What's your food budget?

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Actually, this is the author of Millionaire Teacher - Andrew Hallam.

Fantastic book everyone should read. He's Canadian too.

On food costs, some things my wife and I are doing that save us quite a bit of money on groceries:

- get the Flipp app and price match on stuff you see on sale (we do this at Walmart, super easy)
- just buy meat on sale with yellow stickers. Take it home and freeze it right away. Most meat is on sale for 25-50% off and is perfectly edible.

I also do this. Superstore often puts their meat on sale for 30% off. Usually it's only a day older than the ones that aren't on sale. I stock up, portion them up and throw it in the freezer.

Meat is costly so saving 30% off on it makes a big difference.

[Jason14h]

If you're buying everything at co-op then you certainly would be spending $150 on 6 dinners. That store is great for fresh produce and certain proteins, but purchasing all your groceries at that store is going to bloat your grocery budget substantially. Even sale prices are rarely better than most of the other stores.

By limiting Co-op purchases to only fruit and vegetables and filling the gaps at places like superstore, walmart and costco, our family weekly grocery budget has dropped almost 20%.

Co-Op has unlimited $5 for EVERY $50 spent coupons if you buy an entertainment book. They accept any coupon from competitors and with the app every co-op store has a $5 off $50.

And these stack. So you are getting an auto 10% off.

You can buy entertainment books for $8 half way through the year.

Add in the gas coupon and cash back, you should get an auto 15% off groceries before anything give or take.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Co-Op has unlimited $5 for EVERY $50 spent coupons if you buy an entertainment book. They accept any coupon from competitors and with the app every co-op store has a $5 off $50.

And these stack. So you are getting an auto 10% off.

You can buy entertainment books for $8 half way through the year.

Add in the gas coupon and cash back, you should get an auto 15% off groceries before anything give or take.

For a fill I am lucky if I receive $1.00 off of groceries when in the past I would expect $2.50 - $3.00. This may be tied to our overall drop in spending at the store but all of these perks simply lower the cost to less than outrageous for most staple items.

Tracking coupons etc is a ton of effort for someone to be doing on top of shopping for the food they need when they can simply go to another store and pay less to begin with for the same product with things like dairy, dry goods, cleaning supplies etc.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

For a fill I am lucky if I receive $1.00 off of groceries when in the past I would expect $2.50 - $3.00. This may be tied to our overall drop in spending at the store but all of these perks simply lower the cost to less than outrageous for most staple items.

Tracking coupons etc is a ton of effort for someone to be doing on top of shopping for the food they need when they can simply go to another store and pay less to begin with for the same product with things like dairy, dry goods, cleaning supplies etc.

Except you're now driving to 2 stores! So if you are already going to co-op for fresh produce and meat, this saves you money!

[Weitz]

We did a farm share for veggies this summer. Going to do an evaluation when it's done to see what our food costs were the few months during vs prior

[Calgary14]

Bump. What's everyone spending these days for groceries per month? I find my grocery bill keeps getting higher the past couple months, maybe because of corona/working from home? Also spending less on restaurants obviously so that does help. Last month was over $1000

[Amethyst]

I don't keep track too carefully, but definitely a lot higher.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

I don't keep track too carefully, but definitely a lot higher.

I don't track my spending very closely either but I can certainly tell that we are spending more now primarily because the sales at grocery stores has really dropped in the last couple months. Before Corona there was always some really good deals to be had but now the deals have dried up and I find that many of the things we have to pay full price for.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Bump. What's everyone spending these days for groceries per month? I find my grocery bill keeps getting higher the past couple months, maybe because of corona/working from home? Also spending less on restaurants obviously so that does help. Last month was over $1000

How many of there are you? And does this include items like laundry soap, toilet paper, razors etc???

We are usually about $100/ week for two of us which is primarily just food. I primarily shop at No Frills, say 75% and Safeway for the rest as No Frills doesn’t carry a lot of stuff I like but they’re way cheaper then Safeway on most items.

The price of meat is through the roof right now. Things that use to be money savers like ground beef, chicken legs are 3 and 4 times what they were a couple of years ago, and to find a sale on rib eyes or strip loins anywhere is impossible.

I will go through Flip app and make my list and meal plan primarily based on what’s on sale, then there’s somethings I like that are just expensive. We also have a large deep freeze and two fridge freezers so I will stock up on meat when there’s a good sale.

[CliffFletcher]

Beef has become a quasi luxury good. Global demand keeps going nowhere but up, and prices along with it. I miss mad cow disease, when we had all that beef to ourselves and you could buy a prime rib without worrying if you’d still be able to make rent.

[White Out 403]

Family of 4, probably a grand a month. My money spent on take out has plummeted over the last year and it's shown on the scale.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Family of 4, probably a grand a month. My money spent on take out has plummeted over the last year and it's shown on the scale.

