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Groceries

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Topic: Groceries
Posted By: mummy_becks
Subject: Groceries
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 9:54pm

How much do you spend a week on these???

I have just been shopping in Palmy for mine and I spend $430 to last us a good 4 weeks. So I have worked out that is still $100 odd a week.



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I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived!



Replies:
Posted By: yummymummy
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 9:56pm
We spend waaaaay too much - it's around $250 a week at the supermarket and we eat out at least twice a week on top of that

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http://lilypie.com">      http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 9:58pm
We spend $150 a fortnight on our big shop (which usually includes a dozen beer for DF) and then probably an extra $15 in the in between week for things like bread and milk (at nearly $4 a litre, my milk isn't cheap and doesn't last that long ).


Posted By: .Mel
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 10:01pm
When we go to the supermarket we spend between $200-$280 a week for the 5 of us.

Then I started buying online and I was saving around $100 - $150 a week (That includes delivery) mainly because I was sticking to a standard list and then adding what I needed to every so often.

We've gone back to the supermarket now *Sigh* only because DH is off work and it's just easier to go together which is where we trip up and spend more than we need.



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Mr Mellow (16)
Miss Attitude (8)
Destructa Kid (3)



Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 10:01pm
We spend $160 a fortnight and have takeaways once a week, so $200 a fortnight = $100pw. Not bad considering my milk is ridiculous, DH buys Big Eats for lunch everyday ($3 a pop but stops him spending $10 at the shop), and my cereal's $6 a box which only lasts a week


Posted By: Glow
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 10:03pm
I spend between $120 to $150 plus an extra $20 to replenish milk & fruit & vege during the week

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Mummy of Two Boys
B: 2004
K: 2007





Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 10:04pm
Only 2 of us and we spend around $70-80 per week, if we don't need meat I can do it for around $50

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Angel June 2012


Posted By: monkey33
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 10:43pm
Only two of us too - we spend about $120 per week.


Posted By: BuzzyBee
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 11:13pm
For Lucas & I solely it's roughly about $100 a week, if he wasn't such a fussy eater I'd prob be able to get it under that $70 mark ...but alas that's not the case to be.


Posted By: MissAngel
Date Posted: 28 January 2009 at 11:31pm
About $250 a week for 4 adults and Thomas.

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Alex, Thomas and Lily
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Posted By: WestiesGirl
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 12:12am
For the 2 of us we spend anything from $100 to $150 depending on what we need. Its normally around the $150 mark only when we need cleaning items

And OMG $4.00 for a litre of milk! WTF

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Our Angel July 08 Gone but not forgotten

And to complete our family, our princess has arrived


Posted By: MissCandice
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 7:38am
We spend $160 here for 6 adults and one toddler, but i buy her stuff seperate, like nappies, milk and formula and tinned food if we need it.

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~ Mummy to a beautiful girl ~


Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 7:43am
Ours works out at approx $100 a week


Posted By: whitewave
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 8:17am
Wow, good on those of you who spend under $100! So hard to do these days!
We usually spend (for 2 adults) between $100 - $150, depending on what we need, per week.


Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 8:27am
we spend $160-180 a fortnight for the 4 of us

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Posted By: Jay_R
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 8:39am
I seem to be spending around $100 for Josh and myself. That looks like a lot compared to some of you!



Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 8:59am
We spend around $140 for the two of us per week and that covers our work lunches as well. I could probably do it cheaper if I tried.


Posted By: ohanlon82
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 9:02am
We spend about $120 a week - DH buys his lunch on Friday.. I dont buy mine..

Probably could do it a little cheaper.. But we have some nice meals and few treats

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Posted By: MrsMojo
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 9:04am

We spend $340 per fortnight for the 3 of us and our cat (his food is about $15-20 of our food bill) and then we top up with milk during the second week so probably another $10 (because inevitably we buy extras when we go into the actual supermarket rather than shopping online which I do for my big shop).

I spend a lot compared to many but my groceries include 10 reheatable meals for DH who works evenings so is never home for dinner and we don't eat out or buy takeways.  Once I'm at home we'll be eating our main meal in the middle of the day and DH can take leftovers or sandwiches to work which should help reduce my grocery bill.

ETA: I could probably spend less too but I like having a pantry full of extras so when my grocery list comes in under the budgetted amount I then buy extra tinned food and I've also gradually bought a months supply of NB disposables (which'll do me until I switch to cloth) and I'm now stocking up on maternity pads and other extras I'll need for the new baby.



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Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 9:27am
we spend $160-$180pw for 4 of us which seems like alot compared to alot of you. What do you do to keep costs down?


Posted By: fire_engine
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 9:31am
Wow, I'm spending too much. Now spending about $130-140, at least $10 is Daniel's food, plus there's always one big baby expense each week (e.g. wipes, formula).

I'm going to have to start getting tough.

