Can some of our American or UK members advise me as to the approximate cost of a grocery bill for a weeks worth of groceries?This includes if you had to go back for example running out of a few items?


Just out of curiosity I'd be intrested to know how much a family of 2,3,or 4 would need to spend in a week in America?

If you have a family of four, that family can go to a place called Costco, or the Price Club, or Sam's Club and buy everything in bulk.

You can save big time that way.

But if you are on a budget and let's say there are two people in the house, first you have to tell me if you want to eat healthy, or if you want to fill up on Cereal, macaroni and cheese, and frankfurters.

You can eat for a few bucks if you eat stupid, or you can spend $100 a week and eat chicken, fish, fresh veggies, and salad (just like Alan and I do). But you have to know how to shop, where the best price of chicken and fish is per pound. You have to know where the best produce store is and buy your lettuce and veggies on sale, (especially tomatoes).

See, it's all about what kind of food you are into. And I didn't even include BEEF in that scenario. Alan and I do not eat any red meat or beef.

We get our protein from chicken, fish, turkey burgers and we combine that with a low carb lifestyle.

But if you like spaghetti, well, that costs peanuts and you can LIVE on that for a week. Add eggs for breakfast with some rolls. And you can do this on $25.00 a week. Make your own home made sauce and you're good to go.

If you need recipes for muffins, let me know.

lol
Melody

P..S. If you have kids in the house, you have to add milk to the equation. And probably Soda. We don't drink soda, but kids love it.

I decided to get a bit of advice in this area due to my situation. I have been keeping a tally the last few months on my outgoings for food. It seems that I am spending an average of $1000 + this month,and still have another week to go.

Last month I spent $1409.

This is a combo of grocery store and take away food. The problem I have is that I get home at about 5:30 pm. My husband gets home at 7-7:30 from work. I have tons of chores to do when I get home,and I also have to help with homework,reading,bath,dog, and hopefully 10-15 minutes on my treadmill. When I cook, I also do all the washing up, and I actually get in bed at 9 pm,exhausted from all of this.

The one thing I can skimp on is the cooking now and then. Sometimes I'd rather outlay 60 dollars on takeaway or chinese, than do the cooking.


Unfortunately I am a one woman show as they say. I do ALL the chores and work a full day too. So I need ideas,recipes to make cooking easier,simpler etc. My husband is also a big eater unfortunately and gets rather cranky with me when there isn't a dinner for him. So I try really hard to make dinner or have dinner ready every night. If it were up to me I'd have a cup of noodle soup now and again with a piece of fruit and me tea, I would be sweet all night!

But with 2 men in my life, food...food...food.... is all they seem to want from me!!

SIZE="7"]HELP!![/SIZE]

What's a working mother to do these days?

The other issue we have in Australia is that there is a monopoly in the supermarket situation. Coles and Woolworths control everything here in Sydney. Not too long ago banannas had gone up to $15.00 a kilo. Food is getting real expensive. Just 2 or 3 years ago I was spending $130 at grocery store,now its like $170 for the same stuff.

We don't have "Costco" bulk buying places here, (as yet that is), everything from America is slowly making it's way to Sydney so I am sure it's only a matter of time.

Any advice on recepies or what to cook that's quick would be great.

Thank you

that this constant food preparation thing is stressing me out! The constant worry about what to prepare for dinner is neverending.

The worst question in the world is "What's for supper"?

After being married for 22 years, and with an 8-year-old son, I am convinced I have tried every known option. Most of them multiple times.

My wife works a standard 9-5 schedule, and I'm the one who works afternoons/nights/weekends with considerable ability to set my own hours. So it's my responsiblity to decide what/how to feed the family as she commutes home. And I admit to being inordinately fond of take-away--especially as where I live, in Queens, NY, we have more international ethnic food nearby than probably anywhere else on Earth. I realize, though, that all this stuff is probably not best from a nutritional, or economic, standpoint.

Since this is New York City, we have a lot of services that can prepare hot meals and have them delivered, either for immediate consumption or for re-heating in the future (such as Fresh Direct). The food quality with these is generally good, though of course one gets hit in the wallet quite hard.

Added to all this is the reluctance in the summer months to cook and heat up the whole house, and then spend even more money air-conditioning it.

I try to do things such as salads, fruit and vegetable combos, and even "breakfast for supper" scenarios with omelettes, (gluten-free) pancakes with various fruits and toppings, and the like, but I ran out of orginality several thousand suppers ago. This is even despite the fact that our gluten board here is a treasure trove of interesting recipes (though many of them take a good chunk of time to prepare).

