How much do you spend on groceries & what is your HHI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

No, I really do mean per month. I completely understand everyone’s skepticism, but it’s the truth. As I stated previously, teen and 1 adult have a number of meals provided by school and work, respectively, and we make a game out of extreme couponing. As another PP pointed out, our portion sizes are likely smaller than many people’s - none of us have huge appetites, even the teen who we wish did! We dine out perhaps once a week, and that number is not included in the $150/month because OP asked only for grocery spend.

Ok you win the contest. Does coupon really save money? I feel like a lot of them are just scam. PP you should share your coupon skills - where do you shop, where to get the best coupon, and what are the tricks one need to have in order to save banks? TIa!

Yay! Thanks for no longer calling me a troll. Our family’s version of extreme couponing may be different than what you might see on tv shows (I don’t know because I haven’t watched them). For example, this week’s groceries will be purchased at Ralph’s by stacking 2 offers: 1) $25 off $50 (offer courtesy of Amex) and 2) $15 off $75 (offer courtesy of Ralph’s). We will therefore spend $35 but procure $75 worth of groceries. Many of the items we select will already be on sale that week, so we can get even more bang for our buck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

$150 a week is an enormous amount. Especially considering her menu.

+1. I think most people don’t understand how much they can be saving when shopping for groceries.

I mean, it depends on how severely you want to restrict your diet. If you mostly eat beans and tofu, okay. If you want to eat lamb and salmon, not so much.

We don’t intentionally restrict ourselves. Adult 1 actually gets a lot of lamb at work (the EA in charge of ordering lunch for the office loves Indian food!), and adult 2 and teen don’t particularly care for it so we don’t cook it at home. We do eat salmon and other seafood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, thanks everyone! OP here. I know my spending is too much. I do buy organic produce and meats when I can. I think I’m spending like $600 a week. I’m horrified to say that. I’m shopping at a mix of stores: whole foods, local independent grocery store, co-op, etc. Never been to Aldi and don’t really go to giant chains. I don’t buy much processed, canned, frozen or snack foods. I know I sound ridiculous but I’m not skilled at budgeting or planning. I do need to reduce spending. Anyone use misfits market? Any suggestions for stores, grocery shopping/planning much appreciated.

That is a lot of money. Go to big chains! Store brand milk, butter, olive oil, spices, cereals etc can be small but cumulatively effective ways to spend less. What the heck are you eating every week? Do you find you have a lot of food waste?

We don’t really eat out or carry out much and eat healthy (unprocessed foods). I shop at Trader Joe’s (nuts, oils, crackers, spreads, cheese). I buy staples at wegmans (dairy, eggs, bread, fruits and veggies (farmers stand), chicken, coffee, cereal). Whole foods for red meat and fish (organic). Cleaning supplies and toiletries mostly at target and bulk items (tp, paper towels vitamins, otc drugs). We are a family of four and we average about 1700-2000 per month and the cost has increased this year substantially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

No, I really do mean per month. I completely understand everyone’s skepticism, but it’s the truth. As I stated previously, teen and 1 adult have a number of meals provided by school and work, respectively, and we make a game out of extreme couponing. As another PP pointed out, our portion sizes are likely smaller than many people’s - none of us have huge appetites, even the teen who we wish did! We dine out perhaps once a week, and that number is not included in the $150/month because OP asked only for grocery spend.

Ok you win the contest. Does coupon really save money? I feel like a lot of them are just scam. PP you should share your coupon skills - where do you shop, where to get the best coupon, and what are the tricks one need to have in order to save banks? TIa!

Yay! Thanks for no longer calling me a troll. Our family’s version of extreme couponing may be different than what you might see on tv shows (I don’t know because I haven’t watched them). For example, this week’s groceries will be purchased at Ralph’s by stacking 2 offers: 1) $25 off $50 (offer courtesy of Amex) and 2) $15 off $75 (offer courtesy of Ralph’s). We will therefore spend $35 but procure $75 worth of groceries. Many of the items we select will already be on sale that week, so we can get even more bang for our buck.

Just ou of curiosity: with 700k HHI, what motivate you to stay so creatively frugal? What do you spend money on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

No, I really do mean per month. I completely understand everyone’s skepticism, but it’s the truth. As I stated previously, teen and 1 adult have a number of meals provided by school and work, respectively, and we make a game out of extreme couponing. As another PP pointed out, our portion sizes are likely smaller than many people’s - none of us have huge appetites, even the teen who we wish did! We dine out perhaps once a week, and that number is not included in the $150/month because OP asked only for grocery spend.

Ok you win the contest. Does coupon really save money? I feel like a lot of them are just scam. PP you should share your coupon skills - where do you shop, where to get the best coupon, and what are the tricks one need to have in order to save banks? TIa!

