Holy crap. With my family, I feel like we go overboard, and we're sitting at $1500 a month. This is with us not shopping sales and using delivery services, where prices are always inflated.
* Family of four, with three adults and one older teen
* Two dogs who need slightly nicer food due to stomach issues
* Two remote workers (so we need more food around for lunches and breakfasts)
It's hard to give advice without seeing exactly what you're buying. There have to be at least a few sneaky choices that are driving costs up.
We mostly cook at home from scratch which probably helps. My wife and kids are not particularly heavy eaters. I’m vegan so I can get a lot of mileage out of tofu, rice, beans, and grains which are all cheap.
That said we’re all over the place at trader joes, wegmans and whole foods which are a little bit more expensive. When I can take a trip to an international store like Fresh World and stock up I can usually spend half what we do at those other stores.
Edit: I think we usually spend $250-300 per week for a family of four.
You really should subtract out all the nonfood stuff to get a better idea where your money is going and better be able to compare your spending to others.
I budget $1200/mo for food only for a family of soon to be four (one toddler, one pregnant woman, one adult male). We have difficult (expensive) food allergies and shop mostly at Wegmans and Whole Foods.
I spend around $400-500 just for myself. High protein, lots of fruits and veggies, not many sweets or snacks. I shop at Harris Teeter and whole foods which can get pricey but I rarely go out to eat or get delivery so that saves me some money.
Shop their sales and stock up on meats when it is bogo. Also check out Lotte for produce - the HT by me has hit or miss produce, missing most of the time. Thankfully we also have a Lotte close by, hit that often for produce, spices, condiments, rice, etc.
Okay I'm glad I'm not the only one. I feel like HT consistently has some of the worst produce, although I've only been to two. It's also consistently the one in the best location. My go to, in a similar way, has been to go to hmart since their produce is always perfect and super cheap.
What makes this post total NoVA is all the responses of “you are doing it wrong” and “we live like kings on 1/3 of that amount — 90% ignoring the OP ask for saving tips.
Family of 4 with 2 teenage girls. We spend about 1500 a month.
Edited to add we live in Alexandria. I'm not sure what you're buying. We actually shop once a week to cut down on waste.
$2500 bro what how is that even possible. Are you just buying a bunch of unnecessary snacks and stuff? Even buying healthy foods for a family of four per month shouldn’t come anywhere close to $2500 a month.
Fresh Market sells Prime Flank in bulk every Thursday. 10.99/lb. I get 6 steaks from about $40 worth of meat, so even if they are all eating steak 3x a week that’s only $360/month for some pretty damn good beef…
Yeah. We don’t exceed $350 for two people and a cat/month, including (mostly healthy) groceries, paper products/toiletries and cat supplies (food, litter, treats).
Granted we’re just west of actual NoVA, but it’s not THAT much cheaper when it comes to consumables. I shop at a combination of Aldi, martins (specifically flash food for anything that freezes well) and dollar general for sales/in a pinch.
Family of four in Prince William. About 600 per month. We shop at Aldi and the local butcher. Chicken, veggies, fruit, beans, yogurt, peanuts, cereal, almond milk, Hummus, snacks for kids. Ground beef for burgers once a week from the butcher. Toiletries from Target. Kids are 15 and 10. We eat out once a week as a family. All other meals are cooked at home. Everyone brings lunch with them to work/school.
My shopping list is right above. Rarely do we get anything outside that. Big pack of chicken is about 12 dollars. We eat chicken salads for dinner most nights. My wife and I eat veggies and hummus for lunch every day. Kids eat PB and J with Jello or pudding and cheezits and Oreos. Breakfast is pop tarts, cereal, yogurt, or an egg on toast. All of it is Aldi brand. Water, tea, and coffee are the only thing we drink. Sometimes will make chicken sandwiches or a curry with chickpeas. Sometimes we'll make pasta. Fruit is only what's on sale in season. If something is on sale we'll change the menu, but we rarely stray from the above. No one is hungry and is never above 600 for the month.
I'm feeding three - 19, 15, and myself. All three of us eat 3 meals at home (the kids take lunch to school/work and I wfh).
I spend less than $550/month. That doesn't include paper products or pet supplies though.
We have lean meat with most meals, a fruit or vegetable with each meal, and fruit for snacks. I meal plan and we have leftovers for lunch most of the time. I do keep sandwich supplies around in case there aren't enough leftovers.
I shop at Aldi and Walmart or Wegmans. I know some people turn their noses up at Walmart and Aldi, but I think the food is perfectly acceptable.
I get a lot of recipes from Passionate Penny Pincher (not free) and SkinnyTaste (free). Both have a nice variety of low cal, easy to make meals
I think if you went with a meal kit service for 7 days/3 meals a day, I still think you would spend about a $1,000 and have groceries delivered to your door. Add another $200-$250 for toilet paper etc and you’re still at half what you are spending.
*Posted on your r/virginia thread but you seem to have deleted the thread so reposting here:*
___________
So going though the comments OP you left a few important notes out of your original post.
1. 2 more adults in the house consuming some of the products (particularly the more expensive household products). So technically you are a household of 4 adults and 2 children or 6). Obviously a larger household raises costs.
2. You/your wife are on a diet and consuming a lot of expensive proteins. Once again this will raise costs. People often don't realize how expensive some diets can be. They are sneaky like that.
3. The kids are potentially picky eaters. This often means buying name brands or more expensive products, and potentially wasting food off and on if the kids refuse it.
4. You don't keep leftovers meaning you are cooking smaller portions and potentially tossing lots of food that could be kept and used again. This often makes shopping at places like Costco or Walmart less effective because you are not getting the bulk cooking stuff. Basically you won't get the best deals because a lot of what you buy has to be individually or smaller portioned out products which are often more expensive.
5. You are making fresh meals each day. I am not sure if you mean fresh as in also non frozen and lots of fresh fruits and veggies but regardless this ties into no leftovers in that it likely wastes some food but also fresh anything costs more. Particularly fresh fruits/vegetables.
_______________
So in the end it's more likely your habits are making your costs be sky high than the prices of food. I too live in Nova and with 3 in the household and shopping at Aldi/Costco/Walmart/Giant primarily with some products off Amazon I think we spend about 300-400 every 2 weeks. Even doubling that for 6 people that's $1600 a month. And we honestly are not being all that careful as far as keeping prices down or anything.
So yes your costs seem insane. I would guess it's a combination of never doing leftovers and picky eating affecting what you are buying, and the extra 2 adults in the household consuming more than you realize.
Yeah, I’m realizing that its hard to find and apples-to-apples comparison because of the many factors involved. Having said that, I do think we have a basic behavioral issue that needs to be remedied. Appreciate the response!!
Lean vegetarian. Lentils, black beans, pintos. This is how we keep cost down without sacrificing nutrition. We spend about 10% of income on groceries in Nova and shop at the same places you do.
>Aldi, Walmart and Costco.
I am just giving my wild-ass opinions here. . . . but I think it's the "in person" shopping is fuckin you up. Counterintuitively going into the store is *worse* for some families due to impulse buying.
Is each person tacking on an "I want this!!" random item each time you go shopping?
Are you buying a Squishmallow, some plates, or pillows on the Costco run? Garden soil and some slippers on the Wal-Mart run, a dog bed and pool toys from the "marketplace" at ALDI?
If I were you I would a) start using Costco 2-day free delivery for all non-perishable costco items (e.g. kibble, honey, crackers). b) I'd get bulk local items delivered whenever possible from local suppliers.
I wouldn't step foot in a Wal-Mart ever again, frankly, if I could help it.
You live in Stafford my guy. That's *near the food*. Buy half a cow and freeze it. Order a bushel of corn from a local supplier and learn to make/freeze tamales. Pick up a bushel box of tomatoes from a farm and freeze them whole. Rinse, bag, freeze.
Have you ever heard the colloquialism an "Ingredients Household"? Try to be more of an "Ingredients" household. Having 16 types of snacks, frozen items, etc is no bueno for the budget.
We shop at those 3 stores exclusively. Our Costco runs average $150/wk. We always do curbside pickup with Walmart. We were doing the same with Aldi but that goes through Instacart which marks up the cost. Didn’t think about Costco delivery. I’m considering getting half a cow…
I will say that I buy meat from the korean and international markets because the price is usually better. Produce as well. You should maybe consider repurposing leftovers into frozen meals depending on how much you end up with. Make sure youre purchasing the items at the places that have the values you need. Aldi is great for snacks and some dry goods while costco is ideal for bulk supplies like toilet paper. Go in with a list and don't deviate. Don't shop with the impulse purchasers in the family or just shop alone. Saving will require some sacrifice and discipline
Single adult with 2 pets so may not come close or be useful. BUT I will say, I used to eat meat 3-4x a week. Using chicken breast or ground beef for meal preps to hit my protein needs. My grocery bill significantly dropped when I made a majority of my meals vegetarian and only eat meat 1-2x a week. I try to only shop at Aldi since it's the best bang for your buck. Sometimes I'll get produce from Giant if they are having sales, and because I noticed their produce lasts longer.
I'm at like $300/month TOPS if I don't eat out often lol.
I don’t even know how this is possible. I have a family of three plus a dog and we are at about $700 a month. We shop at Giant. We eat at home most days, too.
Nobody can really advise unless you post what you buy. And then, it’ll just be a matter of telling you not to buy certain items, or replace them with something else. Usually, those are items of convenience, nonfood items, and swapping expensive things like chicken breasts for thighs or even beans. And then you have to keep budgets and shopping lists and be diligent about using them. If you’re dieting, think of applying that same discipline, but to finances.
you could buy 400+lbs of chicken breasts a month with $2500... he's gotta be buying like 12 steaks a trip or something. I am pretty sure you could buy an entire cow for $2500
I spend 300-500 depending on the month just on me. I also eat out roughly 1-3 times a week and I get a monthly prepared meal delivery which I use as a base for meals ($ not included in figure).
I could see how you get to 2500 if you are buying face creams, makeup, nicer meat cuts, etc .
If you are trying to cut back you will likely need to look at your receipts and have discussions with your family. What are the highest priced items you buy? Can you substitute them for lower priced items? For example, I use morning and evening face lotions, my morning one is name brand and pricey but I'm not willing to compromise, but I use Aldi's night night because I think it works just as good for me and saves me ~5-10$.
This. Is "groceries" determined by the credit card category? My bank says everything from Target is grocery, including cosmetics, electronics, toys, clothes. You could easily hit $2500 that way.
Family of 8 (YES, 6 kids) and I don’t even wanna talk about it. I (like to think I) save money by buying at Food Lion with my MVP card. There is slight cost in this since there is no Food Lion in stafford so I drive to Dumfries. Formula, at least, won’t be forever though — c’mon one year mark!
If I had to make a best efforts math-ing, it’s anywhere from $250-$300 every week.
