Random topic: Grocery Bill

ValGogo

Ok, so I have a family of 3. My Boyfriend, my 4 year old, and me. Some how we manage to spend just about $640 a month at Target/Vons. Is that normal for a family this size? I don’t know why but it seems high to me to be spending about $200 to $120 every week on food and stuff for the house. If am wrong let me know, I am dying to figure out a way to drop this bill and save some money! Thanks!! :frown: :sad:

You're going grocery shopping at Target? Target it great but a Supermarket would be a better value. What is Von's? Don't you have a Shoprite in your area?

Yo, man, I TRAVEL to get good deals. OK, not like 20 miles but I will go a little out of my way to get better deals at green grocers, etc.

ValGogo

BUT it also includes those essentials we need around the house
-Paper Towels/Toilet Paper
-Laundry Detergent/Dryer Sheets
-Cleaning Supplies
-Any and all HBA Items
-Cat Litter

And those semi non essential food items we buy every week
-Milk, 1/2 Gal Skim and 1 Gal 2% for the kids
-Coffee
-Creamer - My Sugar Free Creamer
-Sodas for the hubby

This stuff I would get at Costco. Eggs too. the $50.00 a year joiner fee is worth it. Or split the fee with a friend.

ThinLizzie0802

No idea about Vons but Target is high priced for groceries and I never shop there as bad as I want too for food!

AusAshMommy

BUT it also includes those essentials we need around the house
-Paper Towels/Toilet Paper
-Laundry Detergent/Dryer Sheets
-Cleaning Supplies
-Any and all HBA Items
-Cat Litter

And those semi non essential food items we buy every week
-Milk, 1/2 Gal Skim and 1 Gal 2% for the kids
-Coffee
-Creamer - My Sugar Free Creamer
-Sodas for the hubby

This stuff I would get at Costco. Eggs too. the $50.00 a year joiner fee is worth it. Or split the fee with a friend.

My Mom is talking about giving us a Sam's Club Membership for our B-Day/Anniversary (both fall in August) - however, we live in a smallish house, 1,040 sq feet w/NO Storage built in - we'd need to purchase shelving and cabinets to accommodate that stuff...I buy maybe 1/2 doz eggs/week - any more and they'd go bad before I finished the carton...not worth it, along w/produce

CassieR6

No idea about Vons but Target is high priced for groceries and I never shop there as bad as I want too for food!

Vons is like a Safeway or Albertson's ( we live in Southern California). And for Target being expensive food wise, I feel like I need to disagree. I feel that everything there is cheaper than at a grocery store. I mean a box of cereal would cost like $3.00 at Target and $4.00 or higher at the grocery store. Maybe I am not paying attention I don't know but I always thought everything was cheaper at Target or Walmart versus a grocery store.

seltzermint555

No idea about Vons but Target is high priced for groceries and I never shop there as bad as I want too for food!

Vons is like a Safeway or Albertson's ( we live in Southern California). And for Target being expensive food wise, I feel like I need to disagree. I feel that everything there is cheaper than at a grocery store. I mean a box of cereal would cost like $3.00 at Target and $4.00 or higher at the grocery store. Maybe I am not paying attention I don't know but I always thought everything was cheaper at Target or Walmart versus a grocery store.

I agree with this somewhat. While I don't do my actual grocery shopping at Target personally, I do think their prices are better (at least in my area) than the big name supermarkets. I prefer to shop at Aldi and a discount supermarket and natural foods store. But I buy a few things at Target for VERY good prices...like noosa yogurt, Annie's boxed products, frozen veggies, and Morningstar Farms stuff. Morningstar Prime Grillers, for example, are $3.69 for 4 patties at Target versus $5-ish at Price Cutter or Kroger.

smiley245

We spend between 70-120$ a week on groceries. For a family of 4 ( 2 kids 11&15) This includes toiletries, cleaning products, paper towels, TP etc. We tend to go over 100$ when there is a good sale.

Our main basket staples are plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. Deli meats, egg and steaks, chicken, Cheeses, milk and yogurt, I say this takes up about 70-80%% of the bill. The balance on inner aisle stuff, such as cereal, oats, canned, goods etc.

