Reasonable monthly food budget for a family of 3 or 4 that doesn't cook much?

[Anonymous]

We do very little cooking and that isn't likely to change. DH works until 10 most evenings so he's only home for dinner on weekends. I don't get home from work until 6:00ish, and both of us hate cooking. The result is we spend a lot of money on take-out/pre-prepared meals or very fast and simple meals like sandwiches, chicken nuggets for our toddler, etc. I know there have to be other families out there like us. We're currently spending close to $1500 a month on groceries and eating out, but I suspect we could do a lot better (especially since our second child is still a breastfed infant). If you don't cook a lot, what is your monthly food budget?

[Anonymous]

Do you have a crock pot?

[Anonymous]

We cook but still spend $1500 month on food between 2 adults. You aren't doing so bad at $1500 but perhaps you should consider incorporating lots of salads with lean meats in your diets. Mostly greens. Will be cheaper and healthier all at the same time

[Anonymous]

I cook almost every day and our food budget for 2 adults and 2 boys (6 and 8) is around $700. So maybe $300 for you since you eat out so much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a crock pot?

We don't, but I wouldn't really know what to do with it if we did.

[Anonymous]

You seriously never cook? What do you eat? Chipotle every night?

Seriously, cooking real food isn't that hard. They do half the work for you these days -- pick up a ready-to-bake chicken breast stuffed/breaded, a potato and some brussels sprouts. Put the potato in the oven for 20 minutes then the rest. $5 and you have a healthy dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a crock pot?

We don't, but I wouldn't really know what to do with it if we did.

Oh c'mon! You're not THAT busy that you can't invest some time in feeding yourself and your family something other than takeout meals.

Buy this:
http://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-SCVT650-PS-Programmable-Touchscreen-Stainless/dp/B001KVZTFO

Then read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooker-Revolution-Editors-Americas-Kitchen/dp/1933615699

THEN...go buy real groceries.

Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You seriously never cook? What do you eat? Chipotle every night?

Seriously, cooking real food isn't that hard. They do half the work for you these days -- pick up a ready-to-bake chicken breast stuffed/breaded, a potato and some brussels sprouts. Put the potato in the oven for 20 minutes then the rest. $5 and you have a healthy dinner.

Depends on how you define cooking. I usually eat pretzels, cheese, fresh fruit, frozen entrees, rotisserie chicken, pre-prepared salads from Trader Joe's, frozen pizzas, soup, leftovers from when we go out on the weekend, etc. DH snacks on whatever when he gets home. DD eats things like scrambled eggs, oatmeal, chicken or fish nuggets, frozen veggies, meatballs, PB & J, pasta, grilled cheese, fresh fruit, applesauce, etc. We get carry out once or twice a week and go out for one nicer dinner on the weekend. Works for us.