The Average Grocery Bill
October 6, 2007 by christine
Filed under The Menu Mom Chit Chat
I was just reading in an article in Refund Cents that said the average family of four spends $244 per week on groceries. That is almost $1000 per month for the average family grocery bill. Yowza! We are a family of five and we do not spend anywhere near that! I suppose we probably would if I didn’t shop sales, stock up on sales, shop only 2-3 times per month and use coupons.
We have had many emails from our subscribers of Dine Without Whine and Menu Planning Central share that they have saved anywhere from $50 – $400 per month on groceries using our services! That goes to share that menu planning can also most definitely help you save! You can pick up our free Menu Planning Basics Report here.
How about you? Do you spend that much each week? If not, what are your money saving tips?
Oh, I also wanted to add that we only spend about $27 on diapers. I get the HEB brand in the big box and they are probably the best diapers I have ever used, including pampers and huggies (which were my previous favorites.) K, now I’m done.:)
Our family consists of 3 adults (me, hubby and MIL) and 3 kids (10 y.o.son, 8 y.o. daughter and 11 month old son.) The baby eats homemade baby food and is breastfed. I spend about 400 – 600 per month on groceries and household items (including diapers, cleaning products, health and beauty, and paper products) per month. We are all well fed and that includes packing the kids and sometimes hubby’s lunches for school and work. I cook mostly from scratch. I bake our cookies and oatmeal bars and other desserts like apple crisp, brownies and occasionally a cake. I keep rolled oats for cooking and eating for breakfast. I buy box cereal when it’s on sale and/or with coupons. I try to buy good quality (high fiber/low sugar) cereal. I try not to buy foods with artificial flavors, colors or high-fructose corn syrup or trans-fats. I only buy 100% juice, usually apple cause it’s cheapest, or buy other varieties when on sale and/or with coupons. I buy fruit, either from the farmer’s market or what’s on sale. I usually get Wednesday newspaper for the weekly sales fliers or look them up on line. I also get Sunday’s paper for the coupons. I stock up on sale items and freeze them. (Only have a top-mount fridge/freezer.) We drink iced-tea, lemonade, milk, water and juice. I buy produce on sale and make my weekly menus based on what’s on sale that week. Ground beef was on sale for $1.99 this week so I bought 8 packages and froze them. I buy sirloin when on sale and use for stir-frys or occasionally have steaks for dinner. I keep a container of refrigerator roll dough on hand and we have rolls, biscuits or corn muffins with most meals. I buy the 3 pack of romaine hearts, a pound of regular carrots and green onions and make salad several times a week, just change up the toppings to go with the meal. it can be done!
I use Quicken religiously and ran an annual report. On average we spend $874.00 per month for our family of four. We use coupons sporadically, but pretty much buy whatever we want, whenever we want. The number is for all items purchased at large box grocery stores and includes non-food items such as soup, laundry detergent, paper products, etc. While we have room for improvement, we are not all that different based on the other replies in this forum.
We are a family of 4 and so far this month (December 2010) we have spent $1340 on food. That’s without buying Christmas dinner yet.
I am here because I am trying to save 10% to start and then hopefully will be able to do more.
I wanted to see what other families usually spend… I am feeling really bad about how much money we spend on food.
I feel like I spend WAY too much on groceries for a family of three (two adults, one 13-year-old boy) – about $500. I am amazed at people who save money using coupons – all the coupons I see are for crap – cleaning products, air fresheners, etc. And when they ARE for food, they’re for “$1.00 of all THREE xxx” – well, that 33-1/3 cents off each one – still comes out to more than the store brand of something. And it’s usually for sugary cereal, hamburger helper, etc. And I can’t spend $9-12 of my grocery money on say, cereal, buying three boxes just to save 33 cents each. If I need something and it doesn’t happen to be on sale, well, I still need it. What’s the secret to spending less??
