Israel-Groceries | Imamother

israelgirl

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 12:49 pm

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!

amother

Ivory

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 12:58 pm

We are a family of 6 - one still in diapers and we spend that much or more. We eat a lot of cheese and meat. But we do not have a car and basically food is our one big expense.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:00 pm

OP, do you know that there is a life in israel forum where people might not answer anonymously (if you care about that) then only the israeli members can see who is posting.

israelgirl

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:03 pm

I don't know why anyone would answer this question anonymously anywhere, but I guess I just didn't think to post it there as it's a spinoff of the Brooklyn thread. I would also love to see if there is a price difference food wise in the US and here.

Smile1234

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:10 pm

Give or take $100 (If you want the shekel amount let's say 400 shekel)

Family of 3, 1 in diapers, we eat chicken/shnitzel/chopped chicken for supper every night besides once (sometimes twice) a week is a dairy supper which is made of cheese that I bring from the states.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:13 pm

Smile1234 wrote:

you spend 400 shekels on your food for the month? And you eat all of that basari? How do you do it?

amother

Ivory

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:14 pm

israelgirl wrote:

meat, as in roasts etc? or poultry? Just curious because if you eat a lot of meat, then I don't know what I'm spending the same amount as you on as we don't Smile

My husband has a lot of allergies. He is allergic to chicken, salmon, etc. One of the few things he can eat is beef. So when I say we eat a lot of meat, its actually only he that eats a lot of meat. My kids eat a lot of cheese though.

We likely spend more, but we bought a lot of meat in bulk around Pesach time for really inexpensive and had that in the freezer and have been working off of that.

israelgirl

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:15 pm

Smile1234 wrote:

HOW?????? tips please Smile

amother

Red

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:52 pm

Family of 5 here, 1 in diapers. I spend around 500 shekels a week- we eat meat/chicken once a week other than shabbos. Other nights are pasta (with mushroom cheese sauce etc) potatoes- again with cheese and maybe tuna- eggs, soup with bread, salads etc.

israelgirl

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 1:59 pm

amother wrote:

wow....all the respect! Do you know sales/prices well?

amother

Natural

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 2:00 pm

We're a family of 4 (1 on the way IY"H!). I do a big trip that usually lasts for about 1-2 months that's around 1200 shekel, and then spend on average, plus or minus, 100 shekel a week on perishables (veggies, milk, bread, etc). We eat chicken on shabbos, and I might serve hot dogs or something cheap like that once during the week.

israelgirl

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 2:07 pm

amother wrote:

just my vegi's alone are about 150-200 a week! milk products, another 100 (milk, soy yogarts, soy milk, cheese, shamenet, etc)

amother

Natural

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 2:10 pm

israelgirl wrote:

just my vegi's alone are about 150-200 a week! milk products, another 100 (milk, soy yogarts, soy milk, cheese, shamenet, etc)

Soy is more expensive though. I think one carton is around 13 shekel right? So that's more than double a regular milk.

But like I said, the weekly average varies, because it also depends what's available. For example, I haven't been able to buy the yogurts the kids like, last week or this week, because they ran out and haven't replenished. I tried to buy veggies this morning, and there were NONE. So, that reduces my bill Wink

Iymnok

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 2:13 pm

With health limitations you always spend more. I'm not sure how much per week since we bulk buy when we can and our purchases are spread over different venues. We also take advantage of the perks of the Mir.

amother

Mauve

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 3:25 pm

About 200-250 shekel a week, just me and dh (plus one on the way iy"h!).

Dh gets lunch for free at work. We eat vegetarian at home for various reasons. We should be eating more vegetables than we do, but I've been nauseated throughout the pregnancy so we mostly cook a lot for Shabbos and then count on leftovers for the week- various vegetable soups, sometimes homemade lasagna, sometimes lentils or other legumes. Other than that lots of oatmeal, a lot of dairy, some fruit (mostly apples, other things in season), more pasta than is probably good for us. We do buy some processed foods, but are limited due to food allergies. I learned to cook very cheaply when I was a student, we could cut probably cut it back to 150 or so pretty easily if we really needed. Planning to breastfeed so hopefully no formula to add to the grocery bill.

Sanguine

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 3:29 pm

We spend a lot more!! Don't have a number but it's a lot more!!! Groceries are so much more expensive here. You can't even compare to American prices. Someone there said they save money by eating only dark chicken meat and chicken cutlets during the week!! (that's Shabbat food) I never make chicken for supper during the week. Well, certainly not bottoms. Maybe a full chicken cause those come on sale (but everyone likes the dark meat here). Wings are cheap. chopped meat stopped having good prices - Anywhere!

We have 5 kids and they're big (teens and up). Three are (big) boys. They eat a lot. (I think I buy 8 bags of milk each week). That's why I can't begin to compare amount of money spent.

Forget about comparing grocery prices with America. And, $1070 salary/week - (what started that thread) would be 16,500 shekel a month! I'd buy chicken for supper during the week.

We make much less. Our groceries cost much much more... So what's our secret? Didn't I start a thread like this in LII a few days ago? Not sure if I should post the secret here on the regular board. Well, this is the land of milk and honey... That sums it up Very Happy

June

Mon, Jun 08 2015, 3:38 pm

Iymnok wrote:

So do we. We only participate in the meat sale, but it allows us to keep our grocery budget at 300 shekels a week. The meat sale is pretty much quarterly, and we spend about 400 shekels or less each time. We're a family of 3: parents and one-year-old.

We try to eat as healthy as possible, so I mostly buy fruits and veggies, grains (including beans), milk, and eggs. I try to make as much as possible from scratch. For example, I just discovered on this site how to make yogurt, and got over a liter of yogurt for 8.90.

Right now I'm finding that by far my most expensive regular grocery item is diapers. I totally want to switch to cloth diapers, but my husband is not so on board.