I used to spend $100 a week on groceries (no household products). I’m probably at about $150/week now. Tons of fresh produce (Lidl and Aldi) and meat but not a massively huge meal meal.

For example, instead of tacos with taco meat and some vegetables (mushroom, peppers, onions, corn, etc), it is more Mexican with mostly veggies, beans, some cheese and a little meat. This makes it healthier, filling an delicious.

Tonight is an Asian stir fry. I’m adding a small amount of chicken to fresh steamed broccoli, portobello mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, Asian sauce, peas, onions, garlic, and noodles. The chicken came from a whole chicken I roasted on Sunday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything has gone up.

And yet everyone here will still vote for the D’s in 7 weeks.

I’ll vote dem till the end of time bc of republicans like Lindsey Graham (who came up with the abortion bill he proposed today).

Typically around $150/week on groceries and $100/week eating out. We're trying to get the eating out down a bit. I cook everything from scratch (I love to cook), and we tend to eat mostly vegetarian/vegan. Meat is expensive.

To echo another poster, it was - until a few months ago - easy to feed us all for $200-$300 a month. We have changed our eating habits to stay within this range: now eating very little meat and having more simple dinners like rice, beans, veggie; grilled cheese and soup; pasta and salad. This isn’t out of necessity, but just out of principle - I cannot fathom spending more than $1000 - $1250 to feed us all for the month.

We’ve also all but entirely eliminated eating out/getting takeout. I am floored at these prices, especially when I cook better than pretty much anything we can get out (save for pho, sushi, or anything else requiring special ingredients or techniques I don’t have).

We have a very comfortable HHI and I just can’t imagine what people making less are doing. It’s kind of terrifying.

Groceries +13% YoY on this morning's inflation report

I've been tracking all of my spending to the penny since May. I do not separate out cleaning supplies/toilet paper, etc from groceries - since I buy all that stuff on a typical grocery store run, I just lump it all in together. I have a separate category for dining out and I track everything we eat out of the house, even my diet coke addiction, which was $1 and has now gone up to $1.39. If all five of us eat out, we spend $150 at a minimum at a chain restaurant - heck a fast casual place is now $100 for us. So we've really cut back on our eating out.

I have thought of "cherry picking" - scouring ads and going to several stores for the cheapest items. I know Safeway is really good with loss leaders but if you do all of your shopping there, you lose out on in the long run. And in the summer time, I can't stop at multiple stores in one trip - my food would spoil in the heat. And with gas prices so high, going back and forth to multiple stores negates any savings. Once it gets cold enough, I may revert to stopping at several stores. To get to Wegman's from my house, I pass Costco, then Aldi, and then Safeway so I could make four stops in one trip.

Family of 5. DH, me, 22 year old, 19 year old, 17 year old all boys. Oldest just graduated and is living back at home. Middle one left for college the end of August. In May, the two oldest were away at college.

May: $844 on groceries; $445 on eating out.
June: $1782 on groceries (all five were now home) $524 on eating out.
July: $1571 on groceries; $754 on eating out
Aug $1706 groceries; $421 eating out

Since the first of Sept, there are now 4 of us in the house.
$754 on groceries; $178 on eating out

So we're averaging $430 a week for food, or $86 a person per week. In May, it was $70 a person per week.

Anonymous wrote:Things are getting expensive out there!

I think overall, we just use alot of things and eat alot. So if you think about the amount you eat and reduce 1/4 of it, it would still satisfy you.
Start with how big is your breakfast? If you are eating 3 pancakes or 2 biscuits, you really don't need all that unless you are about to go for a long run.
Stop walk the dessert or chip aisle. Just don't go down that lane. If you are going to buy the newly price $4/bag of potato chips, you should just save that $4 for the blueberries. At least it has good nutrients for you for the long term. Meanwhile, chips are just good for the immediate satisfaction while it might cause health issues later on down the road.

I don't buy more than one type of oil. Do you really need butter and the other oil for baking? Just buy olive oi for cooking. I have made pancakes without the extra oil and without the sugar. So, buy less sugar.

I don't drink alcohol. Phew, that saves alot of money. I don't buy fancy detergent, soap, plastic bags. I don't buy stuff to hold trash and yard trims. I only buy one type of trash bags which is for the kitchen.

My cart is basically 50%veggies & fruits, 25% organic and grass fed meat, 15% eggs and dairy, 10% baking or misc. Carbs are rice, oats, and sweet potatoes. One loaf of Daves bread.. Sweet potato chips are the only chips we have in our house. Still spending $250 a week for a family of 3. No alcohol except for cooking wine.

Good, healthy food is expensive. Mac n cheese and hot dogs are cheaper than the dinner I made last night- marinated chicken thighs, tortillas, siracha mayo, and cabbage slaw with red cabbage, mangos, cilantro, red onion, and limes. Cereal is cheaper than eggs and fruit or overnight chia parfaits.

Things are getting expensive out there!

