Monthly grocery budget?

Mrs.Guz

I spend about $500-600, and DH seems to think that's a bit much. I coupon and shop sales, and don't buy anything we don't need/use. But It still seems high.

myrall

Nah, that's not too bad. I spend about $250 every other week. And I don't use coupons. I freeze a lot and buy TONS of produce. The fresh stuff is 75% of my bill.

Mrs.Guz

myrall:

Nah, that's not too bad. I spend about $250 every other week. And I don't use coupons. I freeze a lot and buy TONS of produce. The fresh stuff is 75% of my bill.

Same. Most of my stuff is produce and meats, that I still try to buy on sale, but I buy a lot of the meats, and freeze them.

maykat

We are pretty close to the $125/week.  We too don't use coupons and 90% of our bill is meat, dairy, and produce. 

MLvK

My budget is $150 a week, but I find it to be a game where I only spend $100.  Never happens, but its always exciting to try. 

Produce is 75% of my bill, but we try to eat meatless at least 2x a week, plus I buy a lot of fruit for snacks.  

Mrs.Guz

Hm. I guess considering I use coupons, and I don't cook most nights, I have been spending a bit much. /

dbryson

Ha!  We've been discussing this in detail all day.

I lump diapers, wipes, suntan lotions (Colton has to have the special stuff for this), etc in my grocery budget and we've been doing all organic which is about to stop.  Our grocery bill is out the roof at $800-$850 a month.  Part of the problem is I have to buy two or three of things because Daddy and the boys don't eat the same thing.  I haven't had a lot of luck with coupons because DH won't eat anything with high sodium count and that seems to be mostly what I find coupons for  (Hamburger Helper, etc).

About to put the kibosh on all of it though.  Signing up for emealz this week. Must stop the bleeding.

But a large part of our bill is fresh produce and meat.  The boys live off of strawberries. blueberries and bananas. I'm going to start going to Costco for meat and freezing.

lindzed

Mine is about $600/month, but that doesn't count the amount I spend at Costco (probably around $200-$300 a month) where I buy some food and all the diapers, etc.  I have really tried to start doing better.  My husband does take his lunch every day so that helps, but causes the grocery bill to be higher.  This still dosen't include any dinners for the weekend and we eat out maybe 1 a week during the week (something easy like willies or pizza).

 

K&P414

I'm trying to sort out a way to buy ALL non food items on one monthly trip (soap, tp, paper goods, cleaners, etc) and then buy weekly food stuff.  Hopefully that will be easier to track spending instead of going to the store every other day for just whatever pops up that we need.

fauxshelley

I just calculated that I spent $273 last month on groceries.  That was for a family of 3 (me and 2 kids) and we didn't eat out at all in April.  That does include a huge Easter meal where we invited friends, but I didn't include Easter candy or presents.  That was mainly dinner and packed lunches as I work full time and the kids are either at school/daycare provider during the day.

hthomas02

maykat:

We are pretty close to the $125/week.  We too don't use coupons and 90% of our bill is meat, dairy, and produce. 

though I do try to use some coupons, kroger sends me ones based on what I purchase so that is helpful and really all I use, I don't go out of my way to get coupons.

3 giant boys plus daddy and we are so screwed.

That.Just.Happened

Ours is $300/month.  We take $300 in cash out of the ATM at the beginning of the month and when it is gone it is gone so I try hard to be frugal.  The place we run into trouble is alcohol, we probably go through a case of wine a month plus a case or two of beer, so that can cause us to run over.  Of course, E has only just started eating solids, so I am really only shopping for two right now.