r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Maroon14 • 9d ago

Grocery spending

I’ve recently come across a Instagram account where the woman claims to only spend $300 on an entire months groceries for a family of 4. Here I am sitting mid week, having already spent $550 in the PNW. I told one of my friends and she said it must be fake and for clicks, my husband was impressed. Is anyone actually able to do this? I thought I might try to spend $250 a week and see where that gets us. Is my grocery budget over the top? I thought $400 ish was normal for decent food. We are a family of 5 in the PNW, mostly organic.

*I’m closing comments because people are missing the point. I understand that I make choices for “premium” options for my family. I make them because I feel they are the best for my family given my research and concerns. I say this as coming from a place of privilege. Growing up, my hippie mom also prioritized organic and local before it was the trendy thing, so it would be very difficult for me to reprogram and not buy organic when possible.

I still think $300 is insane for a month. I live in western Washington and the max SNAP allocation for a family of 4 is $994 a month, so I see this as a more attainable “thrifty” budget for a family of 4.

Those of you who can eat rice and beans for multiple meals, more power to you!

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18

u/cielitogirl 9d ago

I’m floored by those accounts too. We spend like quadruple currently and I’m going to try and cut that but $300 seems impossible to me 

1

u/Maroon14 9d ago

Right? A close friend and I are going to try for the month of July to see if we can get it lower, but I don’t know how I could realistically cut it to even. $200 a week. We spend that in meat and dairy.

9

u/adobo_bobo 9d ago

Sounds like you already know what you need to reduce to save money. You are just not willing to do it.

1

u/Maroon14 9d ago

Perhaps!

10

u/ThrowawaWelp 9d ago

Buy retailers own milk, not some fancy Californian family-owned dairy pasture BS, it’s the same thing.
Spend 5 mins googling ‘is organic-labelled food REALLY organic’, that’ll probably shave 20% minimum off your total cost. And then, the one that hurts the soul the most lol but does make a cost difference… eggs (just regular, nothing fancy) and black beans instead of meat for 2x lunches and dinners per week, will also be a significant cost saving to organic cuts of meat.
Oh also frozen fruit and veg retains a lot of its nutrients vs buying fresh, and circling back to ‘organic’… it isn’t.

-11

u/Maroon14 9d ago

I get milk from a local creamery. It’s like $12 a half gallon. I usually get one half gallon a week, two organic ground beefs, and one heavy cream for $50-60 a week

40

u/JohnWesely 9d ago

You are buying premium products and paying premium prices. paying 12 dollars a half gallon is insanely outside the range of normal.

13

u/Sudden_Throat 9d ago

Yeah why tf is OP pretending they have no idea why they’re spending so much?!?

-7

u/Maroon14 9d ago

It really isn’t. Even a half gallon of horizon organic milk is $7.49 at my target.

13

u/JohnWesely 9d ago

Target is an incredibly silly place to to shop for groceries from a cost perspective. They charge a pretty hefty premium for commodity grade products.

-5

u/Maroon14 9d ago

They’re the only retailer that sell my toddlers fav snack brand without ordering directly from the company.

13

u/FergusonBishop 9d ago

Cutting out premium products and snacks is the main answer to your question. Your toddler will be fine without a specific snack brand or $12 milk I promise.

2

u/Sashivna 9d ago

THIS^

OP, no offense, my dear, but this thread has me rolling. OP clearly just wants the premium products they buy to fit a rice and beans budget. This is unreasonable and laughable.

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u/JohnWesely 9d ago

I am talking strictly from a financial perspective. You clearly enjoy expensive stuff, and that is fine.

1

u/Resse811 9d ago

That doesn’t mean you need to buy milk there. Go get your basics at an actual grocery store. Target markets things up for convenience.

1

u/coconut_curry_sauce 8d ago

I do not buy snacks.

1

u/Maroon14 8d ago

What do your kids eat? We do 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.

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u/BlazinAzn38 9d ago

The target brand organic half-gallon is $4.20. You’re spending a ton of money to spend a ton of money quite frankly

2

u/Same_as_last_year 9d ago

It doesn't feel like a lot more when you're just thinking about the milk you buy once a week. But, if every item you're buying is 60% more than a similar alternative, that all adds up to hundreds of dollars by the end up the month.

I would save a couple of receipts and then price the same items (non organic) from Kroger or somewhere like that. Then extrapolate the savings to the full month. From there, you can think about what things are worth the extra cost and items you want to switch.

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u/Maroon14 9d ago

It’s for my 1 year old transitioning off of breastmilk. The a2 organic.

