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Old 08-19-2013, 12:06 PM
 
Location: CA
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If we're just talking food, not extras like household supplies, for the past few years it's been $70/week. Lately we've been spending more because we're eating more of everything but grains and beans, but I think it won't go over $80/week this month. All meals made at home with enough for lunch leftovers the next day; weekend meals will vary, but this month they've been at home, too. In the SF Bay Area, with majority of shopping at Trader Joe's.
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Old 08-19-2013, 12:20 PM
 
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$100/week is a safe amount. Mine is less, around $50-$70. But I keep lots of pantry staples (pasta, rice, oils, herbs, etc.) and I garden. A good trick I learned to be frugal was just to pull out $20 roughly every other day for groceries, cash only. That would keep me on budget just to buy what I needed and know I'd be burning the budget for the next couple of days if I did splurge on something.
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Old 08-19-2013, 12:35 PM
 
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I make the trip to WinCo a couple times a month where I spend about $200/mo. But then I have to buy fresh vegetables and fruits at Fred Meyer a couple times a week, so that adds at least $10/week even if I wait for the sale packages of fruit which is typically 4 or 5 apples for $1.

So, I guess I average at least $60/week for one person. It would cost a bit less if kitty didn't sit there looking so pathetic every time I'm cooking chicken.
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Old 08-19-2013, 12:38 PM
 
Location: "Daytonnati"
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Quote:
If we're just talking food, not extras like household supplies, for the past few years it's been $70/week.
Ive been keeping seperate track of these things for a "sundries" line in my budget. Trying to get a picture of this kind of spending.
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Old 08-19-2013, 05:56 PM
 
Location: Northeast Ohio
317 posts, read 473,459 times
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Two of us eat for about $50 a week. This is without meat except for chicken maybe a couple of times a week. Things I discovered that saved us a little bit of money were:

1. We eliminated breakfast anything. Instead of cereals, bagels, toaster pastries, etc. I just buy a little extra food to put in our dinners in the evenings and have the leftovers for "breakfast" the next day. An added plus is the leftovers tend to stay with us for longer than the regular breakfast stuff which is mostly carbs/sugar. This also eliminates milk, something that always seemed to go bad in my house and get thrown away, requiring a trip to the store for more.

2. We replaced perishable loaves of bread with things that last longer, like flour tortillas or even tortilla chips. I can get a huge two-pound bag of store brand tortilla chips for about the same price as a loaf of bread, and the chips won't go bad. We used to throw a LOT of bread away. Seemed like every time we turned around, the bread was stale, or weirdly wet, or moldy, and we needed more. It was a little weird at first to think of tortillas and chips as our "bread" but actually, they go great with a variety of foods.
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Old 08-19-2013, 06:34 PM
 
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Shopping hint: Check your local dollar store(s).

The Dollar Tree just had Campbell's Soup that I paid over $2 for last winter at the grocery store, for a dollar per can. I usually make my own soup, but sometimes run out, or just want a taste I can't duplicate at home. So I stocked up on the Chicken Tortilla.

Just in the last year, they've also gotten a day-old bread rack. Regular sized loaves of name brand bread for $1!

Other great deals I've found over the years. Edward's Key Lime pie individual servings, $3 elsewhere. Oatmeal raisin cookies, $2.50 elsewhere. Pretzels, corn chips, 6 packs of snack crackers with cheese or pb filling, etc. All $1 there, and over $2.50 at the regular grocery stores.

Some off brand products they sell are really good, and others are pretty bad. But I save plenty stocking up on the good stuff to more than offset the occasional inedible item I get.

You've gotta be careful though, because not everything is cheaper. For example, some instant noodles only cost 70 cents at WinCo, but they want a dollar at Dollar tree.
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Old 08-19-2013, 08:55 PM
 
1,009 posts, read 1,565,752 times
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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.
Us too. I blame it on my husband who eats whatever he feels like eating that particular day. I can't plan anything. We end up eating out a lot.
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Old 08-20-2013, 12:50 AM
 
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About $400 a month for a family of 4. We mainly shop at Trader Joe's and local farmer's markets.
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Old 08-20-2013, 01:39 AM
 
Location: Albuquerque NM
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I spend $100 a week for food for one. And that $100 does not include cleaning supplies, paper products, or cosmetics (I know because I'm tracking my expenses in preparation for retirement). I drink very little alcohol so this is mainly for food. I eat out only about one time a week and I pack my lunch for work. But I eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, organic milk and chicken, Greek yogurt, grass fed ground beef, fish and shellfish including oily fish, low sodium and low fat foods, etc. Hardly eat any processed food to control my sodium and saturated fat. I'd rather spend my money on healthy food that I like than on other things.
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Old 08-20-2013, 01:56 AM
 
Location: the AZ desert
5,035 posts, read 9,203,617 times
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When I am trying to be frugal I always buy chicken - either whole or legs/thighs, depending upon what is on sale. After cooking the chicken, which in itself is used for several meals, I use the carcass to make consomme, (which is pretty much free to make then). To the broth I'll add whatever veggies I have on hand that I don't want to go bad, (a carrot or two here, a stalk of celery there, half an onion, etc.) Then I'll use just the plain broth and add different things on different nights that I serve it. One night may be some rice, another may be some pasta or barley, one night will be the veggies I cooked in it, etc. It's an inexpensive, healthy "filler" to have as a start to our regular dinner and that means I can easily serve smaller portions for the rest of the meal.

To make the most out of the chicken itself, we'll only have one meal where the main course is chicken. The rest of it would be cut into small pieces or shredded and used as a topping on pasta with a garlic sauce, red sauce, alfredo sauce, or tossed in and heated with a can of stewed tomatoes and a dab of cayenne, then served over rice, (which ever I had leftover/frozen from another time or already in the pantry), added on top of a baked potato along with some broccoli and cheese, added on top of a large salad for a main course dinner, etc.
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