What's your Average Grocery Bill?

[LI0NSFAN]

Not including diapers and formula we spend $1000-$1200 a month. We spend about $125 a week just in fruits and veggies.  We are a household of 5 about to be 6, we have a 3,2,1yo with the new one due in June. It is VERY hard to keep enough fruits and veggies in the house so this year we are trying to grow some of our own produce. We planted some berries, tomatoes, lettuce and carrots. If the "garden" cuts the produce bill in half for a month it will be worth it.

 

We are lucky that our kids potty train easily. Our oldest was fully potty trained by time the 3rd was born and it looks like my son will be fully trained by time the new one is here. We still will have 2 in diapers. We buy luvs and spend about $45 a week in diapers and thanks to coupons we only have to spend $50 on formula a week. I am happy that we only have to get formula for 1 at a time.

Edited April 14, 2014 by LI0NSFAN

[peejman]

To the OP... before we had kids, $250-$300/mo.  After kids.... I quit keeping track because I don't want to know. 

 

 

 

Being single I've found that the hardest part about shopping cheap is learning what keeps. I can't count the amount of bread I've thrown away to the birds because I get sick of sandwiches before I use the loaf. Buying the 1/2 loaf is a ripoff so I feed birds quite a bit.

 

 

Keep the bread in the fridge.  You'll get at least another week out of it.  If you find it on sale, buy a couple loaves and freeze them. 

 

 

I've pretty much cut out buying beer nowadays as well.

 

 

:stunned:      :eek:       :panic:        :cry:

 

 

 

My wife likes to say "This meal cost $2.35 (or other ridiculously low $ amount)  for all of us. We have leftovers for tomorrow, as well.". That makes her day. She is scientific with it, as well. Keeps a purchase and price log on her iPad per product. Scans it into the app when she is putting away groceries and the corresponding $ per product. She'll have a receipt that is longer than I am tall (6'6") and have a total cost of about $30. Amazing. 

 

 

Wow. 

 

My wife appears to collect coupons.  We have a large stack that she cuts out of various ads.  Periodically, I go through that stack and throw away the expired ones.  She may actually use more coupons than I think, but it's nothing like what your wife does.  That's seriously impressive.  :up:

[Erik88]

If you ever have kids, it will suddenly make sense. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Just to clarify, I said I am amazed at how little you all spend? I spend more and I don't have kids.

 

Are you saying that you spend less because you have kids?

[TMF]

[quote name="Erik88" post="1138405" timestamp="1397482071"]Just to clarify, I said I am amazed at how [u]little [/u]you all spend? I spend more and I don't have kids. Are you saying that you spend less because you have kids?[/quote] Ha, sorry, I misread your post. When I was single I usually got by on less than $3 a day in food. I had a rotating diet of hot dogs, Totinos pizzas and Dinty Moore over rice. One can of stew and a cup of rice kept me fed all day. Now, I ate like a bum because I needed the money for beer and rubbers. That bill was considerably higher than my groceries. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Erik88]

 Now, I ate like a bum because I needed the money for beer and rubbers. That bill was considerably higher than my groceries. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

[reed1285]

family of 3 here. My wife, me, and our 4 year old daughter. We spend about $400 a month on groceries

[bersaguy]

Food prices have been on the rise for the last couple of years. Meat is usually the most expensive items. I like other shop at SAMs. Not just for price but all they sell is "choice" beef. Most everybody else sells a grade below which is "select" beef. So SAMs is less expensive and sell better quality than most other stores. Walmart does not cut meat at their stores so theirs is injected with a saline solution(salt water) to preserve the meat for transport. You are paying for salt water.

One of the things you can do to help save some money. If you use ground beef look for sales on roast or whole primales that can be ground. I used to buy whole sirloin tips for $1.49 an pound and have them ground to use for ground beef. They are at lest 90 present lean and with the help of a small home scale I can package it for what we need it for. SAMs will not grind them for you but everybody else will. Chuck roast, shoulder roast make good ground beef. Look for the sales and buy. Ingles has roast on sell this week you can save 50 to 75 cent a pound by have it ground up.

