How do you budget for groceries?

[Lilacs4Me]

DH and I were debating last night about grocery money last night because the kids told him they had a hard time finding stuff to make for lunch. (It was THURSDAY, and they ate up all of the snacks after school all week! So, all they had was the "leftover" stuff/flavors/etc that nobody wants. Too bad for them, IMO!) They are not starving by any means. There is ALWAYS food in the house - they are just too lazy to make a sandwich when they could throw an Uncrustable in the lunchbag instead, KWIM?

I grocery shop once a week, but pick stuff up as needed. I do admit that my grocery budget is often "what's left" after paying all of the bills and getting things we need/want/etc. I am awesome with budgeting and stretching my grocery dollars because when we were "poor" lol, I used to only have a set amount that had to pay for groceries AND "all other" stuff like cleaning supplies, cat food, ziplock bags, etc. The budget for the week depended on how much money I had left over after paying all of the bills. Anything that I didn't spend on actual food went to the "all other" stuff. Anything left over after THAT, went to me as spending money (which I almost always spent on the kids!) I think I'm still in that habit even though we are in a much more comfortable financial position. I really just don't like spending a huge portion of our money on food!

DH thinks that grocery money comes first, before everything else. Spend whatever needs to be spent on whatever you want to eat and not worry about the cost of hot dogs vs steak, or fresh-squeezed OJ vs a cup of milk, or why not give the kids the option of buying lunch vs making one (DS17's lunches are $5.50/day, and the middle school kids are $3.25/day). That is way too expensive IMO, and the kids don't like the meals!

So, tell me about your grocery budgets/plans/meals. How do you allocate your grocery funds?

 

[soccerdad72]

Sorry, I'm no help - we don't really budget for groceries.

When it comes to school lunch expense, we try to limit our boys to 3 days of buying (both boys schools are around $5.50 a day for lunch as well) and 2 days packing, so they usually look through the weekly menu and determine which days are pack days. Admittedly, we have lazy weeks and don't pack as often as we should, so they end up often buying 4 or 5 days a week sometimes.

 

[dotfurio]

We set aside money at the start of the month. Sometimes we come in under, sometimes over.

I don't worry about the the cost of food for the most part. I'm on a diet and I eat what works for that regardless of price. Unfortunately, fresh produce and lean meats cost more. But I'd rather spend $10 on a steak that fits within my diet plan than $1 on a hotdog that doesn't really work for me. Plus, I figure if we're making delicious meals at home, even if they do cost a little more for supplies, it's cheaper than eating out.

I've had to eat on a strict budget before when I was younger, so I know what that's like and I can do it, I just prefer not to.

Usually YDD packs her lunch. School lunch costs $2.75. I'm good either way, it's just whatever she prefers. ODD doesn't eat at school, though I try to send her with snacks like trial mix or jerky.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

We set aside money at the start of the month. Sometimes we come in under, sometimes over.

I don't worry about the the cost of food for the most part. I'm on a diet and I eat what works for that regardless of price. Unfortunately, fresh produce and lean meats cost more. But I'd rather spend $10 on a steak that fits within my diet plan than $1 on a hotdog that doesn't really work for me. Plus, I figure if we're making delicious meals at home, even if they do cost a little more for supplies, it's cheaper than eating out.

I've had to eat on a strict budget before when I was younger, so I know what that's like and I can do it, I just prefer not to.

Usually YDD packs her lunch. School lunch costs $2.75. I'm good either way, it's just whatever she prefers. ODD doesn't eat at school, though I try to send her with snacks like trial mix or jerky.

Yeah....I get that. DS11 was on a gluten-free diet for a while last year, and holy cow! Grocery money HAD to come first during that time. It's expensive to eat gluten free! (and I did not buy all the processed GF junk...just a lot more whole foods. And I shopped a LOT more often!)

I'm not saying we eat hot dogs lol, it's just an example. We eat more chicken than anything, I would say. The kids are getting sick of it! lol

I do not buy steak. Nobody in my family likes it!

 

[TipsyTraveler]

We don't budget for groceries. The closest we come to letting cost affect our food purchases is buying extra of something because one of our normal items happens to be on sale, or putting something back on the shelf because we think it's overpriced to the point of being a ripoff. I understand wanting or needing to work within a budget, but I would do my best to tighten the budget elsewhere so my food purchases didn't have to suffer. I just think healthy eating is too important to skimp on, if at all possible.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

We don't budget for groceries. The closest we come to letting cost affect our food purchases is buying extra of something because one of our normal items happens to be on sale, or putting something back on the shelf because we think it's overpriced to the point of being a ripoff. I understand wanting or needing to work within a budget, but I would do my best to tighten the budget elsewhere so my food purchases didn't have to suffer. I just think healthy eating is too important to skimp on, if at all possible.

