s/o what's your monthly grocery budget, and how big is your family?

[Halcyon]

Our budget for our family (including my two sons, husband, and I and including paper goods) is about $450 a month. We are vegetarians for the most part, and eat lots of organic and 'non-meat' items, which can get pricey.

 

You?

[4kiddies]

My budget is around $550 for six of us but I am trying to trim it to $400. This includes groceries, eating out and paper/cleaning products. We eat organic, whole foods most of the time although we do tend to eat out 1 or 2 times a week.

[Denisemomof4]

I have tried SO HARD to get our budget down but with two teenage sons, it won't be happening anytime soon. We spend between $1000 - $1200 for 6 people. We eat healthy and cook from scratch, so that costs more.....

 

If I totaled up our price of grain/hay per month again (37 animals) I'm quite sure I'd :eek::svengo::svengo:

[SeekingSimplicity]

My budget is around $550 for six of us but I am trying to trim it to $400. This includes groceries, eating out and paper/cleaning products. We eat organic, whole foods most of the time although we do tend to eat out 1 or 2 times a week.

 

What does your shopping list/menu look like?

[Denisemomof4]

4kiddies and Floridamama, HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU DO IT? We eat organics, but not all, and I just do not see how you can feed your family on that budget. I could *NEVER* do it. I've tried and tried to get our cost down to $800 but can't. Dh and I don't eat much. My oldest dd is RAIL THIN and eats all the time, as do my boys. I just can't budge our budget. Is it because I'm in NH and you guys are somewhere where it's cheaper to shop?

 

I just can't believe what you two spend on groceries. I can't tell you how happy I'd be to stick to $800!!!

[SeekingSimplicity]

We spend around $650 for 5 people. That's just food, buying as cheap as possible. Including non food items and meds, it's more around $900.

Edited February 13, 2010 by SeekingSimplicity

[Parrothead]

Our grocery bill is high. I'm told that since we are so far from anything the trucking costs drive up the consumer costs. I used to be able to get us by on $75-100 a week when we lived down south. Now we are spending almost double that for a family of 3. Our grocery bill is outrageous, but there is very little I can do unless I start feeding us boxed mac & cheese, and other low nutrition "instant" meals.

[ciyates]

600 3 people, all of our cleaning supplies/paper products, and dog and cat food are included.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Our budget for our family (including my two sons, husband, and I and including paper goods) is about $450 a month. We are vegetarians for the most part, and eat lots of organic and 'non-meat' items, which can get pricey.

 

You?

 

This is ours exactly! Two young girls, me, and my husband. Including toiletries/paper products, we spend an average of $450 a month. The adults are vegans (kids eat some dairy and eggs ~ not much), so we eat a lot of fresh produce.

[Halcyon]

4kiddies and Floridamama, HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU DO IT? We eat organics, but not all, and I just do not see how you can feed your family on that budget. I could *NEVER* do it. I've tried and tried to get our cost down to $800 but can't. Dh and I don't eat much. My oldest dd is RAIL THIN and eats all the time, as do my boys. I just can't budge our budget. Is it because I'm in NH and you guys are somewhere where it's cheaper to shop?

 

I just can't believe what you two spend on groceries. I can't tell you how happy I'd be to stick to $800!!!

 

Well, if it's any comfort, our grocery bill used to be about $800 up north. When we moved to florida last year, it plummetted. Food here is SO much cheaper, I am not sure why! There are tons of bogo sales (never had that up north). We buy staples more than packaged food (although again, I'll go for bogo sales for crackers, goldfish etc). I buy things on sale and put them in the garage. We use BJ's for paper goods.

 

To be honest, my kids don't eat a lot and neither do I!! My DH likes brown rice and salad for dinner, kids like peanut butter, morningstar farm products, pasta, tofu, yogurt and broccoli. I like salad, quinoa, beans and oatmeal. None of these items is particularly expensive. Oh, we do buy the occasional frozen fish filets, but since we cut out all other meat from our budget, it's gone down a lot. We rarely buy packaged foods, like instant mac and cheese, or frozen dinners (with the exception of veggie patties). Frozen veggies are always in our freezer, and those are cheaper than fresh and one could could argue similarly nutritious.

 

That said, you'd have been appalled at our budget up north. It was more like $800 a month, and that was when I focused on keeping it down!!!

Edited February 13, 2010 by Halcyon

[elegantlion]

We are a family of 3 with a cat and a big dog. We have been averaging 100.00 a week. We're trying to eat more natural and the last two weeks I've spent 120 and 140 each. I noticed more prices have gone up in the last week. :glare: We eat pretty frugally and some weeks we get by with much less.

