Grocery Bill

gidget1978

gidget1978

Cathlete
Just wondering what everyones grocery bill was per month.
DH and I are trying to cut back on our spending b/c no doubt, we spend a fair bit of money, without thinking twice.
Last night I pulled up the bank account and I said "lets see what we spend on gorceries per month" I couldn't beleive it when I added up $700 a month and there are only him,I,DD and a 15 month old in the house. Then I added up take out, that was another $119 a month!(all DH I might add) Almost $1000 a month in food! Thats not counting what I spent at walmart!
I then added up Mar month and was surprised to only see $283 come out of out bank act in groceries but THEN I looked at the cc statement and on Mar 9th I spent $130 AND (get this) I went back one day later and spend another $147!
We are going to try to cut our bill back by half. Just wondering what everyone else spends in groceries a month, do you give yourselves a budget?

Lori
 
We only do the big grocery shopping once a month since that is when I get paid. We usually spend around $300 and if we have to go to the meat market which is usually every 5-6 weeks that is another $200 (but we stock up good on meat).

We may have to stop at the store every once in a while for milk or something small but that is usually it for us.

We go out once a week sometimes twice if we are out on the weekends. This could be another $100-$150 depending on where we go.

We didn't have the money last weekend so we ate leftovers and never went out to eat once.

It is sad because it is just the two of us, no kids.

Rhonda
 
We usually order Peapod every 2 weeks, and our bill varies between $300 and 500 for both visits added together. But that includes the non-essentials like toilet paper, etc...

DH lives on canned pasta, and I don't really cook much, so that makes it pretty easy.
 
We usually spend about $400 a month at the regular grocery store and perhaps another $200 a month at a health food store. There is only 2 of us.

I only eat out a couple of times a month.
 
its so hard to keep up since it seems like every week prices rise. it used to be about $300-400 a month for the three of us but i think its rocketed up to over 600-700 a month :eek: . i haven't been able to shop at sam's club b/c it takes more gas to get there then i would save buying my meats and pantry products in bulk. when i shopped there i could stock up on this for over a month while spending maybe only $200 and everything else i get from my local grocers.

kassia

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I think I spend around 400-500 a month. I have been trying to make out menus for the week and shop by that but that didn't go that well this week. What is sad is that we have a frezzer full of deer meat, so I don't hardly ever buy any meat. I buy chicken when my husband is gone to work because he hates it. But if I plan my menu and make a list and stick to the list I save alot of money.

Farrah
 
I spend about $200.00 a week (usually $25-30 more). I live in MD, right out side of DC, which may be a factor. I am vegitarian and we eat healthy, even my kids. We do not eat out. Maybe once a month (won't fit in the budget with spending so much weekly at the Giant) I try to go to Roots for some things (organic store) and Trader Joes for my fish, but it is really expensive!! Its me, DH, and 2 boys (11 and 8). Oh, but my boys and DH brown bag lunches, so maybe $225 isn't so bad!?

For me, fruits, veggies and nuts are soooo expensive, and thats what we eat alot of.

Deanie
 
I budget $350 a month for DH and I. We eat local and organic mostly, and buy very little prepackaged food.

Sparrow

Even after all this time the earth never says to the sun, "you owe me." Look what happens with a love like that.

It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz
 
There's just two of us (DH and I) and we spend $400-$500 for groceries. Now this also includes non-food items like laundry detergent, bath items, vitamins, fish oil, etc. We eat out once or twice a month.

I will say that I don't usually hold back when it comes to food shopping, but I don't spend much money on things like clothes.

We do spend over $100 a month on cat food, dog food, and doggy daycare. :D
 
About what you spend 800-900 on groceries, 100 in take-out(mostly DH). We have a 20 year old boy who is a bottomless pit, but he eats out some, and pays his way for that. A soon to be 15 year old girl, and DH and I. I buy lots of fresh produce, and here in Illinois it is quite pricey in the winter.

Edited to add. if DH would quit buying junk food it would probably be a couple hundred less, but he says the same thing about my produce.
 
Hi, Lori. You got my ears perked up with the titled of this thread! The groceries are something that I personally have been trying to keep in check as well. Here's how things work for me:

There are the 3 of us in the house...myself and DS10 and DS7. At the beginning of the month, I take $300 and put $40 of it toward gas and the other $260 toward groceries. I keep it in a separate envelope in my purse...not in my wallet. I buy groceries, I take the money out of the envelope and put the receipt in it. It's very VERy tight some months, and I do end up tapping into 'extra money' from somewhere else. But I CAN do it. I am DETERMINED to NOT spend more than the alotted $260 for the month of April. It's HARD!

