How do you budget for groceries?

[CdnCarrie]

We have a budget but often exceed it. Trying to stick to meal plans to avoid going over. We don't eat out much for either lunch or dinner.

Groceries cost more up here so sounds like a ton compared to some in the USA but we spend about $200-$250 a week in groceries. Of course I have 2 teenage boys that eat a ton. And I'm including cleaning products in that.
I do the standard stocking up on sales and meal planning.

I just go with it as I know in 6-10 years it will go way down as they move out/ aren't home much, etc. Now and the next few years are the highest our grocery bills will ever be.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Groceries are considered a "have to" for us, the same as mortgage, utilities, insurance, tuition, etc, so yes, I guess we budget for them. We don't buy or do anything extra (including eating out) until all of the "have to" things are taken care of. We (usually DH, but we all give input) come up with a menu for the week and make a grocery list from that, and DH does our shopping on Friday or Saturday, depending on his work schedule. If it isn't on the list, he doesn't get it, and we don't go back to the store until the following week.

Our school doesn't have a cafeteria, so my kids (16 and 14) take their lunch every day. They have access to microwaves, so they usually take leftovers, sandwiches, or stuff we have made and frozen for lunches, and the extra things that are bought for lunches (fruit, veggies, cookies, whatever) are only for lunches. If they eat everything that was for snacks in that week's lunch, they just don't have any to take to school--this hasn't happened in a long time. We keep the lunch-specific stuff in a different cabinet, and we usually cut up and bag the veggies/fruit that are for lunches on the weekend, so they are separate in the fridge.

 

[LilyWDW]

I spend $200 to $250 a month on groceries, but that amount also includes things like OTC meds, personal items, paper products, kitty litter, and the like. It used to be a strict $200 but my income has increased so I have put another $50 a month into there if I want to use it. That way I can have a steak once a month or so.

I have been eating a few too many meals at work, but the staff meal deal is only $3 and the food is really good.

 

[RedAngie]

I don't have a budget, but there are plenty of things I don't buy unless they're on sale. Cereal has to be $1.99 or less, soda 12-packs for under $3, cans of solid white tuna for a buck or lower, etc. When they're on sale, I stock up. Even with perishables: boneless skinless chicken breast for $2 per pound, 90% ground beef for $3 lb. etc. I separate into smaller packages and freeze for later. Butter, packages of hot dogs, bacon, etc. can also be frozen.

I plan some meals around which fresh vegetables are on sale.

I don't have clue how much I spend on groceries. I'm usually at one supermarket or another two or three times a week for relatively small orders. Maybe twice a month I can't go thru the 15 items or fewer express lane. (Only me and DH in the house now, but it was fairly similar when DDs were still at home.)

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I don't have a budget, but there are plenty of things I don't buy unless they're on sale. Cereal has to be $1.99 or less, soda 12-packs for under $3, cans of solid white tuna for a buck or lower, etc. When they're on sale, I stock up. Even with perishables: boneless skinless chicken breast for $2 per pound, 90% ground beef for $3 lb. etc. I separate into smaller packages and freeze for later. Butter, packages of hot dogs, bacon, etc. can also be frozen.

I plan some meals around which fresh vegetables are on sale.

I don't have clue how much I spend on groceries. I'm usually at one supermarket or another two or three times a week for relatively small orders. Maybe twice a month I can't go thru the 15 items or fewer express lane. (Only me and DH in the house now, but it was fairly similar when DDs were still at home.)

I freeze meat too. I love it when I can get beef or chicken for $2 or less/lb in bulk. I never thought about freezing butter though. Do you do the sticks or the tubs or doesn't it matter?

 

[AquamarineSteph]

When we purchased our first house, we had a strict budget for everything. And we stuck to it, even with groceries which always went +/- $5 of the goal amount. We're not in our first house any longer, but we still pay attention to what we spend on groceries. We still look for sales. We still use coupons. I sent my other half to the grocery store last week with a list that included a specific cut of meat that the recipe called for. He comes back without that cut b/c it cost like $50! I'm not spending that on meat when a cheaper cut will do just fine. If something is too expensive, we substitute a cheaper option.

We eat a lot of veggies. We drink a lot of water. I think you should always be willing to buy healthy food as far as your budget allows. I don't think that includes buying anything you want to eat. I've never purchased groceries with that mindset. If it did, I'd probably spend more money than I could justify spending for food that may or may not be consumed.

It sounds like you're doing a good job to me, OP. But I don't expect everyone else to agree.

 

[olliesmom]

We spend about 350-380/month for two adults. I'm not particularly strict with our food budget, I'd rather make adjustments in our non-necessity categories. I do try to shop carefully, though. I only buy meat that is on sale and go to a produce market for fruits and veggies that has great prices. I stock up on frozen fruits and veggies when they're on sale and try to bake at home rather than buying prepared items. We do like good cheeses, so I'll buy those full priced. We do try to eat at home more often than we eat out, and I like making big batches of mac and cheese, chili, etc. to keep in the fridge.

 

[RedAngie]

I freeze meat too. I love it when I can get beef or chicken for $2 or less/lb in bulk. I never thought about freezing butter though. Do you do the sticks or the tubs or doesn't it matter?

I freeze the stick butter right in the box, and take one stick out at a time to thaw as needed. I never tried freezing the whipped butter in a tub, or margarine, or "spread."

 

[tzolkin]

I don't have a budget, but there are plenty of things I don't buy unless they're on sale. Cereal has to be $1.99 or less, soda 12-packs for under $3, cans of solid white tuna for a buck or lower, etc. When they're on sale, I stock up. Even with perishables: boneless skinless chicken breast for $2 per pound, 90% ground beef for $3 lb. etc. I separate into smaller packages and freeze for later. Butter, packages of hot dogs, bacon, etc. can also be frozen.

