Grocery Planning, Not Dinners

I'd be a bad bad contestant on The Price is Right because I couldn't tell you what a single thing I buy at the grocery store costs. I have never looked at the prices of things I need or thought about the categories they fall into. If I want it / need it - it goes in the cart. Done. I don't buy a lot of processed or junk foods but that has nothing to do with cost and all to do with being a generally healthy person.
These folks are really inspirational - http://thirtyaweek.wordpress.com/ but truthfully I couldn't be arsed to keep track of my spending like that.

We really don't "budget" for snacks. Some snacks (yogurt and fruit) are part of our weekly grocery bill and usually buy what's on sale, and we use those yogurt coupons. For most foods, we don't "meal plan" we just stock up when there are good sales, the freezer and pantry our usually well stocked. Then the weekly shopping is for fresh items, stocking up on more sale items, and the items we've run out of.

For cereal, we stock up on our favorite brands when they are on sale or when we have coupons. If we run low, we'll pick up some at BJ's since they seem to have the lowest (non-sale) price.

As far as other snacks, like crackers, chips, cheese. We usually go to BJ's every 2 to 3 weeks and stock up. It's part of our "BJ's budget". If we run out of someone's favorite, they just have to find something else.

My husband and I each get $100 every 2 weeks that is "our" money. No questions asked spending. I use it for drinks out with a friend, hair cut, sushi, lingerie, new shoes, a bottle of wine I'd like to bring home (my husband doesn't drink), what have you. My husband often uses it for buying lunch at work. He got TICKED at first, because 1 weeks of eating out blew through all of his money in nothing flat. Yep hon, that's what I've been telling you. You complain that 300 every 2 weeks for groceries is too expensive, but you've been spending 200 every 2 weeks on LUNCHES. (Don't get me started on how much he was spending when he was drinking).

The grocery budget is just that; food for everybody. Splurgy food can come out of our personal money.

Since it's "his" money he has to spend on lunches out, he has decreased the number of times he does lunches out. But that's his choice. There were periods prior when he was dropping $500 a week on restaurants and bars and kiddo and I were eating ramen. Never Again.

How I personally do snacks is like this: At the end of 2 weeks, whatever grocery money is left over (if any), can go toward splurgy food / snack food.

Based on your tracking, have you tried choosing just one or two of the high demand snacks and sticking with those for a month, then changing it next month etc. That way you know what to get, what to find coupons on and when to go shopping on sale when that particular snack item comes out - instead of just buying snacks at random for the sake of having snacks.

Since your Husband... seems to comprise a large portion of the monthly "snacks" AND cereal consumption... perhaps... have him... purchase his own snacks/cereals. Because, why should his eating habits/snack & cereal allotment.... take up SO much of the "family's" grocery bill for the month???

For example, my husband CHOOSES to buy lunch at work everyday... and he likes to get beer for at home(he just has 1 beer after work), and his snacks too. (My Husband likes GOOD quality snacks too... from a deli and grocery)... BUT....He does NOT "expect" that this is taken out of "our" joint monthly grocery budget. Because... HE is the ONLY one... that chooses to eat these things, and in that amounts and DAILY. Not even my kids... eat as much snacks as him nor the type of snacks, for example. NOR do I eat what he eats, for snacks. I am not, personally, a snack eater.

THUS.. .my husband, buys his own. Because, at least he realizes, WHY should his eating habits and choices... take up 1/4 to 1/2 of "our" grocery bill... and why... should it be more than anyone else in the family??? AND why should it then diminish... the quality and types of 'meals' that we have for dinner.

Personally, "I" am not going to cut down on the quality nor quantity of our dinner or lunch/breakfast meals... just because my Husband eats so much cereal and snacks in big quantities. That is HIS choice...

To me... and what you posted... it IS your Husband's desire and 'needs' for high-tasting/quality SNACKS and CEREALS (and the amounts he eats daily)... that is cutting into the "family's" budget... for the monthly groceries.

As you said... "snacks" comprise a HUGE percent of the total.
Well... it should not be. Those are just 'snacks.' Your Husband's snacks.

Time to tell your Husband... that his eating/snack habits... are HALF of the family's intake... and dinner/lunch/breakfast budget...
and he needs to get his own. He is eating you out of house and home.

