how much

[jessica31876]

do you typically spend for a weeks worth of food at the grocery store? I went to the store last week and left with a loaded cart and about 10 days worth of food for 80 dollars. When I tell my friends that they say Im lying and ask me how I do it and they say well you obviously are not eating well. Im not going to say we eat steak/lobster every night LOL but we have a good variety of foods including some fresh fruits/vegies. So I asked my friend how much she spends a week and she said about 150-175 sometimes more and that doesnt include eating out some nights. My husbands friend told him that they go through about 150 plus several small trips to the store per week for about 20-25 each time for things like milk/bread etc.
Both my husbands friend and my friend are feeding five people same as my husband and I. Honestly I think I could get it lower then that if my son didnt snack as often as he did.

[lizzyfizzy]

i would say around $100/week for groceries around here.

[jessica31876]

You have five in your family also right?

Originally Posted by lizzyfizzy

i would say around $100/week for groceries around here.

[mummytothree]

We have a family of six and I shop once a month (I make a menu for 30 days) and I spent anywhere from $290 dollars to $366 dollars (my lowest and highest totals for the last 6 months). Then every week we spend about $15 dollars on milk, bread, eggs and salad (since I don't have a lot of fridge room for all that stuff) so that is another $60 bucks a month. Not to bad since that includes all cleaning supplies and diapers and wipes!!!

[jessica31876]

that is pretty good. I average between 80 and 120 a week when my husband was working but since he went out of work Ive found I could get alot more for alot less.

Originally Posted by mummytothree

We have a family of six and I shop once a month (I make a menu for 30 days) and I spent anywhere from $290 dollars to $366 dollars (my lowest and highest totals for the last 6 months). Then every week we spend about $15 dollars on milk, bread, eggs and salad (since I don't have a lot of fridge room for all that stuff) so that is another $60 bucks a month. Not to bad since that includes all cleaning supplies and diapers and wipes!!!

[Jennifer]

About $100/wk (give or take) for a family of 4.

ETA: That includes Pull-Ups for naptime/nights for DD, all cleaning stuff, paper products, toiletries, etc.

[Darcy Baldwin]

We eat for about $300 a month for a family of four. We eat basic meals, not a lot of high end meat and fish.

[ditzyscrap]

Oh man...we go for a big shopping trip bi-weekly and spend $250+, plus then DH stops in at the grocery store to get things for dinner that night almost daily (I prefer to buy my meat fresh at the store instead of buying it and putting it in the freezer). We're a family of 4. Mind you, this is CDN $ I'm talking, so approx. $175 US for the basics for 2 weeks and then extras daily.

[KristinCB]

Those who are good with frugal spending on groceries PLEASE can you share like an exact grocery bill lol? This is what I have the most trouble on. We don't spend alot of money on "stuff" but we do find that our groceries could be cut in at least half.

So any tips would be great - generic stuff is obvious but what about stuff like sauces - is it more economical to buy your own? How do you keep things lasting etc. I need all the help I could get in this department!

[mummytothree]

One thing that helped cut down our spending was I can plan left over nights....we have one every 5th day. So we eat 4 meals and then the 5th night is a leftover night. Also we hardly ever eat out anymore because I always know what we are eating and if I am running late or something pops up or we are just not in the mood for "that" meal "that night.....I already have a ton of stuff in the house and can just swap a day out!!! No more...I don't want meatloaf ....let's run to Ruby Tuesdays ect!!!!

I also learned to find recipes that make 2 "dinners" and stick one in the freezer...so I'm also cutting down my cooking time. I have at least 4 of these meals a month so i cook 4 times, but have 8 dinners!!!

[lizzyfizzy]

Originally Posted by jessica31876

You have five in your family also right?

yes, family of 5.

[ditzyscrap]

I've always wanted to attempt freezer cooking or planning a month ahead, but just never have. I have good intentions, but the idea is daunting and so I give up before I start...

