GTFan
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Couple hundo a month for two, but I'm a good deal shopper and there's plenty of them here. Couponmom.com is my friend.
I'm not sure how you could read this thread and think that most here are frugal.
We try to buy some organic but more importantly we stay away from the chemical laden foods.
We are saving for retirement.
Haha! Good point, but I guess I was thinking of other threads like "Cutting the Cable" where members go to great lengths to save $100 a month on cable (pretty frugal!) but don't bat an eye to spend $1000 a month on food. Not judging at all, I just find it interesting.
For those who enjoy Quest bars, Target carries 4-packs for $7.50 in So CA. Pretty good deal but limited flavor selection. I recently ordered Quest cookies. Thought they were just OK until I heated one up. YUM! Chocolate chip is my favorite but peanut butter and gingerbread are not bad. They are a lot of calories (250) but good for a meal replacement, and pretty filling.
Amazon charges an arm and a leg for Quest bars but I order a box of them every month or two anyway.
For those who enjoy Quest bars, Target carries 4-packs for $7.50 in So CA. Pretty good deal but limited flavor selection. I recently ordered Quest cookies. Thought they were just OK until I heated one up. YUM! Chocolate chip is my favorite but peanut butter and gingerbread are not bad. They are a lot of calories (250) but good for a meal replacement, and pretty filling.
It's all about priorities. Once you have enough income in retirement, you decide what you want to spend your money on, and what you don't want your spend your money on.Haha! Good point, but I guess I was thinking of other threads like "Cutting the Cable" where members go to great lengths to save $100 a month on cable (pretty frugal!) but don't bat an eye to spend $1000 a month on food. Not judging at all, I just find it interesting.
It’s all about priorities. I could totally cut off TV and not miss it, but can’t say the same about Ahi Poke from Gelson’s or center cut filet mignon from Trader Joe’s.
If you eat organic, would you still be doing so if you were still saving for retirement?
Our groceries are high here in New Orleans, too, and I don't know why.I see these numbers and now have confirmation that living in Florida is NOT cheap anymore ! We spend $600 / month on food (very rarely eat out) for 2 and I shop sales like a madwoman. Imagine if I didn't ! Beer and wine is NOT included in that number. That comes out of our individual monthly "allowance" and is not tracked in detail.
Currently we budget $400 for our family of 4, we have a teenager and soon to be teenager. We budget $100 a month on "date night" but in all reality it's more entertainment than actual food.
I estimate our grocery budget will be $300 when the boys are out of the home.
Whats your grocery budget?
Instead of dollar amounts, I will say that our total food cost is a bit more than 7.3% of our total living expenses.
That's low compared to the 10% I have seen for the average in the US. I guess we either eat little or inexpensive food, or spend too much on other stuff.
We spend approx. $1,000 per month (family of 3) on groceries AND anything we buy AT the grocery store (soap, TP, cleaners, shampoo, air fresheners, etc.). We've never taken the time to sit down with the calculator and break out the stuff we put IN our body from the stuff we put ON and AROUND our bodies. This does inlucd $1,470 we paid in late November last year for a half steer of which we still have 50 LBS of meat. Taking that out would only reduce our bill to $875 give or take. This doesn't take into accoun that my wife has digestive issues and eats 800 calories a day, 75% of which are from rice cakes!
I've read so many "Mr. Money Mustache" articles about families of 4-5 eating organically and healthy for pennies on the dollar of what we spend but we have not been able to find many discounts or coupons for the stuff we buy. NO processed foods other than the organic ramen noodles ($1.25 vs. $.10 per package), etc.
Love to hear some tips!