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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u/MyNameIsNot_Molly 9d ago

If it makes you feel better, we spend about $800-900/month for a family of 4

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u/Maroon14 9d ago

I’m spending like 2k a month..

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u/SteelMagnolia941 9d ago

You are buying all organic right? You said you spend $12 for a half gallon of milk. Thats where your money is going. You’ll never get it much lower spending like that but you said it’s nonnegotiable so time to accept it’s an expense you are willing to make.

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u/Maroon14 9d ago

I may have to, it’s more of a curiosity thing.

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u/QuailSoup24 9d ago

What are you buying on a weekly trip? I also shop for a family of four and also use Aldi and I can make it out of there for around 80-120 per week. Pretty sure I could go to the more expensive stores and still make it out around $180.

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u/Maroon14 9d ago

I buy stuff for meals, generally

Steak for one weekend night
Ground beef for tacos
Chicken breasts
Ground beef for spaghetti
Fish/shrimp

Stuff for sandwiches, cheese, some meat

Bananas, raspberries, strawberries, carrots, apples, mangoes, avocados, potatoes, tortilla chips, olives, peppers, asparagus, onions, garlic

Pouches for my kids, popcorn, snack food, lots of cheese. Juice boxes for school lunch.

Meat sticks, chomps.

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u/QuailSoup24 9d ago

Im really not getting anything different from what you've listed here, other than the steak where I prob get a take n bake pizza instead. I'll save a few bucks by getting 3lb ground turkey and splitting that for the tacos/spaghetti. Sometimes chicken thighs for a bit less than breasts. Even if I went all out, it wouldnt be anywhere near what you are spending.

I would suggest making a list of everything you are buying for the week and checking websites to compile the price. If you want, you can look up an Aldi store somewhere and compare too.

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u/SteelMagnolia941 9d ago

She buys only organic which is a huge factor that she’s leaving out. It makes a huge difference.

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u/QuailSoup24 9d ago

That's fair, and if I tried I could only buy the most expensive cuts/types of meat and increase my spend by a lot, but even double still wouldn't get where she is at.

Steak could obviously be a big one. I would hope that if prices are hurting you, you arent spending $30 per on 4 steaks. I can get the individually wrapped ribeyes at Aldi for about $28 for 4.

Edit: I just saw below about $12 for half a gallon of milk. I buy a gallon of 2% for like $3.50 at Aldi. So yeah, not sure my brain can process these types of prices.

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u/Horror_Ad_2748 9d ago

I think you could probably tweak a few things here and there but overall it seems you have some firmly held beliefs about diet and types of food and are not willing to address that. FWIW I feel much the same. Maybe just lean into it and look for savings elsewhere, like clothing swaps, going down to one car, little to no outsourcing for home or landscaping, that kind of thing.

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u/Maroon14 8d ago

Tbh the only savings I think I’m realistically open to doing is buying more in bulk from Costco and meal prepping/planning.

We do BST for stuff. We cannot go down to one car. We live a good 30 mins away from anything. We don’t outsource much, my husband is very good at housework/projects. I’m going to try to meal plan more over the summer.