We have been doing this system where we sit down at the end of the week and plan out meals for the next week and just shop for what we need. we still spend aobut $80 a week in groceries. just curious what everyone else does and how much they spend. granted we only have me, jim and kyla to feed! :) but if i can lower costs that would make my day! lol

tiffany

well I set aside $150 every 2 weeks.

I usually shop every other weeks for main stuff & then on off weeks for just milk, friuit type stuff, or if there are just sales I can't pass up!

I sit down on Tues after sale papers come & make out menu plan by whats on sale/what I have.

I usually manage to stay w/ in my budget but not always!

I was just coming here for a discussion on this subject lol!

I shop once a month for the big load and then usually go once a week to buy more milk and maybe bread or crackers if we run out.

I spend $160 a month total. That includes the big trip and all the side trips for milk. Every dollar.

I'm looking for ways to do even better spending-wise than we do now.

If you want to ask me how I can break it down and include all my logic on tightwad grocery shopping I can but it may be a really long post!

I also do the meal plans , but for the whole month, including b'fast, lunches, snacks, toiletries.

There are 4 of us + 1 cat, and the baby is on all table foods now so he counts for a heck of a lot of food now!

Geesh Erin $160. a month!!!!!!!!! How do you do that lol

There is me, Dh, DD who is 11 yrs and DS who is 19 mo and I spend about $230-250.00 every 2 weeks not counting 1-2 trips a week for bread, milk, etc..

I have tried to cut down on my grocery bill but finally gave up b/c it just isn't going to happen and we like to eat lol so I refuse to cut out certain things ya know. I have always wondered how the heck you Mama's get so good at keeping your bill so low Koodos to you :D

I do one major haul a month and then weekly for produce and milk etc. We spend about $800 a month and that includes toiletries for 5. I think you have to take into account the area you live in too. Like I pay out the nose here for good cheese (I like WI cheese what can I say! LOL) I'm going to hit the farmers markets and see if I can cut down that way. I also need to get dh to stop buying so much of the premade stuff for lunches.

around $160.00 each time. Around $2000 a month, this includes everything from medicine to food and all items purchased at the drug store and grocery store and car gas.

We do 1 major trip in the beginning of the month, and then about once a week we get things like milk, assorted fruits and veggies, ect...

So, this months major trip I spent $109 just on groceries. And that's with

Toiletteries probably cost about $20. That was so little cuz I didn't need laundry soap (biokleen), but that payed for tp, toothpaste(tom's), seran wrap, antipersperant...can't remember what else. We don't spend to much on toiletteries cuz we use cloth dipes and cloth pads. And I'm the only girl (other than dd) in the house.
And so far I've spent about $10 on the assorted stuff in the first week of this month.

Tho, this months major shopping was a little less than usual. I usually spend $120-150. I think it was so little this much cuz I didn't need to get flour and sugar.

whew, I think that's it! LOL!

Oh, ya. I make dinner lists and TRY to keep my shopping to that list. tho, I might get some extra stuff ;)

This month, exactly 110$. We eat very frugal. This includes all toiletries, but I have not bought soap in a year (thanks danica) and we do not use any styling products at all. one bottle of shampoo will last dh and I 3 or 4 months. I only wash my hair every other day and dh has no hair to wash, lol! Other than that I buy a giant pack of tp and it will last us 2 months or so.

I buy most items in bulk and stock up on commonly used items when they are on sale. I did just run out of salt and yeast, so I will have to head back to market before the end of the month. I made a menu plan for this week and we have stuck too it. I will make up a new one based on what we already have for next week on sunday.

One thing, we do not buy name brand items, only store brands, no convienience foods either. I make our food from scratch. I buy as much as I will use in the month and freeze extras. I really like the idea of not having to battle the masses in the market. I really am a homebody.

Oh! And WIC saves us money as well. We get dairy and eggs and cereal so that knocks a bit off what we would spend. Dh is the one who eats the WIC cereal, Gab and I eat grits or oatmeal.

I'm keeping a record of our menu for the month and once I get thru it, I'll post it here.

Originally posted by Surfer Girl
I spend $160 a month total. That includes the big trip and all the side trips for milk. Every dollar.
Is that $160 Canadian Erin??

If you want to ask me how I can break it down and include all my logic on tightwad grocery shopping I can but it may be a really long post!

I also do the meal plans , but for the whole month, including b'fast, lunches, snacks, toiletries.


Please do share :) ~ I am trying to work out a meal plan... and I would love to be able to do only one big shopping trip... I'm sure I could save more $ that way.

