I have decided that we really need to trim our grocery bill. I know that we buy far too many prepared foods (my husband does I should say) and each week our bill just goes up and up. We don't buy everything organic but quite a few items. So, what is the norm? It's only 3 of us now and the new baby won't have much of an impact.
Also, and this may have been posted before, but what types of meals do you typically cook? Enough for one night or for leftovers too? I am home during the day with Maya and my husband gets a free lunch every day (as well as a cold breakfast) at work so I need to feed Maya and I 3 meals a day.
I know this may sound funny, but we always shop together for groceries (yup, almost 10 years worth) but I am hoping that I can start shopping on my own, do some meal planning and cut the costs.

Not sure if it is available to you, but I started shopping online, and it saves me a ton. I go through albertsons.com and they always send me coupons, and with that discount the delivery is usually free.

I am able to do side by side comparisons of products, prices, and sales. I get only what I need, not what I want when I am there.

Generally I plan meals, and then write down the ingredients I need, and go from there. I just got 10 days worth of groceries, including breakfast, lunch and snacks for $100, and we have the same family set up as you (except Paul needs lunches and I make enough dinner so he can take leftovers).

Our grocery bill is a lot higher now that we went vegetarian and organic (when possible). I mean a lot higher. *lol* The middle of Wyoming is not a area where vegies/fruits and organic anything is cheaply or readily available.....so we pay for it.

We are a family of eight. I hardly ever use convenience foods and cook daily. When I make a soup that I know we like, I will double the batch for leftovers (school lunches) or put it in the freezer.

We do have soup night once a week since that is a cheap meal.

We also have pizza night on Fridays. (I make them)

Tonight we are having portobello mushroom sandwiches which is a treat since those things are $5 a pound here. (for non-organic ones)


We spend about $1200 a month on groceries.

We hardly ever eat out. Only when we are traveling to see medical doctors...and not always for every meal. (I will often pack a cooler to cut down on costs)

The only "convenience" food that I'd even call that would be the times I use canned beans instead of dried beans. Sometimes I just don't have time to rinse, soak, and cook the dried beans and canned are so much easier.

I plan our menue a week at a time.

Michelle

We spend about $250 per month on groceries and we eat well. I buy organic about 1/3 of the time. I only buy things on sale and only in season.

I have limits on how much I will spend on things.

Bone-in chicken breasts $.99/lb
Boneless chicken breasts $1.99/lb
Boneless pork loin $1.99/lb
Shrimp 41-60 ct $4.99/lb
Salmon $3.99/lb @ Costco
T-bones $4.99/lb
Ground chuck $1.49/lb
Whole chicken $.49/lb (for soup, dumplings, noodles, etc.)
And, don't forget to stock up when it is on sale!

Veggies I won't pay more than $.99/lb. I buy whatever is in season or cheap. The last two weeks it has been asparagas, zucchini, and broccoli. We eat rice or pasta with just about every meal.

I love food and we cook here at home almost every night. I think we go out to dinner once a month or so. We eat bagels, hot or cold cereal for breakfast. Cold cereals, I won't pay more than $1.99/box (unless it is my big box of shredded oat squares at Trader Joes).

There are five of us to feed. I pack lunch every day for the boys and myself. Dh & I usually take whatever leftovers are in the fridge or sometimes we will buy some deli meat.

I forgot to say, I love coupons!!!

I spend about $150 a month on the 3 of us (6 yr old, 5 yr old & myself ---- granted my exH eats alot of my food while he watches the boys). This includes ALL meals with the exception of the 2-4 fast food trips per month.

$25 of the $150 is for 2 hot hot lunches per week & milk everyday for my 6 yr old at school

I cook from scratch ... here are some examples ...

sauce from tomato paste, garlic, EVO & spices
very little meat (i.e. 2 split breasts for chicken soup, beans in the crockpot with a little sausage for taste ... both last for MANY meals via freezing)
homemade mac & cheese made with whole wheat pasta
eggs & bacon for dinner
french toast for dinner
cold cereal bought on sale for breakfast
organic oatmeal in bulk (85 cents/lb) for breakfast or sometimes dinner for me
bagels bought from the Pepperidge Farm outlet for breakfast (frozen in bags of 2)
whole grain bread also from the Pepperidge Farm outlet (b1g1f - freeze 1 or 2 loaves)

My biggest saving trick is going through all the week's grocery circulars then making a list of their loss leader from the front page. Stopping in with my list when I am near the store during the week as to not waste gas & ONLY buy whats on the list!

