What's Your Monthly Grocery Bill?

[nakji]

I've been trying to work this out this week, but since we shop at multiple places, I don't keep a running tally. I'd say we spend about $40 a week for staples, meat and some vegetables at Wal-mart. Then another $1-$2 a week at the wet market for vegetables. Another $5 for bread from the bakery, plus $20 for cheese and the like from the foreign foods store. Coffee is another $10, but I can't go without it. I'll call it $75 for two people for a week, not counting eating out once or twice.

[Cooks With Love]

Yikes! Either it is more expensive here in Parker, Colorado or my husband is right and we spend a lot on groceries! Including our CSA (veggie, egg, fruit and fresh cut flower shares) and misc items like dog food (for 2 dogs) and laundry soap we spend about $800 and month, add another $300 for booze! We eat meat about once a month and have Friday night pizza night where we get our pizza from a local joint. We make our coffee to go and bring our lunches and snacks to work.

[BarbaraY]

Two of us in this household. I have spent about $260 in the grocery store this month. My daughter has spent around $150 at Trader Joe's and Costco. This includes wine and other "adult" beverages. We haven't dined out in some time as both of us are on Social Security, I'm a senior and she has serious health problems. We don't get a cost of living increase this year.

I buy most pet products, paper products, and cleaning supplies at Wal Mart. I refuse to buy food there.

We usually cook things from scratch so don't use many canned or frozen items.

Yesterday I did buy Kleenex on my grocery trip because it was too out of the way to go to WM for just one item.

[kayb]

I spend between $100 and $150 every couple of weeks at Kroger, which includes staples, paper and cleaning products and the like, and meat on sale; it also includes most of the import cheeses (this Kroger has an excellent selection, as it's in an upscale neighborhood). There's another $30 a week at the farmers' market (higher than Kroger produce, which here is surprisingly good), but better quality stuff. We (my 20-year-old and I) might eat out twice a month that is NOT work-related for me (and thus on the company nickel). If I'm not having a business lunch, I take mine from home, usually something left over or a salad and soup. I buy meat when it's on sale at Kroger, and keep it in the freezer until I decide to cook it; a roast will make two or three meals in one form or another, and I get ground beef and chicken in family packs, portion it out and freeze it; I also use a lot of cured meats. I order coffee online, probably $30 a month, and spend perhaps $50-$75 a month on alcohol (mostly wine, the occasional restock bottle for the bar, more in the summer when I'm buying beer because we live on a lake and, well, you just drink beer at the lake in the summer). So say $500 a month, which would probably also cover the periodic trips to specialty and import stores, for a family of two. But I eat lunch out probably at least two days a week for business, and dinner probably twice a month. The 20-year-old will subsist for a week on a batch of homemade mac and cheese.