View Full Version : Couples: What Did You Spend on Groceries in 2011?
HumboldtGurl
2-16-12, 3:52pm
In January I looked back to see what DH and I spent on groceries in 2011 and was shocked. We spent a lot more than the previous year. I am mad at myself for not monitoring it more closely during the year.
Our groceries for 2011, not including eating out: $6,070 vs. $5087 in 2010
It's just the two of us, one meat eater (who seldom buys meat) and me, a vegetarian. I know that food prices have gone up and prices vary by region (we spend most of our time out West), but I see we went overboard.
I wonder if we spent more because we're now eating more vegan foods & dairy substitutes, which are pricey. After seeing our 2011 total, I'm going to pay waaay more attention to what we spend this year, and try making more of those dairy substitutes myself.
So for all of you two-person households out there, can I be nosy and ask what you spent? I'm super curious to see if DH and I are average spenders, extravagant fools, or what.
Enough to bring tears to my eyes... I'd say somewhere in the neighbourhood of $7,000- $8,000, and that's not eating out or buying needless things. I cook/bake from scratch, and utilize few things from a can, however, even as resourceful as I am, there's just no escaping the cost of food/groceries. It's such a killer, the expense.
In the US, we spent $12,150 in the year before we came here.
Last year, looking at my weekly amounts, the estimate is $18,900.
right now, we are spending slightly less than that ($25 less per week). I tried to spend even less, but was hungry. I would not eat on Sundays, for example. And I would only eat two meals a day and some days only one. This allowed DH and DS to eat their fill, but it was really only saving us about $50 per week.
I finally decided that starving myself was not healthy or appropriate. So, we currently trending to spend $17,550 this year in food.
Here is what we eat, daily:
B. 8 eggs in butter, frozen or fresh seasonal vegetables, frozen berries in raw yogurt (DH and DS, i just have two eggs).
Sn. nuts, piece of fruit, small piece dark chocolate (DH/DS -- I sometimes have a piece of fruit).
L. left overs from dinner (today is chicken, broccoli, tomato, and avocado salad) -- I will likely not be having lunch.
Sn. fruit, nuts, left overs (DH and DS, I have fruit).
D. fish, salad
----
We make things from scratch, we search the best prices, and we have a zero-food-waste household. I tend to eat 2-3 meals a day depending upon the day. We buy local and seasonal.
We do not have any processed "treats" or similar in the house. We get our dairy through the cow share -- which is raw and less expensive than conventional dairy. We get our eggs from a local farm. We get our meats local as well -- and we do not buy fancy cuts. The fish is what is fresh that day and the best price. Fruit and veg are always seasonal.
These are the 'processed' foods that we buy: cod liver oil, coconut oil, olive oil, vinegar, mayonnaise, mustard.
Food here isn't subsidized.
treehugger
2-16-12, 5:08pm
Not to be difficult, but I honestly think no one benefits from these types of comparisons. There are too many variables, especially in what the general prices are in different areas of the country. And then there's what people count in the grocery budget: eating out? personal care items? pet products? So, it's nearly impossible to compare apples to apples.
Personally, I think the best way to get a handle on grocery spending for your household, is not by comparing with others, but by working to reduce your own costs through methods that make sense for the way you live.
That said, DH and I averaged $110 a month for food in 2011. But even that number is misleading because, as I've said before, it's low due to severe budgetary restrictions. If I could, I would spend more, because good quality food is important for a healthy life, and I would love more variety. And I think in 2012, finally, after 4.5 of personal recession, we can loosen the food budget a bit.
Kara
I live in NZ. I'm counting actual food purchased at the grocers/etc only and no other items and not dining out.
But, I admit. I am shocked that people spend so little on food. SHOCKED. i really do not know how they do it or what they are eating.
I quite literally eat 1500 calories a day. 5 oz of that is meat, 1-2 eggs, and the rest is fruit, veggies, and sometimes nuts. Most of it -- probably 99% of it is local to NZ (coconut oil, cod liver oil. olive oil, bananas, mayonnaise and mustard are all imports). Dh and DS eat about 6 eggs a day, 20 oz of meat between them, and the rest fruits, veggies, and sometimes nuts. THey also have a modest amount of yogurt daily (a few table spoons on some fruit).
I sometimes feel really frustrated and/or ashamed because I have no idea how people can afford to eat 2000 cals per day, on average per person and only spend $5 a day or so. We spend $11 a day. And that is simple, simple, simple food -- looking for the best prices, buying seasonally, etc.
And literally, if I were to cut the budget in 1/3, it would mean we only eat one meal per day each, really. And that would be about 500 calories for me, and about 600 for DS, and about 800 for DH.
