How much do you spend on food each month?

[Pembroke_Corgi]

I am asking because apparently my husband and I should eat about 6,000 calories a day for all we spend on food. We should have budgeted long ago, but we are both avoiders...and it's only been a dire necessity recently due to Marta's expensive surgery and the fact we bought a new (used) car recently.

The grand total for October was....... $750 :eek: :eek: :eek:

I am blown away! We eat out too much and buy too much of the non-staples! We are definitely towing the line. Part of the reason it's so high is also because my brother still lives with us (he is moving out next month!) and even though he buys some of his own food we all share. But this does not account for the outrageous amount!

Denver has high food prices, but we are just irresponsible!! :o Our new goal is to spend $75 a week (no eating out)! And with the extra pay down the vet bill faster, hopefully!

What do you spend per month on food (and how many people are there)?

[ScottieMommy]

WOW! I dont know how much per month but i go to the market almost everyday and spend $50 or more every day, just for that day's lunch and dinner. I need to start shopping for each week.

[beeniesmom]

Well, you can set a limit for the times you eat out... say, maybe just lunch on the weekend. Don't say you won't eat out at all because it's an unreasonable goal for someone who eats out often.

To spend less, an important thing to do is to plan your menu's ahead.
On Saturday morning or Friday night, make a list of the meals for the week.
Buy only the groceries you need to make the things you planned.

Don't throw out your Sunday paper. I save an average of 20 dollars a month just by clipping coupons.

It takes a few minutes but it's well worth it. It's like free money.

I think about 100 a week is reasonable for a 3 to 4 person household.

If you need menu ideas, I can help!

[ScottieMommy]

Well, you can set a limit for the times you eat out... say, maybe just lunch on the weekend. Don't say you won't eat out at all because it's an unreasonable goal for someone who eats out often.

To spend less, an important thing to do is to plan your menu's ahead.
On Saturday morning or Friday night, make a list of the meals for the week.
Buy only the groceries you need to make the things you planned.

Don't throw out your Sunday paper. I save an average of 20 dollars a month just by clipping coupons.

It takes a few minutes but it's well worth it. It's like free money.

I think about 100 a week is reasonable for a 3 to 4 person household.

If you need menu ideas, I can help!


Corgi if you dont take this advice i sure will lol, thanks Beenie :D

[beeniesmom]

Scottiemom, thanks.
I love to cook and grew up with a family of 8 at the table every night!
Mom sure knew how to make a dollar go far and the food was always great.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Well, you can set a limit for the times you eat out... say, maybe just lunch on the weekend. Don't say you won't eat out at all because it's an unreasonable goal for someone who eats out often.

To spend less, an important thing to do is to plan your menu's ahead.
On Saturday morning or Friday night, make a list of the meals for the week.
Buy only the groceries you need to make the things you planned.

Don't throw out your Sunday paper. I save an average of 20 dollars a month just by clipping coupons.

It takes a few minutes but it's well worth it. It's like free money.

I think about 100 a week is reasonable for a 3 to 4 person household.

If you need menu ideas, I can help!

Thanks for your help! Menu ideas would be great! We are vegetarians so if there's meat we can always substitute. :)

I know not eating out at all is unreasonable, but part of the problem is just my husband's laziness. I've agreed to pack his lunches so he doesn't eat out for lunch everyday, and then top it off with starbucks!

My husband and brother also love to cook and have been making elaborate meals every weekend. I enjoy eating them, but I think we have gone overboard! :o

[chocolatepuppy]

What do you spend per month on food (and how many people are there)?

Just two of us here. To tell you the truth, I don't know, but I do know we spend too much! :o Maybe next month I'll start keeping track. ;)

[G535]

I can feed the cat and myself for less than $30 a week and the cat gets more than half of that. Does not include litter or the occasional block of chocolate (for me). I don't eat meat so I guess I'd save a fair bit there, I also don't eat out.

[ScottieMommy]

Scottiemom, thanks.
I love to cook and grew up with a family of 8 at the table every night!
Mom sure knew how to make a dollar go far and the food was always great.

Thats really sweet, same with us. All our meals are homecooked and delicious.

[Giselle]

Best tip: Shop at ethnic markets. I went to Whole Food's and bought a couple yogurts and two bottles of juice. It cost about $20.

Now, take that $20 to an asian market and you have enough food to last at least 2-3 days for a single person.