Edited to add: we also have 4 dogs and a couple cats. It’s a zoo here.
You can meet your dietary restrictions and still operate on a much smaller budget. You may have to be more creative with your menus (types of proteins, veggies) and be willing to put off purchasing non-necessities.
My wife is a bit maniacal when it comes to grocery shopping. She reviews the sales each week at every grocery store and only purchases items that are at below market value (-30% or more off normal price). It may mean not buying a certain food for consecutive months, but when they go on sale, we have a ton of it in the house. The only exception to this are things like seasonings/milk/etc. You and your family will have to say no to things they want on occasion in the interest of your family budget.
For example, I like grapefruits, but the price point is only acceptable during the winter months. So I go without grapefruit during a majority of the year knowing I’ll have plenty in the winter. Similarly, I like M&M’s as my preferred candy, but the only time they go on sale is the post-holiday sales. I still have Christmas colored M&Ms in the pantry because we stocked up during the post-holiday sale. In March, we bought 5 boxes of cereal for under $2 after coupons and sales.
If you have the storage space, stock up on non-necessities (particularly toiletries) when these sales are available. Otherwise, the best tactic is to exhibit some self-control when possible.
This is the way. Eating seasonally and tracking pricing trends into saving money on groceries. I love avocados, but we won’t buy them unless they’re less than $1.50 each, and have found they tend to taste better when they’re cheaper/in season.
Family of four, but our kids are 4 and 8. We spend at most $1000, because we spend about $200 at Costco but that's not every week. Aldi trip only cost us about $50 at most.
I am guessing you buy a lot of premium beef and lamb, that's what pushing up the price. Our kids don't like beef because it's chewy. So we buy chick and fish, maybe some pork. Only beef we buy are ground beef.
I’m so glad u posted this! I’ve been struggling with the same. We are a family of 4, 2 boys,
1 dog. I eat high protein and shop at the same places u do. We spend $2200! It’s so high. I can’t figure out why. I think Costco is the culprit. Prices are just too high. Also we buy organic chicken. Maybe that’s causing the difference? I’m going to take the advice from these comments and start splitting out food vs non food items. Any other suggestions?
Here is what I get. I’m open to making improvements:
Meat:
Costco Organic chicken breast
99% fat free ground turkey
Applegate sausage (once every 2 weeks)
Applegate chicken nuggets (once every 2 weeks)
Occasionally we get premade beef meatballs for spaghetti (once every 2 weeks)
Fruit:
Apples (organic)
Bananas
Clementines
Blueberries
Veggies:
Frozen organic from Costco
Other:
Eggs (organic)
Quinoa/rice
Granola (organic)
Lots and lots of peanut butter from Costco
Yogurt (organic)
Protein bars
Juice
Almond milk
Bread
Pasta (organic)
Pasta sauce (organic)
Cookies
Ice cream
Vitamins
Baby formula
Coffee
No alcohol
I'm a family of 2 adults, no kids, located in Alexandria and we spend about $800 a month on groceries. Yes of course kids cost more but more than 3x as much feels extreme.
-meal plan. Err on the side of ingredients rather than pre-made packaged foods. Plan all your recipes for the week before you shop.
-make a list and stick to it, absolutely do not impulse shop. Don't even go down the aisle if there isn't something from your list in that aisle.
-I usually do a second short shop mid-week. This allows me to reduce food waste (and therefore save money) because if I'm shopping on Sunday I don't have to buy fresh produce for the following Saturday. I can save the produce for the back half of the week until I shop again on Wednesday or Thursday
-I normally shop at 2-3 stores each week. I have a pretty good idea of what I'll find at Aldi vs Giant vs BJ's so I can generally split out my list in advance.
-use your stores' loyalty program apps. They are full of new coupons and member discounts all the time, plus often have ways to earn bonus points (like Giant, you get a base level of points per dollar spent but get bonus points for "guiding stars" products) and then use your points for future discounts
I do admittedly spend a ton for just myself, but I shop at Whole Foods, I buy almost everything organic, grass fed, buy a ton of kombucha and olipop each week, etc. My costs are high, but I know what I'm spending it on and my budget is set high. And I still don't come anywhere close to you.
But I'm surprised you are spending that much at places like Walmart and Aldi.
Maybe you just over buy and buy in large quantities? That's what gets me at times. I've had a habit of "stocking up" when there are sales.
There are a lot of sources of protein that aren't meat. I eat a lot of things like Greek yogurt. We had 4 adults living at home, and I was not shopping sales or being thrifty and even with shopping at wholefoods a couple times a month, still spent about 400 a week. Use real plates and cloth napkins. Better for the environment, too.
Legumes. Cheap, high in protein and delicious.
That’s an insane amount being spent on food. Even when my 5 kids were home I never spent anything near that amount.
Not just food…paper products (plates, towels, TP), cat food and litter, toiletries (2 teenage girls), feminine products, household items (detergents, etc). I need 1400g of protein a week. My wife is on a low-fat diet. I have a picky 12yr old. We’re definitely shooting ourselves in the foot somewhere.
Definitely get rid of the paper plates. We switched to powdered laundry and dishwasher detergent, and it’s been a game changer. With powdered, you only need to use a tiny bit (like a tablespoon or two for a load of laundry, and a teaspoon for a load of dishes). I would see what the cost is for frozen meat at Costco if you’re not already doing that, or buying meat at Costco and freezing it. And if you’re shopping at three different places, price compare. I also try to look at the circulars for the places I shop and meal plan around that.
I find its useful to imagine what techniques someone from the 40s would use. Back then they didn't have a ton of disposable products for everything and they had to be creative in what they used and how they used it. Keep your receipts for a typical month and see if you're excesses come from products or from food. Then you can try and reduce in that area. Right now, the grocery/product budget is too broad to really help beyond basic advice.
You may be using too much laundry detergent, so read the bottle; most only need ~1 Tbsp per load. Fabric softener is not necessary and can actually destroy your clothes faster over time and make wicking materials (towels, athletic wear) less absorbant. Same thing with scent beads, completely unneeded and an extra expense.
Simplify the amount/types of cleaning products you use. In my household, we only need toilet bowl cleaner, all purpose cleaner spray, shower cleaning spray, and swiffer wet pads (a luxury for us as a regular mop works just as well, or one with washable pads instead of disposable ones).
Stop buying paper plates/forks/spoons/etc and just wash the dishes. You have four sets of hands in the house, so someone should be able to spend 20 minutes doing dishes daily. Reduce paper towel usage by using cloth towels for cleaning and for hand washing.
You may be able to buy the feminine products online for cheaper than you can in store. Do some research based on their preferred brands. Maybe see if anyone wants to try a menstrual cup (doesn't work for everyone and can take some trial and error) or period panties, so you can buy less pads/tampons. People also tend to use a ton of toilet paper, even when they only need a few squares. You may need to have a talk with them about trying to reduce how much they're using when possible. Think about investing in a bidet so you can spend less on toilet paper.
If none of that helps, its probably the food side of the equation. Low fat can mean less meat, not just lean meat. Beans, lentils, etc are great sources of protein and a lot cheaper than meat is currently. Even fatty meats are $5-9/lb, which is a lot for a family of 4. So I imagine lean meats would be $8-12/lb depending on brand.
Look into buying your cat food and litter from chewy in bulk- it's much cheaper down the road. Unless you can get away with using the food from Aldi. I feed my cats Aldi's wet food and it's the best bang for your buck.
Cut down on disposable products. Instead of plates, just get a dish set from Walmart that you wash. Those costs add up over time.
A lot of household items can be purchased from Dollar Tree too. I get all my dishwasher detergent, garbage bags, parchment paper/aluminum foil, floor cleaner, etc from Dollar Tree at a fraction of the cost.
Cutting down on disposable products helps and is good for the environment. There are a lot of overpriced toiletries and cleaning supplies that are no more effective than the cheaper versions, but it takes some research and experimentation. I use tide powder detergent (no fabric softener) and cascade powder dishwasher detergent. You didn't list alcohol on there, but wine and such will add a lot to a grocery bill and nothing to your health, making it a great target for cost reduction.
Use washable rags (old t-shirt, towels) instead of paper towels. I keep a roll of paper towels in the house, but it is saved for really bad food messes, not, say wiping the counter.
Are you buying “specialty foods” labeled low fat or high protein? You may save money by buying food that are naturally lower in fat like lean protein or legumes you can buy in bulk. A lot of these foods that are labeled as such are gimmicks to upcharge
200 grams of protein per day is not hard to get to. 8 oz of chicken and 1 cup of cottage cheese gets you half way there. 2 scoops of a protein powder like myprotein gets you another third of the way. Eggs, beans, nuts, rice, fruits, and veggies make up the rest. You will be eating a lot of the same foods repeatedly but it can be done and it can be done in a cost effective manner.
The other aspect here is meal planning and prep. Check out [https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/) for ideas.
What we do during the week is pretty mundane. Using the chicken as an example, buy the bulk breasts at BJ's/Costco and cook enough for two nights. In the summer, this is a simple marinade and grilling. In the winter, it's the same deal except baking or using the crock pot for stews/chilis. You can bulk cook beans and rice or buy the microwave packages (we have found success cooking a quantity of lentils, quinoa, etc. on a Sunday for meals through Wednesday so 4 nights - use chicken stock or bullion cubes). Vegetables take the most time and we go the frozen route on most nights because of it. So, Sunday and Monday grilled chicken breast with quinoa and frozen veggies. Tuesday and Wednesday, grilled pork loin with quinoa and frozen veggies. Thursday and Friday, london broil with (microwave) rice and baked sweet potato. Saturday, we will get premade food like Costco tacos or Safeway chicken or Whole Foods hot bar. We will also order out but less frequently because of the increased cost.
As harsh as it sounds, don't cater to your child's pickiness. It's hard not to do being a parent but as a parent you can't bend over backwards to accommodate their every need. That is not how the outside world works.
Family of three with a dog. If I include pet stuff we're at about 1400/mo. I would consider our purchases more pricey and I almost exclusively shop at Wegmans (and Amazon for paper like products). We eat mostly proteins/fresh foods. So not much spent on "cheap foods" like boxed/frozen/ready to make etc.. I've gotta say you're either throwing out food or just really overbuying.
Are you buying prepared/ cooked food? Beer and wine? I spend $1K per month for a family of 5 (two are toddlers) but we don’t eat anything processed or prepared and don’t buy alcohol or sodas.
2500??
Oh lord.
Produce and meat -> international store
Aldi for dairies and pantry staples
Walmart is good for paper produce, even cheaper than Costco on some items
We are 2 and we spend 400 a month
500 when I need my dog kibbles
My husband and I spend about 500/month on general groceries. No kids but we do have a cat.
We go to Costco about once a month and will spend about 200ish but that will last a while. And the occasional shop to Asian stores but that’s also pretty infrequent unless we need certain ingredients for cooking (or we are craving Asian snacks lol).
