How Much Should I Be Spending On Groceries??

WEll I try to spend less than $400 a month. On months I know we are gonna be short, I spend even less, but thats where my stockpile comes into play and saves the day. I have a family of 5 and try to spend less than $100 a week. This month with Christmas, I only spent a little more than $200 for the month, using up a good portion of my stockpile. I still have tons left in the freezer, but I need to restock my dry things.

First go to the store and save your reciept. Do it for a couple weeks and see where you are spending the most. The first thing I started doing was buying a little bit ahead each week. Like when I buy deli ham, I buy 2 lbs in seperate packages and throw one in the freezer. That will usually last us a few weeks. Now I budget in buying 2 lbs of ham all the time. At one time I had about 5 lbs of ham in the freezer and didn't need to buy deli ham for quite some time. I also never buy cheese at the deli, unless its on sale. I know bad bad, but I'd rather buy the packaged kind and save myself tons per pound.

When I buy meat, I look for the sale, and try to buy in bulk. I can buy myself a whole pork loin for around $18-$20, then I can cut it up into chops and get probably about 4 or 5 meals out of it, depending on how many chops you cut. I look for Turkeys that are .59 a lb, and when I cook it up, I throw the leftovers in the freezer, and save them for another meal. Pair it with box stuffing or potatoes and you have a CHEAP meal. Great value gravy is only .33 a package, and frozen veggies are less than $1, you probably won't even use the whole bag.

COUPONS COUPONS COUPONS. If you hit that one great sale and use your coupons, STOCK UP, and save for a rainy day! I'm just getting to the bottom of the 20 boxes of cereal I had hanging around here, but I still have tons of pasta and sauce, about 12 meals worth. That always makes for a cheap meal, and less I have to shop for the next time I go.

Try to cook from scratch as much as you can. Premade foods add up fast, real fast. Like I said, I use alot of box mixes, wicked cheap meals and not very time consuming at all. I dont' like meals that take alot of time or ingredients, so I don't bother. You can also make your crock pot your best friend. If thats why your buying premade foods, that is, to save time.

Menus help too! If you plan out what you are gonna cook weekly, it will save you tons when you go to the store becasue you don't purchase tons of stuff you don't need for justin' case. Make your menu and shop for only what you need for that week, plus extra for snacks and drinks. You will find yourself saving TONS.

HTHs some!

I could not tell you exactally what I spend. I do not buy my diapers and dog food at the grocery store (I buy store brand at Target) so I don't count those. I shop Sams club about every month and a half to 2 months and average about $120 there. A good portion of that is cases of Fruit 2 oh which is about the only thing my dh drinks and I usually drink about 1 a day also. I just went to the grocery last night and spent $77. I thought that was really pretty good since it will probably last about 2 weeks. I buy store brand whenever possible. Most of my meals do not have much meat. Tonight we had sloppyjoes and french fries. I buy the bags of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts and will cook one breast and shread it and make a casserole. I buy cans of spaghetti sauce and never add meat but we do top our spaghetti with mozerella. Chicken Quesadillas can also feed an entire family with one chicken breast. Chilli uses 1 lb of hamburger and goes along way as does goulash. I buy store brand hamburger helper which is about 87 cents a box. Pancakes are a good meal (buy a big box of Bisquick at Sams for $3.47 and it lasts a long time) Make extra pancakes and put them in the freezer for quick breakfasts or lunches. I try to buy alot of hamburger when it is on sale less than $2 a lb. I only buy other meats if they are in the reduced meat section for a really good price. I do buy Little Debbie treats and occasional $1 potato chips. Pretezel are good for the boys lunch boxes and I get them for $1 a bag. Crackers and the like are really cheap in store brands or at Family Dollar. I drink diet pop, but I am not picky and will drink whatever is on sale or store brands. Rice is a great, cheap filler!!! I don't usually buy cookies or premade cakes. They are cheap to make. Eggs are cheap too, for scrambled eggs or omelets.

Thats all I can think of right now. Oh btw we have 7 or 8 people in our house depending on the week.

On average I think we spend about $300 for my family of 4 and a cat. My dh is a huge eater (sometimes I think he has a tape worm!). I may be able to give you some things that worked for me to cut our grocery bill back.

