$100/week grocery $$. - Page 2

[NewMama2007]

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[ambersrose]

I spend $100 a week on groceries for my family of four including toiletries. I am in the mountains outside of Santa Fe New Mexico. We have a frezer stocked with local beef and elk which we buy or have given to us yearly. I dont count this in my weekly budget. We are members of a year round organic CSA which is included in the $100 budget. I make my own sourdough bread weekly and I make our yogurt and keifer. I only buy hormone free milk not organic . I shop Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Vitamin Cottage (Natural Grocers). I buy things in bulk sometimes if the price is right but we have a small home with not a lot of storage.
My meal plan for part of this month looks like this:

1= left overs
2=meatloaf, potatoes, veggies
3=tuna steaks, quinoa, salad strawberries for dessert
4=bean and cheese burritos with salsa fresca and mangos for dessert
5= elk steak, wild rice, broccoli
6=chicken tacos with salsa fresca (we love mexican)
7=homemade pizza
8=left overs
9=roast chicken, mash potatoes, veggies
10= salmon, sourdough bread and salad
11= veggie lasagna
12=black bean quesidillas with salad
13=turkey pot pie
14=homemade pizza
15 left overs

Every Monday is some sort of fish/seafood, every Friday is homemade pizza or calzones, every Saturday is left overs. I plan a month at a time but didnt want to type the whole month out.

[Amys1st]

I track ALL grocery costs and we are averaging about $541 a month this year. But that includes factoring in $83 monthly to figure the cost of our side of beef annually, which is paid for and in my freezer. So we are about $140 with the beef included.

We are a family of 2 adults-DH and I, plus our two dds, aged 4 and 8.

post more later...

[nola79]

It can defintely be done! We are in a low cost of living area, though. I spend roughly $75-$100/week for a family of 4 (3 and a baby). This does not include household items or toiletries, though, I am working on that.

[karne]

I aspire to this, and can do it if I don't need any basics at all. But, when I need to buy supplements, ie COL, etc., that breaks the bank. My jr. high kiddo eats more than my dh at this point as well. It was a lot easier when the kids were younger. I'm not a fanatic about organic, but I do try for local at the very least. 100 dollars works well when we have a freezer of grass fed pork/local chickens, jars of dried beans, good canned tomatoes, and lots of organic oatmeal and maple syrup. Our chickens give us eggs, for which we are very grateful!

[columbusmomma]

subbing

[Magelet]

we're in berkeley, ca (high col), and do $100 dollars a week with pretty much 1 shopping trip. It's just the two of us, but we eat like teenagers.

We do a 1x a week shopping "rounds". We have 2-5 stores we go to (4 of them are within a few blocks of eachother), where different items are most affordable/available. We entirely shop at locally owned stores. It's better quality for our money here, may or may not be the case where you are.

We do sometimes do a second grocery trip, for the farmer's market, or fish (buy it the day of at the fish monger). (plus I do buy pastured eggs, and sometimes raw milk, at work.)

The biggest thing is meal planning. It helps us not buy extra stuff. We eat meat sparingly, because pastured meat is so expensive, and we don't have a freezer to store a side of beef. We do EVERYTHING from scratch (except rarely bread or tortillas or something). Dried beans, are nutritious and frugal. whole grains. fresh veggies. the most expensive parts of our shopping is always fat (butter, olive oil, coconut oil), but their so nutritiously important we don't skimp there.

Meals like lentil salad, hummus and whole wheat pita with feta and tzakiki, rice and beans and fried plaintains (a plaintain or two isn't that expensive, most of our diet is local, and it makes rice and beans way more interesting), migas (eggs, tortillas, canned tomatoes, green salsa), other egg dishes, curried potatoes with raita, really help keep us under budget. Find some inexpensive meals you love.

[wahm]

Yes, I do it for about $80 per week for a family of two adults and two kiddos; ages 5 and 12.

I garden extensively and do canning. If you want organic produce, it is the way to go! My fiance is a hunter so I have a freezer full of venison every year. I run out in August. This year, he hit a small deer, and rather than let it go to waste and lay along the road, it's in the freezer. I might have enough to get us through the year this time.

I coupon by buying things I know we will use when I have a coupon for it. This leads to stockpiling. Only things I know we will use, and always comparing brand prices with the coupon. Just because I have a coupon for something does not mean it is the better bargain.

I shop at Aldi's and their prices are hard to beat. Most of my shopping is done there, going only to Walmart for things Aldi does not carry. I make my own bread, so I must pick up those supplies at a bulk food store. That is not included in the regular grocery expenses.

We harvest wild berries, however, 3 years ago we started an orchard and planted blueberry bushes, grapes, raspberries, and strawberries. I consider all of those as investments which will pay us back over time. A long time, hopefully.

[caiesmommy]

We have a budget of 100 on a good week. We usually spend about 75 at most a week.