 

I just went this morning and realistically our budget needs to be about 130 per week. Ds is in another growth spurt and dh takes his lunch everyday.

 

We get takeout about once a week and that is not included.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

$400 for four people.

[GaHadley]

we have 4 in our family, in GA. I spend about 100-125 per weeks including all food, paper goods, cleaning, and health/beauty stuff (toothpaste, shampoo, razors, etc). This also has the occasional stuff like a gift that I find on clearance, socks/underwear, candles (love them!) and other clearance goodies that I put in our gift box. . .

 

this does not usually include any beef, as we raise our own and the farm pays for the processing. I do still buy chicken and fish.

[Red]

Family: DH and I, 6 kids here full time, 1 kid part time (5 boys, 2 girls) and 4 of them are teens.

 

Cost: $1000 monthly

[Amira]

$300/month for a family of five (two parents and three sons, 10, 9, and 2). This is the most we have ever spent on food, but we live in Seattle right now, which is a fairly expensive city. We are on a very small budget this year. I do not buy organic, but instead buy my produce from a local seller (I generally prefer local to organic). I rely on an inexpensive grocery store where I can buy bulk products. We never eat out and I cook everything from scratch. I could technically spend less, but that would be hard on our children.

[mycalling]

$1000 for 9 of us.

[LibraryLover]

Dh and I just saved our reciepts from the past few months, and it was nearly 1000k per month. January was $950. We have 4 children (one is in college, but he was home from Dec 15 to January 27th) , two dogs. We supplement our hens in winter with organic feed from VT.

 

It's less in summer.

 

But in winter, without our garden or farm stands, this is the deal. I buy almost 100% organic, and any meat is grass fed, and I have invested some money there. I buy organic nuts and seeds for snacks and we go through them. I buy sprouted and germinated foods like brown rice and lentils.

 

We do buy some organic 'fast food' for busy nights; Amy's organic frozen pesto pizza, meals, and things like that. I also buy very $ organic protein bars for my teen dd who has blood sugar issues to keep in the car and her backpack. (I am afraid of regular soy protein bars and GMO soy). A case from the food coop, of say Amy's organic brown rice and pinto burritos, is about $33. It adds up fast.

 

If we couldn't afford this, I would be grinding my own organic flour from bulk grain etc. I have, in fact, done that in the past, and I find it to be a tremendous amount of work, although it always felt good. Currently, I am not in that same mindest. But it is an excellent way to deal with the high cost of good food.

Edited February 13, 2010 by LibraryLover

[justamouse]

Just about triple yours and I have a family of 8 right now. I make mostly everything from scratch. I WISH I could afford all organic, but I live in NJ.

[4kiddies]

4kiddies and Floridamama, HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU DO IT? We eat organics, but not all, and I just do not see how you can feed your family on that budget. I could *NEVER* do it. I've tried and tried to get our cost down to $800 but can't. Dh and I don't eat much. My oldest dd is RAIL THIN and eats all the time, as do my boys. I just can't budge our budget. Is it because I'm in NH and you guys are somewhere where it's cheaper to shop?

 

I just can't believe what you two spend on groceries. I can't tell you how happy I'd be to stick to $800!!!

 

 

First off, my kids are still small so that makes a difference. My oldest is only six.

 

I buy all of my meat from local suppliers in bulk so I haven't bought beef since September, I will be getting pork this month and I need to stock up on chicken but the last time I bought it was in October. I also bought lots of fresh vegtables/fruits from our farmer's market over the summer and froze them. I bake all of our bread and get our milk and orange juice delivered from a local dairy. I do use coupons occasionally. I got through spurts where I use them alot and get lots of free stuff--esp. toiletries like toothpaste. I watch for BOGO's and stock up when things are cheap like pasta.

 

My grocery bill used to be over $1000 but by doing the above items I have really trimmed it AND I'm not in the grocery store all the time. I go about once a month for an order and maybe one other time for a quick trip for fresh produce like salad greens, banannas, things that I couldn't freeze.

 

It is a work in progress and I am trying to get it even lower but healthier also.

 

 

HTH!

[Cathy in IL]

We typically spend about $160 a month at the vegetable and fruit market, $175 at Whole Foods, and $100 at the meat market. Shopping in three places helps me get the type and quality of food I want less expensively. It's usually about $450 a month for 4 children and one adult.