I get milk from the convenience store, its actually cheaper there! $2.29 a gallon

HTH!

We have 5 here and I spend about $300-$400 a month on groceries. I rarely buy convienence foods. I make nearly everything from scratch including spagetti sauces, pasta sacues, etc.

Organic is hard to find around here. Costco carries some, but really, its hard to find unless I go to the next town over and its kind of a pain, so I rarely do that. I buy what I can organic.

1 adult and 5 children here. I spend about $400 per month on groceries. I could spend less if I tried.

You are all so inspiring to me. I really need to sit down and talk my husband into this. I started to enjoy cooking fairly recently so hopefully I can take some of your pointers. Woohoo!

I spend about $150-$175 each week for a family of four!
It's looking like I need to make more stuff from scratch!:eek:

Wow! that is really great ladies. I spend about $80 a week for the three of us but would love to get that down. Sigh.

Too much here. About $700 a month for 5 of us.

I budget out $600 a month for groceries. That's two $250 big shopping days (every other Sunday) and the leftover amount is to get milk or veggies if we run out. I use coupons. We average about a 33-35% savings with them. I don't buy a lot of organic anymore. (I did when I was making my baby food from scratch.) I will get meat that is reduced for quick sale (with a coupon on it at Price Chopper). That feeds us, a family of 5, very well. My dh takes his lunch to work every day, too.

Steph

WOW I am impressed with some of the amounts.
I wish I could get mine lower.My dh must eat meat he tells me and I do make the majority of side dishes from scratch. I spend about $75-100 per week but that includes soap, t.p, paper towels, cat food, dog food, house hold items.

We do not have any stores close that do double coupons, non that do really good meat sales. In the summer our bills go up a bit more because all the kids are home.

Yikes...

Organic milk is $4.99 a gallon here. Or $3 to 3.50 for a 1/2 gallon.

I would love to spend less, but it's hard....

Oh, and organic chicken is $6.99 pound for breast meat, but conventional is not much cheaper! (I see Foster Farms conventional breasts for no less than $5.50 a pound here...ugh)

hmm..I must be doing something wrong, too..I spend about 130 a week for 4 adults and 1 child (the baby eats from me)..my ILs are here for 6 months of the year but I only feed them dinner out of my pocket..they buy their own special diet foods for other meals. I know we could do better...my big problem is snacks..and buying everything at the grocerty store (shampoo, tp, etc). I should go to sam's more often I guess.

I have to figure this out..thanks for this thread..

We spend about $80 per week for a family of 4: two adults, a 4 year old, and a nearly 2 year old. I don't buy much meat, and when I do, I buy the family packs on sale and split it up myself. I only buy fruits and veggies at the farmer's market if I can help it (one perk to living in FL is having farmer's markets open year round!). The weekly bill at the farmer's market is about $20 depending on what I buy. We usually eat meat for dinner 3 or 4 times per week...that is what has pared our food bill the most, cutting down on meat. The meals that we do have with meat often have less meat than normal "meat and potatoes" meals. I might make a casserole, or a stew, or a stir fry, all of which use less meat than a chicken breast apiece or whatever. And I've found that making a menu for the week BEFORE I go shopping has helped immensely. I see what we have and plan to use that all up first, before deciding what to buy.


One disclaimer: we do eat out usually once per week, so that is more money we are spending, and one less dinner I'm buying food for at the grocery store. My husband does come home from work nearly every day for lunch, though, so that is feeding him as well, and my brother in law moved down here a month ago and generally eats dinner with us once or twice per week.


That amount does not include shampoo, tp, napkins, baby wipes, etc. That's just food. :)

Michelle

I spend anywhere between $250-$300 per week for groceries. 3 adults(dh me and 19 yr old dd) 4 children (two teens(1 boy)) 12 yr old boy and 4 yr old girl.

