How much do you spend on groceries each week

[Galaxy]

How much do you spend on groceries (on average) each week? How many people do you have to buy for?

[Mustang]

We spend around $500 a month although that includes things like cleaning supplies, cat food, etc.

3 people.

[gstelmack]

4 people, varies between $400 and $600 / month depending on how much we end up eating out (usually when running errands).

[CU Tiger]

4 people

2 labs

$600-$650/month

Go shopping usually once sometimes twice/month

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

4 people

2 labs

$600-$650/month

Go shopping usually once sometimes twice/month

I envy people who are able to do this.... seems like I'm in the grocery store 2-3 times a week getting various things. I would say we (wife/myself/17 month old) spend about $120 a week - we stock up on chicken when it is on sale so once in a while it's more than that.

[WheelsVT]

Good question. Poll?

$500 or so here. Plus $70-$100 eating out. 2 adults, 2 young kids.

I remember being in college and budgeting $160/month for myself, but that was 6-8yrs ago.

[Butter]

ABout $100-125 a week for 4.

[lordscarlet]

$400-500/mo. That's for my wife and I, and we also have dinner once a week with my father, and prepare him a crock pot to eat during the week. That's also 3 cats.

[sabotai]

Generally $40 or so a week, but I'm just shopping for 1 and I have no pets.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

... prepare him a crock pot to eat during the week. That's also 3 cats.

Well, I guess it's cheaper than roast beef or something more conventional.

[path12]

Now that it's just Ms.path and I we spend around $125 per week. But Ms.path does love to entertain, the average would be lower if I was just counting our meals.

Before my stepson went to college it was more around $200.

[Sun Tzu]

I'm around the same as most people here. 120-150/week including farmers markets for our fruit/veggies. We have two cats but I get big bags of Science Diet which last a good month or two.

[Ksyrup]

I'd say $200 a week - 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs, and a cat. Usually $150 or so during the main shopping outing, and then another $40+ at other stores during the rest of the week.

EDIT to clarify that "grocery shopping" includes all household-type items - saline, shampoo, cleaning supplies, detergent, etc.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Well, I guess it's cheaper than roast beef or something more conventional.

HAH

[RainMaker]

I'd say just under $50 a week for myself. I've been trying to buy chicken breasts and frozen fruits at CostCo to save some money.

[Draft Dodger]

about $150 or so a week, family of 4.

[lurker]

We've budged $300 a month (kind of randomly chose that number and haven't done anything to stick to it) for two people and have hit almost exactly that over the last year. So I guess that's about $70 a week.

[stevew]

Groceries(food)-
I dunno, something like 60-75 bucks per week for the 4 of us. Maybe a bit more(say 30-40 bucks/month) for stuff like shampoo, catfood, etc.

We also usually order pizza one day a week as well(12bucks or so)

I ususally go Sams and get lots of frozen chicken, and maybe some pork/ground beef. Pick up most of the sides(rice type things, veggies) at walmart. Or Aldi's. Split up the family packs of meat into serving sizes and freeze them and you don't waste food, and you know exactly how much stuff you have at any given time.

Like at Sams you can get a 10 pound bag of chicken for 23 bucks, that's usually good for 7-8 different meals. Keeps costs down.

And I'm definitely not starving or anything.

[Sublime 2]

Originally Posted by lurker

We've budged $300 a month (kind of randomly chose that number and haven't done anything to stick to it) for two people and have hit almost exactly that over the last year. So I guess that's about $70 a week.

Same with me and my girlfriend. It can fluctuate, but for the morst part $75/wk or $300/mo really.

[tarcone]

We budget $200 a week for 2 adults and 2 kids and a dog.

Butter, how do you only spend $100 to $125 a week?

[MacroGuru]

For us, Family of 5, no pets...We average $800 a month if we want to eat healthy...believe it or not, if we go out for fast food, that goes down a bit.

The Mrs just started to coupon clip again to build up our food storage (again) and this will save us anywhere from 300 - 400 a month on costs.