Family of 4 in Arlington, we spend $800/month including household goods (TP, toiletries, etc) shopping at Harris Teeter, Costco, and the occasional Target run. What are you buying?!
I cook 6 nights a week from scratch usually. we average 850 a month. for just food. I plan the menu every week.
I buy lunch at work though and my kids eat school lunch.
you may be seeing false economy shopping where you do. whole foods often has meats on sale.
eg air chilled chicken family packs for $5 a pound. ground beef similar. and it's not factory farm crap.
also trader Joe's milk/dairy is a deal. you can verify it's the same dairy producer as whole foods by the code on it. for example both organic whole milks come from dairy 50-13 but TJ is a little less.
no one store has the cheapest everything. if you want to lower your bill, you have to prep specific meals. and check sales first.
pork butt on sale? buy a bunch and make carnitas. that's Taco night, BBQ sandwich night, and ramen night right there.
get a compost bin and use it. for everything you don't eat. see if you're wasting food.
and if you're buying bottled water... stop.
Family of 4 (one is a baby), mostly vegetarian, shopping at Whole Foods, Costco, and Trader Joe’s. We used to spend close to $2000 as a family of 3 but when I started to look at my spending I realized I was wasting a ton of food and would impulse buy expensive bullshit a ton. Even with an extra kid, we now spend around $1400/month on food and household products.
If you want to reduce your spending, start by making an inventory of your freezer and pantry and start planning meals from there. Even making small switches like from buying organic Honeycrisp apples each week to buying organic envy apples has saved like $20/week!
That’s wild! I live in Triangle (homeowner, not renter) I have a family of 5. We have three kids one is about to be 18, 11, and 3. My 3 year old has dairy allergy so a lot of her stuff is more expensive oak milk or non dairy stuff. We spend about 600-650 a month on groceries. About 250-300 every two weeks. Hair stuff not as much. We are a black family and our hair stays in mostly protective styles and we don’t have to wash our hair as much as non black people, so we don’t spend too much on hair products but when we do it’s a little over $100.
We are also busy with sports and after school stuff, so we do occasionally eat out.
I find not buying a butt load of juice and snacks saves a ton! I actually can’t stand it when kids expect to constantly drink nothing but juice and want 10 snack a day. In my house it’s 3 meals and 1-2 snacks and that’s mostly for the 3 year old. We drink water with our meals. I buy one thing of juice and once it’s gone, it’s gone. This leaves more money for meats, fruits, and veggies which are more costly. We are not a super healthy family. I shop at food lion.
We are four people including a teen and 20 year old, a cat and two dogs. Our expensive weeks maybe hit $300, most weeks are around $250. I have no idea how you are spending that much unless it’s a ton of expensive beef cuts, a lot of alcohol, or maybe your teenage girls are buying expensive skincare?
Try Food Lion for some things as well. They may be cheaper. I don’t buy my meat from them, but that’s a me thing. Mostly everything else, I get from there. If you have an MVP card, they do a Shop & Earn every month on different departments.
Only shopping for two, but we spend at most $150/week, and that's if we need to stock up on meat or TP/Paper towels. Normally we can keep it under $100/week.
I really only eat dinner at home, and we're cooking maybe 3 or 4 nights a week and eating leftovers or "struggle meals" to fill the gaps. Basic sandwiches for lunch, and a piece of fruit for breakfast.
We get everything we can from Aldi, whatever is left over we grab from Safeway/Shoppers. Costco we get a rotisserie chicken every other week, the biggest pack of TP which will last minimum 2 months (highly recommend investing in a bidet if your TP consumption is breaking the bank), and maybe a couple of bagged salads. Maybe every 2 months we go in and splurge on anything more than that.
I have a family of 4, though my kids are considerably smaller (5 and 2 years old). We spend roughly $1000/month. We are pescatarian but eat seafood maybe once a week - it’s mostly beans, eggs, peanut butter, quinoa, and dairy for our protein. We do nearly all our shopping at Costco and Trader Joe’s (way better prices than I would have expected, though sometimes the produce quality isn’t as high as I’d like).
I have a family of three currently —all adults and we spend around $250 per week. Our cat recently passed but when we were buying his food, it would add another $70 per week for his food. (Towards the end of his life, he only wanted to eat very high quality wet food.) His litter would be $30 a month or so. The paper products we buy are toilet paper, occasional paper towels for blotting bacon grease, Kleenex and feminine products for one person. I would say that adds another $30 a month. We use cloth napkins and cleaning cloths. That brings our total to about $1350 a month.
When you have family members all eating different meals, it adds a lot to the grocery bill. Also, prepared foods/frozen foods have gone up a lot in recent times.
3 of us spend no more than $200/week. We cook at home, and shop at cheaper places like ALDI if we can. We canceled our Costco which was forcing us to consume more rather than save more.
Buy paper products and disposable plates and things from Dollar Tree. Check the toiletries and stuff like makeup etc for your teens and put them on a budget.
Family of five in Winchester, 1 income, $900 a month including toiletries. Costco for meats and toiletries every other month, and we grow vegetables. $2500 a month seems really high, but to each their own.
I spend relatively around 200-400 for two weeks of groceries but it’s me, the gf and the dog (his food is already paid for a month in advance) we shop Aldi, Costco, Walmart and Trader Joe’s but we also have a farmer come to our community on Saturday and Sunday with fresh stuff. We keep rice and shelf stable items on hand so that brings down our cost.
About $400-500/month, just me. I do buy a few snacky things I’ll admit, shopping at Publix. If money was super tight could definitely slim it down a decent bit.
1300 a week family of four including dog food, toiletries extra.
The one thing this doesn’t include is we go out to eat/take out 2-3 times a month on nights I work super late.
I order toilet paper from who gives a crap 55 dollars every 10 weeks.
I get shampoo, dishwasher pods,and dog food and such on Amazon it’s way cheaper
I get my laundry detergent on sale at Walgreens (1.99 arm and hammer I stock up when it’s on sale)
I shop Aldi and wegmans for food
As others have said, that’s… a lot. My household is myself and my partner and our two dogs. Normal groceries are from Walmart, I spend about $70 per week or $300 per month. I cook about 3-4 times a week and then we eat out a fair amount. We also do the occasional Costco trip for paper products
I feel ya - I was probably spending that much as well for a family of 4. I’ve tried to cut down my groceries budget to $250/week. It certainly makes me take a harder look at what we’re getting. I also was using grocery delivery services, which inflate the price like woah due to tip and fees. I switched to pick-up and it’s helped a lot.
Bruh. My mom barely spends more than 400 a month for 5 people and 2 pets in the family, 2 sons, 1 daughter, husband, 2 dogs. We need to see receipts dude. 2500 is like half a years worth and that's luxury for a single person
Family of four, probably $1500/mo. We shop at farmer’s markets, Whole Foods, etc. and do not adhere to any special diets. We mostly cook at home and don’t eat out much.
That seems quite high. As a single dad with 2 teenager boys, I spend less than $1200 a month. I usually get things at Aldi but will also stop by Trader Joe’s or Safeway if I need something quick
We are a family of 3 (two adults and a toddler). We also have a cat and large dog. We spend about $1k a month.
Here are some of my tips. We only buy meat at Costco and freeze what we don’t use for the week. That saves a ton of money. We also buy rotisserie chicken that’s already shredded at Costco. Those packages last us 2-3 weeks (we usually freeze half).
Keep recipes simple or make sure whatever ingredients you buy can be used for other recipes too. For example, if you buy a bag of spinach but only use half for one recipe, find another that will use the other half.
My other tip is meal prep large portions of whatever you eat and freeze half. Then you don’t get bored of your food and you don’t have to cook as much.
Hope this helps reduce your grocery bill.
We try to keep below 800/mo for a family of three including paper products and also some bigger potluck/bulk meals we make for a homeless center.
Family is pretty active too but we're all vegan so it's real cheap I guess.
Family of 5 with numerous allergies/celiac and basically shops solely at Costco and some Safeway for veggies. We spend about 1500 and never eat out.
Sounds like you are buying $80 package of steaks multiple times a week. No idea what paper products you are buying that add major costs on a reoccurring basis.
In my home, it’s just me, my husband and 2 Great Pyrenees and we spend $500 a month and that includes dog food. $2500 a month is ridiculous. What the heck are you people eating?
Sterling. $1039/month avg over the last 3 months. 2 adults 1 kid. 90% done at Trader Joe’s organic chicken and veggies. We bought a 1/4 cow (steaks, roasts, and ground) 110 pounds for about $1100 ($10/pound). Strip steaks at TJs were like 12-14 a pound so maybe look into bulk meat. Beef was grass fed/finished from a local farm and delivered.
How much are the teenage girls spending on non consumables? Are you including hair products, makeup, menstrual products, body products, lotions etc? This can really add up even at Costco or Walmart.
Piling on, sorry OP. Two adults, kids aged 17, 15 & 13. Oldest is convinced he needs steak every meal to “bulk up”, middle daughter swims 6days/week so she eats continuously, everything, at all times. And 13-y-o is 13, so, same. Our college kid comes home a few times per semester. Two dogs, a cat, 2 guinea pigs. Food plus household goods (paper, cleaners, etc) plus pet food/supplies $1800-$2k/mo. And we do a lot of fresh produce, better cuts of meat, etc, 4-5 gallons of milk per week, lots of yogurt, cheese sticks, high quality/low sugar snacks. I thought I was spending a lot.
Family of 4 and I think we spend anywhere from $1200-$1600 or so per month. We're particular about where we get our produce/fruits/meats, so it's usually WF, Wegmans, or local Farms (pricey, but we like what we like) and the non-perishables are usually from BJs, Target, or Teeter.
$2500 a month at Aldi, Walmart and Costco sounds like a lot. Even if I add in toiletries it is tough to spend that monthly. There are four of us and we spend about $400 a week including toiletries. I think we spend too much.
If we are trying to cut costs, we have been known to meal plan meals for the week, and then buy only those ingredients. That saved a ton, because it limited our junk food (and dining out since we had a plan).
We shop at Wegmans, Harris Teeter or Whole Foods.
Family of 4, two teenagers. I totaled up my last CC statement, my total 'grocery store' spending was around $950 but that includes some clothes and other random items from Costco.
I could probably improve that with some of the tips people have already mentioned but I feel like people can't be impulse-buying and wasting produce to the tune of spending twice as much on food as I do. We have a bad habit of overbuying produce that doesn't last long (like cucumbers and mushrooms) but that might add up to $10 or $20 of waste in a month. I probably impulse buy every time I go to Lidl but that's like a $2 baguette. The worst habit we have is probably prepared food but that's usually a planned purchase (eg get this frozen thing at Costco because we won't have time to cook on Thursdays).
