I budget $30-40 per person per week in the family, this is for a family of four.
I use some coupons and savings cards, etc. but not a lot because I buy a lot of store name brand stuff. We get paper products, diapers, cat litter, and laundry detergent at BJ's Wholesale Club. I buy our meat in bulk and separate it and freeze it by the portions I'd use for a regular meal. In the summer, I get a lot of our produce from local farmers or the Farmers' Market. We eat pretty healthy - I don't buy a lot of processed food. We eat wholegrain in everything possible and low sugar or no sugar. The biggest expense for us is milk (soy milk) which isn't cheap. The boys love their soy milk - especially the flavored milk. My only real splurge is good coffee.
We don't eat out much - maybe once or twice a month and one of those times would be pizza or Chinese, and that's about it.
but the basics, if I am being good and sticking to my self proscribed diet
Smart Start cereal 4.29 walmart
qt 2% milk 2.59 walmart
Slim fast 5.99 walmart
Lo mein noodles 4.99 safeway
onion 1.99 safeway
mushrooms 2.99 safeway
2 pkg frozen Asian veggies 6.18 safeway
1 lb chicken or pork 7.59 (put in pork price since it is higher) safeway
Diet Pepsi 5.98 walmart
1 qt ice cream 3.59 walmart
Total 46.18
the lo mein and other ingredients I make into a giant pot of stir fry that lasts the week
slim fast for lunch
cereal for breakfast
Sometimes I make a rice mixture
Sometimes beans and rice
Have a nice big crock pot for making stews
My downfall is going out to eat. I read a survey a few years back that said Alaskans (read Anchorites) go out more to eat that in any other town. And I love Chinese and Indian--I digress
I would say $60 a week on actual take home and fix groceries would be a huge splurge for me
Since Diabetics runs in my birth family --my birth mom died at 64 from it and her dad my grandfather lost his leg to it--I have cut out what I call "grocery fast food", frozen pizza, banquet fried chicken, chicken patties, hot pockets, burritos, all lunch meats, spaghettios, mac and cheese--not because diabetics can't eat all of these things but because weight is a real struggle for me-- It's lose it now or face diabetes in the not too distant future
It helps that my friend PAul watches what he eats too so we kind of monitor other when we go out
I budget about 60.00 per week for our groceries and try hard to stay at or under that. More in the summer when we're home all day.
With just two of us here, it's not terribly expensive except that one of us is in puberty, the other one in menopause. HA! (Kelly's gonna so not be happy with me if she knew I just said that) .
But I digress......
Lots and lots of salad stuff, alot of soups and casseroles; easy things that can also be very good for us. Meatloaf, sushi, mealoaf.
We save alot by fixing a large roast and then eating sandwiches from that for a day or two. Very little dry cereal, almost no junk food (except for the occasional bag of chips on the bad days )
Also we shop at Save-A-Lot store where the differance is huge, really great savings. And we have to have a treat once in awhile.
Another savings is to cook large and freeze. I freeze in Kelly sized containers that she can pop in microwave for days when school work is nuts. Otherwise it's just too easy to run for fast food or other starchy things.
Let's see, the cheapest way to eat healthy for us... is for me to make it myself :)
Feeding 5 here, three being teens that like to have friends over, I shop for meats on sale and purchase bulk items from Sam’s Club or Costco. Sometimes I buy their pizza to bake at home, and burritos for the quick morning breakfast for the boys to eat on the way to the bus stop ( something they like to do... ) oh.. and all items must NOT contain partially hydrogenated oils
The ’big clubs’ fresh produce is priced far better than the regular grocery store, but the choices are usually the same. This may not be something for one person to do though... the packages are BIG!
Will the program you're doing have suggestions on what to eat Belle?
It's hard to say what the cost will be, guess it depends on what you need, how much you'll use, and how long those items will last!