I am so in that boat with you! I try to use a coupon periodically, but the fact is, store brands are usually cheaper. The things I need are things I need, period. I don’t have a mansion, so even if run upon a great sale I have no where to put extras!. (Recently my grocery store ran a great deal on Gatorade…my kitchen table was covered with bottles of gatorade for a week!) It’s ridiculous. And it kills me those people who do extreme couponing. I mean seriously, who needs 64 candy bars? I want to just give it up, but financially, a change has to happen! In regard to your question about the secret to spending less…one thing we do is go to the meat market and buy a 90.00 package which includes chicken, beef and pork products. If nothing else, it keeps me out of the grocery store, and when I do go, I have a better idea of what I need to get, which also keeps me from wantonly buying things that may or may not get cooked in the future.
My family consists of myself, my husband and three very active boys. We have always bought whatever we wanted at the grocery store regardless of the price, but lately I have started trying to save on our grocery bill. I live in a very small town with only one grocery store and because they are the only grocery store they tend to price their items higher than other stores in surrounding towns. I agree with you on the coupons. I have started using them, but I only use the ones for items I would be buying anyway. However, what I have found works best for me is that I price match. One of the towns I live near has a Wal-Mart and of course Wal-Mart promises to match any competitor pricing. I first made a list of all the items my family generally buys and put them on a excel spreadsheet. Over my next couple of trips to the store, I began noting to cost of each item. Therefore, when the local sales ads came out for the week I would know what I could save money on. Since Wal-Mart is the only store in my area that will price match, I buy all my groceries there. On average I save around $20-$30 a week. Only about $5 of that is by using coupons. It may not seem like a lot, but after a year you can save between $1,000 to 1,500. I hope this helps.
We spend about 750.00 per month for a family of four, I try to keep up with buying organic or all naturalon just about every food item we buy so this is hard on a budget. I try to use coupons as often as possible and I shop the sales as well as shop several different stores per week. I would like to find a way to keep eating the way we do and still cut dowm on what I spend but rarely do you see coupons for organic products.
We spend about 750.00 per month for a family of four, I try to keep up with buying organic or all natural on just about every food item we buy so this is hard on a budget. I try to use coupons as often as possible and I shop the sales as well as shop several different stores per week. I would like to find a way to keep eating the way we do and still cut down on what I spend but rarely do you see coupons for organic products.
We are a family of three (two adults and a toddler). We spend about 100.00 a week on food. That includes snacks for the baby (cookies, juice boxes, etc). I try to buy store brands and keep items at the 1.00 mark and buy variety of what I need. I stock up on sales and this week alone I was able to save 34.oo from buying store brand items… (the large 3 liter store brand soda is 1.19 compared to 1.79 name brand 2 Liter. We have been doing great with this method. You really need to stick with a list as well and only buy what is needed. If you impulsively pick up something and put it in the cart.. before check out you should reassess what your purchase is and start putting back the “unneccesaries”.
I spend about $130.00 a month on our grocerys and that is including staple items that we have ran out of during the week for a family of four. I can even think about spending the “average $244.00″ a month! I sit down and do a weekly menu and purchase only the items I need to make our meals. I plan meals that can be used as left overs for either the next nights dinner or for lunches. I am a stay at home mom and my husband comes home every day for lunch so we do go through the food. I think of you do your food shopping wisely you dont purchase items you dont need or use in the week and will reduce your weekly food bill.
oops… I mean $130.00 a week
We are a family of 4. The best I have done on my grocery spending was when I planned meals for TWO weeks in advance and I managed to spend $85.00 for TWO weeks. THEN, we had some “in between trips” in those two weeks, which only totalled and additional $20. I made sure that each of the 7 meals had enough for leftovers. We ate each meal ONE night and I FROZE the leftovers to be REPEATED the following week. HOWEVER…. I have been lazy and fallen “off the wagon” again and I simply need to discipline myself and try to follow that plan that I implemented before. That’s MY idea. ALSO, I have to say that I buy EVERYTHING generic with maybe one or two exceptions. I REALLY need to save again. My grocery bill, when I don’t plan the meals, EASILY climbs to $700 a MONTH! The plan I mentioned above works out to about $115 every two weeks INCLUDING the in between trips.