I do pretty much the same thing with ground beef but I went one step further. I have a hand grinder that belonged to my grandmother and I grind my own. I will go to the "Used meat"  close to outdated managers specials and purchase any roasts that are marked down and I come home and cut them in chunks and freeze them in vacuum seal. Then I thaw out what I need and grind my own burger for use at that time. Saves on burger dishes like spaghetti, grill burgers, Chili and other type supper meals. You can buy you own meat grinders fairly cheap at TSC stores and they come with pork sausage tube slides and other attachments. Been thinking about getting a new one............jmho

[thundersnow]

Great thread guys! My family of three spends about 100 a week at the grocery.

[TNMTBik3r]

I do pretty much the same thing with ground beef but I went one step further. I have a hand grinder that belonged to my grandmother and I grind my own. I will go to the "Used meat"  close to outdated managers specials and purchase any roasts that are marked down and I come home and cut them in chunks and freeze them in vacuum seal. Then I thaw out what I need and grind my own burger for use at that time. Saves on burger dishes like spaghetti, grill burgers, Chili and other type supper meals. You can buy you own meat grinders fairly cheap at TSC stores and they come with pork sausage tube slides and other attachments. Been thinking about getting a new one............jmho

Cannot believe I have overlooked something this simple. I have an electric grinder I use to grind venison burger (BTW, 3 or 4 deer a year helps save a lot vs buying meat). Need to start watching for some deals on stuff I can grind instead of buying ground burger.

[Dane]

Some of you guys are high rollers! I have a family of 6 and we only spend about $600 a month and that includes gas to get to and from work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[TNMTBik3r]

Some of you guys are high rollers! I have a family of 6 and we only spend about $600 a month and that includes gas to get to and from work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Must be nice! My drive to/from work uses 4-5 gallons each day depending on traffic.

[Links2k]

My wife likes to say "This meal cost $2.35 (or other ridiculously low $ amount)  for all of us. We have leftovers for tomorrow, as well.". That makes her day. She is scientific with it, as well. Keeps a purchase and price log on her iPad per product. Scans it into the app when she is putting away groceries and the corresponding $ per product. She'll have a receipt that is longer than I am tall (6'6") and have a total cost of about $30. Amazing.

Yeah, they are always parading around showing those receipts.

[dralarms]

Some of you guys are high rollers!
I have a family of 6 and we only spend about $600 a month and that includes gas to get to and from work.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

My drive to work on friday was 2.5 hrs. If I spend 600 a month on fuel alone I consider it a good month. :o

[peejman]

Some of you guys are high rollers! I have a family of 6 and we only spend about $600 a month and that includes gas to get to and from work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Care to share how you pull that off?

[gregintenn]

Some of you guys are high rollers! I have a family of 6 and we only spend about $600 a month and that includes gas to get to and from work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

You sound like one of those Dave Ramsey "beans and rice" sort of folks.

[Jonnin]

It is probably around $300 a month for the 2 of us but that includes  nonfood items AND some extra for our stash AND my wife cooks as a hobby so she sometimes wants to get fresh/better/pricier raw materials.   It could probably be cut in half in a pinch.  

 

[Dane]

[quote name="peejman" post="1138505" timestamp="1397503915"]Care to share how you pull that off?[/quote] Sure. Gas is cheap for me as I'm only 3.5 miles from work. Take cereal out of the budget because it is expensive. It is cheaper to fix eggs, sausage, toast, etc. With a substantial breakfast lunch becomes less of a large meal (aka pb&j works fine). For dinners we use a lot of chicken (usually about 10lbs of chicken breasts for 2 weeks@$1.99/lb). We use a lot of canned veggies for sides as they are cheap (usually 60-70 cents a can) And probably the biggest saver is that we make our own bread. I found it takes about the same amount of time to make 3 loaves of bread that it takes to go to the store and buy it. It is only about 20 minutes of activity (and 2 hours if inactivity). I can make around 6 -8 loaves out of $2 worth of flour. And it tastes better too. Other big expenses are milk and oj so we "ration" that and drink more water. Also there is no junk food in the house. On occasion I'll make a batch of cookies or pick up some chips and dip. Other than that I go to the store with a list and a budget (there's an ap for that) and don't buy things on a whim. As for non-food items we watch for sales and get it when it's cheap (sales cycle on about a 6 week cycle). Target is my favorite for this because they usually run really cheap and give back gift cards for stocking up. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Edited April 14, 2014 by Dane

[Alleycat72]

$750 a month with a family of 6. One is special needs and has odd dietary needs.