Yay! Thanks for no longer calling me a troll. Our family’s version of extreme couponing may be different than what you might see on tv shows (I don’t know because I haven’t watched them). For example, this week’s groceries will be purchased at Ralph’s by stacking 2 offers: 1) $25 off $50 (offer courtesy of Amex) and 2) $15 off $75 (offer courtesy of Ralph’s). We will therefore spend $35 but procure $75 worth of groceries. Many of the items we select will already be on sale that week, so we can get even more bang for our buck.

Just ou of curiosity: with 700k HHI, what motivate you to stay so creatively frugal? What do you spend money on?

Honestly, it has little to do with the money itself, as we will blow many times our grocery budget on sushi omakase or some such when dining out. We just like the game! I do the same thing when clothes shopping - I love designer but often pay as low as 20% of MSRP (i.e. 80% off) by stacking various sales and offers. I’m sure I sound crazy weird, but I actually like stuff better when I know I got an amazing deal on it. Teen is learning too - just bought a bunch of pretty Voluspa candles (selling for full price elsewhere) for 46% off + free shipping and handling + cashback to gift to friends. Win-win for teen and friends!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

$150 a week is an enormous amount. Especially considering her menu.

+1. I think most people don’t understand how much they can be saving when shopping for groceries.

I mean, it depends on how severely you want to restrict your diet. If you mostly eat beans and tofu, okay. If you want to eat lamb and salmon, not so much.

We don’t intentionally restrict ourselves. Adult 1 actually gets a lot of lamb at work (the EA in charge of ordering lunch for the office loves Indian food!), and adult 2 and teen don’t particularly care for it so we don’t cook it at home. We do eat salmon and other seafood.

You realize that it’s crazy tone deaf to talk about all the free lamb one of you gets, right? Most people don’t get that perk at work, and this cost is not included in your $150 a week. Since you seem rather simple, I’ll spell it out for you: PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO FEED THEMSELVES ON $150 A WEEK ARE NOT EATING LAMB.

Born on third, thinks they hit a triple

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

$150 a week is an enormous amount. Especially considering her menu.

+1. I think most people don’t understand how much they can be saving when shopping for groceries.

I mean, it depends on how severely you want to restrict your diet. If you mostly eat beans and tofu, okay. If you want to eat lamb and salmon, not so much.

I think it’s more a matter of buying items you know you eat a lot of in bulk, particularly if they can be stored in a way that preserves them well. We eat a lot of rice and beans in my family, so for example, I buy 20 lb bags of rice at $15 a bag. One bag lasts for months. This frees up a lot of money to use on lamb and salmon.

It’s like the people who buy half a cow and store all the meat in a freezer. If you know how to use it, you can be eating really well for a lot less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

$150 a week is an enormous amount. Especially considering her menu.

+1. I think most people don’t understand how much they can be saving when shopping for groceries.

I mean, it depends on how severely you want to restrict your diet. If you mostly eat beans and tofu, okay. If you want to eat lamb and salmon, not so much.

We don’t intentionally restrict ourselves. Adult 1 actually gets a lot of lamb at work (the EA in charge of ordering lunch for the office loves Indian food!), and adult 2 and teen don’t particularly care for it so we don’t cook it at home. We do eat salmon and other seafood.

You realize that it’s crazy tone deaf to talk about all the free lamb one of you gets, right? Most people don’t get that perk at work, and this cost is not included in your $150 a week. Since you seem rather simple, I’ll spell it out for you: PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO FEED THEMSELVES ON $150 A WEEK ARE NOT EATING LAMB.

Born on third, thinks they hit a triple

I stated in my very first post that adult 1 gets lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 times a week. If you didn’t read it carefully, that’s on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

This sounds disgusting. I do IF and don't eat much, but when I do, I eat good food. No wonder Americans are so overweight and sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

No, I really do mean per month. I completely understand everyone’s skepticism, but it’s the truth. As I stated previously, teen and 1 adult have a number of meals provided by school and work, respectively, and we make a game out of extreme couponing. As another PP pointed out, our portion sizes are likely smaller than many people’s - none of us have huge appetites, even the teen who we wish did! We dine out perhaps once a week, and that number is not included in the $150/month because OP asked only for grocery spend.

Ok you win the contest. Does coupon really save money? I feel like a lot of them are just scam. PP you should share your coupon skills - where do you shop, where to get the best coupon, and what are the tricks one need to have in order to save banks? TIa!

Yay! Thanks for no longer calling me a troll. Our family’s version of extreme couponing may be different than what you might see on tv shows (I don’t know because I haven’t watched them). For example, this week’s groceries will be purchased at Ralph’s by stacking 2 offers: 1) $25 off $50 (offer courtesy of Amex) and 2) $15 off $75 (offer courtesy of Ralph’s). We will therefore spend $35 but procure $75 worth of groceries. Many of the items we select will already be on sale that week, so we can get even more bang for our buck.

