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@Smurfette: My parents raised beef, so we don't have to buy beef and we get a years worth of salmon filets from them too. If we had to buy those each month we'd be up to $850-$900 a month.
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For my family of 3, I spend $150-$170 every other week (just food in the low end; adding paper products, cleaning supplies, etc. on the high end). So, around $340/month. I buy fresh fruit & veggies every trip. No organic. We shop at Walmart, which is considerably cheaper than other grocery stores.
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@StbHisMrs: that is so nice! yeah my DH expects meat in every meal. And I am eating meat and veggies. So we spend a ton for fresh stuff. We also don't have an extra freezer so are limited in what we can buy in bulk at Costco.
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@Smurfette: I'm over here wondering I'd I'm shopping wrong....lol we buy a lot of fresh stuff too but what we don't I buy generic and we totally clean out the house every week. I have no idea how to be cheaper!
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Around $700 for a family of 3 that eats . This also includes household stuff. This include breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks for all of us. It can definitely be lower by probably a $100 but not more than that. I've learned from past food posts that our family has a bigger appetite than most! We cook pretty much all from scratch / homemade.
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I spend about 300-400$/month for a family of 4 (although the 6month old doesn't eat much....yet). This includes diapers, formula, toiletries, OTC meds, cleaning products & paper goods. It doesn't include alcohol or eating out.
I price match extensively, buy meat in bulk then portion it out & freeze, shop at Walmart & RCSS, and cook 90% from scratch. I also really limit the junk/snack food to 1 or 2 items per trip.
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@Smurfette: I coupon & match coupons to weekly sales. I got a lot of stuff for $1 or free!
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@Smurfette: It certainly helps!! They don't give us the beef, we pay for it but I don't work it into our monthly budget. They give us the fish though! it's expensive to buy all at once, but it comes out less expensive in the long run. If you have a Cash & Carry near you they have the best prices (they best Costco) and the quality is great! We always buy our prime rib there.
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@StbHisMrs: oh man, free salmon - are your parents looking to adopt any adult children?
We eat a ton of fish (multiple times a week), which at $12.99/Lb + ($9.99 on sale) adds up. It is what it is!
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Last month we spent $850 at the grocery store. (That includes diapers and some toiletries too).
We started eating in a lot more but it's still costing us a lot while we learn how to meal plan properly. We bought 4 days worth of dinner and a weeks worth of breakfast and lunch today for $70 though! Trying to spend less.
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I said $500-600 -- that includes toiletries and paper products but not diapers. We get a few biz lunches out/provided but usually take leftovers and usually have one dinner or brunch out a week. We were probably closer to $700 before I started a meal planning program.
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So if anybody has an Aldi's nearby, I've been shopping there in an effort to save money and j have cut my grocery Bill by more than half! I've been impressed with the quality, too
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Gosh, we are at around $1000 every month and I have had a hard time figuring out how to reduce that. We have a 1 and 3 year old, the 3 year old eats about as much as I do and the 1 year old eats slightly less than that - they are big eaters. We eat out maybe one meal per week. My DH does the grocery shopping and most of the cooking and I don't think he is as enthusiastic as I am about cutting grocery costs. We eat all organic and almost always cook from scratch. We're getting better... I think we were closer to $900 for February.
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@yoursilverlining: I know, right!! My Dad is a foreman at for Alaska General Seafood, he works up there April - July and ships it all home!
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way too much as a family of four because our local grocery stores are expensive, and we buy mostly organic/free range/etc.
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@StbHisMrs: I spent a summer in college working in the cannery at AGS!
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@sapphire: Small world!! It's such a different lifestyle up there! That's pretty cool
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I don't know how you guys do it! It's just the two of us and we spend 175-200 dollars a week on groceries. We do eat a variety of meats (fish, pork, steak, etc) and we don't eat out for lunch (our left overs are our lunch.) This also includes toiletries, paper towels, laundry detergent, etc. We also shop at Walmart Market. We also do the fresh 20 which tends to be more expensive for us. I would be cool having spaghetti for dinner but DH tends to have higher expectations for food (oh and he probably spends 30 bucks a week on beverages like Red Bull, etc. Meh)
Eta: Just totaled up our monthly budget for Feb and we only spent 540 for groceries and 91 eating out...I am happy!
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@StbHisMrs: I buy in bulk from Costco and meal prep. I spend $100 at Costco and $100 at Trader Joe's. It's not easy but if we cut out complex meals that use lots of ingredients, we can usually stick to it.
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@Mrs. Pen: I just went to Aldi today for the first time and WHOA! I had to supplement with a small trip to Publix but I still saved probably $50!
We usually spend close to $800 per month but I am shooting for $600 this month. Attempting to cut back $50 per week... so far so good!