[jessica31876]

I buy what is on sale at my local store. I shop at Winn Dixie and my sister works there so I get 5% off my total bill also. Winn Dixie has awesome sales and every month there is a meat that is like 40% off. Basically how I do it is they have so many BOGO Free sales there every month and I just change up what I buy according to what is on sale. They also have coupons that print out for like 10 dollars off 75 or 10 dollars off 50 at the checkout at Winn Dixie so I always save them and I do not buy junkfood. Our junkfood this week consisted of one bag of chips and two boxes of cheez-its (they were BOGO Free)

[mummytothree]

Kristin some of the other things I do is wait for meat to go on sale....that is the biggest part of our bill......so when Giant Eagle has their 3lb bags for $5.97 I buy a ton!!! When ground turkey (which I know is expensive for you Canadian girls but you could sub beef) goes on sale for $1.99 a pound I buy 15 to 20 lbs at once.

When I make my menu we have several stapel dishes like spaghetti, homemade pizza, homemade mac and cheese, ect.....that are made at least once a week!! Then I choose 3 chicken recipes, 3 beef/turkey recipes and 5 to 6 meatless recipes. That also saves huge $$. That's pretty much how my menu is every month.

[rach3975]

I think a lot of us who spend more aren't going to be too eager to post since we're the bad guys in the original post, LOL!

We spend about $170/week. That includes diapers for 2 kids, frozen meals for DH to bring to work, and some of the higher end meat alternatives (soy sausage, veggie chicken, etc.). We could spend less if we needed to, but spending this allows us to get the bread we think tastes best instead of the one that's cheapest, for example.

I also think it makes a big difference where you live and shop. There's no Walmart or Target with a grocery store here, and the prices I've seen at places like that are much cheaper than what our grocery stores charge.

[jessica31876]

dont think about it as being the bad guy...I didnt intend it to mean it that way at all. I just wanted to see what the average was because it seems like everyone we talk to spends way more then we do and then when we tell them what we spend they seem all shocked to see we can spend that amount and feed five people and actually have something good to eat

[rachaelsscraps]

I spend about $120-$150 every 2 weeks for groceries (I'm not counting cleaners and stuff- just the edibles). We have just 2 adults and a 3-year old.
I'm a major coupon/sale shopper though, which saved a lot of moola!
I usually get all our toothpaste, shaving cream, and some cleaning stuffs for free with sales and double coupons at Price Chopper! The good brands, too!
When my son was a babe still, I managed to get $60-$70 worth of baby food for only $10 because of the sales & coupons. I'm good! LOL!

[lovely1m]

I go every 2 weeks for the full groceries and spend about $100-$150. That includes all Wal-Mart stuff since that's where I shop. We eat out once a week and spend anywhere from $20-$35 on that. We also go on the off week and spend about $40. This is for 2 adults and a 2 year old.

One thing that I do to save money is shop at speciality stores for some things. I can get bread way cheaper at Master Breads Outlet and meat way cheaper at a local meat market. I get quite a bit at once and freeze it since I don't want to have to go to these stores every week. I also stock up on staples when they are cheap, like diapers, when they go on sale, I get a bunch of coupons online and will spend a good $100 or so on them and then I don't have to buy any for a few months or so. When he was 1 year old, I got such a smokin' deal on them that I stocked up for a full year for less than $100.

[alansrock]

Family of 4 and I spent $164 a few days ago and if you factor in eating out I would say we spend about $250 for 2-weeks worth of stuff (this includes all other household item spending too).

[BrattyMeg]

There's 7 of us..and I spend about 250-300 every 2 weeks including diapers and baby food/formula....

I <3 Sams

[Rae's World]

we do about $150 every two weeks and we are a family of 6. I do a lot of bulk buying which would roll over to other weeks. I do coupons when available and I also menu plan. I do two weeks at a time. We eat out as a whole family about once every 6wks or so. DH and I eat out once every two weeks. Date night!!

[my4boys]

I spend about 150-180 per week. We have a family of 6 here but DH and I are doing the Atkins thing so I spend a lot of $$$ of meat & fish plus I have to get things WITH carbs for the kiddos. I have to also say that I do buy a lot of generic items when I can and pick things on sale unless I KNOW they are not good tasting to me or my kids. They actually like the Jewel brand cereals as opposed to the regular ones (except Cheerios, which I agree on as well) I DO NOT buy junk food ever except the occasional bag of chips so I save a lot there. I shop at Costco often esp. for grnd beef, pork tenderloin, itilian sausage, eggs, coffee, etc. Most of my cleaning supplies come from Walmart. I plan on shopping at our new Walmart from now on, their prices are AWESOME and I know I can cut my bill BIG TIME.

