Ever since we had that thread on living on 25K a year as a newlywed couple, I've been more closely monitoring my grocery bills.
People on that thread were shocked that only $80 or so were allotted a week.

B"H we are a family of 4 now, and I still don't spend that much.
Granted, my husband eats lunch in yeshiva but I have to make food for my children, but I still make fleishigs 2 or 3 times a week for supper, we go through a gallon of milk a week (as opposed to a half a gallon because my toddler drinks a lot of it), I'm cooking more than a newlywed couple...since that thread I have only approached $80 once.

This week I bought 4 packages of meat, 2 packages of chicken, milk, eggs, veggies, canned goods, paper goods, yogurt, cheese, pasta, etc and didn't even hit $70.

I really think it's possible to live on $80/week for a couple.
Some weeks will be $100, some weeks will be $50...on average, I think $80 is comfortable.

Am I being very naive?

Not at all. I once estimated that I eat approximately $22 worth of food a week (and that includes eating fleishig 5 times a week).

Was Shabbos tallied in there?

what's the breakdown? a box of cereal and bottle of milk only go so far... pasta? no fruits/vegs?

When shopping for Shabbos, bill becomes a lot more. We usually spend about $125 or so, but its usually every other week. Plus some smaller shoppinng on the side. There are some months that we go over our $400 grocery budget though, especially if there's something special going on (Yom Tov, party, etc).

The biggest expenses for us are:
Meat (this includes cholent meat, chicken breasts, deli, ground beef and any other real meat if I want to make a treat). Things like chicken legs or chicken bones for the soup are miniscule compared to the others.
Cheese especially if we want to stock up and get the big American cheese thing OR if we want to get two different packages of cheese.
Frozen anything includes frozen pizza, frozen veggies, gefilte fish, ice cream, etc.

Things that are extremely cheap are pasta, canned goods, milk, eggs, drinks, even fresh fruits and veggies if you are only buying for one week's worth.

i hardly eat meat and my bill is about the same, just from milchig (AND fruits for my daughter - surprise-surprise)

Milchig is expensive. I was shocked to find out that a regular bottle of milk is $2.70 or so.

We buy cholent meat, lean ground beef, pepper steak, sometimes shoulder steak, chicken cutlets, chicken cutlet strips, chicken breast with or without wings, chicken legs, chicken thighs, chicken nuggets...and occassionally I'll buy a fleishig "TV" dinner sort of thing for lunch.Cheese we buy big American and mozarella shredded, cream cheese, ricotta, and occasionally muenster or whatever.We buy frozen pizza, fishsticks, veggies, gefilte fish (i split in half for the two of us).Oh, I bought frozen fish today also in my bill.It still does not average out to $80/week.Cheese is expensive and so are fruits. Fish is very expensive.

Breakfast
Bowl of cereal -- 18¢
Half a cup of milk -- 14¢

Lunch
Slice of bread -- 14¢
Slice of cheese -- 23¢
Apple -- 50¢
Banana -- 27¢
Cucumber -- 50¢

Dinner
Pasta -- 10¢
Chicken -- 50¢
Broccoli -- 32¢
Half a cup of orange juice -- 18¢

Apparently this doesn't include cake on Shabbos, but it also doesn't take into account the fact that I have cereal for supper on some nights either.

I rarely manage to step out of a kosher supermarket without spending at least $40 with only a few things in my cart. I usually shop with lists and don't buy extra stuff. I buy paper goods, baking supplies etc. in a regular supermarket. And what is up with the price of tomatoes???

You really don't eat very much....

in some ways cheese is more expensive than meat and fruit is also fairly expensive compared to other foods.


the price of milk went up a few months ago.


