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How much do you spend on groceries?

5K views 54 replies 39 participants last post by  mcgee 
#1 ·
And where do you buy them? I live on the central coast in CA. and I spend $650- $800 per month on groceries for my DH and I (our 5mo is non eating!)
I do most of my shopping at Trader Joe's and the Farmers Market. The sad thing is I don't even buy all grass fed meats and the only dairy I can afford to buy raw is milk. Butter I get grass fed but raw is out of the question! And I can't make dairy products out of the raw milk I buy because the milk is too expensive to buy more than a gallon a week - tops!
For those of you who spend less on groceries, how do you do it - and where do you live? Is it just the area I live in?
 
#2 ·
I'm also in CA, and usually spend about that much, we're 2 adults and 2 kids (who eat a lot!), 95% is organic/pastured. I'm rather lax with grocery budgeting, if I cracked down (which I really should) I could probably cut off a good $50-100/month. I buy a lot of dry goods in bulk from the natural foods co-op, often buy meat in bulk (like a whole or half beef, whole pig), and don't have to buy dairy because we have a cow (which is quite a large expense actually, but I'm not counting it in the grocery budget, her feed bill amounts to about $40/week and that's not taking into account the infrastructure costs we had like fencing, barn, milking equipment, etc. - we do, however, trade dairy products for foods from other farmer friends). I also have a veggie garden and flock of hens for eggs (same deal with their feed costs, I don't count it in the grocery budget).

I suppose none of that is very helpful for you. Do you have a natural foods co-op near you? IME, they're great for bulk goods, and usually have very good prices on other stuff. It might have a lot to do with your area. The COL on the central coast is pretty high even compared to much of the rest of CA, isn't it?
 
#3 ·
We spend about $650 on our family of four, two adults, a 7yo and a 2yo. I'd like to spend less of course but it is tough to trim it back. We've started buying beef in quarters, and hope to get a pig as well next year. I buy staples in bulk from either a co-op - or Costco, they have some organics. We are gardening but ours is not as productive as we'd like yet, we are learning though.

You might check to see if Azure Standard has a drop point near you, their bulk items are a good deal.
 
#4 ·
Our monthly bill is generally broken down more or less like this, with us spending more in the summer and less in the winter. But this is an average. We're feeding 2 adults and a voracious 4-yo. We entertain quite a bit as well.

Milk Share: $50
Yogurt, Butter & Cream: $40
Meat CSA: $100
Additional Meat or Frozen Seafood & Fish: $50
Egg Share: $30
Fruit & Veggie CSA: $200
Additional Fruit & Veggies: $100
Healthy Fats: $40
Honey, Salt, Spices, Grain and other odds and ends: $100
 
#5 ·
We're gfcf, egg free, and corn free. I buy a few things from Azure Standard. Can't buy much at TJ's because of cross contamination. We buy beef and pork in bulk. I think we are running pretty easily about $800 a month for a family of 3. Food is expensive here, too, (MN), about 30% more than where we moved from in MI.
 
#6 ·
For our family of 3.5, I spend about 150 or so a month. I lost my job in March and I am working on becoming self-employed. Dh has had his hours cut and it has been really, really tight on everything. I have had to cut back to conventional meats and dairy, but had too. I am able to get some organics in the bulk section and I am careful with the fruits and veggies I get. Oh and we live in Northern Nevada.

We have transitioned to a lot of bean heavy meals, lentil soups, chili and the like. I buy a couple chickens twice a month and roast them and make stock from the bones, getting about 8 qts at a time. We were recently gifted with a 25 pound bag of basmati rice and that gets cooked in broth and is super yummy.

Breakfasts tend to be soaked oatmeal with butter and salt, and a bit of cinnamon. Alternated with eggs. I am hoping to get some sausage this week to make scotch eggs--they are soooo yummy. Lightly hardboiled eggs, wrapped in ground sauasage and either fried or baked. Really yummy with mustard. They are actually quite popular in Scotland and the UK for tea.

Lunch for me is left overs or some sort of salad--big bowl of greens with roasted veg and cottage cheese or meat of some sort--most often though it is cottage cheese. I mix it in with the vegg and greens and it becomes like a dressing and covers both dressing and protien. Lunch for dh and dd tend to be natural peanut butter on whole wheat bread with fruit and veg.