WOW I am quite the rambler...sorry

[newfiemountiewife]

At least $150 a week, for a family of 5 and a cat. We eat a lot of lean meat that costs more, and I tend to not buy generic brands at all. This would include toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc, and also stuff for Benjamin for lunch at school since I refuse to spend $2.50 on a white bread, cheap ham sandwich.

We go out of town once a week for Amelia's ballet, and that usually includes a Wal-Mart stop for as much of our grocery/home needs as we can, as it's much cheaper there than the rinky dink town I live in. For instance, Mr. Clean is about $4.50 here, only about $2.50 at Wal-Mart.

Obviously this amount depends on whether we get groceries when we're out of town or not, the same amount of groceries here would probably be $225.

[Sharon Kay]

Wish we could feed 5 on $8 a day! ...our bill has gone up since I am now homeschooling my two younger kids...so for 5 lunches a week there are 4 of us eating at home...course I am not paying for school lunches so I am probably saving money and the kids are eating better foods! I think we are more like $150 for 10 days. I should keep track and really figure it out...course going to sam's club makes it hard to figure out since you buy in bulk and it lasts longer.

[tuneskids]

family of 6 here, and I spend about $200-300 (Cdn) bi-weekly (including cleaning supplies - this past month was the first time in almost 14 years that I haven't had to buy diapers/pull-ups! Yeah!!). We don't eat out (maybe order pizza once a month, if that).
Our problem (and I know it's the same for Kristin) is that the only store here where I live is super expensive compared to if we drive 45 minutes away to the Wal Mart. And because it's further away than just shopping here in town, I tend to try and stock up on the stuff that I know I can't get here.
I do splurge on meat every couple of months, and order directly from the butcher, since NO meat around here compares in quality.
We go through a lot of ground beef in this house. I wish ground pork, chicken & turkey were cheaper! They are too expensive here though.

[4noisyboys]

First of all, why is ground chicken or turkey so expensive in Canada?

I spend a lot. I spend at least $150 - $200 at Costco each week, and about $80 - $100 at Trader Joes each week. That would include any extra's we buy at Costco...cleaning supplies, water bottles, pillows, chairs, jeans, whatever.

We also eat out at least once a week, which is about $50 - $60 depending on who goes out with us. Last time an older son and his girlfriend showed up while we were at the restaurant and joined us...of course I picked up the bill.

We are a family of 4 right now, but that is 4 adults (my boys at home are 17 and 21).

One of these days I'll learn to be frugal. I don't shop at regular grocery stores, so I really don't shop sales.

[newfiemountiewife]

I don't know why ground turkey is so expensive, but it really is. My kids love it though, they had it tonight for leftovers LOL. It's about $5 here for a small pack.

[pbumbaca]

I spend on average $150-$200 per week but I buy a lot of stuff I don't need and isn't on my list and I never look at prices to buy the cheaper brand. I know if I stuck to my list and looked for bargains I could keep it around $130 for my family of 4. But my DH and my 13 yo mountain of a son are big eaters too.

[stayawake]

We shop every week and a half - two weeks, plus a trip to Costco for things like milk, bread butter and eggs which are much less expensive there. We have only four of us in the family (but we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old). We eat almost exclusively fresh fruits and vegetables, never canned, occationally frozen. And we eat good cuts of lean meat (but we don't eat meat every day). We do buy store brands and use coupons whenever we can. I'm in LOVE with President's Choice brands! We do snack, but we buy good snacks, either less of good quality or healthier which of course costs more. We do not eat out or order in more than once a month. This includes my husbands daily lunch too. Overall, we spend a little under $100 a week, Canadian. I'm not sure if that's comparable?

[sammi]

Originally Posted by mummytothree

We have a family of six and I shop once a month (I make a menu for 30 days) and I spent anywhere from $290 dollars to $366 dollars (my lowest and highest totals for the last 6 months). Then every week we spend about $15 dollars on milk, bread, eggs and salad (since I don't have a lot of fridge room for all that stuff) so that is another $60 bucks a month. Not to bad since that includes all cleaning supplies and diapers and wipes!!!

