What is your weekly grocery budget?

[cintinative]

Does anyone else have a picky dh? Mine will only eat certain kinds of bread, peanut butter, pickles, soda, even toothpaste! you name it! I feel like half my battle with getting our budget down is trying to buy his stuff without breaking the bank. I am seriously discouraged after reading all of your posts though--our spending is SOO much higher. I mean, it does include things like stamps, newspapers, coupon purchases, diapers,and all HBA stuff, but I'm still over $400/month. Anyone want to be my mentor? LOL.

[thecouponclippa]

We are a family of three, with six cats inside, two or three strays that wander to our house for a nibble, and various family members I supply certain things too.

I usually spend about 60-70 a week on hardcore stock up months ( usually the summer months) for things we must have. Through the winter I usually spend around 25-30 a week. We do ALOT of by scratch food ( with the exception of sandwich bread. Call me new fashioned, but I'm a sucker for store bought bread.) But all pizzas, lunchables, etc...if it isn't free at the grocery, I know I can make it cheaper at home.

As far as the cats are concerned, they can all only eat certain foods because they get sick if we switch to other dry, so when Friskies Seasations go on sale and I have a coupon, I stock up.

Also, we have a grocery store that pretty regularly has ground beef for 1.49-1.69 a lb. When it goes that low, I buy like mad.

I just wish I knew if I could have multiple subscriptions to the paper delivered to the house :T

[nagrom13]

my budget for groceries and HABA, cleaning supplies, everything is :
under $50 a month. I usually go way under.

This year I am at an average of $30 a month. I am a little lazy this year, and the deals are harder to find.
2009 I averaged $7 a month.
2008 I went all at it and spent $0 on groceries.
2007 $27 a month
2006 $44 a month
2005 I averaged $400 a month. I've come a long way!!!

This is for 2 adults. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for me and breakfast and dinner for DH (I can't shake his buying lunch everyday as hard as I try). We hardly ever go to eat anymore, and never do takeout.

Best of luck in your coupon journey. My advice to you is: set a crazy unreasonable goal. I did this in 2008. Then go all at it. Maybe you will not be able to get all your groceries free as I did, but you will save so much money it won't even be funny. Set a drastic goal - trust me you will thank me. You get out of this what you put into it.

Holy Cow!!!! Please, you are obviously a master....I am just a mere lay person trying to lower my budget . Could you Please share with me how you do it for so little.

We are a fam of 4 in NJ(2dd on GFCF diet and very picky).

Thank you for any suggestions!

[queenofthehivemomof5]

my budget for groceries and HABA, cleaning supplies, everything is :
under $50 a month. I usually go way under.

This year I am at an average of $30 a month. I am a little lazy this year, and the deals are harder to find.
2009 I averaged $7 a month.
2008 I went all at it and spent $0 on groceries.
2007 $27 a month
2006 $44 a month
2005 I averaged $400 a month. I've come a long way!!!

This is for 2 adults. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for me and breakfast and dinner for DH (I can't shake his buying lunch everyday as hard as I try). We hardly ever go to eat anymore, and never do takeout.

Best of luck in your coupon journey. My advice to you is: set a crazy unreasonable goal. I did this in 2008. Then go all at it. Maybe you will not be able to get all your groceries free as I did, but you will save so much money it won't even be funny. Set a drastic goal - trust me you will thank me. You get out of this what you put into it.

I don't want to speak for coupondink, however this can be done if you go "all at it". And by that, it usually means, heavily rebating and getting in on every money maker you possibly can to pay for other items with overage. It takes quite a bit of work to do it, but there are some here that do just that.

Our budget is $400 a month for a family of 6, 2 dogs and 2 cats. I don't always spend that much every month and I am usually able to bank (save) $150-$200 a month. Some months however are higher. Right now fresh produce is hot and I am stockpiling it at good prices and filling my freezers with it.

As far as deals on meat, IF you live in an area with winetags or can trade for some you can go that route as well as meat rebates. But for the most part I watch the sales and when meat and chicken is on sale I stock up! This week whole chickens were $0.79 lb, I bought 20 chickens for my freezer (I can do this by taking out from my savings if I need to). Or if boneless skinless chicken breasts are on sale I get 50 lbs. Same with other meats. Around Thanksgiving I get 2 or 3 turkeys to eat throughout the year. We don't however eat a lot of seafood, simply because its not very fresh where I live and our seafood counter stinks. I also made a list of name brand meats that are carried where I live (Tyson, Foster Farms, Jennie-O, Honeysuckle White, etc) and I try to get coupons on those brands.

I also watch for meat mark downs and pop those in the freezer. This week for example I picked up turkey breasts for 70¢ a lb!

