Family of 3. Lots of meal planning. All organic and fresh- moms for greens and meats. Traders and Lidl for everything else. Aldi got olives, olive oil, few things. We almost never eat out and cook dinners 5:6 nights of 7. Trader Joe’s frozen pizza when we are in a pinch. 270-300.

We are a family of 4 (2 boys age 8 and 5) and typically I spend about $180-225 per week in one big shop, with maybe one smaller shop during the week that is about $50. We mostly shop at Harris Teeter.

In the beginning of this year I decided to stop shopping at Harris Teeter and started shopping at Aldi, and the difference in our grocery bills has been insane. The last three weeks I spent $130 a week in groceries. I plan to continue doing this as much as possible - the cost savings are amazing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly that is what we spend. Our food costs were 37,000 last year for absolutely everything, including takeout and fairly infrequent holiday entertaining, etc. we have two young kids and our nanny whose meals we provide during the week. That’s about 700 a week all in. It’s insane.

This is honest - and likely accurate.

OP, the people saying they only spend $150-$200/week on groceries are generally underestimating what they spend.

I track my expenses religiously and my food bill actually is about $200 a week. We don’t eat out.

Breakfast is cereal, oatmeal, avocado toast, eggs. Coffee. Kids drink milk or juice.

Lunches are sandwiches, salads, leftovers, soup.

Dinners are where most of the cost goes: meat, rice/pasta, vegetables.

Snacks are whole fruit, tortilla chips.

I add frozen veg to soups and pasta dishes regularly. I buy some organic produce but not all. Sometimes will splurge on farmers market meat but mostly eat chicken (or no meat) from the grocery store. We don’t get a lot of treats or extras. We don’t drink a lot of alcohol. Everyone drinks mostly water (we have an under-sink filter so not bottled). I make my own soups and salad dressings.

Family is happy with what we eat. Obviously for birthdays/special occasions we will get fancier and nicer foods, but for everyday? Why?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly that is what we spend. Our food costs were 37,000 last year for absolutely everything, including takeout and fairly infrequent holiday entertaining, etc. we have two young kids and our nanny whose meals we provide during the week. That’s about 700 a week all in. It’s insane.

This is honest - and likely accurate.

OP, the people saying they only spend $150-$200/week on groceries are generally underestimating what they spend.

+1
Or they don’t buy organic, don’t prioritize ingredients etc in the same way. Chicken can be $5 or $15, depending on how it was farmed. They also likely meal plan to a T. We spend roughly $2000 a month for 3 adults and 2 kids, excluding takeout/restaurants which is another $1000 or so. I am certain I could cut that down by meal planning, because roughly $800 of that is one off trips to the grocery store for ingredients I “need.”

I prep paper goods, can goods, box goods, water so weekly is about $100 for two people.
That's mostly meat and any replacement items we've used.
Today I spent $70 on an order of replacement cat food and a large container of Italian seasoning.
Tomorrow I will buy a 10 pack of tuna for my cats. About $20 for two pack.
That's it for this week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the people saying they spend 200 dollars or under, can you share a daily menu with the total cost?

IME people who manage to keep it that low do a lot of egg and bean/lentil based meals.

I have a low budget and usually have 2 chicken and one beef meal each week, but that means the cheapest aldi chicken thighs and ground beef. I'm often doing something like chicken noodle soup or beef chili with beans so there isn't a lot of meat in each serving.

Anonymous wrote:For the people saying they spend 200 dollars or under, can you share a daily menu with the total cost?

IME people who manage to keep it that low do a lot of egg and bean/lentil based meals.

Anonymous wrote:I spend about $400-500/month at Costco and then spend around $80/week at the grocery store filling in gaps. Family of four with two teen girls - one eats a good amount and the other doesn’t. We also probably spend $80/week on two takeout meals. We don’t eat at expensive places (except for special occasions) and we don’t use door dash or Uber eats at all. Way too expensive.

So about $180-$200/week on groceries for 2 adults and 2 teens (one who eats like a grownup)?

for 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, and 5 dinners (you get two takeouts) per week?

What are your meals typically like? That is very low. Do you eat any convenience foods or things in individually portioned packs? Or is everything made from scratch?