While I do not have a formal budget for groceries, I do keep a mental expectation of what I need and what it should cost. I shop almost exclusively from the outside aisle of the store (buying mainly dried grains, pasta, beans and canned tomatoes from the aisles). For the two of us, I spend approximately $100/week. This includes my twice weekly visits to a Farmer's Market when they're running.

If for some reason I spend more time wandering those centering aisles, it can raise the cost by $25 or more.

I was wondering, though, I've noticed for the last several years a general increase in food costs each April and October. What cost me one total once week, would suddenly and ever-after be about $10-$25 dollars higher. Its as if all the manufacturers put in their price increases at the same time. Now with the fluctuating (but high) energy costs, the changes can come even more frequently.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

Although I'm all about being frugal, groceries are an area where I'm learning that saving money is NOT always the best policy.

Certain things I will only buy with coupons or on sale, yes. And I generally don't buy produce unless it's in season. But I buy (for example) organic milk for my kids and that's EXPENSIVE. I could buy less milk or I could go for the "cheap" milk but I've made this a priority.

Recently I've started buying only wild-caught fish, and only hormone-free meats, and guess what? It costs a lot more. At the same time, I'm trying to cut down on our meat consumption to offset the cost, but unless you're going to live on pasta and only simple carbs, food is expensive. Healthy food costs more. It took me until I was well into my 30s to figure out that a fresh, healthful meal was more worthy of my dollars than a new pair of shoes.

It's liberating, actually. I used to bypass fresh fruits and veggies because I felt I just couldn't afford them. And sure, I don't buy the most expensive stuff all willy-nilly, but in giving myself permission to spend money on good food I enjoy cooking and feeding my family so much more.

--
Mir from WCS
(BlogHer Mommy & Family contributing editor)

Personal: Woulda Coulda Shoulda

Having it all with less: Want Not

We follow a lot of the same philosophies Mir does--organic dairy and hormone-free meat are priorities to us, so we pay more for them. We actually buy mostly organic produce as well, and shop as much as possible at a co-op rather than a chain grocery store, so we definitely could cut our food budget by 1/2 or more if we were willing to compromise. Fortunately, we can afford to spend what we do on food, and honestly I can't think of any better use of the money.

(We spend about $500-$600/month for two people.)

Being a single woman in DC, I eat out a lot. I tallied just my morning diet coke (fountain from a local market) recently and figured out I spent $320 a year just in morning soda, couple that with eating out 4 times a week and I spent about 1/4 of my income on dining out every year.

I know frugal eating is the way to go, but spending $100 a month at the grocery store leaves you with little in the way of healthy choices. A girl can only go so far on fried balony sandwiches and carrots. :)

I could not imagine having the responsibility of feeding a family, my closest friend has a family of 6 to feed and spents upwards of $500 a month just on groceries not even eating out.

I enjoy cooking, and try to do it often, then I will notice I will waste a lot of food since I have yet to master the art of cooking for one.

Food is a necessity, but also an enjoyment, I know that like so many single women I have to learn moderation and mastering the art of a healthy frugal food lifestyle.

It is always cheap to hit a fast food dollar menu, but who wants to live that way?

Jenn

meaninglessrandomchoiceofwords

I have two teenaged boys, so my grocery budget is "all that I have left after paying bills and then some." There is no way I could feed them healthfully on $100 month each. And what about me? I love me some sushi, even if I know if it is very expensive rice balls.

I don't think that all restaurant spending is in the same category as "food." A lot of times when I eat out with friends I am sharing time, "table rental" at a cool place, and the opportunity to enjoy someone's company. When I throw a party, I don't count that in my food budget, but in my people budget (as if I had a budget). Same with restaurants.

The problem is there is never enough to go around. I can keep slicing and slicing my pie into different segments, but the truth is I need a bigger pie.

Yum, pie! I want some pie!

Several members of Congress have taken the food stamp challenge and they have a blog http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com/my_weblog/

It is updated sporadically but it's interesting reading.

And several months ago Single Ma had a post and fascinating series of comments from several women who shared their real world experience of using food stamps and most of them finding it was not as onerous as the challenge presents.

http://singlemomandmoney.blogspot.com/2007/05/food-stamps.html

I think the challenge is important though for raising awareness, however.

Great post, Nina - thanks for the links.