I shop sales, price match and use coupons when I can (far from an extreme couponer) and stock up on staples. We grow a garden in the summer and freeze some veggies when they are in abundance. We rarely eat out and meal planning helps big time

Shopping at Target would be more expensive for us here, unless I went for a specific sale item. We live in Ontario Canada....

happysquidmuffin

Wow, what are you all eating? It's just my husband and I, and we spend $200 per month or less on food from grocery stores. That doesn't count eating out or household stuff, but I think it's a reasonable amount to spend. I do like to use coupons and I pay attention to sales though, and where I live they double coupons...

madhatter2013

I spend a good $200 a week on food for a household of 7 people, one diabetic (not that it changes the amount we spend). Three adults and 4 kids.

navygrrl

We spend $50-$75 per week on groceries. That includes paper products and toiletries and cat food/litter. There's 3 of us here full time, me, hubby, a teenage boy, and two fat cats. I also have another teenage boy and daughter that alternate between here and their dad's house. I don't use coupons, but I plan out meals and only buy things on my list. I check the ads each week and buy things where they are the cheapest. We have a Sam's Club membership, but I don't know if we're going to renew that or not.

cstringfellow2013

It runs about $160 a week for my family of 5 (and two cats) when I don't have to buy a bunch of non-food items (laundry soap, etc). This is for all meals from home, so no eating out.

helenarriaza

Jesus that's more than my monthly paycheck.
$100 a month, a bit more every now and then

All fresh, all organic and I go to pricesmart to buy a couple of basics.

hananah89

That does seem kind of high. But for just me (and BF eats with me on weekends where I tend to insist we cook rather than go out) I spend roughly $300/month (including paper products and such). I do not shop sales unless I see something marked down that I could use that week. I would rather pay more to get the quality and taste I like vs buying cheaper versions of things. ex: I prefer buying fresh meat and seafood myself because it tastes better. Meat definitely makes my grocery bill go up, but I buy a bunch at once and that tends to last about a month.

tryett

I have two adult sons at home (21 and 20, who can really eat, love snacks and steak) and a big dog. Our grocery bill (including food, paper goods, pet supplies, toiletries etc) runs about $100 a week. But I coupon and if I didn't it would be twice that.

I mainly shop at Harris Teeter (who doubles coupons up to 99 cents everyday and sometimes more, plus they run all kinds of B2G3 free etc) and Target (who lets you use their coupon, a manufacturers coupon and the cartwheel and redcard, plus my eldest works there and gets another 10 percent off).

TheRoadDog

We drop about $600 when we do out main shopping each month.

We probably drop another $250 at Farmer's Market and other side trips to the store.

jstout365

I guess I fall into the "higher" category. I budget $200 a week for groceries and household supplies for 2 adults, a 5 year old who eats like a teen, a dog and cat. Most weeks I am under, but some weeks I go over a little. I buy meat in bulk packs and freeze the extra. Fruit adds up quickly for us since we can go through about 10 lbs of it a week. I think my average cost is closer to $150/week, but I budget that extra just to know I have the cash available when I hit a high weekend (usually getting pet food).

Sinisterly

You know, I have no idea how much I spend on groceries for myself. I've never really thought into keeping track. I do eat a lot of junkfood, though..

helenarriaza

You know, I have no idea how much I spend on groceries for myself. I've never really thought into keeping track. I do eat a lot of junkfood, though..

I started doing grocery shopping when I realized almost half my paycheck was being eaten up in junk food.

Rainboots80

We are a family of 6 and spend about 150.00 a week including food, toiletries, diapers ect.

JoRocka

Jesus that's more than my monthly paycheck.
$100 a month, a bit more every now and then

All fresh, all organic and I go to pricesmart to buy a couple of basics.

WTH are you eating for 100$ a month?

I go it's consistently 45-75$ a week. Which at best is 200 a month- at worst 300 and change depending on toiletries.

