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Kathryn UK
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| Posted: March 18 2007 at 7:57am | IP Logged
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I spend about £100 a week on groceries, toiletries, paper products, nappies etc. That would translate as about $750 a month for a family of 5 - 2 adults, a 12yo, an 8yo and a baby. I haven't been to the US, but I know from speaking to friends that we pay a lot more for many things. For example, 1lb of minced (ground?) beef costs me $4-$5, 1lb of stewing beef the same, a chicken about $5, or chicken breasts nearly $2 each. A small piece of beef for roasting is $10. I buy special offers wherever possible. We eat out rarely - usually because it is a special occasion - and buy occasional takeaways (maybe once a month).
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Dh Michael,  Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
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Becky Parker
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We are a family of 6 - dh, ds (13 - always hungry), dd (8), ds (6), ds (3). We spend about 1000 a month on groceries, cleaning products, paper products and the occasional fast food lunch. We rarely go out to eat for dinner as my husband finds this quite stressful! I would really like to cut our bill down, but I'm finding it very difficult. DH says it's because I'm too easy on the kids and allow them to be too picky. Even though my pride wont let me admit it to his face  I know it's true! Any tips on this? Dh says I need to just cook what I cook, and if they choose not to eat it they can go hungry until the next meal. I guess I know this would work, but how do you make a child eat something when they literally gag on it? For example - Ds who is 13 (and the biggest eater) will gag on any kind of potatoe. He doesn't even like french fries! He was the only child I ever knew that didn't like mashed potatoes! So if I cook a meal with meat and potatoes, he wants to fill up on meat instead of having a normal portion of both. That gets very expensive! Any help with this?
I get so angry at myself when I'm rushing around at lunchtime making 4 different lunches because nobody likes what the other kids like! I know, I know! I've "dug my own grave" here. How do I get out of it?!
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Becky
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Bridget
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Becky, absolutely follow your husband's advice. Anytime he suggests something and you can follow through, it honors him. They tend to see things more clearly than we do sometimes.
I have noticed that when we eat a lot of processed food, the kids lose their taste for real food so eliminating processed and convenience foods might help.
I have a kid that gags on his oatmeal. The only substitute I allow is toast. It's not exciting so if he would rather eat that, I know the gag reflex is real. Bread would be a good substitute anytime you serve potatoes.
Can you come up with a one week, repeating lunch menu that will please everyone? Otherwise, you can get tough, or just let everyone but the three year old fix and clean up their own. Though I guarantee you will have to supervise a long time before the clean up effort is automatic. 
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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Bridget
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Kathryn UK wrote:
| For example, 1lb of minced (ground?) beef costs me $4-$5, 1lb of stewing beef the same, a chicken about $5, or chicken breasts nearly $2 each. A small piece of beef for roasting is $10. |
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Wow, Kathryn. That IS a lot more! I know gasoline is more. Do you know how housing compares? Utilities?
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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stacykay
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Becky, Bridget gave some good advice (I should follow it too  .) We knew a family with 6dc, and that was their policy. If you didn't eat or want was made for dinner, you could have bread and butter. It worked very well, for them.
Anne, Our "budget", which isn't really a budget , but expenses, run almost as high as yours, and we aren't buying organic! My dh grew up with "meat and potatoes" meals, and has always wanted ours to be the same. I have managed to slip in salads, fresh vegetables (his mom always cooked them,) and fruit. But it really adds up!
We do eat out too often, also!
Angela, this is for you (and any others with twins!) Our new neighbors have twins, and the husband told my dh that they spend, drum roll here, ***$800.00 a MONTH!*** on just the diapers, wipes and lots of paper towels (the wife doesn't like regular towels, worried about germs.) And these little girls are 2 now! Does that make you feel any better?
Have you all noticed prices going up? I have receipts from the grocers that kind of represent each year of our marriage! It is astonishing looking at prices. But I have noticed big leaps even in the past year. 
Has anyone noticed if shopping sales-only at the grocers is less than even Costco/Sams/or whatever is near you? I know that the Tightwad Gazette lady used to keep a little notebook with prices from every store she shopped at. Does anyone else do this? I guess I can keep the receipts (since they list each food and price) taped in a notebook, and jot down the prices on the things I am not buying that day.
