cost of groceries?

[nejarb]

I was just wondering how much most people spend on groceries. Not the national average per person or anything like that, but middle class or upper-middle class urban or suburban couples in 20s or 30s (no kids). I''m trying to figure out how to save more $, and don''t have too many places where I can cut down--just the clothes/shoes/make-up section or the groceries/starbucks/wine/resturaunt section.

I need a reality check b/c sometimes I think I could definitely spend ALOT less in the latter section; but sometimes I think no way, I could maybe save 20-30 dollars a month in that section, but it would be painful and not worth the effort.

 

[Mara]

haha what we spend on groceries per month is scary considering it's just us. part of the problem is that i love whole foods so i am always in there spending $$$.

my last estimate on what we spend for groceries between whole foods for fresh fruits and veggies, pre-pak stuff for lunch, cheeses, wines, breads, fresh meat and seafood AND a regular grocery store for all paper staples and things like water, detergent etc was about $700ish a month.

but we also eat out a fair amount, probably about 3-4 nights a week, so that's not what we spend on 'food' entirely. just at the grocery stores. i don't know if it is a lot to most people but it seems like it to me considering that growing up for a family of 5 my parents spent $200 a week on groceries. so we spend almost the same on 2 people for the month.

however, in terms of if it is worth it, for us it is and we have talked about it as a priority...for me fresh and healthy stuff is a priority. here's an example. i spent $12 recently for grapes at whole foods. greg was freaking out. $12 grapes?!?! so next time we went to safeway, aka regular food store, i got grapes there for $7. they were GROSS. totally hard and sour and pale colored. i threw them out. in contrast, i ate all the $12 grapes. so what's better? eating the $12 grapes or buying and throwing out $7 grapes? i figure i might as well buy what i like to eat and will eat vs what just sits in the fridge because it's cheaper.

 

[honeybee]

We usually keep our grocery expenses under around $200/mo. All my friends are always amazed that i spend so little for the two of us , but i'm a pretty picky shopper, I cook at home quite a bit, & I always go to the store with a list. I also think that buying for quality helps. Just like what Mara said , if I want to have brie or goat cheese (my major indulgences next to chocolate), I always make sure to buy exactly what i want. Its not worth it to buy junk thats cheaper only to have to throw it out & go buy something else. (I only had to make this mistake once..gross!) I also find that being somewhat of a food "snob" helps. meaning that if I only buy organic, or fresh, or whatever, it generally cuts down on all the little "extras" that I might otherwise buy. I've had to use the same method for my cosmetics shopping, I used to be a SERIOUS lotion, soap, perfumeaholic, so now I limit my self to only things that are not tested on animals. It kills the proverbial two birds with one stone and i buy waaayy less, anyway, I digress.....I do most of my grocery shopping at Trader Joe's & Costco & buy a good amount of my produce at the Farmer's Market. I live in central cali, so we have a surplus of cheap fresh veggies year round

, so I think that helps too.

 

[Mara]

gosh honeybee, how do you spend so little on food?!?! one visit to whole foods for me encompasses typically the following: get meat for dinner that night, some fresh veggies, a new box of cereal, a bag of 5 nectarines, and a lunch salad for me, or similar is typically about $40!

multiply that by 4x a week kinda thing...and it adds up!

 

[AsscherGirl]

We spend between $250-$300 a month at the grocery store. This usually covers dinner & breakfast (really only for me) for us about 5 days a week.

We generally eat out 2-3 times a week (mostly on the weekend) & we both buy lunch at work. I tend to bring something from home more often than he does, but if I do that, it''s from dinner the night before.

I keep our groceries low in cost mainly by having staple dinners that go really far (like chili - probably costs about $15 to make, but we get 4 dinners out of it) and using a mixture of fresh & frozen vegetables (we go on kicks of eating a lot of veggies and then sometimes not eating at all - the frozen ones last forever & we end up not wasting anything). Also, we don''t really have snacks in the house or buy any pre-packaged type food. If we buy fruit or fresh vegetables, I try to buy only exactly what I know I''ll need & not what I think I''ll eat. If I''m really looking for great vegetables, I''ll go to the farmer''s market & you can get a huge amount of veggies/fruits for under $20!

