How much money should go to my grocery budget?

[deadsmirk]

Looking at other peoples posts about how they use 50.00 for their family, and i'm assuming family involves more then just two people, has got me wondering what i should spend.

Currently, for myself and my boyfriend, its 60.00 a week.

We shop at aldis first, then get the rest of the shopping list at walmart super-center. The kind with the grocery store attached.

If i still need things that i cant find at those two places, then i go to cubfoods.

What should our budget be for food?

[elphie]

that is really determined by a lot of factors. When I first started shopping frugally I was looking for the lowest price. period, no other factors taken into consideration. Now, however we have opted to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our diets and as a result we pay more for a few things. My grocery bill used to be $250 per month for a family of four, now it is more like $300-$325.

I am also a SAHM so I have more time (not endless as some might think but definately MORE) for cooking from scratch and comparison shopping.

Finally, we are lucky enough to live in a farming community where my dh helps farmer friends with butchering in exchange for a very good deal on meat. All of these factors come into play with our food budget.

I would suggest making a list of the meals and snacks you and your boyfriend eat on a regular basis, then see if there is a way to do it cheaper. For example if you like granola bars for a snack you probably have time to make your own since they are fairly simple, or maybe your boyfriend likes snack cakes in his lunch and you guys could make cookies instead. After you've revised your menu then make a list of all of the ingredients you need to keep on hand and start keeping a price book. In a plain notebook list the items down one side and use receipts to fill in how much these items cost per ounce at different stores... include a column for Aldi, Wal-mart, and cubfoods. Then you can comparison shop and see if sale prices are really the better deal. If you like specific brands be sure to take that into consideration... uneaten off brands are not a bargain.

Now that you have a basic menu, shopping list, and price book you should be able to start filling your pantry so you can shop once a month to replenish used staples and weekly for perishables.

As for the amount to budget you will have a clear picture of what is reasonable for your tastes, location, etc. after you have done these things and you can accomodate the rest of your budget accordingly.

HTH!

[Wendy99]

Americans spend on average 13% of their income on groceries


just found that from a quick google search ....

[Grainlady]

I have a $50/week budget for 2 people (food only), but that may not be enough and completely unrealistic for you depending on where you live, your food requirements.

We have some of the lowest food prices in the entire state (Kansas) in our area. That may not be true for you. I also have a large stockpile of food in storage that was built on $50/week over many years. I've had that amount for a food budget for a long time. I almost lowered it to $40 at the beginning of the year, but with food prices going up, I decided to leave it at $50.

We're also not big meat-eaters so we save a lot of food dollars there. I keep meat purchases to $10 or less each week. We enjoy several meatless lunches and suppers each week (using meat substitutes - eggs, cheese, peanut butter, beans, etc.); as well as low-meat meals like stir-fry, Mexican dishes, pasta dishes, etc. We consume 2-servings of meat or meat substitute per day - a serving of meat is 3-oz, or meat substitutes - 2 T. peanut butter, 2-eggs, etc.... When powdered whole eggs are cheaper per egg than shell eggs, I'll use powdered eggs and keep several cans of them in storage.

I'm also a big stickler for serving sizes and the number of servings we consume.

4-bread & cereal servings
4-fruit & vegetable servings
2-meat/meat alternative servings
2-milk/dairy servings
This is the old Basic-4 and more than enough calories for 2 middle-aged adults. Especially when we consume high-nutrient, high-fiber, whole foods that are more filling than highly-processed foods.

Over-eating is NEVER cheap. Most people don't know how much food they consume...

Snacks? We use dehydrated zucchini (home-grown) instead of potato chips. Nuts, popcorn, homemade granola, dehydrated apple slices and fresh or frozen fruit/vegetables are considered "snack" foods around here.

Do you cook from scratch? Do you make all your own baked goods? Those are great for the prudent budget.

I mill my own flour and make all breads and baked goods from scratch; and save a lot of money by using a variety of whole beans/seeds/grains in cooking and baking as the basis of our meals and baked goods.

I use a whey-based milk powder rather than milk from the store because it's less expensive. I purchase it once a year in a 24# bucket, or will split a 50# bag with a friend (for even MORE savings). I've used non-fat dry powdered milk or powdered whey-based milk substitute since 1971.

Gardening also helps on the prudent food budget - even a small garden or container gardening. I dehydrate much of the produce and freeze some. I no longer do home canning because it's not cost effective for me when I consider the price of utilities to process the food and the cost of air conditioning to cool off the hot house. We don't consume very many canned foods (home or commercial) to begin with.

I dehydrate and freeze as much free fruit as we can pick. It's amazing how many people have fruit trees in their back yards that will let you have it free for the picking. I always give them a portion of what we pick as a thank you. Most people don't even want it if you pick it for them....

I stick to good-for-us whole foods and leave high-priced processed foods in the store. I consider "whole foods" nature's original "fast-foods". I really don't do very much cooking. I make my own "convenience" foods. The only pre-packaged cereal I purchase is when I make the manditory holiday "Party Mix". All cereals we consume are milled and made at home from whole grains, not from a bag or a box.

