Israel-Groceries | Imamother

amother

Khaki

Wed, Jun 10 2015, 4:45 am

We spend so much on food don't even know how. We have one kid. I try to shop carefully, at cheap stores, but things here are still wayyyyy more costly. 450 shekel/ week on average for groceries plus husband buys himself lunch a lot so that's another 75-100 shekel/week. Plus we get chicken and meat from Mir, so that's about 600 shekel at a time but lasts us three months. 600/12 weeks is 50 shekel a week. We do make a lot of chicken during the week but with cheese here being $10 a bag or $6 for 400 grams of sliced cheese, I'm pretty sure its better to go with leaner chicken. We make ground beef also around once per week (included in Mir sale costs). I don't buy snacks so much, only pretzels and similar things for my son to bring to school. I also don't use paper goods... I guess healthy food costs. My numbers include all cleaning supplies, diapers and the grocery delivery etc... But these are my realistic numbers. So it comes to about 575/week, in dollars that's about $150/ week.

Sanguine

Wed, Jun 10 2015, 7:00 am

Only 800 Shekel a week!! I think I skipped something.

I decided to do a good checking and added the past 6 months of CC bills and divide by 26. I think that's a fair average.

I may have missed something cause I had to add 6 months for two credit cards. I'm really shocked that I'm not so high. Family of 7. All big kids. 3 big boys. But... everyone doesn't eat here regularly - For example - Last night we had hamburgers (even in rolls, not pita) but it was only me, DH, and one DD. Us 3 are really the only constants for supper. We can have any number of people at supper any night but it's not as if we have 7 people every night. One son is in the army so you actually pay for his meals (if you pay taxes), so add one older boy to your family size Wink

.

I'm really so excited to find out that I don't spend ridiculous amounts. Should we compare electric bills next? Very Happy

shooting star

Tue, Sep 13 2016, 8:42 pm

I know this is an older thread but I'm actually finding it surprising how much groceries in Canada cost compared to Israel. As in: it looks like food prices in Israel are LESS (if you can believe it). Is that possible?

So I wouldn't be able to keep my bill to the equivalent of 2400 NIS in Canada for a family of four. I struggle to keep my monthly bill to about $1000 CDN, or just under 3000 NIS. We cut out a lot of meat (but dairy meals are also expensive), almost no read meat at all, buy the cheapest cheese, shop the sales, mostly buy in-season and local produce. If I shop strictly to list I would pay more because try to buy/make the food based on the sales. I also stock up on non-perishables and cleaning products when I can save.

amother

Mauve

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 2:32 am

shooting star wrote:

I'm interested that the thread's been bumped- we actually successfully budgeted for 250 per week not long ago when we had a month with other big expenses due to moving. We're now maybe 2 1/3 in terms of consumption, including a toddler who's a messy eater.

I only counted food in the 250, but including takeout. Cleaning supplies were separate since I didn't have where to try to cut the budget there- like you I try to shop around and stock up when I see a good price. We almost never use paper other than the few days before Pesach, and we generally avoid cooking on aluminum- so maybe I should have included baking parchment in grocery supplies but that's it for non-food.

I think there's less pressure to make fancy, stylish food than there is in the US (don't know about Canada). There's always some fruit and some vegetables in season, trucked not more than 8 hours- and that's if you're in Eilat and the produce is coming from the Golan. That's even in the middle of winter, since most of the country doesn't freeze and a lot of produce is grown in hothouses anyways. Do you really have fresh, local produce year-round? I'm curious how that would work in a cold climate. All the milk here is Chalav Yisrael, and most of the cheeses have at least a rabbanut hechsher. Also, milk is price-controlled by the government.

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 3:11 am

israelgirl wrote:

How much do you think groceries should cost per month living in Israel? I spend roughly 800-900 shekel a week for a family of 5 (2 in diapers, 1 baby with formula) I noticed on the NY thread, people thought the equivelant of that in dollars is way too much. I find that especially now, while fruits and vegi's are more expensive this year, the cost is up. (we are huge veg/fruit eaters) I also only buy whole wheat and grains, and my baby is off of gluten-so quinoa, kusemet, bulger, etc.