I'm not sure how much I spend but I'm sure it's less than $150Can (but it's just ds and I)... it is a lot less now that ds isn't drinking so much soymilk... and I try to buy organic... maybe half of what we buy... I just don't have the $ to buy everything organic... I shopped yesterday and a small bag of onions was .99 & the organic was $3.99 ~ I just couldn't afford that much of a price difference.
I make our own bread and buy organic flour in bulk from the NFS ~ I worked out that this is cheaper than the .99 store bread and much healthier IMO. I also have a pressure cooker, so I use dried beans.

We don't seem to have the grocery competition that there is in the US... no double coupons (or any coupons really... just the individual store sales, which are mostly processed foods I don't buy)
and I agree with Mona ~ making things from scratch makes a huge difference.

well we are feeding a family of 7~ sometimes 8 and i spend at least $200 a week. i never keep track, it seems i am always running to the store for this or that we run out of, and impromtu lake trips, bbq's at mom's when i bring fixings, or what have you. i would like it to be less. i think all together we spend around 1 grand a month! and the saddest part for me is, it is mostly spent at wal-mart super centers. i have tried to buy from smaller places, but when i am hauling 5-7 children around (i watch my neice and nephew) stopping at 2 or 3 stores in addition to whatever other errands i have does not sound appealing.

anyone else with big families?? what do you spend, and where? please tell me i am normal ;-)

Feeding the 9 yr old and 12 yr old is like having two more adults (they eat as much as me!!!!)

I shop whenever I know a good deal is somewhere and we need something.....

I would say 2 times per week (diff stores, diff deals) and each time I spend about $60-70 (lots of buy one get one frees for us!) so it comes out to roughly $480-whatever a mth including items like toilet paper, paper towels from the market.

I often spend another $30 a mth on yummies for the big kids (like boxes of donuts and coffee cakes and etc from an Enteman's discount shop.....I freeze them and pull them out as needed)

We eat out at a fast food or restaurant once a week which varies from $10 for the family to $25 for the family.

So that would put us at around $480 + 30 + $100 = $610 in a good month.

It sounds like a lot but we keep stocking the pantry and

it carries over to another months meals.......

I find that each meal is pretty reasonably cheap......with the buy one get one frees we often get items like one bag of pasta and one bag free (in other words....each is half of the amount LOL), 10 pd bags of rice, cereals, cheese, etc

i spend $125 a week plus extra trips for more milk, produce and stuff. this doesn't include gas $ or dh's cigarettes or stops at circle K for coffee and a donut. this is a SAVINGS for us to be down to $500 a month. So i need more tips.

i have chelsey, 12 who eats like a horse and zoey , almost 2 who eats like a real person too. Plus i babysit a 14mo old three days a week and a 5 and 8 year old 3 days a week.

for lunches for the kids i babysit i offer (they don't eat tuna or deli meat)

hot dogs
homemade cheese pizza
grilled cheese
macaroni and cheese
peanut butter and jelly sandies
soup (ramen or tomato)
eggs or egg salad sandies
spaghetti
--and on the side of any of these chips, melon/fruit, vegetable
they can have juice, milk or water to drink
and snacks are graham crackers, applesauce, yogurt, peanut butter crackers, raisins, peanuts, goldfish crackers (i buy em in bulk), juice ice pops...and i'm sure theres more.

i'd love more ideas for what to feed them thats cheap, healthy and fun.

what i'm buying more of:
ramen noodles
peanut butter and white bread
mac and cheese on sale for $20 a box
hot dogs and 50cent biscuts for pigs in a blanket
cucumbers (for making my own pickles)
oranges (for making my own jelly)
canned vegetables on sale 2 for $1
flour and other baking supplies
yogurt and applesauce for snacks
bone in chicken (i can debone myself and stretch it further, plus make chicken stock for soups and cooking)
bulk rice, pasta and beans


what i'm buying less of:
deli meats and cheeses
red meat and deboned chicken
pre packaged noodles for side dishes
frozen pizzas (making our own is more fun and cheaper)
cookies and other packaged stuff i can bake myself
soap/shampoo (thanks danica)


i also have to buy bulk paper towels (i use them for tiedying), laundry detergent (biokleen is expensive - but i was all my tiedye in it and zoeys diapers)

so... would love thrifty ideas on how to cut back too. Oh, dh is a total meat eater so we do eat chicken,pork or beef 5 nights a week (i buy bulk and on sale only but still)..he's agreed to 2 non meat meals a week which usually is some sort of pasta. He counts tuna casserole as a non meat meal. LOL

ok. so list out your frugal meal tips ladies. i'm listening!

