How much do you spend on food?

[Denim Deb]

That's pretty good.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm definitely gonna have to check them out. I don't buy milk but I do stock up on canned stuff when I find a fantabulous sale.

 

[Hinotori]

We spend about $400 a month. We spend about $100 a month just for his lunch because of the snacks and drinks he likes to take for breaks.

We have a store here called Winco. They have excellent prices. Butter was running $1.97 a pound over christmas and much of january. It's back up to $2.59 now. There is a nice bulk section there and they will order in full bags for you if you want it. The full bags are a few cents cheaper per pound. I've been trying to figure out different things to do with lentils lately since we like them and they are cheap at .49 a pound.

 

[moolie]

You don't know how lucky you have it, grocery price-wise, in the US.

Butter here is $3.99, sometimes can get it on sale for $3.49 or very rarely $2.99, and then there are limits on how many you can buy at the sale price.

A gallon (well, 4L) of whole milk is $5.09, sometimes $4.99--2% is cheaper but I don't buy that.

Cheese is usually around $6-8/lb.

Beans/legumes and grains are pretty cheap for me locally--my 6 gallon bucket of organic wheat is about $25, and beans/legumes are even cheaper.

I don't look at meat priced by the pound, but rather by the portion (and we eat smaller than typical portions of meat) so I can't comment much on meat pricing without going to the store/market and looking at some labels. But a pound of ground beef at the grocery store is usually in the $4 range and a pound of ground bison at the grocery store is usually in the $7 range--I buy bulk freezer packs from local ranchers at the farmer's market and get a deal.

We try to grow/glean and preserve as much of our produce as possible and we buy the rest of our produce as much in-season as possible then preserve (still have one home-grown spaghetti squash left from the fall, just ran out of home-grown carrots last week, still have a few home-grown onions plus shelves of canned tomatoes and fruit). Most seed packets are in the $2-$4 range, higher for the heirloom/organic/non-GMO varieties.

 

[Denim Deb]

That's about what prices are for stuff here as well.

 

[Hinotori]

I don't have any idea what meat prices are in the grocery store, so I can't comment on that. We've been buying at the local butcher that has their own herds or contracts out to other local farmers. Just cannot beat their prices when buying half a beef. We paid $3.39 a pound hanging weight including cutting and wrapping. It helps a lot that grasses grow most of the year here and our winters are very mild.

If we get enough area cleared and fenced, we may just raise our own and I'd have butcher it myself.

 

[Plantress]

Love aldis. Cheese, butter, cream Che's, cottage Che's, cheddar, sliced Swiss, celery, fruit, eggs, milk, wraps, lettuce, baby spinach, hum as, avacados, tomatoes, potatoes, melons....all significantly cheaper. Sorry about typos

 

[Hinotori]

Friend of mine loves shopping at Aldis as well

 

[tortoise]

Updating as well. In 2013 we averaged $220/month on grocery for 3 people. I haven't checked end of year numbers for 2014.

This year, I'm tracking our grocery spending to look for trends. We are on track to spend $50 - 60 per month just on milk. Near half of our grocery spending is going to dairy products. My goal is to reduce stocking up to 10%. I have a hard time passing up on "good sales", but those weekly trips for sale items are not benefitting us. I'm starting to use Aldi more, despite the inconvenience of needing to use cash. I'm keeping a price book and finding the Aldi price is often lower than the "great sale, buy a lot" price at the other grocery stores.

We're going to be spending more on groceries in the next few months than necessary. I'm less able to shop, so DH fills in and spends more than me. I'm less able to cook, so there will be a lot more convenience food going on here than usual.

I do not expect to need to buy ANY meat in 2015. I need to get myself into the habit of cooking up a venison roast for DH to have sandwich meat. Deli sliced meat is so pricey! ... but so easy. I'm also intending to decrease the amount we spend on bakery items - but these are items DH WILL buy when they're on sale.

In general, my goal is to be aware of where the money is going. Look for patterns. Use Aldi instead of "stocking up" on "great sales". We will continue to hunt. We hope to have lamb in the freezer within a year. And another goal is to have a substantial garden that we actually eat out of and preserve food from.

 

[Denim Deb]

Sounds like good goals.