Just wondering how much money you spend per week or fortnight on food? Im trying to figure out what i should be spending.
If anyone has the time to post what is included in their weekly/fortnightly shop that would be helpful too. We are so sick of going to the shops to get something for dinner almost every night.
We spend on average $120-$150 a week, that's just DP & I. Like Nai, I also do a meal plan each week, make a list and stick to it! I buy things such as toilet paper and washing powder when they are on special, even if I don't need it that week. Makes the grocery bill higher that week but cheaper over the year.
The main things included in my weekly shop are fresh fruit and veg, meat, milk and tinned things like baked beans, diced tomatoes, dried pasta, rice, etc. Although I tend to stock up on those things when on special so they are always in the pantry.
We prob spend on average $250 a week. Thats with 3 kids. And all my kids are big eaters!!! Could prob cut it down if I tried and actually meal planned, but I alwys am in a rush and have 3 kids throwing stuff in the trolley!!. I HATE grocery shopping!!!
Buying your dinner on the day is a very expensive habit. It is best to go with a meal plan and buy only what you need. I flip through recipe books and try to find 8 recipes for the week and try to find ones that use similar ingredients so for instance if I wasn't in the mood for spag bol (I use basic sauce and paste and add my veggies to make it my own) I could make a pizza instead with the veggies and meat I would have used in the spag just by whipping up a crust with flour, yeast, water etc (stuff I already have heaps of).
We spend $100-$150 a week and hope to have that a bit lower when my veggie garden starts producing and I have my preserving kit.
I buy all my flour, sugar, spices and other staples when they are on sale and make sure I have heaps. I do lots of baking and home cooked because I hate preservitives.
My usual shopping trip would just be fresh veg and fruit, milk, sandwich meat, yogurt, cheese etc. I make my own pasta now so I don't buy that anymore but that would have been on the list. Maybe a taco kit if DP is in the mood for cooking one night, ooo bread, we go through lots of bread. I buy butter when it is on sale too and freeze it until it is needed. I can't really think of too much more off the top of my head. Juz has hotdogs for lunch everyday so that makes lunch easy. Yep, just drawn a blank, hope it helps anyway...
We spend (well when I say we spend... lol) up to $150. Thats my limit. Hopefully cheaper soon when I start my vegie patch.But we buy fruit and veg from the fruit shop and meat from the butchers and we do most of the shop at Aldi and what we can't get there (ie: aldi doesn't sell it) we get from Coles. I also go to the markets on a sunday and spend about $40 there, but that isn't included in my $150. Must change that!
Definately write out a list (I go thru recipe books and write down what I don't have - and on another peice of paper write what recipes I've chosen coz I get my groceries home and can't rememer what the hell I bought that for!!) and stick to your shopping list. If it's not on there, don't buy it! I but my toilet paper in bulk (from aldi there's 10 or 12 pack for $4 or something crazy) and my washing powder in 10kg box from whoever has it cheapest on special (ie : Kmart/Big W) Should do that again with my cat food... Much cheaper!
As a family of 5, we spend around $120 a week on fruit & Veg, and about $90-110 a week on meat and around $150 on regular grocery items which includes bread, milk, cheese, yogurt etc. Some weeks it is more, some weeks it is less, but this is the average amount we spend.
We spend around $120-$150 each week. I often do two shopping trips a week - I'm still mastering the art of getting all the shopping done before Claire rips apart the supermarket. She's usually ok, but sometimes not.
I probably spend about $20 - $30 on meats and about $30 on fruit and veg. The rest on other stuff like bread, pasta, milk, yoghurts and non food stuff like loo paper, nappies, shampoo etc. I just cant believe how little you get for your money though
We do our shopping at coles , I dont really like Coles - I'd go to Aldi, but there is no Aldi nearby and the Woolies is just a half sized woolies that has buggar all in it so Coles it is.
I find it helps to write out a list too. Do a meal plan for the week and just get the stuff you need for those meals. And dont go shopping when you're hungry. you'll end up buying more stuff you dont need. We also buy stuff in bulk - Its handy. We buy the huge packs of loo paper, paper towels, baby wipes, washing detergent etc and it works out cheaper than the smaller packs.