As it was, last year, I tried to cut my calories down to 1200 a day to free up another 300 from DS and still save money. It was not healthy *at all* and I was hungry all the time. And that isn't very nice.
Food prices were up considerably, due, I believe, to transportation costs.
For us it's peak oil, no farm subsidies, and export markets. we pay export prices, locally, because it's an open market.
We spent about the same as Mrs. M on groceries. It was about $8000. I feed seven people, but my dad isn't always here and two of my kids are little. Actually the littlest kid probably eats almost as much as I do right now (growth spurt!), but the two year old is the world's most efficient machine. He runs like a mad dog all day on half a banana and some cheese.
I go through fruits and vegetables like the monkey house at the zoo, about half of it organic. I bought 15-20 lbs of fruit alone last week and it was gone before I went to the store again this week. I bought a two pound bag of carrots and served them with lunch and they were gone. At least they are pigging out on healthy stuff.
Zoebird, I'm sure a lot of the difference is regional food prices. What you describe eating wouldn't cost nearly that much here in Minneapolis. I'm glad you decided to spend the money rather than skip eating. You deserve an adequate amount of food. I'd imagine as a yoga teacher, you use the calories you eat.
HumboltGirl, I'm just curious, but do you think the traveling affects your budget? I would think it would be harder to guess how much food will cost from week to week with food prices varying so much. I know my strategies of what I made changed a lot when we moved from Los Angeles to Minneapolis because different things were expensive and different things were cheap.
jennipurrr
2-16-12, 6:19pm
Food spending has been something we (2 people, me and DH) are working on to bring down this year. We spend wayyyy too much dining out.
Groceries - $4,301.44, which includes some but not many nonfood items like occasional paper towels/charcoal/qtips, etc...but I would say 90%+ food. Some of our meat and vegs are organic. We do not buy a lot of convenience foods and we do eat meat and dairy.
Dining Out - $5,789.15
This year we are shooting for a combined total of eating out and groceries at $6,000, which means mostly dining out less and also likely spending a bit more on groceries.
I think its valuable to see what other's spending, but it has to be taken with a grain of salt, especially considering location and also lifestyle (vegetarian/meat eating for example). It can definitely be inspirational to me, to see people who are eating well but spending less money to do it. It spurs me to figure out ways to do so also, hopefully anyway :|(
I was thinking, too, that ZoeBird's budget would be different if the family filled up on white flour foods or rice. Those kinds of calories are less expensive, and if you pile on the cheap oil with them, that's lots of calories for less money. Of course the healthcare costs will make the whole thing even out in the long run.
Eat, ZB, eat! You clearly are as frugal as you can be in that realm but don't short change yourself. You take care of that household and that business, and you need to be fed to do it. (Can you hear that you have activated my mama-genes?)
L.
We tried that. It was pretty horrible for us. We were bloated, puffy and lethargic. And, there's really not a lot of nutrition in it. To do what we do, we need nutrition!
We do buy "less expensive" vegetables like onions, potatoes, cabbage and squash. But, these 'starchier" foods still make us feel "lethargic" so we eat them one day a week. I make an onion soup with our bone broth (first, we roast the chicken, then we boil the bones into broth!) and persian seasonings, which we then serve with fried-up sweet potatoes (and we save the bacon fat to do that), and then our fermented veggies. It's a nice meal -- not vegetarian because of the bone broth -- but it's one meal a week where we "carb load" on starchy veggies and it's after DH has his workout day and I have my roller derby practice (since all put the potatoes can be made in advance and DH makes the potatoes when I'm on the way home).
Right now, for instance, it's summer and so we have fennel, avocado, apricots/nectarines/etc in season, and peppers. I make this mean salad out of these ingredients, and it costs me about about $7 to make the salad really huge. In the winter, though, that same a salad (which we wouldn't make) would easily cost $21 or so. LOL So, you know, I do my best.
And yeah, we make sure that we aren't starving.
Blackdog Lin
2-16-12, 10:11pm
This was interesting, so I went to my Quicken to run some charts.
Groceries for 2011: $4305.00.
Dining (out): $672.00
We're not organic, or healthy, or anything beyond CHEAP! in the way of grocery purchasing. I am happy with the grocery figure, unhappy with the dining out figure. I didn't think we spent that much last year on eating out. Must do better in 2012.....
I didn't keep the annual total as I averaged the months and it came to:
$442 a month for groceries (including pet food)
$112 a month for eating out
Our totals for a family of four, living mostly in Beijing but with a couple of trips to the US (including 10 days in Hawaii = $$$$$):
Food In (this is food we eat at home): $5650
Food Out (restaurant meals and treats/snacks on the road, etc. -- also includes a few large family meals we paid for): $2320
School Meals (school lunch for two kids, this actually includes payment through the end of the current academic year so a bit artificially high): $2180
Total: $10,150
That is actually around 50% more than our 2010 totals, which came in around $6600. I attribute the change to a few things:
1. Local inflation -- this is significant in China. Food costs are probably up at least 20-30% in general, more for some things. Dining out has gotten considerably more expensive.
