How much do you spend?

princesspita

I spend around $800 a month in groceries (food only). This is for 2 adults and a 10 year old boy. We only buy fresh produce, meat, and spices, so it gets very expensive. But not buying any processed or packaged food has been quite rewarding for our health benefits.

Since I enjoy cooking so much, we only eat out once a week and usually go out for sushi, so that adds another couple hundred if we eat out 4 times a month.

stef827

I live in Colorado and we spend up to $350 a month for myself and my husband but that also includes paper products, cleaning, toilitries, and baby stuff. I am a crazy couponer and have stocked up on things and don't have to purchase them for several months at a time sometimes

We also have a cat so buy litter, cat food, etc.... And the cost each month depends on if we need to restocked meat and such. I will say I would love to have more $ in our budget for food but we get by and I'm able to eat pretty healthy

ZombieChaser

On food each month, and for how many people?

I realize food costs differ quite a bit depending where you live too. Mostly just curious! I spend about $350-$400 a month in Canada for myself and one other. That's probably on the high side of what it should be. Would be interested to hear others, and the special things they do to keep within their budgets (would love to learn some couponing techniques for future, but the valid coupons seems so minimal in Canada, or maybe I'm just blind).

This is about what we spend a month in Canada as well (two of us). There are times when it's higher, especially when I buy meat. I'm thinking of starting a garden this summer, so that should cut down on some cost for a few months I've never couponned myself, but I should LOL...

love22step

I estimate about $250 per month for 3 of us in Texas. We eat out at least once a week, sometimes twice. Often, my husband and I grab a little something for lunch, too. I can garden all year, here, and we have chickens. I'm preparing to add meat/milk goats and meat rabbits this year. We want to be more self-sufficient.

slay0r

To add to my previous post - today is a good example of how much money I spend on CRAP.

2 packs blueberries £3
1 pack yoghurt £1
Deli Turkey 400g £4.50
Silverside beef 200g £2.45
Sweet Chilli Couscous £1.50
Mixed Salad £1
Milk 50p
Banana's £1.27
=£15.22

That's like 2 days worth of lunches with a snack on the side... that's 2 out of 21 meals across the week!

Phrak

What this thread has shown me, is i eat about as much as a family of four. FML.

jenbenster

I'm in Ireland and I say I spend about €40 per week for myself on grocery food [not including eating out]

It also depends on if I have re-stock some of my more expensive ingredients like cacao powder, honey etc. I eat mostly vegan food too and preferably organic so it can get quite expensive on your own.

I've starting a cooking club with a friend so we can split costs!

kanmuri

My husband and I spend about $150CAN every two week. We do buy other stuff beween the big shopping days so I guess that on average we buy for about 400$ of groceries per month. We don't eat out much and always have leftovers for lunch. I don't know if that's a lot for Quebec.

southernyankee716

I live in upstate NY and spend about $200.00 week for a family of 3.

stef827

For a family of 3 (almost 3 year old included), I spend about $400/ month on food. This doesn't account for the "run ins" to pick our son up more juice, cheese, or gummies, and it may be more depending on what my recipes call for. I have been trying to spend more time in the produce section that normal, and not as much in the aisles. I use coupons when I have then and when I remember. I would really like to know how these women buy all of those groceries for like $5 or less!!!

Check out the website krazycouponlady.com and moneysavingmom.com they will give you tips on couponing

girl_afraid82

Me and my boyfriend take it in turns to do the food shopping, and spend between £70-100 a time. That usually lasts us two weeks with the occasional top up of veggies/milk.

♥Amy♥

I live in Texas (south of DFW) and for our family of 4 (DH, myself, 8 year old and 3 year old boys), we spend on average $200-$300 per month in groceries (this is just food....nothing else).

We don't eat out for the most part, maybe twice a month on the weekend, and we only go if kids eat free or we have a gift card to make our meal cheap/free. I make all our meals at home and DH and my oldest son take lunches each day to work/school.

I have a stockpile of food, though, from couponing, so I only buy items when on sale/with coupon and I price match all our meat/chicken/fish and fruit/veggies at WalMart with grocery ads from the surrounding areas.

Eleanorjanethinner

This is interesting and very helpful as I've just moved to the UK and am trying to work out a food budget for the two of us. It looks like we could comfortably come in about 300 pounds a month or less for the two of us. We'll make sure we're taking lunch to work every day and minimising eating out...

love2cycle

I am allowed $775 a month for 5 people, all adult appetites. That isn't just food, though, but we are struggling to make it, because absolutely everything has gone up in price! If I was able to just buy without a budget, there's no doubt in my mind I could easily spend $1000 a month.

Dtho5159

I average about $100 a week for a family of 4. We spend more because we have soy milk for my husband since he can't have cows milk, and we try to do organic/natural as much as we can afford. some weeks, I will spend $50, some $150 but it averages to $100 a week.

sma83

I live in South East Texas and we spend about $600-650 a month for 6 people. But I get a lot a expensive "health" foods for myself. And 3 kids can sure eat a lot of food! lol

stef827

On food each month, and for how many people?

I realize food costs differ quite a bit depending where you live too. Mostly just curious! I spend about $350-$400 a month in Canada for myself and one other. That's probably on the high side of what it should be. Would be interested to hear others, and the special things they do to keep within their budgets (would love to learn some couponing techniques for future, but the valid coupons seems so minimal in Canada, or maybe I'm just blind).

Not sure how things go in Canada but I follow thekrazycouponlady.com and moneysavingmom.com as well as coupon101.com, they all have tips and lessons as well as current sales matched with coupons. Hope that helps you

grassette

There is no way you can extreme coupon in Canada, because the stores just don't offer the same kind of deals as in the USA. The best thing you can do with coupons is to keep those for products that you actually use, and save a few dollars.

To save, we have a freezer and buy the lost leaders advertised in the flyers. That way we buy chicken legs, chicken breasts and most cuts of meats cheaply.

We have a fabulous green grocer where $40 will buy us enough fresh fruits and veggies to last a week! It is run by people from the Middle East, and they stock all kinds of unusual things. It's a real UN when you walk in. They also stock Canada Choice fruits, instead of Canada Fancy, at substantial savings. Who cares if the fruit is not all uniform if you can buy it for less than a dollar a kilo?

For our rice and beans and spices, we have found this great little Punjabi place that stocks large bags and spices in bulk at good prices.

We avoid Loblaws and IGA except for the lost leaders because those stores are so expensive on practically every item. I think they spend more on decoration so that they can charge you more for a Disney-land experience. Club Entrepot (Great Canadian Distributing in Edmonton) you can buy the surplus from Loblaws for cheap.

And there is Costco for flour, sugar and coffee. We are from scratch cooks, and only buy processed foods for our kids when it is exam time and we know they don't have time to cook and we want to keep them out of restaurants.

A garden plot in the summer will give you a huge bounty that you can freeze for the winter. We get all of our tomatoes, and our pesto, from our garden. Zuchinni freezes well. A garden will save you money all through summer.

So depending upon where you live, you need to scout out more than the major chains and find the alternative food places. But how much you pay depends a lot on where you live. Edmonton is a lot more expensive than Montreal because it costs so much getting the food up there.

Our spending varies. Our two kids are young adults who are living on their own as starving students, so we buy for them so they can shop at home. On the average, about $800 per month especially in the winter, but a lot less when we decide we need to clean out the freezer. Those months we only spend $40 every two weeks.

NeuroticVirgo

I live in Arizona and spend about $600 / month give or take the month. I tend to stock pile certain things and keep them in the freezer, and then only make trips to the store for smaller items like bread, milk, fresh produce etc.

So some months I spend less, an some months I spend more (like last month when we were almost out of food, I dropped $400 in one shopping trip...but now our freezer is full!)

CoryIda

It was about $140/week for three people. I think now that I'm separated and it is just me and the kiddo, I can probably pare that down to around $100/week or $450-ish/month.

Kell_Smurthwaite

On food alone, we spend on average £50 each week for me, hubby and our 3-y-o son.

ArroganceInStep

$800-1000 a week for two people in New York. It varies depending on what we want to eat for lunches. Food's expensive.

plzlbsbegone

I spend about $175-$225 on groceries just for myself (this includes home items and toiletries as well). I buy a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. I do not eat much red meat, so the cost of meat doesn't really affect me. I shop where things are cheapest. I buy produce from Aldi, and bread (12 grain), frozen ground turkey, cheeses and sometimes lunch meat. I buy chicken when it goes on sale at a grocery store, and stock up. Toiletries and such I buy at walmart. I hate the store, but unfortunately, unless it is on sale somewhere else, it tends to be the cheapest for me.

rubygarcia86

I live in South Texas, I spend around $300 a month for 2 of us.

I live in TX too but we probably spend about $600 combined

Alexstrasza

Lifestyle changes are expensive.

I wanted to point out that this is not always true. A very good friend of mine who is all about eating healthy, whole, unprocessed, organic foods has proven it's not hard to eat good on a budget. She was able to feed herself, her husband, and her 2 year old son all on about 250-300 a month. That's using almost no processed/boxed/pre-made foods! She actually buys a lot of organic stuff as well.

I'm working with her to find out who she does it! Lol.

rebecky27

We are a family of 5, and I spend close to $200/week in groceries. Probably $160-175 of that is food, and the balance is supplies and pet food.

mskari77

I'm in the NE US and spend between $600-$800 a month for our family of 6 (kids ages 7,5,3,1). I rarely use coupons and make my weekly menu based on what we want rather than what's on sale. I'm sure if I did it the other way around I'd spend less. My husband always says that life is too short to eat 'cheap' food.

I'm in the Midwest US, I spend on $1000-1200 a month for a family of 7 (kids 13, 12, 10, and twin 5 yr olds...myself and a husband who is in bulking cycle and eats 4000 calories a day). This is JUST at the grocery store, doesn't include paper, hygiene, or cleaning products. I kinda shop the same way...we make up a weekly menu based on what sounds good to eat, not always just what's on sale. I will look to see what is on sale, and see if anything sounds good to make with it.

katsmit2

Before I started couponing, I spent about $800-$900 per month for groceries (including paper products and toiletries) for our family of 5. Now, I spend about $500 per month. I'm not a crazy couponer, but I find that it saves me a lot on diapers, wipes, paper products, personal items (deo, tampons, toothpaste, etc). This savings helps me be able to stay at home with my children.

mnwalkingqueen

I spend about 200-250 a month on myself and teenage boy. I shop a lot at Aldi because the fresh veggies and fruit are way cheaper than normal grocery stores. I also shop at Super Target alot their house labels are very good.

hollyberry2012

I live in Alabama and can buy a

10pc pack of large chicken breasts (No skin or bone) for 10 dollars,

pack of four lean eye of round steaks for 5 dollars

pk of ground turkey for 4 dollars

Fish including imitation crab meat for 11.00

That's meat for 30 suppers and 30 lunch meals for one person for 30 dollars.

Now add veggies, fruit

8 cans of spinach - 7.00
broccoli for four meals - 3.00 x 4 for the month is 12.00
onions for a month - 3.00
tomatoes month - 6.00
fruit for half a month - 7.00 no need to splurge for a whole month here
Frozen brussel sprouts for month - 7.00
mushrooms - for month 7.00
cabbage - 8.00
sweet potatoes - 4.00

That's 61.00 for produce (ridiculous)

now staples.....

Chicken broth - 8.00
Beans - 3.00
rice - 4.00
sugar - 1.00
salt - minimal
2 loaves whole wheat bread 4.00

That's 16.00

Spice allotment/monthly - 10.00 (includes vinegars and sesame seed oil)

Fun stuff for a month

Sea Weed sheets for sushi - 2.00
draft saki - 3.00
egg roll wrappers 3.00
prepared sauces such as mandarin, seafood, asian sauce, soy/ginger sauce/ lite soy sauce/ dijon w/chardonnay etc. - these last so long that the initial price is high but the monthly price is minimal. around 3.00

That's around 11.00 depending on how fun I wanna get each month!!

The absolute must have to survive's !!

Coffee - 5.00
creamer - 3.00
skim milk - 12.00
slim fast - 14.00

That's 34.00

grape fruit juice (i drink it every other day and eat a fruit on the alternate day ideally) 6.00
tap water - free..until the water bill comes..hehe

so that is 6.00 a month on drinks other than water.

If I'm not mistaken that comes to 175 dollars per month per person pre-tax.

175.00 average
x .09 tax

---

15.75 tax

so 185.00 average a month for one person.