Hellobee Boards

@looch: I only shop at the discount grocer (Aldi) and I save money that way.

@DillonLion: I just looked up to see if ALDI is in my state, and they are, which surprised me, but they're at least a 45 minute drive away.

My husband is anti-ALDI because of their practices in Europe, so even if it were close and inexpensive, he wouldn't shop there (he does the grocery shopping). I am impressed by their prices, though!

@DillonLion: They routinely pay people very low wages and in higher COL countries, they don't produce any items locally, it's all imported and relabeled. On the surface it's fine, but the locals typically don't shop there because the store doesn't really support the local economy.

About $100 at the grocery every week, $150 every two weeks at Costco. 5 eaters...so about $700

My youngest is a big eater so our grocery bill has gone up a lot within the past 6 months!

@looch: The only way I could save money for real was to change the profile of what we eat. Currently it's all organic beef, fish, some chicken, and fruits and veggies. If we started eating tons of pasta, cereal, bread, ground turkey, and chicken, I could probably cut our bill in half.

We spend about 150 a week for two adults and one baby (he has a container of baby food everyday.) This also includes toilet paper, etc. I would love for it to be less but DH has high expectations for ingredients...
I should add that (with eating out) it comes to just under 200 but we also pack our own lunches.

@lamariniere: that's interesting, because I found food to be outrageously expensive in Switzerland as compared to both the US and Germany. I would routinely pay 14CHF for two chicken breasts, nonorganic from Poland, for example. In Germany, the same would cost something like 4 Euros. I think the Aldi situation in Switzerland is specific to the location. THey don't support Swiss dairy farming at all, they import all their yogurt and milk from Germany.

@JoJoGirl: I think you're right, spot on. I do think I could do more frozen vegetables, which do get a bad rap. Instead of spending $3 on a bag of fresh spinach, I could spend less than $1 when the grocery store runs promos on frozen veggies 2 for $1.

I usually do one main shopping trip and 1-3 supplemental trips, depending on the week. The main one runs about $125-150 and the supplemental ones anywhere from $20 to $50. We are two adults and a toddler. We eat mainly unprocessed, organic foods and have dinner at home 6-7 nights per week; I bring lunch 3-4 days and eat out the other 1-2; DH eats lunch out almost every day; and DD's daycare provides all meals and snacks. This number includes most paper and cleaning products, and usually a couple bottles of wine or six-packs of beer per month.

I'd love to lower this number, but I'm having a hard time because organic, (relatively) ethically-raised meat is just expensive. We'd like to cook more meatless meals but I'm having a hard time working ones into the meal plan that are tasty, reasonably easy/quick to make, and that DD might actually eat. She's not big on beans, non-orange veggies, grains, or pasta that isn't spaghetti. On the other hand, she eats pretty much everything at school and only a few bites at dinner anyway (unless it's fish or steak, and then she eats a full adult-sized portion 🙄). I have taken to buying a lot more frozen vegetables than fresh, though, because we were throwing out so much.

Yall are making me feel like I'm shopping wrong. Especially those of you who I know live in my area. It's usually about $200 a week. That includes toiletries and diapers. 4 us are eating. My 10 month old eats more than my toddler. But this week I went $100 over budget. So this thread is really laying on the guilt for me! lol

I don't really keep track, but I go to the market 2-3x for fresh fruit, veggies, milk and lean meats.. Our grocery bills range from $40-200 per visit just for food.

I really tried hard this month to keep costs down and managed to spend just under 350$ for 2 adults & 2 kids, and eating all meals at home for the adults. This includes everything (household/toiletries etc) except alcohol. If you divide by 4 it's roughly 87$ per week.

2 adults and 1 almost 4 year old - We're around $150/week, which includes toiletries and beer+wine. And food-wise, this basically just includes breakfasts and dinners. We all each out for lunch a lot. We could save a ton if I could manage to get lunches packed, but I can never get myself into the swing of it.

For a family of 6, three adults, three kids, I spend about $50/week at the grocery stores (Safeway, Trader Joes, Sprouts, sometimes asian markets). I don't buy exclusively organic. Household items, bulk staples such as pasta/sauce are from Costco. Probably spend $300/month at Costco. Restaurants ranges from $200-$800/month, depending on if there's some kind of family celebration or meeting up with friends. We do take out at least once a week and some weeks, two times. All depends if I feel like cooking.

@looch: @lamariniere: see, my relatives in Getmany/Austria do shop at Aldi/Hofer.

We spend about 100/week, but two dinners are covered by our parents. We are two adults, a toddler, and a baby who just started table food. No diapers as we cloth diaper.

$75-100, sometimes less, almost never more (unless I do a meat shop). LCOL area.

I buy most of my meat at an ethical but still affordable butcher, which costs about $60 for the two months (I budget about 4-5 oz each for DH and I a day). A lot of Aldi and we like to get our produce from a locally owned, independent grocery store because they have good prices and awesome produce.

When I have a busy week at work, I call a Trader Joes week, where we spend a week eating TJs dinners (except DD) with a side salad. I find it stops me resorting to takeout each night. This happens 2-3 times a year (including right now)