How much do you budget for groceries each month?

flyingsaucer

Working on updating our budget. We are a family of 4 (5 on weekends when SS comes, he is 12 and eats like a grown man :-). I eat a lot of organic foods. We rarely spend less than $300 per week (incl all cleaning supplies, paper goods,etc). Is that nuts?

oscarwao

I would spend a similar household size to grocery cost ratio if I could afford it. We probably spend 100 a week but there are only two of us.

flyingsaucer

@CFox815‌ we live in an NYC suburb too... Where are you guys? Everything is more expensive in NY

shadypines

Less than $200 a month. I coupon A LOT & buy in bulk. Family of 5.

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MagickalNarwhal

I am seriously trying to limit it we used to be able to get by on $150 a week for the 4 of us (including super limited household supplies, most of those come out of a separate budget) but I can't anymore. Our kids are 1 and 2.5. Part of the prob is that I have no time to meal plan and very limited time to cook, so we but a lot of expensive convenience food (trader joes premade salads, organic market deli food etc).

stra0111

I don't budget but I need to start. We usually spend $200 a week. However, I buy some organic and I really stock up when things are on sale. I also collect store points, credit card cash back points and I go to a store that does price matching. So I feel like I get a lot for $200. 

stra0111

P.S.- I don't know if this app works outside of Canada, but "Flipp" app is awesome. It really helps to plan or budget. It basically has all the flyers on it and you can "clip" them. My store price matches from this app on my phone.

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Weljadraak

We spend about $300/month.  We scope out the coupons, first, but don't go coupon lady status. We also shop wholesale.  We don't pay so much attention to organic but we do buy veggies and meat and stay under or at $300.  Family of 3.  My 11 month old eats what we eat + foods we don't, like yogurt, PB/turkey dogs, certain snacks.  

If you are counting toiletries and cleaning supplies in your WEEKLY budget, I'd HIGHLY suggest going wholesale.  The membership will be about $50/year but with outs, we get "points."  There aren't as many different brand options as the regular grocery store, but we save a ton.

shadypines

GhostMonkey said:

Budget. Ha. It's probably around $100/week, give or take.

Do you have a deep freeze? That is where we save money. We buy in bulk for meats, and this time of year you can hit farmers markets and freeze produce.

This is us. We have 2 refrigerators and 2 freezers. I don't buy any meat from chain supermarkets. Unless super deal. Like mangers special. I go to meat plus or Philadelphia. Probably won't help you. But fyi...

sharksfan

Approximately $200 a week for two adults on a paleo diet and a 3-yr-old that basically lives off of hot dogs, frozen nuggets, and PBJ. I'm too lazy to check for coupons and live in a condo with limited storage so I can't freeze a lot of stuff.

bensmommy518

We buy most things in bulk a few times per year and spend about $200-300 on the big trips. Restaurant Depot is my new favorite store. I spend about $50 a week on staples like milk and bread and lunch meat etc

usernewname

We spend anywhere btw 200-300 a month for two adults and I'm bf ds. We don't have a limit but try not to go nuts. Usually if it's not on sale we don't buy.

flyingsaucer

@CFox815‌ I grew up in Westchester! We live in Rockland now, just over the TZ bridge

mrebecca

We spend $100 each week if I don't go through sale papers. We can usually half that if we meal plan and shop sales. 
But we're thrifty anyway, so even if we can afford it, we don't get brand name stuff (except cheese. I won't sacrifice much there. If I wanted to taste plastic, I'd eat my store brand Saran wrap).

rin89

We do a lot of bulk shopping at Sam's Club and buy very little meat (mostly just canned tuna and pepperoni for pizza). For the 2 of us we spend $200 a month though sometimes we splurge and eat out.

LBib

Family of 4, 1 in diapers, about $600-700/month.

We use a CSA during May-Oct for nearly all our fresh fruit and veg. Although we have to prepay it's about $125/month. This saves us huge in the summer. Most cleaning, paper, and non-perishable a staples arrive via Amazon subscribe and save, $200/month. We should buy a cow since we spend close to $100/month on milk and cream (I do make our own yogurt with some of that). Meat is bought in bulk and frozen about $100/month. Then my weekly grocery trip is under $40. We order delivery or grocery store sushi about 5 times per month and I'll eat lunch out about 2-3 times/month. We almost never go out to eat now that we have kids, carry tap water in water bottles, and bring travel mugs of home brewed coffee because we dislike the taste of stbx coffee.

angelashly

We are between 300-450. We eat pizza every Friday and eat out some on the weekends. I have to supply all lunch, snacks, breakfast, and milk for dd too so that is a decent chunk.

BluepointToasted

We used to spend about $150 a week, but since I started buying mostly organic and packing lunches for DH, it has jumped to $225ish. Considering he probably spent ~$15 a day on lunch, I'm sure it is evening out. 2 adults, an almost 2 year old, and three days a week a 15 year old boy

PeanutButterFox

We easily spend $5-600 a month just on food items for a family of 4. I shop sales and coupon and still can't seem to save a significant amount.

quidditchcapn1120

$100 a week for a family of 4. Includes diapers, all paper products and my makeup. We meal plan, shop coupons, use cartwheel and our RedCard. We also slice our own deli meat and have decreased our portion sizes recently because our personal sizes have increased too much.

[Deleted User]

Just food, not supplies or booze? $500-600. We spent a shitton on chicken per week.

That includes stuff for lunches.

Add an additional $80/week if I hit Trader Joe's for wine.

chardonnay24

We eat mostly organic and/or local and spend $100 - $150 (usually closer to $150) for a family of 3 on food alone. But I usually only cook 4 nights a week, occasionally 5.