Kleenex® Let It Out™ Blog
Beyond Help

I'm very lucky. For me eating healthy is the cheapest option. I live near a fruit and vegetable wholesalers and very rarely need to go to the supermarket, where prices are ridiculous. I can buy fruit and veg seasonally and cheaply without paying for all the middle men.

At the moment, mandarins are 89c a kilo, desiree chats are $1.99 for 5 kilos, avocados are 50c each...

In the supermarket, the current prices for these items are $3.80 a kilo, $2.89 for just 1 kilo, and $2.14 each respectively.

Totals on those 3 items...
Wholesale: $3.38
Supermarket: $20.39

That's a phenomenal difference and leaves me room in the budget for meat and fish.

If I shopped at the supermarket for food, I would be living on pasta or rice and nothing else.

Searching out a wholesaler in your area is well worth the effort.

I find that if I reserve a third to a half of my food budget for fruit and veggies, I can eat really well, and really cheaply. it also forces me to menuplan, or the veggies go ick at the bottom of the fridge.
I spend $70 (Aussie dollars) a week for 2 people. We get fruit and veggies from the farmers market - or the wholesalers if i can't make the markets. Then I go to the supermarket to spend what's left. generally thats some tinned tomatoes, milk, cheese, bread, maybe olive oil.. and pasta or rice.
once a month or so I buy bulk meat at a discount butcher - but about half our meals are vegetarian.
my fresh produce and eggs are organic-ish and local. not so the meat. yet.
anyway, it works for me.
We eat out once a week usually, but that comes out of my fun money, not the food budget.
my blog is all about the fun food I can cook on this budget - and although I know we could live on less, I think it would take a lot of the fun out of it.
interesting how everybody has an opinion on this!

During the last depression/recession it was bad news for many folks. Living off of unemployment insurance and collecting cans and bottles to back fill on the food. I didn't have food stamps (My personal decision I refuse to use them but I don't have children.) so I really ate at the $3 at day level or maybe had $10 for the week.

First you have to get elemental with your food choices. What do you need and what can you live without. It involved knowing my area supermarkets and knowing when the cheap meat (going out of code) was going on sale. The more affluent markets had certain days when dated food was on sale. I made sure I was in close proximity on those days.

It meant keeping a mental track list of those places that had dollar old veggie bags. And lord did I scarf down pounds of Ramen noodles. It can be done but it takes a lot of work to do it nutritionally.

Buying organic? Not in the budget. Buying large quantities of food to freeze? Not when I only had $6 to last me 7 days. It was a diet heavy on pasta and whatever I could get to accompany the pasta.

Farmer's Market? Only if I went to a farmers market that the patrons didn't want the tops of collard, turnip or beet greens. I usually could cut a deal to take some of the unwanted greens home. This will not work in areas where the patrons know that you can eat the tops of turnips or how to fix greens.

Now days, I keep it around $75 to $100 for a week or so. I try to factor in lunch or dinner if I'm going to be home late. I want to have more veggies and reduce my meat consumption. It is all I can do not to buy a burger (Not good for me or my body). But I have been known to eat damn near anything else if it is quick and cheap.

More people than not do not have access to food stamps due to pride, misunderstanding of the food stamp program or their income is slightly more than what is eligible. Many of our friends and neighbors are using food pantries to help them make it through the month. If the Sub-Prime/Credit mess gets any worse a lot more will join them.

Gena - Out On The Stoop

I love this topic. I was raised by a very frugal Scottish mother who made me think of leftovers as their own separate food group. I spend about $150 a month on groceries, sometimes more, sometimes less. I try to stretch the budget as long as possible, almost like a game, until I have nothing left but condiments and beer.

I often hear about single folks like me who don't know how to cook for one. I always tell them, "Then don't. Cook for several, take one serving, and freeze the rest." I've learned to make things in bulk and squirrel the rest away for later.

It helps that I grew most of my own vegetables this year and I am currently freezing all I can for the coming winter. Another plus: My favorite winter hobby is making soups. I just can't get enough. Ice cream too. Once you start making your own groceries, you can't go back, everything just tastes weird and expensive after that.

Also, I share the same grocery shopping philosophy as Debra: Stick to the perimeters and keep your eye out for "specials."

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Photography
Proprietor, ClizBiz

and they're interesting and insightful...

Debra - I agree, center isles can play havoc with a budget. Good point!