[DrKym]

over 700 for the hoomans and nearly 400 for the critters.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

We spend roughly $600.00 per month on groceries for a family of 4. That includes diapers, toiletries etc. We spend $20.00 on dog food per month and $60.00 on cat food every 2 months.

[beeniesmom]

I sent you a few meatless recipes. :)

[jackie]

I think about 70 euros a week. :o

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I have no idea how much we spend each month on food. Justin does the bills/ budget so he probably has some idea what we spend, but I have no clue. We don't eat out too often. We always make a menu for the week before going to the store. A lot our animals eat fresh fruits and vegetables and that adds into our grocery bill. The animals tend to share our weekly menu though- if we're having broccoli that week, so are they.

By simply me going to the store rather than Justin saves us a lot of money. I can't ask Justin to stop at the store for anything. I take a list to the store and stick to it. If Justin goes to the store he comes home with a lot of things that weren't on the list and we don't need. Justin's a sucker for 'buy one get one free" sales, and we rarely need any of the things that are on those sales. Justin once came home from the grocery store with 2 boxes of popcorn, they were "buy one get one free". (We eat popcorn, maybe a couple times a year.) I kid you not, a couple weeks later Justin was at the grocery store and another brand of popcorn was "buy one get one free" and he came home with 2 more boxes of popcorn.

[caseysmom]

I think we probably spend upwards of 1500.00 a month :eek:

[Lori Jordan]

I spend about 400.00 every two weeks at a grocery store,Then probably a hundred dollars in between on touch ups.

With all the animals,5 dogs,6 cats and a rabbit i spend around 400.00 a month on them sometimes even more,And that dont even include the vet bills in a month.

[mina'smomma]

Hubby and I spend roughly around 60.00 a week on food and that is with me having to eat out because I'm too much of a ditz to remember to pack my lunch :rolleyes:

[carole]

We spend on average about 190 a week on groceries,( 2 adults,one teenage daughter) sometimes it is a bit more ,sometimes a bit less, we don't have heaps of luxuries either ,but we do have good food, i insist on good bread,milk.meats etc, so that costs extra, this includes three of the kitties foods,but not lexie's or litter included,but does include all toiletries,etc,not just food, everything one needs in the cleaning department, i could cut down i guess, but i used to buy all the cheapest of everything years ago because i had no choice,now i like to buy better brands and decent quality items and food.

[Ginger's Mom]

I can feed the cat and myself for less than $30 a week and the cat gets more than half of that. Does not include litter or the occasional block of chocolate (for me). I don't eat meat so I guess I'd save a fair bit there, I also don't eat out.
:eek: I am moving to Australia. I spend about $360.00 a month on food and toiletries (that includes "eating out" at a fast food place about once every three weeks or so). And spend an additonal $70.00 a month on food, treats, chewies, toys and pick-up bags for the dog.

[critter crazy]

Hmmm....I spend roughly 200$ a week on groceries. But that is no Including pet food, supplies, or vet bills. But with two growing boys, a constantly hungry hubby, we barely make do on that!!:eek:

[IRescue452]

Wow, our family of 6 doesn't spend that much. What do you eat, steaks every night?

[sandragonfly]

for the family of 20, I spend approximately $200 monthly; $50 for me and $150 (including fresh fruits, meats, treats and chewing toys) for my fur/fin/fuzzkids. :D

once for almost a week and half before I've lived on breads with cheese cream dips (nothing beats cheese!!!) and water because I was sick of almost every food I could think of - I hate to eat (same food within few weeks, junks, candies) and I rarely go out eat.

[Catlady711]

Hubby & I get paid Bi-weekly but our budget is based on a weekly system.

$90 per week/$360 per month for the regular grocery stores and also an additional $10 per week/$40 per month for Sam's Club which we go to once every 3-4 months. With that money we buy not only our food, but toilet paper, cleaners, laundry products, and any eating out we may do which is about once a month and our horrible soda pop addiction.

The cats have a separate budget of $32 per week/$130 per month. Most of the time that covers the food and general vet visits (I get a big discount by working at the hospital) we do go overbudget if any of the cats gets sick and requires more vet care or I find a sale on litter because I can't get that from work I have to get from the pet store and I usually buy like 100lbs at a time .

[critter crazy]

Wow, our family of 6 doesn't spend that much. What do you eat, steaks every night?

Are you responding to my post??

