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Groceries

Tigerlily

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My friend with 7 in her household spends between $70 to $100 per week on groceries. She does use coupons and buys most things on sale. I have never been frugal but will give it a go which basically means I'd like to go to the grocery store once a week and shop smarter. If I don't go in the store, I won't be tempted to buy nonsense. She and I are going shopping on Monday. I'll report back what I find (or don't).

I haven't decided on Sam's club yet. I belonged last year and never went. Probably the most expensive things I buy are organic meats and tomorrow I am going to Trader Joe's to buy that. The supermarket organic chicken rarely goes on sale unless it's almost out of date and is usually nearly $10 a package. I'll see if TJ's has it cheaper.
 

mmhmm

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not sure exactly how i much i spend,
each time i go i spend about $75 give or take.
and i go every 2-3 days.

i'm choosy about what i put in my body. so i do go
to the more selective gourmet markets. the healthier
i eat, the more expensive it becomes.
 

ceecee

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I checked Quicken for the month thus far I have spent $427.06 for 6 people (3 teenagers) including paper products and other non-food household items. I shop at Costco for my big stuff (laundry soap, toilet paper, paper towels) and use coupons.

I do have a couple advantages not everyone has access to. One is organic grass fed beef that I buy 1/2 cow at a time. I live in a small farming community in West Michigan. There are dairy farms everywhere. I also get chickens, eggs, turkeys and pork from local farmers. Other than the initial cost of buying basically a commercial sized freezer, I only buy meat very occasionally from a store so we spend much less. I have a good sized garden, what I don't grow I can buy directly from farmers. I can and freeze a great deal of that. This makes me very confident about what I am feeding my family and keeps the food bills low.
 

kyuuei

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I don't use money on anything else. Just the little things. If I want a cookie, I'll buy it. I don't need money for a new car, apartment, stereo, etc. I look very poor, but I live rich, well, when it comes to food. Besides, this is Norway, everything is expensive. I can live for three months in the US on one Norwegian paycheck because the US = Third World Country :x j/k

Agreed entirely.. One of the things I was nervous about when budgeting for living in Japan was the food cost going up so high. We just have a cheaper costs of living here in general it seems. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not :laugh:

Thanks for sharing everyone :) .

Meal Deals: 5-ingredient dinners for $3 or less - Food on Shine

I found most of the books that had the $3 meal ideas contained recipes that costed people more than $3 a meal. I think, honestly, the things that keep me on track are:

1. Making a meal roster. Knowing what everyone is willing to eat in advance makes shopping easier.
2. Highlighting what you need vs what you want. It's okay for me to spend a bit more on higher quality meat when I catch things like frozen veggies on sale.
3. Making the snacks and extra stuff cheap and easy, or cooking/baking snacks in advance for the week. We do a lot of "cook and freeze for later" days.

If you're actually able to make use of the larger sizes of the products Sam's Club sells, you can definitely save money. I've got a membership and it has helped me cut down my grocery bill by about 20-25% (from ~$400 to around $300 per month). I could probably cut it down more, but I've used some of the savings to buy more meat than I did before.

We use Sam's club a lot as well.

I checked Quicken for the month thus far I have spent $427.06 for 6 people (3 teenagers) including paper products and other non-food household items. I shop at Costco for my big stuff (laundry soap, toilet paper, paper towels) and use coupons.

I do have a couple advantages not everyone has access to. One is organic grass fed beef that I buy 1/2 cow at a time. I live in a small farming community in West Michigan. There are dairy farms everywhere. I also get chickens, eggs, turkeys and pork from local farmers. Other than the initial cost of buying basically a commercial sized freezer, I only buy meat very occasionally from a store so we spend much less. I have a good sized garden, what I don't grow I can buy directly from farmers. I can and freeze a great deal of that. This makes me very confident about what I am feeding my family and keeps the food bills low.

I wish... :wubbie:
 
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