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Message
Family budget question re: groceries/food/consumables
Posted on 7/2/14 at 9:34 am
Posted on 7/2/14 at 9:34 am
What is a reasonable monthly budget for a family of 4 (baby & toddler) for food and groceries, dining out, and other non-good consumables?
We don't "dine out" much with two kids but we do pick up supper a few times a week. Also, we bring lunch to work as well.
I penciled in $500/month but went back through 1/1 to 7/1 and we're averaging over $950/month. It just seems insane that we're spending $12k a year in this category!
We don't "dine out" much with two kids but we do pick up supper a few times a week. Also, we bring lunch to work as well.
I penciled in $500/month but went back through 1/1 to 7/1 and we're averaging over $950/month. It just seems insane that we're spending $12k a year in this category!
17
Posted on 7/2/14 at 9:52 am to poochie
I'm not sure what we spend, but I know it's too much. We get takeout a couple of times a week, and when there's t-ball/soccer practice, it's even more often.
With little babies, the price of formula, diapers, etc can add up pretty quickly- I think we spent about $100/month on those two things alone when mine were that young.
Groceries are expensive as hell, and it seems like the price goes up exponentially every time I shop. You could probably trim that number by $100 or so, but I bet $600-750/month is probably about right.
With little babies, the price of formula, diapers, etc can add up pretty quickly- I think we spent about $100/month on those two things alone when mine were that young.
Groceries are expensive as hell, and it seems like the price goes up exponentially every time I shop. You could probably trim that number by $100 or so, but I bet $600-750/month is probably about right.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 9:59 am to poochie
I have a family of four, though my kids are older, and we budget about $200 per week, which comes out to almost $1000 per month. Some months we're over, some we're under, but usually right around that number. We do better when we make a supper menu for the week and make a big trip to the store on Sunday. We do worse when we make 2-3 trips to the store in one week.
We don't eat out all that much either. Maybe 3 or 4 times a month.
We don't eat out all that much either. Maybe 3 or 4 times a month.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 9:59 am to poochie
Family of three, with a toddler. We spend $1000 a month at Kroger, plus roughly $300 eating out.
Your $500 figure seems impossible, especially the way grocery store prices have increased in the last few years. Couponing can help, but we don't seem to have the time right now.
Your $500 figure seems impossible, especially the way grocery store prices have increased in the last few years. Couponing can help, but we don't seem to have the time right now.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:06 am to poochie
quote:
we're averaging over $950/month. It just seems insane that we're spending $12k a year in this category!
That doesn't seem too far off to me.
My SO and I try to eat dinner at home 4-5 nights a week and bring lunch to work 4 days a week or so. We easily spend $80+ a week on just groceries (not including any other major consumables - paper products, bathroom supplies, etc.). That's $350/month just on groceries, and we don't have kids. If you factor in take out a couple of times a week, food for kids, and other consumables, I would think you could easily be close to $1k/month. I'm not even bringing alcohol into the equation because our wine/beer spend would kill the budget.
Could that be cut down a little bit on a budget? For sure. We are good about eating at home, but we don't check sales on regular purchases or buy groceries off the weekly circulars. If we did stuff like that, we could probably save a good bit.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:10 am to poochie
I do not think $12k a year is completely unreasonable if you factor in eating out. If you buy in bulk, make your lunch everyday, use coupons, and eat at or pick up food from a restaurant once a week, I think you could trim the figure to $750 a month.
I do not know what efforts your family makes to take advantage of deals at the grocery store. Buying ground beef, pork tenderloins, etc.. while they are on sale and freezing them will save you money overtime (if you're not throwing away the food). Saving and eating leftovers will save you money over time as well. Make a habit of always having a grocery list with you and only buying what is on the list. Don't go shopping on an empty stomach either.
I do not know what efforts your family makes to take advantage of deals at the grocery store. Buying ground beef, pork tenderloins, etc.. while they are on sale and freezing them will save you money overtime (if you're not throwing away the food). Saving and eating leftovers will save you money over time as well. Make a habit of always having a grocery list with you and only buying what is on the list. Don't go shopping on an empty stomach either.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:17 am to poochie
I've posted this on here before. My wife and I follow a strict grocery budget. She makes a menu that extends 4-5 weeks. We shop bulk items at Costco/Sam's and buy the rest at Wal-Mart. We buy produce weekly. We can do all of the Costco/Sam's & Wal-Mart for around $400. The weekly produce is always around $15-$20.
We also budget one big date night per month. Usually in the $200-$250'ish range. I like to go big on date night.
We also budget one big date night per month. Usually in the $200-$250'ish range. I like to go big on date night.
This post was edited on 7/2/14 at 10:19 am
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:24 am to TheWiz
Yeah we make 2-3 big trips to Sam's or Costco every year, but we do all of our other shopping at Publix. Walmart is generally cheaper, but their produce and meat is vastly inferior to what I can get at Publix so I'm willing to pay extra.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:26 am to poochie
Family of four (me, wife, kids aged 6 and 3).