These are some really good tips! However, you have to be a bit wary of grocery bill ‘comparisons’ because all families and their eating habits are a little different, and people shouldn’t feel bad about that. For example, I used to be vegetarian, which saved money, but had problems keeping my iron levels high and had to start buying red meat again, so my bill went up. Some people feel more strongly about buying organic than others do, which can affect a grocery bill. Also it’s easier to save on grocery bills if u have one spouse who stays at home. If both people work out of the home and work long hours, it’s harder to make as much from scratch, shop around for deals, or clip coupons. Anyway my point is that you have to figure out what works for your lifestyle or the tips won’t work for you. Personally, I dropped my bill a lot when I sold my car and had to carry my groceries! I stopped buying juice, soda, some condiments, and a lot of extras that werent nutritional but just added to the weight of what i carried, to the bill, and to waistline
We spend about 120/week for two people who work 50 hrs/ week and we eat mostly organic.
I started to google “average grocery bill” to just see where we fall and I can’t believe how well I do! Not to pat myself on the back, but I have been feeling guilty but now I feel much better. My husband and I have 2 young kids, ( 2 and 4) and my brother and his wife have been living with us. I spend around $65 a week on grocery items and $35 a week on non grocery items ( diapers/household products)I am a stay at home mom and I love to cook, so I make as much from scratch as possible ( bread etc.) We also do not purchase alcohol very often at all. Maybe 1-2 bottles of wine a month, and only purchase coffee when we have a little extra ( since we are snobs and can’t bring ourselves to drink crap coffee
) I also do not clip coupons and do almost all of my shopping at Woodmans. I also like to check out local ethnic markets ( we have an asian market close ) because theyoften will have better deals on produce.
I’m amazed that families of 3 or more can somehow keep their grocery bill under $500 or $600/month! There are just 2 people in my household, and we EASILY spend $500 per month. What’s expensive is buying better quality food, for sure. For example, I buy organic salad greens & fruits (if available), raw nuts, organic meat if available, alot of juices (Cranberry, etc.), frozen fish, and boy, it sure adds up! Oops, I forgot to mention…we do have 4 cats, and I do buy them ‘Fancy Feast’ mostly. So ok, 6 in our household. Ha ha. Occasionally I go to Whole Foods because of their organic selection, but it’s sort of a *treat* because they’re significantly more expensive. I could bring my bill down, but I want to purchase the highest-quality food possible, and sometimes that means paying more.
I am shocked as to what people say they spend. As a family of 4 we spend about $1200 a month on food alone ! We go to BJ’s to buy most of the stuff, but we do the local supermarket for the rest.
Typical breakfast is fruit, yogurt, Juice and something small cooked. Our typical breakfast is $12-14/day, but admittedly we do prefer organic fruit and juices.
Lunch and Dinner varies by i calculated it costs approx $10-12 a typical meal for 4 people.
We use coupons where we can.
Is Miami really that expensive compared ?
It was refreshing to see someone along my same lines. Spending less than $1,000 a month for my family of four – two adults and two almost adult/teenage sons, my grocery bill rarely falls below $1000 a month. *GASP-THUD* I simply don’t know how you do it. I clip coupons, shop at Walmart mostly because that is pretty much all we have in our little town, however, we do try to eat as much organic as possible. I do shop at an organic market in a town 45 minutes away when we get there. We are almost vegetarian – we eat fish only. BUT, we almost never eat out. I am a religious Quickbooks user as well, and know what I spend to the penny each month. Eating out is a treat – usually at Subway or a pizza on sale. Maybe a deli for a birthday. I hate spending money on restaurant food – I love to cook and prefer the taste and freshness and value of home-cooking. I’ve been beating myself up forever for our grocery/toiletries/household bill. I have really tried to find ways to cut. To simply say to watch sales, cut coupons, build recipes around sale items, cook a week or more ahead…I’ve tried them all. I’d love to spend less than $500 a month…..
