What is your grocery budget?

[purplerose]

Or really, I should ask, about how much do you spend on food/grocery items and such! We spend about $100/wk. That includes diapers, wipes, toiletry items and cleaning supplies. We are a family of four (soon to be 5!) :P~ :pray What about you?!

[Garnet]

Thats about what I spend. Some months I do better than others. For instance, sometimes I'll buy a big meat package one month, and shop sales for veggies, cereals and etc. Then the next month I try to replace what I've used for the meat package, and push the older tiems to the front of the freezer. Then I spend on veggies and etc.

[milkmommy]

$60 a week for food paper products diapers ( only one packeage every two months) etc for a family of three.

Deanna

[Lantern Light Mama]

140 every two weeks for a family of three and a half. That includes all cleaning supplies.

[Mamaka]

About $60/week for family of 3 plus dog (that includes averaging once monthly costco trip)

[Garnet]

hm.......mamabean3, maybe we need these ladies to do our budgets? LOL!

[kris10s]

$70/week for all food, cleaning and paper products for our family of three as well.

[SingingPraise]

I spend between $125-$150 every week for a family of five
(one of whom is a teenager and always has a friend over at least once a week)
and two dogs
and two rats
and we dont' use much paper. LOL

I actually think we're doing pretty well

[Havilah]

How do all of you keep it under $100??? We are just a family of three and I have trouble sometimes. I'm sure some of it is that I'm trying to transition to more organic food... and we rarely eat out so all our food comes out of our grocery budget. I really don't buy any prepackaged food, either, except for about two frozen Amy's pizzas a month.

Needless to say, I'm a little frustrated with our food budget :/

[Mothering by Heart]

We can't seem to spend less than $600-$650/month :/

[Lantern Light Mama]

How do we keep it under 100? I buy cheap, really.

Ok I saw this special on T.V. that said most of the store brands are packaged by the same companies as the national brands. The only difference is you pay for the name.
Here its anywhere from 70 - 90 cents for a can of campbell's soup when the walmart brand is .40.

I seldom by papertowels. Like one roll every two weeks and when we run out we use cloth napkins. We get the most basic cleaning supplies too. That is better for Ds's asthma anyway.

The only thing I don't like to buy generic is my laundry detergent and generally we only use one container every two weeks. We use the least amount possible. We only buy organic when the can afford to, but recently I noticed organic O.J. is 4.85 here for a half gallon and that is too much.

We don't eat much red meat either, and when we do it is very little.

Generally we can get by on 140 every two weeks easily, but sometimes it is harder now since I am pregnant again.

[flowermama]

I've never wanted to share this because it seems embarassing :blush , but, well, I need to try and figure out some way to reduce it. We spend around $175 - $200 a week on groceries -- including toilet paper, pull-ups for nighttime for one child, vitamins, etc., and also cat food for four cats we feed full time and two we feed not quite full time. We have six people in our family, but one doesn't eat solids yet. We don't eat out. Maybe it's so high partly because of all the rice milk, soy cheese, and soy yogurt I buy. ? :/ We also try to buy organic a lot of the time.

I feel like a bad wife spending so much. :( If I type out what I buy and how much each item costs, would someone be willing to help me figure out how to cut costs? I should probably plan my meals ahead of time. Maybe that would help? The crazy thing is, even spending all that money, my son is always saying "I'm hungry!!" ... and he's only six!

[Havilah]

Jeri, :hug I totally understand. I feel like this is the one area where I have a lot of control over our spending and I can't reign it in :/

[PurpleButterfly]

$125 a week for a family of 5 (grandparents live with us). I don't buy paper products except for TP, which we get from Costco. I use cloth napkins, washclothes instead of paper towels, and wash small plates instead of using paper plates. I make many meals in the crock pot, create opportunities for "purposeful leftovers" (meaning I'll make something with pasta one night and plan to use leftover pasta in a dish two nights later, serve a roasted chicken one night and use the leftover scraps in a stir-fry or soup/stew the next night), and rarely buy packaged prepared foods.

We only buy organic milks, OJ, yogurt, cheese, margarine, edamame, frozen fruits and veggies & eggs, and occasional chicken. Fresh fruits and veggies are mostly organic and whatever is on sale that week will become a big part of our diet - also buying organic produce in bulk helps (bags of onions, potatoes, apples, etc.). If I can't get organic, I'll at least make sure that there are no hydrogenated oils, food dye, nitrates/nitrites, or high fructose corn syrups.

Costco has been an excellent source for organics, especially peanut butter and soy milk. Right now you can get giant jars of Maranatha Creamy PB or Nut-N-Better Crunchy PB for less than $3.50 each! That's an awesome price for any PB, but especially organic brands - both of which happen to be my personal faves and really, really good! :yum

I also belong to an organic co-op ( www.ozark.coop ) and get lots of great deals there. And if you've never scoped your local dollar stores for hidden organic finds, be sure to do so regularly! I recently loaded up on canned organic Muir Glen whole peeled tomatoes for fifty cents each! Big Lots or Odd Lots are also great places to find organic bargains.

