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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here...thank you for everyone's input.  Can you share whether or not you are on a budget or if this is just what you spend.  For example, if you have no financial worries, then spending a ton at the grocery store is no big deal, but we are trying to get our spending down.  HHI doesn't tell the tale either because you can have a HHI of $350K or something but have a huge mortgage, student loans, car payments, that really keeps the budget tight or you can be a $100K HHI but be debt free, etc.  I appreciate all the posts though.  We have a $1,100 grocery store/Costco budget and $250 restaurant/entertainment budget...so we mix in anything we need from these stores...like I mentioned, in our $1,100 is paper products, alcohol, snacks, cleaning supplies, etc.  Our restaurant budget includes entertainment too...like bowling, movies, whatever.  I didn't want to have to really break all this stuff apart into 4 categories as I track everything in Excel and it gets crazy.  I am amazed that the one poster with the family of 3 shops at Whole Foods and keeps the costs so low but I guess they did say they didn't eat that much.  My 12 year old will each almost a pound of meat himself (plus carbs and veggies)...as he's super active and in sports almost every day and burns the calories.  He's in very good shape. My 10 year old eats like a bird though...but is very active so he's like a twig.  My wife and I have been trying to cut down on our portion sizes to help out the budget though. Thank you for the suggestion on the website for cheaper meals.[/quote]

We have a budget, but not a religious one--basically we map out a meal plan that will land us in the right space but then don't add up every dollar we spend. I check monthly to make sure we're in the zone, and I put all of our grocery shopping on one credit card, which helps hugely. (We use an AmEx Blue Cash Preferred, which is 6% back on groceries up to $6K per year, so that is bonus incentive to make sure it is on that card!) If we are way out of whack on the budget then I'll look more carefully at why and we'll rein it in, but that doesn't happen often.

Our rough weekly meal rotation is:
Eggs: Frittata, fried egg sandwiches, breakfast-at-dinner, quiche when I'm feeling really motivated
Legumes: Bean/cheese/veggie burritos, lentil soup, falafel
Tofu: Rice bowls, tofu sticks (roll in egg and breadcrumbs, then pan fry), noodles with veggies and peanut sauce--can sub chicken in for this one easily if you aren't tofu people
Pasta/Cheese: Spaghetti (sometimes with meatballs), ravioli, lasagna (usually veggie, can be meat), mac & cheese, grilled cheese or other sandwiches
Meat: Sausages, lamb burgers, chicken--all relatively inexpensive as meat goes
Fish: Grilled salmon or other fish steaks, fried fish (roll in flour, egg, breadcrumbs and pan fry)

...plus one floater night that is sometimes leftovers, sometimes takeout, sometimes a party or other meal out. I find it helpful to know that it's egg night (or whatever) to limit my thinking about what to cook (and so that I don't have to think back to figure out if we just had something).

We feed four, including two elementary-aged kids, and it runs around $150/week (a little more if you include the glass of wine with it! ;) )[/quote]

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