Author Topic: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?  (Read 27868 times)

jamesbond007

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #50 on: February 03, 2017, 12:27:11 PM »
3 people (2 adults + 1 toddler), $350 for groceries + eating out. $50 for household supplies. We are adding a dog to our family soon, I expect to add another $50 or so.

AMandM

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #51 on: February 03, 2017, 03:14:04 PM »
How many people?  2 adults and three teenagers, plus guests several times a week
Monthly spending:  $930

This includes food, alcohol, and household goods such as cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, toilet paper, toothpaste.  Groceries that were bought to make Christmas presents also are included, though I doubt that averages to more than $20/month.

I think of myself as pretty frugal on groceries; I cook from scratch and shop at Aldi, plan meals around the sales flyers, etc.  But my spending is way higher than a lot of people here.  Teenagers do have something to do with it; my 17yo would happily eat a pound of bacon for lunch if I let him. Also, we decided last summer to stop buying factory-farmed meat, eggs, and milk, and that made a noticeable difference.

ETA: Eating out averages an additional $30/month.  We only eat out for something like the local school's fundraiser spaghetti dinner, or lunch or coffee out if we forget our cup/brown bag at home.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2017, 03:16:08 PM by AMandM »

Cranky

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #52 on: February 03, 2017, 03:31:24 PM »
I had teenaged girls and they were fairly light eaters (but for a while I was convinced that I was the only mom in the neighborhood who bought tampons because there was always some random school friend rummaging around under the bathroom sink for supplies.)

But the guys who came over... my favorite story is the kid who came downstairs and confessed to me that he realized he had eaten all 12 of the muffins I had sitting on the counter.

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #53 on: February 03, 2017, 03:53:03 PM »
Quote
But the guys who came over... my favorite story is the kid who came downstairs and confessed to me that he realized he had eaten all 12 of the muffins I had sitting on the counter.

This is my 10yo (nearly 11yo) twin boys. 18 muffins can be gone in 12 hours and I'm lucky if I get one. I'm scared for when we reach the true teenage years!

Mikila

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #54 on: February 04, 2017, 08:13:28 PM »
Number of people:  2 adults, 2 middleschoolers, 2 cats & a large dog

Monthly food spending: fluctuates between $425 and $594

Eating out: included above

Cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc: $10 a month included above

I guess we are middle of the pack in our food spending.  Who wouldn't like to spend less?  We try to limit our fresh fruit spending to $20/ week, which is hard sometimes every day.  We'll know we are in that financially abundant stage when we can each eat three nectarines/apples/ oranges/mangoes/ or a cup of dates every day and not feel the pinch.  Can't wait!

Erma

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #55 on: February 05, 2017, 01:52:03 AM »
2 adults and 2 cats in Switzerland

We try to spend max 150 CHF per week for food and household supplies, but it excludes lunch for one of us as this is varies too much. Usually it is between 120 and 130.

Cat food is in the best case around 70 CHF per month when I plan in advance. I'm thinking about buying cat food across the border.

Eating out is way too expensive here for it to be a regular activity.

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #56 on: February 05, 2017, 02:27:12 AM »
2 adults and a child

Groceries + household items bought at grocery store: $400-$500/month.  I'm starting to look at receipts to break these two categories, but the household stuff is probably between $20 and $50 depending on when its time to buy certain items.  We spend between $50 and $100 on eating out.

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #57 on: February 05, 2017, 02:59:54 AM »
Between two adults we budget for and spend each month:

£200 ($250*) on groceries
£30 ($38*) on household goods.

Groceries doesn't include alcohol as that comes out of each of our own "slush funds". I probably average another £50 ($62) a month on alcohol out my own spending and my partner drinks almost nothing. This also doesn't include eating out of which I average <£20 a month and my partner significantly higher as she often doesn't find the time to make herself sandwiches, and goes out to eat with colleagues on a Friday.

Household goods includes things like washing powder, shampoo (if a reasonable brand/price, otherwise a mutually agreed difference is taken out of the respective slush fund), toothpaste, ladies monthly "hygiene products", kitchen equipment, and so on.








*at today's exchange rate

travelbug

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #58 on: February 05, 2017, 03:42:25 AM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget? 2 adults 2 kids ages 9,7, 1 cat
Monthly Food Budget*? $1000AUD or $770USD
Monthly Household Supplies Budget? Included in Food Budget

We eat really well and eat take out once a week on Friday nights. That is included and costs around $20-$30.

DS and I are celiac and dairy intolerant, so I do buy some specific GF flour and make treats for us.



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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #59 on: February 05, 2017, 11:07:31 AM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget? 2 adults 2 kids ages 4, 5
Monthly Food Budget? $200. Usually averaging closer to $180
Monthly Household Supplies Budget? $35 for laundry soap, small repairs, etc; $20 for personal care items; $20 for fun activities (parks, museums, eating out, etc).

It always boggles my mind when people post their $400-900/mo food budgets, because I can't imagine spending that much. We used to be at $100/mo (before kids were really in the picture), and have slowly crept up to where we are (budgeting $200, spending about $180). Part of that increase is an intentional effort to put more red meat into the meal plans (and more meat in general), as my wife has sometimes felt that she wants more meat, but can't have it due to budgetary restrictions.

meandmyfamily

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #60 on: February 05, 2017, 12:03:06 PM »
APowers- Tell us what your menu looks like!  I can't imagine your low numbers.  I would love to know how with our 4 kids!

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #61 on: February 05, 2017, 12:24:40 PM »
It always boggles my mind when people post their $400-900/mo food budgets, because I can't imagine spending that much. We used to be at $100/mo (before kids were really in the picture), and have slowly crept up to where we are (budgeting $200, spending about $180). Part of that increase is an intentional effort to put more red meat into the meal plans (and more meat in general), as my wife has sometimes felt that she wants more meat, but can't have it due to budgetary restrictions.

I know. I honestly don't even know what we'd buy if we had to increase our $230 budget to $500. I guess we'd have to switch all our tasty homemade stuff to expensive, inferior commercial versions, and stop cooking entirely? Buy the most expensive option available for every single option? Shop solely at Whole Foods? Set a few bills on fire every grocery shopping trip? Even back when we bought 100% organic and had it hand delivered INTO OUR KITCHEN (we were so lazy we literally ordered everything online and gave the driver a key to our place), we were only spending around $400/month.

