How much do you spend a year (living expenses)?

Our living expenses are hovering at about 30-35% of income.

This is easier as a lot of our living costs are provided by the company.

Blacky
 
Wow, I thought $550 per week on food was cheap!! How the hell do some people only spend $5 per meal... without buying pure rubbish. we eat only organic so admit there is a (easily worthwhile) premium to this but still I'd eat $5 worth of "budget" meat as a snack let alone to feed a family!!
I guess its no surprise our budget is at the $70K mark too then.
 
I feed 5 adults (3 male, 2 female) for about 200-250/week. As an example of how I do this cheaply, portion control on meat is important, I bought 5 chickens when they went on sale in coles for around $8-$9 each. Hubby jointed them so we got 2 meals of 1 thigh each, 1 meal of drumsticks (2 each), 5 meals of stirfry/risotto from the breasts, 1 meal with the wings that I would add as an extra to a mainly veg meal, then the frames I made stock out of (for risotto- YUM) and I pulled another 800grams of meat off the bones that I portioned up to use in chicken and corn soup.
So for $45 I got 8 main meals and 2 part meals (or 1 more main if we had the soup and wings on the same night) so that is $1/adult/meal. Each serve is a the recommended amount of meat roughly and we bulk out with veges, rice, pasta quinoa, couscous....
Even an organic chook at $15 each would only come to $1.66/adult/serve.
I also like to cook from scratch.
And as a side note, if my bl00dy rooster gets out again and crows outside my window at 4 am I will be eating FREE organic chicken!
 
Wow, I thought $550 per week on food was cheap!! How the hell do some people only spend $5 per meal... without buying pure rubbish. we eat only organic so admit there is a (easily worthwhile) premium to this but still I'd eat $5 worth of "budget" meat as a snack let alone to feed a family!!
I guess its no surprise our budget is at the $70K mark too then.

$550 goes quickly eg nappies, packeted foods/milk for kids, snacks after school, fussy eaters who waste food, lack of space to store a lot of perishable food on discount etc etc - its easy to rack up that sort of bill. On top of that, being extremely time poor with young kids makes shopping astutely at Coles/Woolies more difficult. Time and kids is the root cause. If it was just me, I could probably do $140 per week or less without breaking a sweat.
 
We were recently coming in at around $250 per week for groceries for 4 adults, two of who are in their early 20's (ie. eat much more than us). Main shop is at Aldi, Woolies for what is left. It's quite easy to put together a meal for 4 for under $10 if you make meals from scratch.
 
Wow, I thought $550 per week on food was cheap!! How the hell do some people only spend $5 per meal... without buying pure rubbish. we eat only organic so admit there is a (easily worthwhile) premium to this but still I'd eat $5 worth of "budget" meat as a snack let alone to feed a family!!
I guess its no surprise our budget is at the $70K mark too then.

You spend $80 a day on groceries? ??

That's ludicrous
 
Yep, we cook all of our meals from scratch. Admittedly it is probably lower now that we make our own almond milk and coconut flour etc as we just got a Thermomix. We source all our own suppliers for food as 99% of super market is crap and even the organic delivering companies need work as their sources aren't always up to scratch. We will buy bulk soon as we bought a deep freezer so can buy a whole cow etc. So that will lower costs. It's all an investment though, I see patients in my clinic everyday who are a mess because of their lifestyle so for me it's a non negotiable.
 
What kind of recipes do you make?

I love using the slow cooker. I mostly do shanks and roasts when I cook but my wife does most. She does a great cauliflower shepherds pie ( no pastry), chicken and zucchini pasta or cauliflower rice. Not overly complex. Just good Paleo recipes.
 
Yep, we cook all of our meals from scratch. Admittedly it is probably lower now that we make our own almond milk and coconut flour etc as we just got a Thermomix. We source all our own suppliers for food as 99% of super market is crap and even the organic delivering companies need work as their sources aren't always up to scratch. We will buy bulk soon as we bought a deep freezer so can buy a whole cow etc. So that will lower costs. It's all an investment though, I see patients in my clinic everyday who are a mess because of their lifestyle so for me it's a non negotiable.

i get what youre saying, i really do but $80 per day is ridiculous. Cooking meals from scratch means you shoul dbe able to do it a lot cheaper.

you need to improve your sourcing, if youre getting direct even organic isnt too expensive.

having said that if the $550 a week doesnt impede your lifestyle or investments in any way then just stick with what youre doing.
 