I find it refreshing too to hear about those who spend around $1000 a month on groceries. I work at home (I’m a stay at home Dad), but my wife who drives into downtown is in charge of the meal planning. She shops on the weekends or her day off and tries to coordinate the meals, but it’s tough staying under $1000. We have a 1 year old and 6 year old. We’ve tried couponing, but it’s hardly ever for anything nutritional. We don’t eat a lot of carbohydrates so we have to fill up on things like yogurt, fresh/frozen fruit or vegetables. I suspect that our low carbohydrate lifestyle along with mostly organic lifestyle drives prices up. This month I think that we might manage about $900. I can’t even imagine spending $500 a month on food, I would love that!
Great points by everyone. While budget is extremely important, what happens in the process is often times we sacrifice nutrition for that dollar. Unfortunately, our country used to be a super power that was looked upon by the world as being leaders and innovators. Now, we are only the leaders in one area. Obesity. 1 in 3 of our children is either overweight or obese and that cycle just continues to rise every day. Now, I am fully in support of saving money. In fact, I think if there was a way to save money, eat healthily and it wasn’t more time consuming that would be fantastic. I have found a program that is attacking all these issues. Spending about $4 per person per day for 2 meals has been great. I don’t sacrifice nutrition and my time is saved not having to run to and from the store in the process. So, gas doesn’t come into play. Especially, at 4.50 a gallon in California!
Coupons are essential and education even more so. Thank you for providing a great blog for so many people in our country to take back control of the our 2 greatest challenges. Saving Money and Tackling Obesity. I look to partner with motivated, and inspired people to provide solutions for others. Contact me if you like to find out what I’m doing.
Again, thank you for providing such great value for people!
Rick Herbst
90daywarrior.com
We are a homeschool family of 7. Kids range from 16 – 1 yrs old. We like spending $700 a month, but some months we have to ‘be creative’ and work with less! Crock pot dinners, large casseroles, weekly special fruit deals, & coupon clippings are just a few tricks. Because we live in the south we eat a lot of pinto beans & rice (the kids & husband LOVE them, more than me, for sure!) There are several great resources for cutting grocery bills (cookbook -’More With Less’). However, if you can afford it , don’t feel bad about spending more than others. Enjoy it!
I loved your comment. You are doing a great job, mainly with the large family you have. Happy Mother’s day!
you are doing a great job on feeding your large family for less. i agree…the More With Less cook book is amazing!
Ohhh! & we grow a large garden in the summertime!
It is very easy to spend a reasonable allowance for food and still eat healthy. So many people think that if you eat on the cheap that you are eating “crap”. You dont have to spend alot of cash to get healthy foods you just have to read labels and eat your veggies and protiens. I have lost over 130 pounds doing this. If I want hummus I make my own, it is healthier and I can control what goes in it, no chemicals or fillers same goes for snacks and sweets. I make my weekly menu and each meal has a protien, veggie and a small amount of starch (cant take noodles or rice from my kids). I find that most people dont per-say eat unhealthy but they load up their plates and eat to much.
My solution to my obesity was plate size and excersize. Size does matter… the size of the portion that is! You will be amazed at how your food bill will go down just by eating the correct and healthy amount of food.
We are a family of 5. Two adults and three children – 10, 6 and 4. Average grocery bill per week is 100.00 (food only) I cook. We don’t buy packaged, processed foods. I don’t buy bread at the grocery store – $1 a loaf at the bread store. Meat protein is in serving portions – there is always more vegetables/grains for dinner than meat. I don’t buy box cereal either. Milk is two gallons per week- I make homemade rice milk for baking and salad dressings. If the kids want cake or cookies we make them from scratch. I will admit – I moved from California to North Carolina two years ago and our grocery bill dropped $200 month by shopping at Aldi. I could not get buy with $100 month in California.
Aldi’s rocks and you will save $$$ by shopping there. I used to shop there when I lived in Ohio and was very poor. I forgot about them when I moved to Florida, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one in Elkton, MD near where we live last year. We shop there for some of our staples, but it is a little far from our house (25 minutes) for our weekly shopping. Incidentally, they are owned by the same company as Trader Joe’s and a lot of their products are identical if you observe closely. You cannot beat their prices. Example: head of cauliflower $.99 vs. $2.99. Brownie mix $1.29 vs. $2.29. They don’t carry a huge selection, just the most popular grocery items. Also, they offer a guarantee, so if you don’t like a product, just bring it back. If you shop there, bring your own bags and a quarter (for the cart).
