Poll: How Much Do You Spend On Groceries?

[jesslynn555]

I wanted to ask people how much money they spend on groceries. One year ago, our family of 2 adults and 3 small children, ate for $200 a month.

Over the last year, between the cost of food in general greatly increasing, and switching to a gluten-free diet, our budget has gone out the window.

My husband and I would like to get back to following a budget, but we don't know what a realistic amount is. Obviously, it will be much more than $200 a month.

Let me know how much you guys spend. Maybe it will help us pick a realistic number that we can actually stick with.

THANKS!

[home-based-mom]

I wanted to ask people how much money they spend on groceries. One year ago, our family of 2 adults and 3 small children, ate for $200 a month.

Over the last year, between the cost of food in general greatly increasing, and switching to a gluten-free diet, our budget has gone out the window.

My husband and I would like to get back to following a budget, but we don't know what a realistic amount is. Obviously, it will be much more than $200 a month.

Let me know how much you guys spend. Maybe it will help us pick a realistic number that we can actually stick with.

THANKS!

Many here have found that by shopping around the edges of the store where the naturally gluten-free fresh and frozen meats and produce are found, and then cooking from scratch instead of relying on processed convenience foods and fast foods, their overall food expenses have actually gone down.

You can get some money saving hints for shopping at Open Original Shared Link and then apply the concept to gluten free shopping.

Personally I did not replace gluteny stuff with gluten-free versions (with a few occasional exceptions) so my budget really didn't change much.

I'm sure others will chip in with more hints.

[linuxprincess]

Now that I"m a GFCFer I've decided that I will enjoy my food or I will not eat it. I've opened myself up to more food in the past five months I've dealt with being gluten-free than I have in quite a while.

I'm a college student. A very broke college student between jobs.

I told my mother about my buying habits and she almost fainted. I believe that nutrition starts at your mouth. Be it the food you put in it or the toothpaste you brush with. Being between jobs I'm very tight on the budget strings and spend about $150-200 / month for two very active people. Buying what I want to cook and eat and crave I spend about $300-$350 / month for the two of us.

I feel that food is the one thing next to bills that you should spend a good portion of your money on. it's what keeps you alive and nourishes you. It smells good to cook, it makes you feel good and really satisfied to cook a meal and enjoy it. Good health starts at your mouth. If you put crap ( ie crappy food, not poo ) in your body you'll feel like it. I buy mostly online when I can and don't purchase meat of any kind. I like lots of fresh veggies and different rices. ( I <3 bamboo green tea rice ) I love to grab something off the shelf because it looks tasty and i've never tried it. I might spend a little more than most ( including my dear mother ) think I should for my measly income, but I friggen love food.

[lpellegr]

Don't waste money trying to replace all of your normal baked goods and convenience foods with gluten-free equivalents. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, but most of them are just plain disappointing. Focus on non-grain non-processed foods like meat and veggies and round out the meals with rice and potatoes. Rice Chex and a few sugary kid cereals are now gluten-free (check the box on Rice Chex, old lots are not but the new ones say so on the front) - see this forum to find out which, so you don't have to switch to expensive hippie brands. Do you absolutely need sliced bread for sandwiches and toast or can you eat your peanut butter on celery or apples and your tuna out of a bowl with a fork and your ham and cheese rolled up in a corn tortilla or all by itself? If you do without you won't need $6 a loaf gluten-free bread. Do you absolutely need bread crumbs? Learn to make your own breads with gluten-free flours and check Asian markets and this forum for the best prices and recipes. Find one good brand of gluten-free pasta and serve it infrequently, or serve everyone else regular cheap pasta and have your sauce over rice or zucchini or leftover chicken. It's hard, but if you want to spend less for food, modify your thinking about food so that you don't feel the need for the replacements. And spend money on quality food without a lot of additives. Cook from scratch whenever possible. It's not easy and it might take some time, but after a while you won't even miss what you're doing without and you will be healthier. I realize this might be unrealistic at first with little kids if they are the gluten-free ones, but try small adaptations at a time.

[LuvMoosic4life]

Now that I"m a GFCFer I've decided that I will enjoy my food or I will not eat it. I've opened myself up to more food in the past five months I've dealt with being gluten-free than I have in quite a while.

I'm a college student. A very broke college student between jobs.