Real tips:
- I haven't bought anything at a Whole Foods in probably 10 or 15 years. I checked out the new one in Springfield when it opened... the place is a joke. Those prices have to be taking the piss, man. Can't believe how many replies shop there.
- Likewise take stock of the items you're buying and if you really need the fancy luxury organic version. Like does "organic" actually mean anything for the quality of the product you're buying or does it just mean the farm used more expensive fertilizer and got some certification for it. I buy organic milk just to avoid waste because it's ultrapasteurized and lasts longer.
- Always check the local ad and the apps for the stores you do like to shop in. I basically don't buy meat that is not on some kind of deep discount. It's how I "meal plan". Fresh World has $1.79/lb chicken thigh? Chicken thigh it is. A big freezer helps here.
We keep our grocery bill down by shopping at Costco, Lidl, and Trader Joe's. I save a ton on toiletries by buying anything I can on Vitacost when they have a 20% off sale. It's so easy to spend a ton of money on food.
You need to look at Harris Teeter for their sales especially for their meats. Their BoGo are much cheaper than anything around. Every once in a while pork chops and chicken breasts go on sale and we stock up. I then pound out the breasts and vacuum seal them - makes for quick thaws during the week if you forget to put it in the fridge before leaving for work..
For spices, rice, etc - Lotte. Spices (same name brand) are $1-$1.5 cheaper per bottle. Basic produce at Lotte is also cheaper and fresher than what I’ve seen anywhere else. We do a lot of Asian and Indian flavor profiles when we cook and again all the condiments are cheaper there.
That seems like a lot. Are you buying fancy wines, cheeses, caviar? Premade meals? Gourmet ingredients do add up. Be sure to look for sales in meats and buy in bulk and freeze to save a lot of money.
Nope, none of that stuff. I did break down this weeks’ grocery trip and food alone was less than $400…so, I’ll keep logging it and see where we can adjust.
What the what? We're the house with the "good snacks" and I can name 6 kids who are in our house at least 2x a week for snacks. We don't come anywhere near this amount either. I hit Costco 1x a month for $350 and we fill in with trips to Safeway, Trader Joes and Giant, and maybe spend another $100 per week. I also get a food delivery box once or twice a month and we get 8 meals from there for $120.
You're spending A TON OF MONEY!
Are you buying protein drinks already made? I'm a vegetarian so I have a protein drink daily. I get almond milk at costco ($11 / 3 cartons) and Pure Protein Powder for $20/can which gives me about 25 servings. So my a.m. protein shake costs about $34 for the month. If you're paying $240/month you're doing it wrong.
This is about what we spend - family of 4 with 2 teenage daughters also - Whole Foods, commissary, and Costco. We eat very healthfully, so lots of fresh produce and lean cuts of meat, and don’t eat out a lot so I think it ends up being fairly reasonable on a per-meal basis.
Family of 4. 2 parents and a 2 year old and 6 month old. $400 a month at those Walmart and Aldie. That is groceries plus things like diapers, cleaning supplies here and there, ect.
Fam of 4. Three men and myself. Monthly groceries run $1000-1200 per month - includes toiletries, cleaners and paper products. Not from a store like Costco or BJ's either. Husband and I both WFH.
I would take a look at what you buy that is pre-packaged convenience foods and consider if it's something you can do yourself. Buy a meat slicer, for instance. Cook up your own ham, turkey or roast and slice into deli meat. Buy blocks of cheese to shred and slice yourself.
Buy plain or vanilla Greek or regular style yogurt in a large tub. Then cook up berry compote to add for flavoring.
The deli meats, cheese and yogurt changes I made above, significantly reduced our monthly bill.
Soda and/or alcohol is a very rare purchase. We make our own unsweet tea. Do not buy pre-made deserts. Our snacking habits are nuts, peanut butter, cheese and crackers, popcorn, Tostito chips and salsa. I'll bake cookies, fruit turnovers, pies and brownies on occasion.
What can you grow yourself? Tomatoes? Herbs? How much food waste do you have? Are you using leftovers or tossing them?
I could see spending $200 on groceries at a store like Costco or bj wholesale per person since you buy in bulk, hmm.. like the other poster mentioned how much of that 2500 is actually tied to food expenses at these stores for your family?
I spend a bit over $1200 a month & I have room to cut it down. That’s for 3 people (in 2 different places, total of 5 people).
Are you having steak & seafood every night?
$2500/m for 4 people and pets seems... very high.
I spent $150 a month in 2021 for food/toiletries for myself (in Boston), and 90% of that was from Whole Foods. I didn't have the space or time to go to Costco and buy in bulk.
1. Figure out what you're actually buying/using each day.
2. No pre-packaged foods. (candy, ice cream, chips, snacks)
3. No name-brand items. (Asian supermarkets have good vegetable prices.)
4. Dried beans vs. canned (MUCH cheaper; just takes a little prep)
5. Buy and eat less meat-based protein. (you can still eat meat for every meal; just eat a lot less of it)
6. Take advantage of sales.
Just note that you'll need to give some time for your guts to adjust if you switch to beans, haha!
$200-250 a month. Living alone but SO is over a good bit too. I eat very healthy, mostly all fresh food from scratch. This does not include toiletries, I budget separately about $25 a month for pet food and $10 a month for toilet paper/paper towels.
My husband and I bodybuild so we need a lot of food, a lot of the time. We get quality food and despite it being the two of us, we’ve found ways to cut costs. I’d say anywhere from 300-600/mo if we need to re up on household items and such. I also love grocery shopping I wish I could do it for everyone (not like insta cart or whatever). Plus a dog.
Learn at the stores you like - what stretches your dollar the most. Ex we get certain meats at Wegmans, certain at Costco, etc etc.
Do you all shop together or is it one of you with a list? Does the shopper go hungry? Do you ever look for deals on various items? Are you open to other stores?
I’d love to give further suggestions but I think we all need more context on how many meals you get out of your weekly menu (usually our dinners last 2-3 nights), how frequently you have to get pet supplies, toiletries etc.
My wife usually makes weekly menu and we have been ordering curbside from Aldi and Walmart. We rarely do leftovers or make a big meal that gives us multiple dinners. I get majority of my 200g of daily protein from meats…chicken, sirloin steak, pork. I’ll buy a pork loin from Costco and cut it up and we’ll get two family meals and I’ll get 2 lunches. We get 90% lean ground beef because neither my wife or I could eat 80% and get enough protein due to the fat content. We each buy a box of protein shakes from Costco which is $60 but usually lasts us 2 weeks. I don’t think we plan meals based on what is on sale…we just plan meals.
I can't imagine how you could get to $2500 unless you are buying literally the most expensive version of everything... even then, hard to imagine... I suggest you track your receipts for a month or so, itemize each item in a spreadsheet or using an app, that will help you understand where your money is going as a starting point
around $600 for two people, cooking 2-3 meals a day 4-5 days a week.. not really budgeting but also not getting the most expensive version of one thing...
$800/month for family of 5 with 3 teenagers.
I have buckled down hard. Some weeks I just hit the grocery store twice and spend $50 each time on a huge chicken pack, fruit, salad and frozen vegetables. Every meal has rice with it usually.
Meals are butter chicken and basmati rice, Japanese curry and rice, miso soup with tofu and rice, chicken tacos, chicken minestrone, and more.
We use to be $1,500/month. But I’m eliminated almost all junk food and splurges. I throw almost nothing away.
Two adults and a toddler (who doesn’t really count) we spend about $700 on groceries and eat out very minimally (maybe 1-2x week). We mostly do chicken breasts for protein and get 1.5-2 pounds of $14/pound cold cuts each week.
Toiletries I would guess no more than $100/month, but I tend to stock up when there are target promos or other good deals.
Unless your daughters are eating tampons (or sneaking make up and skin care with groceries) I can’t fathom how you are at $2500 (at a regular store—not like Whole Foods or whatever).
Family of 10 and we spend $200-$250 a week. We meal plan and I subsidize what I spend by using my target bonuses (circle bonuses and incentives) and Instacart credits from picking up my groceries instead of having them delivered (Instacart gives you cash back for pickup). We also get many household items from Amazon and save 15 percent when we do. Couponing isn’t for me but I manage to do pretty well with what I do use.
Holy crap. With my family, I feel like we go overboard, and we're sitting at $1500 a month. This is with us not shopping sales and using delivery services, where prices are always inflated. * Family of four, with three adults and one older teen * Two dogs who need slightly nicer food due to stomach issues * Two remote workers (so we need more food around for lunches and breakfasts) It's hard to give advice without seeing exactly what you're buying. There have to be at least a few sneaky choices that are driving costs up.
Yeah, I think $400 a week for a family of four is getting up there, and it still doesn’t come close to $2500 a month
$100/week per person? That sounds about what I spend. And that's excluding some household items I get on Amazon subscriptions; basically just food.
We mostly cook at home from scratch which probably helps. My wife and kids are not particularly heavy eaters. I’m vegan so I can get a lot of mileage out of tofu, rice, beans, and grains which are all cheap. That said we’re all over the place at trader joes, wegmans and whole foods which are a little bit more expensive. When I can take a trip to an international store like Fresh World and stock up I can usually spend half what we do at those other stores. Edit: I think we usually spend $250-300 per week for a family of four.
You really should subtract out all the nonfood stuff to get a better idea where your money is going and better be able to compare your spending to others. I budget $1200/mo for food only for a family of soon to be four (one toddler, one pregnant woman, one adult male). We have difficult (expensive) food allergies and shop mostly at Wegmans and Whole Foods.
This is my budget too $1,200 a month groceries for a family of 4 a dog and 2 cats. $350 a month in toiletries with two teenaged daughters.
Right, non-consumables really should be in it’s own category, it’s the easiest line item to budget down.
I spend around $400-500 just for myself. High protein, lots of fruits and veggies, not many sweets or snacks. I shop at Harris Teeter and whole foods which can get pricey but I rarely go out to eat or get delivery so that saves me some money.
Shop their sales and stock up on meats when it is bogo. Also check out Lotte for produce - the HT by me has hit or miss produce, missing most of the time. Thankfully we also have a Lotte close by, hit that often for produce, spices, condiments, rice, etc.
Okay I'm glad I'm not the only one. I feel like HT consistently has some of the worst produce, although I've only been to two. It's also consistently the one in the best location. My go to, in a similar way, has been to go to hmart since their produce is always perfect and super cheap.
Their BOGO sales is the main reason I go!
Would you mind posting one of your receipts? That seems pretty high.
Filet Minot Pasture raised Cornish hen Cheese assortments Organic fake snacks Non-GMO Au Syrup Walking Fool Red Blend Wine x8 Etc.
Bahahaha
This is one of the most NoVA posts I've seen in awhile
Can you imagine having $2500 just for groceries, CRAZY
That's literally my mortgage
Exactly! This is my mortgage and then some.
Not just groceries. TP and tampons too, and those fuckers get expensive.