Snacks tend to be fruit and cheese, or yogurt, or some sort of hummusy type bean dip or homemade mayo with celery (yum!) or carrots or some such veggie.

Dinners are soups and bread or chili and cornbread or roast chicken with roasted vegg and potatoes. Some stirfries too because I can load everyone up with vegg and the meat is just a garnish. I have really cut out any kind of waste and the fridge is really cleaned out. I would give my eye teeth to be able to have an $800 food budget, but right now, I just don't. I get wound up if/when the food bill gets close to $75. I make a list and stick to it like glue.

I shop at Costco for our eggs, produce and dairy. We usually spend about 30-40 there and that lasts us about a month or so. I do pick up a box of Cherrieos there
for my stepson for when he is here, because we are all up early and he is a late sleeper and I just can't hold breakfast for 3 to 4 hours for him and we are all starving. I would love to get more meat at Costco, looked at getting pork shoulders and should we have a bit of loosing of the food budget, that is my plan. Most of our shopping is done at a local store that has a bunch of bulk and is decently priced (WinCo) It is actually pretty amazing at the amount of bulk organics--same items that cost dearly at WF are much more reasonably priced there. We shop twice a month and dh has recently told me that with the tightening of our food budget, we are actually eatting better then before. And let me tell you--the idea of a processed meal is nixed right off the bat because what that meal costs, I could feed us for 3 days!
 
#7 ·
Way too much.

I don't add it up because I think it would be too depressing. We are grain and bean free. It's me, DH, DS (2 yo) and a EBF 6 mo. DS gets raw goat milk and I sometimes make raw goat cheese for me. DH does eat raw cow cheese. We got through a ton of pastured meat, eggs and nuts. We shop primarily with Azure Standard, local co-ops and I have a winter CSA share. I get a few things from Trader Joe's. We get our raw milk from a friend/farmer.
 
#8 ·
We spend 400 dollars a month (ok, actually it probably ends up being 450 a month) for two of us, in Berkeley, Ca.

All of our red meat is pastured, however we don't eat much of it. (maybe 1-2 lb a week between us on average, usually in soups or stews or other stretcher foods that last 2+ dinners. less to none if we buy a chicken).
we buy rocky or rosie chickens (slightly cleaner than say tysons, but pretty conventional. rosie is organic).
we buy pastured eggs, never more than 1 dozen a week (less right now with the winter molt scarcity.)

We don't do raw dairy, we can't afford it. We eat 1 lb of pastured butter a week. (organic valley cultured butter, I got oh maybe 50 dollar off coupons this summer for their butter, still using them
) and 1 pint straus cream a week (as a treat for me), and sometimes straus milk. (straus is about 80% grassfed, pastured when the season here allows it, and overall very good quality)

my employee discount helps: I get our salt for 1lb coarse celtic salt for 3 dollars, and when there are eggs to be had can get a good discount on pastured eggs (since those run 7-8 dollars a dozen here!!)

We eat a lot of fresh veggies, probably 70 percent local, 5 percent of the total veggies being organic (mostly just the dirty dozen). The reason we can afford this is we have an amazing store that I think what they do is buy bumper crops because they have wonderful prices on very top quality produce.

We eat some grains and beans (trying to incorporate more). We also menu plan, this really helps with our budget.

I think we might be able to shave off another 50 dollars a month by the following:
dilligence with menu planning, freezing leftovers and veggies about to turn, etc
more grains and legumes, more soups and stews (I would be happy to do this but it uses so much stock! I need to get more beef bones)
A costco membership: I don't have one because I don't have the upfront money and am not sure I would save money, because you always buy more than is on your list. however, there are some amazing deals at our local costco for things we use a HUGE amount of. (white vinegar, good cheeses (though we don't eat a huge amount of that, ok, actually, for the most part I think I would save more on cleaning supplies (vinegar and baking soda and soap)
cutting down on cheese (to almost none, because it is so expensive), and elminating my weekly cream (we won't do that, my weekly cream is very important to me emotionally, given its grand total of 3.50)
diligence about packing a lunch for me to take to the job that I don't get fed at, instead of buying lunch there. my employee discount still ends up being a half a reuban for 8 bucks and its only neiman, not grassfed!! thats partly packing partly an emotional issue though.