Not everyone would even consider foods like this, so my prudent budget food choices won't work for people who don't consume these kinds of foods.

[redhead68]

It's amazing how many people have fruit trees in their back yards that will let you have it free for the picking. I always give them a portion of what we pick as a thank you. Most people don't even want it if you pick it for them....

I've been guilty of this. We used to live in a house with two peach trees. I did not know how to can, and we ate but a small portion of the fruit the trees produced in season. The remainder I gave to a man who worked for a landscaping company servicing our community. Looking back, I can't believe what a treasure I had right there in the backyard. Too bad I didn't use my resources to their fullest extent, because I now live in a part of the country were fruit trees are very coddled and precious...and I don't have one! However, I did spy an apple tree in my neighbor's backyard. Wonder how she'd feel about sharing?

[peanut]

Americans spend on average 13% of their income on groceries

Interesting...I just did a search for Canada, figuring it would be the same. It is almost...12.6% of "disposable income". I'm thinking that must mean net income. We're about right on that figure.

[frugal is fun]

I'm a little less than $50/week for me and my 4 yr old and we are both meat eaters.

I make a full meal for dinner and always make extras for lunch. I pack my lunch w/leftovers and I eat cereal every day for breakfast. I really try the "if its not on sale I don't buy it" mentality. Sometimes its not always possible but I will not buy meat if its not on sale and I try to NEVER spend more than $2lb for anything.

And I found what really helped me is I made a price book and recorded EVERYTHING I bought for about 3 months. After that I was able to remember what was a good buy and who had the best price on what item.

Good luck!

[Judi Dial]

We spend around $350/month for two adults on food. Another $50 or so is spent on nonfood items, and I include food I don't eat, but the cat does, in that. I use more fresh vegetables and fruits and grains than I think most people here do, except maybe grainlady. My goal is to have a starch filler, grains, rice, pasta, or potato, and put something fresh on it or with it.

We pulled together dinner tonight from the freezer and fridge: peas, fresh mushrooms (sauted), and steak. The steak and mushrooms were the end of a sale purchase I made last week, the peas the end of a bag I had purchased earlier. (I'm leaving on a trip tomorrow, tonight's dinner was do it QUICK! (no starch or grains))

btw, in the Great Depression, the average family spent 25% of their income on food. The average American these days is <15%. So, if you want a pie in the sky number... start with 15% and then work at paring it down. You should be able to do that pretty easily. That average includes people here who've been refining their budget for years and the families that eat out or frozen prefab every night.

IHTH!

Judi

[hippytreehugger4ever]

So far in the last week and a half I've only spent $11.76 for 2 people, but that was mostly milk, eggs, and produce because we just didn't need anything else.

[misscas]

Angelfoodministries.com - for $30 you get about a week worth of food for 4. You can buy as many boxes as you want. No income guidelines, very little paperwork, takes food stamps. Some of the participating churches are asking for 2 hours of volunteer work a week...no big deal, walk 30 minutes a night and pick up trash...it counts.

[jennordhavn]

I spend about $90/wk. for a family of four (2 adults, 9 yo girl and 2 yo girl). This does NOT include toiletries or paper products, this is just food. I shop the loss leaders at two of the more "expensive" grocery stores in my area. I go online every Wednesday and check their weekly ads and prepare lists and cut coupons. I also use rebates and register rewards at Walgreens (this is mainly for household and toiletry items, but sometimes food or soda). The rest of my shopping is done at Winco, which has the lowest everyday prices. In the summer, I shop at Farmer's Markets sometimes too.

[Thevail]

We spend about $70 wk on food for a family of three..but that is a little higher than it would be because we have 7 people over for a dinner party every Saturday, and DH is lactose intolerant which means some of the substitutes I buy for cooking are a little more expensive.

[ErikM02]

I'm about to go on a ramen + oatmeal + ketchup sandwich diet for a little bit

[shellyrhds]

I spend about 80 a week on groceries/cat food and supplies/ household. This is for everything from t.p. to fancy feast for the spoiled cats to Mr. Clean. My husband is also diabetic and on a low cholesterol diet (extremely low after that last dr. report and it is a challenge. Fake eggs (what I call them.. I know technically they aren't fake), fake sugar, whole wheat everything, lean meats, fat free cheeses, lots of fruits and veggies.. these all add up. The last 2 listed go down in the spring and summer because I try to hit the local farmers market. I really hate giving wallyworld my money and business, but honestly? They really are the cheapest. Sure, i can pick up loss leaders in sale flyers, but hamburger helper is a no-no, Sunny D would probably kill him outright, and if I want to try to commit a murder no one would suspect me of, I guess I can feed him the sale pork chops, bacon and eggs all week. You can get by cheaper if you have kids that you can feed cheap stuff to, or if you don't have health problems, but for us it's almost impossible. Very, very discouraging!

[Thevail]

I'm about to go on a ramen + oatmeal + ketchup sandwich diet for a little bit

Egads..um, that's not all that healthy you know...is there a foodbank near you?

I have found that with one large bag of frozen "mixed" veggies you can make ramen nominally nutritious and stretch further.

And Peanut butter is a much better sandwich!