Cost of Groceries

As others mentioned meal planning is great and double what you make and freeze. I too have decided not to buy high fructose corn syrup because of my son's allergy to corn. I found that Trader Joe's has the best prices on healthier products and organic items. I don't get hooked into the snacky things there, but items like their pasta sauce, frozen veggies, waffles, bread, nuts, peanut butter, etc are saving us tons of money vs. Cub.
Good luck!

I spend about $150 a week for 2 adults and a toddler! We eat mostly vegetarian with some fish and mostly organic. Sounds like you're doing great!

First of all, you will want to get your Costco card back. You can get your staple meats (hamburger, chicken breasts, pork chops, etc., frozen/fresh vegetables, and your beloved baking goods in bulk for a really great price! (stay away from the things you don't need) Then once a month, take a weekend and get the whole family involved in making several complete meals together. (5-10 complete meals- this will not be your only dinner source, you will need to make fresh meals off and on, but geez, the savings in buying bulk and preparing everything at once is awesome!) Then portion freeze everything! You'll have 'fast food' all month for a fraction of the cost, you control the ingredients for a healthier choice, and you have save a TON of time because dinner is already done. Plus, the one weekend a month can be a great family bonding time. It has worked wonders with people I know and even in my own house. We did something similar when my kids were young. Hang in there, cut coupons and love that family! Sounds like you have a great family! :)

You have gotten a lot of great advice so far. I wanted to chip in that while I don't strictly track some of the things you do (such as high fructose corn syrup) I feed our family of 4 plus for 5 days a week I also feed 3 extra kiddos breakfast, lunch, and snack. I spend about $100 a week at Hy-Vee, and that includes any diapers (I use cloth mostly), wipes for 5 little ones (I provide them for my daycare kiddos while they are here since I used them for after meal clean ups, tough nose clean ups, etc), and all our cleaning supplies. I buy a lot of generic items, but I do go for low-fat and "light" when I can. I buy meat when it is on sale and freeze it. I also keep most of our meals VERY simple. Having a busy husband, a busy teenager, and not having a ton of energy left at the end of the day, we only have a "big" meal once or twice a week. Otherwise dinner is simple like sandwiches, cheese tortilla roll-ups, grilled cheese, etc.

I make out my menu for each week including breakfast and snacks for the kids and make my list from there. Then we have certain staple items I restock each week as needed like bread, milk, sandwich meat, tortillas (seriously, we use them for SO many things!!), orange juice, etc. I also use coupons whenever I can.

There is the Grocery Game. www.grocerygame.com I believe, but not sure. I used to do it, but then when I had my son and soon after got very busy and frazzled with my daycare enrollment, I didn't have the time. I am going to start it up again. If you pick up the Sunday paper with that coupon booklet, Source, in it, as well as your own grocery store's weekly/bi-weekly ads, you are set! This site will give you a specific list of what the best deals are at your particular store. For example, say Source had a coupon for product A a few weeks ago, and this week your grocery store has that product on sale, it is extra savings over just using that coupon right away. Make sense? It is time consuming though as you need to clip any coupon you might need and find a way to store them so you can find them again, like one of those small accordian files (what I used). When you are getting a $4.00 item for mere penny's it is AWESOME!

There is a program out there that is called fare for all or fare share its a not a food program but without anyother thing to call it I will call it a program. It is where people go together and the money buys boxes of food at a reduced rate. IF you call your local WIC office you can get the information from them. IT doesnt matter what your income is low or high anyone can participate. If I can help anymore lt me know.
J.

For starters, if you don't already participate in WIC please please do so. I was a little stand offish until I discovered that it is a huge benefit to dairy farmers financially as well as a huge help on your pocketbook. With the cost of milk products skyrocketing it helps more then you think. I agree with what everyone says about planning. There are so many awesome ideas here, so maybe take a couple of months and try one or two ideas a month until you find the one that benefits you the most. I was diagnosed with diabetes last year as well as some heart issues so our menus have changed drastically. But eating healthy is definitely not cheap. I buy a 1/4 of a cow for red meat and that lasts me a year (family of three). It is lowfat meat without hormones, frozen chicken breasts, and some of the bulk storable stuff I use (Dreamfields Pasta, etc) I found cases of cheaply online. Shop around but with gas prices one stop or close stop shopping saves bundles too!