APowers

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #62 on: February 05, 2017, 02:09:32 PM »
APowers- Tell us what your menu looks like!  I can't imagine your low numbers.  I would love to know how with our 4 kids!

Link.

Attached is a more recent snapshot of our food expenses. Average = $188/mo

The menu is pretty plain. Oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, [Protein + Veg + Carb] in some combination or other. I should note that our 4y/o is sensitive to wheat(gluten) and dairy, so we don't use much butter or cheese. Which makes me a little sad, because all the rest of us love cheese; we try not to make the 4y/o feel left out. We splurge on gluten-free (GF) pasta, bread, and flour, which allows us to do stuff like pancakes and spaghetti/pasta and sandwiches. Having to be mostly gluten/dairy free is kind of a drag sometimes, and adds a little bit of extra expense overall (maybe $10/mo on average).

Lately, we've been on a pork binge, since I found three pork shoulder roasts @ $0.87/lb. They've been a week's worth of meals, plus extra meat packed and in the freezer, plus a quart of rendered pork fat to use for cooking/stirfrying later, plus broth to use in cooking rice/lentils.

Some other typical examples include:
Chicken, rice, mixed veg
Chicken, potatoes, cauliflower
"Rice soup" (rice + veggies in a rich broth)
Tacos
Lentil soup (usually w/tuna)
"taco rice" (rice w/taco meat/veg + appropriate flavours)
"taco fries" oven fries topped with taco meat, shredded lettuce, etc.

« Last Edit: February 05, 2017, 03:14:20 PM by APowers »

Laura33

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #63 on: February 05, 2017, 03:14:31 PM »
I am working on significantly improving this this month, so don't have a full month to report.  I had been averaging $70/week at Aldi's, plus maybe another $25/week for fill-in-the-holes that Aldi's doesn't have.  But today was a total fail, because I was supposed to leave town this AM and my trip canceled last-minute, and suddenly I now have a week's meals to make and am apparently feeding 8 people for the Superbowl today.  So Aldi's was $100, and I think DH dropped close to that at Wegman's.  Just poor planning and rushing (but at least we bought stuff that will get us  through half of next week).  So basic groceries I would guess $450, plus $25-40 in staples from Amazon.  Numbers include food, household supplies, OTC meds, and cat litter, but not cat food (special vet kidney diet).

We are 2 adults, one teen, one preteen in a growth spurt.  We eat very well - generally low-carb, lots of meat/dairy and fresh fruit/veg.  Recovering addict from Wegman's deli and cheese shop -- current version is one thing at a time instead of multiples, and more Aldi's havarti instead of Wegman's Pierre Robert.  In addition to the above, my real luxury is milk/butter/buttermilk/eggs from the dairy, which probably runs $100/mo on my new reduced approach.  I am still figuring out where this will land -- I used to spend a ton on the grass-fed meats and fancy OJ, but am now cutting it down to the things where I can really tell the difference and the $ is worth it (milk/butter/buttermilk -- Aldi's $0.69 eggs are too good of a deal to justify $3.95 on the dairy's version, and the dairy's OJ is so expensive it makes name-brand fresh-squeezed look cheap). 

So all in all, I am shooting for $600/mo. on groceries/supplies.  We have also significantly cut back on eating out - so far, one Friday family dinner out and one Saturday date night fancy restaurant.  My goal is not to cut that entirely, but just to cut out "cheap" meals -- I.e., no dropping $50 because I didn't plan/didn't feel like cooking/etc. 

FIRE me

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #64 on: February 05, 2017, 05:42:42 PM »
After reading Root of Good's One Month of Groceries post, I was curious about how much everyone budgets and/or spends each month on food (all) and household supplies.


How many people and/or animals fall under this budget? 
Monthly Food Budget*? 
Monthly Household Supplies Budget?

Comments:

*includes groceries, eating out, coffee, bars/alcohol, etc... All food.

My monthly average for 2015 was $243. 2016 was $272. One person, no pets.

In addition to groceries, my numbers include:
All restaurant food (fast food, carry out, and sit down)
Alcohol
All toiletries
Cleaning supplies
Some over the counter medicine
Other miscellaneous household items like batteries and oven mits.

FC5

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #65 on: February 06, 2017, 08:07:00 AM »
2 adults (I'm 36 wks pregnant now) + one 3 yr old
$350/mo - includes household supplies

Last year was a bit higher since we purchased a whole cow and whole pig (which we split with 2 other families, so 1/3 each). Including butcher's fees this came out to $5.17/lb for beyond organic pastured beef, which is comparable to organic ground beef at my Costco. But, we got all kinds of cuts, not just ground - our 14 cu ft chest freezer is still very full, since we eat about 3# of meat a week which seems to be far less than our neighbors/peers. A few times a year we buy 5 whole pastured chickens from a small farmer we've gotten to know ($15-25 ea depending on weight), and I get 3 gallons of raw milk per week through a herd share ($130/mo). I buy identity-preserved dry beans in bulk, heirloom flour & amazing olive oil from Jovial, organic cheeses from Costco as well as a few other bulk purchases like rice and quinoa (and household goods like TP), and sustainably-caught seafood from vital choice or alaska gold.

We also garden about 75 sq ft for vegetables, with plans to expand this year. I shop for fresh vegetables and fruit at a local organic store whose values align with mine, and I pay about the same as I would elsewhere by buying vegetables that are in season and on sale ($1.49-2.49/lb). Speciality foods there are definitely expensive, but choosing local and seasonal is a great way to save. My husband hunts so that has often supplemented our meat purchases. I love foraging just for fun, but it can turn out to save $ and add diversity to our diet, too. One way I think I save money is by avoiding "kid" food purchases - I don't buy snacks or things that are individually wrapped, for eco reasons as well as $ and a feeling that these products condition children to want junk food in colorful packages.

We could definitely lower our food spending by giving up the organic/local/sustainable choices, but we try to shop with our ecological and social values in mind.

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #66 on: February 07, 2017, 10:29:39 AM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget?  Two humans, one cat
Monthly Food Budget*?  $400--we rarely eat out but Mr. Mandalay has developed a 7/11 coffee habit :(
Monthly Household Supplies Budget?  $200--includes Poe's food and litter

Least the 7/11 coffee habit is an inexpensive one!

