Your monthly grocery bill and a celebration for me lol

[DawnM]

We have 3 growing boys, two parents, two dogs and a hamster. We budget $550 for everything.....groceries, toiletries, paper goods and pet supplies.

There have been times we have gone over.

My goal is to lower it to $450. So far, I haven't been able to do it. The pets run about $50/mo. alone.

However, we have been eating more expensive items (we LOVE salmon for example and buy at least $25 worth at Costco per month!) and I can cut some of that spending.

Dawn

 

[mombrontrent]

When I say I am spending $1000 that is with us only eating out once a week on average. We might order pizza one night or go out on a kids eat free night once a week, sometimes less. I spend at LEAST $50 a week on produce even in the summer as we just eat more of it then becasue it is so much cheaper and tastier in the summer months. The past year my 11 year son has been EATING! I let him eat as much as he wants as long as it's not junk. He'll come home from school and polish off a couple sandwiches and then eat a full dinner an hour or two later followed by another big snack before bed. I don't know where he puts it because he is so skinny

 

[ancestry]

We too average close to $1,000 per month -- two adults, a 19 year old, a 15 year old (line backer on the football team), and twin 8 year olds. That $1,000 counts food and all of our household toiletries (laundry, toilet paper, soap, etc.).

I watch prices and go to different stores but usually buy generic or store brands rather than couponing. We also rarely eat out. Taking all of us out to eat is very expensive. Even pizza costs close to $50 as we need 3-4 pizza at $15 each to feed us.

 

[bjgrazi]

What I think is, those saying they spend $200/month aren't telling that they eat out 4 times a week.

How about that? How often do you eat out? We spend near $1000/month because we don't eat out. We have 7 breakfast, 7 lunches, and 7 dinners for 4 people per week.

At $200+/week, we are completely out of food by the end of the week.

We too eat just about all our meals at home. We used to eat out every week and our bill wasn't much lower. I've just cut out eating out. Now every couple of weeks we'll get pizza.

 

[Bungle]

What I think is, those saying they spend $200/month aren't telling that they eat out 4 times a week.

How about that? How often do you eat out? We spend near $1000/month because we don't eat out. We have 7 breakfast, 7 lunches, and 7 dinners for 4 people per week.

At $200+/week, we are completely out of food by the end of the week.

For us personally we don't eat out because its not in our budget. Eating out one meal is easily our weekly budget so it only happens on special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays.

 

[daughtersrus]

I buy all of my meat at Sam's Club (the exception being when a local store has ribeye roasts on sale). I have a business membership so I'm able to get in early. I generally only buy the meat that has been marked down because it needs to be sold/frozen within a day or two. The prices are much lower and the quality better than I can get at Meijer. The last time I was there, I got 90% ground beef for $1.79/lb! I take it home and repackage it into smaller sizes. DH bought me a Food Saver for Christmas (with a 30% off coupon at Kohls) It works great.

 

[Marionnette]

Up until my older two kids moved out for college last summer, we were easily spending $1000 per month on groceries. That did not include fast food and pizzas. It did not include paper products, cleaning supplies, health and beauty and none of the dog food. It was just groceries.

The grocery budget has adjusted downward with fewer mouths to feed but I would be hard pressed to get it under $700. And that's with my husband and younger son not packing lunches for work/school. I consider myself to be a pretty good couponer. Not extreme but pretty good at matching the sales with the coupons to get my bill down as much as possible. I guess that for me, I'm not willing to sacrifice my menu to save a buck. We don't like rice and beans, so I don't serve it. We aren't living hand to mouth, so why act like it.

I think that those of you who are feeding your families on so little are super shoppers. I would still love to see someone post one of their weekly shopping lists and prices. And then tell me how they plan to use those items in their weekly menus. It would help to see how everyone is doing it so inexpensively rather than just saying we spend $x and we eat a lot of y.

 

[marmalade]

I would still love to see someone post one of their weekly shopping lists and prices. And then tell me how they plan to use those items in their weekly menus. It would help to see how everyone is doing it so inexpensively rather than just saying we spend $x and we eat a lot of y.

I too would love to see what they are buying and how they incorporate into their daily meals. The only way I could feed my family on $300/month would be quick cooking oats for breakfast, pb&j for lunch (on white bread) and meatless spaghetti for dinner. I can't imagine too much variety, and I could never feed my family like this.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

I too would love to see what they are buying and how they incorporate into their daily meals. The only way I could feed my family on $300/month would be quick cooking oats for breakfast, pb&j for lunch (on white bread) and meatless spaghetti for dinner. I can't imagine too much variety, and I could never feed my family like this.

Seriously!

I spend about $1000/ month and I shop at the Commissary. I easily spend $20/week on cereal alone!

