What is your limit?

[blissful]

Lately it's about $50 a week for 2, but that is because the garden is producing steadily for a few months. This week I've been eating gaspacho and tortilla chips with some cottage cheese for lunch all week, cost is under $6 for that.
Dinner's are what's in the pantry and freezer. The freezer needs to be used up and it's stocked full, all 18 cubic feet of sale items, venison, and frozen food. Venison season is approaching again! I'm really thinking of making some pepperoni because we like pizza, and the italian sausage was easy, so we have that.
I buy bread when I'm not making it.
I have bags of stuff from our first freeze out of the garden, sitting in the kitchen tonight. I have yet to do anything with it -due to some emergencies this past week-end.
I don't buy paper products except toilet paper. I make my own soap and laundry soap which saves a lot. I have enough to last a year or better.
I make dried beans (a few pounds, almost weekly) and try to incorporate them into soups, stews, spreads, etc, which is very cost effective and nutritious.
My biggest costs are bread, milk, eggs, cheese, butter, olive oil, wine, coffee, hair products and toilet paper for now.
I may splurge yet this fall and pick up some pumpkins and freeze it for pies and breads, and if I have time, some produce at the roadside stands to freeze or can.
Sometimes I run out of necessary spices and herbs, that really bothers me. There a few herbs from the garden that need to be dried and packaged for winter. Right now I'm lacking something in the curry area, I have a few cups of curry but it's just not the right blend, or maybe I need a cooking lesson. How can I make curry that is SO GOOD like other people?
The pears may be ripe on the tree in the yard, and there are quite a bit of those. I need to test them (I read they ripen from the inside) to see if they are ripe and then decide how to deal with them this year-I just tested some, the ones on the broken branch are just yellowing, perfect, the green ones need a week or so yet. After pears, the high bush cranberries will need to be dealt with, and they make the best sauce and glaze.
This part of the year is the lowest cost per week for groceries.
This is without eating out, which is the norm here. Mostly I cook in bulk on the week-ends and then not so much during the week.
I don't know if the price of everything is bothering you, but, it is bothering me. The best way to save money is to not go shopping! I probably take budgeting a little too seriously. Oh well, that's me.

 

[deelady]

Oh man blissful, I am exhausted just reading that!! You go! wow
How on earth do you make your own laundry soap? Thats a new one to me!
Would love to see pictures of YOUR yard! Do you have any up in the gardening thread?

 

[love2"Q"]

we try to stay at 200 a week for a family of four and three dogs ..
i make my lunch for work everyday .. my son takes his lunch to school(his choice) ..
my wife is a stay at homer and my little girl is only two .. its a tremendous
amout of money .. we are always looking for ways to cut down .. but still end up
at around 800 a month .. we dont eat fancy meals .. it just seems that this is the cost of feeding the household ...

 

[babetoo]

Is that per week Adillo?

And babe how many is yours for??

Thank you for eveyones responses, I was feeling like I wasn't watching my spending very well but I guess what we spend is looking pretty average!

i am buying for myself. i have people over for dinner a couple times a month so must buy more for those occasions. figure 4 weeks per month and it comes out to 75 per week for everything. i could probably do better but i do buy prepared food, just hate to cook for one. most of the time i do, but not lately. just hitting a dry spell , cooking wise.

 

[Billdolfski]

I seem to spend as much if not more than most, and I only feed myself. I don't really make much (money) either... I guess I just blow what I have on good food =P

 

[Max Sutton]

About $100.00 per week for one person

I usually spend around $100.00 per week at my supermarket. That includes paper products and other non-food items available in a grocery store. I'm shopping for just little old me and I stick to a shopping list.

 

[blissful]

Oh man blissful, I am exhausted just reading that!! You go! wow
How on earth do you make your own laundry soap? Thats a new one to me!
Would love to see pictures of YOUR yard! Do you have any up in the gardening thread?

