How do you budget for groceries?

[osopecoso]

It's hard to budget for groceries. Daughters breakfast and lunch is catered at her school. We cook a lot from home but also go out about 2-3 nights a week. Every Sunday we have family over to grill and have the kids get together to play. We went overboard this past weekend since it was the first normal Sunday after hurricane Irma. We ended up spending $250 in meat alone.

 

[HarperLeigh]

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

When we weren't as financially comfortable as we are now, all other bills were paid first (mortgage, car, utilities, etc). Groceries were paid for with what was left and sometimes, it wasn't much. So I used to be a very militant grocery shopper , but as the years have gone on and our income increased, that has stopped. I no longer have a budget for groceries or household things, but there are still things my practical self won't let me buy. DH is a hunter, so we have plenty of elk and venison in the freezer so I don't have to buy steak ($12 a lb? Are they out of their mind!? ) It is this weird hang up I have, I guess. We can afford it, I just won't spend the money and if I ever do, it is maybe once or twice a year.

 

[Mirielle]

Budget for groceries at OUR house? Simple...we don't! Anything goes...ANYTHING!!!

 

[HarperLeigh]

Budget for groceries at OUR house? Simple...we don't! Anything goes...ANYTHING!!!

Probably not the best time for you to answer that question.

 

[BLAZEY]

I budget about $125/week. Some time it more others it is less. We all pack lunches to take to work/ school. I don't pouches or prepared fruit. DH is a chef and every other night he chops up fruit and veggies for snacks. Sandwiches or leftover s are taking a mains. DD8 is learning to pack her own balanced lunch. No juice boxes are allowed at school. Each child is supposed to have a refillable water bottle as part of their supplies.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Well it is just DH and I and our average is about 80 a week. But I don't go weekly we do a big shop and it can last a good 3 months, out side of some milk , bread or some veggies. DH does not do veggies so canned ones are better at least they last longer. We shop at Safeway and I down load the coupons and things on the card which bring in a bigger savings. I also get a lot of the meat out of the clearance section as well. Some times I can get a lot of steak and that lasts us a long time.

Maybe you and DH can go together and get the things he wants to buy in the shop once and see how it goes. And compare to what you buy and how much you spend and what you spend it on. Try to compromise a little bit. Get the kids involved as well. You may find that they will try things that come on the cheaper side of things and what your weekly budget is to shop as well. It teaches them how to see what things cost.

I also look for good things on pinterest for different things to munch on. You may find that a lot things you have on hand and only need to purchase a few items to make something. I loved being on the coupon train, till my poor hands could no longer cut, and could not sit up for long doing it. I think you may surprise yourself in how well you do.

 

[kimblebee]

We definitely shop with what money is left over. I am very good at only buying what we need to match what we already have. I wish we could buy what we want vs need but we just aren't there's now.

 

[MIGrandma]

I remember the days when we were first married and living on a super-tight budget. Bills got paid FIRST. There might only be $20 left to go to the grocery store so then we'd buy cereal for breakfast, a big bag of potatoes, a pkg. of cheap hamburger, and whatever extras we could with that amount. Of course $20 went much further back in 1975 than in does today.

I know we still had to budget for food when the kids were growing up, but they weren't too deprived and I don't recall that many complaints. We didn't eat out a lot, and I did a lot of cooking/baking from scratch.

We're at the point now where I no longer have to budget for food so we pretty much just buy whatever we want. I'm like a PP though, sometimes I'll put something back just because I think the price is too high for what I want to spend. And sometimes I'll stock up on favorite items that happen to be on sale, simply because I do like saving money when I can.

 

[aprilchem]

I'm really shocked at how many people don't budget for food. It's a line item in my budget - I make a monthly budget each month when I get paid. I stick to our budget strictly, or else we won't meet our savings goals for the month. We budget for all of our spending.

 

[sksjasams]

I prioritize grocery money behind bills/rent, but before other stuff we need/want.

My DS took hot lunch almost every day thru 8th grade. It was less than $3, so there was no way I could beat that price.
When he got to high school, everything was ala carte, so hot lunch would average close to $7. Too much for us. We compromised and he got hot lunch once a week. Usually twice during lent, just because we had a hard time coming up with sufficient meat-free ideas that would fill him up, and he doesn't like PB and J.

The thing with bringing a lunch everyday is that is gets incredibly monotonous having a sandwich every single day. I would switch up the types of bread/buns and meat/cheese, as well as sides. I would buy DS anything he asked for in his lunch, and then I would make his lunch every morning. No running out of the "good stuff" half way thru the week, because I bought enough to last the whole week and I was the one rationing it out.

