For groceries and toiletries, around $500-600 a month. Shopping at Costco has been saving us about $100-150 a month. We buy maybe 10-20% organic and don't eat meat every day.
We do go out to eat for one lunch and one dinner a week, that is no included in that cost.
I think a lot depends on what you eat. I could buy less healthy options or not as good of quality and spend half of what we are. Like ground beef I buy cost a ton more since its grassfed no antibiotics, etc. I think some things could be worth the money to cut but other things aren't.
Post by The Foozzler on Feb 28, 2015 16:01:47 GMT -5
Another thing I do to lower my costs is to get the big packs of meat and chicken when they are on sale. I then prep it all in dinner sized portions and freeze it. I then meal plan around what I have frozen and prepped. For example, peppers are on sale this week and I have frozen chicken that I cubed before I froze it. So dinner one night will be teriyaki chicken with peppers over udon noodles. I got the udon and teriyaki 2 weeks ago for really cheap with a coupon.
Post by thedahliharpa on Feb 28, 2015 17:52:00 GMT -5
$300 + a week with 3 of us on special diets and very little eating out. Organic meat, meat everyday, maybe 70 percent organic but always organic meat, produce, and milk alternatives.
Oh. Dh also gets premade meals delivered to him at work. He's getting a huge discount with it and it's really good food, but $100 a week for that. It's saving us money because he gets two large meals a day at work 6 days per week for just $100. And now I don't have to make it for him or have him make it and not clean up his mess.
Meat and bulk paper goods come from Costco, and I spend about $75 a week at the grocery store. I cook in bulk, and make dinner every other day. I get to expense my lunch at work so that helps save some money.
Post by creamsiclechica on Feb 28, 2015 19:33:36 GMT -5
We're in the $800 to $1000, with all of us eating now. We do eat the majority of our meals at home, and I make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for me and the kids everyday. Matt eats lunch at work, and that's not included.
However, we buy mostly organic. We shop on post at the Commissary which saves us and enables us to buy more organic. I wish it was less, but it's one of my preferences I'd like not to compromise. We spend on more on food than our mortgage, sigh.
We eat all lunches and 6 dinners a week at home. I spend about $600-700 a month. Six months or so ago, I did a major revamp of grocery shopping. We were spending $900-1200 a month in a HCOL area. It was just too much and made me sick.
I make much simpler meals and plan so that if I need a box of fresh spinach there are other meals that are going to use all of it within the week. We have a bean meal like red beans and rice or jambalaya at least once a week.
We eat a good bit of chicken and red meat maybe just 3 times a month. I buy the chicken when it is on sale and freeze. It saves a lot. I do the same as katfco and buy pasta when it is on sale for $1 instead of 2.10 or whatever... That's a big savings! If you watch, they put Barilla or Ronzoni on sale at least once a month.
I use coupons and buy what is on sale. I try stay away from Target. If I go, I have a with list and stick to it. Use Cartwheel, have Target text mobile coupons to your phone. Look for deals where they have gift card offers.
My budget is $125/week. I make lists, shop sales, etc. I also only use cash which helps keep me from buying extras since I'm afraid I won't have enough. That number includes formula/pouches, etc.
I spend about $80-100 per week. I shop sales and use coupons whenever I can, mostly store coupons. That includes cleaning supplies and toiletries. Not including diapers though. I still feel like we spend too much on food, but I buy a lot of produce. Not organic but it still jacks up the bill. I'm really trying to make meal plans too now which will help w waste. We eat out maybe 2-3 times a month. I take my lunches to work as well.
We spent $600/month for the last 6 months on groceries and paper goods. We shop once a week, mostly at Costco, and don't worry about organic. But we do eat meat everyday and rarely go out, bringing leftovers for lunch. We don't buy snack foods pretty much at all except for G's daycare lunches. That and each person gets one treat per trip if they ask.
I can't even fathom spending $100/week. At our lowest we were at $700/month. If we're not careful we can easily get close to 1k. But that includes most paper/household products, some toiletries, dinners out, hosting friends for dinner, etc etc. And we live in a HCOL area and buy lots of organic (but not all).
My budget is $125/week. I make lists, shop sales, etc. I also only use cash which helps keep me from buying extras since I'm afraid I won't have enough. That number includes formula/pouches, etc.
This is really impressive considering how many people this feeds. Can you share with me some of your staples for the boys for snacks and lunches, etc.?
My budget is $125/week. I make lists, shop sales, etc. I also only use cash which helps keep me from buying extras since I'm afraid I won't have enough. That number includes formula/pouches, etc.