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #67 on: February 07, 2017, 10:34:45 AM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget?  2 adults male & female mid 20s
Monthly Food, Household Supplies, Eat Out Budget?  Goal: $200 Actual: $206.35 (20 month average)


Comments:
We almost never and I mean really almost never eat out and we shop and batch cook for the week on Sundays. For our shopping we first go to wholesale club (Sam's Club) and get things like meats, milk, stuff for salads, eggs, fruits/veggies and other stuff which we can use a larger quantity of. We then go to grocery store and shop for things I only need small quantities of and shop for sales and BOGO items. I have learned which shelf stable items have become staples of our diet and recipes and will stock up when they go BOGO at our local grocery store (Publix). Therefore, I will basically always pay half price for things like cereals/granola/oats, peanuts, pasta & red sauces, diced tomatoes, canned soup, bread, coffee, snacks & chips, and beer & soda (for the rare occasions we drink those). I also as a general rule don't buy liquid calories except milk and this cuts a surprising amount from a normal grocery budget. Our food budget is something I work hard to keep very low while also trying to stay reasonably healthy and tasty.

Your working hard to keep it low truly shows. Especially for 3 and sounds pretty healthy. I will need to pay more attention to BOGO sales (or similar) at my local grocers.

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #68 on: February 07, 2017, 10:36:45 AM »
2 adults, 2 teenage boys. About $800/month, including milk delivery and the half steer we buy each year. And cleaning supplies.

It's high. But we eat out approximately never, we buy almost no convenience  or pre-prepared food, and we cook about everything from fundamental parts: Meat, dried beans, vegetables.  The older kid looked at a completely full fridge last week and said "why isn't there anything to eat in here", meaning "it's all basic components that require assembly, there's nothing I can grab and eat." My goal is to have an empty refrigerator on Friday evening/Sat morning before we go grocery shopping. We eat very, very well, but haven't thrown out food in a while.

We also have 2 cats, but their stuff is calculated elsewhere.

I laughed at the older kid's comment. My child does this all the time! I'm always pointing out there is this and that. "but I am too lazy to make it". Exactly. haha.

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #69 on: February 07, 2017, 10:45:08 AM »
Comments:
We used to eat a lot of take-out--like seriously, at least twice a week. There was a whole tangle of anxiety, depression, assorted health issues, and interpersonal dynamic that's not worth getting into but that kept us from doing much cooking, so we bought a lot of prepackaged food--or, when we did cook, we didn't tend to make the smartest choices, and often there was a lot of waste. My housemate chipped in some toward groceries and eating out, but I paid the lion's share of it (...more like the whole pride's :P ). Anyway, I'm excited to be on my own and making new habits. I actually *do* like to cook, when I'm not navigating around someone else, so I'm looking forward to it!

I hear ya. Been there, done that. You do what you can to get through.

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #70 on: February 07, 2017, 10:48:01 AM »
Quote
But the guys who came over... my favorite story is the kid who came downstairs and confessed to me that he realized he had eaten all 12 of the muffins I had sitting on the counter.

This is my 10yo (nearly 11yo) twin boys. 18 muffins can be gone in 12 hours and I'm lucky if I get one. I'm scared for when we reach the true teenage years!

My teenage son used to easily put away a whole medium pizza in a matter of minutes. Be scared. Be very scared. ;)

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #71 on: February 07, 2017, 10:53:37 AM »
It always boggles my mind when people post their $400-900/mo food budgets, because I can't imagine spending that much. We used to be at $100/mo (before kids were really in the picture), and have slowly crept up to where we are (budgeting $200, spending about $180). Part of that increase is an intentional effort to put more red meat into the meal plans (and more meat in general), as my wife has sometimes felt that she wants more meat, but can't have it due to budgetary restrictions.

I fall into this dynamic. Although my food budget also includes other and household. I usually spend about $100/per week on groceries . But I wonder the family dynamics of everyone. Adults all working full-time? Stay at home? I imagine it might make a difference. I am a single parent working full-time. While I do buy a lot of whole foods and prep some meals like work lunches, I also buy package snacks and/or food to help speed up dinner time prep.

or it could matter what people are buying bulk in. Meat vs fruit - fruit likely being less in bulk price.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2017, 10:59:05 AM by Chippewa »

nobody123

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #72 on: February 07, 2017, 11:44:05 AM »
It always boggles my mind when people post their $400-900/mo food budgets, because I can't imagine spending that much. We used to be at $100/mo (before kids were really in the picture), and have slowly crept up to where we are (budgeting $200, spending about $180). Part of that increase is an intentional effort to put more red meat into the meal plans (and more meat in general), as my wife has sometimes felt that she wants more meat, but can't have it due to budgetary restrictions.

I fall into this dynamic. Although my food budget also includes other and household. I usually spend about $100/per week on groceries . But I wonder the family dynamics of everyone. Adults all working full-time? Stay at home? I imagine it might make a difference. I am a single parent working full-time. While I do buy a lot of whole foods and prep some meals like work lunches, I also buy package snacks and/or food to help speed up dinner time prep.

or it could matter what people are buying bulk in. Meat vs fruit - fruit likely being less in bulk price.

My wife is a SAHM, but due to some crazy amounts of volunteering & kids activities, it was like she had a full time job last year, which led to our spending a disgusting amount on restaurants.  Hopefully we can cut that down significantly this year, and trim a little from our grocery bill because she'll have time to do some comparison shopping and better meal planning.  Our kids have been pretty quick to adapt to eating more fresh fruits and veggies instead of prepackaged crap for snacks, so I think there's some hope to make some more healthier and budget-friendly choices in the near future.

That being said, I know the mechanics of how to get my $800 grocery bill down to less than $400, but we like beer, wine, meat, and the occasional store bought bakery item.  We can afford those things, so we're not willing to eat beans, rice, and oatmeal as a major portion of our diet.  Frankly, if we were spending only $400/month on groceries by doing that, I would insist that my wife spend more to make sure there was some higher end items and more variety.  My wife is never going to give up Jif peanut butter, Tide, the convenience of k-cups, start cleaning with vinegar, etc.  She's not going to carve up a Costco rotisserie chicken to turn it into 3 meals and a pot of stock.  I know that might sound a bit condescending, but we're not willing to go ultra-MMM in this area.  More power to those who do for budgetary / health / environmental / dietary preference reasons, but this is an area where we choose to splurge and in some cases pay more for convenience.  Luckily being debt free and generally frugal in other areas of our life allows us to do so.