[LibraryLover]

I know that if we lived in a warm climate, and the weather cooperated, I would not have to buy fruit or vegetables at the market or from a coop. When we lived in CA, I had a garden, yr round. It was awesome. There were like 6 different kids of avocado trees in neighboring back yards. They would fall on the ground and rot, there were so many.

 

When we go to FL in winter, I go to the Orlando Farmer's market or the one in Brooksville (much cheaper than the Orlando ones-- much cheaper than what we have here as well) to buy some of our vacation food. I would have raised beds (red ants) and large pots of everything growing all the time. Lettuce, peas etc when it was cooler. I would never have to buy herbs. I have some family down there. One of my SILs has all kinds of fruit trees in her yard. They grow avocados, oranges, lemons, limes, tons of stuff. Something is always growing, even in winter.

 

I have another SIL who has chickens on some land she owns (she can't have them in her development), so if we lived where we couldn't have any, I could raise mine there. This SIL also lives in a fancy development, so while she has tons of fruit trees, she can't have raised beds, I don't think, and she could not fence them in if she did. However, all around her pool on her lanai, she had giants pots of everything edible. She raises tomatoes that she hangs upside down. lol They can have roos, too, on that other land, so there would always be babies and eggs. lol She is the one who taught me how to clean and pluck a chicken.

 

I wish I could move my whole local community to say, St Augustine. Or someplace nice near Tampa. lol Plus, I would not have this mortgage. Of course, getting a job would prove fairly difficult for my poor dh. So there is a downside. ;)

Edited February 13, 2010 by LibraryLover

[3and3]

our grocery bill is about $650- 700. We are in MD I try to shop sales and go to Sams for bulk items. But we have twins with allergy issues so we have had to switch to alot of name brand items to aviod the nuts, eggs, and milk. Most generics have a trace of these in them. Also, all of the kids at home are 8yo and under.Not looking forward to the teen years:)

[Mrs Mungo]

We spend $800/month including household cleaners, toiletries, paper goods, pet food, etc. We're omnivores but my kids are also a older (skinny teen girls can eat a lot). Plus, we live in Hawaii. Geography has *a lot* to do with grocery bills. We rarely eat out.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Geography has *a lot* to do with grocery bills.

 

 

It sure does!!

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Just for food we spend probably 250-300 a month for 6 of us. I'm working on keeping it to the lower end of the range. My DH likes to hunt and fish, so we eat venison and fish 3 nights a week. We also can our garden produce (green beans, tomatoes for soup or made into spaghetti sauce, yellow squash, some apples, and pumpkins) and eat on it over the winter. I'm hoping to expand our garden season this year with some more early and late growing items.

[lisabees]

Probably about $1200-$1400 a month, for our family of 6 in the Northeast. I cook from scratch with a lot of organics and fresh herbs. We also tend to eat out quite often, depending on the season and how busy the kids are with their sports and activities. It's probably closer to $1600-$1800 when we're really running and eating out.

 

We also like good (read expensive) food. My kids don't order mac and cheese; they order the horseradish crusted salmon with asparagus! :lol:

I do have older kids, three of which are boys.

 

We love food. :001_smile: I don't spend money on clothes or my house. But, I do on our food!

[chaik76]

$540/mo. including pet foods, cat litter, all cleaning supplies, paper products, diapers, bottle liners and stuff like that. Two adults. Two kids. We eat meat twice a day usually.

[Heather in OK]

$600 for 6 people and 3 pets.

 

That also includes household needs like toilet paper, light bulbs, etc.

[LibraryLover]

We spend $800/month including household cleaners, toiletries, paper goods, pet food, etc. We're omnivores but my kids are also a older (skinny teen girls can eat a lot). Plus, we live in Hawaii. Geography has *a lot* to do with grocery bills. We rarely eat out.

 

 

But nice weather! It's hideous here, even though I think our food costs are not crazy, compared to NYC or NJ or whatnot. Can you grow anything in pots where you are?

[Mrs Mungo]

But nice weather! It's hideous here, even though I think our food costs are not crazy, compared to NYC or NJ or whatnot. Can you grow anything in pots where you are?

 

We do have lovely weather. I'm getting ready to go for a run with dh-outside...in shorts! Can people grow things in pots or can *I* grow things in pots? Because these are very different questions. ;) Honestly, though, we rent our home and have *zero* grass. There isn't a lot of room for a garden, even a potted garden. Real estate is at a premium on a tiny, crowded island with mountains in the middle of it. Very few people have anything resembling a yard. Someone else mentioned locally grown produce? Again, because land is at such a premium there is little produce grown here. My next door neighbors actually own a farm but they grow herbs that are exported to Asia. It's a funny place to live.