I don''t really clip coupons anymore, because I''m not buying anyhting they have coupons for -they only make me buy crap (like frozen white castle burgers - gross ) I try to stock up when things like chicken is on sale - that can last us quite a while.

Mara - I cannot imagine spending $700 a month on groceries - we would be so poor! How much does like a package of chicken breasts cost at whole foods? $10?

 

[honeybee]

Date: 9/18/2006 5:27:11 PM
Author: Mara
gosh honeybee, how do you spend so little on food?!?! one visit to whole foods for me encompasses typically the following: get meat for dinner that night, some fresh veggies, a new box of cereal, a bag of 5 nectarines, and a lunch salad for me, or similar is typically about $40!

multiply that by 4x a week kinda thing...and it adds up!

Hehe, thats the response I usually get. I think its b/c I usually only go shopping maybe twice a month & always w/ a specific list, and I have a few staples I work off of. However, I''m sure my total would be quite different if I shopped at Whole foods. Their produce section is to die for, and all their preprepared foods...yum !!!

We don''t eat pork or shellfish, I rarely buy red meat, and we harldly ever drink soda or juice so I think that cuts down on cost quite a bit. I also never buy prepackaged salad bags (I like making my own w/ nuts & berries, etc., plus buying heads of lettuce is soo much cheaper & I can use the spinach as a salad or cook it as a side w/ dinner, etc.) So I usually go to costco and buy their bags of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, lunch meat , detergent, misc., bread, cheese,milk, usually a tub or two of hummus, & some pita chips. Trader Joes, I stock up on tons of fish and frozen veggies, nuts, cereal, rice, more cheese, crackers, lavosh, soups, a few frozen dinner type things (potstickers, italian veggie type thing, veggie burritos, etc) doggie buscuits, and thats about it. Usually after the farmer''s market I''m in only about $160.

I think the fact that I like to cook helps b/c I tend to buy ingredients instead of whole preprepared meals and can really get inventive sometimes.

Another handy tool is allrecipes.com. On the nights where you really can''t think what to make you can search that site by ingredient. so if all you have is chicken, or peanuts, they''ll have a solution. It really comes in handy sometimes.

 

[Kaleigh]

Timely thread for us. Our grocery bill has gone down dramatically since we are empty nesters now. Hubby loves WF as do I. I''ll have to report back and let you know what we spend on an average week. If we are home we grill. Typically it''s chicken, turkey or fish and veggies. We don''t buy soda, or prepackaged junk food. I do splurge on my dark chocolate bars though...

 

[WTNLVR]

We average about $500 monthly. We don''t eat out much and I don''t but organic foods due to the cost. We do eat alot of meats, chicken, steaks, roast beef. Not huge fruit and veggie eaters- bad nutrition

I think it depends on where you live too. I''m in a MA suburb with average prices. This budget does not include beer and wine. That''s a whole seperate thread

 

[AmberGretchen]

Wow Honeybee...I''m impressed too by your budget maintenance. We (I) shop pretty carefully (lots of Trader Joe''s) and I cook at home A LOT, but my DH has an enormous appetite, so we seem to end up spending $500-600 a month on groceries. We haven''t been eating out a lot lately, but that still seems like a lot of money to me. I''ve tried to cut it - I don''t buy really anything pre-made or packaged, just lots of fresh fruits and veggies and cheese and whole grains and healthy pasta, but it really adds up, and DH goes through it like you wouldn''t believe - he was home all day yesterday and went through almost a pound of cheese! If only I could bottle that metabolism, I''d never have to worry about money again...

