high food bills

[sarah]

I've just started tracking my money in detail and my food bills seem very very high. I'm wondering how much people think a single person should be spending a week on food. I'm trying the obvious step of cutting down on eating out and convenience food but I'd like some guestestimates from people to help me set a target figure.

[midnight]

Re: high food bills

I think it really depends on your particular situation and where you live. We spend about $200 a month on for two of us.

I have a friend that taught me a great way to save on food. Take whatever your bill was for the week before and your budget is $5 less than that the next week. Keep decreasing $5 every week until you reach a budget that you want for your food. It works wonders.

[Tree0164]

Re: high food bills

Hi Sara

We are a family of 5, 2 adults and 3 boys under 6. We spend about $300 on food (this does count some paper products, health &beauty stuff too)

We don't have a lot of conveince food.
We don't eat meat 7 nights a week... usually just 5 to 6 nights.
We eat leftovers. I plan for them
We use the crockpot about 1-2 times a week
We use a price book and shop loss leaders.
We stay out of the grocery store. One main shopping each month and then each week pick up milk and fresh produce and any good sale items.

[asrai]

Re: high food bills

I said in the eating out question, plan your meals. It takes a small amount of time. But by planning our meals we have cut down our food bill so much. We hardely ever eat out because I know ahead of time what we are eating so I take out things from the freezer that we have to eat before it goes bad. It saves time too since i don't have to search for food and then try to defrost something in the micro at the last minute.

[terry1156]

Re: high food bills

We eat out much more than we probably should. Our food bill comes to about $80 a week including a night out on the weekend. We don't plan meals near as well as we should. I'm sure that would help us. Another thing to add to our to do list.

[2moretrees]

Re: high food bills

My grocery bills used to be outrageously high (I'm embarrassed to even write the figure down here). I have since started to coupon a bit more and I don't eat out near as much. Watching what you buy and taking a list when you shop really will cut down your bills.

[DivaJen]

Re: high food bills

I think it really depends on your particular situation and where you live. We spend about $200 a month on for two of us.

I have a friend that taught me a great way to save on food. Take whatever your bill was for the week before and your budget is $5 less than that the next week. Keep decreasing $5 every week until you reach a budget that you want for your food. It works wonders.

I think this is a good way to go about lowering your food bill.

And like you already said, eating in and cutting back on convenience foods will go a long way.

To be honest, I'll buy convenience foods if it means we won't be as likely to go out to eat out of sheer laziness. Not as cheap as cooking from scratch, but not as expensive as going out.

[jaksilee]

Re: high food bills

I too have been wondering about this since I'm also single! It is very hard to shop when lots of the recipe that are out there are made for 4-8 servings! I do make them and put the rest in the freezer for lunches...but my freezer is only so big! I try to plan out my menus ahead of time and buy only stuff I need...but I still seem to spend alot.
(Oh I spend 75-100 for 2weeks of groceries and still never seem to have enough and have to run out for this or that during the 2nd week! )

[pschale]

Re: high food bills

There are a lot of sites out there that have recipes for one or two people. Do a search on google.

[kashi]

Re: high food bills

I live alone and in a large metropolitan area. In 2004, I spent an average of $100 a month on groceries and $40 a month on eating out. However, I'm probably not spending that now. My boyfriend moved back here recently and is temporarily living with me, so we are sharing the grocery budget. A BIG factor in my/our low food budget is that we are both vegetarians - no meat, fish, or fowl to buy, which can really rachet up the bill.

That said, I've spent $35 on groceries so far this month. He has probably spent about $100. The pantry and freezer are both brimming with food and we have plenty of cooking supplies. We've been cooking and baking a lot lately.

The key really is cutting back on convenience foods and preparing meals yourself. Even simple meals are better than high sodium, high calorie convenience foods. Toasted cheese sandwiches & tomato soup, an omelet with tator tots, spaghetti and salad, bean soup and garlic bread, etc. There are TONS of great recipes on allrecipes.com...don't be afraid to experiment! You can scale recipes down on allrecipes to suit your needs. For your recipes that serve 4-6, halve the ingredients! e.g. make half of a lasagna instead of a whole one. You're already freezing what you have left over, and that's a great start!

[amomof4]

Re: high food bills

I have heard that some very frugal people only spend $200 a month to feed a famil of 4-6. And if u r really strapped for funds, one web site I go to, budget101.com, has a grocery/menu list to feed a family of 4 for only $10.

One thing I found that is helpful to me in tracking our food bill, is to pay separately for food items & non-food items. I use to think I spent a lot of money for food. I found out it's the non-food items that I had spent a lot of money on. Now I pay for them separately, & when I get home, I go over my receipts & circle the items that were not recessary. It helps me to keep focused & do better the next time. Also, I now always shop with a list & stick to it. That way I don't have any impulse purchases.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: high food bills

We have a family of 4, two of them toddlers, and we spend a little over 50 a week, around 200 a month. We arn't that frugal, and stuff is really expensive here. I think you should go for a gradual reductions too, the 5$ less is cool, it should be easy to find one thing that is a little cheaper each month.