[-apoc-]

$150 a week for 2 of us but that includes cleaning supplies, laundry stuff, TP ect.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

The Mrs just started to coupon clip again to build up our food storage (again) and this will save us anywhere from 300 - 400 a month on costs.

Really, you are able to save that much? I'm pretty stoked when I can save $10 a trip.

[RomaGoth]

Family of 6, spend anywhere between $600 - $800 per month. This includes the ridiculous cost of diapers, and all the other things a family needs (i.e., toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.). Three girls under the age of four = lots of diaper costs.

[Lorena]

I clip coupons and go to CVS for any toilettries and take advantage of their extra bucks and we've saved a ton of money. I've been able to buy Huggies training pants for less than $5. I've bought Pert Plus Shampoo for less than a dollar, and toothpaste for free. Yes, I said free.

We also buy chicken in bulk from Sams (or could have been Costco, not sure) and the chicken lasts a while. The crockpot is the best invention ever, just throw a bunch of stuff in there and you have an $8.00 meal for a family of 4 and leftover for lunch the next day. On a good week, we spend less than $80.00 for a family of 4 (no pets). We eat out an average of 4 times a month so add about $20.00 a week for that.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by RomaGoth

Family of 6, spend anywhere between $600 - $800 per month. This includes the ridiculous cost of diapers, and all the other things a family needs (i.e., toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.). Three girls under the age of four = lots of diaper costs.

Oh man my youngest son just got out of diapers 2 weeks ago and it is awesome to stop spending money on that crap (literally)!

About $500-$600/month for 2 adults 2 kids...depending on whether we eat out (i.e. not fast food) once or twice a month (and depending on the restaurant).

The wife has been getting pretty good at coupon clipping lately...just saved $30 on today's shopping trip!

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by RomaGoth

Family of 6, spend anywhere between $600 - $800 per month. This includes the ridiculous cost of diapers, and all the other things a family needs (i.e., toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.). Three girls under the age of four = lots of diaper costs.

Are your kids still on formula?

We are also a family of 6. Kids are 5, 3, and the twins are 2 months. We are currently budgeting $400 per pay period (2 weeks). Formula is the killer. We can't use generic, they can't digest it....so we have to buy the $25 cans and twins eat a lot. I can't wait until we can switch to whole milk....10 long months from now.

Usually have one big shopping trip that nets around $200 and spend the rest over the next few weeks, mostly on diapers and formula.

Thankfully, my wife had our 3 year old out of diapers at 2...and now doesn't even use them at night.

[Galaxy]

Do you use a lot of the food in terms of leftovers, using the rest of the produce for another dish/day, ect.?

How much do your costs increase or decrease on that factor? I the money spent it would also depend on often you eat out/order in?

[larrymcg421]

I went through my June bank statement. Just for myself, which includes eating out and household items I get from the grocery store or Walmart, I spent $245 last month.

[stevew]

I'd imagine this is highly dependent on where you live. If there are only union grocers you are obviously getting pounded on prices. There are expensive ass stores in my area(Giant Eagle FTL)

[Honolulu Blue]

It varies depending on the usual factors (how much I already have, what's on sale, how hungry I am, etc.), but the average for just groceries - no outside dining and no toiletries - is about $40 a week. There's just me to deal with.

[Marc Vaughan]

Probably around $250 a week (5 people) - mainly because I refuse to eat junk food and my kids are addicted to fruit which is abhorantly expensive in Florida for some reason (can't figure out why fruit grown in Florida would be over double the price here that it is in England?).

Orange Juice (Tesco Online UK) - 62p/carton*
Orange Jiuce (Publix) - $2.50/carton (approximately £1.80)

*Special offer admittedly but all the same ...

[revrew]

Y'know, there really are ways to save a TON of money on grocery shopping. Hearing of families of 4 or 5 topping $800 or $1000 dollars a month boggles my mind.

