On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 14:42:36 -0500, "Z GIRL"
> spake:

|
|"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" > wrote in message
...
|>
|> "Dog3" > wrote in message
|> 6...
|> > I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to
|get
|> > the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at
|Ladue
|> > Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of
|things
|> > I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
|> > here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
|> > steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do
|> people
|> > pay to feed their households a week?
|> >
|> > Michael
|>
|> How big is your household? We spend about $30 or less for two people each
|> week. I think it's because we don't buy a lot of processed foods like
|> cereals or cookies. We tend to buy fish or chicken and some fruits and
|> vegetables, once every couple of months a bag of rice--what more does one
|> need? :-)
|>
|> rona
|> --
|> ***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***
|>
|
| How do you get away with spending only $30.00? It is just the two of us
|and we spend about $100.00 a week on food. If you add in Beer , Liquor,
|Toiletries Pop and so on it may be as high as $200.00. We shop at Meijers
|and I think their prices are about average. Jim would be ecstatic if our
|grocery bill was that low . Humm, how much do you eat out?
|
|peace,
|Barbara
|

We've got 4, including a teen and a preteen, one cat and two
gerbils. I spend about $60 a week, plus $120 or so every 3
months for chicken and red meat. I do buy a fair bit of food at
the salvage stores (bldg 19, job lot and a new one that just
opened that seems to be not-a-chain). Most of the fresh stuff
comes from Price Rite, which doesn't have a great deal of
variety in their grocery aisles, but usually has good quality
and variety of fruits, veggies and dairy products.

Cheese and fish I get at the fish store, which has the lowest
prices on both as a rule.

The pets get premium food, since they don't eat much.

I do buy a few items at the big chain markets, but only if
they're cheaper than Price Rite or PR doesn't carry them.

maxine in ri

Dog3 > writes:

>Oh hell, my question is what do people
>pay to feed their households a week?

Wouldn't that mostly depend on number (and age) of mouths... I'm sure it costs
a lot more to feed a family with 3-4 active teenagers than it does an old fart
like me and my six cats... heck, my cat's food bill is more than mine. I'm
assuming yer talking just food, not TP, laundry stuff, etc., and not
restaurant/take out food, just grocery food. Hmm, does the booze bill count?
Heck, this is easy, been tracking my food bill for many years, my grocery food
bill now averages $125/wk... during the early '60s it was $15/wk... but then in
1962 a brand new fully loaded Chevy Impala 409 cost under $3,000.