I shop at Aldi for most of my dairy products.
Shredded cheese is roughly 2.50 for a 3 cup package where as at Cub/Rainbow/ST it's closer to 3.50 or $4. Milk is cheaper there and eggs are roughly .50 cents cheaper. Also if you buy canned veggies, Walmart is a lot cheaper, and I also buy apple sauce and other cereals and canned fruits there when its not in season. $150 does seam high, but its probably on budget for a family of 6. We are only a family of 3 and I spend about $50/75 dollars/ week on groceries.

I have recently heard of a program called "Fare For All". It helps cut down on grocery costs. You can get a meat package for $20 or more. For the $20, you get about $100 worth from the store. It is all fresh meats. They also have a produce package and other packages available. The number in Washington County is ###-###-####. I am sure that there are many locations in other counties. I hope this helps!
M.

I truly understand where you are coming from. One thing that helps reduce your budget is meal planning. Plan all your meals for the week & only shop for what you need instead of going to the store & buying a little of this & that. There is a website www.savingdinner.com that you can get menus with recipes & the shopping lists. It also has money saving tips & a budget menu mailer. It also has crockpot menus that are great.

I don't know how you can go much lower than $150 per week for a family of 6. We spend about $100 per week for a family of 3. (We buy all organic produce and rarely buy prepackaged food).

Hi K.-
I am not sure if you do it already but make a menu. I did the same budgeting stragey for the new year. We too stay away from the additives in food... so I know where you are coming from.
What helped us (we are a family of 5) is making a 2 week menu. Sitting down with all the grocery ads. We go through what is in the house that we can eat and then branch out from there. We now spend around $180 every 2 weeks!! We spend A LOT on milk, about $25, as everyone LOVES it in this house. But this has helped our budget HUGE!!
Good luck!! Eatting healthy is expensive and that is where the companies get us.
R.

If you want to cut out the ingredients you listed above you are going to have to stop buying things that come prepackaged or boxed. As for the eating healthy issue, one tip I can give you is to shop on the "outside" of the grocery store. This simply means to stay where the REAL foods are: fruits, vergetables, meats, milk, cheese, eggs, etc. I rarely ever make it into the actual aisles at any grocery store because besides olive oil, canned tomatoes and a few baking items, there is no need to eat that other stuff. It is not real food - it is processed and altered from its original product. It may seem like it costs more money, but actually what it does cost you more of is time. I spend so much time in the kitchen, actually cooking the food, NOT taking food out the freezer and putting it on the pan and into the oven.

I guess if you must eat prepackaged foods, you could look at the organic items. Usually those will not contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, or many other preservatives. But it will not save you money becasue you are paying for the packaging.

You could also look into joining a food co-op. You can generally get very good deals on fresh, healthy whole foods.

Aldi is always my frist stop for groceries, saves a lot of money. I get many of my veggies/fruit there, as well as my milk and cheese. What I can't get there, I then go to Cub or Rainbow (who ever has the better sales) for the rest.

I think you are doing alright with $150 for a family of 6. We are on a pretty strict budget for food and we allot $500 per month for a family of 4. I use the cub ad to make my grocery list every week..for example, this week if you buy hamburger you get a bunch of stuff free...well, we will be eating spagetti and hamburgers this week. also, we have a sams membership and go there really just to buy meat, milk and dairy items. it is worth the trip. i use aldi in the summer as their produce is super cheap. also am religious about using coupons and a list everytime i go to the store. and yes, there are some great internet coupon sites...also use sites like betty crocker as they have great coupons for their products.

also, i dont buy a lot of pre-packed snacks either..i take the time to put the stuff in my own ziplocs...much cheaper

K.,

I spend about $55 a week for a family of 5. Like another post mentioned we have beef and chicken in the freezer and that helps cut down on our bill. We live on a farm so we plant a garden and that helps the bill in the summer. I am a HUGE coupon user. I spend a lot of time going online to the different websites of the products I use. I have sent emails to them on my thoughts on their products and ask about coupons. These companies have sent me coupons to continue using their products along with sometimes "free" coupons for products. I love going to our Hy-Vee and having to have a manager come over for the "key click" because I have so many coupons. I think your doing great for a family of 5. I wish we had a Sams or Costco around us.

