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Veteran
Posts: 106
| How much do you average weekly on groceries/supplies for your family? How big is your family? Do you make weekly runs to the store or monthly? Do you work off a budget? meal planning?
Human family...haha...don't include horse stuff or other animals stuff
Tips? Tricks? Thoughts? |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
   
Location: Kansas | I do meal planning, and pinterest is awesome for that. I honestly don't eat much myself, so I only eat lunch and occasionally dinner. But I'm feeding myself and my daughter, so I go to the store once a month, and average about $100 in groceries. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 303
| We're a family of seven. My husband and I, and five boys between 13 and 4. We probably spend an average of $600 a month on groceries. I have some things that I will bargain shop for, and others that I will only purchase name brand because the generic just doesn't cut it; however, I also buy in bulk as often as possible. I'm a meal planner, and sit down every month with the family and a calendar, and figure out a loose plan for our meals. I say loose because I never know when the husband might end up working late or one of the kids gets caught up on a school project where we might choose to substitute an easier meal for one that takes more preparation.
Then, at the beginning of the month, we do a big shopping trip where we acquire as many ingredients as we can for that month, minus anything that might not keep long enough, and then have quick drop in grocery trips weekly for things like milk or bread or any of those more perishable ingredients that we might be running low on or need that week.
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 Veteran
Posts: 178
| We are a family of 5 (3 children ages 11, 9, 7), and I budget $200 a week in groceries. I meal plan and create a list of what I need in advance. Also, I try not to bring my kids shopping with me since I end up spending more! I go weekly because we eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | My husband does the grocery shopping for us but we probably average around $100 a week. We don't have kids and like to experiment with different types of foods and recipes. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 538
Location: Nevada | Family of 3. I usually shop at Costco once a month and regular grocery shopping twice a month. We do no meal planning, I really wish I did and be little more organized. I think I usually spend $200-$250 at Costco a month and $400 a month at other grocery stores. We butcher our own beef so this is not including meat. |
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 Party Girl
Posts: 12293
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | There is just me and the SO and I spend around $300 a month. I try to go shopping once a month and then pick up bread and milk during the week as needed. I am sure I could cut that in half if I really sat down and planned out what we were going to have. We really only cook Friday-Sunday maybe Monday as he is gone during the week. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 477
Location: Lost in the swamps | Just my husband and I,we meal plan,and we do a once a month shop, buy in bulk as far as meats and staple items, we use a food saver vaccume system and freeze a lot. Cost about 150.00 then milk,eggs,bread we buy when needed.i try and buy generic as much as possible. Have found most are just as good as the big box brands, some are even better! |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | Just hubby and I, we spend about $250-300 a month on grocery items. I notoriously despise grocery shopping. So the MOST I make it to the store is about once a month. We stock up and then as the month goes on and things start running out we just start getting creative (read: lazy) lol! Until it reaches the point neither of us can take it anymore and we finally go grocery shopping again.
We are definitely not meal planners, but we do cook enough to always have left overs. We rarely eat out. |
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 Hawty & Nawty
Posts: 20424
| Family of four and we shop once a week. Avg bill is about 150 |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| Just me and the SO and I spend around $200-250/month but that includes toilet paper, cleaning supplies, socks, underwear, whatever from Wal-Mart - but that does NOT include any beef or pork we buy that from cattle and pig farmers. Also, we rarely EVER eat out - maybe, MAYBE once a month.
Oh and I STILL run out of stuff and have to stop one or two more times on the way home for something.  |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | Ugh, I'm the worst about meal planning. THE WORST. I go to the grocery store with a big list maybe once/twice a month... and make multiple smaller trips in the week (like 1-2x week for 3-4 items). Probably around $75-80/week. Just my husband and I. I try to use leftovers for lunch the next day if there are any. We usually eat out about three nights a week. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| I keep a list of meals on the fridge that I have the ingredients to make, that makes, "what's for dinner?" a little easier. |
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 Poor Cracker Girl
Posts: 12150
Location: Feeding mosquitos, FL | 
I'm traumatized.
We must eat like hogs cause just me and the hubs spend waaay more feeding ourselves. Are ya'll including every single thing your family eats? Breakfast, lunch and dinner? I don't differentiate in my spreadsheet between groceries and eating out, it's all food. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | There are two of us and we spend about $200 a week but that includes dog food which is a huge bill for us (3 Great Danes), cat food, and all cleaning supplies, toilet paper etc...
We do meal plan or at least try to.
We also try to only buy good healthy stuff. No processed junk.
Our bill will go down a good bit in the summer when the garden is providing most of our fruits and vegetables.
I absolutley hate going to the grocery store and wish that we could only go once a month but that just doesn't work for us so we go weekly.
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Veteran
Posts: 106
| Ok..so I am not doing to terrible then. We are a family of 3 ( well 2 1/2...me, hubby, & toddler) and I am averaging about 300-350 once a month for food and paper products. I do have to stop occasionally during the week for bread and milk. We grow our own beef so I only have to buy pork and chicken.
I meal plan...and I write down on a calendar what dinner is for that day. meat, veg, starch...we don't eat out much and if we do it is on a weekend so I leave Saty and Sun off the calendar plan and we wing it. Meal planning has saved me a ton of time and money. I don't have to think about what we are having or worry that I don't have everything I need but 1x a month.
Thanks ya'll...I was worrying that I was spending too much since I don't really have a budget in place. Sometimes its all I can do not to choke on my tongue with the register rings up the final bill. Although I DO realize it for a months worth of food it still feels painful haha
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 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | It is me, my husband, 10 year old son, and 1 year old daughter. So we are a family of 4 but our grocery bill hasn't really changed with adding our daughter. I spend around $250 every other week on groceries and a 50lb bag of dog food is on that bill too. I think I do pretty good considering me and my son eat like starving teenage boys lol. Whatever meat is on sale I buy as much as I can afford at the time. There are some things that go on sale pretty regularly so I stock up when they are on sale.
My mom's father in law goes to the meat section and haggles with the guys that cut the meat. He finds all the meat that is close to going out of date and makes them mark it down for him. Doing that he takes a huge chunk off his grocery bill. He just goes home and freezes it.
One tip... never go hungry. Even as big of a penny pincher I am, I will buy junk food I will never eat if I go hungry lol.
Also before I go I make a list of all the dinners I will cook for the next 2 weeks. Then I just go down the list and write every ingredient down I need. I stick to the list other then sales on meat. I don't buy junk food or drinks. I will buy kool-aid packets when they are on sale. My son and husband LOVE their junk food, and it never fails how disapointed they are when I get home from the grocery store and I didn't buy 1 bag of chips or cookies lol.
Now when my husband goes to the store he spends $300 and has nothing to show for it other then some random things that I might be able to throw together for dinner. He does not follow the list I send with him. He takes off what he thinks I didn't mean to put on, and adds what he thinks we need (junk food). |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | I have a family of 4. My husband and I, plus a 16 yr old and an 18 yr old girls that both live at home. My grocery bill is about $150 every two weeks. I am not disciplined enough to meal plan, and for us a big box store like Costco is too far away to be convenient. So I go to Aldi for what we need and buy most of our stuff generic when we can. Although there are a few items that we prefer to be name brand. At some point, I'd love for the grocery bill to go down once the kids move out. :) |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Hubby and I budget for $600 a month, which is $150 a week. This includes meat, some paper products AND occasional fast food meal and/or pizza. We go to the grocery store rather frequently because we only buy ingredients for what we are eating that night. We spend less this way, and it's not a hassle for us because the grocery store is less than a mile away. We tried cutting back on our food/grocery budget but we just couldn't do it--we kept running out of money. We are doing the Dave Ramsey envelope system. |
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| I grocery shop about twice per week. I only buy fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, dairy products, and meat. I don't buy anything processed and packaged therefor I have to shop often to keep things fresh. Healthy food cost more but I don't mind....I spend on average $800 per month for me, my husband, and 5 and 6 year old kids. I grow a big garden so that helps lower the bill in the summer. |
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