How much do you spend on groceries?

[getforfree]

for our cat, we don't buy cat food. We just give her our leftovers, or bread soaked in tuna juice, kids eat the tuna.

[snafu]

Wow! We are currently living in Calgary with it's outrageous inflation 2 adults & 2 teens are around $100. per week. I find the convenience too expensive so non-food items are bought at a discount store. I don't care if the kleenex box is dented or the label on the cleanser is only printed in French.

Nearly all our food is purchased from the perimeter of the store where they keep the 'real' food. I don't buy the pre-processed stuff because it is too full of salt, sugar, chemicals and possible ingredients from China which can be dangerous. The Chinese government fined firms for adding BLEACH to powdered milk to make it appear whiter!

I use powdered milk for cooking/baking and the simple cereals for breakfast. Our bread machine goes on nearly every night mostly because
the teens get out of bed on their own when they smell fresh bread! [too funny].

the most frugal thing I ever did was make a simple meal plan which is tweaked based on loss leaders from the food ads + coupons.

[zee8]

About 350$ for two.. I think I need to work on to reduce it

[project15]

About 350$ for two.. I think I need to work on to reduce it

That's what we're at as well (two of us for $350/month). Sometimes we spend over, other times we spend under, but it evens out to that. We also throw some non-grocery/necessity items on there as well sometimes

[JasonEngler]

Our household consists of two adults and one infant (16 months old). We spend on average between $600-500 per month, but I have seen it jump a bit higher from time to time. We are currently in the process of taming that down to the $400 range. We typically buy diapers and baby items at Wal-Mart, some food items and detergents in bulk at Sam's Club, and the remaining groceries at the local Kroger or Giant Eagle.

Note: This does not include going out to eat, fast food, or other purchases outside the grocery store.

[Watson Inc]

I spend about $175 per month (1 adult).

[snafu]

Jason if you added fast food & restaurant meals to your food sum it would more accurately reflect the food total.

Great you realize that diapers and non food items can be bought for less at W/Mart or bulk. A simple menu plan makes a big dent in both food costs and heart health. Needn't be elaborate, something like Sunday roast chicken or beef or pork as you prefer. Monday Pasta+ sauce,

Tuesday plan-over Sunday for example BBQ sauce over chicken, non meat Wednesday = grilled cheese, or stuffed omlette, Thurs. any style fish, Friday is buffet of leftovers which could be baked on a pizza shell. To each meal add a side dish like potato, rice, pasta, salad, veggie and simple dessert like Chocolate pudding or fruit & cookies.

We were probably spending $700-$800/month but we've reduced it substantially to about $450/month. I really have to question those who have kids and say they're spending $300 or less on groceries, diapers, toiletries, etc. I suppose if the family uses cloth diapers and just eats PB&J and hot dogs every day (or they eat out all the time and don't include it in their grocery budget) that could happen, but otherwise I just don't see how it's possible.

[getforfree]

we spend less than 300, and about $6 of it on diapers for my dd, she uses them only for sleep, just in case, so about 20 diapers is enough for a month.

The kids are little, so they don't eat much, they waste more than they eat, so most of the time, I finish up their plate, and the cat gets some of it.

We eat lots of rice, potatoes and pasta. I usually buy huge package of meat, about 14 lbs, whatever is on sale, less than $1/lb, separate it in smaller packages, and it's enough for more than a week. We also eat hot dogs about 2 times a week, they are so cheap, 64c/lb. We eat a lot of soup, the cheapest and the healthiest food.

We rarely drink soda, we buy frozen 100% juice, mostly apple, because it's cheaper but still 100%. I mix it with grape kind, so it would taste better.

[DebbieL]

My daughter is 14 now, and I don't think she's ever really eaten enough to make much of a dent in our grocery budget. She has an expensive fruit juice habit (which I think is much better than pop, etc.). That is about the biggest expense for her. I buy mainly healthy food (fresh veggies, fruit, chicken, etc). The amount she eats doesn't really add up to that much. During the school year I will give her $2 to buy lunch at the cafeteria about 2 times per week. All totalled, I would guess that she adds maybe $75 (at most) to our grocery expenses per month.