[LibraryLover]

We also can our garden produce (green beans, tomatoes for soup or made into spaghetti sauce, yellow squash, some apples, and pumpkins) and eat on it over the winter. I'm hoping to expand our garden season this year with some more early and late growing items.

 

 

Yes. And I am also hoping that we have a warmer, more dry spring and summer. And that there is no tomato blight. There was hardly anything to to freeze. :( It was very sad. My herbs dd ok, and I've got quite a bit of thyme, oregano, basil (purple and green), and some others. My Thai chilies did well, surprisingly, and they like it hot. They are so tiny, their needs are less, I suppose. :) We also managed to eat all of our beans. This year, bigger garden and more cooperative weather. I hope. :) I have one more batch of hidden strawberries left, and some blueberries. I need to let the kids eat them. It's too long to keep them frozen. Even though I can buy food, I still get this dreadful feeling when I use the last of anything from the garden and the new garden hasn't even begun. I am down to a couple of butternuts. I need to use those or they will go bad. That would be worse, kwim?

Edited February 13, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Jennifer in MI]

We're a family of 6. I have three budgets -

 

Super frugal (mostly vegetarian, snacks include popcorn and apples for the week, mostly organic) - $100/week.

 

Semi-frugal (adding some meat, more snacks, mostly organic) $150/week.

 

Not at all frugal - all organic, quite a bit of meat meals, snacks galore) - $200-$220/week.

 

Usually, one of our weeks is the $200, two are at $150, and one is at $100. So, we're at $650 for the month.

[LibraryLover]

:) LOL Sometimes we look like this: $100, $50, $50, and then $800. lol. As in, oh no, time to buy dog food, cat food, chicken feed, and pay our food coop bill. lol

 

 

We're a family of 6. I have three budgets -

 

Super frugal (mostly vegetarian, snacks include popcorn and apples for the week, mostly organic) - $100/week.

 

Semi-frugal (adding some meat, more snacks, mostly organic) $150/week.

 

Not at all frugal - all organic, quite a bit of meat meals, snacks galore) - $200-$220/week.

 

Usually, one of our weeks is the $200, two are at $150, and one is at $100. So, we're at $650 for the month.

[ereks mom]

I used to be able to buy food for our family for under $200 per month, but grocery prices have risen a lot over the past couple of years.

Edited February 13, 2010 by ereks mom

[AnitaMcC]

We spend too much. We have 9 living here and spend about $1000 a month on groceries and household items.

 

My mom is on a very low fat/salt diet, but she buys a lot of her food separate from me.

 

Dd is a vegetarian,

 

Dh is a diehard meat eater who prefers a snacking diet along with the meat and potato/pasta meals,

 

Ds #1 is a carbohydrate addict (he is very picky about eating... foods can not be combined like stew, soup, casseroles),

 

Younger nephew eats like a goat!!!!!

Edited February 13, 2010 by AnitaMcC

[Jen in PA]

$300 a month for our family of 4 (plus teenage stepson some weekends). I actually spend more like $450 because I stockpile, aiming to buy 6 weeks of food per month. I spent more per week before I had a decent stockpile, though. I spend a decent percentage of our food budget on fresh produce and local dairy products, and I cook from scratch almost all of the time.

[Quiver0f10]

Family of 12 and we spend $800-$900/month which includes everything. We eat 98% vegetarian but I don't buy organic. I do cook and bake everything from scratch and we eat a whole foods type diet.

[mommytobees]

We spend $800/month including household cleaners, toiletries, paper goods, pet food, etc. We're omnivores but my kids are also a older (skinny teen girls can eat a lot). Plus, we live in Hawaii. Geography has *a lot* to do with grocery bills. We rarely eat out.

 

Geography does have a lot to do with it!

 

We live in Japan with a US Commissary and we spend $800 a month.

 

I won't tell you what we spend on eggs, milk, and meat.

 

Kris

[bethben]

$625 per month - 6 people

2 sons who eat more than their mom

1 son who is is almost eating more than me

1 tiny daughter who still packs it away

1 husband, 1 mom

 

We live in the northern midwest.

[Ginevra]

For my family of five, my average monthly food costs for 2009 were: 510.43

My average monthly costs on all "other" groceries (personal hygiene, OTC med, cleaning products, etc, not incl. pet food): 134.18

 

So, total average grocery costs from all sources: 644.41/month

 

I tally groceries from all sources, including Target, Walmart, food stands, etc.