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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #73 on: February 07, 2017, 11:56:34 AM »
people spending sub 400 are not eating beans and rice that would be a sub 100 diet IMO.  We eat steak and chicken and pork loin etc. we eat high volumes of meat and fresh vegetables.  we spend 300 a month. eggs and cheese and avocados and spinach and kale cheezits lays chips.  the list goes on.  "comparison shopping" is as easy as its ever been.  ITS ALL ONLINE.  this is so simple

1. Check the Aldi ad to see what produce is on sale - 5 mins
2. Check the Aldi ad for next week's fresh meat special buys - 2 mins(you've already checked this week's last week so you know what fresh meats you can eat or if you have to pull from your freezer stock)
3. Check the local Grocery ads for what their loss leaders are bc thats about all thats worth buying there. - 10 mins
4. check the weekend special ad from the grocery store - 2 mins

Grocery shopping isnt rocket surgery.

i think its one of the laziest things people try to get buy with just saying its b/c i want all these fancy things.  NO its laziness.

nobody123

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #74 on: February 07, 2017, 01:17:37 PM »
<snip>
Grocery shopping isnt rocket surgery.

i think its one of the laziest things people try to get buy with just saying its b/c i want all these fancy things.  NO its laziness.

I'll own up to the laziness factor.  My wife and I are (up until last month) horrible meal planners and when we decided to cook at home most times it involved a one-off trip to the closest supermarket to grab ingredients for that meal.

But 31 days means 93 meals in a month.  If you're spending $400 a month to feed 4 people, that's $1.08 a meal per person.  A very reasonably priced $15 bottle of wine per week and two 12 packs of $15 not total swill beer, and 4 $1.79 gallons of skim milk for the kiddos, and you're down to 81 cents per meal for food.  I just looked at my local Aldi's ad. Chicken breast is $1.49 per pound for their 5# value bag.  Google tells me an average chicken breast weighs 5.25 ounces.  So a chicken breast is roughly 49 cents, leaving you 32 cents for two sides, dessert, condiments, a salad, a sheet of paper towel to clean up after the kids, and a few squares of toilet paper to deal with the consequences of consuming solid food.  Obviously you make it work, so it can be done, but I don't have the self-discipline to not just solve the problem by throwing money at it.




boarder42

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #75 on: February 07, 2017, 01:22:30 PM »
15 dollars isnt a reasonable bottle of wine.  thats a fancy pants expensive bottle of wine.

i assume the rest of your reasonablity follows this assumption above
« Last Edit: February 07, 2017, 01:24:23 PM by boarder42 »

Raenia

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #76 on: February 07, 2017, 01:46:38 PM »
But 31 days means 93 meals in a month.  If you're spending $400 a month to feed 4 people, that's $1.08 a meal per person.  A very reasonably priced $15 bottle of wine per week and two 12 packs of $15 not total swill beer, and 4 $1.79 gallons of skim milk for the kiddos, and you're down to 81 cents per meal for food.  I just looked at my local Aldi's ad. Chicken breast is $1.49 per pound for their 5# value bag.  Google tells me an average chicken breast weighs 5.25 ounces.  So a chicken breast is roughly 49 cents, leaving you 32 cents for two sides, dessert, condiments, a salad, a sheet of paper towel to clean up after the kids, and a few squares of toilet paper to deal with the consequences of consuming solid food.  Obviously you make it work, so it can be done, but I don't have the self-discipline to not just solve the problem by throwing money at it.

I usually slice the chicken before serving, and I find that if I do that, each person tends to self-serve about half a breast.  (I am only feeding adults.) You don't need a whole chicken breast worth of protein at every meal unless you are working out heavily every day.  So that's 25 cents for chicken.  Pasta at about $1/lb, enough for 4-6 meals, so call it 20 cents for pasta.  I make most of my own sauces, but call it another 10 cents if you don't.  Add whatever vegetable is on sale that day.  I don't serve dessert unless it's homemade, clean up with kitchen towels instead of paper, etc.  I don't see why you need meat + 2 sides + salad + dessert at every meal.  You're assuming meat every day - I typically serve fish once a week, chicken twice, and vegetarian the other days.  Plus you're assuming that breakfast and lunch cost as much as dinner, so in reality you have a higher budget for dinner and less for breakfast/lunch which are cheaper.

It's completely possible to feed an adult on an average $1/meal.  You can decide that's not something you want to do, but that doesn't make it impossible, and it doesn't mean we're eating nothing but beans and rice either.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2017, 01:50:37 PM by Raenia »

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #77 on: February 07, 2017, 01:50:54 PM »
15 dollars isnt a reasonable bottle of wine.  thats a fancy pants expensive bottle of wine.

i assume the rest of your reasonablity follows this assumption above

it sounds as if you are trying to call someone out unjustly boarder42. did you not mention that you spend $250/m on drinking alcohol? IMO $15 bottle is decent. I think if one is to spend money on drinking it should be of value.

boarder42

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #78 on: February 07, 2017, 01:58:05 PM »
15 dollars isnt a reasonable bottle of wine.  thats a fancy pants expensive bottle of wine.

i assume the rest of your reasonablity follows this assumption above

it sounds as if you are trying to call someone out unjustly boarder42. did you not mention that you spend $250/m on drinking alcohol? IMO $15 bottle is decent. I think if one is to spend money on drinking it should be of value.

We spend 0 currently. We used to spend that much. Good beer and food wine fall into different categories.  Many studies have been done and very few. Meaning less than 1% of people can really distinguish between good wine and cheaper counterparts.  Bottle appearance effects people.more than the wine inside. I'm blind taste studies people who were wine experts could not pick out the expensive wines.

boarder42

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #79 on: February 07, 2017, 02:01:01 PM »
I'm all for people having non mustachian tendencies just don't make excuses for it and try to make it sound reasonable when it's not.

nobody123

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #80 on: February 08, 2017, 02:47:23 PM »
15 dollars isnt a reasonable bottle of wine.  thats a fancy pants expensive bottle of wine.

i assume the rest of your reasonablity follows this assumption above

it sounds as if you are trying to call someone out unjustly boarder42. did you not mention that you spend $250/m on drinking alcohol? IMO $15 bottle is decent. I think if one is to spend money on drinking it should be of value.

