Grocery Bill

I’m learning to shop for three these days. Today I spent 189.00 at SweetBay this afternoon. Not sure if I got enough for a whole week, we will see about that.

nooooo, not me.
my collar is blue...

Blueberry stains?

guilty as charged...

I do shop at Target for dog food, paper towels, kleenex, bathroom tissue, cleaning supplies and laundry detergent . I use coupons when I can. We do mostly eat three meals a day at home. Lunch is left overs. Most of the time I cook dinner or we have left overs. We do eat meat at lunch and dinner. I cook from scratch.

If you shop Sam's Club, you gotta watch 'em every minute. The price of canned goods usually isn't worth the walk from the parking lot. Produce is usually pretty fair, if you can use that kind of quantity before it spoils. Sam is at his best on condiments and over the counter medications. Not bad in the meat department. Over all, you want to be current on fair market prices before you go in the door.

Thought you'd like today's photo from Maxine's Facebook page:

Sounds like you're doing all you can then.

I was thinking about it. If we add our grocery and Wal-Mart bill together, and average it out over a month, I'm a lot closer than I mentioned previously.

I think $120 a week sounds very reasonable. In fact, that sounds like you are already doing pretty careful shopping.

Food prices are constantly increasing. My basic shopping list remains pretty consistent from week to week and the total spent always seems to be going up, despite my shopping the weekly specials and sometimes using coupons. I'm more concerned that we're getting good quality, decent variety, and eating what we enjoy.
I've stopped being overly concerned about the cost. Where I can, I try to save money, and, beyond that, I just buy what we need and want. Some things, like cookies, I will only buy when they are on sale, other things, like fresh produce, I tend to buy regardless of price. It seems to all balance out.

Sounds like a plan. Sale prices don't affect what I buy, but if we're talking about nonperishibles, they darn sure do affect how much I buy.

This is a very interesting question. I am feeling that retail prices are inceasing dramatically and continuously since economic crisis. We shop every two weeks and spend about &150 to 200 every time, which has been just 100 to 120 previously. So, money is going from our pocket to somewhere without noticing it.

As their logo illustrates, they sell everything from "a" to "z"



I buy paper plates that are made from sugar cane fiber, completely compostable. Made by Stalkmarket. They're heavy-duty, like a chinette plate. I buy a case at a time, free shipping. Also bowls that have lids, kind of life the containers at a soup bar. Small plates for snack too.
I find myself using the plates as a makeshift cutting board, they're so sturdy.

I find it well worth it, less dishes to do, less loads in the dishwasher, less mess.

Yeah jespah, I was on the subscribe and save plan for Celestial Seasonings Blueberry Tea for a while, since that's what Wally uses for his ice tea. We stopped now, since we did get a stockpile over time.
It was significantly cheaper than the grocery store.

JPB, whenever I see myself using anything regularly, I always check amazon to see if I can get it for less there.
If you google amazon coupon codes, you can sometimes find codes for a particular product you want to buy, that gives you an extra discount at checkout.

I heart amazon.

Well, there are just the two of us and we probably eat out twice a week, so five days... I make nearly everything from scratch, I don't eat much meat, he does... we both eat veggies, neither of us eats dessert, very little bread, eggs, bacon, potatoes, rice, sandwich meat, etc etc... I probably spend max $80 week on FOOD when he's here and about $30 when he's not. Staples (flour, tp, soap, light bulbs etc), probably another $20 max when he's here and maybe $10 when he's not. When I'm alone, I eat a ton of salad, some fresh fruits, and a bit of the other stuff. My main costs come when we have company because then I go all out with the appies and dessert, etc. Also, summer time I grow a lot of my veg so I have very little costs.

Doesn't sound like a lot of money, so maybe I'm wrong. But really, we don't eat much and I have stores and stores of food so I try to use those up.

Just agreeing with this... In the past month or so I have bought from Amazon: a loveseat (small one, available several places for about the same price but I chose Amazon because of free shipping, more convenient than buying locally even in terms of getting it to my doorstep), a bike rack, a music book, a padlock, a music stand, a bike mirror, a calculator, a sleeve for my new Blackberry, and Rincinol (pain reliever for braces). All with free shipping. Most of it was received within a couple of days, some of it the next day.

I enter everything into Quicken. I did an itemized expense on grocery bills for the month of February, we spent 856.81. I wonder if that is pretty good for three people? that doesn’t include if we have dinner out. Dinner out I categorize as an entertainment expense.

I use Peachtree for the same, but Grocery Expense defines groceries very broadly. I'm more interested in financial position than most expenses.

I also have an entertainment budget but when I looked I had to put a password in my computer so Marco doesn't see it.

I don't believe $17/day is unreasonable to feed two adults, but as many of the posters wrote, it depends on what you're buying and eating.

We're no longer "at home diners," so it's hard for us to guage what groceries cost today. My wife and I eat out alot, because it's difficult cooking for two.

I think you can consider eating out once-in-awhile that doesn't cost an arm-and-a-leg. My wife and I go to Lawrence Square not far from where we live, and where they have Korean and Japanese food about once-a-week. We share, because they provide plenty of food for $8 to $11; and no tips. That's a pretty reasonable price for eating out. You might be able to do the same. We even use coupons some times to eat out at restaurants where we get pretty good deals. We go to Black Angus steak house on their Wednesday special for the prime rib and mud pie deal for about $16. I even splurg on a glass of wine.

If you are careful, and look for coupon bargains at restaurants, you should be able to eat out and enjoy your meal. Some places offer two for one specials, and most times it's 50% off the second entree. Enjoy.

I should also add that I belong to Safeway's "just for U" club. I can get specials by internet on certain items at real good prices. I bought Safeway orange juice on my last trip for $1.88 for 64oz.

4 tricks ti cat your bill half

Tip-1: Track Price Tags
Tip-2: Buy When It’s Cheap, Not When You Need It
Tip-3: Use Coupons Responsibly
Tip-4: Always Have a Plan