I plan ahead all our meals. We eat ALL leftovers! I freeze leftovers if I don't think we'll eat them before they go bad. And I buy almost nothing processed...everything's homemade.

Summer will be a bit better, as I grow my own veggies so that part of the bill will go down for a few months!

Gayle
 
I take out $200 every Friday, and that has to cover my groceries, gas and spending money for the week. Usually about $100-120 of it is groceries, about $50-60 for gas and the rest is for whatever I like. Quite often I have money left over at the end of the week. I only get paid once at month at the end of the month, so I have to be pretty good at budgeting so the money doesn't run out by month's end.

I don't buy much processed food. I'm a vegetarian and my SO doesn't eat meat at home (unless I decide to treat him and DD to a roast or something), so for meat, I'm only occasionally buying chicken for DD.

I could never afford $1000 a month for groceries!!!!
 
We spend around $400 for two people. We have recently tried to save on eating out because that can add up very quickly. So we have done a few things like biting the bullet and buy bulk items that will last for a while.
One of the major things that has helped a lot is to come up with a menu for dinners. We both get involved and put stuff on the menu that we like and have in the kitchen. Anything else that we need we buy that and only that. It keeps us on track and who ever is home first knows what to start to make.
We also find that pop and junk food really up the grocery bill and only get those things if we are having company over.
I also buy big blocks of cheese, grate it up and freeze it.
 
This a timely thread for me.. was just looking at our food costs over the last couple of months.

There are 3 of us, me, my hubby, and my 6 year old son. We spend around 120-130/week on groceries. Its gone up.. before it used to be 80-90/week. Before when my son was younger, his food intake really didn't make a difference. Now we are noticing that he eats enough that we almost have to count him as a grown up eater! :)

I don't even want to look at what we spend in eating out.. we eat out at least 2x/week sometimes its 4x, depending on what's going on in our lives.

We don't buy organic either. I am "food hoarder" though on non perishables or frozen items. So if there is a sale on I have good coupons I do stock up on those items.

Take care, Lynn M.
 
We were just looking at our bills and were shocked at how much we spend on food. It is 5 of us in the house and we spend close to $1000 on food a month if not more with take-out. I used to shop at Super Walmart to save money but the cost of gas any more is not saving us too much as the store is 10 minutes away. We are trying to cut the bill down a few hundred dollars and we are thinking of starting a garden in the back to cut down on produce bills which is a majority of our costs. Funny, we used to get by on $100-$150 a week just a few years ago(although we didn't eat as healthy!):)
 
Wow, we must all be on the same wavelength here. There is just DH and I and I spend about $500/month on groceries, toiletries, cleaning supplies, paper supplies at the grocery store and at Costco. I have started really planning out meals for the week and only buying what we need. Also, I never cared about the sale ads from grocery stores and I just went to the one closest to us. I have started checking those as well. Also, if you have Super Target near you it really is cheaper. The salsa that I get at the regular grocery store is $4/bottle, but at Target it is $2/bottle. I have tried shopping there more, but it is a longer drive and I don't want to waste gas either. I am also going to cut coupons. If your family eats cereal a lot that can be expensive, so I found out that Walgreens and Rite Aid have major cereal sales quite frequently. You can save quite a bit there too.
 
My guess is around $1000/month, but that includes things like detergent, cleaning supplies, toothpaste, etc. There are six of us in my family - three are teenage boys who never, ever stop eating. :p

Erica
 
This is very interesting :)

I balance my accounts on my home computer and it calculates all of this for me, so I know what I spend pretty well.

I spend $650/mo. on groceries for my family of four and we have a $200/mo. budget for eating out (which is mostly taken up by my husband buying lunch at work). We live in northern Virginia, so that's probably high for other places. Also, my toiletries and household supplies are included in that since it's all on the same receipt.

I also swear by Super Target!

Kelly
 
It's so easy to spend a lot with a family and trying to eat healthy! I think we spend about $500 a month for a family of 5. I shop at Super Wal*mart and Sam's for most things and Kroger, Meijer, and a couple other places also. My dh takes his lunch to work every day, and I pack my dd's lunches most days also. (which saves a LOT) We rarely eat out either.

I think I'm going to go back to what Gayle said and use the envelope method, my Mom used to do that for groceries & gas. (oh, and don't get me started on the price of gas now!! :eek: )
 
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