If so then no we dont eat steak every night. Not even close. But food is the one thing that I do not go cheap on. Of all things in the world, I always make sure we have plenty of food in the house. I grew up Poorer than dirt, I know wat it feels like to go hungry, my kids will never experiance that! I make sure of it!:)

[sweetpatata6]

[QUOTE=critter crazy]Are you responding to my post??

[QUOTE]


I think she was responding to the origional post

[slick]

I live alone...well except for Max so my food bill is probably not comparable to all of yours. I haven't really counted it out but I would say I spend in the neighbourhood of about $300/mth and that includes tp, paper towels and that kind of stuff. I buy in bulk and when chicken is on sale, I stock up as I have a fair sized chest freezer. To save money on lunches, I usually make huge lasagnas, big vats of chicken noodle soup, etc. then I freeze them in individuals containers. I rarely eat out. Just can't afford it on my salary.

[buckner]

Hmm.

I feel somewhat embarassed, considering I've never really thought about it. When I was younger, we had somewhat of a budget - my parents went shopping as needed, got the staples and essentials of whatever meals were to come that week, used skads of coupons, tried to save a buck everywhere they could. At the same time, we never went hungry.. EVER. There was always food to be eaten.

When I got older, my mom got sick and homecooked meals weren't all that often. I LOVE homecooked food, but it's a rare thing around my house. I admit, we eat out a LOT at home. Probably more than anyone would want to admit. We also have a few staples at home, such as cereal and milk. We eat cereal at all times of the day. :)

So if we don't feel like going out, we scrounge up something, but it's probably not considered meal worthy to most of you all.

With all that said, all I know is that we spend WAY too much on food because of our eating out habits.

[KYS]

For me and the Rock,
I spend approx. $300 a month on food too.

[Aspen and Misty]

I normally spend $120 every 2 weeks on food. Sometimes if I'm a good shopper that $120 worth of food will last me almost 3 weeks.

The dog's eat about $40 worth of food a month I beleave.

Ashley

[sirrahved]

I think I spend about 60-70 a week on groceries (hard to split up because I shop at walmart... lots of non-grocery items on the bill. We also spend about 200 a month eating out.

[jennielynn1970]

I went food shopping the other day, and spent $92. That should last me the next 2-3 weeks. At least for the basics. If I need fresh veggies or something random, I'll go get that in between. I make a lot of soups, stews, casseroles etc... I'm the only one here, and I'm not a big fan of left overs, so I do freeze the soups etc... If there is a good sale on frozen pizza (my latest craving, besides grilled cheese), I'll buy it (Totinos was $1.00 each :eek: ). I eat a lot of veggies and beans too. Lots of protein w/out all the meat. I think what cost me the most is making sure I have breakfast and lunch for work.

I definitely spend more on cat food than my own food. Nutro runs $16.00 a bag, and that lasts the cats in the main part of the house a little over a week, if that. Then there's canned food cause Honeybun has like no teeth, and eats a lot of that. I just bought canned food the same night as I did my food shopping, and the canned food came to $85.00. That should last about a month. I think. 9 of the 11 cats eat canned food (two ignore it). I buy dry food separately and the same with litter. I get comments about "how many cats are you buying for" just with the canned or the dry... I can imagine the looks I'd get if I bought canned, dry and litter all together. The budget couldn't handle it anyway, lol. Thank god for credit cards too, lol.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I probably spend about $200 a month on food at the grocery store and I do eat lunch out at least 1-2 days a week and sometimes on weekends too. I try to make myself a lunch every day but sometimes I forget or I just want a change. It's just myself and 6 cats and I don't cook so I buy a lot of frozen dinners, pizza, and canned foods that will last me a while. If something I like is on sale, I'll try to stock up on it. I also shop at Smart & Final and Target for some food items and paper and cleaning products.

My 6 cats eat Innova Evo wet and dry food and I buy the largest bags of dry and the wet food by the case. I just bought 2 large bags and 2 cases and it was a little over $100 but this should last them quite a while. They also eat Evangers Organic Turkey and Butternut Squash Dinner which is a wet food and I bought 2 cases of this and it was about $50 something and this should also last a while. They aren't spoiled are they.:)

[carole]

Wow are you all living on fresh air, or are grocery items in NZ much more expensive,we don't have heaps of luxuries, but we do have decent quality food, I have health issues with my stomach, and i cannot eat much fatty foods, so i generally do have to buy more expensive cuts of meat etc and the cheaper foods are the fatty ones like pizza's etc which i never eat,however i would be hard pressed to lower my bill, but could by about 20 dollars or 30 at the most if i did without things like liquid soap, handee towels, but i have got used to having these little extra's now and i want to keep them, please tell me what you live on ,as i am totally gobsmacked by how little you all spend, are you counting everything in that amount, mine is a total, and we still buy extra milk on top of that.

