What is your limit?

[Addie]

Looking back to when this thread was first started, I can't help wondering if there has been a huge or small increase in ones spending for groceries.

My circumstances have certainly changed. With Pirate here my shopping has gotten somewhat easier even though I have had a cut in food stamps. And there is no increase in SS COLA payments this year.

Pirate get a sizeable amount in food stamps. My stamps buy most of all the groceries for the both of us minus the meats. Since he has no income at all, I purchase all the dry goods for the house out of my pocket cash. He buys all the meats for the month and has about $30 left for milk and other items needed throughout the month. We usually have half the meats left at the end of the month. The next month he buys less meats. So as long as he stays here, I can't really tell what the heck we spend on groceries. It varies so much month to month. I like it better when I live alone.

 

[CharlieD]

Prices did go up dramatically in last 3 years. I know we struggle.


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[rodentraiser]

I get the full amount of food stamps for one month, so I guess you could say I spend about $50 a week on just me. But it's a lot more complicated than that because I pretty much shop for the month in one large trip.

My food stamps come out on the 4th and before I started actually cooking instead of eating all frozen food and stuff, I used to have to shop right on the 4th because I'd be completely out of food. I mean, I'd be eating pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner by then. Eighteen months later, I'm able to put off shopping till later and later in the month because I am saving on food and in December, I never did do a major shopping trip, just picked up some stuff as I needed it all through the month and actually had money on my card when the 4th came round in January.

This month I needed an angiogram on the 4th, so what with one thing or the other, I didn't get around to shopping until practically the 15th, and then I did use up all my food stamps and what I had left over from December in one trip this time. But I bought a lot and I should have enough food to last me till the 15th of next month or beyond.

So it's really hard to say I spend such and such in a week or a month.

 

[jd_1138]

I'm solo. I have a roommate that I try not to share things with. Usually $50/wk and I don't go out much for meals.

I had a roommate (expensive San Francisco Bay Area) before I got married and moved here to Ohio. Back then I could barely make a grilled cheese sandwich, lol. So I just gave her an extra $75/week and she'd make enough supper for both of us. And she'd buy me my fave cereal and cold cuts for breakfast/lunch. I didn't mind not having to go to the grocery store or having to cook. She was of Greek ancestry and made awesome meals. There was usually something simmering in a pot on the stove and the house smelled awesome.

As for today, we spend about $125/week on groceries. That includes paper products, coffee, etc.. If it were just me, I could probably get by on $30/week in groceries. But my wife is very selective about what she will eat.

 

[Addie]

I get the full amount of food stamps for one month, so I guess you could say I spend about $50 a week on just me. But it's a lot more complicated than that because I pretty much shop for the month in one large trip.

My food stamps come out on the 4th and before I started actually cooking instead of eating all frozen food and stuff, I used to have to shop right on the 4th because I'd be completely out of food. I mean, I'd be eating pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner by then. Eighteen months later, I'm able to put off shopping till later and later in the month because I am saving on food and in December, I never did do a major shopping trip, just picked up some stuff as I needed it all through the month and actually had money on my card when the 4th came round in January.

This month I needed an angiogram on the 4th, so what with one thing or the other, I didn't get around to shopping until practically the 15th, and then I did use up all my food stamps and what I had left over from December in one trip this time. But I bought a lot and I should have enough food to last me till the 15th of next month or beyond.

So it's really hard to say I spend such and such in a week or a month.

Living alone and on food stamps, you do find that when you are dependent on another for transportation, it can make a difference in how you spend those stamps. Due to age related infirmities, taking public transportation each month is out of the questions. I can ride the bus, but can't carry bags or packages. Taxies are very expensive, and the city does provide a van for elderly to do their shopping. But they only put the bags inside the front door on the first floor. Now I have the problem of getting them up to the second floor.

So my son takes me shopping the second day of each month. The day he gets his stamps. The store is HUGE! Spike takes half of my list and shops one side of the store, I do the other half. Since he buys so much less for himself, he can fit his groceries in the child seat. My groceries take up his cart. I use one the electric carts and they don't hold that much. I end up calling him on my phone to come and empty it into his cart. I have to get what I need in one trip due to transportation difficulties. So I spend all my food stamps. Pirate goes shopping with his sister and she shops usually once a week. He spend most of his stamps on meats. The rest we use for milk and bread. I have to give Spike a big, huge Kudo! He loads up the car with my groceries, unloads the car and puts them in the one of the illegal shopping carts that are one the property, and after getting them upstairs to my apartment, puts them all away. I love that boy of mine. I hate shopping.

 

[jusnikki]

We are now down to three in my household. I try to stay under $70.00 a week. I can remember when that was a full buggy of groceries. Now it's just a few items.


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[Mary3167]

I am living with my boyfriend and we try to keep our limit at $70 per week.

 

[Capt Lightning]

GotGarlic, the term "beidh ar la linn" is an Irish republican slogan roughly meaning "Our day will come". It would be very provocative to those who take a different view. I will say no more - this is a food board.

