It seems that everyone is doing some sort of challenge in October, whether it be “Ocsober” or “Droptober” or something else and not wanting to be left out, I’ve decided to “trim the fat” in October – however, not in the traditional sense.
When I received my credit card statement last month, I was shocked at how much our family was spending on eating well. It seems we’re eating a little too well with our average weekly grocery bill (including meat and fruit/vegetables) topping out at $450.00. Naturally, I wanted to compare this average with a national figure and I was shocked to see that that a standard family bill was $250.00. On some sites, this did not include fruit and vegetables – which was a bit of a relief, but still!
Thus, I’d really like to see if we can still eat well, yet spend closer to the average weekly food budget! Therefore, I’m challenging myself to spend less than $300 per week on groceries. Now I do admit to having both a freezer and pantry that is overflowing with all sorts of proteins and other bits and pieces – so the initial challenge will be planning out meals using these ingredients and sticking to a more regular cooking schedule.
In a nutshell, I’ll be talking about fiscal fitness as well as my normal programming type of fitness. I’m looking forward to having a whole heap of extra cash at the end of the month so long as I don’t spend it all in Melbourne when I go to the Problogger conference (but that’s another story).
How much a week do you spend on groceries?
Have you got any tried and tested tips to help me get this bill down?
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
Meal planning is a great way of keeping it down. I try to keep our groceries under $200 a week. Some weeks I can even get it under $150, but I’ve been lazy with meal planning lately so its creeping up again. Thats a family of 2 adults, a toddler girl and a baby boy (who eats more than the toddler at the moment!), and that includes all meat, veg, and nappies too. We have meat with every dinner because my husband doesn’t consider it a proper meal otherwise, and I admit we dont eat much fruit, but eat heaps of veggies. Have you checked out the Stay at Home Mum website? (www.stayathomemum.net.au) – even if you’re not a stay at home mum, there are plenty of great ideas on there for reducing the grocery bill!
Thanks Hils, I’ll go check out her site – probably with the amount of work I do I’m a SAHM (who doesn’t stay at home as much as I should). I’ll let you know how I get on
xx
Holy moly Liz! That’s a fortune! I cough and splutter when we spend over $150 in one go for the two of us! I’ve actually decided to take out $200 in cash on a Monday and try to make it last the week because it is so easy to lose track by picking up things here and there on Eftpos. I reckon if I can feed us, the cats and keep the house clean on that budget I’ll be doing alright
Hi Beki,
xx
let me know how it goes. Part of my problem is that I’m a “just in case” shopper. I’ll pick something up “just in case” and it will sit in the cupboard until it expires. Hope you are enjoying your new abode
Will do Liz. I like the fact that I’m being far more mindful of what I buy and it means planning meals. I’m like you, a lot of stuff sits around until it gets thrown out. This way it does mean that I have to shop more frequently, but I tend to buy only what I need, when I need it. I also keep an eye out for the “2 for 1″ offers, etc on household products, shampoos, etc. I spent a bit at Bunnings the other day and all my veggie and herb seeds are starting to peek through so hopefully that will save us money over summer too.
It’s not so much that money is a tight thing but I just woke up to the fact that we seem to spend so needlessly whereas a little thought and planning means the money can go elsewhere
PS The new abode is great and surprise, surprise, things are a lot cheaper here!
Cool Beki – I’ve got a whole ton of stuff that’s gone to seed so I might try and give that a tidy up as well!
I have the best solution to save money – move out of Australia! Haha, it worked for me
Our grocery bill is much, much less now, as are all our other bills.
Thanks Tara, when can I come and move in?
Any time
My fiance and I don’t spend too much on grocery shopping although we do most of it at Harris Farms. We do not eat much meat compare to most Australian people, but instead we eat a lot of lentils and chickpeas. Legumes are a good source of protein and are quite cheap if you buy them dry (1kg of dry lentils cost about $3). Also buying seasonal fruits and vegetables is how we keep our grocery bill down. The in-season produces are usually cheaper/on special.
I love legumes Ms Slim, so I might just feature these a little bit more this month!
I like that places like Coles and Woolworths have those cards and recipes with info about meals’ prices etc.
I’m certainly not the person to ask as I’m by myself so only buy eye fillet steak (occasionally scotch fillet), frozen veges, prepackaged tomatoes and that sort of thing. Not a lot of fresh produce makes its way into my basket. (Oh and I do basket shops so don’t buy in bulk!)
Now that I’m unemployed I’ll have to cut corners. It’s occurred to me I’m still drinking $15 bottles of wine as my ‘weeknight’ wine. Eek!
Deb
I buy eye fillet too and really expensive grass fed beef – so now it’s time just to buy a little less xx
We spend about $250 NZD, but there is only two of us. I can get it down to well below $200 just by relying more on the garden. But, seriously, who has time for gardening…?