---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
Sheldon
````````````
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."

"Dog3" > wrote in message
6...
> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
> the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
> Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
> I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do
people
> pay to feed their households a week?
>
> Michael

How big is your household? We spend about $30 or less for two people each
week. I think it's because we don't buy a lot of processed foods like
cereals or cookies. We tend to buy fish or chicken and some fruits and
vegetables, once every couple of months a bag of rice--what more does one
need? :-)

rona
--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 16:29:28 GMT, Dog3 > wrote:

>I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
>the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
>Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
>I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
>here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
>steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
>pay to feed their households a week?
>
>Michael

I eat a dinner-lunch in the dining room at work 3 or so times a week;
that totals $19-$25/week. It's so good and reasonably price that I
have no reason to cook dinner :> I then just have a sandwich at
home. I make my own bread, so my food spending is mainly for sandwich
fillings (eg. a small roast that I slice, or eggs for salad), milk,
fruits, vegetables, cereal, etc.. So, maybe another $30-40/week,
including soda. If I eat out add another $20. The total is generally
under $100, with an exceptional week every so often. Sometimes I end
up with just milk and bananas for me in the cart, and $10 worth of
cat food. :>

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Dog3 wrote:
> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes
> to get the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm
> shopping at Ladue Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they
> don't stock a lot of things I like. Groceries were $198 this
> morning. I'm not talking extravagance here. I bought staples.
> Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin steak and I did buy
> some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people pay to feed
> their households a week?
>
> Michael

Depends, of course, on whether I'm buying anything special. But I'd say in
a household of 1 I spend about $30/week. That includes beer, excludes if I
want a bottle of wine. The problem comes in when I let myself get seriously
low on staples such as flour, cornmeal, oil, butter, eggs, etc. Then I
spend a whole lot more just restocking staples.

Jill

"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Dog3" > wrote in message
> 6...
> > I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to
get
> > the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at
Ladue
> > Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of
things
> > I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> > here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> > steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do
> people
> > pay to feed their households a week?
> >
> > Michael
>
> How big is your household? We spend about $30 or less for two people each
> week. I think it's because we don't buy a lot of processed foods like
> cereals or cookies. We tend to buy fish or chicken and some fruits and
> vegetables, once every couple of months a bag of rice--what more does one
> need? :-)
>
> rona
> --
> ***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***
>

How do you get away with spending only $30.00? It is just the two of us
and we spend about $100.00 a week on food. If you add in Beer , Liquor,
Toiletries Pop and so on it may be as high as $200.00. We shop at Meijers
and I think their prices are about average. Jim would be ecstatic if our
grocery bill was that low . Humm, how much do you eat out?

peace,
Barbara

Dog3 wrote:

> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
> the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
> Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
> I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
> pay to feed their households a week?

There are only two of us here. We eat well. We have steak and fresh fish at
least once a week, ground beef once, and the rest of the time we have lamb,
pork or, most likely chicken. Other than soups and condiments, prepared foods
are almost unheard of. We use mainly fresh fruits and vegetables. My wife eats
a lot of cheeses and cold cuts. Including cleaning supplies and toiletries, our
grocery store bills run around $100-120.

in article , Curly Sue at
wrote on 10/19/03 2:34 PM:

> Sometimes I end
> up with just milk and bananas for me in the cart, and $10 worth of
> cat food. :>

there are definitely days when I have more cat food than people food in my
cart.

In article >, Dave Smith
> writes:

>There are only two of us here. We eat well. We have steak and fresh fish at
>least once a week, ground beef once, and the rest of the time we have lamb,
>pork or, most likely chicken. Other than soups and condiments, prepared foods
>are almost unheard of. We use mainly fresh fruits and vegetables. My wife
>eats a lot of cheeses and cold cuts. Including cleaning supplies and
toiletries,
>our grocery store bills run around $100-120.

That's all, including cleaning supplies and toiletries... whaddaya ration the
TP?


---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
Sheldon
````````````
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."

"Dog3" wrote in message

Oh hell, my question is what do people
> pay to feed their households a week?
>
> Michael

I buy in bulk at Costco's (and those things last quite a while), plus shop
weekly for perishables such as milk, fresh vegetables, etc. For that
reason, it was a little hard to calculate weekly costs. However, totaling
it up and averaging it out, groceries seem to average around $90 per week
for 2. (Totaling and averaging was easy to do, since I keep track using
Quicken.)

Dora

Sheryl Rosen wrote:
>
> in article , Curly Sue at

> > Sometimes I end
> > up with just milk and bananas for me in the cart, and $10 worth of
> > cat food. :>
>
> there are definitely days when I have more cat food than people food in my
> cart.

(laugh!) Once I dropped in for supplies (you all just KNOW you
cannot run out of pet food or you will be tormented by the little
basteds). Guy checking out my stuff stopped dead and said ...
there's nothing here for PEOPLE! Alert the media, what do you
want from me. I wasn't aware of the 'there must be something for
people' rule.

nancy

Dog3 wrote:
>
> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
> the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
> Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
> I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
> pay to feed their households a week?

You know, I really should know the answer to that question as the
person who takes care of the money, but the fact is, I really don't.
Probably 100 a week in the store, but then there's the pizza or
chinese food delivery ... that's probably another 20-30. And how
much of my grocery shopping is other stuff like tissues and whatnot.

At any rate, I do shop the sales and use coupons and my (dare I say
it?) card, so I don't think I'm too extravagant. If I want something,
I will buy it. Eh, I went through times when that wasn't an option,
so what the heck.

nancy

"Z GIRL" > wrote in message
...
>

>
> How do you get away with spending only $30.00? It is just the two of us
> and we spend about $100.00 a week on food. If you add in Beer , Liquor,
> Toiletries Pop and so on it may be as high as $200.00. We shop at Meijers
> and I think their prices are about average. Jim would be ecstatic if our
> grocery bill was that low . Humm, how much do you eat out?
>
> peace,
> Barbara
>
>