In our house, food goes fairly quick
Now let's see.. did you want to know what I eat? I'll be glad to share about that later if you want to know... have to run
We buy a lot of veggies, - salad fixin's. I also like to make soups and chili.
I don't buy cookies and sweets much, so that saves a lot.
We do a lot of shopping at Costco and then fill in at our local Albertson's.
I make a lot of things from scratch, but since I work and the girls have afterschool activities, I have had to balance the meals with better frozen items..I get pre-formed hamburger patties from Costco - ground sirloin that is the 90/10. We try to eat fish at least once a week.
I also eat yogurt, the girls sometimes like it and sometimes don't - it depends on the what house the moon is rising in.
One of my girls eats like me, the other like her father. So while one loves fruits and veggies, the other has to be bribed to eat anything green. That is where soups come in real handy.
About $150-$180 a week for three of us. And that's with shopping at a military commissasry for the majority of the groceries. (If I want a steak, I'll go someplace else and for small trips I'll just go to a Food Lion or a Giant around here)
Groceries seem to me to be far, far more expensive here in the DC area than other places I've lived. Maybe it's inflation, maybe it's regional. But I seem to remember shopping at Publix when I lived down in Georgia and prices were far cheaper than they are here...FAR cheaper.
We spend about $130 a week for groceries, but that includes paper and cleaning products also.
Right now, its Drty and I, and our son. Our daughter comes home most vacations and summers, and our food bill goes up a little.
We shop at a supermarket called PicknSave, and supplement food we cannot buy there with food from a local health food store. Most of the time, the food at the health food store is cheaper, even though its not a co-op. In the summer, we shop at farmer's markets, and usually plant a small garden.
If you want to eat healthy but not spend alot, I would start by planning meals around whats on sale and whats in season. The store brand is usually cheaper, and just as good. And watch the convience foods. I love those bags of baby carrots and salad, but it would be alot cheaper if I bought whole carrots and chopped them up, or tore up my own lettuce. And don't be afraid to try new foods. Make friends with the produce manager and ask if you can try the passionfruit before you buy any.
when we ate well, I spent $600-800/mo for 3 of us, mostly organic, no fast food, even our pizza was home-made. we ate VERY well.
I spend less now and we eat so poorly. I'm maxed out both in finances and time, court 3 times last year and a medication reaction that left me exhausted beyond belief for months... eating well is something so important to me and something I want so badly to get back to, but the closest I can come these days is homemade soup or burritos.
another court battle coming up, kid with issues at school, and putting in more than 40/week at my job. I skip lunch a lot and just grab whatever is cheap to eat when the hunger pangs get too distracting.
things will get better eventually. we could eat a lot better on what I spend, if I just had the time to prepare food... a decently working stove would help too, of course.
Belle, how did you get that blue question mark next to your thread? (and I looked at the bottom for a clue)
For those who like to grill... I've been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of Costco's meats. If you can eat that much, it's not a bad place to buy groceries... of course, then I always end up buying a hand crank flashlight, or a DVD, or a sweatshirt, etc.
We spend about $200 a week, family of five. Hubby is type 1 diabetic and does not eat processed or junky foods. We pack lunches for all, since the school cafeteria has so many junky options available(nachos and gatoraide are not my idea of a good lunch.) We cook from scratch except for Friday night, which might be take and bake Pizza or a good frozen lasagna. We rarely eat out.
We garden but by this time of the year all we have left are frozen/canned things, dried herbs, garlic and squash.
We have a good friend who owns a game processing business, and we get lots of free venison and elk, which is great-- people often are not interested in the venison hamburger etc. We make chili, tacos etc with ground venison.
Fruit is so expensive, we are looking into fruits we can grow. I'd like to get a bread machine since really good bread is so expensive, but since I work full time making bread all the time won't happen.
We cook several meals on Sunday that can be reheated during the week to save time. We use the crock pot alot, in fact we seem to wear one out every year.
I label things with a sharpie or by the time I get home from work the kids will have devoured all the cheese etc planned for a meal one night!
