We spend too much on groceries. Or do we?

[Anonymous]

Wow. I've never added it up but I bet I spend at least $300/month FOR MYSELF, and that doesn't include some meals out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of three, DH and DW mid 30s and DS 2yrs old, we spend about $700 and yes mostly, natural and organic food from either TJs and WF.

On the plus side ever since we switched to organics I have lost 30lbs and no meanies I wasn't obsess and sitting on front of the TUBE.

"Obsess?"

Obese

[Anonymous]

Family of five (two adults, a 12 year old, an 11 year old, and an Au Pair) and we spend $1,000 a month on groceries. We can spend less, certainly. If we had to (money woes), we would reduce in a heartbeat and it would be all ramen all the time.

I don't think we "can" feed our family on less than $400 a month without eating nothing but starches and canned goods. But that gives us a lot of wiggle room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you don't pack lunches. That eliminates a huge portion of our grocery bill. Congratulations.

They probably eat breakfast and lunch at school. That leaves lunch for the adults M-F which they probably eat out every single day and isn't mentioned...

Well, I wouldn't mention it either, because it's not part of my grocery bill and the question was about spending on groceries. We have a family of four, kids are 8 and 11, and our grocery bill is about $100-125 a week at Teeter (about $500 a month), plus we go to Costco and Trader Joe's occasionally (and Whole Foods rarely) which probably averages out to another $100 a month on food. But that doesn't include the kids lunches during the week, my husband's lunches or some of mine, we get pizza once a week, and we get all of our paper goods and cleaning supplies and toiletries at Costco and Target so I don't include that in the "groceries" category. It's hard to do an apples to apples comparison since people prepare different numbers of meals at home, and may be counting more than food in the grocery bill.

That's absurd. Hey, I spend $0 on groceries, do I spend too much? I don't think I should mention that I eat out every meal. Riiiggghhhht!

I'm just saying, the difference between $500 and $700 and $900 a month in groceries could be driven just by whether you make lunches for everyone or if you eat out 3x a week instead of 1x a week. These threads should be based on "We make XX meals a month and this is our grocery budget" or else there's no way to compare.

That said, the lady in the other thread who spends $450 a week…unless you're Carol Brady, I don't see how you could spend that much.

You can spend that much. I spend between $300-400 a week. I shop almost exclusively at WF because 1) it is the closest to my house and I don't want to drive all over town to save $20, 2) IMO for what I buy, which includes a TON of fresh fruits and vegetables, the quality is the best of all the other stores I have used (including wegmans, I've only been to the one in Reston and PG County), and I need the quality to last, because buying an apple that is grainy the next day or strawberries that go rotten in 2 days is a waste of money no matter where you buy it, but I never have that problem with my local WF, and 3) I have comparison shopped among the nearest (to me) competitors (HT, Giant and Safeway) and the prices are pretty competitive EXCEPT for the meats and seafood.

We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 elementary age children. I cook 3 meals a day almost every. single. day. Kids take lunch to school but if they see something on the lunch menu super exciting I will let them buy a few times a month. We eat out maybe 1 time a week. So on average I am making 20 meals (eating out 1) per week. I re-use leftovers (as in that becomes the kids' lunches later in the week). I find that we hardly ever waste, 99% of what I buy gets eaten. I have tried to get this weekly amount down, and the easiest way to do that for us has been to cut back on the meats and seafood and make some vegetarian meals (for example, I made a nice lentil soup the other night as our main course).

[Anonymous]

We spend like 2000 a month on groceries. You're fine. Tiddler and two adults

[Anonymous]

i went to costco for a year straight so some stuff can build up in the freezer or pantry.....nothing goes to waste and i mean nothing. we liked organic too as much as possible costco is better than i thought it would be on organic its not wegmans but its not bad. $750 per month two boys 14 and 12,, total of 4 mouths fed, add in $100 for things can't get at wegmans and $150 farmers market and $150 for some takeout twice a month we have an $1100 total. Some months maybe $900 no way i could consistently be under $850 these kids eat

[Anonymous]

I don't think OP lives in DC metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you don't pack lunches. That eliminates a huge portion of our grocery bill. Congratulations.

They probably eat breakfast and lunch at school. That leaves lunch for the adults M-F which they probably eat out every single day and isn't mentioned...

