Tips for curbing spending on food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a LOT of takeout, both for $ and health reasons.

This. Meal planning and buying the majority of groceries at Costco helps us save a lot.

[Anonymous]

Family of 5, although no teenagers yet. We keep it under $1500 a month for groceries and $500 for takeout. Mostly shop at Aldi/Lidl, occasionally Costco. Minimal beef, mostly chicken and some vegetarian. Takeout once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would make frozen pizza instead of ordering. Pizza is just not worth the $$ for delivery anymore IMO. It costs at least $20 for one cheese pizza where I live. I would stick to two nights of take out but order more strategically (can you pick up one night instead of delivery?). Order from places with deals on Tuesday nights or that have family style options. I would try middle eastern food or places like nando's for family style chicken, etc. For breakfasts, you can get really economical with eggs, oatmeal, toast, make your own muffins, banana bread, etc. Make stuff on Sunday to use all week.

OP said takeout, not delivery.

[Anonymous]

Make your own! Make your own granola, soups, stews, bread, etc. Much cheaper. I just made 5 (large) portions of split pea soup for 5 dollars (no ham added). We ate half and froze the rest. Lentils, quinoa, beans, buckwheat, bulgur, farro are all super cheap and nutritious especially if you buy in bulk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:stop buying organic, it's a waste of money.

buy on sale and freeze when you can.

In OPs scenario, cutting back on takeout will cut much more than organic. Sometimes organic is only $1 more per package than regular. It’s really not much compared to their takeout which probably creeping up to around $100 a meal for the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:40,000 a year is $3,300 a month.

That's a tremendous amount, even for a family of 5.

What are you buying, and how much?

Expensive large quantities of meat and seafood?
Organic grass fed milk or just store brand organic?
How much fruit, in season?
Are you counting stuff like in-store sushi and pre-made things?
Drinks: alcohol? How much is a bottle of wine for you and how much do you drink?

I can not fathom what you are buying to get to that amount and I buy pretty much everything I want, for probably under half that amount. Plus we eat out more.

I couldn’t even tell you how we’re spending it. We eat very little meat. Twice a week i make a chicken dish or ground turkey dish with a grain, and make extra portions that usually last for a couple of nights each. Once a week is a meatless pasta dish. Then there’s pizza night and Asian/mexican/salad bowl night. Sometimes Mexican is even just chipotle.

Every week i make a big batch of soup and dh and i eat that along with salads and leftovers for lunch. Kids lunch foods are all meal prepped 1-2x weekly- pasta, grains, veggies, fruits. I make big batch of organic vegetables throughout the week- fresh and frozen.

As mentioned in my original post, i spend around 185 dollars a week at Whole Foods on our fruits, veggies, breads, milk, plant based milk, grains, etc. I buy meat, cheese and some school snacks at a different store, and probably spend 125 dollars there weekly. We have a babysitter and buy her food to have throughout the week at our house, so that is another 100 dollars or so. Around holidays or when we’re entertaining that adds up. So I guess groceries alone are running us around 400-500 per week, and then there’s takeout and restaurants. We probably don’t eat out more than 1-2x a month with our kids, maybe a date night once a month for us, but this sum also includes vacations where we eat out each night.

Breakfast is oatmeal, fruit, quinoa, sometimes muffins, or toast with peanut butter. Always fruit and berries.

All to say- I don’t watch what we spend on food, but we’re not eating filet mignon and caviar on the regular, if ever. My biggest luxury is buying lots of organic fruit and vegetables, which we eat and don’t want to change.

Wine is nothing crazy. Often we share a bottle throughout the weekend, and buy more around holidays when we’re entertaining.

But some other good advice here about being more intentional to use things up. Pantries are full and I’m usually replacing things and never emptying. Breakfast for dinner is also a good one.

Just don’t know what I’m doing wrong or how I can significantly watch my spending.

[Anonymous]

Stop doing your regular shopping at Whole Foods and see how much you save. Just go there for fruits / veggies that you want to prioritize.

[Anonymous]

You also say you don’t eat a lot of meat but you’re spending $125 a week on meat cheese and school snacks. That sounds like a lot on cheese and school snacks per week if it’s not a lot of meat.

[Anonymous]

And I would separate out entertaining and babysitting food from your general family grocery / dining out budget personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop doing your regular shopping at Whole Foods and see how much you save. Just go there for fruits / veggies that you want to prioritize.

Ironically I find Whole Foods super affordable. Their brand grains like quinoa, rice and lentils are far more affordable than normal grocery stores. I get fruits and veggies there because the quality is good and the prices are equal to or better than any stores. We aren’t buying the expensive stuff or prepared food at Whole Foods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You also say you don’t eat a lot of meat but you’re spending $125 a week on meat cheese and school snacks. That sounds like a lot on cheese and school snacks per week if it’s not a lot of meat.