How often do you go?

yep. also, cheese is for me and i don't like american cheese. farmer cheese and sour cream for breakfast. when i made milchig shabbos, it turned out more expensive than a fleishig one.raspberries/blueberries/strawberries/mangoes/cantaloupes for my daughter. i don't buy fish that often, but yes, it's expensive. now add any meat/chicken i would have to make were i married, and it would be so much more than i'm spending now (which is already a lot)



that's right. this morning, before work, i went to the supermarket (cause i know after work it'll be a zoo). salmon, cereal, salt, 1 box of pasta, one cottage cheese, and a cantaulope - $20 (ok, salmon had a lion's share of price)

wow, GF, i would be so hungry after that lunch (and breakfast )

??
that's barely 800 calories

If I only spent $80 a week, it would mean that I was using a lot of canned or frozen or otherwise already paid for things.

I know. If I had eaten this way my whole life, I'd be thin now.

Calories:
Breakfast
Bowl of cereal -- 200
Half a cup of milk -- 40

Lunch
Slice of bread -- 50
Slice of cheese -- 50
Apple -- 100
Banana -- 150
Cucumber -- 0

Dinner
Pasta -- 100
Chicken -- 300
Broccoli -- 50
Half a cup of orange juice -- 50

Total: 1090 (I suspect I this is an underestimate, though.)

$80/week for 2 people...not 4 adults.
And I am factoring that into the price.
It's also cheaper that I make basically everything from scratch and only rely on premade stuff at most once a week. I don't buy challah for instance.

You buy all of this every week?! I'm surprised that your bill stays under $80 then, really. I forgot cereal is expensive too and challah like you mentioned.

I don't see how making challah is so much cheaper than buying a loaf or two once you factor in the cost of yeast, eggs, oil, flour, sugar.

I'm also surprised that you only go through a gallon of milk a week between your whole family. My yingele is the only one who drinks milk in the house and I go through AT LEAST two gallons every week.

Challahs cost about 0.80 when made inhouse.

Yes but it's still cheaper than a breast.

I'm a small person (no, not a midget or dwarf ) with a sedentary job. I do exercise (walking and lifting weights mainly) but if I ate more than this I'd gain weight. If I'm hungry, I have to live with it or suffer the consequences (a moment on the lips, forever on the hips).

Per challah? What's the breakdown?

No. I buy this on a regular basis, and the freezer is stocked with whatever I don't use. Therefore a package of chicken legs might last me 3 weeks, so I buy that every 3 weeks, while I am buying the ground beef a different week.
I meant that we buy all these things, and it still doesn't add up to more than $80 a week when you balance it all out.

Truth is, my husband and I don't drink too much milk. It's mainly my son. (My second son isn't on cow's milk yet). So we're about the same. My son would drink milk all day long if I let him, but with his iron absorption issues, I limit him to 3 cups a day.

1.5 lb of flour = $0.45
2 eggs = $0.20
salt and sugar = $0.05
pinch of yeast = $0.10

oven = $500

According to Quicken, we've spend 6,055 on food in the past 11 months. (That included shabbos wine and paper goods, toothpaste etc). Thats about $125 a week for two people.

Agent, is it possible that groceries are just cheap where you live? I can spend $80 if I am totally scrimping, and probably if I buy no cheese and little to no fleishigs. Or if I buy only the meat/chicken that is on sale and super-duper cheap. But for me to spend that little takes lots of work and creativity.

Why doesn't someone else do a breakdown the way I did? Cuz I'm finding it hard to believe that a woman could eat $80 worth of food a week.

The woman who mentioned that she spends $80/wk on groceries has a husband and a couple of kids.

You're right. The OP wrote:


In which case, why do people think what I wrote is so weird? Because the breakdown will sure be $50/$30 (husband/wife). And $30 isn't so much more than $22, especially when you consider the fact that I left out wine, challah, and cake for Shabbos.

If I had a shopping list for this week, I would.

Looking at your diet: price list- I think you way underestimated your prices.
cereal 18¢- thats maybe a 1/8 to 1/4 a cup. A box of cerial costs a lot, even with a coupon
Pasta -- 10¢ - if you buy the box on sale ( 3/99¢) maybe
I cant imagine how small 50¢ of chicken is...

I don't remember how I originally got 18¢, but Rite Aid's got cereal on sale 2/$5. That's $2.50 a box. If you get 10 servings per box, that's 25¢ a serving. (Though this happens to be an expensive cereal. You can surely get even cheaper no-name stuff.)


Of course you buy it on sale. Why would you buy anything if it weren't on sale?


Okay, you're right, this one is way off. It should've been more like $1.50. So my new total is: $27 per week.

Because you are hungry.

Buy something else that is on sale.

And then people wonder why they spend so much money on things.

lets say you are out of potatoes.... are you just going to skip making a chulent this week?

1. Yes.
2. You can make cholent out of other things besides potatoes.
3. Potatoes are really cheap, so it's not really a good example.

BTW, see my edit above.

Random items from my grocery receipts
cereal 3.49
cereal 2.66
potatoes 2.99
green beans .50
Yogurt .89
Pretzels 2.79
Shabbos candy .79
Mustard 1.99
cottage cheese small size 2.69
shredded cheese 4.29
1 pepper .58
tissue boxes 1.50
box of rice 1.69
2 Orange juice 4.00


Also 10 servings from one box of cereal isnt realistic even if the box says so.

there is $30 easy and that just a snapshot of things

You go through all of that in a week? A whole thing of mustard even? You guys use a lot of mustard, I guess. We've had the same mustard for about a year.

Tissues aren't food. Or are they?


Actually, the box said 15.

No we dont eat a mustard a week, but chesbon it in- figure one week you need mustard, another ketchup, mayo, salad dressing, tomato sauce, spice X etc.

My BIG Cheerios box says 14 servings too, but I eat more than what they think is a serving (yes, I just measured!)

We go through more than that but obviously some item are not every week.

Except for spices I don't eat any of that stuff. But it's not to save money, I just don't like it.


Well, I know it's 10 for me because for a while my mother and I were eating the same cereal on weekdays and we'd finish a box a week. So that's 10 servings.

Im envisioning you with mamish eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday with a empty pantry

Oh, no, I don't like peanut butter and jelly.

Actually, it's the opposite. In my house whenever there's a sale we stock up big time. There is enough food in my pantry to feed an army. Makes it hard to stick to my diet.

It could be. I don't know other areas and their prices.
But I no longer comparison shop on a weekly basis because of time constraints. So I am paying more for some things than I know I could be.

i'm sorry, but ti's really unrealistic. you can't devote all your time to searching for food on sale, especially when you need - it could be an almost full time job in itself. potatoes might not be a good example, but Nechama made a good point, and your choices are just not good ones, at least imo.



i go through one cottage cheese in 2 days, every week. its' my second breakfast. teh thing is i tend to eat smaller portions but more often (that's why i don't like seudos - lots of food at once, which i can't all eat, and then i'm hungry very quickly)

Hardly. My parents do it and they don't spend much time on it at all. I guess age and experience count for something. *shrug*

1st cut shoulder steak -- 4.79 (I use this cut up for mock shwarma...this is enough for the both of us when I compensate with salad)
Extra lean ground beef -- 4.39
Cholent Meat -- 4.03
Shoulder Sub Steak -- 4.47
Deli -- 2.59
Dressing -- 1.32
Salad mix-- 2.75
Shredded Mozzarella -- 3.99
Chicken Cutlet Strip -- 5.25
Tilapia -- 4.19
Whole milk yogurt -- 2.29
Cocoa -- 2.99
Soda --.60
2 yogurts -- 1.35
Pickling cucumber -- 0.22
Avocado -- 1.49 (this kills me )
Plum tomato -- .50 (also exorbitant )
Gallon of milk -- 4.69
1.5 doz eggs -- 3.55
4 tomato sauce -- .59*4
2 cans of soup -- .79*2
Garlic powder -- .79
Onion powder -- .79
Tablecloth covers -- 3.99
2 zitis -- 1.98

Total was 68.75

Not food.


For 2 people for a week?

(I know, but I had it on my grocery bill...)And that was the most I've spent a week in a month at least.To be honest, I just remembered I had someone pick me up onions on Monday -- 1.19.