Grocery budget?

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

Hi Guys,

If you don't mind my asking, I'm curious as to what you all spend as far as groceries on a weekly/monthly basis.

I'm in the process of creating a budget to track where all the money is all going, and I've noticed that since I moved states a few months ago I seem to be spending a lot more on groceries (like seriously I'm spending twice as much on food here than I was before). I guess I'm just curious to see if what I'm spending is completely out of line compared to others.

I like to buy whole/unprocessed foods, and lots of fruits and veggies which I know can be expensive, but I'm also a vegetarian and I would have thought that would help tame my grocery bill at least a little.

Also, if anyone has any tips on finding some good/inexpensive produce I'd love to hear them! Even though I'm paying more for produce, I feel like the quality and variety has gone down from what I'm used to and it's frustrating!

Thanks in advance!

Smonet · January 2014

We spend 400 to 600 per month on groceries. It's me, DH and our 18 month old. I do 80% of our shopping at Costco (for produce, chicken, wild frozen fish, eggs, milk, cheese and grains-all organic). I supplement the small other things at whole foods and I watch their sales and sometimes my local grocery stores if it's running out for something here or there. I utilize my freezer and when any veggies or fruit or even almond milk or coconut milk ( which we make in the Vitamix) are nearing the end of their life I freeze it and use it in smoothies or soups. The Vitamix, Foodsaver and deep freeze are my best friends. Also, buy in bulk at whole foods or a co op anything you can. I keep it in glass jars in the pantry and save. If you have a Whole Foods watch for their bulk stock up sales.
If you have the space look into a community supported agriculture and local farm where you can purchase an eighth of local beef!

na41313 · January 2014

We spend roughly 400 a month for my husband and I. I love to cook so we only eat out about once a month or so. Usually I try to buy healthier things, but our city lacks my two favorite stores: Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Still, most of our budget goes to meat and produce. If I get a chance, I love to go to our local butcher, about a 20 minute drive across town. I find they have the best quality. As for fresh produce, I stop at farmstands up north (Wisconsin) all summer long.

hoffse · January 2014

H and I together spend about $250-$300/month for two of us. That said, we're big costco users (for non-fruits/veggies/meats), and we don't eat organic. I also can pretty much live off of store brand cereal and pasta. My H doesn't eat exactly the same as me, but he eats pretty cheap as well - a lot of oatmeal, green tea, and rice. He literally ate a costco-sized bag of rice by himself over about 3 months. It was kind of amazing (alarming?).

We're not vegetarians - we're just both really busy so rarely take the time to cook meat except for on the weekends. So we don't buy a huge amount of it - our freezer isn't big enough to buy that sort of stuff in bulk.

I literally fantasize about the day I can buy a house and get a deep freezer. I will finally be able to shop at costco to my heart's content....

vlagrl29 · January 2014

$400-$450 per month for a family of 3 - strictly groceries, no household items

Xstatic3333 · January 2014

I am in a similar situation to you; it's just the two of us, I am vegetarian, H is fine with mostly-meatless meals, and we largely buy organic. For us, getting a CSA membership has been essential. It works out to less than $100 a month for all of our vegetables from March through October. We freeze about a third for the winter and plan our meals around the rest. I can't stand wasting produce, which pressures us to eat in, the quality is amazing, and farm-fresh produce lasts a long time when stored properly in the fridge.

When we are in the winter season, we eat organic frozen veggies from BJs, WF, or TJs. Traditional grocery stores in our area are far more expensive for organic. I only buy fresh produce in season. I also keep some TJs frozen meals on hand for lazy nights. We live in MA which has a lot of these types of stores; it could be trickier in other parts of the country.

We do a lot of tofu stir-fries, potato dishes, pizzas, soups,and pastas. I look for recipes with as few ingredients as possible, and make extra for the next day's lunch. We'll compromise on organic for lunch snacks-I just can't quit Cheezits-It's!

ETA our actual budget: $300-$400 a month

Xstatic3333 · January 2014

I thought of another tip-keep an eye on Target's Cartwheel app. It's not my primary go-to destination, but a lot of our household staples like milk, eggs, citrus, and frozen veggies are almost always on there. I stack that discount with a Red Card, but I know that may not be the most popular option these days...

jamieallyn24 · January 2014

I typically spend $300-350 for two adults, including all paper products, cleaning supplies, and toiletries. My goal for this year is to get it down to $250 with coupons, better meal planning, and less waste. Our grocery budget used to be completely out of control - anywhere from $600-800 a month - a few years ago. My husband is a chef, so he likes quality ingredients, expensive cuts of meat, etc. We talked about it and decided this was a major problem, so I now do the meal planning and shopping.