The meat portion is probably 50 dollars a week. More if I’m entertaining, which isn’t frequently. Cheese is maybe 20 max? I get school snacks and some other things at that store (specific items we like/only find there, but not meat or cheese) and sometimes we also buy sushi or premade grilled chicken there. But truly not a lot of meat.

[Anonymous]

Stop getting take out

Shop at Aldi.

Seriously, do these two things and report back in a few months how much you’ve spent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop doing your regular shopping at Whole Foods and see how much you save. Just go there for fruits / veggies that you want to prioritize.

I don't agree. I shop at WF but I also watch prices at other supermarkets. WF is not drastically more expensive. The Giant is almost as expensive as WF but WF is better in quality. If OP is spending 185 a week at WF, then buying the same basket of goods at a standard supermarket is still going to be at least 150 with tradeoff in quality of produce. She *might* save up to $30 a week and that's being generous an estimate.

WF's brand 365 label is cheap. The expensive items are no more expensive at WF than at other stores.

I'd like to see a breakdown of OP's food bill. $185 + $125 in grocery shopping for the family plus another $100 for nanny food is basically $400 a week, or $1600 a month, which makes sense based on how she describes what they eat. And she won't have much fat to trim, if any.

In rereading her posts the real spending is going to 1) the takeaways when they do it (it quickly adds up across the year), 2) holiday meals where they go crazy on gourmet food/entertainment, and 3) vacation meals. The last one shouldn't be lumped in with the rest as vacations are something else entirely in the budget.

Remove the vacation meals from the calculations and then let's see where she stands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40,000 a year is $3,300 a month.

That's a tremendous amount, even for a family of 5.

What are you buying, and how much?

Expensive large quantities of meat and seafood?
Organic grass fed milk or just store brand organic?
How much fruit, in season?
Are you counting stuff like in-store sushi and pre-made things?
Drinks: alcohol? How much is a bottle of wine for you and how much do you drink?

I can not fathom what you are buying to get to that amount and I buy pretty much everything I want, for probably under half that amount. Plus we eat out more.

I couldn’t even tell you how we’re spending it. We eat very little meat. Twice a week i make a chicken dish or ground turkey dish with a grain, and make extra portions that usually last for a couple of nights each. Once a week is a meatless pasta dish. Then there’s pizza night and Asian/mexican/salad bowl night. Sometimes Mexican is even just chipotle.

Every week i make a big batch of soup and dh and i eat that along with salads and leftovers for lunch. Kids lunch foods are all meal prepped 1-2x weekly- pasta, grains, veggies, fruits. I make big batch of organic vegetables throughout the week- fresh and frozen.

As mentioned in my original post, i spend around 185 dollars a week at Whole Foods on our fruits, veggies, breads, milk, plant based milk, grains, etc. I buy meat, cheese and some school snacks at a different store, and probably spend 125 dollars there weekly. We have a babysitter and buy her food to have throughout the week at our house, so that is another 100 dollars or so. Around holidays or when we’re entertaining that adds up. So I guess groceries alone are running us around 400-500 per week, and then there’s takeout and restaurants. We probably don’t eat out more than 1-2x a month with our kids, maybe a date night once a month for us, but this sum also includes vacations where we eat out each night.

Breakfast is oatmeal, fruit, quinoa, sometimes muffins, or toast with peanut butter. Always fruit and berries.

All to say- I don’t watch what we spend on food, but we’re not eating filet mignon and caviar on the regular, if ever. My biggest luxury is buying lots of organic fruit and vegetables, which we eat and don’t want to change.

Wine is nothing crazy. Often we share a bottle throughout the weekend, and buy more around holidays when we’re entertaining.

But some other good advice here about being more intentional to use things up. Pantries are full and I’m usually replacing things and never emptying. Breakfast for dinner is also a good one.

Just don’t know what I’m doing wrong or how I can significantly watch my spending.

Well there you go- you say you’re spending 400-500 per week on groceries plus takeout 3 times per week. So another 200-300 there plus for occasional wine and less frequent eating out and it all adds up to the 40k annually. You say you don’t know what you’re doing wrong but that you also don’t track it- start tracking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop doing your regular shopping at Whole Foods and see how much you save. Just go there for fruits / veggies that you want to prioritize.

Ironically I find Whole Foods super affordable. Their brand grains like quinoa, rice and lentils are far more affordable than normal grocery stores. I get fruits and veggies there because the quality is good and the prices are equal to or better than any stores. We aren’t buying the expensive stuff or prepared food at Whole Foods.

Normal grocery stores are the worst unless a product is on sale. We buy dry goods from target and Walmart. Delivery is free above a nominal amount and everything is cheaper than grocery stores. We buy meat and fruit and vegetables from whole foods. Frozen, bread, and dairy from Safeway