If we could had the money up front and freezer space for a meat CSA or split cow, we could save a lot more money. Far more if we had a garden. Even more beyond that if we had chickens. However, there is no garden and no chickens in our third floor balcony-less walk up.

We mostly shop at two stores: the local produce store I mentioned before, and a local store called berkeley bowl: a local supermarket with ok prices, high quality, and an emphasis on natural foods and products. We also shop at a local fish monger, local meat shop (I like berkeley bowl better though, they carry the pastured meats), a local cheesemonger, and occasionally small local ethnic markets.
 
#9 ·
I think we probably spend about $500-550/mo. We do our budget with household/grocery together (so things like tp and soap and whatnot are in there too). It's me and DH and a 19 month old still bf'ing. We live in SD though where prices on a lot of things are much lower.

We get 2 gallons of raw Jersey milk a week for $4/gal, a lb of raw butter $4/lb, and 2 dozen pastured eggs for $2.50/doz, all delivered to our door. Additionally I buy 2-3 dozen more eggs a week at $2/ea from a couple other people I know who raise chickens. The original 2 dozen was enough until I started cooking DH breakfast before he leaves for work in the morning, then I went grain free/low carb a week ago and have been doing a lot of things like frittatas (7-8 eggs at a shot) and such since I can't do oatmeal. That's still pretty cheap protein and the quality is excellent.

I go to our local butcher shop for meat once a month. Fortunately we are ranch land here so the beef is mainly grassfed and I don't mind a little grain finishing. No soy feed and no feedlots are my main concern. I buy maybe 4-5 lbs of ground beef, some soup bones and oxtail, and a couple pkgs each of sausage and bacon. Chicken-wise, my family raises and butchers a bunch every July so I have our good chickens about half the year. The rest of the time I get what I can get at Safeway, and if one of the better brands isn't on sale I don't buy it. I will occasionally buy steaks at Safeway too, and they have the Boulder brand of bratwurst and sausage with no MSG, nitrites, etc etc etc that are really good.

I think I spend too much money at the health food store. I have been finding a lot of the things I buy there online (such as at Vitacost) for significantly less money so I've been trying to move away from it a bit. Things like laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent, Dr. Bronner's, my toothpaste, DH's mouthwash. But I do buy bulk there, beans and oats. (Which I can't eat now.) I buy the organic bananas when they're overripe and 20 cents/lb. I only buy my apples and garlic there too, but that's all of a few bucks a week.

Basically I buy organic the produce that is the worst for pesticides, and we try to eat it very sparingly. I buy conventional the 'cleaner' foods to save money. I pack DH's lunch for work every day but 1 or 2 per month. I never eat out, myself (no reason to, really). I make all our bread since if I were to buy any I felt ok about eating it would be $7 a loaf. I also make our yogurt. I could do much much better with meal planning to save us money and need to work on that. I feel a bit better about how we're doing though after seeing it all laid out and comparing to some others on the thread. Thank goodness we don't live in CA is all I can say.
Eggs and dairy would kill me!
 
#10 ·
elleystar - I'm so jealous! Raw milk here is $7.99 a gallon! Pastured eggs are $6 a dozen! Which is why I mostly just buy organic ones at TJ's - we go through 3 dozen a week.
I wish I could figure out a way to eat cheaper. I meal plan and everything and it just doesn't seem to help.
We're renting a place with basically no yard so gardening is not a possibility........
 
#11 ·
We're in the Niagara region of Canada. We've been eating TF's for only for a few months now. We don't have access to much pastured meats unfortunately, but we do buy grass-fed beef. Because of my 13 month old's allergies, we don't use dairy products and when DH and DS 1 do have it, it's organic. If anyone else lives in this region, give me a heads up on your suppliers. I've been doing most of my research online and am coming up short on places to purchase pastured poultry and pork.
 
