The Food Budget
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Support
Forum Name: Budgeting
Forum Description: Want to save before baby arrives? Struggling on one income? Found some great ways to make your dollar go further? Share your thoughts & tips here.
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35868
Printed Date: 28 April 2024 at 9:00am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: The Food Budget
Posted By: jazzy
Subject: The Food Budget
Date Posted: 22 September 2010 at 3:37pm
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I budget $400 a fortnight for grocery's but never stick to it & I don't include any takeaway or if we buy food when out somewhere in the weekend in that.
Out of interest I made a list of what I would buy a fortnight with out extras & it came to $400 so I am wondering if my budget is unrealistic of if I need to cut back or up it. I spend a lot (or I think I do) on bread & milk. We are cutting back/out on snacks & fizz. I do baking & pack the lunch boxes with fruit. We are trying to go more healthy so lots fruit & veg is bought weekly. We are coming up to BBQ weather (I hope) so it will be more salads & meat. What do you spend on grocery's & how do you plan your meals so not to go over your budget 
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Replies:
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 22 September 2010 at 3:57pm
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I don't plan meals.
Breakfast is easy, we always have rice bubbles, corn flakes and wheetbix and if I see something different on special for a good price I'll grab that. Lunch, I just grab some bread rolls and canned meat and a maybe 5 cans of soup for DH and for me I just need crispy noodles as extras For the rest we get tons of vege and fruit. We are doing about half and half of frozen and fresh. We get the cheapest pasta and I grab lots of sausages and prepackaged chicken stuff cause I won't cook "real meat". We get 3-4 loaves of bread per fortnight. Go through a tray of size 8 eggs a fortnight. Cheese once every 6-8 weeks. a doz yoghurt (whatever is cheapest), a big container of plain yoghurt. Then we get some lunch stuff like muslei bars and le snaks. Night time nappies for daniel once a month. But we go through toilet paper like mad now lol. I'm also grabbing some smaller nappies every 2nd week. We don't buy fizzy drinks. I buy no lollies. I don't buy chippies and I only buy very cheap biscuits. I bake. I watch how much washing powder I use. I don't need to use a whole of those cup things to get the clothes clean, I usually use 3/4 for a full load so that adds up quick. I look out for what vege is on special that week and get it and make myself use it. Rather than meal plan and buy the same stuff. I think it works out cheaper. Like I saw steam fresh vege at my pak n save for 69c a packet so I grabbed 4 of those just cause it was cheap and its been used. If I didn't have to buy so much prepacked meat it would come out cheaper. Also with my stupid pregnancy I've ended up being only able to drink choc milk for the first half and hot choc for the 2nd half and literally that was all I could stomach so thats been an annoyingly large chunk of our bill. We only go through about 3L of milk a week. |
Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 22 September 2010 at 8:25pm
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My supermarket budget is $400-500 per month depending on how many weeks I shop for i.e. $100/wk, but I do shop monthly. That usually includes at least some frozen chicken pieces and cat food. I spend up to $90 at the butcher for the month. Fruit and vege is about $50/wk which also includes milk and bread (4 loaves), but I am trying to get this down, plus we buy more milk during the week. So that must come to about $720 all up for 4wks.
This doesn't include the occasional takeaways or eating out but that maybe happens twice a month I plan out a months worth of meals and buy those ingredients at the supermarket. I bake so don't buy any biscuits etc and no lollies or ice cream  . We no longer buy fizzy drinks or juice
I have slowly been able to get it down buy planning more and deciding that we don't really need extras. Plus I am actually enjoying my baked muesli bars and muffins, cakes etc than bought biscuits ------------- Lindsey 
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Posted By: Leelee
Date Posted: 22 September 2010 at 9:15pm
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We spend between $250-$300, our son is gluten intolerant and gluten free stuff is quite expensive, he is really starting to like fruit so we go through quite a bit, we can go through upto 4x 6pk yoghurts. We probably use more frozen veg than fresh. Dh takes a packed lunch everyday to work. I'm doing ww so we get some ww products, we do have fizzy. I could make a few cut backs which could probably save $20-$30. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: xLUCKYx
Date Posted: 23 September 2010 at 9:56am
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I use between $150 and $250 a week for shopping. Usually every second week is a bigger shop. I plan out all of the meals for the week including lunches. I hate shopping that much I want to make sure I only go there once and once only!!
We go through 2 bottles of milk a week and 4 loaves of bread. After I have planned it all out - which doesn't take long and is very handy as I put the meal plan on the fridge and it reminds me what needs to come out of the freezer each day - I write the list and price each item so before I get to the supermarket I can see if I am on target or not. |
Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 23 September 2010 at 10:12am
I've never understood people who drink fizzy like it's an everyday thing  I waaay prefer water!
Linzy, I'd love your homemade muesli bar recipe please? I love homemade stuff way more than bought baking. I agree with Kebakat - I don't plan meals, rather I just buy what's in season/on special and think of a way to use that. I make lots of soups in winter, and usually have a vege garden in summer for yummy fresh salads. Not sure if that will happen this year, but I hope so! We take lunches to work/daycare and don't buy pre-prepared crap in general. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 23 September 2010 at 10:20am
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We have a $400.00 budget per fortnight and Im usually just under.
