Feed a Family of Four on $400 a month

[3in9th]

I know y'all've seen these sorts of articles and pins and such, but how much bunk are they?

 

I know that food is expensive where I live, but also we have allergies- gluten and milk- that make our food budget a little higher than some. Still. I think a good month for our family of five (plus a Lab) is $1000 a month.

 

What gives? Are these types of articles just click bait or am I just shopping wrong?

[SparklyUnicorn]

Even if I could figure that out, I would not want to. 

 

 

[Slache]

We feed our family of 4 for about $400 a month, but two of our members are under 5. This does not include non food items like shampoo which can make your "grocery" bill deceptively high. We live in Portland.

 

 

1. We do once a month cooking.

2. We buy as much in bulk as possible.

3. We eat high quality protein so we aren't hungry.

4. We only go shopping once a month (Costco produce lasts a month).

5. I make our meals from scratch.

6. We have 2 vegetarian meals a week.

7. We only snack on veggies.

 

Eta: We only drink water.

[Laura Corin]

The lowest I could get here (based on previous calculations and no meat) would be about USD540.

 

However, if I needed to go that low, I would probably be eligible for benefits that would allow me more leeway.

 

L

[3in9th]

We feed our family of 4 for about $400 a month, but two of our members are under 5. This does not include non food items like shampoo which can make your "grocery" bill deceptively high. We live in Portland.

 

 

1. We do once a month cooking.

2. We buy as much in bulk as possible.

3. We eat high quality protein so we aren't hungry.

4. We only go shopping once a month (Costco produce lasts a month).

5. I make our meals from scratch.

6. We have 2 vegetarian meals a week.

7. We only snack on veggies.

 

Eta: We only drink water.

 

So, for our five given your 2 adults for $400 a month or $200 each, we're not that far off as our 3 dc are all in puberty.

[NotSoObvious]

We did it for one year. In fact, I spent $75 per week. My husband, myself, and my twin girls (who are not light eaters!) who were in 3rd grade at the time. We lived in Utah, where things are cheap. I shopped at WinCo. We still ate a lot of fruits and veggies. I bought almost no processed food and cooked every single day. No drinks. 

It's doable, but I would never want to live like that long term. We live in Florida now, where food is much more expensive and my kids are preteens. I could still do it if I had to. No more organics or grass feds and I know exactly which grocery store I'd shop at. It's in a really diverse, low-income area and they have cheap cuts of meat you can't get other places and cheaper items overall. I'd buy a lot more rice and make a lot more tortillas. It would be a big change, and not how I'd prefer to eat, but I could definitely do it. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

We feed our family of 4 for about $400 a month, but two of our members are under 5. This does not include non food items like shampoo which can make your "grocery" bill deceptively high. We live in Portland.

 

 

1. We do once a month cooking.

2. We buy as much in bulk as possible.

3. We eat high quality protein so we aren't hungry.

4. We only go shopping once a month (Costco produce lasts a month).

5. I make our meals from scratch.

6. We have 2 vegetarian meals a week.

7. We only snack on veggies.

 

Eta: We only drink water.

 

 

With 2 kids that age, they don't eat much though.  My 13 year old is like a bottomless pit these days.  The other day he ate an entire bag of oranges and was still hungry! 

 

[Slache]

So, for our five given your 2 adults for $400 a month or $200 each, we're not that far off as our 3 dc are all in puberty.

I hope that isn't true. We live below the poverty line and I will never be able to afford that. My 4 year old is the size of the average 7 year old and eats as much as we do.

 

With 2 kids that age, they don't eat much though.  My 13 year old is like a bottomless pit these days.  The other day he ate an entire bag of oranges and was still hungry! 

 

This reminds me of that commercial where all of the kids are eating all of the food and the dad walks in one of the kids and says "Are you eating butter?" He was.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I hope that isn't true. We live below the poverty line and I will never be able to afford that. My 4 year old is the size of the average 7 year old and eats as much as we do.

