How Much Are You Spending on Groceries Every Month?

Hi, one tip I have for you is to look into a CSA farm (stands for Community Supported Agriculture). You can find one in your area on LocalHarvest.org. You may find that joining one will bring you cheaper, healthy food. You just have to be ready to deal with an over abundance of some (possibly unfamiliar to you) vegetables at certain times of the year.

Oh, another organization to look into is Angel Food Ministries. Some of their food is a little too processed for me , but it is really good resource for budget stretching.

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We're a family of eight. My husband and I, and six kids from 14 down to 21 months. And I am pregnant with babies #7 and #8 right now!

We spend about $700 on groceries/toiletries/etc a month. I only feed my family organic and natural food. I buy a LOT in bulk, from a co-op. I almost never buy something if it isn't on sale. When it's on sale, I stock up. We have two deep freezers in the basement. We keep them stocked with organic meat we get from a local farmer, as well as venison my husband gets during hunting season. We stock them with poultry (same deal; local farmer). I've got loads of vegetables in there that I've put up from our garden and from the farmer's markets. If you buy vegetables and fruits "by the bushel" they're cheaper. Then it's a matter of putting it up; either in the freezer or by canning.

We have a big garden for produce, chickens for eggs (and meat) and goats for milk. I also make fresh almond, hemp and soy milk instead of buying it.

I don't use disposable diapers, I cloth diaper, so that's very little expense all told. For cleaning products I use vinegar, baking soda, and these wonderful things called E-clothes. They're a bit expensive at first, but they clean using JUST WATER which is fabulous!!

We don't drink, so no beer or wine. We use natural cures for illnesses. Even the items for my menstrual cycle are reusable, cloth pads and sponges.

I know we spend less money than the average family of 8, but we do do a lot of sustainable living and growing our own. Not to mention that buying in bulk helps a LOT.

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We're a family of 3 and I easily spend $150 per week.

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I think 600-800 is completely reasonable for a family that does not eat much prepackaged/refined food.

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I would say at least $600.00 and I don't think we're excessive at all. I too have really simplified my cleaning products and have gone to using vinegar and water to mop my floors. I think I could be better about using coupons but find that they are often for things I don't buy. I know you can go to Stonyfield Yogurt's website and print off coupons for their products, it's $.50 off yogurt/milk. Beer/wine also really adds up, we're not big drinkers but it's nice to have. For medicines we always buy/use generic brands. I think I'm going to look for the previous thread for ideas.

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My tip, give him the grocery list and let him go shopping. Letting him see things from your prospective. Then he will see how difficult it might be to stay in the budget.
I found buying lunch meat from the deli counter can be more for your money if you make them cut it very thin. My mom also buys her bacon from the deli counter when it goes on sale.
Scan your newspapers and join coupon clipping sites for help. Its hard, but you can do it.
Unless you use coupons that will be doubled or tripled by the store, its easier to use coupons where the price is cheapest. I take my coupons everywhere and try to combine a sale price with a coupon. Even $0.55 is money saved. It all adds up soon enough.
Maybe plan to plant a vegetable garden next year. It may save lots of money for those veggies and fruits. And you cant get any more organic than in your back yard.

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I'm feeding three people, four dogs, and twelve cats on a couple hundred a month, and we eat very well. I buy very few convenience foods, cook from scratch. We don't eat meat at every meal.
Winn-Dixie has a store brand equivalent of 7th Generation, so I can get environmentally friendly detergents and toilet paper. I seldom use paper towels. I use rags for most messes, and a roll of paper towels lasts six months. I buy Yesterday's News cat litter - made from recycled newspaper.

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I don't coupon much, I watch for food cycles instead. An example is cheerios. This week the family size box was 1.99 a box, but 6 weeks ago is was 5.99 a box and 12 weeks ago is was 2.98 a box. Cheerios are on a 12 week cycle here where every 12 weeks we get a low price. If a coupon too I could get the cheerios for even less. You should keep a journal and figure out the cycles and stock up.

