help me with my grocery budget please

[Noreen Claire]

2 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

2. being realistic. I heard someone say $100 per month per person...and that was so so so far off of where we are....but that same person I think says they eat out twice a week. 

I don't believe that is realistic for most people. I feed a household of seven people and I spend nearly twice this. That doesn't take into account takeout pizza every Friday night and happy meals for 4 kids once per week. It is 'possible' to do it that cheaply, but that requires a significant amount of work (planning, prepping, coupons, multiple stores, whatever) that I don't have the time or the mental bandwidth to be able to do. 

I have a small chest freezer in the garage and I buy multiples of things my family likes when they are on sale (meat, fish, fish sticks, vegetables, fruit, ice cream, etc) plus flour and other baking supplies at the holidays. I make an inventory of everything in the fridge/freezer/pantry once a month and post it on my cabinet so I know what I have and what I can make this week. I have a bin in each place that holds the oldest stuff, marked EAT ME, to help cut down on food waste. 

I know it's probably not helpful, but my DH and I just had this discussion about our rampaging grocery budget recently and we stepped back to look at it in relation to our other discretionary spending. Factoring in the mental effort and time costs that would be required for me to cut the grocery budget a few hundred dollars, it would be significantly easier for us to cut that elsewhere. We've reevaluated our cellphone and wifi plans, or streaming services (hellooooo!$$$), our mindless ordering off of Amazon, etc... We decided that we will keep an eye on the food budget but, for now, it is what it is. 

[ktgrok]

27 minutes ago, Mainer said:

Rice cakes are a good base for snacks. At my grocery store they have really thin ones which I like a lot. You can put butter and jam on them, or peanut butter and banana, cheese, etc. I'm too cheap to buy GF bread, plus it has a lot of weird stuff in it, so I just use rice cakes when I want something carby. 

What a great idea! I need to double check they are gluten free, but that might be a fast easy snack or lunch, especially for DS! Peanut butter and honey on a rice cake!

[ktgrok]

It didn't quote, but the idea of having the apples, carrots, etc cut up and at eye level is a great idea! The kids really love carrots but never eat them because they are in a drawer! And they prefer apples cut up but only one safely can do that. 

[Annie G]

You’re right- eating almost all your meals at home will make your grocery bill higher than if you eat several meals a week out.  I wish people would just have the category be ‘food’ instead of groceries.  It’s not helpful to see a family of four spending $300 a month in groceries and think it’s realistic for you, too- not if the fact is their kids are buying school breakfast and lunch and the dh is eating lunch out and then the family eats out on weekends. 
As for snacking, we always supplemented fresh fruit/veggie snacks with popcorn. A handful of kernels in a paper lunch bag, popped in the microwave. Usually I tossed a tiny bit of butter on it, sprinkled it w Parmesan, or sometimes made a special treat of drizzling a bit of melted chocolate on it. Super cheap, fast, and easily portable when you need to take it with you.  

[fairfarmhand]

12 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

It didn't quote, but the idea of having the apples, carrots, etc cut up and at eye level is a great idea! The kids really love carrots but never eat them because they are in a drawer! And they prefer apples cut up but only one safely can do that. 

Don't you have what we call an ":apple whacker"? 

My kids who couldn't handle a knife could use the apple whacker.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Kitchen-Apple-Slicer-Stainless/dp/B06XCJG4K4/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=apple+slicer&qid=1579715399&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyMzFXUkxMR1MzUUo3JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODYwNTQzMjAyQUMySElPTE1SSSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTY0Njg5R0NFMTlOTjgzT0ZOJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Tanaqui]

The USDA does not think you should realistically aim to spend $100 per month per person on groceries.

Barring any location-specific information on the cost of living, and lacking any better data, I'm gonna go with their numbers.

[Pen]

6 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

This was super helpful, thank you!

1. we do not have any extra fridge/freezer space. One standard side by side for the family of 6 (3 adults, 3 kids). This is I think part of the problem. If I stock up enough to not always be a the store you can't see what is in there. I don't know that I need a chest freezer as much as just a second regular fridge/freezer combo for the garage. That would let me store extra milk, half and half, eggs as well as frozen stuff. 