If you don't already belong to one, seek a local email list for organic-minded folks, or consider starting your own. The local co-op list I belong to is a great resource since we all share anytime we find a good organic deal anywhere around town - many deals I would never have known about otherwise! (Like the herbal SLS-free Natasha No-Tearski shampoo that sells for eight bucks a bottle online but someone on the list found a Dollar Tree for a buck a bottle!).

Weekly menu planning, couponing, and bargain sharing have really helped me keep the budget under control most weeks. The www.thegrocerygame.com website has also been a huge blessing, even though it's not geared toward healthy eating, you can make it work for you. :tu

[PurpleButterfly]

Jeri, I don't think you're doing bad at all for an organic vegan diet for your size family! :hug Do you create weekly menu plans, or would you like some help coming up with some?

Here are a few that I had saved on my computer - created based on what I already had in my house and what was on sale that week at the grocery store according to the Grocery Game website (where I could use double coupons at my store for those items already on sale):

Here's an example of what I type up in Word:

Nemo's Snacks:
Light string cheese
Cubed cheese and pretzels
Pineapple rings
Bananas
Apple slices with peanut butter
Celery with cream cheese
Kashi bars
Granola bars
Grapes
Hummus with pita triangles
PB & J roll ups in whole wheat tortillas
Fresh fruit salad

Snacks/Kym:
Veggie strings
Fresh veggies and ff dip
Popcorn
Cup of soup
Roasted fresh veggies
Sauteed frzn veggies w/tamari sauce
Frozen grapes
Fresh fruit

Nemo's Brekkie Menu:
Orange juice, iron and vitas every day, plus:
Oatmeal and toast, orange slices
Cereal and soymilk
Soy smoothie and banana half
Wheat bagel with cream cheese, pineapple slices
Grits with whole grain English muffin and fruit preserves
Fruit bread/muffin and rice milk

Weekly Dinner Menu:

Mon:
Roasted Chicken, baked yams, green beans

Tues:
Chicken soup, fresh bread, salad

Wed:
Baked chix patties w/mashed sweet potatoes and asparagus

Thurs:
Brown rice casserole w/garbanzo beans, tomatoes, melted cheese on top

Fri:
Pizza, salad

Sat:
Veggie Stir-fry with brown rice, pineapple chunks

Sunday:
Spaghetti Pie, applesauce

[ArmsOfLove]

Jeri, I am exploring a fixed dinner menu in an effort to reduce grocery costs and free up more money for snacks (which right now is practically nonexistent in our budget and yet we have to buy them because children and mommies nursing twins get hungry all the time :hissyfit). We are going to do:

Sunday: experiment w/ new preselected recipe
Monday: lasagna
Tuesday: meatloaf (w/ tvp) and potato
Wednesday: pizza
Thursday: rice dish
Friday: spaghetti
Saturday: hot dogs and tater tots

we also make a loaf of bread for lunch for each day for sandwiches, and are ordering our rice cereal by the case to save 10% through Whole Foods, we order our flours in bulk also and save a ton!

I'd love to help you in any way I can. :hug

[milkmommy]

Well here is last weeks menu :blush :blush

Sunday (last)
Breakfast Cereal with bananas and OJ
lunch PBJ sandwich (natural PB and 100% whole fruit spread) on 7 grain bread carrot sticks and apple sauce
snack carrot sticks with ranch dip
pm snack orange slices with some teddy grahams
Dinner Chicken brown rice peas

Monday
Breakfast- Cereal bananas OJ
Lunch Tuna salad with apples and rains plain for Cecilia over salad for DH and garlic toast
AM snack 1/4 frozen while wheat waffle with honey
PM cheese and crackers
dinner Chicken in pita bread with tomatoes feta cheese spinach salad canned peaches

Tuesday
Waffles with jam
PBJ sandwiches bananas carrots
am snack "trail" mix crispex cereal raisins pretzels
pm apple slices with cheddar cheese
Dinner spaghetti salad

Wednesday
oatmeal with raisins bananas and Cinnamon toast :yum
lunch pasta left overs
snack trail mix
hard boiled egg slices (whits only)
dinner Chicken with Barbecue sauce on toast apples and banana salad and green beans

Thursday
b-Cereal
l-Grilled cheese with tomato and apples
s- Teddy grams banana
s- carrots and cheese
dinner pasta (reserved from Tuesday with Parmesan cheese and butter salad with cucumber tomato crescent rolls