I took no offense.   One of the best things about this forum is that people challenge you on what you consider "normal" or "reasonable".  Hearing other viewpoints is how you get ideas to improve, even if you don't implement every suggestion.  I would have never thought of slicing chicken breasts up before serving to see if we would eat less, and thanks to Raenia I have an experiment to run later this week.  Implementing boarder42's ad check / store visit routine seems a bit of a cumbersome process and we've always chosen the convenience (laziness) of shopping at one store.  Dragging two little kids into multiple stores while grocery shopping is a PITA, and we generally dislike Aldi's (admittedly due to the taste of their processed foods compared to name brands, and we should be eliminating most of those items from our diet anyway), but it might be worth seeing if their meat and produce prices are low enough to make a special trip there worthwhile.  I do have a goal of cutting our $840 down to about $700 this year, so a bunch of the information in this thread is going to be considered.

Back to booze -- We will generally drink the ~$8 price point for gewurtztraminer (the only white I actually enjoy) / riesling / moscato / chardonnay, but we prefer slightly more expensive reds that are usually in the $12 - $20 range.  The Kirkland old vine zinfandel that was at Costco for $8.99 a bottle a few months ago was pretty good, though, and we bought a case of it.  My wife and I find that we can tell the difference between a $4, $8, $15, and a $25 bottle, but we're generally unimpressed with anything more expensive than that.  For reds, the $15 - $20 price point is the best value (flavor / price) for us.  We have a handful of "go-to" wines, and we buy them whenever they are on sale.  I am a total beer snob and while I can enjoy fizzy yellow garbage (Bud / Miller / Coors) around the fire pit with the neighbors, I prefer higher end craft beers and enjoy trying new ones frequently.  Should I probably drink less and save some money?  Sure.  Do I want to?  Nope!  And if my choice was tap water or a $4 bottle of red wine, I would probably choose the tap water, lol.

boarder42

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #81 on: February 08, 2017, 02:56:56 PM »
15 dollars isnt a reasonable bottle of wine.  thats a fancy pants expensive bottle of wine.

i assume the rest of your reasonablity follows this assumption above

it sounds as if you are trying to call someone out unjustly boarder42. did you not mention that you spend $250/m on drinking alcohol? IMO $15 bottle is decent. I think if one is to spend money on drinking it should be of value.

I took no offense.   One of the best things about this forum is that people challenge you on what you consider "normal" or "reasonable".  Hearing other viewpoints is how you get ideas to improve, even if you don't implement every suggestion.  I would have never thought of slicing chicken breasts up before serving to see if we would eat less, and thanks to Raenia I have an experiment to run later this week.  Implementing boarder42's ad check / store visit routine seems a bit of a cumbersome process and we've always chosen the convenience (laziness) of shopping at one store.  Dragging two little kids into multiple stores while grocery shopping is a PITA, and we generally dislike Aldi's (admittedly due to the taste of their processed foods compared to name brands, and we should be eliminating most of those items from our diet anyway), but it might be worth seeing if their meat and produce prices are low enough to make a special trip there worthwhile.  I do have a goal of cutting our $840 down to about $700 this year, so a bunch of the information in this thread is going to be considered.

Back to booze -- We will generally drink the ~$8 price point for gewurtztraminer (the only white I actually enjoy) / riesling / moscato / chardonnay, but we prefer slightly more expensive reds that are usually in the $12 - $20 range.  The Kirkland old vine zinfandel that was at Costco for $8.99 a bottle a few months ago was pretty good, though, and we bought a case of it.  My wife and I find that we can tell the difference between a $4, $8, $15, and a $25 bottle, but we're generally unimpressed with anything more expensive than that.  For reds, the $15 - $20 price point is the best value (flavor / price) for us.  We have a handful of "go-to" wines, and we buy them whenever they are on sale.  I am a total beer snob and while I can enjoy fizzy yellow garbage (Bud / Miller / Coors) around the fire pit with the neighbors, I prefer higher end craft beers and enjoy trying new ones frequently.  Should I probably drink less and save some money?  Sure.  Do I want to?  Nope!  And if my choice was tap water or a $4 bottle of red wine, I would probably choose the tap water, lol.

you should try the columbia crest cab that costco has i think at 6 bucks a bottle. i too am a beer snob but its not the same as wine.  i think in a blind taste test you'd be hard pressed to pick out the wine you thought you liked the best vs my 5 dollar bottle of a similar grape.  Same thing goes for Miller is better than Bud ... no and in a blind taste test you cant tell the difference.

My wife actually did the beer test at her work for an intern project 5 years ago.  everyone wrote down their favorite beer before tasting and they were all trying to make that one win.  well the finals was
1. PBR
2. Busch light
3. Old Milwaukee

no one had those beers.  now can you tell a hop stoopid from a budlight yeah.  or the difference in ranger piney hops from schlafly tasmanian citrus hops yes.  but wine is closer to my light beer is better than your light beer. and you can find very good sub 5 dollars bottles of wine.

Laura33

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #82 on: February 08, 2017, 03:33:54 PM »
15 dollars isnt a reasonable bottle of wine.  thats a fancy pants expensive bottle of wine.

i assume the rest of your reasonablity follows this assumption above

it sounds as if you are trying to call someone out unjustly boarder42. did you not mention that you spend $250/m on drinking alcohol? IMO $15 bottle is decent. I think if one is to spend money on drinking it should be of value.

I took no offense.   One of the best things about this forum is that people challenge you on what you consider "normal" or "reasonable".  Hearing other viewpoints is how you get ideas to improve, even if you don't implement every suggestion.  I would have never thought of slicing chicken breasts up before serving to see if we would eat less, and thanks to Raenia I have an experiment to run later this week.  Implementing boarder42's ad check / store visit routine seems a bit of a cumbersome process and we've always chosen the convenience (laziness) of shopping at one store.  Dragging two little kids into multiple stores while grocery shopping is a PITA, and we generally dislike Aldi's (admittedly due to the taste of their processed foods compared to name brands, and we should be eliminating most of those items from our diet anyway), but it might be worth seeing if their meat and produce prices are low enough to make a special trip there worthwhile.  I do have a goal of cutting our $840 down to about $700 this year, so a bunch of the information in this thread is going to be considered.