You know, I do get tired of it sometimes, but then I am happy I have what I have.
Laundry soap doesn't lather like detergent, but, it cleans things nice. I shred 12 ounces of plain soap, put it in a big pan on the stove with a couple quarts of water. When it is dissolved and clear, I pour it in a big bucket, add a cup of borax powder and a cup of washing soda, then add 3 quarts of water, and mix. As it cools it thickens and after sitting 12 hours it's a gel. I use 3/4 cup of it more or less per load at pennies per use.
(Sometimes I add a few ounces of essential oil to give it a clean fragrance-tea tree oil.)

 

[BreezyCooking]

I'd estimate that my husband & I spend between $150 & $200 per week. We buy paper towels, toilet paper, gallon jugs of extra-virgin olive oil & soy sauce, etc., etc. at CostCo; all other basics at WalMart; & everything else depending on which market has the most of our wants/needs on sale at the time.

 

[texasgirl]

When I'm working, I was spending $200-$250 a week. That is for 3 people, but, that is for junk too, lol, like, chocolates, gum and mints for the smoking quit.
Now, I'm spending about $150+, so, I can go cheaper when I know I can't afford it. hehe

 

[pacanis]

I have no idea what I spend/week because I don't have a budget and I don't necessarily go every week.
If there is something I use a lot of, or frequently like coffee, on sale, I buy more than I need. For instance, today I wanted to buy 3 or 4 containers of Folgers because it was on sale (they were sold out so I got a raincheck). Problem is, I have a semi-hard time storing that much coffee cuz it's just me and I only make 7-8 cups in the morning, but I won't need any coffee for a while and that makes it worth it to me even though it's kind of a catch-22 because my infrequency of buying means I don't notice slight price increases. I know I still have Del Monte veggies in the cupboard I paid .60/can for And they are "on sale" for .96 now?

And today I held back buying snow crab legs on sale because I still have three packages from last time they went on sale, but the paper towells I use were on sale again and I am proud to say I am sitting on a total of 8-8 pks of Brawney paper towels They didn't have my coffee, so they were going to sell me something that was on sale

So yeah, no budget. Some weeks nothing, some weeks forty bucks, some weeks well over a hundred. I guess I'm a "binge" buyer

 

[Maverick2272]

You know, I do get tired of it sometimes, but then I am happy I have what I have.
Laundry soap doesn't lather like detergent, but, it cleans things nice. I shred 12 ounces of plain soap, put it in a big pan on the stove with a couple quarts of water. When it is dissolved and clear, I pour it in a big bucket, add a cup of borax powder and a cup of washing soda, then add 3 quarts of water, and mix. As it cools it thickens and after sitting 12 hours it's a gel. I use 3/4 cup of it more or less per load at pennies per use.
(Sometimes I add a few ounces of essential oil to give it a clean fragrance-tea tree oil.)

My wife has that 'recipe' as well, but I like the idea of essential oils being added to it to give it a nice fragrance, thanks for the idea! About how much do you think you add to it, approximately?

 

[Callisto in NC]

ALDI for most stuff, lots of coupons anywhere else. Love to get things on sale and have a coupon as well. Most grocery stores here are even taking expired coupons as well. That and right now we are keeping meals simple to keep them cheap.

Wow, your ALDI must be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay different than ours. I went into ALDI for the first time two weeks ago and they had nothing but their brand and it wasn't competitive with Walmart.

I had a $500 paycheck last week, paid $400 in rent, and still had $20 the day before payday so I'm definitely not spending $100 a week.

 

[Mama]

There are only two of us at home but the kids come by to go "shopping" sometimes. I have a well stocked pantry that I only restock when items are low AND on sale. Like Pacanis some weeks I spend nothing while other weeks I might spend $200 if there are a lot of good deals. I have larges bins for dog food and cat food that hold 3 20lb. bags each so I only buy animal food about once every two to three months (always with coupons).

 

[Katie H]

Thanks for the laundry soap endorsement, blissfull. Our oldest son just emailed us the recipe this morning. I am definitely going to make some. I think one of the things we've all gotten used to is the "lathering" of soap. Psychologically we feel as though things are getting clean. I could care less about bubbles. I simply want my laundry clean.