Friday
B cereal
L big salad
s grapes
s cheese and crackers
d- fresh Samon (bought that day around $6) with artichoke hearts and salad with Mandarin oranges

Sat
Oatmeal (instant)
l- pizza made on English muffins with tomato sauce cheese and pinapple and mushrooms
s- orange slices
s- gram cracker with Peanut butter and banana
d- turkey burgers carrot chips pickles and grapes

Sunday
waffles ( butter syrup and all) :yum with sausage patties
lunch- spinach salad with tabouli mixed with cumbers tomatoes fresh mint ans Mandarin oranges
snack - cereal mix
snack- veggie crackers with hummus
dinner - scrambled eggs burritos fruit salad

Kinda scary but :shrug

Deanna

[RealLifeMama]

Jeri, if you are buying vitamin and supplements, and considering them part of your food budget then I don't think that is too bad
We spend about an average of 50-60 a month on supplements. That is an extra 12 a week or so.
We put our paper products, cleaning, etc in our home goods budget instead of food. You could do that and see if that makes you feel better.
We still spend about 100 a week on groceries alone.
That doesn't count the money we spent to join the CSA, or if I go to the farmer's market, and any eating out. And we only have 4 people in our family.

[purplerose]

I always thought that spending $400/month on food/paper products/cleaning supplies, etc was pretty good! :tu Also considering that I have two in diapers and wipes and stuff!!!! :tu Also, we drink soda as well, so I know that increases our grocery budget. But we don't smoke or drink alcohol, so I guess that's ok!!! Also, I think it depends on where you live too! We are in Southern California and it's incredibly expensive here!!!!! It's what we have budgeted and I stay within it, so I'm not too worried~!!!!!

[Mama Calidad]

We spend about $50/week for a family of 4. We can go to the grocery store here, though, and literally fill the cart (the old smaller carts - not the Walmart sized super buggies) to the top with produce and it only come to between $20 - $35.

[MarynMunchkins]

I've got $500 budgeted for food. :) Honestly, though, since dh got his new job, I haven't been tracking it. :shrug Dh doesn't care how much I spend, and trusts me to buy the best food for the lowest price I can get. :)

[HEmomma]

We made up 2 weeks worth of daily menu's and rotate them so we have each dinner meal twice a month. We got it down to 100 a week for food/diapers and wipes for 2/and supplies (cleaning supplies, tp, soap, shampoo and the like). We go to dollar general for all of our supplies and get most of our food at walmart and aldi's. We don't necesarily buy organic all the time and the only diet restriction we have is buying everything whole wheat and/or low fat for my weight watchers diet.

[Gailmegan]

Wow! You all really make me feel bad! We have a family of 4 and we spend $600-$700 a month for food and houselhold items. Maybe it's b/c we live in Sub. Phila. and we eat organic, no wheat, limited dairy, so our food costs are pretty high. Yikes! I even cut coupons and shop at 4 different stores to find the best prices!

[findingjoy]

We spend around $600 per month for a family of 4. That includes food, diapers, wipes, paper products, cleaning supplies and supplements. We eat no gluten or dairy so I buy quite a bit of "health food" which is expensive. I'm thinking about trying to make my own rice milk to help get our costs down. I know it seems like an outrageous amount to spend on food, but I feel like it is an investment in our health.

[Jillian]

I'm up there in the $600 range, too. We have 6 people in our family - the baby isn't on solids yet, but I'm definately making up his share! We eat organic/all natural as much as possible. I use vinegar/baking soda for almost everything, the only commercial cleaning product I use is Murphy's Oil, but I clean the floor so rarely it certainly doesn't make a dent in the budget, lol! We belong to a co-op and that saves a little bit of money. As soon as things pick up at the organic farm near us, I plan on getting most of our veggies/fruits from there. I'd love to grow our own, we don't have alot of room in our yard, but I am going to try next year.

Gailmegan, we're also in sub philly :D

MamaCalidad, wow! 20-35$ for a cart full of produce?!?! I don't think I could fill a BAG for that much :eek

[Lady TS]

We are a family of 4 with one on the way. I've been trying to keep it at $200/month, but lately I've been spending more like $250/month. I really need to cut back because we honestly don't have the money coming in to spend what I've budgeted, much less more! That dollar amount includes food, toiletries, anything at Walmart :P.

We do have WIC, which helps a lot in the milk, cheese, cereal, juice, beans, peanut butter department.
I make a monthly/6 weekly menu of weeknight meals and then make my list from that. I have a list on my computer of all the stuff I get and where and the cheapest price. When I run out of something then I just highlight it so I need to get some more.

Aldi's is the first place I hit because it's generally the cheapest place to shop. I get all I can off of my list from there. Then I go hit SuperWalmart(clear across town) or Meijer(more expensive but right across the street and more convenient for me now so that's what I did this month).

