Food $$.. need input

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2003
Food $$.. need input
9
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 4:38pm

We are a family of 3.. my huband, me and my 3 year old son.

I know you guys will be shocked.. but I spend about $125/week at the grocery store!!--but this includes paper products, and grooming products.. shampoo, soap, ect..Does this sound right??

I guess we eat well. I get Steaks and chicken breasts and stuff.. but what the heck am I doing wrong??

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can curtail this budget?? Even if it was by just $25/week.. that would be a $100 snowflake per month!!

As always.. everyone's input is ALWAYS appreciated!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-31-2006
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 5:24pm
My question is the same, we are a family of three (w/ a 4 yr old dd) and spend about $550 a month on food/dining. I always buy things that are on sale, and still cannot get below the $500 mark. We are now trying a new technique where we cook with the things we have on hand instead of making a trip to the grocery store. I was suprised that we can make a meal out of things that are very inexpensive i.e. spaghetti with sausages or veggie soup. We did this for the second half of February, but I am hoping we can really see a difference in March. I also would like tips on what works well for others.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 5:35pm

We're a family of 4 and I budget $200 a month for groceries and $100 a month for household which includes entertainment, cleaning supplies, haircuts, pull-ups, paper products, etc. BUT, DH travels about 3 weekends a month (gone Fri.-Mon.) and he's a vegetarian so that helps a lot.

Some ideas-

Can you incorporate a vegetarian meal once a week? Beans are cheap! Especially if you do the dried ones. I soak overnight and then toss them in the crockpot for the day. by the time I'm ready to cook dinner they are ready for use in recipes.

Are you shopping generics? We're down to coke/diet coke as our name brand food item and I use GoodNites for DD but that's it. I'm a huge fan of Aldi's if you have one in town. To give you an idea-last night I shopped at the close store so the first prices are regular grocery, second prices are Aldi's-Chips 2.99, .99 Sliced deli ham-3.69, 2.59 Slices of cheese-3.19, 2.69 You get the gist.

I don't use paper towels on a regular basis. My children's ability to ruin clothes provides more than enough rags for my house.

Are you planning a menu each week? You could try internet searches for frugal meals or hit the library for frugal cookbooks to cut down costs.

Cutting up the chicken breast and incorporating it into a casserole will make it go much farther than serving something like chicken breasts, baked potatoes and salad.

We pay for convenience-the more you can do yourself, the more you'll save. Little things like buying carrots and cutting them up instead of buying the baby carrots will save you money over time.

This is getting long but since I just shopped today here's my menu for the week-I budgeted $40 for the week and then $10 for pantry refills.

Breakfast-we rotate through oatmeal w/ brown sugar, pancakes, muffins, waffles, toast w/ eggs. I do not buy breakfast cereal unless it's a special occasion or really, really good sale.

Lunches-Ian & I eat sandwiches w/ veggies or mac n' cheese most days. DD takes the same thing in her lunch. DH usually makes something at home or eats leftovers.

Dinner-Tonight Broccoli and potato soup w/ homemade rolls
Tommorow-chicken thighs (sale item), mashed potatoes and salad
Thursday-chicken in a casserole w/ green peas, corn (DH is gone these two nights)
Friday-we're traveling so ham sandwiches, chips and drinks
Saturday-out of town
Sunday-we're traveling again so PB&J, chips and raisins
Monday-I'm trying out rice and bean pockets. This is a modification of a recipe I tried recently that uses premade pizza dough you divide it into quandrangles and fill for a pizza pocket effect.

I also bought some things like juiceboxes for DD's lunch and some snacks for the trip. If you've ever visited Shoestring Budgeting or Frugal Families boards here at ivillage people post their menus for the week and you can get some great ideas. I also wanted to add after reading studentforlife's post that I shop about once a week. I don't go more than that (except falling off the grocery wagon last night but I'm back on I swear LOL) and at the end of the week I usually look around to see if I can come up with something for just one more day before going to the grocery. Also today I gave myself a limit $10 for pantry items (I'm trying to build enough to have 1 months supply on hand in case of emergency) and $30 for everything else. I added it up as I went and when I got close back went that extra can of tomato soup and extra pound of butter.