One thing someone addressed earlier on was the use of cloth napkins. We've never had paper napkins in our house, even when the children were small. I'll bet we have close to 200 cloth napkins in our supply. For some reason, it never made much sense to use paper ones with 5 children. Just use your imagination on how much toilet paper they used!!! We never used paper towels either. Still don't.

They were assigned a napkin color for each one and were charged to put them in the wash every several days. The napkins were "lost in the noise" of washing for 7 people.

Buck and I were invited to a picnic last year and had to go to the dollar store to buy paper napkins because we were asked to bring the paper products.

But...to each his own.

 

[Maverick2272]

Wow, your ALDI must be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay different than ours. I went into ALDI for the first time two weeks ago and they had nothing but their brand and it wasn't competitive with Walmart.

I had a $500 paycheck last week, paid $400 in rent, and still had $20 the day before payday so I'm definitely not spending $100 a week.

Ours has a huge selection of stuff, including name brands and special buys. If I catch something on sale at Wal-Mart and have a coupon, I can sometimes match the price at ALDI, but that is very rare so I don't shop there very often.

Some of the best deals for meat, though, come from Pete's and Moo & Oink.

 

[Callisto in NC]

Ours has a huge selection of stuff, including name brands and special buys. If I catch something on sale at Wal-Mart and have a coupon, I can sometimes match the price at ALDI, but that is very rare so I don't shop there very often.

Some of the best deals for meat, though, come from Pete's and Moo & Oink.

I wish we had that kind of Aldi. Everything in ours is some Aldi brand, very limited, only 4 total aisles maybe three yards long. No meat, very little produce and the only national brands I saw were the candy bars at the check out. AND you had to have your own bags and do it youself.

 

[Mama]

Our Aldi is a lot like the one Mav is talking about. They have "special buys" where they have brand names. Milk is $2.49 a gallon. They have meats, cheeses, bread and dairy products along with produce and canned goods. Most of the stuff is "Aldi" Brand. I don't know where Mooresville, NC is Callisto in relation to a big city but it may be that they have more stuff in the stores near big cities. Here's their webpage: Aldi

 

[blissful]

My wife has that 'recipe' as well, but I like the idea of essential oils being added to it to give it a nice fragrance, thanks for the idea! About how much do you think you add to it, approximately?

I don't add an essential oil every time and the soap lasts so long- months, it's been a while since I made some. Each essential oil is different, so I'll start with a teaspoon and start adding, until it is just slightly fragranced. Tea tree oil is nice for this application and also topically for it's anti fungal and antibiotic properties. So if you are buying some, and you can find it, get a 4-8 ounce bottle and it will last for quite a while.

So Maverick--are you getting all 'mavericky' like tina fey from saturday night live says? I hope she does another impersonation tonight--I don't stay up that late but I watch it on hulu.com and it's so funny I've had tears running down my face.

 

[LeeAnn]

It's me, 3 daughters, 4 cats and 2 hermit crabs. We spend about $300-$400/month. That includes all the "other" things that are needed besides food. I've always been able to keep my food bill down, just sticking to the basic meals that the kids like. Every now and then I'll make something new, or try some new recipes. But lately I haven't been able to - still trying to adjust to our "move".

I like the idea of homemade laundry detergent, we try to be friendlier to our environment in packaging and natural type products.

We don't have an Aldi here, but there is a Walmart in Riverhead - about 20 minutes from here. And there is a Stop and Shop, which we haven't been to yet since it's brand new - also in Riverhead. And a Best Yet store, haven't been there either but my friend loves shopping there, says they have great deals on deli and produce. I'll have to check it out.

Thanks for all the great ideas!

 

[Callisto in NC]

Our Aldi is a lot like the one Mav is talking about. They have "special buys" where they have brand names. Milk is $2.49 a gallon. They have meats, cheeses, bread and dairy products along with produce and canned goods. Most of the stuff is "Aldi" Brand. I don't know where Mooresville, NC is Callisto in relation to a big city but it may be that they have more stuff in the stores near big cities. Here's their webpage: Aldi

Mooresville is a decent size city. 90% of the NASCAR race shops are here. Mooresville is where Lake Norman is so we are close to Charlotte and Concord. Concord's where the race track is. I'll check the site but I'm not impressed so far.