 

[Mara]

danielle, whole foods doesnt sell packages of chicken breasts...they sell fresh only! hehe....it's pretty insane. like if i get us 2 chicken kebabs from there, pre-marinated, it's about 1.5lbs (they weigh the veggies and sticks too) so that's probably about $13-14 for that one meal.

i also LOVE their stuffed chicken breasts in winter which you just pour some chicken broth over and bake in the oven and it's a full meal and that is about $15 each time too for one for both of us. also whole foods fish is REALLY expensive but its almost always fresh and not frozen and thawed. like if i get us ahi tuna sometimes for searing, which i have before, it's about $25 for 2 tuna steaks. halibut is like $19 a lb i think...they also do great halibut burgers that are only $10 for 2 burgers.

i also do get pre-packaged frozen foster farms chicken breasts at safeway sometimes just to have in the freezer and those are about $14 for a package, and a package has about 3 sets of 2 chicken breasts. so like 3 meals. but for the most part i have totally become addicted to fresh ingredients which is why i am at whole foods so much. i cook for us about 3-4x a week...and greg agrees that their meats and produce is definitely more primo and tastes better.

also whole foods has an amazing fresh pre-pak'd section and they also have a huge hot food section and a salad bar. it's amazing how many people are in there all the time, they must do so well here. the guy at the front of the register was talking to me one day about all the amazing huge bling he sees coming through there!! i literally feel like i am a poor stepchild when i shop there sometimes...the types that go through there. hehehe. but their stuff is GOOD.

they are opening one TWO BLOCKS from our house in 2008. i am so excited i'm practically giddy. greg was like oh oh there goes the monthly food bill. i can walk there!!!

i wonder if he will be more open to moving right before it opens than he is now? hehee.

okay so after reading the other responses i am glad i am not the only person who seems to spend a lot at the grocery store. i agree re: the men eating a lot. i buy us yummy cheeses from WF since greg LOVES stinky cheese and one small little triangle can be like $7 and it is gone in two of his 'before dinner' snackings!

 

[honeybee]

Date: 9/18/2006 7:47:35 PM
Author: AmberGretchen
Wow Honeybee...I'm impressed too by your budget maintenance. We (I) shop pretty carefully (lots of Trader Joe's) and I cook at home A LOT, but my DH has an enormous appetite, so we seem to end up spending $500-600 a month on groceries. We haven't been eating out a lot lately, but that still seems like a lot of money to me. I've tried to cut it - I don't buy really anything pre-made or packaged, just lots of fresh fruits and veggies and cheese and whole grains and healthy pasta, but it really adds up, and DH goes through it like you wouldn't believe - he was home all day yesterday and went through almost a pound of cheese! If only I could bottle that metabolism, I'd never have to worry about money again...

LOL, gotta love men & their metabolism! A pound of cheese!! I'm impressed! hehe, I think it helps that my BF works long hours, so that when he does get a chance to eat its usually just what I've made for him. ie. a packed lunch or dinner at home, or hummus & chips. So I guess it gets controlled that way. However he does seem to nearly inhale hummus w/ pita chips, so we tend to go through a few costco sized bins of hummus a month & a ginormous bag or two of pita chips.

 

[Mara]

lol honey it doesn''t help that i ONLY like the hummus from trader joe''s and i can practically eat a whole pack of it myself in one day...nevermind the lavash bread that i like with it. so i try to limit my trips to TJ''s to get hummus and bread to once a week...but somehow i still manage to eat a lot of it! i am definitely hummus piggy in our household!

 

[Christa]

OK, I'm no diamond expert, but saving money on groceries is something I'm all over! We don't have a huge income, and I hate the thought of literally eating a big percentage of it. So we spend . . . drum roll . . . about $300 a month for 5 of us--me, husband, and kids 8, 11 and 14.

It can't be done shopping at Whole Foods, but it can be done. It involves almost no convenience foods, making everything from scratch, watching out for sales, and not eating a lot of meat.

ETA: I hope that didn't sound like I don't think Mara or anyone else should shop at WF . . . it's just a matter of your own personal budget priorities, and expensive food isn't one of ours. Oh, and I just noticed that the original question said "no kids". Oops.

 

[Mara]

wow christa, i''d love to spend $300 a month only! then i could save the other $400 for diamond purchases. hehee.

however it just never seems to actually work out that way! hehe.

 

[nejarb]

This is all very interesting. I, like Mara, shop at WF pretty much exclusively. Right around the time I moved in w/ my fiance, we spent an afternoon going to 4 different grocery stores (WF and 3 others, 1 of which is known for lower prices). He''s an analysit for an investment firm and WF is one of the companies he keeps track of. So for him it was sort of "field research"--he wanted to see how much other stores were embracing organic & all natural--but we made it into a fun home-economics research project. We made a list of foods that I buy regularly and of ones that other persons commonly buy but that I personally didn''t (there were about 50 in all). Then we checked the prices for all of these things at each of the stores, noting the prices for the brand name product and the private label (or generic) version counterpart if there was one. With the produce, we noted prices of regular and organic, if available.