My kids eat ALOT! LOL


Sue

$800-900 a month for 4 kids, 2 adults, 90% organic. About 75% cooked from scratch, 25% prepared foods.

usually i spend about 400 a month for 2 adults and three kids. we eat out every friday. dh eats out a lot of lunches, but that is from his money (we allow each other a certain amount of guilt free money each month and he spends his on lunch) so, i feel that we do pretty good.
heather

I haven't yet had a chance to read the replies, but for our primarily (3 out of 4) GFCF organic family, I am able to get by with $300 per month. I would consider our area to be moderately low on the expenditure scale... I cannot get organic meats without driving at least 4 hours each way. I try to make our fresh, organic produce stretch between our trips across town, but some months, I just don't make it. :( If I had the chance for a co-op, I would jump on it!

I should probably add, we eat out maybe once a month and all of our food is cooked from scratch.

Originally posted by Momof6
Our grocery bill is a lot higher now that we went vegetarian and organic (when possible). I mean a lot higher. *lol* The middle of Wyoming is not a area where vegies/fruits and organic anything is cheaply or readily available.....so we pay for it.

We are a family of eight. I hardly ever use convenience foods and cook daily. When I make a soup that I know we like, I will double the batch for leftovers (school lunches) or put it in the freezer.

We do have soup night once a week since that is a cheap meal.

We also have pizza night on Fridays. (I make them)

Tonight we are having portobello mushroom sandwiches which is a treat since those things are $5 a pound here. (for non-organic ones)


We spend about $1200 a month on groceries.

We hardly ever eat out. Only when we are traveling to see medical doctors...and not always for every meal. (I will often pack a cooler to cut down on costs)

The only "convenience" food that I'd even call that would be the times I use canned beans instead of dried beans. Sometimes I just don't have time to rinse, soak, and cook the dried beans and canned are so much easier.

I plan our menue a week at a time.

Michelle

I did not add that that amount includes non-food items too.

Michelle

My grocery budget has been extremely low lately. We have been eating out some, and we have been eating out of the pantry when we are home. I spent about $100 total last month on groceries... although I probobly spent double that on eating out sadly. :( :rolleyes: Looking for houses lends to not wanting to go home and cook a meal. ;)

I do have a system that keeps our food budget pretty low though... even when we do not eat out (when we do there is a whole other system). Reading the replies I am once again reminded of how dam lucky I am to live where I live. This place is organic food heaven. I spend a little over $200 a month for a 90% organic diet for 4. I have worked really hard to get the nonfood items to the absolute min. We buy toilet paper, tooth paste, toothbrushes, hand held flosser inserts (yes we use these... they help... they really do), shampoo (which we use once a week at the max so a bottle of shampoo often lasts us 1/2 a year), conditioner (same, but I am the only one who uses it... I got the bottle I just ran out of (16 oz) last year for my birthday as a gift. That is over a year (my b-day is Feb 9th)), and soap (dh uses Ivory, I use WAHM stuff that I trade for about once a year). No disposable anything in this house pretty much. Even our kids cups and 1/2 our tupperware is glass.

Anyway... What I do, is I buy most everything in bulk. I have jars that I use to store things in. Gallons, half gallons, mason quarts, mason pints, and jelly jars. Each have something that goes in them. I am not sure how well this would work in a house with out a huge beautiful pantry, but it works here. :) We love it as well... the kids LOVE to help me can and cook. It is a favorite pass time of my youngest.

We cook everything we can from scratch. We sometimes buy beans and canned veggies from Trader Joes when we go, but it is 45 miles away so we only go once a month if that. Coconut milk is canned, and a few other asian items for curries and such. Convience foods in this house are few and far between. 100% fruit leathers, and fruit are usually what we have as snacks. I do pick up a thing of Goldfish, or Natural Cheetos once in a while.. but only when on sale and only about once a month at most.

We have cold cereal, oatmeal, cream of wheat, or eggs and toast in the morning. Lunch for Alex is free (school program... and they have organic foods too... did I mention I was lucky to live where I live???), Dinner is usually a grain, protien, and 2 veggies (or 1 fruit 1 veggie). Example tonight we had spaghetti, salad, cheese muffins, and winter fruit salad. We are not vegitarians but sometimes we may as well be. We very rarely eat meat at home, and since I gave myself food poisoning from dethawing meat wrong I have had a real problem with buying it to freeze. :p

I don't know if this is off topic, but what do you buy with the $1200 a month for food? We barely make $1200 a month. How does that work? And where are you located? Buying organic in some parts of this country could easily cost that much. Sad but true.