I think overall, we just use alot of things and eat alot. So if you think about the amount you eat and reduce 1/4 of it, it would still satisfy you.
Start with how big is your breakfast? If you are eating 3 pancakes or 2 biscuits, you really don't need all that unless you are about to go for a long run.
Stop walk the dessert or chip aisle. Just don't go down that lane. If you are going to buy the newly price $4/bag of potato chips, you should just save that $4 for the blueberries. At least it has good nutrients for you for the long term. Meanwhile, chips are just good for the immediate satisfaction while it might cause health issues later on down the road.

I don't buy more than one type of oil. Do you really need butter and the other oil for baking? Just buy olive oi for cooking. I have made pancakes without the extra oil and without the sugar. So, buy less sugar.

I don't drink alcohol. Phew, that saves alot of money. I don't buy fancy detergent, soap, plastic bags. I don't buy stuff to hold trash and yard trims. I only buy one type of trash bags which is for the kitchen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can do cheaper and still be healthier, but you sacrifice convenience.
I’ve found I can drive down my groceries cost substantially by hitting Costco, an Asian supermarket for produce and protein (Great Wall has excellent produce for very good prices), and a standard supermarket like giant or even Whole Foods for the rest.
Don’t have time every week to do it, but there’s very few places in America that have this amount and variety of grocery stores, taking advantage of each of their strengths saves money and is also delicious

Asian stores OK if you dont mind eating "steroid" grown produce.....They are not big or that cheap because they are healthy.

You clearly don’t understand how biology for chemistry or digestion or agriculture works.

Well now I’m not as upset that two of us are spending $225+/week with nearly all the produce and protein from the farmers market

Family of 3. Aldi for things like olive oil, bottled water, olives, some fruit/veg. Trader Joe’s for dairy, fish, veg and 70% of our needs. Moms or a farmers market for green vegetables that are local, local chicken and meat. Aggressive meal planning. No processed or pre chop foods. 300/week. Includes one treat out like ice cream or district taco.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything has gone up.

And yet everyone here will still vote for the D’s in 7 weeks.

What’s your party’s solution?

$400 per week for groceries for a family of 5 (one under 4). We shop primarily at Mom's and get our household staples (e.g., toilet paper, etc.) at Costco. This excludes eating out.

Our weekly grocery bill doubled since the pandemic. It used to be around $250/week, now it’s $500/week. I understand that the inflation measures a basket of goods, but as far as groceries go, it’s easily 100% over the course of the last two years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP who said whole food is cheaper than Harris’s teeter, can you share the list of things to prove it? Because each time I try whole food, I can’t find anything affordable apart from some kind of cheese.

Sure here is what I bought from HT: RBP, English cuc, broccoli bag, tomatillo salsa, canned coconut milk, sliced almonds, sausage patties, happy heritage eggs, shredded cheddar, shallots, PT. These items were cheaper than WF when compared or on e-vic sale. For example the heritage eggs are normally $8 they were 5.97 this week so I got 3; the eggs I normally get from WF are 5.99 each. Sparkle PT were 8.99 bc I didnt feel like going to Costco.

WF list:
I buy meats at WF because I have had awful experiences with HT and Giant. If I have this experience with WF, I just submit a ticket for a refund. So the pork tenderloin may be cheaper at HT but I have gotten 2 rancid ones in the past 2 years from HT so I refuse to buy them from there anymore. Berries last longest from WF or Costco- I wont buy berries from grocery stores anymore. This is a cost savings for me because we can actually eat them vs throwing out half the pack after 2 days.

Here are some items I cost compared and WF was cheaper. Prices will be laid out as WF:HT respectively

Mason Dixie Biscuits 4.49: 5.99 (evic 4.99)
Bonne Maman 4.49: 6.99 (4.99evic)
Dorot frozen garlic 2.25:3.69 (3.00 evic)
Daves white bread 6.49:6.99
Banza chickpea pasta 4.29:4.99
Lime 0.59:0.69
Zucchini 1.99lb:2.29lb
Grass fed beef 85/15 6.99lb:8.99lb
Asparagus 3.99lb: 4.19lb(evic 3.99lb)
Organic Banana 0.75lb:0.79lb

My local HT also doesnt regularly have red onions or SP in stock so I tend to just order those from WF because I know its in stock when I order. Same goes for Daves bread- HT is usually out so I just order from WF even when it isnt cheaper.

Wow! Thank you! I also found Lidle and Aldi are generally cheaper than closer groceries.

Yes but I have more impulse purchases with Aldi rando isle. Lidl is too frazzled for me and the checkout process takes 30 minutes at our local store. I get almost all my canned goods and a few other items from Aldi normally but not this week. Its more of a supplement for cheaper items then a mainstay. I do check the weekly ads for fruit or veg deals. One of the things I like about grocery pickup is for the most part I get what I order. I find Aldi and Lidl dont have everything I need so I end up going to 3 stores vs 2 between HT and WF. That is fine for some weeks but not all the time. I could send my DH but he really struggles with staying to the list and will come home with 2 more meats and 3 other items that we dont need or have room for.