#12 ·
I'm in No.Cal too, and it sure isn't cheap! I'm single and spend probably spend $250-300 a month. I don't buy a lot of meat, and maybe half is pastured (more pastured beef/pork, but not as often with chicken). I shop the bulk bins at the HFS for bulk legumes/spices/grains/etc. I get specialty items and Straus milk there too. I shop Trader Joe's for Kerrygold butter, cheese, frozen fish/shellfish, organic chicken, Neiman Ranch bacon, and sometimes sprouted bread (oh and wine!) I occasionally shop at Costco for stuff like canned tomatoes, frozen wild salmon, sprouted or sourdough bread and sometimes cheese. Most of my veggies and eggs come from the Farmer's Market. I pick up some meat there but it's really expensive (Ferry Building). If I don't make it to the FM, I can pick up produce and eggs at Rainbow too, but they cost a ltitle more.
 
#13 ·
We get foodstamps and that is $400 so that is what we send per month. We have a family of 4 (but 4 month ds isn't eating yet, I just eat his share
)

We spent way less in the summer when we could get local produce, but I can use the foodstamps at the markets, my loacl grocery store and HFS.

We eat about $5 worth of meat a week, lots of greens, quinoa, rice, and only a few different types of beans due to allergies. Along side that we juice alot of veggies, make superfood smoothies, and eat nuts, seeds, and fruit on the side. We eat alot of simple meals, and I find that helps to cut costs.
 
#14 ·
I should add that our Costco membership is mainly for my perscriptions, that being about $200 a month (oh the joys of being diabetic and all the perirferals for that! as well as other health issues) and I do agree, if you don't have a list, it can get really expensive!!! We know exactly what and where things are and that is where we go in the store. I have gone to other pharmacies, and Costco has the best prices for what I need.
 
#15 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by dogmom327 View Post
Way too much.

I don't add it up because I think it would be too depressing.


Our monthly food bill is easily more than our mortgage. (Our mortgage is low, but still!) I'm very low grain (only once or twice a week) and DH is now GF. DS still doesn't eat much. I cannot eat non-pastured meat without inflammation and pain. We primarily eat organic because I just don't tolerate conventional food as well. My food allergies complicate things.

Our food bill is lower in the winter, because I try to preserve as much as I can from the summer farmer's market. One day we'll hopefully move out into the country and have a bit of land, so I can grow the majority of our produce. I drive 45 minutes to a farm every 6 weeks or so to buy all of our meat and eggs for my husband. I also stop at a bulk grocery store when I go to the farm and get the few things that I can there. Otherwise, I'm pretty much stuck shopping at Whole Paycheck (err, Whole Foods
) or other health food stores for the few other things that we get and winter produce.
 
#16 ·
$1000/month (2 adults, 3 children). Two of the kids and I have food intolerances. We went back to conventional meats, dairy, eggs because of the cost. I can't seem to get under $1000. It's ridiculous. We entertain some, not as much as we used to. But I'm always trying to figure out new recipes with the foods that we can have. There are only certain fruits/veggies that my kids can have, so we definitely pay more in winter for them. And I have to buy a lot of specialized ingredients. I shop at about 6 different stores a month to get the lowest prices (Asian market, Indian market, discount store, regular grocery, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Costco). I guess that's 7 stores. My DH is thinking about starting to hunt. And I'd like to get chickens. But not sure what the zoning is on that.
 
#17 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by simplykate View Post
elleystar - I'm so jealous! Raw milk here is $7.99 a gallon! Pastured eggs are $6 a dozen! Which is why I mostly just buy organic ones at TJ's - we go through 3 dozen a week.
I wish I could figure out a way to eat cheaper. I meal plan and everything and it just doesn't seem to help.
We're renting a place with basically no yard so gardening is not a possibility........
I know, huh?
This thread makes me feel positively gluttonous for buying 5 dozen a week for ten bucks. We actually plan to move away from here eventually. We are fortunate to live a few miles away from the awesome farm that sells the milk and eggs, but we can't afford to buy a house here (and don't really want to). Since we'd one day like to actually have a little land and keep our own cow and chickens and sheep, that is not feasible here. The cost of living is so high. But DH knows to tell me the location of every job opening he's looking at so I can research the availability of the 'necessities' first, hehe!
 
