How much do you spend on food per month?

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Mad Scientist
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#1169092 5-Nov-2014 10:18

Food $100/w
Baby and children stuff $100/w
Household needs e.g. toilet paper etc $40/w
It adds up

Geektastic

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#1169093 5-Nov-2014 10:18

KiwiNZ:
Geektastic: We have two in the house. At the moment SWMBO works in Auckland during the week so I only need toast and peanut butter in the house Mon-Fri!

When she's home every night we spend $200-$300 a week at the supermarket but that includes occasional stuff like dishwasher tablets which can be as much as $30, wine for her and so on.

Don't forget that 15% of your food bill is tax.

We do tend to spend $50 or so at the butcher too because I usually feel like I am in Moscow circa 1976 when looking at the rubbish our local supermarkets try and pass off as meat.

+1 re meat , thats why we travel over the Rimutaka's to get our meat at the Greytown Butcher, best in the region.

Yes they are very good. I coughed up $70 for a 4 rib beef roast the other weekend from them as a farewell lunch for a friend who returned to the USA after being here 8 years. It went down extremely well!

Just don't get me started on sausages..!

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#1169100 5-Nov-2014 10:37

Two pensioners, living next to a supermarket, where we buy 95% of our food.
Supermarket receipts: $950 per month (no alcohol or other luxuries - except coffee

)
Basic home cooking.
Take-aways once a month.
We never eat out.

We spend half of our pension on food.

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#1169114 5-Nov-2014 10:57

Would be interesting to see how much GST all GZers are paying annually buying food!

Bee

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#1169116 5-Nov-2014 11:00

2 adults and 3 children - 9, 4 and 6 months.

Food $170 Max per week

Nappies $18

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Demeter

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#1169138 5-Nov-2014 11:11

BlueShift: The problem with eating out rather than cooking at home is getting a decent balanced meal. There's stuff-all takeaway options that you could healthily eat on a daily basis, and even at restaurants the portions tend to be a lot more meat and carb heavy than I'd cook at home.
Where do you go for a decent variety?

1. Zap Thai is a great go-to for lots of veg with some meat. Avoid the mostly-noodle dishes and explore the menu a little, you'd be surprised how healthy and delicious it is. :D
2. Pita Pit does salads instead of wraps. I ask them to leave out the iceberg letuce (which has no nutritional value) and they load the bowl up with lots of great veggies.
3. Habitual Fix has fabulous options for the health conscious
4. Sushi. Avoid the deep-fried crap. Try a Teriyaki Salmon Donburi, it's yum.

There are other options too, but those are generally my go to. I could eat Thai every day quite happily.

ETA: We usually spend around $300 a week, adults and one teenager. We get takeout regularly because I work ridiculous hours and commute 4 hours a day.

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#1169139 5-Nov-2014 11:12

Bee: 2 adults and 3 children - 9, 4 and 6 months.

Food $170 Max per week

Nappies $18

Grocery list, or I refuse to believe that figure! :P

Bee

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#1169144 5-Nov-2014 11:17

DravidDavid:
Bee: 2 adults and 3 children - 9, 4 and 6 months.

Food $170 Max per week

Nappies $18

Grocery list, or I refuse to believe that figure! :P

Here's the secret : shop at Paknsave.. the equivalent at Countdown would be $250... Unfortunately we don't have that kind of money...

The above doesn't include maybe another bottle of milk or alcohol - but this is West Auckland, Supermarkets don't sell wine here!

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CokemonZ

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#1169159 5-Nov-2014 11:32

Interesting.

2 adults and 3 children under 5.
Spend about $700 per month.
Pak n Save, local fruit and vege shop, and we go to the y knot shop (a clearance shop) to get stuff like crackers and frozen foods.

We eat fairly well, but lots of mince, chicken and sausages.
Lots of slow cooker meals so we don't get lazy and eat out/get takeaways.

Also buying veges in season saves a huge amount.
Buying 2 eggplants (800 grams) for $3 and using them to bulk up a chili makes it healthier and cheaper.

As for the nappies question - we use washable cloth diapers 90% of the time, and the rest we buy 100 nappies box once every 2 months or so.

It can be done, but not too many eye fillet steaks - which the kids wouldn't eat anyway.

We used to buy half cows, and will go back to doing that when the kids are a bit older and will appreciate it more.