 

This reminds me of that commercial where all of the kids are eating all of the food and the dad walks in one of the kids and says "Are you eating butter?" He was.

 

LOL

 

I save the bacon fat.  My 13 year old likes it on everything.  Even popcorn.  So one might catch him eating bacon fat out of the bowl. 

[Butter]

I was able to feed us on $400 a month, or less, easily when there were 4 (5, but the 5th wasn't eating anything but breastmilk yet) of us.  The oldest was 6 so the kids didn't eat a whole lot.  I can't even come close to that now because 3 of my 4 kids (the boys) have hollow legs or something and three of us can't have gluten and the oldest has some level of intolerance to dairy (not as bad as her issues with gluten, but it still limits what she can eat).

[Slache]

I don't like this thread anymore.

[marbel]

Remember that grocery prices vary so widely depending on location and prices are going up all the time.  So, what someone was able to do, say, two years ago, maybe even a year ago, might not be comparable now.    

 

Bacon fat is the best thing for popping corn!   :-)

 

 

[Murphy101]

4x3=12

400x3=$1200

 

That's within $100-200 in either direction of what we spend for food and household toiletries (TP, pet food, and so on.) each month.

 

I could probably cut $150-300 out of that if I cut out fresh fruit and snack items, like pretzels or those freezer pops in the summer, and insisted milk was for cooking only and got rid of the pets. In the past that is what I have always done without health affects. (We only had one cat previous to moving to this house almost 9 years ago.) However, that also means cooking larger main meals, usually with more heavy protein to help them get through their days without feeling too hungry. So it can be a toss up as to whether that's cheaper or not. And there's a time cost. I have 4 people employed or in classes full time, which means a dedicated effort to set aside leftovers for them to eat when they can or take with them. As it is, I already make sure to make the leftovers before serving the meals or there's nothing left. Doesn't matter how much I make, they eat to capacity.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't like this thread anymore.

 

I didn't like it to begin with. 

[Susan in TN]

I know y'all've seen these sorts of articles and pins and such, but how much bunk are they?

 

I know that food is expensive where I live, but also we have allergies- gluten and milk- that make our food budget a little higher than some. Still. I think a good month for our family of five (plus a Lab) is $1000 a month.

 

What gives? Are these types of articles just click bait or am I just shopping wrong?

I have a friend who, for a while, spent $50 a week for a family of 5. She did a lot of "extreme couponing". I don't believe she had any dietary issues to purchase for.

 

Our monthly budget is $900 for a family of 8, though during the school year it's only 7 w/ds away at college (that makes a huge difference!). That is for everything - food, paper goods, toiletries, etc. So I could definitely see the possibility of spending $25 per person per week on just food - particularly if you are not buying organic/gluten free/dairy free/etc.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Remember that grocery prices vary so widely depending on location and prices are going up all the time.  So, what someone was able to do, say, two years ago, maybe even a year ago, might not be comparable now.    

 

Bacon fat is the best thing for popping corn!   :-)

 

I used to get e-meals.  So they sent me an ad recently for a new plan where they claim the dinners cost around $3 per person.  I was intrigued so I ordered it.  One of the meals was flank steak.  So I thought how on earth can that cost $3 per person?  It's over $10 a pound here.  The recipe called for a pound and a half and they said it served four.  Ok so already that's over their $3 per person promise.  But I figure ok prices vary it's not ridiculously over.  EXCEPT..there was nothing more to the "meal".  It was just the flank steak.  No veggies and in fact no sides of any kind.  How is that a meal!?   How is that $3 per person if I've gone over just with the meat?!  Talk about false advertising. 

[kewb]

That is about what I have to spend on my family of 4 and it is not enjoyable. A lot of rice and beans and inexpensive starches. Did I mention how much my teens hate beans? So I eat the beans and leave the bulk of the other vegetables for my teens and my husband. Who is a pia because he wants meat with every meal (which does not happen). So I get to listen to everyone griping about how there is nothing to eat because we don't have a plethora of meat, processed foods, cereal, or whatever else they want,and feel like total failure because we are living on disability, and I have not been able to find flexible enough work to supplement our income.