2. Dietary changes -- we are eating more organic and higher quality foods in general. Worth the tradeoff, in my mind.
3. Eating out -- we are probably eating out more, and the cost is higher.
Food is one of my biggest pleasures -- I enjoy both cooking and eating -- so I am willing to put my money here, especially when it also has other benefits like better health.
lhamo
Two saving graces for us, canning, and keeping a little vegetable garden out back. Small consolation in the overall big scheme of things, but for several weeks each year (over the course of summer), I buy very little in the way of vegetables, and come winter, we're able to feed off canned fruit, veggies, and other prepared things.
I also make a lot of soup and cabbage-based dishes, and those tend to go a long way, and, we still have little ones at the dinner table, so that in itself affords us a little added cushion. The guesstimate is gave IMO, is close, really close, yet I wouldn't at all feel uncomfortable adding an additional $1000 premium to the high-point figure I gave, to bring it closer in line with a true and accurate guesstimate, rather than a conservative one.
Nonetheless, I agree with Stella, in relation to regional costs. There's not a doubt in my mind, NZ is a more expensive place to live (overall). Additionally, we consume a TON of pasta and tomato-based dishes.
To add, one area where I know I save (a lot), is in the pre-packaged "eats and treats" department. I don't buy any of it. That in itself is an enormous money-saver.
HumboldtGurl
2-17-12, 2:23am
Treehugger you're not being difficult, I should've thought more about posting this one before I did. I was just astounded at what we spent and looking for some sort of validation for it. That's my own budgeting insecurities coming out I guess. But thanks everyone for sharing, because now I am super inspired to save more.
I do think that our nomadic lifestyle can play into more expensive food bills. For one, we don't grow any of our own food, and also, when we are living in some remote location , rent might be free or super cheap but our food bills can be outrageous because of transportation costs. We also can't stock up when sales happen, there's just no room for that in our 24' trailer.
ZB, you gotta eat. Cutting out calories like that is ultra frugal and admirable but I think I'd be a raging beeyatch if I practiced that method. Like an Italian grandma would say, "Eat! Eat!"
Blackdog, our costs are closest to yours I think but still far off. I'm impressed, you should be happy with that grocery nmber. Do you do coupon or something to get the costs down?
flowerseverywhere
2-17-12, 6:54am
for two of us it was $2400 groceries $296 eating out.
I have a 20x40 organic garden plus fruit trees and a big squash and pumpkin patch and we are still eating frozen strawberries, blueberries, applesauce and tomato sauce and I just used up the last of my stored squashes and carrots. I also have several dozen large containers of frozen veggie soups and chilis that I make at the height of the season. Every day we have at least something that was from the garden and in July start eating garden food and move to probably 75% homegrown in July, August and September.
I am getting ready to buy half a roaming around the grassy field down the street cow to split with someone and I buy little meat beyond that for the year. It is a little unusual diet in compared to others as we eat many vegetarian dishes and many high quality meat meals. I also share a lot of my garden produce and that leads to a lot of people bringing me food gifts in return, and we actually received about $250 in dining out certificates as thank yous (as people know we never spend money eating out) that we used this year which is not reflected in my total because I consider that barter.
It also helps that I am near the dairy farms and although I buy cheese, I make breads, yogurt and any baked goods we might have. People Love to be invited to my house to eat because the food is so delicious! The only thing that is hard is not eating too much.
rosarugosa
2-17-12, 7:20am
I think it's an interesting thread, as long as you take it for what it's worth and don't try to reach conclusions like "I should spend x on groceries because that's all she spends." I also don't think people should feel guilty about what they spend as long as they have the money. It could be helpful to see that you spend way more on eating out than a lot of people if you aren't hitting your savings goals, for example. It could help motivate you to reassess that area of your spending.
Zoe bird: I think you should feel reassured that you are doing an excellent job with groceries. High NZ prices and a real commitment to healthy eating means you're not going to get off cheaply, but I'm assuming that your spending here is in alignment with your values. For comparison, my local grocery store is offering chicken for $.89/lb this week and eggs for $2. per dozen. You could probably be a first-rate grocery frugalista in the US!
I've never done a thorough tracking, but we probably spend $6000 per year for 2 people and two cats, and this would include paper goods, cleaning products and misc household items. We probably spend under $1200. on eating out, and we would categorize this as entertainment more than groceries. We do try to economize and stick to a budget, but our groceries also include plenty of splurges like lobsters and fresh raspberries on occasion.