We found that the WF private lable (the "365" brand) was usu either the same price or slightly cheaper than the similar brand name product at reg stores. And for the products we regularly buy, we like the 365 better. For items like nuts and dried fruits, WF was the only place to find the type we preferred (raw nuts, no sugar added to dried fruits, etc). For produce, WF was more expensive, but not by very much, and not for organic products, which were on average the same whether WF or reg store.

Meat was hands down more expensive at WF.

We concluded that for us, b/c we don''t eat much meat and we''re not willing to buy generic processed foods anyway, WF actually isn''t more expensive.

That was over a year ago. Now I find that I''m spending about 125/week at WF for all our meals except 2 dinners and 1 brunch out on weekends and maybe 2 of his lunches. I think this is fine and I couldn''t really spend less at WF (unless we started living off of beans and rice and bananas). The problem isn''t WF. It''s the other 500/month we spend on wine, beer, starbucks, and eating out.

Um, I guess I did this in sort of a round-about way, b/c what I really think I need is a starbuck''s support group. I think that it took me starting this thread and thinking it through to realize what a problem this has become. See, I spend about $30/week there and I don''t even drink caffine! They''re in my apt building. I can''t get away from them. Every morning I convince myself that a tall vanilla latte w/ soy milk and just 1 pump of syrup is a great, healthy, convenient, reasonably-priced breakfast! Then sometimes when I''m cleaning my apt I think "this would be so much more fun if I went downstairs and got a strawberry frapaccino!"

Okay, I''m starting a starbuck''s support group on a new thread and I''ll cut and paste my confessions from the last paragraph. But I''m glad I started this thread because somehow it''s really interesting to learn about how other people spend money. By the way, ya''ll in Cali are so lucky to have Trader Joe''s. I hope you realize that! I was there a few weeks ago and picked-up some wine, water, cheese, and crackers for me, my guy, my bro, and his girl. It was 7 or 8 dollars, which is what we would''ve paid just for the cheese at any store we went to here in Houston. Then again...no state income taxes & cheap real estate v. Trader Joes? why can''t I have both???

 

[Christa]

Date: 9/18/2006 8:41:54 PM
Author: Mara
wow christa, i''d love to spend $300 a month only! then i could save the other $400 for diamond purchases. hehee.

however it just never seems to actually work out that way! hehe.

Exactly my thinking!

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 9/18/2006 8:26:59 PM
Author: Christa
OK, I''m no diamond expert, but saving money on groceries is something I''m all over! We don''t have a huge income, and I hate the thought of literally eating a big percentage of it. So we spend . . . drum roll . . . about $300 a month for 5 of us--me, husband, and kids 8, 11 and 14.


It can''t be done shopping at Whole Foods, but it can be done. It involves almost no convenience foods, making everything from scratch, watching out for sales, and not eating a lot of meat.


ETA: I hope that didn''t sound like I don''t think Mara or anyone else should shop at WF . . . it''s just a matter of your own personal budget priorities, and expensive food isn''t one of ours. Oh, and I just noticed that the original question said ''no kids''. Oops.

wow crista I''m impressed. I must not let my hubby see this thread b/c I just got him to up our grocery budget to 1K for the 4 of us plus 2 step kids ages 16 and 13 on the weekends. We had it set at $600-$700 and I was always going over so we bumped it up. We don''t have a whole foods here but I do a lot of shopping at Wild Oats and organic food is just way more expensive.

 

[ljmorgan]

Recently we''ve gone from $600-650 a month on groceries and toiletries to $400 a month tops. We eat the same things, and I get a ton of free stuff now. The change? Coupons

A friend turned me on to a website that lists the specials at my stores each weeks and tells me which coupons to use -- which is perfect because I think I''m normally too lazy for coupons. Of course fiance is a bit annoyed when I came home this week with 7 tubes of Colgate -- but I cried that they were FREE and I can donate what we don''t use to shelters

I guess I am just a little surprised because even 6 months ago I would saunter into the store and buy toothpaste whenever we were almost out, and would gladly pay $4 for toothpaste... when now I get the same brand for free or sometimes for 25-50 cents.

