November grocery tally

[phathui5]

I'm going to make my first grocery trip for November today. I'm also trying a lot of coupons and just rejoined The Grocery Game. I was wondering if anyone else wanted to keep track of their grocery bill with me in November so we can all get an idea of what's a normal cost, what people are buying etc.

Give as many details as you want, total cost, # in your family. Keep a running total for November and at the end of the month we'll get to see what everyone spent.

[velochic]

I'm in. We were spending about $800, but I did some stocking of the pantry for the cold months and it went over $1K last month. I'd like to keep our grocery bill at about $600.

My tally for the month of November:

$64.27 (beef, chicken, gourmet cheeses, yogurt, wine, fresh fruit & veg, and breakfast stuff)

ETA: We have 3 adults (my mother lives with us and she eats A LOT, as does dh) and a 5 year old dd, who gets terribly distracted when eating, but will eat just about anything (she's more adventurous with food than any of us) in small amounts.

[fek&fuzz]

I'm in.

I have a family of one. (I'm not counting dog food).

Last month I spent almost $400 on groceries and food. I'm going to try to keep it at $200 this month (I may have to go above for Thanksgiving since I"m in charge of pies, but I'll count that separately).

I've taken an inventory of my freezer and pantry, and I'm pretty set for all staples, lots of rice, beans, pasta, tomato sauce, frozen veggies.

I took $100 out of the bank to get me through the 15th, and here's what I've spent so far, all locally grown/raised:
2 dozen eggs, chicken & duck: 5.00
1 rabbit, 4 pounds: 13.00
Farmstand, veggies & pesto: 20.00
Total 38.00

Need to buy: coffee (10.00), carrots (5), peanut butter (6), onions (4), celery (2), nuts (7) = 34.00. Bringing the total to $72.00.

The key for me will be bringing my lunch everyday to work, and leaving the debit card at home so I don't feel tempted to run into Whole Foods on my way home from work. I shop at WF, Trader Joes and a farmstand, so I don't do coupons.

I'm going to try to prepare some mini homemade frozen pizzas with pesto, arugula, onions, some parm. for those nights I just want to make something quick.

My downfall seems to be not being prepared so I just buy something or get takeout. And cheese - it's expensive and I eat too much of it if it's here, so no cheese except parm. which lasts a long time and I don't eat it plain.

[superstella]

I'm in. So far, I've spent $7.80. I just joined the grocery game too, so I'm anxious to start saving! I'll probably do major shopping tomorrow, today is dh's birthday so we're taking a day off. :

Total for month so far:

$7.80

[Rev1053]

Originally Posted by phathui5

I'm going to make my first grocery trip for November today. I'm also trying a lot of coupons and just rejoined The Grocery Game. I was wondering if anyone else wanted to keep track of their grocery bill with me in November so we can all get an idea of what's a normal cost, what people are buying etc.

Give as many details as you want, total cost, # in your family. Keep a running total for November and at the end of the month we'll get to see what everyone spent.

I want to do the Grocery Game as well but the only store available is Walgreens.

[superstella]

Originally Posted by fek&fuzz

I'm going to try to prepare some mini homemade frozen pizzas with pesto, arugula, onions, some parm. for those nights I just want to make something quick.

My downfall seems to be not being prepared so I just buy something or get takeout. And cheese - it's expensive and I eat too much of it if it's here, so no cheese except parm. which lasts a long time and I don't eat it plain.

That is a really good idea. That is my downfall too, I just don't feel like cooking so I don't! But dh and the kids still have to eat, so they do take out or whatever.

[fek&fuzz]

Past total $38.00
I just went to whole foods for carrots (2 lbs), celery, onions (4lbs), coffee, chocolate chips, walnuts, peanut butter, 3 spicy chicken sausages that I use on pizza and to spice up beans, quart of milk $45.00

Coffee ($10) and sausages (6.70), and walnuts (6.00) were the most expensive things, but should last a long time.

That leaves me with about $7.00 in my food budget until the 15th. We'll see how it goes. I have everything I need (which needs to become my mantra).

I'm glad because I stayed on list and on budget!

[aircantu1]

Oh, I'll play.

I went grocery shopping today and spent $171.08 -- but $94.63 of that was laundry detergent, toilet paper, razors, etc... We should be well stocked on all of those items for at least a few months.

So the food portion was $76.45. I'm hoping today's trip will last us until payday on the 15th (18th really since I always shop on Sunday).

And a couple days ago when I stopped for gas I ran in and got milk and graham crackers for my hungry, cranky kids. It was the healthiest thing I could find at the gas station. That was $6.01.

So I'm up to $82.46 for the month.

Oh yeah, there are 4 of us. Me, my husband, a 3 year old and a 5 year old.

[mtm]

We spend about $500 a month to feed our family of four (2, 5 and 2 adults). We do organic eggs, rice and soy milk but after that only hit the dirty dozen fruits/veg for organic. One of my guys is gfcf which ups our bill buying steel oats and rice flour etc. We try to buy local as much as possible. We shop No Frills and local fruit stands to save money.

[Marcee]

I will join. We are a family of 7. DH and my older boys eat alot. I have not been to the store this month but will chime in when I have some numbers.

