Groceries: How Much Do You Spend Per Week

**Trillian** · June 13th, 2009, 06:45 PM

As a lamb producer I can tell you that lamb is only going to get dearer - prices are exceeding $120 per head on a regular basis ATM so that cost is going to be passed onto the consumer. There is no sign of a slowdown in the lamb market in the near future either. (but a huge bonus for us though as sellers)

**Astrid** · June 13th, 2009, 06:54 PM

As a lamb producer I can tell you that lamb is only going to get dearer - prices are exceeding $120 per head on a regular basis ATM so that cost is going to be passed onto the consumer. There is no sign of a slowdown in the lamb market in the near future either. (but a huge bonus for us though as sellers)

We had heard something similar when enquiring about getting some lambs or a beef cow to fatten ourselves. Just hope it is the farmer who is getting most of the money, not the middle man.

**Astrolady** · June 13th, 2009, 07:04 PM

We average around $250 a week and that includes everything. So that will feed 5 of us and the dog.

**~clover~** · June 13th, 2009, 09:41 PM

I have no idea off the top of my head, but we don't have chops too often these days coz I have noticed how pricey they are getting. DH & my dad are shearers, & while they are only occasionally shearing atm, we still occasionally get a sheep, or some meat given too us.
DH also works for a beef exports company, so we can get cheap meat if we order through them, just haven't been able too yet. Not enough money even for that lately.

**Fleur** · June 14th, 2009, 08:52 AM

Wow there's a lot of you doing really well with that... we seem to spend heaps. Atm we are spending about $300 a week but often ends up being a bit more. That's for five of us...

I have started going to Aldi every now & again but they just don't have everything I want, I end up going to Coles. The other thing I have started doing is making a couple of trips a week... I was doing one big shop but not very organised, and found I was going back 2 or 3 times for things we needed, which added to the overall bill.

I used to organise my shop really well, plan the meals for the week & only buy what we need. Since working fulltime that's gotten a bit harder (or I've gotten a bit lazier

) - i'm hoping after bub is born & I have more time at home (haha) I will go back to planning a bit better. I do think that' helps.

As for lunch, all kids lunches are from home, DH & I try to do same but occasionally cheat...

Overall our bill has gotten huge over the last couple of years, three years ago it was more like $200 a week

**Just Me** · June 14th, 2009, 01:48 PM

I spend between $250 - $300 per week easily but that includes toiletries & cleaning products (not including nappies and wipes though). That is for just the four of us. Toddlers seems to eat lots and like variety. I didn't realise that so many people could do it for so much less . . . I don't know where I am going so wrong.

We don't buy lots of packaged things or pre-prepared foods - we buy mostly fresh fruit and veg and meat and I cook.

Not sure how I could cut back . . . I do a shopping list before we go so I know exactly what to buy . . .

**fionas** · June 14th, 2009, 02:07 PM

Thanks for all your replies ladies, looks like our grocery bill is pretty average - could be lower, could be higher.

At the moment I don't have a slow cooker (we have so little storage space in our kitchen) so I'm waiting for the new kitchen to go in. But once that happens, I'll be able to buy cheaper cuts of meat. I do splurge a bit on meat and am a sucker for pork loin and lamb loin. Having said that, I got it from the market last week - 2kg of lean mince for $9, 800g of lamb loin for $14 (I think) and 1kg of good quality cubed steak for $9 so I think that was pretty good. Oh, and we got 16 big prawns for $7.50 which went into a risotto.

But I was quite pleased last week that I wasted hardly anything. Leftover meat and a rocket, chickpea, roast pumpkin and capscium salad went into making some wraps which I froze. So the leftovers gave us four lunches! I also made chicken and lentil soup from a leftover roast chicken. And I found a veggie stew in the freezer which I made into veggie pastries which was dinner last night with some spare.

So I think that's going to be my mission at the moment - to do my menu planning around things that can be recycled into wraps/sandwiches for lunches.

Off to make a beef and bean casserole now and the leftovers can be frozen for dinner later in the week. So we should get two dinners out of the $9 cubed beef.

Would love to hear more stories on how you avoid wastage.