Flowers: I want to eat at your house! That is wonderful that you are able to produce so much of your own delicious food!
Zoebird,
Add me to the chorus of "eat, eat!" -- I'm glad your business is doing so well that cutting calories to save money is hopefully not a choice you have to make anymore. I think NZ food is probably a lot like Hawaii -- lots of stuff flown in from other places, so overall very expensive. One reason our food bill is as high as it is is due to the imported stuff we buy. I simply can't live without cheese, and it is around $10/lb here so it adds up. Even the locally made western-style foods can get quite expensive. But I am not interested in going 100% Chinese style diet, so we pay the higher prices. \
lhamo
Interesting thread. I have noticed a 30-50% increase in supermarket prices over the past year or so.
For a family of 3, we spent about $5k on groceries in 2011. We were on an allergy elimination diet for about half of the year and that changed our overall eating after we completed the diet, to more produce, some grass-fed meats, and almost zero bread. Dining out totaled about $1380. We have a large garden and produce a lot of berries and vegetables from June-September.
Compared to 2009 and 2010: We reduced dining out costs. Grocery expenditures increased about 20% between 2009-2010. I think this is primarily due to the noted increase in food prices.
This has been an inspiring thread. I am terrible at tracking, particularly groceries. I think we have spent an average of 575 a month for two and a half people (the half is my teen aged DSD who is here half the time). We are not good at economizing in the grocery area, except that we don't buy much in the way of processed foods. We don't eat out much, either but I don't have the figures to support that. I am going to try to keep better track this year so that I will have some numbers to look at.
The other way in which this thread is important to me is around the awareness of how food subsidies make the grocery bill cheaper. Living here in the maritimes I am aware that our prices are dramatically higher than in the US, for dairy, for poultry, and for most processed things. But hearing about costs in NZ made me think hard about what our REAL food costs might be. I buy imported citrus (obviously; we don't grow any citrus here in Canada) that comes from pretty far away and it is affordable. Clementines from Morocco for six or eight bucks a box....how is that even possible? Most of our produce prices cannot really reflect the costs of growing and transporting them. We eat locally during the growing season and I want to do more canning and freezing (it wouldn't be hard to do MORE canning since I haven't done ANY for about ten years). But in the meantime, I know that my costs probably SHOULD be a lot higher than they are. Anyway, thanks for the thread and all the things to consider.
lhamo, the local cheese that my DH eats all the time costs $14 CAD a pound....and we buy it. Aaarrrggghhh! I have been here full time for about two years but I am still not really used to the prices...There is no consumer-side subsidy on dairy but prices are set. That's why butter is over five bucks a pound and when it goes on sale I DO stock up. So some things are cheaper than expectable but some, especially local, are not. I guess this is where I am feeling the effect of REAL prices and it hurts some.
Flowers: I want to eat at your house! That is wonderful that you are able to produce so much of your own delicious food!
Me too. Where does one live to be able to grow so much food? Can't do it here due to the extreme heat for much of the year.
This is an area where I have got to start making some improvements.
Filling up two teenage boys is neverending. I could easily spend $300 a week on food even though my goal is $100 it seems I'm closer to $250 most every week.
The cost of food is just out of control and prices here are a little higher because of the tourism.
Originally posted by HumboldtGurl.
I should've thought more about posting this one before I did.Overthinking is detrimental, who needs that! :) This topic provides an excellent scope and variance related to grocery costs (plain and simple), family to family, geographical location to geographical location.
flowerseverywhere
2-17-12, 1:10pm
Flowers: I want to eat at your house! That is wonderful that you are able to produce so much of your own delicious food!Me too. Where does one live to be able to grow so much food? Can't do it here due to the extreme heat for much of the year.
I didn't start out like this. I have been gardening in this climate for 30 years, saving seeds and learning every year how to get a better harvest. I use raised beds, containers, row gardening, trellisses- you name it I do it. I mix veggies in with the flowers even.
In much of New England there is lots of rain, good sun in the summer but you have to make sure that you make sure you are ready to get stuff in the ground at first opportunity. I think the same is the case for much of Middle of the Country as well. I live in Upstate NY near the Canadian border. The great lakes warm the area and help get lots of rain to fall. The summers are beautiful here, especially if you can get on the water (canoe or small boat will do it.) If I ride my bike more than a few miles all I can see are cows, pigs, chickens and farmland. There are pick your own farms for raspberries, strawberries, grapes and blueberries, tomatoes, peppers and other veggies very close to my house as well. I have a community garden space that is fenced, plus many berry bushes and a big squash and pumpkin patch in my yard as well as some kitchen garden type stuff like lettuce, spinach and tomatoes. I would have more in my yard but I like the community garden atmosphere. I rarely gets over 90 here. Did you ever read Coleman's "four season harvest?" If not it would be a good read, he uses simple structures and techniques to harvest earlier in the spring and later in the fall and he is in Maine, which is colder and more extreme than here.
Then again, you have to like to shovel snow in the winter.
Interesting thread to read. I had not considered the cost of NZ or any island groceries.
I try to spend about $300 a month on groceries for two, one dog and household cleaning which means laundry/dish detergent, vinegar and baking soda.
As others have stated, I also freeze and can food grown in our garden or bought locally which we eat in the winter. Obviously our food costs are much lower than other posters have indicated. Very simple but nutritious and varied diet but we are trying to reduce out starch intake. I make our bread and buy 50% discounted special breads such as pitas and English muffins which promptly go into the freezer. We rarely eat out and then at places that seldom exceed $10/pp including the taxes and tip.
I don't make a point of buying organic food or meat since only I buy local where I can and have a good idea what chemicals are used. I don't buy gorcery store meats that come from a factory farm.
The reason that NZ is so expensive is not because of imports. It's because of exports. The law around exporting is designed to encourage it, giving farmers more income from exports. So, the law had to be adjusted to say that the NZ price would match the export price so that food would stay in the country.
What you pay for a NZ apple in the US is what I pay for a NZ apple in NZ, but in NZ dollars, which is currently $1.27NZD to $1 USD. If you spend $1USD on a NZ apple, I'm spending $1.27 NZD on that same apple.
For us, food quality, location, etc has been very important to us since about 2002. That's when we were able to switch to organics. Before then, I would go to the fruit/veg wholesaler in town and get the amount of produce that we get for $20. When we moved to organics/local, that went from $20 to about $120. When we went from regular meat/dairy at costco and the like, which would give us a week's worth of food for an additional $30 or so (so $50 a week for two), to our organic/pasture/local, it took us up to $80.
This food quality is really important to us, and we do notice a difference in the quality of the product!
But here, we mostly focus on local -- as local as we can, but mostly from NZ. And from there, Australia if we can't get a NZ product. Sometimes, the Aussie price is better than the NZ price -- and this is particularly true in winter when Queensland has a good season. Last year, Queensland had fires and floods, and so there wasn't as much produce coming out of there. Last winter was tough for food prices in NZ.
We don't eat cheese. Cheese costs a fortune here. There is cheap cheese -- relatively -- and it's ok. I think it's something like $9 for 500g of the cheap cheese, and if you want cheese -- as in really good cheese -- you are going to pay in blood or first-borns. Kapiti cheese and white stone are two larger makers with some beautiful, beautiful cheeses, and 500 g of cheddar will cost you over $25. Most people are buying 50g at a time or less. And Kapiti is more local to us than Whitestone -- but both are here in NZ> and of course, there are numerous small artisanal suppliers as well -- working in all manner of cheese. Feta and haloumi are the least expensive, but 500g of feta or haloumi will still set you back a good $15. And, I'm not fond of these super-salty cheeses.
To say the least, cheese is a rare treat. We eat it at our christmas dinner, getting a 'sampler' on at a mid-winter sale (usually kapiti) which gives about 100 gs of three kinds of cheese -- for about $12. We do savor it.
A lot of people make cheese at home with the milk from the cow-share -- cheese making is something that a lot of home makers learn to do, and I did take the class. It was "farmhouse" cheese and it tasted horrible. I'd rather do without. It either tastes like nothing or tastes like salt and feels like chewing plastic, so why bother? It's easy enough to go without cheese. LOL
We are doing well, honestly, with what we are getting. It is nice to eat, and DH and I were talking about this yesterday.
Part of the issue is that when DH is anxious, his manner of handling it is complaining. I often take this personally, and head toward problem solving. If DH is complaining about food costs, then obviously I need to figure out how to cut food costs! If DH is complaining about the phone bill, then we have to figure out how to save money there!
I have literally cut our budget back to the BONE in so many ways. It turns out that we pay -- for example -- a "gas levy." this means that if you receive natural gas -- even if you aren't using any -- you pay $30 per month for the privilege. THEN if we use it (as we do in winter), you pay per the amount you use.
So, when DH was complaining about the amount of gas we were using, or having to pay for it, then I'll cut back. But here it was summer, and I was like "why are we paying $30 in gas!" as DH was complaining about it. And he said "we need to cut back in our gas usage!" But we hadn't used any. I looked at the bill, talked to the power company, and it turns out that we are just paying the levy. It's $30 as a flat rate for everyone who has gas. I can't cut it back anymore, unless we cut gas, which is our winter heat source, which is great, btw, and CHEAP. We spend an average of $35 in gas over the winter, and that was running it A LOT.
