grocery budgets
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
Forum Description: For mums, dads, parents-to-be, grandparents, friends -- you name it! And you name the topic you want to chat about!
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=41355
Printed Date: 26 August 2025 at 7:13pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: grocery budgets
Posted By: JD
Subject: grocery budgets
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 3:48pm
|
Im trying to come up with a budget based on current prices, but don't really know what is a good budget amount?
We have 2 adults and 2 toddlers and 1 baby. We will also have a teenager coming and going a bit Any ideas most appreciated ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Replies:
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 5:45pm
Congrats on the baby 
I have the same problem, my budget was $400 for a family of 5 a fortnight. I don't stick to this & go way over but stop counting. The price of food does not help either. I am going to meal plan better & put in a couple of cheap meals. I also don't use everything in the pantry which I need to start doing. Do you meal plan? What type of meals do you do? |
Posted By: pudgy
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 6:14pm
|
For 2 adults and 2 children ( 3.5 and 2 ) we have a budget of $200 per week. I find going to your local vege store helps and we go to the Aussie butcher for meat as it's usually a lot cheaper and better quality meat.
I just buy whatever meat is on special and plan around that. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: JD
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 7:02pm
|
Yesterday I did a big clean out of my pantry to see what stuff I have and chuck out the spices etc which have expired. I used all the piles of ice cream containers to organise everything and now its looking great.
My plan is the start having more of a meal plan and buy just want I need...plus maybe a few things that might be on special. I just sort of didn't know what a weekly budget should be. I sort of guessed about $200 ------------- http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: JD
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 7:06pm
Actually now when I look at it...I feel very embarrased at the state I let it get to 
There were onion skin peels and crumbs all over the floor. Loads of expired stuff and random empty containers ------------- http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 7:11pm
|
I so need to do my pantry also. Its the other non food things that bump up the budget.
|
Posted By: jaz
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 8:18pm
|
I would say $200 as well. We spend about $150-$180 for two adults and a preschooler but that includes wine etc. If you are buying disposables this will be higher though. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 8:23pm
|
We spend about $140-160 for two adults and a toddler. We do eat really well though. If we were to scrimp a bit we could get it to $100-120 I think -------------  
|
Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 9:19pm
|
We also spend $140-$160 on average for two adults and a baby. Could trim it if I needed to. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: mrsmum
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 9:50pm
I spend about $180 week, that's just for two adults and a baby - although we could easily trim up to $50 off that, I'm a shocker for buying magazines and a nice bottle of wine and packets of lollies... all totally unecessary 
What does everyone do for a cheap meal, I've just rediscovered rice and it's my new best friend. Literally 20c worth does enough for two meals plus leftovers for my lunch. |
Posted By: snugglebug
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 9:56pm
|
We spend $150-$160 a week for 2 adults and a toddler. I cook every night and our meals sometimes have enough for leftovers, so I think if you meal plan, and make meals that stretch far enough for everyone eg pasta based meals, stirfries with noodles or on rice, lasagna/pasta bake/shepherds pie etc with salad/veges ie things you can make go far for everyone, and have at least one meat free night, then I think $200-$250 give or take could be do able, if baby is not eating yet? Depending on if you have formula, nappies or baby food costs in the budget it might be a little more. What might be an idea is to do a meal plan for a week, typical sorts of things, and then write down all else you'd need like fruit, snacks etc, and go shopping, try not to buy any extras etc just what's on your list, and that should give you a rough idea of what it will generally be like. ------------- Me 28, DH 29 DS born 20 Nov 2010 (4 years old) #2 due October 7 http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
|
Posted By: JD
Date Posted: 17 January 2012 at 10:03pm
Good plan wiggly_jiggly. I think I might do that...if I can have enough self control not to buy lollies 
DS1 is still in night and afternoon sleep nappies, DS2 is in nappies full time but is just turned 2 so not having to change heaps. DS3 is 2 months so still going through a fair amount of nappies. I buy homebrand nappies for the older two since they are cheap and do a great job. HB dont have them small enough for the little fella though. We dont use formula, so no need for that cost, but we do go through a heap of milk. Thankfully there are quite a few places around here were you can get 2 x 2ltr for $5.50. A pretty good deal I recon. No matter how much I cook, we never seem to have leftovers 
------------- http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: xLUCKYx
Date Posted: 18 January 2012 at 10:39am
|
We spend $180 a week. I meal plan and buy only what we need for the week and sometimes a bit extra to go in the freezer/pantry. That's for 2 adults and 2 kids (3&4yo).
|
Posted By: Hopes
Date Posted: 18 January 2012 at 11:15am
Or if you're like me (that doesn't work ) decide what treats you're 'allowed' and put them on the list. I have much more success that way.