I typically shop at four locations: Walmart, Target, Winn Dixie, and my local produce market. I shop the sale ads and try to match as many coupons as possible. I also keep a spreadsheet with grocery prices, so I can easily see if a "sale" is actually a sale. I also pay attention to the cycles - ex. I know whole chickens go for $0.99/lb and chicken breasts go BOGO every so often, so I only buy chicken at these prices. I buy mostly generic brands when it comes to pantry staples and household items. I don't buy much organic. I only buy produce that's in season. We eat a decent amount of beans - they're cheap and can make your meat stretch further. I also try to make things that freeze and reheat well so I can make double/triple batches for leftovers or the deep freezer.

We use vinegar and baking soda for a lot of our cleaning supplies, and I recently started making my own laundry detergent. I usually stock up on paper products and toiletries when they're on sale at Target. Between coupons, Target's cartwheel app, and the buy-so-many-get-a-giftcard deals, I can usually get these things for a really good price.

I know some of these things may seem a little extreme, but we are aggressively paying down debt and bulking up our savings right now. I felt like my grocery budget was one of the most flexible categories I could work on, so I'd much rather be as frugal as possible now than drag out my debt payments any longer.

JoanE2012 · January 2014

We spend an average of $100/week for both DH and I. We brown bag all of our lunches and only eat out once or twice a month. We buy things like meat, toilet paper, paper towels etc in bulk at Costco.

jessica490 · January 2014

H and I spend usually no more than $400 per month and it's just the two of us plus the dog. We shop at Shoprite grocery store weekly and go to BJ's about every 2 months just to stock up on meat $50-$60 or so. Our regular grocery shopping includes fruit, deli, some processed foods, snacks, dairy, paper products and sometimes meat. We don't eat out often. We don't cook fancy meals and we don't have a ton of ingredients in our house, so we buy our weekly meal ingredients the week before. H isn't going to be home much now because of school, so I will eat pasta, soups, or breakfast for dinner

Erikan73 · January 2014

We're trying $400 a month for me, hubby & roommate (we provide dinner for him about 4 times a week) and our 3 small dogs. I am currently including the cost of paper products & dog food in that budget.

You said you recently moved to a new state. If you haven't already, talk to your co-workers to see if they can recommend any places in the area for veggies that are priced good. They may be able to recommend a little mom/pop market where you can get great deals on food or even a larger grocery store that you haven't gone to because it's not in your normal area.

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

Thanks Guys! It's interesting to see what everyone spends on food in a given month. It appears my reply has turned into a novel--sorry for the long response!

Back in Colorado I used to spend maybe $300-350 or so on food. But I used to be part of a CSA, and also used to shop at places like Sunflower market which has cheap produce\\--they were like a cheaper version of Whole Foods, lol. I guess I got spoiled over there.

Now I'm spending close to $600 a month, and not getting nearly the same variety of food I used to be able to access which I think is what frustrates me. Most of the grocery stores around here have very small produce sections, and I've started going to one that's almost 30 minutes away because they tend to have better looking stuff--even there it's hit or miss though. I couldn't even find lettuce or apples that looked decent enough to buy this week!

There's plenty of fast food places around me, corner shops that might have a small frozen veggie section, lots of liquor stores, but if you want to get fresh food you're out of luck for the most part. I did just find out that there is a Whole Foods and a TJs about 45 minutes from me, so I might have to go check those out and see if it's worth it to make the trip on a regular basis.

Like a few people mentioned, I also make my own cleaning products and we tend to use cloth in place of things like paper towels and napkins so that's not a big cost for us. H and I also take lunch in to work everyday, usually leftovers. It's just so frustrating when I feel like I'm paying so much and yet living so frugally to try and keep costs down (it's a good thing I grew up on rice and beans and love them, haha), especially since I was told that the COL here would be lower than what I was used to. Guess not!

Thanks again for all all your suggestions!

maple2 · January 2014

We spend around $600/month for a family of 4. We are also vegetarian and buy mostly organic whole foods. We splurge on some more expensive items like almond butter that DH loves. As I mentioned in the splurge post, groceries are not an area where we prioritize saving, so I'm not surprised we are at the high end of the spectrum. I don't know where you are living now, but we were just in CO over the holidays, and I was amazed at how much cheaper groceries were there than where we currently live.