I know we can cut back on our grocery bill, by shopping smarter and planning meals. Now I just have to discipline myself to do it! 
Thanks for bringing this back up, Cay. I needed the boost!
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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JenniferS
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Wow!! I was feeling things were too expensive here in Kansas, but I guess not. We spend about $500-$600/month on groceries(including toiletries, diapers, etc). We have six kids(ages9years-14 months: 5 boys and 1 girl). The boys already outeat dh and myself. They are hungry five minutes(maybe an exaggeration) after we have finished a meal. We are blessed in that each Christmas(for the past two years) a fellow parishioner has given us several pounds of beef from their cattle. It usually lasts several months(we still have some from this past CHristmas. Dh also has a friend that likes to deer hunt, but his wife doesn't care for deer meat, so as long as dh helps process the meat, we get a freezer full. I've never been crazy about deer meat, but with five hungry boys and a very limited budget(especially with dh's docked paycheck due to several months of recovery from hip surgery) I am learning to eat it. I also have an aunt that gives us several pounds of pasta and a few gallons of pasta sauce for Christmas. She raised nine children, and my dad helped them out when things were tough, so this is how she "pays him back" so to speak(although Dad never intended to be paid back).
Anyway...something we have learned, and this is off topic, but God has blessed in many ways to make raising our famiily easier during difficult times, and that figures into our food budget, I suppose!
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Cay Gibson
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stacykay wrote:
Thanks for bringing this back up, Cay. I needed the boost!
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So did I.  And, as usual, I'm getting lots of new information that I really, really need right now. Bless you all.
Bridget wrote:
| Becky, absolutely follow your husband's advice. Anytime he suggests something and you can follow through, it honors him. |
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This is one of those little pieces of advice I needed to hear, Bridget. It's also one of those little pieces of advice I tend to forget. Thank you for posting. As always, your advice is practical, clear, very real, and very profitable. 
Bridget wrote:
I have a kid that gags on his oatmeal. The only substitute I allow is toast.
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Briget, are those two things the only breakfast foods allowed? I'm probably reading this wrong but I was curious.
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Cay Gibson
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Bridget
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Cay Gibson wrote:
Bridget wrote:
I have a kid that gags on his oatmeal. The only substitute I allow is toast.
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Briget, are those two things the only breakfast foods allowed? I'm probably reading this wrong but I was curious. |
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We have three basic breakfasts we rotate through. Eggs and toast, pancakes, and oatmeal. On Sundays we add a breakfast meat to make it more special. (Usually homemade sausage from ground turkey.) So oatmeal ends up being served two or three times a week. He is the only kid and this is the only meal that I need to do any substitutions for.
No, I take that back. Another child does not like salad so he is allowed to peel and eat a whole raw carrot instead.
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Angel
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stacykay wrote:
Angela, this is for you (and any others with twins!) Our new neighbors have twins, and the husband told my dh that they spend, drum roll here, ***$800.00 a MONTH!*** on just the diapers, wipes and lots of paper towels (the wife doesn't like regular towels, worried about germs.) And these little girls are 2 now! Does that make you feel any better?
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Good grief!  Now I do feel better. I am not the best shopper and even worse if I'm trying to do my shopping with lots of kids in tow. But I know I am not spending this much on diapers/paper goods!
Becky, when I only had 3 I would ask what each wanted for lunch, but when the babies came, I just couldn't fix everyone a separate lunch anymore. Now we have a fairly limited lunch menu consisting of kid favorites, and I tend to eat leftovers from our evening meals. This means we rotate through lunches of mac and cheese; chicken nuggets; pizza; sandwiches (usually just cheese, because that's what they like, but sometimes ham or leftover roast beef from dinner); and cheese quesadillas (tortillas filled with shredded cheese, then heated in oven or microwave) plus fruit and/or carrot sticks. Sometimes I just fix a big pot of noodles, which they eat with butter and shredded parmesan. My 10 yo does not like sauce on his pizza, so for any meal that we're eating pizza, if it has sauce on it, he's allowed to make himself a cheese quesadilla in the microwave. He can do that completely on his own and clean it up, too. Our rule for dinner, however, is that you must try a little of everything, even if you don't like it, and no cheese quesadillas allowed.