My CVS trip on Sunday:

7 tubes of Colgate
4 bottles of Palmolive dish soap
2 Colgate toothbrushes
1 Schick Quattro Titanium razor
10 bars of soap
1 can of pledge dusting spray
1 bottle of pledge cleaner
2 glade air fresheners

My total after coupons -- $5

Sorry it was lame for me to type that up but I am so psyched

 

[mrssalvo]

lindsey can you tell us the name of the website? that sounds like an incredible savings...

 

[KimberlyH]

We spend about $600 a month in food (eating out and groceries combined). Hubby and/or I go to the store at least 4 times a week. We go to the local bodega or produce stands (hubby knows where every produce stand in San Diego is) for fruits, veggies, tortillas, etc. We go to a butcher shop for meats if we''re having steak etc. We get our staples at Albertsons and we visit our version of Whole Foods, Harvest Ranch, for other items on occasion (there isn''t one within 20 miles of us, so we usually are be out and about when we shop there). We eat out two or three times a week. I always eat breakfast (always oatmeal and tea) and lunch (always a protein bar) at home, hubby usually eats these meals at home, but eats lunch out sometimes as well.

 

[Mara]

hehe now i am watching what i spend when i go to WF. today i went and got 3 boxes of cereal (2 were on sale for 2/$6), quart of Silk soy milk, 5 white nectarines, a 1/4 watermelon, a southwestern chicken salad pre-pak for lunch tomorrow, and fresh organic bananas and the total was $28. sheesh.

 

[Tybee]

Dang,
We drop a pretty penny at whole foods, but we opt for free range chicken, etc. We justify spending more money for kinder food.
Chocolate, wine and cheese also kill us. We LOVE the good things in life lol!

 

[eks6426]

For my family of 4...myself, husband and 2 boys--16 and 9, we spend about $400 per month on groceries/toiletries/cleaning supplies. I am extremely dedicated to menu planning and don't buy more than 1 or 2 items off the list. I also try to reinvent leftovers. For example on Sunday we might have potroast. On Tuesday we would have Philadelphia steak sandwiches using the leftover roast. Then on Firday night we would use the remaining roast to make burritos. My husband and I do not eat out for lunch (the kids generally buy their lunches). I generally make a big pot of soup on Sundays for my husband and I to eat during the week. In summer, I make salads using produce mostly from our raised bed gardens.

I also buy farm raised beef from an Amish farm about once every 2 years. My parents and I split a side which gives us steaks, roasts & hamburger etc. The majority of our meals involve Market Day Chicken steaks (my favorite product) or vegetarian dishes so the beef lasts a long time. I'm trying to get more fish into our diet so we've been doing that about once per week.

The trick for me in keeping costs down is to plan ahead so that we can cook from scratch rather than buying convenience foods. I pretty much shop only the outer circle of the store...produce, bread, dairy etc. I make granola rather than buying expensive cereal. I bought a machine that makes seltzer and that cut down our pop consumption a great deal. We don't have a Whole Foods in my area, but I do try to buy organic or from local farmers as much as possible when I can't grow it myself. I also only go to the store once per week unless really desperate like company is coming. I find that if I go to the store to pick up "just 1 item" about 5 more hop into my basket. I've gotten really good at looking in the pantry and making things from what we have. Sometimes I can do a whole week of that and then my grocery bill is reduced by 25% for the month. It's amazing how creative you can get if you try.

We probably eat out once a week almost always on weekends. Ordering pizza is my big downfall and I have really stopped that with the menu planning.

 

[FireGoddess]

If ANYone knows the recipe for Whole Foods curried chicken salad (it's got currants and green onions in it) I'd PAY money for it!!!! At about $6.75 per pint, that stuff is EXPENSIVE...and I'm addicted to it.

I've eaten it for lunch almost every day for the last 1.5 weeks. hee hee At this rate I'll be spending my whole salary on that stuff! I've got to figure out the recipe!

