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I'm sure I've seen another thread on this but I can't find it.
I'm trying to tighten our belts a little without going too OTT about it. This week we spent $200 on groceries for me, DP, DSD and DD and that included all our work/school lunches too. So no money was spent on food apart from that $200.
It still seems a bit much to me so just want to see what other people spend (remembering to factor in your lunches too).
that sounds pretty good to me, especially if its all your lunches and dinners and snacks in between!
sorry i dont have any advice though im sure others will have some more tips for you.
We spend between $90 and $100 at coles then around $15-$20 at the markets for fruit and veg, but then we have pizza tues nights which is $11.
So around $130 pw thats for me and DP(DD still BF)
$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.. :hug:
I would spend between $150 and $220 per week. The more expensive weeks are usually when we are entertaining or maybe I just end up needing all the toiletries and stuff in one week. Often during the cheaper weeks it's because I have meat in the freezer or left overs from the previous week. It does also depend on what meals we plan.
no idea. we dont shop weekly or fortnightly, I cant remember the last time we did a proper shopping but it would have been around 200 I guess. We buy meat in on go from a butcher, vegies and fruit as we need them and other stuff in between. Hmm, not the most organised.
Its particularly hard as I prefer to do the shopping, becuase DH will buy things we dont need like chips, popcorn, softdrink etc, but Im not getting a chance to ATM with a newborn in the house.
We usually make sure we have $200 for shopping. Thats all shopping for 5 of us. Meat, fruit & veg & often a pack of smokes for DH, but usually there's not enough.
A big shop for us is around $300. Every time we have spare money we try to do a big shop. When we can afford it.
We only buy the kids chips maybe once every month or 2. I use cloth nappies, & we are very basic with our food. But we still get some great meals on that price. Chicken's a rarity :( It can be exxy. Roasts are also a once a month thing. Its usually mince, sausages, then chops or something I can marinade for something different. We only buy $2 bread too. We go through a loaf a day, so there's no way we could afford more than that!
Kids have sao's & salada's for school. Cheap le snacks are our junk food.
we shopped today and spent $150 at aldi we shop there fortnightly i buy meat from a bulk butcher and just a normal one every 8ish weeks last time i spent around $80 ,fruuit and veg is around every 10 days and we spend around $50-$60
Probably spending around $200pw here, that is including toiletries, cleaning products, nappies and DH lunches. Thinking about it, we probably spend more. Would like to get it down. We do grow some of our own veg which really helps some weeks. Have really started to make a lot of things from scratch, so I think that is costing us a bit as I am stocking up on basics like spices and other baking ingredients.
We do have some wastage, I am not the best at meal planning and when I do it seems to get sabatoged (have to be somewhere else that arvo, so meal can't be put on etc). Can't seem to get my head around planning lunches, DH gets priority with leftovers for his lunch, so we just scrounge.
Just had to ask how much are you paying for chops and chicken? Down here free range chicken is almost cheaper than chops. The cheaper chops are often more expensive than rump steak.:
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.:
We average around $250 a week and that includes everything. So that will feed 5 of us and the dog.
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.
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 :lol:) - 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... :doh:
Overall our bill has gotten huge over the last couple of years, three years ago it was more like $200 a week :(
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 . . .
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.
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!
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!!
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.
If I was to average it out, we would spend approx $100-$120 per week which includes everything (nappies, loo paper, ect ect)
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 :redface:!
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 :redface:.
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 :).
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)
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 :dunno: 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.
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!
Ours can range anywhere from 150-210
$100 bucks for Dp and I. Thats based on us going shopping once a month, and we spend about $400 a month. So it works out to $100 a week.
we have a limit of $200... it is usually 140-180
any spare i buy a gift card with so we have a stash for a tight week..
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
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!!
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!
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.