I'd like to get a little more variety in our lunches, though. I think even the kids are getting a little sick of chicken nuggets.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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teachingmyown
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I hate making a menu and following it, so we always spend too much. I have used menu-mailer a few times, but the kids don't like something "new" every night. Recently, I found two solutions to the planning problem. The first is a menu planning software program that we picked up from Staples for $10. Here is the link to its website: Master Cook
You can use their recipes, lots of them to choose from, or add your own. You can even edit their recipes. You can then generate a menu calender and a shopping list. If you are really good, you can keep an inventory of your pantry and freezer in the program, so it won't add things to your grocery list that you don't need!
The other solution I came across is a subscription service, similar to Menu-Mailer, except that you can customize the menu if they suggest something you know you won't eat. It takes more time at first, but you don't end up buying groceries for meals that the kids are going to balk at. Here is the link to that site: More Thyme I think it runs about $7/month.
I know that a menu is the key to saving money, at least for us. And the kids actually love checking the "menu" to know what is for breakfast and lunch.
As for picky eaters, I try to accomodate tastes for the most part. For example, some won't eat tomatoes so if I make quesadillas, I leave a section without tomatoes. I always serve pasta separate from the sauce so the non-sauce kids can have it their way. But other than that, we have a PBJ rule here. If you don't want dinner you get a PBJ.
We love to eat out, but have really cut back. We might go out as a family 2-3 times/year, instead of the 6-8 times we used to. We just try to have more "fun" dinners occasionally instead of going out.
Someone mentioned baseball season. I used to keep a supply of juice boxes and snacks on hand, too. Last year, I stopped the juice boxes and started bringing a jug of lemonade and some cups, much cheaper. For a snack, I started bringing popcorn, cheaper and healthier than the cookies and chips that we used to eat.
Costco is really our downfall! We get in there to buy milk and eggs and end up leaving with Easter dresses, umbrellas and bike helmets! But since this is a food thread, I will save the impulse buying discussion for a different thread.
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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momwise
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Bridget wrote:
No, I take that back. Another child does not like salad so he is allowed to peel and eat a whole raw carrot instead. |
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I was going to come back and add raw carrot. If they're hungry, they'll eat it! If not, well o.k.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
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momwats8
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"Someone mentioned baseball season. I used to keep a supply of juice boxes and snacks on hand, too. Last year, I stopped the juice boxes and started bringing a jug of lemonade and some cups, much cheaper. For a snack, I started bringing popcorn, cheaper and healthier than the cookies and chips that we used to eat. " From Molly (teachingmyown)(sorry I do not know the fancy way to qoute you )
that was me! I like that idea. It gets sooo expensive. Another Mom at baseball brought a bag of grapes the otehr day. I liked that too. Buying all those other snacks is just expensive and I tend to buy the individual ones which cost more.
thanks for the ideas!!! 
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Mary- Wife to Mike and Mother to Austin(92), Mikey(95), R.J.(97), Benedict(98), Kolbe(00), Ignatius(02), Christian(03), Margaret(05),&4 angels in heaven
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teachingmyown
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Way back when, a few kids ago, I used to get teased by the other baseball moms because I would bring grapes and carrots as snacks while their kids were eating Cheetos. My kids still aren't eating Cheetos, but the real good stuff doesn't happen as much as it used to.
BTW, a favorite baseball night dinner is homemade hoagies we can take with us. My husband coaches, so I often end up bringing him dinner at the field. The hardest part is the temptation to grab McDonald's or something on the way to the game because I didn't plan dinner.
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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Joy in Alabama
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I've enjoyed reading this thread. It makes me feel better that my grocery spending is pretty much equal to everyone else's. The prices just keep going up and I can't seem to really get my spending down without completely changing our diets, which I cannot do at this time.
There are 10 people in the household right now - 5 with milk allergies, 3 teenagers (one a boy), dh and I on a high-protein diet. We only eat out about 2x a year. Dh and I have a date once in a while, but I do not count that in my food budget. We try to have company once a week or so. Dh likes to eat well. I don't have any children in diapers.
