Oh my, OP here, yes that's a typo, I mean $200 a week, would like to trim to $100 a week. Also, I spent some time online today comparing Wegmans "regular" prices (they don't seem to do a weekly flyer) to Giant's regular and sale prices. (I usually shop at Giant.) For all my regular weekly items (organic milk, Fage, Sabra hummus, wheat thins, etc.) Wegmans was cheaper every single time. And a quick check on meat prices, even against Giant's sale prices, Wegmans was still cheaper. It's about a 25 minute drive, but perhaps it's worth it, at least 2 times a month to stock up. Thanks for all the idea!

We spend 500-600 family of three. Lots of fresh veggies, fruits, chicken, fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, snacks for lunches, etc. mostly organic. Not cheap to eat healthy.

Wow. $100 per month for groceries? Or $100 per week?

I have been feeling frustrated that our bill is hovering $500-$600/month. According to this website, though, that's just about right for the "thrifty plan" for kids our kids' ages: http://www.loweryourspending.com/average-grocery-bill-for-family-of-4.html

I'd still like to trim, though. Meal planning definitely helps.

I suspect OP meant $200 a week, I can't imagine any family of 4 complaining about spending $50 a week on groceries unless they were really struggling financially-and it doesn't sound like Op is struggling.

I think $200 a month is amazing! This is the most common argument DH and I have had about money--I think we spend WAY too much on food, and he thinks we're about average. We spend around $400 a month for our family of 4 (kids are 5.5 and 2.5), and I would LOVE to cut that in half.

I think eating vegetarian (which we do exclusively) saves money only if you eat lots of beans, lentils, pasta. If you buy meat substitutes (i.e. Morningstar Farms) it's more expensive per pound than ground beef or chicken. For produce, I buy only what's on sale and work from there in meal planning.

I also don't think you really save by driving around to multiple stores unless you are REALLY strict with your list. For me, if I go to more than one place in a week or two, I wind up buying a few random items that catch my eye and that adds up a lot.

I've also found that Costco really only saves you money if you MUST have a certain brand or item that they stock. For a lot of their frozen items and produce, I have found I'm better off getting something on sale at the neighborhood grocery.

Anonymous wrote:If you achieve this glorious feat, including feeding kids, would you mind sharing specific tips and perhaps even a recent grocery list/bill?

We are a family of four, including a 6 and 2 yr old. I can definitely shop the sales at one store, but I can't visit different stores in a week for the best deals (except for Costco, I go there once a month in addition to my weekly grocery.)

We're trying to incorporate more vegetarian dishes, but fish is a tough sell in our house. I do my best to menu plan, it's a work in progress. I feel like a lot of our expense is stuff for the kids (yogurt and fruit out the wazoo, stuff for their lunches.) Still working on trying to get the kids to eat exactly what we eat every night.. also a work in progress. All in all, I'm still around $200 a month, not including that dreaded Costco run.

is your $200 a month only food? If so - I think you are doing a great job for a family of 4. That is less than $50 a week ($12.50 a person for a week)

We have a family of 5.
My planned menu for the week is lentils, black beans, risotto, tofu, chicken, tacos.
By having 4 vegetarian meals, it is a lot cheaper than many meat dishes.

I could get it down to $100, but it hovers at $150 for our family of 4. We eat 72 meals in the house so at $150, that's not too bad! We also eat quite a diverse menu and eat no pasta, white rice, or bread.

I highly doubt we will be able to keep it this low for much longer. I have boys.

Also get rain checks when the store is out of stock. That way you have the sale price when they aren't on sale anymore.

Pp here... Also buy yogurt for very cheap. The stoneyfield yogurt sticks you can print coupons & freeze. Stick them in the lunchbox frozen & they thaw by lunch. In the summer my son likes these frozen...kind of like ice cream. Well, sorta.

Family of 4 here.. We spend about $60-$80/ week. Mostly that is produce, meats, dairy. We typically create our menu based on the produce & meats/seafood on sale.

The rest I buy on sale with coupons & stock up. Most coupons are on a 6 week roatation, and about every 3-4 months the sale matches the coupons. So stock up what you need for 3-4 months. I pay less than $1 for cleaning stuff, toiletries, paper products, pasta, etc. Our grocery store accepts competitor coupons which also helps.

Buy meat in bulk and freeze ++ I bought a bunch of boneless chicken last week for 1.69/lb as that is the best sale price I've seen, in probably years. Also bought a huge boneless pork loin for 1.89/lb and separated it into five pork roasts. Things like that, stock up when there is a great sale price and freeze some of the meat.

Like PP said, you need storage. We live in an apartment and there is no way we could get our bill down that low. We simply don't have the room to buy and store bulk foods.

I do buy in bulk when I can, similar to what PP said, but on a smaller scale. We spent $250 last week, mainly on meat that was on sale, and we're set for about 2mo on meat now. We don't eat much red meat and do cheaper cuts, like chicken thighs instead of breasts.

I also don't buy pre-cut, pre-mixed or pre-assembled items. I make things like pasta sauce, salad dressings, chicken nuggets, fries, and pizza dough. I'm trying to get back into the habit of making bread every other day, but I haven't been able to keep it up lately. It does require more time to make things from scratch, so that may be a factor too.

Get all meats and milk from costco and freeze. Don't buy individual yogurt but buy a big tub of yogurt. Also subscribe to the scramble at www.thescramble.com. It is a few dollars per month but it forces you to stick to a list and not spend more than you need to plus all the food is really delicious.
I have a family of four as well and every week we spend between $100-$110. This includes all the lunches and dinners for the entire week. I shop at wegmans and prices are lower and the quality is great.

Shopping the sales is the way to start. But you have to change your shopping mentality. Instead of buying dinner for 7 nights and all of the associated ingredients, you buy in bulk. So for example, one week chicken is on sale. So you buy 40lbs of it. Prep it and freeze it. Now, for the next 8-10 weeks, you don't have to buy chicken. The week that you do it, it will probably eat up most of your grocery budget. But the subsequent weeks it gets better. I also buy a qtr cow and freeze it.

The rest of the money is spent on whatever produce is on sale that week, milk, yogurt, and eggs. I try and save a few dollars for staple items like condiments and such.

If you achieve this glorious feat, including feeding kids, would you mind sharing specific tips and perhaps even a recent grocery list/bill?

We are a family of four, including a 6 and 2 yr old. I can definitely shop the sales at one store, but I can't visit different stores in a week for the best deals (except for Costco, I go there once a month in addition to my weekly grocery.)

We're trying to incorporate more vegetarian dishes, but fish is a tough sell in our house. I do my best to menu plan, it's a work in progress. I feel like a lot of our expense is stuff for the kids (yogurt and fruit out the wazoo, stuff for their lunches.) Still working on trying to get the kids to eat exactly what we eat every night.. also a work in progress. All in all, I'm still around $200 a month, not including that dreaded Costco run.