[shelbydog]

I am FLOORED at what we spend eating out AND on groceries each month.

Curious what others spend with approx. family of 4? I totalled up 60 days worth, and in a 30 day period, we spent over $800 on groceries and over $600 eating out! (inc. lunches for DH at work, etc) The above included a month when we were visiting family at the beach and we did spring for a few dinners out, etc. but STILL - I mean really!!!!!

Something is very wrong!! I remember when we had 1 kid I had us down to $50 a week on groceries. Time to get back to that and some serious budgeting. Any tips???

[052001]

I think we spend about $600 a month. My husband and I pack lunches for work.

Can your husband pack a lunch instead of going out? If he spends $10 a day on lunch, that's $200 a month.

One idea is to shop your store's specials and use coupons with the specials. My husband does this and sometimes we even things for free. For example, the store had a sale on brand name cereal. We used coupons and ended up paying $3 for 10 boxes of cereal. Doing this takes a bit of work, but it's worth it.

[sheababy]

I must admit, we are just as bad. Growing up poor though, I do know how to budget. My problem is I bring my lunch and then decide that's not what I want so I go out to eat. Here are the tips I'm giving myself as I'm working to cut our expenses (cause let's face it-that kind of money could add up to a vacation):

1 - get control of what I have on hand. Write down what I have in the pantry and deep freeze and try to plan meals around that

2-keep a list of staples and mark when I run out of something.

3-Plan my meals and bring my breakfast and lunch to work instead of hitting the drive-thru.

4-When I really start to get organized, plan my meals around the grocery ad and buy staples while they are on sale.

5-treat myself to a meal out once and awhile-I'm no good at going cold turkey.

I have heard other people say they make meatless meals a few nights a week. Soups are super cheap to make. I also buy in bulk and bag into smaller portions.

Woman's Day just had an article on feeding a family of 4 for $100 per week, you might be able to find it online.

[Pipercub]

I'm right there with you. My husband and his business partner recently incorporated their own business and so it makes for alot of late hours. I hate cooking for myself and him not being here, so we eat out way too often.

I talked to someone I know that is really good with coupons. For the last month, I've been saving the coupons out of the paper. A week's worth of groceries and supplies is about $130 or our family of four PLUS we eat out. So anyway, this last weekend I spent a few hours (yeah hours, maybe I'm slow) carefully looking at the sales fliers and planning my coupons. Our Kroger will triple and double manufacture coupons, so that helps. I bought two weeks of groceries and supplies and the total was still $260...but then with the coupons it was $205. I saved $55 and 20% by using coupons. I was shocked. I bought the stuff I usually buy, but actually saved money. I will say it was time consuming, and the place where I save money was on toiletries and cleaning supplies and baby products - but still - wow. Proctor and Gamble as well as Kroger and some other sites have coupons you can print out from online too. I try to stick to the main websites because I want to be sure the coupons are valid and will be accepted at the stores. I'm going to be dabbling in shopping the sales at CVS and Walgreens next. My friend goes there and saves a ridiculous amount through careful shopping.

I'm realistic enough to know we probably aren't going to completely stop eating out. I've added two "cheap-cheap" meals each week, as I call them. Whether waffles, eggs, and bacon or heated up sandwiches and soup, or even spaghetti and meatballs, I discovered I could do a dinner for the 4 of us with sides and dessert for about $8 (where eating out even fast food is about $20, saving $12 by eating at home) So that adds another $24 a week just by having the two cheap meals.

Between using the coupons (saves about $25 a week) and the two cheap-cheap meals a week (saves about $25 a week), it puts $50 a week back into the budget - or $200 over a month. I'm not nearly as frugal as I should be and I'm working on changing our habits. But in the meantime, even those two small changes have had a significant impact. Good luck!

[becky]

I spend about $600 per month at the grocery. We probably spend at least $400 eating out, but this amount can be much less when I actually 'plan' meals and cook during the week!

