How much do you spend on groceries each week?

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  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
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    WOW, I've heard that Australia's cost of living is high compared to the rest of the world and now I believe it. On average I would say I'd spend at least $250 per week on groceries for my family of 4. I cook six out of seven nights and pack lunches for our two children on week days. Our take-away food is expensive so that's normally only once a week.

    Me too. We spend about $280 a week for a family of 3 adults 2 kids. Eating out or takeaway is extra.
  • otr12
    otr12 Posts: 632 Member
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    Yup!! A bobs store, I am about 20 mins from the mill, so they have an amazing store right next to it, bulk, 25 lb bags of everything, a resturaunt, bakery etc, its awesome
    Ah, Bob's Red Mill store,..... I used to like jogging on the paths along International Way but now I feel like I'm slushing through goose poo there.

    Diapers - I swear it costs more to catch the food coming out than to put the food in.

    I hit up the grocery stores almost every morning to catch the meat and produce markdowns. I never spend more than $2 a pound on meat. When I catch boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.69 or less I will buy as much as I can stuff in my freezer. That's about $50 - $60 a pop and I'll do it 2 or 3 times during the week that it's on sale for that price.

    I have a 6'3" seventeen year old son that can easily eat 4 pounds of chicken in a day. We eat a LOT of chicken!

    Whenever I go to the grocery store I scan every aisle for coupons on the packages. I frequently peel them off and use them at different stores. I've found that if I use several coupons at Safeway and they all say "do not double", I can hand the double coupon to the cashier and he/she will take off $2 without even checking.
  • DoriLuke
    DoriLuke Posts: 26 Member
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    My husband and I have 8 kids and have to be frugal, because we would rather have extra money to go do fun things with our kids as much as possible! We have one off at college and one lives with her mom, so I feed a household of 8 on about 400 a month. 5 kids eat lunch at school during the week though, and we make cold lunch for one. We are MAJOR planners - we budget everything and meal plan for 2 weeks at a time. We shop in bulk and separate meat into meals and freeze. We watch for big sales on meat at a variety of stores so we always get more bang for our buck. The 400 doesn't include household cleaning items, TP, stuff like that.

    To save money we -

    We try to use leftovers to incorporate into the next night's dinner. For example, if we have mexican night and have left over taco ground beef or shredded beef - we use that in the homemade chili for BBQ/Chili dogs the next night.

    We always have fresh veggies on hand, celery sticks, carrots sticks - they are both CHEAP. I don't buy much fruit and usually have some in a can or maybe some apples. I'd way rather my kids eat raw veggies which I feel are healthier.

    We do not buy "snack" items (fruit snacks, granola bars, etc.) and we only do dessert on Sundays, which will be a cake or something similar.

    We don't buy soda - we sometimes buy juice for with dinner. Usually its milk or water only.

    We cook from scratch whenever possible.

    We don't buy single serve packets of anything - buy the biggest packages possible (including 25# of rice at a time) and have invented storage systems and separate as needed.

    We avoid name brands and go with store brand except certain items like Kraft Singles, Kraft mayo, and I can't Believe its Not Butter, which I just can't go generic on.

    We do the bulk of our shopping at Winco - and scour sales ads for other stores and usually find great deals.
  • cacraft
    cacraft Posts: 76
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    My husband and I have 8 kids and have to be frugal, because we would rather have extra money to go do fun things with our kids as much as possible! We have one off at college and one lives with her mom, so I feed a household of 8 on about 400 a month. 5 kids eat lunch at school during the week though, and we make cold lunch for one. We are MAJOR planners - we budget everything and meal plan for 2 weeks at a time. We shop in bulk and separate meat into meals and freeze. We watch for big sales on meat at a variety of stores so we always get more bang for our buck. The 400 doesn't include household cleaning items, TP, stuff like that.

    You rock! Seriously!
  • pain_is_weakness
    pain_is_weakness Posts: 798 Member
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    See! I knew that $100 dollars was about the average! One of the guys said I must live in a small town with a lot of mom and pop stores that sell generic food.
    Oh BTW, these 2 were Shakeology proponents. One was a distributor. The debate was how a $3-$4 shake was cheaper than many meals.

    I also have a family of three and spend about 100 a week, it can be done and I actually buy good stuff. People are blown away but I go to farmers market or a produce store here that sell for local farmers, I get a ton of stuff and never spend over 20 bucks a wekk on produce. I would love to try shakeology but 3-4 dollars a meal is like ouch!!! I can feel my whole family a meal for that much!
  • girlygirlnicole
    girlygirlnicole Posts: 54 Member
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    I spend £25-£30 a week on myself, somethings last 2 weeks, i dont know if thats good or bad.
  • ultrachill
    ultrachill Posts: 2
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    I spend about $60-80 per week for two of us plus two kitties (and sometimes step kids). We also do a monthly costco run that costs around $200 which includes most of our meat, paper products, and a few odd and ends.
  • Missylydia
    Missylydia Posts: 304 Member
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    I spend £25-£30 a week on myself, somethings last 2 weeks, i dont know if thats good or bad.

    Me too! I think it could be a lot cheaper if I ate processed junk but it's all good whole food. And I've discovered that the vegan diet is seriously cheap! My first 'vegan shop' was a weeks worth of fruit and veg and a months worth of breakfast cereals, lentils and beans and soya milk and it came to just £33, I was one happy bunny!
  • Jacole18
    Jacole18 Posts: 716 Member
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    I spend anywhere between $50-$70 a week on groceries....it depends on how much seafood I buy lol
  • DoriLuke
    DoriLuke Posts: 26 Member
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    Thanks! We just do what works for us. :)

    My husband and I have 8 kids and have to be frugal, because we would rather have extra money to go do fun things with our kids as much as possible! We have one off at college and one lives with her mom, so I feed a household of 8 on about 400 a month. 5 kids eat lunch at school during the week though, and we make cold lunch for one. We are MAJOR planners - we budget everything and meal plan for 2 weeks at a time. We shop in bulk and separate meat into meals and freeze. We watch for big sales on meat at a variety of stores so we always get more bang for our buck. The 400 doesn't include household cleaning items, TP, stuff like that.

    You rock! Seriously!
  • dlei456
    dlei456 Posts: 201 Member
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    This came up in a thread last night and a guy called BS on me spending less than $122 per week on a family of 3. I can EASILY do that and in fact spend no more than $100 per week.
    Another guy thought I was full of BS too saying he spent $60 on some veggies and a tub of dip. Not organic. But when I compared the cost of the same items where I shop, it was $26.
    I shop at Safeway and don't bother buying "name" or "popular" brands. I always look at club card savings and refer to weekly coupons and use that as my decisions to purchase what I need that week. Meat stays the same week in and week out.

    So how much do you spend and do you think you could do better?

    Thanks for this thread! It was nice to see we are about average ($150 per week, including household items for a family of 4. But it was also nice to see that we could do even more saving.
  • Tamstar1985
    Tamstar1985 Posts: 334 Member
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    I spend about $50 per week for my fiance and myself! I live in China, though :P my rent (for a 2 bedroom apt) and utilities and internet doesn't cost more than $300 per month...
  • RubyDarling
    RubyDarling Posts: 171 Member
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    I spend AU$100 a week for myself, my boyfriend, two dogs and one cat. I managed to cut it down from $150 a week by giving up non-essentials.

    Living in China was awesome though - I managed to live on 100yuan a week for food (about US$15).
  • michaelachallis
    michaelachallis Posts: 137 Member
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    WOW, I've heard that Australia's cost of living is high compared to the rest of the world and now I believe it. On average I would say I'd spend at least $250 per week on groceries for my family of 4. I cook six out of seven nights and pack lunches for our two children on week days. Our take-away food is expensive so that's normally only once a week.

    Me too. We spend about $280 a week for a family of 3 adults 2 kids. Eating out or takeaway is extra.
    I think we have similar prices here in New Zealand, it cost's me about NZD$100 to feed myself for a week ($80USA). That is just food, not including any meals eaten out or any toiletries etc. I make everything from scratch too, and only buy essentials, anything pre packaged is so expensive.
    I know my parents spend about $200 per week on their family of four and they make everything from scratch too to reduce costs.

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