So, end of the day, we were saying that it's great to live simply and we are. BUT, we do deserve to be healthy and have the basics. We deserve food, and shelter, and warmth in winter (that prevents both short term and long term illness such as lunch problems which plague a lot of children here because houses are damp, uninsulated, and heat can be spotty). I can do without a lot of clothes, you know? or with only one pair of shoes. But, we simply cannot do without food.
And if that means $325 per week, then that's what it means. and if to have this small house in a good neighborhood that is warm, clean, dry, and has good heating -- which is good for our health -- means paying $375 a week, then it does. Yes, we could get a cheaper house that is in a less good neighborhood and that is damp and cold. But I watch the kids who live in these homes fight illness after illness -- or just chronically have ear or throat infections or a cough. I'm not going to put my son through that! It doesn't make sense.
So there we are.
Wildflower
2-17-12, 11:33pm
Living in the midwest, we are currently spending about $65 a week for two adults, and that is strictly for food only. I buy pet food, soap, shampoo, toliet paper, etc. elsewhere.
We eat well. I eat little meat, but DH is a big meat eater, usually daily. We have a veggie garden every summer and that saves us alot of money. We eat the canned surplus all winter long. Make our own bread too. We rarely if ever buy processed food, except maybe tortilla chips. We cook from scratch and I have been known to go on baking tangents during the cold winter months....cookies, pies, breads, cakes, and brownies which my very thin DH and grandkids thoroughly enjoy. I can only eat a little myself without gaining weight, but so love the joy of baking whilst watching the snow fall outside.
We eat out about once a week at local ethnic restaurants with very cheap prices for the large amount of food they serve. The leftovers make for another dinner that week.
I buy fruit in season, otherwise I just skip it.
So we're spending about $3400 a year and yes, our food bill is definitely up from last year as well, and I expect it to continue to rise alot in the future with the price of gas predicted to go much higher. :(
loosechickens
2-18-12, 2:00am
In 2011 we spent, for two people in family, (and guests):
$4,420.79 for groceries (which includes wine, household stuff that you might get at a grocery store such as plastic wrap or bags, dish soap, etc) No pets, so no pet food.
$3,873.95 on eating out
We don't make any special efforts to keep our grocery bills down, because at this point in life, we are financially secure, have adequate income, etc., so pretty much buy mostly all organic, although by personal taste, we eat relatively low on the food chain, and don't buy much meat, etc. We eat virtually no processed foods, cook pretty much everything from scratch, and I do all our baking of bread, muffins, etc. and our purchased baked goods are almost nothing.
We DO eat out a lot, and it's one of our pleasures in life. We love to explore and fine new, little ethnic restaurants and like to say that we are an army of two, traveling on our stomachs.......but don't frequent really expensive places, more the little mom and pop, ethnic neighborhood kind of restaurants....
That said, if finances ever became a problem, I think I could squeeze way down on expenses and still give us good nutrition. I'd have to give up my habit of wandering through Trader Joe's and various natural food stores and coops, and buying whatever suits my fancy, but I could do it, and have in the past years when money was tight. These days it's pretty much, "buy whatever you want", "pay far more attention to food quality and healthiness of diet, so no skimping on organic fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat", although I have to say, I'm astonished at what it adds up to. I don't even want to think what it would cost if we were big meat eaters, instead of the probably one pound of meat per person per month or less, that we actually buy.
We did spend the whole summer in one place in southern CA, and my sweetie raised a small garden, and got an amazing amount of food from it for such a small space, plus he volunteered at a local organic orchard sometimes and got paid in organic fruit, so if we'd bought all that stuff, could have added several hundred dollars or more to our yearly total. But we had some months where the little garden produced most of the veggies we ate.
early morning
2-19-12, 7:44pm
For three adults, we spent $3,693. on groceries and $1,040. on food out, including birthday dinners, etc. That equals about $30.50 per person per week. We don't eat particularly well- while we have our own eggs and our beef is grass-fed and locally raised, we didn't have a garden this year, and I did not buy fresh fruits and veggies as often as I would have liked. Our apple trees had a bad year, there were no peaches or apricots, and we only ate about 10 pears. DD buys her own splurge foods from time to time and those aren't included in my totals. She doesn't eat enough of them to offset many meals, though!
I am looking forward to having at least a bit of a garden this year, and hoping it's better for our fruit trees. It was just too hot last summer!
We were right around $3500 for a family of four. About $1000 for eating out.
Plenty of scratch ingredients. Lots of healthy, natural whole foods. The only unusual expense we have is wine which cost us about $200.
We just got about 50 bottles of wine for around $120. Chances are that will last us another two years.
