by Tricia
My groceries are running around $400/month. Add on to that an additional $140/month for dining and that is $540/month for a family of three (2 adults and a four year old). One thing to note is I only include food and drink with my groceries. Anything such as toilet paper and paper towels I put under household.
To me, the amount we are spending is just too high. I know we can get it down farther, but I needed some tips.
Well, I was cruising the forum at Saving Advice and I came across a great thread! It was started by a member that was trying to get her grocery bill down.
Here’s just a few things I learned…check the price of milk at gas stations because it may be cheaper, check out prices at local organic stores and don’t go back into a store to get something that you forgot. You are very likely to come out with more than you went in for. Just tough it out until your next trip if you can.
If you are trying to save on your groceries, I highly suggest checking out the thread here. In fact, cruise around the boards a little. There’s some great info over there.
I’m pumped…I’m making a list…my grocery bill is going down 🙂
Well, I know as one half of a childless couple that my demographic is not the same as yours, but I’m doing a 12 week grocery budgeting experiment right now in my blog.
The goal is to do a full physique transformation (drop ~15 lbs and 8% body fat) for $40/week, including gym fees, equipment like shoes, required supplements/vitamins, and enough groceries to eat SIX healthy meals a day. I subtracted the cost of the non-food items and services at the start from my $480 grand total, and was left with just $21.29/week for groceries for myself.
So far I’ve been able to stay on track, though a huge bulk purchase of chicken breast and staples that last a few weeks/months in week 1 bumped my first bill up to $77. Weeks 2 and 3 have come in at around $15 and $9.
I fully expect to stay within my grocery budget of ~$250 for 12 weeks worth of food. And I bet that I eat a lot more than most women do during the course of a single day, too, LOL.
My usual monthly spending on groceries for myself and my boyfriend is $200-$240. He usually eats lunch on the road, so count about $140 for his lunches (paid for from his own account), but I prep and eat almost 100% of my meals from purchased groceries. My personal dining out budget is only $25/month, and I rarely use it. We tend to spend under $30/month on shared dining out meals.
If I could convince my boyfriend to pack his lunches, I am pretty sure I could cut that $140 he spends down to $70 or less.
I’m working on it.
😉
Wow Maggie – I just checked out your site. You are going for double challenge and that’s great. Keep it up – you’re doing great!! 🙂
Whoa! I spend less and I have 7 kids. The trick is saving money on the meat, poultry and fish. If you can cut back on the expenses such as cookies, snacks and such..then you’re half way there. Trust me, when there isn’t much money to work with…one becomes very creative! There is a family of 13 kids and 2 adults that live on $400. in groceries a month. She posted the breakdown of their grocery budget on the forum. Let’s say it was very creative!
Good Luck!
PS: I couldn’t see the whole comment box, so I don;t know if I made any typing errors. Sorry…if I did!
Stephanie – Unfortunately, I do not have an ALDI. I know of them from living in a city for a while and I shopped there often. In my neck of the woods, there isn’t much for great discount stores. Not even a Sam’s Club for bulk goods.
Supermom – Do you have a link to that woman’s post? I am trying to figure out what’s wrong with my comment box in IE. It works fine in other browsers and I am stumped.
Thanks to you both for stopping by!
My best grocery budget tip is ALDI. If you have one there use it. Make a menu and a list and stick to it! Another thing I do is to only buy meat on sale and then rarely use it as the main dish. I also try to sneak in a vegetarian meal here and there. Meat is expensive! I love the hillbilly house wife website. You can link it from my blog.
The forum is difficult to join. momys.com is a forum for large families. They are usually Christain and homeschoolers..but not always. I will try to copy and paste the entry. It is pretty long. If you join, just look in the frugal ideas topic.
I’ll get back to you…
Thanks supermom_in_ny!