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Mum to two wee boys


Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 10:11am
Wow how does everyone spend so little? We spend close to $170 per week for the two of us.
That includes alcohol (beer and wine) and and we don't buy takeaways.

This month I have been tracking what we spend the most money on grocery wise and it is always fruit and vegies which is normally about $45 of the weekly shop. So we are going to start a vegie garden to save there. Also what about all of the bathroom and laundry items? They cost a bomb!


Posted By: kaylabumbis
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 10:19am
We spend on average $160 a week for 2 adults one tween who eats more than me. One 2 year old who is still in night nappies and one 20 month old who is in nappies fulltime.
It also for 4 cats and one huge dog whose biscuits are $15 a fortnight.


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Posted By: my4beauties
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 10:20am
Our grocery bill is between $200 - $250 per week, for 5 of us.  Some weeks it's been up to $300, but not for a while.  And I normally end up having to buy a few more things come the weekend (I do my shop on a Monday).  Most of the time that's with stocking up on cans etc, so our pantry is always full, so when times have been tough & we haven't had much to spend on groceries, the stocked pantry keeps us going.  If I didn't stock up, obviously our bill would be a lot lower. 

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My babies:

R (9),G (7), J (5)

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Posted By: kaylabumbis
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 10:26am
We have a huge upright freezer and it is full. The pantry was stocked full of cans but are slowly dwindling away. There is only about 40 odd tins there.
I am a very cheap shopper lol But the kiddies still get treats etc
The secret is to go every 2 or 3 weeks and do a huge shop.
Then we just go out each week and get fresh veges and fruit.


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Posted By: Daizy
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 10:32am

We spend about $70 a week for the 4 of us. We also have takeaways a couple of nights because I get lazy although we have enough food not to have to. (I am cutting back on takeaways)

Last week we spent $110 but that was including all our nappies and wipes and a lot of bulk food. I dont think we do too bad, we spend almost as much on ourselves as the girls.

When Keira was younger we used to do it all for $40 and still ate well.

 



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Posted By: sally belly
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 10:46am
My goodness, I don't know how some of you spend so "little". Well done .

We spend anywhere from $130 - $200 for 2 adults, Liam & a cat. We don't buy nappies, wipes, canned baby food & barely any formula. I am finding that I am buying more meat though as DH is always hungry & I like to freeze an extra couple of meals for Liam.

Groceries ain't cheap that's for sure...

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Posted By: MissCandice
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 11:26am
I plan meals in advance before i do the grocery shop that way im buying what we need instead of just 'stuff'

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~ Mummy to a beautiful girl ~


Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 11:44am
Wow you guys must be great at budgeting. I spend from $600 to $750 a month. I do one big shop that includes all the bathroom and cleaning stuff ect and stuff like wipes ect. This does not include nappies that is $50 every 3 months at the moment (pull-ups for night).

Some months I spent less as I stock up on meat when on special ect. Fruit and veggies is where my budget goes as I spend about $80 a week just on fresh fruit and veg. (doesnt include frozen veg). I have decided to cut out most colourants I can out of sweets and lollies we buy as McKayla definately reacts to the red colouring so certain stuff cost more but we just buy less.

Must add I didnt increase my budget for Dec or Jan and I had 2 extra adults to feed and I dont think they can complain. My Dad had however bought lots of other stuff like biscuits and sometimes fruit and milk as he refused to take money from me to get the stuff.



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Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 1:44pm
anywhere from $180 (and thats a budget shop) to almost $300. We have a teenager in the house, tho and he eats HEAPS, plus DH comes home for lunch daily and that includes 2 magazines for me, 12 l of milk, 6 loaves of bread and premium food for cat and dog, I will not feed them "budget brands". I also buy all my meat at the butchers, which believe it or not is way cheaper than the super market - costs about $50 for about 6 days worth, includign a roast, we grow most of our own veges, too, which saves a bit but there is nappies and wipes in there and night nappies for Jake (about a packet every 3 weeks), plus treats for us (chocolate) and I rarely buy budget stuff unless I know it is good stuff, have been caught out before. I also like to keep a fully stocked pantry *just in case*, which really helps when I have short week money wise, in which case I just buy meat and fruit and milk and bread - about $100.
I don't buy budget loo paper, either, am fussy about that, and I always by nice tissues and handy towel. Fussy, yes. I probably could save lots if I shopped more carefully, and have done in the past....

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The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P


Posted By: BessieBear
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 2:05pm

lol my cats (2) wil only eat chef nothing else.

I probably spend about $180 -$200 a fortnight, as thats how i get paid fortnightly. And thats for 3 of us 2 cats and rabbit, who gets scraps and pellets etc.

i only buy a small treasures pack of nappies a week but i have to buy a tin of formula a week and thats $17 a go. and we probably get a bulk thing of wipes every month, i dont know how i do that.

dh and i no longer drink alchohol so that's cheap and we have half a beast form dh's parents so only need to buy chicken and lamb etc.

i think i spend way too much i wont buy budget brands except for flour, bread, milk, sugar, and toilet paper etc . i can taste the difference.



