Grocery Budget

**peanut** · 08-08-2008, 01:13 PM

I'm curious. What is your family composition, grocery budget, and where do you live?

It's occurred to me that the Americans on the board are used to really low grocery bills. It's not uncommon for us - a family of 3 adults, sometimes 4 (DD's BF eats supper with us about 3 days a week) - to have an annual bill of $4400cdn. But we're on the prairies in an isolated area where grocery prices are high.

How do the rest of you fare? What affects your grocery bill? I'm curious...

Jean

**3tomboys** · 08-08-2008, 01:26 PM

I live in the city. I have to say that convience food impacts my grocery budget the most. I have a grocery challenge of $400 this month and I feel I can make it as long as I stick to cooking from scratch and planning ahead. I have been known to spend quite a bit ($1000 or more) in a month. Reviewing old cash receipts when my grocery bill is the largest it is because I don't have a list, I am being lazy about cooking or we just have to much running around going on. I have noticed a rise in grocery prices but I still feel that $400 for a family of 5 is sufficent if planned correctly.

**McD** · 08-08-2008, 01:33 PM

We are in Iowa, I have 1 husband and a finicky 2 year old. Included in my grocery budget are diapers, wipes, hba, makeup, etc.

We budget 300$ a month.

**monkeywrangler71** · 08-08-2008, 01:37 PM

I always say our budget is about $400 a month, but honestly I haven't looked at the totals in a while so can't be sure that is what we are actually spending.

We have 5 people, 2 adults, 1 teenager (rarely home) and 2 toddlers. We are in Ontario, where I consider food to be extremely cheap (being originally from Nova Scotia where it is a struggle to feed your family at any income level).

We could spend less, but choose not to. We drink pop, we eat chips, we buy striploin and fancy cheeses. We could also be spending a lot more but don't because I make things from scratch and don't buy much processed food (except the aforementioned junk).

Produce is extremely cheap here (compared to home), sometimes cheap enough that I feel guilty. When I can buy a 20lb bag of potatoes for $2, I want to go out to the farm and apologize. Milk is half as much as NS, but I think more than the prairies. Lately I've seen the prices have increased on processed foods that we don't buy, but very little on basics (aside from the flour that skyrocketed a while back).

Back home, I would be spending probably twice as much on groceries.

**jas** · 08-08-2008, 01:39 PM

We are a family of 4. ds just moved away for college so I will still be setting aside pantry items and somethings he can take back home with him when he comes to visit. I wish I could keep it to 300.00 but usually it is closer to 350.00 That is food, hba and stockpiling somethings.

**elphie** · 08-08-2008, 01:40 PM

We are a family of four in a rural area. We used to blow our grocery budget on convienence foods and eating out. When I sat down to do a budget and see where we could cut expenses I was SHOCKED to see that we were spending nearly $1000/ month on food. This included boxed dinners, eating out, and grabbing foods from a convienence store when we stopped for gas. We have never been ones to accrue debt and have always had a savings plan for both immeiate and future use. I thought we were doing pretty well. I could not believe the amount of money we were mindlessly wasting. Now I cook from scratch, we have picnics at the park when we go out instead of fast food, and we take snacks w/us in the car. So far I have successfully cut our monthly grocery budget by a little more than 1/2 down to $450 last month. As my knowledge of cooking from scratch grows, as does my ability to find the best deals, I hope to eventually shave at least another $100 of this. Next summer I will put in a bigger garden and invest in canning equipment to help us achieve that goal.

The most amazing thing is that none of us has missed our old ways at all.

**Izzy0906** · 08-08-2008, 01:47 PM

I'm a family of 3 (2 adults, 1 five year old) and I budget $200/month. That includes cat food, litter, fish food, hamster food, etc... and all paper products.

**beks37** · 08-08-2008, 01:52 PM

For just me and my hubby I have budgeted $300. This includes all groceries, hba and some stockpiling. This is only my 3rd month budgeting for groceries. In the past, we have just eaten out most days. The eating out budget is separate.

**Cricketlegs** · 08-08-2008, 01:58 PM

We are a family of 4(dh eats double and my dd is home from college maybe 3-4 months of the year)

We live in East Texas and frankly our enonomy is still great. Our town has 3.7 unemployment and everyone is hiring.

That said--groceries are going up up up and I can get by on $200 a month if I really cook cost effective but I perfer $300.

This does NOT include pets at $75 a month or hb and a's(I am stockpiling at $40 a month and I just bought a book on making my own cleaners so I hope that will help me to spend my cash on FOOD.

**Greebo** · 08-08-2008, 01:58 PM

Two adults. Budget is for $400/month, and that includes paper products, toiletries, etc. Last month we were under budget, but the $400 is based on our average spending over a long time, tracked in Quicken.

**leezza** · 08-08-2008, 02:02 PM

Peanut,

I know what you mean about the prices....but I think it depends on where in america you are the folks in the midwest, south, and eastern seaboard seem like they get much better prices than what I can get here in California. Also none of the stores here double coupons.

JMHO,
leezza

**itsahumanzoo** · 08-08-2008, 02:03 PM

Our family includes my DH, My pregnant self, and DS who is two years old. The budget is $250 which includes diapers, toilet paper, etc. We have no pets.

I stopped buying paper towels, and that actually really saves money! The biggest hurdle for me is my cravings, from being pregnant. Last month we went over budget, and I think it's mostly because I would crave certain potato chips, and they are not cheap! I shop for produce at a little independentl-owned market, which cuts costs. I also try to shop loss leaders as much as possible. I've been using less meat with each meal as well.

**blitzen** · 08-08-2008, 02:10 PM

Groceries is one area we are not frugal about! I think you all would have a heart attack at what I budget for food!

I leave out $200 a week for the four of us. We eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies, and fruit for sure is not cheap. Starting this week, I am cutting back our grocery budget to $150 because I have a feeling we only spend $200 because we have that much cash left out for groceries. I think we'll make more careful choices by lowering our weekly budget.

Dog food and toiletries are not included in that amount, usually.

**Marie78** · 08-08-2008, 02:21 PM

We are familly of 2 adults and 2 cats. I used to budget $280 last year and sometimes I even came in under that amount. NOW, because of rising prices and buying more organic fruits and veggies I budget $350/Month. For me this includes: All our food, cat food/litter/treats, HBA, paper products, detergents, and anything for the household that we might need such as batteries or lightbulbs. I also have started making my own cleaning products and I am phasing those in as I use up cleaners I already have.

**elphie** · 08-08-2008, 02:28 PM

We eat TONS of fresh fruits and veggies (dh takes a 2 fruits and a container of veggie sticks in his lunch daily + the kids and I prob eat more f&v than him) but we only buy what is on sale each week. If nothing we like is on sale then we stick w/ apples, carrots, and celery because these are always cheap.

I used to think these were budget busting but since a person will eat more chips in a single setting than veggie sticks we actually spent less when we cut out the snack foods and started eating healthier. But this only happened because we cut out ALL snack foods. Our only sweets are also made from scratch and since I don't really like to bake we don't get them that often. Our only indulgence is ice cream when it is on sale really, really cheap.

Our grocery budget does include toiletries because it would be a hassle for me to seperate it all out when we buy a lot at the same stores. Besides the original budget I'm comparing to included these so it wouldn't be a fair comparison for me to cut those things out now.

That being said... this is what works for us and we have found a way to eat what we like while saving $$ for other things we want... for some people the food budget is more important than extra for the vacation fund and day trips or weekends away. Its all a matter of priorities and no one else can decide that for you. I am merely the giver of advice for those who wish to save in this particular area.