Now that I have been a total downer I should mention that there are plenty of fresh baked muffins, flavorful casseroles, homemade granola, waffles, etc. There are plenty of food choices but my picky family doesn't want what is available. They want to open the fridge and find anything their hearts desire.

[Btervet]

I tried when it was just two adults and a toddler here. We stayed under $400 for a few months. It was miserable. I like cooking, but felt like my hands were tied with options. We ate way too many carbs and cheap meats. It was far from healthy, and I never want to do that again. We are also in the DC area so it is expensive here, but not crazy.

 

We now eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies, little meat, lots of dairy, and few carbs (which I bake myself for the most part). We are lucky to be under $900. My 5yo turned into a bottomless pit this year. For breakfast he just had 2 pieces of bread, a bowl of yogurt(full fat homemade) with blueberries, granola, and blackberries in it, half an apple, a cup of milk, and is asking for more. Sigh. At least the toddler is still happy with a bowl of yogurt.

[Gentlemommy]

We have a family of five. Kids are 10 (eats more than I do!) 7, and 4. We eat rather healthy, though I do allow for a couple of convenience items per month. We spend $100 a week on produce alone. 😳

 

Virtually all snacks are fresh fruit or raw vegetables. Aside from breakfast (though we've been incorporating broccoli, kale, spinach, and zucchini into our quiche) every meal includes at least one cooked vegetable, (usually two) and a salad. We do not eat many pantry staples-pasta, rice, or quinoa maybe 1-2x per month for the kids only, no cereal, no crackers or cookies. Our 'on the go' snacks are usually nuts or nut bars (like the Kind brand) and dates or other dried fruit. Very rarely I will buy the vegetable chips that have beets/sweet potatoes/yuca slices.

 

We drink raw or organic (when I cant get to the farmer for raw) milk, one gallon per week. Or water. No juice, soda, or iced tea. We go through two dozen eggs per week. I get them from a farm at $5 a dozen for free range, organic, and humanely raised. I buy two big tubs of plain greek yogurt per week. I buy a few cans of beans to have on hand for when I run out of time and need something quick. We buy meat and chicken at the health food store, when it is on sale. For example this week chicken breasts were $1.77 per pound, so I stocked up on several packages. I buy organic ground beef from Costco, it comes with three 1.25 pound packages, and we use one per week. If it's on sale, I will get a roast. This week I got a nice one for about $12.50. Sometimes I will buy sliced turkey breast from the health food store for sandwiches, probably 1/2 a pound, and not every week. That's pretty much it for meat.

 

I buy the least expensive options in natural soap/shampoo/toothpaste. I make my own cleaners for the most part, and use rags instead of paper towels. I do use Tide for laundry, since the natural stuff wasn't cutting the dirt from my pack of hooligans lol. We have two small dogs, I buy the grain free food from Costco and the $35 bag lasts about two months. We do buy vitamins and supplements, I probably spend $40 per month on them. We do not generally buy allopathic medicines, and have no health issues requiring prescription drugs. We also do not have any true allergies, so we can eat pretty much anything.

 

I don't think I waste money in the grocery department. I don't buy packaged things, fancy 'health food store' things, or frozen convenience food which is usually pricey per serving. We try not to eat out much, and this year have been doing much better at it. Partly because of cost, partly because of health reasons, and mostly because it's a pain in the rear to take three kids to a restaurant. 😜

 

Could I do it for $100 per week? Probably. I could switch from mostly fresh produce to more pantry staples, less meat and eggs to more carbs. I could coupon (I have done this in the past, and got my weekly budget down to $30 for a family of four) and build meals from what was available. However, I don't believe it is healthy, and I don't believe it is doable in the long term, without some other assistance. I firmly believe in food as medicine, and I think that switching to mostly processed, canned, packaged food would eventually lead to health issues.

