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

[Anonymous]

How much do you spend at the grocery store? Our grocery bills are out of control. I tried shopping more frequently, buying what we might need for that day and the next, and that was even worse. So I went back to doing a big shop on the weekend, but it still seems like we're supplementing too much. Also, and here is my vent. I take the time to plan out meals and shop on the weekend, yet it seems that my DH and/or nanny seem to find something every day that we are missing, and then go out and spend an extra $20 a day. Honestly, my kids don't need a choice of goldfish and crackers and pretzels, and we don't have room to store all that stuff.

Anyway sorry for the vent...what is reasonable for a family of four to spend? We eat almost all meals at home (DH and I pack our lunches). Pack lunch for older kid. How do you keep costs down?

[Anonymous]

It is just going to go up due to inflation.

Get a Cosco membership or grow your own patio garden.

[Anonymous]

We're a family of 4 and spend $300 a week.. That includes eating out and toiletries.

[Anonymous]

family of 4 (2 yr old and 4 year old): probably $250-300/week.

[Anonymous]

I spend about $80 on groceries. I cook a lot, fish or chicken vegatables, fruit and weekly staples. Milk, yogurt, eggs cheese. I do a once a month Costco run for meats (beef, pork chicken) then just separate it for meal planning. I spend about $200 or so depending on what else I purchase.

[Anonymous]

Groceries are seriously going up. But you do need to retrain the family (inc nanny) on the meal plan/once a week shopping program. Start a list now and run it until you do your weekly shopping based on your meal plan. Then shop and tell everyone that the next trip is on X day, anything you run out of before then goes on the list. Make sure you have enough bread, milk, whatever else is essential in your house to get you through until that time. Even if it means apples instead of goldfish, cold cereal instead of oatmeal, etc. Show them meal plan, snack options, and stockpile and tell them that you're sure they're on board. Then hold on because you'll run out of your favorite item first. Eventually it will stick!

We're a family of 5. We do about $200/wk at the store split into one large and one small trip (used to be one trip, but i can fit a small on in on Wednesdays now and it makes our lives easier). I'm a total meal planner and I scan the weekly ads before I plan the meals and shopping list. Last week, we ran out of saran wrap about 15 minutes after I got back from the store.... it's a staple around here!

Get to know the low prices at your usual store and stock up when you can. That will go a long way toward reducing your bills.

[Anonymous]

Family of 6, we spend about $170/week. I spend about $100/week at Costco and about another $60 at Wegmans, then about $10 at random other stores to pick up suplements. That $170 includes things like paper towels and toilet paper, but not toiletries. We go out to eat (as a family) about once a month and do takeout in some form about once per month.

[Anonymous]

Family of 4. Our grocery bills are getting out of control lately. I used to be able to spend $150/week between grocery and target (toilettries etc...). I also had been doing Costco for about $150 every 6 weeks. Now it's $170 at Giant, another $50 at Target and also we do a Costco run every 6ish weeks that runs between $200 and $300. Everything has just gone up so much. We don't really buy more or differently than before, and I tend not to shop at pricier places such as Whole Foods b/c we simply cannot afford it.

[Anonymous]

Most items are sized slightly smaller even though the price is the same/higher, so items don't stretch as much as they used to.

[Anonymous]

Get ye to the nearest Aldi. I spend about $100 / week for a family of 4. My 2 kids are in day FT and get lunch / snacks / milk during the day there. When I go to Aldi, my bill is ~100 / week, anyplace else and it shots up to $150.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get ye to the nearest Aldi. I spend about $100 / week for a family of 4. My 2 kids are in day FT and get lunch / snacks / milk during the day there. When I go to Aldi, my bill is ~100 / week, anyplace else and it shots up to $150.

yup.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks everyone. This confirms that our spending is out of control -- we're in the $350-$400 range a week with all of the trips (that does include some beer and/or wine). I do clip coupons. I don't understand how people get things for free, but I try. I'm going to try the list approach and stick with it.

[Anonymous]

Family of 3 (DD is 1) = $125 to $140/week. But I cook everyday. And we eat beans and rice at least once a week.

[Anonymous]

I set price limits for myself. For example, I don't spend more than $2 for a box of crackers. So, if it's not on sale or I don't have a coupon that will knock down the price than I don't buy it. I do this for almost everything. And since I'm quite aware of the grocery store sales/weekly circular I have a good idea on the sales.

Family of 5 (kids are 1, 3, and 5) and grocery bill is about $150 depending on the season

[Anonymous]

200/week at Whole Foods (mostly - H-Mart and Trader Joe's for specialty foods).

Family of 4 (7 and 2 year olds).

The biggest money-saver is severely limiting packaged foods and individual portions- you are right that snack foods, crackers, etc are very expensive for their weight!
Cooking from scratch and hardly ever eating out is difficult for 2 working parents, yet this is the most economical strategy.
I buy grain in bulk at Whole Foods. Organic milk and other dairy. Bread instead of crackers, blocks of cheese instead of grated, big pots of yogurt instead of little containers, no individual servings or ready-to-eat already prepared foods. DS goes to school with a home-cooked meal, such as pasta with cheese, broccoli and grapes.
We are very careful about not wasting a single thing in the fridge.