We are right on par to your budget...I go once a month and stay just under $250 for groceries and then another $100 for misc. at walmart. We go through a lot of milk 4-6 gallons a week. We don't buy much meat, we purchased a half of beef at the end of the summer so our freezer is pretty full.

[Stacey42]

There are only 4 of us & I spend about $400-500 a month, but it doesn't average out in any weekly way because we do random bulk meat purchases throughout the year that throw the total off. For instance last month we bought 40lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast in bulk from a friend who works in a chicken processing plant. In a couple months we will be splitting a cow with another family.

I generally spend about $100 on the monthly Sam's run for staples and $80 each on 2 large shopping trips based around my menu plans & what is on sale. Then there will be various $30-50 trips during the month for milk & fresh veggies or things that were not available at different grocery stores. Plus that includes non-grocery like detergent & toilet paper & cleaning supplies.

[danagirl82]

Okay I admit I only got through 2 pages of this...so I may be repeating something that has been said (sorry!)

I spend prob 80-100 weekly on grocerys for our family of 3, however I feed 5-7 on wed nights (I feed some kids from our church). {this is also just food nothing else}

I do not buy a lot of processed food, one cause of cost and two cause my daughter has a lot of allergies and it is just easier on me knowing exactly what is in her food. I am brand loyal on some things and I will spend more to get them. What I have learned in the past year of trying to get the grocery bill to be less is it is way cheaper to buy produce and dairy products at our local Aldi. We only have Walmart, Schnucks ($$$), and Aldi. So I have an excel spreadsheet and I keep track of what I buy and where and how much it cost. I do go to Sams Club once a months and stock up on some meats (we purchased half a cow-cause I wanted organic) and cheesees and stuff, When I need to do that I end up spending more for the month-but it last over the course of a few months. I love to cook and try new things..so I know I could prob spend even less if I had too, but I like to buy the stuff I feel is the best for us, so like i said there are some things I just don't cut corners on.

I would absoultely love to see some of your meal plans..I love to steal ideas that are inexpensive.

Another thing I started doing to cut cost and not sacrifice my love for cooking is the freezer meals (i don't do the pre cook and freeze though) and roll over meals.

http://orgjunkie.com/2009/02/menu-pl...y-feb-2nd.html
I like to get meal ideas here...too.

Okay so there is my two cents.

[EveRecinella]

Doing the conversion to American dollars it appears to be 206 dollars a week. Food is expensive here, as is most things, plus we eat a lot of fresh veggies/fruit and organic stuff....

[Stacey42]

This thread reminds me I need to do an Aldi's run this week.

[lauren grier]

I spend 50-70 a week for the two of us.. it sucks. but we have a lot of special (ie expensive) things we have to buy.

[amystoffel]

I spend roughly 200-250 every two weeks. But DH is 6'2" and weighs 250. He requires lots of food! And the boys are bottomless pits.

[aggiefamily]

We spend about $100/month at Sams for dishwasher tabs, detergent, Gatorade and the big box of cereal that has the little boxes inside.

Weekly groceries are around $100. It depends on if I need cleaning supplies or toiletries.

We do not buy ground meat or pork from the store. We have a game management program on our ranch and there are a certain number of deer and hogs that must be culled each year to keep up herd health. So we just pay for processing which is about $100 a year. Our deep freeze now has enough ground venison and pork sausage to last a year.

[jessica31876]

wow wish I could get in on that!! I love venison!!

Originally Posted by aggiefamily

We do not buy ground meat or pork from the store. We have a game management program on our ranch and there are a certain number of deer and hogs that must be culled each year to keep up herd health. So we just pay for processing which is about $100 a year. Our deep freeze now has enough ground venison and pork sausage to last a year.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by ditzyscrap

I've always wanted to attempt freezer cooking or planning a month ahead, but just never have. I have good intentions, but the idea is daunting and so I give up before I start...

Bree - in case this hasn't been addressed...(I'm not reading head). If you make tacos one night...double it and freeze half before you ever put it out on the table (that way you don't end up eating into your next meal even if you're not really hungry). If you make spaghetti sauce from scratch, double it and freeze half. I do bulk cooking this way and do most of my stash in double/triple quantities because it takes almost no more time than doing the 1 meal since you're doing all the stuff anyway. Eventually, you'll build up your stash!