 

[honeybee]

Date: 9/20/2006 4:42:15 PM
Author: FireGoddess
If ANYone knows the recipe for Whole Foods curried chicken salad (it''s got currants and green onions in it) I''d PAY money for it!!!! At about $6.75 per pint, that stuff is EXPENSIVE...and I''m addicted to it.

I''ve eaten it for lunch almost every day for the last 1.5 weeks. hee hee At this rate I''ll be spending my whole salary on that stuff! I''ve got to figure out the recipe!

Oh my gosh, I ditto that!!

I LOVE their curried chicken, its my absolute fave!

 

[Mara]

hehe did you try checking out their website FG? they have a ton of recipes on their website but i don't know if they have recipes for goods they actually SELL...that might go against the whole business model. hahaa.

interestingly enough i was over at TJ's today buying hummus and pita and they had this big wall dedicated to a cost comparison. it said 'local competitor' and then 'TJ's and under each side they had basically the same goods from each store, the actual boxes up on the wall. like some brands were identical (like this optimum cereal i get) and some were replacements but basically the same, aka triscuits for the competitor and 'whole wheat crisps' for TJ's. oreos for competitor and chocolate sandwiches for TJ's. they had about 20 goods up there.

the REALLY interesting thing was that the total for the local competitor was $102 and the total for TJ's was $50! So the board said 'save 50% and shop here'. I was like WOW! that's an insane savings! so i asked my checker who the competitor was and he said he couldn't really say...so i said 'well is it WF' (though i didnt think that WF had oreos, hehe) and he said 'no...but if it was we DEFINITELY would be way cheaper', haha. and then he said 'well its basically safeway or albertsons' and i said 'well it must be safeway since albertsons is practically going bankrupt' and he said 'ding ding'.

very interesting since we shop at WF and safeway as our two main stores. now i am really intrigued to go to TJ's next time for something more than just hummus and see if i can save some $$ on some of the same brands that i get at WF. they had a bunch of the same kind of stuff up there that WF has. i got 4 containers of TJ's hummus and a pita bread pack and a pack of multigrain crackers all for $10. not bad. that's about 6-7 lunches right there!

 

[AmyFortner]

Thread hike here-- excuse me,.....Kaleigh and Mara-- I need your help... I need some suggestions on places to get a great asscher or radiant... We are STILL looking!!!! OHG. Crazy. We have tried DBOF and Diamonds by Lauren, Good Old Gold, Georgia Diamond. We really need to be able to jus sit down with some wholesale mart place and let them spread out the options before us.... preferably a place that works alot in asschers, radiants, and maybe cushions - although i really want an asscher. Please HELP!!!- Amyfortner

 

[Christa]

Go Lindsey and Island Dreams! You guys kind of covered it, but I was going to point out that if you are interested in saving some gocery bucks, you''d be amazed how much of a difference it can make to look at your store''s weekly ad and then plan your meals for part or all of the week based on what''s on sale, as opposed to deciding what you want to eat and buying it no matter what it costs. It''s a do-able change even for those who are committed to organic foods or a certain store.

 

[FireGoddess]

That''s really interesting considering Safeway is already pretty cheap for a lot of things. I tend to buy brands that are on sale to save $$ and that sort of thing, or alter the week''s menu depending on what I bought cuz it was on sale...so it''s interesting that TJ''s says it''s cheaper. Safeway is just so close to the house it''s a no brainer.

I checked WF''s website for the curried chicken salad recipe. No go. They have a recipe for their Curried Chicken Salad with Jicama, but it''s definitely not the same. Interestingly, WF has a cookbook and they do have the recipe for their Sonoma Chicken salad in there (which they also sell at their deli and is apparently a customer favorite) so I was hoping the recipe I want could be found somewhere. I''m going to see if I can replicate it. It''s my only alternative!!!

 

[Mara]

i checked my receipt for TJ''s and was pretty surprised. each thing of hummus is $1.99! and the pita bread was $0.89 ! and the crackers were like $1.50. its all so cheap!

i know those same crackers at WF would be at least $2.50 if not more. and hummus at WF is not $1.99 for sure.

i am definitely going to check out TJ next time i go for other stuff. pita for under a dollar for like 6 of them? sheesh!