One chicken is only about $4-6 and that can last several meals--more when
making soup out of it. We can get about 6 servings of salmon for $8 (one
side of salmon, filleted and frozen). We'll only buy a few carrots, celery
sticks, and tomatoes at a time since we don't use them much. Vegetables
most often purchased are spinach and some Chinese vegetables like bok choy
or guylan. Sometimes we buy tuna when it's on sale (less than $1/can). As
for fruits, we'll buy bananas and apples most often, grapes if they're
cheap, and oranges. We tend to buy small quantities of foods so they won't
spoil before we can eat them (even then, they do spoil sometimes). Oh, we
buy eggs about every two weeks ($1.50/doz). We eat very simply with most
meals consisting of just a few ingredients (for example, salmon, salt,
pepper, lemon if we have it on hand, spinach, garlic, and rice). I do tend
to splurge on salty junk food like potato chips (my weakness) but I've been
buying less of them recently, and we do buy nuts like pecans and walnuts--in
small batches. We don't buy milk since we're both lactose intolerant
though I do buy a large container of yoghurt once/week. We also eat a lot
less than we used to, plus as I mentioned earlier, we don't usually buy
processed foods like mixes, cereals, soft drinks, etc--we rarely even buy
bread. For many people, the bulk of their grocery bill is spent on things
like these and they really add up. We do eat out about once/week--about
$20/meal with leftovers that will last at least another 2 meals (more if I'm
the only one eating them). Our biggest splurge in a week would be cake
flown in from BC. It's $5 for a small roll but it lasts us all week (when
we're good :-)).

Oh, we don't drink alcohol much so there's no expense for that. As for
sundries, we buy them on sale and stock up when they're very cheap. I do
use expensive shampoo and conditioner, but one bottle of shampoo lasts about
4 months and the conditioner even longer (they're large botthes).

Did I mention I'm in Canada? I have found that food prices are, on the
average, cheaper here than in the US--especially if taking the exchange rate
into consideration.

Oh, we tend to drop by the grocery store a few times/week and I think this
also helps curb spending. I hate the crowds and rudeness of people in
grocery stores so I tend to go in and out as quickly as possible, just long
enough to get what I need. The food we cook tends to be fresher this way,
and we try not to buy any more than we need (try being the operative word).
My father used to go to Chinatown almost every day to pick up what he needed
for that night's dinner. Then we'd have the leftovers for breakfast and
lunch. I love leftovers :-).

rona

--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 16:29:28 GMT, Dog3 > wrote:

>I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
>the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
>Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
>I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
>here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
>steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
>pay to feed their households a week?
>
>Michael

We (two adults, one baby) average about $125-150 per week. We buy a
lot of gourmet/luxury items (cheeses and sausages, new/different wines
and beers, etc.), plus my husband is an impulse buyer and buys all
sorts of stuff not on "the list."

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 16:29:28 +0000, Dog3 wrote:

> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
> the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
> Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
> I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
> pay to feed their households a week?
>
> Michael

Let's see, with 3 boys (3/8/12) and us two we spend about $50 a week.

Kids eat frozen/homemade waffles or hot/cold cereal for
breakfast. Less than $2 for all three. We try for a big breakfast once
a week but haven't been that ambitious lately.

Generally we only eat once before dinner, mostly leftovers. Less than $1
for us two.

Kids generally have a snack (fruit/cookies/crackers/etc) and a cold
sandwitch of some sort. Less than $1 for all three.

We try to keep the main dish under $10 (usually ~$5) and side dishes
under $2 for each dinner. Most weeks we have 3 great dinners, 2 ok basic
meat/veggie/potato type dinners and 2 quick cheap dinners
mack&cheese/frozen pizza/burritos/etc.

On the average it's less than $10 a day and we eat pretty good. This
doesn't include beer/wine, we won't go there.

We always shop sales and stock up on the exceptional buys. Mostly
our grocery shopping is just replentishing our stock (or inventory), and
not buying food for just that week (if that makes any sense). It saves a
lot of money because it gives you time to wait for "The Great Sale" on
particular items (like meat, arrg). A freezer helps too.

We kind of make a hobby out of shopping wisely, it's fun.