[zoobie]

There's a PDF cookbook that might help. Article about it with link: http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/01/a-cookbook-to-help-food-stamp-recipients-cook-cheaply-becomes-a-massive-viral-hit/It's still free to download with an optional donation/tip.

 

There are also several freezer plans for Costco for bulk cooking. I think she has 5 or 6 now:

http://www.5dollardinners.com/gluten-free-slow-cooker-freezer-packs-costco-meal-plan/

 

I haven't had to be that careful since my oldest two were tiny and eating next to nothing. Good luck. :grouphug:

[BlsdMama]

We're at about $1200/month.  That's less than $100 per person (and baby is on formula unfortunately.)  

 

 

But, we live in the Midwest.  I couldn't do it when we were in the PNW.  It also requires Costco bulk buying.  

[Murphy101]

I'm in a very locl area so I know that's a factor, but at $1200 a month we are not feeling at all deprived. Not luxurious or carefree, but our meals are fairly decent to quite nice imo.

 

This week's menu

 

Cold cereal

biscuits with gravy or jams

Pancakes

On the weekend when mornings aren't so hectic.. Eggs with toast and fruit. This is cheaper bc it fills better for longer, but our mornings can be crazy so we caved and decided the time cost saved was worth it during the week. I usually do not eat the carb heavy breakfasts bc dairy does not love me back. I usually have 2-3 eggs. Sometimes with diced roasted sweet potatos hash browns, or an avocado, or an apple. Most of my breakfast is black coffee. Dh usually skips breakfast. He hates breakfast in the morning and has for 25 years. Unless his sugar is off, unusual, he just eats an early lunch for breakfast.

 

Lunches:

All with fresh fruit if they eat the main meal,

Sandwiches

Black bean burritos, with cheese and or sour cream if they want it.

Spaghetti with sauce, maybe even meatballs.

Mac and cheese (homemade or boxed, it varies)

Grilled cheese and soup

Baked ziti

Salad (I have this most lunches bc none of the other stuff is compliant for me. if I'm rushed, I'll just have sliced apple with cashew butter.)

Leftovers

 

 

Dinners:

Well fed chocolate chili (sometimes over spaghetti noodles, but not me) with diced avocado. Sometimes served in a roasted squash bowl. Kids and dh have crackers with theirs.

Sliders (small burgers) I have a plain patty with sautéed onions and veggie in the side. The fam chooses either to share my veggies or have fries and normal burger fixings.

Pork chops and canned veggie sides.

Costa Rican Black beans and rice served with sausages if it isn't a fasting day. Always served with cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. I will have the sausage roasted in onions and bell peppers and salt and pepper. Or I'll eat something else not meat if it is a fasting day.

Lemon herb shrimp of salad or pasta

Crock pot pork roast over mashed potatoes or rice and a veggie for the family. I will have mine over mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes or rice.

Lemon pepper chicken with frozen veggie sides.

 

Snack once a day or not at all, it varies.

Pretzels

Freezer pops after playing outside or helping with yard work (never more than once a day)

Goldfish crackers (my 3 yr old is a goldfish addict. We're working on it.)

Fresh fruit (usually whatever is cheapest that week. Grapes, apples, bananas, cuties)

Peanutbutter filled pretzels

Pork rinds

 

ETA: We save quite a bit on drinks I think. I buy milk, but it's only for cereal or cooking. I rarely buy any juices. I drink either coffee or water. Kids just drink water. Dh is exclusively a Pepsi and mount dew addict. No one else in the house drinks it and he wishes he didn't either, but we blame his mama for being so generous with it when he was a child. ;) It's the only thing his house ever drank growing up. Dh does home drew beer, but obviously the kids aren't drinking it. I used to drink wine, but with rare dinner out exceptions, no longer buy it.

