I would love to have $268 to spend each week on groceries. Sigh. Thankful for places like Aldi and this channel that help me feed my family for way less than that!
We're basically in a new depression. Soups are the best budget meals, just throw in what ever is on special and leftovers. Chicken drumsticks are often really cheap and kids love them so that's a bonus.
Its 2 adults and a 15 year old in our house. i have maybe $100 a month to spend and cant get food stamps. I couldnt make it without this channel. Thank you!
Hey, there's no shame in checking out your local food pantries. I highly recommend doing that to supplement your budget. Those pantries are there for the types of season you are in right now. Your situation will likely get better, but for now, it's okay to use those resources.
Food pantries, churches, township offices, and county offices (Human Services at the County level) are great resources for food when you are struggling to survive. Senior Centers and Community Colleges also provide free food as well but you must be registered there. Some towns and villages have garden plots for rent where you can grow food crops for your family if you want to do that. My father used to take us fishing sometimes. He also hunted antelope and deer. Some social services or community centers also provide free food if you ask.
They have to base those recommendations for people in San Francisco or Boston (where I live) or NYC, too. I am very thrifty for my family of four adults and I am never under $200 if you figure in the bulk meat I buy. And, I have a car and can access Walmart and Aldi. Many people are lucky if they have any grocery store within bus or walking distance.
I have always found those numbers crazy high! No way can I afford or even would have the slightest need to spend as much as it says for my family of 8. We spend less than 1/2 and still live like royalty.
They're funny! Cost of living constantly going up and my pay staying the same. Sadly my state has been hit pretty hard. They can shove their budget plan. 😁🤣🤣🤣
That's because you live in the eastern US where groceries are cheap, and those charts are based on nationwide averages for grocery prices. Where I live, it's hard to get by on even the "low" budget category - the "thrifty" one isn't possible for us. And I have lived in a couple of places that are even more expensive than my current location. So yes, you can definitely do a lot more with that amount of money in your area. 😊
@@mindywatkins3219 That chart of grocery budget categories is based on nationwide averages for grocery prices, so there's no way that your area is one of the most expensive areas in the country if you can feed your family for far less than the national average. I shop at multiple stores, buy on sale, etc., but the deals that are available to you are not available everywhere. For example, I've been hearing from people in various areas of the northeastern states who say that they bought a turkey for 49¢ or 59¢ a pound, but the cheapest sale on turkeys where I live was 79¢ a pound, and you had to spend $25+ on other items in order to get the turkey for that price. Everywhere else, the sale price was 99¢ a pound for the cheapest store brand turkey. It's just completely different shopping in some of the western states where there's no Aldi, no discount grocery store, etc.
Same. Groceries are crazy expensive where I live in CA and most of the fruits/veg are grown here. One apple is $2.40! We don’t have budget grocery stores here. Luckily we have a Target which is about 1/2 the price of the grocery store here or we would never make it.
They call it thrifty but that seems like a lot to me. I spend around $150 to $180 a week for my family of 8, 2 adults and 6 young kids ages 9 down to 1.5.
You are doing phenomenal! I’m clocking in at about $130 per week shopping for 4 - 2 adults + 2 kids (ages 8 & 2) all thanks to Aldi. That includes things like TP, toothpaste and laundry detergent tho.
Outside of meals, does your family do snacks? We have 7 and spend about 200 a week including toiletries and budget snacks. I have 2 adults, 1 teen boy 😳 and 4 age 2 to 7. We also homeschool so no school lunches.
I’m so glad I’m not alone in thinking the k cups and other brand coffee pods just don’t taste the same anymore. We ditched them too and went back to making a pot every morning.
I would love to see you use that $268 thrifty budget to see what a week of eating at your house would look like versus your standard budget or a low budget!