Due to our money problems lately, we don't buy a lot of organic. Not that there's much available around here anyway, except at the health food store $$$. I do buy whole wheat whenever possible, make about half of our own bread, and try to avoid sugar/high fructose corn syrup and most prepackaged foods. I pretty much buy staples(flour, oil, veggies-mostly frozen, fruit in produce, meat, etc.), although I do confess that I am a Cheezit addict to I get a box or two of those each month if I remember. Pretzels, too, and sometimes those cheap animal crackers from Walmart(not the colored kind).

I do go with my MIL/SIL ever so often and stock up on stuff that is cheaper at SAM's(Bounty paper towels for wet wipes, baking soda, flour, yeast, garlic, etc.).

I use baking soda/vinegar a lot in cleaning, along with essential oils.
I cloth diaper at home so that helps a lot in the diaper department--disposables are costly!

Ok, that's it for now.
Gotta go check on the boys.
Tanya

[Garnet]

Crystal, there is a few things I have heard about that I do.....when I remeber. One is called Super Cooking, where you cook double of what you need, and freeze the second batch. Next is double recipe. For instance, if I lay out my menu, I put two choices on it. Lets say Monday is pizza. Now, if I am short on time, it could be a simple crust, with canned spaghetti sauce, and some veggies and cheese. If I have more time, it could be a rice crust calzone. See? Also, if leftovers last at your house, one night you could make the veggie pizza, and save some leftover sliced veggies for the next nights veggie quesidilla.

[erinee]

$75/wk for a family of 4 plus a dog and cat. That includes all cleaning supplies, paper products, and an occasional pack of Pull-Ups (Megan still needs them for #2).

[toymama]

We spend about $50 per week. That includes food, diapers, wipes, tp, and cleaning supplies. The boys eat lunch and two snacks at daycare so I'm sure we would spend a little more if we were at home.

[ArmsOfLove]

gluten free cooking makes it more expensive--absolutely! Which is why we try to buy in bulk when we can! I'd love to do the oamc (or oaweekc) but gf pasta and many other things we eat just don't freeze well :( I am going to try and cook 4 week's worth of meatloaf at once and freeze them ;)

[scottishthistle]

about $70 a week for 3 but if I go to the Save-a-lot I can do it for about $50

[kalemommy]

We spend the equivalent of about 300-400 US dollars per week on groceries for our family of four. The cost of living is higher here, but salaries are not.

[boonpnutsmom]

We spend about $1000 a month on Groceries and there are 5 us. After reading your posts, I see that is a great deal more than most. I was asked recently to point out differences in Hawaii, as I grew up here I don't see these differences until something like this happens. We are very blessed that DH has a good paying job. I don't have a food budget per say and it is my sole responsibility to make sure there is food in the house, which right now the icebox light is blinding so I guess it is time to go shopping soon.

[Gailmegan]

Yeah, I think that where you live must really have a lot to do with it because I see some of you feeding your family for $50/week. I can't get my fruits and vegetables for less than $25/week - and we eat lots of meat and other stuff too! Oh, and I find the cheapest produce prices around; it's not like I buy my bananas at the supemarket where they are $.70/lb (I get them for $.30/lb). I just can't even fathom what kind of prices there must be other places in the country!

[boonpnutsmom]

We got all excitd the other day 2lbs of banana's for $5.00 , wow so different everywhere else.

[eoconnel]

We spend $50 a week on food and other supplies. We buy our diapers and wipes in bulk from Costco about once a month.

[ArmsOfLove]

Hawaii is VERY expensive! When we lived there that was the really hard thing for my parents. The Officers families did okay but we were NCO and it was tough :(

[momofmany]

We spend about $130 a week for a family of six.... We do all our groceries at Trader Joe's and our produce at a tiny store up the block from where we live. We try to eat healthy and I cook most of our meals from scratch. I really wish I could whittle it down some more, but I don't think I can without compromising nutrition.

[kalemommy]

Hawaii really is expensive on bananas. We have bananas cheaper than that here...and we don't have any bananas growing locally.

However, we eat very little meat.. If we regularly bought meat, our grocery bill would probably double. So probably 2,400 US dollars per month if we bought a lot of meat. We have a meal with meat about twice a month at the most, and we can expect to make that one small piece of meat stretch over for three meals until it's finally reduced to stew.

