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Family of 3 (and now adding a 1/2 that's starting solids this week) I try to do under $100/week for groceries. That being said I was gifted ground beef in bulk (my grandma gave us part of a cow for Christmas) so I don't buy that and I buy chicken when it's super cheap so I usually have it on hand in the freezer. So I buy very minimal meat each week, just pork/turkey/ect if it's in the meal plan.
I do whatever I can do spend the least amount of groceries. I shop sales, I meal plan so I'm not buying a bunch of extras, I go once a week so I have fresh produce/dairy, I don't normally buy organic, I keep my brand loyalties to a minimum so I can shop whatever is the best deal, ect.
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Less than $500/month. This includes fresh and organic things, we cook at home mostly, and budget for treats. I guess the difference is that we're vegetarian and live in a low cost of living area?
ETA: family of 3. Our son is 2.
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I *think* we spend around $300-$400? Two adults, 1 baby and we have people over for dinner avg once a week
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I lump groceries and all home purchases together (so kids clothes, diapers, cleaning supplies and toiletries) and try to keep it at $250/ week but honestly that's tough for me. Granted I am spending a lot on formula right now. I am amazed at everyone who only spends $500/month!
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I read through all the posts, even though it is an old question resurrected, because I am always curious too. I am blown away! I'm commenting to give you a look at the other end of the spectrum: for a family of 2 adults and one food loving toddler, we budget $130/ month for groceries (10 of that is for buying in bulk) and $40 for toiletries and household items. We live outside of Philly.
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@brownepiano: Can you provide more insight into how you accomplish that?
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@brownepiano: What do you eat?? Would love to see your meal plan. I just spent $130 for *one weekend's* worth of food (granted we were entertaining but still).
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We are a family of 3 plus I am preggo. We spend about $90-100 per week on groceries - this is generally 4 dinners, all of my meals (L&B) and snacks. All our dinners include meat. DH does not eat breakfast and has lunch out every day. DD has breakfast, lunch & snack provided at DC.
We also spend about $50 I'd say on household items per month (we use Amazon Prime for most bulk items).
If I "did not care" about the budget I would say our grocery bill would approach $125/week.
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The families that are able to do less than about $700 a month amaze me. We likely spend about $1000-$1200 a month. Organic veggies and fruit often, but not exclusively. Same with meat and dairy. I should be more cautious with the budget, but I am not, and if we add beer and wine as a budget line, I don't even want to know
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@Mrs D, @hummusgirl,
I like to think we eat well! We don't eat meat every meal but we are not vegetarians, I make a lot of stuff from scratch (since I am a part time SAHM and have a toddler to keep busy), and we don't buy a lot of dairy products, or any alcohol. We don't buy organic because it is just too expensive. I only buy in bulk supplies that are significantly cheaper in bulk. I make granola for breakfast with oats bought by the 50lb bag.
My kid wears cloth diapers (just because they are cheaper... environment alone would not justify the work for me).The thing that has made the biggest difference for us is always having a meal plan and only shopping every two weeks. I plan out two weeks worth at once and go shopping only for what I need and basic staples that we use weekly (flour, sugar, eggs, etc). Then I try my best to not go shopping again until the next two week rotation. If we run out of something, we run out of it. This saves a surprising amount of money!
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@brownepiano: wow I thought we were doing pretty good in the $300 range, would love to hear some meal ideas you use since we are trying to cut costs!
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@hummusgirl I'll try to write up a sample 2 week meal plan later. We shop at Aldi too, which saves a lot and encourages me to plan for seasonal food.
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@brownepiano: I am going to try on our 8 hr road trip this weekend to SELL DH on monthly meal planning. This way I can buy meat monthly and drastically reduce my weekly trips. I agree...I think planning weekly leads to more spending...
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@brownepiano: please tag me when you post so I don't miss it
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@Bao @mrs d @hummusgirl:
For this two weeks we're having:
1. Enchiladas (using up beans, couscuos, homemade enchilada sauce, corn, peppers, and feta. I only bought tortillas and feta for this meal.)
2. Pizza (which will also use up leftovers)
3. French Toast (I save my bread ends for French toast)
4. Spaghetti Squash and Quinoa fritters with scrambled eggs
5. Hummitas
6. Green Chili Turkey Pot Pie
7. Pineapple Pancakes
8. Grilled CheeseWe're moving soon so I am trying to use up stuff in the pantry and save for moving week food. But I also bought $20 worth of apples to make apple butter. With some of those meals we'll have carrot sticks or apples or another veggie side although I try to cook veggies into our meals as much as possible because we don't like them as sides. I don't like planning specific meals for specific days because I am finicky about what I feel like eating, so instead I just plan a list of 6-7 meals, list them in order of when the ingredients will go bad (if there are fresh ingredients) and pick what I want to make and what fits with the time I have that day.