Love Val

$300 month, 4 people, eat out 1x week (one of the weekend days). We eat 98% organic. We have great great great access to reasonably price organic food though. I cook from scratch mostly, although I do buy jarred spaghetti sauce. We eat mostly vegetarian, chicken 1 - 2/month, wild salmon 1x week (although I traded for that, so it was free).

I should clarify that the eating out *isn't* in our food budget, it is in entertainment.

Yep... she lives right next to me. :D

We spend $5-600/month for 2 adults/2 kids, mostly organic GFCF. But - organics cost 2-3x as much here as they did when I lived in Oly. We cook everything from scratch, buy in bulk, order foods through a co-op whenever we can. The flours for baking GFCF are expensive but I've cut that down lately and we aren't eating bread anymore so that helps. We eat more meat than some, mainly because my son loves it and needs very dense calories. We buy turkey breasts and roast them for him. He can eat one in three days all by himself (for lunch and dinner).

We spend $600 a month; this is about the same price as our mortgage. :eek:

This money includes all our groceries, toiletries and eating out. I eat out waaaaaay too much! I have ton of food in my pantry and really need to work on eating it. :thumbsup:

Our family includes 2 adults and 2 children (7 and 4).

I agree that its probably best to shop alone. Dh has only been with me a few times to grocery shop and it raises our bill $50 when he goes with me. I grocery shop every Thursday (while the kids are in their homeschool enrichment course and dh is at work) and buy 1 weeks worth of food. My trip includes a stop to the grocery store and Costco. I plan 5 days of meals plus an off day for leftovers.

I want to get my bill down to under $400/mo. Right now it is at about $600/mo. I'm always amazed at the low amounts some of you spend on food!

I spend about $600 per month on food - we seldom eat out - it just isn't fun for us with four kids. The older two (12 & 14) eat as much as adults. I usually bake/cook from scratch, but I don't concentrate on it. We do buy some convenience foods. We do not eat much meat. $600 per month is really good for where we live. Groceries are expensive!!! That includes everything from pet food to toilette paper to shampoo to groceries etc. The way it works is I have $800 per month for gas for the van, clothes, misc exp. and all food. My dh has different money for his gas, etc. We aren't big eaters, at all, so I can cook a normal meal that serves four and we probably still would have leftovers. I try very hard not tohave any leftovers because we all hate eating them. Anyway, one of my big saving tricks is that since I get paid once per month, I spend one weekend per month shopping and stocking up. I usually spend $500 in this shopping spree but it is for everything and I only have to buy a few things inbetween. I like it because I HATE shopping for anything.

Originally posted by BlueRoseMama


I don't know if this is off topic, but what do you buy with the $1200 a month for food? We barely make $1200 a month. How does that work? And where are you located? Buying organic in some parts of this country could easily cost that much. Sad but true.

Love Val

Hi Val,

I am guessing this was for me since that is what we spend. There are 8 of us. The $1200 is for food/household/school lunches.

We live in central Wyoming. Organic is expensive here and not real high quality. For example a 3# bag of apples is $5 and you have to cut out the bad spots and they are velvet in texture.....organic milk for a 1/2 gallon will go on sale for $2.99 each (that is when I buy it). Other foods we eat are Seitan at $8 a pound, tofu (not expensive, I don't think), tons of vegies...organic when I can find it. We do go through a lot of organic peanut butter and low sugar jelly for school lunches which is pricy compared to the store non-organic brand. We buy most all our grains from the local health food store (not a co-op which sucks) since that is the only source for organic. I drink soymilk....whatever is organic and on sale. We let our children choose two school lunches (at school) a week and those are I think $2.80 each lunch (times five children times two days a week each child) and the other days they take a sack lunch that I prepare. Cold cereal is bought on sale but is a daily breakfast for the children....we do buy yogurt when it is on sale. I make my own granola now. (way cheaper!) We started buying our eggs from a local farm (way cheaper and better) Let's see, whole wheat bread is $3 a loaf and I could get cheaper but is is white or partial-white and I won't feed that to my family. I make supper every day from scratch........

