Just trying to get a handle on our grocery bills. We have 2 adults and 3 kids.

Do you budget monthly grocery bills?
How much is your budget?
How big is your family?
How do you make sure you stick to it?
What are some ways you cuts costs?

Hi there!

I spend between $50 and $70 on groceries per week for me and veggies/fruits for my guinea pig. I live in a city so it's more expensive and I shop at a privately owned grocery store, it's more convenient for me but definitely a pretty penny!

Also, I get food stamps. Those will decrease when I work but they do help.

Good luck.

Amy

Our grocery bill can fluctuate pretty wildly - Mint is showing me anything from $350 to $700 a month for two people. (I suspect our period Costco stock-ups help explain the big variance.) Shop mainly at Trader Joe's, some WF, and farmer's markets during growing season, but the few items that I buy at conventional grocery stores, I regularly scan ads and will make special stockups. Overall we agree that it's a priority for us to spend more for organic and less-processed/less-refined food (and we're fortunate to be able to).

We don't eat red meat or pork and in general try to de-emphasize protein as the star of a meal - that helps cut costs. Otherwise, it's a bit standard -- I meal plan and try to shop off my list... although, two exceptions: 1) never stop an impulse buy of fresh veggies (haha - seriously, I've impulse-bought brussel sprouts) and 2), occasional dietary splurges are often much cheaper from the grocery store than a restaurant. Some things are much cheaper to make at home (like granola). A higher grocery bill from eating mainly at home is cheaper than moderate grocery + eating out.

Mint is a really amazing financial tool, I'm so happy my husband and I started using it together, even before we were married. Amazingly helpful for just about any budgetary or savings goal. The real-time feedback helps me know where I am in the monthly budget goal. I'm fortunate that it's not a huge deal if I go over, but I still try to stick to plan. If I think I need to go grocery shopping but see I've already spent a nice sum for the month (or the month before), then I check my head - and then go check my freezer/pantry and usually realize I have plenty to use up. It's fun if you're competitive with yourself - every year since 2011 (i think), we've spent less annually on food and dining. (We ate out way too much back then. )

$700 - $800 a month for me, my husband and my two cats (about $150 of it goes to cat food). Eating healthier made my grocery bill go up more but it's worth it.

I spend about $120/month for me, one dog, and one cat. Usually once or twice a month I make a big run that includes fresh meats and non-perishables and runs about $40, and then I make a few smaller runs that come in around $15 and are mostly fruits and vegetables.

Right now my only cost saving method on groceries is the occasional coupon for something I was going to buy anyway, and my debit card is actually giving me 5% cash back at Hannaford this month. For a while I could save some money by doing some of my grocery runs at Market Basket instead because they have cheaper prices across the board, but employees there are on strike right now so I'm paying extra to shop at Hannafords weekly. Instead, I cut costs and improve my health by walking to and from work and anywhere else I can instead of taking my car, saving gas money instead of food money.

Ohh, cashback rewards are also a good way to save money.

AmEx's Blue Cash, for instance, gives 6% back on groceries (and gas).... $6k annual spending cap (for rewards), and an annual fee of $75, but still, if you spend the max 6k, you save $285 over the year. Every little bit helps.

Yes.
$400
Myself and 2 children.
I have no choice.
Some stores have buy one get one sales. And I try to buy in bulk with whatever I can. I choose cheaper brands as long as the quality & taste isn't compromised. And I try to buy stuff that we ALL like so I'm not making different dishes all the time.

No but I know how much we spend. We buy mostly organic food so our budget could be less but I don't worry about it too much.
It varies, but around $300/month
2 adults (2 dogs/cats but I'm not including that)
I don't budget but I do buy things based on sales. One thing that is important is to make sure I use what I buy.
Buy seasonally, buy by sales, don't buy drinks, buy in bulk if possible. Whole Foods and my local organic store will give a 10% discount if you buy a case. My local organic store also gives a 10% discount on large bags of rice.