How much do you spend weekly on groceries? What is your family size? Where do you shop? Do you eat chicken/fish during the week? If not, what do you use for protein?

Thanks!

We are also a family of 5. I also have 2 in diapers and 1 baby on formula. We easily a spend 3000 nis a month. Approx 1200 the first week of the month - I stock up on all dry products/formula/diapers/wipes and then 600/a week on basic groceries like produce, chicken, dairy, etc. So it comes out to 3000 nis a month.
I buy disposable plates, cups, pans, and vaccum sealed grains/legumes. Only whole wheat bread. Also buy convenient foods like tivol. So I definitely am not the most frugal.
I make vegetarian lunches. Other than Shabbat, we have chicken 2x a week for dinner (sunday is Shabbat leftovers. Wednesday I make something using chicken breast or ground turkey/chicken/beef)
(I have a dinner menu - that helps with my organization as well as the groceries - sundays is leftovers, monday is soup + bread or some kind of veggie dish that I usually make for lunch like couscous with vegetables and chickpeas, majadera +cheese + salad, pasta with sauteed vegetables, nachos/tacos, lentil-vegetable stew, etc. tuesday is dairy (baked zitti or fettuchini alfredo, quiche), weds is chicken or ground beef/turkey/chicken, and thurs is something easy like rolls with tuna, scrambled/boiled eggs, hot dogs or french toast)

amother

Ecru

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 3:33 am

We're a family of 5, we spend 1600 shekel a month. We've been doing this for years, when we've had a kid in diapers and not. budget is still the same. Way I do it is we make a meal plan on sunday, and only shop on sunday. I have no access to food money/car during the week, so I dont go to any grocery stores. This includes cereal, milk, bread, chicken, pasta, vegetables, flour, oil, sugar, eggs, turkey, meat, cheese, and all other staples on a week to week basis.

smile12345

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 5:11 am

shooting star wrote:

It's definitely possible - the prices here might be higher than in the US, but I think they're lower than in the UK.

Marion

Sat, Sep 24 2016, 6:49 pm

I spent roughly 1500NIS/month at the supermarket & shuk for years. I spend 6-700 every OTHER week at the supermarket and fill in as needed at the shuk. I think we're creeping closer to 1700/month these days; the kids are getting bigger and I've started eating properly after years of not doing so. Family of 4/5/6 and back to five.

(Oh, and my electric bill averages 350NIS for a two month billing period.)

spikta

Sun, Sep 25 2016, 2:45 pm

I'm not understanding how people are saying that food in the US is cheaper.

We spend ~1600 shekel a month on groceries for a family of 4. That includes a baby who doesn't eat, but it does include diapers (and I eat for two when nursing Smile

).

I try to stick to basics as much as possible. Seasonal produce, cheap meat/chicken, basic dairy products (my husband will splurge on milky, but besides that it's milk, butter, price controlled cheap yellow cheese and sour cream etc.), basic baking and pantry items. We rarely buy flavored yogurts/cereal/nosh/convenience food/disposables.

I cook mostly fleishigs, but I'll stretch it a lot. Bone in chicken is for shabat. During the week we'll have stir fries with chicken breast or ground beef, various stews and soups, meatballs that have added ground vegetables and grains and cooked in a chunky sauce...

Isn't produce and kosher meat much more expensive in the US? Many of our pantry staples will be cheaper I guess, but I don't spend all that much money on flour, rice, oil and crushed tomatoes (obviously there are more than that but you get the idea). In season produce is really cheap. I rarely buy produce for more than 10 shekels a kilo, and the cheap stuff can be 3-4 or less on sale. I see circulars touting produce sales of 2-3$ a pound, which is twice what I pay for most produce. The meat/chicken prices are crazy too. I can pretty reliably get chicken breast for 20-25 shekels a kilo here. I'm not seeing it under 6$ a pound. None of the chicken is less than 4$ a pound which is the equivalent of over 32 shekels a kilo. And don't even start with meat, which is more like 80 shekels a kilo for stuff that will be 40-50 a kilo on sale.
What am I missing? Is reading circulars and looking at prices online not representative and the actual prices are cheaper? Is everyone here buying mehadrin meat which is more expensive than the regular rabanut that I'm buying?