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We have 3 kids ages 8, 4, 2 and the youngest are on gluten free diets. Â I don't want to know how much I spend on groceries. Â It feels like I am going to the store every 2-3 days to get fruit or almond milk. Â I was talking to a friend the other day and were agreed that the kids are always hungry!! Â I wonder of they would stop eating so much if we fed them junk food. :)Â
We are a family of 3 and our DS is 4 years old. We are on a gluten-casien-soy free diet and rarely eat out. I try to buy at least the dirty dozen organic and organic meat (although DH does the shopping now so I'm not sure what he is getting). We average $1100 in groceries. We mostly purchase from Whole Foods, Trader Joes and online. I know, its nuts! We all have our own ways of spending money that people question, this would be ours.
We are a family of 5, with 3 kids who are 6, 4 and 2. Our groceries usually run about $1200. My 2 youngest ones eat mostly yogurt and organic mac and cheese and organic pizza's (which they usually get once a week). I am trying my hardest to get them to branch out but they are just so stubborn. Although my son will eat veggie spaghetti. I hate buying all this boxed stuff so I even make my own homemade organic mac and cheese which my oldest devours but they won't touch it. My oldest has a much more varied diet. My dh has a wheat/gluten sensitivity so lately we are buying most everything gluten free. We all eat veggies and fruits and those I also buy organic.Â
We are a family of 5, with 3 kids who are 6, 4 and 2. Our groceries usually run about $1200. My 2 youngest ones eat mostly yogurt and organic mac and cheese and organic pizza's (which they usually get once a week). I am trying my hardest to get them to branch out but they are just so stubborn. Although my son will eat veggie spaghetti. I hate buying all this boxed stuff so I even make my own homemade organic mac and cheese which my oldest devours but they won't touch it. My oldest has a much more varied diet. My dh has a wheat/gluten sensitivity so lately we are buying most everything gluten free. We all eat veggies and fruits and those I also buy organic.Â
My thoughts are that if it's not in the house, and they get hungry enough, they will eat something else. This just gets harder and harder to break these habits, better now than later when they are pre-teens.Â
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(This is said very kindly...) I don't understand how so many of you can spend so much on food. I'm guessing that many of you make more than we do, because a $1200 grocery bill would be more than a quarter of our gross income. It's probably more about me being uber-frugal than anything. As I sit here with my slow-cook oatmeal with cranberries bought in bulk and butter on sale. :) I honestly wish I could up our budget a bit to allow some more grass fed meat in.
i remember reading someplace (maybe in a book i have) that in america we spend less on food then pretty much anywhere else in the world. and we value food alot less. like we won't spend what it truly cost to grow and raise food. and for the most part we do not, alot of what we eat is subsidized by the government. unless you make a choice to shop at the farmers markets, you are really getting a steal on food. i mean even in apple country (maine) when i would go to the grocery store to buy apples i could get them for $1.00 a pound from washington or new zealand but if i went to the farmers market and got apples from a local grower it was well over $2.00 a pound sometimes closer to three and it was apple season.Â
you have to make a choice what is most important. shelter, food and water and clothing. BUT i know of people who spend more time picking out a cell phone and cell phone package then they do on what they eat. you spend $400.00 a month on food and $500.00 a month on cable, internet and phone service. seems a bit backwards to me. (not any one of YOU do i mean in the YOU i just said, sort of a general you... you understand. lol)
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we do buy local and grass fed beef when we can, i buy organic and i make most of what we eat but i still spend $1000.00 a month for a family of 7. that just under 1/4 of what dh makes. BUT i personally feel it is worth every penny because i believe it is important to feed my family well to keep them healthy and it is important that they enjoy and love good food. alot of stuff from scratch doesn't take much longer to make then the boxed stuff anyway. at least that is what i have found. i have a few quick cook recipes that are in my head at all times and we have the stuff for me to make them in the house so if i am not in the mood to whip up some fancy dinner then i can make homemade mac and cheese or pizza, or risotto, etc. throw in a salad and some steamed vegetables and tada great simple dinner that takes really no time to make.Â
but i am rambling now. lol
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i remember reading someplace (maybe in a book i have) that in america we spend less on food then pretty much anywhere else in the world. and we value food alot less. like we won't spend what it truly cost to grow and raise food. and for the most part we do not, alot of what we eat is subsidized by the government. unless you make a choice to shop at the farmers markets, you are really getting a steal on food. i mean even in apple country (maine) when i would go to the grocery store to buy apples i could get them for $1.00 a pound from washington or new zealand but if i went to the farmers market and got apples from a local grower it was well over $2.00 a pound sometimes closer to three and it was apple season.Â