My $.02

Tony

"Z GIRL" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Thank you Rona for the lengthy reply. No, I did not know you are in
Canada.
> I dont see where I do much different from you. Maybe I should shop in
Canada
> since I am your neighbor in Michigan and my in-laws live in Port Huron ;-)
> I couldnt agree with you more about the rudeness of people in the grocery
> store. Jim shops for the most part mainly because he works from home and
he
> is a bit sedentary in lifestyle so he enjoys it, but when I did go I
would
> shop very early in the morning to avoid the chaos.
>
> peace,
> Barbara
>


You're in Michigan? I didn't know that! I was just in Ann Arbor visiting a
friend a couple of weeks ago. Nice little town (city?) but it sure was
expensive! I'm not just talking about Zingerman's, but other places, too,
as well as the cost of living there, in general. Had a fabulous pain au
chocolat at cafe Felix, though. Yum! Well worth the $2.25 US.

rona

--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" > wrote in message
...
> "Z GIRL" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
>
> >
> > How do you get away with spending only $30.00? It is just the two of
us
> > and we spend about $100.00 a week on food. If you add in Beer , Liquor,
> > Toiletries Pop and so on it may be as high as $200.00. We shop at
Meijers
> > and I think their prices are about average. Jim would be ecstatic if our
> > grocery bill was that low . Humm, how much do you eat out?
> >
> > peace,
> > Barbara
> >
> >
>
> One chicken is only about $4-6 and that can last several meals--more when
> making soup out of it. We can get about 6 servings of salmon for $8 (one
> side of salmon, filleted and frozen). We'll only buy a few carrots,
celery
> sticks, and tomatoes at a time since we don't use them much. Vegetables
> most often purchased are spinach and some Chinese vegetables like bok choy
> or guylan. Sometimes we buy tuna when it's on sale (less than $1/can).
As
> for fruits, we'll buy bananas and apples most often, grapes if they're
> cheap, and oranges. We tend to buy small quantities of foods so they
won't
> spoil before we can eat them (even then, they do spoil sometimes). Oh, we
> buy eggs about every two weeks ($1.50/doz). We eat very simply with most
> meals consisting of just a few ingredients (for example, salmon, salt,
> pepper, lemon if we have it on hand, spinach, garlic, and rice). I do
tend
> to splurge on salty junk food like potato chips (my weakness) but I've
been
> buying less of them recently, and we do buy nuts like pecans and
walnuts--in
> small batches. We don't buy milk since we're both lactose intolerant
> though I do buy a large container of yoghurt once/week. We also eat a lot
> less than we used to, plus as I mentioned earlier, we don't usually buy
> processed foods like mixes, cereals, soft drinks, etc--we rarely even buy
> bread. For many people, the bulk of their grocery bill is spent on
things
> like these and they really add up. We do eat out about once/week--about
> $20/meal with leftovers that will last at least another 2 meals (more if
I'm
> the only one eating them). Our biggest splurge in a week would be cake
> flown in from BC. It's $5 for a small roll but it lasts us all week (when
> we're good :-)).
>
> Oh, we don't drink alcohol much so there's no expense for that. As for
> sundries, we buy them on sale and stock up when they're very cheap. I do
> use expensive shampoo and conditioner, but one bottle of shampoo lasts
about
> 4 months and the conditioner even longer (they're large botthes).
>
> Did I mention I'm in Canada? I have found that food prices are, on the
> average, cheaper here than in the US--especially if taking the exchange
rate
> into consideration.
>
> Oh, we tend to drop by the grocery store a few times/week and I think this
> also helps curb spending. I hate the crowds and rudeness of people in
> grocery stores so I tend to go in and out as quickly as possible, just
long
> enough to get what I need. The food we cook tends to be fresher this way,
> and we try not to buy any more than we need (try being the operative
word).
> My father used to go to Chinatown almost every day to pick up what he
needed
> for that night's dinner. Then we'd have the leftovers for breakfast and
> lunch. I love leftovers :-).
>
> rona
>
> --
> ***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***
>

Thank you Rona for the lengthy reply. No, I did not know you are in Canada.
I dont see where I do much different from you. Maybe I should shop in Canada
since I am your neighbor in Michigan and my in-laws live in Port Huron ;-)
I couldnt agree with you more about the rudeness of people in the grocery
store. Jim shops for the most part mainly because he works from home and he
is a bit sedentary in lifestyle so he enjoys it, but when I did go I would
shop very early in the morning to avoid the chaos.

peace,
Barbara



>

Dog3 wrote:

> > fruits and vegetables. My wife eats a lot of cheeses and cold cuts.
> > Including cleaning supplies and toiletries, our grocery store bills
> > run around $100-120.
>
> This sounds really normal to me. At least in my circumstances. Do you buy
> a lot of deli items or cheeses? These are my downfalls at the check out
> counter.