Their is dh, me, ds(3.5) and dd(17m)...and honestly they are ALL big eaters. We're vegetarian eat no dairy...only animal products are honey and eggs(for them..i hate eggs)

We buy our eggs by the flat and between baking and eating we go through a flat a week We can get a flat for about $5.00 from a local free range farm or we can buy a dozen organic free range from the grocery store for $7..no contest there

I buy flour in 22lb bags. And bake pancakes, muffins, ect all from scratch, no mixes.
I buy potatoes in 10lb bags when I CANT get them in 50lb bags..yup I buy 50lbs of potatoes at the Farmers Market for $15.
I stalk up on fruit when its in season-ie pick apples, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries. I freeze them, make apple sauce and dehydrate them. We're just getting to the end of our dried fruit from last season. I rehydrate and make blueberry or apple pancakes, muffins, ect.
I buy certain things off of the "cheap" stand at the grocery store(the soft fruit ect stand)..I've got romaine lettuce i the fridge I bought at 50% off 2 weeks ago and its still great.
We eat SOMETHING raw at every meal..usually whatevers on sale/in season
I buy huge amounts of hemp seeds from a local farm. Freeze them and add them to muffins, pancakes, on top of pasta ect for a great sauce of protein

We dont buy processed foods like fake meat, frozen french fries ect. We dont use paper towels. I use a diva cup. All saves money

A quick sample menu

breakfast-
ds gets an apple as soon as he wakes up giving the rest of the fam 5 min
-homemade oatmeal w reydrated dried fruit(apples, raspberries, blueberries) and pumpkin or sunflower seeds, a little maple syrup from our tapped trees
OR
-ww pancakes from scratch-same idea-dried fruit, seeds or nuts

Snack-
-homemade muffins-using whatever fruit that might have been cheap on the sales racks or if M-I-L gives me soft bananas ect and always a protein source in the muffin-hemp seeds usually
-and a piece of fruit split between them

Lunch-
-leftovers frm the night before
OR
soup made with leftover noodle, frozen veg, leftover beans from another night
OR
-scrambled eggs, roasted breakfast potatoes
AND
-raw veggies of some sort-carrot sticks, cuke, broccoli

Snack
-usually whatever is leftover from the a.m.-carrot sticks, leftover eggs ect

Dinner-
-last night-pinto bean soup with masa flour dumplings w olives corn on top and sliced raw veg
OR
-pasta w whatever veg is in season and cheap w tofu or hemp seeds
OR
-veg/tofu stirfry
OR
homemade alphabet vegetable soup-ds's fave
And on sats when both dh and I work until dinner its something in the slowcooker so we wont be tempted by takeout

I think Sun we spent 60 at the grocery store. We'll have to get soy milk this week and we'll hit the farmers market fri since its the first week its open at most well spend 40 next week So we'll spend about 100-120 every two weeks

[Denvergirlie]

Originally Posted by herbmama3-7

Thank you Thystle! You hit the nail on the head there with the prices!

I have a, like a lot/ not like at all feelings towards Sunflower FM, but yea some good deals have been found there. I Loath Safeway! I have found ways to shop @ WFM, but still I want to save more $$.

Oh yes the farmers market, it can be like therapy to me, until I spend $40 on spinach...

I too was going to recommend Sunflower as well, even vitamin cottage is cheaper than whole foods. I live up in Evergreen now, and still do most of my grocery shopping in Denver at Sunflower and Albertsons with some Kind Soopers toosed in as well. Like you, i avoid Safeway at all costs although it's of course the closest grocery store in evergreen.
I really cut costs by keeping a pantry and shopping/ stocking up on sales. In Denver we always had huge garden, but will remain to be seen how much i can protect from the deer/ elk/ rabbits at new place in Evergreen.

Even with the move, stocking up, sale shopping and shopping at variety of stores keeps me well in line of this price target. My monthly budget for groceries including all household stuff is $300, although we did just buy a 1/4 of a cow that lives in the freezer now, not organic certified, but was grass fed beef direct from farm in Kansas for $3 a pound.

best of luck to all

[BathrobeGoddess]

Originally Posted by Thystle

Well Boulder is like the "Berkeley, CA" of Colorado if that helps anyone visualize costs and "vibe".




Do you shop at the Sunflower Market? I find they are like a Vitamin Cottage/King Soopers/Whole Foods mix. Wednesday's are double ad day where last weeks and this weeks sales are good. Also keep up with the King Soopers specials.


Whole Foods and Safeway are the most expensive there.


The farmers markets will be starting soon, check to see if hitting the one in Golden might get better prices if the Boulder ones seem to be marking them up for the area.

Ding! Shop the Sunflower ad online and plan meals with it and then go shopping on double ad Weds. We do get a weeks worth of food for around $80 for a family of six, including food for 4 packed lunches each day and about 10 lbs of organic produce a week...I think most weeks we save almost as much as we spend by shopping the ads.

Good luck!