[marbel]

The title of the thread is "feed a family of four" but some folks are also talking about toiletries, paper products, and other non-food grocery store items.  I have found it really helpful to break out food expense from those other items. For a while I even tracked subcategories, such as coffee and tea, snacks, prepared food (frozen or take-and-bake pizza!), juice, and some others, to see how those affected our spending.  I didn't do that for very long, as it was quite tedious, but I still keep food separate.   I just find it helpful to know how much we really spend on food alone.  

 

I am pretty sure the USDA food spending categories are based on just food.   I remember once thinking that we spend a vast amount on food, then looked at those categories and saw that our spending wasn't out of line. But that was a few years ago.

[Murphy101]

The title of the thread is "feed a family of four" but some folks are also talking about toiletries, paper products, and other non-food grocery store items. I have found it really helpful to break out food expense from those other items.

We have a non grocery list. It's just easier to cut those items and over the years we have finely honed it to just what we can't do without. Of the 1000-1400 per month we spend, the non grocery portion is between $100-300. Some items we only buy every 3 months or so, some we buy every month, and some are ocassional large expenses every 6 months to a year. So that's why the fluctuation.

[Hikin' Mama]

Don't judge, but that's how much my college son spends a month on food. That child eats a TON! The three of us still at home spend less. :)

 

ETA: He cooks his own food and lives in an apartment. He can't eat gluten, so some of his foods cost extra like gluten free oatmeal. He doesn't eat junk food, except the occassional half gallon of ice cream. But he probably eats at least four times what I would at a given meal and then he's hungry again in 1 or 2 hours. When he lived in the dorms, I regularly sent him gift cards to WinCo so he could supplement his meals (his roommate had a fridge). He spent about 18-20 hours a week at rowing practice on top of his already high caloric needs.

[elegantlion]

Our food budget for 2 adult appetites is $200/month. It's not enough and we live in a low Col area. Ideally it would be at least $100 more.

[Murphy101]

Are people including eating out on their grocery expenses? We don't, but I can bet that would greatly add to the costs and given how many people eat on the go, I suspect this is a factor too.

[Lady Marmalade]

I think $400 a month for my family of four is easily doable IF we started with a well-stocked pantry/freezer.  It's not an amount we could sustain for longer than a few months though as things would become depleted. 

 

 

[Ottakee]

I live in West Michigan with a lower food costs.  For a long time I spent under $100/week for 5 of us.    There are now 6 of us.  We eat a lot of cheaper meals.  I buy as much as I can at Aldi and then fill in the rest with Walmart for most things.  We use frozen veggies as those are a lot cheaper than fresh, still taste great, and won't go to waste if plans change at all and we can't eat it all in a week.  Healthy fats help fill them up vs a lot of carbs.

 

I often make soups or stews or chili with 1 pound of meat or less so it goes a lot further than serving everyone a piece of meat.  We do a lot of Mexican style stuff with 1 pound of meat, homemade corn tortillas and then beans, lettuce, cheese, etc.

 

I know not everyone can come up with the money up front or have a freezer but we buy 1/4 or 1/2 of a cow at a time and that brings the price per pound way down.

[Hikin' Mama]

Are people including eating out on their grocery expenses? We don't, but I can bet that would greatly add to the costs and given how many people eat on the go, I suspect this is a factor too.

I don't include that in the grocery budget, but rather consider it an entertainment item in our budget. We don't eat out much though.

[Tanaqui]

That comes pretty close to what we spend on food (that's FOOD, not pet food, toilet paper, soap, etc - I count those things separately), but in order to get down to $100 per person per month we'd have to dramatically increase the beans/rice/eggs/pasta portion of our budget and dramatically decrease - that is, pretty much eliminate - our meat/dessert budget.

[LuvToRead]

Are people including eating out on their grocery expenses? We don't, but I can bet that would greatly add to the costs and given how many people eat on the go, I suspect this is a factor too.