Back to booze -- We will generally drink the ~$8 price point for gewurtztraminer (the only white I actually enjoy) / riesling / moscato / chardonnay, but we prefer slightly more expensive reds that are usually in the $12 - $20 range.  The Kirkland old vine zinfandel that was at Costco for $8.99 a bottle a few months ago was pretty good, though, and we bought a case of it.  My wife and I find that we can tell the difference between a $4, $8, $15, and a $25 bottle, but we're generally unimpressed with anything more expensive than that.  For reds, the $15 - $20 price point is the best value (flavor / price) for us.  We have a handful of "go-to" wines, and we buy them whenever they are on sale.  I am a total beer snob and while I can enjoy fizzy yellow garbage (Bud / Miller / Coors) around the fire pit with the neighbors, I prefer higher end craft beers and enjoy trying new ones frequently.  Should I probably drink less and save some money?  Sure.  Do I want to?  Nope!  And if my choice was tap water or a $4 bottle of red wine, I would probably choose the tap water, lol.

you should try the columbia crest cab that costco has i think at 6 bucks a bottle. i too am a beer snob but its not the same as wine.  i think in a blind taste test you'd be hard pressed to pick out the wine you thought you liked the best vs my 5 dollar bottle of a similar grape.  Same thing goes for Miller is better than Bud ... no and in a blind taste test you cant tell the difference.

My wife actually did the beer test at her work for an intern project 5 years ago.  everyone wrote down their favorite beer before tasting and they were all trying to make that one win.  well the finals was
1. PBR
2. Busch light
3. Old Milwaukee

no one had those beers.  now can you tell a hop stoopid from a budlight yeah.  or the difference in ranger piney hops from schlafly tasmanian citrus hops yes.  but wine is closer to my light beer is better than your light beer. and you can find very good sub 5 dollars bottles of wine.

Man, I truly wish this would work for me, but, yeah, I have yet to find a $5 wine I can drink.  I am super-sensitive to certain flavors, especially bitter or acidic flavors, and I don't like cabs or merlot or pinot or zin (basically, if Robert Parker likes it, I find it undrinkable).  It's not that I insist on froofy fancy wine; I love me a cheap Moscato d'Asti, and I have yet to find a fancy French red that I like at any price.  But the only wines I consistently like are specific grapes from specific areas -- and all of those areas are on the other side of an ocean (my favorite Moscato is $5-6 in Italy, but $20+ in my store).  I keep trying; just last month I was thrilled to find a $14 bottle of red from New Mexico that I liked, which may be my cheapest red ever.  So my solution is more like nobody123's: most of the time I drink water or tea, and then I open a bottle every few weeks.

Then again, I'm also not complaining about how impossible it is to get my grocery budget down. :-)  Wine is an optional luxury.

Fire2025

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #83 on: February 08, 2017, 06:03:34 PM »
Man, I truly wish this would work for me, but, yeah, I have yet to find a $5 wine I can drink.  I am super-sensitive to certain flavors, especially bitter or acidic flavors, and I don't like cabs or merlot or pinot or zin (basically, if Robert Parker likes it, I find it undrinkable).  It's not that I insist on froofy fancy wine; I love me a cheap Moscato d'Asti, and I have yet to find a fancy French red that I like at any price.  But the only wines I consistently like are specific grapes from specific areas -- and all of those areas are on the other side of an ocean (my favorite Moscato is $5-6 in Italy, but $20+ in my store).  I keep trying; just last month I was thrilled to find a $14 bottle of red from New Mexico that I liked, which may be my cheapest red ever.  So my solution is more like nobody123's: most of the time I drink water or tea, and then I open a bottle every few weeks.

Then again, I'm also not complaining about how impossible it is to get my grocery budget down. :-)  Wine is an optional luxury.

Laura33, I also really hate super dry acidic wine.  I have found I like a lot of Malbecs, they are are from Argentina and I tend to also like the less expensive ones, so woohoo.   I also like Apothic Red it's a blend and is on sale all the time!!!  Not fancy wines, but yummy.

The Fake Cheap

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #84 on: February 08, 2017, 06:51:23 PM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget?   2 adults and 1 toddler
Monthly Food Budget*?  $900-$1000 Cdn
Monthly Household Supplies Budget? Included

We buy lots of organic, which is really expensive here in Atlantic Canada.  My wife just spent $4.89 for an organic zucchini tonight for example. The total also includes eating out (maybe $40/month and about $60 for coffee at work 2-3 per week each)I would love to have the bill down to the $700 range, but doesn't seem like it is ever going to happen.   

boarder42

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #85 on: February 09, 2017, 06:02:45 AM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget?   2 adults and 1 toddler
Monthly Food Budget*?  $900-$1000 Cdn
Monthly Household Supplies Budget? Included

We buy lots of organic, which is really expensive here in Atlantic Canada.  My wife just spent $4.89 for an organic zucchini tonight for example. The total also includes eating out (maybe $40/month and about $60 for coffee at work 2-3 per week each)I would love to have the bill down to the $700 range, but doesn't seem like it is ever going to happen.

not with that attitude it wont.. 4.89 for an "organic" zucchini really.  cmon. you can feed a family of 4 for 4.89.  so you wouldnt love to have it at 700 or lower you intentionally arent trying to get there through choices.

How can you feed 4 for 4.89
Cauliflower is on sale at my local grocery store 1 head will feed 4 people - 1.19
Chicken is on sale thighs at aldi - 69c per pound even at 1 lb per human that only - 2.76
we just spent 3.95 to feed a family of 4.  and thats a lot of extra food in there.

until you start thinking whats on sale and cooking from that you cant reduce your spending. if you go to the store to buy ingredients for a planned meal without checking the ads and planning your meal around that AND what you have in stock then yes you'll never get there.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2017, 06:07:15 AM by boarder42 »

LindseyC

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #86 on: February 09, 2017, 06:32:37 AM »
I am one adult and one cat - in GTA, Ontario, Canada

My goals for 2017 is to average:

$200 for groceries
$30 for consumables (toiletries, kitchen supplies, cleaning supplies and cat supplies)
$50 for eating out

However after spending $155 in January eating out (weekend wedding blew the budget) I realized that I would rather put that $50 towards groceries because it goes so much further. So now I am just trying to avoid eating out entirely. I'm lucky in that my friend group does a lot of in house socializing and we usually do pot luck events.