:svengo: Lord, how I love order! :D

[gingersmom]

I must live in the most expensive state.

 

I use coupons when I have them (my newspaper does not have coupon inserts), I buy store brands for items I like, I stock up when stuff we use all the time is on sale. I buy some stuff at Costco if its cheaper.

 

There are 1 adult, 2 growing children and 1 cat and I think we spend around $600-$800/month!!!

 

We eat out (take out really) 4 times/month which comes to $100/month.

 

We don't eat red meat and maybe $3 worth of chicken/week.

 

I'm actually saving all my grocery receipts for each week so I can see what I purchased and how much I spent.

 

Trying really hard to lower the grocery bill.

[Cricket]

I set aside $700 per month for gas, groceries, all miscellaneous spending. We probably spend about $500 or so for food and household items. I use lots of coupons and stock up when sales are good. There are six of us. Our oldest son eats more than dh. When we lived in Oregon, I grew a lot of our own vegetables and fruit and we also bought them at u-pick farms. Here in Arizona, I get everything at the store. I don't like that too much!

[74Heaven]

For 7 of us, (3 teens), about $650 per month for groceries and all household goods, paper products, cleaning products, eating out (rarely), etc. (If I can buy it at the grocery store, it is part of the grocery budget. .It might be closer to $800 but I can shop at the local commissary and that saves 5-8% or so...

 

We cook mostly from scratch, buy an organic half-beef annually. Ten years ago, with 3 kids, we were spending closer to $350 a month. I'm not sure what happened.

 

We go thru 2-3 dozen eggs a week and a gallon of milk a day.

 

Lisaj

[willtheycallmeblessed]

i spend about $300 per week for all food/household items. we are a family of 6.

[Pretty in Pink]

We are a family of six. I am averaging 150.00 a week currently and that is shopping at the military commissary. If I have to shop out in town it is more. I do cook from scratch but I buy some big ticket items like organic dairy (and occassionally organic beef or chicken, though we eat vegetarian 90% of the time), some organic produce, eco-friendly diapers for the little one, etc. This includes toiletries as well.

[AngieW in Texas]

$700/mo for a family of 5. My dh eats out for lunch most of the time, but the rest of us almost never eat out. I have two teens, one of whom is a bottomless pit and easily eats as much as all the rest of us put together even though she is 5'0" and only 95 pounds.

[Tree House Academy]

Our budget for our family (including my two sons, husband, and I and including paper goods) is about $450 a month. We are vegetarians for the most part, and eat lots of organic and 'non-meat' items, which can get pricey.

 

You?

 

$400/month for the 4 of us. We can and freeze veggies from the garden in the summer and eat it through the winter. This saves us a ton. We also raise hogs and chickens. We eat the meat from the hogs and the eggs from the chickens. :)

[vettechmomof2]

$300.00 / month

That includes human food, dry goods and cleaners/supplies for cleaning for 4 people.

[MSNative]

$300/month for a family of five (two parents and three sons, 10, 9, and 2). This is the most we have ever spent on food, but we live in Seattle right now, which is a fairly expensive city. We are on a very small budget this year. I do not buy organic, but instead buy my produce from a local seller (I generally prefer local to organic). I rely on an inexpensive grocery store where I can buy bulk products. We never eat out and I cook everything from scratch. I could technically spend less, but that would be hard on our children.

 

Wow!! Ok, how do you do it? Your family is exact same split as mine and I'm almost double yours - and I'm trying. I only buy on sale, bulk, cook from scratch, etc. We go through a ton of produce and husband is practically a carnivore, so we have meat at every dinner. Those are our big budget busters. Still, though, we split a cow to keep meat costs down, buy produce on sale or local farmers (in season) so I can get better prices.

 

Seriously, I'd love to hear more specific advice/tips you frugal mamas want to share.

Edited February 14, 2010 by MSNative

[krisperry]

$800-$1000 for a family of 7. Very big eaters - I made 20 tacos for lunch :001_huh:

 

I could be a bit cheaper but not by much if I didn't sacrifice on quality. I do purchase about 50% organic, peanut butter - natural/organic, as much organic produce and veggies as I can get. We eat vegetarian at least a couple night a week.

 

We eat very few sugary foods - ie. expensive cereals.

 

All breads are made with whole grains. I buy tons of veggies and fruit which adds up super fast. I think the papaya I bought last week was $5 by itself.

 

We use about 25 gallons of milk a month just to put it in perspective. And about that many loaves of bread. That by itself would blow many of the budgets that I've seen here....