I’m spending about $800 per month for our family of 3, me hubby and 16 year old son. Just under what the USDA recommended for a low cost meal plan. I cannot even believe how expensive groceries are anymore. Definitely appreciated Mindy’s pantry shopping video yesterday because that’s our meal plan this week, if we don’t have it in the fridge, freezer or pantry already we aren’t buying it
Wow I have a family of 5 (pregnant with my 4th) and we don’t spend that a week! Yikes. We also live up in the mountains so groceries are a tad higher but with help from WIC I spend roughly 100-150 a week.
You really have to look at the gory details of the report. It’s 125 pages. 😳It goes thru the gyrations to meet caloric (2000/day) and nutritional needs. Then breaks out what’s being purchased. This is for a family of 4 with no teenagers. Like 16# proteins; 14# grains; 41# milk & cheese; 26# fruit; 35# vegetables. I’ve never had a family of 4 but that seems like a lot of food. 😮
mazing how much they say people should spend compared to what they give to families on food stamps! I think food stamps should be a temporary thing in most cases but it is definitely not enough to feed a family when there is a job loss or death.
I love your channel. I like to make budget meal videos also for our large family. I saw that the thrifty plan said it would cost $304 to feed my husband for the month. I am in the process of doing a grocery challenge to feed one person for a month for $100. You have inspired me. We don’t have much extra so we are not in a place to donate but I love how you encourage others to that
I like the dollar store by my apartment. There’s lots of homeless people here and I decided to buy one meal a week from the dollar store that is approximately $2.65 to give to one of them. I think if everyone did that, no one will be overwhelmed financially and no one will go hungry. I looked at items like spaghetti and sauce, rice and beans, bread and peanut butter, oatmeal and jam, pancakes and syrup. Many of the homeless do have skillets and a pan to cook food in. For those who don’t, I would suggest bread and lunch meat.
Where you are located definitely changes how much you need. When I've watched her shopping vids and see the food prices in her area, I'm more than bit jealous. A lot of the things she picks up is double the price in my area, AND we have one of the highest sales taxes in the country and that's including food.
We are a family of 4, with medical needs and food allergies. Youngest is on medical Formula covered by insurance ($3,000 a month) but we cover bottled water ($100ish a month). So 3 of us eat. Anyways I spend between $200-270 a week. I am allergic to all meats so I eat a lot of produce and beans. That is costly. I shop meats on sale for oldest and husband. No nuts in the home and due to Celiac I hand make 99% of our food. Exception is lactose free ice cream safe chips, and a few snack items. I can not get it below $200 as we can't have convenient foods or boxed foods.
If you look closely it says that you must assume there are 0 meals eaten at restaurants. I think if we all added that in we do come closer to those numbers. For my family, when I factor in all food and drink spending, we land between thrifty and low. When I don’t count any restaurants we are below thrifty as well.
I plan my meals weekly for a family of 4 that's one adult, 3sons ages14,9, and 7. I spent $540 in March 2024, but that doesn't include eating out. but that money didn't come out my budget but someone else's.
That's pretty good. I have a rule for my home which is $100 per person, per month starting at $200. 1 person-$200, 2 people-$300, 3 people-$400 etc. I got that from Jordan Page's YT channel and haven't looked back since.
Mindy I have asked before since you always have great advice. Could you do a whole food weekly budget meal plan and shop with me? Curious if I am missing anything to save on groceries. We can not have any boxed or canned items (like cream of celery, Ramen noodles, canned soups). We have to have a meat protein due to medical need (must be grain free fed and fresh due to ingredients added to freeze), 2 produce sides that are fresh, starch (must be gluten and egg and nut free). Any tips would be great.
The "thrifty" category isn't the same thing as an extreme budget challenge like a lot of people do on RUclips; it's just meant to be a careful budget but to still provide what people need. It shows the amounts that food stamps are based on.
They say that's what we should spend on our food but they don't want to raise the minimum wage so that people could afford it..., no way the average family could afford to spend that much on food
You should come to Phoenix it cost a ton of money to live here. If you're going to have some kind of protein and you're not vegetarian, it's very expensive here all the spices on their vegetables and produce are cheap but extremely high priced on everything else I wish you the best if you're going to be.
