Weekly spend at the grocery store - Family of 4? And a vent...

[Anonymous]

1. Calculate how much money you are wasting.
2. Have him cook all the meals so he sees how much work it is.
3. Freeze leftovers sometimes so it's not the same thing in a row.

Refusing to eat leftovers is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be nice to keep a thread going with more ideas. Like recipes and such. I am always at a loss for what to make

to the PP who mentioned cheaper to buy 2 boxes of mac and cheese vs making it homemade.

My homemade version (and the only one my daycare and own kids will eat) consists of a $1 box of elbow noodles (i only use maybe half the box), milk and margarine (already on hand) and about 8 slices of american cheese (usually on hand but you can get a package for a couple bucks, only using half the pack for this so maybe $1-1.50). My kids wont touch the boxes stuff and the USDA food program says it has to be home made. My kids wont touch it if I use cheddar cheese and I dont find cc gives much taste anyway. They scarf this down, a large amount, for 3 kids at lunch and leftover for whoever wants it for dinner. For maybe $2-2.50. Not bad.

Maybe this is my problem. When I make mac and cheese, I buy organic noodles, different type of RBST free cheeses (gouda, swiss and cheddar) mix with cream, milk, a little nutmeg and bake. The cheeses cost a lot and we usually don't finish them before they go bad! I guess my ingredients are too expensive. I made potato soup the other night and my family only ate 1/2 of it and refused to eat the rest (hubby HATES leftovers). So I ended up throwing it away and it cost a lot to make -- 10 organic potatoes, cumin, milk, cream, onions, garlic (all stuff I had to go buy b/c I was out of it). I was so annoyed. If I had opened a can of potato soup, would have saved me a lot of money!

You can use up the leftover cheese by making fromage fort (garlic, various leftover cheese, little bit of white wine)

[Anonymous]

you can get food stamps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Calculate how much money you are wasting.
2. Have him cook all the meals so he sees how much work it is.
3. Freeze leftovers sometimes so it's not the same thing in a row.

Refusing to eat leftovers is ridiculous.

I'm working on #1 now. I agree, it's ridiculous, especially when he loved the meal the first time around. He's getting better. However, before we met, he ate every single meal out every single day. His parents never cooked. So this is all a new concept for him. We now eat almost every meal in. We've made progress.

[Anonymous]

$125 to $175

[Anonymous]

I eat organic foods, and the closer to whole foods (not from whole foods inc necessarily) you buy, the cheaper it will be. Packaged foods are really a budget killer. Chips, bars. Dont get me started on bars.

Also, meat. I am a vegetarian, but DH eats chicken and turkey and it adds significantly to the bill. Fish is a rare luxury, and given how toxic much of it is, its a questionable luxury at best.

We pay extra to eat organic but that is our choice. Still, if _I_ go shopping I can keep the bill to under $200 for a family of three. If he goes, its another story. He will load up on the packaged good and snacks.

Food should not cost this much. Its ridicluous. I plan to try to garden next year. And possibly can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that at Giant, things keep going up, up, up. Over the last year, it has gone up at least 25%. We buy the same things every week, more or less. So what used to be $100, is now closer to $150. We spend a lot on groceries in general b/c we eat a lot of fruit and produce.

So true. I sent DH to Giant instead of WF to pick up provisions for a camping trip. The bill was ridiculous. And, no, he wasn't buying a ton of packaged stuff.

[Anonymous]

Spend about $200-300 per week on groceries. Probably about about $100 for lunch between DH and me. Then we spend $100-150 for dinner eat out or delivery. I just relized we spend $400-500 per week on food. Ack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that at Giant, things keep going up, up, up. Over the last year, it has gone up at least 25%. We buy the same things every week, more or less. So what used to be $100, is now closer to $150. We spend a lot on groceries in general b/c we eat a lot of fruit and produce.

So true. I sent DH to Giant instead of WF to pick up provisions for a camping trip. The bill was ridiculous. And, no, he wasn't buying a ton of packaged stuff.

I find husbands don't realise that, when sent to a grocery store that has a loyalty card, they must only buy items with loyalty discounts AND (this is where my DH trips up) they MUST show the loyalty card when they check out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I noticed that at Giant, things keep going up, up, up. Over the last year, it has gone up at least 25%. We buy the same things every week, more or less. So what used to be $100, is now closer to $150. We spend a lot on groceries in general b/c we eat a lot of fruit and produce.

So true. I sent DH to Giant instead of WF to pick up provisions for a camping trip. The bill was ridiculous. And, no, he wasn't buying a ton of packaged stuff.

I find husbands don't realise that, when sent to a grocery store that has a loyalty card, they must only buy items with loyalty discounts AND (this is where my DH trips up) they MUST show the loyalty card when they check out.

Hah. True. Yet, because of my nagging reminders--in this case he did show the loyalty card. (Yes, I checked the receipt when he got home). Still no dice. Groceries are expensive, if you want to eat for health (ie not heavily processed crap).