How can people spend so much at the grocery store? - Page 3

KathrynHannah · 10-15-2007, 02:29 PM

I know what you mean. I did my groceries this morning. The lady in front of me ~ her bill came to $208 (I overheard). For a similar amount of stuff (I only bought the stuff on sale + milk which is never on sale), mine came to $57! The guy behind me had nearly identical groceries to me. He bought all the sale stuff too. I wanted to say something about it being nice to see another frugal shopper but I didn't want to embarrass him. We both noticed though and it made us both smile.

BabeInTheMoon · 10-15-2007, 04:12 PM

Bravo Cookie2!!! That is an excellent example of how easy it can be done.

For us, our food budget is $150/month. But we actually get more value than that.. Here is how it breaks down.

DS can have reduced lunches at school, which amount to about $10/month during the school year. I sometimes allow him to have breakfast at school as a special treat.. and at 30 cents for pancakes or waffles (that he almost never gets at home) it is an inexpensive treat. (140 budget left)

We belong to a nonprofit service organization (like a gleaners) for $45/month. The fee goes towards the cost of running the organization as all the food is donated. We end up receiving 200-400 in food a month & paper supplies for my $45.. and sometimes we even get great quality used clothing for free as well! (95 budget left)

My daughter is on WIC which gives us a food value of ~90/month for free.

my $95 budget goes towards meat, fresh veggies, and odds & ends that I can't pick up from my above sources. When I go to costco I usually spend about $25 for string cheese, carrots, lettuce and a couple of odds and ends (what ever is on sale with a coupon in that budget) Everything else I spend at the grocery store.. usually as a loss leader, but not always.

So, yes we only spend $150/month, but we easily eat over $400 in food over the month. This budget does not include cleaning products or pullups.

chopey · 10-15-2007, 04:28 PM

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I am unable to see page three of replies, even though I click it, it stays on page two. So, here I am, posting just so I can read another page! UGH.....

Spoodler · 10-15-2007, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookie2

Let's break this down to the grocery bill per person, per meal. That would make it more fair, no matter what the total.

This is a good point. It would be better to compare how much we are all spending per person each week/month.

jenmose · 10-15-2007, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by debellafunk

I spend almost $400 a month for my family of 3 .... We don't have an Aldis, I don't have a member ship to Costco or anythin like that. I have only 3 grochery store options. 1 IGA- they do not have good sales at all and most of there stuff on the shelf is almost out of date ( I only go there for things when needed right away it is very close to my house) 2 Safeway - we shop there but I tend to try to stick to on sale only items that we need. Meat when it is 99-1.99/lb I will always go there just to get that. 3 is Winco and that is in ID so we drive alittle to go there. It is cleaper but ID has tx on food so I spend about $10 on tax we shop there for out big trip most of the time it is once a month and I spend 200 sometimes a little more. We use to go twice a month and still close to 200. I don't buy a lot of processd foods but I do buy a lot of veggies, nuts $$, cheese, meat, dairy.

Honestly, I don't think Aldi's is all that great. There were some good deals there, but dont buy the ring sausage, it was the most horrific thing I ever tasted. And if you like a "little" and I mean very "little" customer service, DO NOT go to Aldi's.
I know people rave about the store on this board, but in my honest opinion I was not impressed. I think sometimes we have to draw the line at paying more vs. being treated right by a business.

Ande'sha · 10-15-2007, 06:07 PM

I spend about $150 a week in groceries not including dogfood. ( that is $ 75 a month) Mind you, that is adding to the freezer every week. I live in NY and this time last year I spent about $ 100 for the same things. Prices have gone up tremendously this past year.

skimommy · 10-15-2007, 06:56 PM

Buying healthy food is definitely more expensive. I purchase organic meat, milk, yogurt and a few other things. I don't do all organic because it is too expensive. I buy a lot of the store brand organics called Natures Promise. I stick to whole grains and homemade bakery items. We never eat chips, store bought cookies, soda, etc. Getting to the point, my grocery bill is about $400 a month.

dancemom3 · 10-15-2007, 07:34 PM

I think I need to move to your guys neck of the woods! We spend around $600-$700 a month on groceries. Living in So Cal has lots of advantages...but lower grocery prices is NOT one of them!

TracyB · 10-15-2007, 08:43 PM

I dont even what to know how much we spend amonth on groceries.I know it is over $400 a month ...you cant even hit our little store adn get anything under $100..rediculous

Mama2mygirls · 10-15-2007, 08:48 PM

It's easy to spend a lot at the grocery store. When I'm being very careful, we spend $440 a month for a family of 4. More often than not, I am not putting as much effort into frugal grocery shopping as I should, and it is around $700 a month--with almost no convenience, processed, etc. foods.