I often get so bored with the whole thing that I'd rather make a meal out of a yogurt, a pear, and a handful of walnuts, but I do have the Daddy guilt thing that I shuold try to get a more proper meal on the table--even if it's ordered out--for the commuting spouse and the always hungry child (who, all 60 pounds of him, eats like a construction crew).

Things I do insist on--there is no soda in this house, and any juice is pure juice. A lot of fruit smoothies get blended here, too. (And very few cookies/cakes/pastries and the like--I'm gluten-free and couldn't eat most of these, anyway.) There does tend to be too much ice cream, though.

Part of the rise in food prices, I think, is more the rise in oil prices. Many fertilizers are petrochemical in nature, and we do not eat what is grown locally in most parts of the Western world; too much of our food is shipped from long distances, and that shipping cost is really being jacked up. Another argument for reduced dependence on oil.

I tend to spend about $75-85 American dollars a week for a family of three; I try to shop the sales and buy in bulk when I can.

It would be at least $80 - $90 per person were i am in OZ, and thats being carefull, bulk buying when prices are discounted, helps, as i live on the bay a local fishermam sells pretty cheap fish, so thats not to bad at all.
Safeway and Coles are the big players down here in groceries game and in the last 4 months i would say for certain we are spending at least 40% more for the same amount.
The fruit we get from these two major players are mostly imported and frozen, bananas last about 2 to 3 days if you lucky before going brown, the fruit isn't tasty at all, i can't remember when i enjoyed the last piece of fruit i have had, its a joke, that our farmers have to bulldoze their crops back into the ground because one of the grocery giants will only offer a pittance for their crop, so in come the import fruits, i blame our goverment for this, they should raise the import tax up high enough that imported crap isn't an option anymore and give our own farmers a go.

Aussie - why don't you make Saturday and Sunday self service days, i know someone that does this and it works fine she said, a few BBQ's thrown in during the week might help, as the man normally cooks them, and definatly one washes the dishes and the other dries, [if that will work ]
good luck
Brian

Hi, this is what you wrote:

"Unfortunately I am a one woman show as they say. I do ALL the chores and work a full day too. So I need ideas,recipes to make cooking easier,simpler etc. My husband is also a big eater unfortunately and gets rather cranky with me when there isn't a dinner for him."


THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM IN A NUTSHELL and I'm shocked no one has even brought that up. EVERYTHING IS OBVIOUSLY ON YOUR SHOULDERS.

I used to be like that. I would do everything, clean everything (Alan didn't know his way around a kitchen and wouldn't even try).

When we both worked (20 years ago), no one cooked at night, we did chinese takeout or some other takeout but THAT ADDS TO EXPENSE.

So when we both worked, I made Sunday, (that is if you don't work on Sunday), I used Sunday to make all my chickens, (we ate beef way back then), I used to make Beef Stew, I made all the meals, popped them in the frreezer in serving trays. And when we came home, we took out the trays, microwaved them. and I would then micro a potato and we had our dinner with a baked potato.

BUT..... all that changed when I had to stop working (because my son had so many problems in school), I had to become a stay at home mom.

So what did I do??? I became a home typists for laywers and judges.

Now try cleaning the house, cooking, and typing all day long. I wanted to kill Alan because, even though he worked, he would think "well, she's home all day long"...

Want to know how I STOPPED ALL THIS NONSENSE!!!

First, believe in yourself. Second, your husband MUST GET INVOLVED with helping you around the house, doing laundry, and most important, getting in the kitchen with you. It's not enough (in 2007), for both of you to do a full time job, and the woman comes home and cooks and serves the guy.

That kind of thinking has to go out the window. You'll get a stroke and you are not well to begin with.

So how did I do it.? Well, I stopped making him breakfast and lunch. That was for starters. One day, he got up and said "what's for breakfast". There were the cereals all lined up on the counter. He knew where all the bowls and spoons were. He knew where the milk was and he knew where my muffins were (all ready under my cake thing).

So I said "where is it written that because we are both home, that I do everything and you get served"? Tell me where it's written!!!!

He looked at me and said "you mean you want me to make breakfast?"

I said "There's the cereal, you know where everything else is,if you want to eat, GO AND DO IT". He grumbled a bit, but that was the first day.

Then lunch came. I used to make him salad greens with lovely grilled chicken.

Lunch time came and he said "what's for lunch". I said 'you can make it or you can starve". He said "what?? but I made breakfast". and I said "WELL WHOOPDY DOO FOR YOU".