#19 ·
RE: Chicken Zoning--from what I have read and researched, if you are in residential areas, you can have chickens but no roosters, and they have to be 'pets' not meat... but if you are collecting eggs... you are caring for them right? that is how I see it. You also need to keep thier area clean, so no smell or not so much. Check to be sure in your area, but that is what I have found and from what I have been told by friends of mine who do have chickens--in Downtown Reno!
 
#21 ·
Ours is a lot too- due to food allergies, I can't eat grains, beans, nuts, seeds, or legumes or most dairy. So I'm pretty much eating meat, fruits, veggies, and the occasional cultured dairy. I have a raw milk share for my daughter. I spend a lot of money on eggs because we eat a ton of them, so I figure that they should be good quality, and our meat is all grassfed, with the exception of the occasional chicken we buy at the grocery store (which is organic) and fish. We buy a lot of chicken "parts" for broth as well.

Because of the allergies, I also spend a fair amount each month on good quality supplements for myself- CLO, calcium, D, magnesium, Vit E and iron, etc. Esp with calcium and Vitamin E, the supplement is, most of the time, the only good source I have that I'm not allergic to, so I make sure that I have top quality, heavily bio-available supplements.
 
#22 ·
Our is $400 a month for four, one of which is EBF and the other is almost EBF of late (I, as a result, eat like a horse and I still can't keep up my weight). We eat primarily local foods and seasonal ones, which happen to be organic quality or even higher standard, which we get straight from the farms, one or two local health food grocers, and our porch container garden. We also forage, especially for mushrooms, fruit, acorns, and nuts, which surprisingly cuts down the bills, even though its for fun. DH is taking up hunting and has fished, we also have an arrangement with the local PD to collect deer they have to put down (hasn't produced yet, c'est la vie).

The caveat is that we're definitely not eating low carb, gluten free, primal, or WAPF Traditional Foods (tm), and we have no food allergies or sensitivities to complicate our cooking. We lucked out and inherited mostly intact food traditions. My family has always been an old ways die hard sort. They may been predominantly agnostic or atheist for two generations, Protestant at least one generation before that, and still keep a few Catholic feast days (at least the food part), for instance.

So, our diet includes bread and pastry as a staple. We're not shy about coffee, tea, wine, or real beers. It's a meat and dairy heavy diet, game meat if we're lucky. If I weren't in an apartment and could garden more, I'd be canning and otherwise preserving a great deal. I'll also admit that I don't shy from some more processed foods, as the ethnic groceries seem to be full of them, and I'd rather have the particular food item processed a little than not at all. At least all the ingredients tend to be recognizable, if they're written in a language I understand!
 
#23 ·
we get food stamps so we spend probably $400 a month beyond that for 2 adults and three voracious children. We are gluten free, soy free and most everyone (one exception) is dairy free. I swear, most of that money goes to coconut products.

We don't do well on grains, so it's rare that we use them, but sometimes we do just because of the cost. Though I tend to go for potatoes when we get to that place before I go for grains.

We eat very meat heavy. I can't do pastured right now, so I do the best I can for abx free/hormone free meats. I get most of my meat from TJ's and whole foods. Although that isn't very sustainable right now either.

We do a lot of fruit and veggies as well. I don't do convenience foods for the most part though I will buy hummus pre-made if it's on sale, I do buy saurkraut instead of making it, and I purchase coconut kefir and yogurt. I used to make it, but I just can't at the moment. However I stock up when they are on sale.

I do a lot of eggs and I order directly from Pete and Gerry's. It's not the best, but I get 15 dozen every other week and they are only $1.50 per. That literally saves my life. I do quite a bit with eggs!

ITA on the simple meals. Although I do get into ruts now and again!

It's tough, that's for sure.
 
#24 ·
I have $300 a month to spend on all household expenses which includes food, tp, clothes, anything that's not a "bill." We are a family of four with the children being 3 years and 9months. We live in Oregon.

We also get WIC which I use to buy:
3 lbs of conventional cheese
2 cans of salmon
2 jars of PB
1 lb of beans
5 bottles of juice- used for making water kefir
3 packages corn tortillas
$16 fresh fruits and veggies
4 boxes of cereal

Occasionally I will use to buy conventional milk and/or eggs if I am out of money but need these items.