They get the healthy. What they don't get is the QUANTITY of a whole buffet at every meal.

They complained they don't get juice boxes - I say drink water.

They get popcorn, they complain they don't get chips

They get fresh fruit, they complain they don't get applesauce pouches lol

They want the junk IN ADDITION to the healthy stuff. I say no, I can't afford both, and DH says let's get it all!

 

[Klayfish]

We don't set a "budget" either, we just get what we need. Like OP, we do the "big" shopping once per week and hit the store as needed for little things. With three growing kids, it's never cheap. Plus, being very picky on nutrition, it's not cheap. Where we can, we buy store brand stuff. But some of the things we use aren't cheap...veggies, fruits, fish, lean chicken, protein powder, I use a low carb/high fiber/high protein wrap, etc...

 

[Mizzoufan]

You might get more help pn the budget board. Those people have amazing tips.

Do you plan your meals in advance

 

[Wishing on a star]

Feeding me, and my kid(s), body, with healthy nutritious foods, that I actually like to eat, comes FIRST.

This is not negotiable.
Not an 'extra'.
Not a luxury.

 

[superme80]

I just try to keep my bill under a set amount every week. Sometimes I hit it, other times I go over. We rarely eat out, so groceries are a huge expense for us.

 

[gotomu212]

As kids, especially boys, get older they become human vacuums. My mom said her grocery bills tripled when we hit our teens and I'm noticing it now with my son. I think you have to bite the bullet a little and expect to buy a lot more.

Although I do believe that once we buy it, you need to eat it.

 

[mamacatnv]

For years we did not budget groceries, while not carte blanche I will say that there was a lot of waste. This was my biggest issue, we bought things we just didn't eat.
Tracking and implementing a budget has resulted in far less waste which actually gave us more to spend on wants.
About a year and a half ago with college for DD and hopefully retirement some day looming, we have budgeted up!

Groceries are in the top 4 categories:
House/Utilities
Gas/Food

These line items start off every budget.

It took us awhile to figure out what was a good budget - we started by just keeping track and then we averaged and then we set it in stone.
Now, the budget is higher every 2 wks (costco run) and lower on the alternates (HEB grocery)\. Budget includes all household items ie cleaners, pet food, shampoo, toothpaste, tampons etc. I found that sticking with basic categories is the best method for us. The grocery budget also includes an allotment for eating out. Some weeks we might decide a fancier meal at home instead of out: steaks and fresh shrimp purchased at the grocery store for example in place of a meal out.

I put a stop to the stopping at the store to pick up a few things here and there throughout the week - groceries are bought once a week - if we run out of your favorite thing, too bad, so sad, wait until shopping day.
DD and DH contribute to the list, they text me their "wants" to be added to the list - whether this be for lunches, snacks etc. I will add to the list, they also know where the app is on my phone and will add if they think of it while my phone is accessible. The shopping list app on my phone is a great tool, it has all the "usual stuff" so I just check/uncheck or add if its a new item. I have 2 lists: Costco/HEB

Always in the beginning and now still periodically, I use a calculator app on my phone to track what we are spending as we shop.

We have up-scaled what we buy/eat at the grocery store and lowered our overall costs because we are paying attention to what we buy and when.
We pay more attention to sales and coupons but also we are much better at gauging consumption of perishables which has resulted in far less waste.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Holy crum, those school lunch prices are high! It was $1.60 for me in high school 13 years ago, elementary was cheaper. I think DD7's school lunches are high at $2.50!

Our budget has always been $200-$300/ month, depending on our income at the time. Right now, we have it budgeted where we pay all bills first, then factor in 8 tanks of gas for the month, and put $100 in savings. Out of what's left, about 1/3 goes toward groceries while the rest stays in our account for whatever random things happen to pop up (vehicle maintenance, license/plate renewal, school expenses, bday gifts, eating out occasionally, etc.) We have a family of 4 including a 7yo and a 2yo, and diapers, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and paper items are all included in the grocery budget, so it is tight.

I clip coupons out of the newspaper as well as online, matchup sales with coupons and use grocery store perks to save money and usually end up "saving" $100-$200/ month (If you call it saving anyway, since it's not like I would otherwise be spending more money on groceries, I'd just buy less).

