How much a week do you spend on groceries per person?

[thejigsup]

I usually spend between $150 - 200 per week, but I eat out much of the time. I have a schedule where I am never anywhere long enough to cook anything. Weekends we barbeque and have friends and clients over, but usually during the week we both work such hellacious hours we just eat out. We like to eat well when we do eat in, so it's mostly steak and fish, that sort of thing.

[Miss Firecracker]

I am saving a lot of links to favorite brands in my favorites. This one allows you to print two coupons. It will tell you when you have reached a limit on one.

 

link removed

[misspeanut]

probably in the range of $50-$75 but i make them last more than just the week

[rocio]

We spend about 40 each. We also pack our lunches with that and rarely eat out.

 

We buy a lot of stuff in bulk. We buy whole lambs, cut them up on the balcony, then freeze. We buy fruits and veggies at the market for cheap, we really shop around. Also we cook everything from scratch. We have a membership to costco too, which helps a lot.

[ghost69]

$75-100. i eat out a lot. i'm also very busy and don't have time to cook much.

[Alezia]

If you use the coupons towards something you would normally buy that's not too bad. I find that for the items I buy, the generic store brand will still cost less than the name brand with a coupon. (ex: pamper diapers vs. teddy's choice diapers)

 

I will have a look at the coupons during my lunch break, maybe I will find something of worth. Most of what we buy are very basic staple items. We don't tend to buy crackers, cookies, processed sliced cheese etc... where the coupons would be of most value.

We do buy some natural peanut butter... maybe Kraft can give us a deal for that.

[MsG]

I'd like to know how often people shop?

 

I go grocercy shopping for my partner and I 1.5 times a month and spend $250 a pop. But my friend goes more than once a week and spends about $75 each time.

[Alezia]

I usually go once a week but once or twice a month I'll go twice a week.

I'll spend around 100-120$ on the once a week, and about 80$ then another 30$ if it's twice a week.

 

If we take a walk to the market, we'll buy some fresh fruits and veggies though they are way more expensive than at the grocery store - so that's extra $$. We will also stop at the italian grocery store - more $$.

Once a month I'll also stop at a natural food store, so more $$.

 

My partner, son and I are not small eaters so it adds up fast! I'm probably the only person in this house that should portion down their meal though, I have to work on that.

[Alezia]

I'd like to know how often people shop?

 

I go grocercy shopping for my partner and I 1.5 times a month and spend $250 a pop. But my friend goes more than once a week and spends about $75 each time.

 

How the heck do your fruits and veggies remain fresh for that long?!

I guess it depends what you buy - we buy little to no crackers, canned soups, cookies, granola bars etc.. that would stay fresh for a long time. We do buy grains like rice, oatmeal, beans, pasta, couscous etc... but that's pretty much our only cheap "dry/long lasting" ingredients asides from condiments (honey, mudystf, ketchup, vinegar, dressing, peanut butter etc...).

 

We are guilty of buying frozen pizzas and those skillet meals though... I'd like to cut down on those eventually too.

[JeckyllNHyde]

We go maybe twice a month or 1 time for a "grocery haul" lol. But even then we spend about $75. (It's only me and my dad at home though and he goes often to pick up little cooking necesities like onions, tomatoes, rice, milk, oatmeal and other stuff which adds up.)

 

 

I spend on necessary stuff like fruits (pears, oranges, etc), cereal, milk, bread, cream cheese (fresh cheese gets dry/mouldy in a few days), canned beans, juice.

 

We don't spend on frozen dinners (aside from the ocassional pizza), cookies, cakes, ice creams, soda's, etc. (Useless calories,saves money, plus if it's home I'll eat it instead of the fruits or something else).

But we do go out to eat once a week at the very least.

[Alezia]

Yeah we definetly eat out at least once a week - something that I am trying to cut down on to only once a week. I still want to live but we don't need the extra expenses. I'm going to be eating out everyday for every meal at the end of the month since I am going to the States with friends - asides from that I'd like to cut back.

 

I'd be interested to know the contents of people's groceries.

To me, I don't seem to buy a lot but deep down I know I do.

My cart is always more full than everyone else and at the end of the week, we have absolutely no food left. It's not like we are wasting food!

 

I think since you are making swaps like cream cheese instead of regular cheese, the price of your grocery will definetly go down because of that.