We have had luck placing bulk orders through a local co-op grocery store which lets us stock up on things like beans, tomatoes, toiletries, etc. that we use regularly without paying the store mark-up. We can also shop the bulk distributor sale catalog, which makes things even cheaper. We try to get out berry picking and apple picking in season so that we can freeze and can them for later use, which is also cheaper than buying frozen berries and apple sauce.

We joined a CSA this year, and I honestly didn't find it to be much of a savings. We still had to buy quite a bit of produce even during the growing season. We had a CSA in a different location that I felt provided much more bang for my buck.

cbee817 · January 2014

We usually spend about $500/month on groceries for a family of 4. I buy pretty much all organic meats, dairy, fruits, veggies, breads, pastas, etc for us. We have pretty big grocery stores here (one of them is Wegmans if anyone is familiar with that company) and we just got a Trader Joe's a few months ago. There is also a great co-op about 10 minutes from our house and we have a local farmers market right at our village municipal building (just down the road) from June - October. My parents have 22 acres of land so they have an enormous organic vegetable and fruit garden that help us in the summer months. We grow blueberries and we usually get tomato plants every summer, but my girls want to try snap peas this year.

smbenevides1989 · January 2014

For myself, my H and our 3 year old daughter, I spend $60/week - and my H is a hefty eater. This also includes whole wheat pastas, rice and breads, fresh veggies (not organic), and paper good/toiletries/cleaning supplies. I kinda meal plan. I make all my own breakfasts, lunches and dinners from scratch. We only go out to eat on Fridays prior to grocery shopping. We very rarely eat red meat. We eat chicken, ground turkey, and fish. I do buy snacks for my DD and for ourselves. Sometimes if I spend a little less than budgeted, I will grab some extras of staple foods - beans, sauces, pastas - just to have in the house, which will allow me to spend a little more the next time.

I shop mostly at Walmart and Priceright. I will shop at BJs, maybe once every 3 months, and that's if I really want to stock up on stuff like meats and dog food. I always try to find the best sales if I can.

brij2006 · January 2014

We spend about $350-400 per month for my husband and I. This includes toiletries, cleaning products, and household necessities (furnace filters, random house items for little projects).

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

maple2 said:

We spend around $600/month for a family of 4. We are also vegetarian and buy mostly organic whole foods. We splurge on some more expensive items like almond butter that DH loves. As I mentioned in the splurge post, groceries are not an area where we prioritize saving, so I'm not surprised we are at the high end of the spectrum. I don't know where you are living now, but we were just in CO over the holidays, and I was amazed at how much cheaper groceries were there than where we currently live.

It is crazy how cheap groceries are over there! I guess I took it for granted when I lived there. We moved down to GA, sort of in a middle size town, but everyone told me how much cheaper things are supposed to be here. I find the opposite to be true though--rent costs more (although houses if you buy are cheap), gas and food are more expensive, car insurance rates are higher, it's just crazy! Oh well, I guess that's just life.

cbee817, that garden sounds amazing! I would love to have acres of land to grow my own veggies. If we manage to close a deal on a house before springtime I'm hoping to be able to grown at least a few things.Snap Peas are my H's favorite--he has very fond memories of going up to his grandparents farm and eating them right off the vine.

I'll be looking to see if there are any CSA's in the area or something similar. Love the idea of berry picking too--yummy!

dragonstarjk · January 2014

We spend around $300-350 for myself and H, and this includes cleaning supplies, most toiletries, paper products, etc. I do all the shopping; the few times he comes with me, we always spend way more than when I'm on my own. Funny how that works!

I shop at Albertsons and Wal-mart; Albertson's is actually a little bit more expensive, but they have better customer service, usually no lines, and it's just a more pleasant shopping experience. I also have some toiletry and cleaning items that I get through Amazon's Subscribe and Save program, such as deodorant, dryer sheets, etc.

hoffse · January 2014

Where in GA if you don't mind my asking? I grew up there and found the way to eat cheapest was to buy the things over the summer and then can. Peaches, blackberries, peanuts, etc. are dirt cheap in the summer. GA doesn't have much by way of winter crops.

GA has no sales tax on food, which I love. I hate paying sales on my food here in AL.