I'm tracking every dollar I spend this year and breaking it down into specific categories which has really helped me appreciate how much money I actually spend. It has definitely made me more aware of my spending, hopefully in a few months I can update and say my averages are right on target!

nobody123

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #87 on: February 09, 2017, 09:35:39 AM »
<snip>

you should try the columbia crest cab that costco has i think at 6 bucks a bottle. i too am a beer snob but its not the same as wine.  i think in a blind taste test you'd be hard pressed to pick out the wine you thought you liked the best vs my 5 dollar bottle of a similar grape.  Same thing goes for Miller is better than Bud ... no and in a blind taste test you cant tell the difference.

My wife actually did the beer test at her work for an intern project 5 years ago.  everyone wrote down their favorite beer before tasting and they were all trying to make that one win.  well the finals was
1. PBR
2. Busch light
3. Old Milwaukee

no one had those beers.  now can you tell a hop stoopid from a budlight yeah.  or the difference in ranger piney hops from schlafly tasmanian citrus hops yes.  but wine is closer to my light beer is better than your light beer. and you can find very good sub 5 dollars bottles of wine.

Where I live, the state sets the minimum prices on bottles of wine / beer / liquor as well as dictates what can be sold in the state.  When "2 Buck Chuck" was all the rage, it was $3.99 here, for example, and didn't arrive for like a year after it became popular.  I can't recall seeing any reds at Costco for less than $8.  Thanks for the tip, I'll check and see if the CC cab is there or in our grocery store.  We have been trying some more red blends, and generally find them palatable in the $10-$12 range.  We used to routinely buy wine by the case (the state allows a 10% discount if you do so), but found out we just drank it more often because it was there, so we stopped doing that.  I have had a decent amount of success the last couple months pairing a wine with a mail-in rebate and an Ibotta rebate to get some for close to $5 net, but now that the holidays are over the "commodity" wines have cut back on the rebates.

I can tell the difference between Bud Light, Miller Lite, and Coors Light, and I'd put PBR ahead of them too.  I actually have a 12 pack of Natty Light in my beer fridge right now ($7.99 - $4 Ibotta rebate, so $4.53 after tax) that my wife won't touch but is fine for my second or third beers of the night.

kanga1622

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #88 on: February 09, 2017, 11:58:40 AM »
We are a family of four (two growing but young boys).

We have a grocery budget of $500 per month (although in 4 week months I sometimes skate through on $400 if we don't need to stock up on meat). This includes everything purchased at the grocery store or Walmart that is edible.

Our household budget is currently $40 but seems to be a bit low. This has to cover all toiletries, toilet paper, dishwasher tabs, and laundry tabs. Yes, I know we could save money using liquid laundry or dishwasher soap but with little kids it has been easier to teach them to put in one packet before starting appliances. This way even the 3 year old can turn on the dishwasher (if we get the soap out of the cabinet for him).

jeninco

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #89 on: February 09, 2017, 01:35:58 PM »
2 adults, 2 teenage boys. About $800/month, including milk delivery and the half steer we buy each year. And cleaning supplies.

It's high. But we eat out approximately never, we buy almost no convenience  or pre-prepared food, and we cook about everything from fundamental parts: Meat, dried beans, vegetables.  The older kid looked at a completely full fridge last week and said "why isn't there anything to eat in here", meaning "it's all basic components that require assembly, there's nothing I can grab and eat." My goal is to have an empty refrigerator on Friday evening/Sat morning before we go grocery shopping. We eat very, very well, but haven't thrown out food in a while.

We also have 2 cats, but their stuff is calculated elsewhere.

I laughed at the older kid's comment. My child does this all the time! I'm always pointing out there is this and that. "but I am too lazy to make it". Exactly. haha.

To his credit, he made a double batch (24) of pineapple-upside-down muffins a few hours later. And hid half in a ziploc bag in the way far back of the freezer, where he figured no one else would look :^)

The Fake Cheap

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #90 on: February 09, 2017, 08:02:26 PM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget?   2 adults and 1 toddler
Monthly Food Budget*?  $900-$1000 Cdn
Monthly Household Supplies Budget? Included

We buy lots of organic, which is really expensive here in Atlantic Canada.  My wife just spent $4.89 for an organic zucchini tonight for example. The total also includes eating out (maybe $40/month and about $60 for coffee at work 2-3 per week each)I would love to have the bill down to the $700 range, but doesn't seem like it is ever going to happen.

not with that attitude it wont.. 4.89 for an "organic" zucchini really.  cmon. you can feed a family of 4 for 4.89.  so you wouldnt love to have it at 700 or lower you intentionally arent trying to get there through choices.

How can you feed 4 for 4.89
Cauliflower is on sale at my local grocery store 1 head will feed 4 people - 1.19
Chicken is on sale thighs at aldi - 69c per pound even at 1 lb per human that only - 2.76
we just spent 3.95 to feed a family of 4.  and thats a lot of extra food in there.

until you start thinking whats on sale and cooking from that you cant reduce your spending. if you go to the store to buy ingredients for a planned meal without checking the ads and planning your meal around that AND what you have in stock then yes you'll never get there.

I agree planning your meals around the sales is the way to go.  So how do I stop my wife from going to the grocery store basically located next to her work on her way home and buying whatever she feels like?  The zucchini was for a bread she is making for our 3 year old who is a very fussy eater.  The cashews she buys (organic) are also killing me, twice as much as non organic.  Again, these are for the little one who basically doesn't eat meat, he's a fussy eater, so they serve as a protein for him, however that doesn't mean I'm on board with that, I think non organic would be fine. I'm just going to add that while we struggle with grocery costs, we do well on most other areas.

