Life’s Ups and Downs…and My Place in it All

Grocery Budgeting–Is $100 a Week Enough? Your Thoughts?

I was not too impressed by MSN’s article this morning titled “Can a Family Eat on $100 a Week?.”  First I will say that I have the same size/age family as this woman.  She has a 4 year old, a toddler and her husband and herself.  I was astonished to learn that she normally spends about $250 a week on groceries.  Keep in mind that this is not to include paper products at all, JUST FOOD!  I about fell over!  How in the world do people eat that much food?  Maybe in isn’t the quantity…maybe they are just eating a lot more luxerious stuff that we are!  I was also astonished to learn that the federal government gives $117 in food stamps for a family of four. 

Now, with that said…there were some rules for her $100 budget challenge…

  • she couldn’t shop at Sam’s or a large foodclub
  • she could not buy paper goods/cleaners at all
  • no coupons
  • food must be healthy

Now it says she ended up going over by a $1-2.  No big deal.

With that said…here is my weekly budget for groceries, cleaners, paper towels, etc…

$70 + 120 every 3 months for meat (that is about $10 a week)= $80 per week

I use coupons (they save me about $10-15 a week)

I use Sam’s for my meat every three months and freeze meat in my freezer after I have packaged everything for single meals

My meals are healthy.  We eat a veggie, a starch and a protein almost every meal.  We eat crock pot 1-2 times each week.  I try to grill once a week.  I have 3 squash plants outside that have, so far they give me one squash a week (enough for one meal for us). 

We have lots of snacks in our house (we are not hurting for goodies).

 

Now, on the downside…

  • I cannot assume that this woman stays home as I do (and has time to coupon clip).  I didn’t coupon clip when I was working full time because it was the last thing that I wanted to do (and milk wasn’t $4.19 a gallon). 
  • If this woman works fulltime, it is probably easier often times to go out to eat (if they can afford it).
  • We do not include eating out as part of our weekly grocery budget.  That expense falls under “entertainment” for us and we get a separate weekly allowance for that category.

What do you all do?  How much do you budget for groceries?  Am I alone in not being impressed by this article?

July 25, 2008 - Posted by joz1234 | Household Budgets, On a Budget, home, miscellaneous, mommies, moms, newsworthy | , , , | 4 Comments

4 Comments »

  1. Our grocery budget is about the same and we have the similar styles. We do go through a lot of fruit (our substitute for chips, cookies, etc…). We have a deep freezer and do definitely buy in bulk.

    Comment by morethananelectrician | July 25, 2008

  2. uh..i can say i like the lady b/c she actually makes me feel better :) i usually spend about 130 a week on groceries (i know shameful) …that usually doesn’t include meat (we buy most of that a sams or another store). i shop at walmart, so i buy LOTS of “necessities” (and some non-necessities). this doesn’t include eating out. this is my bill once a week at walmart. dang sad. i know. i am now trying to begin to budget. we shop at sams too…so that is a separate bill.

    Comment by Kristy | July 25, 2008

  3. Kristy: I don’t think your $130 is too much for you…mine doesn’t include eating out either. You work fulltime and your hubby does what he does…I can understand why your weekly grocery bill would be harder. I have found that it helps to write out menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner and i only shop every 2 weeks (except for milk and produce).

    MTAE: I wish I was as good as y’all to have a fruit plate out on the table to snack on (I read about that on your blog when your wife was gone for a couple days). If I bought the fruit, only 2 of us would eat it and most of it would go bad, unfortunately.

    Comment by joz1234 | July 25, 2008

  4. I usually have a grocery bill (non-food included) of about 100 - 120/week but that’s just for 2 of us. I do buy some organic things, which adds up quickly so I try to just buy the things that I think are important (like certain fruits/veggies).
    I don’t include eating out in our expenses, either. But my hubby packs his lunch every day so that cuts down on a lot.
    It seems to me like the easy-to-prepare/not-so-good for you stuff is cheaper and less time consuming to make so I guess I don’t feel too badly about spending a little more to make sure we eat healthy.
    I don’t use coupons but I always buy the store brand over the name brand. I know I should start looking for coupons, though!!

    Comment by ~m | August 2, 2008

Leave a comment

« Previous | Next »