Stick to your list! I spend more when I wonder off and see other items that might be good!
Especially at Costco and Sam's although they are savers in the end sometime if you do it right! You also can go to Costco with a friend or family member in another house and split things! Less waste! I also think $150 is good!

K.,

I agree with Roberta. I make a menu for my family of 4, and it really helps me keep costs down (as long as I stick with it). While I am at the store I only buy those items on my list, or things that are on a good sale that can be used on my next weeks menu. It has helped with my day to have meals all planned out as well. Six is a lot of people to shop for, but you might be able to get it down to $120 or less per week. Also, you could try online coupons. My MIL swears by them.

Good luck!
J.

Sam's Club, Aldi, and Walmart will save you the most.

If you were on foodstamps the government would be giving you a family of 6 roughly what you are paying in groceries so that's what it should be costing you. I'm just trying to say that's what the governement has calculated it would cost to feed a family of 6.

I shop at Aldi and it cuts my bill literally in half.

I have a family of 6 (6,4, and 22 month old twins)and I do daycare
So I am there with ya babe!!

There is a cool program called angel food. See if there is one in you area. You can buy about $65 worth of name brand food and good meat cuts for $30. http://www.angelfoodministries.com/default.asp

I hope we are allowed to post links.

Also, I shop at Walmart for most of my food, diapers etc.. every month. And I use a program online where I can get cash back on a lot of top retailers online even Ebay. I even get cash back on giftcards to places like WalMart and Target. I know I am going to spend hundreds a month at WalMart why not get a return on it?? I look at it this way, I have savings accounts where I get like 3% interest, and that money must sit there for a year. This way I can get the same return on money I am spending and have to spend anyway. My mission is to stop paying interest (I have too many CC) and START EARNING it. I can email anyone interested in this easy free program.
http://www.bigcrumbs.com/crumbs/landing.do?r=greenmonkey4...

We also in the past have bought beef by the quarter of half... if you have the funds to do this, DO IT it saves tremendously!! I paid about 1.70 a pound and that is on Grd beef, to roast, ribs, and steaks. And the quality was better then the stores. The only set back is you need $500-$1000 up front and a big freezer.

Email me if you want more help I am full of ideas!!
alicia_schutte AT yahoo.com

I have to do that so bots don't spam me.

I found that I spent more money the more trips I made to the store. To remedy that, I started planning out meals for the entire month (write it on the calendar and leave a day open each week for leftover night) and then do one big shopping trip (on a Saturday- leave the kids home with Daddy) to get all the ingredients.
Of course, you can't buy a month's worth of milk, bananas, and other perishable items like that, but you can get most of what you need and then only make a quick run to Cub or Target when you run out of milk, etc.
I also agree on keeping the Costco membership. Only buy what you know you will use up in a month or can divide up and keep in the freezer for longer than that; for us it's mostly diapers, frozen chicken breasts, hamburger, cheese, and frozen veggies. You get the idea.
Also, for breakfast you can make oatmeal, eggs (we go through a few dozen a month), pancakes or healthy muffins (make in bulk from scratch, freeze, and pop in microwave for 30-60 seconds to thaw) to avoid the preservatives and extras that a lot of cereals contain. While we are kind of cereal junkies here, my kids do love these other breakfast foods just as much, if not more.
my husband and I have 2 boys, ages 5 and 1, who are huge eaters and I usually spend about $400/month on groceries. I cook very simply (I like quick and easy- no gourmet here!) but our meals are pretty healthy and kid friendly. Feel free to contact me if you need any meal ideas.

I think that $150 per week is great for the amount of people you have to feed! I spend about $100 every week for 3 people, and 2 daycare children. I actually was just talking to my neighbors about this, and one spends $1200 a month! But one thing I would recommend is getting your Costco memebership back. I buy ground turkey, pork chops,and chicken there and for a great price. I freeze it all and use it as I go. Also,I will buy things like bread when it's on sale and just freeze it.