I told my mother about my buying habits and she almost fainted. I believe that nutrition starts at your mouth. Be it the food you put in it or the toothpaste you brush with. Being between jobs I'm very tight on the budget strings and spend about $150-200 / month for two very active people. Buying what I want to cook and eat and crave I spend about $300-$350 / month for the two of us.

I feel that food is the one thing next to bills that you should spend a good portion of your money on. it's what keeps you alive and nourishes you. It smells good to cook, it makes you feel good and really satisfied to cook a meal and enjoy it. Good health starts at your mouth. If you put crap ( ie crappy food, not poo ) in your body you'll feel like it. I buy mostly online when I can and don't purchase meat of any kind. I like lots of fresh veggies and different rices. ( I <3 bamboo green tea rice ) I love to grab something off the shelf because it looks tasty and i've never tried it. I might spend a little more than most ( including my dear mother ) think I should for my measly income, but I friggen love food.

i AM ALSO A BROKE COLLEGE STUDENT and agree 100% with this!!!!

[LuvMoosic4life]

BTW. I havent really changed much of my shopping. The only thing I really replaced was pasta with Tinyada brown rice pasta, and instead of buying oatmeal (which I used to live off of every morning) I buy Kasha and Bobs red mill creamy brown rice farina. It adds a few extra dollars to the bill, but I mostly ate whole foods to begin with so the change wasnt bad at all. I stopped buying bread way before I went gluten free because I subconciously knew it bothered me, so I dont miss bread one bit!!!!

I will buy gluten-free cookies or snack on occasion as a treat- you have to treat yourself once and a while!! Once I get more money I want to experimet with baking my own stuff!

[blueeyedmanda]

I am the only gluten-free person in the house. We have a Wegmans where I live and they label all their house brand products gluten free. So by buying generic I save a lot. I buy all my chips and things there. I also buy my gluten-free pastas there. I found they are cheapier than buying at health food stores. I don't buy too many baked goods anymore, I was never a big sweet tooth person before hand on that kind of stuff. At the begining of going gluten-free I did buy lots of baked goods but now I splurge on a few treats at The gluten free store which is 40 minutes from my house. With gas being so expensive, I don't get there as much so when I go once a month I stock up....

My splurges.....

Gluten Free Pantry brownie mixes......Bell and Evans chicken patties which I can only get there.....and some sort of cookie from the Grainless Baker.

[Juliebove]

Our family of 2 probably spends about $300 a week on groceries, but that includes things like magazines, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. I do save some money by shopping at Costco and getting organic produce boxes most weeks. My husband is in the military and we shop at the commissary once or twice a year. They do not have a lot of things we can get because of our food allergies, but I can get some things cheaper like juice boxes. I don't mind spending more because we do have additional food allergies and we prefer to eat organic foods without things like high fructose corn syrup or trans-fats. And we do eat out a few times a week.

Probably my biggest expense is what I have to mail order. The postage can cost a lot. Because of dairy and soy allergies, I can't even get a bar of chocolate in any store around here. I can at least get chocolate chips and I do know how to make chocolates, but I don't always want to make stuff from scratch.

My daughter LOVES pre-packaged things like bars, pouches of almond butter and 2 slice packs of Ener-G bread. This stuff isn't cheap. But some of it is necessary for her school lunch. With pre-packaged stuff, I can quickly throw together a lunch if we are running late. Summer is better as far as the price goes because I can easily reheat a leftover or cook up something for her lunch at home. She does have thermos bottles, but doesn't always want to take something like this to school and isn't always able to (like for field trips).

Our food prices here in WA are not the cheapest either. We have lived in CA, NY, PA and MA in the past 10 years. MA was expensive for some things, but very cheap for other things, like cheese. We can no longer eat cheese due to dairy allergies. CA and NY were also expensive but when we were in NY, we went to PA about every 3 weeks and I would stock up on things while I was there to take back home.

[taweavmo3]

Our family of 6 (four kids) eats for about $200 a week. I have done it for about $150 a week, when it's not quite so hectic and I'm more organized. I think I do fairly well, considering we are all gluten and casein free. It still surprises me how even the littlest kid, who isn't even 2 yet, can eat an adult size meal, lol.

