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Old 08-19-2013, 02:06 AM
 
Location: Temporarily, in Limerick
2,898 posts, read 6,322,272 times
Reputation: 3424

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Quote:
Originally Posted by rural chick View Post
The local farmers haven't had any produce stands this year after they lost big money last year with our horrible drought here. I don't think they planted their normal big produce amounts. Right now we are having a sort of drought, so maybe they were right in not planting huge amounts this year.
Hiya RC... I'm wondering how you'd do with your own home grown produce (even if just for a few vegs/herbs), either in a small, seasonal yard patch, since you live rurally & no doubt have a bit of space, or a container/kitchen garden?

I have 2 sisters who can grow anything. One in CA tends to grow more flowers, but she does green vegs mainly as she says they're more successful in the desert sun. Her only gripe with an outdoor garden is road runners or moles & groundhogs get to the tasty yard salad before she has time to grab it. Some years, she knows she won't be home early enough, so has forgone planting... but, like you, she's living rurally & seems to have access to fairly inexpensive farmer's markets.

The other sister has so much produce (too bad none of us live in the same state) she often donates bushels of vegs to local charities, brings them to co-workers or sells it to local farmer's markets... & she's in a frosty climate in the PA mountains. I don't know how she does it... watermelons; cucumbers, zucchinis & eggplants the size of loaves of bread; so many grapefruit-sized tomatoes, she can't keep up with them... she even harvests her own seeds. I'm envious.

Sadly, I've not the green thumbs of the girls... I inherited my mum's black thumb... we both could kill a redwood in a week. I even killed off the 2 basil plants I brought home recently, already planted in nice, small, window sill containers... luckily, I can dry herbs for later use, but I really wanted my own fresh basil... blimey! When we return to SoCal in a few weeks, the SO is going to maintain a small container garden for us. Once we get settled somewhere, he'll maintain a yard garden. I had to take an oath I wouldn't go near anything living.

For savings, however, we rarely eat out; I bake all my own bread (& cook everything) from scratch, as well as make my own pizza dough, pasta & the occasional pastry/muffin/pie/cake/cookie (for his sweet tooth). It's normally a bit cheaper than in stores, but because I buy everything organic, it's far more than if one used generic ingredients. That also makes our food bill $150+/wk for 2, but, I won't skimp on food quality (good health is essential) & instead scrimp in other places... cloth napkins & handkerchiefs rather than paper products; a $12 gallon of concentrated Sally's shampoo to use for laundry, handwashing lingerie & gentle household cleaning instead of asthma-inducing detergents & cleaning sprays; I color & cut my own hair & cut the SO's hair (I'm licensed, so we don't look like outcasts from a Fellini film ); I make a lot of my clothing, curtains, pillows or buy designer suits/gowns 2nd hand or off-season for $20-40 max; we make our own espresso/tea (good quality, but far cheaper than Starbucks runs) & a bit more. And, I wish I could do even more.

Now, if I could just grow an actual tomato & convince the SO that we need a small house with a small garden in which to keep the yard chickens, who will eat all the ticks & chase away burglars.

As you've said, I agree with you that $70 for 2 is outstanding. If you absolutely need to cut down, can you just try a $5 decrease next week & see how it goes from there? Good luck!
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Old 08-19-2013, 06:22 AM
 
Location: Central Midwest
3,401 posts, read 3,075,430 times
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@patan...unfortunately I can't have a garden where I live as our yard was a forest with a million black walnut trees which put a toxin in the soil. I have tried replacing the soil in spots but it doesn't produce quality vegetables. I actually am an excellent gardner and always had huge gardens until we moved into our current house/yard. Not only that, I have serious health issues which prevent me from doing major garden work. Thanks for your comments though.
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Old 08-19-2013, 07:02 AM
 
Location: Bella Vista, Ark
77,772 posts, read 104,218,944 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rural chick View Post
I'm always trying to cut expenses from our food bill. I try to not spend over $70.00 per week on groceries, but on an average 4 week month, that's around $280 per month.

I go through the newspaper ads and try to find the store with the best ads, plus I buy part of the groceries at Aldi's, and use coupons when I have them.

What would you think is the typical cost to feed two persons for a month? Do you have any shopping hints besides the typical buy in bulk and separate, use less meat, etc.?
You shop pretty much like I do, which doesn't surprise me one bit. We use coupons, but there are so few anymore that are worth anything. Many are for beauty products, or buy 4 to get anything off. I think, yesterday I found one coupon in the paper worth saving. We do have a couple stores in town that still double up to .50. We I love that, as long as the base price isn't higher than other places. We don't have many shopping choices. The only major chain we have is WalMart and I only go there when I have to buy several items, in several dept..