 

This reminded me of a friend (acquaintance)  I have.  She loves to brag a low their grocery budget is.  I mean, brags about it!  This person is very manipulative and loves to gain peoples sympathy.  But, what she doesn't tell people is she gets meat from her parents, (they farm) and they go out to eat at least once a day.  She has actually told me they eat McDonald's at least once a day, and I know she eats lunch out quite a bit.  I don't know if her kids eat lunch at school or take their lunches.  I don't include eating out in our grocery budget, that is in our discretionary spending budget. When I think grocery budget I think people food only, not pet foot or paper products and toiletries.  

 

I would like to know what is in that $400 number.  It is possible to feed a family or 4 on $100/week, but how are they doing it?  My grocery budget is higher than that for our family, and it would take a lot of planning to get it lower.

[fairfarmhand]

We spend about 600. I could probably cut it down to about 500, but it wouldn't be fun. No snacks. Beans beans beans which my children hate. Little variety. No milk except for cooking. Breakfast would be cooked cereals. Lots of chicken. No sweets, only water to drink and no breakfast meats. (bacon is insanely expensive and my family thinks it's a food group)

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

We are a family of four and had a $300-400 budget before dh lost his job.  The only clear food allergy was eggs, so we avoided those.

 

 

We live where less expensive grocery options are available, like ALDI.

[Runningmom80]

I wish we could do $100 a person.  We spend about 2.5 times that, and 4 of us are vegetarians!  I'd love to just get blow $1k.  :leaving: 

[Pippen]

 

I know not everyone can come up with the money up front or have a freezer but we buy 1/4 or 1/2 of a cow at a time and that brings the price per pound way down.

 

Is everyone finding that 1/4 or 1/2 of a beef brings costs down?  In my area it was actually more expensive than buying on sale, at least it was before the drought pushed beef prices up.

[JFSinIL]

I once read such an article, but the kids were small, and the husband content with a single cheese sandwich and sliced green peppers for lunch.  Most dudes eat more than that!

[Susan in TN]

I used to get e-meals. So they sent me an ad recently for a new plan where they claim the dinners cost around $3 per person. I was intrigued so I ordered it. One of the meals was flank steak. So I thought how on earth can that cost $3 per person? It's over $10 a pound here. The recipe called for a pound and a half and they said it served four. Ok so already that's over their $3 per person promise. But I figure ok prices vary it's not ridiculously over. EXCEPT..there was nothing more to the "meal". It was just the flank steak. No veggies and in fact no sides of any kind. How is that a meal!? How is that $3 per person if I've gone over just with the meat?! Talk about false advertising.

Yeah - steak is not ever on our menu! What were those people thinking? Inexpensive proteins are chicken (not bnls/sknls), Polish sausages, ground turkey, maybe stew beef or ground beef if there is a really good special. I did splurge the other day for a "manager's special" chuck roast for $10.

 

We are in a modest-to-low CoL area, and I can typically feed my family for $1 per person per meal. I am able to shop mostly at Aldi, buy some bulk items from Sam's club and a food co-op, and buy most meats on sale or "manager's special". When we didn't have an Aldi near us, we spent quite a bit more on groceries.

 

Chicken quarters/thighs often go on sale for 99 cents/lb here, so meat for that meal (4 chicken quarters) will run about $4 total. 16oz pkg frozen broccoli is about $1.25, and a lettuce salad (iceberg/romaine) (1/2 head) with grape tomatoes (1/2 pkg) and Aldi salad dressing will run $2. $7.25 for 7/8 people.

 

Last night we had cheddar broccoli soup (from a mix - yuck, won't buy that again). I added diced turkey ham to the soup, and served with crackers and extra shredded cheddar to sprinkle in the soup. The mix was $3.50 (makes 2 quarts), $1 for 2C diced turkey ham (it was $4 for the turkey ham and I used about 1/4 of it), 50 cents worth of saltine crackers, and $1 of shredded cheese. $6

 

Kids' snacks tend to be things like string cheese, graham crackers, or a spoonful of peanut butter.

[Murphy101]

This won't help people with major dietary issues...