My husband and I sit down on Sunday mornings with the ads and come up with a menu for the week. We typically eat out on Friday or Saturday and do leftovers on Sunday.

We plan our meals around what is on sale. I always stock up when boneless skinless chicken breast is on sale, and I keep some in the freezer for quick and easy meals during the week.

I do use coupons, but not as much as I should.

My children take lunch to school every day. I take lunch and my husband takes at least 2 or 3 days per week.

We typically have "Baked Potato" bar once or twice per month. That is very inexpensive and the kids love it.

[blessedbytwo]

We spend around the same amount you do. You are not alone

[joepegcamp]

Every week, we decide how much we want to spend on groceries. This dollar amount is based on how much we need to spend on other things (like the electric bill, for example, or if we need haircuts that week).

I withdraw the CASH out of the bank, go to the store armed with a list of our "must haves" (milk, eggs, stuff for hubbies lunch), and our wants (things that we'd like, but could survive without. I start with the must haves. If I have any money left over, I start buying things off of our wants list.

I use coupons and shop the sales, too.

Since we have implemented our new shopping program, we have saved $2500! (In 8 months!) That cash is sitting in a bank account. We think we'll buy furniture for our new home.

We eat out probably once a week. And by eating out, I mean that we go out for pizza, order in Chinese or go to a favorite sub shop.

We are trying to remain as healthy as possible, so cooking in is important to us. Less preservatives, more nutrition and way cheaper. (I also lost about 15 pounds by cooking fresh meals at home.)

[melissa41]

We have been keeping track of expenses for the last 6 months. We are trying to get a good picture of how we spend our money and where we can cut back etc. I am not great at budget shopping at the grocery. I am very brand loyal on certain items (Kashi cereals, organic milk, etc) that are higher priced. I do however try to buy the meat on sale and plan around those because meat is expensive. I crock pot almost every day (hate to cook so crock pot is not so bad.) I also stock up on staples when our grocery runs them B1G1 free (like ketchup, soups, etc) so sometimes that adds to our bill that week but eventually we use those items.

We do take a certain amount of cash out of bank for eating out and stick it in an envelope. When it is gone, no more eating out. That helps aton. I love to eat out..even if it is just Chick-Fil-A.

I still spend a ton at the grocery store + Target (buy lots of food there too). Most months, those 2 together are around $900-1200.

Good luck.

[JillnChris]

We used to spend A LOT on eating out and groceries. Now I try to limit our grocery budget to $100 a week and our eating out budget is $100 for the whole month. We try to eat out as little as possible because we are trying to pay off some debt. I can say we've been eating a lot healthier because of it!
ETA: I've been using thegrocerygame.com and have a huge stockpile of toiletries and cleaning supplies now. I also save a lot on food that way. If you stock up on things while they are on sale instead of waiting until you run out then you won't ever pay full price. Also, afullcup.com is a great resouce too.

[robandjulie]

Eating out: about $30/week so about $120-$150 per month. That's one take-out chinese or pizza night and 2-3 subway lunches for me. DH is home with the kids so I'm the only lunch not covered by the grocery bill.

We do pretty well on groceries, average about $450/month. But our kids are younger than yours and probably eat far less b/c most days I swear they get by on air and sunshine.

Places we save a lot:
1. My parents own a beef farm so we get free beef. Unfortunately, having grown up with steak and burger every single night for 18+ years I really don't care for it so we eat meat about once a week which is in itself a savings. If you eat a lot of meat, maybe look into buying a 1/4 of a beef from a local farmer. My parents do that ALL THE TIME and sell 1/4's and 1/2 cows to friends and family.

2. We have a reasonable garden with lots of veggies through the summer. A little late to get in that if you aren't, but container gardening is pretty productive if you plant stuff you'll enjoy eating.