I don't eat a lot of cheese myself. One of the big difference between my wife
and I doing the shopping is the amount of cheese we buy, but I confess a
weakness for pates. A nice pate with a Manhattan is one of my weaknesses.

Z GIRL wrote:

>
> Thank you Rona for the lengthy reply. No, I did not know you are in Canada.
> I dont see where I do much different from you. Maybe I should shop in Canada
> since I am your neighbor in Michigan and my in-laws live in Port Huron ;-)
> I couldnt agree with you more about the rudeness of people in the grocery
> store. Jim shops for the most part mainly because he works from home and he
> is a bit sedentary in lifestyle so he enjoys it, but when I did go I would
> shop very early in the morning to avoid the chaos.

Your dollar is slipping these days, but the exchange rate is still high enough
to make it well worth your while. Despite our relatively weak dollar, many
items have the same sticker price, so a 20-35% exchange rate still works very
much in your favour. When the exchange rate was in the 20-25% range I used to
cross the border to Buffalo or Niagara Falls where dairy products, chicken and a
number of other items were a lot cheaper. Unfortunately, the exchange rate got
to the point where it was no longer worthwhile for me, and the cross border
trend reversed. Instead of border American town. parking lots being full of
Canadian cars, the Canadian lots started filling up with Americans. Paying the
same prices and getting a substantial premium on the dollar make it a great
bargain.

in article , Nancy Young at
wrote on 10/19/03 4:41 PM:

> (laugh!) Once I dropped in for supplies (you all just KNOW you
> cannot run out of pet food or you will be tormented by the little
> basteds). Guy checking out my stuff stopped dead and said ...
> there's nothing here for PEOPLE! Alert the media, what do you
> want from me. I wasn't aware of the 'there must be something for
> people' rule.
>
> nancy

I have an elderly friend, let me tell you, there are days when she has more
energy than I do, and she's 33 years older than me! Anyway, she went to the
market...cat food was on sale 5 for $1. It was a market she usually does not
patronize, but that's a great price for cat food, she was in the area, and
she'd already shopped for herself elsewhere, that's all she needed there.

So she ran in, picked up about $10 worth of cat food (half was for me). As
she's wheeling up to the register, cart filled with 50 cans of cat food, the
manager stopped her.

He actually inquired if she really had cats, how many, etc. Apparently,
they were afraid she was eating the cat food herself. <shudder>

Nice to know they care, I guess....it just seemed odd.

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 01:41:04 GMT, Dog3 > wrote:

>MareCat > deliciously posted in
:
>
>> We (two adults, one baby) average about $125-150 per week. We buy a
>> lot of gourmet/luxury items (cheeses and sausages, new/different wines
>> and beers, etc.), plus my husband is an impulse buyer and buys all
>> sorts of stuff not on "the list."
>>
>
>LOL... The husband sounds like me. How much does baby food cost per
>week? Dog and cat food are high enough. I'm not sure I could afford a
>baby.
>
>Michael

She doesn't eat much (yet), maybe 6 jars of food per week (~$.50 per
jar), plus baby oatmeal (one box lasts for a few weeks). I breastfeed
her (she's never had formula). Can't even begin to figure out how much
money we've saved over the last 9 months not having to buy formula
(from what I've heard, it can be pretty expensive).

Mary

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 02:15:56 +0000, Sheryl Rosen wrote:

> in article , Nancy Young at
> wrote on 10/19/03 4:41 PM:
>
>> (laugh!) Once I dropped in for supplies (you all just KNOW you
>> cannot run out of pet food or you will be tormented by the little
>> basteds). Guy checking out my stuff stopped dead and said ...
>> there's nothing here for PEOPLE! Alert the media, what do you
>> want from me. I wasn't aware of the 'there must be something for
>> people' rule.
>>
>> nancy
>
> I have an elderly friend, let me tell you, there are days when she has more
> energy than I do, and she's 33 years older than me! Anyway, she went to the
> market...cat food was on sale 5 for $1. It was a market she usually does not
> patronize, but that's a great price for cat food, she was in the area, and
> she'd already shopped for herself elsewhere, that's all she needed there.
>
> So she ran in, picked up about $10 worth of cat food (half was for me). As
> she's wheeling up to the register, cart filled with 50 cans of cat food, the
> manager stopped her.
>
> He actually inquired if she really had cats, how many, etc. Apparently,
> they were afraid she was eating the cat food herself. <shudder>
>
> Nice to know they care, I guess....it just seemed odd.

