What's your monthly food budget?

[Angielynne]

OK folks...I saved ALL of our receipts from this past month (September) and I was apalled at how much money our household spends on food...both groceries and eating out. We have me, dh, dd8, dd6 and dd 16months & no pets. Last month we spent over $600 in groceries and over $400 eating out. (that's both fast food and a couple date nights for me and dh).

I was so SHOCKED at how much we spent. Now...we don't make a lot of money, so there's obviously got to be a cut. I've gotten back to coupon clipping/ad matching and am doing well saving now but I'm trying to get dh on board with less eating out.

It's hard to eat healthy cheap though...

How many people are in your family and what do you budget for groceries each week? Am I unreasonable to try and get by on $100 week groceries and then $100 month total for eating out?

 

[cglaura]

OK folks...I saved ALL of our receipts from this past month (September) and I was apalled at how much money our household spends on food...both groceries and eating out. We have me, dh, dd8, dd6 and dd 16months & no pets. Last month we spent over $600 in groceries and over $400 eating out. (that's both fast food and a couple date nights for me and dh).

I was so SHOCKED at how much we spent. Now...we don't make a lot of money, so there's obviously got to be a cut. I've gotten back to coupon clipping/ad matching and am doing well saving now but I'm trying to get dh on board with less eating out.

It's hard to eat healthy cheap though...

How many people are in your family and what do you budget for groceries each week? Am I unreasonable to try and get by on $100 week groceries and then $100 month total for eating out?

$150 per month, but it is just me and dd19.

We eat mostly chicken every other night, I buy at Walmart...frozen bag with around 14 meal size breasts, for $7.00.

London broil - I buy 1 and cut into 4 dinner size pieces, then freeze). These are always on sale at least once per month at my Acme. So we have it about 1/week.

Fresh fruit and fresh/frozen vegetables.

Pasta, turkey burgers, granola bars, yogurt, tuna, peanut butter, popcorn, baked chips, pudding or ice cream, rice, mashed potatoes, juice, coffee.

This includes pet food, litter and cleaning supplies. I get most of my stuff at Walmart and Acme, some CVS if sale, and I buy laundry at Big Lots - they carry Tide now $10 for the big box. Pet stuff I get at PetSmart or Acme depending on sale.

We don't get take out aside from pizza once a month, but that is $5.99 for a large "Wednesday special".

We only go out to dinner on special occasions, birthdays, milestones, etc. Maybe $150 for the whole year.

I use coupons as often as I can, but only for stuff I'd normally get or willing to try if similar to what we normally eat. I am not brand loyal, except for Tide, L'Oreal sulfate free hair care, Dove soap and personal products. Anything else is comparison shopped.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

$100 / week

There are 3 of us DH, myself and DD (age 11). Also 2 dogs and 3 cats. Budget includes pet food/litter and paper goods like paper towels etc.

I do coupon but not over the top - mostly I buy the generic Wal-Mart brand "Great Value".

I plan out our meals in advance and I've found that helps a lot. Also I shop the sales (Wal-Mart does price comparisons so I never have to shop anywhere else).

At our house generally we don't have dessert (save that for when we go out or at family gatherings) also snacks are just fruit so I suspect we save a ton not having easy to munch on cookies/ crackers etc

 

[jillily]

I spend $100 weekly for my family of 4. I buy stock up on meats ( chicken $1.99lb) once a month and split it all up before freezing. I use to cook 2 breasts for one meal but now with trying to be frugal and dieting I pound and cut the breasts into 3 pieces each and cook 4 pieces for 1 meal.

I buy store brand on almost everything. I buy boxed snacks for the kids about once a month- animal crackers, graham crackers, goldfish, ect

Fresh stuff is bought- fruits, veggies(frozen too), milk, bread, yogurt & cheese.

We eat mostly chicken and salad for dinner, DH brings his lunch- salad & hard boiled eggs ( We have our own egg laying chickens).
Lunch for me and the kids- deli sandwiches, leftovers, homemade soups.

My goal is to start couponing again and get it down to $80/week.

 

[happygirl]

OP, I would cut out eating out if you are trying to cut cost.

Also try Aldi, Save A lot. There prices are much cheaper, You can can do it on 150.00 a week it takes discpline, make a grocery list and stick to it. NO extras (this is my downfall).

 

[java]

I try to keep it to $100 a week *we are a family of 6 with 2 dogs(get their food from Costco- $27 a bag lasts about a month) For the month including paper and cleaning supplies and dog food I would say we average $500 a month. WAY below where we were 2 years ago. And we are eating better.

We rarely eat out. A couple times a year now. We used to do takeout twice a week which would be at least $150 just for that!

 

[britfish]

We spend about $160 a week and thats me DH and a 7yo, a dog and a cat. I think it sounds like a lot but we don't eat out so that includes packing lunches too.

 

[CdnCarrie]

About $550-$600 a month. And we rarely eat out. Maybe $60 a month eating out? I would rather eat out less and vacation more.

Family of 4 - 2 kids under the age of 10.

 

[staceyhzoo]

Just under $600 for the 4 of us, plus 2 dogs and 2 cats.

We eat mostly organic due to my kid's food allergies.

Eta: to add that most of organic food doesn't contain DS's food allergies and that increases our cost about $100-$150.

 

[runwad]

There's 5 of us, no pets, kids 15,13 & 11. We average around $650/mo for food and paper products, toiletries. I try to keep it down as much as I can. We rarely eat out or do take out. I cook and bake, ALL THE TIME!! It's hard to keep the kids full if we don't have complete meals, salad, meat, veggies, starch. Takes a lot of time, but I enjoy doing it and knowing my family is eating healthy. Kids pack their lunch for school and usually take fruit, sandwich and a baked good. We drink mostly water and milk. Pop is only for holidays and when company is over. I stock pile when things are on sale and some months are less because of eating from that stockpile.