Interesting graph and discussion here, looking at typical food spending by family income bracket:
http://www.yourlifetheirlife.com/blog/how-much-do-you-spend-food
Not surprisingly, even those of us who seem to splurge the most on food are spending comparatively little relative to a lot of American families.
lhamo
HumboldtGurl
2-23-12, 6:08pm
Yikes! We're spending way more on groceries than people in our income bracket. Eeek! But at least we're still spending nearly $700 less on eating out than those in the same group. I know DH would be really happy if we ate out at restaurants more, so maybe we should re-balance our food spending to allow for more nights out on the town? Heh heh. Not.
HumboldtGurl
2-24-12, 11:54pm
I was talking to DH about this tonight, and he wondered: of those people surveyed in the BLS study, how many were eating cheap, unhealthy foods?
He pointed out that although we spend more on food than most people of our income bracket, we also eat damn good, healthy food (tonight we had homemade vegan alfredo/cashew-based sauce with whole wheat gnocchi and organic greens on the side). Unfortunately, eating well can often cost tremendously more than buying processed garbage. Made me feel better about what we spend on groceries. IMHO, you might pay less up front for cheap food, but you'll pay later when your health suffers.
flowerseverywhere
2-25-12, 9:17am
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=earth-talk-waste-land
here is a very interesting article. There are tons of articles that talk about food waste, this is from scientific american so I thought it was probably accurate. It says
25% of our food in the us is wasted, but that includes growers etc. I read the other day the average person throws away $10 in food a week, which is $500 per year. That will boost your food bill.
some people are obviously throwing away much more to make up for people like me who throw away close to 0.
Originally posted by Wildflower.
love the joy of baking whilst watching the snow fall outside.I definitely relate to that! :)
0% in our house, too, Flowerseverywhere. The link you posted tells of such waste.
P.S. Thank you for the links you guys.
Lhamo. I visited the link you posted and it made for a feel-good moment for me, as we spend (almost to the dollar) what the graph shows.
rosarugosa
2-25-12, 1:03pm
Flowers: Yes, I probably threw away enough in $$ value last week with my fridge clean-out to cover at least three households :(
This is definitely an area where we can improve.
Me, too, rosarugosa. I pitched greens-gone-black AGAIN today. I don't know how I can make myself use them up before they leave the edible state but that is a huge source of waste at our house. I get all healthy at the store, buy the produce, but don't use it up when I get home.
rosarugosa
2-25-12, 1:24pm
Leslieann: I do find we're using our lettuce more since we got the salad spinner, but it's only been a week, so time will tell if we keep it up.
You know what really helped me in the department of vegetables, Leslieann? (Maybe you, too, Rosarugosa, will find this hint helpful). Whenever I buy produce, I clean and prepare it (raw form) the same day I buy it. By having everything all ready to go, I never think twice about how much time it's going to take me to pull something together for a meal, which in turn, actually encourages me to prepare more than one dish, and, the kids eat more vegetables because they don't have to fuss with cleaning and washing things.
HumboldtGurl
2-26-12, 3:12pm
We're pretty good at not throwing stuff away. One of the huge advantages of having such a small RV fridge is, we can only store about a week's worth of produce in there!
But to avoid waste, I 1) wrap all greens in paper towels when they get home, 2) eat greens first before anything else (usually). I hate wasting greens because I love them so much!
I'm still thinking about that spending chart (hahaha, trying to justify my overspending!) and wondering...as someone's income goes up, does their spending bill go up because they are just "fat and happy," or because they're eating higher quality foods?
Makes ya go "hmmmm"
Blackdog Lin
2-26-12, 9:49pm
We don't do higher-quality food, but with our increased income, we're more likely to go to the store to get what we want to cook to eat. "Fat and happy", is more us.
But we still watch wastage. I did our week's menu the other day, and tomorrow is supposed to be a previously-smoked chicken (in the freezer) and homemade dressing, which I've been promising DH since at least last Thanksgiving.
But DH messed up and took a pack of previously-cooked hamburger out of the freezer, used 1/4 of it (for homemade pizza for us) and now I've got the rest of it to use up. So tomorrow's menu changes from my homemade dressing w/chicken to an Italian hamburger stove-top dish.
My entire frugal life: figuring out how to tastefully use what's in the house/fridge.
rosarugosa
2-27-12, 5:47am
Mrs M: I think you are right on target with that suggestion! By the way, I am finding that the lettuce is lasting 3 - 4 days if I spin it and then store it in a Tupperware container. I've never had real honest-to-goodness Tupperware before, but my Mom gave me a few containers when she gave me the salad spinner.
Tupperware and Rubbermaid, are two of my best friends, Rosarugosa!