[Julia R]

We're at $35 a week for a family of 5, but that doesn't count the money DH spends on junk. I can't track or limit that. I have done it for a lot less too. The only paper we use is TP. Cloth for dipes, cleaning, etc.. I buy lots in bulk foods. We buy some fresh, frozen, and canned staples. Little in the way of prepared and processed foods. We don't buy much meat. We eat a lot of these things which are cheap:

Rice- white & brown
other grains, bulghur, barley, etc..
Flours
Rolled grains (various types) for cereals- add our own frut or nuts for flavoring
potatoes
beans- very cheap, very versatile.
carrots in 5 lb bags
pasta
eggs- 5 dozen cartons or from parents chickens
tuna
peanut butter- consider the cost per portion
canned or frozen veggies- I buy big bags of single ingredients, keep in ziplocks in fridge and use and blend as needed.
tea- for iced tea- cuts down on DH's soda consumption which I avoid buying
bread, either from Orrowheat outlet store or homemade
yeast in bulk-cheap

Aside from this we buy cheese, milk (only used by 2 plus in cooking), other produce, and baking ingredients. 12 roll pack tp, 40 load box laundry det. vinegar, whatever soap needed.

[Katiebug]

I budget $250 every 2 weeks. This includes dog food, vitamins, cleaning supplies, disposable diapers, razor blades, etc. We are a family of 3 1/2 + a big doggie. We eat about 50% organic. All whole grain. Poultry/fish about 3 times a week.

[Soliloquy]

How do all of you keep it under $100??? We are just a family of three and I have trouble sometimes. I'm sure some of it is that I'm trying to transition to more organic food... and we rarely eat out so all our food comes out of our grocery budget. I really don't buy any prepackaged food, either, except for about two frozen Amy's pizzas a month.

Needless to say, I'm a little frustrated with our food budget :/


Ditto! We're a family of 3 w/ 2 cats, but I don't even include them because they're on a prescription diet. I shop at Wild Oats, which is more expensive than a mainstream supermarket, but I don't buy a lot of extras. A good week is $70. Some weeks it's over $100

[GrumpyMom]

Oh my, I knew I was out of control but I didn't know how much. I actually don't know how much we spend, but I'd guess $250/week not including paper products, diapers, dog food, and a LOT of eating out (family of three). We have recently committed to not eating out other than twice a week (that includes lunch out for dh at work and me going to Panera with playgroup moms). I end up throwing a lot out because I'm not good at planning and some of it goes bad. I'm really ashamed when that happens. I'm making a big change in my life and working to plan better menus and budgets.

A big thank you to all who shared menu and snack ideas. I saved them all and I'm going to use them to help me with my own. Please share a week's grocery list (or the month's if you buy in bulk) if you have the time. I'd love to see an example of what you all buy. Do you find it's cheaper to go infrequently or more often? I always tried to go once a week so I wouldn't be tempted to buy extra stuff while I was the store for another trip. But by doing that a lot goes bad by the end of the week (we like fresh produce) and gets wasted. So do you buy a lot of frozen or canned goods? Do you keep a stock of staple items and then go more frequently for fresh? I've really enjoyed all the info you've all shared. Thank you.

[Radosny Matka]

We spend $80/wk at the grocery store, and $80/month at Cosco.

[mummy2boys]

We spend about $150-00 a week for everything (groceries, meat, vegies etc). It has gone up since we had to go gluten free for our son but I still try to keep it around the $150-00 mark or under if I can

[milkmommy]

I shop weekly but thats more because we have a tiny kitchen so their is limited space for food storage.
Deanna

[Soliloquy]

We really hope to be blessed with a big family (5 kids or more) but I'm wondering if I'll still be able to buy organic when that happens. I usually make a casserole or some other main dish and we have it for dinner for 2 or 3 nights in a row. I was thinking that if I had teenage boys it would last only 1 night--and I might even have to make 2 casseroles for one meal if they invited friends over! :eek.

I know if God blesses us w/ a lot of children, He will provide the means. Hopefully by that time I'll have my garden in full swing and a big freezer so I won't have to buy much produce.

[crunchymum]

wow....

we spend an embarrassing amount of dh's income on food.... :blush i can't even fathom 35-50 dollars per week! not even 100 comes close!

i try, i really do... it's out of control, though. :( i guess it's mostly my fault, though, i have a hard time feeding my kids (and dh) mac & cheese, hotdogs, and all the other cheap stuff i could be getting at costco. we don;t always eat organic, but even regular produce is so expensive! and i really try to have as much fresh fruit and veggies around as possible. *sigh* we are a family of 4, 1 in dipes (disposable) 1 in pull-ups at night. the sad thing is that on top of the atrocious grocery bill, we eat out a couple times per week! and dh never packs a lunch, so he buys lunch everyday!


our food costs are eating us alive!!!! :hissyfit

[Katigre]

There's just the 2 of us and we spend under $200/month on groceries. We eat almost all vegetarian and shop at a less expensive grocery store for everything except produce. We don't buy lots of snack food or prepackaged things, and we cook about once a week (with leftovers to eat for awhile, and then eat soup or spaghetti or Annie's mac n cheese the other day or two). We eat out 2-3 times a month and spend about $50 total there, separate from the grocery budget.

