How much does your family spend on food?

[agnes_day]

there are 8 of us and i would say we spend around 200 a week on food..i feel kinda bad now, looking at how the rest of you guys spend only 400-500 a month!!

 

[Daycare Mom]

We also go through alot of milk, with all the little kids. I do buy in bulk when it is cheaper. I cook and bake almost everything from scratch and now we are eating our own home-grown chickens (of course they are expensive to grow too). I have a price book and shop mostly at Aldi, Sam's Club and Super Walmart. I too love to grocery shop. I used to use grocerygame.com but found that it was way to much convience and name brand food that we wouldn't normally buy. It did save me on shampoo, toothpaste, etc. But for our needs it was more work than it was worth.

 

[Morning Dove]

You know, that's a great question.... I'm having a hard time getting an accurate answere because when you shop at walmart, you also buy non food items...

I must be saving some money because I'm buying more beans, and doing more clothing shoping at Goodwill..... But I'm sure not finding any proof of that savings when I look at my bank records.....????

Dove

 

[HennysMom]

I'm assuming this includes our "furry friends" as I consider them family members, so I'm going to include for our bill: 4 humans and 1 cat

I spend on average, between $500-700 a month for food and incidentals (deoderant, shampoo, TP, etc) for our family. We shop using coupons as well and thats also doing the BOGO's (love those deals!). I shop at FoodLion and at Sams Club (mainly for meats there and for incidentals, cheaper that way). Depends on what I have to buy as to the variance in montly cost - meats are a huge cost and if I have to do large grocery shopping, then its more the $700.00.

Just went yesterday and bought meats - we buy in bulk (like NY Strip steaks, I buy a side and have them cut it 1.5 inches thick) - bought 2 sides and got 20 steaks at 1.5 inches each - then I use my foodsaver (LOVE THAT THING!) and freeze 2 steaks to a package. Total cost for 20 NY Strip boneless steaks - $94.00

Also got 22 boneless/skinless chicken breasts ($28.00) and 30 lbs of hamburger (93/7%) $42.00...

so wasnt tooooooooooo bad - it will last us for a while.

Now I dont feel too bad seeing what everyone else pays. So...what good sites does everyone else that uses coupons use then?

I used to use ValPak and Smart Source but I can NEVER get them to print any more and I absolutely HATE paying for coupons - ugh!

 

[Leah-yes I know I'm crazy]

We're spending an average of 250/month for a family of four. We eat well, but have cut out all pre-packaged anything. About six months ago it came down to having to make lifestyle choices or get another job and pay more for sitters.
Best tip I have to offer is to use the freezer well. One batch of 24 cupcakes plus one batch of blueberry muffins done and in the freezer costs about $4 and one by one into lunchbags through the month is much cheaper than pre-made snack cakes.
Also you have to get the entire household on board to reduce costs overall. With kids from about 5 and up it's a simple logic thing that they really can get. Stand in the grocery store with one cake mix for cupcakes and one box of snack cakes and say pick one. Here you get six or here you get 24. Same works with chips. Put them in your own sandwich bags rather than buying single serving bags and save big. When we open a bag of chips we divide it up right then and there to lunch size portions.
The bulk of our expenses are meat and dairy. We try to buy in bulk for meat and cheese and routinely have weeks where the only thing we have to pick up is milk and lettuce because we have a stockpile of everything else.

 

[Their Other Mother]

We got into a bad habit of eating out alot. But with the economy diving it was real easy to break that habit. We spend way less money on food now. $75-100 bucks a week. But that is still not real accurate. My Parents just moved in with us and Mom picks up something (milk, fruit) all the time to contribute, Our oldest daughter graduated from ASU last spring and moved home but is not there for every meal (works full time and working on her graduate degree) Another daughter working full time and going to college and engaged so he feeds her dinner most of the week, then two kids still in school at home. One is our little girl who only eats like a bird anyway. I buy wheat in 50 lb bags to make bread & pastries. We don't have an extra freezer because electric is so expensive here. Last months bill was over $400. So I favor dried & canned foods more and have been building my pantry up one month at a time.

 

[marymac]

Well... There's only me and hubby. We spend about 250-300 a month. I cook everything , hardly no box or mixes and no microwave stuff. We never eat out, well maybe once or twice a year, and he hunts so that helps somewhat also. We have venison most of the year, some squirel and rabbit. we don't eat like we should, just can't afford to. fruits and veggies are so high, and potatoes are so over priced that we can't have meat and potatoes most of the time, it's one or the other. That's why my hair is dull, my teeth are falling out, and my eyes are going bad, hahahaha. Seriously it's a sad situation that food is so high. I am having a hard time cutting back, if I cut back anymore, I won't have to go to the grocery store, except to but Bologna and bread. Oh yea and coffee, gotta have coffee!!! To cook at hame takes lots of ingredients, maybe it's just as cheap to eat out, but no leftovers then.

 

[debilorrah]

It seems like it costs more every time I turn around. My stepdaughter moved out, so maybe that will help some.

 

[bkreugar]

It was the price of eggs going up that finally caused me to GET chickens.javascript:insert_text('

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Anway we are a family of 4 me, DH, 5 yr old DS and 10 yr old DD.We spend between 300-400.00 a month and that includes EVERYTHING. We go out to eat once a week.But that is usually $20 for all of us.

We do not eat much hamburger or "cheap" meats.We eat alot of chicken, pork ribe ham steak etc.I take 1 lb of pork ribs or a 1 lb ham steak, give DH the largest part and then split the rest between the 3 of us.Therefore I am using 1 lb of meat to feet the 4 of us.I stretch my $$ by having a breakfast for dinner nite and a grilled chhese or soup and sandwhich nite.

I used to think we spent to much but when I compared I decided I was inline. EVERYTHING in the grocery store went up 5-30%.My lunch every day since my girls started laying is an egg and cheese sandwhich.javascript:insert_text('

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[SterlingAcres]

We spend $300-500 a month on food for a family of 4, depending on where we have to shop. I'd like to get a Sam's membership, so we can buy in bulk more. That'll save loads.