A new round of "what do you spend on groceries?"

I have been tracking ours in an effort to save money. We spend between $100-$150 a week
depending on if we need laundry or extra meat or something. We are a family of 3 but $150 was pretty consistent for when we were a family if four. My kids never buy/bought school lunch so that is including making lunches and not eating out. Making a menu is what helps us keep things in control.

I spend about $100-130/wk - family of 4 (2 adults, 1 teen, 1 child)...it dropped about $10-20/wk when my oldest moved out.

Honestly - we could spend less but I've scrimped and saved so much over the years (when we couldn't afford more - when my older two were small - my grocery budget was $150/month and that included household stuff) that I'm okay with what I currently spend on groceries - we can easily afford it and we had so many years where we ate beans and rice or spaghetti 5 days a week and the cheapest meat on Sundays with leftovers on Monday...I'm okay spending a bit more to have meat more often or fresh veggies or fish or liquid milk instead of powdered and so on...

Im currently spending about $150-175/week for a family of four. That includes some but not all of our household goods as well. It also includes lunches for DH, DS1 and myself about 75% of the time.

When I was feeding a household of 6 I just could NOT get my grocery bill below $200 and it was most often more like $250/wk. I think one reason was I had to buy the largest package of everything. You'd think the overage of the largest package would move into the next week but most of the time it didn't. For example I would have to buy two packages of meat. Sometimes the leftovers would get eaten and sometimes they wouldn't so they'd go to waste. (Occasionally I would freeze the "extra" portion but quite frequently I wasn't sure of the final number I would be feeding in a meal and it worked out better to make the entire package) If I bought the larger package of snack items, they just ate more. I really think the reason my cost has gone down and stayed down is because the smaller package, or just one package, is sufficient and there isn't waste/overage.

The best way to save money on groceries is to cut down on waste and you do that by planning your meals out ahead of time. We aren't super-strict about meal planning but we do shop according to a rough idea of what we want to make in the days ahead.

We will take a few minutes before we head to the store to assess what we've got on hand and what we'd like to eat in the days ahead. What do we need to make those meals? Those items go on the list. We make the meals in order of perishability. Mushrooms go bad fast so we buy them and use them for the meal that needs them soonest. Stuff like chicken tortilla soup? All the ingredients for that last a long time so we schedule that for later in the week. Don't buy more than you need unless it's an item that can't go bad. A huge deal of spinach is a waste, even on sale, if you only use some of it and the rest rots in the fridge uneaten.

Don't buy crappy food; waste less of what you do buy.

I spend about between $120-150 a week for two of us. DH does buy his lunch most days, but other than that we eat at home and I take my own lunch to school every day. I try to keep to a budget but I also don't skimp (i.e. I get quality produce and Boars Head lunch meat). I'm also vegetarian, so when I buy meat it's just for one person. I proably spend a bit less in summer. I do more from scratch in summer months and we have a veggie garden.

I spend $200/week on my family of 5.

I go to a local farm market for produce - can't beet their prices (see what I did there )and the grocery store for meat & everything else.

$300 every 4 months at Costco and roughly between $35-60 per week at Trader Joe's for two adults. We buy all of our bulk meat, grains, pasta sauces, fruit juices, soda, wine, liquor, laundry soap, and paper products at Costco. We buy produce and smaller items at Trader Joe's like granola, yogurt, dried fruit, other produce, cheese, and cereal. We mostly bring our own lunches to work and eat out once a week for a date night. This past date night was for taco Tuesday where we got 4 tacos and 2 beers for less than $20.

The sticker shock at Costco is pretty steep for us, but then having a freezer full of food for 4 months is great. I find that we, as a couple, eat much less than the average person. We use salad plates instead of dinner plates, we normally only cook one boneless chicken breast for both of us, a loaf of bread lasts us almost two weeks. $60 at Trader Joe's is rare and I'm usually buying flowers and other impulse purchases. If I need to be stricter about my budget I make a list and don't deviate from it.

I think you could cycle down from spending $900/mo to $600/mo if you're careful, plan menus, shop sales, perhaps revamp how you eat a bit. But it takes dedication. I'm good in theory but never very successful in practice.  It's hard when you need to feed four growing boys, too!

I serve a lot of chicken. I can buy a large non-organic rotisserie chicken at Costco for $5 (and save myself cooking time and mess, to boot). Or I can buy organic chicken breasts for $7/lb, also at Costco, or a whole organic chicken for around $12 at the supermarket (probably less at Costco). Which one am I going to buy if I'm trying to save money? The rotisserie chicken.

I didn't used to buy produce or dairy at Costco because it comes in such large packages or multi-packs, we couldn't eat it all before it went bad. But lately I've been buying the large packages and then sharing some with my son and his household, or my sister and BIL, or the neighbors. I don't spend any more in total than I would at the supermarket, but I have some extra to share, and then they share with me when they buy large packages, too.

Individually packaged snack stuff adds up fast, especially with four kids. Better to get a giant box of goldfish crackers or whatever, and divide them up yourself. I hate using lots of little plastic snack-size bags, but I'm not sure I can retrain the 7yo to bring them home from school, either. That does sound like a weird grandma kind of thing to do.  Oh, I get the plastic bags at Costco, too.

I honestly don't have any idea how much I spend.

Some weeks I go to the grocery store once and other weeks it seems like I go everyday. Obviously I am not good at meal planning. I do not buy a lot of meat, we eat a lot of wild game (moose, caribou and fish) I do buy organic chicken and I do buy the rotisserie chicken at Costco when I go.

Produce here (Alaska) can be and usually is expensive. So there is that.

We don't eat a lot of processed foods.

It seems when I try new recipes it always requires ingredients that I don't have on hand so that adds up.

I think starting today I will start tracking it and see how much I spend.

It's just two of us and the dog, we are in Canada. We probably spend $200 at Costco every 2 months and that includes dog food. We stockpile when things we like are at their lowest price and meal plan. We probably spend 50 a week, maybe 60 or 70 if we are adding to the stockpile. There are some weeks it's 10 though... just adding milk and bread:). We do get pizza once a week.

Could not agree more!

We are in Ohio and we spend between $225-$250 per week for our family of 4. Me, DH (very physical job - eats a lot), and two teenage athletic boys (they eat a lot too!).  That's everything down to the toilet paper and cleaning supplies. 

Generally, We eat out twice per month at nice restaurants. No fast food. We all pack our lunches from home.

We eat good quality produce, meat and dairy - mostly organic. I love to cook.

I'm pretty proud of my grocery planning and budgeting skills. I love that I get the fridge all stocked up and beautiful with fresh items on a Saturday morning, and by the next Friday night it's nearly empty with no waste.

My gosh, I can't even imagine spending what y'all spend.

Granted, I am primarily feeding only myself, but I spend less than $175/month on groceries. That includes all the other stuff like cat food, shampoo and plenty of fruits/vegetables. 

A couple of things help-I make more meatless meals than I don't (and those that I do rarely have the meat as the main dish,) I don't use paper products like paper towels, I mostly use cleaning products like vinegar or bleach solutions and I am not a snacker at all. 

I do meal plan, and I have some staples that are on hand all the time. 

We just got an Aldi's that is 15 minutes away. While cross comparing their ad to that of Staters and Albertsons, there is barely any savings. Sme of their items are even more than the other two stores.

Oh wow, that is disappointing to read. I thought I had read here that Aldi's is supposed to be a discount chain. Darn!