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How much do you spend on groceries a month?
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Anonymous
| We spend about $1000 per month for two adults and two children under 3. And I spend another $250 every two months on diapers, creams, etc. |
Anonymous
| I spend betwee $160-$200 each week (depends on how many coupons I have) for 3 adults, and 3 children (eat quite a bit). It includes everything- it seems our biggest expense is all the fresh fruit I buy for the little ones. we do whole wheat and healthy stuff, but not organic. |
Anonymous
| For the person who buys meat in bulk, do you have a separate freezer just for meat storage? Thanks for the link! |
Anonymous
Yes, I have a chest freezer. After my first bulk buy, it paid for itself. Overall, my beef ends up costing me about $3.50/lb (from Polyface, Over the grass is about 80% more) My major expense is the chicken. Fresh chicken is so expensive. I end up buying the chicken whole and have learned how to cut it up into pieces myself and have learned how to cook a whole chicken a million different ways and then use the leftovers the next day. Since I have a large freezer, I buy a lot of fruit and veggies in season (in bulk from the farmers market vendors, again WAY cheaper this way) and then freeze it. I have a nice stockpile of blueberries, strawberries, green beans, endaname, and tomato sauces galore all frozen to much on all winter. |
Anonymous
What if the power goes out? |
Anonymous
| 2 adults, 1 toddler - we spend about $75 per week. I do a meal plan and only buy the things we need and I'm careful not to buy more fruits/veggies than we realistically will eat. That amount also covers snacks and lunches. And I a buy lots of meat when it goes on sale and put it in the freezer. That amount doesn't include laundry detergent, diapers, etc. I also use coupons and buy generic when I can. |
Anonymous
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I am concerned because we are family of 4 with 2 kids under 3 and we spend over 1,000 a month. We cook at home and we bring our lunch to work.
Are you including the food for the lunch? I mean, if you work, do you bring you lunch from home or do you eat out? Thanks! |
Anonymous
| We are a family of 3, and one is a toddler. We tried to do it for under 500 per month, but it seems like we are more realistically around 550 -600 per month. We do plan meals in advance, I cut coupons, and we really don't buy much on impulse anymore. We don't do meat at every meal, more like 3 or 4 dinners a week. We are lucky in that my work provides me lunch every day, so we don't worry with my lunch. Much of the cost goes to organic stuff, and some snacks for DC. Cleansers and household stuff is included in that total. It stinks that I can't just buy what looks good to have in the house anymore. We try to stay out of costco because we over-buy there and then have stuff for months (raisins...etc) that we don't want to eat anymore. |
Anonymous
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Family of 4, 2 kids under 4 and now spend about 600-700 a month. We use Costco for any paper products, bread, avocodos, frozen food including large packs of chicken breast, diapers etc and Giant with coupons and specials for everything else. DH and I just don't always eat alot, never really have so if we were making full meals everynight for all 4 it would be different. Kids eat very healthy.
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Anonymous
That would suck. How big and packed my chest is (runs more efficiently if its full) I would suppose I would have 48hrs before my food spoiled. I've done this 5 years and the power has never gone out other than some blinking a few times a year that screws up the clocks. However, if it went out and was still not on after 24 hours I would get a generator at a local big box store (no shortage of those!) If my power goes out, I'm REALLY screwed. I always tell myself I'm getting a generator when I see one at Costco, but never do. We are on septic and well so to flush or toilets or to use the water the power has to be working. |
Anonymous
No need to worry. Bulk meat buyer here. My monthly bill is close to 800 and I don't buy meat, so we are about on the same pace. I too love to cook and often times it costs me near $50 to make a dinner. Throw in come chantrelle mushrooms and some black truffel oil and the bill shoots sky high. I do bring my leftovers, sandwich, or frozen meal for lunch so no I do not go out for lunch. DH goes out probably 3-4xs a week. We go out to dinner sometimes as much as twice a week. Depending on what you cook, very often I find it much more expensive to cook a meal than to go out to eat. This is why poor people eat so much fast food. |
Anonymous
| We're feeding 2 adults and one toddler (baby is breastfed) and I try really hard to keep the groceries to $500/mo. As someone else said, we eat healthy (whole wheat, lots of veggies, fruit in season), but not organic. I'm a vegetarian. That number doesn't include diapers (or alcohol!), but it does include cleaning supplies. And DH positively refuses to bring his lunch to work, but the toddler and I are eating here. I've brought this expenditure down considerably over the past 6 months or so by really watching the sales circulars to figure out what the "good" prices were, clipping coupons, and building a stockpile of things I know we'll use. I also menu plan, which has had the added benefit of helping keep me sane whith a newborn in the house. When the baby starts to eat actual food, I'll probably make most of it. It's a ton cheaper than the prepared foods and tastes SO much better. We've also cut WAY back on eating out. |
Anonymous
12:41 here - We both bring our lunches and DS gets lunch at daycare. If we do happen to eat lunch out, that's definitely not included in the $75. I noticed one week that I was throwing out alot of veggies/fruits/dairy b/c we simply didn't get through it all. I also looked in my pantry and realized that I had tons of basics (rice, couscous, pasta) that I wasn't using regularly - I started including them in my meal plan and that helped me not to have to buy everything new every week. Hope that helps! |
Anonymous
A few thoughts: Are you only counting food in that $1,000/month? Some people include diapers and household products in their grocery bill as well if they buy their stuff at the grocery store. IMO those items can easily run you $100 to $150, often more. Do you pay extra to have mostly organic? That will run you more as well. Do you buy the expensive organic baby foods for the kids? That will add to your cost. If you are cooking at home and doing lunches from home, you should be able to get just food easily to $800 with your family size. I have older kids and am working pretty hard to get the cost down to $600 -$650 a month, but just can't get lower. We do eat meat a lot -- I think to get lower than $500 you need to eat a lot of beans and vegetarian dishes. |
Anonymous
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I think to get lower than $500 you need to eat a lot of beans and vegetarian dishes.
I spend less than this and the only vegetarian dish we eat is homemade pizza. Ground beef and ground turkey (either can be used in tacos, meatloaf, spagetti sauce) are not very expensive, and a pack of chicken breasts can last more than one meal. Wegmanns also sells really good stir fry beef for $3-$4 a lb - one lb makes a meal with leftovers for us. And fish/shrimp are also great options that don't cost alot. |