Yes, I budget my groceries. I try to keep it at ~$21 a week, so that's around 85 a month. But that's for just me. It helps to buy off brand, and to get veggies at a discount when they're on the edge of fresh (then I make soup, breads, and freeze them). Also, using inexpensive things like brown rice, whole grain pasta, and oatmeal for staples helps.

My family growing up spent about 150 a week on groceries for 7 people, which is about 21 a week per person. We did similar things that I do now - buy off brand whenever possible (especially when it tasted identical to the brand stuff). Also, not eating out much at all, or if you do eat out split the meal with someone else (my whole family does that).

It's tricky sometimes, for sure.

Note: that amount is ONLY for food groceries. It's a bit higher (around $27-32, generally) when I add in things like toilet paper and shampoo (although I also buy those off brand, so that helps). And of course there are weeks that are higher or lower depending on if I've run out of everything at the same time.

I envy most of your answers to this ?, for I spend almost $500.00 per month on shopping expenses. However I do include toilet paper, paper towels, and detergents, as well as kitty litter and kitty food. But it all adds up, and it scares me too. I am a sub teacher, on a serious budget. The foods we eat, seem to cost a lot. Just the smoothy ingds that I purchase weekly, as fruits spoil quickly, cost about $20.00. And my fruits aren't from any fancy market either, or the cost would be even more...

Then there is the light lunch meats like turkey and the milks and cereal, and the
soups. Have you looked at the price of soup lately. I am not talking cubes in water type, but canned soups, $1.50-$2.60 per can of soup. So I dont have too much soup.

I eat a lot of light tv dinners like Smart One's or Healthy Choice, and those are all about $3.00 each at least.

Cranberry juice, Cosco has a great deal on these 2 for $4.88? So I buy those weekly too.

But I also purchase vitamins, and protein shakes sometimes, and fem hygiene stuff too. These things all just seem to add up.

Plus when I shop @ Wal-Mart which I do 1x per week at least, and they sell not only food but basic necessities too like underwear and exercise socks and over-sized t-shirts too, which I have to wear to the gym.

So, I have difficulty just estimating the cost of food as I do food and misc shopping kind of together. But still can't understand how even 1 adult could survive, perhaps just exist, on $25.00 worth of food per week.

I wouldn't be happy for very long on this type of a diet, realistically. I am just lucky that I save enough $ to survive my summers. As a sub, we don't all work during the summer season, so I really have to stress over my budget, and there always seems to be some food product we run out of, and I really hate shopping. I only shop because I'm not wealthy enough to hire a Personal Assistant to shop for me....

I live alone and spend about $300 on food. It's much higher than I would like, but the main reason is that I can't buy groceries very often so most of the time I eat from a deli that's near my office. Barely $30 out of the $300 goes in normal groceries. The rest is food that I buy for breakfast or lunch.

We get no assistance and live in a high cost of living area, where gas and food are a big issue. I cook everything from scratch and there are six, soon to be seven, of us.

Including paper products, our grocery bill is $1000-$1200 per month. I spend less than most people I know per person, but some of the cost is me having a finicky diet. I save money by buying in bulk, shopping sales and seasonal, and cooking as much from scratch as possible. Prepackaged foods are the enemy of savings, as is eating out.

Unfortunately our grocery cost had gone up 20-30% in the last two years, but it would be even worse if we weren't careful. I try to spend time so I don't spend money. Bulk cooking and crockpots are our friends

Arctic Mama, can you give some details? (Like do you make your own cleaners, what are some of your main foods, do you meal plan?

Up until last month we were not budgeting, so we just bought whatever. I did try to stick with a list and sale items, but I'm guessing we were spending maybe $1600 month for a family of 5, 6 in March. Not including DH and his eating out for 3 meals!!

This month I randomly picked a budget of $1000 for the month, or $500 per pay check (DH is paid twice a month, about 15 days for each pay period)

These are some of the things I've done so far, but we have 8 days till pay day and $170 left. I took the initial amount out in cash and worked from there.

Nearly everything is from scratch, but that's not new. I've been doing that as part of clean eating. Pancakes, waffles muffins for example, are cheaper from scratch and I freeze any left overs. For example, did egg plant parm, I cooked the eggplant a head of time and froze it. Much cheaper compared to $5.99 for 6 slices premade at our local grocery store. However we still have items not homemade for the kids, like mac n cheese or chicken nuggets. I know it is possible to make them ahead and freeze (healthier too) I just haven't yet.

We seem to be falling back on pasta a lot now, as its a lot for cheap. I have noticed that the healthiness of our food has decreased a bit. I'm not sure how to shop both healthy and frugal. I do still buy fresh veggies, but our meals used to be primarily meat and veggies, and now I've cut back on those and added a starch to stretch food. The starch, with the exception of the pasta is whole grains.

I shop all store brands, sales and coupons now. This has helped. We are not a member of a bulk store like costcos but are considering it.

The meals I prepare have less ingredients or more dried spices. If a meal calls for fresh onion celery peppers chopped, If I cant modify it OR find a way to really use up the rest of that for a another cheap meal, I skip it.

I include paper products in our budget and that included paper towels, napkins, tissues, toilet paper, diapers wipe soaps etc. I have cut back on paper towel use a lot by using rag and towels. Napkins I have considered using cloth napkins, I can even make them myself, I sew and have plenty of extra fabric. Its amazing how any napkins we go through daily with 5 people, especially the kids.

With one in diapers and one on the way, I have considered cloth diapering. This kind of stuff doesn't bother me, but DH doesn't seem thrilled with it.

Also we have given our selves a very generous budget of $50 per pay period of spending cash. I'd like to decrease this, and actually don't spend it myself, but DH is not liking any idea of not spending (swiping debit card) freely. This would be any fun money, purchase at a store while browsing, or in DH's case he is in a habit of getting breakfast on the way to work (like $5 for coffee and sandwich) and buying lunch as the work grill (about $8) then stopping for fast food on the way home if there is no dinner made. I prepare dinner most nights, but some night especially now feeling so sick (first trimester I am always dead on my feet), I just do sandwiches for dinner. (Dh get s home around 8p after dinner. He WILL NOT cook. EVER. He will not make a sandwich. If I don't make it he gets take out. Part of our issue is he wont make a sandwich for work either. (Well, maybe a few times a month. Even if I buy the lunch meat, he cannot be bothered.) This has gone on for years. If I don't not make his lunch, which I don't because in my opinion he can do it, then he buys out. Very frustrating.

Now since the new budget has been in place (for a week) he has been either packing lunch or spending from his cash, so I'm hoping his dedication will this time since he has been good with sticking to this. I'm thinking when his cash runs out near the end of this pay cycle he will just swipe his card but hoping I'm wrong!!!.

This sudden crack down is because I had just went back to work and we planned on staying in this house for a while and me staying at work and possibly increasing my hours over the next few years. This little one was a surprise and we have decided I will be staying home again after s/he is born and probably for a longer time...and we have already out grown our house, but another means we have REALLY out grown our house. So we want to pay off the rest of our debt by next year, and save some $ for a new down payment plus without my extra income, which can be done but its going to require some attention to our extra spending.

Is there a reason you don't do peppers/onions/celery? Those things do add flavor and texture to foods as well as can help stretch out a meal.

I've recently been reading a book that I am trying to adapt to but it is about cooking veggies ahead of time and rolling them into your meal. The book also talks about eggs and meat, which I don't eat but it still applies. One thing the author advocates is using bread as well to help stretch meals out. That wouldn't apply to someone who eats low carb but for those that don't, it makes.

Although I don't budget, I do try to see where we can cut costs that make sense without increasing work too much if any.

If you are interested in the book, it is called an everlasting meal.

Good luck with everything in mind.