So, reviewing mint.com and our bank accounts, we apparently have been spending way too much on groceries. This week, I spent almost 200 dollars at the grocery store, which is a crazy amount for only me and H! (please dont judge me, MM... 8-D ) So, I was wondering how much you spend a week on groceries (also tell me how many ppl you are shopping for) I have no clue how I have been spending that much! H thinks that maybe we spend too much money on "extra" things like snacks and drinks. Do you usually buy a lot of snack food as part of your shopping, or is it mainly just basic food to make meals with?
$200 every week is high, but if this happened to be a big stockup trip then it doesn't sound too bad.
We spend anywhere from $60-70 some weeks to $130-150 others. Our monthly budget for groceries and other items we pick up at the grocery store (paper towels, dish soap, dog treats, etc) is $450 and most months we manage to stay within or under that, but occasionally we'll go over.
We buy some snacks and very few drinks. DH is likely to run to the gas station and buy drinks if he doesn't have any available at home, so I do buy a little pop and some vitamin water here and there. I personally don't drink much other than water/coffee. We do buy snacks (it is unavoidable!) but I try to somewhat plan them - so if I buy granola bars for myself to bring to work, I'm not going to also buy 2 other kinds of snacks because I'm only going to eat 1 snack each day (plus fruit!). I think if we just grabbed whatever struck us we'd spend more.
I think one of our problems (both for our wallets and our health) is that we drink too much soda. At walmart, it is only like 1.30 for a 2L, so it doesn't seem expensive, but it adds up, especially since we drink them so quickly! Drinking water is so much cheaper!
Any other tips that you have found help you save $$ on groceries?
Right now we only spend about $100/week, but that's because the farmer's market is in full force, when that dies down and we fall into late fall and winter it averages closer to $150. It's not as cheap as some people on here, but I think we eat well and we generally buy good quality food, aside from a few things.
Our staples that we always have: 50%-75% of our diet is probably fresh fruits and vegetables very little meat whole grains, flours, beans, and nuts eggs, some kind of cheese, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, 2% milk, almond milk crackers, pretzels Gatorade Clif bars unsweeteed applesauce, cranberry juice, coconut oil, nut butter, udi's bread
There are other random small things, but the above things are what I feel like we need to have on hand at all times. I make most of our snacks with the above items.
Post by ILikeSloths on Jul 6, 2012 23:31:34 GMT -5
Lately we've been spending anywhere from $60-90 a week for DH and me - it's just the 2 of us. Sometimes we spend more, sometimes less. It usually comes to about $250-300 a month (not including paper towels, toilet paper, etc.).
We eat every meal at home 7 days a week due to my food allergies, we don't eat meat, and tend to eat the same things every week. We buy mostly fresh produce, frozen veggies, whole grains, etc. and our snack foods usually consist of things like fruit, yogurt, honey, nuts, hummus, pretzels, and occasional ice cream. We don't buy drinks other than tea bags sometimes. I'm pretty limited on what I can eat so avoiding snacks and spending extra has become a lot easier out of necessity.
If you feel that a lot of your budget goes to soda, I have heard really good things about Soda Stream. We don't have one but I have thought about getting one just to make carbonated water. Yum!
It depends on the shopping trip. Most weeks I spend $75-$100, with one good $150 toiletry/pantry top-up per month. We have admittedly been buying a lot more easy frozen meals recently (as the babe is making cooking difficult), so our grocery spending has been on the higher side of normal.
60-100 a week. This week was 100, but we hosted 4th of July. I buy 1-2 snacks for DH a week usually a bag of chips or pretzels. DH drinks lemonade, but I only drink water. We don't drink soda.
I would say about $450 for the 2 of us. Plus who knows how much when we eat out. I'm sure we could do a whole lot better if we tried!
Try planning out your meals (make a menu and pick something off of it for each meal) and making a grocery list. Sticking the the list can save you a lot of money and it helps eliminate the costs of buying duplicates.
Our budget is about 400-450/month for 2 people, including paper/cleaning products, and cat food/litter. We also buy a lot of soda (mostly DH, he drinks a few a day), and we usually get a bottle of wine each week too.