Someone asked about hubbys that are brand specific. Now I will say to get the most out of couponing you need to try NOT to be brand loyal, however if you REALLY cannot convince your DH that Crest is just the same as Colgate (or whatever brand he prefers) then your best bet is to try to have coupons for his preferred brands and stock up as much as possible when those items go on sale. For example if you MUST have Colgate toothpaste then make sure you always have Colgate coupons ready to go with a good sale and when the sale comes use your coupons to get it at the best price point possible. And if you can, get a rain check too.

Unless your DH likes some really off brands most every name brand these days has coupons and goes on sale at some point during the year.

[marj]

Does anyone else have a picky dh? Mine will only eat certain kinds of bread, peanut butter, pickles, soda, even toothpaste! you name it! I feel like half my battle with getting our budget down is trying to buy his stuff without breaking the bank. I am seriously discouraged after reading all of your posts though--our spending is SOO much higher. I mean, it does include things like stamps, newspapers, coupon purchases, diapers,and all HBA stuff, but I'm still over $400/month. Anyone want to be my mentor? LOL.

LOL! welcome to the picky DH's club!
Do NOT be discouraged, there are ways around it.
Kidding aside, I posted that my family, and yes that includes me are picky eaters. I think its 2-3 posts before your post
We like certain brands- this is what I do:
-look for the upcoming insert q's- a HCW member usually posts, I believe its at Coupon discussion by source thread- this way I know that it is coming and I better have those q's, so I can stock up
-contact an HCW member who sells OR go to a cliipping site OR Ebay
- then patiently wait for a sale.
Since my DH likes Coffeemate as soon as I see the q's I buy/trade as many as 20. Then I wait for a sale. Recently, I waited and was not able to see a sale, so I checked both of the stores I frequent and just bought the item, I still think I saved a lot even the item is not on sale bec I have the q's.
That's my simple trick, the hardest part is waiting for the q's to come up on inserts, tearpads etc.
Just as so you won't feel bad, my dd's will only have Hellmann's Mayo on their sandwiches. One time I tried switching it to Cain's and they told me (they are 5 and 3yo) that the Mayo does not taste good and they were not finishing their sandwiches- so when Hellmann's q came plus a sale I stock up. I have 10 jars right now. My dd's have been finishing their sandwiches ever since. HTH.

[amylynne01]

I allow my DH a FEW select brand loyal items - razors, deodorant, shampoo, and Coke. Other than that, he needs to deal lol. I don't mind buying specific brands if we like it better like Coke. But toothpaste is pretty consistent across the board. I only buy gel toothpaste because pasty toothpaste is just gross, but I'll buy Crest or Colgate or whatever.

Come to think of it, I am more brand loyal than I think I am. But like a PP, I know that my specific items will go on sale eventually, so I get the qs when I can find them. Or I buy the stuff on a day when I buy lots of free/cheap stuff, so I can say "look at all this stuff I got for cheap" even though all of my OOP was because of said brand specific item. It's a mind game, I guess.

[cintinative]

LOL! welcome to the picky DH's club!

That's my simple trick, the hardest part is waiting for the q's to come up on inserts, tearpads etc.
.

Thanks all. Yes, I do try to do this. It is hard to stay after things like the bread and soda. The soda, he drinks faster than I can stockpile. The bread, he won't let me freeze so I can't buy ahead. I do buy his toothpaste (Rembrandt--I only WISH it was Colgate or Crest) ahead when it is on sale (bought a bunch at Walgreens a long time ago). I need to just stay after it better. Sometimes he runs out of something and he doesn't tell me and then goes out and buys it off sale (gasp!!!).

[concernedshopper]

I have a family of 4, but 2 of us are 3 and 1, so not very expensive eaters.

Our grocery/household budget (including ALL food and household items, exc. eating out) is $150/month so about $35-40/week.

How we do it:
-most of my household items, including diapers and even some food items are FREE using coupons, rite aid money, earned SCR gift cards (actual rebates get cashed/saved)
-We cut out the extras--pop, chips, candy, cookies, etc. If I can't get it free OOP at Rite Aid, then we don't have it.
-No instant, microwaveable, frozen pizzas (unless they are free), etc. It is almost always cheaper and healthier to make things yourself.
-Meal plan
-Shop sales/use coupons sometimes.
-No brand loyalty.
-We have a garden, so I out away some veggies in the Summer (corn, green beans, and dill pickles)

[ScrappyDoo]

This is a topic that needs to be revisited. What is your budget now that prices are getting higher?

[gtstreblow]

I found this thread in looking for some suggestions on what a reasonable budget would be for a family of 9 plus 3 cats 1 dog and 2 turtles :) As I have never really set up a budget before I don't know what I was spending before I started using coupons. I know I am doing better as I have full cupboards and freezers and have even started a small stockpile! I am thinking of approximately $500 a month for everything including pullups, cat litter, dog food, paper products and groceries ect... As my stockpile grows I am hoping this number will drop. Does this sound like a reasonable amount? Any suggestions if not? Thanks for any input :)