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Sarah Mum to,
Boy 07/2008, Girl 03/2010, Boy 05/2012, Angel 07/08/2014



Posted By: Chickoin
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 2:14pm
about $120 per fortnight. Including getting milk every few days. We don't use disposable nappies or wipes which helps keep it down.
Takeaways once or twice a fortnight.


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Posted By: Gardengirl
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 4:46pm
About $120 - $140 a week for just 2 of us - and that's waaaaay down on what we used to spend. Doesn't include alcohol - DP will grab some beers for him separately as and when. Am working on bringing that budget down as much as possible. We are planting a veggie garden, have our own eggs and will be stocking the freezer with our own hoggets over time. Have started to pay attention to the different brands, and although there are some items/brands that I'm not comfortable with I'm learning that the cheapie ones aren't all bad at all. I try to buy washing powder in the bulk packs from places like the Warehouse when they are on special.

Edited for spelling


Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 5:00pm
I spend about $300 every 4wks for 2 adults, 1 toddler and 2 cats. Plus I spend about $80-90 on meat for that 4wks. We buy bread, veges and milk each week at about $50-70 (more now that we are buying summer fruit). So I suppose that averages at $145-165 per week

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Lindsey




Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 5:10pm
yeh $10 for 5kg of 'shots' washing powder from the w/house is good and great price. What other things do u guys use or do to save money I have to tighten up


Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 5:20pm
I am blown away by the people who can spend less that $100 per week on groceries. We shop to a menu so don't buy anything we don't need. We don't cook over-extravagant meals but don't buy anything processed either - make everything from fresh ingredients. I understand that some of you don't buy alcohol but that is only $30 of our grocery bill per week. So how else do you keep it down so low??

ETA: just thought, I am gluten free which makes things more expensive I guess


Posted By: pomikiwi
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 5:29pm
We spend around $200 - $250 for 2 adults and DD. But i'm real fussy with some things, I only buy good quality meat, bread and free range eggs which bumps the price up a bit. But I do try and get things on special etc. We grow some of our own veges too but still manage to spend heaps, lol!

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DD-Carys Amelia 17.03.06


Posted By: McPloppy
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 5:32pm
We spend $160 week incl formular and night naps. We used to spend 300 fortnight but we would always go back for more eg $50 - $100 so ended up spending more. Weekly we do not go back although this week we may have to for more fruit. If we want to eat out or want chippies or the likes it comes out of our pocket money.
it has taken a long time to get used to it but now we even come under budget which is great.

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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 7:34pm
SallyBelly - welcome to the GF club!!

We spend about $200/week for the five of us, when I went GF it hiked up by about $20-$25/week so that does make a big difference. Things we do to keep the groceries down:
I try to make a batch of homemade GF food (e.g. brownies) for me to take to work instead of pre-packaged stuff all the time. I prefer homemade but it goes stale quickly and I don't have so much energy these days.
When we have takeaways, it's just the odd night of chips. Now that I'm GF we usually don't buy the fish/hotdogs anymore.
We shop at various places, which takes more time but we get more of the quality and price that we want: Mad Butcher, Pak n Save, Bin Inn, grocers' market. We spend about $30/week on fruit and veges at the market, which saves our grocery bill a lot - as well as being fresher.
We don't need nappies (have MCN) or formula atm, so the only baby stuff we are buying is wipes.
We go for cheap brands wherever they aren't disgusting LOL - we get cheap loo paper even though I don't like it much but we have preschooler(s) who seem to like to unroll it for fun - other cheap stuff is tissues, laundry powder, butter, cheese, etc.
We mostly drink water at home, saving fruit juice for special treats. Not usually on our shopping list are the likes of: ice-cream, fizzy, alcohol, fresh fish.

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Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 29 January 2009 at 8:17pm
There are some things I won't scrimp on - washing powder (Persil) because nothing else seems to get the smell from DF's work socks (especially as we don't have hot water in our laundry) and also Napisan, toilet paper (Kleenex Cottonelle) because I use so much of it I'd rather have nice stuff!! but that's about it. We buy the cheapest milk for DF, he doesn't notice the difference, and my milk is only $4 a litre because it's lactose free milk - I can't stand soy milk. We could easily cut down by not buying Moccona coffee for DF. We buy our meat from the butcher - it's cheaper and so much nicer - which is about $40 a fortnight and included in the $150 fortnight budget. We tend to buy frozen veges rather than fresh, otherwise we waste them. Bread we buy as and when we need it, which is every couple of days at the moment and we've just started buying something slightly better than Budget, as we found it didn't last long before it was stale.