 

[tinker&belle]

We spend about $125/week groceries, $40/week household. Dh and I go out to eat every 1-2 weeks for around $20 each time and we each get $20 a week for lunches/coffee/etc.

I used to be able to do a around $100 instead of $125 for the grocery number, but with the girls getting older, prices increasing and trying to eat more fresh produce and more snacks from the natural type section (less preservatives, HFCS etc.)

We have me, DH, girls 4 and 2 and a cat.

 

[ekatiel]

We spend $550/month for our family of four (me, DH, DS7, and DS5). That includes toiletries, paper goods and cleaning products. We budget $120/month for eating out. We eat out once a week at a "sit down" restaurant (we stick to places with large portions where DH and I can share and the kids can share a kid's meal-- we average $20-$25 per meal), and then we eat fast food once or twice a month. --Katie

 

[RachaelA]

$300 for groceries and $150 eating out. We've doubled the eating out budget though the last couple months because I've been way too lazy to cook and I'm sure that will continue once DD is born

 

[Priorityonecb]

We are a family of three, dd 14 and we have two cats. I've been averaging $75 per week. I plan our meals which I think cuts down on costs, and we eat meat free a couple times a week. Not for budget reasons, we just prefer it. We eat out about once a week, but that comes from our entertainment budget.

 

[DawnM]

Right now about $600/month including pet food/care and toiletries.

That has been our amount. Last month I went over. I think I got up to $800.

We budget about $100/mo to eat out. We try to get free kids' meals or split meals or whatever so that we can eat out once per week. Sometimes we go over.

Dawn

 

[SandrA9810]

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/slow_food/blog_post/the_challenge_reaches_the_white_house/

Eating local, in season, and more fresh produce can actually save you more money than buying processed "healthy" food and meats. It'll probably take you the entire year to finally learn what is in season and when. Then it also takes some prep work to cut and dice up things to be frozen for use later. I do this with onions, celery, peppers, and most anything I cook all the way through. Just go down your freezer isle and see what they freeze, then check online to see what freezes best. Potatoes are one thing that don't freeze well, but not sure what else would be on that list.

Ohh and lots of fruits can be frozen for creating smoothies later on.

 

[Kitzka]

I spend $85-100 a week for a family of 3 plus the occasional friend who hangs out. We eat out every other week an prob spend $150 total so $550 for the 3 of us for the month. This includes our date nights.

Lara

 

[Marionnette]

OK folks...I saved ALL of our receipts from this past month (September) and I was apalled at how much money our household spends on food...both groceries and eating out. We have me, dh, dd8, dd6 and dd 16months & no pets. Last month we spent over $600 in groceries and over $400 eating out. (that's both fast food and a couple date nights for me and dh).

I was so SHOCKED at how much we spent. Now...we don't make a lot of money, so there's obviously got to be a cut. I've gotten back to coupon clipping/ad matching and am doing well saving now but I'm trying to get dh on board with less eating out.

It's hard to eat healthy cheap though...

How many people are in your family and what do you budget for groceries each week? Am I unreasonable to try and get by on $100 week groceries and then $100 month total for eating out?

I don't think that $600/month is particularly high for someone who is feeding 5 people, especially if you are also including diapers and other baby supplies for the toddler in that total.

When the kids are home from college, I easily spend $1000/month to feed 2 boys (18, 19) and my vegetarian daughter (21). The kids do eat a lot more "junk" than my husband and I do. That "junk" - sugary cereals, chips, breakfast bars, frozen pizzas, etc. - is off of the grocery list when it's just the 2 of us and I'm only spending around $75/week for us.

 

[wisconsinmom]

$120 a week and that includes paper products/toiletries and we have a dog and a cat. We are two adults and two kids.

 

[mrodgers]

This has been discussed 3.4 million times. You can't compare because people live in different areas. What would cost folks down south $50 with coupons and double or triple coupons with ridiculous sale prices costs me $150 with no available coupons nor any store who doubles more than $0.99 (coupons are 90% of the time $1 on 2) and crappy sale prices. Also half the people count food only as groceries and half will count household products in with their groceries.

We are desperately trying to keep under $200/week (2 adults, 2 girls age 8 and 11) and failing miserably. This also includes household items and food for cats (2 of our cats and 1 neighbor cat we can't get to leave, all outside.) We maybe spend $20-30 eating out a month, that is grabbing Subway or Sheetz sandwiches once through the month. I eat leftovers for work, wife eats whatever she finds in the fridge for lunch and goes to work after dinnertime, and kids pack a lunch every day.

Oh, and we do eat a lot of beef, which comes from the cows my wife's father raises, so with all the beef we eat, none of it is money spent and we still struggle to keep groceries to $200/week.

We tried coupons. We slaved away for hours and hours and hours all month hunting coupons on the internet and wasting time and money on newspapers. For all that time spent trying to coupon, we save about $3 on a grocery trip. I can work an extra 5 minutes at work and make that.

Example of the ridiculous sale prices between the south and up here where I am... My oldest loves Mac n Cheese. I always hear how people state they will only buy it when it is free, meaning on sale for $0.50 with a $0.50 coupon. Best sale we ever have is 5 for $5 ($1.00 each) and I have never found a coupon for Mac n Cheeze.

Best with coupons I ever did was when we had a bunch of cereal coupons for $1.00 and they were on sale for 5 for $10. Took the cereal down to $1 each and I laid out the list of what to buy and which coupons for my wife to use (she does the grocery shopping.) The 10 tiny little boxes of cereal she came home with was ridiculous. We would have paid less for 24 ounce boxes without using a coupon.