As a family of 5 (3 adults, a 3 y.o and 1 y.o), we spent about $877 per month over the last 12 months for food and beverage. However, this includes alcohol (beer, wine), party foods (birthdays, etc.), and 3 months of formula when our daughter decided to not breastfeed any more. The kids get organic fruits and veggies if they are on the Dirty Dozen list. Our costs also include fresh-roasted coffee ($11/lb), which we consume a lot of and is probably the most expensive thing on our list. We drink very few soft drinks and only buy when they are on sale. We buy our fruits and vegetables from BJ’s and a huge local produce market. That $877 amount also includes our annual BJ’s membership fee.
The thing that impacts the $877 a month is the fact that we buy in bulk, particularly during sale, so we could probably live on the food in the basement and freezer for a month or two, easily. I haven’t checked our average in two months, but I believe our average is lower, as we have been working to eat through some of our stored food. Take off the wine, beer and coffee and we would be well below $800 per month. Once I have the chance to start cooking more, our food costs will surely fall. I believe that we could drop our costs to $600 a month.
Do you want to be more frugal? Go to your library and get ‘The Tightwad Gazette’, volumes 1-3. It is a master’s degree in frugality.
For people in the southeast that are AMAZED by these comments SO AM I! lol There are TWO adults here (me and my husband) and we spend easily at LEAST $200 PLUS A WEEK on groceries ALONE.. My household products add up to about $150 a month.I do suppose we have a higher standard of living? :S I don’t know how the heck your doing it but I sure wish we could! I stay at home and work online while my husband works on the rd as a truck driver,if he would be at home I am sure I could cut our bill down.I know when I was a single mom I would NEVER DREAM of having more than $65 a week in groceries! lol and that INCLUDED diapers at the time.But now My daughter lives with her dad and it seems I spend more :/.I am 28 (almost 29) and my hubby is 40.I cannot work outside my house (not able) and I am about to quit my job :/ I am scared we won’t be able to save for a house.I need to live more frugally! I “Thought” by buying things “on sale” online I was doing myself a favor.. truth be told I am not
Check out ‘The Tightwad Gazette’, volumes 1-3 at your library. It is a master’s degree in frugality.
Here are some quick tips:
- Keep a grocery log or notebook, track your costs, and compare prices
- Buy store brands, including household cleaning products
- Shop local farmer’s markets, or road side stands (you live in the SE, you probably have plenty of locally grown produce)
- Cook from scratch; if you don’t know how, get the Fannie Farmer cookbook for starters
- In your case, I would avoid warehouse clubs unless your family grows any bigger and/or your husband starts working locally
I hate to sound like an Aldi’s fanatic, but if you have one in your area, shop there. They don’t have sales, just low prices. 95% of their products are ‘store brand’, not name brand. Supermarket markups on foods are huge.
I hope this helps.
Stephanie…. I am SURE you didnt mean to say that YOU LIVE BY A HIGHER STANDARD…. right? Just to let you know I live in the middle of wine country in California where the average house price is 450,000 for a small 3 bedroom and small lot, gas prices are on average 4.15. I am a stay at home mom by choice and my husband makes a very good living but we CHOOSE to teach our children that just because you can afford something doesnt mean you have to have it.
I love trying to see how much I can get out of the grocery store, it is a game that I like to play each week. I make a menu and only BUY what I need.
Our menu for this week was:
Chicken Marsala with noodles and fresh steamed beans
Citrus Marinaded BBQ Skirt Steak with fresh Grilled Corn on the cob and Green Salad
BBQ port roast with homemade peach BBQ sauce, Baked Sweet Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli
BBQ Texas Lemon Chicken, Grilled Corn on the Cob and Grilled Zuchinni
Homemade Pizza and Salad
As you can see, we eat very fresh very nice meals for a family of 4-6 depending on which kids are home and I do it for around 120.00 to 150.00 a week. I do it from planning my meals and looking at what is on sale that week and planning my menu from that.