When we grocery shop for the month we meal plan 4 meals, get the ingredients for that plus what we need for breakfasts and lunches for both of us (neither of us buy lunch, we pack it. DH packs leftovers from dinner, i pack applesauce and granola bars). We live in an urban area and cost of living is average i'd say in terms of food.

[MamaJamie]

We spend $170/wk on groceries, supplies, entertainment, etc. Some weeks I do well and save some of that and others...well, not so great :banghead


j

[Mamatoto]

I felt like our food costs were way too much a few months ago...so I set a strict budget for myself and met it each week which felt good. The budget is $80 every two weeks at the Super Wal-Mart, and $50 every week at the farmer's market/grocery store. I get some great organic stuff at the Wal-Mart and other organic stuff at the farmer's market. I won't buy organic when it doesn't fit in the budget, though. Now that we are gluten free and I need to budget in the HFS more, I think our budget may need to be twinged a bit, but that's what it is right now. I also don't use paper towels or napkins or paper plates-all cloth and corelle! We also eat out maybe once or twice a week and that is usually about $12.00/time. I think we could save quite a bit if we went totally sugar free...that's my next project if I dare. :eek :cool

[Julia R]

We don't especially do organic. We shop at a couple discount grocery stores in town. Sometimes I find things like organic foods, juice, and soy in one. These are usually items that are getting close to selly by date or bought major wholesale by the store. We don't get a lot of snack foods. I try to keep cookies and things made up. It's cheaper and healthier to make them myslef with healthy ingredients than it is to buy them. Especially in the ammount we go through. DH doesn't eat healthy and won't give up his Dr.Pepper and Ramen. If I keep iced tea made in the fridge I can often discourage him from making a soda run. If I have food frozen or ready to thaw or going in the crock pot, I can avoid his constant desire for fast food. Basically, that's the key with him, I've got to beat him to it, and have it already made.

If you have trouble with wasting produce, plan a menu for the period of time you are shopping for. Choose the recipes you want to use during that time. You don't have to stick to the schedule, unless you have things that spoil more quickly than others, you just need to stick to the chosen recipes. Write down the exact ingredients needed for the recipes. You can save money this way too. If a recipe calls for 1 cup cut up "X", you can duplicate the recipe until it is used up and freeze, or use other recipes that call for "X" also. You can save time by cutting it up all at the same time, especially with a food processor. This is especially so for things like onions. Go through the list of ingredients and combine the same items in the various recipes so you know just how much to buy. Check your list with what you have on hand. Sort the list so the ingredients are in the general order you find them when walking through the store to save time.

You can make ww noodles or veg. noodles with your own simple healthy sauce for less than a cheap box of mac and cheese. It doesn't take any longer than it does to rip open a box and sit and stir in that cheese powder getting out all the lumps.

I find that it doesn't necessarily cost much more to make food in larger quantities. The first meal is the initial investment and adding to that is usually minimally more (time and money) But then I'm not serving big thick prime rib at my house either. With larger families and cutting the budget down, you just adjust your buying practices. Suddenly the fancy packaging doesn't seem any better than the generic kind. We don't make a lot of dishes that cost much to make. We have a lot of casseroles here. (I consider a casserole to be any food that you throw together in one dish in the oven)

We also save a lot of money with cloth, towels, rags, napkins, etc... We don't use paper in the kitchen. We also use reusable containers rather than plastic wrap, foil, baggies, etc.... We do use ziplocks, but not if a plastic dish will do.

We feed the baby homemade baby food and breastmilk. The kids have a minimal effect on the food budget. DH is easily half for the family.

I just recently got a big 22' freezer, which I have wanted for years for doing once a month cooking. Since getting it I haven't done much putting food away in it, but I am really looking forward to filling it this summer. I am going to have blackberries (Free) all winter.


What I would really like to do is use the crockpot more. I don't have many good ideas for food to cook in one though. Anyone have any really good, healthy, whole foods recipes for using in a crockpot?

[Julia R]

Lately, I have been leaning a lot more toward vegitarian dishes because of the cost. We really don't eat very much meat anyway. DH would like to, but he just doesn't make enough money. Anyone know of any good links for recipes and nutrition information for vegitarians.

[crunchymum]

hey, tsunadae, would you mind posting your shopping list and menus?

