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Lakewood area grocery budget for family of 7 ages 15-8
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 8:01 pm
I am looking for moms that are in a similar size family / kids age bracket and location as me. I know there are numerous threads on this topic already but I don't see one specifically for this.

Try as I might I cannot get my monthly groceries lower than 2k and we generally are around $2,200 per month. Yom tov months add another $400.

I'm wondering if this is the norm.

I don't buy extras but I don't hold back from getting a little chocolate bar or J&J coffee a few times a week. I can't cut this out as this really holds me over through my full time job.

We never ever have meat, fish, or anything like that.

We never eat out.

Am I normal?
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ray family




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 8:07 pm
I’m not from NY/NJ so I don’t know the prices there, but to me that does sound like a lot.
What are you buying then?
Does that amount include other thing like cleaning supplies, disposables etc?
Sometimes dairy is just as expensive? if not more than meat.
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cupcake123




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 8:14 pm
That number makes sense to me OP. I have less children and younger children I spend over 1000. Prices went up so much recently.
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 8:23 pm
ray family wrote:
I’m not from NY/NJ so I don’t know the prices there, but to me that does sound like a lot.
What are you buying then?
Does that amount include other thing like cleaning supplies, disposables etc?
Sometimes dairy is just as expensive? if not more than meat.


Yes- this includes disposables which I rely on in the absence of cleaning help.

I don't buy dairy I never buy ice cream, ices or cakes. but I will only shop in one store as I simply have no time to shop elsewhere. anything on sale I stock up on but I otherwise will spend on thin sliced cutlets, bagged lettuce, salad dressing but everything else is standard. Or so I think. Looking to hear from others in this situation.

Also not age of kids. WHen my kids were younger it was so easy to get away with cereal for shabbos! Or tuna for supper. Can't do that anymore with older boys.
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 8:23 pm
cupcake123 wrote:
That number makes sense to me OP. I have less children and younger children I spend over 1000. Prices went up so much recently.


Thank you.
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amother
Jade


 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 10:57 pm
Family of 9- seven kids up to age 18- we spend about $300 a week in the grocery and another 3-400 on household products so closer to 15 a month.
Shopping with a list is what keeps our budget down and shopping once a week only. I do buy lots to make my life easier like prechecked lettuce, and thinks to make my day that much more delicious like icecream Smile
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realtalk




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 11:14 pm
Depending on what heksherim you keep, I lowered my grocery bill by not buying as many heimish products. I get my meats, dairy, and of course pre checked lettuce at the kosher super market but nosh, fruit, and pantry staples from Walmart or Costco
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amother
Seashell


 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 11:16 pm
amother [ Jade ] wrote:
Family of 9- seven kids up to age 18- we spend about $300 a week in the grocery and another 3-400 on household products so closer to 15 a month.
Shopping with a list is what keeps our budget down and shopping once a week only. I do buy lots to make my life easier like prechecked lettuce, and thinks to make my day that much more delicious like icecream Smile


$300 a week with big kids? In Lakewood? I have 3 toddlers and I'm very budget conscious and serve the kids eggs for dinner a lot of nights and I don't buy prechecked lettuce or ice cream and spend about $200-300 per week.
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amother
Babyblue


 

Post Wed, Jun 29 2022, 11:19 pm
I was just in npgs and chicken cutlets were more expensive than ground meat, even more so the thin cut. Some cuts of meat were about a dollar more.
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amother
Jade


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 7:23 am
amother [ Seashell ] wrote:
$300 a week with big kids? In Lakewood? I have 3 toddlers and I'm very budget conscious and serve the kids eggs for dinner a lot of nights and I don't buy prechecked lettuce or ice cream and spend about $200-300 per week.


Yup- do you use a shopping list and go to the grocery just once a week?
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amother
Cobalt


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 7:31 am
I buy all target brand tissues and toilet paper otherwise my bill wld go up double. The local stores charge a fortune for those and I never get detergent from there. Usually it’s close to 28$ target wld be 19-21$ etc really helps.
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DVOM




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 7:35 am
I spend about 500$ a week on groceries and household goods for our family of 7. The budget includes cleaning supplies, stuff the kids need like notebooks, pens, this week new goggles, whatever comes up, plus diapers, wipes, and formula, so let's say 400$ on actual food. We also rarely go out to eat and eat almost no prepared foods, so our budget and spending habits sound very similar to yours, op.

Last year, this budget felt perfectly adequate. This year it feels pretty tight. We eat a lot of protein. None of my kids really like side dishes (rice, potatoes, pasta, soup), so the protein portions are big, and getting bigger as the kids get bigger. This isn't a bad thing, health wise, but it is very expensive. My shopping cart is usually filled with whatever snacks are on sale, chicken, meat, fish and eggs.
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 8:12 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:


We never ever have meat, fish, or anything like that.



So what do you have?
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amother
Cognac


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 8:24 am
sequoia wrote:
So what do you have?


They probably have chicken and dairy
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amother
OP


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 8:25 am
Thank you dv mom it seems like our budgets are similar.

Sequoia we eat a lot of chicken eggs pizza bagels that I make with fresh bread ketchup and cheese. I put up soups and salads. When I said I don’t eat fish I wasn’t counting tunafish which yes we do eat.

I am looking for more answers for people that actually did a budget. I’ve been actually writing down every single time I swipe my card and the numbers came up to between 2 and 2200 for the month so I’d like to hear from people that actually did a budget not people that are estimating because when you estimate the amounts are very vastly different than what it actually is .
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amother
OP


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 8:26 am
amother [ Jade ] wrote:
Family of 9- seven kids up to age 18- we spend about $300 a week in the grocery and another 3-400 on household products so closer to 15 a month.
Shopping with a list is what keeps our budget down and shopping once a week only. I do buy lots to make my life easier like prechecked lettuce, and thinks to make my day that much more delicious like icecream Smile


Have you actually tracked this seems very low
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amother
Cognac


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 8:30 am
Op, it makes sense because of inflation.
The cost of almost everything went up and by the end of the month it really adds up.
My credit card bill went up by around $1000 a month between the high cost of gas a food lately. You probably aren’t doing anything wrong. It’s just the way things are now.
I try to order tissues, ketchup, cereal, detergent, water bottles, eggs, sugar, fresh fruits and vegetables from Walmart. The prices for these items are significantly lower than the frum stores. They have an option to park and have the order delivered to your car.
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amother
Seashell


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 12:29 pm
amother [ Jade ] wrote:
Family of 9- seven kids up to age 18- we spend about $300 a week in the grocery and another 3-400 on household products so closer to 15 a month.
Shopping with a list is what keeps our budget down and shopping once a week only. I do buy lots to make my life easier like prechecked lettuce, and thinks to make my day that much more delicious like icecream Smile


Do you maybe have WIC or food stamps? I keep looking at my grocery shopping now and can't figure out how you do it.
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amother
Foxglove


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 12:48 pm
Not in Lakewood (brooklyn so maybe similar), family of 10: $450-$500 on food per week not including disposable dishes, diapers, or other things that can be bought in a grocery store. Includes delivery fees for ordering online.
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amother
Jade


 

Post Thu, Jun 30 2022, 2:21 pm
Yes I budget and keep track of all my spendings. The numbers are accurate and account for the higher costs we are now paying.
I will say that I have had friends with smaller families who also dont host as much and they were in disbelief when I told them my numbers. One of them did try to implement. What they found was that by stopping to go to the grocery store without a shopping list and by going less frequently they cut their budget to less than half of what it was before. (To begin with they were paying way more than me and now they are way less which makes sense based on their family size.)
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