Matt did some serious budget work this weekend and we calculated how much money we have spent on average in the last year on our living expenses – rent, cars, food, cable, etc.
The amount we spent on food blew my mind away. It is a serious chunk of our income and if we want to be able to save more money to buy a house or a new car, that is an area where we can make some serious cuts. Now I don’t want to make cuts in a sense that I don’t feel confident about the food choices I make. However, Matt and I seem to have a fine wine taste on a cheap beer budget.
I have declared September “Grocery Store Challenge month” and I hope to spend no more then $150 on food purchases this month. Now on September 1st, I spent $44.84 at Walmart on mostly food items so to be fair, that is included in my $150.
CSA items do not count towards this $150 spend limit but if I buy anything additional at the farmers market (I always buy eggs there), that does count.
Matt and I went to Walmart on Sunday and picked up a few needed items including:
White flour, Chili Powder, Parsley Flakes and FlatOut Flatbread
Total: $9.92
After the BBQ we went to also on Sunday, we stopped at Whole Foods for some bulk bin items. Can I tell you how much I love the bulk bin?!?
Oatmeal, Chickpeas, Black beans and some tomatoes
Total: $11.73
Today at the Farmer’s Market I spent $12.09 on 2 apples, 2 peaches, 2 pears and a dozen eggs
That brings my grocery total to: $78.58…$71.42 to go.
Not included in our grocery store challenge is household items (cleaner, toilet paper, etc.) or personal items (toothpaste, soap, etc). This challenge includes everything that goes in our mouth…
This also does not mean that we can increase the amount we are going out for dinner (ie I cannot bring home pizza for dinner all the time). We are going to use items in our pantry and freezer (which is well stocked) and try to get creative with items we have.
I also will say, that I stocked our pantry and freezer up a few weeks ago in anticipation of the school year starting. We should not starve.
How much do you spend on groceries per month and how many people are you shopping for?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
About $900/ month for two adults and one cute 19 month old. That’s food only (no supplies) from Whole Foods and Shoprite.
I hope your challenge goes well! Limiting your purchases will force you to cook more creatively – look forward to reading about the creative new ideas you come up with!
About $500/month for 2 people – mostly spent on CSA, Farmer’s Market, and the local co-op. We also have a pretty bad eating out habit. Total food spending is $800 – $1000 per month, which is way more than we’d like it to be.
I bet I spend $250-300 for 2 of us…too much!!! It’s scary to think about
But I do feel confident about what I fuel myself with and I am only getting better and better about shopping sales and utilizing different stores for different items.
I used to spend a ton of money on groceries! I literally was spending at least $100 every time I went and it was just for one person. I think I was buying too many snacks. Now I spend about 50 a week which is 200 per month for one person. The past 2 weeks I have only spent 26 per week, but I haven’t been home a lot, and I know I will go back again this week.
Wow $150 for the month.. best of luck and I also look forward to reading. I think we are at about $400/500 a month for food, counting grocery store, farmers market, and some take out. Feeding 2 adults and 2 children.
Wow $150 for the month.. best of luck and I also look forward to reading. I think we are at about $400/500 a month for food, counting grocery store, farmers market, and some take out. Feeding 2 adults and 2 children.
We spend about 200-300 dollars a month for the two of us. Usually its broken up into 1 small trip (where we spent 40-60) and one bigger one thats 60-80. All depends!
I’m not sure how much we spend, but when I meal plan, I pick about 6 main things to mix and match for the meals for the week. For example, chicken, pasta, spinach, cheese, brown rice, tomato then use those things to make five dinners in the week by mixing and matching. We always have salad on the side and I always add frozen broccoli or some other pantry staple. It works for me!
Its been a while since I really added things up. I am guessing 200-300 for the 2 of us. But that would also include household items (kitty litter, detergent, cleaners). Yikes! Good luck on the challenge. Its a good idea.
Its just me. I usually go to the grocery store every 2 weeks I guess. sometimes i have to go get a few things I either forgot or decided I wanted in between the big shopping 2 times a month, but not usually.
I only spent $65 this past Saturday. And then $7 yesterday because I decided I needed to go buy those $1.79 bags of shelled edamame that I like so much. That $72 will last me easy to the 18th; cept I will have to buy milk, bread and bananas.
{ 2 trackbacks }