Thanks, y'all! I guess my spending is about average. It sure seemed outrageous to me. I remember when I first got married we tried to keep our groceries under $80/week, then it was under $100/week then $150/week.... That was just for two of us and only two years ago.
I can't buy tons of stuff in bulk from Costco, Sams and BJ's since it's just me. Storage and things going bad before I get to them are the biggest problems with that. But I can see how it's great for families.
I just wish fresh, colored bell peppers were as cheap as Ramen Noodles.
Bramble, that's cool that you have a friend who shares the game meat with you. I have tons of oranges and grapefruits on my trees right now that I have to get ride of soon because it's almost time for them to blossom again. Wish we were close enough, or shipping were cheap enough for me to share or trade with you.
SafariVista & Bliss, I tried juicing for a while, but it's so darn expensive to buy the fruits and veggies for such a small amount of juice. I actually think DMiller gave me advice on the best juicer one night in the chat room.
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Lori
I buy alot of salad fixings. The more vegies I can throw together, the better.
I like to buy bread with nuts, rye, or wheat.
I like home-made soups. It's fun to add your favorite stuff to the mix.
They say fish is good for you, but I really don't like it. Except for halibut, and king salmond, cod.
Some of it's OK.
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ChasUFarley
I budget $30-40 per person per week in the family, this is for a family of four.
I use some coupons and savings cards, etc. but not a lot because I buy a lot of store name brand stuff. We get paper products, diapers, cat litter, and laundry detergent at BJ's Wholesale Club. I buy our meat in bulk and separate it and freeze it by the portions I'd use for a regular meal. In the summer, I get a lot of our produce from local farmers or the Farmers' Market. We eat pretty healthy - I don't buy a lot of processed food. We eat wholegrain in everything possible and low sugar or no sugar. The biggest expense for us is milk (soy milk) which isn't cheap. The boys love their soy milk - especially the flavored milk. My only real splurge is good coffee.
We don't eat out much - maybe once or twice a month and one of those times would be pizza or Chinese, and that's about it.
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CoolWaters
2 lg cans refried beans 2.00
4 loaves bread 2.00
10lbs potatoes 1.99
2lbs margarine 1.00
3lbs onions 1.89
1 dozen eggs 0.79
5 1lb pkg frozen veggies 4.45
1 jar low-fat mayo 0.99
1lb decaf coffee 1.89
1 lg jar creamer 1.89
1lb sugar 0.89
3lbs hamburger 5.67
1 pkg frozen burritos 2.50
6 boxes mac n cheese 2.00
4 cans tuna 2.00
2 heads lettuce 3.00
1 bunch cilantro 0.50
3 tomatoes 2.83
2 1lb pkgs bologna 1.98
Give or take $40.00/week depending on sales and what is left over from the week before.
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templelady
Alaska prices are a bit high
but the basics, if I am being good and sticking to my self proscribed diet
Smart Start cereal 4.29 walmart
qt 2% milk 2.59 walmart
Slim fast 5.99 walmart
Lo mein noodles 4.99 safeway
onion 1.99 safeway
mushrooms 2.99 safeway
2 pkg frozen Asian veggies 6.18 safeway
1 lb chicken or pork 7.59 (put in pork price since it is higher) safeway
Diet Pepsi 5.98 walmart
1 qt ice cream 3.59 walmart
Total 46.18
the lo mein and other ingredients I make into a giant pot of stir fry that lasts the week
slim fast for lunch
cereal for breakfast
Sometimes I make a rice mixture
Sometimes beans and rice
Have a nice big crock pot for making stews
My downfall is going out to eat. I read a survey a few years back that said Alaskans (read Anchorites) go out more to eat that in any other town. And I love Chinese and Indian--I digress
I would say $60 a week on actual take home and fix groceries would be a huge splurge for me
Since Diabetics runs in my birth family --my birth mom died at 64 from it and her dad my grandfather lost his leg to it--I have cut out what I call "grocery fast food", frozen pizza, banquet fried chicken, chicken patties, hot pockets, burritos, all lunch meats, spaghettios, mac and cheese--not because diabetics can't eat all of these things but because weight is a real struggle for me-- It's lose it now or face diabetes in the not too distant future
It helps that my friend PAul watches what he eats too so we kind of monitor other when we go out
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Shellon
I budget about 60.00 per week for our groceries and try hard to stay at or under that. More in the summer when we're home all day.