Guess what he did. He made cereal and ate a muffin.

Then I looked him dead in the face and said "No, too many carbs, make a power shake. He did so. So now he makes his own cereal and most times he makes a power shake. I will, now and then, make him the grilled chicken thing. But HE ALSO DOES THE LAUNDRY ONCE A WEEK, FOLDS IT AND PUTS IT AWAY.

Supper is my domain. I'm a good cook and he couldn't bake a stone in he tried.

That I don't mind. BUT, I get him to mix the muffin batter. and if I make meatballs (using ground turkey), I put everything in the bowl, and I go over to him with a big potato masher and I say "you're much stronger than me, please make these". He does, (after flexing his muscles).

I could never go back to the way I used to be. I did EVERYTHING and he reaped the rewards.

Now when his neuropathy was really bad and he was on the fentanyl patch, of course I did more....... but once he saw Dr. Theirl and he got better, then why on earth would I let him sit in the living room chair watching tv, when I am cooking, cleaning up etc.

He doesn't do dishes. But he will take the Swiffer and go around the rooms.

And you should see the look at his face when I tell him "Cmon, it's time to turn the mattress around and fix the bedroom.

But he did it. See he realizes how much I take care of him and he has to do MORE FOR HIMSELF because what happens when I'm not arround anymore (if god forbid something happens to me).

He always used to say "man if you die on me, I'll starve to death".

Guess what??? He won't starve anymore.

Try this (in small doses) and see what happens.

Then pm me and I'll give you my muffin recipe.

Melody

I am very happy to see that I am not the only one with "food troubles". It just doesn't stop. What to eat? What to make? Stop off at the store after work? Gees, I've given myself a headache!!

If we lived around ethnic food like NY, my husband would go nuts! The most ethnic around my neighborhood is chinese food or a doner kebob! LOL!!

I don't mind paying money for the groceries, but like Brian said $100 dollars over here is just for one person. I spend $160-170 a week and run out by Wednesday. Our fruit does suck,and it's tasteless. All I eat are bruised apples and bannanas that go off in 2 days. No wonder the fruit flies are attacking me! You can't even find apples that aren't all beat up anymore. It's shocking!

My husband doesn't get home till late,if I had to wait for him to cook, we'd starve. I guess I am a bit frustrated at not being able to whip up fast healthy meals. I am a bit tired of having the entire responsibility of cooking,and I am a little angry at myself for wasting my money on greasy chinese food. I am also disappointed in our gov't for not giving us choice and we are at the mercy of 2 huge supermarket chains with overpriced food, and inferior quality products.

Mel, I will PM for muffin recepie, thank you.

Yeah I have gotten a bit tired of doing all the chores. I've done them all for 10years. I remember after I had my back surgery, I couldn't even move. The house was crumbling around me and there was 3 weeks of dirty clothes for washing. He didn't do a thing. Spoiled he was from his mum.

She used to iron his socks and undies too. I love his mum, god bless her soul, but spoiled he was and so has he remained.

I thought I married someone domesticated! LOL!

Aussie99,
Mel is dead on w/ her assessment - you've got way too much responsibility for one person. My wife and I both have long commutes and work long hours so dinners can be a real adventure at times. Vicki is a wonderful cook and baker and loves to do both but time is at a premium.

Like Mel we do a lot of "bulk cooking", particularly smoking or slow grilling. Every weekend possible we grill multiple dishes simultaneously so we have dinners and work lunches for the following week. For example, it's not uncommon for us to do a beer-can turkey or chicken and fish or portabella mushrooms and a pork roast. We do beef but much less frequently and we grill all of the vegi's too. I've tried some fruits but I'm still getting the hang of it but I don't mind eating my mistakes either.
We shop multiple grocery stores for specials on everything we can and do the Costco or Sams Club trips too. I laugh at times at Vicki and her coupons but it saves it saves us a ton of money. We budget pretty carefully and spend ~$100-120/week unless we go out for dinner which many times is to a local Greek diner where we will share a Greek salad or some evenings just an omelet - a real treat if we can get can get grits instead of potatoes but up North here that's not common.
We do divide up the "chores" but Vicki still has the greater share - we're working on that, for example, nights that she does yoga she gets home ~7:30 or 8:00 which is just before my day usually ends so I'll make dinner usually from what we grilled over the weekend - maybe somewhat boring or repititious to some people but we can get pretty creative and are always experimenting.
All in all once we still have convenience for us but now much healthier and flavorful.

Alkymst