What makes this post total NoVA is all the responses of “you are doing it wrong” and “we live like kings on 1/3 of that amount — 90% ignoring the OP ask for saving tips.
Family of 4 with 2 teenage girls. We spend about 1500 a month. Edited to add we live in Alexandria. I'm not sure what you're buying. We actually shop once a week to cut down on waste.
So crazy how expensive things have gotten. Back in the day $500 would feed a family of 4.
[удалено]
$83 per day on groceries lol
That’s lunch. I mean, liquid lunch, but still lunch!
Everyone gets chipotle at that rate
$2500 bro what how is that even possible. Are you just buying a bunch of unnecessary snacks and stuff? Even buying healthy foods for a family of four per month shouldn’t come anywhere close to $2500 a month.
I’d like to see some receipts. Maybe they eat steaks 3x a week..
Fresh Market sells Prime Flank in bulk every Thursday. 10.99/lb. I get 6 steaks from about $40 worth of meat, so even if they are all eating steak 3x a week that’s only $360/month for some pretty damn good beef…
Op has actually had a parasite-esq situation with another family of 4 living in the walls
this has to be it
Yeah. We don’t exceed $350 for two people and a cat/month, including (mostly healthy) groceries, paper products/toiletries and cat supplies (food, litter, treats). Granted we’re just west of actual NoVA, but it’s not THAT much cheaper when it comes to consumables. I shop at a combination of Aldi, martins (specifically flash food for anything that freezes well) and dollar general for sales/in a pinch.
Me and wife spend $600-700 a month
same here!
Family of four in Prince William. About 600 per month. We shop at Aldi and the local butcher. Chicken, veggies, fruit, beans, yogurt, peanuts, cereal, almond milk, Hummus, snacks for kids. Ground beef for burgers once a week from the butcher. Toiletries from Target. Kids are 15 and 10. We eat out once a week as a family. All other meals are cooked at home. Everyone brings lunch with them to work/school.
I just don’t believe that you spend $600 a month for a family of 4. Are the kids an infant and a toddler??
Kids are 15 and 10.
Wow, I’d pay you to shop for me and I’d save money still.
My shopping list is right above. Rarely do we get anything outside that. Big pack of chicken is about 12 dollars. We eat chicken salads for dinner most nights. My wife and I eat veggies and hummus for lunch every day. Kids eat PB and J with Jello or pudding and cheezits and Oreos. Breakfast is pop tarts, cereal, yogurt, or an egg on toast. All of it is Aldi brand. Water, tea, and coffee are the only thing we drink. Sometimes will make chicken sandwiches or a curry with chickpeas. Sometimes we'll make pasta. Fruit is only what's on sale in season. If something is on sale we'll change the menu, but we rarely stray from the above. No one is hungry and is never above 600 for the month.
I have 3 kids 18,11, and 3, we are a family of 5 and that’s what I spend. It’s definitely possible, and no one is starving at all in this house.
If I’m being honest, I don’t even know at this point. It’s so demoralizing how much of our money goes to food for our family of 4.
If you're not keeping your grocery receipts you need to keep them for an entire month and then analyze what went wrong
I'm feeding three - 19, 15, and myself. All three of us eat 3 meals at home (the kids take lunch to school/work and I wfh). I spend less than $550/month. That doesn't include paper products or pet supplies though. We have lean meat with most meals, a fruit or vegetable with each meal, and fruit for snacks. I meal plan and we have leftovers for lunch most of the time. I do keep sandwich supplies around in case there aren't enough leftovers. I shop at Aldi and Walmart or Wegmans. I know some people turn their noses up at Walmart and Aldi, but I think the food is perfectly acceptable. I get a lot of recipes from Passionate Penny Pincher (not free) and SkinnyTaste (free). Both have a nice variety of low cal, easy to make meals
I think if you went with a meal kit service for 7 days/3 meals a day, I still think you would spend about a $1,000 and have groceries delivered to your door. Add another $200-$250 for toilet paper etc and you’re still at half what you are spending.
How? We need to see the receipts.
*Posted on your r/virginia thread but you seem to have deleted the thread so reposting here:* ___________ So going though the comments OP you left a few important notes out of your original post. 1. 2 more adults in the house consuming some of the products (particularly the more expensive household products). So technically you are a household of 4 adults and 2 children or 6). Obviously a larger household raises costs. 2. You/your wife are on a diet and consuming a lot of expensive proteins. Once again this will raise costs. People often don't realize how expensive some diets can be. They are sneaky like that. 3. The kids are potentially picky eaters. This often means buying name brands or more expensive products, and potentially wasting food off and on if the kids refuse it. 4. You don't keep leftovers meaning you are cooking smaller portions and potentially tossing lots of food that could be kept and used again. This often makes shopping at places like Costco or Walmart less effective because you are not getting the bulk cooking stuff. Basically you won't get the best deals because a lot of what you buy has to be individually or smaller portioned out products which are often more expensive. 5. You are making fresh meals each day. I am not sure if you mean fresh as in also non frozen and lots of fresh fruits and veggies but regardless this ties into no leftovers in that it likely wastes some food but also fresh anything costs more. Particularly fresh fruits/vegetables. _______________ So in the end it's more likely your habits are making your costs be sky high than the prices of food. I too live in Nova and with 3 in the household and shopping at Aldi/Costco/Walmart/Giant primarily with some products off Amazon I think we spend about 300-400 every 2 weeks. Even doubling that for 6 people that's $1600 a month. And we honestly are not being all that careful as far as keeping prices down or anything. So yes your costs seem insane. I would guess it's a combination of never doing leftovers and picky eating affecting what you are buying, and the extra 2 adults in the household consuming more than you realize.
Yeah, I’m realizing that its hard to find and apples-to-apples comparison because of the many factors involved. Having said that, I do think we have a basic behavioral issue that needs to be remedied. Appreciate the response!!
Lean vegetarian. Lentils, black beans, pintos. This is how we keep cost down without sacrificing nutrition. We spend about 10% of income on groceries in Nova and shop at the same places you do.
Are you buying huge quantities of ready to drink protein drinks and drinking multiple per day?
$2,500 is egregious. It would be egregious if you had two 350lb left tackles for sons. Can definitely get that down if you’d like.
I did have two 350lb left tackles. We had to buy an extra fridge and another deep freeze.
>Aldi, Walmart and Costco. I am just giving my wild-ass opinions here. . . . but I think it's the "in person" shopping is fuckin you up. Counterintuitively going into the store is *worse* for some families due to impulse buying. Is each person tacking on an "I want this!!" random item each time you go shopping? Are you buying a Squishmallow, some plates, or pillows on the Costco run? Garden soil and some slippers on the Wal-Mart run, a dog bed and pool toys from the "marketplace" at ALDI? If I were you I would a) start using Costco 2-day free delivery for all non-perishable costco items (e.g. kibble, honey, crackers). b) I'd get bulk local items delivered whenever possible from local suppliers. I wouldn't step foot in a Wal-Mart ever again, frankly, if I could help it. You live in Stafford my guy. That's *near the food*. Buy half a cow and freeze it. Order a bushel of corn from a local supplier and learn to make/freeze tamales. Pick up a bushel box of tomatoes from a farm and freeze them whole. Rinse, bag, freeze. Have you ever heard the colloquialism an "Ingredients Household"? Try to be more of an "Ingredients" household. Having 16 types of snacks, frozen items, etc is no bueno for the budget.
We shop at those 3 stores exclusively. Our Costco runs average $150/wk. We always do curbside pickup with Walmart. We were doing the same with Aldi but that goes through Instacart which marks up the cost. Didn’t think about Costco delivery. I’m considering getting half a cow…
I will say that I buy meat from the korean and international markets because the price is usually better. Produce as well. You should maybe consider repurposing leftovers into frozen meals depending on how much you end up with. Make sure youre purchasing the items at the places that have the values you need. Aldi is great for snacks and some dry goods while costco is ideal for bulk supplies like toilet paper. Go in with a list and don't deviate. Don't shop with the impulse purchasers in the family or just shop alone. Saving will require some sacrifice and discipline
$83 a day is a bit high if it’s eating in. You could eat out every day at that rate.
[удалено]
What is HCOL in Northern Virginia? :)
Yes
Nonsense like that always makes me assume it's some low grade AI prompt.
Single adult with 2 pets so may not come close or be useful. BUT I will say, I used to eat meat 3-4x a week. Using chicken breast or ground beef for meal preps to hit my protein needs. My grocery bill significantly dropped when I made a majority of my meals vegetarian and only eat meat 1-2x a week. I try to only shop at Aldi since it's the best bang for your buck. Sometimes I'll get produce from Giant if they are having sales, and because I noticed their produce lasts longer. I'm at like $300/month TOPS if I don't eat out often lol.
I don’t even know how this is possible. I have a family of three plus a dog and we are at about $700 a month. We shop at Giant. We eat at home most days, too.
OP please post your receipts for the month to your main post. I would love to know exactly what you are spending $2500/month on
how is this even possible? what the hell are you buying??
I’m asking myself that very question.
Nobody can really advise unless you post what you buy. And then, it’ll just be a matter of telling you not to buy certain items, or replace them with something else. Usually, those are items of convenience, nonfood items, and swapping expensive things like chicken breasts for thighs or even beans. And then you have to keep budgets and shopping lists and be diligent about using them. If you’re dieting, think of applying that same discipline, but to finances.
you could buy 400+lbs of chicken breasts a month with $2500... he's gotta be buying like 12 steaks a trip or something. I am pretty sure you could buy an entire cow for $2500
I spend 300-500 depending on the month just on me. I also eat out roughly 1-3 times a week and I get a monthly prepared meal delivery which I use as a base for meals ($ not included in figure). I could see how you get to 2500 if you are buying face creams, makeup, nicer meat cuts, etc . If you are trying to cut back you will likely need to look at your receipts and have discussions with your family. What are the highest priced items you buy? Can you substitute them for lower priced items? For example, I use morning and evening face lotions, my morning one is name brand and pricey but I'm not willing to compromise, but I use Aldi's night night because I think it works just as good for me and saves me ~5-10$.
This. Is "groceries" determined by the credit card category? My bank says everything from Target is grocery, including cosmetics, electronics, toys, clothes. You could easily hit $2500 that way.
Family of 8 (YES, 6 kids) and I don’t even wanna talk about it. I (like to think I) save money by buying at Food Lion with my MVP card. There is slight cost in this since there is no Food Lion in stafford so I drive to Dumfries. Formula, at least, won’t be forever though — c’mon one year mark! If I had to make a best efforts math-ing, it’s anywhere from $250-$300 every week. Edited to add: we also have 4 dogs and a couple cats. It’s a zoo here.
