I must really be doing something wrong. I have 4 people in my family. My husband, 13 year old daughter, 18 year old daughter and me. I read all these posts about how people spend $50.00-$60.00 a week at the store (including paper and cleaning products) and I just cannot figure out how that would be possible for me. For an entire week I usually spend $100.00-$125.00 per week. I just do not know how I could possibly spend less. Does everyone have meat every day? That is where alot of my money goes I am sure. If I buy 6 chicken breasts and a roast it seems that I have spent nearly $20.00 and that would just be for 2 meals. My husband usually takes the leftovers for lunch so we cannot get more than one meal out of anything we cook. What is everyones secret?

Also, I wanted to add that I do look at the sale papers and sometimes go to 3 different stores (they are all within a few miles of each other) in one shopping trip looking for the best prices.

Tons of coupons, looking at shoppers to see what's on sale, buying generic products, going to farmers markets to get good deals on fresh fruits and veggies, my Brother shoots a deer for us every year, so we have deer meat- I still buy beef, but not as much. I take a "stock up" trip to Sam's club once a month. We buy all of our baking things there as well as canned foods, condiments, frozen foods, cleaning supplies...we get good deals on a bag of frozen chicken breasts there! I spend about $120 at sams club each month and no more than $70 a week on grocieries...I am a "product tester" for a local market here where I get about 3 free products (food and other) a week to test and report back to the store, I also get a $10 gift card for each product I test and so that brings my grocieries down to about $45-$50 a week-

My biggest money saver that I have found- is cutting down on "Convieniance" foods. Prepackaged meals, chips, candy, pop that isn't sold in the case- the kind you buy in the cooler at the check out, I buy a lot of fresh foods- My rule (at least for my gorcery store it works) is... shop around the edges of the store...the closer to the middle you get, the more expensive (and not healthy) it is. I do buy cereals and juices from the middle of the store, (ONLY when there is a MAJOR sale!!!) but other than that I stick to the outer walls. I do go into one aisle over (two at most) to get canned things- a few frozen things once and a while, but I stay out of my local stores baking section and chips and cookie aisles...I buy all of my baking items at Sams- which does save $$$...and I make most things from scratch and try not to use a boxed (or any type of) item for things like brownies, muffins, breads or cookies. I know and understand that some people cannot do that because of schedules and so forth, but it does save money.

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Married to a great guy 8 years, DD1 6yrs., DD2 4yrs., Noah turns 1 in June, Twins- Isabell and Isaac born in Nov. 07...
One busy household!

I buy stuff that is on sale and use as many coupons as possible. I may or may not need the item but I know I will use it eventually. I plan my meals around what I have in the house - we have meat at least 4-5 times a week. I also buy Angel Food once a month.

op- I think I spend the same as you- and you know what- it's OKAY. Sometimes the grocery budget is one area that you just can't shave anymore. I live in the land of triple coupons, 10/10 sales, grocery store wars and super Target and Super Walmart. I still spend about the same as you do. We have kids and pets and cleaning supplies to buy too.

we don't live an extravagant lifestyle, we don't eat king crab all the time or expensive wines. But I do buy alot of cheese. I buy loads of fruit and 100% juice. we drink scads of milk. I buy foods that are sort of similar to what I would order if I went out to eat. I like steak, I like baked potatoes with tons of toppings, I like huge chef salads. so I buy those things at the grocery store. Not cheap. It's not beans and oatmeal. but it is cheaper than eating out-which is what I'd really rather do than cook.

I suppose if we liked to eat foods like the menu suggestions on Hillbilly Housewife we would save so much money. We just cant eat those foods. no one here likes those things. My kids bring lunchboxes to school I just don't make homeade muffins and things for them. I do send chips and apples and things. I don't like to bake and cook from scratch. no one here loves leftovers. I know that sounds snobbish , and if I REALLY wanted to save money then I could do that, but I find there are better ways to shave off 50.00 from my food budget than prepare foods I don't like or spend tedious time baking which I hate to do.

I'd rather fire the landscaper and mow my own lawn and trim my own trees. I'd rather fire the bug guy and spray myself. I'd rather buy clothes at garage sales, change my own oil or paint my own house rather than cut my grocery budget. I'd rather take my bike and save 50.00 permonth in gas than shave the grocery budget and eat beans and ice tea.