You really think he cared? If she said she was going to eat it, do you
think he would have made her a deal on people food? no. He probably
thought she was going to have a cat food garage sale or sell it on ebay.

Tony

jmcquown wrote:

> Depends, of course, on whether I'm buying anything special. But I'd say in
> a household of 1 I spend about $30/week. That includes beer, excludes if I
> want a bottle of wine. The problem comes in when I let myself get seriously
> low on staples such as flour, cornmeal, oil, butter, eggs, etc. Then I
> spend a whole lot more just restocking staples.


I'm single and $30/40 per week is about what I average. I entertain
at least once per week, nothing fancy but something always substantial
and good (and I let my friends bring the booze, lol...). I always
buy stuff on sale or go to cheap ethnic markets. Lately I have
shopped so that my pantry/freezer is always full so I won't have to do
any $$$$ impulse shopping. This also makes it easy to have friends
over on the spur of the moment, no more having to go to the store for
expensive shopping expeditions for a simple meal. Oh, and I cook a
lot from scratch....I used to do a lot of canning but I've found this
is now pretty expensive for me from a cost/time standpoint, not to
mention I lack a garden.

--
Best
Greg

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 21:38:49 -0500, MareCat wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 01:41:04 GMT, Dog3 > wrote:
>
>>MareCat > deliciously posted in
m:
>>
>>> We (two adults, one baby) average about $125-150 per week. We buy a
>>> lot of gourmet/luxury items (cheeses and sausages, new/different wines
>>> and beers, etc.), plus my husband is an impulse buyer and buys all
>>> sorts of stuff not on "the list."
>>>
>>
>>LOL... The husband sounds like me. How much does baby food cost per
>>week? Dog and cat food are high enough. I'm not sure I could afford a
>>baby.
>>
>>Michael
>
> She doesn't eat much (yet), maybe 6 jars of food per week (~$.50 per
> jar), plus baby oatmeal (one box lasts for a few weeks). I breastfeed
> her (she's never had formula). Can't even begin to figure out how much
> money we've saved over the last 9 months not having to buy formula
> (from what I've heard, it can be pretty expensive).
>
> Mary

Expensive isn't the word for it. PRICE GOUGING is, the government needs
to step in. It's price fixing at it's best and NO ONE has done anything
about it, probably because of government programs.

$6+ for one can of condensed formula, baby will drink about 3 of these a
day ($18, about $540 a month!). The powder isn't much cheaper.
*******S...

They didn't get us on the baby food though, we bought a blender and if
you think the gerber jared shit is better think twice... do a web search.

Sorry for the rant... I have 3 kids and we barely made ends meat when
they were infants.

Tony

Dog3 wrote:

> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
> the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
> Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
> I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
> pay to feed their households a week?
>
> Michael

I don't know if you have them in your area but if you do go to
food4less. That's where I shop regularly and their prices are way below,
Vons, Albertsons, and the like.

>In part, Mary Wrote:
>>Can't even begin to figure out how much
>>money we've saved over the last 9 months
>>not having to buy formula (from what I've
>>heard, it can be pretty expensive).
Son born in '74 was milk intolerant, a projectile vomiter, and I could
not breastfeed. The pediatrician put him on Nutramagen, at $9.95 per
can of powder. It had to be blender-mixed with water for a very long
time of pulse, blend, pulse, blend, etc.. The mere six bottles it
filled 20 minutes later had to then be sterilized, cooled and
refrigerated for ending up with only about a day and a half's supply.
What a trying time that first year was, along with a best friend too
many miles away to be of help that produced three times the amount of
breast milk she needed to feed both of her twin boys 'round the clock!

Picky ~JA~

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 03:29:19 GMT, TonyP > wrote:

>On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 21:38:49 -0500, MareCat wrote:
>
>>
>> She doesn't eat much (yet), maybe 6 jars of food per week (~$.50 per
>> jar), plus baby oatmeal (one box lasts for a few weeks). I breastfeed
>> her (she's never had formula). Can't even begin to figure out how much
>> money we've saved over the last 9 months not having to buy formula
>> (from what I've heard, it can be pretty expensive).
>>
>> Mary
>
>Expensive isn't the word for it. PRICE GOUGING is, the government needs
>to step in. It's price fixing at it's best and NO ONE has done anything
>about it, probably because of government programs.
>
>$6+ for one can of condensed formula, baby will drink about 3 of these a
>day ($18, about $540 a month!). The powder isn't much cheaper.
>*******S...