This is really impressive considering how many people this feeds. Can you share with me some of your staples for the boys for snacks and lunches, etc.?
Kevin always takes leftovers to work. Jack has to buy lunch and breakfast at Pre-k. His day also includes snack, so I really only feed him dinner for 5 of the 7 days a week. Ethan is simple. He takes PB&j to school every day with some form of chips, fruit, frozen go gurt, and fruit snack. He buys milk at school. I usually don't eat much for lunch and Charlie eats a cheese sandwich. Ha.
I use coupons a lot at Publix when they have bogo stuff. Like you, I shop at Aldi a lot too. The kids don't snack a lot. I buy most of my snacky foods at Costco.
We can still get by right now with 3 or 4 chicken breasts for dinner to feed all of us.
We go through about 3 gallons of milk/week though. .
I try to keep to $150 a week including cat food and toiletries. We eat out maybe twice a month plus dh gets some lunches out and I go to Starbucks ince it twice a week.
We are struggling w/ this. I just feel like I don't have enough time to even budget, although we need to bc I feel like we waste a lot and go out too much. Do you do meal planning? I think FULL meal planning including breakfasts and lunches would help me but I haven't been organized enough to do this. Right now I just go buy a shitload of groceries, put together a bunch of meals, and hope we eat them. I need to get more organized. I also need to get a better grasp on what H will eat (incl. leftovers) bc he is picky, what Max will eat (for similar reasons although by toddler standards he is decent) and what I can put together in my limited time that is healthy.
Anyway, I am actually afraid of looking at my grocery spending on mint. It's like a monster that is lurking. I feel like I had WAY more control when we didn't have a kid :/
We don't eat a lot of "fillers"/chips/soda/etc but we do buy a lot of organic when possible. We don't eat meat every day, we buy most of the meat/eggs/dairy at Costco to save $ (we make lattes at home so between that and Max's milk consumption, we go through a lot of milk!)
devotchka, we meal plan for dinners and take leftovers for lunch but I don't worry about breakfasts since most the stuff we eat keeps well. My goto is oatmeal with craisins...I eat that M-F all winter. DH often has toast with jam or cereal, and G has oatmeal, cereal, or a frozen waffle with whatever fruit we have that week. Sometimes we'll cook bacon or a frozen sausage patty if we have them around and often we'll do something else on weekends when we have more time. Can you make a list of what you've been eating for breakfasts, simplify it as much as you can/want to, and keep that stuff on hand?
devotchka, we meal plan for dinners and take leftovers for lunch but I don't worry about breakfasts since most the stuff we eat keeps well. My goto is oatmeal with craisins...I eat that M-F all winter. DH often has toast with jam or cereal, and G has oatmeal, cereal, or a frozen waffle with whatever fruit we have that week. Sometimes we'll cook bacon or a frozen sausage patty if we have them around and often we'll do something else on weekends when we have more time. Can you make a list of what you've been eating for breakfasts, simplify it as much as you can/want to, and keep that stuff on hand?
I've been making oatmeal w/ craisins too! Well, it's sometimes craisins, sometimes raisins, sometimes almond butter + mixed (dried) berries from TJ chopped into it. I love oatmeal. Max has been less into it lately which is frustrating. We actually have a lot less trouble w/ breakfast than we do w/ dinner, so I am less worried about it. One challenge is Max will sometimes ask for things (hot cereal or pancakes, etc.) and then won't eat it. I made pancakes today that he barely touched. Sigh. ToddlerS!
I can't even fathom spending $100/week. At our lowest we were at $700/month. If we're not careful we can easily get close to 1k. But that includes most paper/household products, some toiletries, dinners out, hosting friends for dinner, etc etc. And we live in a HCOL area and buy lots of organic (but not all).
All of this, except the HCOL area. Whoops.
No matter where you live, the entire square footage of Whole Foods is a HCOL area.
We spend about $1000 a month for 2 adults and a picky toddler. That is for all the food we consume (groceries, restaurants, Plated, etc). I'm a vegetarian but DH isn't, so it includes very little meat. It also includes things like ziploc bags, aluminum foil, and paper plates/napkins. Paper towels and such we order from Amazon subscribe and save so those are separate.
devotchka - I also feel like meal planning would help us quite a bit, but already feel so stretched for time. I wonder how difficult it would be to meal plan and walk on my treadmill at the same time. Kill two birds with one stone. Lol.
G is extremely picky which complicates things, but I think we could eliminate at least 20% of the snack type items that MH buys for him.