you have to make a choice what is most important. shelter, food and water and clothing. BUT i know of people who spend more time picking out a cell phone and cell phone package then they do on what they eat. you spend $400.00 a month on food and $500.00 a month on cable, internet and phone service. seems a bit backwards to me. (not any one of YOU do i mean in the YOU i just said, sort of a general you... you understand. lol)
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we do buy local and grass fed beef when we can, i buy organic and i make most of what we eat but i still spend $1000.00 a month for a family of 7. that just under 1/4 of what dh makes. BUT i personally feel it is worth every penny because i believe it is important to feed my family well to keep them healthy and it is important that they enjoy and love good food. alot of stuff from scratch doesn't take much longer to make then the boxed stuff anyway. at least that is what i have found. i have a few quick cook recipes that are in my head at all times and we have the stuff for me to make them in the house so if i am not in the mood to whip up some fancy dinner then i can make homemade mac and cheese or pizza, or risotto, etc. throw in a salad and some steamed vegetables and tada great simple dinner that takes really no time to make.Â
but i am rambling now. lol
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Mamaofthree-I definately agree with you in many of you points!Â
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Most of our veggies come from a local farm stand. I get fresher, tastier, organic veggies from him for cheaper than I could find regular ones at the grocery store, and I know I'm supporting a worthy cause. This time of year, most of our apples come from MIL's tree, we get a few dozen eggs from her, some from somebody local, and the rest at the grocery store.
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I don't buy boxed for the most part, bake about 1/3 of our bread, we do eat bananas, regular meat most of the time (occasional grass fed/organic), we drink non-organic non-rbst milk, and like I said in a post above our biggest splurge is cold cereal (chex, cheerios, sometimes organic, etc). This week I managed to get 4lbs of Tillamook cheddar for $8, and 10lbs of oranges for $8, I really bargain shop.
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I'm a lady that does know the value of our food, I follow NT ways of cooking most of the time, can a lot of our own foods, I'm a shade-tree herbalist and a respiratory therapist, I've taken nutrition classes, we eat the best way we can most of the time.
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Our internet, cable, landline, 3 cell phones come up to less than $200 a month. We thrift store shop unless I find a very good bargain on clearance, we cloth diaper, and have only occasionally had a new piece of furniture. We don't have car payments. I'm pretty sure our dollars are being spent as well as we can, I think that net pay can only go so far, and there are other bills to pay. I WISH we could spend more on better meat, and I wish there was more time in the world to do even more. Hee hee, guess I'd better get busy on this pumpkin butter (cooked the sugar pie pumpkin last night), and pickled beets!
Hmmm, well we're sort of in the middle of the ranges here. I'm in a major city, do have good farmer's markets, although they're not inexpensive by any stretch, and have Trader Joe's, conventional grocery that rarely does coupons and Whole Foods. We eat vegetarian at home, organic on some fruits/veggies but not all, and hormone-free but not organic milk. (Kids drink very little milk, neither likes it, so it never seems worth it to bother with organic milk when it's such a minor blip of our diets.) We do eggs (Trader Joes/farmer's market depending on cost) and cheese and yogurt. With diapers and cleaning supplies and pet supplies, I'd say we're at about $800/month.
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We can keep it lots lower when need be, have a decent pantry. When we had trouble with DHs business (big client 6 months late on paying), I did simple menus, ate from the pantry and we were extra careful about using leftovers, and taking lunches rather than buying out. With careful planning of that type and a less varied diet, I got to just under $500/month for two months. But I couldn't do that on a normal basis, because I wasn't restocking the pantry or anything.Â
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I think the "how much are these staples at your local stores" threads are very useful in gauging pricing for different areas. As are the "what are your staples?" questions.
Too much for a family of 3! It's recently come to my attention that we always blow way past our "budget." Last month I managed to spent over $800. This month when I did a spot check (after tallying up last month's disaster), it was already at $580...this needs to go down! We hardly eat out; my husband usually eats out once a week at work but we're cutting back on that. No more mineral water either :( and no more telling my husband that if he wants to try a certain product at the store, he might as well. I know some of our expenses are due to stocking up...we bought either 50 lbs or 100lbs of beans last month in bulk (two kinds that were either in quantities of 25lbs or 50, I can't remember) so that was $87 extra dollars spent that month. The rest of it is just general groceries. the problem I guess is that while I don't buy much organic for vegetables or fruits, it's a much higher priority for me to buy it for meats and eggs. I used to get it at a farm (which was also rather expensive) but that farm closed and I haven't found a new one. Once we have a house and have a big freezer, we'll buy our meat in bulk too and that should (hopefully!) cut back on the cost. We already eat at least 2 meatless meals a week and I make everything but bread from scratch. December will be our major test to see if we're able to keep in budget. I've even increased it by $100 but we're still already over it for this month!