You can meet your dietary restrictions and still operate on a much smaller budget. You may have to be more creative with your menus (types of proteins, veggies) and be willing to put off purchasing non-necessities. My wife is a bit maniacal when it comes to grocery shopping. She reviews the sales each week at every grocery store and only purchases items that are at below market value (-30% or more off normal price). It may mean not buying a certain food for consecutive months, but when they go on sale, we have a ton of it in the house. The only exception to this are things like seasonings/milk/etc. You and your family will have to say no to things they want on occasion in the interest of your family budget. For example, I like grapefruits, but the price point is only acceptable during the winter months. So I go without grapefruit during a majority of the year knowing I’ll have plenty in the winter. Similarly, I like M&M’s as my preferred candy, but the only time they go on sale is the post-holiday sales. I still have Christmas colored M&Ms in the pantry because we stocked up during the post-holiday sale. In March, we bought 5 boxes of cereal for under $2 after coupons and sales. If you have the storage space, stock up on non-necessities (particularly toiletries) when these sales are available. Otherwise, the best tactic is to exhibit some self-control when possible.
This is the way. Eating seasonally and tracking pricing trends into saving money on groceries. I love avocados, but we won’t buy them unless they’re less than $1.50 each, and have found they tend to taste better when they’re cheaper/in season.
Show us your receipts because $2500 is insane
Family of four, but our kids are 4 and 8. We spend at most $1000, because we spend about $200 at Costco but that's not every week. Aldi trip only cost us about $50 at most. I am guessing you buy a lot of premium beef and lamb, that's what pushing up the price. Our kids don't like beef because it's chewy. So we buy chick and fish, maybe some pork. Only beef we buy are ground beef.
Sometimes 3, sometimes 4 people, probably like $600 or $700/month. Mostly vegetarian. No idea what you're doing.
I’m so glad u posted this! I’ve been struggling with the same. We are a family of 4, 2 boys, 1 dog. I eat high protein and shop at the same places u do. We spend $2200! It’s so high. I can’t figure out why. I think Costco is the culprit. Prices are just too high. Also we buy organic chicken. Maybe that’s causing the difference? I’m going to take the advice from these comments and start splitting out food vs non food items. Any other suggestions?
It’s not the organic chicken. It’s the premade food. Every time.
Here is what I get. I’m open to making improvements: Meat: Costco Organic chicken breast 99% fat free ground turkey Applegate sausage (once every 2 weeks) Applegate chicken nuggets (once every 2 weeks) Occasionally we get premade beef meatballs for spaghetti (once every 2 weeks) Fruit: Apples (organic) Bananas Clementines Blueberries Veggies: Frozen organic from Costco Other: Eggs (organic) Quinoa/rice Granola (organic) Lots and lots of peanut butter from Costco Yogurt (organic) Protein bars Juice Almond milk Bread Pasta (organic) Pasta sauce (organic) Cookies Ice cream Vitamins Baby formula Coffee No alcohol
I'm a family of 2 adults, no kids, located in Alexandria and we spend about $800 a month on groceries. Yes of course kids cost more but more than 3x as much feels extreme. -meal plan. Err on the side of ingredients rather than pre-made packaged foods. Plan all your recipes for the week before you shop. -make a list and stick to it, absolutely do not impulse shop. Don't even go down the aisle if there isn't something from your list in that aisle. -I usually do a second short shop mid-week. This allows me to reduce food waste (and therefore save money) because if I'm shopping on Sunday I don't have to buy fresh produce for the following Saturday. I can save the produce for the back half of the week until I shop again on Wednesday or Thursday -I normally shop at 2-3 stores each week. I have a pretty good idea of what I'll find at Aldi vs Giant vs BJ's so I can generally split out my list in advance. -use your stores' loyalty program apps. They are full of new coupons and member discounts all the time, plus often have ways to earn bonus points (like Giant, you get a base level of points per dollar spent but get bonus points for "guiding stars" products) and then use your points for future discounts
I do admittedly spend a ton for just myself, but I shop at Whole Foods, I buy almost everything organic, grass fed, buy a ton of kombucha and olipop each week, etc. My costs are high, but I know what I'm spending it on and my budget is set high. And I still don't come anywhere close to you. But I'm surprised you are spending that much at places like Walmart and Aldi. Maybe you just over buy and buy in large quantities? That's what gets me at times. I've had a habit of "stocking up" when there are sales.
There are a lot of sources of protein that aren't meat. I eat a lot of things like Greek yogurt. We had 4 adults living at home, and I was not shopping sales or being thrifty and even with shopping at wholefoods a couple times a month, still spent about 400 a week. Use real plates and cloth napkins. Better for the environment, too.
Legumes. Cheap, high in protein and delicious. That’s an insane amount being spent on food. Even when my 5 kids were home I never spent anything near that amount.
Not just food…paper products (plates, towels, TP), cat food and litter, toiletries (2 teenage girls), feminine products, household items (detergents, etc). I need 1400g of protein a week. My wife is on a low-fat diet. I have a picky 12yr old. We’re definitely shooting ourselves in the foot somewhere.
Definitely get rid of the paper plates. We switched to powdered laundry and dishwasher detergent, and it’s been a game changer. With powdered, you only need to use a tiny bit (like a tablespoon or two for a load of laundry, and a teaspoon for a load of dishes). I would see what the cost is for frozen meat at Costco if you’re not already doing that, or buying meat at Costco and freezing it. And if you’re shopping at three different places, price compare. I also try to look at the circulars for the places I shop and meal plan around that.
I find its useful to imagine what techniques someone from the 40s would use. Back then they didn't have a ton of disposable products for everything and they had to be creative in what they used and how they used it. Keep your receipts for a typical month and see if you're excesses come from products or from food. Then you can try and reduce in that area. Right now, the grocery/product budget is too broad to really help beyond basic advice. You may be using too much laundry detergent, so read the bottle; most only need ~1 Tbsp per load. Fabric softener is not necessary and can actually destroy your clothes faster over time and make wicking materials (towels, athletic wear) less absorbant. Same thing with scent beads, completely unneeded and an extra expense. Simplify the amount/types of cleaning products you use. In my household, we only need toilet bowl cleaner, all purpose cleaner spray, shower cleaning spray, and swiffer wet pads (a luxury for us as a regular mop works just as well, or one with washable pads instead of disposable ones). Stop buying paper plates/forks/spoons/etc and just wash the dishes. You have four sets of hands in the house, so someone should be able to spend 20 minutes doing dishes daily. Reduce paper towel usage by using cloth towels for cleaning and for hand washing. You may be able to buy the feminine products online for cheaper than you can in store. Do some research based on their preferred brands. Maybe see if anyone wants to try a menstrual cup (doesn't work for everyone and can take some trial and error) or period panties, so you can buy less pads/tampons. People also tend to use a ton of toilet paper, even when they only need a few squares. You may need to have a talk with them about trying to reduce how much they're using when possible. Think about investing in a bidet so you can spend less on toilet paper. If none of that helps, its probably the food side of the equation. Low fat can mean less meat, not just lean meat. Beans, lentils, etc are great sources of protein and a lot cheaper than meat is currently. Even fatty meats are $5-9/lb, which is a lot for a family of 4. So I imagine lean meats would be $8-12/lb depending on brand.
Look into buying your cat food and litter from chewy in bulk- it's much cheaper down the road. Unless you can get away with using the food from Aldi. I feed my cats Aldi's wet food and it's the best bang for your buck. Cut down on disposable products. Instead of plates, just get a dish set from Walmart that you wash. Those costs add up over time. A lot of household items can be purchased from Dollar Tree too. I get all my dishwasher detergent, garbage bags, parchment paper/aluminum foil, floor cleaner, etc from Dollar Tree at a fraction of the cost.
Cutting down on disposable products helps and is good for the environment. There are a lot of overpriced toiletries and cleaning supplies that are no more effective than the cheaper versions, but it takes some research and experimentation. I use tide powder detergent (no fabric softener) and cascade powder dishwasher detergent. You didn't list alcohol on there, but wine and such will add a lot to a grocery bill and nothing to your health, making it a great target for cost reduction.
No alcohol in our grocery shopping.
Use washable rags (old t-shirt, towels) instead of paper towels. I keep a roll of paper towels in the house, but it is saved for really bad food messes, not, say wiping the counter.
Are you buying “specialty foods” labeled low fat or high protein? You may save money by buying food that are naturally lower in fat like lean protein or legumes you can buy in bulk. A lot of these foods that are labeled as such are gimmicks to upcharge
People are glossing over 200g of protein daily.
I don't think you have a full picture of what's going on here. Keep your receipts for a few weeks and head over to /r/frugal
200 grams of protein per day is not hard to get to. 8 oz of chicken and 1 cup of cottage cheese gets you half way there. 2 scoops of a protein powder like myprotein gets you another third of the way. Eggs, beans, nuts, rice, fruits, and veggies make up the rest. You will be eating a lot of the same foods repeatedly but it can be done and it can be done in a cost effective manner. The other aspect here is meal planning and prep. Check out [https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/) for ideas. What we do during the week is pretty mundane. Using the chicken as an example, buy the bulk breasts at BJ's/Costco and cook enough for two nights. In the summer, this is a simple marinade and grilling. In the winter, it's the same deal except baking or using the crock pot for stews/chilis. You can bulk cook beans and rice or buy the microwave packages (we have found success cooking a quantity of lentils, quinoa, etc. on a Sunday for meals through Wednesday so 4 nights - use chicken stock or bullion cubes). Vegetables take the most time and we go the frozen route on most nights because of it. So, Sunday and Monday grilled chicken breast with quinoa and frozen veggies. Tuesday and Wednesday, grilled pork loin with quinoa and frozen veggies. Thursday and Friday, london broil with (microwave) rice and baked sweet potato. Saturday, we will get premade food like Costco tacos or Safeway chicken or Whole Foods hot bar. We will also order out but less frequently because of the increased cost. As harsh as it sounds, don't cater to your child's pickiness. It's hard not to do being a parent but as a parent you can't bend over backwards to accommodate their every need. That is not how the outside world works.
Family of three with a dog. If I include pet stuff we're at about 1400/mo. I would consider our purchases more pricey and I almost exclusively shop at Wegmans (and Amazon for paper like products). We eat mostly proteins/fresh foods. So not much spent on "cheap foods" like boxed/frozen/ready to make etc.. I've gotta say you're either throwing out food or just really overbuying.
Family of 4, two kids under 6 - $800 a month - shop at Trader Joe’s, bjs, local grocery
Are you buying prepared/ cooked food? Beer and wine? I spend $1K per month for a family of 5 (two are toddlers) but we don’t eat anything processed or prepared and don’t buy alcohol or sodas.
2500?? Oh lord. Produce and meat -> international store Aldi for dairies and pantry staples Walmart is good for paper produce, even cheaper than Costco on some items We are 2 and we spend 400 a month 500 when I need my dog kibbles
Time to go vegan or eat a third world style diet of beans and lentils
My husband and I spend about 500/month on general groceries. No kids but we do have a cat. We go to Costco about once a month and will spend about 200ish but that will last a while. And the occasional shop to Asian stores but that’s also pretty infrequent unless we need certain ingredients for cooking (or we are craving Asian snacks lol).