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@Smurfette: I'll be honest, I think a lot of it is cost of living. Even if I go to the inexpensive store, I am still paying $2.50 for a tiny container of grape tomatoes. My dad does garden so in the summer we supplement a little with fresh vegetables, but it's not enough to make a dent in what we eat.
Best we've done is around $700 a month. That includes regular grocery store, Costco for bulk proteins. This does not include food purchased at work/eating out.
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Family of two. We spend over $800 when we don't meal plan and track our spendinv. When we manage the grocery budget we spend between $700-$800.
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Upwards of $800 because we eat mostly organic - 2 adults and 2 kids
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@Smurfette: I 100% agree with you! I have been reading these polls for years thinking I was on the high end because I lived in NYC but I mived to PA in November and groceries cost the same!
I easily spend $1,000 per month on groceries for a family of 3. That includes breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as diapers and wipes. We drink coffee at home in the mornings too. DH always brings his lunch to work and I do at least 2x per week. We eat a lot of meat and salmon, which is the bulk of our budget. I've tried to make less $ meals before but DH always complains that there isn't enough meat.
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Oh and I'm also including things like laundry detergent, dish soap, ziplock bags, etc. if I subtract those things out though I'm still over $800 per month.
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About $75/week, so $300 a month?
I thought we were spending a ton, but I guess not. I'd still like to drop it down a little. I feel like I could tighten up to save $50/month if we really wanted to. No time to go shopping at multiple stores though!
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We budget about $150 a week for food (not household items, but eating out is included.) Some weeks if there are good deals I go over and stock up, but it usually balances out to about that a week. This is for our family of 3 (plus me being pregnant and getting more snacks.) I don't normally buy organic.
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@Mrs. Jump Rope: WOW I'm impressed! If I'm trying I can get it down to 100 but not below that, I need tips! ha
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@blackbird: I was having a serious love affair with Aldi for a while. But then like 50% of the produce I brought home was disgusting and I got some serious fruit flies from them and I had to take a mental break. I need to start shopping there again, and just wash everything RIGHT away
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We are a family of 3 + 2 part timers. We spend between 7 & 8 hundred a month. Ideally, I would like to lower it, and it was lower when I was doing the Fresh 20. I do know that groceries in our area are ridiculously expensive.
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We spend about $120-150 per week so about $600 a month. This is breakfast for 2 adults 5-6 days of the week, lunch for 1 adult 5 days a week, dinner for 2 adults 5 days a week. Plus I feed the baby organic fruits and veggies out of it. My DH buys lunch typically, so that is an additional cost and we usually eat out 1-2 meals on the weekends, if not more. We do buy a lot of organic and that does not include paper towels or TP or diapers.
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@swurlygurl: oh they vary BiG TIME! I go to the aldi in rich neighborhood and its good stuff.
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We are on a tight budget these days, so I typically budgets between $50-$75 a week. Then every few weeks we spend a little more to stock up on things like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.
We are a family of 2 adults and 1 baby. We cook mostly dinners and eat leftovers for lunches. I cook breakfast for myself every morning, too. We have started making our own broth with leftover bones and veggies, and drying out fresh herbs to use them longer. It's amazing what a difference these little things can make in the long run.
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I think a lot of this is dependent on cost of living in your area. My ILs have commented many times at how much more expensive groceries are in FL where we live compared to MI, where they live.
We spend $150-200 a week on groceries. Two adults and two toddlers. That doesn't include household items.
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We are just two adults, but I think we do pretty well. We have one "big shop" per month which is usually around $120-150, and the other weeks we usually spend $60-80. That includes household items/paper goods as well. We eat out once a week or so, but it's usually at a "fast casual" place like Chipotle, so maybe an extra $20 or so for both of us.
I cook every night and hubs and I eat leftovers for lunch. We don't do many processed foods and we don't usually buy organic.
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I think 800+ for our family of 4.5. DH buys lunch 4x a week and we usually eat out or get take out once a week but it has been 2x lately!
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I feel like our food budget is out of control. We spend $450-500 on groceries per month, but we typically buy lunches between M-F.
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Thanks everybody for your responses! Definitely helped DH and I. We typically spend between 800-900 a month, not including toiletries (paper towels, soap, etc.). I am at the grocery store at least 2-3 times a week because things are running out so we're not wasting food but we buy tons of fresh fruit and veggies, organic/cage free etc. Poultry and fish are our only proteins which generally are more expensive. But we are definitely going to be monitoring things we can maybe buy in bulk to save some money. Hats off to all of you doing it under 500!
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Groceries is $150/week for three adults (my dad lives with us) and DS who is 21 months. This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I cook about 5-6 times a week and pack our lunches
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We prioritize buying organic food as much as possible, so our monthly budget for food is pretty high. If I resist the temptation to shop at Whole Foods then I can spend just under $200/ week for our family of 3. We rarely eat out anymore since leaving NYC.
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