If you spend <$25 per person per week on groceries... - Page 3

[IngaAnne]

We spend $120 a week, not including TP, laundry detergent, etc., for two adults and one toddler who loves to eat. I buy organic apples, but usually nothing else is organic. Due to my son's large number of food allergies, we have limited choices. With the exception of snacks and bread, I almost always make everything from scratch. We buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies, meat, "safe" rice ($3/lb bag) that I also grind into flour to use for pancakes and muffins, "safe" bread ($5 loaf), "safe" bar/cookie snacks ($3-5 for a small box), and "safe" calcium fortified OJ or other juice ($5 for the week just for my son to have two juice servings a day, but it's one of his few safe calcium sources). The food cost of living here is only ranked 95, but I'd fall over from shock if I ever saw chicken on sale under $1/lb (or anywhere close)! I stock up when I see the "awesome" $2.99/lb meat sales. We do get whole chickens for something like $1.29-$1.49/lb, but it seems like the carcass and giblets inside make up a lot of weight. A four pound whole chicken last's 2-3 meals, while 2 lbs of packaged chicken would go just as far. It would be great to spend less on food, but at the moment I'm just content to keep my son safe and healthy.

[maryeliz]

I've done $50 a week for two adults and found it doable but not enjoyable.  My area has food costs of 106% of the national average, and the quality of the food you can buy tends to be very low.  Our farmer's markets are nice but expensive, and we have few ethnic grocery stores.

We bought very few organics.

In season fresh vegetables or frozen, whatever was on sale.

breakfasts:

egg on toast (homemade sourdough with homemade starter)

oatmeal

cereal on sale plus coupon

Snacks

homemade muffins

popcorn

hardboiled eggs

snackfood on sale plus coupon

lunch

leftovers

peanut butter sandwiches/carrot sticks (big bag cut into sticks), fruit on sale

homemade veggie burgers

We ate lots of bean dishes, pasta and rice, and whatever meat was on sale at the grocery store.  Summer was easier than winter because there was a larger selection of inexpensive fruits and vegetables.  I also tended to buy more prepackaged food that I could get super cheap on sale with coupons (33 cent boxes of brownie mix, super cheap frozen dinners or pizza), just because I found our diet so boring.  

[MindfullyFrugal]

1. Do you buy any natural or organic foods?

We selectively buy natural and organic. I am always actively looking for coupons for organic foods

2. What do you do for fruits and vegetables?  (frozen, canned, fresh? wide variety or just the cheapest stuff?)

I always buy organic apples, but regular bananas and oranges (cheap and in their own wrapper!). I do buy a lot of frozen veggies in the winter b/c they are cheap and somewhat healthy. We do a CSA in the summer

3. What do you eat for breakfasts?

Either cold cereal or oatmeal w/ almond milk.

4. What do you eat for snacks?

I'm addicted to pita chips and Nutella. I know the palm oil in Nutella is really bad. I'm working on it. :)

5. If you're in the US, how does your location's food costs compare to the national average? (go to http://www.bestplaces.net, search for your location, then click the "cost of living" link above the Overview table.)

My area is somewhat below avg for COL/food costs. As with everywhere, though, food prices are rapidly increasing.

Oh, and I try to keep my bill (including toiletries, household stuff) under $80/week, which is $20/week/person for my family of 4.

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by IngaAnne 

We spend $120 a week, not including TP, laundry detergent, etc., for two adults and one toddler who loves to eat. I buy organic apples, but usually nothing else is organic. Due to my son's large number of food allergies, we have limited choices. With the exception of snacks and bread, I almost always make everything from scratch. We buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies, meat, "safe" rice ($3/lb bag) that I also grind into flour to use for pancakes and muffins, "safe" bread ($5 loaf), "safe" bar/cookie snacks ($3-5 for a small box), and "safe" calcium fortified OJ or other juice ($5 for the week just for my son to have two juice servings a day, but it's one of his few safe calcium sources). The food cost of living here is only ranked 95, but I'd fall over from shock if I ever saw chicken on sale under $1/lb (or anywhere close)! I stock up when I see the "awesome" $2.99/lb meat sales. We do get whole chickens for something like $1.29-$1.49/lb, but it seems like the carcass and giblets inside make up a lot of weight. A four pound whole chicken last's 2-3 meals, while 2 lbs of packaged chicken would go just as far. It would be great to spend less on food, but at the moment I'm just content to keep my son safe and healthy.

I wanted to mention bone broths as an additional calcium source.  Do you do this?  If not, you should, and you can cook his rice in it, and lots of other stuff!  Obviously great for soups, but I use it in so much more...

If you need to know how to do it correctly (to get all the calcium/good stuff out), ask, or visit the Traditional Foods Forum!

[umsami]

We do.   We're a family of six--although #6 is still breastfed. :)  

1. Natural or Organic foods--only when on sale.  I'd love to buy more fruit/veggies that were Organic, but we simply can't afford to.

2.  We generally buy fresh, some frozen.  Tend to buy at warehouse stores or farmer's markets, because we eat a lot throughout the week.

3.  Cereal, homemade pancakes, eggs, etc.  Typical breakfast foods.  On Saturdays, I make homemade popovers that we serve with turkey sausage.

4.  Snacks--for the kids, I make a lot of muffins.  Oatmeal applesauce, banana, etc.  We eat fruit for snacks as well.  If I made pancakes for breakfast, then we'll put peanut butter or sometimes even Nutella (yum) on a pancake as a snack.

5.  Cost of living is 7.07% higher than the rest of the U.S.

$150/week is our total food budget period.  We don't eat out... maybe 1x/month.  Everything is pretty much made from scratch.  It's really tough.  I was trying to buy my gas with that money too, but now that it costs almost $70 to fill up my car, not realistic anymore.

Originally Posted by laurac5 

1. Do you buy any natural or organic foods?

2. What do you do for fruits and vegetables?  (frozen, canned, fresh? wide variety or just the cheapest stuff?)

3. What do you eat for breakfasts?

4. What do you eat for snacks?

5. If you're in the US, how does your location's food costs compare to the national average? (go to http://www.bestplaces.net, search for your location, then click the "cost of living" link above the Overview table.)

My family of 2 adults and 1 toddler (who eats 1/4-1/2 an adult serving) is stuck at $75ish a week (although that includes non-food items) and I'm looking for some ways to shave that down a bit.  Our food cost of living is 109% the national average.

Update: Changed the post title to be cost per person... I definitely did not think about the fact that for a family of 4, $50/week  would be incredibly tight!

Thanks!

[Wolfcat]

We spend just under $400/mo not counting shipping (I buy some foods online that we can't get locally).

1. Do you buy any natural or organic foods? We buy a lot of whole foods. I don't buy organic much.

2. What do you do for fruits and vegetables?  (frozen, canned, fresh? wide variety or just the cheapest stuff?) Frozen, mostly, cuz we can stock up on sales and they don't go bad. We also make it a point to try something new once a month or more.

3. What do you eat for breakfasts? Oatmeal and eggs

4. What do you eat for snacks? We eat FiberOne bars, popcorn, cheese.

5. If you're in the US, how does your location's food costs compare to the national average? (go to http://www.bestplaces.net, search for your location, then click the "cost of living" link above the Overview table.) We are 24.80% Lower than the U.S. average