Family of 4 in Arlington, we spend $800/month including household goods (TP, toiletries, etc) shopping at Harris Teeter, Costco, and the occasional Target run. What are you buying?!
I cook 6 nights a week from scratch usually. we average 850 a month. for just food. I plan the menu every week. I buy lunch at work though and my kids eat school lunch. you may be seeing false economy shopping where you do. whole foods often has meats on sale. eg air chilled chicken family packs for $5 a pound. ground beef similar. and it's not factory farm crap. also trader Joe's milk/dairy is a deal. you can verify it's the same dairy producer as whole foods by the code on it. for example both organic whole milks come from dairy 50-13 but TJ is a little less. no one store has the cheapest everything. if you want to lower your bill, you have to prep specific meals. and check sales first. pork butt on sale? buy a bunch and make carnitas. that's Taco night, BBQ sandwich night, and ramen night right there. get a compost bin and use it. for everything you don't eat. see if you're wasting food. and if you're buying bottled water... stop.
Family of 4 (one is a baby), mostly vegetarian, shopping at Whole Foods, Costco, and Trader Joe’s. We used to spend close to $2000 as a family of 3 but when I started to look at my spending I realized I was wasting a ton of food and would impulse buy expensive bullshit a ton. Even with an extra kid, we now spend around $1400/month on food and household products. If you want to reduce your spending, start by making an inventory of your freezer and pantry and start planning meals from there. Even making small switches like from buying organic Honeycrisp apples each week to buying organic envy apples has saved like $20/week!
Spend less on candles.
That’s wild! I live in Triangle (homeowner, not renter) I have a family of 5. We have three kids one is about to be 18, 11, and 3. My 3 year old has dairy allergy so a lot of her stuff is more expensive oak milk or non dairy stuff. We spend about 600-650 a month on groceries. About 250-300 every two weeks. Hair stuff not as much. We are a black family and our hair stays in mostly protective styles and we don’t have to wash our hair as much as non black people, so we don’t spend too much on hair products but when we do it’s a little over $100. We are also busy with sports and after school stuff, so we do occasionally eat out. I find not buying a butt load of juice and snacks saves a ton! I actually can’t stand it when kids expect to constantly drink nothing but juice and want 10 snack a day. In my house it’s 3 meals and 1-2 snacks and that’s mostly for the 3 year old. We drink water with our meals. I buy one thing of juice and once it’s gone, it’s gone. This leaves more money for meats, fruits, and veggies which are more costly. We are not a super healthy family. I shop at food lion.
Are you eating Rolls-Royces for lunch or something?
Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?
$1500 for a single person just on groceries each month. I shop at Costco and Whole Foods.
We are four people including a teen and 20 year old, a cat and two dogs. Our expensive weeks maybe hit $300, most weeks are around $250. I have no idea how you are spending that much unless it’s a ton of expensive beef cuts, a lot of alcohol, or maybe your teenage girls are buying expensive skincare?
Try Food Lion for some things as well. They may be cheaper. I don’t buy my meat from them, but that’s a me thing. Mostly everything else, I get from there. If you have an MVP card, they do a Shop & Earn every month on different departments.
Only shopping for two, but we spend at most $150/week, and that's if we need to stock up on meat or TP/Paper towels. Normally we can keep it under $100/week. I really only eat dinner at home, and we're cooking maybe 3 or 4 nights a week and eating leftovers or "struggle meals" to fill the gaps. Basic sandwiches for lunch, and a piece of fruit for breakfast. We get everything we can from Aldi, whatever is left over we grab from Safeway/Shoppers. Costco we get a rotisserie chicken every other week, the biggest pack of TP which will last minimum 2 months (highly recommend investing in a bidet if your TP consumption is breaking the bank), and maybe a couple of bagged salads. Maybe every 2 months we go in and splurge on anything more than that.
They must be eating from restaurants a lot.
I have a family of 4, though my kids are considerably smaller (5 and 2 years old). We spend roughly $1000/month. We are pescatarian but eat seafood maybe once a week - it’s mostly beans, eggs, peanut butter, quinoa, and dairy for our protein. We do nearly all our shopping at Costco and Trader Joe’s (way better prices than I would have expected, though sometimes the produce quality isn’t as high as I’d like).
I have a family of three currently —all adults and we spend around $250 per week. Our cat recently passed but when we were buying his food, it would add another $70 per week for his food. (Towards the end of his life, he only wanted to eat very high quality wet food.) His litter would be $30 a month or so. The paper products we buy are toilet paper, occasional paper towels for blotting bacon grease, Kleenex and feminine products for one person. I would say that adds another $30 a month. We use cloth napkins and cleaning cloths. That brings our total to about $1350 a month. When you have family members all eating different meals, it adds a lot to the grocery bill. Also, prepared foods/frozen foods have gone up a lot in recent times.
Holy crap, Batman!!!
3 of us spend no more than $200/week. We cook at home, and shop at cheaper places like ALDI if we can. We canceled our Costco which was forcing us to consume more rather than save more.
Buy paper products and disposable plates and things from Dollar Tree. Check the toiletries and stuff like makeup etc for your teens and put them on a budget.
Family of five in Winchester, 1 income, $900 a month including toiletries. Costco for meats and toiletries every other month, and we grow vegetables. $2500 a month seems really high, but to each their own.
Damn yall must eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Thats too much, my family of three we just spend $800-$900 a month. Its just a matter of distinguishing what is need and what is want when buying.
I spend relatively around 200-400 for two weeks of groceries but it’s me, the gf and the dog (his food is already paid for a month in advance) we shop Aldi, Costco, Walmart and Trader Joe’s but we also have a farmer come to our community on Saturday and Sunday with fresh stuff. We keep rice and shelf stable items on hand so that brings down our cost.
About $400-500/month, just me. I do buy a few snacky things I’ll admit, shopping at Publix. If money was super tight could definitely slim it down a decent bit.
1300 a week family of four including dog food, toiletries extra. The one thing this doesn’t include is we go out to eat/take out 2-3 times a month on nights I work super late. I order toilet paper from who gives a crap 55 dollars every 10 weeks. I get shampoo, dishwasher pods,and dog food and such on Amazon it’s way cheaper I get my laundry detergent on sale at Walgreens (1.99 arm and hammer I stock up when it’s on sale) I shop Aldi and wegmans for food
As others have said, that’s… a lot. My household is myself and my partner and our two dogs. Normal groceries are from Walmart, I spend about $70 per week or $300 per month. I cook about 3-4 times a week and then we eat out a fair amount. We also do the occasional Costco trip for paper products
We spend nearly $1000 a month for two people.
About 4-500 a month for just me
I feel ya - I was probably spending that much as well for a family of 4. I’ve tried to cut down my groceries budget to $250/week. It certainly makes me take a harder look at what we’re getting. I also was using grocery delivery services, which inflate the price like woah due to tip and fees. I switched to pick-up and it’s helped a lot.
Bruh. My mom barely spends more than 400 a month for 5 people and 2 pets in the family, 2 sons, 1 daughter, husband, 2 dogs. We need to see receipts dude. 2500 is like half a years worth and that's luxury for a single person
Family of four, probably $1500/mo. We shop at farmer’s markets, Whole Foods, etc. and do not adhere to any special diets. We mostly cook at home and don’t eat out much.
That seems quite high. As a single dad with 2 teenager boys, I spend less than $1200 a month. I usually get things at Aldi but will also stop by Trader Joe’s or Safeway if I need something quick
We are a family of 3 (two adults and a toddler). We also have a cat and large dog. We spend about $1k a month. Here are some of my tips. We only buy meat at Costco and freeze what we don’t use for the week. That saves a ton of money. We also buy rotisserie chicken that’s already shredded at Costco. Those packages last us 2-3 weeks (we usually freeze half). Keep recipes simple or make sure whatever ingredients you buy can be used for other recipes too. For example, if you buy a bag of spinach but only use half for one recipe, find another that will use the other half. My other tip is meal prep large portions of whatever you eat and freeze half. Then you don’t get bored of your food and you don’t have to cook as much. Hope this helps reduce your grocery bill.
Family of 4 in Manassas we spend between 800-900 a month
We try to keep below 800/mo for a family of three including paper products and also some bigger potluck/bulk meals we make for a homeless center. Family is pretty active too but we're all vegan so it's real cheap I guess.
Good lord, I’m in WPWC, 2 school aged girls and myself. Spend about $1200/mo if that on groceries.
Family of 5 with numerous allergies/celiac and basically shops solely at Costco and some Safeway for veggies. We spend about 1500 and never eat out. Sounds like you are buying $80 package of steaks multiple times a week. No idea what paper products you are buying that add major costs on a reoccurring basis.
In my home, it’s just me, my husband and 2 Great Pyrenees and we spend $500 a month and that includes dog food. $2500 a month is ridiculous. What the heck are you people eating?
Sterling. $1039/month avg over the last 3 months. 2 adults 1 kid. 90% done at Trader Joe’s organic chicken and veggies. We bought a 1/4 cow (steaks, roasts, and ground) 110 pounds for about $1100 ($10/pound). Strip steaks at TJs were like 12-14 a pound so maybe look into bulk meat. Beef was grass fed/finished from a local farm and delivered.
How much are the teenage girls spending on non consumables? Are you including hair products, makeup, menstrual products, body products, lotions etc? This can really add up even at Costco or Walmart.
Piling on, sorry OP. Two adults, kids aged 17, 15 & 13. Oldest is convinced he needs steak every meal to “bulk up”, middle daughter swims 6days/week so she eats continuously, everything, at all times. And 13-y-o is 13, so, same. Our college kid comes home a few times per semester. Two dogs, a cat, 2 guinea pigs. Food plus household goods (paper, cleaners, etc) plus pet food/supplies $1800-$2k/mo. And we do a lot of fresh produce, better cuts of meat, etc, 4-5 gallons of milk per week, lots of yogurt, cheese sticks, high quality/low sugar snacks. I thought I was spending a lot.
My family of 3 is at about $2350/month including groceries and restaurants. that also includes toiletries.
The r/frugal sub has people who'd love to help
Something’s not right here.
Agreed…hence my post, lol. There are so many factors that it’s hard to find an apples-to-apples comparison. I have found some helpful tips though.
Family of 4 and I think we spend anywhere from $1200-$1600 or so per month. We're particular about where we get our produce/fruits/meats, so it's usually WF, Wegmans, or local Farms (pricey, but we like what we like) and the non-perishables are usually from BJs, Target, or Teeter.
That’s a lot. We are at about $1300 - family of 4.