3. We shop at farmer's markets and buy fruits on sale and can our own jam. It's really really easy. You basically clean and measure out the fruits and boil them for awhile until they're soupy, add in the sugar, then add the geliton (Certo; sold in most grocery stores and has all the recipes inside the box) and pour it into the jars that have been run through the dishwasher. That's about it. $8 in produce in May made 12 jars of jam. The kids have PB&J on wheat every lunch (by request) so that, a $10 tub of PB and the $3/week bread gets us through 1/2 the meals (plus a bag of carrots, box of raisins, veg's from garden, applesauce, etc). I made our own bread for about 4 months and that was easy enough but the kids prefer store bought and I got out of the habit.

We really do make a lot of our own foods. DH makes pickles from our cucumbers. From the garden we usually can a few jars of salsa and pasta sauce. We can and/or freeze our own applesauce each fall, make our own yogurt (1/2 gallon of organic milk = 1/2 gallon of organic yogurt overnight in the crockpot), etc.

4. Whenever possible, I cook 2-3x as much as we need (adds almost no extra time to the meal I'm already making) and freeze 1-2 extra meals. Right now in my freezer I have a veggie lasagna, an enchilada casserole, and two carrot cakes. If life gets a little crazy it's easy enough to pull that out in the AM and pop it in the oven which means less unplanned take-out. And usually if I do that it's b/c I'm using up something I got on sale.

I have to say, despite all that "work" I'm really lazy and have completely stopped bothering with coupons. Most of the coupons were for cereals and products we just don't use. We don't buy juice, tend to eat pancakes or oatmeal for breakfast rather than the cereals, rarely have ice cream in the house, etc. so coupons usually just encouraged us to buy things we wouldn't buy otherwise. If I need a can of beans I'll consider the cheaper brand or the one on sale, but will usually just grab my usual brand and move on. If my usual brands are on sale I'll load up a little, though.

[SKL]

To be honest, right now I am not economizing to my highest potential. It just isnt' the highest priority with all the hours I am working. I don't spend a horrible amount on groceries considering that I shop at an organic food store. I don't buy meat for cooking and keep meals really simple - mostly whole or frozen fruits/veggies, milk, bread, canned and dry stuff. No treats, junk food, juices, and the only "snack" food is meal replacement type stuff. I probably spend about $100/week for 5 people nowadays. It could be a lot less if I needed to be more careful.

That said, we do go out to eat at least once a week and it probably ranges from $30 to $120 each time, depending on where we go. We doggy-bag and eat the leftovers for lunches/dinners. We don't order meals for the kids (they share the adult stuff), but sometimes we order "extra" (essentially carry-out) for those who really crave the type of food we don't prepare at home. Personally I would rather not spend so much on eating out, but it's one of those shared "fun" experiences that I do for the group. And I do NOT enjoy cooking, so I'm not about to compete with the allure of the restaurant.

[annaguat]

Our grocery bill is scarey but then we normally have 15 or more people eating three meals daily at home or taking a sack lunch. Often there are also extra people who happen to drop by with meal time and they normally eat along. None of us really eat out any more with the economy right now as it is. I think eating at home and cooking from scratch is the way to go if you want to budget. Also we bake our own bread, drink water and have our own milk goats. Anna

[stilldeciding]

For us, we use to buy (back then....ok, we really had no budget) like 500+ for groceries and eating out was about 300+ or more per month and this amount was back when food was way cheaper...like 10 years ago. But due to me getting food poisoning a few times from eating fast food AND my health and DH's health being bad, we gave it all up! We are likely today to spend, 10/per month or less on eating out if anything at all. The times we do eat out...it's most times just picking up a Submarine sandwich once in awhile.

DH always bags his lunch....the kids are homeschooled so lunch for them is always at home anyways. And even when we go on vacation...we bring food with us. Though sometimes we will stop 1-2 times to eat on on vacation..mostly just a breakfast or 1 dinner. But 99% of our food on vacation is brought with us and made by us. It definitely keeps the cost very low and it makes things easier for us to have a vacation on a major budget.