I spend 600 a month for all clothing, school supplies, household goods and food per month. I have to say, cash is king in my house.

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I spend about the same as you. Like you, I fill my grocery cart with tons of fresh produce, lean meats, etc. Those things are way more expensive than bags of chips! Sometimes I joke that we're going to go broke b/c my daughter can literally eat a pound of strawberries in one day. In the summer it's not so bad, but in the winter those things cost $5.99 each! But I justify it saying I'm glad she's eating healthy. If you can afford to buy all that healthy food for your family, then do it. Tell your husband that what you're spending is pretty average.

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There is just my wife and I, although we usually have one or two of my kids and their families over for Sunday dinner.

We spend $50 per week for the two of us including Sunday dinner. That $50 per week includes other consumeables too like dog food and toilet paper and detergent.

I cook from scratch and that saves a lot of money. I also buy stuff ahead when it goes on sale. I buy toilet paper usually twice per year because it seems to go on a real good sale twice per year. Noodles/pasta went on sale, 6 7 oz packages for $1 so I bought 50 pounds of it. Now when pasta is back up to $1 for 12 to 16 oz, I'm enjoying my 42 oz for a $1 pasta even more. I like corned beef so I usually buy several packages of corned beef at St Patricks's Day and have it several times during the year. Why? Because corned beef is cheaper at St Patrick's Day than at any other time of the year.

BTW, I don't buy meat or vegetables at Sams or Costco because I can beat their prices all the time at my local grocery stores.

If you have any questions, e-mail me. Good luck to you and yours.

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us too, but frz veg help

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We eat about like you do and spend 125/wk on groceries, but it just isn't quite enough. It's killing me - I've literally cried in my car a few times after I leave the store. We're a family of 6 with 4 boys under 7 who are all big eaters. We buy pastured beef, chicken, and pork in bulk from a local farmer. It's not butchered organically, but it's the best we can do with the price. We buy eggs from truly free range chickens (not fake free range like at the store) from another farmer. I buy organic milk when it's on clearance and I buy every single one with those beautiful orange clearance tags - take a little out of the carton and freeze the rest. Although, someone on here said they get milk for 1.50 at Trader Joe's, so I've got to look into that.

We either don't have or I make all our snack food. No crackers, chips, etc. I pop popcorn sometimes to keep on hand for treats. I only buy 2 boxes of cereal a week and make breakfast the other days. The eggs at 2.50/dz is cheaper for breakfast than cereal at even $2.00/box (which it never seems to be even with coupons anymore).

I make my own tortillas when I can and try to make muffins or something for breakfast or snacks. They eat a TON of fruit and veggies. I know we spend a lot, but I really think it's cheaper to pay the grocer than the doctor.

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Someone asked this question a couple of days ago and there were a lot of great answers - if you look back you can probably find the thread pretty easily. Check it out, it was an eye opener!

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I'm not sure how much we spend solely on food. But for our food & household necessities, we spend $600. That's for all foods, as well as any other normal things we might need like toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, wetwipes, small amounts of clothes (large amounts I would budget separately for), and more that I can't think of.

We have two adults and four kids. We don't buy beer/wine, chips, treats, etc... Our snacks are apples/bananas/grapes. We buy a large order of organic beef about twice a year and keep it in our deep freeze. I've done couponing in the past, but I've found a lot of the food wasn't the type of food I would eat. I don't do prepackaged and a lot if it was. So, I'm not sure you'd find anything good with couponing.

I make a grocery list once a week based off of recipes I'm going to be cooking. I pull out seven recipes, look through the ingredients, and create the list from that. You might already do that, but it helps to preplan meals. We don't eat out. Hubby brings lunch to work - usually leftovers from dinner the night before.

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The best thing I did to get my husband off my back about the grocery bill was to send him shopping when I was unable to go. That really opened his eyes.
Like you, I buy only all natural or organic foods, and little pre-packaged stuff. I do buy some snack crackers and granola bars, fruit snacks.
I wish those companies that I buy often would put out coupons. The truth is, there are very little coupons for the good stuff.

