What the govt says your mthly food cost should be

[PoorAnnie]

Found this link to what the goverment thinks we should spend on monthly food costs. It has different price points: thrifty plan, low cost, moderate cost, liberal plan. Our family of 7 fits below the thrifty plan right now!

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2008/CostofFoodSep08.pdf

[DisneyGirl]

Wow, we fall in the moderate range! Family of 4. Yet there never seems to be any food here! Must be those two "extremely tall for their age" boys I've got!!!

[jennordhavn]

We're below thrifty right now too, normally it would be thrifty but I've cut back a bit the past two months.

[Bandit]

Wow, we fall in the moderate range! Family of 4. Yet there never seems to be any food here! Must be those two "extremely tall for their age" boys I've got!!!

[anime-chicka]

Wow..we fall well below the monthly thrifty plan for two adults. I budget 250 for us. I spend about 150 at Sams, then the rest at various discount grocery stores (Save-A-Lot, Aldis).

[momof3b1g]

Yikes, we don't fall on the plan. We should be spending at the least(thrifty plan) $230 a week for 6 of us. I hope they don't question what i put on the budget.

[liz417]

Wow, we fall between the Thrifty and the Moderate Plan, so right on track. Our IRS allowance is $528/month for two and we don't spend nearly as much...

[Bandit]

according to those figures, I am starving to death.

Or else my dad taught me how to shop for food wisely.

[anime-chicka]

according to those figures, I am starving to death.

Or else my dad taught me how to shop for food wisely.

Your dad and mine might have been separated at birth. I suppose when you're bringing in 25k for a family of 4, you learn to shop very very cheaply, and make every penny squeal and beg for mercy.

[Bandit]

Your dad and mine might have been separated at birth. I suppose when you're bringing in 25k for a family of 4, you learn to shop very very cheaply, and make every penny squeal and beg for mercy.

Does your dad brag on his bargain finds?


any relatives from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois or West Virginia? then they might be related. I do admit that my dad has built an awesome network when it comes to shopping for food. Not just with rainchecks, coupons and specials, but also in knowing the vendors, managers and truck drivers who let him know when things are happening.

So good I cannot even begin to tell all his secrets. He gets the name brand stuff and has to brag about as well. If I dont get it at the price he gets it for then he lets me know he is better. If I get a better deal than he does, then he gets jealous If a can of Campbells costs 1.00, he will never pay more than .25.

Then at the end of the month he turns in all his extra coupons for food, toiletries, soap, cigarettes to my best friend who owns a 7-11 & then my friend redeems them for himself. My father actually shops for groceries for several familes, delivers them to their doorstep and he saves them a bundle. He says it is soothing for him to help others this way.

Quite a system he has.

but we sure did have the best juicy stringy beef pot roast growing up

[On The Brink]

Wow we are so far below thrifty for a family of 4 I cant even look up and see it lol

[JJL]

My Attorney put $300 down for me a month and I'm single.

[anime-chicka]

Does your dad brag on his bargain finds?


any relatives from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois or West Virginia? then they might be related. I do admit that my dad has built an awesome network when it comes to shopping for food. Not just with rainchecks, coupons and specials, but also in knowing the vendors, managers and truck drivers who let him know when things are happening.

So good I cannot even begin to tell all his secrets. He gets the name brand stuff and has to brag about as well. If I dont get it at the price he gets it for then he lets me know he is better. If I get a better deal than he does, then he gets jealous If a can of Campbells costs 1.00, he will never pay more than .25.

Then at the end of the month he turns in all his extra coupons for food, toiletries, soap, cigarettes to my best friend who owns a 7-11 & then my friend redeems them for himself. My father actually shops for groceries for several familes, delivers them to their doorstep and he saves them a bundle. He says it is soothing for him to help others this way.

Quite a system he has.

but we sure did have the best juicy stringy beef pot roast growing up

When I was still in California, there was a place called Canned Grocery Outlet (or some variation of the name) that would sell dented and discontinued grocery items. So 9 times out of 10 you could get name brand items at extremely discount prices. I looked at a receipt one day. He managed to get our canned goods for the month and it cost him something like 75 dollars. There was nothing wrong other than the odd dent here or there, or that the item flopped in the regular stores.