4 here w/ 2 hungry teens and a wife that only buys certain organic stuff and is picky about other goods. Throw in some food sensitivities (gluten / dairy) and vitamins/minerals and it sure doesn't help any. I don't want to know what we actually spend monthly but it's probably closer to $1200-1400/mo primarly between Costco, Stupidstore, CommunityNatural/Amaranth. ouch. At least our eating out has almost ceased, and I'm not buying periodic lunches at work.


BTW - the A&W online coupons are amazing. 50% off the good stuff, such as burger/fries/drinks for 4 for ~$25. good treat without breaking the bank.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

4 here w/ 2 hungry teens and a wife that only buys certain organic stuff and is picky about other goods. Throw in some food sensitivities (gluten / dairy) and vitamins/minerals and it sure doesn't help any. I don't want to know what we actually spend monthly but it's probably closer to $1200-1400/mo primarly between Costco, Stupidstore, CommunityNatural/Amaranth. ouch. At least our eating out has almost ceased, and I'm not buying periodic lunches at work.


BTW - the A&W online coupons are amazing. 50% off the good stuff, such as burger/fries/drinks for 4 for ~$25. good treat without breaking the bank.

I have a 2 and a 4 year old so that would make sense your budgets a little higher

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

How many of there are you? And does this include items like laundry soap, toilet paper, razors etc???

We are usually about $100/ week for two of us which is primarily just food. I primarily shop at No Frills, say 75% and Safeway for the rest as No Frills doesn’t carry a lot of stuff I like but they’re way cheaper then Safeway on most items.

The price of meat is through the roof right now. Things that use to be money savers like ground beef, chicken legs are 3 and 4 times what they were a couple of years ago, and to find a sale on rib eyes or strip loins anywhere is impossible.

I will go through Flip app and make my list and meal plan primarily based on what’s on sale, then there’s somethings I like that are just expensive. We also have a large deep freeze and two fridge freezers so I will stock up on meat when there’s a good sale.

4 of us and the total does include household stuff like soap, tissues, etc (almost all Costco). I try and save whenever possible but the wife is picky about organics on certain things. The total also includes vitamins/minerals from the local health store which really adds up. Still surprising to see how high it is but I guess makes sense when it includes everything. Nice to not have to buy lunches so often now that I work from home

[Swarly]

March thru June it's been $241.59/mo for groceries, with $68.58/mo for take out.
It is a lot higher than it used to be, I didn't track it back then like I do now but just like 5 years ago it felt like $150/mo was enough. But my take out back then was also much higher.

[DoubleF]

Pre-covid, I probably would spend around $100-200 a month in eating out with my wife and I. Post Covid it's like $50 a month in the occasional take out.

I am looking at the credit card bills and I'm looking at around $500-700 a month on household goods and groceries for for 2 adults and a 2 year old. This doesn't seem like it has changed significantly other than buying things in bulk. Bulk buying savings are also just being completely lost in increase in snack purchases and it looks like it's essentially balancing out.

The spiking of meat prices has been noticeable, but my wife and I just tinkered around with some of our recipes to pad them and account for slightly less meat. For instance potato levels went up in something like a Shepard's pie. That was partly mashed potatoes as a thickener to the meats, but I even crushed some older bags of chips into the meat mix so that I could justify buying more chips on the next grocery run. Ground meats in pasta sauces have been replaced by things like mushrooms, eggplant, squash and olives (If you guys are complaining about meat prices spiking, Eggplants are look worse to me ratio wise). I seem to be buying a larger variety of vegetables and mincing them into foods to use them up as well.

I have also been noticing an overall chipping in towards my parents groceries and my wife and I also eat with my parents as well (cohort families as my mom is our child care option). This is further extending our grocery costs by having more bulk buying and meal prep. Sometimes we make larger batches and drop food off to them and vice versa.

[you&me]

We've been pushing over $1,500 per month since COIVD started, roughly broken down to about $4-500 per month for staples at Costco and then $2-250 per week at grocery stores (click and collect, etc). Dining out and take out has been cut back dramatically, but is probably still another $250/month.

It seems the kids being home from school full time has increased our food expenses. Where as we could pack lunches and snacks for school before, it now seems like with easy access to the pantry and fridge, they're constantly snacking... Yeah, it's the kids

Disclaimer - Household is 3 adults and 4 young children.

[Amethyst]

I guess the other thing is that I buy sale items less often because I go to the grocery store less often. Certain staples, you just need to get them, whether they are on sale or not. In the past, I could skip things until they went on sale, because I'd be there again a few days later.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by you&me

Disclaimer - Household is 3 adults and 4 young children.

Not a bad sized food bill you have there Danny, especially considering it looks like you have a full house

Spoiler!

[Murph]

Family of 5, with a 3, 6 and 9 year old - we recently totalled it up because we hadn’t been paying much attention and were curious. We found that on top of the once per week $200 trip to the grocery store, we averaged 2-3 $40-$60 quick trips per week. Totalled to $300-$350 per week, $1200-$1400 a month.

That said, we eat like kings.