**ttcanxiety** · June 17th, 2009, 11:44 AM

we spend about 90-110 on groceries, 10-20 on fresh produce and thats just 2 of us and a cat!! i shop at aldi tho for most things and go to coles for others... i am also in the habbit of when toiletries are on sale i buy 2 or 3... if i see shampoo and conditioner at an excellent price i know i will use it so i get 2 or 3 and put into the linen stores. Lynx were changing their deodorant roll on shapes so the old ones of exactly the same size and smell were selling for 1.99 instead of 4 something so i grabbed all that was left which was like 4 for DH he said wtf is this so i told him and he said ok that makes sense!!!! toilet paper on sale i do the same and soap and tooth paste coles home brand blue gel one is awesome (i never used anything but colgate hated aim, mcleans and so on didnt feel clean afterwards) But i love this blue gel one and they reduced them to $1 a tube so 5 tubes later we still have plenty of tooth paste!

**ACJ** · June 17th, 2009, 11:47 AM

I am doing groceries online this week that way I can sit here and really think of what to do each night for dinner and have a set meal plan without overspending!!

**Phteven** · June 17th, 2009, 11:59 AM

I have no idea but I think that I might try and get more organised.
I tend to stick to the old style method of buying ingedients most days/as I need them rather than doing one big shop a week.
It's probably more than $200 though because I buy organic and free range when possible which costs more and when I buy red meat I go to a specialty butcher.

**Early Kids** · June 17th, 2009, 12:05 PM

If I was to average it out, we would spend approx $100-$120 per week which includes everything (nappies, loo paper, ect ect)

**Life is Good** · June 17th, 2009, 01:10 PM

I have started to do a weekly shop. I used to just buy what I wanted each day (which is great because you can decide at the last minute what you feel like) and only now that I have been doing weekly meal plans do I realise how much money I used to spend and the crazy wastage that would result

!

The upside of meal planing is that I can keep thing interesting by mixing up expensive meals with cheap ones each week and we never feel like we are always eating the "cheap stuff" (DH is a meat man and is very spoilt and would honestly eat steak and roasts everyday if he could!). I also vary our meals according to what vegies are on special (I find it really hard to spend $6/kg on truss tomatoes and don't get me started on the mushrooms!).

I couldn't say how much we spend just on food alone, but including toiletries etc, my weekly shop totals about $200 (that is for the two of us). That doesn't include DH's lunches though...he takes a packed lunch maybe twice a week and buys the rest. It also doesn't include a weekly take-out meal or "food on the run" over busy weekends

.

I plan on cutting costs significantly now that we have a second freezer (I think $200+ is is a lot of money for just two people). I am already buying and cooking in bulk and hopefully the built-up reserves will result in some decent cost-saving down the track

.

**~CrazyMumOf3~** · June 17th, 2009, 01:48 PM

we use to spend(when shopping fortnightly) $300 just in woolies for groceries and fruit and vege.
Meat is about $120 which will last us between 6-8weeks

Now we shop monthly. yesterdays grocery bill was $390 from woolies(including F&V). Well go back in 2weeks time and top up on fresh foods which will be about another $100ish to get through the last 2weeks of the month.

This feeds DF, myself, our 7 and 3y/o plus our staffy(she eats leftovers, and ive been making her up rice/pasta and cheap mixed vege meals to mix with dryfood as she is fussy)

**Bathsheba** · June 17th, 2009, 02:02 PM

ETA: We are a family of 5... my 14yo eats more than me.

I don't really know... it can really vary... I know that on average I pay about $200 a week but that includes cleaning and toiletries... often a hair colour... stationery etc. So for food alone? Maybe $150

We don't eat red meat so i think that saves us a bit. Although I try to only buy free range chicken... and at least two meals of a nice fish like fresh salmon. I do alot of cooking from scratch... buy bulk non-perishable ingredient (from another warehouse outlet) so that aves us alot. We didn't do a shop last weekend because we went away so yesterday i did a Coles online shop (going to be delivered this afternoon actually) and I only ordered $112 worth of groceries.... so this could be a cheap week.

DH buys his lunch every day but keeps it under $10. He also has his lunch paid for by clients/work about twice a week. I don't let my kids have canteen food very often, and never lunch, only a treat.

DoubleK · June 17th, 2009, 04:10 PM

i guess it depends what it is you buy.... for us, i buy 3 boxes of cereal a week! (thats $12) i buy some noodles/cup a soups for dp (i usually grab whatever is on special) soft drinks we also get whats on special (so like 4x 2l coke for $10, and we'll get two lots) i always like to have a range of cruskits, rice/corn cakes, saladas etc for dd.
also things like Taco kits ($5 or so) torillas ($3) also deli meats- franks/bacon/shaved ham/strass....

it all adds up so damn quickly!