With my money I buy aprox:
4 gallons raw cows milk
1 gallon raw goats milk
4 dozen pastured eggs
4 lbs conventional butter
3 packages nitrate and hormone free sausages
2 packages nitrate and hormone free bacon
2 conventional whole chickens
4 lbs grass fed ground beef
1 liter olive oil
5 lbs wheat flour
4 boxes organic crackers for the kids
5 lbs of potatoes
about $15 of other fruits and veggies (on top of the $16 from wic)
Then I usually spend about $50 on whatever else we are out of- rice, coconut oil, spices, honey, coffee, tea, etc.

I save a lot of money with deals I find at the grocery outlet. For example, the kids organic crackers are only .79 cents a box there. A lot better than the $4 they cost at the health food store. I also found Niman Ranch sausages for $2.99 a package. They cost $6.99 at the co-op.

Also I said clothes are included in that budget but I should add that we spend very little on clothes. The kids mostly wear hand me downs from their cousins and dh and I wear a lot of old clothes. When I do need something I try to find it at the thrift store.

ETA: I should also note that my dh works for a local pizza place and gets free food so our family eats that 1-2 times a week. Totally not tf!
 
#25 ·
I have been trying to keep our budget under $100/week. We used to spend about $200/week but DH took a pay cut so this is what we have to work with just for food, not including things like TP/dish soap etc.

Up until this week we still had our CSA coming in with fruit and veg., so that was a big help.

I just shop the sales around town trying to find the best deals on organic produce.
We had to let our milk share go this month which SUCKS! So we are limiting our dairy to raw cheese and kerrygold butter.
We buy some meat in bulk and others from whole foods and vitamin cottage.

I have been avoiding buying grain-type prducts at all and that keeps our budget in check, just real whole foods and lots of eggs and cheeses and apples and oranges! Oh and turkeys and pork/hams from the local guy from last years stock are on sale right now, so that has been the deal!
 
#26 ·
I guess this will be my first post, as it's totally relevant to the conversations in our home lately. We're a family of 4.5, a few months in to TF eating. My midwife turned me on to it - so now we're eating meat, something that was pretty rare before. We've eaten organic and mostly local for years, though. We're in central Seattle, where groceries are pricey. I am struggling to keep our grocery budget at $600/month, although even with my new discipline it's more like 660, I'd say. That has included our $30/week CSA, which just ended for winter. It doesn't include the 1/4 beef or 20 lbs salmon in our freezer I bought cheap a few months ago. I usually preserve a lot from the farmer's market in the summer, but this year not as much thanks to morning sickness. Still we froze a bunch of berries, made tomato juice, salsa, fruit leather and canned peaches. We have a tiny city garden, but this year's only real producers were chard, cherry toms, and zukes. We gave away our 3 chickens this summer b/c they were just too noisy for our crowded neighborhood. Now it pains me to pay almost 7 bucks for pastured eggs - sometimes organic eggs if we can't afford. I bake my own sourdough bread - we eat a lot of that - PB, tuna or cheese sammies. We buy unbleached flour (mostly for feeding the sourdough now that we're TF), rolled oats, brown rice and sugar (using a lot less of that!) in bulk for the 10% case discount at our coop. Usually make our own yogurt, and just made my first batch of kefir. Since raw milk is 8 bucks a half gallon, I tried making piima milk. I thought we'd go half and half raw/piima milk to save money. I'm pretty flexible, but it tastes like watery sour cream to me and the kids, DH are not having it. Bah. Protein foods: other than beef, salmon and eggs, we eat tuna fish or canned salmon, cheese and 1 pkg bacon a week. This week I bought some pork chops too - I love beef but want a change every now and then. And we usually have ice cream on hand (I used to make our own...).
We do most of our shopping at the co-op - their prices on organics always beat the supermarkets. I hit up the grocery outlet once a month or so - sometimes I can find deals on canned tomatoes, nitrate-free sausage, crackers... I'm curious about Azure Standard - any other Seattlelites know about a drop point?
Disappointing to see that most others are spending about the same we do. Our budget is beyond tight. If I could find time to cook more (snack-y foods and to-go lunches esp.) on the weekends, plan menus ahead of time, and just suck it up and not buy organic exclusively we could spend less.
I am so anxious for the day we leave the city, get some land, chickens and a Jersey cow...
 
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