We budget $600/month for grocery food (this also includes the kids lunches at school, whether they bring their lunch or they buy their lunch), $100/month for household consumables (toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, cleaning supplies, that sort of thing), and $600/month for enterainment. If we eat out, that comes out of the entertainment budget.
We try to do two big grocery trips a month, usually to Sams, where we can buy things in bulk that don't go bad quickly. Cereal, snacks, pasta, etc. Once a week, we go to a local butcher shop where we buy most of our meats, cold cuts, etc. Then to the grocery store as needed. I try to read the ads for Breaux Mart, Rouses, and Winn Dixie, and shop the deals if it works out for us. Finally we try to hit the local farmers market for produce, which a lot of times, in-season, is cheaper than the grocery.
We try to meal plan two weeks at a time, which works better sometimes than others.
We've had some success with the crock pot meals thing, where you make like 10 meals at a time and freeze them. Here is an example.
Crock Pot Meals
As for the baby, I don't miss the days of paying for all that. If your baby takes formula, try to over time, switch them to a generic formula. Sams has a brand that is basically identical to Similac. Same for diapers - the Babies R Us brand we found to be outstanding for the cost. Also, a couple of times a year, they would put all their boxes on sale for $10 each, so we would buy 3-4 months worth of diapers, you just have to be careful about the sizes as baby grows.
Hope this helps.
We budget $600/month for grocery food (this also includes the kids lunches at school, whether they bring their lunch or they buy their lunch), $100/month for household consumables (toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, cleaning supplies, that sort of thing), and $600/month for enterainment. If we eat out, that comes out of the entertainment budget.
We try to do two big grocery trips a month, usually to Sams, where we can buy things in bulk that don't go bad quickly. Cereal, snacks, pasta, etc. Once a week, we go to a local butcher shop where we buy most of our meats, cold cuts, etc. Then to the grocery store as needed. I try to read the ads for Breaux Mart, Rouses, and Winn Dixie, and shop the deals if it works out for us. Finally we try to hit the local farmers market for produce, which a lot of times, in-season, is cheaper than the grocery.
We try to meal plan two weeks at a time, which works better sometimes than others.
We've had some success with the crock pot meals thing, where you make like 10 meals at a time and freeze them. Here is an example.
Crock Pot Meals
As for the baby, I don't miss the days of paying for all that. If your baby takes formula, try to over time, switch them to a generic formula. Sams has a brand that is basically identical to Similac. Same for diapers - the Babies R Us brand we found to be outstanding for the cost. Also, a couple of times a year, they would put all their boxes on sale for $10 each, so we would buy 3-4 months worth of diapers, you just have to be careful about the sizes as baby grows.
Hope this helps.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:32 am to poochie
We're right at $1,000/month including groceries and anything else purchased at Target/Walmart. Family of 4. One toddler and one seven year old
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:33 am to LSUFanHouston
Also, the wife does that CVS Shopping game thing, where you combine coupons, CVS deals, extra bucks, etc to get some pretty insane cheap prices on stuff. Things like toilet paper, toothpaste, clothes detergent, etc.
It's not uncommon for her to do things like:
10 packs of 9 large rolls of toilet paper for 10 bucks
Enough clothes detergent for 120 loads for 3 bucks
Toothpaste basically free
She's one of these bargain shoppers, and game plans shopping for this stuff in a way that would make Nick Saban jealous. She likes to shop and find savings, thankfully she can apply that skill to cheap stuff and not just to Saks. =)
Also, since you have kids, something I am stoked about this year is we have a Xmas club account at our local CU, where we have been saving $50 a paycheck since last November. So, on Nov 1 of this year, we will get out $1200 back plus a bit of interest, which will be enough to not only pay for all our christmas shopping, but also our greetings cards, postage, and probably holiday meals as well! She has no problem doing Black Friday shopping, so we can get a lot of the presents cheap on that day.
It's not uncommon for her to do things like:
10 packs of 9 large rolls of toilet paper for 10 bucks
Enough clothes detergent for 120 loads for 3 bucks
Toothpaste basically free
She's one of these bargain shoppers, and game plans shopping for this stuff in a way that would make Nick Saban jealous. She likes to shop and find savings, thankfully she can apply that skill to cheap stuff and not just to Saks. =)
Also, since you have kids, something I am stoked about this year is we have a Xmas club account at our local CU, where we have been saving $50 a paycheck since last November. So, on Nov 1 of this year, we will get out $1200 back plus a bit of interest, which will be enough to not only pay for all our christmas shopping, but also our greetings cards, postage, and probably holiday meals as well! She has no problem doing Black Friday shopping, so we can get a lot of the presents cheap on that day.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:38 am to AdamDeMamp
Breakdown for June:
Total $1062
Groceries $423
Dine out $361 (any non-home cooked meal)
Pharmacy $73 (medicine/shampoo/whatever else)
Consumables $206 (basically just wal mart)
Total $1062
Groceries $423
Dine out $361 (any non-home cooked meal)
Pharmacy $73 (medicine/shampoo/whatever else)
Consumables $206 (basically just wal mart)
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:40 am to LSUFanHouston
SNAP (food stamps) allocates $1/meal, which equals $21/week per person. For a family of four, we're talking $336/mo. The $500/mo allocation is on the very low end, esp if you eat more expensive items (like breakfast cereal instead of oatmeal, or buy lots of processed/value added stuff).