There is only about two other people here that spend around the same as me, i would be very interested on what you all buy, of course some of you are only by yourselves, we have three in our family, but then there are some who have six and spend less than i do, so pray tell me how you all do it, thanks. :)btw we do eat fillet steak , but only once per week, i have low iron, so buy it for that purpose only, i really don't even like it that much,and it is the only red meat i eat.

[Rachel]

Although I don't use all that many coupons, I do have a method of puchasing non perishables when they are on sale and then stocking up like crazy. I rarely spend more than $2.50 on a box of cereal that would cost upward to $4.00 if it weren't on sale. Cereal is our staple for breakfast so just on that we save a considerable amount. I try to find toilet paper for 20 cents a roll. We don't eat much meat, so I suppose that is a saving too, but it is more of a food preference. We are selective as to where we shop, sometimes buying certain items at certain stores. We do eat out a couple times a week, but go to places like Panera Bread Co., Boston Market, and Applebee's and sometimes *eating out* is a sandwich from Subway. There have been times in my life when even a stop at McDonalds was a rare treat, so believe me I understand there are levels of being fiscally conservative that are more severe that what we practice now.

I don't think it is so much a matter of how much you are spending as it is how much you want to save and where you can find the ways to economize to make that happen. Personally I find saving money a very compelling challenge and would continue to be prudent in my spending even if I had unlimited resources.

[Glacier]

Food for the two humans only--about 250 a month. A little more when Stuart is home full time. He eats some things I don't-like coffee creamer and chip dip. On average prices here are 30% higher than in the south. Produce often sucks! So I buy lots of frozen veggies and fruit. I eat out more often when Stuart is away, but the overall bill stays the same. I get take out Chinese food once a month no matter what and have a bi-weekly lunch out with my best friend.

I don't buy meat at the grocery store. Stuart won't eat commercially raised meat. He is a hunter so much of our meat comes from wild game(mostly moose). When he can't hunt or is unsuccessful, we buy a hindquarter of organic beef directly from the rancher. Works out to about 3.50 a pound cut and wrapped. We buy 30 chickens and three turkeys a year from an organic farmer. We have to order them months in advance when the farmer orders his chicks in the spring. The poultry bill comes to about 500 bucks annually.

I do tons of baking so I don't buy sweets or much bread. You can get a lot of loaves of bread from a 10 dollar bag of flour!

I spend much more feeding the critters!

[Catlady711]

I dunno about prices in NZ. I only buy most things when they go on sale and buy plenty to stock up the pantry/freezer.

As a basis for prices normal prices for items and what I normally pay for them buying on sale....

Item / normal $$ / Price on sale

1 gallon of milk - $3.20 / $1.50

Loaf of bread store brand - $2.50 / $1.05

Goober Grape PB&J - $3.89 / $2.59


Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. You get the drift though. Buying on sale really adds up. I watch the sale papers and basically only buy sale stuff even if it means stopping at 5 different stores and taking 5 hours to get my grocery shopping done for 2 weeks. If I'm absolutely out of something I only buy one of the smallest size to keep me going until it goes on sale then stock up extras so that doesn't happen again.

I keep a note book for shopping, separated by catagory (frozen, canned, cleansers etc) and write down the best prices I've found, where I got it, the date and price per unit. The price per unit is a MUST as sometimes another store has a different size and sometimes the larger size is NOT always cheaper. If I know what it costs per oz or lb then I won't be decieved when buying in bulk or in a different size.

Best site for tips on saving money....

http://www.stretcher.com/menu/topic.htm

It has a great section under Grocery. I don't agree with most of their tips on saving money on pets though.

[carole]

Just to give you an idea, i pay about 4.65 for our milk,however it is a little dearer than most as i buy Anlene, which has vitamin D and other stuff for your bones in it, but it is only like about 30 cents dearer, i no longer buy supermarket bread, i buy from a bakery called bakers delight, we get really lovely fresh bread, two for $4.80.it is better quality bread,fresher and healthier, but we do have a reward card and every fourth visit we get a five dollar freebie, so makes up for the slightly dearer price than the supermarket.