 

But we have bought twice from One Harvest so far and I'd say we got out money's worth. I wish I could post pictures bc I took pictures of each box we ordered last time to share on FB and then no one on FB was interested. Idk why. Maybe bc talking eating cheaper is some kind of sign of being poor and is a social faux pau? Idk.

 

Anyways.

The pork chops and chicken breasts and beef patties were fairly good.

The frozen veggies were very good.

The quick foods were typical and good. We like these for those days when I can barely find time to pee, much less manage different meal times for people coming and going. The older boys appreciate that when there are no left overs, they can toss this stuff in their lunch boxes. The desserts are a nice change of pace. Usually all desserts here are homemade.

 

Overall, I feel we spent less on the boxes than if we went to the store and bought it ourselves. We write down what is in each box, then mark approx what we think we would pay at the local stores ourselves and mark out anything we are unlikely to eat at all (thankfully with 12 people here, there's usually someone to eat whatever, so this isn't often). Some boxes work out to better deals than others and some we don't get at all.

[bettyandbob]

We are gluten free. I'm not sure I could do that, I did cut down a lot for a while by using a lot of beans. You can get dried beans and rice in bulk at ethnic markets and some grocery chains. These items are can be found inexpensively and are gluten free. For me to eat beans and rice with a lot of frequency I need to be stocked with spices and condiments. On a small budget it could take a few months to build up. I'd also need to have a lot of recipes preparing them different ways (Indian dal, Cuban black beans, etc). The good thing is the internet helps with recipes. I'd probably have at least two bean and rice dinners a week, no meat. Meals with meat would be limited to what was on sale, or serious mark down (usually meaning it must be cooked that day). I'd round out dinners with frozen vegetables (on sale, or bulk purchase, if I had room).

 

Gluten free breakfast would be eggs. I'd have bread if I could make it. I buy my gluten free flours from ethnic markets (gram flour is Indian and it's made of chick peas, Asian markets have white rice flours, tapioca starch and potato starch). The key is not to buy these items at Whole Foods or the special "Gluten Free" section of the regular grocery. I prefer to by brown rice flour so I have to pay more. Lunch would be leftovers from the night before, plus something like cornbread.

 

Fresh fruit only in season when it is cheapest. Fresh vegetables in season--lots of squash in the fall.

 

It's hard to cut costs when you are gluten free. One of the keys is not to simply buy gluten free replacements. Gluten free waffles, gluten free cake mix, gluten free loaves of bread are not cheap.

 

 

 

[Tsuga]

We feed our family of 4 for about $400 a month, but two of our members are under 5. This does not include non food items like shampoo which can make your "grocery" bill deceptively high. We live in Portland.

 

 

1. We do once a month cooking.

2. We buy as much in bulk as possible.

3. We eat high quality protein so we aren't hungry.

4. We only go shopping once a month (Costco produce lasts a month).

5. I make our meals from scratch.

6. We have 2 vegetarian meals a week.

7. We only snack on veggies.

 

Eta: We only drink water.

We are in Seattle and we feed six on about $800, all are over five, one pre-teen boy.

 

We do more soups as well. Lots of quick fillet+veg+grain stuff.

 

Red meat on average 1x / week. Buy on clearance and freeze. I just bought 3 lbs of grassfed organic ground beef for $18. That is a good price. I also got grass fed organic hot dogs (Organic Valley) for .50 c a dog, which is more than a Wal-Mart dog but it's a great price for organic.

 

We make a lot of foods and we also don't buy junk.

[Tsuga]

Is everyone finding that 1/4 or 1/2 of a beef brings costs down? In my area it was actually more expensive than buying on sale, at least it was before the drought pushed beef prices up.

For the quality, yes, but if you are willing to only eat sale meat on the sell-by date, you can get nearly as good a deal after butchering.

 

My sister and I calculated per lb costs for wild caught meat including hunting license, etc. You don't save much and with labor, you lose, but her DH likes to hunt (for food only, never would for "sport") so we don't count labor.