You can make stuff from scratch. The raw ingredients are always cheaper. I also stock up when things are on sale. We have a chest freezer that is usually full. I also buy in bulk at Costco (carried MUCH better food than Sams) and has all natural and organic store brands.

I noticed another poster said she would buy the $6 a pound strawberries out of season. I teach my boys to only eat fruits and veggies that are in season- they are cheaper and usually fresher, as they have not traveled as far or have been in cold storage for a while. THis also helps them appreciate a budget and foods they may not have eaten otherwise.

I also have a garden and I can or freeze what we don't use right away. I grow the usual suspects and some things that are expensive at the grocery store (ex: my family LOVES picante sauce. Peppers are the most expensive part of the picante, so I grow them. This year, I even grew the onions.)
The HEB Central market store brands are really good too. I buy a lot of those.

There are 5 of us (3 growing boys) and I spend $1000 or more on food each month. That is everything put together- HEB, Target, Costco. It is the biggest chunk of our budget.

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I buy groceries for my family of four, which includes a child with special dietary needs (Celiac disease and dairy intolerance), for about $575 a month. I shop at four different stores to get the best deals on everything, and only buy organic when it really makes a difference...sometimes, it really doesn't. I use coupons (store and manufacture) on anything I would normally buy, but not on things I wouldn't buy...

...also, we buy mostly whole foods...prepackaged stuff doesn't work for our family, in general. Also, look for cheap staples...rice, for example.

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we probably max out at six hundred. we shop at sams for the paper plates (which i hate but i managed to compermise to paper from my hubbys life long use of styrophome its slow progress) i also get paper towels and toliet paper from sams! i have seen extream coupon show where they got all this for free. but were a smaller city and dont have the competition for doubling coupons, or store credit for copons. they have lots of tricks to get things for free! but we get paper towels for about 20 bucks and toliet paper is about 15 bucks and this will last us a month and a half. so thats not a big savings per month. we also started shopping at a save a lot store. it has off brand name items (the tuna off brand was horrible) we save lots there. we avoid the meat section. but that store too is slowly creeping up. we buy canned products and generic cereal there. also fresh fruit. if your good a picking those things...but they arent organic. some fruits and veggies dont absorbe as much posions as others and rinsing them with vinegar can remove the outside toxic stuff. i doubt gardening would cut costs dramaticaly. farmers markets might have some organic choices and you can haggle with them. espicaly at the end of the day. good luck.

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My husband & I spend about $150-$200/wk = about $600-$800/mo and it's just the two of us. Sounds like we eat relatively the same. Mostly fresh, very few prepackaged items. We both bring lunches to work. So we have cut out the fast foods. We also buy napkins, beer/wine, paper towels, medicines, and such, at the grocery store.

Best of luck trying to cut back. I try to use as many coupons as possible, but agree it is mostly prepackaged or name brand.

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I spend anywhere from 250 to 300 every other week for a family of 4.

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We typically spend about $275/ week for a family of 6. Some of that includes things I buy when they are on sale to stock up my pantry.

I've found that if I use a coupon on an item that's on sale I can get it for less than the store brand products. There are coupons for toothpaste, dental floss, hair products, shaving products, paper products, olive oil, canned beans, spices, raisins, dried cranberries. Some common natural food brands have coupons in the Sunday paper at times too. I have a coupon for Cascadian Farms products, for example. I often get coupons for Eggland's Best cage free and organic. Some weeks are better than others.
Good luck :)

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Your situation sounds VERY similar to mine - we have 5 people, but only 4 eaters. We eat organic milk, meat, etc.

However, we have our chickens so we have our own eggs and chicken.

We use natural cleaning products just like you do too! Are you me?! lol

We spend about $600 per month total including medicines, diapers, misc, etc. You can definitely lower your number if you try. And you can do so without coupons. I find coupons work when I am buying things like toothpaste, hair products, etc. I rarely find coupons worth using for food items other than cookies or something we only buy occasionally.

Good luck!

