Wedding Grocery bill expectations?

[Luckyeshe]

Ladies, I found a grocery bill thread in the Hangout and I got curious. My FI and I are LDR so we''re not currently living together yet. We plan to do this some time next year. How much do you currently spend on groceries by yourself if you''re living alone right now? If you''re living with your SO, think back to when you were by yourself. How much has it increased if you do live with your SO or how much do you expect it to increase if you currently live apart?

I currently spend less than $200 a month and that includes cleaners, garbage bags, etc. That even includes me going out for dinner about 2x a month. I guess I just want to see what I''m in for since I know that guys can eat a lot....

TIA

 

[marlie]

I can''t really help you out dollars and cents-wise b/c honestly i don''t remember how much it went up when FI and I moved in together. It''s been 4 years. But, I don''t think it was that much. One thing I remember about groceries is that it became easier to buy things like produce b/c it wouldn''t go bad! Before living with FI I could never finish a head of broccoli before it went bad but the two of us together can get through it pretty good. Not sure if that factors into your $$ issue but it''s nice to not waste stuff.

HTH

 

[gwendolyn]

Ugh, mine went up a LOT. J can inhale food like you wouldn''t believe!

 

[Smurfysmiles]

I think we buy groceries about every 2 weeks and spend 150 each time. We are bad at making a list though so we just go through and grab what we want lol

 

[sunnyd]

Not really sure how much we spend per month, since we tend to grab stuff when we need it and do a big shop once a month. I will say that FI is not allowed to go shopping by himself, because he only buys frozen pretzels, beer and Kraft Dinner. LOL!!

 

[JSM]

Six months ago (when things were more comfortable) we spent a good $450 a month on groceries. It was a major shock, as living on my own I maybe spent a third of that! Like many men, my husband can eat as much as he wants and not gain a pound (the jerk

). But it was also good food - decent cuts of meat, fresh veggies and fruits, and lots of cheese!

Now it''s about $40 a week, but it''s mostly mac and cheese and PB&J!

 

[LitigatorChick]

Well, I am a family of 3 (me, FI and my 3 year old son), and we are vegetarians. I shop only organic produce, so that is pricier. And my bill would include diapers and other toddler stuff. I end up at about $700/mnth.

 

[charbie]

Date: 8/31/2009 1:24:37 PM
Author: sunnyd
Not really sure how much we spend per month, since we tend to grab stuff when we need it and do a big shop once a month. I will say that FI is not allowed to go shopping by himself, because he only buys frozen pretzels, beer and Kraft Dinner. LOL!!

haha! that is SOOOOOO my FI! only he also gets cheese for cheese and bread sandwiches (no meat...unless it is super on sale), MAYBE a little bit of fruit, diet soda, meat for rigatoni, ragu sauce, rigatoni, and lime jello in the little packages. and he of course gets his soft pretzels. occasionally he will get some other small items, but it takes about 10 minutes for him to go shopping. i then have to go after him to get food for myself, because we don''t eat the same things at all.

so to be honest, my grocery bill has only changed because we got another dog when we moved in together. i pretty much just get my own food, because FI is so picky, trying to shop for both of us is a chore. i''ll get his stuff, bc it never changes, and it isn''t too expensive since he lives off of barely anything.

i wish i could help more!

 

[fleur-de-lis]

My grocery bills went up A LOT when we moved in together. I find that I am a bit more of a haphazard eater when I''m by myself, but I regularly prepare more elaborate multi-course meals (with wine pairings) for the two of us.

It makes for a happier life, but it does not lend itself well to a frugal grocery bill.

 

[Luckyeshe]

Thanks, ladies! I guess I just needed help in putting things in perspective and prepare myself. I honestly dislike grocery shopping and I''m big on saving as much as possible so I''m not one to have too many snackie foods in the cupboards or fridge. I try to keep things as healthy as possible and if I could I''d get organic. I use coupons and whatnot to maintain the cost of food for myself. Heck, I''m even ok with having a bare fridge and just eating cereal for dinner. I do konw that more than likely, this would not fly for the FI when we live together. I just needed a reality check! So, I feel better. He and I had a talk about groceries prompted by this thread and I know we''ll be ok in this department since I just found out that he eats out waaaaay too much. I normally don''t like preparing stuff just for myself since it''s just too much work. After our talk, I think we''ve come to a pretty good compromise and we''ld still able to do the the groceries and eating out to around $500 max a month. I found out that he spends about that for just eating out....that doesn''t even include groceries yet! Boys....

 

[sonnyjane]

DH and I are very non-traditional in that we go grocery shopping separately. I love fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood and fresh meats...he loves frozen pizzas, chicken nuggets, and mac and cheese. I spend $350 on groceries a month and then probably another $50-$100 a month dining out. DH probably spends $250 on groceries (because he buys lower quality food) but usually foots the bill more if we go out, so I''d say he spends $150 at restaurants. So, between the two of us, we spend about $800-$850 on food! He is gigantic though - 6''5", 260 pounds, so he puts away a lot of food. Add to that the fact that I can eat almost as much as him (lol but probably shouldn''t) and you get our gigantic bill. Heaven help us when we have kids...

 

[Dannielle]

FI is a bodybuilder so he eats like a horse, our grocery bill is around $350 a fortnight..

 

[bee*]

We spend roughly €80 a week. D eats a lot so I often have to go shopping twice in a week.

 

[cocolaw]

i don''t really know, but i can tell you that groceries are a lot more expensive since moving from alabama to connecticut!

 

[Diva0413]

Well before I moved in with FI, I spent about 200 bucks a month. FI spent way less because he could live off of Ramen noodles and PB&J. But once we moved in together, we spent 500 bucks a month. Probably doesn''t help that make lots of full meals.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

FI eats more than me and my daughter combined and he doesn''t like to eat leftovers and frowns upon anything that might save some money (he wont eat lots of carbs, has to have alot of meat) so my grocery bill went through the roof when we started living together!!

 

[supergirl10]

Date: 8/31/2009 1:07:25 PM
Author: gwendolyn
Ugh, mine went up a LOT. J can inhale food like you wouldn''t believe!

Ditto, i also can''t remember but we currently spend like $200-$300 a f/n just for the pair of us. I am very fussy about what i eat and try to always prepare meals that are super healthy ect, so that of course adds up to more. I am also a veg and he isn''t so of course buying to different sorts of meals ect

FI however loves to eat, but doesn''t eat fruit or nuts (or anything particularly healthy if the truth be told) so we spend a lot of money on bread ect cos he eats sooo much of that stuff

 

[MagsyMay]

I've been living with FI for over 3 years now, and wow do boys make the grocery bill go up! He was actually deployed to Iraq for 1 year from about December '07 through December '08, and my grocery bill dropped drastically. We usually split our grocery bill 50/50 at the checkout, although I imagine it's more like 30% mine and 70% his, if not more. Our normal bill is about $130-$150 per week.

This seems fairly high to me, especially because it's not me eating most of the more pricey items! FI loves to buy fresh fruit and berries for smoothies, fresh meat/salmon etc., whereas I generally stick to a mostly vegetarian diet. We generally prepare and eat our own separate meals.

When he was deployed, I'd say I spent about $40 per week, although at the time, I was without a car and avoided walking to the grocery store and was also 100% vegetarian at the time!