YIKES!! <jaw dropping> Wow...yet *another* good reason to
breastfeed...


>They didn't get us on the baby food though, we bought a blender and if
>you think the gerber jared shit is better think twice... do a web search.

Good for you. No, I know the jarred stuff doesn't compare to homemade.
Guess I'm just lazy. Before I gave birth to my daughter, I always
said that I would make my own baby food. Cheaper, healthier, yada yada
yada...

I do buy organic baby food, though.


>Sorry for the rant... I have 3 kids and we barely made ends meat when
>they were infants.

No problem. I can see why!!

Mary

>
>Tony

> what do people pay to feed their households a week?

I couldn't tell you because I bargain-shop and stock up on stuff on
sale. So I might spend $40 one week (for four people) and $250 the next.

--
Sylvia Steiger RN, homeschooling mom since Nov 1995
http://www.SteigerFamily.com
Cheyenne WY, USDA zone 5a, Sunset zone 1a
Home of the Wyoming Wind Festival, January 1-December 31
Remove "removethis" from address to reply

Dog3 > wrote in
4:

> MareCat > deliciously posted in
> :
>
>> On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 16:29:28 GMT, Dog3 > wrote:
>>
>>>I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to
>>>get the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping
>>>at Ladue Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a
>>>lot of things I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not
>>>talking extravagance here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I
>>>*did* buy a large sirloin steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh
>>>hell, my question is what do people pay to feed their households a
>>>week?
>>>
>>>Michael
>>
>> We (two adults, one baby) average about $125-150 per week. We buy a
>> lot of gourmet/luxury items (cheeses and sausages, new/different wines
>> and beers, etc.), plus my husband is an impulse buyer and buys all
>> sorts of stuff not on "the list."
>>
>
> LOL... The husband sounds like me. How much does baby food cost per
> week? Dog and cat food are high enough. I'm not sure I could afford a
> baby.
>
> Michael

Babies are cheap...it's teenagers that are expensive.

Dog3 wrote:
>
> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
> the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
> Market and Straubs.

Those are going to be higher priced, of course.

> I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
> I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
> pay to feed their households a week?

Normally, about $40 a week for just me. I consume a fair amount of soda
each week, so that inflates the amount somewhat. I've been using up
pantry and freezer stuff so far, plus there is a produce store nearby.
Bread and milk can be picked up in various places.



Brian Rodenborn

"Dog3" wrote in message
> "limey" wrote> >
> > "Dog3" wrote in message
> >
> > Oh hell, my question is what do people
> >> pay to feed their households a week?
> >>
> >> Michael
> >
> > I buy in bulk at Costco's (and those things last quite a while), plus
> > shop weekly for perishables such as milk, fresh vegetables, etc. For
> > that reason, it was a little hard to calculate weekly costs.
> > However, totaling it up and averaging it out, groceries seem to
> > average around $90 per week for 2. (Totaling and averaging was easy
> > to do, since I keep track using Quicken.)
> >
> > Dora
>
> It seems that between about $90 and $120 is the norm. We buy our cleaning
> supplies and paper products elsewhere so I've figured in about $150 weekly
> for the 2 of us and it would include all grocery items excepy my
> extravagances. I live with a meat and potatoes man and I like to
> experiment. Throw a roast in and eat pate <G>.
>
> Michael

Come to think of it, that $90 figure I gave is just strictly for edibles. I
haven't factored in soaps, cleaners, paper goods, etc.

Dora

On 19 Oct 2003 18:08:57 GMT, (PENMART01) wrote:

>my grocery food
>bill now averages $125/wk...

$18/day for one old fart is a lot. You probably don't shop very
wisely.

-sw

In article > ,
Dog3 > wrote:

> I'm not a cheap person at the market and I'll pay whatever it takes to get
> the food I want. This store lockout is killing me. I'm shopping at Ladue
> Market and Straubs. I do go to Aldis but they don't stock a lot of things
> I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
> here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
> steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
> pay to feed their households a week?

Around $120-150 per week these days. That's for two adults + one five
year old. Not much in the way of processed food, really. Oh, and I am
wheat-free so a bit more expensive to feed than the others. :/

Miche

--
If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
-- Arlo Guthrie, "Alice's Restaurant"

In article >,
Steve Wertz > wrote:

> On 19 Oct 2003 18:08:57 GMT, (PENMART01) wrote:
>
> >my grocery food
> >bill now averages $125/wk...
>
> $18/day for one old fart is a lot. You probably don't shop very
> wisely.

That was for one old fart _and six cats_. He's doing OK.

Miche

--
If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
-- Arlo Guthrie, "Alice's Restaurant"

"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" > wrote in message >...
>
> How big is your household? We spend about $30 or less for two people each
> week. I think it's because we don't buy a lot of processed foods like
> cereals or cookies. We tend to buy fish or chicken and some fruits and
> vegetables, once every couple of months a bag of rice--what more does one
> need? :-)
>
> rona

US Dollars, or Canadian Dollars? Or some other ones?

-bwg

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 00:07:32 GMT, Dog3 > wrote:

>Steve Wertz > deliciously posted in news:O-
:
>
>> On 19 Oct 2003 18:08:57 GMT, (PENMART01) wrote:
>>
>>>my grocery food
>>>bill now averages $125/wk...
>>
>> $18/day for one old fart is a lot. You probably don't shop very
>> wisely.
>>
>> -sw
>
>You forgot about his adorable cats.
>
>Michael

Actually, a couple of points- if it doesn't make any difference to him
whether he "shops wisely" what difference does it make to anyone else?
More power to him if he doesn't need to clip coupons, watch sales, buy
in bulk, buy generic, and all the other annoying stuff that takes up
time. :> Pinching pennies is a necessity for some, a hobby for some,
and not economically or psychologically important for others. I'd buy
lunch at work every day if I didn't have to watch my budget- that
would bring my lunch spending alone to $120 a month!

Second, maybe some of the stuff goes to other people. Eg. I buy
groceries that go into cakes, cookies, etc. that I bring to work on
occasion. Sometimes I have people over for dinner. Yet, when asked
about grocery spending, I'd say it's for one person.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Dog3 > wrote:
>I like. Groceries were $198 this morning. I'm not talking extravagance
>here. I bought staples. Cereal and milk. I *did* buy a large sirloin
>steak and I did buy some deli food. Oh hell, my question is what do people
>pay to feed their households a week?

The government is lying about the inflation rate.

Hugely.

Beef alone is up 100% in the past year.

--Blair
"I want a recount."

"Maxine in RI" > wrote in message

>
> The pets get premium food, since they don't eat much.

You mean if the kids ate less, they could get the premium food?
Ed

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:18:19 +1300, Miche >
wrote:

>In article >,
> Steve Wertz > wrote:
>
>> On 19 Oct 2003 18:08:57 GMT, (PENMART01) wrote:
>>
>> >my grocery food
>> >bill now averages $125/wk...
>>
>> $18/day for one old fart is a lot. You probably don't shop very
>> wisely.
>
>That was for one old fart _and six cats_. He's doing OK.

The way he wrote the post, though, seemed like he may be separating
out the cat food (and toiletries, etc...). 6 cats at 6 cans of
Friskies/day comes close to $90 when you add dry cat food, too.
That would leave him with $35/week human food (which seems low).
I dont see how many of the people here can live on $5/day (and I'm
pretty frugal myself). Even the govenment considers the absolute
minimum sustainable allowance for food (for calculating Food Stamp
Benefits) $4.70/day/person. That's really hard to do.

I notice I spend more doing Atkins also. No cheap starches (beans,
breads, potatoes, rice, pasta) to fill up on.

I guess it also depends on where you live, too. I have to spend a lot
more for groceries in CA, PA, NY or SC than I do currently in TX.

-sw

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 00:24:50 GMT, (Curly
Sue) wrote:

>Actually, a couple of points- if it doesn't make any difference to him
>whether he "shops wisely" what difference does it make to anyone else?

If he's been keeping track of his food bill, he probably does value
money a least to some degree. I can see how having a disposable
income could cause people to 'splurge' or buy more expensive
igredients. I tended to also. But now I look back on that and
consider myself a fool.

-sw