of shampoos, conditioners, body washes, toothpaste, etc... that I have paid pennies for by using coupons. I make a lot of items from scratch and utilize leftovers for lunches rather than buying expensive lunch meats. For cat items I buy in bulk so some months are a little bit more expensive in that area than others.

 

[mrodgers]

Budget is set at $250/week, but usually about $10 less than that. 2 Adults, 2 girls 8 and 11. Includes all non-grocery groceries including cat food for 3 outdoor cats (can't keep the neighbor's cats away to feed ours.)

We also have home raised beef, so no cost there, but usually buy organic produce each week. Also eat the no hormone/antibiotic chicken. We don't eat out (maybe $15 pizza or $20 for Subway once a month.)

We don't coupon, I've spent hours and hours hunting coupons only to find about $1.50 worth. I stay clocked in an extra 10 minutes per month at work and make better than that $1.50/week in coupon savings....

As others said, couponing is a lot different depending on where you live, as well as just the base price of groceries. I've read plenty "I don't buy chicken breasts unless it is under $1.99/lb." I haven't seen regular chicken breast under $3.99/lb in years. Same with ground beef (when we run out of ours.) Haven't seen ground beef under about $2.59/lb in many years, yet those in the south I see mention under $2 ground beef all the time.

 

[bobolove]

As PPs have mentioned, this is the budget board, so keep that in mind when reading the responses. They do a tremendous job on saving money.

Your situation will determine a lot of how much you will spend per week. I work full time and have arthritis. I don't have the time or stamina to go to a bunch of different stores to buy different things. I go to one store - woodmans, where I feel I can do the best overall. We don't have a pantry or an extra freezer. That limits my ability to buy ahead.

I do plan all my meals ahead. We have pizza or subs 2-3 times per month, but otherwise don't eat out. I do buy more convenient quick meals than I should.

Could I do better? yes. Could I use more coupons? yes.

Lots of good suggestions posted for you. See if you can try any of them to get your cost down.

Good luck!

Thanks. We only shop at the Harris Teeter, Whole foods and trader joes right now. I don't think whole foods or trader joes have coupons. We don't buy ahead or stock a pantry except for stuff for the week. I'll keep on reading and getting ideas. A lot of these budgets seem extremely low so everyone must try hard to get to those numbers. We spend a ton on fresh fruit, nuts etc each week too. Lemonade, milk , and similar things are $4 or more each. I think just our pet food budget hits $80 month with wet food, dry food and treats.

 

[bobolove]

I'd like to know too, unless a person lives on a farm it doesn't seem possible, even eating only marachan noodles and mac and cheese everday.

That's scary! I really hope they live on a farm or something.

 

[Pigeon]

Thanks. We only shop at the Harris Teeter, Whole foods and trader joes right now. I don't think whole foods or trader joes have coupons. We don't buy ahead or stock a pantry except for stuff for the week. I'll keep on reading and getting ideas. A lot of these budgets seem extremely low so everyone must try hard to get to those numbers. We spend a ton on fresh fruit, nuts etc each week too. Lemonade, milk , and similar things are $4 or more each. I think just our pet food budget hits $80 month with wet food, dry food and treats.

Whole Foods, aka Whole Paycheck, is notoriously expensive. I don't have Harris Teeter where I live, but I think I've heard that they tend to be high. You might look to other grocery stores to lower your costs.

 

[scra]

Like others have said it depends greatly on where you live, how many people are in your family, what your income level is, and what you choose to eat. For example, I recently started paying a lot less because I moved from the Boston metro area (a very high cost area to live) to the Triangle of North Carolina (much lower cost).

Right now, it's just me. I eat a low-processed pescetarian diet with as much organic produce as possible - I follow Michael Pollan's rule: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." The only processed foods I buy are flour, sugar, yeast, butter, cheese, spices, canned tomatoes, canned tuna, boxed pasta, and sometimes if I don't have time to soak dried beans, I'll buy canned. Since coupons only sometimes cover fresh produce, unprocessed foods, and greener cleaning and bath products (i.e. recycled TP, environmentally friendly detergents), I don't use them often. My weekly grocery bill (including household items) usually comes in around $50-$75, which I'm sure many on the budget board would think was astronomical for one person!

 

[girli565]

Family of 3 adults, we usually spend $350-400 month. We shop in bulk for meats and paper products once a month and milk, bread, fruits, and veggies weekly. it breaks down to about $100 a week, sometimes a bit more if we cleaned out the pantry or freezer.

 

[scnrc00]

I have been spending about $700 a month for a family of 4, 2 adults, 11yr DD, 8 yr DD, and 2 furbabies. This also includes all detergents, paper goods and personal goods. But we are now setting budgets and trying to cut our spending way down since we will be moving this coming summer. We have set a budget of $125 a week and hoping to not spend it all. My youngest doesn't eat that much, plus they are in school all day and get free meals (entire school does) so that saves me some there. I am sure we can make the budget but I also have a very well stocked pantry and freezer. I buy sale items and family pack items and we make the best of our leftovers.

 

[dismichelle]

We spend around $125/week including paper products. This is for 6 people (myself, DH, kids ages 14, 12, 5 and 3).

We try not to eat anything heavily processed and only eat out for birthdays.

 

[jakoky]

We are a family of 5, my dh and I, and 3 kids (20,18, and 16)... I spend between 800 and 900 each month...I have tried to lower it, I shop almost only sales...where I live double/triple coupons don't exist

My kids eat a LOT...my son will cook 3-4 eggs every morning...I go through huge amounts of produce,especially fruit...it is nothing for me to go through 5 apples, 7 bananas and a few oranges each day....my kids and husband all pack lunches most days, and the kid have friends over a lot..Milk, cheese and yogurt, another money guzzler...

I find it almost impossible to compare amounts, due to many reasons...one is prices where everyone lives, access to coupons, different foods we all buy...my kids eat what they want,when they want, others may control portions, and older kids eat more than younger ones (usually)...Everyone has different foods In Their cupboards, and some have full pantrys and others not so much!

Good luck.

I wish I could lower my bill, but we Definately wouldn't be eating as healthy if I cut back! I need to move somewhere I can work with the coupon thing more

 

[MissBritt]

2 adults and 1 baby and we spend about $300 a month on food, maybe $100 in restaurants.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

It winds up being about 800 a month for the 2 of us. A few trips to the grocery, a few eating out, he eats lunch out everyday, i eat lunch out 2 or 3 times per week, i stop for a drink/snack in between my 2 jobs, plus paper items.

 

[ccgirl]

Thanks. We only shop at the Harris Teeter, Whole foods and trader joes right now. I don't think whole foods or trader joes have coupons. We don't buy ahead or stock a pantry except for stuff for the week. I'll keep on reading and getting ideas. A lot of these budgets seem extremely low so everyone must try hard to get to those numbers. We spend a ton on fresh fruit, nuts etc each week too. Lemonade, milk , and similar things are $4 or more each. I think just our pet food budget hits $80 month with wet food, dry food and treats.

Actually, I don't try very hard at all. I don't cut coupons at all. Heck, I don't even go to the grocery store...it comes to me (I have it delivered). BJ's has milk at $2.65 a gallon and I can get 92%lean ground beef there for around $2.80 a pound so I do make quick bi-weekly trips there.

For the most part, I don't go to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. I feel they are very high priced for most things.

Whole Foods, aka Whole Paycheck, is notoriously expensive. I don't have Harris Teeter where I live, but I think I've heard that they tend to be high. You might look to other grocery stores to lower your costs.

Yes...this.