There are 14 of us - 2 adults, 3 teens, and 9 younger children. Counting only food (no cosmetics, cleaners, diapers, etc) and not counting the occasional dining out, we spend about $120 a week. Maybe about $150, if the pantry is getting low and we need to stock up on a few items to replenish it.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by tarcone

We budget $200 a week for 2 adults and 2 kids and a dog.

Butter, how do you only spend $100 to $125 a week?

We coupon like crazy and just look for deals. We're not brand-picky, and try to stock up when we can. Most of the credit for this goes to my wife. Average big grocery trip is probably about $200 every 2 weeks, and then little side trips or dog food or whatever every week probably add up to another $25-30 a week. Thinking hard about it, it is probably more like $125-150 a week, but that's with 2 growing boys, a dog, and a cat. So I think we do pretty good.

[lighthousekeeper]

it's hard to get any clear comparisons here though, since it's not clear if people's estimates above include fast food or convenince store type purchases. i can have a grocery bill of $20 per week if my family eats out every day.

there's also the big chance for the discrepancy btween what you estimate and what actually happens. for example, i would have estimated about $600/mo (which is in line with many others' estimates here) but when I actually looked at the cc statement i saw it was more.

[BYU 14]

When we do the coupon thing we can do 125-150 for 4 of us, plus 3 Dogs. Otherwise 175-200. We are doing the coupon thing a lot more as we pay off the Wifes fines and legal bills

[Subby]

$1500/month

That's six of us and includes probably 5-6 carryout meals, little league/pool snackbar, one or two dinners out. Also includes anything you would buy at grocery store/costco.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by revrew

Y'know, there really are ways to save a TON of money on grocery shopping. Hearing of families of 4 or 5 topping $800 or $1000 dollars a month boggles my mind.

There are 14 of us - 2 adults, 3 teens, and 9 younger children. Counting only food (no cosmetics, cleaners, diapers, etc) and not counting the occasional dining out, we spend about $120 a week. Maybe about $150, if the pantry is getting low and we need to stock up on a few items to replenish it.

Truly impressive, how I take you spend a lot of time gathering coupons and rebates??

[Ksyrup]

There's no way I can separate out all the non-food stuff we buy because everything is a part of our "grocery" shopping, so that's all included in my $800 estimate. It also includes other one-time items that get picked up when grocery shopping (plants, potting soil, birthday cards, games/toys, etc.), since we do our main grocery shopping at Wal-Mart or Meijer.

My wife usually can get upwards of $10 in coupons off each week. We don't start using certain products solely for coupons, but when a coupon can be used for what we buy, my wife's got it.

[revrew]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Truly impressive, how I take you spend a lot of time gathering coupons and rebates??

Very little. Sometimes a grocery store's in-store flyer will have coupons we can use, or sometimes there will be a coupon on the shelf, but really, we might use one coupon per month. With 12 kids, we don't have time to clip coupons. No, there are lots of other techniques we use.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by revrew

There are 14 of us - 2 adults, 3 teens, and 9 younger children

I'd be spending $120/wk on liquor alone

[Ksyrup]

Revrew, you need a contact at TLC. Actually, I'm surprised they haven't hunted YOU down yet.

[revrew]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Revrew, you need a contact at TLC. Actually, I'm surprised they haven't hunted YOU down yet.

Tee-hee. Thought about it. After our home was wiped out by a tornado, we were actually a finalist for "Extreme Home Makeover", but didn't make the final cut. But after seeing what happens to most reality show types ("John and Kate Share 8"), we're probably gonna dodge that publicity. I did, however, make a list of 10 techniques we use, in case y'er interested:

