What is your monthly food budget?
Posted 01-04-2009 at 10:57:28 PM by thriftycj
One of my New Year's resolutions is that I want to better budget my expenses over the next year.
I'm committing myself to a food budget. Here are the constraints that I am working under:
1. I'm feeding primarily myself (though my sister is in college and lives in an apartment 4 blocks away, so....)
2. While I'm not a vegetarian, I LOVE fruits and vegetables and I eat a lot of produce.
3. I'm also a big milk drinker.
4. I am swearing off foods with high fructose corn syrup as much as possible.
5. I'm a low-fat, whole-grain diet. I eat by South Beach principles (though I have fallen off the wagon and will be starting phase 1 again this week)
6. I'm not totally committed to eating organic, but am trying to go organic on items that make top ten lists for pesticides, etc. I'm also trying to consciously seek out organic products where I can get good deals (muir glen tomato products, for example).
7. I live in an apartment in an urban neighborhood. There will be no gardening for me, though I am looking into joining a CSA again this year (I did it last year through a local supermarket).
8. Few of my local stores offer double coupons, and one option doesn't offer good enough deals to bother every week (though they do have the CSA). When deals are good, I do drive to Dillons (Kroger), which is 30 miles away. When gas prices go back up, this will become a much less regular occurrence.
9. I have a small chest freezer, but it's full!
My must have items (including prices) include:
1. Spinach. Big clamshell of organic spinach at Costco is $5.99. I go through one every two weeks or so.
2. Milk. $2.49/gal. for skim at Costco. I go through a gallon every 10-14 days.
3. V8. I drink this every day. $3.XX for the bigger bottle of low sodium @ walmart and/or dillons. just stocked up on the $0.50/1 q's from this week and will stockpile.
4. Chicken breast. I try to stock up when it's $1.19/lb. Though I've also been getting the Tyson Natural from Dillon's when they run their BOGO sales
5. Whole grain pasta. I use heartland, and will be stocking up for the year with the $0.55/1 q from the paper.
6. canned stock/broth. I prefer stock, but will use broth.
7. Canned tomatoes. I'm a huge fan of the Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, and always order q's to get these cheap at whole foods (my walmarts don't carry them anymore)
8. Frozen veggies. Free or close to free with coupons.
9. Whole grain cereals (though I got a bunch of Kellogs sugary ones that didn't make it to the donation pile!). I'm a big Kashi fan.
10. Frozen fruit. I make smoothies alot. (tip: add spinach! you won't even notice it!) Usually, I get the $6.99 giant bag of blueberries from Coscto and the smaller bags of frozen strawberries from Aldi, but there were dole q's in this week's paper, so will be price checking.
11. Plain yogurt. See smoothies above. Also use in recipes.
12. Rice. I use pearl rice for risotto dishes (I bought a bunch when I went to florida on vacation b/c you can't get it in KC!), but otherwise, I eat short grained brown rice, which I buy in bulk from Whole Foods. I also try to keep some Uncle Ben's pouches on hand for when I'm feeling lazy.
13. Other produce: I try to keep tomatoes (Costcto, $6.99 during the winter), cucumbers (Costco), and zucchini ($1.99 for a large package at Aldi) on hand. And onions/garlic for cooking.
Other pantry items include beans, cheese, and I can't think of what else! If lean cuisines are on sale, I buy the whole grain ones to eat for lunch at work, or the Kashi meals if I have coupons for them. Though, I've been trying to eat the green giant veggies (the ones claiming health purposes) over a bed of spinach instead. still convenient, but cheaper and healthier!
Taking all this into account, I'm starting with a grocery budget of $200/month, plus an eating out budget of $50/month (high, but I'm single and unfortunately, eat out more than I should). I'm hoping that will end up to be high. I need to eat down my stockpile some, so that should help.
Please share... what is your budget? for how many people?
I'm committing myself to a food budget. Here are the constraints that I am working under:
1. I'm feeding primarily myself (though my sister is in college and lives in an apartment 4 blocks away, so....)
2. While I'm not a vegetarian, I LOVE fruits and vegetables and I eat a lot of produce.
3. I'm also a big milk drinker.
4. I am swearing off foods with high fructose corn syrup as much as possible.
5. I'm a low-fat, whole-grain diet. I eat by South Beach principles (though I have fallen off the wagon and will be starting phase 1 again this week)
6. I'm not totally committed to eating organic, but am trying to go organic on items that make top ten lists for pesticides, etc. I'm also trying to consciously seek out organic products where I can get good deals (muir glen tomato products, for example).
7. I live in an apartment in an urban neighborhood. There will be no gardening for me, though I am looking into joining a CSA again this year (I did it last year through a local supermarket).
8. Few of my local stores offer double coupons, and one option doesn't offer good enough deals to bother every week (though they do have the CSA). When deals are good, I do drive to Dillons (Kroger), which is 30 miles away. When gas prices go back up, this will become a much less regular occurrence.
9. I have a small chest freezer, but it's full!
My must have items (including prices) include:
1. Spinach. Big clamshell of organic spinach at Costco is $5.99. I go through one every two weeks or so.
2. Milk. $2.49/gal. for skim at Costco. I go through a gallon every 10-14 days.
3. V8. I drink this every day. $3.XX for the bigger bottle of low sodium @ walmart and/or dillons. just stocked up on the $0.50/1 q's from this week and will stockpile.