The southern COL things really does get cheaper once you own a house. Land is so cheap that it's what most people do down here. I think that actually makes apartments more expensive. I pay twice as much for my rent in AL as my parents pay for their mortgage in GA. Even in my own city, I could be living in an updated 3 bed/2 bath house with a half acre of land for what I pay in my rent. It's really frustrating.

Things my parents grow every summer in their garden: tomatoes, peppers (all types - they grow beautifully), sunflowers (for the seeds), and peas. H and I also grow basil and rosemary pretty successfully. Actually, the basil is sort of like a weed. We have to keep it separate from our other plants because it will literally kill them to keep growing. Blackberries grow wild all around the state, and they are also like a weed. My mother makes blackberry preserves each year from the wild blackberries that grow near their house.

hoffse · January 2014

Oh and they've also had success in the past with strawberries and yellow squash.

The only thing to keep in mind is that a lot of these plants need a lot of shade to grow well in GA. The dirt is apparently very nutrient rich for them, but too much sun just fries them. Some people down here even grow more delicate plants in their garage. It's plenty warm for them to grow, but the garage is more climate-controlled than the outdoors.

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

I am so dying to get into a house! We've been looking at a few and I think we're going to put an offer in on one that is in western Marietta. It will only be about a 10 minute drive for my husband to go to work, and it would be fairly easy for me to hop on the highway to get to work and then school again in the fall. Plus our mortgage would be about half of what we're paying in rent! I would actually love to move to eastern Cobb county, as it reminds me a lot of where we used to live in CO, but the houses there are so much more expensive...on the plus side they do have a Trader Joe's and Whole Foods though!

Currently we live out in the Powder Springs area, which we thought we would like as it has a charming small town feel to it, but I don't think it's the place for us, so as soon as our lease is up we're out of here, lol.

CuriousKiddosMama · January 2014

We spend $300 a month on groceries for DH and I. We are making the switch to formula, and DS is starting to eat baby food though, so I know this will go up a lot soon. Based on what my DS is drinking, that may end up doubling our food budget for the month, but my freezer stash of breast milk is almost gone so there is nothing that can be done about that. A sams club size thing of formula was lasting us 10 days when we were using 1/2 formula, when we go to 100% that means it will only last 5 days max. OMG!
I buy a lot of manager special meats and freeze them when I can find great sales. I will also buy to the limits (think 2 or 3) briskets, ribs, whatever when they put them on sale for 99 cents a pound. That is actually one of the major ways that I save on groceries.

hoffse · January 2014

Yeah, I'm not a powder springs fan either

My H grew up in western Marietta - his parents still live there. You might be neighbors! If your H can live in Marietta and only drive 10 min to work, that's a huge win. My BIL and SIL live in the same area and have a 45 min commute. Each direction. And that's pretty standard I think.

One of the problems you are facing is Atlanta prices. Everything just costs more there. BUT compared to other large cities, Atlanta does have a much lower COL overall. I think when people talk about how cheap it is to live in the south, they are usually talking about the more rural areas. I grew up in N. GA (close to TN), and things are very very cheap up there. Actually, I think most of the rest of GA doesn't count Atlanta and its outskirts as being "southern" because it's pretty atypical compared to the rest of the state. I'm in Birmingham now, and things here are cheaper than Atlanta, but still not as cheap as the rural areas I was used to.

On the bright side, Atlanta has a lot to offer. And you're also within 2-4 hours of a lot of other neat places (Chattanooga, Birmingham, Nashville, Savannah, Charleston, etc.). If you haven't visited these cities, you totally should. They're all really neat places. And I have a whole list of other really neat southern towns if you ever need a weekend getaway recommendation. You're also just 4-5 hours from the beach. Start looking for the blue & yellow 30A stickers on people's cars - that's a reference to this one stretch of beach that everybody visits. I can attest to its awesomeness, having been there a number of times myself. And most importantly, let's not forget: you are within driving distance of Disney World. Win. So you might be paying a bit more there, but it does have some perks!

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

Haha, you just made my day hoffse! That is so funny that your H's parents live in the area we're looking at. I'm assuming they like it if they still live there, right?