By the way, no Aldi's around here in Canada, and we do shop for sales, however we have limited freezer space, so we can't stock up on frozen items (meat, chicken) which we don't each that much of anyway.  I do also stock up on sale items when possible.

boarder42

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #91 on: February 10, 2017, 04:07:57 AM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget?   2 adults and 1 toddler
Monthly Food Budget*?  $900-$1000 Cdn
Monthly Household Supplies Budget? Included

We buy lots of organic, which is really expensive here in Atlantic Canada.  My wife just spent $4.89 for an organic zucchini tonight for example. The total also includes eating out (maybe $40/month and about $60 for coffee at work 2-3 per week each)I would love to have the bill down to the $700 range, but doesn't seem like it is ever going to happen.

not with that attitude it wont.. 4.89 for an "organic" zucchini really.  cmon. you can feed a family of 4 for 4.89.  so you wouldnt love to have it at 700 or lower you intentionally arent trying to get there through choices.

How can you feed 4 for 4.89
Cauliflower is on sale at my local grocery store 1 head will feed 4 people - 1.19
Chicken is on sale thighs at aldi - 69c per pound even at 1 lb per human that only - 2.76
we just spent 3.95 to feed a family of 4.  and thats a lot of extra food in there.

until you start thinking whats on sale and cooking from that you cant reduce your spending. if you go to the store to buy ingredients for a planned meal without checking the ads and planning your meal around that AND what you have in stock then yes you'll never get there.

I agree planning your meals around the sales is the way to go.  So how do I stop my wife from going to the grocery store basically located next to her work on her way home and buying whatever she feels like?  The zucchini was for a bread she is making for our 3 year old who is a very fussy eater.  The cashews she buys (organic) are also killing me, twice as much as non organic.  Again, these are for the little one who basically doesn't eat meat, he's a fussy eater, so they serve as a protein for him, however that doesn't mean I'm on board with that, I think non organic would be fine. I'm just going to add that while we struggle with grocery costs, we do well on most other areas.

By the way, no Aldi's around here in Canada, and we do shop for sales, however we have limited freezer space, so we can't stock up on frozen items (meat, chicken) which we don't each that much of anyway.  I do also stock up on sale items when possible.

Really?!?? How do you stop your wife. You get on the same page you have a conversation about it. Or you offer to do all the grocery shopping

MrsPB

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #92 on: February 10, 2017, 05:41:14 AM »
How many people and/or animals fall under this budget?   2 adults and 1 toddler
Monthly Food Budget*?  $900-$1000 Cdn
Monthly Household Supplies Budget? Included

We buy lots of organic, which is really expensive here in Atlantic Canada.  My wife just spent $4.89 for an organic zucchini tonight for example. The total also includes eating out (maybe $40/month and about $60 for coffee at work 2-3 per week each)I would love to have the bill down to the $700 range, but doesn't seem like it is ever going to happen.

not with that attitude it wont.. 4.89 for an "organic" zucchini really.  cmon. you can feed a family of 4 for 4.89.  so you wouldnt love to have it at 700 or lower you intentionally arent trying to get there through choices.

How can you feed 4 for 4.89
Cauliflower is on sale at my local grocery store 1 head will feed 4 people - 1.19
Chicken is on sale thighs at aldi - 69c per pound even at 1 lb per human that only - 2.76
we just spent 3.95 to feed a family of 4.  and thats a lot of extra food in there.

until you start thinking whats on sale and cooking from that you cant reduce your spending. if you go to the store to buy ingredients for a planned meal without checking the ads and planning your meal around that AND what you have in stock then yes you'll never get there.

I agree there are ways to spend less but I'm in Atlantic Canada too and those prices just do not exist. A Cauliflower is usually around $4 (at one point last year for a number of reasons, they were $8 apiece!). Same with meat, we cannot compare with the US prices. Chicken typically around the $3-$4/lb mark....I would pass out if I saw it at $0.69 /lb!

I'm not buying $4 zucchini but I work hard at our grocery budget and make a lot from scratch (we have some food limitations due to allergies) and all in, with diapers, dog food ($40-$50/mth) household supplies, coffee/dining out (minimal), we are not far off $1000/month for 2 adults and  a 1 and 3 yr old who get lunch and two snacks provided to them by daycare 5 days a week. Remember $1k Canadian is a lot less than $1k USD. Just wanted to make that point when comparing Canadian spending to US. I know there are Canadians that spend less but generally by nature of our food prices and $, most will come out quite a bit higher than US equivalent. And we don't have Aldi or Lidl in many places.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2017, 05:46:13 AM by MrsPB »

Retire-Canada

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #93 on: February 10, 2017, 07:39:01 AM »
Remember $1k Canadian is a lot less than $1k USD. Just wanted to make that point when comparing Canadian spending to US. I know there are Canadians that spend less but generally by nature of our food prices and $, most will come out quite a bit higher than US equivalent. And we don't have Aldi or Lidl in many places.

I do the conversion between USD and CAD when reading forum posts. It makes me feel a lot better about my savings and FIRE $$$ target.  I travel a lot in the US and every time I go to a grocery store I look at the pile of stuff I am buying then the total on the screen and I feel like the cashier must have missed something.

sjc0816

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Re: What's your Monthly Grocery & Household Supplies Budget?
« Reply #94 on: February 10, 2017, 08:01:19 AM »
We spend $1,000 a month on average. It is by far, our biggest expense and I've tried to get it down. This includes all household items, cleaning items and alcohol (alcohol is probably $60/month). Family of 4 with two boys, 11 and 8 (my 11 year old eats constantly). I make their lunches to take to school every day and since I work AND volunteer a lot....I do buy some convenience items for their lunches like applesauce pouches, yogurts and granola/granola bars. This adds up when we are doing 10 packed lunches a week. Also, it used to be that I could make a huge batch of spaghetti sauce and get two dinners out of that. Now, we are lucky to get one dinner and a lunch for DH. This impacts the budget a lot.

We don't eat out much.... I meal plan weekly and plan my meals around sales. I have NEVER seen deals like many people post on here, though. Our meat is expensive - the cheapest I've ever found chicken legs/thighs is $1.70 a pound. I have NEVER found meat under $1 a lb here. I do buy grass fed beef (but we only eat it maybe 2x per month).

DH comes home for lunch every day and I work from home - so this budget includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for our whole family. I also anticipate that this cost will increase as my boys continue to grow and play sports - they are active kids. OR, I'll need to cut back on something to be able to do more "scratch" cooking at home for things like granola, etc....but I don't see that happening anytime soon. It's an expense that we are okay with during this season of our lives.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!