How much do you spend on groceries per week?

[Anonymous]

Family of 4, 2 teens, eat out 1-2 times a week, plus maybe a few lunches out for one person. 300-400/week depending on the week and that often includes various toiletries, cleaning supplies and vitamins or otc meds.

Shop primarily at Wegmans and sometimes giant, go to trader every so often.

[Anonymous]

family of 3, $200-$250 per week; i do shop sales and stock up when there are good prices

eating out? $100-$125 per week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

[Anonymous]

Family of 4, kids 8 and 10

225-250 a week. Sometimes higher and sometimes lower. Includes paper products, shampoo, toothpaste, etc… Half the family is vegetarian and I make most meals and am vegetarian.

Eat out once every week to two weeks. Kids do get school lunches a few times a week.

[Anonymous]

Anywhere from $200-350 every two weeks for two people. But we don't live in DC, higher cost area.

We go out for a meal maybe 1-2 times a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think $400-500/week. Family of 4, kids both in elementary.

What kills us is the fruit. The kids go through so much of it. We also do only organic dairy and whole milk. It costs $14 for a pack of 3 half gallons

People who meal prep for a whole week on Sundays-I’m sorry but doesn’t that create food quality and safety issues? I honestly find the idea kind of revolting. I will make a meal one day, and we will maybe eat leftovers the next day, but the idea of eating vegetables/pasta/meat on Friday that was prepared on Sunday sounds gross.

Everyone is a product of their environment, it sounds like you grew up in a pretty privileged existence which you continue to embrace to your financial detriment. $500 a week is pretty extreme, and most people do eat leftovers - it's not gross or revolting or "a safety issue." It's good parenting and financial stewardship. We don't prep for the entire week, but we do cook for two days at a time and teach our children respect for food and money. Dinners become school lunches and we cook on Sunday and Wednesday and Friday, and fill in with omelets and salads and sandwiches. We rarely eat out. We spend about $120 a week on groceries.

DP
There is a difference between cooking for two or three days or 7. After 4 days food becomes less safe to eat.

And $120 on groceries for a family of four sounds borderline impossible. That’s like $1.50 per meal per person.

This depends on the food and how it’s stored. For example, a roast chicken on Sunday -> 1 leftover dinner, 1-2 days sandwiches for lunch, then becomes chicken stock in the slow cooker midweek, which becomes the base for quick and dirty rice pilaf on Friday. Saying you prep on Sunday doesn’t mean do nothing with the food over the course of the week. Similarly, I wouldn’t let chickpea curry sit in my fridge more than 3-4 days but goulash with plenty of sauerkraut keeps for ages thanks to the acidity.

Also: freezers exist. Meals that would spoil in the fridge often keep just fine in the freezer.

I’m
Sorry but this is exactly what I’m saying. From a food safety and quality perspective, I think it’s weird that you’d be still eating food on Friday that you prepared on Sunday. I’m really not into it. I don’t see how it matters that you transformed it into a different dish.

We do eat leftovers the next day but not beyond that (rarely is there anything left by then anyway).

You think it’s weird. Others don’t and it works for them. Funny how people might think differently than you.

DP, but she does have a point. Some stuff does get gross. Like you wouldn’t want to eat a sub sandwich that’s been sitting in the fridge for 4 days, but you’re probably fine with a soup. I think the people who are able to keep their grocery bills very low tend to eat very little meat/fish, tend to be ok with cheaper produce (would buy bananas and oranges instead of 3 kinds of berries), and honestly just have smaller appetites as a family compared to other families.

I’m a PP with a comparatively low grocery bill for this thread and I agree. I buy almost all my fruit/veg seasonally (aka cheaply) and my kids hate meat so we eat a lot of beans. Also my kids are young and get free lunch at school.

But re: the leftover hating poster, I just made that point (that different foods have different shelf lives) and she informed me it was still gross even if I recooked the leftovers into a totally new dish. It’s her prerogative to dislike leftovers or food reuse of a week but I wish she wouldn’t say it was a good safety concern — I that part is very dependent on how the food is prepared. (Also she’d hate to eat at my place — I make my own jams and pickles and sauerkrauts and those could keep on my shelf for *years* even thought they do generally get eaten much quicker 😆)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

DP. I assume they meant they aren’t eating food that was cooked 5 days ago.