We have soup night once a week to save and we also have homemade pizza night once a week. I do buy crackers only if there is a excellent sale. (like this past week, buy one box and get two free) We drink water...the milk I buy is for cooking and cereal.

We have one teenager, three tweens, and two younger children (who don't eat as much, thank goodness!!), my dh and myself and Four cats and one dog.....the $1200 includes their food and cat litter.

For paper products......I am cutting back on paper towels, I currently use about three rolls a month. I now make my own cleaning products to save on $ and to have toxic-free products. I refuse to use cloth toilet paper so we use paper.....not a cheap brand due to plumbing/septic (Scott brand).....We get our auto dishwasing detergent and laundry detergent from a discount store that we go to 4 times a year......

We eat out when we are traveling out of town or state for medical....which is 9 months out of the year minimum. And add to that travel for sports events....on those months, it is really tight between gas, hotel, and food. The eating out for these trips comes from the $1200 budget.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out here.......Other than organic, pet food, and toilet paper, I buy everything on sale only.

I shop once a week. I NEVER let dh shop since he does not watch prices and buys convenience foods, which I don't buy.

So where can I cut back more? I'm open to suggestions.......please! :thumbsup:

Yard is too small for vegie garden which I hate hate hate because I use to can a lot (our old house had a nice garden).....however we are going to hang tomato plants this year to try to help on budget.

Michelle

I was going to say around $600 a month, but after reading Michelle's post I realized I'm not counting school lunches in that, or dh's once a week lunch out. I'm feeding six people, including a teen boy and tween girl, dh and I and two preschoolers. If you don't have teens yet, well, lol.... I only buy a few items organic, based on sales and quality, and some things that are highly contaminated. Groceries are a little cheaper than what she posted also. It would probably cost us 1200 to eat organically if I bought the same stuff we are eating now. I only budget 500 for food, so anything over that comes out of another catagory. My teen son probably eats more than dh and I combined (and he's 5' 6" and only about 110lbs, very skinny) I expect him to be over six foot tall so it's probably not going to slow down anytime soon :) I miss the days when we could order a large pizza and have leftovers... now I have to order two and I might have some left :rolleyes: I'd really like to stick to my $500, but I have trouble doing so. I also stock up on sale items, we could probably eat from the pantry for a long time if needed.
Anne

We budget about $200/month for groceries and a few meals out or takeout.

We do lots from scratch and that has helped tremendously, but it is ridiculous to me how expensive it is to eat healthy!

Oh yeah, there are three of us, but DS eats enough for two! He is a skinny kid with an appetite like a quarterback so I factor in meals to feed at least 4 and I usually have leftovers just to save time one night during the week or for YO-YO night (You are On Your Own).

Alright, Ashley, I want to know what the heck you're buying and where you'ree shopping! And what are you making?

Originally posted by Momof6
We have one teenager, three tweens, and two younger children (who don't eat as much, thank goodness!!), my dh and myself and Four cats and one dog.....the $1200 includes their food and cat litter.

Well that right there explains it. :) That is a lot of critters you are feeding very healthy on that $1200... good for you! I don't know if I could do so well. :)

We have found a way to cut down to nearly nothing just because of where we are. I do feel very lucky, and even more so when I see these posts when we spend under 1/2 of what most spend for a family of 4 on food. We do cut out most toiletries and that eliminates a lot of cash that we would be spending... but not so much that I don't see the value of being here and having organic so accessable. Very lucky... I feel very lucky indeed. :)

Love Val

Yeah, I'm not counting toiletries...I don't spend much on them. We hardly use shampoo or toothpaste...just a smear of each. Toilet paper is about it, we buy 12 packs of Scott, the only thing our septic will handle. That is included. We use cloth napkins and rags/dishcloths. I buy Ecover through a coop. And once every 16 months I buy a $25 tub of hE detergent from Sears.

It is an awesome place to buy organics. I miss that soooo much!

However I did just find sockeye salmon fillets for $6.76/lb. Wild Alaskan. I am gulping and ordering 15-20 lb this week.