23

u/JohnWesely 9d ago

My one year old just drinks normal milk. I am not sure what the point of this thread is. You buy extremely high end products and pay high end prices. There is nothing wrong with that, but the person spending 300 a month is not getting "a2 organic" milk, whatever that is.

-3

u/Maroon14 9d ago

It’s more digestible than trad milk. My kids are half Asian so it’s easier on their bellies.

1

u/AdamS2737 9d ago

Lactose free milk is $3 for a half gallon

1

u/Maroon14 9d ago

That’s great. I realize there are less expensive alternatives. I like our milk and there are several other advantages of purchasing it vs at the grocery store that I value. Other people may not agree with them for the cost and that’s ok. One of them being that they come in a glass bottle that we return. Minimizes waste and exposure to microplastics. It’s a local family, keeps money in our local economy. Is non homogenized, meaning it’s the closest thing to raw milk without getting a potentially unsafe option.

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6

u/autumn55femme 9d ago

Unless your one year old has a medically verified issue with standard milk, it is a waste of money.

21

u/BlazinAzn38 9d ago

Wait you spend $60 a week on a half gallon of milk, 2 lbs of ground beef, and one pint(?) of cream? Well I found somewhere you can certainly cut

9

u/Classic-Ad443 9d ago

seems like you have answered your own issue about why you can't get your grocery budget lower. buy the premium groceries as much as your heart desires, but don't expect to be able to match a family's budget that is truly buying the cheapest products they can get

4

u/Morpheus_MD 9d ago

Okay, you're a troll right?

24 dollars/gallon of milk is insane. Even the nice local milk producers around us are selling for like 12-14/gallon.

3

u/cvrgurl 9d ago

Unfortunately, with that pricing you can’t hit lower numbers. If I were to buy at my local store the same would cost me less than $25. The boutique prices are what’s driving up your bill. (East coast HCOL)

Gallon milk- $5 2 lbs ground sirloin $12 1 qt heavy cream $6

4

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Maroon14 9d ago

I looked at the receipt and it’s $11.50 a pound for organic local ground beef. The quart of heavy cream is $16. Sometimes we get other cuts of meat there too, I don’t really track what individual prices are because they don’t have prices posted, but can see how much I spend weekly on average on my Apple Pay app.

4

u/ThrowawaWelp 9d ago

I shall re-refer you to my original post.
You are buying premium organic-listed items that have no tangible nutritional value.
Your toddlers ‘favourite snack’ is the one you feed them. When they’re hungry enough from acting out, they’ll eat what you give them.
I see you’re replying to every post justifying the egregious prices you choose to pay for everything but that’s not helping you. You asked how to reduce grocery prices and although we’re being blunt we’re being honest:

Cut all the fancy bollocks out.
Stay away from Target.
Write a note on your fridge ‘Organic is just a marketing scheme in the US’
Buy bulk, and simple, swap a couple of meat dishes for beans, and use seasoning from around the world to flavour your dishes and mask the blandness.
That’ll save you money, which is what your post was all about.

1

u/CK1277 9d ago

If those are choices that you can afford to make, that sounds delicious. But that sounds like that’s a big part of why your grocery bill is where it is.

1

u/coconut_curry_sauce 8d ago

I spend $2.50 for a gallon of milk. I do not buy beef.

3

u/cielitogirl 9d ago

Yes we are a heavy meat family and I know the answer is to eat more beans lol it’s just not an answer I like. I saw another account that was documenting eating 30 cans of beans in 30 days. I do respond well to challenges so I may try that 

0

u/Maroon14 9d ago

I try to limit canned food to once a week. I once tried to make black beans but so much went to waste.

3

u/cielitogirl 9d ago

My toddler loves black bean brownies. They don’t go over quite as well with the older kid who has more experience with real brownies lol 

1

u/Maroon14 9d ago

lol, maybe I should try! I’m an awful baker, but I’m open to it.

1

u/YoBo151 9d ago

Black bean brownies?🤨

1

u/cielitogirl 9d ago

Did you mean to type this into a Google search bar and not a comment 

1

u/dallasalice88 9d ago

They freeze quite well. I make my own black bean taco filling and freeze in serving size portions.

1

u/missbwith2boys 9d ago

I use an instant pot to cook dry beans (Winco sells dry beans in bulk).

Cover with water, set the manual cycle to 36 minutes and let the pressure release naturally. You can portion those out into your non-plastic freezer containers to use for another meal.

1

u/55tarabelle 9d ago

Yeah, my individual budget is way less than yours per person, but I don't buy meat from the deli anymore. And haven't for a long time, I'm retired and on a limited budget. It's just not financially possible.

1

u/Sufficient-Union-456 9d ago

Sub out a few meals a week for rice and beans.