Groceries

allioops414

Inspired by the couponing post below..

How much do you spend on groceries?  I definitely watch sales and save where I can, but I always seem to spend $100+ per week. But, I cook dinner all the time (we eat out maybe once a month), I pack lunches for myself every day, and once a month or so, we'll have friends or family over.  Just curious what you guys usually spend...is that alot for 2 people?

Laurms15

allioops414:

Inspired by the couponing post below..

How much do you spend on groceries?  I definitely watch sales and save where I can, but I always seem to spend $100+ per week. But, I cook dinner all the time (we eat out maybe once a month), I pack lunches for myself every day, and once a month or so, we'll have friends or family over.  Just curious what you guys usually spend...is that alot for 2 people?

I'm similar to you. I shop once a week some weeks I'd say I'm at $100-$150 and other weeks I'm around $50-$75 I seem to do an every other week sort of thing because I tend to buy and freeze chicken and whatnot once a month then I tend do do my paper goods laundry/cleaning soaps once a month and the other times its just to stock up on the essentials fruits/veggies and the every day stuff. I cook MOST nights unless we are working late then dinner is either a can of soup or a meal that I pre-cooked and froze weeks before. I also make our lunches though on occasion we treat ourselves to lunch out but usually its sandwiches or leftovers.

mickylvr1

I think our average for food alone is around $130-150 every two weeks.  I do all of our household stuff at Target and spend on average about $50-75 every two weeks there.

I usually try to watch sales (especially for meat) and stock up then or hit Sam's Club once a month to stock up.  We usually take leftovers or sandwiches for lunches, but lately lunchmeat has not been on sale so I haven't bought any.  We eat out more than we should, but not a lot. I need to get into the habit of having things on hand for quick meals.

stellelinds25

We spend anywhere from $60-80/week at the store and about $40 every 2-3 weeks at Market buying meat. Our grocery bill used to be out of control, but I've been meal planning and it really helps to keep our bill down!

ladybirda

I'm so impressed by you guys, I live in a major city and groceries are so expensive here. We spend $150 a week and that's not including occasional trips to the corner store (where it's even more expensive than the regular grocery store) or when we eat out/get takeout. And it's not like we're buying anything fancy. I try to plan ahead but DH is an athlete and eats a lot! 

Kryssttle

I love that you asked this because I am always interested to know how I relate to others on this topic! We spend about $400 a month on groceries and we eat out probably  3 to 4 times a month (give or take) I have found that if I make 2 big trips to the store and each time buy for a 2 week period I spend less then If I take one trip every week...What really kills me and makes this amount sky rocket is when I make small trips to the store to just pick up one item because I always leave with more then 1 thing and I can spend $40 on random things that I see and think mmm that looks good we should get that. ( in the summer when we go to the farmers market we spend a little more..)

I wonder if where (what state) you live makes a big difference....

Laurms15

Kryssttle:

I wonder if where (what state) you live makes a big difference....

Interesting question....I do most of my food shopping in NJ but I remember when Jon lived in Queens and I would food shop in the city (after work) before going to his apartment and I know things were much more expensive in the city. So I would imagine that does have something to do with it.

festivegal2008

We have separate checking accounts and I buy dinner ingredient groceries then Mike buys the necessities like soap, paper products, etc. and also breakfast and lunch stuff, milk, bottled water etc.

I usually manage to stay within my $80 every-other-week dinner grocery budget. I may go over a little bit, especially if I have to get any cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, etc.

I cook dinner 4 days a week (Mon - Thur).  Fridays we play by ear; sometimes I cook, other times we get Subway.  Saturdays we almost always go out, either to my mom's house, to BIL/SIL house or to a restaurant.  Sundays we always ate and still eat over my mom's each week. 

MandahGirly

It depends on a week to week basis. Sometimes I spend about $75, other weeks I'm over $100. I shop at Whole Foods and I find that I spend about the same (and sometimes less!!) than when I used to shop at other supermarkets (Shaws, Stop & Shop for the New England area) and the quality is 10000x better.

DH & I signed up for a half share CSA this year (fruits and veggies) and we're thinking of doing a Meat CSA as well. I really like it because after reading a couple books on local food and watching Food Inc I really try to focus more on what I'm buying and where it's from. So we're going to try to shop at more farmer's markets etc and stock up. Hopefully it'll save us some money!

keithandkristi

My goal is to spend about $75 a week; however it doesn't always work out like that! 