We budget $180 every 2 weeks, sometimes it's more and sometimes it's less. This includes everything, not just food. It doesn't include eating out. There are 2 adults, a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a non-eating infant:)

I just raised ours from about $300 to $400 a month. The 300 just wasn't enough snacks (fruit) for my kids to make it between shopping trips.

I'm getting a taste of feeding older boys. My 9yo and 6 yo have really started eating. And I know it will keep going up as they get older.

We buy some organics (a little meat and milk) and lots of fresh produce. I cook from scratch 90% of the time and don't get too many paper products. Our weakness lately is ice cream ;) this also includes the occasional pack of dipes and toiletries.

Originally posted by mamabear
However I did just find sockeye salmon fillets for $6.76/lb. Wild Alaskan. I am gulping and ordering 15-20 lb this week.

Ouch!!!! Yet another reason I :heart: the NW.

The cheapest I can get wild salmon here is $9.99 on SALE. Needless to say, it's like a once-a-year luxury. :( I wish we could have it once I week, it is sooooo yummy!

Originally posted by arasmama
Ouch!!!! Yet another reason I :heart: the NW.

You arn't kidding... I just bought a bunch of fillets at Fred Meyers for $4.99 lb... wild too. They usually have one or two on sale here, and in season we can often find it for under $6lb. Gotta love it here... being a foodie is SO much easier!

Love Val

Yeah, we are buying them direct from a fisherman in Kodiak. Otherwise, the only wild Alaskan salmon here is 12.99/lb in Whole Foods. Most of what you are paying is for shipping.

We do have other things that are a lot cheaper than the NW though, and I think overall it evens out. Gas is WAY cheaper, for example. Rents, also just incredibly cheaper. Utilities. That kind of thing. We just have to get used to paying twice as much for groceries.

Lets see when the girls were here we were probubly spending about Oh $600 maybe some more per month on food, tolietries, and pet items. We ate VERY VERY well on that amount with lots of meat. They were 13,12,and 8 when that amount started. They got hot breakfasts ( it was a trade off for them to continue to eat their schools free lunches), plus that helped with Kasey's ADHD/ADD to have protien in the morning and no sugar cereal. Then a snack in the afternoon of veggies fruits or something good for them. Then a from stratch or close to it dinner. Which usually they came back for seconds and sometimes thirds. The youngest is small and skinny for her age, but she can eat me under the table. Then there was a large consumption of milk, usually about 3-4 gallons, which i didn't frown on because with 3 growing girls getting enough calcium into then was hard to do( and i also drink a lot of milk because i do not take any calcuim supliments). Then there was also a mass consumption of tea, juices, koolaid, and other drinks.

I had the animal budget under $100 a month as well. The cats we had 2 then and 4 now i got usually 2 bags of plain clay cat litter a month now i get about 4 and one scoopable and one 20lb bag of cat food usually the best thats on sale usually $7.50 and that lasts a month plus( unless Sampson got into it *lol* ) We have 3 bunnies i get a bale of orchard grass for $5 which over fills a 39 gallon tub, 50lb bag of rabbit pellets with 18%fiber+ for $7-9, and 50lb Alfalfa pellets for horses for $7, which lasts then 3 months. Our african Grey gets a mix of different things. She gets special parrot diet $4.99( which has pellets, seeds, nuts Ect.) I dont like how many nuts and sunflower seeds it has in it so i mix it with seed mix of wild bird seed one with no sunflower seeds $1.99. I would really like to get her some more organic pellets which are $7, but that doesnt last her a month, because she throws them unless i feed them as warm greul. Since she was not introduced to fresh veggies and fruits she will usually play and pick at them and not eat then unless they are juicy, so i get her baby food a few different flavors and store them in the freezer or they get shared among the other animals, i usually don't spend more then $5 a month on baby food since she gets tired of eating it quickly and only eats maybe a tablespoon at a time. We were also getting Sampson 20lb Maxxum Lamb and rice formula for $12, as well as 2 fresh femur bones a week which were about $4 for 2, $.99 a peice pigs ears for treats, biscuits when i would buy then premade for $2-$5. Then he, the cats, the rabbits,the bird, iguana, and turtle ate a lot of fresh veggies. They also all get regular vitamins and supliments to keep them happy and healthy. The iguana and turtle both caught colds and passed on about the same time. Sampson was hit by a speeder and passed on. Since we lost Sampson and the herps we are at about $50 a month for animal food and litter. ( Our animals are totally spoiled as you can tell *lol*)

