$300 per week, sometimes more and thats without meat. Prices have really gone up here over the past 6mths and fresh fruit and vege prices can be through the roof at times - and we go through a LOT of fresh fruit and vege in a week. I do loads of baking of biscuits, cakes and slices etc for lunchboxes and buying all the ingredients is very exxie so there is a lot of cost there that a lot of people wouldn't have too. Although yesterday was a bit exciting because the groceries were only $230 LOL. I only go to town once a week (we are 42km from town) so I have to make sure I have enough bread and milk to get us through the full week so I'm not topping up with bread and milk during the week.
we do it fornightly and everything is about $200 - $220 , so about $100 a week on food .
recently we started going to the brisbane markets and for about $60 we got a fornights work of fruit and veg , where as the same amount in the local shop would only last a week .
we have 3 ppl eating in the house and this includes the cat food .
we dont buy any baby stuff like wipes or nappies and buy the jar baby food on special , if its not on spesh i dont buy it , but its hard because dd has allergies ,and jar food is a "safer' wayt for her to eat as its all done for me and i can see on the label whats in it ... apart from that its mashed veg and that can be boring and not easy to take out .
we shop for only what we need . i check the pantry and grab my 4 ingredients book and make a fortnights meals from that .
i dont buy snack foods aimed at kids , just the muslei bars from aldi ,we aviod junk food like chips and lollies as you dont really need to eat them to live , they dont do our bodies any good and the cost alot , adding to the bill ... so we have learnt to live with out them (cept chocolate )
we also have something called "the grocery club" which sells cheap groceries ...
i joined "simple savings " a while ago and learnt many money saving tips aswell .. i am inlove with this site and am constanly on there looking for hints ..
i also dont buy supermarket cleaning products , i just stick to amway (they last a long time) or the old bi carb and vinegar .
things like nappies , wipes and sanitary pads can be done in cloth , which saves heaps (pads and tampons have a luxury tax on them ..... they are exe too !!!) and will bring down the grocery bill alot .
I just spent $180 at Coles today. We will go to our local farmers market tomorrow and probably spend about $50 there. That should last us a week, although we usually buy bananas a couple of times a week (we love smoothies in this house). And hubby buys the odd coffee, but usually takes leftovers for lunch. We rarely have take away dinners these days.
i could spend $150 per week easily, thats not including meat (which dp's mate buys on our behalf from his families butcher )
BUT there is always something that we need to buy mid-week.
also, things like toiletries/nappies/washing powder seem to run out in the same week, so thats bumps up the total.
whenever we come into some money (ie. ruddy bonuses/tax returns/centrelink advance payments etc) i do a 'stock up' shop... where i buy one or two of everything we need/use. and that lightens the weekly load, and i can grab things on special as they come up.. rather than running out and 'needing' everything IYKWIM.
the only thing i can suggest is, if you dont already do so, is make a meal plan/list including everything you will need to buy. so rather than think 'ill grab this this and this while you're at the supermarket. make a note that for the entire week you will need 1 box of salada biscuits, 4 loaves of bread, 4/6/10pk of tortillas (if you get my drift) rather than have excess that gets thrown out.
This week I spent $197 with everything included cause we don't have time this weekend to go to the markets. That is with everything though...nappies, wipes, the baby fruit gels cause DS still loves them! I am slowly converting to MCN's so this will hopefully take our food bill down abit!!
It also had a pork roast, roast beef and silverside in it cause they were on special and they were $15 each approx. Normally on average its about $150 but can rise up to $200 easily depending on what is needed in the week.
I am going to start meal planning in a couple of months just for the organisation factor!!
our shopping yesterday came to about $190 but that was the first "real" shop we've done in weeks due to Gremlin being born - and included stuff we didn't necessarily "need" but got cos it was on special. so we got a roast lamb (almost 3kg) - and we will have roast tomorrow night and make shepherds pie from the left overs (end up with frozen meals). we got ham bones to make some soup - again, on special - and will leave us with frozen meals. we also bought ingredients for snackish food (savoury muffins etc) and things like cheese and kabana as we're still having people pop over to meet our girl and have a drink with DH - and i hate having nothing to feed them (guys plus alcohol on empty stomachs - no thanks!)
today DH is going shopping to get some extra stuff that we forgot last night so that we can make and freeze some sweet muffins for when he goes back to work again next week. our shopping is made harder by the fact that we essentially, while he's working, have two seperate "homes" so as much as we try and cook food that we can both eat (frozen meals) there is only so long DH can keep food ok in his truck before he has to start buying food while away - and there is only so much slow cooker food i can eat before i need a real meal - so we do find it more exxy to live when he's away!
i do agree with buying in bulk and cooking and freezing meals where you can. every couple of months, we do a big veg and meat shop - last time i split this with my mum and my aunt. for $240 we got nearly 90 meals for the freezers - so well worth it... it just meant we spent a whole weekend cooking in slow cookers but it was fantastic to fill the freezer and know that we had food no matter what. i also find that bulking out food with as much veg as possible makes it cheaper and much more nutritious - i put everything i can in everything! veg i wouldn't have on my plate (like swede and turnip - too bland) go into everything i make in the slow cooker - they take up the flavour of the "sauce" or gravy and make for a delish dish!
We just survived on $160 a week. And it was fine. We weren't eating gourmet but no one suffered, and I entertained twice in a fortnight on that budget too.
Our usual budget is about $250 but what we don't spend we put away for things we need.
Our weekly bill is around $300, that is groceries, meat, fruit & vegies.
That feeds all of us, gives the kids & DH morning tea & lunches. DH always has a meal for lunch rather than sandwiches or similar. Because DS1 is 15, it is like feeding a full grown adult, plus I also cook a meal once a week for my brother and SIL.
I spend about $300-$350 per week... I buy from farmers markets where possible for fruit and vege. I buy organic meat - but I limit red meat to once per week and chicken to once per week with a fish meal and the rest vegetarian.
My shop is more exxy as I choose organic where possible. I use very little in the way of cleaners/sprays etc. & what I do buy is as green as possible. However it's all concentrated and lasts for about a year for a litre concentrate that I just make up...
I have a large family too which always makes it more expensive. DD14 eats as much as me and DS8 could eat a horse and chase the rider!
I do not buy bikkies or cakes and bake almost every day. I use rapadura instead of sugar where possible and I buy 3kg bags of spelt flour for most of my baking.
Pasta is non wheat so it's all nore expensive.
some weeks it's more than this and others it's less but on average that's what it would be..
Its good to see that other people spend about the same as we do a week, i always feel bad going over $100 but its impossible to stay below that really!
I make a meal plan for the week and try to make things that 'overlap' in ingredients, ie. if a recipie requires 100ml sour cream i always try to make something else to use the rest of the tub rather than have waste to throw away at the end of the week.
Ive also come to realise that its ok to buy the home brand ...most things taste the same anyway.
DH has a sweet tooth so we get a few treats for the week, that bumps it up abit.
but normally its about $100 in the super market and $50 at the markets.
numa - we get some organic produce, some free range and some other brands that we feel are a bit more ethical. We tend to spend around $200 per week. There are some store brands in it and we do get Aldi nappies. I know if we did shop as ethically as I would like to that we would be pushing the $300 mark. The veggie patch is starting to come in, so hopefully our grocery bill should be dropping over summer. I would love to spend only $150-$170 per week, but I just can't seem to do it, I would have to make some huge compromises to do so.
Reply With Quote
) 
...most things taste the same anyway. 
Bookmarks