I don’t understand how any of you can shop this cheaply. We’re a family of 3, and the third is two years old, and a typical shopping trip is for two weeks, and is regularly between $300-$400 nowadays (groceries have gotten a lot more expensive in the last year or two). We’ve hit $500 before. Of course, this includes diapers, cat litter, cat food, etc. Granted, this is for two weeks vs. the one that most are quoting, but still. Are groceries in Ohio really that much more than elsewhere, or are we just really crappy shoppers? We buy all the store brand stuff too…Kroger brand bagels, bread, pop, heck, even cereal half the time. I guess the real cost is that we do buy a LOT of produce. Fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, bananas, etc. We go cheap on meat, though, buying mostly large bags of frozen chicken breast and the cheap cuts of steak when we get it (which is about once every two to three weeks)
Single female. I buy an organic produce box every week for $40, and stop at the regular grocery store about twice a week for anywhere from $25 to $50 - but that includes picking up other household items, not just groceries.
The most I ever spent at once on just food was when a Whole Foods opened nearby and I decided to just go through aisle by aisle and buy what I wanted for once. I almost choked on the $138 bill, but there was stuff in there that lasted over a month. It was fun to do once.
I remember when my husband changed jobs with about 150% increase in pay. When he got his first paycheck we spent about $250 in groceries. That was 25 years ago, so call it $600 now. When we unloaded everything into the pantry, refrigerator and cabinets, we held each other and cried with joy. (we had two small children at the time.)
At one point in time I had three teenage boys and one teenage girl at home. I don’t think I ever made it out of the grocery store at less than $150 a week (most of it actual food) plus what we could get out of a garden.
Just so we’re clear, does this include eating out? I.e., is this your total food spending or your total grocery-shopping spending?
The equivalent of $150, which I thought was a lot, but it seems not! That was for cleaning products and stuff too, not just groceries (plus a little booze) and it was maybe 25 bags of shopping - I had to get a lift home and the shopping filled the car boot and the back row chairs and floor and I still had to have some on my lap.
For three people (two adults and one gluttonous teenager) I’d usually spend about £30/$60 a week, including cleaning products and specialist foods like gluten-free biscuits and Quorn. I get the impression that groceries are slightly cheaper in the UK than in the US.
If a huge trip to Costco where I bought a tent/sleeping bags/bbq and a few other camping items along with my groceries doesn’t count ($400 for that trip. That bbq and tent and bags are AWESOME, BTW.) I would have to say about $200, but that was stocking up.
Right now, with me working full time, my husband is doing alot of the shopping and …um…that isn’t exactly a good thing. He means well, but it is all carbs and end cap shopping. Fruits/veggies/healthy stuff don’t really make it home. My cupboards are loaded with a mix of shit I will never use and am thinking I need to donate to a food bank and do a BIG FAT GROCERY RUN to get us back to where we need to be. I have nothing to make any kind of meal.
Every once in a while, my wife and I make the 90 mile trip to Jungle Jim’s, which has foods that are rarely available in our home town. We usually spend around $400 just for food on those trips. There are only two of us, but after a Jungle Jim’s trip we usually have at least one dinner party to share our bounty.
I think in a average week we spend about $150 for food for the two of us. We eat well, and we rarely eat out.
Family of 5; weekly “big” supermarket trip - ~$200-$250. Additional “side trips” during a typical week, maybe another $100 – call is $350 a week (including some non-food stuff).
So, around $70 p/person p/week.
We don’t do booze, much, however…
I’m in Israel.
I typically grocery shop at least 5 times per week and I don’t recall having a bill as low as $40 for quite some time, even if I go in for just a couple of snack items. I shop for: me, the [del]ol’ battle-ax[/del]…er…wife, two girls, parents (live next door; too old to drive—without crashing, we found out the hard way) and a pooch. That frickin’ schnoodle, with his unquenchable appetite for Kibbles ‘N Bits and Snausages® addiction, is gonna put us in the poor house I tell ya, it’s criminal!
There are two of us, and I go every week. I’m pretty sure I’ve never spent $75, though I’ve come close when I had a lot of non-food items to buy, like cleaning supplies, OTC medication, toilet paper, whatever. You buy a big bottle of Gaviscon and that’s $12 right there.
I just recently spent over 200 dollars, but that is rare for me. And I won’t have to go - or if I go, won’t need much - for quite a while.
I spent about $3000 on equipping a brand new kitchen with all new foods, condiments and spices. I had an absolute blast doing it. Filled the 25 cubic foot freezer, a 25 cubic foot fridge/freezer and the cupboards =)
A friend got married, to a beautiful lady that was seriously into food, and he bought a new house and wanted to surprise her when they got back from the honey moon. My BF at the time took care of moving all the clothing and stuff over, and I did the kitchen. We opted to just replace with brand new anything over 3 months old, duplicating what she already had, and then added another $1000 on top of that in assorted wines as our present to them [he gave us the money to fill the kitchen]
It was a serious blast =) I think the wine store did a bang up job picking out the wines for them. I really need to learn more about wines, but now I pretty much cant drink more than a glass a day, it makes it a bit difficult to play with wines =(
My normal shopping runs around $60 (I’m a single woman). But around holidays I can spend up to $250.
My husband is a chef and we’re both serious foodies. One time, when I was on vacation for the week, so we were doing lots of cooking… and0 we spent about $250, just for the two of us, with probably about another $100 on liquor, wine and beer.
Family of four, and this is right about where we are. Plus we spend another $25 or so on fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmer’s market every Sunday. We usually prepare a “family dinner” (protein, starch, veggie) every night. We’re not weekly drinkers, we don’t do a lot of fast food, and we go out to eat about twice a month.
Two of us, with no kids. A “stock-up” trip will usually run us $150-$200 (though there’ll undoubtedly be a few “drug store” items in there, too). The most I think we’ve ever spent would probably be around $300 or so, but, as with several others, that would have been when also buying a lot of stuff for holiday meals, as well.
One person (3 cats) and I spend around $100 most weeks. But that includes cleaning supplies, cat litter, toiletries, and some odd articles of clothing. I went to the drugstore last week and walked back home with one bag costing $63.00. That one surprised me a little.
Re the OP and the 1970s: I used to go grocery shopping with my Mom in 1975. I vividly remember her complaining about having to spend $100 for one particular trip to Kroger but it was two full shopping carts of food. She was feeding six kids at the time.
Depending on which State we lived in for two people and 3 cats about 50-150 per week, Doha, Qatar triple that. Firenze,Italy about 100 bucks every 3 days.
I usually buy 2 weeks worth of food, chewing tobacco, and a carton of cigarettes. Sometimes, I buy snacks. It usually ranges from $120-$180.
Buying for two: Usually about 200 a month, and I grocery shop every two weeks, so 100 dollars at a time. Sometimes less.
My fiancé is unfortunately moving out of state for a bit, so my grocery bill is about to come down a bit–actually even more considering that left to my own devices, most of what I eat is poultry, cheeses, and veggies (no breads, little other dairy, no fruit, no canned/frozen stuff).