Now Their grandmother had the girls for a while so they had the same number of people in the house hold and only one animal a cat, their food bill per month from what their grandmother told me $3000. Can you say OUCH !! I watched her buy $90 worth of groceries(AKA junk food) for 3 children for 2 days, so i have NO DOUBT that she is telling the total truth. No wonder they would get all mad at me when i wouldnt get preprepared foods all the time, GEEZE!!

Now that we no longer have the girls around, i am still in the cycle of buying like they are here. I buy when things are on sale and what not, however i think we are now down to spending $3-400 on 2 people, but i know we could survive on just buying staples for a good while now. thats sort of embarassing, but i got so used to shoping for deals and things KWIM.

Of course our freezer space has dropped dramatically, so we can't buy bulk as often on meats, and with only 2 people it doesn't make since to buy TONS of meat. One of the worst habbits we have is eating LOTS of meat. Kevin Loves meat . And of course he doesn't like chicken because he was raised on a chicken farm and is put off by it. He loves pork and beef. Although i sneak more and more chicken and fish in. So there was always a good portion of meat on everyones plates although most of the time there was no seconds on meat unless it was whole chicken or pork butt/shoulder/Ect. and of course the finish your veggies and if you got more you had to get more veggies and eat them too.

BTW i would like to say KUTOS to those of you who are on $150-$200 a month plans. I am totally amazed. I cant get out of a grocery store with simple things like milk, drinking water, bread, eggs, ect for under $30 anymore. Of course it doesn't help that milk here is $4.49 ( better then were we were living before though it was $4.99), whole chickens are $1.19 per lb, veggies are OUTRAGIOUS even in season, Eggs are $2+ for 18, and thats all store brand cheapest stuff.

This summer i hope to get a garden started and be able to look around and shop farmers markets and i will be checking out a poultry seller ( see if they sell "processed" chicken and not live ones and ask for a tour ect. i want to make sure its sanitary) In hopes of getting better values for my money.

I spend around $40 per week for 2 adults and 1 baby. I have $50 per month budgeted for household goods and $50 per month budgeted for Abigail's necessities (diapers, formula, baby food, wet wipes, dr copays, etc.). My secret to frugal grocery shopping . . . . SAVE A LOT, ALDI, & WAL-MART!!!!!! There is no cheaper places IMO.

Erin

Originally posted by annemarie5
I was going to say around $600 a month, but after reading Michelle's post I realized I'm not counting school lunches in that, or dh's once a week lunch out. I'm feeding six people, including a teen boy and tween girl, dh and I and two preschoolers. If you don't have teens yet, well, lol.... I only buy a few items organic, based on sales and quality, and some things that are highly contaminated. Groceries are a little cheaper than what she posted also. It would probably cost us 1200 to eat organically if I bought the same stuff we are eating now. I only budget 500 for food, so anything over that comes out of another catagory. My teen son probably eats more than dh and I combined (and he's 5' 6" and only about 110lbs, very skinny) I expect him to be over six foot tall so it's probably not going to slow down anytime soon :) I miss the days when we could order a large pizza and have leftovers... now I have to order two and I might have some left :rolleyes: I'd really like to stick to my $500, but I have trouble doing so. I also stock up on sale items, we could probably eat from the pantry for a long time if needed.
Anne

Anne,

I was nodding while reading so much of your post! :) You and I sound like we have teenaged sons who are built and eat about the same! *lol* I look at how much our son eats and then look at his size.....he's about 5"9 and also around 110-115 lbs and I wish I could eat like that and weigh that much!!! (in my dreams!!!) A hour after supper, he is rummaging in the kitchen asking me what he can eat.:rolleyes:

Yesterday, I bought non-organic apples for the first time in a while. I'm so sick of paying so much for the organic apples and then having them all soft/velvety and having to cut out bad spots. If I could bring myslef to cut out more of our organic, I may be able to cut the bill more. I put what I call "household" and "food" all in one budgeted line in our monthly spending plan. I should separate them for one month to see how much actually goes to only food items.