Expenditure? I can't really say, only that I prefer to eat less of something good, that a lot of something bad. We cook all our own food at home - no take aways or ready meals. We normally only eat out when we are on holiday - can't do much else when you live in a fairly remote area.

 

[GotGarlic]

GotGarlic, the term "beidh ar la linn" is an Irish republican slogan roughly meaning "Our day will come". It would be very provocative to those who take a different view. I will say no more - this is a food board.

Must I really read over 27 pages of posts spanning seven years to know what you're talking about? A little context, please.

 

[Capt Lightning]

Gotgarlic, apologies.. in message 259 you responded to a query about what a particular expression meant. My comment should of course have been addressed to SomaW.
Must be my advancing age...

Off to the shops today. Being ancient, we get free bus travel so that saves on fuel costs (high in the UK). There are a number of 'budget' stores such as Aldi & Lidl and we do quite a lot of our shopping there. Always a like a bargain!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

...There are a number of 'budget' stores such as Aldi & Lidl and we do quite a lot of our shopping there. Always a like a bargain!

We have Aldi on this side of the pond, too! I used to shop there rather regularly when we lived in Ohio. They had opened a store about two miles from our home in the late 1980s and I was a Girl Scout leader. Great place to pick up Scout meeting treats, or to stock up on items when we would do overnight camp trips. Then we moved to Massachusetts in 2000, and no Aldi in sight. By the time they started moving into the area about (maybe) eight years ago, I could not believe how much the quality of their products had improved.

Himself and I just ran into one today to get a container of mixed nuts...and came out with about 6-8 other things. It's nowhere near as close as my favorite, regular grocery store, but I might get back in the groove of shopping there. The prices are definitely better, and now that Himself is retired and no longer pulling in the "big bucks" I need to shop smarter. Plus, I noticed they now take credit cards. We use our Discover card for everything to earn the cash-back bonus points, then pay the bill off in total each month so as to not pay interest.

 

[MSoups]

I try to stay around $250 a month, which I guess kinda works out to ~$60/week. We don't really see it like that though. I put together a menu at the beginning of each month and buy all the dry and canned good items at the beginning of the month and then just buy veggies and fruits the week of the meal.

If there happens to be money left in the budget towards the end of the month we get some filet mignon or something else that's a little more expensive...if there isn't then its bean bean beans.

 

[CraigC]

Just a reminder from the first page. Are you including non food items in your weekly budget?

 

[MSoups]

I am...sort of. My budget is for grocery stores in general. Whether I buy paper products with that $250 or not though it doesn't change (and we get non-perishables at BJ's). Last month for example, we ran out of soaps and paper goods etc all at once so there was A LOT of beans haha

 

[Capt Lightning]

We shop at a number of stores, usually once a fortnight. Living in a fairly remote village, the nearest town with large stores is 14 miles away. Maybe not far in American terms, but a fair distance in the UK.

Working out the amount we spend is a bit tricky because it is divided between a number of shops and some things are only bought occasionally. Fresh food such as beef & lamb are bought from the butcher, not supermarket, and as we live near the sea, fish is from the fishmonger. We raise our own pigs and sometimes obtain a deer or a few pheasants. Difficult to work out their exact cost as often they are in return for a favour.

So, let's say £125 a week - currently about $175 - not counting wine & beer.

 

[MSoups]

I need to find a butcher near me - over the last year or so I've gone from buying everything pre-made to buying raw ingredients and the transformation would feel complete if I bought meat from a real butcher rather than a grocery.

 

[GotGarlic]

I need to find a butcher near me - over the last year or so I've gone from buying everything pre-made to buying raw ingredients and the transformation would feel complete if I bought meat from a real butcher rather than a grocery.

Some grocery stores have real butchers.

 

[Addie]

I need to find a butcher near me - over the last year or so I've gone from buying everything pre-made to buying raw ingredients and the transformation would feel complete if I bought meat from a real butcher rather than a grocery.

We have such a fella within distance from my home, so that I can go there on my scooter. I used to go there on a regular basis. But lately his prices have become just too high. The quality is still good, but now I get all my meats at Market Basket. Any special cuts or requests the back room is happy to fill. I am quite happy with what I can buy and the prices. I make sure I check the flyer before I leave the house.

 

[CarolPa]

Cooking Goddess, I shop Aldi's regularly, but there are certain things I will buy there and some not. We have tried some things that we didn't like. We have 2 Aldi's within 5 miles of us. One has lower prices than the other but it's out of the way. As far as I know, ours don't take credit cards but they might have changed it.

I know a few people who charge everything in order to get the cash back. My son's inlaws spend winters in AZ. They use credit cards for everything, and fly back and forth with the travel miles they earn.

 

[Andy M.]

...I know a few people who charge everything in order to get the cash back. My son's inlaws spend winters in AZ. They use credit cards for everything, and fly back and forth with the travel miles they earn.

I doesn't cost extra to use a credit card for everything so you can get points or miles for future purchases. When SO was working full time, she got lots of points that paid for tickets to Aruba and car rentals.