To me, the dairy products amount... is fine. That is for the WHOLE family... and in my family... me and my son are big dairy/milk drinkers and eaters.

all the best,
Susan

The USDA publishes average weekly and monthly "Eat at Home" costs in 4 tiers: thrifty, low, moderate and liberal. You can review these at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2010/Cost...

The average costs are based on a model food basket. Within the site, you can click to see what is included in each plan. It's not particularly easy to read but...there is a percentage of cost by category that is age and gender specific and it looks like adult men have the highest percentage of snacks. Of course, we knew that, right? There is also a quantity by category.

I think men and teenagers make it difficult to plan. I can tell you with 99% accuracy what I will eat for snacks this week but my husband could eat no snacks or he could eat a whole bag of cookies in one sitting. When I had teens hanging out all the time, it didn't matter how much I bought, they ate it all. Immediately. I used to hide food in the trunk of my car and pretend I stopped at the store on my way home from work. If you are looking to reduce the cost of snacks, I like the make and freeze method. Cookies and muffins are really way cheaper and better if you make yourself and they freeze well. Jello and pudding. Cheese, crackers, nuts and lots of popcorn.

I didn't read the other posts - sorry if this is a repeat.

We also get a lot of snacks. You just really have to price compare. A huge box of 60 nature's valley granola bars is the same cost as 30 quaker granola bars, and there's way more per serving of the nature's valley. Often times buying non-brand name can save huge - especially on cereal. When store brand cereal goes on sale for 1.88/box I stock up big time - that's a little more than 50% off brand name.

I'd cut back on milk - unless you have 6 children (which maybe you do) that's a lot of milk for people to be consuming, cost aside.

Finally, even though you're not home to make snacks, do consider making a big batch of something on the weekend and sticking it in the freezer. Something like muffins can be made for cents at home, and you're getting charged dollars at the grocery store. My family loves pumpkin muffins for breakfast and snack - banana muffins, blueberry, zuchini, all freeze well. Other "convenience" food too - pancakes, for example. You're really paying for that convenience.

Good luck.

My boyfriend is the same way (he insists that he doesn't have the patience to cook and would probably eat snack food all day if he could). What I ended up doing, since he doesn't do any of the grocery shopping, is started to control what and how much he could get of each thing. I would actually work my dinner making plans around what he could eat for lunch the next day (like if I was making chicken, I would cook an extra chicken breast and put it in the fridge for him to heat up the next day). We are very big on leftovers, but I only make just enough for him to eat for lunch the next day so that I don't worry about it going bad. I'll also make him big pots of soup or noodles all at once so that he can re-heat them during the week. This would help him keep variety from the dinner meal the night before (because he could eat the chicken with some salad and soup, where as the night before we had chicken and corn, etc.) I found that when I had actual MEALS available, he would much rather eat them, it just had to be easy for him to make. Before I did this, he would eat whole bags of chips and packages of lunch meat (without even making the sandwich!) in one sitting. It used to drive me crazy.

As far as the snack food and other things, if it is on the outside aisles, then I usually just figure out how much we go through and spend and include in the budget as is (it is difficult to budget for necessities like milk). Whatever I have left over after dinner budget (plus the extras), and these extra things like milk and cheese, I will spend on the frozen foods and snack foods. He has basically learned to accept that if it is on sale, he gets it and if it is not, then he probably won't get it. He has basically adjusted himself to know that I only go shopping every two weeks and what he has has to last, otherwise he'll be waiting. He did this with his cereal. I bought him two huge boxes of his favorite kind (which is way to expensive and had a VERY good sale that day) and he tried to limit how much he eats them cause he doesn't know when he'll get more of that kind. When he finishes them, he gets the cheap store brand. It sounds mean cause it's almost like your gonna make him "starve" but it does teach them to not consume large amounts of snack food in one sitting when they don't have the endless supply and them constantly being replaced. He'll still do it every once in a while (especially when I have been to lazy to cook the night before or something), but it's become much more rare and he has begun to control his food intake.

Edit: Okay I just read your response. Maybe he's not overly like my boyfriend then. That's just how I read it. But yes, buying in bulk things that are one sale and only buying snack foods that are on sale is basically what I was saying. Also, just stating that you can only spend ____ amount and sticking with that and not buying everything that you all like to to normally have, but just a few treats. Our snack foods have to get treated as "special things" in my house

Prepacked and convenience packed items are way more expensive. If you can buy bigger items and portion your snacks out for your family in snack bags or reusable containers you could save money! I haven't gotten to that step yet though...working full time we definitely waste $ on convenience packed foods! I did make the switch to regular carrots though - hahah - takes only seconds to peel, they last longer and are way cheaper than the baby or precut ones!