It's just 2 of us - Hubby and me at the moment... (although feels like I'm eating for 5 !!!) and we'd spend between $160 - $180.
We go out every Friday and Saturday night to eat though, which if I added in spending at least $60 each of those night, would make it almost double!
I can't work out how much we spend right now, DH is o/seas so I"m buying less food but spending more getting convenience things I would not normally dream of buying. Just wanted to suggest that if you bulk out your meals a bit with extra veg, rice, pasta, etc, then every 3rd or 4th night you can have a leftovers night - it saves money when you do this a couple of times a fortnight. Plus you don't have to think about what to cook!
Also, scratch teas are good - you know the evenings when you can't really be stuffed so you make an omelette, or open a can of soup, or make cheese toasties. Much cheaper than running out to the shops to get something. For this reason I always make sure i have things like eggs, baked beans, soup, noodles and jar pasta sauce in the cupboard - not as a planned meal but for those nights when it's too hard to think what to have!
Usually between $120-$150 per week. I often do a meal plan or if to lazy will check the freezer for meat and write meat or dinners for however many nights on the list and then I'd buy what was a good pricelooked nice etc. I also buy meat on sale and freeze it for future. That money includes fruit and vege, cold meat, meat, milk, bread, butter, yogurt, toiletries, whatever else we buy
we spend around $150-$180 per week
this includes nappies and mostly organic foods.
we buy f&v from an organic wholesaler, meat from the butcher (we don't eat red meat though) and shop at woolies once a week for the basics; bread, milk, yoghurt, cheese, pasta etc
we are trying to eat less commercial and more natural foods and have noticed a decrease in $ since doing this and also less rubbish, our wheelie bin is not even half full now!
We do the weekly menu thing so I know exactly what I need to buy. As anal as I am, I even only buy the exact number of potatoes/carrots I need. E.g. if we are having 4 meals that require potatoes and carrots, I know I only cook two potatoes for the two of us and 1 carrot, so I only buy eight potatoes and four carrots that week. DH hates this but I have it down to a fine art these days. Those big 4kg bags of potatoes seem to always have soft potatoes in the bottom of them by the time I come to use them - ick!!
We usually spend about $120 - $160 a week but every fourth week which is when we stock up on nappies and formula, we spend about $200-$220.
I have a pre-printed list which I add to during the week which includes:
A dozen eggs
6L of low-fat milk or us
2L full-cream milk for DS
6 hot dog rolls for weekend lunches
6 hamburger rolls for weekend lunches/dinners
1 loaf of bread for DH's lunch
$3 worth of cold meat for DH's lunch
Fruit and Veg
2 x 6-pack of Up and Go breakfast drinks
Baby food/yoghurt
Notice that there is no meat on our list. That is because we get our meat from a butcher friend wholesale. We buy about 50kg every 6 months from him for about $280 and freeze everything (pork cutlets, premium mince, chicken thigh fillets, rump and corned meat). So, we aldo spend an extra $12 a week in meat which isnt included in the above figure.
Our fridge is literally empty by the time shopping day comes around again because I dont buy anything we dont need (unless DH comes with us and some tim-tams or a small block of chocky ends up in the trolley).
Last edited by Deltadawn; November 5th, 2008 at 04:09 PM.
I spent $306 today, about the norm- that should last us the fortnight. Although i still find i have to go to shops in between that fortnight to get milk, bread or top up on fruit and veges. I dunno what they're doing these days, but F&V only last 2-3 days in my home before they start going off !!!
My tip - Do a list, its saves you soooo much hassle. Its kinda nice too looking at the list in the morning and seeing 'wed night - pasta cabonara'....it takes the pressure off.
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How much do you spend?
I but my toilet paper in bulk (from aldi there's 10 or 12 pack for $4 or something crazy) and my washing powder in 10kg box from whoever has it cheapest on special (ie : Kmart/Big W) Should do that again with my cat food... Much cheaper!
Just wanted to suggest that if you bulk out your meals a bit with extra veg, rice, pasta, etc, then every 3rd or 4th night you can have a leftovers night - it saves money when you do this a couple of times a fortnight. Plus you don't have to think about what to cook!
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