Just added up my monthly grocery expenses - I'm sick

inertiastrength

midlomel1971 wrote: »

We easily spend this much for 2 adults and 2 kids (and a cat), including household supplies. It sucks, but that's what it is.

Well now I know why I make decent money but never have any lol

ritzvin

mrsnattybulking wrote: »

ritzvin wrote: »

mrsnattybulking wrote: »

ritzvin wrote: »

TazziPlissken wrote: »

Wow! I'm in the UK and our household grocery bill is approximately £440 a month, (about $568 US) and that includes toiletries, cleaning products, nappies/diapers and baby formula. There's two adults and 5 children.
How expensive is food etc in the states??

I think it has more to do with what people here view as "healthy food". If you are mainly eating trucked-in fresh produce (and add more $$ for any 'organic' stickers) and only the leanest cuts of meat, then it is indeed expensive.

Beef and fish have gone up in price quite a bit in the last few years though. I tend to buy ground turkey almost exclusively now because I usually refuse to pay the beef prices. And fish that isn't from China/Vietnam is ridiculously expensive. Chicken is still cheap though (unless you insist on only eating boneless, skinless chicken breasts).

I'm in the GTA and Farmer's Markets here are things that rich people do with expensive coffees on Saturday morning. It's actually MORE expensive for me to buy from markets.

I wasn't actually referring to those - I meant buying things like carrots, beets, green beans, squash, etc (from the normal grocery store) that are grown in your region instead of stuff that can't be grown remotely near your region.

Gotcha! For the same reason we tend to pay more for that (in certain cases). I can buy strawberries from god-knows-where for 1.99/lb if I want Ontario strawberries during the growing season it's more like 4.99/lb (which I wouldn't dare) I haven't noticed a difference between locally sourced and non in the grocery store in anything other than strawberries, and as you can see it's not in my favour haha. I think because Ontario's growing season is so short and people tend to want to support local, the price difference is non-existent. Idk what to tell you lol

yes- the local strawberries can draw a definite premium..probably here too. The local ones are SO much better and available for such a limited time. (The Driscolls that get shipped in have been bred for size and shelf life at the expense of taste).

inertiastrength

ritzvin wrote: »

mrsnattybulking wrote: »

ritzvin wrote: »

mrsnattybulking wrote: »

ritzvin wrote: »

TazziPlissken wrote: »

Wow! I'm in the UK and our household grocery bill is approximately £440 a month, (about $568 US) and that includes toiletries, cleaning products, nappies/diapers and baby formula. There's two adults and 5 children.
How expensive is food etc in the states??

I think it has more to do with what people here view as "healthy food". If you are mainly eating trucked-in fresh produce (and add more $$ for any 'organic' stickers) and only the leanest cuts of meat, then it is indeed expensive.

Beef and fish have gone up in price quite a bit in the last few years though. I tend to buy ground turkey almost exclusively now because I usually refuse to pay the beef prices. And fish that isn't from China/Vietnam is ridiculously expensive. Chicken is still cheap though (unless you insist on only eating boneless, skinless chicken breasts).

I'm in the GTA and Farmer's Markets here are things that rich people do with expensive coffees on Saturday morning. It's actually MORE expensive for me to buy from markets.

I wasn't actually referring to those - I meant buying things like carrots, beets, green beans, squash, etc (from the normal grocery store) that are grown in your region instead of stuff that can't be grown remotely near your region.

Gotcha! For the same reason we tend to pay more for that (in certain cases). I can buy strawberries from god-knows-where for 1.99/lb if I want Ontario strawberries during the growing season it's more like 4.99/lb (which I wouldn't dare) I haven't noticed a difference between locally sourced and non in the grocery store in anything other than strawberries, and as you can see it's not in my favour haha. I think because Ontario's growing season is so short and people tend to want to support local, the price difference is non-existent. Idk what to tell you lol

yes- the local strawberries can draw a definite premium..probably here too. The local ones are SO much better and available for such a limited time. (The Driscolls that get shipped in have been bred for size and shelf life at the expense of taste).

I know they really do taste 1000 times better even when not quite ripe!

abbynormalartist

Sympathies big time!!! Last month I spent more than $900 for a family of 4 (including dish soap, shampoo, trash bags, etc) but if I don't try really, really hard, I can easily go over that. And that's not factoring in any eating out or protein supplements that we get online. The biggest thing that helps me.... only go grocery shopping once a week. If I can do that, I can usually stick to a monthly budget of around $600, or about $125 a week. Once I start hitting up the grocery store during the week, my budget is blown. And no, we're not eating steak every night.