Well, I wouldn't mention it either, because it's not part of my grocery bill and the question was about spending on groceries. We have a family of four, kids are 8 and 11, and our grocery bill is about $100-125 a week at Teeter (about $500 a month), plus we go to Costco and Trader Joe's occasionally (and Whole Foods rarely) which probably averages out to another $100 a month on food. But that doesn't include the kids lunches during the week, my husband's lunches or some of mine, we get pizza once a week, and we get all of our paper goods and cleaning supplies and toiletries at Costco and Target so I don't include that in the "groceries" category. It's hard to do an apples to apples comparison since people prepare different numbers of meals at home, and may be counting more than food in the grocery bill.

That's absurd. Hey, I spend $0 on groceries, do I spend too much? I don't think I should mention that I eat out every meal. Riiiggghhhht!

I'm just saying, the difference between $500 and $700 and $900 a month in groceries could be driven just by whether you make lunches for everyone or if you eat out 3x a week instead of 1x a week. These threads should be based on "We make XX meals a month and this is our grocery budget" or else there's no way to compare.

That said, the lady in the other thread who spends $450 a week…unless you're Carol Brady, I don't see how you could spend that much.

You can spend that much. I spend between $300-400 a week. I shop almost exclusively at WF because 1) it is the closest to my house and I don't want to drive all over town to save $20, 2) IMO for what I buy, which includes a TON of fresh fruits and vegetables, the quality is the best of all the other stores I have used (including wegmans, I've only been to the one in Reston and PG County), and I need the quality to last, because buying an apple that is grainy the next day or strawberries that go rotten in 2 days is a waste of money no matter where you buy it, but I never have that problem with my local WF, and 3) I have comparison shopped among the nearest (to me) competitors (HT, Giant and Safeway) and the prices are pretty competitive EXCEPT for the meats and seafood.

We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 elementary age children. I cook 3 meals a day almost every. single. day. Kids take lunch to school but if they see something on the lunch menu super exciting I will let them buy a few times a month. We eat out maybe 1 time a week. So on average I am making 20 meals (eating out 1) per week. I re-use leftovers (as in that becomes the kids' lunches later in the week). I find that we hardly ever waste, 99% of what I buy gets eaten. I have tried to get this weekly amount down, and the easiest way to do that for us has been to cut back on the meats and seafood and make some vegetarian meals (for example, I made a nice lentil soup the other night as our main course).

I can easily spend $400 a week if I wasn't counting closely. 2 adults, 1 teenager, 1 tween. We are similar to the above poster as far as eating/cooking.
We shop at Wegmans, Costco, Trader Joes, Aldi, Walmart and Lotte.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep, it's always enough food. In the pantry now we have over 20 boxes of pasta and over 10 bags of rice. We have a shelf full of canned goods and the fridge is stocked.

No food stamps or free meals. We have dinner out once a week and order takeout once a week. The kids get lunch at school but we pay for it.

Do you do a monthly/yearly stocking spree that you're leaving out? Otherwise I don see how you're stashing all this food away and feeding your family. That was a sparse list you posted earlier. Although if your kids buy lunches every day that explains a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spend like 2000 a month on groceries. You're fine. Tiddler and two adults

Tiddlers eat and eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I've never added it up but I bet I spend at least $300/month FOR MYSELF, and that doesn't include some meals out.

I don't find that high at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spend like 2000 a month on groceries. You're fine. Tiddler and two adults

Tiddlers eat and eat.

Waiting for mine to start, oh I wish he would start and put some meat on his bones.

[Anonymous]

I'm impressed OP! We spend at least that much (me, DH, and baby who's just starting solids). Granted, we take almost all of our meals at home. DH will have lunch out during the work week, and we order in about once a week, but that's it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spend like 2000 a month on groceries. You're fine. Tiddler and two adults

Tiddlers eat and eat.

Waiting for mine to start, oh I wish he would start and put some meat on his bones.

He'll get there. My now 4 yo son eats but from ages 2-3.5 or so I swear he subsisted on yogurt and applesauce alone.

[Anonymous]

We spend around 2k a month for two adults and two toddlers. My boys eat and eat and eat, and I buy them lots of fresh fruit, organic vegetables (they taste slightly better), and grass fed beef. I shop at Harris teeter, trader joes and Aldi.

And why are you freezing milk? Am I the only one that goes through 2 gallons of milk a week?