Food Costs for 2018
One of my goals for 2018 was to cut my grocery budget. That includes food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and paper products. Oreo has her own budget so none of her stuff is in there. Also all medications are in the medical budget. I had set a goal of $400 a month. I was doing really well until about October when we learned my youngest daughter has a gluten intolerance. GF food is not cheap.
We ended up spending $5190.55 for the year. That comes to $432.54 a month. So I went over by $390.55. This is for 4 adults. That comes to $108.13 a person per month. With 3 people with different food issues, I think we did really well. We like to eat and we eat really well. No one in this house is deprived. My waist line can attest to that.
According to the USDA, my family is far below the thrifty plan. For a family of 4 they say that we should be spending around $700. So as long as I stay below the thrifty plan, I am happy.
I did manage to add a lot to my food pantry this year. I would like to get everything to about a 6 month supply and I am doing very well on it. Some items, such as black beans, I know I am way ahead on. I know that if I had to live off of my food storage I could for several months.
My garden and canning has also helped me keep my grocery budget low. At this point, my garden does not cost me a lot. I do not calculate the water usage so I do not know how much I really spend on it. But it is worth it to me to eat fresh homegrown vegetables. I would still do it even if it wasn't cost effective because I enjoy it, it is healthier, I know exactly what is in my food.
For those of you interested, we spent on groceries:
2018 2017 2016
$5190.55 $5748.98 $6065.08
See, I am getting better at this every year, I saved us over $550 this year from 2017. I will look for new ways to save money in 2019 on our grocery budget. Lets see how low I can get it in 2019. I am again going to aim for $400 a month for the 4 of us. I am currently not working so I have more time to cook more from scratch and hunt out grocery bargains. I am always willing to learn, so if you have any ideas how to cut my budget even more, let me know. What did you spend on groceries in 2018?
We ended up spending $5190.55 for the year. That comes to $432.54 a month. So I went over by $390.55. This is for 4 adults. That comes to $108.13 a person per month. With 3 people with different food issues, I think we did really well. We like to eat and we eat really well. No one in this house is deprived. My waist line can attest to that.
According to the USDA, my family is far below the thrifty plan. For a family of 4 they say that we should be spending around $700. So as long as I stay below the thrifty plan, I am happy.
I did manage to add a lot to my food pantry this year. I would like to get everything to about a 6 month supply and I am doing very well on it. Some items, such as black beans, I know I am way ahead on. I know that if I had to live off of my food storage I could for several months.
My garden and canning has also helped me keep my grocery budget low. At this point, my garden does not cost me a lot. I do not calculate the water usage so I do not know how much I really spend on it. But it is worth it to me to eat fresh homegrown vegetables. I would still do it even if it wasn't cost effective because I enjoy it, it is healthier, I know exactly what is in my food.
For those of you interested, we spent on groceries:
2018 2017 2016
$5190.55 $5748.98 $6065.08
See, I am getting better at this every year, I saved us over $550 this year from 2017. I will look for new ways to save money in 2019 on our grocery budget. Lets see how low I can get it in 2019. I am again going to aim for $400 a month for the 4 of us. I am currently not working so I have more time to cook more from scratch and hunt out grocery bargains. I am always willing to learn, so if you have any ideas how to cut my budget even more, let me know. What did you spend on groceries in 2018?
Wow, good work lowering your bill over the past few years! We spend around $625/month, family of 4, with two boys almost 12 & 13.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing great too. 2 boys, I know how much they can eat.
DeleteGood post! You are doing so well with your food budget. It amazes me that the USDA says $700 is what a family of 4 should be spending. That sounds so high, but prices of many foods have gone up in price way too much, so its understandable. Budgeting for it, and sticking to that budget, are the smartest way to go. Good job!
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, there are many grocery stores, so they all compete against each other. I try to stick with loss leaders and sale items always. Other parts of the country, people might only have 1 store to shop at so they don't have a choice where to go. I also know that Alaska and Hawaii food costs are crazy because transportation costs. All of that goes into the USDA pricing.
DeleteWe're at just around $750 for a family of four last year. Down 30% from the prior year (yay) and this year, my goal is to get us down to below $700. Grocery costs in our area are VERY high..we try to mitigate it a few ways: we meal plan for the month (I just use repeats on Google calendar and sprinkle in some new things here and there), we eat our leftovers. We triage by food shopping at Aldi and shopping when we are in "cheaper" nearby towns vs our in town store wherever possible (saves us about 20%!!!!! crazy!) We work with a farmer to buy a half steer (a few hours to go out to the country to pick up...but a one time trip that saves hundreds on high quality beef through the year). We've taught our kids to cook; it's opened their pallet and, as tween/teens, they are now more "bought in" to trying new things and are able to feed themselves on crazy nights. We use our crockpot at least once a week, often two. We keep easy food for when we simply don't have time or feel like cooking (frozen pizzas, tortillas and cheese, canned soup)...not every meal has to be gourmet, so long as we are sitting around a table together. I'm always looking for new ideas as well, so I'm glad to have stumbled on this thread!
DeleteMy kids can all cook to. It helps a lot. I love my crock pots and use them all the time. Great job on getting you budget down 30%.
DeleteYou are proof that even with rising costs and inflation - you can lower your food bill! WTG!! gardening and preserving helps so much. All your lovely freebies help a lot as well. do you have an Aldi in your area? They have so many gluten free items now and the pricing is good.
ReplyDeleteYou are really doing great!
I bet you notice that now that you are home - the bill will continue to lower. You will now have more time to plan, cook from scratch, and study sales. Good luck.
