Whole Foods is one of the biggest scams out.

Just because they put the apples in a nice little wooden barrel, it doesn't mean its not the same freshness as the one from Giant (which btw, neither are really "fresh"; they are months old)

Or that fish that sitting on ice, well, it arrived frozen, then they thawed it, and put it on ice to give the impression that its fresh from the ocean!

Just shop at a regular grocery store

Anonymous wrote:What do people spend on groceries? I easily spend close to 1000/month on myself, my spouse and our 3 year old.

Me too. Normal. I’m raising a. It. He eats food and no I’m not cutting out meat. Cheese is even more expensive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you also eating a lot of takeout?

OP here. Take-out is $350 a month on average

We have one 5 yr old and we spend about $850 no alcohol. At WF. Takeout is $200. Single income, $185k. No mortgage as of this year. Small townhome in the burbs.

Anonymous wrote:I noticed we average at about 1k on groceries a month. We shop at WF. I think this is a bit much since we are DINKS.

What do you recommend we do to bring it down?

We spend close to 2k on groceries when we. This includes wine, cat food and litter, cleaners, toiletries.
I do meal planning and buy in bulk at Costco and we still spend this much. However, our food is of good quality and we eat well.

The only people I know who put such a massive premium on “convenience” are workaholics.

I don't think this is unreasonable if you can afford it. We spend over $100/month on sparkling water alone. Good coffee adds up too. We like berries year round, the good organic applies or from the farmers market where they're $3.50 a pound, pre chopped salad, cauliflower, etc. Good quality fish, cheese, bread. It adds up.

We spend around this much at WF for two people. We buy a lot of nice wine, Halo Top, the good cheese, meal kits, etc. We cook from fancy cookbooks so buy good lamb, pork, other "fancy" meats. It is not a mystery why it is so expensive.

Anonymous wrote:Prepared food is cheap. Frozen food is cheap. Anything in a can or a jar or that contains tons of preservatives is cheaper, some aren't healthy.
If that's what you are eating, of course you can spend even less than $500 a month for a family of 5.
Fresh food and produce are expensive. For example, we never buy tomato in a jar or can. We only buy fresh tomatoes and grind it if needed.
Same with beans. We buy fresh beans and cook it in a pressure cooker. Beans in a can are much cheaper but unhealthy. We don't buy it.

Most people here that think $1k for a family of 2 is too much are probably not eating fresh.

Whole grains are cheap and dried beans are far cheaper than canned beans! Fresh fruits and vegetables can be inexpensive if bought when they are in season/on sale. Personally I find that only garden grown tomatoes are really good and we try to have those ready to eat from June-October. We buy the grape tomatoes fresh at other times, and occasionally plum/san marzano--but the quality of tomatoes in cans that were picked at the height of the season are better for cooking than 'fresh' tomatoes in the store in the winter. (Tomatoes are the only vegetable I will buy in a can though for cooking).

I think the idea that people who eat inexpensively must be eating unhealthily is inaccurate but maybe it's something that people who spend a lot feel better thinking. Our family eats whole grains, fresh and frozen produce, fresh fish, dried beans and generally cooks from scratch and spends less. We don't buy boxes of breakfast cereal, store-bought bread, prepared sauces or meals or many other processed foods except as an occasional convenience or treat for the kids. It's amazing how inexpensive food is in the US.

Prepared food is cheap. Frozen food is cheap. Anything in a can or a jar or that contains tons of preservatives is cheaper, some aren't healthy.
If that's what you are eating, of course you can spend even less than $500 a month for a family of 5.
Fresh food and produce are expensive. For example, we never buy tomato in a jar or can. We only buy fresh tomatoes and grind it if needed.
Same with beans. We buy fresh beans and cook it in a pressure cooker. Beans in a can are much cheaper but unhealthy. We don't buy it.

Most people here that think $1k for a family of 2 is too much are probably not eating fresh.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else not give a s**t about this and value the convenience of shopping in one place, ordering some takeout, etc. more than the $1,000/month that you'll save??

If you can afford it, that's the way to go: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/science/study-happy-save-money-time.html

Anonymous wrote:Wow!!! You all eat a lot. Maybe this is why America is obese. Eat less. Eat fresh. Try growing your own food when you can. Order from farms and get produce and meat boxes.

It’s ok to like and eat food! And gasp it’s even ok to be fat!

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. We spend $600/month for two adults and an ES kid, and that includes all "grocery store" items, like pet stuff, spices, most toiletries, household cleaners and so on. We do shop Aldi/Lidl 2x/month, but shop WF 1x/month and TJs or Giant 1x/month PLUS I'm including CVS, Penzey's, Amazon and so on. I even include alcohol in this (Total Wine, corner store, etc.), but we have cut down on that.

To spend $250 on 2 people/week means... just a lot of fancy items AND prepared foods (or lots on alcohol?) And I feel like we spend plenty on prepared foods!

No, it doesn't require buying a lot of fancy items, just more food and less attention to the prices of individual things. I spend easily twice that per week (my grocery bills are insane, I have several teen boys), and most of us don't even eat meat. I don't buy much in the way of prepared food either. But I shop at Trader Joe's/WF/Acme, not Aldi. Aldi would probably save me a lot but it's not convenient for me.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else not give a s**t about this and value the convenience of shopping in one place, ordering some takeout, etc. more than the $1,000/month that you'll save??

Me! I shop almost exclusively at Wegmans these days, with just the occasional side trip to the Indian grocery store or Lotte. And DH needs to eat specific foods to avoid triggering his IBS so we have to buy those no matter what. The days we could get by on just rice and beans are gone.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else not give a s**t about this and value the convenience of shopping in one place, ordering some takeout, etc. more than the $1,000/month that you'll save??

Yes, that’s me. Family of five and I don’t even know what we spend per month — maybe $2,500?

We get a weekly grocery shipment from FreshDirect, with a typical bill around $350. We also get a weekly meal kit delivery, usually around $120. Plus we order in twice a week, so almost another $200 there. We maybe do one Trader Joe’s trip per month.

But we no longer pay for childcare, rarely go out, don’t buy lunches or coffee out, etc.

Per month we likely spend about $350 on fresh, good quality seafood. M

Convenience is everything. And we’re not eating crap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth are you buying? We shop at WF (supplemented by Costco for things that aren't available at WF) and spend $500/mo but are a family of 4.

Now tell us how often you eat out/takeaway. Because I fail to believe you're feeding four people three Whole Foods meals a day that each cost less than $2.

I made spaghetti once and made the mistake of buying everything at WF. That one meal cost $86.

How?

I know. I could easily make spaghetti from WF for 4 for under $5 and have leftovers.

Well, I’m assuming it wasn’t a jar of Ragu and a box of pasta, but fresh ingredients and homemade sauce, maybe a meat — but yeah, $86 is insane.

Even a homemade sauce--a classic marinara takes a can of tomatoes, some garlic, olive oil and spices you likely have on hand. (BTW this recipe is great: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015987-classic-marinara-sauce and is exactly how my Sicilian grandmother made it). I don't add meat and prefer dried pasta to fresh so I could make a lovely spaghetti for under $5. Yes the $86 person made different choices for ingredients but that's kind of the point--you can spend a lot --or not--at any store.