 

If you have any csa in your area, you might check that before deciding on fridge vs freezer . I get shares of a half or quarter steer (Beef) and freeze it as both more healthy (grass fed and in rotation to manure organic farm) and usually less expensive than from supermarket 

At butcher I met people picking up csa shares from other farms with other types meat

extra own garden vegetables or csa vegetables or fruit can also often be frozen

 

and soups, stews etc can be frozen.  Leftovers or make ahead meals

 

 

Quote

2. being realistic. I heard someone say $100 per month per person...and that was so so so far off of where we are....but that same person I think says they eat out twice a week. 

 

No way could I do that in any sort of healthy way.  Not even close.  

Quote

3. Yes - I gained 10 pounds since we went gluten free from all the processed stuff. I think shifting to natural foods will help that and our budget. 

 

👍

Edited January 22, 2020 by Pen

[Emba]

9 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

It didn't quote, but the idea of having the apples, carrots, etc cut up and at eye level is a great idea! The kids really love carrots but never eat them because they are in a drawer! And they prefer apples cut up but only one safely can do that. 

Would they be able to use an apple slicer/ corer like this?https://www.amazon.com/Calphalon-Easy-Apple-Corer-Slicer/dp/B000SOAT0Y

I love my apple slicer, and it’s way safer than my kids using a knife, even if the slices the get are wonky.

Edited January 23, 2020 by emba56

[mathnerd]

6 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

When my DH was low carb he at a huge bowl of greens every day, with protein on it, as one of his meals. 

Is there anything that the kids would get a kick out of growing that would make your food budget cheaper and your meals more interesting?  

Are there filling veggies that are not that expensive?

I came here to post these points made by @Carol in Cal. as well. 

Salad for lunch: Both my DH and I eat salads for lunch: it is organic mixed greens (big tub from whole foods) with additions like roasted sweet potatoes, beets, carrots and fresh citrus fruits, pumpkin seeds, roasted pecans, chia seeds, cranberries etc to keep it from getting boring. I add a vegetarian protein to it and make 2 types of salad dressings for the week. I also pack 2 days worth of salad in glass lock containers so that it is easy to grab and go. It is much cheaper than buying an equivalent salad at a restaurant.

Growing your own: it makes sense if you grow the unusual or expensive items at home. Get your younger kids a herb growing kit and they can grow herbs for you! They are expensive in the store and make all your dishes delicious! You could branch out to other things if you guys enjoy growing.

Filling veggies: I always buy big bags of broccoli, green beans, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, carrots etc when I shop and they are very cheap when you amortize the cost over the number of meals for which you can stretch them out.

[ktgrok]

4 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

The USDA does not think you should realistically aim to spend $100 per month per person on groceries.

Barring any location-specific information on the cost of living, and lacking any better data, I'm gonna go with their numbers.

So...maybe I'll stop beating myself up - our budget comes out to right about what they list for moderate, given the number of people in our home and their ages! I added the family of 4 with the older kids to the individual male and the individual 2 yr old and got $1,523. We I think are spending about 1,500. I went with the moderate one based on our prices and on the whole gluten free thing. 

[ktgrok]

35 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

Ok, so the first thing you might want to do is take several weeks and really track exactly what you are spending and what you are spending the money on.  Once you track that, you will have a good grasp on both your total spending and what you are spending on foods, drinks, etc etc etc and also if there are other things that are "non grocery" that are creeping into that budget regularly.  For example, when I go to the grocery store each week, DH consistently asks me to grab antifreeze, or swing buy Home Depot and pick up a piece of hardware or this or that or the other.  

Also, you mentioned in the thread about your DH that he's a little heavy on the booze....are you buying his alcohol with grocery money?  If so, split that out (and maybe make him come up with the money to buy the alki himself, that might help him cut back too.)

 

Booze has its own budget category now 🙂 

Although, come to think of it, I did include my $9 bottle of wine in the grocery count this past week. But honestly, given the rate I drink it really won't make much of an overall difference. I may go move that into the right category though. 