Disrespective

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#1169164 5-Nov-2014 11:40

Hmm, this is interesting. It looks like we’re definitely on the higher side but not extravagantly so.

I also should have mentioned that I don’t split out things like toiletries from those numbers. I think that they’re the biggest reason why the value varies from month to month but I haven’t been dissecting our supermarket bills to that level of detail on the budget. We have only recently weaned our son off of formula but still buy him a separate milk to drink so that might help a little.

We shop almost exclusively at New World Wellington City and do up to two visits a week but more like once a week.

In an ideal world we would be better at meal planning so our shopping could all be done in one go but we only have a 550W x 1550H fridge, so space is a limiting factor.

Almost all of my lunches are made from leftovers or pre prepared portions. I only buy lunch once a month or so, also.

Stu

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#1169167 5-Nov-2014 11:44

BlueShift:
BigHammer: Should possibly add that we use Countdown online shopping/delivery fortnightly for everything except meat and fruit n veg, which we source from a butcher and veggie shop weekly or fortnightly as required.

That would make a difference to your bill - we do our big shop at Pak N Save as we find we save anywhere up to $80 on a $500 trolley-load. If we got the same trolley from Countdown online, we'd be paying a lot closer to $600 for what we get for $500 at PnS. I don't mind paying a premium for convenience, but that's a saving worth me & the Mrs spending 90 minutes once a fortnite.

Yes and no. Shopping online is saving us quite a bit from when we did the fortnightly shop in-store. Even if we went to Pak N Save it would cost us more. Reason? Impulse buying! We're bad at it. Shopping online is more relaxed and we can weigh up needs/wants without the pressure of having it right there in our faces, taunting us to buy it!

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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#1169168 5-Nov-2014 11:47

Disrespective: <snip>lunches<snip>

Okay now I'm hungry. Time for a sandwich. Home made of course! Hope there's something in the fridge to put on it, as the groceries were only delivered last night!

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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khull

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#1169188 5-Nov-2014 12:15

Demeter:
BlueShift: The problem with eating out rather than cooking at home is getting a decent balanced meal. There's stuff-all takeaway options that you could healthily eat on a daily basis, and even at restaurants the portions tend to be a lot more meat and carb heavy than I'd cook at home.
Where do you go for a decent variety?

1. Zap Thai is a great go-to for lots of veg with some meat. Avoid the mostly-noodle dishes and explore the menu a little, you'd be surprised how healthy and delicious it is. :D
2. Pita Pit does salads instead of wraps. I ask them to leave out the iceberg letuce (which has no nutritional value) and they load the bowl up with lots of great veggies.
3. Habitual Fix has fabulous options for the health conscious
4. Sushi. Avoid the deep-fried crap. Try a Teriyaki Salmon Donburi, it's yum.

There are other options too, but those are generally my go to. I could eat Thai every day quite happily. ETA: We usually spend around $300 a week, adults and one teenager. We get takeout regularly because I work ridiculous hours and commute 4 hours a day.

good examples, don't forget Kapai and ditch certain dressings - I can't guarantee it will taste great but if you have dietary requirements then eating out may be restricted to certain establishments and businesses. It is tempting to eat unhealthy when you are out, but no greater than stocking up something unhealthy at the supermarket like sodas

hangon

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#1169191 5-Nov-2014 12:22

2 adults and a 3 yo, last quarter food bill came at $131.57 pw, including occasional take away and eat out.

other household stuff and baby stuff came at $49.8 pw

based on this food cost survey, a man + a woman + a 4 yo in Auckland eating "basic" diet would cost $159 pw, $212 pw eating "moderate" diet, or $254 pw eating "liberal" diet.
http://www.otago.ac.nz/humannutrition/research/food-cost-survey/otago057919.html

While "estimated weekly costs on non-food items for a family of four (2 adults, 2 children)" at "moderate" level costs $40.7 pw.

cooking n baking helps i guess. edit: shopping mainly at pak n save, fruit world n mad butcher.

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#1169197 5-Nov-2014 12:30

Bee:
Here's the secret : shop at Paknsave..

I must say I don't understand the love for PaknShave. Every time I've tried to shop there, it comes out miles more expensive, a thousand times more stressful, and I end up having to go off to other shops to get everything anyway. Oh, plus their in-house branded stuff seems to be foul rubbish. What am I missing?

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