Another thing that helped me was forcing myself only to shop every fortnight. That way when the inevitable slip-ups occurred, at least they occurred less frequently  -------------   
|
JD wrote:Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 18 January 2012 at 2:10pm
|
We spend $180-$200 a week for two adults (plus $200 a month on our two dogs and cat).
Oh and Hopes....congratulations on Emily!
|
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 18 January 2012 at 4:42pm
|
Congrats Hopes, love the name
|
Posted By: fadeless
Date Posted: 19 January 2012 at 8:38am
|
Groceries is one of our main expenses but we actually do really well at budgeting. For 2 adults, 5 kids and 3 cats we usually spend $200-$220 a week, doesnt include milk, bread or nappies. I meal plan and bake and freeze it for school lunches. ------------- DD 9 ~ DD 8 ~ DS 7 ~ DS 5 ~ DS 2 ~ DS 14mths ~ DD 3mths |
Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 19 January 2012 at 1:05pm
| We spend about $260 a fortnight - 2 adults, 2 kids (4 and 2.5) and one cat. If we choose to have takeaways like McD's, that would go up to $300 a fortnight. |
Posted By: blondie_2010
Date Posted: 19 January 2012 at 5:30pm
|
Gosh I wish I was as good as some of you. Some weeks I spend $160, some weeks I spend $200 and it's just myself, my hubby and our toddler...we do eat quite healthily though (as in I only buy premium mince if at all, mostly chicken and fish etc) so I think that actually increases the cost! That's not even taking into account a meal our or takeaway of some sort on the weekend
|
Posted By: JadeC
Date Posted: 19 January 2012 at 7:54pm
|
We have a pretty strict budget - $250 for the fortnight, so most of our meals are very cheap and basic. That's for me, DH, and DS (1.5). ------------- http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/" rel="nofollow"> 
|
Posted By: Mary555
Date Posted: 20 January 2012 at 12:57pm
|
I'm struggling to get the budget under $200 for just the three of us! I'm trying to send some more time at home with bub, so have had a look at some online shopping.. anyone buy groceries online? A bit scared to try. Although found www.supermarketsaver.co.nz - looks like some pretty good prices. Anyone tried them?
Thanks!
|
Posted By: AbzandH
Date Posted: 20 January 2012 at 9:15pm
| Me, DP and 22mth old spend between $160 and $240 a week! Oh and the dog. We buy organic chicken, premium mince, calci extra milk and blue top, organic/free range eggs. I would rather buy the quality foods and skimp in other areas. It's just this past few weeks i've thought i'll start bulking up meals with rice/pasta/noodles where I can and less meat. We were using $10-$12 worth of meat each night!! Thats crazy. I'll start splitting packs. Also look at your current stock in the cupboards and decide your menu for the week based on what you can make from what you already have before groceries. I am terrible for not planning meals and writting a list and adding to it in the supermarket to make up meals. We also buy ecostore soaps, cleaners, dishpowder, washing powder so that adds up pretty quickly too. I've found I save quite a bit doing online shopping, I only get what we need, I don't grab extras because i'm hungry, and at the end it reminds me of things i buy often so I usually don't forget :) |
Posted By: freckle
Date Posted: 21 January 2012 at 1:26pm
|
we would spend at least 200-250 a week for two adults and three kids... ------------- mum to 3 lovely girls :D |
Posted By: mummymonster
Date Posted: 22 January 2012 at 2:40pm
|
we would spend about 250 a week for 2 adults and 1 toddler and 1 infant. we eat meat & vege, it's everything that puts the cost up. all 4 of us are big meat eaters - yes event he infant.
we have at least one cheapie meal like sizzlers a week. Every one i hear of doing a really really good budget (like completely living on $200 a week) has some mitigating factors - free/cheap rent/vege garden/home kill supply ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 22 January 2012 at 5:27pm
| How much does everyone spend out of their grocery budget on the other things, like personal items, cleaning, toilet paper etc... |
Posted By: mrsmum
Date Posted: 22 January 2012 at 8:43pm
|
Mary555 - I find online shopping great, I beleive you save money by not walking down the chip/lolly/biscuit aisle - things just seem to hop in my trolley on those aisles
|