I'm in the "track everything" place right now, and looking to see what we can tweak. Snacks and prepared foods are one spot, food waste is another for sure. 

[Pen]

7 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

It didn't quote, but the idea of having the apples, carrots, etc cut up and at eye level is a great idea! The kids really love carrots but never eat them because they are in a drawer! And they prefer apples cut up but only one safely can do that. 

 

Having non processed real whole food-food be the easiest thing to grab, and ideally appealingly presented helps a lot.    If the carrot or apple slice etc is easier to get than the junk snack it’s likely to be eaten. 

Kale chips is another good snack.

if you’re not up to making homemade, Brad’s gluten free air dried kale chips are quite good/no gluten option.  Pricey, but it’s a lot of vegetables instead of totally empty calories 

I sometimes find frozen vegetables (like spinach) end up more cost effective than fresh because they don’t go bad and thus get wasted or get used more and thus more cost effective because so much easier.  I just got both frozen spinach and frozen butternut squash to make more soup.  

 

[Carrie12345]

10 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

2. being realistic. I heard someone say $100 per month per person...and that was so so so far off of where we are....but that same person I think says they eat out twice a week.

Jordan Page.  And, yes, that doesn’t include their regular eating out, so I feel like she should be adjusting her advice to reflect a week of all meals.

I *can* do $150/wk for us (2 adults, 2 near adults, 12 and 9yos) but only from a combination of being VERY strategic and already having a good stockpiling system in place.  And, while our family does have some types of “restrictions”, they’re definitely not difficult ones.

[Pen]

Yup, we have soup as just soup, no bread with it.

or soup and salad

[Katy]

Jordan Page, while I love some aspects of her, have kids that do fine eating a ton of flour.  Seriously, I bet some weeks 90% of their calories come from pasta, bread, and crackers. Since the parents are fairly slender I'm guessing they're genetically ok with that.  My kids would be both sick and fat eating that way.  We have both food allergies and MTHFR and can't eat so much processed, fortified junk.  Even if they weren't eating out at least twice a week I wouldn't take her grocery budget advice unless you spend some serious time watching her videos and seeing what they actually eat.  It would not be okay for any of us.

[Pen]

There are starting to be some black interior refrigerators with lighting to make fruits and vegetables look delicious! 

[Pen]

https://images.app.goo.gl/brnMZQbN7k5otYLx7

 

way out of my price range!!!

but can give some ideas on trying to achieve attractiveness for vegetables etc

Edited January 23, 2020 by Pen

[Katy]

That is beautiful Pen.  But I don't think I'd do it even if it was in the budget unless everyone in the family became vegetarian.  I can't imagine how you'd be sure you'd cleaned up the leaking chicken blood with that.

[Joker]

9 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

One thing about cut apples is making sure to keep them from turning brown.  A bit of lemon juice or I think there are sprays in the produce area.

For apples, I do keep them whole, but my one kid that eats them, she uses one of those apple slicer corer things posted above when she wants one.

You can also give apple slices a quick dip in sprite/7up (or whatever generic lemon lime soda) and it keeps them from browning. That's what I do and then put them in snack size ziplock bags for an easy grab. 

 

[kiwik]

On 1/23/2020 at 3:40 AM, Ktgrok said:

This was super helpful, thank you!

1. we do not have any extra fridge/freezer space. One standard side by side for the family of 6 (3 adults, 3 kids). This is I think part of the problem. If I stock up enough to not always be a the store you can't see what is in there. I don't know that I need a chest freezer as much as just a second regular fridge/freezer combo for the garage. That would let me store extra milk, half and half, eggs as well as frozen stuff. 

2. being realistic. I heard someone say $100 per month per person...and that was so so so far off of where we are....but that same person I think says they eat out twice a week. 

3. Yes - I gained 10 pounds since we went gluten free from all the processed stuff. I think shifting to natural foods will help that and our budget. 

I know food is cheaper in the US but the advised budget for a good but not luxurious diet her was around $100 a week per person just for food.  I don't know anyone who spends this - mine is about $60 per person including soap powder etc plus a $20 float to share.  Even not including 2 meals a week I don't see how you could feed someone for $25 a week even if it is only one meal a day.

I have one gluten free fussy eater but he can have small amounts of gluten so contamination is not an issue.  I have to buy gf bread because toast and pure peanut butter is one of the few ways I can get protein into him.

Edited January 24, 2020 by kiwik

[Acadie]

When you have medical dietary needs, I think the idea that you should never tailor a meal to child (or adult) is just nonsense, and can make things more difficult. I don't do short order cooking on demand, but often have frozen alternatives for the kid who is on the most specialized diet, or slightly different kid and adult meals (even though my kids are now teens). 

Some ways that works here are I might have frozen stew for one kid, and everyone else is getting a soup that she doesn't like and wouldn't work for her. 

Or I offer optional sauce or condiments to basic dishes, like a bowl of rice and stir fried meat and veggies. We do a lot of build-your-own meals, where everyone can eat the basics.

Occasionally I'll make something just to stock the freezer with some options for the trickiest diet. Hearty soups, stews, meat pies, quiche.

Standardizing things definitely helps, like writing down the meals that are quick in terms of prep and satisfy everyone, or meals where there's an easy sub, especially when you have leftovers (maybe baked potato for some and pasta for others?). I have a meal plan for busy weeks that's one easy, low prep meal after another. We wouldn't want to eat like that all the time, but it helps to be realistic about your schedule when your family's health depends on home cooking.

I also like to cook and freeze proteins. Dinner is so much easier when you're starting with cooked chicken, turkey, or steak that's defrosting in the fridge. 

Amy

Edited January 24, 2020 by Acadie

[Pen]

On 1/22/2020 at 7:04 PM, Katy said:

That is beautiful Pen.  But I don't think I'd do it even if it was in the budget unless everyone in the family became vegetarian.  I can't imagine how you'd be sure you'd cleaned up the leaking chicken blood with that.

 

Good point!

[KungFuPanda]

How are you in the food waste department?  If you're cleaning out your fridge and tossing a lot of stuff, that's one area where you can gain some free meals.  You have to be aware of everything that is in there and either eat it or freeze (with a plan for future use) it before it is wasted.  We've gotten a lot better at this.  I had to completely retrain myself because nobody else was motivated.  It took working a Leftover Lunch into our menu ever so often.  That's where we're all eating something different for lunch that day so none of those single servings of meals get lost in the fridge and get wasted.  Multi-serving leftovers are easier to work in as sides to other meals.  it also helps a deal to label all of the leftovers with masking tape and sharpie.  It turns out that Certain People in my house WILL eat the leftovers if they don't have to open containers to locate them.  Sometimes I do a light soup, salad, and Leftovers dinner where people choose their main dish from the fridge. Oven re-heating and plating the meals goes a long way in selling this.

To help on the shopping/budget end of the equation, I now get most of our groceries at Aldis, Trader Joes, or an ethnic market.  Going on an ethnic cooking binge can also help.  Asian recipes with lots of veg and a tiny bit of meat are nice.  Mexican recipes are great for planned leftovers because the ingredients all seem to go well with the next meal you make.  Indian food is a LOT cheaper to make than to buy.  It doesn't have to be all beans and rice.  There are lots of meat, veg, and soup recipes to explore.  If you're buying your spices in a regular grocery store, it's worth a trip to an ethnic market to stock up because the prices are so much lower. 

I know you are limiting beans, but If you are buying canned beans, switch to dried.  If you compare a pound of dried to a 15-oz can, you're going to get 4X more beans for less than half the price.  I know beans are cheap, but the canned ones have so much sodium and you have to rinse the slimy stuff off of them.  Cooking dried beans gives you an awesome rich broth that's not gross and you control the sodium.

A kitchen garden is a great help.  It can be as simple as sticking your green onion trimmings in some dirt by a window, or having a few windowsill herbs.  You can do a tiny little square foot garden for some fresh salad veggies.  You lose so much less nutrients when you pick them right before you eat them.  

[happi duck]

For those who store cut up fruit and veg: how long do they last?  Do you cut them up every day? Every other? I had always read not to wash produce until it's going to be used but having stuff prepped for snacks and salads sounds good.

op: There's a cookbook your library might have called Cheap, Fast, Good.  The recipes might not be specifically helpful but it has a lot of cutting costs ideas.  

[BlsdMama]

On 1/22/2020 at 12:38 PM, happysmileylady said:

 

One thing you could do is try just buying less food.  You don't have the room for a lot of food, and you said you are wasting some.  Have less in the house.  Whatever you estimate for the number of bananas you need.....buy like 3 less.  When making up your grocery list (ahead of time) really sit and think things like "ok, so we have 6 people in this house, everyone can eat apples, but really, no one is going to eat apples more than 2 days in a week." 

It's possible I live in some kind of alternative universe.... But, "... no one is going to eat apples more than 2 days in a week," literally made me LOL. I have a lot of littles/middles.  If they see anyone eating any one thing, it does occur to them that it might taste good.  Now, no one here would eat more than three apples in one day (most of the time) but they consume like locusts.   And *I* for one am terrified of hungry & cranky children, thus I try to calculate to come out ahead but close.  I don't want six trips to the grocery store in a 2 week period because that is very, very expensive.  (I pick up things or they jump in the cart - not really sure.)

:P 

The same thought occurred with spraying apples to keep them from turning brown.  I've never seen a cut apple sit that long.

Come to think of it, this thread does make me a little eager for my grocery bill when they are grown.  
We have nine at home, and eight who eat all meals at home.  The 18yo eats out a lot as she runs and works at a restaurant.  We are over that $100 mark easily.  I know we're over $150.  I'd say, in a good month, where I'm being conscious, we are under the $200 mark.  I'd guess $175 is fairly accurate but I buy heavily at Costco.  I was pretty thrilled with my Costco Visa check coming next month until I calculated what I'd spent to "earn" that little reward. 😉  This does NOT include the 20yo's dining plan at college.  Those things are RIDICULOUS.

[Selkie]

1 hour ago, happi duck said:

For those who store cut up fruit and veg: how long do they last?  Do you cut them up every day? Every other? I had always read not to wash produce until it's going to be used but having stuff prepped for snacks and salads sounds good.

op: There's a cookbook your library might have called Cheap, Fast, Good.  The recipes might not be specifically helpful but it has a lot of cutting costs ideas.  

I keep two big trays of washed and prepared veggies in our fridge. Sliced radishes, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, trimmed green beans, snow peas, a head of cauliflower cut into florets. I restock the trays twice a week. We have lots of fruit in the fridge, too, but the only prep I do for those is to wash grapes or cut up pineapple or melon. The others - apples, pears, citrus, pomegranates - we just wash and slice right before it is eaten.

[Noreen Claire]

1 hour ago, happi duck said:

There's a cookbook your library might have called Cheap, Fast, Good.  The recipes might not be specifically helpful but it has a lot of cutting costs ideas.  

That reminded me of the book "Eat Well on $4 a Day: Good and Cheap" (free PDF download). It's about sticking to the food stamp budget of $4/day per person. She has recipes, but also lots of good ideas on keeping a stocked pantry on a budget and other things. I reread it every once in a while, when I get into a grocery rut. 

Edited January 24, 2020 by Noreen Claire

[cintinative]

I hope to come back later and post more, but I just wanted to commiserate. I have a celiac kid and a husband who should eat better that eats out, and it is hard.  Our grocery bill went up when we had to go gluten-free. It's just a fact that gluten free bread and pasta is more expensive than the regular kind. 

I went through my delusions of grandeur phase where I thought I would make all my own pasta and bread. That didn't last long. I do still make bread on occasion for bread crumbs which I freeze to use in various recipes.  But I buy the Aldi bread for him now. It holds up better and in general it is easier for me. 

My husband has started making smoothies for breakfast and packing a sandwich for lunch. Even smoothie ingredients can be expensive.