I toss any cooked leftovers after 4-5 days. Usually there isn’t anything left at that point anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

DP. I assume they meant they aren’t eating food that was cooked 5 days ago.

I toss any cooked leftovers after 4-5 days. Usually there isn’t anything left at that point anyway.

That seems weird to me — raw spinach for example keeps terribly. I always try to process it within 2-3 days of buying it. But I’ll eat week-old saag or spanakopita (although tbh is be more likely to freeze the leftovers of both of those and reheat a few weeks later). Does your aversion to older cooked leftovers extend to frozen or just in the fridge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

DP. I assume they meant they aren’t eating food that was cooked 5 days ago.

I toss any cooked leftovers after 4-5 days. Usually there isn’t anything left at that point anyway.

That seems weird to me — raw spinach for example keeps terribly. I always try to process it within 2-3 days of buying it. But I’ll eat week-old saag or spanakopita (although tbh is be more likely to freeze the leftovers of both of those and reheat a few weeks later). Does your aversion to older cooked leftovers extend to frozen or just in the fridge?

Frozen food keeps for months, food in the fridge doesn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

DP. I assume they meant they aren’t eating food that was cooked 5 days ago.

I toss any cooked leftovers after 4-5 days. Usually there isn’t anything left at that point anyway.

Pp here with issues around food safety eating 5-7 day old food. I think my concerns are specifically around leftovers containing rice, pasta, and meat. We don’t eat leftover rice or pasta beyond the 24 hour mark due to food safety concerns. The example you gave was a roast chicken lasting you 5-6 days and that does gross me out and I do believe it creates food safety issues, even if handled carefully and recooked. Cooking does not make all foods safe. There are bacteria that can give off toxins that cannot be killed with heat and that can cause food poisoning.

Frozen food stops the clock in my mind, provided it was frozen promptly.

It’s all good that people do things differently and maybe your families have guts of steel so nothing bad happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

DP. I assume they meant they aren’t eating food that was cooked 5 days ago.

I toss any cooked leftovers after 4-5 days. Usually there isn’t anything left at that point anyway.

Pp here with issues around food safety eating 5-7 day old food. I think my concerns are specifically around leftovers containing rice, pasta, and meat. We don’t eat leftover rice or pasta beyond the 24 hour mark due to food safety concerns. The example you gave was a roast chicken lasting you 5-6 days and that does gross me out and I do believe it creates food safety issues, even if handled carefully and recooked. Cooking does not make all foods safe. There are bacteria that can give off toxins that cannot be killed with heat and that can cause food poisoning.

Frozen food stops the clock in my mind, provided it was frozen promptly.

It’s all good that people do things differently and maybe your families have guts of steel so nothing bad happens.

Italia is literally weeping (or laughing) at your statements that rice and pasta create a safety concern after 24 hours. Where do you think arancini comes from? Suppli? Fritelle di spaghetti?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

DP. I assume they meant they aren’t eating food that was cooked 5 days ago.

I toss any cooked leftovers after 4-5 days. Usually there isn’t anything left at that point anyway.

Pp here with issues around food safety eating 5-7 day old food. I think my concerns are specifically around leftovers containing rice, pasta, and meat. We don’t eat leftover rice or pasta beyond the 24 hour mark due to food safety concerns. The example you gave was a roast chicken lasting you 5-6 days and that does gross me out and I do believe it creates food safety issues, even if handled carefully and recooked. Cooking does not make all foods safe. There are bacteria that can give off toxins that cannot be killed with heat and that can cause food poisoning.

Frozen food stops the clock in my mind, provided it was frozen promptly.

It’s all good that people do things differently and maybe your families have guts of steel so nothing bad happens.

Italia is literally weeping (or laughing) at your statements that rice and pasta create a safety concern after 24 hours. Where do you think arancini comes from? Suppli? Fritelle di spaghetti?

PP here. I guess I don’t know what I’m missing but here’s a source from the UK National Health Service that explains the concerns around rice:

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning/

[Anonymous]

$300 for three people but we also buy stuff like cleaners, toiletry items, trash bags, and whatever else available at store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. No way I’m eating food on Friday that’s been sitting in the fridge since Sunday. Disgusting.