 

[jakoky]

I am so glad there are so may people like us the 800 I spend on month does not include dog food, but does include laundry soap, tp, etc....my kids drink 15 dollars of milk in a week and only like breads like the 12 grains which are pricey. My oldest daughter takes at least 3 pieces of fruit a day in her lunch, and always snacks on at least another 2-3 pieceS a day! With the way prices have gone up, i am just happy I am not spending more! Our local Safeway has amazing sales every week and because I am so stocked up, I can usually shop mainly sales ! I am pretty sure that cheese, yogurt, milk and fruit run me close to 200/ month

 

[LaDonna]

to a previous posters:

I WISH we had stores that doubled up to $1

We very seldom go out to eat, we are too cheap for that

 

[LaDonna]

I think that those of you who are feeding your families on so little are super shoppers. I would still love to see someone post one of their weekly shopping lists and prices. And then tell me how they plan to use those items in their weekly menus. It would help to see how everyone is doing it so inexpensively rather than just saying we spend $x and we eat a lot of y.

That is a good idea.....hmmmm I guess I could start a thread on here showing what we eat, I guess that would be allowed?

 

[williamson_ja]

I am the one with a family of 7 that spends about $350/months for groceries.. including cleaning products, etc. As for how much we eat out. We don't. We did get ice cream after going to the opera the other day. That was the first time I had eaten anything out in months. BTW the opera was free, too. We never do fast food. There is nothing worth feeding my children at any fast food restaurant out here. We only eat at regular restaurants on vacation which we do once per year. i know others have pizza days, etc. but we don't even have the option where I live. There is a pizza hut in the next town, but they don't deliver to our house which is 25 miles away. lol.
I've posted this before, but some things we do are: baking all my own bread products (bread, buns, tortillas, etc.) I only make whole wheat so it's healthy
We only eat meat once a week and buy the meat on sale.
We buy our veggies and fruit from the food co-op
We grow our own garden in the summer months and eat a lot of meals right from the garden.
I either use very simple cleaning products (vinegar, baking soda, etc) or make my own which is what I do for laundry soap.

The things I do take time and effort which not everyone has. It is possible to get your grocery bill down without eating junk though. I'm very strict about the food we eat!

 

[marmalade]

That is a good idea.....hmmmm I guess I could start a thread on here showing what we eat, I guess that would be allowed?

Please do. I am interested on seeing what you are eating. I would love to spend less on groceries, and actually seeing what you're buying and eating might give me some ideas.

 

[ancestry]

I've posted this before, but some things we do are: baking all my own bread products (bread, buns, tortillas, etc.) I only make whole wheat so it's healthy
We only eat meat once a week and buy the meat on sale.
We buy our veggies and fruit from the food co-op
We grow our own garden in the summer months and eat a lot of meals right from the garden.
I either use very simple cleaning products (vinegar, baking soda, etc) or make my own which is what I do for laundry soap.

The things I do take time and effort which not everyone has. It is possible to get your grocery bill down without eating junk though. I'm very strict about the food we eat!

This is fantastic! Just a general philosophical thought.....I've noticed (in my life anyways) that everything seems to boil down to time or money and the proportion between them..

In order to keep up with the jobs I have I can't do a lot of the things shared above. I just don't have enough time which causes me to have to purchase things that I used to make myself when I wasn't working.

 

[LaDonna]

This is fantastic! Just a general philosophical thought.....I've noticed (in my life anyways) that everything seems to boil down to time or money and the proportion between them..

In order to keep up with the jobs I have I can't do a lot of the things shared above. I just don't have enough time which causes me to have to purchase things that I used to make myself when I wasn't working.

Everyone is always impressed with my couponing, but I've always said I would never be able to do what I do if I worked full time! No way! I'd be able to do it, just not to the extent that I do now.

 

[cseca]

Wow... $200-$300/mo for family of 4+?
That's amazing. Our budget is $400/mo + some for eating out. And we're only a family of 3 (almost 4). And I was just talking to DH how our $ doesn't go as far anymore for food and home supplies. We ate at Johnny Rockets this weekend and it was $27 total with tip just for 1 entree, an app, and 3 drinks. I was blown away!

I would like to learn to cook better but with picky eater it's difficult. I try new things and all I get is " __{insert processed food}__ is better" ... sigh...

 

[LisaNJ25]

Seriously!

I spend about $1000/ month and I shop at the Commissary. I easily spend $20/week on cereal alone!

Does the Commissary take coupons?

I spent $2.22 today on 3 boxes of name brand cereal at my grocery store and got a gallon of milk for free.

 

[CarpeLiberum]

Some of y'all are amazing.

We spend about 700/month, for 3 adults. However, we are in NYC, so the 'shopping around' and Wal-Mart opportunities are non-existent. We do, however, have what I consider to be the best grocery store I've ever shopped at- Fairway. It's the only store I know that is really a 50/50 mix between Whole Foods and a regular store- you can get multiple brands of organic ketchup, and Hunt's.

When I lived in VA, we spent about 600/month for 2 adults and 2 may-as-well-have-been adults.

 

[rumrunnergirl]

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