How much is your monthly grocery budget? - Page 4

[BurtsGirl]

We're around $400 a month for me, DW and 80lb Rascal. Like other's sometimes it's more, sometimes a little less.

[OkiMom]

When I was back in So. Cali I was feeling 3 adults (DH, Myself and my brother) three meals a day on less than 150 a month. That includes feeding two cats and whenever we had guests. I use to be able to shop sales and stockpile..

We live in Okinawa right now and I spend about 300 a month on food and household items. That is for a pregnant person, a toddler who never stops eating and a man who can eat his weight in food every day. We have a very large (Huskey) dog and a cat. We dont' eat as well as we use to but we still do what we can. A good fact though I just found out why our veggies/frusts are so expesive, they are all organic. So I guess we do eat organic we just dont' realize it. I do get WIC now which I didn't before so that probably saves me around 100-150 a month depending on what we decide to get (I could never drink all the juice they give you). This is for three meals a day and whatever snacks DD wants to eat during the day.

[grniys]

Originally Posted by briansmama

Seriously? How are you doing this? So Cal is so expensive!

I shop on base at the comissary since my dh is military. I use coupons (though sadly not nearly as much as others here at MDC do! Though I would love to). I shop sales and I've just began buying in bulk- though only when it's a better deal and I know I'll use the item. I also meal plan most of the time.

[nolansmummy]

We spend about 700 i would say. Sometimes less if we eat out more. That is for a family of four, and includes toiletries and diapers and home supplies.

[Citymomx3]

We spend about $700 (food + cleaners, toiletries, paper goods, etc). We are a family of 5 (me, dh, 14yog, 12 yog, 7yob) and we live in NYC. I shop once a week, at one supermarket, and try to keep the weekly total at no more than $150-180. 90% of my groceries are sale items.

[janerose]

$200 -- regular budget from DH pay
$100 -- WIC
$50-$150 -- Pay from my pt job...but this really varies...some months it is nothing, some months more. Also, this is *after* I've paid the babysitter out of my check...

So, $350-$450, but only $250-$350 of that is out of pocket. Which is great, because without WIC I really don't know how we'd afford milk, juice, eggs, etc.

What I need to cover with that is:
~ groceries
~ copays for scripts -- $9/mo
~ diapers -- varies from $20-$40/mo....We CD pt, but DD2 has a really awful time with rashes in CD...
~ toiletries
~ household items (detergent, cleaners, light bulbs, etc)
~ cat food & litter -- $20/mo
~ stamps -- $9/mo
~ TP & ppr twl -- $6/mo ....We also do mostly family cloth & have cut way back on ppr twl, but we do still use some....

We are a family of 4. The girls eat tons of fruit & veggies, which is hard, but I've pretty much cut out meat unless there is a super sale. DH is also a big eater, so that can be challenging. I cook mostly from scratch, shop sales, use coupons, have learned my prices, etc.

I felt awful this past week because I spent more like $160 for my biweekly shopping than my budgeted $100. It was just one of those weeks where everything seemed to run out at once!

[ksera05]

$300-350 a month right now - DH, me, 2 year old DD with a lot of allergies, and 7 month old DS who, as soon as he can chew, will eat me out of house and home - I can tell. :

that's all groceries and eating out but I mostly cook from scratch and we almost never eat out.

My ideal # would be $400 a month for groceries and $100 for eating out, though.

[Ruthiegirl]

About $500, but it is about to go up dramatically due to ds's health issues. I would guess we will be spending $700-800 a month for a family of 5.

[Village Mama]

My goodness... I don't know how you all have such small grocery bills! We spend half of our monthly income on food... about 1000$ a month( includes toiletries and household nessesities). We are gluten free though( celiac, autism spectrum issues as well as helping with asthma)... so that cuts out any convenience foods/ packaged foods/ eating out/ or using coupons! We don't ever buy anything extravagent either! Basic cuts of whatever is on sale for meat. We do buy organic dairy( actually , not even .... organic butter and regular milk for one child the rest conventonal. Used to buy organic), but most everything else I have gone back to conventional. Just for example though.... brown rice flour is 15 dollars for a 5 pound bag. Anyone who has cooked gluten free knows that you need to mix flours to make a blend and add xantham gum, guar gum and or a plethora of other ingredients. So expensive... but still cheaper than buying premade gluten free products. I feel like we are struggling to get by... The last six months our groceries have gone up by 1/3.... but we dont have that sort of money to spend! Not looking forward to winter... we are getting seriously creative!