And I only eat chicken, eye fillet steak or fresh fish so we dont scrimp too much. However we dont tend to buy crap and the kids tend to eat quite plainly. Pasta and some form of meat or quiche .. I make pies, muffins etc etc. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 23 September 2010 at 8:34pm
I have put it into the recipe section, its a http://www.ohbaby.co.nz/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35887&PN=1&TPN=1 - Chewy Muesli Slice ------------- Lindsey
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T_Rex wrote:Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 23 September 2010 at 9:51pm
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One thing I have found is buying your meat in the morning. Most supermarkets discount it in the morning as it needs to be sold by that evening or they bin it and it is fine putting it into the freezer that day. Last time I got a big lot of meat I spent $50 and got $110 worth of meat. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Nutella
Date Posted: 23 September 2010 at 10:12pm
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Also buy veges when they are cheap, cut them up and freeze them...recently we had brocolli on special for like $1.69 or something so have loads in the freezer. Can make up stir fry mixes this way too and then on a lazy night just chuck those in a pan and don't have to cut veges...I have even gone as far as to include mushrooms in a mix but not gone far enough to include onions.
Do that with veges that you don't think you will eat in a week either. ------------- 
 Oct 11
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Posted By: Mum_mum
Date Posted: 24 September 2010 at 9:12am
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I've just done my first meal plan on a two week plan but with a few meals that we can rotate in and out as well. Have gone through the pantry and freezer and now have a list of things we need. I want this shop to be under $200 - preferably at $150 but not sure if that will work... wish me luck lol! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
Angel baby - May 2008
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Posted By: MrsMojo
Date Posted: 24 September 2010 at 9:32am
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I have a $400 per fortnight budget and I'm gluten free because I have coeliacs disease so my budget includes GF bread and cereals (although that's only about $30 of the budget). -------------  
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Posted By: Aprilfools
Date Posted: 24 September 2010 at 12:06pm
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We spend $400-$500 a month. I spend $80 on meat, $150 at the supermarket and the rest DH holds on to for grabbing fruit and veg or if there is an additional ingredient I want he'll stop in and grab it for me. The supermarket shop includes two tins of formula but doesn't include toilet paper or nappies which I buy in bulk elsewhere. Sometimes if we run out of something we will replace it but most of the time we will just improvise.
------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 24 September 2010 at 9:03pm
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Good luck Hannibil!
TaliP - do you blanche the veges first before you freeze them? I am growing veges this year and have planted heaps of beans in the hope of freezing some. ------------- Lindsey
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Posted By: _H_
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 3:38pm
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Linzy- its best if you blanche them first because i find they taste much better when you cook them. we did it with brocolli and cauliflower when they were under $1 each.
------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: WestiesGirl
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 6:48pm
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My limit is $100 a week. Most times I come in at that but there is the odd occasion I go over.
I only buy what we need and go with a shopping list every week. I only buy in bulk if its on special. I dont do meal plans but I do have a general idea of what I will cook each week. ------------- Our Angel July 08 Gone but not forgotten
And to complete our family, our princess has arrived 
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Posted By: Mum_mum
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 10:24pm
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So i made it at $162 - thats really great for me BUT there were things I didnt need this week that I will need next week like conditioner and cofee etc so next week might look a lil worse!
Shop wasn't helped by the $3.50 lettuces or brocollis  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
Angel baby - May 2008
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Posted By: RedHeadDuck
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 11:56pm
| We generally spend about $300 every 4-5 weeks, plus probably another $100 on top ups (fresh milk veg fruit etc) and takeaways every 4-5 weeks also, so $400 all up? |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 10:35am
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i dont have a food budget... i just buy what we need and hope it doesnt cost too much! ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: happymumma
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 12:47pm
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I'm going to have to cut mine down as much as I can. Hoping to make it $100 per week including a tin of formula and disposables for over night. I can't wait to cut those out of the budget!! I also tend to buy a coffee at work when I'm there so I'm thinking I need to either drop to one a week as a treat or cut it altogether at the moment. Theoretically that doesn't sit as part of my food budget but things are too tight to kid myself that it's coming from some magical 'entertainment' budget! |
Posted By: snooze
Date Posted: 27 September 2010 at 9:17pm
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We spend $250 per week which includes all baby related expenses. We are pretty good at sticking to it and I do a top up of Fruit and veges mid week. I don't have a meal planner as such but just count out 6 mains at each shop and try to stick to under $10 per main if that makes sense. We tend to have the same things over and over as it makes it easier. Looking forward to summer and more salads. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: xLUCKYx
Date Posted: 08 October 2010 at 9:23am
Our shopping this week was a record low of $100!! I am using cloth nappies again now so saved a good chunk on those!! Spent $30 at fruit and vege shop and $70 at supermarket 
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Posted By: monkey33
Date Posted: 08 October 2010 at 9:09pm
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Our budget is $280 a fortnight which includes 1 can of formula & nappies. I have found shopping fortnightly instead of weekly has been beneficial and I also plan our meals. (Aim to be under $15 for total meal, $10 if possible). ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: gypsynita
Date Posted: 20 October 2010 at 12:23pm
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my budget for the week is $150 although since gst went up (excuses ) the shop has been slightly over. i'm dairy-free atm because of DS2's reflux and even though soy milk is really expensive we're saving heaps on butter, cheese & milk. while i was pregnant we went through up to 10L milk a week!!
i used to do a meal plan but now i have a list of standard meals in my head that I'll do most weeks so just shop to that and keep eye open for any good meat specials. we eat a lot of mince and sausages, but love a good lamb roast so will splash out on that when it's on special - 2kg for $25 the last few weeks and that's done us for 2 dinners and lunches as well. ------------- Anita Mum to Cian (Aug 08), Josh (Jun 10) http://lilypie.com"> 
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