For me, it's more about getting the most for our money. I cut coupons, watch what we spend...though to be honest..I have always been this way to a degree. I have always bought major clearance items and even work part-time at a department store so I can get my kids major clothes for very cheap. Just a few days ago..I bought my kids around 100.00 worth of clothes..BUT because they were 70% off plus an additional 40% PLUS my 20-30% discount...I got bags full of expensive stuff for nothing. Jeans around 2-3 dollars...college apparel for 1-3 bucks and shorts for like 2 dollars or less....etc...for 2 kids....I got a lot of stuff for them. I have begun to watch what I bought to eat over the years as well. Buying things on sale, stocking up..buying an off brand, shopping at discount food chains, and food clubs keep us well fed for very little. And today out budget is around 300/per month, maybe a tad over some months...as we buy more every 3-4 months...and this all includes hygiene, cleaning supplies and the food.
Other ways we save: I took my kids out of their private school and that has saved me almost 1,000/per month. YEESH! We find major coupons on favorite family fun places and enjoy ourselves for much cheaper. We payed off our cars awhile back and now our next van, we will be saving up for and buying cash...no more car loans. Rather own it outright then have a financial crisis come up and worry how we will pay for that bill. (DH is a systems analyst...but years back was laid off...we kept our cars...our home..but only by the grace of God) We also gave up ALL credit cards...now we only have one very small balance left from all those years ago...yes, we are STILL paying our LAST card off even though it has NOT been used ever in almost a decade...sad, but true. And it wasn't ever a HUGE balance on this thing..either..just high interest. DH and I just do not believe in having debts anymore...and have been slowly paying off thing. We also are looking at the idea of making our own laundry soap and household chemicals...to save even more money. We also 5 years ago, got a pay per minute cell phone and only use it when absolutely necessary!

After being so burdened by so many expenses..it feels great to be lowering our monthly costs. Just am tired of paying for things I really do NOT want anyways. And because of that we are able to have our 2 year old home we built, major toys for our kids in our backyard and a whole lot more time to do things WITH our kids as my income is 100% discretionary and I work only 2/days per week. Only DH's income is used for our epenses! Still got a ways to go..but hey...it's a process...one I hope will continue our plan to be 100% debt-free, eventually including our home! That's our goal anyways.

[LJR1974]

It was during our adoption, when I also turned up pg that reality hit us over the head. I was going to have to stay at home, and we were going to have 2 kids basically at once.

We began budgeting for the first time in our lives. I credit it to The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. Somehow we paid Zack's adoption in cash, and now about 2 years after we began we are debt free except our home and have a 6 month emergency fund in a savings acct. I seriously can't believe it.

We live pretty darn tight. $425/mo groceries and about $80/mo for restaurants. We pay for both in cash (so we aren't tempted to go over budget). That includes toiletries, diapers, paper products, everything. No separate Target fund.

I just started using coupons (specifically using coupons combined with sales) this week. We'll see how this changes the budget. If you want a free site about finding coupon deals, go to couponmom.com

[joepegcamp]

We also practice portion control. It's unbelievable how big portions are these days, and what we think is a "normal" portion.

We pick up the flash frozen chicken breasts at Sam's Club. Those suckers are huge! We cut them down the middle and one chicken breast feeds two people.

Coupons don't work for us all that well. We eat mainly fresh foods. Breakfast is usually eggs or whole wheat bread with almond butter. My husband likes cereal on the weekends, so I usually pick up the Malt A Meal cereals for him.

The big savings for us came when we separated out wants vs. needs. We drink organic milk, eat mostly organic fruits and veggies and brown bag lunches. Anything having to do with the basics, is a need.

We don't feel like we're missing anything by not buying the junk -- the chips, the snack foods, the sugary desserts. If we want something sweet, I bake it from scratch at home. These are our wants.

We started this to save money, but our health has improved greatly, too. We rarely get sick with colds and viruses (and when we do catch something, we get over it faster), we lost weight, and we have a growing savings account.

I'm also surprised by the high quality of the private brands (these are usually the store's brand). We save a ton of money by buying the store's private brands.