We spend about $2200 including dining out and costco.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if the super frugal poster is lying or not but I do know he’s not feeding his teens a healthy diet. Way too heavy reliance on cheap carbs, not enough quality fat and protein. Almond milk? Might as well add water to their cereal. They must be starving at 10 an. Also wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t get food issues. Which teen doesn’t want to get fast food with friends occasionally, ice cream, movie popcorn? No clue how that would fit in the budget.

He’s also refusing to say where he lives. Which almost certainly means he is not in the DC area.

I feel bad for those kids.

You people are so negative!! Instead of trying to learn, you criticize. You think because you spend more that you are better/healthier? If you are one of those parents that send chips with your kids lunch daily, you really should re-examine your food habits instead of judging others for drinking almond milk.

My kids are healthy, NEVER sick, not even a cold. And they don't get flu shots. Oh what horror for the vaccination addicts.

We live in a southern state. BUT I have lived in DC. When we lived there we spent about $350-$400.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if the super frugal poster is lying or not but I do know he’s not feeding his teens a healthy diet. Way too heavy reliance on cheap carbs, not enough quality fat and protein. Almond milk? Might as well add water to their cereal. They must be starving at 10 an. Also wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t get food issues. Which teen doesn’t want to get fast food with friends occasionally, ice cream, movie popcorn? No clue how that would fit in the budget.

He’s also refusing to say where he lives. Which almost certainly means he is not in the DC area.

I feel bad for those kids.

I don’t know if the super frugal poster is lying or not but I do know he’s not feeding his teens a healthy diet. Way too heavy reliance on cheap carbs, not enough quality fat and protein. Almond milk? Might as well add water to their cereal. They must be starving at 10 an. Also wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t get food issues. Which teen doesn’t want to get fast food with friends occasionally, ice cream, movie popcorn? No clue how that would fit in the budget.

Anonymous wrote:This thread should be in the money forum. It is an often discussed topic there. And people get super specific with helpful answers. The $50 a week poster is being obtuse and is super full of sh!t. Would be more helpful for other posters looking for actual advice from genuine responders to have this in the money forum.

On the otherhand, some people never ever ever read the money forum, because it seems to geared towards very high income families, and we aren't that.

But we do have teens and read the teen thread so... this question reaches us here!

Anonymous wrote:I have a family of six, husband, wife, teenager 16, 15, 12 and 6 and my grocery is $2700/month and we only shop at Costco. We don't eat out either.

How can you ONLY shop at Costco? They have such a weird selection of foods.

Anonymous wrote:We are spending over $500 dollars a month for a family of 6 plus 3 step kids who come over on the weekends, . 3 of the plus 2 of the step kids are teens and they are always eating when they stay up at late on the weekends.

$500/month for 9 people? I would like to know what you eat. My wife spends $900/trip, 3 trips per month to Costo, just for food and nothing else for a family of six. We don't eat out because my wife and kids have phobia about eating out so we eat breakfast and dinner at home and pack for lunch.

This thread should be in the money forum. It is an often discussed topic there. And people get super specific with helpful answers. The $50 a week poster is being obtuse and is super full of sh!t. Would be more helpful for other posters looking for actual advice from genuine responders to have this in the money forum.

I have a family of six, husband, wife, teenager 16, 15, 12 and 6 and my grocery is $2700/month and we only shop at Costco. We don't eat out either.

I see regular bread at Aldi for 95 cents.

Anonymous wrote:But most of the (lowest cost) money moustache meals look like they are about $2 per person. So that would be about $8 for one dinner. Say you can do it for $6 per meal... like your chicken stir fry... $3 for 1 pound of chicken (so everyone gets 4 oz of meat), $1 for mushrooms, $2 for peppers/broccoli. Do you serve it with rice? Any fruit? Or are you just giving everyone 300 calories worth of food at dinner?

Sorry, you cannot feed a family of 4 the type of food that you claim to be feeding (homemade tuna pizza and chicken stir fry) for $200 a month. It doesn't sound to me like you are serving oats and dried beans 7 days a week.

don't forget the calorie value of oil in your calculations.

The MMM poster says he feeds everyone 2 oz of meat which would be half of the 4 oz you mention. He buys the meat on sale at about $1 a pound or less. So 8 oz. of meat for a chicken stir fry would be about 50 cents. Rice maybe another 25 cents, oil, onions for 50 cents a pound; peppers, broccoli or whatever is on sale for $1 a pound or less. So more like $3 for a meal for a family of 4, or 75 cents for each person.

Here's his listing for fajitas:

Chicken: ~$1
Peppers: $1
Onion: ~$.33
Cheese: ~$.25
Tomatoes: $.44
Cilantro: $.25

Tortillas:
-flour: $.20
-oil: $.15

Total meal cost = $3.62 + salsa

If you spend 25 cents on breakfast and 25 cents on lunch, you can spend $1 on dinner and make it 1.50 per day x 30 days = $45 for the month. However the guy above does not have teens. IMO it is totally different feeding 10 year olds and feeding hungry teens.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you buy 5 dozen eggs at Costco, they might be $1.90 a dozen. Or about 30 cents for a 2 egg serving.

breakfast:

2 scrambled eggs (30 cents)
2 slices of whole wheat toast (20 cents)
2 T butter (12 cents)
1 orange (33 cents)


88 cents per serving


160 calories
140 calories in the bread
200 calories in the butter
45 calories

545 calories for about 95 cents a serving

(more calories if you make the bread from scratch)

So about $1 per person per breakfast... so we're at $20 for breakfasts only. $40 left for lunches and dinners for the family. Sounds like tuna pizza for a couple of the dinners. I suppose that could cost about $5. And then?