Advance prep helps us both eat a lot more vegetables and waste a lot less food. I do this not only with leafy greens, but with all sorts of vegetables. Right now in our fridge, we have the following ready to be added to salads or other meals:
- washed, dried, and cut spinach (I prefer the leaves to be smaller even w/ baby spinach, for salads)
- carrot and celery sticks (from this stage they go into lunches and it's quick to chop finer for cooking or salads)
- roasted carrots
- roasted asparagus
- chopped red cabbage
- sliced brussels sprouts
- chopped onions
- sliced radishes
- sliced red bell pepper
Some other foods I sometimes have ready:
- broccoli finely chopped
- roasted cauliflower
- roasted winter squash cubes
- sauteed summer squash
- steamed green beans
- steamed kale or collards
- washed, dried, sliced Romaine
Interesting data from the BLS on food spending. If I compare our 2009 numbers, we are between the third and fourth quintiles for at-home spending, but we spent far less than either group on dining out. We try to buy local and organic when possible, so that does add to our grocery spending. I feel that it is a good trade for eating at home a lot more, though. While we do enjoy dining out, I think it's better to keep it a rare treat due to food quality (on multiple levels) and cost.
flowerseverywhere
2-27-12, 9:04am
besides what Mrs M says about cleaning fruits and veggies right when you get home from the store, what helped me was reading (I think it was Suze Orman) who talked about wasting food. Would you throw $5 in the trash? What about $10?
think of that picture every time you go to throw food away. It makes it very easy to be much more careful once you think of it that way.
To take it further, if you throw $10 per week away, how long did it take you to earn $10? What would be a better use of that money? If you throw away $10 worth of food a week, $520 per year is a lot of money.
same with eating out. Is that half hour to prepare a nice salad, vegetable soup or stir fry worth $20 or $25 dollars less than eating out? I think so. Of course I grow so much I guess I could add in gardening time but I enjoy it so much I don't.
2010. $3944.75
2011 $6384.56
The difference is that we're eating a lot better. Mostly everything is from scratch; no junk food or processed food. And the price of food is a lot higher.
We spent $4,782.14 in 2011. We saved $1,789.71 cents using coupons and rebates according to my TotalSaved.com report. The year before we paid full retail for everything and spent about $6,500. I'm no longer ashamed to use coupons and rebates.... we saved more than a mortgage payment's worth in 12 months!!!
HumboldtGurl
3-5-12, 1:03pm
Wow that is a huge difference! Congrats! I like that website, never seen it before. Where do you get your coupons? Newspaper or online or both?
HumboldtGurl
3-5-12, 1:04pm
2010. $3944.75
2011 $6384.56
Glo, where are you? Hope I'm not being too nosy.
HumboldtGurl
3-12-12, 3:40pm
NE OH
Oh!
Why the big price jump? Did you start shopping at Whole Paycheck?
Packratona!
3-13-12, 10:16pm
About $8,000 a year. This includes taking a very large pot luck item to my congregation twice a week (I also eat one large pot luck meal at one of the events), eating out occasionally (mostly special occasions and when we travel), feeding the kids and occasional visitors when they visit, and it also includes all the household items such as toiletries, paper goods, laundry supplies, food and litter for one cat, and anything else purchased at the grocery store or drug store. I make most things from scratch, and purchase heavily at Aldis, international food stores, day old bread stores, and the farmers markets. I also make good use of coupons and rebates. I make my own bread (some of the time), my own sun iced tea or Kambuchi, yogurt, Kefir, and grow some fresh herbs in pots. I also design a diet that is centered around food ingredients that normally cost about $1 a pound or less. I also purchase foods in season when they are cheap, and do buy on sale and stockpile food and other consumables. I would say we are moderately heavy eaters. One of us drinks wine occasionally and also drinks soda about three times a day.
I would say to cut the amount we spend way down, it would be quite doable if we stopped buying alcoholic drinks and soda, cut down even further on processed foods, ate out less, and also tried to eat no more more than one pound of food per meal. Realistically, a person ought to be able to eat in this country for $2,000 per year or less if all available measures are taken.
We spent less than $4,000 on groceries for 2 and less than $500 eating out. We eat out maybe once every 2 months and only with a groupon or living social coupon. We are 98% vegan so we're not eating expensive cuts of meat, etc. I make most of our food from scratch - right down to the breakfast cereals. We shop at the scratch and dent store (salvage) as much as possible, as well as Aldi's. We have a very large garden that supplies produce in the summer and we make our own salsa and spaghetti sauce from it. My parents also give us a lot of food from their very large garden. I shop sales religiously.
Packratona!
3-15-12, 2:45pm
That is fantastic CatsNK. If you can get free food from someplace that helps immensely.
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