I plan some meals around which fresh vegetables are on sale.

This is how I do groceries as well. Basically only buy things when they are on sale.

We have a huge pantry and chest freezer so I will stock up when I see something at my "acceptable" price.

I often plan my meals for the week around the fresh vegetables that are on sale. Asparagus is a favorite in my household but I'm not paying $5.49/lb for it. We will eat something with asparagus whatever week it's on sale for $1.99.

A good grocery trip for me is when I save more than I spent.

 

[Poohforyou]

I don't budget but I also don't spend $5.50 for lunch or give that amount to my kid. I strive for our family to eat a healthy diet and believe in doing our best to only eat humane animal products. Healthy whole foods cost more than processed food so I'm sure what we spend would seem crazy to some people. I do shop sales when I can.

I think there's a happy medium between your husband and you. As for snacks, I agree with you, a reasonable amount is purchased each week and if they're gone before the next shopping trip that's too bad.

 

[EveDallas]

I feel the same.

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.

Me too. I have to budget. That's just the reality of my life. I wish I had the money to buy whatever!

 

[Southernmiss]

Here's another angle. When my kids hit about 12, their need of food and calories jumped-lots of after school sports and active activities.

I had to come off my attitude of 'this is what I'm buying for the week, when it's gone it's gone' as they really did need the extra snacks after school.

Once I adjusted and bought more of what they liked, it made for a happier household. All ate a healthy dinner after snacks.

Kids are 23, 20,18 and 15. No issues health or grade wise with extra snacks.

In fact 18 year old college kid is home and looking for snacks, but I don't have his favorites as I wasn't expecting him to come home. I'll get enough tomorrow for him to take back.

They're truly young and in our homes for a little time in the grand scheme, that snacks and favorite foods are not a battle I want to create.

And we increased our food budget as they aged. Food is a top line item. This summer with 6 'adult' appetites I spent $1000 per month. And I'm trying to get dh and I to cut out the whites and carbs. To me, spending more on food for health is worth it.

 

[ronandannette]

We don't budget for food or anything else exactly, not in the strict sense of "we have this much to spend and no more". We spend what we feel we need to. I'd guess it's about $1,000/mo including 1 "big shop" and stopping in at our neighbourhood grocer just about daily for something or other. Our biggest enemy is waste - I could live with what we spend if we weren't throwing away 20% or more of it. We often end up abandoning meal plans for an impromptu invitation out or even just scrounging for cereal or sandwiches after a particularly late or gruelling day.

We'd probably make out better if I just abandoned the $400 "big shop" and just picked up what we needed day-to-day since then it would be much more likely to all get used. That's counter to the advice most would give but I've really been thinking about giving it a try. October won't be the month for it though as it includes our Thanksgiving; that dinner is several hundred dollars on it's own and would skew my results.

 

[aprilgail]

Food shopping comes before anything else- I always food shopped on Sunday and if snacks etc were gone I would do a quick run to the store again on Wed or Thursday.

 

[monsterkitty]

We don't budget, but I do plan our meals. I find that if I use the Kroger Clicklist, where you order on-line and then go to the store and pick up the groceries I spend less because I'm not making impulse buys. Never go to the store after swimming 8,000 meters. Seriously, I was shopping on the weekends after long workouts and I was starving so everything was ending up in my carts. Now I just do the clicklist, swing buy the store and they even load the bags into my car! I use Amazon Prime or shop at Target for cleaning supplies.

My SIL would lock up the lunch items in a closet. She had the snack food items in the pantry and when the 4 teens ate through those by mid week they were out of luck for snack foods. The kids could still make their lunches with the locked-up food, but there would be no more snacks for the week unless they bought their own.

 

[tasha99]

When my family was younger, we budgeted for groceries and I was really good at planning around sales and going to multiples stores to save money. Now, we don't budget and just buy whatever we want. We do buy bulk at Costco and a local restaurant supply store. I'm pretty excellent about not throwing food away--extra meat/seafood gets frozen, extra produce gets prepared and frozen or fermented. We save all leftovers, even if it's just a single serving or less. So often, that little bit that was barely worth saving makes a handy snack. We don't buy much in the way of convenience food, making leftovers pretty valuable for anyone who doesn't want to have to cook to eat.

 

[Topper]

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.

You can print Lactaid coupons: https://www.lactaid.com/coupons-and-offers
Not huge savings, but every little bit helps.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

You can print Lactaid coupons: https://www.lactaid.com/coupons-and-offers
Not huge savings, but every little bit helps.

Thank you SO much!

 

[Snowysmom]

We don't budget but there are things I won't buy unless they are on sale. We are eating healthier so fresh produce, chicken, and whole grains are a big part of our shopping list. I do a meal plan every week and make the shopping list from that. It is only DH and I now. We both bring lunch from home as well as snacks. We eat out once a week and get salads once a week. Plus we feed the birds so lots of birdseed is a part of our shopping trip. I joke that we need to declare them as dependents.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I don't have a strict budget for groceries. There are just 2 of us, so the cost isn't too high for food. We eat at home 5 nights and generally eat out/at my parents house 2 nights. I am a huge bargain/coupon shopper and try to keep a good stock of things in the cabinet/fridge so if money is a little tighter one week I can skip the grocery (other than fresh fruit). I do my meal planning a little backwards of some, instead of making my plan and then going to the grocery, I go to the grocery and see what I can get deals for and then make up the meals for the week from that. For example this past week, we grilled steaks one night. I would have never just decided to grill steaks and then gone to Kroger and paid full price for steaks - but when I was at the grocery last weekend, there was a great looking package of steaks in the "Manager's Special" markdown bin for just $5, so that is how steaks ended up on the menu.