Groceries: How Much Do You Spend Per Week

[LaDeeDa]

Ours is normally 170-200 pw for groceries plus $30 for nappies / wipes

there is just the 2 of us and the dog as DS is still a booby baby

[ACJ]

Okay I just did my first online coles order and it came to $199.35 and that included a $45 box of fruit that I am going to split with my mum and SIL so it worked out cheaper then normally going in....YAY!! Going to go to a super butcher here in Yatala with mum on monday and buy some bulk meat with her and start saving there as well. I am getting all excited...Lol!!

[ttcanxiety]

thats a good idea buying a gift card with the left overs!!!! (also works well when a birthday is coming up u can either give them the gift voucher or shop at store on the card and get a nice gift!

[Indadhanu]

We spend between $100-120 a week, and thats $60-$80 at the supermarket, $15-20 at the butcher, and then extras we get from The Warehouse or Crazy Clarks (like soap, washing powder, dishwashing powder, fabric softener, dishwashing liquid etc).

We go to the butcher every 6 weeks, and end up with 40-50 nights meat for $100-120. Our freezer is REALLY handy. It's a bulk butcher, low prices and a 2kg minimum, plus if you spend over $50 you get three loaves of bread. We get mince, steak, sausages, chicken, roasts, seafood and even kiev or parmagiana filos!

Shel takes her own lunches and drinks, and I only eat at home. We could definately pull the meat tighter, and make about 60-70 dinner meals, but we usually cook double and have left-overs for lunch, or freeze them for lazy-nights. I bake snacks - muffins, pikelets, mini quiches and pies, and freeze it all for snacks so the only "snack food" we buy during groceries is chocolate (hehehe), sometimes some crackers or biscuits if they're on special (woot, In A BisKit on special at Coles this week!) and maybe some ice-cream too if its on special. We love enchilada and taco kits but I only buy when they're $5 each, and that special comes around once every 4-6 weeks.

Plus Jazz just eats what we eat, or I make her food fresh, not the 'baby food' stuff, and cloth nappies and wipes make it cheaper still.

[numa]

Just wondering if anyone out there buys primarily organic/eco friedly products? DH has been suggesting I tighten the purse strings a little, and I realised I had no idea what an average household grocery bill is. We spend about $300 per week (for everything, food, toiletries, baby stuff etc). I split my shop between Woolies and an organic store for fruit and veges. There is DH, myself and our 10 month old son (who eats a lot!) plus 2 cats. I know it would save me a packet to use cloth nappies, but with all good intentions I haven't yet managed to get around to it. I use the semi-biodegradable ones. Also against all plans, DS was weaned onto formula (also organic) recently as we needed to get started IVF for baby #2 because of my age and fertility history.

Having read some posts I'm amazed at how little many of you spend each week! Anyone out there also buy organic, and if so what do you spend per week?

[beckoes]

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.

[Astrid]

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.

[Unimum]

I shop fortnightly and manage to come in under $220 - including 2 packs of nappy pants, so really $180.

I list about 10 meals for the fortnight and buy food for those. If I don't plan my meals, and write a list I will go over.

I used to go to the markets to get my meat and veg - but I found without a trolley and with my 20 mth old it was always too difficult by myself. Carrying all that food back to the car and navigating crowds was more trouble than the $10 I would save. Now I get all my fruit and veg at Woolies, sometimes its good quality sometimes not. I find my tupperware containers help with keeping the veg fresh for the fortnight.

That said I would visit the store in that fortnight for milk and bread, and maybe if we are having people over or going somewhere, that could be another $50.

I pretty much only buy fruit, veg, pasta,meat and diary, and I don't go down those central aisles!!!! It can make for a boring pantry, but i figure if we really want some potato chips or choccies then we can walk down and get some!!! This keeps us nice and healthy - I don't know how DH feels about this, but he knows better than to complain!!

I've always though the food budget is really the only flexible thing in a family budget so I try my best to keep it to a minimum, the expensive things are usually crappy food anyway!

xx

[TTCALoveChild]

Wow i should start to budget alittle more on groceries ...lol
We spend a $1,000 a month Just on groceries..We go to either walmart,giant eagle,aldi's, Save a lot or sparkle market...
Between me and DF and my 2 nieces and nephew [that i raise] and my lil brother in the Efficiency apt below us...