Not me!
I spend about $300/ week on groceries. Fresh healthy food is so expensive here in Oz, I try to stick to what is is season (and therefore cheaper). Buying organic when I can – carrots, apples, milk etc adds to the bill. I try to stick to the outer aisles of the supermarket – buy unprocessed as far as possible.
If you really wanted to save you could probably eat out at Maccers for half the price of what you are spending a week ! It is sad that being healthy is so costly.
Hi Robs, I agree with you. The outside of the supermarket is best – I’m always quite dismayed when it’s all the crap the supermarkets special out.
Er we are guilty of expensive tastes therefore expensive groceries. Peter keeps ‘encouraging’ me to spend less so I remind him that that the expensive things are: seafood (esp Atlantic salmon), good quality steak (we dont like cheap), mushrooms (@$10/kg we eat a mushroom bag full to the brim every week) and on it goes. Then he shuts up and realises it costs $$+ to eat well.
Hi Magda, atlantic salmon is one of my guilty pleasures as well. Plus I love all those Omega 3s for my joints!
Can’t tell you what we spend, because I buy the supermarket stuff, he buys the meat stuff and the fruit/veg stuff and then there’s the stuff we pick up here and there… I’ll take a guess though and say it’s about $300-$350 a week.
I think our biggest saving could be made by not wasting anything. All too often we have leftovers that sit in the fridge till they go mouldy, or veggies or fruit that turn to sludge and have to be thrown out. I’m making an effort to use things up and avoid chucking anything out.
Same here, same here, same here!
Holy Crap ! I knew there was a reason that we cannot live in Australia at the moment. Liz, last week we were short on $$, I meal planned and did a full shop ( meat, fruti, vege ) and spent $130. This week, I needed laundry detergent and a couple of other big $$ items and our bill was closer to the $200. However, if I do a huge stock up shop I can spend $250 for the week. That is for the 6 of us, packed lunches ( eventhough I could let the kids have school lunch for 40 cents each = crap food), breakfast, dinner, treats and mostly organic meats and vege…. I am guessing from our trip home in August and what it cost me everytime I went into the grocery store that it would cost me closer to $500 a week to buy in AUS what I buy here…. Wowzers !!!!
P.S Happy 1st anniversary to me, and to your helping me get on track again !
Cheers
Fi
Happy 1st anniversary to us! Seriously, when can I come and stay – with those prices, I may just park at your place permanently xxxx
You and your family are more than welcome – anytime !
thank you xx
wow, we spend about $350 and there is only myself and my partner. We follow a mainly paleo diet so meat, chicken etc and lots of vege. We don’t buy any processed stuff and we eat at home pretty much every night so that does include breakfast lunch and dinner for 6-7 days. We do try to buy organic fruit and vege and grass fed meat but do have to buy regular stuff sometimes do to cost. After seeing how much some of the others spend I think we need to cut back or at least have a good look at what we are buying. I have often commented to my partner that food is a biggest expense!
Hi Gennie,
I do know that in the month I averaged out our costs, there was some prime grass fed beef in there and it was 55.00/kg. However we justified that by saying that we never get takeaway! Anyway Day Two and I’ve spent the princely sum of $3.00 but still a long way to go!
That is how I justify it, we don’t get takeaway either so spending a bit more on grass fed meat is ok, right.
We buy nearly all of our fruit and veg at the markets. It’s a bit of a pain having to go every single Saturday (especially after some of those really long runs) but it saves us a fortune. I think I spend at most $50 for a five adult family’s worth.
Char, we do sometimes go to the markets on a Saturday but we go to buy organic which is more expensive no matter where you buy it, we were getting it delivered which was good because it stops you picking up other nice things that you see but don’t really need. Markets are great fun though.
Hi Gennie,
I know what you mean – if you get it delivered then there’s no temptation to buy anything else.
Hi Char, I should try and get out there after teaching Cycle – except, that I fear it may be too late in the morning!
I am terrible at over-stocking and buying things on special, which is kind of good, but can result in way more food than we need and by the time we need thing X it has gone on special again anyway! If I stop doing that we usually save some money. Buying our fruit / veg at markets rather than supermarkets, and buying things like nuts / seeds in bulk and not eating much meat, also helps us out. Good luck with the challenge!
Hi Kari, I think adopting a vegetarian approach could be more cost effective, so it’s something I’m looking at more and more.
Eat the cupboards! Eat it all up until the shelves are bare. I never throw food out… but having said that I spend a fortune on food and the only way the bill goes down is if I go to Aldi not Woollies!
Hi Seana, I’m scared of Aldi, but that’s for another post!