Real Numbers: Weekly Grocery Spending Snapshot

Real Numbers: Weekly Grocery Spending Snapshot

How much does this family of five spend every week? Do you realistically know what you are spending on groceries these days? Well if you don’t, it’s high time to find out! You’ll probably be really surprised one way or another. The great thing about knowing what you pay for food is that if you have room to improve, the growth and change is really exciting to watch. And if you are already doing well on a budget, you can confirm that. So let’s get our food budgets in line now!

This is the 8th year I’ve taken several weeks out of a year to write down every nickel and dime that I spend on groceries. Usually I record 8-10 weeks, but this last time I only kept track for 4 weeks because I had just done my “No Spending Challenge” and honestly, I was plain tired of recording every single grocery item I bought during my No Spending Challenge. If you are interested in seeing what I spent on groceries during my 4 week No Spending Challenge, you can go here.

So here are the dates, what I spent, and the weekly totals. You may see multiple transactions for the same store on the same day. That’s because I keep record of what I spend on the blog ALL.YEAR.LONG. So I’m always keeping track of something~that’s just another reason why 4 weeks was all I recorded this year. And yes, these amounts are from the mid-fall and I am posting them in the winter. I started doing it that way when I first started blogging and have just kept it that way. Maybe next year I’ll change that.

Week 1:	Date	Amount	Weekly Total
Winco	10/26/2014	$4.08	$79.82
Winco	10/26/2014	$6.56
Winco	10/26/2014	$6.29
Fred Meyer	10/29/2014	$7.49
Fred Meyer	10/29/2014	$21.22
Winco	10/30/2014	$10.39
Winco	10/30/2014	$23.79
Week 2:	Date	Amount
Costco	11/3/2014	$46	$158.66
Albertsons	11/5/2014	$9.73
Fm	11/6/2014	$32.97
Winco	11/6/2014	$59.96
Winco	11/8/2014	$10
Week 3	Date	Amount
Trader Joes	11/11/2014	$52.11	$76.68
Winco	11/13/2014	$19.57
Albertsons	11/14/2014	$5
Week 4	Date	Amount
FM	11/16/2014	$15.94	$109.14
Albertsons	11/18/2014	$5
Coop	11/18/2014	$15.18
Winco	11/20/2014	$26.51
Costco	11/21/2014	$40.43
Walmart	11/22/2014	$6.08
				Four Week Total
				$424.3	$106.08/week

So we spent about $424 every four weeks and approximately $106 a week on groceries this last year. Good to know!

It’s totally interesting to compare and look back at the numbers from the past. I am a bit surprised that we spent less this year. But now that I think about it, part of that is that gas prices have gone down (they are creeping up a bit now but are still way down from before). I am trying to use more pantry items, and I make more food from scratch than ever. I buy less meat, too. But probably the biggest reason our grocery bill has gone down from the previous year is that I am becoming fluent in making soups for dinner (they end up as leftovers for lunch a lot, too). And soups are the ultimate food in frugality. You can stretch meats, beans, rice, leftovers, veggies, pasta, you name it. Just look what’s in your fridge. And now that I know to sauté the carrots, onions, and celery in a cast iron skillet before throwing them in a slow cooker, it has elevated my crock-pot cooking to new levels. My family LOVES soups, and it’s a good thing since we have them ALL.OF.THE.TIME. Now I make a huge variety of soups, so they never get boring. So this is my biggest money-saving tip this year: get good at making soups, and eat them weekly! If you don’t believe that they’ll save your family money, you try it!

Also, seriously? We used to spend $42 a week on groceries! Isn’t that a dream!!

• 2007: $ 42/week              =$168 for 4 weeks (2 adults, a 2 year old, 1 baby)
• 2008: $55/week               =$220 for 4 weeks (2 adults, a 3 year old, a 1 year old)
• 2009: $67/week               =$268 for 4 weeks (2 adults, a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a baby)
• 2010: $ 74.89/week         =$299.56 for 4 weeks (2 adults, 3 kids ages 5, 3 & 1)
• 2011: $84.25/week           =$337 for 4 weeks (2 adults, 3 kids ages 6, 4 & 2)
• 2012: $105.88/week        =$423.52 for 4 weeks (2 adults, 3 kids ages 7, 5 & 3)
• 2013: $142.65/week         =$570.60 for 4 weeks (2 adults, 3 kids ages 8, 6 & 4)
• 2014: $106.08 /week       =$424.30 for 4 weeks (2 adults, 3 kids ages 9, 7 & 5)

Do you keep track of your grocery spending? It’s REALLY easy to do for a season, and the results are so interesting. Are you going to join me?

Here is my list big list of soups and chilis, FYI:

Other posts you may enjoy:

• Getting a Refund for Services Not Rendered
• Our First No-Spending Challenge
• Our First No-Spending Challenge Results
• Know Your Target Grocery Prices: Grocery Prices to Meet or Beat

 

GO HERE FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF RECIPES. 

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