I mean I'm not stingy- but I'm not a big extra's person- I buy the same stuff religiously- chicken- veggies- ice cream- eggs bacon and milk.

I only buy beer once every two months and I'll skip things if they aren't a good price.
I couldn't imagine eating on 100 a month! I'm impressed!!!!

angel7472

Family of 5. Husband, me 10yo, 13 yo and 16yo (going on 17). 2 girls 17yo is the boy. Who after he eats will taunt me an hour later tellimg me he's hungry what do we got. Anyway live in Illinois. Ya BOO HISS!! Groceries are about $1000 a month easily. Including all my health food, toiletries and other stuff. I do the meal planning for 2 weeks and Im lucky if I step out of a store for less than $300. That doesnt include running to Fresh Market or Hyvee for my health food stuff which can run another $100 every 2 weeks. I shop at Walmart its the lowest here. Grocery stores here are 2x the price and thats on sale! Ticks me off!

mscleo1115

That sounds about right. I have a family of 3 (husband, toddler son, and myself) and we spend an average of $160 - $200 per week on food and we polish it off completely.

AsaThorsWoman

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AsaThorsWoman

It's usually right at $310 per month for myself, and my daughter, and my boyfriend eats over about three nights a week, and he eats a ton of food.

My goal is $250 and the closest I've got to it all year was $275, at which point I took my family to a restaurant to celebrate and knocked the bill back up to $310.

Love these threads~!

I live in Norman, OK!

:flowerforyou:

This does not include Personal Care items or Household Goods items.

So far this year I've averaged $71.75 toward Household Goods (litter, cleaning supplies, decor, etc..) and $83.93 for Personal Care which isn't too bad because it includes all clothing, salon trips, soaps, etc for both my daughter and I.

I spent an average of $59.91 per month on booze. :-)

NahrasWay

My boyfriend and I spend about $50 a week on groceries give or take. IF we had a kid I would estimate maybe another $100 on top of that since they need food to grow. Over $600 seems excessive to me. The Vons here is very expensive compared to some of the other stores we have. We have a place called FoodMaxx (Also Food4Less) where we get the bulk of our food and is basically a discount supermarket. We buy their brand of items which are usually much cheaper than the name brand stuff. We are also lucky and live near a supermarket called Vallarta which gives incredible deals on fruits/veggies every week. Like this week we got 5# of onions for a $1 (which will probably last us 2 weeks) .. 3# of carrots for $1 .. 3# of roma tomatoes for $1 .. and there were a few other deals like that as well and it changes (usually) each week so we are able to get a good variety.

helenarriaza

Jesus that's more than my monthly paycheck.
$100 a month, a bit more every now and then

All fresh, all organic and I go to pricesmart to buy a couple of basics.

WTH are you eating for 100$ a month?

I go it's consistently 45-75$ a week. Which at best is 200 a month- at worst 300 and change depending on toiletries.

I mean I'm not stingy- but I'm not a big extra's person- I buy the same stuff religiously- chicken- veggies- ice cream- eggs bacon and milk.

I only buy beer once every two months and I'll skip things if they aren't a good price.
I couldn't imagine eating on 100 a month! I'm impressed!!!!

The benefits of being in Guatemala lol :bigsmile:
We buy groceries for 5-6, a ton of cats, 2 dogs and a parrot.

All fresh food and toiletries.
Junk food is kind of expensive and not that impressive.

CassieR6

Ok, I should have specified this is including household items such as papertowels and what not.

carleighsmama

We are a family of four. Me, husband, 4 year old, and two month old. I spend between $150-$200 every two weeks. I'm an active sale shopper and use coupons. Most of our groceries come from the other areas of the grocery stores (produce, deli, meat, dairy, etc...)

pobalita

$75 per week for me and my two sons. This includes everything except school lunches which is another $20. We eat meat once per week and the rest of our meals are vegan or vegetarian.

paulawatkins1974

Ya. We spend about that. Me, hubby and our 4 year old who hardly eats. Maybe even a bit more now that I try to eat a bit healthier. Kraft dinner and weiners was soo much cheaper!