Groceries: for suomynona

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 9:05 am

I'm in America. Not in NY, though.

Mama Bear

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 10:13 am

HY, I'm baffled how that list is only $80. Wehre I live, your list would cost about $125.

poelmamosh

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 10:15 am

I spend about $180/week and I live in NY. This includes shabbosim with a few guests (avg 10 ppl a meal), plus cooking a bit for my parents and some guests mid-week and it's totally doable. I'm very much a from-scratch food preparer, which I think is the key.

One thing I noticed is that with a newborn in the house and no time late-night/early morning to prepare snacks for my kids, I've been buying pre-packaged and whole fruit, and that adds up to about $15 a week!

I use mostly whole-grain and healthier ingredients - these cost more overall, but I shop around for the best prices/off-brands. For example, I buy high-quality bulk-packaged rolled oats at a health food store for $3.59 for 5 lbs! (a staple in our house, we eat oatmeal for breakfast daily and I make home-made granola for snacks.)
I use very few disposables, haven't bought diapers in a long time. (my 2 yo is trained and my infant inherited a huge supply of his cousin's outgrown size 2s).

I try to get cleaning supplies with coupons/specials only and use only the simplest ones - I find them to be a huge expense otherwise. (I do use lysol 4-in-1 for my countertops, but I buy the large concentrated bottles and dilute it in a spray bottle - a fraction of the cost

ETA: we get WIC, so milk, cheese, bread etc are off the list. I edited my post to reflect the value of these items.

Last edited by poelmamosh on Sat, Dec 25 2010, 9:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 10:35 am

Estimating the prices since I don't have my receipts on me.

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

This week I stayed within budget and bought (off the top of my head):
Fresh produce:
5 lbs clementines --3.99
3 lbs apples -3.24
7 bananas -- 1.40
3 onions -- .80
5 lb potatoes -- 1.99
coleslaw bag --1.79
(I already had sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce at home)

Fish:
No gefilte fish -- I had bought a twin pack and have 1 in the freezer. Like you, I only make 1/2 a loaf if we can get by with that (e.g. not eating at home all the seudos).

Dry goods:
Tomato sauce --.89
Pizza sauce -- 1.49
Mushrooms -- 1.39
Baby corn (bringing it in for Shabbos party) -- 1.29
Honey --6
2 boxes of matzah (buy 1, get 1 free) --2.25
1 box of cookies (shabbos party) -- 1.50
Container of pretzel rods (way beyond what I spend; my husband bought it thinking it was a good deal because it was on sale, but I told him we don't have brand loyalty. It cost $4-$5.) --5

Baking goods:
5 lb sugar -- 2.50
10 lb flour -- 4
Salt --.75
3 disposable pie tins (I am making quiche for dinner on Monday and I don't have a milchig pan the right size -- I also like to freeze extra when I make the crust) --.99

Meat:
1 whole chicken cut in 1/8s (I have another 3-4 thighs I'm taking out of the freezer) --10
1 package of chicken cutlets (to be cut into strips for stir fries) -- 10
I had 3 suppers worth of ground beef in my freezer, as well as cholent meat

Fresh:
Eggs -- 3.20
1/2 gallon of milk (I usually buy a gallon, but had a lot in my fridge still. My older son gets milk at school.) --2.57

Frozen:
2 lbs cut broccoli (bodek on sale for $5) --5
Green beans --2.35
Diced onion -- 1.29
3 whipped topping (making a dessert for a kiddush this week; not a regular staple) -- 3.27

Totaling (based on my estimates which are very close) $78.24 (oops, I just closed my calculator; I think that's what it was.)

shnitzel

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 10:54 am

I spend about $150 a week in New York but I really want to get it down. I don't know where all the money goes, about half of our fruit and veg come from the discounted half rotten section and we mostly eat beans and lentils. I think a large portion goes to eggs and dairy but I find if I don't buy it we end up spending more by picking it up somewhere more expensive. Plus I shop at FOUR different grocery stores a week and know the prices everywhere for all my staples. There are 2 of us and a toddler.

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 11:04 am

Shnitzel, is it possible to cut down the shopping trips and alternate which store you go to for which week?

Tova

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 11:05 am

I just spent $88 in the same grocery as HY (getting a lot of the same items -- clementines, boxes of matza buy one get one free Very Happy

). It should definately last me until a week from Sunday, but that's because we have a chassuna on Thursday night and will be eating out all the meals for Shabbos sheva brachos next Shabbos. Two eating kids, kn"h but they don't eat that much (although one of them will only eat ground beef - which I get extra lean - and not chicken). I typically keep it under $100 per week, but will not stress about letting it get up to $120 (and usually easily make up the difference the next week).

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 11:10 am

Tova wrote:

I just spent $88 in the same grocery as HY (getting a lot of the same items -- clementines, boxes of matza buy one get one free Very Happy

The clementines were from shoppers -- I sent my husband to get them because I got 2 more lbs for the same price Smile

(So were the pretzels, but I think my husband understands that it was not a good deal.)

I do also let myself go over because it usually means the next week is less (buying more meat for freezer, or what not). My budget is the average week. I've easily spent $100 to be followed by $60.

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 11:11 am

Oh, I also get extra lean ground beef only. I try to buy in family packs when it's on sale, and then I divide up the packages.
I also try to get the cheapest per supper...like I'll get 2.90 lbs instead of 3.06 lbs and still have 3 suppers' worth.

chocolate moose

Fri, Dec 24 2010, 3:46 pm

I definitely spend more. And we don't eat out.

freidasima

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 1:13 pm

And I'm baffled that you can get a kosher roast at $6 a pound. That would be something like $13 a kilo, right? which is a bit under 50 shekel a kilo...wow, that's cheap, I'm paying something like 140 shekel a kilo for a good roast (which you can imagine I'm not buying often) but that's what the butcher charges for fresh glatt meat...

Anyhow we spend around NIS 4,000 a month for food, groceries, cleaning supplies, sanitary products and the like. And we don't really buy prepared products in most cases but I do buy organic rice, pasta, rice crackers, legumes, etc. and dried fruit. Those are not considerably more expensive than the non organic alternatives as opposed to fresh organic fruit which is three times the price or more than regular.

So what do I get for two adults and three unmarried adults (one in the army, home thursday, Friday, shabbat, half of sunday):

Per week:
8 leben (for dh)
8 leben meudan (not so sharp) (for kids)
1 cottage (kids)
1 white cheese (kids)
200 gram yellow cheese (kids)
1 package (32 rolls) toilet paper
3 large tevaof (that's the non organic but non hormonal and only natural chickens) or 6 tevaof pargiyot
1 milk
1 box dry cereal
eggplants
potatoes
sweet potatoes
kishuim
apples
clementinot
grapefruit
celery
tomatoes
oranges
leeks
celery root for soup
pumpkin
onions
whatever fruit is in season
1 package dried figs and 1 dried apricots (at our age you need it for your stomach if you know what I mean)
48 eggs
kitniyot (whatever I run out of in the previous week's soup, can be black lentils, green lentils, brown lentils, orange lentils, pearl barley, dried split peas, quinoa)
1 package flour
organic whole rice crackers (package of six packages)
salt or sugar whenever we run out (every few weeks sugar, salt less often)
honey when we run out (every few weeks)
tomato paste
1 bottle diet sprite (we drink water all week and use 1 bottle sprite for dh friday nite and shabbat)
napkins
tissues on sale
panty liners
sanitary products
economica
4 packages organic soy milk
1 package frozen edamame pods (can't get them fresh in EY)
once a month a brita water filter
one package of tivol corn lite schnitz for my vegetarian every two weeks or so
1 package tofu
cleaning supplies when I need (economica, toilet cleaner, anti kalk, st moritz stove cleaner, bathroom freshner (we have one toilet without ventilation)
bar soap when we run out
dish soap when we run out
K5500 against cockaroaches or ants when we run out
1 liter orange juice per week (we dilute it)
herbal tea
coffee when we run out
sucrazit every few months for dh's coffee
mustard every few months
grape juice for kiddush
dried corn for popping at home
spices
baking powder
ketchup (about one a month)
tamari sauce
vinegar (one bottle a week for the washing machine)
oil (a bottle every few months)
1 package disposable plastic gloves a week (used for taking care of household things and caring for my mother)
Occasional fresh salmon for dh (100 shekel a month)
dried chumus
fresh garlic
laundry detergent and fabric softner whenever needed
shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste whenever needed
mouthwash

All that is at the supermarket.
What we get elsewhere - meat at the butcher, pitot at the bakery once a week, and challah at the bakery once a week, newspapers on Friday. Once a week salatim: chumus, techina, arbis, cole slaw for dh, .

So what costs us so much?
Our big expense is the tevaof which is expensive but I don't want to feed my family hormones and antibiotics if I can help it. Organic stuff isn't cheap, but as I'm not getting organic fruit these days. If I do buy meat it is mucho expensive as I wrote. But everything adds up. I don't always get to Rami Levi, we don't have one near us and sometimes I buy in the local supermarket when I'm running out of time instead of spending an hour going cross town and back, I figure if I cancel a client for that hour I lose twice as much as I would make in savings at Rami Levi...

Sanitary products cost. Three women using two packages of pads (20 shekel each) per period plus one package of panty liners each a month (another 25 shekel each) is almost 200 shekel a month just for that. Cleaning supplies cost a lot. I've tried the cheap brands and they are awful and cost me in time and strength.

The issue is the quantities. We eat. A lot on shabbos and have chicken every day. And organic costs. And sanitary products cost. Cleaning supplies, toilet paper, It all adds up.

Note - no crackers, cakes, cookies, ice cream, sorbet, cupcakes, ma'adanim, frozen pizzas, etc.

If we had to, we could live on half the cost as we did in the past. No meat. Chicken only on shabbat, no cereal, lots of bread - note, we don't eat bread during the week, after we finish the leftover pitot and challah we eat rice crackers only. I could use economica and break my hands on everything cleaning it instead of using the easier cleaning products.

But I clean alone, don't have an ozeret. And as dh said, at our age, he close to sixty and me in my early 50s if we can't eat normally at this point in our lives when will we be able to? We couldn't when we were younger, when we are older living on a pension we have no idea what will be. These are our decent earning years and as he said, if we don't eat decently now and not scrimp on everything we will look back at old people and see our lives as one long scrimp. Which as he said, would be very sad...so for now at least...we eat.

Seraph

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 1:48 pm

Freidasima, at your income and age I can understand spending 4000 a month on groceries, etc. What I don't get is my neighbor, mother of 2 kids (toddler and baby) who makes 8000 shekel a month and spends 4000 on groceries. Confused

I get very glad that we use only reusable products including sanitary napkins, cloth diapers, etc. And that we use all natural homemade cleaning supplies. That really allows us to keep our grocery bill down. At the moment, its about 60-70 dollars for two weeks of groceries,
but in the past 4 weeks I spent only 80 dollars on groceries. And yes, we had fresh veggies. :-D Last time I did a decent grocery shopping was 3.5 weeks ago- I spent 250 shekel or 69 dollars. I spent 40 shekel a week later- 11 dollars.
But I did get a bulk food order 2.5 weeks ago- oats, whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, and powdered milk (among some other things that I haven't used, so I'm not counting them as part of the groceries I used the last 3.5 weeks- baking powder, powdered sugar, baking soda). My bulk food order of 140 pounds of stuff cost me 222 dollars, but will last us quite a while.

As for veggies, the last 2 weeks or so I've been using produce that stay fresh for longer, like beets, oranges, grapefuits, kohlrabi, radishes, onions, and foraged greens like mallow, milk thistle, and wild fennel.

Raisin

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 1:50 pm

FS, $6 a lb roast is proabably chuck roast - not an expensive rib roast or whatever. You don't roast it, you pot roast it or stew it.

Seraph

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 1:56 pm

So thats 20 dollars per week of groceries, and 75 dollars per week if you count the bulk order! (Which shouldn't be counted all at once because it's budgeted in and will last at least 4 months.)

So if I average out the 222 over the 3 months it'll likely last (and likely it'll last even longer than that), thats 17 per week for the bulk stuff, and 20 per week for the other stuff, so 37 per week on groceries.

Btw, this is with generally being home for shabbos and having occasional guests. We happened to have gone out for 2 meals in the past 4 shabbosim, but I have the chicken in the freezer to cover that- I got invited out last minute both times, so I still would count the groceries the same way.

This is for 2 adults who eat 3 meals a day at home, plus 1 toddler and 1 preschooler who eat 3 meals a day at home. This includes all snacks, all shabbosim, all baked goods, all produce, all "disposables", all sanitary products, all cleaning equipment, all toiletries, etc. Everything.

bashabelle

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 2:17 pm

But Seraph- I read your blog and while I find it inspiring, I'm shocked by most of what you write. I also live in Israel, and I'm trying to implement it in my life, but I, like the OP, spend too much on groceries and have no idea where all the money goes. Just wanted to say that while your weekly expenditures of $37 (is that right?) a week is amazing, awe-inspiring, and GREAT for you- the rest of us still need to figure it out and most of us aren't willing, or are in some way unable, to do everything from scratch and work crazy hard to minimize spending like you do. Its not normal (not in a bad way!)

We spend about 350 NIS on groceries a week (inc cleaning products and diapers), plus about 150 - 250 NIS every few weeks on chicken/chollunt meat. We rarely eat chicken/meat during the week. There are 2 of us and a baby who eats a surprising amount of real food, all 3 meals everyday.

This thread is great, very interesting... but I'm not sure how effective it is to compare US to Israeli prices. They're two totally different worlds.

One thing I've learned is that almost all canned products (and processed products) in this country are going to greatly increase the total of my bill, compared to the US where (from what I remember) canned products are much cheaper.

Seraph

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 2:25 pm

Lol bashabelle, I don't expect everyone to live my life.
And as I mentioned on another thread, I don't spend so much time on kitchen prep work. Seriously. Eating non fleishigs only helps cut cost if its vegan- using dairy instead of fleishigs works out to be about the same price.

Btw, about the eating of food scraps and stuff (if thats what you meant by extreme)- I don't implement most of those on a regular basis. Honestly! I just include it as information to have on my blog and to give ideas, not because I use every last scrap that comes into my house!

bashabelle

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 2:39 pm

I didn't mean that post maliciously, Seraph. I really am in awe of what you do. I hope it didn't come off offensively. I just wanted the OP (actually I'm confused about who started this thread, was it suo??) to know that she isn't alone.

HindaRochel

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 2:43 pm

I really hate comparisons because so much depends on family particulars.

For us much depends on whether my DS and DIL are coming for Shabbat, if we need big items that week, like toilet paper and laundry detergent , whether my dd and I need supplies, and such. I tried non-disposable sanitary supplies, found the uncomfortable, didn't give me the protection I need and made life all around more difficult.

But Seraph you also have to include, to figure out what you MIGHT have spent, on all the free stuff.

I had one friend who use to tell how much she spent on food a month, but her dh brought home a lot of stuff from work. He was a chef in a Yeshiva.

I also do much from home, bread I can get four loaves for 10 shekels, challah's for 4.5 shekels...really it would cost much more for me to make it at home. Eggs are 25 shekels per tray, I could get them a bit cheaper but it would be hard to bring them home on the bus.

Basically our Shabbat shopping; 1 chicken, fruits & veggies, a cake, though now my daughter is making that, challah's and bread, wine and grape juice plus milk ,coffee, sugar flour,and then sanitary needs and cleaning needs are all we buy.

Seraph

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 2:52 pm

Yes, I did get someone's leftovers this week, but as I mentioned, that didnt affect my budget. I had the chicken, rice, and veggies in the house that I was going to make for shabbos, but at the last minute I got some free stuff. I just put what I would have served for shabbos into the freezer for next week. If I'd have to adjust it for what I would have spent had I not gotten that free stuff, I would have spent maybe maximum 7 dollars more per week, or 25 shekel more per week. (If we'd eaten the meals at home, I would have needed an extra bottle of grape juice for 10 shekel.)

Seraph

Sat, Dec 25 2010, 2:53 pm

bashabelle wrote:

I know you didn't. Wink

I was just writing that as an addendum. I really don't spend so much time on food prep. Saving money on food takes advance planning (like soaking beans, etc...), but not actual physical time.