grocery budget

[ado121]

what is your monthly grocery budget? dh and i are trying to make a budget and we are curious what others do. we have 4 children under 8. we only eat chicken and fish. and our eating out budget is seperate from our grocery budget. our booze budget is also seperate. so down to the bare bones...what is your budget?

[Natalka]

Whew, it took a while to find it, but I dug this up for you - just because there is such a huge variety of differences between families, maybe you could get some idea here. Also depends where you live, etc.

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/185411-...bill-canada-3/

[Jody22002]

We have a lot of people and animals to feed. My h, myself, three teenagers, 6 day care kids, 2 large dogs, and 6 cats. Our grocery budget for the month, on average, is about 300.00 a month. I have an advantage that other SC'ers don't have though....every Weds here at CO-OP is Double Coupon Day. I buy what I can get for next to nothing. Like tomorrow, for example, my list before coupons, is 203.00. After my coupons doubled, it will be 31.43. I do that pretty much every week. In the summer, we shop mostly at the Farmer's Markets and once a year, one of our local Hutterite Colonies holds a sale. It's huge and we stock up on everything we can freeze!

[Ameba]

We have a lot of people and animals to feed. My h, myself, three teenagers, 6 day care kids, 2 large dogs, and 6 cats. Our grocery budget for the month, on average, is about 300.00 a month. I have an advantage that other SC'ers don't have though....every Weds here at CO-OP is Double Coupon Day. I buy what I can get for next to nothing. Like tomorrow, for example, my list before coupons, is 203.00. After my coupons doubled, it will be 31.43. I do that pretty much every week. In the summer, we shop mostly at the Farmer's Markets and once a year, one of our local Hutterite Colonies holds a sale. It's huge and we stock up on everything we can freeze!

Are u in Ontario or BC?
Thanks

[momof5boys]

7 people here...all teenagers or adults...our grocery costs (food only ) come to about $500 per month on average and that is with me baking all our own bread and having our own veggie garden in the summer.

[katnan]

Currently spending about $900/month. Myself, 3 teens and an 8 yr old. Have only just started couponing so hopefully that will drop as I get a better understanding of how this all works!! Have a diabetic teen so we don't eat much processed/packaged food and the bulk of my money goes to the expensive fresh produce/veggies.

[jayne_a]

There is 3 in my family and after i have paid bills, and put away anything i will need, i usually have about 400$ left over, and from that i pay for groceries, gas, clothes, entertainment, and laundry. So i can't tell you exactly what i spend, but that's where my money goes.

[NicksBride]

My husband and I live in rural SK and we average $135 per week. We very rarely eat out unless we are travelling. For us, the most expensive things are meat, which I buy a lot of when I got to Costco in Regina, and fruits and vegetables. My husband has allergies so I get to make everything from scratch. I wish there were more coupons available for whole foods, rather than just processed. But I am happy with the money we do save with the coupons we get.

Ashley

[brunt]

There are a lot of ways that one can save money on groceries with little effort. Many times, you can find yourself being "nickeled and dimed" to death by what seems like small costs, but add up quickly.

Take for instance packages of Shake 'n Bake. What are they now, $4 for two measly packages? My wife buys Pastene Italian seasoning bread crumbs for $2 or so for a great big container (easily equal to many dozens of Shake 'n Bake envelopes), adds some pepper and garlic powder and presto, we have wonderful port chops. The package of bread crumbs lasts us for a couple of years, and we by far prefer having a bit of control over the spices.

Read The Tightwad Gazette, it is absolutely stuffed to the brim with ideas on how you can save money on more than just groceries.

[cassie246]

3 kids myself and hubby 800.00 including 5 packed lunches

[hollyhill]

Currently spending about $900/month. Myself, 3 teens and an 8 yr old. Have only just started couponing so hopefully that will drop as I get a better understanding of how this all works!! Have a diabetic teen so we don't eat much processed/packaged food and the bulk of my money goes to the expensive fresh produce/veggies.

That is where I was last fall... using SC coupon strategies I have whittled it to under $500 a month.

We live outside Vancouver BC, and I have 3 teens (1 son and 2 daughters and two are athletes one also has type 1 diabetes), have a puppy, cat, turtle and fish. And included in our monthly budget is pet food, paper products, cleaners, personal products etc!

What is even more impressive is how well stocked our cupboards are! They used to be bare on $900 a month.

[Tantum]

My family of 11, soon to be 12.. hubby, myself & 9 kids was coming in at about $2000 a month... since couponing, meal planning and only eating around whats on sale, we've managed to bring that down to about $700 a month. Ditto on the comment about well stocked cupboards, now.

The couponing and the meal planning around the sales has really made us that much more aware of where the money goes rather than just grabbing what we desire off the shelves.

[poppleton]

My family of 11, soon to be 12.. hubby, myself & 9 kids was coming in at about $2000 a month... since couponing, meal planning and only eating around whats on sale, we've managed to bring that down to about $700 a month. Ditto on the comment about well stocked cupboards, now.

The couponing and the meal planning around the sales has really made us that much more aware of where the money goes rather than just grabbing what we desire off the shelves.

Wow! Major kudos to you...not only for parenting nine kids (!), but that's a fantastic decrease in monthly expenses!!

[NeonTulie]

I'm a single mom of 4 kids (2 teens & 2 tweens) and work 3 part time jobs for the "perks" of each job... I myself do alot of baking of muffins and donuts and other such treats from scratch however with all things considered our grocery bill is about $200 a month and closer to $300 during April and July (thats their birthdays) and then Holidays with the cost of Turkeys and non regular things... please note I am only speaking of the Etitable items being included as groceries... not cleanning supplies or personal items like DEO or shampoo.... Just Food.

When I do my shops I shop for whatever is on sale and able to use a coupon with or has been drastically reduced... I picked up 2 boxes of Platex 20 tampons for $1 each from the reduced to clear rack... poor things put there because they were the ONLY 2 boxes left in the whole store!...

I found that H&W has the best quality of Fruits and Veggies for the least cost most of the time... the Mcgavins Bread basket for wraps and Bread (which just went up from 10 or $10 to 10 for $12) And then I hit the sales on a weekly basis for the 2 for 1's (only buying what I KNOW has not increased in cost within 3 weeks prior)... once you add in your coupons for the items things drop in cost alot... and then any food item that is around $1 -$2. Like today I'm off to walmart to grab as many Michelina's as my freezer will hold for $1 each. that covers my lunchs for the month!! $30 for 30 meals can only be beat with adding in a few coupons!! (cant find any though) I spend more then that in Balogna! I be eating like a Queen this month! lol I also picked up a bunch of Knorr Soups for $1 each without coupons so check around in the stores like Giant Tiger and Army & Navy... they usually advertise some great deals to bring in customers with their food items.

I live really close to a group of grocery stores so gas isnt an issue at all for me as none is further then 1 KM from the other and I hit them all every few days when I do my errands.

[momlifelove]

We are a family of 5, twins 11 and 5yr old all boys, our grocery budget including cleaning supplies and personal care items, tp, etc. is $400/mo

Up until 2 months ago I had to go to the food bank as well and our cupboards were always empty, thanks to couponing they are now full and I stopped going to the foodbank

I find that our local grocery store sells chicken for cheap, I go to farmers market down the street for fruit and veg and go to the local bakery and buy the day old bread and freeze it for .50-1.00ea, everything else is usually bought on coupon or good sales, I do a lot of flyer matching