Ugh, I've been working on this. Read lots of frugal books, etc, and I'm still at $100 a week. I've tried all different stores, I don't shop at the same one every week. I spent $160 yesterday and I am getting $25 worth of organic produce on Monday and I'm going to *try* to not go shopping next week. I am hoping this stuff will last two weeks!?

I think I will have to go get some oatmeal, though. And what will probably happen is a whole bunch of other stuff will get added to my list :eek:

We shop about once a wekk and spend about $100. I often have to run back mid-week though for something I forgot--even though I use a list:p I do better when I plan my menus in advance--but when it is ucky hot the menus go out the window:D

Originally posted by hippiemama
mac and cheese on sale for $20 a box


Well, I think you are spending too much for one box of mac and chz! LOL!

Having everyone post how much they spend doesn't do much because depending on where you live you could be eating well or just barely eating. It may sound like $500 is a lot to some people but others that's covering bare minimums.

We do the pantry stocking idea. I keep a price book (not religiously I could be better) and write down the sale prices we normally get every few weeks. I check out all the ads and see what's on sale and if it's really a good deal then I buy bulk. That's how I've been stocking up. It takes a while to do this method but when you do it for a few months it's nice to see you always have something to eat. When we want a meal I just look into the pantry and make something from there or plan menus from the pantry food.

We try to cook a lot from scratch so buying bulk flour, sugar etc. works for us. Summer roadside fruit and vegetable stands have some good deals. Farmer's Markets are a good place to find organic things. Around here we have a Canned Grocery Outlet where I find good deals too. Just got Vitasoy for 99 cents, cheapest I've seen.

We've been doing this for a few months now and I like it:)

Currently we shop in 3 places: our local Acme or SuperFresh for most things, our Fresh Fields for specialty/veggie things, and our produce market for all produce. I hit Acme/SF about once every 7-10 days, FF once every 10 days, and the produce market about 2x per week. We spend about $80 at Acme/SF, about $40 at FF, and about $15/wk at the produce market. We don't eat out at all. So, our monthly food bill is around $420. This includes toiletries, cat food/litter for our 3 felines, laundry detergents, plastic trash and food storage bags, etc. We have 3 people in our family and we don't eat any meat.

I am working on menu planning (huge weakness for me). I'm also trying to stop buying prepared foods like breads, crackers, cereal bars, etc. -- that alone could cut out about $15 per week I'm sure...it seems like we go through 3 loaves of bread per week, 2 boxes of cereal bars per week, etc.

My bill went up a bit since I stopped shopping at any of the X-mart stores. I used to buy things like trash bags, cat litter, cat food, laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc. there...but now am buying it at my grocery store. It's much more expensive there, even when I buy generics, or on sale w/ coupon.

I'd like to get down to about $350 per month and use the savings for a date night once or twice a month. :)

Tara

Originally posted by hippiemama
i spend $125 a week plus extra trips for more milk, produce and stuff. this doesn't include gas $ or dh's cigarettes or stops at circle K for coffee and a donut. this is a SAVINGS for us to be down to $500 a month. So i need more tips.



Barb, we just moved from Phoenix a year or two ago and I know of a great deal there! We used it and it was incredible. Go to http://www.smfb.org/programs.htm and look at the FoodCare and Cash and Carry programs. It's not a welfare thing--not even based on income. You just show up at St. Mary's distribution building at the listed times, go in and pay, and get TONS of food! I mean TONS! I believe it's $10 for a meat box and $15 for a regular box (all kinds of foods, drinks, and fresh produce). You can get as many boxes of each as you want--no limits. They even gave bags of candy or other treats out to the kids for free sometimes.

Give them a call to double check the times and location (I remember it was on the west side but not way out). Hope this helps you some! Oh, while you're paying, you can see what they're giving that week so you can decide how many you want then.

Hope this helps!

**Editing to let you know that the above thing is once or twice a week, not a monthly thing. :)

**Also editing cuz I might as well answer the original poster's question. LOL

I shop once a week and spend $80-100 a week for the 5 of us (and we're all PIGS! LOL), including toiletries, dog food, books, clothes, sewing supplies, you name it! LOL Some weeks, I'm only able to get the food and no extras and, other weeks, I squeeze in the miscellaneous stuff. Before I got pregnant this time, I was spending $30-50 a week (but not near as much of the miscellaneous stuff). Now, I'm just a lazy bum, it's hot, humid, and miserable, so I end up buying a lot more convenience foods. :rolleyes:

diane

I shop once a month and spend about $250-$300 a month. I do not buy milk, we have our own milking goat. I shop for bread at the bread thrift shop. Buy enough bread for two months w/ $20. Also some treats as well. We are feeding 7 plus a bun in the oven, LOL. :D

We're at about $400 a month for all out of pocket expenses, including gas, toiletries, herbs, etc. Probably $300 of that is food. We buy mostly organic. I'd like to get down to $200-250 but don't see getting below that. We're feeding four. Jake is 2 but eats more than our 4 yo.