4. Chicken breast. I try to stock up when it's $1.19/lb. Though I've also been getting the Tyson Natural from Dillon's when they run their BOGO sales
5. Whole grain pasta. I use heartland, and will be stocking up for the year with the $0.55/1 q from the paper.
6. canned stock/broth. I prefer stock, but will use broth.
7. Canned tomatoes. I'm a huge fan of the Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, and always order q's to get these cheap at whole foods (my walmarts don't carry them anymore)
8. Frozen veggies. Free or close to free with coupons.
9. Whole grain cereals (though I got a bunch of Kellogs sugary ones that didn't make it to the donation pile!). I'm a big Kashi fan.
10. Frozen fruit. I make smoothies alot. (tip: add spinach! you won't even notice it!) Usually, I get the $6.99 giant bag of blueberries from Coscto and the smaller bags of frozen strawberries from Aldi, but there were dole q's in this week's paper, so will be price checking.
11. Plain yogurt. See smoothies above. Also use in recipes.
12. Rice. I use pearl rice for risotto dishes (I bought a bunch when I went to florida on vacation b/c you can't get it in KC!), but otherwise, I eat short grained brown rice, which I buy in bulk from Whole Foods. I also try to keep some Uncle Ben's pouches on hand for when I'm feeling lazy.
13. Other produce: I try to keep tomatoes (Costcto, $6.99 during the winter), cucumbers (Costco), and zucchini ($1.99 for a large package at Aldi) on hand. And onions/garlic for cooking.
Other pantry items include beans, cheese, and I can't think of what else! If lean cuisines are on sale, I buy the whole grain ones to eat for lunch at work, or the Kashi meals if I have coupons for them. Though, I've been trying to eat the green giant veggies (the ones claiming health purposes) over a bed of spinach instead. still convenient, but cheaper and healthier!
Taking all this into account, I'm starting with a grocery budget of $200/month, plus an eating out budget of $50/month (high, but I'm single and unfortunately, eat out more than I should). I'm hoping that will end up to be high. I need to eat down my stockpile some, so that should help.
Please share... what is your budget? for how many people?
Total Comments 5
Comments
 | Me and my girlfriend spend around 200 to 250$ a month on groceries and maybe 100$ on eating out (bad habit!). I entertain a lot so that also includes maybe 50 or so dollars I spent on snacks and meals that I cook for friends. I live in a pretty urban environment but my house has a yard so I garden tons in the summer--this probably reduces the grocery bill by 50 or more dollars a month. We grow tomatoes,cucumbers,peppers,herbs,etc. My resolution this year is to grow more veggies and can/freeze more for the winter months. We do the bulk of our shopping at Giant Eagle (our big chain grocer here) that doubles up to 99cents and Trader Joe's which has great prices on veggies and meats and frozen things. |
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| |  The $200 monthly budget will be for 2 you and your sister? you can start at that point and work your way down. I've seen a $200 monthly budget for a family of four, 2 adults/2 childs. I'm not sure if I can post blogs names here. But there is one that is very popular her budget is $40 a week for a family of 4! that includes organics, fresh fruits and veggies. And a $15-$60 monthly budget for a family of 2 also includes lots of fresh fruits and veggies. if you want I can pm you the name. So you can do it easly by half! |
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| |  Tiffini-- I would love having a store that doubles up to $0.99. And a Trader Joe's?? I'd be in heaven! I have a VERY small Whole Foods by my house, otherwise, I have to drive out to the burbs to shop there. Not very convenient, especially since they've gone to a non-existent ad. At least when I drive 30 miles to Dillons/Kroger, I've reviewed the ad and know that it's worth the time and gas to do it. WF seems like a crapshoot. Plus, I always spend more there than I intend. I have found some surprisingly good buys there, though. You just have to be disciplined, I guess. Yenna, I would love that contact info! I figured $200 would be a good number to work down from. I'm guessing I'll be able to come in under that, but I'd rather start with a higher budget goal and definitely meet it, than start too low and get discouraged. I guess it's all about managing expectations! :) I also need to start eating down the stockpile, which will help tremendously. I did an inventory of my HBA stockpile last night, this week, I plan to inventory the food stockpile, then sit down and plan out a series of menus. I don't know if I can get myself to do a weekly menu planner, but I want a list where I can just go to the list, pick a meal, and then pull out the stuff to prepare it. Then, cross it off the list. |
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| |  MY food budget is way out of control,There are 4 of us 2 adults and 2 kids , but i spent way to much and we are so bad at eating out. also the kicker is I bet we only eat once a day(really eat like lunch or dinner) when the kids are in school of course they eat at school so that leaves me just one meal to cook and I still am spending at lease 600 to 700 a month on food and store bought stuff and eating out.( I include soap and laundry and personal paper products in that as well )I need all the help I can get!!!! teach me !!!!  |
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| | Well...when we are on food stamps, I tried to get as much as I could...and with almost 600.00 for a family of 4, that was a lot! But we were living with my aunt and I bought her family what they wanted to. But my budget was about 600...and I fed a family of 5 plus my family of 4...and we bought fruit for his mom and sister. But Now...for my family of 4 and his mom (who lives with us) I could do 300.00. Cuz I have to get work food and everything. |
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