I do have an Aldi and I love it. We have gotten several GF items from them. I even got lucky a few weeks ago and the GF breads were marked down because they were about to expire. I bought 4 and threw them in the freezer. Most of the time they run out really quickly on the GF items. I have talked to the manager about it and she says it flies off the shelves. I have been making more items at home. The flour is crazy expencive but it is still cheaper for me to make it then to buy it premade. We have found several really good recipes and some pretty bad ones too. Everything has been labeled so that my son does not eat any of the GF food. He eats pretty much anything so I explained how much more the GF foods are. I have a nice supply now so we should be good on GF for a while.
DeleteI am hoping that being home helps lower my grocery budget this year. I am hoping to grow more from the garden this year too.
You can do it Out My window and searching for specials and stocking up when we see them is the key to us keep our grocery costs down.
DeleteWe too are on the $200 a month for 2 adults.
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)
I am trying on 200.00 a month for the two of us and I so far have been okay. Still have $5.00 left of this weeks money. If I don't buy anything this weekend we will have $55.00 again next week. There are 5 weeks almost in January the way the calendar runs, so we will see.
ReplyDeleteYou can do it. Use what you have in the house to get you through. February is my favorite month for the grocery budget, 28 days.
DeleteI think about all we can do is try our best and then be happy with the results. Special diets do add additional costs but we just have to absorb them and move on. I hear you are trying recipes with mixed results. The ones I try are all keto (gluten free because of the diet not allergies) and will agree on the "keep it or kick it" recipes.
ReplyDeleteThe first bread I made was BAD! I feel I should post it so people don't make it. The 2nd one is wonderful, I have to keep my Hubby and son from eating it. It costs me about $4 to make it but it is twice as big as the loaves in the store. I have been putting it right into the freezer. Thankfully I have been able to just sub out regular flour for the GF flour in some recipes like I did in the potato corn chowder. We couldn't tell a difference since it only uses 1/4 cup.
DeleteThat is still good going on the grocery costs for a family of 4 Mcoia and as you have said you are spending less than the year before and are under the thrifty USDA plan for a 4 person household. Food allergies and intolerances do very much add to the expense of groceries I have noticed.
ReplyDeleteI did have a suggestion is that if you have any online bulk gluten/dairy free food warehouses or restaurant supply online retailers is that you can usually buy most things in bulk at far cheaper prices. It is worth a shot to see what you can find as a lot of the restaurant suppliers will sell to the public too.
We do that with our herbs, spices and yeast and find it so much cheaper from a bulk warehouse.
Another tip is with meat which is a considerable portion of our grocery spend is to only have 180 g per person or 6.35 oz of meat each day which is the recommended daily amount of meat recommended by the government nutritionalist sites here. So many people eat way more than this and really don't have to. You would of course adjust this up for very active people doing either lots of sports or heavy manual labour.
In our home we work on a $200 AUD per month food budget for 2 adults which I think equates to around $170 per month in USD$ . We fairly much stick to that but sometimes go over if there is good specials on and then make it up the following month if we go over.
I took advantage of getting discount grocery vouchers online for our local supermarket for our standard groceries on eBay which gives us 16.66% off the price and then I couple that discount with any 50% off vouchers I can get to make that discount 66.66% off. I have found this has indeed increased our food storage/grocery stockpile by a huge amount over the year we have done this.
This year I think will be more challenging to keep to our $200 a month budget as I noticed that meat prices have risen considerably since the new year.
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Our local restaurant supply store requires a membership. I don't know if they sell GF food. I have a BJs membership and they do not sell GF flours. I do get my yeast there. Most of my herbs I grow. I find Aldi is cheapest for spices otherwise. I don't like to buy huge containers because I feel they lose flavor over time. I have been looking into buying bulk GF flour online.
DeleteWe do like meat. I did try harder in 2018 to cut down on it. I try to do 1 meal a day without any. We are carnivores. Thanks for the suggestions. You are doing great. I'm glad your food storage is all set up in your new home.
I'm always on a quest to keep our grocery budget down. In the end, though, about $300/month is the lowest I can seem to keep it on average. I do have a few $200 months, but certainly make up for it other times with higher costs. Beef is not included in that. We save in a separate account and buy 1/4 beef each fall. I rely heavily on home preserved foods, and things bought on sale. It's hard to say how many people I am really feeding in any given month, as they come and go with regularity around here:) and I often take food places like family gatherings and church events.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I'm on a lowered budget for this month, because I'm trying to use up things from my storage. I am really good at collecting bargains, canning and freezing--those are fun for me. But, sometimes, I need to really buckle down and use those things purposefully, so none goes to waste. January is the natural time for that project!
You always are cooking for other people. That is great that you are able to keep it so low. You are the Canning Queen. I love when you post photos of it.
DeleteMost welcome Mcoia and hope some of this information helps.
ReplyDeleteI store our flour in 10 lt food storage containers and find it keeps well in them but haven't tried gluten free flour so not sure how that would keep ?, worth a try to see though.
We love our meat too but try and keep our portions of meat down to save in the budget. Not to say of course we don't lash out and have a large steak every now and again though :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)
Good morning, you are doing just amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration
Thank you. I have learned several tricks from wonderful blogs like yours.
DeleteI am trying to use 400.00 cash for groceries for just 2 of us. Its been a mindset change for sure and I am hoping I can do it. So far since Saturday I have only bought dog food and I think I can get to at least Wednesday before DH needs creamer (hopefully it'll be on sale). I currently have 241.00 left.
ReplyDeleteYou can do it. Do you have an Aldi near you? I know their creamer is cheaper then other places and my son likes it.
Delete