[nolansmummy]

Our food budget is 427.00/month and so far this month we haven't done any grocery shopping.
We are a family of four, with the littlest not eating. Last month we tried to plan three weeks worth of meals and it did not work. This month we are going to just plan one week at a time. Hopefully we spend less.'
Edited ; we went to the grocery and spendt 15$ on some dinner, some water, and some desert. 11/4
11/6- 11.50 lunch and some juice, i'm sick and nothing we have sounds good.

[phathui5]

We're a family of 6; 2 adults and 4 kids. The baby doesn't eat food yet though.

I did all our grocery shopping for the week and then some (stocked up on things that were on sale to use next week). I spent $96.48 on $177.80 of food. This is after coupons and getting things on sale. Plus our Superfresh is tripling coupons (under $1 ones anyway) this week.

That includes a deodorant for dh and toothpaste for the kids. We're totally set for the week, so we won't be setting foot in a grocery store again until next weekend.

Total so far: $ 96.48

[Ygle]

I'd love to join in on this, but November definitely isn't representative of 'normal' for us... I always make a ton of very rich food that I never eat the rest of the year for Thanksgiving (like it's the only time I buy beverages since we just drink water) and since we are vegan that means we can't eat anybody else's food but everyone can eat ours so it ends up being the most expensive month foodwise for us by a long shot. We love making a major feast for Thanksgiving, and even though I always think I will have loads of leftovers we seem to gobble it all up before the holiday weekend is over every year.

[mrskennedy]

Family is DH, 8MO DS--who eats baby food, and me. We have $240 to spend on groceries for the month, and haven't spent any of it yet. We cannot go over this! So I hope DH's friend doesn't come to visit... He spends $240+ just for himself! : And we have to provide all the food!

[phathui5]

mrsk,

Why do you have to provide all of the food? Does the friend work? Can you have dh say something like "The grocery budget is tight so we'll need you to pitch in."

[my2girlz]

I'm in! So far I've spent $10 on groceries. I have $14 cash for the rest of the week and I'm sticking to it. It's like a game for me.

[Dar]

Just adding family size - one adult and one adult-size teen.

Oh, cool. I just went to the store for the first time this month., just to pick up a few things. I got half a pound of nutritional yeast, a quart of half and half, and a little baggie of honey sesame candies. Total was $6.98, including tax (yes, we pay tax of food here).

Edited 11/7 - went for a quick trip to get band-aids, and bought a gallon of milk,32 ounces of plain yogurt, and a dozen eggs (cage-free, although a student of mine who is in livestock management says this just means they throw 200 chickens into a room the size of a bathroom where they peck the heck out of each other, which isn't much better than cages...). Total was $8.01, not including band-aids

Cumulative total: $14.99.

Edited 11/11 - Big shopping trip today. We each got a "treat" - egg nog for Rain and smoked oysters for me - and we got Breyer's ice cream for both of us. Fruits and veggies are so $$ lately...

1 gallon skim milk
1 pound butter
1 slice ham (for pea soup)
ww spaghetti
ground ginger
raisins
pizza sauce (for quick dinners)
oysters
spaghetti sauce
bouillion cubes
tortillas
pretzels
Pad Thai in a box
coconut milk
Uncle Sam cereal (good in yogurt)
Canola oil
egg nog
Breyer's chocolate mint ice cream
carrots
sweet potatoes
regular potatoes
bean sprouts
brussels sprouts
ginger root
cabbage
turkey bacon

Total= $41.17
+ .50 for a package of instant Flan today, Target clearance (I love flan).
Cumulative total for the month - $56.66

edited 11/15 Bought half and half and two pie pumpkins on sale for $4.85 total... so $61.51now.

Edited 11/19 went out yesterday and bought 3 packs of chocolate chips and a pound of walnuts from Aldi, for $7 total, and then 5 pounds of apples for $7.50... pricey, but Rain loves honeycrisp apples, and $1.50 a pound is cheapish for them. So, $15.56 with tax, for a total of $77.07... and today I need to get milk and eggs...



Dar

[bwylde]

This is a great idea! I am trying to spend less this month as I have been stocking up too much and spending too much (actually, we spend a lot less than most people do but it's too much for our budget). We are a family of 4, big eaters and picky eaters :

I went to the fruit and veg stand today and spent $6. I bought 5lbs of bananas (only 27 cents a pound! We usually pay 75 cents), a head of lettuce, a bunch of celery, 2lbs of beets, red onions, mushrooms and a cauliflower. I couldn't believe how cheap it all was. I am going to buy a couple dozen eggs this week and some more produce as I need to eat more fruits and veggies.

Total: $6.00

[isosmom]

I'm in. We're a family of four, one on the way in a week or two (yikes!). My dc are 5 and 3 and eat about as much as myself and dh.
Really trying to cut down on expenses any way we can. Went to Costco last month and bought lots of staples, so hoping we can keep our grocery cost down this month.

So far for this month we've spent $48.94 on groceries.

[velochic]

My update:

I've spent a total of $82.01 as of today.

Most recent purchase:
Yogurt (we eat a ton of yogurt)
Carrots
Celery
Pot Roast
Knob of ginger
Scallions
Coffee creamer
Bagels
Cream cheese
Shredded cheese
Bottle of wine

If I can TRY to keep it under $100/week, including the little bit that dh buys occasionally on the way home, I'll keep it at $600 this month. We'll go elsewhere for Thanksgiving, so it won't be a significant grocery expense this year.

Also, we will be getting 1/4 of a beef next week, which will last us about 6 months, so this will be the last beef I buy for a long while and I will not include the price of the beef in this month's total.