I'm not sure if that swap is as healthy? (probably not?) we eat cheese quite fast though so I usually only get them when they are on special. Even if I bulk freeze them, it's gone by the end of the week. The bf and son is a cheese monster. I just add cheese to my pizzas or sandwiches but don't eat a cup of cheese on its own.

[rocio]

The content of our shopping cart is pretty simple. Some meat, some fruit and veggies, cheese and yoghurt. And beer, obviously. Then we have the basics, like a 10lb bag of rice that never runs out, a big bag of flour that never runs out, (used to make pancakes and muffins) and bulk pasta.

[MsG]

How the heck do your fruits and veggies remain fresh for that long?!

 

Easy, I refridgerate and freeze my food. I'm not picky eater and have absolutely no problem eating not super fresh food. I'm all for strengthening my immune system by eating anything in my fridge that doesn't smell bad. Scream "ewww" if you like, but I'll bet anything my body can take a hell of a lot more before I get sick.

[JeckyllNHyde]

Oh yea. Cream cheese isn't as healty but the way I see it neither is plain sliced cheese lol. Plus we don't eat cheese and sandwiches as often.

 

If I made more pizza/pasta/etc I'd buy more cheese, etc. but it really depends on what you guys eat. In this house we hardly make cheese sandwiches. I usually also make egg sandwiches instead which require eggs and mayo (both also don't get spoiled easy in the frigde).

 

Do you make lists before you go? That helps me alot not to buy extra stuff.

 

Like I said, cutting down on chips, sodas, dip and all that stuff cuts down costs so much. Plus all that pre packaged stuff is pretty expensive when you count it.

 

You mentioned that you guys don't waste food, but it could also be that their just eating all the stuff there is lying around the house?

E.g. if there are no cookies at home I won't eat or even need to eat them. But once there are, I'll munch away. Hope it makes sense what I mean.

 

I think guys and boys eat more overall though. Lol. I've seen my bf eat when his mom cooks and he'll eat till he is STUFFED. My guy cousins too. Maybe you can make less portions and also, add salads or other things as side dishes?

[Alezia]

Like I said, cutting down on chips, sodas, dip and all that stuff cuts down costs so much. Plus all that pre packaged stuff is pretty expensive when you count it.

 

You mentioned that you guys don't waste food, but it could also be that their just eating all the stuff there is lying around the house?

 

We don't buy much in terms of prepackaged foods.

We do buy the occasional 1 can of pop each but we don't buy it at the groceries, mostly a treat.

No chips, crackers or processed munchies from the grocery on a regular basis but sometimes we will buy chips as a treat.

 

I do buy dips - hummus and sour cream. I use them on sandwiches or for vegetable dipping sauces. I'm not sure what would be a more economical fare short of cutting them out... but I don't buy any fancy butter chicken sauces or anything like that (*I wish* mmm...).

 

My boyfriend and I do a lot of unnecessary munching.. but for him it's very random as we don't stock convenience foods.

Like yesterday I wanted to do an asian seasame cucumber salad... turns out that he just ate the entire cucumber like that, plain. Or he'll just devore half the pack of cheese, or the half the bag of almonds. He hates to cook, so he'd rather eat my raw ingredients than cook himself something lol!

 

We do eat a lot of pizza and pasta. I like putting cheese everywhere though - grill cheese sandwiches, omlets, sandwiches, extra layering on pizza, pasta etc... :S Maybe we just need to rethink our menu. I'm trying to incorporate some Japanese receipe into menu which are mostly veggie, white rice and meats. Though I guess fresh vegetables and fresh meat is just as expensive... eugh!

[Miss Firecracker]

I saw a film on the news about an engineer that lost his job six months ago. Now he makes chicken coops for a living and has back orders for months, so he's doing well. It seems there is hot demand for chicken coops now. People are going back to the old ways, raising poultry in their backyards and planting crops again. In a lot of towns there are laws against this, and people are trying to change that.

[Alezia]

I wish I could do that =) I live in a high-rise apartment...

My boyfriend used to live on a farm during his teenage years, so he's particularly attracted to gardening and farming.

I'd like to start eating organic but the higher price of the grocery just makes it impossible!