Posted By: Emily281
Date Posted: 30 January 2009 at 11:35am
OMG - we spend $200-$250 a week for 2 adults We buy all our pet food from the pet shop as they are fussy (and so are we!).

But I only buy organic red meat, and I've started buying the free-range corn fed chicken which is a bit more expensive - especailly seeing as they are from New World.

I sat down and did a budget at the beginning of this year and I entered in all of our expenditure for the past 3 months and found we were spending over $1200 a month on groceries because we weren't doing a weekly shop but going to the supermarket on the way home each day. I've now cut it back to $1000 a month but am trying to cut it back further.

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TTC#1: Jan 07
Aug 08: Lap found and excised Stage 3 Endo
Nov 08: 2nd lap clear - given OK to TTC after next AF


Posted By: fire_engine
Date Posted: 30 January 2009 at 11:45am
I did my Foodtown and butcher shop today for $86 . Just need to do fruit and vege which will be about $30, so under our budgeted amount of $120 (just).

I wrote my list, then entered it all onto Foodtown online to see what it was going to cost - that way I could make changes before getting to the supermaket. I came in $14 under Foodtown online, so I'm happy!

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Mum to two wee boys


Posted By: james
Date Posted: 30 January 2009 at 2:47pm
our is aound $180 for a fortnight thats for two adults and one toddler i pay for james treat foods and any junk we may have once in a fortnight

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Posted By: gannet
Date Posted: 30 January 2009 at 5:19pm

We spend between $150 and $180 per week for two of us. We are a bit fussy too - I like having decent toilet paper, free range eggs (they taste soo much better) and I like corn fed chicken and decent steak.

We both buy our lunch or dinner (depending on what shift DH works) once a week each, we go out for brunch or lunch once or twice a fortnight and might get takeaways once every two weeks.

Sometimes we will plan our meals for the week and that usually keeps the bill down. We have made a budget but keep saying "we'll start next pay".



Posted By: NeoshasMummy
Date Posted: 30 January 2009 at 5:58pm
Wow this is interesting, we spend between $250 and $300 per week 2 adults, 1 child and our cat we only buy premium cuts of meat ATM DF and I are on chicken and fresh fish and I cook red meat for N, cat food is $20 a bottle of wine $20 2 loaves of vogel bread is $10 alone and our house is full of glass an mirrors so we get 2 bottles of glass cleaaner every week. We buy alot of fresh fruit and Veg now which comes to about $60 of the grocery bill. Then there is nappies, wipes, toothpaste.... it all adds up We hardly ever eat out though and DF gets a proper home cooked meal for lunch as well as dinner and we also buy organic where we can.

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Neosha 26/5/2007


Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 30 January 2009 at 8:37pm
We usually spend about $100-$150 a week, some weeks it WAY less than that if we are having a poor week.
We buy formula and food for Caden and huggies nappies, so I cant wait until he is in cloth fulltime, as I dont want to be buying 2 lots of sposies when the new baby arrives.

We would like to get our bill down to $80-$100 a week, buy meat in bulk etc.

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Posted By: jaz
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 7:31am
We average $170 on groceries for two adults, a teenager and a toddler plus about 10-20 on bread and milk and we eat pretty well on that. Caleb's in mcn's and doesn't have formula so that makes a big difference.

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Posted By: Bubbaloo
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 2:07pm
Wow I can't gedt over you girls that spend under 150 a week thats for 2 adults and a toddler it includes nappies and wipes don't know how you do it and I was thinking we were doing pretty good.

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Was danni-chick



Mum to James

My Angel 28/07/08


Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 3:07pm
I have no idea how people live off $80 a week including all cleaning suppies etc for 2 adults and a kid?? I really dont understand.

We spend $230-$250 a week for us and Isla, but almost never buy anything out. I have maybe a coffee once every 2 weeks out, but we take our own food to work.
We dont have much of a stock of food in our cupboards either.


Posted By: Freesia
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 3:20pm
Originally posted by Kellz Kellz wrote:

I have no idea how people live off $80 a week including all cleaning suppies etc for 2 adults and a kid?? I really dont understand.

We spend $230-$250 a week for us and Isla, but almost never buy anything out. I have maybe a coffee once every 2 weeks out, but we take our own food to work.
We dont have much of a stock of food in our cupboards either.


Ditto. I don't know how you guys do it when 1 piece of rump steak is $10, or 1kg of mince is $13, 1 loaf of bread is $4 if there isn't any on special. And the produce is pretty expensive too. We buy fresh fruit for Livvy but only a few things for ourselves as it'd be way too expensive otherwise.

Those of you who can do your shops for less than $100, do you buy meat and produce at the supermarket or other places?

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Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 6:28pm
Meat I buy on special and then freeze it in the portions that I want and put it in my chest freezer. I think I can cut a lot if we dont eat as much fresh fruit and veg and then perhaps I can get it to like a $100 or so per week but otherwise I dont see it possible for us at all.