[kijip]

Originally Posted by DisplacedYooper

$75/week for food = $250/month for food
$50/month for alcohol
$70/month for eating out

So our total budget is $370/month.

I get $445 from that (food plus alcohol plus eating out)... $75 x 52 / 12 = $325 a month for food, not $250. There are more than 4 weeks in the month and 4 times 75 is 300, not $250.

Just a reminder to factor in 4.3 weeks per month when getting a monthly budget from a weekly one.

[kijip]

We spend $7000 or thereabouts PER YEAR, so in the area of $600 a month but that is eating VERY well (including a lot of fish, a little crab and other pricey foods) and eating nearly all organic. We are just a family of three, but we have a lot of dinner guests. Since we stockpile some months it is lower by a lot and other months it is higher. It works out to be less than 9% of our income, so we have little to complain about. It was a budget of $400 a month a year ago and then I raised it to $500, but I wanted to be sure we were eating more fresh, local veggies etc and of course inflation has taken a toll, we are paying way more for even bulk grains and flour. This figure is JUST food at home, not eating out and NOT including household supplies. It does include the $$ we spent on the chicken coop though!

[Satori]

Originally Posted by Village Mama

My goodness... I don't know how you all have such small grocery bills! We spend half of our monthly income on food... about 1000$ a month( includes toiletries and household nessesities). We are gluten free though( celiac, autism spectrum issues as well as helping with asthma)... so that cuts out any convenience foods/ packaged foods/ eating out/ or using coupons! We don't ever buy anything extravagent either! Basic cuts of whatever is on sale for meat. We do buy organic dairy( actually , not even .... organic butter and regular milk for one child the rest conventonal. Used to buy organic), but most everything else I have gone back to conventional. Just for example though.... brown rice flour is 15 dollars for a 5 pound bag. Anyone who has cooked gluten free knows that you need to mix flours to make a blend and add xantham gum, guar gum and or a plethora of other ingredients. So expensive... but still cheaper than buying premade gluten free products. I feel like we are struggling to get by... The last six months our groceries have gone up by 1/3.... but we dont have that sort of money to spend! Not looking forward to winter... we are getting seriously creative!

I disagree, being GF does not preclude convenience foods. If your also doing Feingold then yes its harder but straight GF? See my thread here on the flours you can get a 25lb bag of brown rice flour for $34 +shipping straight from bobs redmill and there shipping is very reasonable and still cheaper then buying from the store. I haven't used brown rice flour in years though. Most sandwich meats are GF and cheap. You can buy canned/frozen veggies. The only thing I really buy different is cereal, we get Rice Chex (new boxes are GF and says it right on the box), Gorilla Munch, Kawala Crips, Amazon Frosted Flakes and oatmeal. I won't pay more then $2.30 box and thats without coupons. Xantham seems expensive up front at $12 for an 8 oz bag but even as someone who does a lot of baking that bag lasts several months. You can sub guar gum for xanthum in a pinch too and its about 1/3 of the cost (we don't use guar as it causes GI issues). GF can easily be done cheaply, just not as cheaply as someone who lives off ramon noodles. Our max limit on food is $388 mo for 3 people and were feeding the pantry and freezer on that too and thats more then enough. We tend to eat foods that are naturally GF and shop at markets that are cheaper like ethnic and smaller markets. Ask around, I bet you will find markets you never knew existed. I found all the places we go from a friend and we drive an hour to get there but there are several places in that town we shop and we save a couple hundred so its worth the $15 in gas. I don't even shop at places like Food Maxx or Foods Co anymore becasue they seem expensive compared to the ethnic/smaller markets.

