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2nd Trimester
What's your budget/plan for..
Groceries!!!
Since this is our first, we are trying to budget for groceries/food. We kind of just go with whatever for the day, lots of eating out, which will be a BIG no soon..maybe only once a week now..
So I'm wondering how you ladies budget your weekly or monthly grocery/food expenses!
Thanks!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: What's your budget/plan for..
We're kind of on the food-snob side of things...we rarely eat out because of that.....and the lethal gas I have - it's embarrassing.
Although I REALLY want fondue right now. Where better than the Melting Pot?
We spend on average about $100/150 a week for groceries for the two of us. Usually, we cook enough for dinner for leftovers, so our fridge is always full of stuff that's packed up for lunch. We also buy A LOT of fruits and veggies, which makes the bill add up rather quickly. This and cheese. LOL
MMMMMMMMM FONDUE!!!!!
We're having a tough time with this, as well. Right now, we go shopping about once every two weeks, and tend to spend between $100 and $150 for the two of us. We're both attempting to learn to cook, but we're having a hard time with proportions. We end up making a meal for four, and then don't eat the leftovers. It's annoying!
Anyway, what we're mostly focusing on is about once a month, when certain items are on sale, buy a ton of the non-perishable stuff. Like, for example, Knorr's Pasta Sides were on sale, so we have about 15 in the cupboard. That'll take at least a couple months to eat, so that's something we don't have to buy for a while.
So, when you see something on sale, buy in bulk (as long as you have room and it's not for the fridge). It won't go to waste and it'll save you money on future trips.
Yea my husband is the master chef, but it seems as though we decide what we want that day and go out and spend a ton of money on that one meal lol.
We def. need to start buying in bulk thanks!!!
Us too!
We spend anywhere from $90-$120 a week on groceries. I try to cook at home at least 4-5 days a week. The other days usually include ordering a pizza, leftovers, or any other form of take out.
I try to pack a lunch 3-4 days a week as well to cut down on food costs. DH eats out more than I do, but if I pack him a lunch he takes it. DS eats at pre-school (provided) so I only send him with his morning and afternoon snacks.
Breakfast is always eaten at home. On the rare occasion, I will grab a bagel from across the street, but I would rather eat at home in the morning.
It's difficult. DH and I love food (and wine) plus we love to eat out. We have curtailed the eating out lately, but it has been really difficult because we enjoy going to restaurants so much.
We spend 80-120/week on groceries now and eat-in every meal except 2, which would be Friday lunch and date night. To keep our costs lower I plan our meals, we shop only twice a week and limit our meat consumption. We also buy bulk spices and grains--how much you save by buying bulk spices is ridiculous.
It may seem silly, but I was surprised how difficult it was for us to switch from an "oh, let's just eat out" to making an effort to eat at home, even though I love to cook and bake.
Hope that helps!
DD2 (b. 9/04/2013)
BFP 2/25/12, m/c @ 6w 3d || BFP 8/1/12, m.m/c @ 9w5d
We don't budget per se, but we did track our spending for a couple of years to see exactly where our money was going.
For the three of us, I usually spend $60-70 a week at the grocery store. That would include paper products, hygiene, and cleaning supplies (which I don't have to buy as often). I cook enough food at dinner that DH and I have leftovers for lunch the next day. I stock up when things are on sale (canned goods, frozen veggies, etc.) and I typically buy store brand. I also try to plan meals around what is on sale that week. We typically eat out once or twice a week (fast food with a toddler), so probably another $25-30 total on top of that. It varies a little bit. I'd suggest tracking your spending for a few weeks - write it all down or make a spreadsheet. That will help you see where you need to start.
DH and I don't focus so much on a budget as we do on buying things when they're on sale and stockpiling.
For instance, if the kind of chicken we eat goes on sale, we buy a ton and freeze it. So that month our grocery bill will be high, but it will be lower for the next few months. We've saved a ton of money by shopping like this!
If I had to estimate, I'd guess we spend on average about $300/month on groceries. I make a lot of food from scratch and rarely buy frozen meals and stuff like that which also saves us a ton.