This thread is great. I love trying to gain tips and suggestions from how others do things.

Anyway, it was neat to read your post as we seem to have some things the same.

Michelle

Val and Mamabear,

I want to hear any and all of your tips and advice on toilitiries....making it last, cutting corners etc....

One change I made recently and feel good about is switching to white rain shampoo/conditioner since I read it is gentle and good. I wash my hair every other day but am wondering if I could go every 3rd day since it is getting pretty long and takes forever to dry after I wash it. (and takes tons of conditioner) What other tips.....how often do you really find you need to wash your hair and anything else you can share about toilitries/paper products/animal stuff etc.....

Cat litter is one thing that seems to be so expensive.

We do the scott t-paper and buy in 12 pack rolls like you do mamabear.

I really think I can be learning more here and then applying what I can to our home and improving a bit.

Val, share anything you can think of! I *always* learn so very much from your posts here and especially on the super crunch forum.

This has been such a great thread!!!

Toiletries. I have a co-op locally that I buy natural/organic stuff from, through www.frontiercoop.com. I buy Jason toothpaste. We use about a half a pea sized glob per brush for an adult, and literally *just a smear* for kids. For the kids I use Weleda Calendula Gel for kids. I buy my deodorant from them.

Shampoo. I have been known to go to Big Lots. My dh does not care what he washes his hair with. I will buy big ol' containers of stuff for 99 cents. They often have organic/natural brands. Or I will get Suave if they don't have something cool. For myself, I order it through the co-op. I usually get Giovanni as it is the most natural. I am a massage therapist so I wash my hair daily, but I use maybe a dime-sized amount of shampoo and conditioner. I only wash the kids' hair once every few weeks. Other than that I rinse it with water and it's fine.

Soap...I buy Dr. Bronner's by the gallon and dilute it half and half with water, put it into pump bottles that I have had forever, and add essential oils for scent. I also have a ton of melt and pour soaps from when I bought a block in bulk for gifts, and I am not above trading with a WAHM for soap. ;) I don't soap up my entire body, just the stinky parts. I don't use soap on the kids, either.

Shaving cream and deodorant...dh buys Speed Stick that is only deodorant, no aluminum, and he doesen't seem to use much shaving cream. He does buy razors.

I rarely shave so don't need razor refills often. I made my own honey/lemon juice sugaring solution and keep it in a mason jar and use it with cut up muslin strips that I make to sugar the hair off my legs.

Um, I think that's it. I can't think of anything else. Oh I buy massage lotion for $25/gal and use that to moisturize skin (I use it for massaging too). And for face I use jojoba. It lasts a long time. I don't wear makeup or use any products in my hair.

This month our grocery bil was 500.00 but that includes 8 meatloaves for the freezer.

I spend about 100.00 at our co-op where I buy our milk for the month which I freeze. I also get our cheese, applesauce, crackers, soups, and other misc. stuff there (Bob's red mill too)

I spent 100.00 at Trader Joes where I bought cereal to last the month, salmon (frozen at 4.99/lb), soups, rice, and all my frozen veggies. Also a bag of apples and I know a few otehr things.

I spent the rest at the healthfood grocery store. But i bought a 12 lbs of ground beef, several packages of sausage, and a whole chicken. And I needed a bunch of staples. I also bought my produce there.

I will make a trip to the local (the other stores are in the city) store in a couple of weeks to re-fresh on produce.

I hate grocery shopping so I try to do it all at one time for the entire month.

I am working to get our bill down but it is hard with one child who has a gluten allergy and another who has a milk allergy.

I spend about 100.00 every two month at Target for household stuff. I hate doing that shopping too so I buy in bulk. I never buy paper towels, and rarely buy other disposable stuff except toilet paper. Air filters, water filters, and the like is normally what I buy.

There are 4 of us (but only 3 that eat table food) and spend somewhere around $300 a month. That includes toilet paper (everything else is cloth- so no napkins, etc), toiletries and dog food. We eat meat 2-3 times a week and we eat about 50% organic. :)