[greenemama]

we spend about $75 a week for four of us. none of it is organic but we do buy a lot of produce. i pack most of dh's lunches. we do eat out occasionally but that is not included in the $75.

i always feel like there's nothing to eat in the house, though. it's crazy. we do eat mac and cheese and other junky stuff at least weekly. most snacks are healthy (toast, fruit, etc.) but we do snack on crackers sometimes and henry loves hot dogs! i'm horrified! he could probably eat four in a sitting if i'd let him.

we eat A LOT of black beans. i mean, three or four times a week we have them in some form. :yum

other household expenses probably make the spending more like $100 a week. i try to cut back but it just happens. if we had a trader joe's it would be worse. :O

[crunchymum]

if we had a trader joe's it would be worse

maybe THAT'S my problem..... :O

seriously, ladies. i need menus, meal plans, the works. i don't mind shopping or cooking or whatever, i just HATE trying to figure out what to feed my family! argh! :hissyfit i was doing the "saving dinner" menu mailer, which was cool, but i felt like we were eating a ton of dairy and meat and eventually it felt like we really weren't saving that much money anymore. :/ i have a bad habit of 'running out to get something" often during the week, it always seems like i spend more when i don't have a weekly plan or something.

mollie, i love black beans! :yum how do you cook them? and i would die if i could keep our spending to $100 a week.... :eek :tu *wistful sigh*

[Mama Calidad]

We got all excitd the other day 2lbs of banana's for $5.00 , wow so different everywhere else.

I had to find out what we were paying for bananas after I read this. This past week they were a little less than 23 cents/pound. Oranges were about 16.5 cents/pound. 8 cents/pound for cabbage. 60 cents/pound for apples.

Do you find it's cheaper to go infrequently or more often? I always tried to go once a week so I wouldn't be tempted to buy extra stuff while I was the store for another trip. But by doing that a lot goes bad by the end of the week (we like fresh produce) and gets wasted. So do you buy a lot of frozen or canned goods? Do you keep a stock of staple items and then go more frequently for fresh?
Our biggest cost saving strategy (other than living here :giggle) is to shop at the more expensive little grocery store that has very little in the way of options. They have the produce and staples, but very little in the way of convenience foods or other things that run up the bill.

If a staple is on a good sale, we stock up. Our deep freeze is full of beans, flour, rice, etc. :giggle I imagine that there is at least 10 pounds of each in the freezer right now. :lol

We do hit the superstore every few months or so to get better prices on our staples. It rarely ends up saving us money, because we throw this, that and the other in the cart, too.

[Katigre]

We have a few cookbooks that we cook out of often and choose our recipes from each week (Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals 2--www.footnetwork.com has an index of her recipes to print out, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest--vegetarian cookbook from the 80's, and The Binder (clippings from magazines like Bon Appetit, family recipes, recipes i've printed from the internet like www.allrecipes.com and www.epicurious.com). We choose 4 recipes and write down all the ingredients for those we need, often not buying the fresh ingredients until the day we're going to make it.

Other than what we need for dinner recipes, here is what our 'staples' are at the grocery store (we don't buy all of these every time, just as we run out). Our grocer store has a huge health food aisle so we can anything organic that we want basically for the price of 'name brand' foods. We buy generic except where quality counts for us (pasta sauce, spaghetti, applesauce)

Milk
Eggs
Cream Cheese
Feta Cheese
Yogurt

Cereal
Granola Bars (we buy the expensive Quaker Oatmeal squares and stuff)
Instant Oatmeal
Individual all-fruit applesauce (Mott's Healthy Harvest)

Canned Soup (we buy the organic on sale)
Mac n Cheese (our store sells Annie's for 99c per box)
Spaghetti
Spaghetti Sauce
Canned fruit (a few pineapple or mixed fruit)

Seasonal fruit like strawberries, apples, oranges
Bread (we don't eat it much though so we haven't bought any in over 6 months)
Salsa

That's about it. We also buy a 'treat' when we go to the grocery store like pop or popsicles or ice cream, but it's not part of our regular food budget.

HTH!

[Mamatoto]

Here is a typical g/f week list for me:

Wal-Mart (every 2 weeks) (usually comes to $80.00)

All Free & Clear (once a month)
toilet paper
tortilla chips
organic salsa
organic applesauce
cheddar cheese
refried beans
Ragu
rice milk
black olives
pomegranate juice
wipes (sometimes)
lightbulbs
any toiletries like shampoo, razors, etc.
minute brown rice
Edy's whole fruit popsicles
frozen peas
needed items like socks, underwear, cotton shirts, etc.
Rice Krispies

Farmer's Market

lettuce
organic apples
avocado
tomato
organic oranges
organic bananas
green beans
broccoli
chicken tenders
whole chicken
ground beef (sometimes, not often)
Kirk's liquid castile soap
bulk rice (if needed)
potatoes

HFS

gluten free cereal
rice dream ice cream
gluten free pasta
gluten free brownie mix :D :P~
needed medicinal items

hth :)

[luvinmykidz]

We spend about $125.00 a week and we do most of our grocery shopping at WINCO FOODS. About $150 of that $500.00 gets spent on monthly shopping trip to Costco. Not sure how much it will be now that our little girl is due to arrive in July. I am trying to get DS out of diapers by the time she gets here. He is just down to diapers at nap time and bedtime now :grin

[TulipMama]

I don't have one right now. *blush, blush* Totally haven't transitioned into having a regular grocery budget again.

