How much do you spend on groceries?

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Razl

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I just reviewed our grocery expenses for the past 12 months and was shocked. For two adults and one toddler (2yrs) we spend one average, $600 per month, excluding holiday/family functions. I would have thought a 3-family household's grocery bill would be around $400-$450.

We don't buy non-groceries with the exception of diapers (which is about a $2 more than Walmart). I'm going to have to analyze what we buy. For starters, I told my wife to my the regular eggs, instead of the $2.75 free-range no harmones brand.

What do you guys spend?
 
We have 2 adults in our household (mid-40's) and spend about $80/week at the grocery store on average. We purchase a whole cow from a local farmer each January and that normally lasts us a year (about $800 for the cow, $150 to have it butchered). We also grow a lot of our own radishes, lettuce, strawberries, grapes and other produce in the summer so that helps. We also stock up on non-perishibles when there is a good price.
 
I suspect my wife and I are part of the rather large group of people that don't have clue how much we spend on groceries.

Ther is much other stuff we buy that isn't remotely "groceries", particularly on our roughly every three week trips to Costco. It would take some careful review of our months receipts to make a meaningful estimate.

Kinda stepping back and squinting and making dim, ape-like calculations in head (thanks Moribundman!), we spend about $400/month on groceries if you define groceries as food + normal household paper goods, cleaning and maint. supplies.

We also eat out about 4 or 5 times a week, so that helps the grocery bill.
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It doesn't surprise me that someone from Iowa is so self-sufficient. Well most of us are not. I have a two person two miniature collie family. We spend around $250.00 a month on Groceries. We have a Kroger out our way. They make a lot and I mean a lot of Generic Brand items that are a really good price. They have a motto that says if you don't like their brand just return it and get the national brand free. So far all I hate is their frozen pizzas. Other than that we find ourselves indulging in Kroger Brand items, which in return saves us a lot of money. I do hunt and I have been known to bring home so wild bore, deer, rabbit, duck at times but all that is free just the time it takes to clean it up and thats worth its weight in BEER ;-). I don't think anyone around my area goes out and buys a whole cow? Its so much fun driving to the grocerey store and buying the same cow thats already prepared all you have to do is save the $800.00 and buy the meat when its on sale and invest in a deep freeze. You will be surprised how long you can store things in a deep freeze.
 
My wife shops for two adults and a 3yr old boy. She usually shops once a week and spends about $100. We buy almost everything at the grocery store (food,household cleaners,ect.)

As a fishing guide,we eat alot of Salmon,and Steelhead. I also hunt and we eat alot of Deer,Elk,Waterfowl,and Upland birds.

In our freezer right now,there might be a package or two of Chicken and Beef. There is also 100+ lbs of Venison and 25-30lbs of Salmon/Steelhead. We vaccum pack everything that won't get eaten in less than a week. A Salmon filet from last fall isn't as good as fresh,but its still darn good eats.
 
My wife & I spend about $200/month on groceries. We eat out about 3 times per month. She's a great cook. We shop at Target for everything except our meat & some produce which we buy at Publix. Once we get our house built (we are in an apartment now), we'll have a garden and orchard so maybe that bill will go down some then. I also plan on starting back hunting then.
 
When I shop, I blow about $30-40 for a weeks worth of odd stuff from Shaws (owned by Albertsons'). Use the rewards card and pretty much only buy stuff that's on sale. I don't care if they track me because they'll find out I'm cheap.
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Sometimes they have a "look what 25/50 cents will buy" sale; often a "10 for $10" section. If hot dogs are on sale, buns never are and in fact have inflated prices. Oddly their super-discounted stuff, if quantity limited, is not linked to the card and I can just take my stuff out to the car and go back in for more.
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Natually, some of the stuff that's "on sale" is still cheaper at walmart or Hannafords, a supermarket with "no gimmicks" and few sales. So I do have to shop around. Stuff that's 67-79 cents elsewhere will get included in the 10-for-$10 sale. Wife keeps a price book we look stuff up in occasionally; mostly it's in my head though.

It makes for some odd dinner combos. Some weeks Shaws will have, say, nothing good at all on sale for meat. I'll live out of the freezer or make mac 'n cheese. I'm not picky.

I stock up on nonperishables; at one point in time I had 20 2-liter bottles of coke/pepsi. Now I'm down to my last one. When I run out I won't buy any more until it drops to 67 to 79 cents or so. Big Memorial Day sales probably coming up. I'll just drink fruit juice till then... probably better for my teeth anyway.

I have a deep freeze in the basement. Currently it's unplugged. It had a virtually nonexistant draw on my electric bill... maybe $1 or $2 per month tops. Seasonal swings in other stuff more than hid its draw.
 
quote:
Rant (Blame it on Gary Allen, he gave me the bug
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We have a very good "one stop shop" type supermarket. Limited deli selection makes for cheap deli meats(huge difference between chains). Beef is reasonable. We also have one extreme discount store nearby that we get eggs, milk, bacon from. They occasionally have something decent there.

Basically it works out to an average of just under $200/week.

Years ago we belonged to Sam's Club. It was too far away and we ended up buying about $400 worth of stuff everytime we went once a month. It didn't stop us from shopping every week and didn't seem to reduce any cash outflow ..so we let our membership lapse (this was about 93 or 94)

We actually did better when the corner store was operated by the original owner. It was full service and butchered meats and fresh poultry could be ordered. I would just get $25 or $30 of stuff at a time since it was so convenient. Now it's like 6 trips back to the van to cart the stuff inside ..and (it seems) like a half hour to put it away.

One of my former coworkers scanned the paper every day. He had 5 supermarkets that he drove passed on the way home. He bought EVERYTHING that was on sale ..and ONLY those items. If it was rebadged dog food ..that's what they ate. He also got all the baked goods that were about to expire for about 50%-75% off. His family of 4 plus friends (teenage boys) was about $100 at most.
 
family of 5 (4 eating solids), we spend about $125 a week. we typically shop at a Wal-mart super center for most stuff, but we'll hit the local Hannaford for produce and a local mom&pop store for meats and deli. wal-mart's produce and meat sections leave MUCH to be desired. I'll only go to Shaw's for the *very* limited things I can't seem to get anywhere else, otherwise it's too **** expensive.
-Bret
 
Family of three, with three adult dogs. We spend about four hundred a month on food and consumables. I've even stooped so low as to shop at Walmart, in order to save a buck. (I know, I should be ashamed of myself).
 
We spend about $80 to $100 per week on groceries, but with my air miles, I get about $40 off per month (I redeem my air miles for grocery store gift certificates)
 
We shop at walmart most of the time.We spend about $100 a week including my motor oil and filters, light bulbs, lawn and garden crap etc..
I do buy lots of food on clearance like albertsons on meat that is about to go expeired.

We do butcher our own turkeys at a turkey plant we know the owner.
 
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