If I have to list every meal I make in detail it's going to be a looooong post.
Read the money moustache, it's all right there. Someone posted a link earlier. Another dish example would be stir fry with chicken breast. I don't use too much chicken, but more veggies. I choose the veggies depending on what I find on sale. Right now Aldi has white mushrooms. Often I find green/red pepper and broccoli at Hispanic/Asian stores.

We rarely eat red meat ever!! Not a big fan.
We don't drink alcohol either.

So you're eating like the poster in the MMM forum -- limiting to one piece of whole fruit per day (generally apple or banana), having PBJs or leftovers for lunch, buying oatmeal in bulk (though you don't buy flour in bulk)?

Yes pretty much like the MMM forum. We eat more veggies than fruit, which essentially is healthier. We don't like PBJs, so no. But generally try to use either rice, beans, pasta as main carb.

I used to get flour in bulk, when I used to bake a variety of different breads and freeze. I don't do that anymore, so the flour would just sit for too long.

Where are you located? That poster is in Colorado and bread is $1/loaf. Poster Goldielocks notes she can't get those prices...I think wheat bread is at least $1.69 at Aldi. I usually get the 12 grain which I think is around $2.29 -- far more than the main poster on MMM for that one item.

But most of the (lowest cost) money moustache meals look like they are about $2 per person. So that would be about $8 for one dinner. Say you can do it for $6 per meal... like your chicken stir fry... $3 for 1 pound of chicken (so everyone gets 4 oz of meat), $1 for mushrooms, $2 for peppers/broccoli. Do you serve it with rice? Any fruit? Or are you just giving everyone 300 calories worth of food at dinner?

Sorry, you cannot feed a family of 4 the type of food that you claim to be feeding (homemade tuna pizza and chicken stir fry) for $200 a month. It doesn't sound to me like you are serving oats and dried beans 7 days a week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you buy 5 dozen eggs at Costco, they might be $1.90 a dozen. Or about 30 cents for a 2 egg serving.

breakfast:

2 scrambled eggs (30 cents)
2 slices of whole wheat toast (20 cents)
2 T butter (12 cents)
1 orange (33 cents)


88 cents per serving


160 calories
140 calories in the bread
200 calories in the butter
45 calories

545 calories for about 95 cents a serving

(more calories if you make the bread from scratch)

So about $1 per person per breakfast... so we're at $20 for breakfasts only. $40 left for lunches and dinners for the family. Sounds like tuna pizza for a couple of the dinners. I suppose that could cost about $5. And then?

If I have to list every meal I make in detail it's going to be a looooong post.
Read the money moustache, it's all right there. Someone posted a link earlier. Another dish example would be stir fry with chicken breast. I don't use too much chicken, but more veggies. I choose the veggies depending on what I find on sale. Right now Aldi has white mushrooms. Often I find green/red pepper and broccoli at Hispanic/Asian stores.

We rarely eat red meat ever!! Not a big fan.
We don't drink alcohol either.

So you're eating like the poster in the MMM forum -- limiting to one piece of whole fruit per day (generally apple or banana), having PBJs or leftovers for lunch, buying oatmeal in bulk (though you don't buy flour in bulk)?

Yes pretty much like the MMM forum. We eat more veggies than fruit, which essentially is healthier. We don't like PBJs, so no. But generally try to use either rice, beans, pasta as main carb.

I used to get flour in bulk, when I used to bake a variety of different breads and freeze. I don't do that anymore, so the flour would just sit for too long.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you buy 5 dozen eggs at Costco, they might be $1.90 a dozen. Or about 30 cents for a 2 egg serving.

breakfast:

2 scrambled eggs (30 cents)
2 slices of whole wheat toast (20 cents)
2 T butter (12 cents)
1 orange (33 cents)


88 cents per serving


160 calories
140 calories in the bread
200 calories in the butter
45 calories

545 calories for about 95 cents a serving

(more calories if you make the bread from scratch)

So about $1 per person per breakfast... so we're at $20 for breakfasts only. $40 left for lunches and dinners for the family. Sounds like tuna pizza for a couple of the dinners. I suppose that could cost about $5. And then?

If I have to list every meal I make in detail it's going to be a looooong post.
Read the money moustache, it's all right there. Someone posted a link earlier. Another dish example would be stir fry with chicken breast. I don't use too much chicken, but more veggies. I choose the veggies depending on what I find on sale. Right now Aldi has white mushrooms. Often I find green/red pepper and broccoli at Hispanic/Asian stores.

We rarely eat red meat ever!! Not a big fan.
We don't drink alcohol either.

So you're eating like the poster in the MMM forum -- limiting to one piece of whole fruit per day (generally apple or banana), having PBJs or leftovers for lunch, buying oatmeal in bulk (though you don't buy flour in bulk)?