I guess it's all about what you hate to do and like to do. If you love to bake, by all means, it makes sense to buy ingredients in bulk, bake all day and freezze those muffins and cookies for lunchboxes. But if spending the day in the kitchen makes you weep, then don't worry about it, Buy a couple packs of oreoes and little debbies and save money elsewhere. As long as you shave SOME money from your budget someplace, why does it have to be the grocery budget?? try insurance premiums, services you pay for, gas, nails, hair, ect.

Wow, I think you do pretty darn good already!!!

It's just two of us for now, and I spend about $50 a week, including, as much as possible, toiletries, but we don't eat meat too often, or if we do, it's like hot dogs, ground beef a time or two a month, sausage, maybe chicken once a month. If I can spend what you do when I have two teenagers in addition to wo adults, I'll be happy!!

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"And the state of his bathroom -- I'm not one to gossip, but there are things crusted on his sink that have not simply developed intelligent life but have in all probability by now evolved their own political systems." Cain describes Abel in in SANDMAN #70

I used to spend $1 per person, per meal. That is as low as I could ever get. People who have very productive gardens can go lower.

So let's do the math ...

4 people per meal = $4 per meal.
3 meals per day = $12 per day
7 days in a week = $84 per week

That does NOT include toiletries and disposable products (paper towels, TP, cleaners, etc.)

So let's say you've been spending $100 per week on food. We'll do the reverse math ...

$100 divided by each day = $14.29 per day
$14.29 per day divided by 3 meals = $4.76 per meal
$4.76 per meal divided among 4 people = $1.19 per person per meal.

Seems to me, you're doing pretty darn good! Congratulations!

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

Well- it took me a good while in order to get mine down to $75 a week- I have a $350 a month food budget- the extra $50 is for when there is a great sale for me to have my stockpile. We have a family of 4 and my DH is one of those gifted thin people who can eat everything and not gain any weight.

In order for me to get it that low I have to have a stockpile. We eat meat everyday (you name it we have it even the occasional fresh seafood dinner for DH), for most weeks I can get away with buying just the basic fresh things (fruits, vegies, bread and milk), I do bake some things- muffins, cookies, brownies, cakes- but I don't bake it all at one time- once a week we get a special thing that I made fresh. However, we do also have chips, pop and other things that would not seem frugal. I do have a small garden- yet it was wiped out by hail a few weeks ago- I have a few different places to go to for fresh vegies and fruits (whole sale market (open year round), farmers market and a little store in a town beside us that gets their produce from the whole sale market every morning).

My budget also includes household items. I check out all the circulars, use coupons (I usually get 3 sets of coupons- one from mine own paper and my mom and aunt give my their coupons- they don't use them). Once you have a stockpile- you can pretty much get your budget down to nothing- besides the fresh things. We also live in an area that has double coupons and such.

first thing is don't beat yourself up.

look at where u think u can go cheaper, perhaps generic? Do u use coupons? I am able to get most of my toileteries free with walgreens rebates. But it also takes some work. It takes a commitment. easy once u make the commitment. some people do the same with CVS. I get my cleaning supplies the same way. I have starting switching to homemade cleaning supplies so I only get cleaning supplies if it is free after rebate. I also think u might be comparing apples to oranges. I have younger kids and find it is much cheaper to feed them b/c they eat less food. what about just going with one meatless meal a week. u could ask butcher when they cut prices to put out new meat? mine does it around 10:30pm. Each store, even chains, are different.
HTH,

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time

I cut coupons, shop sales, buy some things generic, and still spend approx $150 per week for a family of 5. This includes whatever household stuff we need, but some weeks, its just food and that is what it is. The most expensive stuff I buy is fresh fruit, dairy products and meat/fish. If I walked into the store just to buy fresh fruit and dairy products, it could cost me $50. My kids eat A LOT of fruit, we do not eat meat every day, and I have cut back on drinking milk because its so darn expensive.

Bottom line - sounds like youre doing a good job. It is what it is for some of us. It also depends on where you live and how much everything costs. Things in CT are ridiculously expensive compared to other parts of the country.

Could you fix what you are buying in a different way?

Before kids, when I was working full time, I didn't think anything about fixing a chicken breast for dh and myself - now that RARELY happens. Why? Because I can make it go further by fixing the chicken other ways. Cut it into pieces and mix with marinara and noodles, cut into pieces and put in casserole, shred it for sandwiches or whatever.

The other day I used a crockpot recipie from this site and only used 2 chicken breasts and fed my dh and 2 (small children) and I and still had left overs. I came to realize that the average chicken breast size is much bigger than a serving size.

We are very much meat and potatoes people - and it shows on dh's and my waist line. So, I am hoping that this will help our weight and budget at the same time....