As for cat food i pay $12.00 for 1.5kg of excellence and buy purina one 500gr for about 5.69, i mix the two and the bigger one lasts about three weeks, i also buy two large cans of food for them and Lexie has to have special prescription food from the vet , it cost us 27 dollars a month. My litter costs 9.95 for 15 litre bag, this last about a fortnight.

Meals are mostly chicken products,with a bit of steak and mince,pasta and fish, with salads every night and steamed vegetable, i buy pumpkin, kumara and carrots and brocoli every week, apples, pears,oranges or mandarins, and bananas every week.

I hardly ever buy biscuits,never cakes,i do buy low fat crackers, and museli bars and snacks for my daughter .

We do buy two cartons of six pack yoghurts and a pack of dairy foods for my daughter, they mount up to around nine dollars a week when on special.

I cannot buy in bulk or store things as we have little room and only a small freezer suitable for a about a weeks supply.

Eating out is a rare event ,we do occasionally but never anywhere expensive, i do not buy takeaways either, but buy a packet of oven chips or wedges which we have once a week, but they usually last a fortnight (two weeks) as well,they only cost around 3.99 at full price and are often on special.

[lorn]

Yikes I think i am ding somin wrong, there are five of us and I spend around $1500 a month and that is not including the animals.......
I do a big grocery shop once a week and then i go in between for little things.
I'd say animals food is maybe gestimating $200 ish a month,,,,,, helppppppppppppppp

[Russian Blue]

Glacier, Rob is the same as Stuart on the wild game vs commercial meat. His father goes hunting every winter and usually gets deer/duck/moose. I was always reluctant to try moose but Rob's stepmother made a moose roast and it was the most tasty and tender roast I have ever tried. But you do need to know how to cook it otherwise it's horrible! ;)

...................

Wow! It's really interesting to see the difference on food spending.

Rob and I spend about $120 a week on food for the two of us. That also includes lunches/snacks for work and ordering out about once a week. If I planned my menu each week we could easily reduce that but I never seem to be that organized. ;) We also do bulk shopping at Costco.

Now that winter is almost here we will be using the crockpot quite a bit for yummy sauces and soups. Also, love my breadmaker for trying out different breads and making pizza dough.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

It's amazing to see some of the different amounts here!

I know we have been spending too much. I think our food bill went up around $100 since my brother moved in, so probably for us (my husband and I) we spend about $650 a month, which is still very high. We were eating out too much, buying too many prepared foods, expensive organic produce, and stopping too much on the way home from work for items.

We are now going to go shopping once a week with a list, and just eat what we have! I'll let you know how that turns out! :D

[anna_66]

I must say I spend way too much money at the grocery :o I went today and only got what was on my list and still spent $90!

[lizbud]

Were you feeding your brother? Guys eat way more than most women. :p

My grocery bill is about 100.00 per week, but it's not all food. I spend
very little on just myself. The dog & cat food (and the pet extras) is the
most expensive.

[DrKym]

I shop once a month, and its roughly 750 for human food and a bit over 200 for the critters, I sopend less than my morgatge if that counts ! lol :p

[caseysmom]

How can you shop once a month? What about milk, fresh fruit and fresh produce? I am at the store every other day just about....

[Pam]

I shop at different places but do get most of my non-perishables at Walmart. You just can't beat their prices on that stuff. I usually spend about $100/week for hubby and myself and so that averages out to about $400/month. I spend about $100/month on the furkids' food, so I guess my total is just about $500/month to keep all six of us all alive and kicking. :) We eat out or get take-outs about once a week but I haven't added that in to my total.

[G535]

I buy ultra heat treated long life milk, lasts for at least nine months unopened then the usual week in the fridge.

[cali]

maybe $300-$400 including dog and critter food. thats combined for me my mom, 6 dogs, 2 guinea pigs, 1 rabbit, 6 gerbils, 1 snake, 1 bird.. we could never afford some of the amounts I am seeing here.

[carole]

Hmm i am still amongst one of the highest spenders on grocery items it appears, i say good on you if you can eat well,and healthy for less, well done, you know we live on one income and it is not considered a high income at all, we do have a low mortgage though,well by NZ standards at only 354 dollars a month, so that helps heaps.