spend too much on food?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.aldifoods.com/index_ENU_HTML.htm

Years ago-when I was very very poor-I could take $20 to Aldis and walk away with 4 or 5 bags of groceries. It's a german grocery store-no shelves, only boxes. Little to none name brands, but occasionally they might Kraft. I will say that their cereals are good-$1 a box, sphagetti sauce-$1 a jar...and the albacore tuna is 97 cents a can. I will pick up a head of lettuce if I'm there-but never buy meat. My husband thinks the instant oatmeal is better than the name brands.

Only cash or debit card are accepted. I can still take $40 with me and come home with 4-5 bags of groceries.

Wow, I grew up with Aldi's in Chicago but it was a real grocery store, huge, with shelves. I had no idea there were Aldi stores out here. I also had no idea it was a German store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How timely. We just did the same exact thing tonight because we just went down to one income, at least for a while. It's scary when you add it all up. My husband said one of his biggest shocks was our grocery bill. We are a family of three (2.5 year old) and are spending between $600 and $800/month at the grocery store. Lately trending more toward $800. And at least $300/month in gas costs. Of course these line items used to be significantly less...

We are also a family of 3 (2.75 yo toddler) and spend about that range. For us it gets up to $800 when I load up on meats and bulk items from Costco, but generally try to keep it at $500-$600 max. I find if I can plan a couple meals that I'm going to cook and try to stick to the list of items I will need for those meals, I can control the costs a little better. Also, I try to control the amount of snacks we buy, bc it doesn't get eaten.

[Anonymous]

We spend about $1100-1200/month on ALL food - including restaurants/take out for a family of 3. We buy all organic, shop at the farmer's market in summer, etc, so it's a little high. We spend approx. $150/week at Whole Foods ($600), $100/week going out to eat, another $100-200 on random lunches at work, which aren't often.

1200 food
2100 housing
1200 preschool
100 gas (we barely drive - live in the city)
100 Metro

Yikes - $4700

We don't have a car payment, thankfully!

BTW - we don't all waste our money on loud "kid" restaurants. Our daughter has the fortune to eat at the best places in the city - all kinds of food. When we ask her what she'd like to eat she usually responds with "Oyamel" or Lebanese (Lebanese Taverna) lol. She LOVES Oyamel. We bring her everywhere! She loves thai food, spanish and her latest fave are the fava bean crostinis at 2 Amys. I can't find fava beans anywhere to make it at home! Anyone know where i can find them?

To each their own - we truly enjoy long dinners out with a bottle of wine and lots of talking! It's worth it for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spend about $1100-1200/month on ALL food - including restaurants/take out for a family of 3. We buy all organic, shop at the farmer's market in summer, etc, so it's a little high. We spend approx. $150/week at Whole Foods ($600), $100/week going out to eat, another $100-200 on random lunches at work, which aren't often.

1200 food
2100 housing
1200 preschool
100 gas (we barely drive - live in the city)
100 Metro

Yikes - $4700

We don't have a car payment, thankfully!

BTW - we don't all waste our money on loud "kid" restaurants. Our daughter has the fortune to eat at the best places in the city - all kinds of food. When we ask her what she'd like to eat she usually responds with "Oyamel" or Lebanese (Lebanese Taverna) lol. She LOVES Oyamel. We bring her everywhere! She loves thai food, spanish and her latest fave are the fava bean crostinis at 2 Amys. I can't find fava beans anywhere to make it at home! Anyone know where i can find them?

To each their own - we truly enjoy long dinners out with a bottle of wine and lots of talking! It's worth it for us.

WF has fava beans. they also have the frozen ones your LO can munch on.

[Anonymous]

We purchase just about everything from Costco. The few things we don't I buy at the Co-Op that's just a walk away. For our family of four, we spent about $650 a month on food. If we go out, it is to get Pho'. I love that the four of us can eat (a good healthy meal) for under $20.

[Anonymous]

Places like Costco and Sam's Club do have some good deals on food and they even have fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, bread, etc.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have their groceries delivered? I was wondering if you save money because there are no impulse purchases. With the dramatic increase in gas and grocery prices, I'm trying to think of ways I can cut some costs. I was thinking about dropping the Costco membership but then added up the costs that I save in just three months and realized I was being penny wise and pound foolish.