GROCERY MONEY DIARY: Find out what a family of six spends on food in a week.

March 28, 2017

Video by Mamamia

How much do you spend on groceries a week? After mortgage or rent, then perhaps childcare or private school fees, usually the weekly grocery bill will be your biggest expense. Feeding humans and making sure you have toilet paper and laundry powder is a costly (and very boring) business.

WHO: Family of six (that includes teens).

WHAT: They are trying to stick to a budget. But it’s hard.

We are trying to watch what we spend on groceries. Usually we spend around $375 on the big weekly grocery shop and then probably $150 at least during the week on top ups. We try to be careful with what we spend but also try to be healthy. We limit takeaway foods as best we can and cook as many meals at home as possible (often ahead of time on the weekend).

SATURDAY

The big weekly grocery shop. For the first time we try Aldi. Husband gets stuck in the middle aisle and spends most of the shop exclaiming there are 45 inch TVs for about $400. WE ARE NOT HERE FOR TVS. WE ARE HERE TO SEE IF WE CAN REDUCE WEEKLY GROCERY BILL BY BEING SAVVY SHOPPERS. I tell him to put the paint brush holder down. We buy a lot of non-food items like toilet paper, laundry powder, dishwashing liquid etc. We buy some food items like Weetbix, rice crackers, nuts, oats, tinned tomatoes, butter, rice, school snacks. We don’t buy meat or veggies. Oh, and we Google the wine that won awards in a blind tasting and buy a few bottles of that at $8.99.

TOTAL: $110.

Anonymous

March 28, 2017

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Later the same day we head to Woolworths and buy meat for the week (this Woolies has a butcher counter and we use that instead of the pre-packaged meats – it’s actually cheaper). We buy veggies for the meals we will cook this weekend and fruit for snacks. We also buy some items where we are wedded to a particular brand: eg almond butter, frozen berries, muesli, eggs, milk, rice paper wraps, ham, tampons.

TOTAL: $220.

We head to Woolies to buy meat for the week. Image via iStock.

Dinner: Meatballs and spaghetti with greens and I had homemade spinach pesto and spaghetti.

TOTAL: $330.

SUNDAY

There is a dash to the store in the afternoon because we forgot to buy lemons and chocolate chips. We always have lemons but today we don't and the youngest is baking chocolate chip cookies. The lemons are needed for cooking later.

Breakfast: Some of the family eat toast with toppings such as eggs, avocado, tomato, spinach or just with spread. Some eat cereal/oats. Takeaway coffees for adults.

Lunch: Dinner leftovers or baked beans or salami and spinach and toast.

Dinner: Slow cooked roast lamb, roast veggies and steamed greens. Plus apple crumble because green apples were on sale.

Snacks during the day are usually fruit, rice crackers, crackers and cheese or hummus, nuts and we had some homemade chocolate chip cookies.

FOOD TOTAL: $22. (takeaway coffees not included and won't be included for the week because the parents are allowed to not feel guilty about something).

MONDAY

Buy fresh organic rye bread in the morning because kids love it and I think it's better than the white bread that lasts for three months. Maybe I'm being conned. Bread is $7.50.

Breakfast: Toast with different toppings for some, cereal/oats for others.

Lunch: Kids bring their own to school from home.

Dinner: Homemade butter chicken and veggies.

Snacks: Fruit/crackers etc.

TOTAL: $7.50.

TUESDAY

More expensive bread. Plus bananas, grapes and milk. Eldest daughter wants to make a cous cous salad for school and I buy a few bits for that.

Dinner: Chicken and vege casserole with mashed sweet potato.

TOTAL: $26.

Why are healthy foods so expensive? Image via iStock.

WEDNESDAY

You guessed it. I buy more bread first thing in the morning - $7.50 (it is eaten for breakfast and used in lunches). Plus buy some white fish on way home.

Dinner: Fish stir fry.

TOTAL: $32.50.

THURSDAY

Buy a Cos lettuce. Plus some hot cross buns for afternoon tea. Eldest daughter wants lentils and capsicum to make a salad to take to school. We have more veggies at home.

Dinner: Homemade lasagne and salad.

TOTAL: $19.

FRIDAY

Kids get tuckshop on Fridays so no bread worries this morning. They get $10 each - $40.

Dinner: Takeaway pizza plus sushi for child who won't eat pizza (it's nice thin crust pizza) - $90. (Disclaimer: last week we didn't get takeaway and had a homemade stir fry instead. Kids hated us. I did too to be honest.)

TOTAL: $130.

(I have not included daily adult coffees or adult lunches at work, which are sometimes leftovers from home and sometimes bought).

TOTAL FOR WEEK: $567.