I have found myself to go over budget more easily if I don't make a list, so I try to actually think about meals I can make, and buy things that can go into multiple meals. For example I always buy ground beef in the larger 3-4lb packages, knowing that it will probably last for 3 meals, and plan on meals that include it, or freezing a section to use the following week right away so nothing goes to waste. I also am more mindful of sales, so when pasta is on sale 10/$10, I'll stock up on many kinds.
We usually have 1 large shopping trip each month, spending about $150ish, and the other weeks it'll be $60-100 to restock things.
I forgot to mention that our budget is for DH and I. I looked at mint.com and averaged the last 6 months. We spend $300 a month. That only includes groceries, and the occasional household product. Dog food is accounted for separately.
I find a grocery list a meal plan are essential. I shop once a week because going to the store multiple times is too much temptation.
75-80 a week normally for the two of us. Meal plan, no coupons, at least 2-3 meat meals weekly, we raise animals, slaughter yearly..hence why so cheap.
We budget $450 a month for me, DH and 4 kids including paper products, toiletries and diapers. Most months we are right at budget or under. I meal plan, use coupons, and shop at the commissary where we get better prices. If I had to shop regular grocery stores, it would definitely be more.
Just DH and I in LCOL. I usually spend between $50 and $100 a week. I shop once a week, and we don't eat organic or have any special dietary needs or anything like that. I don't meal plan like a lot of ladies on here do, but I do sort of think ahead about what I'd like to have for dinner throughout the week and buy based on that. I also make a list and stick to it. That's important.
I also estimate prices before I go so I know how much I should be spending. I then keep track of the exact price so I know almost to the penny what my total will be. That's been extremely helpful in both making me realize how much food costs and keeping those costs down.
we aim for $100 a week, come in well under that when dh shops as he does not impulse buy like i do. However we don't really track our spending currently so I'm not sure if we are sticking to it or not.
I drink a lot of soda but try to stock up when it's on sale (four 12 packs for $10-$12). Most of the snack food we eat is from TJs and I buy things like chips and salsa when it's on sale. Or I go to Costco for a big thing of hummus and pita chips.
Post by penguingrrl on Jul 7, 2012 10:09:33 GMT -5
We have 4 people and spend $100-125/week. Sometimes we come in below that. We drink filtered tap water (the girls also drink milk) and occasionally I'll throw a splash of juice in our water and some coffee and tea. We buy snacks, but they're nuts, cheese sticks or fresh fruits or veggies, not "snack food." We also only have red meat once or twice a month and otherwise do chicken, veggie meals or fish once a week, so that keeps our bills down as well (although we do it more for health reasons not cost).
About $70. I don't eat meat, and we don't buy soda milk or juice (but do buy alcohol) or tons of shitty for you snacks. We buy as much organic food as possible.
$80/wk at trader Joe's - we go 3 weeks a month to stock up on fruit, veggies, fresh salsa, bread, cheese, Greek yogurt, eggs, almond milk, granola, nuts, corn tortilla chips
Then one week a month we do a big peapod order for meat, beer, a few 2L of diet soda, and whatever TJ staples we are out of. The last one cost $150 but we got $60 worth of beer.
TP and paper towels are purchased on amazon in bulk with a subscribe and save discount - I usually clean with vinegar and water but I use a magic eraser for the bathroom.
There are two of us and we live in Chicago for reference.
Last week I spent $86 on groceries the first week of the month is always a big week for me (plus I had to buy more hamburger as I was down to 1/4lb in the freezer. This week all I will need is milk and maybe a loaf of bread. It is just me so in the average month I spend $110 on groceries but each week varies based on what I have in my pantry and freezer.
Post by cricketwife on Jul 7, 2012 10:56:59 GMT -5
We usually spend about $400/month (including alcohol). We I can do it as low as $350 but it's so much penny pinching that I try not to if I don't have to. But this month it's probably going to be about $450 because I seem to be running out of all my pantry staples at once.
You might want to keep your receipts for a month and see if it's just soda or what other things are driving the your expenses. I personally spend way too much on ice cream (as you said, both for the wallet and the waistline) but I'm not willing to give it up. I think generally it's not so important how much people spend, but that they really know where the money is going and it's a choice, not an accident.
One other tip - we eat a fair bit of meat (DH is a real carnivore) and I know that my grocery store marks a lot of meat down on Wednesdays so I always stop on Wednesdays after work to see what deals there are. I get a lot of good bargains that way and just stick it straight in the freezer. You can talk to the meat person and find out their schedule for marking down meat.