[AnnieBananie]

For a family of 4... well, 2 small children but we always have tons of leftovers, I spend $50-75/week.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by rach3975

We could spend less if we needed to, but spending this allows us to get the bread we think tastes best instead of the one that's cheapest, for example.

I also think it makes a big difference where you live and shop. There's no Walmart or Target with a grocery store here, and the prices I've seen at places like that are much cheaper than what our grocery stores charge.

I think it's picking and choosing your battles here. We don't buy the cheapest bread because it's the cheapest, we buy better quality bread because it's better for us, and we can afford to do it on our smallish budget because we cut corners elsewhere.

I don't shop at Walmart exclusively - most of our grocery store chains do better on loss leaders and we really stock up when that happens - that's one of our biggest budget crunchers we have.

[dabittymama]

For a family of 4 and a dieting hubby we spend about $80 in the summer/fall (I grow my own fruit and veggies) and $100 in the winter/spring. I don't have to buy much red meat beacuse I have 2 deer in our deep freezer right now. I NEED to get better at coupon cutting, but I usually buy store brand and most of the time even with coupons store brand is cheaper.

[Kat Stokes]

It's probably close to $600-$700 a month for us including diapers and cleaning supplies. We spend way too much and we waste too much too. There aren't many things that we will eat leftover and I tend to buy lunch most days which is usually $7-$10. Oh and we only eat top quality meats and we have meat in every dinner. I do try to buy in bulk as much as possible.

I would really love to see some meal plans that could help me cut my costs way down.

[Lukasmummy]

I wouldn't like to even try and work it out. Lukas has packed lunch every day for school and usually Mark has lunch for work as well plus he eats constantly when he is at home. We spend way too much but I honestly can't see anyway that we will ever be able to do anything about it until we have our own place and can plan proper meals etc. Hugs Crystal xx

[Kim]

We are a family of 3 and spend probably $50-60/week

[Shawna]

It varies for us, but we average probably between $50-100/wk for a family of five plus diapers for Kyle and dog food. I clip lots of coupons (newspaper inserts & internet printables) and shop the sales and stock up depending on what's on special that week. Then I plan our meals based on what I have in my stockpile and what items I can get on sale that week. In my area we have Dillon's (Kroger), Walmart, Target, Walgreen's, Aldi's and Sam's Club. I rarely pay for things like toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, feminine products etc. cause I'll watch for sales where I can get those items for free or super cheap with coupons and then stock up. Not having to pay much for those items really helps keep our budget down.

[twentytinytoes]

Im not sure how much, I know its a lot more expensive to shop locally than in a place like walmart but we dont have a walmart unless we drive 2.5 hours. LIke a box of cereal will be 7.00 here and 3.00 in walmart. Or pop tarts 4.00 here 1.98 in walmart. Food is really expensive here. We try to shop smart shopping sales etc but our sales are like walmarts reg prices.

[jessica31876]

that is a HUGE difference!! Where do you live if you dont mind me asking? I know we didnt have a grocery store where I lived for many years and were stuck either driving 10-15 miles or going to the little mom and pop place which had overinflated prices. Now the closest store is Publix which to me is still way over priced but on things like bread and milk they are about the same and its better to drive 5 miles to Publix then almost double that to get to the next store.

Originally Posted by twentytinytoes

Im not sure how much, I know its a lot more expensive to shop locally than in a place like walmart but we dont have a walmart unless we drive 2.5 hours. LIke a box of cereal will be 7.00 here and 3.00 in walmart. Or pop tarts 4.00 here 1.98 in walmart. Food is really expensive here. We try to shop smart shopping sales etc but our sales are like walmarts reg prices.

[emilyscout]

Our family is two adults/1 toddler(though sometimes she outeats me). Anyhow we spend between 80-115 a week for about 8 meals worth of food. That being said I also tend to make meals that leave us with leftovers for the next day for lunch. So I guess we're really feeding 4 adults and 2 toddlers.
A large portion of our bill is fresh veggies. I do not buy crackers or snack type food. And I never buy soda. In fact the only beverages I put in our cart is milk adn occasionally fruit juice(but that is usually only once a month if that). If I want snack foods I make cookies or bread of some sort. Or I eat/suggest fruit.