[peejman]

Sure. Gas is cheap for me as I'm only 3.5 miles from work. Take cereal out of the budget because it is expensive. It is cheaper to fix eggs, sausage, toast, etc. With a substantial breakfast lunch becomes less of a large meal (aka pb&j works fine). For dinners we use a lot of chicken (usually about 10lbs of chicken breasts for 2 weeks@$1.99/lb). We use a lot of canned veggies for sides as they are cheap (usually 60-70 cents a can) And probably the biggest saver is that we make our own bread. I found it takes about the same amount of time to make 3 loaves of bread that it takes to go to the store and buy it. It is only about 20 minutes of activity (and 2 hours if inactivity). I can make around 6 -8 loaves out of $2 worth of flour. And it tastes better too. Other big expenses are milk and oj so we "ration" that and drink more water. Also there is no junk food in the house. On occasion I'll make a batch of cookies or pick up some chips and dip. Other than that I go to the store with a list and a budget (there's an ap for that) and don't buy things on a whim. As for non-food items we watch for sales and get it when it's cheap (sales cycle on about a 6 week cycle). Target is my favorite for this because they usually run really cheap and give back gift cards for stocking up. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

 

Interesting. 

 

Not sure I'd survive without my morning cereal.  Eggs & bacon sounds good but I doubt the wife and kids would appreciate me banging around in the kitchen to fix that at o'dark thirty.  I've got 2 young kids so there is no real rationing of milk.  They drink tea and water but we still go through about 2 gal/wk.  I'm anxiously awaiting garden season and really hoping for a better year than last year.  The garden reduces my grocery bill significantly.  My wife loves baking bread, but she typically makes various types of "artisan" breads.  Don't know that she's ever made regular sandwich bread. 

[10-Ring]

I think we are around $500 a month on groceries.  We are a family of 3.  We eat mostly organic and natural foods, very little if anything that is processed.  Daughter is intolerant to most foods so we spend a lot of money buying a bunch of food that most of you have never heard of so she has more choices.  We buy our meat from a local butcher, we get our meat for the same price as grocery store meat thanks to coupons, it takes a little extra work though.  Though our grocery bill is a little high for a family of 3 we off set that by eating out very rarely.  My wife and I eat out about once a month when my daughter is with grandparents, just not fair to take her along when she can't eat the restaurant food. 

[Dane]

[quote name="peejman" post="1138868" timestamp="1397567777"]Interesting. Not sure I'd survive without my morning cereal. Eggs & bacon sounds good but I doubt the wife and kids would appreciate me banging around in the kitchen to fix that at o'dark thirty. I've got 2 young kids so there is no real rationing of milk. They drink tea and water but we still go through about 2 gal/wk. I'm anxiously awaiting garden season and really hoping for a better year than last year. The garden reduces my grocery bill significantly. My wife loves baking bread, but she typically makes various types of "artisan" breads. Don't know that she's ever made regular sandwich bread. [/quote] I would love to only go through 2 gallons of milk a week. Even with control on it we go through 4 gallons a week. Used to be 6 before I slowed them down. Even with a 4 and 5 year old I limit them to 1 glass a day roughly. Some of this started after finding sippy cups under the couch with "aged" milk in them. Our gardening helps considerably and this year we are trying our hand at chickens. I have about 40 that will be going into the freezer over the next few weeks. I haven't worked through the numbers to see if we saved anything yet. As for the cereal consider the price of a box of cereal and the milk that goes with it. Combined that is about $10 per box and that only lasts a day in my house. Eggs are $2/ dozen sausage is another $2 toast would be about .25 and oj is about $2.50 ( figuring about a half gallon). So I save about $3.25 a meal and get a better meal. That's $80 a month in savings over cereal. As for the dark thirty - scrambled eggs can be reheated. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD