Groceries Are Killing Me

I don't spend that much for 3 people and I eat different than they do. Wow that's a boat load.

I can completely relate! It does cost a lot of money to re-vamp your pantry with healthy staples, like quinoa, brown rice, coconut oil, nutritional yeast, etc. But once you've spent that initial outlay, you'll just be replenishing as you use things, so it does get better!

I also cook for one, and used to spend a lot of money on food to make different recipes, and then ended up throwing a lot out, because I couldn't eat it all before it spoiled. I don't know if you're following a type of meal plan that tells you what to eat for 7 days straight, but what I've found to work for me is to look at a 7 day meal plan, pick 3 days of meals and buy enough to cover those 3 days twice. So if blueberries are on day 1 of a 7 day plan but they don't show up again, now they show up again on day 4, because you're repeating day 1. And your blueberries are still fresh! Likewise, if turkey burgers are on day 2, they're on day 5 again, so you can prepare them both on day 1 and its ready to go on day 5. And you know exactly how many ounces of ground turkey to buy.
Sometimes, I buy and cook all of my meat portions for the week on Sunday, so I just have to reheat my portion later in the week. I also leave one day unplanned, for eating out, eating up leftovers, or whatever comes up.

It can get boring to repeat the same menu twice in a week, but you can change it up the next week, based on what you have in your pantry and freezer. If you look at what you have at home, and plan what you can make with it, before you go shopping for food, you can save a lot of money and not waste much.

Such a great idea, thanks!

Ummm... wow. I feed myself, my very, very active husband, 7 y/o daughter, 91lb heeler and 41lb foxhound on about $450ish a month. And thats household items, school lunches and eating out about 2xs a week. No idea why one person would spend $600 on one month of groceries. Must be nice.

Ok I feel the same way sometimes. Here are my tips:
1. Use the bulk section at your grocery store. your beans, rice, lentils, quinoa, sugar, flour, and even spices from the dry bins (way cheaper....even when you are shopping at Whole Paycheck)
2. Only buy seasonal produce. I subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture). I got a box of produce every week. It is about half as much produce that I might need for a week, organic, local and the small box is $14 a week
3. Buy your staples when they go on sale
4. Check the meat specials, and learn to adapt. Usually one or 2 meats a week are fairly cheap (even the natural ones). Load up on that week and freeze it.
5. Learn when to buy the small package. I live alone, and there some things I just can't finish on my own. If I want to use fresh broccoli for stirfry, I just buy it from the salad bar instead of getting a whole head and letting it go to waste. Same with lettuce. And taco toppings.
6. Comparison shop. I find that some things are cheaper at whole foods and others are cheaper at trader joes and others at the natural market. I shop them all for the best prices
7. Get the 16 or 32 or 64 oz pack of greek yougurt. It is cheaper. Oh and go to Target. It is cheapest there.

I know for you families, you recommend Costoco, BJs, Sam's Club and so on. I live alone in a studio. I don't have space to store all of that stuff. It doesn't matter if it's cheaper if it doesn't fit in my freezer or pantry.

I agree buy in bulk! Also stalk the sales at whole food, trader joes and wild by nature- they sell great "clean fooods".
Also get your fruits and veggies from the farmer's market. You can play " let's make a deal" with them.

I'm also finding it expensive to eat healthy. I'm sure I could probably make SOME cutbacks but I need to enjoy some things too. I'm in Ontario....not cheap by any means.

This thread really shows the difference in the price of food from state to state/province to province. For those of us that have high food prices we just have to do the best we can. For me here in Ontario, fruit is very expensive and it's all trucked up from the USA, except for grapes that come from Chile. Soon we'll start getting our local produce in, but for the long winter months it's mighty expensive.

Yeah, I think food must cost more in Canada. I live in British Columbia (on Vancouver Island) and everything is expensive because of transportation. Even a bare-bones budget I can't stay under $800 for a family of 4. We go to costco, shop the flyers, we don't have any useful coupons to speak of, and we never eat out. We don't eat a lot of cheap carbs (pasta only once a week, no white rice, no chips, crackers cookies, very little cereal) so we are mostly eating a crazy amount of meat, produce, eggs and dairy. To give you an example, here is a weekly list for my family of four:

2 - 4L milk = $10
2- nonfat greek yogurt=$8
1- whole farm chicken = $8
2 doz eggs (healthy kind)=$7
1 block of lowfat cheddar = $8
2 loaves dempsters whole grain = $7
1 lb gound beef (hormone free) = $4
approx 8 chicken drumsticks = $3
1 lbs strawberries = $3
2 lbs apples = $2
oranges $2
a bajillion bananas @ 80 cents = $5
costco bag of nuts or almonds = $10
soups for lunch = $5
cottage cheese= $5
2 cans beans = $2
box of spinach - $7
head of lettuce= $1
2 celery= $2
2 almond milk = $4
free trade coffee (I insist, and we never buy cafe drinks)= $10
huge thing of protein powder = $10/wk
granola bars (kids)=$3
dempsters tortillas or pitas $4
frozen fruit = $5
frozen veg = $5
cheerios (kids) = $5
natural peanut butter and jam = $8

we are already at around $150.00 for the week, and I haven't included pet food, toilet paper, diapers, salad dressing, salsa and sour cream, batteries, shampoo, toothpaste, any tiny little extras like spices, baking items like flour, sugar, popcorn, butter etc, which usually pushes me well over $200 a week. I hardly ever buy grapes, blueberries etc as I just can't afford them anymore. We tried to cut lower and it was stuff like KD, hot dogs, pasta that we ended up eating, and we said "forget it" our health is worth it.

Sometimes I wonder if people with lower grocery costs are not factoring in eating out?




This is including shopping sales and costco etc.

I feel your pain. From looking at your list, some are more expensive here, some cheaper, but averages out about the same in the long run for doing a shop. I would love to buy plums and peaches...but no way, not unless it's at the farmers market in the summer. They look awful in the store and are priced high. I can buy 4 grapefruits and it costs almost 8 bucks. Depends on the time of year. Costco is great for the staples and paper products. Oh and strawberries.......yikes. A pint for 6 bucks. And you have to check for any fuzz underneath, lol.

It's way more expensive to eat clean and healthy, who are you guys kidding! I

Not really, I buy everything on sale at Food Lion.
If chicken is on sale, I stock up on chicken, and
freeze it. Right now I have 5 spiral cut hams in
the fridge I paid about $15 each that weigh around
9 pounds.

Meal one: Ham with a rice and lentils.
Cost:
$15 for the Ham
$1 small bag of lentils Lentils (makes more than one)
$2.50 bag of rice (makes a lot more than one)
$1.50 can of diced tomates with green chilies.
A small onion? Usually spend around $3 for a 5 lb bag.

Serves 8
Total: $2.50 each! Say $3 if I have to buy onions. :laugh:

I always have the other stuff on hand such as seasoning,
olive oil, and yes onions..


Meal two: Ham and swiss sandwiches on whole grain
bread. Usually less than a week, we are sick of ham,
so I cube up 1 1/4 - 1/2 pounds of meat, and freeze it
along with the ham bone.
Cost:
Ham $ Bought and paid for.
$2.50 Swiss cheese (10 slices)
$2.50 Whole Grain Bread (loaf) (7-8 sandwiches???)
$2 bag of utz Kettle Classics Reduced Fat
(not all that bad for you if you stick to the serving size)
Plus odds are you might have some sprouts, lettuce,
or maybe a tomato hanging around.

Total: $7
Serves $7+
Total:


Meal three: Ham and bean soup!
Serves: 16
Cost:
Ham, Bought and paid for.
$3??? Beans
$1.50 pound of carrots (makes more than one)
$3.00 Onion if I had to go out and buy them.
$1 Water (I buy my water, cause our tap water sucks!)
$2 Say I had to buy garlic.

Cost: $11?
Serves 16
Total: $ You do the math..

I'm not even going to count all the other stuff I have
on hand that lasts forever...







There's no way I could feed a family of three at McDonalds
every day even at 2 meals!

We'd need two #?s, and a Happy Meal. Can't remember
the last time I was at McDonalds, but I'm guessing it would
be around $15 per visit for us. $30 a day times 7 equals
$210 per week. I budget about $125 per week on food.
pantry is stocked, as well as the freezer all bought while
on SALE. That includes eating out once a week. Food Lion
must have the best prices on earth. I have an MVP card,
and not afraid to use it!

coupons, I clip lots of coupons, plus I also shop at the cheaper stores like save a lot n aldis. I go where the deals are.

$600 a month for one? holy crap. what the heck are you buying? lobster? shrimp? I spend less than half of that month for just myself. The most I've spent for a week is $80 and that held me over for a week and a half if not two weeks. The least I spend is about $35. I do majority of my shopping at Walmart and search for the best deals.

Wow I spend 200/month with myself and 2 kids 4 + 10......(1 is only here 50% of the time)....definately more expensive to eat healthy...one can only watch portions I guess....steak, shrimp, and seafood is rarely on the menu.

Admittedly, I have no idea what we spend on food each month because I don't keep track. I know we spend more now because we buy a lot of fresh fruits/berries and meats. But- My Gosh that sounds like a lot and I KNOW I don't spend that much for my hubby and I. I am going to estimate that for food only- we probably spend 1/3 of that on a regular basis, with extra here and there to re-stock the staples and extras. Everything else like paper goods, hygiene, pet food/supplies, etc. is another story.

I hit Publix and Winn Dixie Buy-one-get-one sale as often as they have stuff I want. Otherwise, I shop at WalMart for the regular groceries. Of course I'd love to stick to Publix or Winn Dixie for regular shopping but it's just too expensive for the same foods.
Maybe you stocked up on a lot of the "more expensive" things to reach $600 and won't hit that again for a while? Otherwise, you really should look at what you bought and where you're shopping. Shop sales. Buy in bulk if you can.

Another suggestion to make produce last longer- purchase the produce keepers. I have a Progressive lettuce keeper and a set of Rubbermaid (BPA free!) produce keepers. It helps me keep my lettuce and berries for a lot longer than usual.

because it is. for one person. thats just crazy.

I make a menu for the week and shop for the food on Sunday since MFP starts a new week on Monday. That way you will know exactly what you are going to eat and wont have extra food possibly going to waste.