 

I was thinking that maybe I could start by growing my own spice garden. That takes minimal space and resources right?

[Miss Firecracker]

I wish I could do that =) I live in a high-rise apartment...

My boyfriend used to live on a farm during his teenage years, so he's particularly attracted to gardening and farming.

I'd like to start eating organic but the higher price of the grocery just makes it impossible!

 

I was thinking that maybe I could start by growing my own spice garden. That takes minimal space and resources right?

 

I've never grown spices, but I hear it's pretty simple. One year we had a few tomato plants, and that worked out well. I have an almost all shade yard, so it's almost as bad as an apartment as far as growing crops.

[Alezia]

I've never grown spices, but I hear it's pretty simple. One year we had a few tomato plants, and that worked out well. I have an almost all shade yard, so it's almost as bad as an apartment as far as growing crops.

 

We have had a big pigeon problem over the years, although it died down quite a lot. We would have to fight to get rid of their nests and the such. We haven't have to destroy any nests this year although we do see them from time to time on the balcony. The balcony used to be infested with pigeon poo so we would never go out on it... we now just give it a good yearly clean and it's good enough.

 

Do you think it would be "safe" to grow stuff with those pigeons around? I was thinking maybe I could keep the herbs inside though my son might knock them around? :S

[Miss Firecracker]

link removed

 

I don't know, but I wouldn't feel too good about eating it.

 

link removed

[Alezia]

Yeah exactly what I was thinking too.

I think I would need something that would keep indoors. We don't really have any window sills though to put plants on.

Think a spice garden could thrive indoors on a kitchen table (the sun hits there)?

[Miss Firecracker]

They say you can do it indoors as long as there is plenty of direct sunlight. I think I may try that myself, Mousty. I like that idea.

 

Just talked to a friend, and I was telling her about the chicken story. Can you believe she told me her mom and dad trapped two hens that were loose in the neighborhood? And they bought an inexpensive chicken coop for $20, bought chicken feed and are now getting eggs every single day! How coincidental.

[Alezia]

Haha, that's quite the investment! At the quantity of eggs I'd eat I'd save a lot of money. I can easily go through a dozen of eggs by myself in a day depending on what I choose to eat.

I would think the city laws are quite strict on non-pet animals though

[Miss Firecracker]

Yes, laws are pretty strict about that. Some people are fighting it now. I don't know how much good it is doing though.

 

I found a good way to get rid of excess bananas that are too sweet to eat. This bread is wonderful, gets better after a day too. And it takes SIX bananas to make. Less expensive than buying mixes.

 

link removed

[JeckyllNHyde]

 

My boyfriend and I do a lot of unnecessary munching.. but for him it's very random as we don't stock convenience foods.

Like yesterday I wanted to do an asian seasame cucumber salad... turns out that he just ate the entire cucumber like that, plain. Or he'll just devore half the pack of cheese, or the half the bag of almonds. He hates to cook, so he'd rather eat my raw ingredients than cook himself something lol!

 

We do eat a lot of pizza and pasta. I like putting cheese everywhere though - grill cheese sandwiches, omlets, sandwiches, extra layering on pizza, pasta etc... :S Maybe we just need to rethink our menu. I'm trying to incorporate some Japanese receipe into menu which are mostly veggie, white rice and meats. Though I guess fresh vegetables and fresh meat is just as expensive... eugh!

 

Seems like you guys are pretty ok when it comes to spending and aren't wasting- like you said. Plus your bf's munching is understandable... to me lol. I would do the same (if my dad didn't cook lunch for me and there wasn't leftovers at night).

 

Here are some ideas:

1. keeping cooked pasta ready so he can just add the sauce (if he would be willing to) will keep him from devouring the entire thing.

2. easier would be to just make extra lunch/dinner. He can have the leftovers later so you don't have to keep going out if he finishes the raw ingredients.

3. Keep yogurt packets, cereal and other stuff around the house for snacking so he/you won't eat all the raw stuff.

 

That's only if you REALLY want to save.

Overall pasta isn't too expensive. I always find that pizza is, whether store bought or home made. Plus there is usually never left over lol.

 

The thing with pasta is that it doesn't keep you full that long. There isn't protein in it, mostly only carbs (I'm just going by "nutritional theories" lol.) So maybe that's why he gets the munchies in between meals too.