How much do you spend on groceries each week

[lordscarlet]

We don't go quite as far as revrew, but where it's convenient we do. We buy from the bulk bins (oddly only available at whole foods) and buy generics. We try to make from scratch most of the time, but we do a fair amount of frozen vegetables because our schedule is just to irradic to always have time to make fresh vegetables and to use them before they go bad.

[RendeR]

Its hard to track what we spend per month let alone per week because of the bulk buying that I do.

Major consumable items generally come from Sam's club or BJ's in amounts that last at least 3 months, sometimes more.

For day to day items like milk cheese bread etc I shop at Aldi's

The prices are 1/3 of standard grocery stores, the brands are all smaller off-brand names but the food is just as good and in many cases better. The only thing with aldi's is no bags, you either take your own or you buy theirs (I don't do either, I have a bin in the back of our car that works just fine)

Meats are a huge expense for many people, I've lucked out and found a local mini-market/deli that has unbelievable prices on all meats, good quality stuff too.

Examples:

Beef loin (5lb average size cut to order) 4.50/lb
Boneless Chicken breast 40lb/box .99/lb (this varies up to 1.39 depending on their supplier)
Sirloin Hamburgers preformed frozen 10lb box $20.00

they have fantastic flavored sausages as well for 2 bucks a lb.

I love this place and I get all my meat there. it saves us literally hundreds of dollars a year.

I will grant that you must have a freezer big enough to stock the stuff in though. I've always owned a deep freeze, its just an appliance I consider a requirement.

My meat runs to SLoan Market run me 200 bucks 3x a year and we have steak, pork loin and all the burgers hotdogs and sausage we can eat.

Lemme figure here: (for a year)

Bj/Sam's runs 4 @ 200 a pop
Sloan Market Meats 3 @ 200 a pop
Aldi runs 24 @ 60 a pop
Tops for soda/others 24 @ 60 a pop

So all totaled around 90 bucks a week (using 52 weeks instead of 12 months)


Oh and I'm feeding a family of 4, 2 cats, and a dog.

[clemsonfan]

I guess I'm one of the few here that hates Aldi's.
I hate:
the quality of their products ( they taste subpar to me and Butterof69 we prefer Kroger, Meijer, or Walmart's store brands)

every time I've ever gone the lines have been outrageously long (they only have one cashier at the ones near us)

no bags ( I usually forget to bring my own bags)

having to have a quarter handy to use the carts ( I never carry cash let alone coins)

they have a very limited selection (it reminds me of a slightly bigger gas station)


I go to Kroger and Meijer and use coupons like crazy (they have double coupons)and sometimes I go to Walmart and Target (coupons aren't as great to use there). I use CVS for stuff like toiletries because you can't beat their Extra Care Bucks deal.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by clemsonfan

I use CVS for stuff like toiletries because you can't beat their Extra Care Bucks deal.

Yup, tag a coupon to a "free" item and you actually make $$.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by clemsonfan

having to have a quarter handy to use the carts ( I never carry cash let alone coins)

Obviously I've missed out on at least one trend in grocery shopping.

[Ksyrup]

I've never been to a grocery store that forces you to pay for a cart, but then I've never heard of Aldi's.

[Ksyrup]

Although we have found the carts at Meijer that have built-in TVs for the little ones to watch Dora/Backyardigans well worth the $1 investment.

[clemsonfan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I've never been to a grocery store that forces you to pay for a cart, but then I've never heard of Aldi's.

Aldi's is the only place I've ever seen do this. It's actually a good concept. You put a quarter in and a cart comes unlocked. When you return the cart, you get your quarter back. It's a quarter deposit. This keeps the carts nice and neat and it alleviates a need for lots of cart corrales. The problem I have with it is that I never have quarters.

[BigDawg]

Usally it depends on how much money I have left over for the week, than we get lots of peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches...LOL

On average I spend 150-175 family of 5 plus 1 small dog.
Not counting we eat out probibly once a week..pizza or something.

Older 2 boys couple times a week eat out with freinds.

I also give wife 20 bucks to go to DOLLAR STORE to get cleaning supplies, shampoo, soap, non edable things such as this.

If I was to buy EVERYONES food, 3 meals a day for 7 days it be 200-250 counting household supplies.

Than theirs the one week a month I am short maybe have 70 bucks so I get a lot of potatoes and RAMON NOODLES

[BigDawg]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Bj/Sam's runs 4 @ 200 a pop
Sloan Market Meats 3 @ 200 a pop
Aldi runs 24 @ 60 a pop
Tops for soda/others 24 @ 60 a pop

I get lucky with pop, local corner store has deal for THREE 3liters of FAYGO for 5 bucks.

What kills me is MILK, i think I spend more on milk a week than gas for my car, 3 teenagers plus me who loves a jumbo size bowl of froot loops.

[clemsonfan]

Originally Posted by BigDawg

What kills me is MILK, i think I spend more on milk a week than gas for my car, 3 teenagers plus me who loves a jumbo size bowl of froot loops.

Milk is one of those items that stores around here have price wars over. Right now a gallon is $1.79 at Target and $1.98 at Kroger and Walmart. I think it's about that much at Sam's too.

[RendeR]

Milk is an interesting one too because some states like Pennsylvania for example, regulate milk prices. A gallon of milk MUST remain within 30-40 cents of the state mandated price. Where as here in Buffalo there are places selling off gallons fo milk for whatever they think will sell it fastest.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by clemsonfan

I guess I'm one of the few here that hates Aldi's.
I hate:
the quality of their products ( they taste subpar to me and Butterof69 we prefer Kroger, Meijer, or Walmart's store brands)

every time I've ever gone the lines have been outrageously long (they only have one cashier at the ones near us)

no bags ( I usually forget to bring my own bags)

having to have a quarter handy to use the carts ( I never carry cash let alone coins)

they have a very limited selection (it reminds me of a slightly bigger gas station)


I go to Kroger and Meijer and use coupons like crazy (they have double coupons)and sometimes I go to Walmart and Target (coupons aren't as great to use there). I use CVS for stuff like toiletries because you can't beat their Extra Care Bucks deal.

I do hate the times I want to go in and get stuff, but don't have a fuckin quarter. The lines are long, but they usually fly through. If it's delayed, it's cause of customer error, "I can't find this 18 cent in my pocket", as opposed to cashier error.

You really have to watch what time of the day you go though.

And I don't buy all my food there, but I like a small subset of their generic stuff.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by clemsonfan

Milk is one of those items that stores around here have price wars over. Right now a gallon is $1.79 at Target and $1.98 at Kroger and Walmart. I think it's about that much at Sam's too.

Yep, we haven't paid more than $1.98 for milk in several months.

[Lorena]

You guys are lucky, milk out here is like $2.09 at Costco, but since I rarely go grocery shopping there, I end up paying about $2.34 or so at Wal-mart.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, but you probably pay slightly less than we do for gas, so that more than makes up for the milk price. Although our gas prices have fallen about 20 cents in the past couple of weeks.

[stevew]

i hate living in PA. I think milk is still around 3 bucks.

[Marc Vaughan]

One thing its worth noting with my food bill is that I work from home so eat at home more than most people (ie. all my meals during the week are normally at home) - I'd expect this inflates my home food bill a fair bit but actually saves me a small fortune.