[Lindahfx]

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I find it really hard to see how someone in a family of 3 or 4 is able to cook full meals and have all of their household items for only $50 per week. I'd love to know how you do it. I have a blog and just posted a breakdown of our recent grocery bill into categories. Are we allowed to post the link to our blogs? If not, I'll try to post something on here but you can't create tables so it makes it hard to line things up.

[PrincessPerky]

We used to eat on 400 a month (or less) with the same 5 kids (though one was nursing at the time)

We ate a lot of beans, and white pasta...plus cheap whole wheat bread (had high fructose corn syrup in it) Not to mention hardly any real meat....

A sample week menu would be...
-Quesadillas..cheap cheese, and cheap salsa, on white tortillas (now we use whole wheat no meat)
-chili (with any cheap beans, and cheap tomatoes, and chili powder, not mix, no meat, maybe homemade corn bread)
-Rice (white, prolly fried, cheap frozen veggies, and cheap teriyaki sauce)
-pasta (I'd say beef, but it was beef bullion...some additional spices..on white pasta, plus a veggie) Or could be Mac n Cheese w/veggie
-potatoes (soup or parsley...no meat, but maybe chicken bullion, with a veggie of course)
-Spaghetti (cheap tomatoes, cheap sauce, spices, white pasta, maybe homemade biscuits)
-PB no J at the park or out somewhere else (with fruit)

repeat ad nasuem...till you find meat WAY cheap on sale. (or carnivorous husband has a fit and buys hot dogs around once a month he did that, eww) Also about once a month we had tuna with veggie and bread for dinner. That is NOT cheap! (4 cans of Tuna to share, at 1$ each! plus the cost for bread and veggie!)

Lunch was leftovers, breakfast is whole wheat English muffins or whole wheat toast, or oatmeal, with fruit. (breakfast was the first to go healthy...)

Snacks were/are apples, cheese, and plain yogurt mixed with frozen blueberries or strawberries (for the longest time that was cheap yogurt, but now due to ped recommendation it is Sonyfield farms -that switch alone made the grocery bill jump!) Or homemade muffins (made only when sharing necessary) We also had trailmix, made from mixing our own dried fruit and nuts, used to be a lot, but the nuts are not cheap, so I cut it down.

I couldn't go back down to that 400 a month without giving up all the whole wheat flour, pasta, bread (no high fructose corn syrup) tortilla shells, brown rice, and such, not to mention the splurges on fresher fruit and carrot sticks...course it is only 500. (that doesn't include the once or twice we eat out, nor the Weekends where we may or may not get a free meal once. It does include 'non food stuff' like detergents and toilet paper. (though no other paper products are bought anymore, also only bleach for cleaning)

[Lindahfx]

Okay, I've read the rules and added my blog URL in my signature. If someone could have a look at my post from today and provide me with any feedback, that would be great.

[Aleta]

Linda: I would suggest separating your food items from all other items. I have categories for toiletries, pet food, household supplies, beverages (sodas, beer, wine). Orange juice, milk falls under the food category. I also have another category for hair care which could include haircuts, hair colors that I do myself, etc. I allocate certain amounts to each category each month and of course, some months you don't spend as much, but you will spend it the following month, so I end up escrowing that money and moving it out of the month and transferring it to the money market. You just need to start somewhere even if its where you are and see how much you can lower each category.

[PrincessPerky]

Errr, 174 in one week..is that like an out of norm stock up? buying baked goods for a party that is unusual? Now my husband would love permission to buy 34$ in meat...I hope it was a LOT of meat.

Anyway point is.....I could easily slash the meat, treats (what are those?), and baked stuff (umm doesn't that count as a treat?) you on the other hand have to look at what is important to you, and what you wont mind cutting, or at least not mind much.

Don't try to go to bare minimum overnight, try for cutting one category at a time IMO....skip the mag, find it at the library, next month buy flour and bake your own fav treat (healthier too)