Monthly grocery budget

sterfehr · July 2013

I am trying to see if our monthly grocery budget can be cut some. Currently, we spend about $1,000 per month in food. We have two kids, 4 and 1 and my stepson visits every other weekend. For those of you with 4/5 family members, how much do you spend per month on groceries? I have a separate budget for going out to eat for toiletries, so the $1,000 is just for groceries. Thanks!

MommyLiberty5013 · July 2013

We have 2 adults a 3 year old and a 16 month old.

Not including diapers or pull-ups, or any other other paper products. And not including eating out, we probably spend $400-$500 per month on groceries.

$1k is really high!!! Especially for NM!

I'm guessing that you buy a lot of name brand foods instead of generic brands?

I'm also guessing that you buy a lot of prepackaged/preprepared foods? For example, buying the bagged lettuces instead of the single lettuce heads is way more costly because you're paying extra for the convenience of having it mixed and cut already.

And, I'm guessing that you buy a lot of snack items and sodas? Chips? Cookies? Drinks like Gatorade?

These are the big ways to go $$$ with groceries.

If you do these three things, to save money, just do the reverse.

Buy generic.

Buy foods you have to cut, slice, mix, and cook yourself.

Cut down on snacks, sodas and other junky items.

spalko · July 2013

Do you meal plan?

I plan my meals so that leftovers can be used for another meal the following night so we don't get stuck eating the same foods over and over again.

I agree with PP, generic foods are the way to go to save tons of money. I also shop at Walmart, instead of Meijer, because it is so much more cheaper.

Ducktale · July 2013

It's just DH and I, but our grocery/home supplies/toiletries is about $425 per month, but we pinch pennies hard to get that. We do eat almost all whole, organic foods (never buy processed). Also no snacks or soda, and we make everything from scratch. I have a meal planning app that I use to plan meals and make a grocery list. I also have food prices programmed in so I know the cost before I go.

hg2011 · July 2013

It's just my DH and I, but we have been able to cut our grocery budget down to about $150-175/month. It takes planning, and I've learned to cook a lot from scratch, but it can be done... *without* couponing (I hate couponing) and without spending 5 hours a day in the kitchen. We don't eat just rice and beans, either. The person who taught me most of what I know about budgeting/meal planning has 6 kids of her own, and for the eight of them, she spends about $400-$500/month. It totally can be done. Visit her website - www.groceryshrink.com.

melissa&mark · July 2013

We're a family of four and we budget $750 per month for groceries. We buy all organic/non-processed foods. I think we could trim that a little if I was better at meal planning but I'm still learning.

hamsterdance · July 2013

We spend 500 a month for me, DH, and DD (13) which includes personal care and cleaning products. I don't feel like that is by any means a bare bones budget either. We have ice cream, soda, and some kind of snacks in the house most of the time. I'm sure if we cut all that stuff out we could get the amount we spend down a bit lower.

We don't really buy anything organic unless it's cheaper than regular. We eat a lot of meatless meals, and when we do use meat it's in small amounts. We cook from scratch for the most part. I make heavy use of scratch and dent items and foods that are marked down because they explore soon. I go to the Asian grocery store for certain ingredients because they cost half as much as the regular store. I also stock up on things like dried beans, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, and peanut butter when I find them at a really good price. Anything we use a lot of that isn't perishable.

Mama-Bear · July 2013

We're a family of 5. DS1 is 5.5 and our twins are 3.5. We spend $400-$500 per month. We buy 95% generic. We do a big chunk at Aldi's and then the rest at Walmart.

ariel06 · July 2013

We spend about $500 a month including toiletries and any going out for meals. I coupon a little bit, but mostly just stock up on things when they go on sale at my buy price. We could spend less, but we are comfortable at this amount.

dalm0m · July 2013

Do you have a freezer? That can help a lot.

For example, every so often pork loin goes on sale around here for about $1.99 per pound. I'll buy a whole one which is often $15+ but when I get it home I cut it into at least 4 smaller roasts so it's a great deal.

Buying in bulk when stuff is on sale really helps.

Using fillers like beans, rice & pasta to cut down on expensive proteins also stretches your dollars.

DIY rather than pre-packaged will also save you a ton of money.

vlagrl29 · July 2013

we spend $500/month on groceries for a family of 3. I couldn't even imagine spending 1K.

mrsseguin · July 2013

We spend about $600/month. We are a family of 4, soon to be 5. That includes diapers, wipes, toiletries, cleaning supplies. For about 6 month when money was pretty tight about a year ago, we spent $400/month. It was tight and required a lot more planning. We don't meal plan and we usually buy generic brands as well.

court115 · July 2013

$1,000 is a lot to me. Especially if it doesn't include going out or toiletries.