[Arcadia]

We are under $400 per month for family of four. For us it is easy because

- California's seasonal fruits are cheap, e,g, strawberries at $1/lb last week

- we buy mainly non-organic

- no food allergies or special (medical) diets

- our only pet is a guinea pig which is cheap to feed

- we eat out at fast food more as a stop gap so we go for the dollar menu

- we don't buy eggs as price for the cheapest variety went up too high. We'll buy this weekend when Sprouts has a 3 day sale price.

 

My boys don't eat much meat but are milk guzzlers. So we spend little on meat but more on milk. We use to average $60 per week for food only two years ago. Now it's close to $80 for food only per week.

[mamaraby]

We don't eat meat, eggs, or dairy and we like beans, grains, potatoes, and lots of veggies. I don't buy organic anything if I can help it, though some things I buy organic because it's the only choice. I do buy a plant based milk for the family so that's probably a wash with cow's milk budget wise. Back when we ate dairy, we stopped buying cheese because it just got too expensive ditto butter. Now I buy a little container of Smart Balance on occassion. No one goes hungry and everyone is able to eat until they're full. Everyone also gets their RDAs so no one is nutritionally deficient.

 

I've budgeted $200/week for our family of 5 plus a Golden Retriever and two cats and that includes all of our non-food items. $200/week gets us more fun stuff (maybe frozen pizza for dinner some night) and when I need to buy dog food or cat litter we're probably closer to the $200. Otherwise, it's typically in the $130-180/week range. I don't buy crackers, chips, pretzels, or cereal in a box.

 

Breakfast is usually oatmeal and the serving size is on the larger size. Ds probably eats 80g while dh and I eat 60g and the girls eat 40g. We serve ours with frozen fruit and ground flax seeds. Lunch is either leftovers or sandwiches (pbj, occassional tofurky/seitan, chickpea of the sea, etc). Dinner varies a lot because I get bored easily. Tonight is Southwestern Mac and tomorrow is Pad Thai. Next week there will be farro one night and garlic chickpeas another. We also like rice and beans of any variety or one of several versions of spaghetti. I try to include a dark leafy green every night and alternate between kale and collards. Snacks are usually popcorn, fruit, or veggies. Hummus usually shows up somewhere during the day.

 

Everyone takes a B12 supplement. The kids have an inexpensive multivitamin and dh and I take vitamin D because we live in the midwest. I include that in my food budget, too.

 

I know that's not acceptable to a whole bunch of people here who have told me repeatedly how they could never, ever do that. Whatever. YMMV, but that's how I do it.

[Tsuga]

I don't include that in the grocery budget, but rather consider it an entertainment item in our budget. We don't eat out much though.

Oh, yes. Restaurants and date night babysitters are entertainment, not food and child care. Food and child care are necessities. Date night and all that is not (nor is pizza and a movie night at home).

[3in9th]

Tell me more about Aldi. There's one about 10 miles away from where I live and not in an area I would normally drive, so I'd have to justify the extra gas $.

[3in9th]

Oh, and this may or may not be related to food costs, but if you have family members who are extremely active with working out (eg. my dd dances 3 hours a week), etc., do you think that's going to up the food costs?

[SparklyUnicorn]

Are people including eating out on their grocery expenses? We don't, but I can bet that would greatly add to the costs and given how many people eat on the go, I suspect this is a factor too.

 

I also wonder if they are including things like a working spouse's lunch, breakfast, etc.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I once read such an article, but the kids were small, and the husband content with a single cheese sandwich and sliced green peppers for lunch.  Most dudes eat more than that!

 

Um yeah.  My husband would revolt.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't include that in the grocery budget, but rather consider it an entertainment item in our budget. We don't eat out much though.

 

That's fine, but it's a factor.  If one major meal every two weeks isn't being eaten at home that's a meal that isn't counting towards the grocery cost.  With a very tight budget, I think that would matter.