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Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 6:54pm
we buy fruit and vegetables at the market, meat generally at the butcher. we are lucky as New world and woolworths are down the road and Pak n save is nearby too. So I can shop around easily. Kellz - Gisborne is super expensive for things - we found our groceries increased by $50 a week living there. have you been to the farmer's market? Didn't find it much cheaper, but nice food - great lamb!

we usuallly do $180 a week for the four of us. no takeaways, lots of bread and milk. we buy everything on special. Persil is bought either on special or in huge bags. lots of buying in bulk/.


Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 7:58pm

The shopping I just did ended up being about $470 in total (after I got fruit and veges).

I spent about $130 on meat and all but $10 was spent at the supermarket in the bulk packs. I got some sausage meat and a corned beef at Mad Butcher. Out of that $120 worth of meat I got about 24 servings of meat.

I spent almost $40 on fruit and veges and that included a 10 kg bag of potatoes.

I got 6 multi bag of chips and 8 boxes of muesli bars and other little things for the boys for their lunches. 8 loaves of bread, but I may have to get some more at some stage. I do need to buy more milk as well.

I stocked up on my canned food, rice and pasta. And also my toilet paper got another 18 rolls for $5.

As we only have a 4 square here I try to get as much as I can in Palmy or make a trip to taihape (20 minutes down the road). 1 can of (watties) spaghetti here is $2.10 and I got them at pak n save for $1.21 a can nearly half the price.



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I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived!


Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 7:58pm

I forgot I get lunch at work as I work for the Joint Services Catering School.



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I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived!


Posted By: catcase
Date Posted: 31 January 2009 at 9:28pm

Have skimmed through but feel like we must be doing it wrong cos I would easily spend about $250 a wk for 2 adults & a toddler .  Must admit I think we need to re-assess and try and cut down and be more economical, also my DH needs to stop eating all the fruit in the first couple of days!!!  Great he loves it but it is costing us a fortune and need it for DD as she just loves fruit. 



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Posted By: McPloppy
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 12:59pm
LOL my DH eats all the fruit in the first few days also...I bought 16 apples and they were gone in three days and i only got two of them. I love how DS goes to the pantry and grabs a handful of nuts and grabs fresh fruit when he wants a snack (these are his choices) but fruit does not last long in this house....i do not want to get to the point where i have to divide it all and put names on things so everyone gets some.
It is now Sunday and we have no more fresh fruit in the house and we do not get the groceries for another three days!!!
I had a go at DH for eating a whole bunch of grapes in one evening (just sitting down eating them like lollies after I had gone to bed) and he turned around and said that I can have a go at him when i start pulling my weight and earning some money. i pull my weight by cooking his dinner doing the budget, doing the laundry and housework and most importantly raising our children but apparantly thats not worth a few grapes. Guess who had to cook his own dinner and wash his own clothes that week   Sorry to go off topic but it just came out when typing about the groceries.

One thing I will not skimp on is fresh fruit and veges. We grow some but i have though of getting those organic ones that are delivered to your door...anyone used this? Also they deliver organic meat and honey and what not.

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Posted By: Chickoin
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 1:17pm
We get meat from a cheap butcher place which we also make into meal size packets and freeze. We get groceries fortnightly but fruit/vege weekly (also due to DH eating it all so fast) from an orchard that is really cheap.
I get canned fruit when is is on super special too.

I don't know how people can spend over $200 a week on 2 adults and a kid. Man, it would be luxury to us to have that much food here lol.

I also do a lot of baking so when there is no fruit at least there is some unhealthy baking to snack on lol

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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 3:12pm
We spend about $150 per week which is for 2 adults, a large dog and 2 cats. The animals cost us about $15 per week so on us about $135.00

I rarely stray from the list, if I do its normally cos I forgot to put it on the list in the first place.

We get our meat from the supermarket or mad butcher depending on specials and buy in bulk and freeze in meal size portions. We buy frozen veg for stirfrys and casseroles so we can spend more on fruit since I have been pregnant.

We shop fortnightly but by fruit and veg weekly, apples are killing us at the moment.. $5 per kg, I have stopped eating them but DH loves them.

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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 01 February 2009 at 8:50pm
Originally posted by lizzle lizzle wrote:

Kellz - Gisborne is super expensive for things - we found our groceries increased by $50 a week living there. have you been to the farmer's market? Didn't find it much cheaper, but nice food - great lamb!


Lol Liz, yeah the lamb is good there. If we are organised early enough we go to the cheaper early market, otherwise its the 9.30am farmers market. We used to only shop at Pak n Save when we were in Whakatane, but here the meat in pack n save is so gross, that mostly I shop at woolworths now.


