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

[Anonymous]

$350/wk HHI 350
3 people

[Anonymous]

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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

And the adults dont eat breakfast! Oh we spend so LITTLE....for a family of 3 eating 3 meals a day= 63 meals per week. Take away breakfast for 2 adults and lunch for 1 adult +1 kid= 32 meals per week. GTFOH.

The adults DO eat breakfast. “Teen only” refers solely to the milk.

[Anonymous]

Oh ok 👍🤣

[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.

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.

It's so sad if you think this is a good menu. I had fresh tuna and arugula salad for dinner with an amazing glass of red wine.

Red wine is bad for you. This is a bad idea.

Everything in moderation is fine. Go back to your temperance meeting, Carrie Nation. This is not the thread for you to derail.

Oh ok 👍

[Anonymous]

We are DINKs and spending about $700 a month (includes paper towels, toilet paper, coffee, cleaning stuff etc). Is that reasonable? We are going to be higher this month with entertaining for the holidays. I want to cut down but it is hard.

[Anonymous]

$400k 4 people make all meals and snacks, mostly all from scratch. Use farm share and farm delivery + mostly Whole Foods and Costco. Easily $1000-1200/month.

[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.

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.

It's so sad if you think this is a good menu. I had fresh tuna and arugula salad for dinner with an amazing glass of red wine.

Red wine is bad for you. This is a bad idea.

Everything in moderation is fine. Go back to your temperance meeting, Carrie Nation. This is not the thread for you to derail.

Oh ok 👍

Sick burn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are DINKs and spending about $700 a month (includes paper towels, toilet paper, coffee, cleaning stuff etc). Is that reasonable? We are going to be higher this month with entertaining for the holidays. I want to cut down but it is hard.

We're also DINKs and the ones that spend $1k a month, not including paper goods or cleaning supplies. I'd also like to trim the budget a bit, but it's pretty hard. We're used to eating a certain way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are DINKs and spending about $700 a month (includes paper towels, toilet paper, coffee, cleaning stuff etc). Is that reasonable? We are going to be higher this month with entertaining for the holidays. I want to cut down but it is hard.

We're also DINKs and the ones that spend $1k a month, not including paper goods or cleaning supplies. I'd also like to trim the budget a bit, but it's pretty hard. We're used to eating a certain way.

Sorry but DINKs can't complain about anything financial. If you can't get ahead with two incomes, one condo/TH/house and no dependents, you suck at life. Otherwise, stop whining about $0.7K to $1K / month expenses.

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 4, HHI of about $250K. I spend around $800 - $1000 a month in groceries. We rarely eat out, but we sometimes order carryout, so I would estimate we spend another $150 on top of that in carryout.

[Anonymous]

I have to be honest- I think a LOT of you may be underreporting unless you are tracking every single transaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are DINKs and spending about $700 a month (includes paper towels, toilet paper, coffee, cleaning stuff etc). Is that reasonable? We are going to be higher this month with entertaining for the holidays. I want to cut down but it is hard.

We're also DINKs and the ones that spend $1k a month, not including paper goods or cleaning supplies. I'd also like to trim the budget a bit, but it's pretty hard. We're used to eating a certain way.

Sorry but DINKs can't complain about anything financial. If you can't get ahead with two incomes, one condo/TH/house and no dependents, you suck at life. Otherwise, stop whining about $0.7K to $1K / month expenses.

Seriously, screw you. I’m that first poster. I’m a teacher and my husband recently moved to this country. You don’t know anyones circumstances. And I wasn’t complaining- I’ve been trying to be more financially responsible, meal prep, watch my expenses, and just looking for feedback from others with similar circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are DINKs and spending about $700 a month (includes paper towels, toilet paper, coffee, cleaning stuff etc). Is that reasonable? We are going to be higher this month with entertaining for the holidays. I want to cut down but it is hard.

We're also DINKs and the ones that spend $1k a month, not including paper goods or cleaning supplies. I'd also like to trim the budget a bit, but it's pretty hard. We're used to eating a certain way.

Sorry but DINKs can't complain about anything financial. If you can't get ahead with two incomes, one condo/TH/house and no dependents, you suck at life. Otherwise, stop whining about $0.7K to $1K / month expenses.

I’m not whining—being a DINK is awesome. I get to spend my money on travel, nights out, and expensive lingerie rather than daycare and diapers. I just think it would be nice if we could spend less on food, but I’m pretty used to seafood, good wine, and stinky cheeses, none of which is cheap. Sorry you chose poorly and are so miserable, as demonstrated by your vitriolic and frankly risible post. I’ll think of you tonight and raise a glass.

[Anonymous]

About a year ago, I realized that we were spending $3k/month for our family of 3. I was gaining more weight than I really wanted and when I added up the bills, it seemed absurd so drilled into it. We stopped ordering all our groceries from Instacart and dropped the meal service that we were using. Fast forward and we now spend $800/month for an 3 person family and I dropped 10 lbs.

[Anonymous]

$500/week. Family of 3. I cook homemade dinners 6 days a week and nobody buys lunches. $150-$300/week folks must eat out a lot or not eat much meat.