With just two of us here, it's not terribly expensive except that one of us is in puberty, the other one in menopause. HA! (Kelly's gonna so not be happy with me if she knew I just said that) .
But I digress......
Lots and lots of salad stuff, alot of soups and casseroles; easy things that can also be very good for us. Meatloaf, sushi, mealoaf.
We save alot by fixing a large roast and then eating sandwiches from that for a day or two. Very little dry cereal, almost no junk food (except for the occasional bag of chips on the bad days
)
Also we shop at Save-A-Lot store where the differance is huge, really great savings. And we have to have a treat once in awhile.
Another savings is to cook large and freeze. I freeze in Kelly sized containers that she can pop in microwave for days when school work is nuts. Otherwise it's just too easy to run for fast food or other starchy things.
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SafariVista
Gee (((((Belle)))))
Let's see, the cheapest way to eat healthy for us... is for me to make it myself :)
Feeding 5 here, three being teens that like to have friends over, I shop for meats on sale and purchase bulk items from Sam’s Club or Costco. Sometimes I buy their pizza to bake at home, and burritos for the quick morning breakfast for the boys to eat on the way to the bus stop ( something they like to do... ) oh.. and all items must NOT contain partially hydrogenated oils
The ’big clubs’ fresh produce is priced far better than the regular grocery store, but the choices are usually the same. This may not be something for one person to do though... the packages are BIG!
Will the program you're doing have suggestions on what to eat Belle?
It's hard to say what the cost will be, guess it depends on what you need, how much you'll use, and how long those items will last!
In our house, food goes fairly quick
Now let's see.. did you want to know what I eat? I'll be glad to share about that later if you want to know... have to run
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washingtonweather
I alternate between Costco - Walmart and one of the local groceries over the period of a month.- or 2 paychecks to be more accurate.
Utlimately I go from 600 one month to about 800 on the alternate month.
we have 4 in the family---but like Safari-- I feed the neighborhood boys...
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doojable
Belle,
We buy a lot of veggies, - salad fixin's. I also like to make soups and chili.
I don't buy cookies and sweets much, so that saves a lot.
We do a lot of shopping at Costco and then fill in at our local Albertson's.
I make a lot of things from scratch, but since I work and the girls have afterschool activities, I have had to balance the meals with better frozen items..I get pre-formed hamburger patties from Costco - ground sirloin that is the 90/10. We try to eat fish at least once a week.
I also eat yogurt, the girls sometimes like it and sometimes don't - it depends on the what house the moon is rising in.
One of my girls eats like me, the other like her father. So while one loves fruits and veggies, the other has to be bribed to eat anything green. That is where soups come in real handy.
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markomalley
About $150-$180 a week for three of us. And that's with shopping at a military commissasry for the majority of the groceries. (If I want a steak, I'll go someplace else and for small trips I'll just go to a Food Lion or a Giant around here)
Groceries seem to me to be far, far more expensive here in the DC area than other places I've lived. Maybe it's inflation, maybe it's regional. But I seem to remember shopping at Publix when I lived down in Georgia and prices were far cheaper than they are here...FAR cheaper.
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VeganXTC
We spend about $130 a week for groceries, but that includes paper and cleaning products also.
Right now, its Drty and I, and our son. Our daughter comes home most vacations and summers, and our food bill goes up a little.