Posted By: 11111
Date Posted: 02 February 2009 at 8:18am
We can get by some week's on $50 at pak n save. If we have too, but our avrage week is around $100 + once afoughnight 30 on nappies I love homebrand. and that is 2 adults and 2 toddler's and a baby, but that not including nappies and formula.   We never have any treat food except ice cream we get by on minc sossage and a little bit of steak we don't eat potato's very often lots of rice and frozen veggies in our house and fruit.    Iwas really worried our diet was not that great as we don't buy alot of red meat or fresh vedge well we had to go to a dietion for michael the other week and told her what our diet was ans she said it was great. So I guess if you ahve to it can be done we tend to pay alll out bill's desil etc then waht ever is left id for food so we have no choice cause there is jsut no money left to go over budget.

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Posted By: xLUCKYx
Date Posted: 02 February 2009 at 2:05pm
wow this is interesting

I thought we were doing well on $150 a week but looks like there are heaps of good budgeters out there :)



Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 27 April 2009 at 5:06pm
Bump...this has some good info too!


Posted By: Dawnie
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 5:56am
At the moment were flatting there`s 5 of us plus bub, we all put in for food together but our total amount is usually around $200 and that lasts us around 3wks, it doesn't include junk food or Lochys formula nappies etc...

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Posted By: heaf3
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 11:34am
I try not to think about it too much as its rather depressing! its probably about $150 per fortnight plus extras / top ups lol...theres only 2 of us and a kitty so we shouldnt need to spend so much....most of the cost though is on junky stuff like chips and museli bars etc...we have got a lamb in the freezer atm which has been great so only had to buy other meats, and not even much of that atm. we buy a few veg and fruit when its on special, must start going to the farmers market!! (although why does it start at 6:30 on a saturday!) everything is sooo expensive!


Posted By: shadowfeet
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 12:20pm

We usually spend about $80-120 a week at Countdown. 2 adults, a kitten and a dog. Animals are probably $25 of that, including 1 bag dry food and 1 big tin for dog. Kitten gets 2 or 3 tins and a box of kitten dry food as well as kitty litter when we need it. We've also started picking up baby stuff like nappies and wipes which adds to the cost.

We buy most of our meat, veges etc. But we do also include a lot of junk food. Not a lot of milk either, perhaps 1 litre a week though I have started adding a bottle of soy milk to the list.



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Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 2:21pm

We are spending about $120 per week for the two of us. DF loves his milk - we go through 8L + a week  and he often gets a box of beers too! May have to start cutting back on those things soon though. Wish Mum was still on the farm - we used to get free meat all the time.

 

Cat and dog food is separate - we get that from the pet store



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Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 2:36pm
How much fresh fruit and veg is everyone eating if I may ask? We have a minimum of 5 + a day for fruit and veg. I only buy mix veggies for stew and peas as such. Others is fresh. And meat I dont buy each week. I buy once or twice a month.

I really cant see us buying only like $120 a week for 2 adults one child unless I buy a lot of processed stuff. So what do some buy then?

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Posted By: Bubnumber2
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 3:06pm
Wow, I don't know how some of you do it. Respect for budgeting skills!

We usually spend between $300-$350 a fortnight for 2 adults, 2 kids (4 years and a baby) and a cat.
We spend A LOT on fruit, and veges...more fruit than vege though. Probably about $80 a fortnight for just the fresh stuff (so not including frozens). Not to mention the fact that we usually get broccoli, cauli and a bag of apples for free each week, and we grow some of our own. I'm not prepared to cut down on the amount of fruit and veg my family eats though, we can always cut back on the other crap if necessary. My husband and four year old both have HUGE appetites...they go through fruit and baking like nobodies business...and both are perfectly healthy.

Meat, I really want to start buying from a butcher...so not a fan of the supermarket stuff, but I don't know which butcher to try out.

*sigh* We should probably cut down. I don't know where though, we don't buy much 'junk'...though we do buy a few pricier things (like good coffee etc) that we could probably give up.

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Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 4:27pm

Originally posted by loulee loulee wrote:

far out, 8lt a week is heaps eh!! We go through just over 3 for two of us and cats, we try to give the cats cow milk!! I just cant stand the smell.... 

 

And I don't like milk at all!! I only have a little bit in my Milo of cup of tea and occasionally use it for cooking. I kept tellling DF it can't be good for his asthma.

 

Fruit and Veges - generally we buy a 3kg bag of apples, a bunch or bananas, a brocolli, 3kg bag of potatoes, capsicums, and some onioins. If grapes are on special I'll get those too. Otherwise for us I find it all goes off before we get a chance to use it if we buy fresh so we get a bag of frozen veges too

 

ETA - we recently started our own vege garden, but so far have only had silverbeat  ready



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Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 6:30pm
Wow, it's kinda irrelevant how much we spend on groceries coz it's a different market but I'm probably going to make a whole lot of you feel a WHOLE lot better about how much you spend each week.