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We spend about $250 a month for our family of three. (for food, toiletries, and paper products.) Me, my husband, our two year old. I use coupons for toiletries and paper products. I use coupons on seventh generation cleaning products. We cook everything. I don't buy "snacks." Snacks for us are fruits and veggies, or leftovers. My son eats whatever meal we do. I don't buy too much meat, since we have large potions of veggies and small portions of meat.

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$600 flat for 3 people. It's a cash budget. I'd spend 1k if I could buy what I wanted, when I wanted, and $1500 if I went totally organic / better quality in general. (aka we buy the cheap $1 bread, instead of the normal $4 bread, or the $6 better bread).

I shop sales like *crazy* in order to stay at $600 (really expensive area, Normal milk is $4 per half gallon, lunch meat is $10 per pound, Chicken is $6 for dark, $9 for white -NOT- organic, etc.) Our local grocery prices have actually dropped quite a bit. Last year, they were 20-30% higher than they are now. HUGE relief.

I can even break SOME of it down for you

Milk: $60
Eggs: $30
Cereal : $20
Soda: $30
Fruits and Veggies (mix of organic and not) : $120
Frozen stuff: $50-$100
Cleaning supplies: $60
Dogfood: $35
_______________________
that alone eats up more than half to 2/3s of my budget

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I have $500 budgeted for my family of 6. I try to watch sales and use coupons. We could probably eat better if I had a way to increase tha part of our budget. :-/

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~$400/mo for our family of 6. When meat is on sale or clearance I buy a bunch and freeze it. I use coupons only for items we normally eat and I shop for those items when they are on sale and buy in bulk. I am a brand snob for my personal items, toilet paper, and laundry detergent so when they go on an awesome sale I buy enough to last until the next big sale. I have to buy diapers for 3 so I let my friends know what brand I use and they give me the coupons that they don't need. I make my weekly menu off of what I have in the freezer and pantry so I can use that week's grocery budget for buying sale items in bulk to stock my pantry and freezer.

I am a full-time student so when I am in the middle of a crazy quarter I usually just eat out of the freezer and pantry and don't shop for anything but milk and eggs. We ate for 3 months without having to shop for anything milk, eggs, bread, and the rare occasional filler for a meal. I really like doing it this way also because my husband's work usually slows down in the winter so it is nice to have a full pantry to get us through the tighter months without having to worry about food.

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$600-800 a month is really not bad for a family of four. I spend around $600-650/month on a family of three. I totally understand it being frustrating seeing all of the boxed food on sale when all u want to do is buy fresh as possible. I rarely find coupons for anything food related I will buy. I do usually find them for my paper goods and toiletries. I shop at kroger and use the kroger app for those coupons. So easy, never have to do any cutting or carrying around paper coupons! I think sending your husband on a couple of shopping trips is definitely a great idea!

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I just have me and my husband to feed and I'm pretty sure we spend at least 5 to 6 hundred a month for groceries. It sucks. It's the biggest expense we have.
I do buy all my non food items at walmart tho, that sort of helps I'm sure. Buying TP and Detergents and such at the grocery store is generally always more pricey.

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We spend about $600/mo for our family of three and that includes diapers, personal hygene items too. I buy what is in season as far as fruit and veggies go and sometimes will freeze them for later. I use some coupons and buy on sale but there are some brands that I prefer. We don't eat a lot of prepackaged stuff either, sometimes a frozen family dinner if I am pressed for time. My DH hunts so alot of our meat is venison, game birds ect. I do buy pork chops and steaks from the meat market not the grocery store and that helps save a little bit and since it is on my way home I am not using anymore gas than normal. We are expecting baby #2 in Feb so I am sure that the budget will go up after that. And yes grocery prices and gone up it seems that I am having to cut back on some things and be more creative and stretch my meals. On the bright side gas here was down a penny per gallon from last week,lol.

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We just had some potato soup which is economical and yeah, it's a bit fattening too. You can add a lot more veggies to it. We do too much pasta and oatmeal and things like that to save money. We buy for an average of 10 people and spend around 1200 per month.

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