We'd end up with far less groceries if I wasn't a huge stickler on prices. I won't buy meat unless it's less than $3/ lb, so no steaks around here! My biggest grocery expense is drinks. Our water isn't suitable for drinking or cooking, so we spend around $20 on water, plus $30 on milk, pop, and juice, and another $30 on Lactose-free milk for my son. After $30 for diapers and usually around $40 for paper goods/toiletries, that really only leaves us with $150 max for food. I typically base what we have for dinner on what was on sale that week. Breakfasts vary from cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, fruit- but all relatively cheap stuff. Lunches are sandwiches, soup, or leftovers. For the kids' snacks, I try to buy goldfish and pretzels and stuff in large sizes when they are on sale. For the most part, I don't buy things unless they are on sale or I have a coupon. The only exception to that is the Lactaid because it rarely goes on sale or has coupons around here, and DS can't drink regular milk.

DD rarely buys lunch because it's hard to justify the cost for a small carton of milk, a Bosco stick, and an apple. Admittedly, some of the school lunches are better than that, but that one really bugs me.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

First of all I budget a reasonable amount of money for food per week for myself, dh, dd (20) and ds (17) no pets but has to include all food, liquor and extras that a household needs to run smoothly (detergent, paper products etc.)
For us this comes out to $250/week and is not negotiable depending on bills needing to get paid. Also, we are in Canada and food is more expensive here. I usually shop between 2-3 stores following the week's sales.
Like you I do one big shop per week on Thursdays and supplement throughout the week as we run low on milk, fruits and veggies. We eat all breakfast and dinners at home and lunches are packed for most days. Dh and dd usually eat out 1-2 days per week for lunch and sometimes we will grab fast food on the weekend.
I have established a somewhat stocked pantry/freezer of things we eat a lot of to the point that a lot of the groceries I buy the current week are not needed for said week but are things i am able to get on sale. This allows me to not have to buy something full price because we have run out, I can wait until the item is on sale because I already have it stocked at home.
I always have leftover money at the end of the week which gets saved for fun stuff like vacations.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

You might get more help pn the budget board. Those people have amazing tips.

Do you plan your meals in advance

Thanks, but I'm not looking for tips...I've got that part covered. Yes, I plan EVERYTHING in advance! DH wants to just wing it.

Just wondering if most people put a higher priority on spending money on food like DH wants to, or if anyone really tries to work within a certain amount like I do

 

[jo-jo]

I had to look up what a bosco stick is. I only know bosco as chocolate syrup.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Holy crum, those school lunch prices are high! It was $1.60 for me in high school 13 years ago, elementary was cheaper. I think DD7's school lunches are high at $2.50!

Our budget has always been $200-$300/ month, depending on our income at the time. Right now, we have it budgeted where we pay all bills first, then factor in 8 tanks of gas for the month, and put $100 in savings. Out of what's left, about 1/3 goes toward groceries while the rest stays in our account for whatever random things happen to pop up (vehicle maintenance, license/plate renewal, school expenses, bday gifts, eating out occasionally, etc.) We have a family of 4 including a 7yo and a 2yo, and diapers, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and paper items are all included in the grocery budget, so it is tight.

I clip coupons out of the newspaper as well as online, matchup sales with coupons and use grocery store perks to save money and usually end up "saving" $100-$200/ month (If you call it saving anyway, since it's not like I would otherwise be spending more money on groceries, I'd just buy less).

We'd end up with far less groceries if I wasn't a huge stickler on prices. I won't buy meat unless it's less than $3/ lb, so no steaks around here! My biggest grocery expense is drinks. Our water isn't suitable for drinking or cooking, so we spend around $20 on water, plus $30 on milk, pop, and juice, and another $30 on Lactose-free milk for my son. After $30 for diapers and usually around $25 for paper goods/toiletries, that really only leaves us with $165 max for food. I typically base what we have for dinner on what was on sale that week. Breakfasts vary from cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, fruit- but all relatively cheap stuff. Lunches are sandwiches, soup, or leftovers. For the kids' snacks, I try to buy goldfish and pretzels and stuff in large sizes when they are on sale. For the most part, I don't buy things unless they are on sale or I have a coupon. The only exception to that is the Lactaid because it rarely goes on sale or has coupons around here, and DS can't drink regular milk.

DD rarely buys lunch because it's hard to justify the cost for a small carton of milk, a Bosco stick, and an apple. Admittedly, some of the school lunches are better than that, but that one really bugs me.

You sound like me! I plan my meals around what's on sale, and DH wants to plan around what he wants to eat at that moment!

Costco is my BFF, too....

 

[Mizzoufan]

Thanks, but I'm not looking for tips...I've got that part covered.

Just wondering if most people put a higher priority on spending money on food like DH wants to, or if anyone really tries to work within a certain amount like I do [/QUO

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I had to look up what a bosco stick is. I only know bosco as chocolate syrup.

Haha, I did too. I can't believe that's considered part of a healthy, balanced meal.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

We don't budget, but I do most of the shopping.
DH was at Whole Foods this week and managed to buy $100 of cheese.
So he may get a budget! Just not me.