Four carnivorous adults here including a fitness freak power lifter. We devoured our way through $300 a week for all food and groceries last year but it is going higher this year as I am not travelling miles and miles away to source cheaper meat and veg any more. My suburb is quite exxy but hell the local meat is good.

A few short years ago I was still cooking from scratch but this year I have discovered Jamie's easy meals at Woollies which I get half price on Mondays just before their use by date expires. I pay about $15-$20 a kilo for whole rumps and porterhouse at the independent butchers and $8 to $14 per kilo for other delicacies that used to go chirp, baaaa and oink.

We also go through mountains of fruit and vegetables but I wouldn't have it any other way. Some of us are gluten intolerant and Mark is allergic to all grains, including rice, so our once cheap rice and pasta meals have morphed into much more expensive protein-rich foods.

Our electricity and water bills are exorbitant but that is because we live in the wrong region (for both water and electricity) and have so many techos here who spend all night burning lights and laptops and other devices. We also use the aircon pretty much every day for four or five months a year at least.

Recently I recalculated our expected retirement budget for two adults and it really does come to $50K as the Super companies suggest. That is without overseas travel. The progeny pay us $12K a year in board
 
Scott NFI. Paying bills is a menial task. ;)

I do know that health fund is over $5k pa

House insurance is $2k

Even school fees hit $20k, let alone school activities, sports levies & uniforms.

Holidays over $10k/wk

Oh. And we gotta eat, pay utilities. Unlike everyone else we also buy soap and deodorant. :D
 
I feed 5 adults (3 male, 2 female) for about 200-250/week. As an example of how I do this cheaply, portion control on meat is important, I bought 5 chickens when they went on sale in coles for around $8-$9 each. Hubby jointed them so we got 2 meals of 1 thigh each, 1 meal of drumsticks (2 each), 5 meals of stirfry/risotto from the breasts, 1 meal with the wings that I would add as an extra to a mainly veg meal, then the frames I made stock out of (for risotto- YUM) and I pulled another 800grams of meat off the bones that I portioned up to use in chicken and corn soup.
So for $45 I got 8 main meals and 2 part meals (or 1 more main if we had the soup and wings on the same night) so that is $1/adult/meal. Each serve is a the recommended amount of meat roughly and we bulk out with veges, rice, pasta quinoa, couscous....
Even an organic chook at $15 each would only come to $1.66/adult/serve.
I also like to cook from scratch.
And as a side note, if my bl00dy rooster gets out again and crows outside my window at 4 am I will be eating FREE organic chicken!

Great tip! Will keep this in mind.

I spend more on food when I work more - sometimes too tired to make a salad when that's all I feel like. So I eat out a bit.
Love cooking though. Meal plans are the secret to success. It's a real skill. Better for health, too. Have developed a few intolerances over the last few years (the usual - dairy, gluten, etc) so love to see new ideas on old themes. Will get a cauliflower and go wild with that this weekend, too. ;)
 
Wow, I thought $550 per week on food was cheap!! How the hell do some people only spend $5 per meal... without buying pure rubbish. we eat only organic so admit there is a (easily worthwhile) premium to this but still I'd eat $5 worth of "budget" meat as a snack let alone to feed a family!!
I guess its no surprise our budget is at the $70K mark too then.
One typical meal for us is spagetti - for 5 people, and usually one meal left over for my lunch the next day...

2/3 packet of spaghetti 1kg bag - $1 (often spaghetti is on special for 99c per packet, we'll buy 6 at a time, etc).
500gm/s premium mince - $3 approx. (from D'nong market)
Jar of spag sauce - $2 (again; some brands/flavours on special most weeks, buy a few at a time when they are)
half an onion - 50c? (wouldn't have a clue what one onion costs - bugger all I suspect) - again; from D'nong market.
1/3 red capsicum - 50c? same as above.
salt, pepper, sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top - 50c?

Total for 6 meals - $7.25
 
Have no idea how a couple, let alone a small family in this day and age can exist on $100+ per week on groceries/food. I've always been a good spreadsheeter and my spreadsheets tell it as it is (I do this for a living), so can only imagine people are unconsciously understating their budgets or not including every single purchase, coffee snacks and all.