And not that you asked, but here are a few tricks I have found to help save some money:

We eat alot of brown rice, it's more filling and way more nuritious than white. My kids didn't like it at first, but I kept giving it to them anyway, and now they ask for it.

Potatoes can be cooked lots of different ways, we have tried them all! Same with sweet potatoes, which are my fav.

I buy bulk frozen veggies and meat at Sam's when I can.

BEANS...super cheap, very filling, nutritious, and can be put in almost anything.

Beef up the nutritional content of foods by adding freshly ground flax seed....I have a small coffee grinder for this, and I add flax whenever I can. It has a light nutty flavor, but blends well into sauces, smoothies, hamburgers, etc. This helps fill up the kiddos too. I'm all about finding a meal that will fill those bellies up for a few hours! If we want to snack all the time, our food will be gone in no time flat!

[cruelshoes]

We spend about $300 - 350/month of our family of 5. Our house is totally gluten-free. I bake all of our cookies, bread, cakes, etc from scratch. It is getting harder to do, but I think we do a good job of keeping the costs down. When I was diagnosed nearly 3 years ago I was able to do it for about $250/month, but as things get more expensive and the kids get bigger our budget has to do the same.

[jerseyangel]

We spend between $125 and $150 per week for groceries. (me, my husband and 23 year old son)

Not too bad, considering we never go to restaurants (I just don't dare) --and this includes things like cleaning products and toiletries (son buys his own of these, mine tend to be pricey ).

I'm the only one in the house who is gluten-free.

[lizard00]

I feel that food is the one thing next to bills that you should spend a good portion of your money on. it's what keeps you alive and nourishes you. It smells good to cook, it makes you feel good and really satisfied to cook a meal and enjoy it. Good health starts at your mouth. If you put crap ( ie crappy food, not poo ) in your body you'll feel like it. I buy mostly online when I can and don't purchase meat of any kind. I like lots of fresh veggies and different rices. ( I <3 bamboo green tea rice ) I love to grab something off the shelf because it looks tasty and i've never tried it. I might spend a little more than most ( including my dear mother ) think I should for my measly income, but I friggen love food.

I COMPLETELY agree with you. I think that food should be your next highest bill to housing. It can single handedly control how much you go to the doctor, how you sleep, how productive you are, the list goes on. I don't buy much processed food either, but I didn't before I went gluten-free. I shop the perimeter and buy very little down the aisles. My grocery bill stayed around the same. But I find fresh produce can cost a lot too. The way I see it, it's a waste to eat garbage food that's only going to make my health decline. So, I'd rather spend more on something good for my body. The best food is for you is the food that goes bad the quickest. I'm pretty happy if I can spend between $125-$150 for the week. I tried to budget $130, that number seemed to work the best for our family.(me, my husband and our 3 yr old) I can't always stick to that, but it's a target.

[jesslynn555]

Thanks so much for all your comments. They were all so helpful.

It's interesting that although our basic food items (flour, bread) are so much more expensive, we do save money by not eating out and not buying pre-packaged foods.

It takes a lot more time and preparation to do this and we have realized how lazy we were about preparing meals before going gluten-free. We are really busy, my husband and I are both college students and we have 3 boys, none of which are in school yet.

We thought that spending so much time cooking was not fair to our kids sinse we're already so busy, but we've made it a "family job" and now it's something we enjoy doing together.

My 4 and 5 year old boys help me pick out meals out of cookbooks, buy the ingredients at the store, help prepare the meals, and if we're lucky, they'll help clean up. We've also found that if they have helped prepare something, they eat it much better. I'm sure this won't work as well when they're older but we might as well enjoy it while we can.

After reading your posts, we have set a goal of buying all of our groceries, food and diapers and cleaning supplies for $150 a week. This is much more than we've ever spent, but in the long run it's much better for our health. I loved the posts about how food should be one of our biggest expenses.

I guess most of the world spends the greater portion of their income on food and on sustaining the lives our their families. My husband and I are from the spoiled generation that thinks our food should be almost free and that our paycheck should go toward itunes and shopping at the Gap. JK. Thanks for the reality check! And thanks for all your support.

[lizard00]

My husband and I are from the spoiled generation that thinks our food should be almost free and that our paycheck should go toward itunes and shopping at the Gap.

LOL!!! That is hilarious!! I'm glad I wasn't the only who had to figure that out. :lol: