Thursday, February 17, 2011

How Much Do You Spend on Groceries?

While I was writing my last post, I came across this discussion page.  The question was, "How much do you spend on groceries per week/month?" and I was amazed at how much some of these people admitted to spending.  I realize groceries cost more in different parts of the country, and buying mostly organic foods is going to cost more, but still, some of the grocery 'budgets' are sky high.  I can hardly stop reading them.  I just came across one that said she spends a minimum of $900/month on groceries, and she was begging everyone else to share their grocery lists.  I feel the same way - only I'm wondering what's on this woman's grocery list.  How is it possible to spend that much each month on groceries?  And it wasn't like she had a big family, either, just her husband, herself, her daughter, along with her step-daughter every other week.

I saw this, or something similar, a while back - food for a week in different places (in pictures) - and thought the same thing.  How can they spend that much?  Are they really eating all that food?  It would be quite interesting to see all the food we eat in a week out on the counter like that at one time - just to see how much there is - but I'm not sure exactly how we'd go about doing that.  Save the empty boxes?  Banana peels?  Because, really, how do you know how much you're actually going to eat until you actually do?  My kitchen looks kind of like that when I come in from shopping, before I put everything away, but all that food is going to last several weeks.  Anyway...

I've been spending $300/month for several years.  Some months I spend more; some months I spend less, but it all averages out.  That $300 covers groceries, toiletries, household cleaning items, any clothes I buy for myself, and basically anything else I want to buy.  My pantry is full.  My freezer is full.  We definitely do not go hungry.  Now that Beth has moved out and Cory's away at college, I'll probably be able to get by with even less, though I still have to figure out how that's going to work.  Maybe instead of spending less, I can think about buying more organic foods, or making my husband happy by buying steak more often.

But, since we have a son in college, I probably ought to focus on spending less on groceries, finding cheap car insurance, and saving money any place I can.  There will be time for steak later.

1 comment:

  1. I spend about $800 a month. We have 6 people in the house, all adults or older teens. Includes everything (food, toiletries, etc) plus stuff for 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a bird. :| It's a FORTUNE in money, I think. But praise God, my blogging jobs pay for it.

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