I am thinking of increasing our budget to $100 a week to reflect buying more healthy foods! 

dayzchic9

Good post!

We got to BJ's Wholesale club about every 2 - 3 months and spend about $200 on the non-perishables (think ketchup, salad dressing, paper towels, deodorant etc).  that saves us a TON in the long run cuz i'm not running to Walmart or Target whenever we need something small and end up buying 10 things i didn't need!

We go to a hometown market called Auclairs for our meat cuz it's un-be-liev-able.  Best steak tips and burgers ever.  And you can buy them pre-marinated and just open them and throw them on the grill!  That usually costs about $40 every other week or so.

For the persiahables and fruits/veggies we go to Hannafords every weekend and spend anywhere from $40 - $90.  Their fruits and veggies are about a gazillion times better than Stop and Shop but still not as good as the farmers markets so that's where we go during the summer.

We also eat out about once a week...  

It really does stink how eating better costs so much more!  I've been buying organic chicken and MAN does it takes good!  but it is expensive!  same with salad ingredients!  I'm jealous of your Amanda as we don't have a Whole Foods or a Trader Joes around us but I love those places!!!

RachieK10

We spend anywhere from $75-$120 or so every Sunday depending on whether we have run out of staple items (spices, vinegar, evoo, etc). That's for breakfast lunch and dinner Sun night - Fri lunch. Friday we either go out or go back to the grocery store for a nicer dinner to cook. Saturday you never know what could happen - usually have something laying around to whip up for lunch!

Lisa6255

For an average of 3 people (2 kids half the month equates to one person I figure) I spend 300-400/month. I would love to shop at whole foods and TJs more but it's much farther away than Giant (20 min rather than 5 drive time) and the cost until DH starts working isn't doable IMO. Once he starts working I will do a test month where I buy from TJs and Whole Foods only except last minute items and see how much it costs. 

TotallyLoCo

We spend around $100-125 a week, plus about $80 a month at BJ's for things like bottled water, G2, laundry detergent, paper towels, etc. The weekly cost depends on where we shop. We spend a little more when we go to Trader Joe's every few weeks since there are a bunch of frozen things there we like to stock up on.

Our groceries cover dinner 4-5 nights most weeks, breakfasts for both of us, and lunch for him since he works from home (I usually eat in our cafeteria which is subsidized so it's not worth it to bring lunch from home).

When we first moved in together we were spending more since we would just grab whatever we wanted off the shelves. Now I always menu plan and go in with a list, which has helped a lot, along with stocking up on things when they're on sale; especially meats that I freeze. Of course that will be easier in a couple weeks once I don't have a big hunk of cake taking up room in the freezer

 

rands09

Great post! I wish I knew exactly, though...H does the grocery shopping, because I tend to get cold easily (probably because I'm anemic), and I can barely tolerate grocery stores, as they are just far too cold for me. So he is house husband - he clips coupons, checks the cabinets/fridge, and will ask me what I want to make for the week, and then he'll go and make market. But I probably estimate somewhere in the neighborhood of $100-150 per week, not including eating out for lunch and the occasional dinner..

danies08

Well, we have been spending a lot less since I'm not cooking as much because I'm trying to lose weight (ei: Lean Cuisine lunches and very light suppers). We just started shopping at HyVee (45 minute drive away though), and I love it so much more! They have so much more for me to get (endometriosis can be tricky to eat with) and great meat and produce sections. We are buying a lot less packaged "crap", so that can sometimes make the bill go up a bit to buy more fresh items. I think I spent $300 last time, and that has lasted us three weeks. I need to go sometime early next week, though, and we need a lot of household items, so it probably won't be cheap.

jenif

we spend about $160 on groceries every two weeks - we gave up eating out for lent so that's made things easier on our pocket. we have cut out all snack foods that aren't in the realm of nuts and dried or fresh fruit. we have cut out meat, which currently is really expensive. we actually spend less now that we are "selective omnivores" - we still eat fish and may on the occasion have chicken but not really anymore. because our meals are packed with protein we aren't hungry as often so we eat less - i wish we could shop at our whole foods store here but it's so much more expensive than buying it at other retail stores. i use coupons when i have them and have begun to be more diligent in finding them since we now eat more of greek yogurt (eek -expensive!) and grains/beans.

dasmel30

  We mostly shop at Sam's Club and since we cook once a month and freeze most of our meals, which usually lasts us about 2 months, I'm going to have to estimate at about $250-300/month.