This what we bought a couple of months ago (for a one month period)
We did receive free eggs, pumpkins & tomatoes ..so we didn't need to buy them.
The more people you buy/cook for, the cheaper it becomes per person.
We rarely threw away any waste....can the families spending $250 week+ say that?

6-12 april
$10.48

1 kg carrot-$1.49
500 gr mushrooms-$2.99
mango-$1.99
.245kg turnip swede- $1.22
lettuce-$2.79

$22.60
2L pineapple juice- $1.79
2kg sugar-$1.65
3L milk- $3.00
1kg cheese- $6.00
300ml sour cream- $1.30
500gr margarine- $1.40
250gr strawberries= $3.99
.761 kg oranges ?$4.94 (reduced)=$0.99
500gr blackberry jam-$1.49
1L- dish detergent- $0.99

Total Out Of Pocket: $41.11

30March, 2015- 05 April 2015

3L milk- $3.00
750g ? Fruit/nut Mix-$7.49 (reduced)=$5.99
450g cheese cake $2.79
396g Lindt choc bar 2@ $2.16 =$4.32 (reduced)= 2.34
5kg potatoes $5.99
3L milk- $3.00
500g margarine- $0.99
425gr baked beans 2 @ $0.69= $1.38
1L UHT milk= $0.99
330ml ranch dressing- $2.99
1 kg- self rising flour- $0.75
2L milk?$2.19
600 ml- cream ? $2.30
1 kg ham/chicken bologna ?$2.79
250g strawberries ? $3.99
825g peaches = $1.49

$24.89
700g bread 4 @ $0.85 =$3.40
200g coffee 3 @ $3.98= $11.94
1 kg apple/pear pack $$4.48 (reduced) =$2.69
1 kg onions-$1.48
200g mushrooms $3.75 (reduced)=$3.75
50ml deodorant- $2.25
25g garlic pwd- $1.25

$68.54
Week 10- 23-29 March, 2015
3L milk- $3.00
2L strawberry milk $5.99 (reduced)- $3.99
600 ml cream- $2.30
500g salt- $0.89
500g icing sugar- $1.54
200g tzatziki dip $2.79 (reduced)-$0.99
1 kg basa fish fillets- $6.98
1 kg puff pastry sheets- $2.70
250g strawberries- $2.99
125g x 2 raspberries $6.98 (reduced)-$6.00
mango-$2.49
18g ground cinnamon- $0.99
3L milk-$3.00
750 ml sasparilla- $2.93
750 ml ginger beer- $2.93
1 kg flour-$0.75
1 kg sultanas- $3.99
175gr salt& vinegar chips $2.89 (reduced)- $1.49
384 gr chia wraps $4.79 (reduced)-$2.99
.8 kg green grapes =$2.41
250 g strawberries- $2.99
125g blueberries- $2.99
.61g green peppers $2.56 (reduced)-$1.75
.66g nectarines $4.66 (reduced)- $2.89
half cantaloupe-$1.99 (reduced)-$1.59
.376g yellow pepper $3.76 (reduced)-$0.99


: $18.95
Week 9- 16-22 March, 2015

5kg potatoes- $6.99
500g margarine @$.99 x 2= $1.98
3L milk- $3.00
lettuce-$.99
250g strawberries- $3.99
avocado-$1.99

$1.40
.75kg bananas- $1.40

$6.90
2kg sweet potatoes-$3.89
500g mushrooms(reduced)-2.99

$48.20

crumpets- $1.19
700gr bread @ $.85= $3.40
avocado=$1.99
1 kg carrots-$1.69
1kg margarine- $1.59
1.5 kg whole chicken- $5.49
2.096 kg ground beef- $12.56
3L milk- $2.99
750g corn flakes- $2.69
100g rice crackers 2@ $0.89 = $1.78
320g cranberry chutney =$2.69
500g ginger marmalade= $1.45
425g baked beans 2 @ $0.69 = $1.38
corn starch- $1.39
sesame snaps- $1.49
1L UHT milk-$0.95
250g strawberries- $3.49


=$243.07
=$60.77 week for 2 people
=$30.38 person

This is when we were in Queensland
 
Back
Top