Grocery Bill

Is it just the two of you? No kids?

It depends, of course, as to how you shop, and for what.

Do you cook from scratch, or buy a lot of prepared meals to warm up, etc?

Do you buy much produce, as this can be pricey?

Do you smoke?

My wife and I (we live in Canada) spend on average about $50-60 per week, but we don't buy steaks, and cuts like that, due to the cost.

My wife cooks from scratch, most times.

So, $120 per week sounds a bit high.

The other thing to ask is, do you buy all your household stuff in a grocery store, or do you shop in other places? Items like toilet paper and paper towels, cleaners, we buy from Wal-Mart, not our grocery store. So, if we combined our grocery and Wal-Mart bills, it would be much closer to yours.

Is it possible to feed 2 people for less? Yes. (Rice, potatoes, peanut butter are pretty cheap.)

If you eat 3 meals a day at home then it works out to less than $3 per person per meal.

Unless you are struggling to make ends meet, I don't see any reason to worry about what you are spending.

I found this which shows that people spend different amounts
http://www.momsview.com/discus/messages/41/26372.html
That's from 6 years ago so it isn't inflation adjusted.

very reasonable.
we often spend $300 a week at the supermarket...

What the heck are you buying?!!

Are you buying it all in one place, as I mentioned in my 1st post?

Caviar and Brie AGAIN?

Why don't we have meatloaf like normal folks?

lots n' lots of produce.
the cart is 3/4 full by the time we leave the produce aisle.
produce ain't as cheap as it used to be...

You can say that again!

RP, do you get all you household stuff (paper towels, toilet paper, cleaners) in your grocery store, or do shop at any discount stores as well?

Does that always include a bottle of $100+ French champagne RP?

we order most paper goods from amazon in bulk.
we occasionally go to Restaurant Depot, a discount store for restaurant supplies...

no, not always...

Have you considered getting a Costco or Sam's Warehouse membership? Buy in bulk really saves a lot of money (if you have the space).

Buying nonperishable goods would be a very wise move from these types of wholesale stores.

As a bachelor/individual, I average $25 to 30 a week. I could go cheaper, if I plan for meals for the week in advance.

Restaurant Depot is cheap but they are kinda hit or miss (I have a membership thru the 'bot boys). We have a can of olive oil that, once it's emptied, if we fixed up the stopper just right (not that I am planning on doing this, mind you), we could use it as an extra gas can.

Really? I had no idea Amazon did that kind of stuff.

I spend close to what you spend, depending on if either, or both, of the kids are around. I do one largish trip per week and then I do what I call "marketing" at other stores to pick up things that I only get at certain places.

They sure do - and most of it is free shipping. Mainly you just need a place to put everything. Also, if it's something you'll use regularly, you can get a lot of things (not everything) on Subscribe & Save. That gives you a 15% discount for agreeing to just have it shipped every few months and, if you tell 'em in advance that you don't want a shipment, they'll cancel it but you don't lose any past or future discounts. We get Torani sugar-free Vanilla syrup that way, among lots of other things.

cool, I'll check it out. I seldom think of them for anything except books and cds/dvds.

Yeah, but you are a high flying lawyer, aren't ya, Region?

RP is Brent Coon?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktlXqSlg_0I

As a single person I spend about $120. a month on both food products, including a bottle of wine a week, and household stuff. Let's say I've cut out a lot of favorite items. On the other hand I've gotten pretty efficient at cooking some treats en mass (made a lot of potstickers for freezing last week) and I've turned my diet more to good-for-you fish like tinned sardines and canned salmon than routine chicken/pork/beef. Make a lot of veggie soups. I bake my own bread, yada yada. Stopped with desserts a few years ago, have gradually lost weight. Well, not completely stopped. I sprung for an ice cream maker and learned to make gelato, a good move that has paid for itself already, is also fun, and tastes better than store ice cream and way better than store gelato.

That really doesn't sound like splurging to me. I think you can definitely do it for less -- I have in the past -- but it doesn't sound unreasonable, either.

I just spent $123 at Trader Joe's, it will last my family of three for varying amounts of time depending on what it is. Like JPB, I shop different places for different things. I don't go to Trader Joe's that often and tend to stock up when I do. But the meat (no-hormone grass-fed ground beef and free-range chicken) and various other items will be tonight and tomorrow's dinner + leftovers/ lunches, so that part will only last a couple of days.

I'm willing to pay a premium for organic/ hormone-free meat.

Three people in my family, I eat the least of any of 'em. (My husband eats vast amounts -- he's estimated about 4,000 calories a day -- my 10-year-old daughter is in between the two of us.)

I've found the amounts make a big difference. For example, back when it was just the two of us, I'd spend less than half the usual amount on food when my husband was traveling. (And he ate less then than now. He started working out regularly about three years ago, and his already-large appetite increased further. Believe it or not, he's got crazy-low bodyfat. His whole family is like that, eats and eats but super-thin.)