To be honest, that was one of my favorite things about living in Ukraine. Our income compared to grocery prices was such that I didn't have to add everything up in my head as I shopped and be super-duper careful with what I spent on groceries. My shopping limit was how much I could carry home, not how much I could spend.

Anyway, so I'm reading this thread trying to gauge what is a "normal" budget for groceries, and trying to align that with what our income is here. . .

[raquel]

Groceries....something I get aggravated over and sometimes come home feeling over the moon because I've saved money! Lol... We budget $170AU / fortnight for the 2 of us and sometimes I spend a bit more and sometimes I spend a bit less.

Anyway, I think the biggest thing I've learned and/or done since getting married is this:

1. Making up a menu plan and sticking to it!

2. Eating a percentage of vegetarian. I really have to have red meat because I have trouble with keeping my iron levels up just through plant sources so that keeps prices up a bit.

3. Limiting snacks to homemade things and fruit. We consume a LOT of fruit and homemade muffins and now homemade yoghurt since we bought an Easiyo.

4. This is a "new" revelation to me but it makes sense. Make meals that use few ingredients. The more ingredients in a recipe the more it's going to cost even if there is only a little of one ingredient. I'm trying to remember that and use that mentatlity with MORE of our meals but not all.

One particular e-book/booklet that I bought recently has helped a bit with me cutting down on grocery costs is: Simpley Centsible Suppers (http://payloadz.com/go/jump?id=117822&a=mmerach@gmail.com&merch_id=24447&aff_id=960) It's just a short book with 10 daily menus. But the advice given at the beginning of the book about menus, budgets, prayer and simple meals was helpful to me. Don't know if it would help anyone else but it was something I found useful.

[DebraBaker]

Um....over 250/week for seven of us.

:grin

db

[MomTo7]

I spend about $200.00 a week at walmart and get what I need for a family of 8 ( 3 in diapers).

[kalemommy]

We definitely do better with our budget when we plan meals for the week and then go shopping with a list. This is going to be a lean summer for us because I won't be getting a salary in July and we're moving and facing all those expenses. So...it may be that we eat a lot of potatoes and rice and a lot less fresh produce just to cut down.

We're also planning to grow some of our own veggies, but I'm not quite sure how the garden space is going to be prepared in time at our new house. We can plant carrots and radishes in big urns...that will help a little bit.

[Allison]

I have a strict budget of $100 a week. Some weeks I can actually do it for $90, but then I find myself back at the store for something I've forgotten.:\ We have four to feed (4.5 now and my appetite is unusually big at this point.), two dogs and a cat. I compare prices and look for sales and shop three stores, but Walmart is where the bulk of my groceries are bought. We get 10% discount at Walmart on non-grocery items (diapers, etc which are a part of our food budget). I cook four meals a week for dinner, two of which are vegetarian. I try to buy meat on sale. I feel like I've hit the lottery when I can get split chicken breasts at .$99/lb! I don't buy pork anymore. I do buy some ground beef, some ground turkey. I buy an occaisonal roast. Thursday and Friday we eat leftovers, Saturday is something like soup, homemade pizza, hotdogs, etc. Dh takes leftovers for lunch and a few snack items.
If had even $125 a week to spend on groceries I'd feel so. . .free!
I have the most trouble finding healthy snacks that the boys will eat. Goldfish is our standard because they don't have trans fat. The youngest loves fruit, but my oldest is hard to please. :-(

[Boys and Angels]

We are two boys, 11 and 13, my husband and myself. That includes a lot of specialty items, though, like low-carb, high protein powders and bars for me, vitamin supplements, Lactaid or Dairy Ease Milk, and drink boxes for the boys school lunches. And of course, I *CAN'T* buy the cheap drinks, because they are all sugar, so I buy juice or Propel water, which is more expensive. We also eat meat and fish often, which tends to run up a bill a bit, and lots of sandwich breads for the boys. They eat a LOT lately. I guess that's what happens when you grow 6 inches and gain 20 pounds in 6 months (my 11 yr old) or play baseball, roller hockey and volleyball every day (my 13 yr old.) Now I remember my mother yelling at my brother: "STOP EATING! You're eating me out of house and home!"

[Soliloquy]

We get 10% discount at Walmart on non-grocery items (diapers, etc which are a part of our food budget).

How do you manage that? I wish I had that!!!


Anway, tomorrow I'm going grocery shopping, and I'm going to plan several veggie menus and make a very detailed list from which I will not stray. I shop at Wild Oats and buy organic, so it's a bit more expensive, but I'll let y'all know if I can keep it under $70.

[Allison]

Oops! That was suppose to say employee discount! My husband works for a distrubution center.