I'm the main cooker in the house, and thats saying alot because I do not have alot of experience in cooking! But Im learning. DH wants to keep groceries to $200 a month which is really hard. But It's so much cheaper than eating out. We are really limiting eating out. If you add it all up it's alot of money! I'm not saying we stick to the 200$ a month ( because it's just DH and I in the house ) but it's a good goal to keep and keeps our budget in check.
p.s. DH flipped when I said 200 dollars LOL. He used to live by himself and barely ate at home.
Even with DS we still eat out a lot. 2-3 times a week. We started going right away, when DS was less then a week old. DH would get the car ready as I nursed DS to sleep. we would leave have dinner come home. eventually he would be up and we would give him a bottle. then we started feeding him rice cereal while we ate etc.
he is very well behaved at restaurants. And it is a luxury we decided not to give up because I kept my job. If I quit then we would not eat out as much!!
DS is almost 2...and shopping for the 3 of us we spend about $100/week...this is with lots of fresh fruit/veggies and we keep to about 50% organic (especially meats, but DH is a vegetarian). It's been going up a bit because I've been on DH's case about buying lunch at work and we've been buying more easy things for him to bring.
I found if I go to the regular grocery store I end up spending way more...so I try to exclusively shop at Trader Joe's. I find since they have less "junk" and decent prices on organic foods...I tent to buy the things I really need instead of lots of dumb extras...and therefore I can buy better quality stuff.
We do have in between shopping "runs" to the real grocery store for snacks (ice cream especially).
This!! THis is exactly DH and I. We eat out seldomly, but we do enjoy a nice meal out every once in a while. However, I buy lots of produce and nice cuts of fish and other protein. Eating healthily is expensive! I currently budget $150/week for the 2 of us; I try to be generous. Sometimes we come in under budget, sometimes not. I don't expect that to change when Baby comes, except that dinners out may become even more infrequest.
This and DH and I usually hit starbucks every morning. No fancy drinks, just a tall dark for him and a short (formerly grande) mild for me. I have a feeling that will stop when i'm on mat leave and we will brew at home. It's hard not to stop in when you literally walk by 3 starbucks on your way to the office!
We budget $225 for groceries every two weeks (I have our budget set up in 2 week increments based on our pay periods). I also meal plan, and do all of my grocery shopping for the week every Sunday. We usually have a little bit left over in the food budget every pay period, but it depends on what I make. Meal planning makes it very easy to control your grocery budget. We only eat out dinner once a week, and out for lunch maybe a couple of times a week. That cost is not included in our food budget though, I have a separate category for eating out.
a good way to find out how much you have been spending on groceries is using mint.com. it's a great website for financial planning/tracking expenses. you input all your bank accounts and credit cards and pools in all the info from them. and then you can go in and see how much you're spending per month according to the various categories (some are auto-categorized, and some you have to do yourself). but it helps a lot if 2 people do shopping in the house and use different accounts and go to different stores.
i always say i want to plan my meals and check out the sales, but i just never have the time. one thing i'm working on now is finishing everything i have before buying more... ie- meats in the freezer, veggies, etc. just try to cook something using what you have and then restock.
I'm a big believer in meal plans - if you don't have everything you need at the house, your chances of eating out or making a run to the grocery are higher. And everyone knows that mid week grocery runs = lots of things you don't really need!
I plan my weekly menu every Saturday night and shop on Sunday mornings. We usually spend $150-175 a week on groceries (we do a lot of fresh produce, fruits, etc which runs the bill up).
Some weeks it is less and some weeks it is more but, we tend to stay around $600/ month on groceries.
This figure also includes doubling recipes that can be frozen (think spaghetti sauce, soups, etc) to keep the freezer stocked for those crazy days and or weeks where it just isn't feasible for me to make 5 home cooked meals a week.
I could save a lot of money shopping sales and using coupons but, I hate feeling limited in what I want to make that week based on the sale paper.
Wow some of you guys spend a lot on groceries, especially if there is just 2 of you. With that being said we spend $200 every 2 weeks and that includes diapers.
ETA: We are a family of 4 (soon 5)
I agree that we do spend a lot on groceries. But, we hardly eat anything processed so we are spending our money on quality fresh items.
We also live in an urban area so the grocery store I shop at is more expensive than most. If we lived in the burbs, I could buy the same things for about 15% less.
Right now I can't even tell you how much we spend on groceries, it depends on who does the shopping. I can buy about a week and a half's worth of groceries for about $80. DH will spend that on 1 meal and some snacks. I have been bugging him for months to start meal planning with me, he always dodges it and then will say "oh i want ____ for dinner" and stop at the store and spend $30 on whatever he feels he needs for that meal.
Plus we also tend to eat out alot. We will go out to eat together at least once a week. And maybe 1-2 times a week I buy lunch. DH spends so much money on his morning coffees. I bought him a Keurig for christmas and for a while that cut costs because he would make his quick cup of coffee and take it with him, now it's back to Dunkin Donuts just about every day.
I plan on sitting down and really narrowing down a budget for food (groceries and eating out). But how much I will plan on.. I HAVE NO IDEA!!!
Welll.. we already have a family of 5 and spend about $150-$175 a week on groceries right now.
I have a chest freezer, so about every 6 months my mother buys a cow and I buy half of it off of her. I also go to the meat market and buy 10-20lbs of chicken at a time. I bag it up into portions I'm going to use and freeze it. It's not quite as nice as getting it fresh, but it's a good freezer and I don't tend to get freezer burnt food. I think butcher paper works better in there then even the ziplock bags do. I pay around $500 for this, but I can have most of the meat cut or ground into most anything I want it to be, and the quality from the place we go is excellent. I usually end up with extra meat that I want used before the 6 months are up and give some to friends.
Because I don't buy meat at the store, we usually spend around $75-ish a week on groceries. I tend to make most dinners at home, but DH goes out for almost all lunches because they don't have a break room he's allowed to use because he got moved over to a new place, and the break room is only for floor workers and not for the engineers and other office-y guys. He also gets annoyed his entire lunch if he stays in his office, so he just goes or comes back with me because I work from home now and I can cook lunch. After we move 20 min away, he won't be able to do that anymore and will be back to going out or taking his bagged lunch out with people.
Meal planning is the best thing we started since DS was born. Get some cookbooks (America's Test Kitchen series is great, especially if you're starting to cook, and Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" is invaluable, too), and plan out meals for a few days at a time, we usually do between 4-5 days at a time, and get take-out at least once a week.
We probably spend $200+ a week (though my sister is currently living with us, which makes us buy more), but like LCB said, we make almost everything homemade, buy organic fruit and veg, and only buy happy local meat, milk and eggs. It does make it more pricey, but DH and I both agree that the way to encourage local/organic is to buy it (and we can afford it) - but do what you can afford, you know?
You might also want to look into a CSA (buying a share of produce directly from a local farmer) for fruit and veg. We did one last fall and are doing it again starting in June - it's usually a good deal, money-wise, but you have to make sure you stay on top of cooking and eating everything. I also try to double recipes or make enough to freeze for another meal.
Bulk beans, flour, sugar, dried goods - if you can find a bulk foods store, they are SO nice! I really miss the one we had when we lived in MI. And read Mark Bittman's "Food Matters", it talks about eating less meat, which is always cheaper. hth
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
If you are on a budget, this is my advice....
Meal planning! Basically figure out how often you want to be going to the store, whether it be every week or every two. It's hard to go much longer than that because of produce, milk, etc.
Anyway, make a list of 10-12 meals for the next week and a half to two weeks and make a list of EXACTLY what you need. If you need mayo, some snacks or a jar of pickles, put it on the list. Having a set list really helps with those "oh lets throw these cookies we don't need in the basket" and racking up your bill. We usually fix enough to have left overs for lunch the next day so that we aren't eating out. We also pick a few simple dinners like sub sandwiches, for nights when we don't have time or don't want to cook a full out meal. This helps with calling delivery at the last minute because you don't have anything to make.
I advised a couple that we know to start doing this and they said they were saving over $300.00 a month on their groceries than when they weren't meal planning.