I don't budget in terms of money for each thing individually, and I do dinner plan and make a shopping list. If you use up your cereal, pop some bread in the toaster is pretty much how it goes here, if you use up all the cheese slices by using them as snacks, you end up with a peanut butter sandwich at work for lunch, because my salary isn't high enough to just replace things if someone binges. Sure, we have snacks. If your husband is looking for sweets, rather than packaged cookies (my hubby could eat 1/2 the package in a sitting, and they are meant to be my son's lunchbag desserts), get some cake mix and store bought icing. Make a cake on the weekend. Tastes good and he thinks you've gone to a special effort for him, and it's cheap!

Sounds like he needs to really be on board. Switch to fresh fruit for snacks - then there is food if they are really hungry, but not sweet/salt prepackaged stuff that one can just eat and eat and eat - more money, more weight gain, less health. Also buy cheese from Sam's instead of cheese sticks or fake cheese snacks. Have them cut up in cubes to eat - less money, less salt and food coloring. It may seem that fresh fruit and veg cost more, but they will all eat a lot less of it. Don't worry if they complain about there being 'nothing to eat' - it takes a while to get used to a change in foods. Get the big box of real oats for oatmeal for bfast some days - not the prepackaged kind with tons of sugar and very expensive per serving. Also, buy eggs - two eggs and toast for bfast is great. Cut out soda, flavored milk and 'fruit juice' which is just sugar, too.

Bon courage!

My mother has always been the thriftiest person . She grew up in the projects with only her mom and 4 children..They were never on public assistance, so they learned to be very thrity.

In her home and ours growing up..
No real snacks like chips.. But lots of popping our own popcorn..

No sodas but we could make iced tea and lightly sweeten it.

They ate beans of some sort at least 5 days a week. Then they turned it into soup and then bean dip sometimes. Black eyed peas, pintos, Lima, split pea.

Since my grandmother knew how to make homemade tortillas.. they ate the flour or corn tortillas instead of bread..

Lots of rice, all kinds and all ways.. chicken and rice, chicken with canned tuna and creamed soups. Arroz con pollo. again leftovers became soup by adding broth and veggies.. Rice pudding was a treat as a dessert.. if rice was on sale for a super good price.

Milk is a necessity, so you just have to look for the best prices.
Cheese was considered a luxury, so they only purchased when on sale and froze it.

Cereal we were not allowed sugar cereal because t was too expensive. So Cheerios, chex, corn flakes and raisin bran were a staple for breakfast and could be dinner or snack, so we kept a lot of it around. If the prices went way up, we ate eggs for breakfast with tortillas.

Today at the store they had 10 lb bags of potatoes for $1.99.. that would mean lots of potatoes all different ways. (my mother would have purchase 20 lbs worth.. Baked topped with whatever we had.twice baked. mashed potatoes, with left overs potato pancakes.skillet potatoes..

Breakfast tacos with skillet potatoes and eggs on tortillas and hot sauce made with canned house brand tomatoes, onion and chopped jalapenos.. this could be breakfast or dinner.

We never could afford breakfast meats unless it was in the mark down bin.. I pick it up for about 99 cents when I see it. I purchase a few chubs and freeze it for special weekend breakfasts.

Canned biscuits on sale for less than a dollar a can again can be with a meal, be the meal at breakfast or can be a treat with honey and butter..

We never purchased pancake mix, instead my mom made up a container of the dry mix in a large container with instructions on adding the milk and eggs.. Dinner, breakfast or a treat..

Fresh fruit that is on sale.. Apples and oranges mainly.. To make it a little more exciting she would purchase a few handfuls of grapes, a couple of bananas and a can pf chunk pineapple and make up a tub of fruit salad.. we ate this as a salad or breakfast or as a treat..

She would study the sales each Wed to decide what out meals would be. She purchased large quantity of things like asst pork chops, brought them home and broke them down into portions for a meal.. Whole chickens on sale for less that 99 cents a lb, she purchases and freezes as many as she can fit in the freezer.. BBQ, roasted, boiled ...

Ground beef the and Roasts the same.. When on sale purchase for an amazing price and freeze it..

This is how I was raised and pretty much keep our food prices down..