Grocery Budget

[Asha]

how much do you spend on groceries each week?

if you are going to comment, please say how many mouths you are feeding.

it might be helpful to say what part of the country you live in.

[camberne]

$50 - $100, but closer to $50.

Family of three, Virginia

This doesn't include when I have to stock up on pet food and cleaning supplies.

[mel7dog]

We usually spend about $100 a week (inclused cleaning supplies, toiletries etc) for both DH and I. We do save a lot of $ since we get to shop on a military base :)

[Asha]

we spend just over a $100 for the two of us living in nyc. this includes all of our meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. about once a week we eat go out to dinner.

[Hello Kitty]

We average $50/week for DH & I. This includes household/personal supplies (we just don't consume that much). We both WFH so we eat 3 meals a day at home.

We save money mainly by shopping at Aldi (ours has really good produce) and making vegetarian meals once or twice a week. I only get the leanest cuts of meat, but we don't eat very much each serving. I also rarely buy anything prepackaged/convenience items, but make a lot of stuff from scratch.

[irish74]

We spend btwn 50 and 100 per week, probably close to 80. 30 per week for the produce (huge box of organic fruits & veggies) that gets delivered and about 25-50 at the grocery store for staples & meats. The total is less than 100 including cleaning products, paper goods, etc. We live in San Francisco and I religously check the sales ad from our grocery store and Walgreens and use coupons to stretch the dollars.

[thedoorchick]

We spend probably $80 or so per week on average for the two of us. I am diligently trying to reduce that, but at the same time we are eating more home-prepared lunches to save money on eating out during the workday, so I don't expect the total to change much.

It includes all cleaning supplies, pet food (and we have three large dogs), and other assorted household things.

We eat out only once a week or so, and our dining out budget is about half our grocery expense.

In general my problem with grocery expense is finding things I want to cook that have one or two rather expensive ingredients, like some exotic kind of oil or a special spice that costs a lot. I'm trying, at least in the short term, to stop doing that.

[BethElena]

We (FH & I) spend about $50-70 every two weeks. We cook most of our meals, but sometimes splurge on the weekends. We live outside of Philly.

[laura]

We live in the Bay Area, and we spend ~$75/week on groceries. That is breakfast for both of us, lunches/snacks for both of us, and dinner 5 nights a week. We also spend another ~$100/month at Costco on bulk stuff like steak, chicken, shrimp, so I guess that makes it an average of ~$100/week total for groceries. I feel comfortable w/ that considering we buy a ton of fresh fruit and veggies and I don't use coupons or purposely shop sales.

[wendalah]

I'm trying to get better about going to the grocery store and cooking good meals--but we are so busy we often put off shopping for as long as possible! Last week I spent $200 at Ralphs, but I hadn't been to the market in about 3 weeks. I still don't know how it adds up so quickly. I have a club card and try to only buy store brand, things on sale, etc.

I buy pet food in bulk at Costco. My sister has a membership and she usually picks it up for me--costs about $30 a month to feed two small dogs.

[lawyerlee]

We budget $100 per week for groceries for Cliff and me, and we usually end up spending it all. :rolleyes: I know we could do better if we tried. In fact, last month I needed to tighten the belts, and I was able to knock $30 off each week. So I guess we tend to spend whatever we allow ourselves to spend. ;) :)

[Sevilla]

Oops!!! I voted wrong. I thought it was how much you spend *each month*. I voted $100-$200, b/c we usually spend $200/month on groceries.

[Weddings by]

Oops...I included things bought at the grocery store, and eating out.

[Kimberland30]

I voted wrong. I meant to put $100-$200 per week, but did $200 per week (we are usually in the $100 - $125 range. I'd really shoot myself if it were that high.

We have 3 people in our family and a large dog (Lab).

[katmg]

We're at about $75 a week. That includes everything we buy at the grocery store. Depending on the sales - that may or may not include detergent, fabric softener, and OTC medicine.

eta: We're in Houston

[paiger]

For the two of us, in NC, we spend close to a $100/week in the beginning of the month. This is only groceries (fresh produce, deli meats and meat) and pet food. However, we buy meat that is reduced from the sale price to freeze for future meals, and I make at least 1 crockpot meal that is used for 2 dinner and a lunch or 3 dinners. This way, at the end of the month (we get paid last day of the month), we ONLY buy lunch supplies and fresh veggies (from farmer's market) which isn't much for us.

[Kristen78]

I live in Vermont, I think we spend between $50 - $100 and there are 2 of us.

[julietchicago]

We spend approx $50 a week for just the two of us, plus we eat out a few times. If we have to cut it back a little, we are able to do it. I have been trying to budget better and make a list prior to shopping. Oh, but if I go to the store hungry....ughhhhh....I end up spending so much more!

[Can't_Wait]

We spend about $250 every two weeks... so $125 every week. This feeds 2 people. I buy organic produce & meats that do not have antibiotics/steroids so that is the reason for the higher price. We also eat a lot of produce. This doesn't include eating out, which we normally do a couple times a month.

[katmg]

I forgot to add this before. Our bill ($75 a week) usually doesn't include meat. DH is a hunter and we have plenty of venison, duck, pheasant and fish to last us for the year.

[KKay]

We spend about $80/wk for the three of us. That doesn't include our trips to Costco (about twice/month). We also go out to eat once/week.

[Franni]

I voted over $200. There is 3 in my family right now, so that includes all of the babies' food and diapers, etc.

[dana b]

between $150-200. per week. i usually make dinner about 5 times per week for the 3 of us. i'm a sahm so a lot of it is for dd and i, 3 meals per day. that doesn't include any cleaning supplies or toiletries, we only shop at trader joe's, it would cost much more to go to the grocery store.

[Natasha]

Between $100 and $200. me, FH, and my 2 y/o son. we live in the SF bay area. That includes, household supplies, and diapers and such. We shop at Sam's Club and Safeway.

[isign]

I go shopping every 2 weeks, and it's usually around $150 so that's what - $75 a week. I go to Wal-mart so that includes makeup/cleaning supplies/art supplies/basic needs. There's only 2 of us, and DH usually takes frozen lunches to work which gets expensive. We live on the Miss Gulf Coast.

[emmjay]

I think I spend around $100/week for two of us, but I try to keep it around $75. That includes household supplies, and we live in Denver.

My problem is that I won't buy non-organic meat ($$$) and I love fancy-schmancy gourmet foods like imported cheeses and different kinds of specialty oils. I'm trying to modify our weekly menus to include more vegetarian meals (i.e. CHEAP) to cut down on the costs. That seems to be working so far... now I just need to limit the amount of wine I buy in a week! :)

[cocoa_femme]

I budget about $200 per month, so we spend about $50/week. It' just DH and I.

[Jenean]

We spend about $80 per week, sometimes more if I have to buy certain things like meats or cleaning supplies or pet food. Every week I spend most of our money on fresh fruits and veggies. We have 3 major grocery stores near our house and each week I carefully check their ads, and then get what I need and can stock up on wherever I can find it for the best price.

We also shop at BJ's about once a month and spend an additional $100 or so there.

We live in Westchester, a suburb of NYC. It's just me and DH, plus our dog and cat.

[twinnyme]

I'd say mainly $80 per week, but it depends on whether we need things that you don't buy every week, like cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, paper goods, etc. We have DH, me, and a 7-month-old baby. We are trying to use coupons more and also trying to eat in more. We live north of Boston.