We spend about $250-350 a month on groceries and some toiletries. I shop once or twice a year at BJs where I stock up on cleaning supplies and toiletries that I can. Those trips usually total about $200-300 each but again, that's only once or twice a year.

We eat mostly generic and I shop sales. I don't really coupon but will watch the store coupons that our local ShopRite sends in the mail. Sometimes they send good ones - like $10 off any grocery order of $50 or more. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, which I buy weekly at our local farmer's market. My son is on Walmart brand formula and Target brand cereal but gets Gerber baby food. My husband eats a lot of processed food (I know! I know!) when I have to work late or whatever but when I'm home, I always cook.

talkaboutit · July 2013

That seems really high. Do you cook at home EVERY meal? If so, then maybe $700 but I am a single mom with a 5 and 7 year old. I spend between $300-$350 a month. When I was married and a family of 4, we did between $550-$600 a month with no coupons but I did plan which makes shopping trips more efficient and you don't waste.

twohunts · July 2013

Ducktale:
It's just DH and I, but our grocery/home supplies/toiletries is about $425 per month, but we pinch pennies hard to get that. We do eat almost all whole, organic foods (never buy processed). Also no snacks or soda, and we make everything from scratch. I have a meal planning app that I use to plan meals and make a grocery list. I also have food prices programmed in so I know the cost before I go.

What apps do you use for meal planning and pricing? I started with ziplist recently because we eat paleo, but it doesn't give costs really. There are just two of us and we probably spend triple what you do a month. We buy all whole foods (lots of veggies and fruit) and almost all organic as well. We do buy our fair share of wine though.

maple2 · July 2013

We are a family of 4 (kids aged 2 and 4), and we usually spend around $700/month on food but it can be higher. We are in a HCOL area and we primarily buy organic and unprocessed foods, so we could find ways to reduce that cost if our priorities changed.

Erikan73 · July 2013

I have a household of 3 adults and we spend $500-600 a month which includes tolietries and cleaning products. I find that buying some food items in bulk has been a money saver. I can get 85/15 ground beef at the wholesale club for $2.99 a pound which is generallly +$1.00 less a pound then the regular store. The catch, it comes in a 14 pound tube. We take it home, pre-make hamburger patties or 1 pound amounts and put it in our vacuum saver machine and lable them and eat off that for a while. One thing that I've done that will help us save more money is to organizemy storage area so I can better see what we have on hand. I recently started buying things because I didn't think we had any left only to find we had more then enough left. We're also working on doing a spreadsheet for items that we buy frequently and the stores we would be likely to shop at and doing comparision shopping trips. This way we know which stores have the best prices on what products and then if someone has a sale or coupons, where to best use them. For example, if Wal-mart has an item we use for $5.00 and the other store that doubles coulpons has it for normally for $5.25, without a coupon, I would go to Wal-mart (assuming I'm already going there for other product) but if I have a $.55 coupon for the item, I'm going to the store that doubles coupons because then with the coupon Wal-mart would be $4.55 but the other store would be $4.15 making it a better deal (again assuming I'm going there for other products)

brij2006 · July 2013

Wow. Everyone's budgets are making me really need to re-think mine. We have been averaging $600/month since May. This is for 2 adults and includes toiletries and other random items. We eat whole food, some gluten free items, and are foodies. So we cook quite a bit at home, but on the weekends we will have pricier cuts of meat in the smoker or on the grill. So $1,000 for a family of 4 (if it included toiletries), I didn't think was too bad.

CuriousKiddosMama · July 2013

Our budget is about to be changing (as we start adding formula and baby products if/when necessary). Up until this point we have been budgeting $300 for the 2 of us each month. One of the major ways I save $$ is to buy meat when there is a good deal and toss it in our deep freezer. We will save a lot on meat this way. Our grocery store will also do managers specials on meat, and if I get there at the right time that is one of the ways I meal plan, based on what is available at a great price that week.

sparklerose · July 2013

We are a family of 3 and we spend about $800 a month, but that includes everything - shampoo/bathroom stuff, cleaning products, paper products and even most of DH's clothes since I get a lot of garanimal stuff at walmart.

$1000 seems pretty high for just food, but I also don't know how some of the people on this board get there budget down so low! We are trying, I think meal planning really well and sticking to it is the real key.

Monthly grocery budget

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