[Village Mama]

That is great to know about ordering straight from Bobs. I wonder waht the shipping prices end up being to Canada. I do appreciate your gluten free tips!The asian market tip is such a good one. I miss being near a city center for all of the choice in wheat free goodies. I found bean thread noodles in a store closeby but reacted to them. My dad sends me up sweet potato noodles from the city. I am also completely grain free... so that adds a twist for me! The kiddos dont eat any boxed cereals at all... I have found the nutrition to be really poor for the cost. Same with sandwich meats with the additives and nitrates. But just a personal choice. It really has made a huge difference behaviorally for us. I really think that our food prices are pretty high up here in Canada... our food budget doesnt seem to be out of line with other families I know.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by Village Mama

That is great to know about ordering straight from Bobs. I wonder waht the shipping prices end up being to Canada. I do appreciate your gluten free tips!The asian market tip is such a good one. I miss being near a city center for all of the choice in wheat free goodies. I found bean thread noodles in a store closeby but reacted to them. My dad sends me up sweet potato noodles from the city. I am also completely grain free... so that adds a twist for me! The kiddos dont eat any boxed cereals at all... I have found the nutrition to be really poor for the cost. Same with sandwich meats with the additives and nitrates. But just a personal choice. It really has made a huge difference behaviorally for us. I really think that our food prices are pretty high up here in Canada... our food budget doesnt seem to be out of line with other families I know.

You didn't mention you avoid additives which ups the price of food. We eat boxed cereal when I don't have time to cook. Can you get Hormel products up there? They have a line of meats called "Hormel Naturals" that are free of everything that we buy at regular grocery stores. I can get really good deals on then when on sale. This month I can get packages of Ham or Turkey lunch meat for $1.98 package and they last 3-4 days.

[shalene7]

I'm glad to know we fit in the range of everyone else.

We spend about $600 a month, that includes personal items and things for the house. I cook mianly from scratch and we go out maybe once a month.

Every week I seem to spend the same amount but I bring home less.

This is for 2 adults & DS

[slsurface]

Wow, I thought I was good at keeping the grocery bill low, but not nearly as low as most of you ladies! We spend about $600/mo for food and gasoline. That breaks down to $200/mo for gas and $400/mo ($100/week) for food, for a family of three. We rarely eat out.

But the cost of food here is crazy. Meat of any kind is more than $4/lb (with beef being more than $8/lb). Needless to say, we eat meat only about twice a week and it's usually chicken or sometimes fish. I limit organic food purchases to when I have coupons or when buying fruit for ds. Instead, I focus on all-natural, whole foods and make meals from scratch. Still, it is a struggle to keep our costs under $100/week. Before the recent inflation, I could easily shop for the family under $80/week and it was all organic. :

[FireWithin]

Last month we ate $850!! I am still in sticker shock. I have two growing boys and major food allergies, but this needs to be lowered

[MrsSurplus]

We spend about $400/month for our family (2 adults, 15yob, 13yog, 2yob, nursing babe) for everything. We eat very well...but we also raise our own beef & pork, as well as laying hens...and a garden. I could actually REALLY trim that if I had to, and I may soon. (Right now we buy raw milk at $8/gallon...plus the 15 mile drive to get it, lots of cheese, etc... So, we could - and should - trim it.) In the winter our bill goes up as we buy more fresh produce elsewhere.

[kalishea]

2 ADULTS
$300 a month on groceries (supermarket AND Costco)
$200 a month on eating out

We pack our lunches to work and plan our dinners around what's on sale for the week.

[Delaney21]

Our budget is $230 a month. This is for DH, myself and our 21 month old DS. For full disclosure principles, the only food we know of that DS isn't allergic to is corn, so corn is all he can eat by mouth. We spend quite a bit in specialty corn products - corn cakes, corn crackers, corn cereals, corn noodles, etc. and the prices on those can be really high. Our budget would be a lot lower if we didn't have to buy him these specialty products.

Our typical dinners are a meat, starch and veggie. Chicken breasts, green beans & mashed potatoes or steak, veggie and sliced potatoes, pasta, etc. We always stock up on sales, rarely use any pre-made convenience foods and we always make a double portion for lunch the next day.