Best way to trim your grocery budget is to buy less processed food. Forget the Poptarts, granola bars, cereal, and Little Debbies. Substitute beans and rice at least twice a week for a meat-centric meal. Learn to like lentils and chickpeas, and use meat sparingly as a treat or seasoning, rather than the focus of a meal.
My household of two probably spends $400/mo on groceries, exclusive of dining out and including packed lunches. I buy expensive cheese, higher quality dairy, farmer's market eggs, and other higher end stuff like chocolate. But I don't buy CAFO beef, cold cuts, boneless/skinless chicken or processed chicken stuff (nuggets, etc).
Planning is the best cost control in the kitchen. Make a vow to throw out nothing....get creative with the leftovers and trimmings. Most anything can be turned into a pasta toppping, burrito/taco filling, or mixed with rice. A few decent prepared sauces & salsas and a bit of good cheese are worth the upfront cost, as they make all the odds and ends palatable.
Best way to trim your grocery budget is to buy less processed food. Forget the Poptarts, granola bars, cereal, and Little Debbies. Substitute beans and rice at least twice a week for a meat-centric meal. Learn to like lentils and chickpeas, and use meat sparingly as a treat or seasoning, rather than the focus of a meal.
My household of two probably spends $400/mo on groceries, exclusive of dining out and including packed lunches. I buy expensive cheese, higher quality dairy, farmer's market eggs, and other higher end stuff like chocolate. But I don't buy CAFO beef, cold cuts, boneless/skinless chicken or processed chicken stuff (nuggets, etc).
Planning is the best cost control in the kitchen. Make a vow to throw out nothing....get creative with the leftovers and trimmings. Most anything can be turned into a pasta toppping, burrito/taco filling, or mixed with rice. A few decent prepared sauces & salsas and a bit of good cheese are worth the upfront cost, as they make all the odds and ends palatable.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:42 am to LSUFanHouston
quote:
We've had some success with the crock pot meals thing, where you make like 10 meals at a time and freeze them. Here is an example.
Crock Pot Meals
Do you pre-cook the meals and then freeze them or do you just put all the ingredients in a ziploc bag, put them in the freezer, defrost them when you're ready to cook them and then cook them in slow-cooker?
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:48 am to CHiPs25
quote:
just put all the ingredients in a ziploc bag, put them in the freezer, defrost them when you're ready to cook them and then cook them in slow-cooker?
That is what you do. You do a minimal amount of prep to the ingredients, and put each meal into a gallon size zip lock freezer bag, and throw in the freezer. We move from freezer to fridge 24 hours before we cook it. When ready to cook, dumb contents of bag into crock pot and turn on.
You do need to be careful. We have a programable crock pot, that will cook for so many hours and then put on "warm". On a couple of the ones that only take 4 hours, we thought we could drop it in before, work, set for 4 hrs, and then have it stay warm until we got home from work. A couple of times, it ended up overcooking. So the ones that have lower cooking times, keep those when you won't be gone for that long.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:50 am to hungryone
quote:
Make a vow to throw out nothing....get creative with the leftovers and trimmings. Most anything can be turned into a pasta toppping, burrito/taco filling, or mixed with rice.
I love this
Posted on 7/2/14 at 10:55 am to LSUFanHouston
quote:
You do need to be careful. We have a programable crock pot, that will cook for so many hours and then put on "warm". On a couple of the ones that only take 4 hours, we thought we could drop it in before, work, set for 4 hrs, and then have it stay warm until we got home from work. A couple of times, it ended up overcooking. So the ones that have lower cooking times, keep those when you won't be gone for that long.
Our crock pot has a delay timer which would work out well for these. Also, I work from home so it will be easier for my to start the crock pot at 3pm. Thanks for the help, looking forward to trying out some of these recipes.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 11:01 am to poochie
We do 400 a month for three (1 toddler) but we are really lean and mean trying to pay off debt.
Posted on 7/2/14 at 11:16 am to ragacamps
Thinking of this as a better budget:
Grocery $75/wk, $300/mo
Dine out $40/wk, $160/mo + 1 or 2 "actual dine out" $100 total $260
Pharmacy $30
Consumable $150
Total $740
Grocery $75/wk, $300/mo
Dine out $40/wk, $160/mo + 1 or 2 "actual dine out" $100 total $260
Pharmacy $30
Consumable $150
Total $740
Posted on 7/2/14 at 6:00 pm to poochie
Cook in bulk and freeze. Saves time and money. The more times you go to the store the more impulse shite you buy.
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