Taleyna




Edited 2/28/2006 5:40 pm ET by purl2
Avatar for 2locachicas
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 7:45pm

we are a family of 5(me, dh, 3dd 4,5 &7) and I budget 75 a week for groceries. This is also paper products..we don't generally eat red meat(because I don't cook it). But our kids are all lactose intolerance so I have to buy organic soy milk that is pretty pricey otherwise our bills would be a little lower. I also feed them a number of vegetarian items(veggie dogs, fake corn dogs, veggie chix nuggets, soy burgers, we only eat wheat noodles, all natural PB) All that said because those items tend to cost more.

The best thing to do is preplan your meals....and avoid extra trips to the grocery store.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 8:52pm

We also have a three person family. I know this is not going to be the most healthy option, since "fresh is always best", but we usually don't get home from karate class until 7:30pm each evening, and my son's bedtime is around 8:30pm, so I have to come up with a fast dinner each night to please everyone. What works for me are the Banquet Crockpot Classics (the frozen dinners in a bag that you pour into your crockpot with some water, and let them cook all day). Here in North GA, I can get them for $3.99 a bag, and we can make them last for two meals (usually a dinner and a lunch). We also like the Bertolli bagged pasta meals. It says it serves two, but we serve it with a big salad and garlic bread, and it feeds three perfectly. Bags in our local stores sell for $5.99 a bag. Then, we go to BJ's Wholesale Club and buy their store-manufactured frozen entrees (chicken marsala, beef tenderloin, etc), and serve them with either pasta or the pre-made mashed potatoes that you can just microwave. These usually run around $9 each.

So if we buy:

2 crockpot meals (total cost about $8)
3 Bertolli meals (total cost about $18)
2 BJ's Wholesale meals (total cost about $18)
2 tubs of mashed potatoes (cost: 5)
Pasta ($1)
bread ($5)
milk ($3)
soda--regular and diet ($6)
eggs ($2)
cereal ($4)
Goober Grape--those Peanutbutter/jelly jars ($3)
Oscar Meyer Bolonga for sandwiches ($4)

The total is only: $77. I buy the cheap $1 per roll paper towels and the jumbo packages of warehouse club brand toilet paper that last us a long long time. It can definitely be done, but like I said, you might have to give up on some healthy items because I'm sure there's more sodium and fat in these products than we truly need. However, they are delicious, fast, and inexpensive. They allow us to sit down as a family for a meal without driving ourselves crazy trying to figure out what to make. And it definitely stops us from going to the fast food places. When I leave karate, and it's dark out, and I'm tired, I admit I'm tempted to stop somewhere for a quick meal. But then I just think about the meal that I can have at home, on the table in less than 15 minutes, and I just push the fast food thoughts out of my head. :-D

Pat :-D

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-23-2005
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 11:12pm

We have a family of 5 - 2 adults, a 6 year old, a 3 year old and a 9 month old.

lvhunnie2005

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-31-2006
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 1:40am
Thanks for all the great ideas, I can see there is a lot of room for improvement for me :) I will certainly try to come closer to what you all spend on food. $150 for a family of 5 is impressive, I like your suggestion of only paying $.39 - $.99 per lbs on meat and freezing it. Thanks again!!!
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2003
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 9:01am

Yes, thanks SO much for ALL the great ideas. I am going shopping today and am definatley going to try to implement your ideas. I think I am buying too many snacks and treat and fillers.. My husband is a bottomless pit.. (tall and thin too!) I wish I could be like that!!

All your budget money for food is IMPRESSIVE! I am anxious to see how I do.

Thanks again!!!

Shannon

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 10:55am
Shannon,
One more thing. I have found that if i make some homemade bread (usuually one recipe yields two loaves), that this gets eaten up first no matter what else i have, and is healthy too! (I make honey-wheat bread, but substitue one extra cup of white flour for the wheat flour, which I think makes the texture a bit better. I also go across the loaves of the bread with a stick of butter about ten minutes before they come out of the oven..makes them softer and more flavorful...) Also, making pudding or even a pudding pie for dessert adds a little bang for the buck, because the ingredients are so cheap.
You are probably right on about the snacks...they aren't very filling, but they are pretty expensive. I will buy microwave popcorn over chips and the like any day.
You have gotten a lot of good ideas...hope they help!!
Heather
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-09-2004
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 2:21pm
I posted a similar message recently. I have 2 young kids and if I can get out of the grocery store with only spending $125.00 I'm doing good. I got some good ideas and some more from this post so I am anxious to put them to the test this weekend when I go grocery shopping. I'm shooting for a bill of under $100.00. Good luck to you.