How much do you spend on food each month?

[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!