I think in a way he did brag to his friends and co-workers about how he saved money, and he was an avid coupon clipper. Every Sunday we'd have at least 4 to 5 various newspapers he'd gotten at the newsstand and we'd start clipping.

I'm not aware of any family in any of those states you mentioned, but then again, we have family spread out all over the US, so there could be and I wouldn't know. I can't ask him as he passed away back in 2005, but he taught me and my sister the value of a dollar many times over, taught us the tricks of how to make food stretch and that it was alright to freeze things.

I remember the ritual every Friday night before grocery day he and I would count the frozen items in the huge upright freezer and figure how much we needed to buy the next day. Everything had to last a month, and he was also big on being prepared, which is probably why we had lots of canned stuff in the back of a closet that was rotated out when it came close to expiration. I remember when we moved from our house to an apartment I found a can of creamed corn that was about 2 years expired and I was going to throw it out. He save it from the garbage, opened it and said it was still good. He couldn't let anything go to waste, and I can't blame him since he grew up during the Depression.

[Bandit]

When I was still in California, there was a place called Canned Grocery Outlet (or some variation of the name) that would sell dented and discontinued grocery items. So 9 times out of 10 you could get name brand items at extremely discount prices. I looked at a receipt one day. He managed to get our canned goods for the month and it cost him something like 75 dollars. There was nothing wrong other than the odd dent here or there, or that the item flopped in the regular stores.

I think in a way he did brag to his friends and co-workers about how he saved money, and he was an avid coupon clipper. Every Sunday we'd have at least 4 to 5 various newspapers he'd gotten at the newsstand and we'd start clipping.

I'm not aware of any family in any of those states you mentioned, but then again, we have family spread out all over the US, so there could be and I wouldn't know. I can't ask him as he passed away back in 2005, but he taught me and my sister the value of a dollar many times over, taught us the tricks of how to make food stretch and that it was alright to freeze things.

I remember the ritual every Friday night before grocery day he and I would count the frozen items in the huge upright freezer and figure how much we needed to buy the next day. Everything had to last a month, and he was also big on being prepared, which is probably why we had lots of canned stuff in the back of a closet that was rotated out when it came close to expiration. I remember when we moved from our house to an apartment I found a can of creamed corn that was about 2 years expired and I was going to throw it out. He save it from the garbage, opened it and said it was still good. He couldn't let anything go to waste, and I can't blame him since he grew up during the Depression.

OMG- that is the spitting image of me and my dad. I cannot believe I am reading myself. I do the same exact things only I donn't have a place for dented cans, but when i see them in the carts being discounted, I check out the dates, buy them all, then rotate them out with the older stock. This is the only way to be prepared. I also live by a charity & people go there for the money but take the bags of groceries & throw them over the fence into my yard. When I see that, I go out there & most of it is still good food, rice, beans, cereal, canned goods etc...and I take them in and use them.

Another good one is when grocery store is going out of business, don't pass it up.

There is one store in Alabama & when I visit my mom there, I go there & fill up my trunk with canned goods, we are talking canned veggies 6 for 1.00. I also bought a small freezer a few years ago for $130 and it came with $130 in free food...I used it all and the little freezer is great for breads & pizzas.

I am careful with canned goods that are expired but it is true that they may still be good for longer than two years and they will almost always still be good for at least a year. I just finished a jar of bread & butter pickles that my mom canned in July 2002 and they were still good.

It is so funny you mention the sunday paper because when my dad visits me, he wants all the papers & ads & he insists that I take him to all the grocery stores at least once. He will buy me $100 in groceries and it only cost him about $30.00 with a bunch of free stuff along the way.

Then back home he gets the sunday paper from my friend (i mentioned before) at the 7-11, & if they do not sell, my friend gives the papers to my dad for free coupon clipping. Sometimes my dad is a goofball and he gets on my nerves because he complains that people do not know how to shop.

[Genenco]

Man! 40.40 a week?? I do pretty good at less then $27 a week. And that's not eating too shabby either..(May have to walk more, gaining weight it seems)