Just ou of curiosity: with 700k HHI, what motivate you to stay so creatively frugal? What do you spend money on?

New poster: we are very wealthy and retired young. I am also very thrifty, especially when it comes to groceries. I also enjoy getting things for a good deal.

I spend a lot of money on:

- vacations
- various homes
- donations
- helping family out (this is a huge ticket items, as I give away a lot of money, esp for family that needs it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

How do you actually get enough calories to survive on this? Are you perpetually losing weight?
Today's menu can't be more than 1000 calories (teen) and 400-500 calories (adult).
Can you elaborate on your calorie count?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

This sounds disgusting. I do IF and don't eat much, but when I do, I eat good food. No wonder Americans are so overweight and sick.

I am with your first comment. This sounds awful. But why is this not good food? There is nothing bad about what they eat. To the contrary it is all fresh --- none of it is bad -- where are you making the connection to overweight and sick? It kind of is the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

How do you actually get enough calories to survive on this? Are you perpetually losing weight?
Today's menu can't be more than 1000 calories (teen) and 400-500 calories (adult).
Can you elaborate on your calorie count?

Yes I agree. No where near enough. The are leaving things out or have eating issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

This sounds disgusting. I do IF and don't eat much, but when I do, I eat good food. No wonder Americans are so overweight and sick.

It's fine menu however, they aren't eating many meals at home, which is why. Basically two meals a day, at best, one very basic one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will likely sound ridiculous, but our family of 3 (2 adults + 1 teen) spends $150 per MONTH on groceries and our HHI is 700K. Caveats: teen’s weekday lunches are enfolded into private school tuition, 1 adult has lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 days per week, and we’re kind of insane super shoppers.

That’s amazing! Please post your grocery list & things you make! I’m curious. I couldn’t do this bc I like variety and occasional meat, organic eggs and milk BUT I do admire the thriftiness.

Staples, including eggs and milk, from Costco. Fresh produce from ethnic markets. Whatever meat is on sale that week at the traditional grocery stores (we’ll freeze extra so we have variety and aren’t just eating one type of protein all week). We take full advantage of freebies and almost freebies - for example, we just picked up 3 bottles of organic Kefir cultured milk for free and 3 cans of Pringles for $1 - as well as deals like “get $40 off your pickup order of $75.” We don’t deprive ourselves and would have no problem spending more if necessary, but actually find bargain hunting super fun.

Post a couple days of your menu.

And your teen must not eat much or do any sports—my teens probably eat more than $150/month each of food on top of the 3 meals a day-

Sure! Here’s this weekend’s menu:

Saturday:
Breakfast - egg/chorizo/cheese burrito, milk (teen only)
Lunch - stuffed cabbage leaves with ground beef and rice
Dinner - roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies

Sunday:
Brunch - egg/sausage/bell pepper/onion/potato hash, milk (teen only)
Dinner - Taiwanese beef shank noodle soup with bok choy, red bean mochi

Teen, who actually does play sports, supplements with snacks like nuts, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips, etc., but definitely should be eating more.

But…how do you buy those ingredients on $150/mo?

I think she’s talking about 150/week, not per month. We are family of five - 3 adults and 2 kids. We eat mostly at home due to WFH. We spend 150 per week for grocery, including everything. Spend about 300 per month on dining out. HHI 400k. We are very very frugal people.

$150 a week is an enormous amount. Especially considering her menu.

+1. I think most people don’t understand how much they can be saving when shopping for groceries.

I mean, it depends on how severely you want to restrict your diet. If you mostly eat beans and tofu, okay. If you want to eat lamb and salmon, not so much.

We don’t intentionally restrict ourselves. Adult 1 actually gets a lot of lamb at work (the EA in charge of ordering lunch for the office loves Indian food!), and adult 2 and teen don’t particularly care for it so we don’t cook it at home. We do eat salmon and other seafood.

You realize that it’s crazy tone deaf to talk about all the free lamb one of you gets, right? Most people don’t get that perk at work, and this cost is not included in your $150 a week. Since you seem rather simple, I’ll spell it out for you: PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO FEED THEMSELVES ON $150 A WEEK ARE NOT EATING LAMB.

Born on third, thinks they hit a triple

I stated in my very first post that adult 1 gets lunch and/or dinner provided through work 2 or 3 times a week. If you didn’t read it carefully, that’s on you.

I saw that, but then when I said a person spending $150 a month cannot afford lamb, you popped up to say you did eat lamb. You don’t buy it, though, it is subsidized, so your comment was unhelpful and smug.