We (family of 4 – two adults, two very young children) spend $1000 a month (groceries plus cleaning supplies, toiletries, and occasional household items), and that also includes eating out. We eat out at least once per week and at good restaurants – which here costs quite a bit because they are so rare – to the tune of $400 to $600 per month, but we alter our grocery bill to stay at that $1000 level. I bought the Economides book about saving cash on groceries and have tried some of their methods. Buying things when they are on sale even if you don’t need them right then was hard to grasp as a money-saving technique since I’m all about the cash flow. But I gave it a try. I gasped at my $250 grocery bills the first couple of times, but I’m proud to say that several months later, we’ve used everything that I had stock piled. It gave me great pride to pick up a tube of toothpaste and think “I bought this at 30% less than I would have had I waited to buy it until I needed it.” I was taking advantage of every deal in the ads for every product that we regularly use. I think that’s why it was so expensive at first. I was building a stock pile.
Now, I menu plan using what I already have in my freezer/pantry/fridge and google the ingredients to get new recipe ideas that use what I’ve got. I will use the week’s sale ads and my coupons to fill in the blanks to get complete menus. Doing this reduced the bill to $150 per week. Since the baby’s been born, we’ve been eating out more, so I reduced my shopping trips to every other week and still only spend $150 each trip. I haven’t added to our stock pile (which is now just some empty shelves in our basement) because the sale ads just haven’t been that great from when I started (January). With it being spring, lots of produce is on sale. I buy meat when it’s on sale (usually around barbeque times – Memorial Day weekend and 4th of July) and freeze it. Because we’re land locked, seafood is expensive, so when I see a deal on it, I snap it up and freeze it as well. I’ve been surprised to find that buying things this way has introduced a variety to our meals that I wasn’t expecting. When mangoes are on sale, for example, we try new recipes that use mangoes we wouldn’t have otherwise tried because we don’t normally have mangoes on hand. Rather than having a limited menu by buying “whatever we want,” I have to get creative to use what’s on sale. Also, because I’m too busy to bounce around from store to store, I shop at Walmart and price match using the ads from the grocery stores around town. Since we only get sales ads for stores in our neighborhood, I go online to get the weekly ads from stores on the other side of town. I really don’t know how Walmart stays in business using this tactic, but I’m going to use it while it’s available. I make a list of the ads I’ll be using (product, size, price, store the ad came from) so I can tell the cashier what the sale price is.
They usually don’t ask to see the ad unless it’s a deal that seems too good to be true and they haven’t heard anyone price match that price so far that week (that’s right – the cashiers know what the really good weekly ads are just from so many people taking advantage of them).
I do get a little jealous that I don’t have the time to make more of my own stuff from scratch (bread, jam, trail mix, etc) like many stay-at-home moms do. When we had kids, we decided I would be the one to work full time because I had the degree and could make more money. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to fully support us in this day and age, so my husband still works part-time. Still, he would probably have the time to do some stay-at-home dad activities, but he started feeling like he wasn’t contributing enough, so he decided to go back to school so he could start a career making more money. I see more and more families in this kind of situation. The moms are the main bread-winners, but the dads won’t “reduce” themselves to being stay-at-home dads and doing the grocery shopping, budgeting, cleaning, etc. I can’t say as that I entirely blame them. When my husband tried this for just a few months, everyone kept asking me when he was going to get a job. My dad even called him a bum. It’s not fair.
We are 2 adults and 1 nine-yr old. Our daughter eats lunch from home; my spouse eats lunch from home. We spend an average of $1000 -1200/month. That includes groceries and paper goods and health and beauty items. I shop at a discount store that advertises 50% off other grocery stores (PriceRite)…and it’s true. The produce low cost alone is worth going there. However, our problem is going to another store for things we can’t get at the discount store during the week (better cuts of meat; dog food; mexican sauces; soda (other carries on Pepsi products). We go to Walmart for paper goods and health and beauty.