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"I'm pretty sure our dollars are being spent as well as we can, I think that net pay can only go so far, and there are other bills to pay. I WISH we could spend more on better meat, and I wish there was more time in the world to do even more." Â
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That's where I'm trying to get to. I want to spend my food dollars as well as I can, and I think I spend them, um, not that well. 
 Even in an EU nation with much better food regs and a healthier food culture than we have here, I think that a family with the equivalent of $500/month budgeted just for their groceries (no eating out, no random household items) is probably living high on the hog if they are spending their food dollars well.Â
We are a family of 3 (almost 4) and spend about 1200 a month on food (including going out for dinner). Â We try to buy local, organic food 99% of the time. Â It is expensive, Â but we make it a priority. I'd like to get new bedroom furniture, update the kitchen a little, etc. but buying good food is more important for our family at this time.
We spend about $450/month for a family of 4 (toddler and preschooler) and thats roughly cut in half of what we spent a year ago.   I have rearranged our priorities a little. I ran up some debt a couple years ago trying to fund my organic lifestyle. I'd spend what we had and then put the rest on the card. But then the card was full and now what? So i started planning meals around the sales flyers and this past summer I got really good at couponing. We don't BUY organics anymore, other than the organic produce we eat out of our garden in the summer. We have a humungous raspberry patch and apple and pear trees and buy 50lbs of blueberries to last thru winter. I hope to have chickens this spring, and expand my garden to can and freeze more for winter. And next year we will hopefully have a side of beef and pork for the freezer.Â
I have started stockpiling staples and toiletries (seriously rite aid has supplied many free items for my pantry. I have enough toothpaste, floss, contact solution, shampoo, and diapers to last a long while)
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While i sometimes feel bad that we have more conventional items in our pantry, I feel good that we are surviving in this economy and that i am saving a lot of money and cutting out frivolous spending.
Since I went back to grad school this August and took a big income hit, I've tried to really tighten up the food budget. It's just DS and I, and I've been spending about $250 - $300 per month on groceries (including toiletries and cleaning supplies), with another $100 per month on bars, restaurants and the occasional lunch out. I feel like we eat quite well, and I'm happy that I'm able to budget that extra amount for going out -- as a single working grad student, having some time for fun out with friends is important to my mental health.
I do a lot of big pot cooking, where I'll make a big curry or pot of soup and DS and I will eat off that for a few days, or I'll freeze some for later. We both love lentil soup, which costs something like 15 cents per serving.
Breakfast is usually cereal, oatmeal, eggs or homemade muffins (kept in the freezer) and fruit. Lunch is leftovers, sandwiches, tacos, that kind of thing, and DS always have a little container of cut up fruit in his lunch box. For dinner, it's whatever. Sometimes I cook a big meal, sometimes it's scrambled eggs. :)Â we eat a lot of fish, a tiny bit of chicken and no red meat.
Also, I feel like one of the biggest things is I've worked really hard to eliminate food waste. When money was looser, I'd just kind of randomly buy stuff, and a lot of it went bad. Now I've got it down to sort of a science. I have a really good idea, for example, of how much fruit we go through every week, and I get that. I might not do hard meal plans, but I have dishes in mind when I buy vegetables, and I make sure I use them up. I might get fresh fish if I know I'll have time to cook it in the next day or two, but otherwise I buy frozen chicken and fish, or buy it fresh and put it right in the freezer. I always do a quick inventory before I go to the store.
 That $250-ish per month has room for some treats when it's just one adult and one toddler. I'm slightly addicted to those La Croix sparkling waters. I don't buy organic produce on a grad student budget, but I do buy organic milk, eggs and chicken. We get decent bread ($2.50 per loaf rather than 99 cents). I've cut out a lot of the convenience foods, but I still get granola bars and a few other things like that. I don't drink a lot, but I like having some beer or wine on hand. I also love having friends over for dinner a couple of times a month.
I know I could pretty easily cut that food budget by a significant amount (and basically eliminate all of the bar/restaurant budget). On most shopping trips, I can identify about $15 worth of stuff that I wouldn't get if money were painfully tight. But in general, I'm happy with my current grocery budget. I feel like it's frugal without being depressing.