Wait, you eat your entire fridge every week? Like you buy celery, carrots and lettuce and if it’s still there 5 days later you refuse to eat it? No wonder there’s so much food waste in this country…

DP. I assume they meant they aren’t eating food that was cooked 5 days ago.

I toss any cooked leftovers after 4-5 days. Usually there isn’t anything left at that point anyway.

Pp here with issues around food safety eating 5-7 day old food. I think my concerns are specifically around leftovers containing rice, pasta, and meat. We don’t eat leftover rice or pasta beyond the 24 hour mark due to food safety concerns. The example you gave was a roast chicken lasting you 5-6 days and that does gross me out and I do believe it creates food safety issues, even if handled carefully and recooked. Cooking does not make all foods safe. There are bacteria that can give off toxins that cannot be killed with heat and that can cause food poisoning.

Frozen food stops the clock in my mind, provided it was frozen promptly.

It’s all good that people do things differently and maybe your families have guts of steel so nothing bad happens.

Italia is literally weeping (or laughing) at your statements that rice and pasta create a safety concern after 24 hours. Where do you think arancini comes from? Suppli? Fritelle di spaghetti?

Barilla says pasta should be refrigerated and eaten within 2 days of cooking:

https://www.barilla.com/en-us/help/storage-related-questions/how-to-store-cooked-pasta#:~:text=Cooked%20pasta%20should%20be%20stored,being%20stored%20to%20avoid%20clumping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think $400-500/week. Family of 4, kids both in elementary.

What kills us is the fruit. The kids go through so much of it. We also do only organic dairy and whole milk. It costs $14 for a pack of 3 half gallons

People who meal prep for a whole week on Sundays-I’m sorry but doesn’t that create food quality and safety issues? I honestly find the idea kind of revolting. I will make a meal one day, and we will maybe eat leftovers the next day, but the idea of eating vegetables/pasta/meat on Friday that was prepared on Sunday sounds gross.

Everyone is a product of their environment, it sounds like you grew up in a pretty privileged existence which you continue to embrace to your financial detriment. $500 a week is pretty extreme, and most people do eat leftovers - it's not gross or revolting or "a safety issue." It's good parenting and financial stewardship. We don't prep for the entire week, but we do cook for two days at a time and teach our children respect for food and money. Dinners become school lunches and we cook on Sunday and Wednesday and Friday, and fill in with omelets and salads and sandwiches. We rarely eat out. We spend about $120 a week on groceries.

DP
There is a difference between cooking for two or three days or 7. After 4 days food becomes less safe to eat.

And $120 on groceries for a family of four sounds borderline impossible. That’s like $1.50 per meal per person.

This depends on the food and how it’s stored. For example, a roast chicken on Sunday -> 1 leftover dinner, 1-2 days sandwiches for lunch, then becomes chicken stock in the slow cooker midweek, which becomes the base for quick and dirty rice pilaf on Friday. Saying you prep on Sunday doesn’t mean do nothing with the food over the course of the week. Similarly, I wouldn’t let chickpea curry sit in my fridge more than 3-4 days but goulash with plenty of sauerkraut keeps for ages thanks to the acidity.

Also: freezers exist. Meals that would spoil in the fridge often keep just fine in the freezer.

I’m
Sorry but this is exactly what I’m saying. From a food safety and quality perspective, I think it’s weird that you’d be still eating food on Friday that you prepared on Sunday. I’m really not into it. I don’t see how it matters that you transformed it into a different dish.

We do eat leftovers the next day but not beyond that (rarely is there anything left by then anyway).

Do you not own a freezer?

Last weekend we cooked and froze barbecue, spaghetti sauce, and hotpot. We also made two other dishes. Sun-Wed is food cooked over the weekend. Thurs-Sat is frozen stuff that was cooked the previous weekend, with quick prep veggie sides.

How is this so confusing to so many people? I honestly don’t think too many people who do weekend cooking put all the food they make in the fridge. Why would you think they did that rather than assume that they do the sensible thing and put some of it in the freezer?