Mir - "Healthy food costs more. It took me until I was well into my 30s to figure out that a fresh, healthful meal was more worthy of my dollars than a new pair of shoes." Well-said! I couldn't agree more.

avengingophelia - Yep, you're on to something with the co-op focus. One of my readers at Queercents swears by her local "farm share" program. "The farm decides what will be in our box each week depending on what’s in season locally and available and we get to cook creatively." Alternatively, I have a local produce stand that has great prices when I can't get to the farmer's market.

Jenn and kperfetto - what you're saying sounds familiar about twentysomethings. Cooking for one has it's challenges and eating out or buying expensive prepared foods at the gourmet grocer seems to be the norm. Check out Adam at The Amateur Gourmet for some ideas.

debontherocks - more pie is good. I hear ya!

Maria - You always find the best links to add to the conversation. Thanks for including those. The food stamp issue is a biggie in my opinion.

cerebralmom and kazari - the fruit and vegetable stands are amazing, but as Maria pointed out in the comments to this post, I wonder if region plays into their accessibility. Food for thought!

Gena - there's a lot packed in that comment. Where do I begin?

ClizBiz - Sounds like you're on to something. "Cook for several, take one serving, and freeze the rest." I see a cookbook in your future.

Nina Smith
Queercents
We're here, we're queer, and we're not going shopping without coupons.

We're big on organic (when possible) and totally unprocessed food. The one thing that was really costing us a fortune was meat. We are big meat eaters, but buying the kind of meat we eat was SUPER expensive. (Hormone free, traditionally farmed, free-range etc.....) So I did a bunch of research and found that buying a whole cow, pig, lamb at a time cost less than 1/4 of what we were paying buying it a meal at a time.

There are some reasons why this isn't for everyone:

1. you need a freezer dedicated to meat. we found one on Craiglslist for $50.
2. You have to pay up front for all of it. For 1 cow, 1-1/2 lamb and a pig, we were out a little over $1,000, which is a big chunk up front. But we won't be buying meat for the rest of the year.

If you do decide to give this a shot, check out www.eatwild.com for some education as well as a list of registered organic farms near you....

We pooled resources with 6 other families and placed a mega order which made it even cheaper, and made it possible for people to get as little as 1/8 a cow if they wanted. Most farmers / butchers that I've run in to will sell as little as 1/4 of a cow at a time.

For reference, I don't remember the exact cost, but for this beef, it worked out to something like $2.80 a pound. Which is cheap! And it is so good.

And we know the farm our meat came from, we know the farmers, our daughter knows where food comes from and understands the cycle. It was totally worth it!

___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

I am trying to get our family of five by on a $600/month food budget. That's $20 a day.I go through cycles of menu-planning. The last few months, I shop for our needs by the day, or two days in advance at most.( I tell myself it's Euro-chic). I know this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but I find the micro management reduces waste and helps me stay on budget.

I'm sure I'll be onto a different system next month. I have also had long phases of bulk buying. It depends how inclined I feel toward planning and prepping.

I do coupons and watch the sales. My kids are school age, and my husband's palate has never progressed past age 12, so the coupons help keep them from feeling deprived by subsidizing cookies and cereal bars.

I would like to make organic a priority. And I understand the big-picture cost of choosing otherwise. But it isn't a luxury I can afford right now.

Kyran, Notes to Self

Alyssa - I hadn't thought about the "whole cow" approach. Thanks for sharing the link.

Kyran - I follow the Euro-chic concept too! It's the only way to buy bread - the "day of" is best.

Nina Smith
Queercents
We're here, we're queer, and we're not going shopping without coupons.

We're a family of 5, and we spend $500 a month on groceries. I try to buy organic when I can, esp. produce and milk. We eat out about once a week for dinner, and once for lunch, adding a whopping $250/month more to the food allocation, but my husband doesn't cook, and I need an occasional break.

Sheryl

And reading this reminds me of stories she told me.  She actually fed my two older sisters pasta every night.  She would eat their leftovers.  She also said she would collect soda cans and recycle them to afford to put meat on the pasta.  This is extreme, but my mom was too proud for welfare.  Luckily, she met my father and I never had to experience this. 

I have not tried limiting my grocery budget.  I don't think my husband would let me, but reading the posts and the comments accompanying it makes me want to try.  Any way to save money in this economy is welcome.