We're looking at one particular house about 10 minutes from the Square (close enough that I can still go wander easily, but far enough away that my H doesn't have to deal with the traffic around there--which he hates) My commute would be about 35 minutes for work and about the same in the fall once I go back to school, so that's not too bad (although it is Atlanta traffic, lol)

I haven't been to most of the places you mentioned, unless driving through on a road trip counts, but I'll have to go check them out. I love the beach so I will for sure be heading that way come summertime. Up until I was about 10 I lived in Miami with my grandparents, who had a condo on the beach. Man I miss those days, haha! And you're right, nothing beats Disney World! One of these days I want to go to the Harry Potter theme park too--that would be a blast!

hoffse · January 2014

My H's family loves Marietta

They've lived there for his entire life and have no intention of moving.

Well at minimum I recommend a day trip to Chattanooga. Spend the morning at McKays (best used bookstore ever... like, ever). And then the afternoon at the aquarium and visiting the Bluff View Arts district for dinner. Gotta get ice cream at Clumpies too - it's excellent

You can cross the river on the walking bridge for ice cream. Helps burn off some of those calories.

If you like nature/hiking/biking, etc. I also recommend Ft. Oglethorpe. It's about 2 miles from the TN border, right off I-75. That's where the Confederacy held Sherman for weeks before he broke through and started the march to the sea (and the burning of GA). It's now a very large national park, and it's really beautiful. Lots of trails.

And on the McKays rec - I seriously know Atlanta folks that take trips to Chattanooga just to shop there. I buy all my trashy romance novels there for $0.05 - $0.10 each. They also have a lot of DVDs, CDs, video games, gaming equipment, etc. H bought a Wii there for $25. It's incredible. Oh and you can sell your books/DVDs/CDs you won't use anymore for McKay's credit. H and I use them to just rotate our stock a couple times a year. It's about the size of a Kohls I would say.

Chatt and Ft. O are less than 2 hours from Marietta, and it's a straight shot up 75.

orangehills · January 2014

I try to stick to around $400 for the month, which includes animal food and toiletries. We go over sometimes, but that's what I try to stick to. It's just 2 of us right now and 2 cats and a chihuahua, so not too much goes to animals per month. We usually do one trip per month to Costco and then the filler trips to Target and Safeway.

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

hoffse said:

My H's family loves Marietta They've lived there for his entire life and have no intention of moving.

Well at minimum I recommend a day trip to Chattanooga. Spend the morning at McKays (best used bookstore ever... like, ever). And then the afternoon at the aquarium and visiting the Bluff View Arts district for dinner. Gotta get ice cream at Clumpies too - it's excellent You can cross the river on the walking bridge for ice cream. Helps burn off some of those calories.

If you like nature/hiking/biking, etc. I also recommend Ft. Oglethorpe. It's about 2 miles from the TN border, right off I-75. That's where the Confederacy held Sherman for weeks before he broke through and started the march to the sea (and the burning of GA). It's now a very large national park, and it's really beautiful. Lots of trails.

And on the McKays rec - I seriously know Atlanta folks that take trips to Chattanooga just to shop there. I buy all my trashy romance novels there for $0.05 - $0.10 each. They also have a lot of DVDs, CDs, video games, gaming equipment, etc. H bought a Wii there for $25. It's incredible. Oh and you can sell your books/DVDs/CDs you won't use anymore for McKay's credit. H and I use them to just rotate our stock a couple times a year. It's about the size of a Kohls I would say.

Chatt and Ft. O are less than 2 hours from Marietta, and it's a straight shot up 75.

You truly know the way to my heart, lol. I can do some serious damage at a bookstore--H and I have talked about building our dream house in the next 10 years or so. That house will have a big library filled with books, non-negotiable!

Sounds like some pretty cool places to check out. I studied history in school and I'm fascinated by how rich the history in this part of the country is. I'm such a nerd--I love going to old battlefields and places like that and just envision what life must have been way back when. I think some hiking will be in order once the weather warms up a bit.

Thanks!

hoffse · January 2014

Because I love McKay so much, and because they make my life that much more MM - here's what they offer:

http://www.mckaybooks.com/our-shelves

I'm buying H a McKay t-shirt for graduation. They have a location in Nashville too (where he attends law school). The Nashville location actually sells a large number of music scores. He's a composer, so he collects them. I think he goes about once a week to see what they have. The stock changes all the time. I think it will physically hurt him to leave it behind when he moves to Bham in May.

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

Poor guy! I don't think I'd want to leave either. That place looks huge!!! I have visions of myself just wandering happily for hours on end. I'm thinking H and I will be taking a trip up there in the very near future.

Grocery budget?

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