Poll: Grocery Expenses

 Hi,

We've been on a cost cutting excercise for a few weeks now.

Right now the big expense we have is food.  We used to eat out
a lot but for the last few weeks we've only done that once on
twice on the weekends.

Still, our grocery bill is $250 a week & my husband spends another
$60 buying lunches at work.  Add that up along with eating out
twice and we're over $350 a week on food for a small of 4 (2
kids under 3).

Obviously my husband can start packing a lunch and we can reduce
our eating out to 0 meals.

But $250 a week on groceries for our small family does seem to
be way too much.

How much do most of you guys spend on groceries per week?

 
If you want to cut your costs, I *would* suggest your husband pack a lunch.
If that $60 is for 5 days, then even something like a prepared frozen entree
from the grocery plus a piece of fruit would be a lot cheaper. For
rock-bottom cost, something like a PB and J or cheese sandwich plus the
fruit would only be a fraction of what he's spending now.  And of course,
leftovers from dinner the night before are a staple of many people's packed
lunches.

Yes, $250 for your family does sound like a lot. But without knowing more
specifics of what you're buying or how you're cooking, it's difficult to
make suggestions. For example, does that figure include non-food items
purchased at the grocery? Convenience foods? Lots of meat?

One thing you might do is talk with some older relatives or
acquaintances--I'm talking about people in their 50s to 80s--who grew up
before the advent of convenience foods and know Depression-era strategies
for feeding a family economically. The bottom line, though, is that you'll
possibly need to spend more time in the kitchen. Are you willing to do that?
Food prep time equals money, but if you're serious I'm sure that bill can be
cut substantially.

Overall this topic has been discussed here a zillion times over the years. I
also suggest you do a search of the newsgroup archives. But if you'll post
again, I'll see if there's anything I can advise about.

 

Or get your butt out of the bed and make one for him.   He is NOT
going to change his "convenient" ways.    

YOU need to make it happen with a delicious and tasty lunch for him
when he is walking out the door.

 

Spoken like true sexist.  Since when isn't an adult male able to forage for
his own food?  Maybe mommie always did it for him and he never learned?
Maybe it is time he did learn.


She is probably already at work and he is the blanket-butt that can't get
out of bed until he barely has enough time to jump into his clothes and
leave.  The woman the is NOT the only one that can cook or make lunches.

 
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