We shop at a supermarket called PicknSave, and supplement food we cannot buy there with food from a local health food store. Most of the time, the food at the health food store is cheaper, even though its not a co-op. In the summer, we shop at farmer's markets, and usually plant a small garden.
If you want to eat healthy but not spend alot, I would start by planning meals around whats on sale and whats in season. The store brand is usually cheaper, and just as good. And watch the convience foods. I love those bags of baby carrots and salad, but it would be alot cheaper if I bought whole carrots and chopped them up, or tore up my own lettuce. And don't be afraid to try new foods. Make friends with the produce manager and ask if you can try the passionfruit before you buy any.
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bliss
[font="Comic Sans MS"]EAT LESS
no seriously, that is one way. But if you are like me and mine, well, we LOVE FOOD.
now, i just did a juice fast for 4 days. Loved it. Lost 4 pounds. feel good.......yada yada
we spend @130-160 a week on food and paper goods. All fresh. very few packaged. NO hydro oil. Mostly organic.[/font]
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potato
when we ate well, I spent $600-800/mo for 3 of us, mostly organic, no fast food, even our pizza was home-made. we ate VERY well.
I spend less now and we eat so poorly. I'm maxed out both in finances and time, court 3 times last year and a medication reaction that left me exhausted beyond belief for months... eating well is something so important to me and something I want so badly to get back to, but the closest I can come these days is homemade soup or burritos.
another court battle coming up, kid with issues at school, and putting in more than 40/week at my job. I skip lunch a lot and just grab whatever is cheap to eat when the hunger pangs get too distracting.
things will get better eventually. we could eat a lot better on what I spend, if I just had the time to prepare food... a decently working stove would help too, of course.
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Tom Strange
Belle, how did you get that blue question mark next to your thread? (and I looked at the bottom for a clue)
For those who like to grill... I've been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of Costco's meats. If you can eat that much, it's not a bad place to buy groceries... of course, then I always end up buying a hand crank flashlight, or a DVD, or a sweatshirt, etc.
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Bramble
We spend about $200 a week, family of five. Hubby is type 1 diabetic and does not eat processed or junky foods. We pack lunches for all, since the school cafeteria has so many junky options available(nachos and gatoraide are not my idea of a good lunch.) We cook from scratch except for Friday night, which might be take and bake Pizza or a good frozen lasagna. We rarely eat out.
We garden but by this time of the year all we have left are frozen/canned things, dried herbs, garlic and squash.
We have a good friend who owns a game processing business, and we get lots of free venison and elk, which is great-- people often are not interested in the venison hamburger etc. We make chili, tacos etc with ground venison.
Fruit is so expensive, we are looking into fruits we can grow. I'd like to get a bread machine since really good bread is so expensive, but since I work full time making bread all the time won't happen.
We cook several meals on Sunday that can be reheated during the week to save time. We use the crock pot alot, in fact we seem to wear one out every year.
I label things with a sharpie or by the time I get home from work the kids will have devoured all the cheese etc planned for a meal one night!
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Belle
Thanks, y'all! I guess my spending is about average. It sure seemed outrageous to me. I remember when I first got married we tried to keep our groceries under $80/week, then it was under $100/week then $150/week.... That was just for two of us and only two years ago.
I can't buy tons of stuff in bulk from Costco, Sams and BJ's since it's just me. Storage and things going bad before I get to them are the biggest problems with that. But I can see how it's great for families.
I just wish fresh, colored bell peppers were as cheap as Ramen Noodles.
Bramble, that's cool that you have a friend who shares the game meat with you. I have tons of oranges and grapefruits on my trees right now that I have to get ride of soon because it's almost time for them to blossom again. Wish we were close enough, or shipping were cheap enough for me to share or trade with you.
SafariVista & Bliss, I tried juicing for a while, but it's so darn expensive to buy the fruits and veggies for such a small amount of juice. I actually think DMiller gave me advice on the best juicer one night in the chat room.
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excathedra
((((((((((potato)))))))))), i hope things get better faster than eventually for you
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