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Top Comments

deniseeb 4 years ago

In my family there is myself (of course!) and 2 teenage boys, a teenage daughter, my husband, 4 cats and a dog. I mention the animals because they fall into my grocery shopping trips. Each week I go to the grocery for a big run and pick up essentials like milk, bread, fruit, cat food/litter, etc. I am in the US and it usually runs about $475. I barely cover the basics on this run and it looks as if there is nothing in the fridge once I put it all away. I’m back at the store within two days spending $200-300 on more milk and eggs and dinner items, spending on average $775 a week at the grocery store (again it always looks like we have nothing). That total does not cover runs to Starbucks or restaurant delivery which is another $150. In addition, since the pandemic I have “inherited” a few of my boys friends for dinner at least 3x per week. My husband gives me a set amount of money each week and that’s it. I am to pay for the gas in my car ($100 per week 1/2), my sons gas ($40 per week), groceries, the kids mad cash/allowance ($100 per week), any clothes, shoes, makeup, etc for myself, and any credit card bills of my own. Here is the thing, I was able to get through each week pre-pandemic since I didn’t have the additional expense of constant mouths to feed! We want our kids close and welcome their friends because I don’t want my kids getting into unnecessary trouble and would rather them here as opposed to hanging at their friends (allegedly). Obviously I’m a stay at home mom and my husband has his own company and we are (he is) financially stable and live a pretty amazing life. I am grateful and blessed but I am unable to keep this up and my husband is unable to see I am not being selfish. When I approach my husband about kicking up my weekly allowance (which hasn’t been adjusted for ten years when the kids were little) I am met with irritation by him and made to feel as if I am a selfish and money hungry witch. I’ve tried to provide spreadsheets to show him the costs and where everything is going and nothing. I’ve tried EVERY approach! My credit has taken a massive hit since I’m now unable to pay on the cards because i can barely make it through the week to feed my kids. Advice?

rush 4 years ago

@deniseeb With the current exchange rate, your spending over AU$1000 a week - good gracious! Even with a large family (and I know what feeding teenage boys is like, you should have seen my brothers eat when they went through their growth spurts!) that's an enormous bill! The first thing I would do is look at where I'm shopping. Am I going to the most expensive supermarket, or is there an Aldi (or American equivalent) nearby? We always buy as much as we can at Aldi, and the rest at Woolies (our more expensive store). Second, do you make a meal plan? It doesn't have to be super strict, but I always work out what meals I'm cooking for the week, and what ingredients I need. Make a shopping list, this is crucial for me. If I don't, I come home with a pantry full of food, but nothing to make into meals! Have a look at the brands you buy, there might be a cheaper one that's exactly the same in quality, especially for basics like flour, milk, sugar etc. Are you buying lots of pre packaged snack foods? I'd bet with all the kids and friends, they go through them in no time. Is it cheaper to make some yourself, like cakes and cookies etc? Have a look at what your cooking, too. Bulk up meals with veg, use less meat, look at cheaper cuts of meat that you can slow cook, cook as much as possible from scratch. Sometimes you can buy in bulk, and cook a big batch of something, and freeze half for later. Do you use the coupons I've heard so much about? (They look awesome, wish we had those here!)

These are all just some basic, quick ideas, but there's probably more ways to save. Go online, have a look on Pinterest for budget meal ideas or other money saving tips. There's a 'frugal' Reddit thread, if you're on there. And I completely understand wanting to keep your kids close and be welcoming to their friends, but do they realise how much it's costing you? Do they help with cooking and/or grocery shopping? As teenagers, perhaps it's time for them to start learning about budgeting and running a household, and how to look after themselves in the future. Maybe get them to make the snacks (some cookies or whatever) for when their friends come over. If they tend to just snack out of boredom (and God, don't we all?) think about putting limits on them - IE: we have X amount of snacks to last the week, when they're gone, they're gone, and I'm not buying more until we do the next grocery shop.

That's all I can think of right now, I'm sure others will have more ideas! Good luck! 😊

Rachel 7 years ago

I totally understand this and we don't even have a family of 6. We don't have an ALDI near by, I don't know if I would shop with them anyway. I don't do Coles or Woolworths, I hate the idea that they take up so much of the market that they will be able to dictate prices to customers. Having said that our local IGA crap quality fruit and vegies so if I wanted to be serious about saving money I would have to meal plan and but what I can from the road side stalls. One of the perks of living out no where!
There's no way I would be buying $7.50 loaves of bread when teens just scoff it like there's no tomorrow, that would definitely be a treat if I bought it. Each to their own though, if you can afford it then great. I don't know a family that doesn't want to save money on their grocery shop though.