If you don't want take on making lunches, make sure you buy plenty of the good stuff, and advise them how much of each item to pack for lunch and that those foods are ONLY allowed for school lunch, not snacks. Good luck!

 

[rer1972]

First part of any budgeting is knowing where the money is going. We purchase most of the same things every week, and our grocery bill ranges +/-$180 depending on any extra things we need that week. We try not to buy more than we need for that week either. We also follow a shopping list from an app on our phone that we can check on/off items we need that week and have purchased (as we shop).

So I would recommend making a list of what items you need each week and figure out what those cost, then estimate the cost of what the other things you plan to buy (from the list you make). Budget a little more than that amount. If you end up going over all the time, stop kidding yourself, and increase the budget. Eventually, you get to a point where it's about the same cost each week +/- a certain amount.

Just how we have done it for years.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

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

Me either. The other one I love in regards to it being a "balanced meal" is Mac and Cheese, cheez-its, sweet potato fries, and a cookie. How about carb overload? Not to mention your tray is full of nothing but orange and brown food-- sooo appealing!

DH was at Whole Foods this week and managed to buy $100 of cheese.

I cracked up at this. My grandfather does this too. He goes to a Cheese House and spends over $100 a few times a year.

 

[anniemae]

Budget for groceries at OUR house? Simple...we don't! Anything goes...ANYTHING!!!

Apparently! LOL!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

With a teenage son and a preteen DD I don't even bother budgeting for groceries. It can vary. One week they may go through a gallon of milk in two days and the next week they may not even touch it and it goes bad. I just buy what we need. The prices keep going up, the need for more food keeps going up and I don't see it going down in the next 5 years or so.

I do a big grocery trip every two weeks and do a "mini" trip (half of what I spend on the big week) on the off week.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Budget for groceries at OUR house? Simple...we don't! Anything goes...ANYTHING!!!

haha, I didn't get it until I clicked on your name to see what was so funny! I didn't even realize that there was another grocery store thread going on right now. Sorry everyone!

in your case, I would die if I saw that bill...lol, and that is exactly what I think my DH would do if he had his way!

 

[HarperLeigh]

I'm really shocked at how many people don't budget for food. It's a line item in my budget - I make a monthly budget each month when I get paid. I stick to our budget strictly, or else we won't meet our savings goals for the month. We budget for all of our spending.

We have money deposited directly into savings on pay day. We don't even see it, so it isn't part of our budget.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We have money deposited directly into savings on pay day. We don't even see it, so it isn't part of our budget.

This is exactly what we do. A percentage of my paycheck gets directly deposited into my savings account. I never see it.

 

[luvsJack]

I don't actually budget but try to keep it around the same amount every week. Sometimes we go way under and sometimes we go way over. I sometimes skip a week and fix from the feezer/pantry and then there are weeks like last month when we had all the kids over to watch a pay per view boxing match and grilled. I spent a week's amount on that one night (everyone likes something different and we just kept adding and adding and adding).

I do buy healthy first before any junk food. And I do plan my meals (but alas, my meal plans are sort of like Harry's plans in HP--we plan, we go, all heck break's loose lol) Whatever doesn't get eaten this week gets moved over to next week's menu. I have had the ingredients for chicken alfredo for a month now. Every time I plan to fix, dh comes home that night (he is rarely home during the week) and he doesn't like chicken alfredo so I fix something else. But I don't limit what anyone can or can't eat based on a budget. And I rarely say no to any thing anyone asks me to buy for them to eat.

Our budget buster is eating out. So now, I take the amount I was spending on take out during the week from dh's paycheck and I put it in a jar. Each day if I fix my lunch and fix supper, the money stays in the jar. If I don't fix my lunch I have to grab some cash out. If I decide not to cook one night, I have to get some cash out. At the end of the week, the amount left goes into savings.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My way of budgeting for everything is to spend "within reason." I shop carefully and look for sale items. If something is marked way down, I'll buy a bunch to last for several weeks or more. If I think something priced unreasonably, I don't buy it. If I come home with a certain type of granola bar, my boys say, "Yay! These must be on sale this week!" They know I won't buy them at the regular price. They're certainly not deprived of anything, they just know we don't get certain brands unless they're marked down. Some weeks I spend more on groceries, some weeks I spend less.

 

[tvguy]

We need to eat, so no specific dollar amount budget. We plan our meals for the next week at the store based on what is on sale. What kills the budget is when we need laundry soap and paper products.