-I check for sales and coupons, I buy my detergent and softner (Tide and Downy) and all household items if they are on sale or if I have a coupon (love it when both happens!). For my Tide- I found out it cleans just as well if you don't use as much (for super heavy loads 3/4 of the first line works well, regular loads only 1/2 of the first line- for softner I only use 1/2 of the 1st line- works fine!).

-For our cat, I found out when we were short on funds and would be for awhile, I bought dry cat food (our cat only ate from canned food)- after 3 days our cat finally ate the food and has been eating dry food since.

-I started making menus (saved a lot of $) for each pay period. It helped with only 1 grocery store trip (check through store flyers what's on sale), knowing what to make for each day (through trial and error- I recommend, having at least 1 crock pot meal- for busy days and 2 "easy" meals for days you don't feel like cooking- you can switch up days if you don't feel like cooking!)

-I also try to shop at Aldi's every few months to "stock up" on canned vegies (if I can't find a better deal), and a few other items- we can fill up everything in our house (for almost 1 month) for under $100!

Sorry that was long! I hope I helped you some!

I have to say that everything the other two told you is true but you can do even better if you are willing to do without a few things.

1. Fabric softener is a big waist and so are dryer sheets. I use vinegar and it works just as well , I promise your clothes wont smell like vinegar.

2. most cleaning products are a waist , if you buy amonina , vinegar, bleach and rubbing alchohal you can make any cleaner you need, Instead of windex I use 1part alchohal 2 parts water and 2 tablespoons amonia. It works better that windexs. IF you want more info on that pm me. Also dont buy jet dry use vinegar, its good for your dishwasher.

3. Dont buy diaper or wipes at grocery stores they will cost you more.

4. Use the plain old cat litter. Yes you have to change it instead of just scooping it is saves me a ton. I was paying up to 6.99 for scoopable but now I only pay 1.99 for regular . I figure that saves me about 10$ a month.

5. try an experiment. The next time time you go to the grocery store buy only store brand. Buy everything you would normaly buy but dont by anthing name brand . That alone will save you a ton.


I spend 100 or less a week and that includes the cats and the diapers and everything else. And we dont have to do without anythin as far as snacks and extras.

My biggest tip would be PLAN PLAN PLAN!! Go to the store without a list and you are setting yourself up to overspend.
I plan 10 meals for 2 weeks and write up a list of what I need at the store. I have been doing this for a few months and have saved soooo much! I found that I had everything I needed and still had money left over. What I do then, instead of pocketing that money, I figure out what is a really great sale that day and I stock up on that. For example, lean ground beef was $1.88 a pound last week,(1/2 price for around here) so I bought 20 lbs with what I had left over from my grocery budget. Now, when I go shopping next week, I definetly won't need beef!! And get rain-checks! They are good for a month and really come in handy for stock-piling. Before Christmas, the huge grocery chain around here had EXCELLENT sales on everything from spaghetti sauce to ice cream. I bought what I could, then.....on Saturday night, when I knew they would be sold out of the items, I went back and got rain checks. Then, I went to 2 more of the same stores and got more rain checks. I gave some to my Mom, but used most myself. Helps with the stockpile, let me tell ya!!LOL!

HTH!
Alana

I feed my family of 6 for about $125 a week. I was spending closer to $200 a week until I started making a list and planning a menu. We never have leftovers since my 14 yr old DS is a bottomless pit.
This is what I've done for the last 3 months to cut down on our grocery bill:

I plan my menu's for the week
I always shop with a list
I try to shop alone
I usually cook from scratch
Only buy meat when its on sale or reduced price

We have about the same family! I have a 4 yr old a 13month old and my dh & I. We spend an average of $65 a week.

*I never buy meat that is more than $2 a lb. except at the deli for dh's lunch
*make a weekly menu using what you have and what's on sale
*Only one goodie a week and it has to be on sale
*Use coupons on sale items
*I use couponmom.com
*only buy what's on list
*have a sandwich, soup, or breakfast night a couple times a week
*try not to pay full price for anything

i also started doing a menu and let me tell you it has cut our bill way back..for a family of 5 with 2 in diapers and 1 on formula i spend about $100 or less a week that includes all tp paper towels diapers ect..i cook from scratch we make homemadepizza instead of ordering it out ect.. i would highly recommend making a menu and see what happens it really cuts down on the impulse buying.