It’s a ridiculous amount of money, I know, but I cannot foresee us cutting down.
That’s not a ridiculous amount. That is quite good. Don’t compare yourself with others. Family mealtime is extremely important. If you don’t have to cut back, enjoy it.
I am amazed at the spectrum of dollar amounts spent by contributors – some spend SO little, others spend a lot, like I feel I do, and there are just a few people who mentioned the part of the country where they live. I wonder…I am in New England – produce is inedible in the winter, and outrageously priced to boot. I don’t buy soda – ever, and I don’t buy prepared foods. Farmer’s markets and organic stuff is triple the price of the grocery stores. I still say coupons are never for anything I’d buy/eat and still come out to more than the store brands. I use baking soda/white vinegar to clean, so I don’t buy cleaning products. I am in awe of those who spend barely $100 a week for a family of 3 or 4. Still can’t seem to come in under $500-600 a month for three people. Thanks for the tips! I’d like to try some of them and report back….
I just love these posts!!! I originally posted because I was amazed at how little some people claimed to spend on groceries. I’m sorry but I REFUSE to buy those generic brands I see at Walmart and other stores (‘Great Value’ for example). I’ve done enough research to come to the conclusion that I do NOT want to consume genetically-modified food, which it appears these generic companies utilize….
Hi, This is a great “blog” all the different posts have been great to read. We are a family of 6. 2 adults 4 children ages, 15,14,11 & 3. I just for the first time ever looked at our grocery spending for the past 30 days. Wow, over $1400. This includes all our spending except eating out which I am sure is another $400 or more
Mind you all 4 kids have been home full time. Now they are back in school, we live in the south. I do pack all their lunches everyday. My husband and I both work full time and I do not use coupons & dont even remember to use my loyalty cards. Uggh, I am still in shock over how much we spend, I have spent the last 2 days researching “extreme couponing” and am going to make the time to give it a shot. I just ordered the Sunday paper since I have never gotten it before therefore never even looked for coupons. My teenage daughters have offered to help, As someone else mentioned, make it a game to try to save. Most of the family is vegetarian which makes our spending habits worse since the only meat I buy is hotdogs, kielbasa & sliced lunch meats for the 11 yo boy. We also do not eat alot of “junk” or snack foods like chips, pops, sugar cereal, etc… I just have no excuse…. We try not to be wasteful & we certainly eat alot of leftovers yet I’m not quite sure where all the excess goes, I know we are spending too much & I am going to try to work on it. We have decided as a family to monitor for a month, try to save which will create a new budget. The excess we will add to savings & the extra free buys will go to the local food bank. Our goal is to also be able to make a monthly donation to the needy. I am disgusted with our waste & hopefully this will motivate us to not only put away the savings but also feed others. I will plan to share our progress!
I hate to say it, but it’s great to see other people that go over $1000 a month. I am a family of three, (Our son is 2.) from Southwestern Pennsylvania. And we EAT. We go out MAYBE twice a month to restaurants if that. I am very into cooking and very into cooking healthy meals and I don’t skimp. We don’t eat a cheap meal of just tuna & peas for example. We eat tuna with peas & noodles & a salad.. I like to have 3-4 items per meal.
I’ll buy store brand cheese or nuts, but we like our name brands. I spend at least $1000 a month on groceries (including diapers, paper & cleaning products). I am baffled that anyone can spend less than this. I commend you if you can! However, I think what is comes down to is how picky you are. I refuse to eat things I don’t want to eat, or that taste bad just to save a few bucks. It seems that unfortunately to save money you have to eat what the store sales are instead of what you’re in the mood for. That’s NOT for me. I go to the store when the organic milk is almost gone or when we are out of fresh veggies/fruits. It seems if I let the cupboards & fridge dwindle down I’m left with the junky snacks we only eat occasionally. It seems more shopping/spending= better healthy eating. So, I guess when I consider better taste, more freedom of choice, to me it’s worth the extra cost as much as I hate when the cashier announces the bill.