I spend $400 a month at Sams. I spend $500-600 a month at Walmart. That includes EVERYTHING bought at Walmart, including clothing and shoes or gifts or any kind of craft item, etc. Right now I'm budgeting out items for my oldest son's rehearsal dinner, buying a little at a time.
This is a very interesting thread!
J Y
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joann10
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We spend about $1000.00 a month for a family of 12. This includes diapers for two and our paper products.
My two oldest are now working (ds19 and dd18) and they do treat the family to some treats occationally like pizza or ice cream.
I try to buy alot of fresh fruits and vegi's but it seems that eating healthy is more expensive than buying less expensive "fill them up foods" like ers or chips and the like. Does anyone else find this is true?
We do have alot of sporting events going on all year. I do usually pack our cooler with grapes and vegi's and homebaked cookies, along with sandwiches, even for basketball season. We do splurge and buy a case of gatorade at the being of a sport and then refill all the bottles with juice of water for the rest of the season. Even the littlest children know that they have to save their bottles.
I have been enjoying this thread very much.
Thank-you for everyone's ideas. They have been real helpful and very interesting. Even after 10 kids and 21 years of juggling money I sure enjoy a refesher course in family ecomonics.
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momwats8
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Molly and Joann - thanks for the ideas. The long nights and Saturdays at baseball can take their toll.
Joann - I just started making the kids save their Gatorade bottles. I am now filling them up from Gatorade in the big jugs of it. The bigger jugs save money so that is what I am doing. On Saturdays we are at the field an average of 6 hours so I make them fill their bottles with water after they have finished their Gatorade. One is all they get. I also like the idea of carrots! Good healthy snacks!
Molly - I really like the idea of hoagies and taking them with us. We do not stop to eat, but I have notived that I am buying more convienience items like frozen pizza, Lunchables, Hot Pockets, etc to make for an early dinner before baseball. Thesse all add up.
I too am enjoying the things I am learning from you all in this thread.
p.s. I am getting a brand new bread machine from a woman at church and am looking forward to makng my own bread now too!!!
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Mary- Wife to Mike and Mother to Austin(92), Mikey(95), R.J.(97), Benedict(98), Kolbe(00), Ignatius(02), Christian(03), Margaret(05),&4 angels in heaven
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JodieLyn
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Mary refilling the bottles with water is not only cheaper but much better for them.. you can get too much gatorade.. my dh is a firefighter and their rule of thumb is 1 gatorade to every 2 waters.
I need to find time to read the old posts so I'm not repeating a lot.
My big thing though is using a pantry system.. it allows me to buy A LOT on sale.. and I don't have to plan my meals by what I shop for that week.. I fill in the holes in my pantry and keep all the basics for our typical meals on hand.. special meals I do shop that week for but otherwise.. I can go to my freezer and pantry and make most anything.
Once it's up and going.. you just shop for fresh stuff and sale items.. or critical things that you couldn't catch on a sale.
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Lisbet
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I am so glad to read this! This is an area we are always working one in our house. There are 10 of us right now, 4 under 5 though. We all eat the same things each meal. (I've never allowed custom selections!) We spend about $1000/month on all grocery items. This includes soaps, cleaning products, paper items, meat and produce, etc... everthing to run the household.
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Becky Parker
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Add me to the list of those who are loving this thread! It's been very helpful. I agree with Jodie that a pantry system really helps. I have a set list of groceries for each month and I go to Sam's to get most of them. I occassionally have to run out to get a few specialty items, but nothing like I used to do before I got my pantry organized. (I even do the "Click and Pull" option at Sams so all I have to do is walk in and pick up my HUGE order.)
For baseball game snacks a mother last year had a great idea. This is not for the players, but for the little siblings who are there most of the day watching. She just brought a large bag of peanuts in the shell. I commented on what a great idea it was and she said her kids aren't really that hungry, they just get bored. Having to shell the peanuts before they eat them gives them something to do. I thought that was great, especially since there is no trash and any peanut shells dropped on the ground are bio-degradable! (Of course, this wouldn't work for those with allergies to peanuts.)
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Becky
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Natalia
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Jodie,
How did you start your pantry system? How long did it take you to get it going? My pantry is kind of a mess. Some times I end up buying things twice just because I didn't check the pantry or, I checked it and couldn't find it
Natalia
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: food budget