1. What grocery store you shop at makes a HUGE difference. In Iowa, we have 3 primary chains: Hy-Vee, Fareway, and Aldi. Several years ago, I price tested them. The same grocery cart that cost $100 at Hyvee, cost $70 at Fareway and $60 at Aldi. Just avoiding the wrong store saved us 30 - 40 % right off the top.
2. We don't buy alcohol, tobacco, baby formula, or fresh ground coffee, all of which cost insane amounts of money.
3. Outside of milk, we don't buy any bottled beverages. Soda pop and juice cost way too much without much nutritional value.
4. Outside of the occasional batch of frozen pizzas (when they're on sale only), we don't buy pre-prepared foods. Chicken nuggets, pot pies, frozen dinners, mixes, and convenience foods of all kinds force you to pay a huge premium for convenience. We buy raw foods and cook them. We pay in time what some pay in convenience, but it cuts down on the bills, if that's your priority.
5. There are enough off brands on the market, that with a little exploration, you can usually find one as good as the name brand. Why pay? We don't buy Tostitos, for example, at $3.29 a bag, but buy Aldi tortilla chips for $1.99 instead.
6. Some things just cost too much. Boxed cereal, for example. We can buy 50 pounds of whole oats and make hot cereal for our family 20 times for the same price as serving Cheerios to our family 4 times. Junk food? Why?
7. We buy almost nothing in cans, but prefer raw and bulk foods. Fresh fruit and veggies are better for you, soups and sauces are cheaper to make (with the exception of a generic marinara, which we often buy then "doctor" to our tastes). But take chili beans or black beans, for example. A pound of dry beans costs a buck and makes the same amount as about 10 cans of chili beans at 60 cents a can. $1 or $6. Why pay more?
8. Loss leaders: Every grocery store marks something down to lure you in, then hits you with higher prices on other things. We just buy the marked down stuff, and don't fall for the ruse. When hamburger is on sale for $1 a pound, we buy 50 pounds, throw it in our freezer, and don't buy burger again until the next time it's a loss leader. If hamburger costs $2.50 a pound, we don't buy it. We eat chicken, ham, and turkey instead. And wait for burger to go on sale again. For this reason, we also almost never buy steak. I mean, a 4-year-old would rather eat a hamburger than a $7 ribeye anyway, so we get steak when the adults go out to eat.
9. Mark down. The Fareway stores around us mark down certain foods when they approach or pass their "due" date. We can get a $3 bag of spinach for 50 cents and a $4 pint of strawberries for $1. They have to be eaten within a day or two, but no problem. We substitute a spinach/bacon/strawberry salad into the menu for whatever else we had planned, and we eat $7 worth of nutrition for $1.50.
10. The Sam's Clubs and Costco's of the world aren't the inexpensive panaceas they claim to be. They are almost always cheaper if - and only if - you are buying name brands. Dorito's at Sam's are cheaper than anywhere else. But if you dodge the temptation to buy name brands and look at it closely, the warehouse stores are like any other: lure you in with one good deal, then soak you with a bad one. Often times, those 64-oz boxes of whatever cost MORE per oz than the 14-oz box at the regular grocery store. You gotta know how much a product actually costs before you fall for buying a bunch at a bad price.

Admittedly, we do pay more for running our oven and chest freezer than the average family that might cook more quick and convenient foods, but our grocery bills are a fraction of what they could be.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by revrew

They have to be eaten within a day or two, but no problem.

[Subby]

You can still drink very good coffee. Do *not* skimp on that, because you don't have to! Buy green coffee beans online. You can get 10 lbs for $50 and they keep for a year in storage if you want to buy more than that. Roast the beans yourself. Grind what you need each day.

Great coffee and you save a ridiculous amount of money.

Of course if you hate coffee, then just buy it at the grocery store.

[digamma]

The worst part of waking up is Foldgers in your cup!

[digamma]

We probably pay $60 a week for groceries, and probably eat out once or twice a week. It's just my wife and me. Shopping for one or two people is probably the least economical and efficient way to do things, particularly if you err toward fresh items. As Ben notes, the use it or lose it issue can quickly become "lose it" when there are only two eaters and things are close to their due date.

[stevew]

To me, coupons are reasons to buy something you wouldn't normally. I don't even clip the ones that aren't for stuff we like.