But I am curious.. Does anyone that saves all this money with coupons/tips actually eat top shelf brands & enjoy their meals nightly? I’m not trying to be negative.. It just seems unfortunately that if you want to save money you have to sacrifice taste & brand..
If you shop with coupons/sales, it’s the NAME BRANDS that have the best deal!
You won’t see a coupon for a generaic item and those don’t go on any good sales.
Manufacturers will put out high value coupons (especially if it’s a new item) Stores run sales, and some double coupons.
If you can combine the coupon+sale+double coupon, you can actually get items for free and if there is a catalina promotion running at the same time, you can actually get paid to buy the product.
It’s all about timing.
We live in the DC metro area. We are a family of 2 adults and one school aged child. Right now we spend from 600-700 a week on groceries from the grocery store. Our child eats lunch at school most of the time. One of us works at home and the other at an office. The office worker eats out probably two or three times a week for lunch at between $5-9 per lunch, with morning coffee two or three times a week at 2$ a cup. We eat out about once a week at between $15 (better fast food) to 50 (restaurant) a week. Including the eating it out, we probably get to 850 a month.
I really want to lower this number. It feels like way too much money to spend on food. I have noticed that prices have increased, even for dry beans, and that costs of eating out have increased noticeably. We eat beans most days of the week and are vegetarian. We seem to end up paying the most for fruits, especially organic, fish, cheese, breakfast cereal and package granola bars. Cheese ends up replacing meat in some ways, and can get costly. I feel like the number should be lower since we eat beans so often but we cannot seem to get it to $150 a week, which is our goal. I have definitely noticed that staying away from processed carbs like pasta and rice has increased our food bill.
I mean 600-700 a month!
The office person in your family should be packing a lunch every day (yes, I’ve put my dad hat on). Get a thermos for coffee (I work at home most days, but use a thermos when I travel). My sister-in-law, who was facing foreclosure, was eating out almost every day for lunch. I showed her how much she could be saving (a couple of thousand a year) and it really opened her eyes, and now she eats healthier to boot.
I must say that the grocery stores in the DC area are more expensive than other areas (we lived in Arlington and I’ve maintained a residence in the MD, DC and VA areas off and on over the past 8 years or so, for work).
When I lived and worked in DC, I shopped at Trader Joe’s a lot (it was only me), where I was able to get a lot of heat-n-eat stuff that was reasonably priced. When I worked in Harrisburg, PA, I did a majority of my shopping at Aldi’s, which was close to my client’s office. Their produce is usually very fresh (they have a high turnover of food due to a limited selection). I know there are a number of their stores in the DC area, so I would check them out, particularly for your everyday staples (eggs, cheese, milk, baking supplies, cereals).
If you want to switch from easy carbs (pasta, bread, etc.), eat more beans. They are a much healthier carbohydrate, with lots of protein as well. It may sound horrible, but it really isn’t (Gas-X Prevention works wonders). Refried beans, Brazilian or Cuban style black beans, chili, etc. Learn how to cook or get canned if you must. We have cut our grocery bill considerably by having beans at least once a day.
I imagine that menu planning would be very helpful in decreasing the bill and taking the thinking out of dinner time. Since we both work, dinner is always a bit of a hassle. It is hard to get myself to make a menu, but I bet that you could just keep re-using the same menu every other week. I am trying to get myself re-inspired to try meal planning again.
We are a family of 7(dad, mom, 5 kids 14 and under). We use an envelope/cash system and that amount is $560/month. This is for food, diapers, cleaning supplies, helth and beauty, dog food,and any additional foods (i.e.potluck or holiday items). I use coupons often, but not regularly. I like to hit off-brand stores like Save-a-lot for some dry goods, and the the big chain store for produce and meat, pet food, etc. I plan a menu based on the meat sales, and then assemble a list based on needed ingredients for those meals. The cash envelope provides accountability and an excuse to say “no” to the latest toy in the checkout aisle. Loved reading your ideas!
Hmmm…
Sounds like I need to pick up farming!