Sometimes we run out of food by end of the month.. so what i been doing is buying bulk of things i know they will eat and that has been helping out alot...

[melhoneybee]

We spend around $300 a fortnight on groceries-we shop fortnightly at the supermarket and spend around $180, then spend around $70 at the greengrocer in 2 trips (one a week) and $50 at the butcher. That is to feed the two of us and 2 dogs, but we don't buy takeaway and take our lunches with us.

[Jessy555]

Okay I just did my first online coles order and it came to $199.35 and that included a $45 box of fruit that I am going to split with my mum and SIL so it worked out cheaper then normally going in....YAY!! Going to go to a super butcher here in Yatala with mum on monday and buy some bulk meat with her and start saving there as well. I am getting all excited...Lol!!

I really want to go to that super butcher, do you recommend it or not? I have to drive from the centre of Brisbane so am not sure if it would be worth it?

[mzcatieboo]

i wish we had Coles online up here i really do i HATE food shopping.. we used to be spending $400 a f/n but im sick of it being such a waste.

We have changed to Weekly shopping but 1 week i buy all the meat and everything to go with meals besides Veg . i started that Today we spend $210 i got a f/n meat. everything that we need as in snacks for 2 weeks for DS. all i need to get is Fruit,Veg,Milk,Bread,Yoghurt & Possibly Toiletries next week and we are set..im hoping that comes too $90 that way we are $100 down from what we would usually spend a f/n

[Mildez]

We spend $400 a week and there are only 4 of us. My 3yr old eats more then my 10yr old. We eat very well. I love to cook. Meat is our killer I guess and snack foods. But we aren't packet food eaters. Like I made a satay chicken noodle dish the other day and the ingredience was over $40 for one meal. Would have been easier (but not as tasty) to buy a ready made satay for $2-$3. Its common for us to buy a big Roast for $30 just for the roast no sides and sauces etc. We don't eat desserts well rarely and we never seem to have enough food. I cook everynight or DH no 2minute noodles, pies, baked beans the easy cheaper stuff. Always a cooked meal. Meat is definately the killer in the price. DH doesn't want us to skimp on food or quality. Meat always comes from the butcher (dearer) not the supermarket.

[lauren22]

$280 for me and DF but i dont usually go to grocery stores i got to markets fish mongers butchers etc

[mummato1]

Ours is usually around the 130 mark a week. One out of the four weeks we do a bit of a stocktake (for use of a better word) and write down what we have in freezer / fridge and plan our weekly meals around what we have left and then only try and buy what we need to get through that week. For example this week, based on what we already we had enough for 6 meals with only spending about $40 on groceries for the week.

[Kazmar]

Spent $500 last week. That should do us for a few wks. Mind you I had to go back today and things like Milk, soda water, fish
Also I think mines so expensive because its the food I buy. Fish, marinated olives etc so unfortunatly theres not HEAPS in the trolley.

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

I am so lame with thrifty shopping, I need to meal plan. I'm in Perth and there's no Aldi or anything, and the green grocers in my area are NOT fresh at all so pretty much all of my shopping is done at coles. I waste a lot of food too, I forget about things and they go off.

[JoyMama]

hiya
great comments from everyone. I am trying to get by on $200 a week with 4 (2 adults and 2 small yet hungry boys)of us in the house.I am never able to do it!

Each week we do an aldi shop which includes 3 x breads a week, 12 x 1L soy milks (!) some cereals, sauces, a little snacks, some meat, nappies, wipes & sometimes DH's scotch and coke
Thats normally $100-$120
Then the rest - another $100-$150 is at the normal super plus the rest of the week's meat, fruit veg, toiletries and cleaning...

It always seems too much. I no longer buy much in bulk, in advance or stock up just in case as we dont have the extra dollars in the week.

What I think the secret is for us is planning more carefully for the week, including lunches, baking more treats at home and clearing out the pantry more reularly.

I would love to be getting by on $180 a week. see how i go...
will look at simple savings too, heard it is excellent
thanks again
rach
xo