Yes, we use Aldi's as well, but sometimes I take the Aldi's ad to WalMart cause they will honor the prices. we also do a Sam's run about every month or 6 weeks. Our biggest expense, like everyone's is meat, for me, followed by cheese. I think we are spending about $75 a week, which is a little more than you. We also eat really good. I think I could cut back about $10 a week, by using less fresh produce and cheaper cuts of meat, plus stop thinking Cheese was made for me and so was $5 a loaf bread. Otherwise I do economize. Another problem, fish is so healthy and so good, but so expensive. I do buy most of that at Sam's which saves a little and I do get less expensive types when I can find something we like. There are a couple of frozen ones we enjoy. One is the, already breaded cod which we just put in the toaster oven and the other is the parmesan crusted Tilapia. Their previously frozen Shrimp is not to expensive when they have their fish stand.

I will add, our food bill does include paper products and pet foods. We do not eat out often, maybe a couple times a month and I do not spend extra money of organic anything.
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:02 AM
 
Location: Alexandria, VA
754 posts, read 1,734,336 times
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We would really need to know where people live and the kinds of things they buy to make this more meaningful. Also, I would think it should include groceries and eating out, as the latter tends to be substantially more expensive than the former.

For us, we live in Nothern VA (in D.C. metro), we spend $1K a month to feed the both of us. We buy organic, grass-fed, no hormones, no antio-biotics, wild alaskan salmon, etc. We buy very little processed foods. In goceries we spend ~$125 a week, and the rest is in eating out just because it is so damn expensive!
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Old 08-19-2013, 10:38 AM
 
4 posts, read 4,294 times
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Default I spend around $600 a month for the two of us

Quote:
Originally Posted by rural chick View Post
I'm always trying to cut expenses from our food bill. I try to not spend over $70.00 per week on groceries, but on an average 4 week month, that's around $280 per month.

I go through the newspaper ads and try to find the store with the best ads, plus I buy part of the groceries at Aldi's, and use coupons when I have them.

What would you think is the typical cost to feed two persons for a month? Do you have any shopping hints besides the typical buy in bulk and separate, use less meat, etc.?
because I like to eat fresh produce and natural stuff. But then again, we don't eat out more than several times a year tops now. I also don't have cable or satellite or even home Internet.

Priorities, you know?

*Edit: Eating animal products will greater increase your food budget. Cut them out and replace with dried beans and make your own cheeze from cashews. It's amazing!
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Old 08-19-2013, 10:42 AM
 
Location: "Daytonnati"
4,243 posts, read 7,143,071 times
Reputation: 3014
For me, as a single person...somewhere btw $50 and $70 a week (closer to $50), for groceries...I dont think I could go lower than $50/week.
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Old 08-19-2013, 12:09 PM
 
Location: Chicago area
18,750 posts, read 11,723,165 times
Reputation: 64084
Quote:
Originally Posted by hellpaso View Post
I spend probably $1000/month for two, sometimes less. We eat very well. Let the insults & judging begin.
I understand. We eat out about 2 or 3 times a week and that's about an extra 150-200 a month. I cook from scratch every day and spend an average of 130-150 a week on groceries. Don't ask me about the wine bill a month. I refuse to drink bad wine. Life's too short. I think we're under a grand a month though, except when the shorties come every other month. I can spend around a hundred for the sleep over. They're non stop eating machines. You can eat really cheap if you want to eat garbage every month. Eating healthy is way more expensive.
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Old 08-19-2013, 12:14 PM
 
16,368 posts, read 30,090,906 times
Reputation: 25410
We eat meat, a lot of vegetables - all pretty standard stuff. Then the DW is addicted to not from concentrate OJ and Greek yogurt so that we always have a ready stock..

We could easily eat for $400 assuming no restaurant meals.
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Old 08-19-2013, 12:42 PM
 
Location: USA
7,776 posts, read 12,388,093 times
Reputation: 11812
I live alone and have no idea what is spent. Generally, I'm careful, but, occasionally a bit of splurging occurs.
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Old 08-19-2013, 12:47 PM
 
23,990 posts, read 10,358,940 times
Reputation: 45859
Cat food 30+/week:>)
We hardly ever eat out as I love to cook and dislike to drive. Quality groceries in out area in Texas are relatively high. Sure I use coupons, make lists, stock pile, store bought pasta and tomato products are our convenience foods. With wine there is no way to make it under 250/week for two. We have a small garden but by the time it hits the three digits it is impossible to keep up with watering.
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