We are feeding a family of 5 on about 350 a month. (us dollars).
I shop once a month for main groceries and then every other week for fresh fruits and veggies if there is a special. I buy powdered milk, so I can buy it in bulk and I freeze the 9 grain bread I get from the bakery outlet for .50 a loaf.
I just got 5 qts of blueberries for 3.50 because we picked them ourselves! Entertainment and groceries all in one!LOL
We don't do menus, I just keep certain things on hand that I need to make most of my recipes with and fill in with whatever I find that is really cheap. We don't do most beverages other than tea and water, not a lot of snacks or prepared foods, and I cook a lot of meals that I can freeze. Our big downfall is dining out. We are bad with that one because we like to go out driving and get hungry. I am going to start packing lunches to eat when we get hungry!
It helps that we get paid once a month instead of each week, more money to spend on buying in bulk.
Christina

Originally posted by bluedaisy

I also have a pressure cooker, so I use dried beans.



Can you tell me how to do this? Thanks to you ladies, I have just figured out how to slow cook beans. I have always thought that I couldn't afford "health food store" food. But I went today, & bought out of the bulk bins and the stuff costs nothing. Instead of $.25 a tea bag; the bulk tea is like $.01/ cup. And I got some TVP or TPV (?) can anyone tell me what I need to do to this prior to using it. Can I do whatever I need to do & then freeze it to use quickly later?

Back to the topic at hand, we spend @$800/ mo for 2 adults, 2 kids & 1 toddler. But now that dh is at home, he cooks every night so I am hoping that will minimize our spending. He has made a meal plan for the week & is making the weekly shopping spree. This week he spent $135. Which is a start in the right direction. I would like to get down to $100/wk. I can't imagine $100/mo. But I think Cami is right it depends on where you live.

Anyhoo....

I agree, it totally depends on where you live, and how you eat. I mean you can get white bread here for like .99 a loaf, but whole wheat is $2.50 or more for the WHOLE wheat, the real wheat. And buying generic canned soup or making your own healthier one.....or generic hot dogs versus veggie dogs.....HUGE price diff. Kwim? )0: Makes me sad that we can buy the cheapo, unhealthy stuff for cheaper. )o:

We live in Texas (super low cost of living here) and we spend just about $300 a month for groceries including toiletries, disposible diapers and wipes and detergent, etc. It doesn't include the $$ we spend eating out, which we admittedly do alot.

That has us eating quite well, and I don't do sale flyers or coupons (though I would if I could just get the hang of it).

I'd actually like to see us spending a bit more on groceries...actually just taking the other $100-150 a month that we spend in restaurants and delis and putting it into groceries.

yeah i think it does depend where you live. because i went through and bought bare minimums to make it through the week with our menu.. no extras... and i still spent $70. And i buy the store brand if its available. but again, i live in las vegas, LOL the town where they try to make it cheaper to just go to a casino to eat :D

tiff

Originally posted by girlwomangoddess
yeah i think it does depend where you live. because i went through and bought bare minimums to make it through the week with our menu.. no extras... and i still spent $70. And i buy the store brand if its available. but again, i live in las vegas, LOL the town where they try to make it cheaper to just go to a casino to eat :D

tiff

I was thinking about this, but I guess it's not always the case. Maybe more what we eat. I think our bill is so low since we eat a lot of foods that are regional. Latin foods are the cheapest here and they are the ones we buy. Miami has one of the highest costs of living in the country, but we still get buy very cheaply on food.

I spend $120 per month on groceries and that doesn't include toiletries, cleaning stuff or non-food items. I live in a fairly expensive area- the Washington DC metro area, but there are good sales and an excellent no-frills supermarket.

Originally posted by Surfer Girl

If you want to ask me how I can break it down and include all my logic on tightwad grocery shopping I can but it may be a really long post!

I also do the meal plans , but for the whole month, including b'fast, lunches, snacks, toiletries.



Id love to hear some of your tips and what your meal plan is like when you have time Erin!

We live in Texas, and the cost of living *is* cheaper here, but we still spend around $500.00/mo on groceries. We go once a week to the grocery store and we go to Wholefoods market quite often for organic produce and other organic items, that adds up fast! I buy store brands at the grocery store mostly. I don't clip coupons, I guess I should start doing that. I would love to lower our grocery bill, but don't want to feel "deprived". Food is our one luxury!

I spend about $100 a week for our family of 6. This includes paper products and cleaning supplies.