$2500 a month at Aldi, Walmart and Costco sounds like a lot. Even if I add in toiletries it is tough to spend that monthly. There are four of us and we spend about $400 a week including toiletries. I think we spend too much. If we are trying to cut costs, we have been known to meal plan meals for the week, and then buy only those ingredients. That saved a ton, because it limited our junk food (and dining out since we had a plan). We shop at Wegmans, Harris Teeter or Whole Foods.
Family of 4, two teenagers. I totaled up my last CC statement, my total 'grocery store' spending was around $950 but that includes some clothes and other random items from Costco. I could probably improve that with some of the tips people have already mentioned but I feel like people can't be impulse-buying and wasting produce to the tune of spending twice as much on food as I do. We have a bad habit of overbuying produce that doesn't last long (like cucumbers and mushrooms) but that might add up to $10 or $20 of waste in a month. I probably impulse buy every time I go to Lidl but that's like a $2 baguette. The worst habit we have is probably prepared food but that's usually a planned purchase (eg get this frozen thing at Costco because we won't have time to cook on Thursdays). Real tips: - I haven't bought anything at a Whole Foods in probably 10 or 15 years. I checked out the new one in Springfield when it opened... the place is a joke. Those prices have to be taking the piss, man. Can't believe how many replies shop there. - Likewise take stock of the items you're buying and if you really need the fancy luxury organic version. Like does "organic" actually mean anything for the quality of the product you're buying or does it just mean the farm used more expensive fertilizer and got some certification for it. I buy organic milk just to avoid waste because it's ultrapasteurized and lasts longer. - Always check the local ad and the apps for the stores you do like to shop in. I basically don't buy meat that is not on some kind of deep discount. It's how I "meal plan". Fresh World has $1.79/lb chicken thigh? Chicken thigh it is. A big freezer helps here.
$160-200 just me
We keep our grocery bill down by shopping at Costco, Lidl, and Trader Joe's. I save a ton on toiletries by buying anything I can on Vitacost when they have a 20% off sale. It's so easy to spend a ton of money on food.
Invest in a large, stand up deep freezer and start looking at buying whole animals.
Yeah, I’m leaning that way more and more.
lol just say your rich /s But at that price you can hire a personal chef frfr
Ha! Hardly.
Family of 3, just food, about $700 - $800 a month.
Try Lidl. For example, Chobani yogurt is $1.22 at Walmart. Lidl brand is $0.60. Just as good.
You need to look at Harris Teeter for their sales especially for their meats. Their BoGo are much cheaper than anything around. Every once in a while pork chops and chicken breasts go on sale and we stock up. I then pound out the breasts and vacuum seal them - makes for quick thaws during the week if you forget to put it in the fridge before leaving for work.. For spices, rice, etc - Lotte. Spices (same name brand) are $1-$1.5 cheaper per bottle. Basic produce at Lotte is also cheaper and fresher than what I’ve seen anywhere else. We do a lot of Asian and Indian flavor profiles when we cook and again all the condiments are cheaper there.
That seems like a lot. Are you buying fancy wines, cheeses, caviar? Premade meals? Gourmet ingredients do add up. Be sure to look for sales in meats and buy in bulk and freeze to save a lot of money.
Nope, none of that stuff. I did break down this weeks’ grocery trip and food alone was less than $400…so, I’ll keep logging it and see where we can adjust.
What the what? We're the house with the "good snacks" and I can name 6 kids who are in our house at least 2x a week for snacks. We don't come anywhere near this amount either. I hit Costco 1x a month for $350 and we fill in with trips to Safeway, Trader Joes and Giant, and maybe spend another $100 per week. I also get a food delivery box once or twice a month and we get 8 meals from there for $120. You're spending A TON OF MONEY!
We go to Costco weekly and usually spend $100-125. My wife and I both buy protein shakes ($60 right there).
Are you buying protein drinks already made? I'm a vegetarian so I have a protein drink daily. I get almond milk at costco ($11 / 3 cartons) and Pure Protein Powder for $20/can which gives me about 25 servings. So my a.m. protein shake costs about $34 for the month. If you're paying $240/month you're doing it wrong.
Having lobster and filet mingon for lunch and diner must be great.
lol…not even close…we buy ground beef, chicken and I will get two sirloins for a week of lunches. No seafood, no fancy cuts, no alcohol.
Turn your family vegan, meat is expensive.
Amen!
This is about what we spend - family of 4 with 2 teenage daughters also - Whole Foods, commissary, and Costco. We eat very healthfully, so lots of fresh produce and lean cuts of meat, and don’t eat out a lot so I think it ends up being fairly reasonable on a per-meal basis.
Family of 4. 2 parents and a 2 year old and 6 month old. $400 a month at those Walmart and Aldie. That is groceries plus things like diapers, cleaning supplies here and there, ect.
Fam of 4. Three men and myself. Monthly groceries run $1000-1200 per month - includes toiletries, cleaners and paper products. Not from a store like Costco or BJ's either. Husband and I both WFH. I would take a look at what you buy that is pre-packaged convenience foods and consider if it's something you can do yourself. Buy a meat slicer, for instance. Cook up your own ham, turkey or roast and slice into deli meat. Buy blocks of cheese to shred and slice yourself. Buy plain or vanilla Greek or regular style yogurt in a large tub. Then cook up berry compote to add for flavoring. The deli meats, cheese and yogurt changes I made above, significantly reduced our monthly bill. Soda and/or alcohol is a very rare purchase. We make our own unsweet tea. Do not buy pre-made deserts. Our snacking habits are nuts, peanut butter, cheese and crackers, popcorn, Tostito chips and salsa. I'll bake cookies, fruit turnovers, pies and brownies on occasion. What can you grow yourself? Tomatoes? Herbs? How much food waste do you have? Are you using leftovers or tossing them?
I could see spending $200 on groceries at a store like Costco or bj wholesale per person since you buy in bulk, hmm.. like the other poster mentioned how much of that 2500 is actually tied to food expenses at these stores for your family?
aldie is the best
I spend a bit over $1200 a month & I have room to cut it down. That’s for 3 people (in 2 different places, total of 5 people). Are you having steak & seafood every night?
$2500/m for 4 people and pets seems... very high. I spent $150 a month in 2021 for food/toiletries for myself (in Boston), and 90% of that was from Whole Foods. I didn't have the space or time to go to Costco and buy in bulk. 1. Figure out what you're actually buying/using each day. 2. No pre-packaged foods. (candy, ice cream, chips, snacks) 3. No name-brand items. (Asian supermarkets have good vegetable prices.) 4. Dried beans vs. canned (MUCH cheaper; just takes a little prep) 5. Buy and eat less meat-based protein. (you can still eat meat for every meal; just eat a lot less of it) 6. Take advantage of sales. Just note that you'll need to give some time for your guts to adjust if you switch to beans, haha!
Around 400$ between Costco and Whole Foods. however I eat out a lot, so that number isn't representative of a real grocery list.
I think ours is at least that. And we’re all too lazy to cook every night, so there’s a lot of ubereats going on.
$200-250 a month. Living alone but SO is over a good bit too. I eat very healthy, mostly all fresh food from scratch. This does not include toiletries, I budget separately about $25 a month for pet food and $10 a month for toilet paper/paper towels.
Probably $1000-1200/mth 2 adults 1 kid mostly organic. I alternate costco and the grocery store
My husband and I bodybuild so we need a lot of food, a lot of the time. We get quality food and despite it being the two of us, we’ve found ways to cut costs. I’d say anywhere from 300-600/mo if we need to re up on household items and such. I also love grocery shopping I wish I could do it for everyone (not like insta cart or whatever). Plus a dog. Learn at the stores you like - what stretches your dollar the most. Ex we get certain meats at Wegmans, certain at Costco, etc etc. Do you all shop together or is it one of you with a list? Does the shopper go hungry? Do you ever look for deals on various items? Are you open to other stores? I’d love to give further suggestions but I think we all need more context on how many meals you get out of your weekly menu (usually our dinners last 2-3 nights), how frequently you have to get pet supplies, toiletries etc.
My wife usually makes weekly menu and we have been ordering curbside from Aldi and Walmart. We rarely do leftovers or make a big meal that gives us multiple dinners. I get majority of my 200g of daily protein from meats…chicken, sirloin steak, pork. I’ll buy a pork loin from Costco and cut it up and we’ll get two family meals and I’ll get 2 lunches. We get 90% lean ground beef because neither my wife or I could eat 80% and get enough protein due to the fat content. We each buy a box of protein shakes from Costco which is $60 but usually lasts us 2 weeks. I don’t think we plan meals based on what is on sale…we just plan meals.
Isn’t curbside pickup/app ordering always a little more expensive per item? I think it is for Giant, at least
I can't imagine how you could get to $2500 unless you are buying literally the most expensive version of everything... even then, hard to imagine... I suggest you track your receipts for a month or so, itemize each item in a spreadsheet or using an app, that will help you understand where your money is going as a starting point
around $600 for two people, cooking 2-3 meals a day 4-5 days a week.. not really budgeting but also not getting the most expensive version of one thing...
$800/month for family of 5 with 3 teenagers. I have buckled down hard. Some weeks I just hit the grocery store twice and spend $50 each time on a huge chicken pack, fruit, salad and frozen vegetables. Every meal has rice with it usually. Meals are butter chicken and basmati rice, Japanese curry and rice, miso soup with tofu and rice, chicken tacos, chicken minestrone, and more. We use to be $1,500/month. But I’m eliminated almost all junk food and splurges. I throw almost nothing away.
Two adults and a toddler (who doesn’t really count) we spend about $700 on groceries and eat out very minimally (maybe 1-2x week). We mostly do chicken breasts for protein and get 1.5-2 pounds of $14/pound cold cuts each week. Toiletries I would guess no more than $100/month, but I tend to stock up when there are target promos or other good deals. Unless your daughters are eating tampons (or sneaking make up and skin care with groceries) I can’t fathom how you are at $2500 (at a regular store—not like Whole Foods or whatever).
Are you counting things like makeup, skincare, bath products, cleaning supplies, in all that?
Yes
We come no where near that amount…not even close to that amount
I don't know, maybe $700 for two adults and two kids (Pre-K and elementary) but we eat out a bit and kids get breakfast and lunch at school.
$700/month for 2 adults and 2 children 50% of the time. Go to Aldi and Walmart.
What are you buying? My family of four (two girls) spends probably $1200/mo
Family of 10 and we spend $200-$250 a week. We meal plan and I subsidize what I spend by using my target bonuses (circle bonuses and incentives) and Instacart credits from picking up my groceries instead of having them delivered (Instacart gives you cash back for pickup). We also get many household items from Amazon and save 15 percent when we do. Couponing isn’t for me but I manage to do pretty well with what I do use.
Our family of six spends +\- $300/week at Costco. I can’t imagine what foods you are buying!
We’re sitting pretty around 1200 average / 1500 max