Last week I did our big monthly (roughly) shop which came in at just over $400 which included only 2 tins of formula and a couple of 64packs of nappies for C. Barely any fresh fruit & veg as I buy that every couple of days (it doesn't last here) and no meat as we get that delivered once a month, approx $120. Then I spend between $50-$100 a couple of times a week getting fruit & veg, fresh fish and milk if we need it.

Bear in mind that when we moved here 2 years ago the NZD was stronger than the SGD but currently $1 NZ buys 84c here so our grocery bills have skyrocketed in NZD terms

Some comparisons (not that I can really remember what prices are like for the same things back home) -
1L milk $3 (for milk "made from" fresh Aussie milk)
1/2 loaf of bread $2.50
1 chicken breast $5.50
1kg apples on special $6.95 (from NZ lol)
1 punnet strawberries $4 - $17.95
1kg greek yoghurt $7.95
900gm tin NAN HA formula $39 (NAN Pro 1 is $35)
Huggies Medium nappies 64 $19.45 on special

So add 20% for NZ equivalent..

I actually miss Pak n Save I love coming home and being able to shop in BIG supermarkets with decent specials and being able to eat for a week on less than $100!

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SJ
Callum - Dec 2008
Daniel - Oct 2010


Posted By: Gardengirl
Date Posted: 29 April 2009 at 7:45pm
SMoody, I actually find buying processed stuff pushes the bill waaaaay up and it's fresh and home made stuff that keeps my budget down. I try to avoid processed stuff as much as possible. Lately I've found that I can shop for between $110-120 unless I have one of those weeks where the dishwasher stuff has run out at the same time the cats biscuits run out etc etc. then my bills get pushed up. That's 2 adults and 1 cat, but I do buy my lunches out of a separate account.

I'm currently adding $20 grocery vouchers to every weekly shop which I'm setting aside for use after the maternity leave payments stop. I don't put extra into the power account as I'd rather have that extra money in MY account rather than the power company's. But I have been paying attention to turning lights and stuff off and swear I see the difference in the bills.


Posted By: becsscolly
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 7:36am
Hey all, thought I'd bump this up and see what people are spending these days... I'm sure the prices of various things have gone up! (Not including the GST rise)

We currently spend about $360-400 a fortnight on food, a fortnightly big shop and fruit and vege and meat weekly, along with milk at the cheapest dairy :)

Thats for 2 adults and 2 preschoolers, with one on the way. Only buy night nappies for the youngest, no formula or the likes.

I'm sure we can get it cheaper... just not sure how? We make our own yogurt (hansells), biscuits, bread (except when I get the Brumbys $5 monday madness deal) and muesli (or have rices and cornflakes and weetbix). I don't think we have expensive tastes and don't buy alcohol very often at all. I'd love to buy more in bulk but don't have much storage space. I'm sure that if I read all the specials and went to pak'n'save over countdown we could save more, but I can't handle the stress .

So, how much do you spend? Any great cost cutting suggestions?

Oh, and I do write a fortnightly menu before I go shopping!

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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 8:03am
I agree with the price rises, my local dairy put some stuff up about 30+% so I refuse to shop there any more....what happened to the extra 2.5 only grr

have a look in the budgeting section as we are talking about this topic & others there


Posted By: becsscolly
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 8:13am
thanks Jazzy!

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Posted By: shadowfeet
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 9:07am

Argh, scary. I just read my shopping costs from nearly 2 years ago. Tis so crazy. We went from spending $80-120 weekly to $370-430 fortnightly. That's around another $80 weekly. Wow. Has about doubled with having a baby then toddler but I so need to make it cheaper.



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Posted By: kat_hutch
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 9:35am
ours is about 250-350 fortnightly. it all depends, one fortnight we wont need as much meat as the other. and we have 2 kiddies in nappies, and one on formula, so thats about $50 a week on just that. ours has actually come down a fair bit in the past year or so, ever since we started meal planning actually.

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Posted By: Happy lady
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 9:44am
My shopping is usually around $150 a week
but when on a budget I can do it for around $80

DH is a meat eater, and the thought of a meal without meat depresses him... so that makes shopping expensive too

Most weeks either DH or I will get some takeaway or buy a lunch so that adds probably an extra 50 on top.....

Food is sooo expensive these days.....

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Posted By: rachelsea
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 2:19pm
Ours is between $100-$160 a week. Today was $140. I bought lots of fruit, about 5 meals and then the usual stuff like breakfast, museli bars, cheese, yoghurt, milk and that's about it. Certainly is getting more expensive

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DD 4yrs
DS 2yrs

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Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 2:25pm
I don't think that food is more expensive that it used to be. I just looked back on my old post and we are still spending the same - around $170 on groceries per week.


Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 2:37pm
I certainly notice the increase in food prices for individual items. I can spend around the same as I did but then I can not buy the same for that amount of $.


Posted By: fattykat
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 4:00pm
Wow.....I spent $214 last night and it only DP, DD and myself (no pets) for the week
That did include formula ($20) and $40 worth of nappies.
I tend to buy as much organic and NZ made as possible which pushes the price up.
Lots of fresh fruit and veges, I very rarely by anything frozen (when I do I open it and forget about it so it ends up all freezer burnt and has to be thrown away!)
If I get our meat from the supermarket (which I did last night) it usually includes some free range pork (which isn't cheap) and free range chicken & eggs.
We do have a really good butcher so go there probably every second week and his prices are pretty much the same as the supermarket.
DP doesn't buy his lunch at all so this includes his (big, fancy) lunches and smokos. If he bought his lunch he would spend about $20 a day so its far cheaper for him to make it.
I'm also fussy with toilet paper, handy towels, washing powder etc and only seem to like whatever is never on special
I must admit last night was a bit over the top even for me, we probably usually spend about $170-180 a week.


Posted By: escadachic
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 5:04pm
We usually spend $180 a week. That is for 2 adults, a 7yr old and an 11 month old and a cat.

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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 8:17pm
$200 per week, 2 adults, 1 toddler and a baby... no formula and a box of huggies a month.

Hoping to reign it in $50a week...

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Posted By: Kimnthekids
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 9:35pm
$150 a week - 2 adults, 1 preschooler, 1 infant, 2 cats. No formula, the odd bag of nappies (1 every 6-8 weeks?)


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Posted By: julz85
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 11:05pm
i get paid fortnightly so will do one big shop (about $100-$120) and then on my off pay week id spend between $70-$100. thats for 2 adults ,a cat , 1 toddler and one 5 yr old that we have 5nights a fortnight ( my partners daughter). i buy a big pack of nappies once a fortnight and about 6-8 ltrs of Milk a week . I generally only buy meat and vegies that are on special , and pretty much everything i buy is on special , in saying that we still have good meals pretty much every night ( tonight was lamb loin chops with vegies and potato) i just think i do a pretty good job of only buying sale items and buying meat in bulk is good too , i can break up the packs and freeze enough for each meal therefore get alot out of it , Last week i bought a MASSIVE pack of snitzel for $10 and its about 3-4 meals worth .

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Posted By: Nutella
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 11:09pm
I have no idea.....haha! But we don't go shopping every week and it is hard to meal plan when we can't be sure when we are shopping and can't top up fresh fruit and veges....can't wait to live in a decent town.

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Oct 11


Posted By: Zaylah
Date Posted: 17 January 2011 at 11:29pm
We currently tend to be doing a big shop ($200) probably once a month, and then get the top ups of bread/milk/fruit etc once a week which costs probably about $50. But then we also spend about $100 a week on nappies - so that makes it add up!

I must also admit that most of our dinners end up being something like baked beans on toast (with mixed veges, everything has to have mixed veges on the side or dp says its not dinner lol) a lot now too.

Also just starting on solids and hoping to try keep up with making their food so will have to buy more fresh fruit/veges which will put up the grocery bill again. Really should re-plant that vege garden which is now an overgrown tangled mess...

2 adults, 2 cats, 3 babies.

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Posted By: _SMS_
Date Posted: 18 January 2011 at 7:02am
I have been spending $130 a week for 2 adults and 1 toddler. But its not really cutting it,

I normally have heaps of frozen vege, meat etc stored up but we have slowly been running out of everything lol ive been slack lately. So i now need to stock up again for winter

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Posted By: Raspberryjam
Date Posted: 18 January 2011 at 7:14am
Oh man I need to learn some tricks !! I spend about 300 a week, including nappies, no formula
I was extra careful the other day and spent $200 to top up the cupboards and after huge blow outs over christmas, I have about $400 left to last a month we get paid monthly and its rubbish!!

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Posted By: Kazper
Date Posted: 18 January 2011 at 7:54am
We spend $150 roughly per week which includes nappies and formula. We struggle just on this and find we have nothing left come next shop and still need to get extra bread and milk.

Live in a small town with the only supermarket being NW and prices are really high. Also this does not include the meat which we do jobs and favors for farmers to get that. We don't get treats or any extras either. Absolute bare minimum that we have to get. No take outs, but we have prob just spaghetti or baked beans on toast a couple of nights a week just to make it to the next shop.

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Posted By: SquishysMum
Date Posted: 18 January 2011 at 7:54am
Our bill varies between $150-$200/week, 3 adults, 1 toddler, and 2 more toddlers for lunches during the week. It all averages out here, for example, while last weeks shopping trip was $270, I don't need to buy anything other than milk/fresh fruit this week, so will be less than $50. And last week included nappies, robocans, several boxes of cheap cereal...



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