We do eat soup for dinner (without other sides)--usually it is a hearty soup with lots of veggies, italian sausage or other meat, and gluten-free pasta.  I also make chili (although I think you said sodium is a concern--I am not sure if chili has a lot of sodium or not). There is a (lower sodium) taco seasoning blend in the WTM recipe swap thread I can recommend. I use it all the time and it tastes tons better than the packets. My celiac kid likes tacos and fajitas. Fajita meat can be expensive by my standards--I usually buy the thin sliced steak for carne asada they sell at Aldi. We eat a lot of chicken also. 

 

[happi duck]

1 hour ago, Selkie said:

I keep two big trays of washed and prepared veggies in our fridge. Sliced radishes, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, trimmed green beans, snow peas, a head of cauliflower cut into florets. I restock the trays twice a week. We have lots of fruit in the fridge, too, but the only prep I do for those is to wash grapes or cut up pineapple or melon. The others - apples, pears, citrus, pomegranates - we just wash and slice right before it is eaten.

Thank you for taking the time to post! I like your list of veg.  They'd be great for snacks or salads. I feel dense asking but are your trays divided or does stuff mix?  Are the trays covered? 

[SamanthaCarter]

On 1/22/2020 at 12:45 PM, Annie G said:

You’re right- eating almost all your meals at home will make your grocery bill higher than if you eat several meals a week out.  I wish people would just have the category be ‘food’ instead of groceries.  It’s not helpful to see a family of four spending $300 a month in groceries and think it’s realistic for you, too- not if the fact is their kids are buying school breakfast and lunch and the dh is eating lunch out and then the family eats out on weekends. 
As for snacking, we always supplemented fresh fruit/veggie snacks with popcorn. A handful of kernels in a paper lunch bag, popped in the microwave. Usually I tossed a tiny bit of butter on it, sprinkled it w Parmesan, or sometimes made a special treat of drizzling a bit of melted chocolate on it. Super cheap, fast, and easily portable when you need to take it with you.  

 Yes, our budget is "food" and it includes both groceries and dining out. Though there is a ~$100/mo cap on dining out, so they are separate to some extent. It's heartbreaking how few lunches and coffees $100 buys in a month. 

I love the encouragement to prep fruit and veggies!

[Ausmumof3]

7 hours ago, BlsdMama said:

It's possible I live in some kind of alternative universe.... But, "... no one is going to eat apples more than 2 days in a week," literally made me LOL. I have a lot of littles/middles.  If they see anyone eating any one thing, it does occur to them that it might taste good.  Now, no one here would eat more than three apples in one day (most of the time) but they consume like locusts.   And *I* for one am terrified of hungry & cranky children, thus I try to calculate to come out ahead but close.  I don't want six trips to the grocery store in a 2 week period because that is very, very expensive.  (I pick up things or they jump in the cart - not really sure.)

😛

The same thought occurred with spraying apples to keep them from turning brown.  I've never seen a cut apple sit that long.

Come to think of it, this thread does make me a little eager for my grocery bill when they are grown.  
We have nine at home, and eight who eat all meals at home.  The 18yo eats out a lot as she runs and works at a restaurant.  We are over that $100 mark easily.  I know we're over $150.  I'd say, in a good month, where I'm being conscious, we are under the $200 mark.  I'd guess $175 is fairly accurate but I buy heavily at Costco.  I was pretty thrilled with my Costco Visa check coming next month until I calculated what I'd spent to "earn" that little reward. 😉  This does NOT include the 20yo's dining plan at college.  Those things are RIDICULOUS.

Lol me too

my 7 year old will eat an entire kilo in a day single handed if I don’t stop him!

lucky we live down the road from the orchard

[Selkie]

5 hours ago, happi duck said:

Thank you for taking the time to post! I like your list of veg.  They'd be great for snacks or salads. I feel dense asking but are your trays divided or does stuff mix?  Are the trays covered? 

I use two of these:

https://smile.amazon.com/Sistema-Split-Storage-Container-Clips/dp/B07D18SQWG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=sistema+quad&qid=1579919197&sr=8-1

The cauliflower goes in a big bowl and if there are veggies that don't fit in the trays, I put them in bowls, too. I don't cover any of it. We eat it all pretty fast, so it doesn't have time to go bad.🙂