And knowing how to make 21-28 different meals, and variations of what you can do with a certain cut of meat really helps.

I also do stacking on the meals sometimes.

Like I'll get a huge pork roast and throw it in the crock pot(with no cats).

Day one will be roasted pork, mashed potatoes, veggie of some sort. Day 2 will be Carnitas and rice and beans. Day 3(or lunch) will be shredded BBQ sandwhiches.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by revrew

1. What grocery store you shop at makes a HUGE difference. In Iowa, we have 3 primary chains: Hy-Vee, Fareway, and Aldi. Several years ago, I price tested them. The same grocery cart that cost $100 at Hyvee, cost $70 at Fareway and $60 at Aldi. Just avoiding the wrong store saved us 30 - 40 % right off the top.
2. We don't buy alcohol, tobacco, baby formula, or fresh ground coffee, all of which cost insane amounts of money.
3. Outside of milk, we don't buy any bottled beverages. Soda pop and juice cost way too much without much nutritional value.
4. Outside of the occasional batch of frozen pizzas (when they're on sale only), we don't buy pre-prepared foods. Chicken nuggets, pot pies, frozen dinners, mixes, and convenience foods of all kinds force you to pay a huge premium for convenience. We buy raw foods and cook them. We pay in time what some pay in convenience, but it cuts down on the bills, if that's your priority.
5. There are enough off brands on the market, that with a little exploration, you can usually find one as good as the name brand. Why pay? We don't buy Tostitos, for example, at $3.29 a bag, but buy Aldi tortilla chips for $1.99 instead.
6. Some things just cost too much. Boxed cereal, for example. We can buy 50 pounds of whole oats and make hot cereal for our family 20 times for the same price as serving Cheerios to our family 4 times. Junk food? Why?
7. We buy almost nothing in cans, but prefer raw and bulk foods. Fresh fruit and veggies are better for you, soups and sauces are cheaper to make (with the exception of a generic marinara, which we often buy then "doctor" to our tastes). But take chili beans or black beans, for example. A pound of dry beans costs a buck and makes the same amount as about 10 cans of chili beans at 60 cents a can. $1 or $6. Why pay more?
8. Loss leaders: Every grocery store marks something down to lure you in, then hits you with higher prices on other things. We just buy the marked down stuff, and don't fall for the ruse. When hamburger is on sale for $1 a pound, we buy 50 pounds, throw it in our freezer, and don't buy burger again until the next time it's a loss leader. If hamburger costs $2.50 a pound, we don't buy it. We eat chicken, ham, and turkey instead. And wait for burger to go on sale again. For this reason, we also almost never buy steak. I mean, a 4-year-old would rather eat a hamburger than a $7 ribeye anyway, so we get steak when the adults go out to eat.
9. Mark down. The Fareway stores around us mark down certain foods when they approach or pass their "due" date. We can get a $3 bag of spinach for 50 cents and a $4 pint of strawberries for $1. They have to be eaten within a day or two, but no problem. We substitute a spinach/bacon/strawberry salad into the menu for whatever else we had planned, and we eat $7 worth of nutrition for $1.50.
10. The Sam's Clubs and Costco's of the world aren't the inexpensive panaceas they claim to be. They are almost always cheaper if - and only if - you are buying name brands. Dorito's at Sam's are cheaper than anywhere else. But if you dodge the temptation to buy name brands and look at it closely, the warehouse stores are like any other: lure you in with one good deal, then soak you with a bad one. Often times, those 64-oz boxes of whatever cost MORE per oz than the 14-oz box at the regular grocery store. You gotta know how much a product actually costs before you fall for buying a bunch at a bad price.

i remember watching your family on Wife Swap.

[PilotMan]

Alright, we are feeding 5, but it's my wife and I, plus 3 boys ages 14, 7 and 5.

We average about 380-420 per month for groceries and maybe 30-100 more eating out, depending. We live on a very tight budget.

I can only imagine as these boys get bigger how much more this is going to go up.