I make granola, yogurt, and bread each week from scratch. I also make muffins or granola bars for snacks. For cooking from scratch, I focus on the things that save the most and aren't labor intense. Yogurt and bread sound hard, but the actually cooking time is short, it is just the waiting that takes forever. I've tried making my own tortillas and while they taste so much better, the time they take just isn't worth it.
Some other notes: I'm allergic to cows milk, but can have goat cheese (which is expensive), so we use cheese sparingly in our cooking. With only 3 of us, I don't like to cook two different meals because of an allergy.
We don't include eating out in our food budget, but there are days I just don't want to cook, so I buy prepackaged stuff and save them for those days, which is usually just every Sunday.
I buy meat when it is on sale and freeze it for future use. If I see it marked down because it is about to expire, I always get as much as we can squeeze into our budget. But I also use half meat-half beans in recipes. If you chop the beans, you don't notice them as much.I could probably say more, but this is already super long.
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@brownepiano: Thanks for these tips! This is great information. I really need to either get DH on board with more meatless meals or get some crafty ways to lessen our meat budget! (buying in bulk/straight from a farm)
I'd love your granola recipe and bread/muffin recipes if you have staple ones you just add to. I struggle to find good basic granola recipes! I have an english muffin loaf recipe that is a fam favorite!
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@Mrs D: Should I move this to my wall? I don't want to highjack this board more, but I'm new to how these boards work.
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@brownepiano: you could create a new post? Or def wall me them - though I suspect some other ladies would love to see them too!
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@brownepiano: Can you tell me about how you make your apple butter and yogurt....we have a yogurt maker, but I am wondering about doing it "in bulk" in the slow cooker. Same with the apple butter...it's the third time we're picking apples this September and I am kind of tired of eating them raw!
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@Mrs D:
Here are the recipes I make every week:American Sandwich Bread (a basic white bread, but I use molasses vs honey. I buy the molasses by the gallon to use in granola too)
http://www.browneyedbaker.com/american-sandwich-bread/Molasses Granola (the easiest recipe in the world! This is something that you can make start to finish during a 45 min nap, or cook with your toddler like I do)
9 cups oats (old fashioned / rolled)
2 cups rice crispies (optional)
1 cup oil (butter, coconut, whatever)
1 cup molassesMix, spread on two cookies sheets or cake pans (I line mine with parchement paper that I reuse several times), bake @325 for 15 mins stirring once in between. If you want it more crunchy, bake longer. If you want it soft, bake for less time.
When it is done, break it up and add whatever mix-ins you want.
My toddler eats this for breakfast every single morning and eats just as much as his dad. -
@woodentulip: Us too!!! We set a hard-and-fast budget of $700 this month and are going to be over by like $50, which is the least we've ever spent
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@brownepiano: Thanks for this info!! I don't eat any bread/flour/refined carbs (we live on mostly organic veggies/fruits and poultry/beef/fish) so no way could we swing $130/month. That is INSPIRING, though.
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@Mrs D:
Oatmeal Muffins (another nap time/ bake with toddler recipe)
1 cup milk
1 cup oats
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-1 cup whatever mix ins you want (raisins are our go-to)Mix oats and milk, let sit 15 min. Add in egg and oil. Then mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl (or if you are lazy like me, just dump it all in and mix it up). Add wet to dry. Add mix-ins. Put in muffin cups (we use silicon and it has already saved us a TON) . Bake 15-25 min @ 425. My oven is super hot so these are always done in 15 min.
*you can always sub in applesauce or banana for the oil.
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@JoJoGirl: Yeah, if you don't eat grains, it is a lot harder. I love my breads, so I am glad they don't cause me any problems!
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@brownepiano: wow this is impressive! I think you live near me...maybe you should take me shopping sometime
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@looch: I made apple butter in the crock pot, two crockpots full! Fill with apples, add 1/4 water, 6 T lemon juice, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp salt. Cook for 12 hours on low. Then mash with a potatoe masher. Prop the lid open and cook for about 8 hours more. Done! I sometimes have problems with the edges of the crockpot burning, but once it is mixed in you can't taste it.
And for yogurt, I have a 2 quart yogurt maker. I usually make about 1.5 quarts a time because that is how much we eat before it goes bad. http://amzn.com/B002KBFO6C I know you can make it in the crockpot or oven, but this saves the guesswork.
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@brownepiano: Amazing...thank you so much for the info! I love browneyedbakers recipes - so I will def look this one up!
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@Mrs D: It's a good one! I save the ends and when we have enough I make french toast or bread cubes.
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@brownepiano: oh, that's cool with the yogurt maker, we have the one with the individual containers. I didn't know that type was an option!
Thanks a bunch!
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@Mrs D: One other thing, even if you don't cut meat out entirely, subbing in some beans makes a big difference. That's one my mom taught me. She makes taco meat using kidney beans and no one knows they are in there because she chops them up and cooks them in with the ground beef.
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@brownepiano: Good tip!!!!
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