They say prepper pantries are food hoarders. I don't agree with this. Even food pantries are barely covering needs. Sounds like they need to look at reality.
I’m living close to Washington DC. My area is quite expensive. Maybe I could spend that much shopping at Safeway, but I shop nearly exclusively at Aldi except for a few items. I spend about $130 per week, but I could def do better if I planned. I used to spend $100 before inflation only 3 years ago. Family of 4 - 2 small kids ages 8, 2
Family of 5 (2 adults, 2 boys that eat same as adult and my 7 yr old) upstate SC and we spend 240 per week. Strict meal plan and I have strict dietary restrictions. If I bought what we use to buy 2 yrs ago it would be Easley 300+. Absolutely ridiculous. And I cook alot from scratch.
We spend $45 on average a week for normal food then we spend $100 on meat a month. We eat very very well. Some weeks I can get us down to $20!! That’s around $250-$300 a month. If we went completely cracked down I can get us down to around $200 a month for food! It’s sucks but we can do it!
And the thrifty meal plan is what they base the food stamps budget on! When a single person I know shared how she gets $700 monthly for just herself, I was shocked. Not sure if that’s how it is everywhere, but daaaang.
I told a coworker I spent 150 on groceries for the week for my family of 6 she was shocked! Now I see why. She said she spends 500 every week for her family of 7. This was a lighter week but I definitely am not spending 2k a month on groceries.
I do wish you would be more aware of your tone when you talk about this. Your PER WEEK stung because that is what I spend. And it makes those of us who do feel bad for spending more than what you or others do. You need to be mindful that there is a wide range of viewers on your channel with a wide range of budgets. I'm here for tips not to be looked at differently due to my budget
Just goes to show how out of touch they are with the working people of the country. I used to love America-now I can’t wait to move-this election year is our deciding factor as a family.
I would love to have $268 to spend each week on groceries. Sigh. Thankful for places like Aldi and this channel that help me feed my family for way less than that!
AMEN!
Agree
Same!
Amen.
They're acting like people have tons of money to spend on groceries. The price of groceries has gone up, but my teacher's salary is still the same.
I know right. And same!!!
Exactly
They live well on our taxes, so they have no idea how their employers are having to live. Why do we allow this?
Teachers deserve more than double their pay. Thank you for teaching!❤
We're basically in a new depression. Soups are the best budget meals, just throw in what ever is on special and leftovers. Chicken drumsticks are often really cheap and kids love them so that's a bonus.
Its 2 adults and a 15 year old in our house. i have maybe $100 a month to spend and cant get food stamps. I couldnt make it without this channel. Thank you!
Hey, there's no shame in checking out your local food pantries. I highly recommend doing that to supplement your budget. Those pantries are there for the types of season you are in right now. Your situation will likely get better, but for now, it's okay to use those resources.
Food pantries, churches, township offices, and county offices (Human Services at the County level) are great resources for food when you are struggling to survive. Senior Centers and Community Colleges also provide free food as well but you must be registered there. Some towns and villages have garden plots for rent where you can grow food crops for your family if you want to do that. My father used to take us fishing sometimes. He also hunted antelope and deer. Some social services or community centers also provide free food if you ask.
I still couldn't believe the budget for my household of 3. The recommendation per week is what we spend in a month.
How much are they saying for a family of 3....where can I find this information?
Can you imagine a grocery budget like that???
They have to base those recommendations for people in San Francisco or Boston (where I live) or NYC, too. I am very thrifty for my family of four adults and I am never under $200 if you figure in the bulk meat I buy. And, I have a car and can access Walmart and Aldi. Many people are lucky if they have any grocery store within bus or walking distance.
I have always found those numbers crazy high! No way can I afford or even would have the slightest need to spend as much as it says for my family of 8. We spend less than 1/2 and still live like royalty.
$300 a week. I’d be eating stake every night
Maybe steak....
isn't this number for 5 ppl? for one person it's in the luxury budget category. no way you can buy steak dinner for 5 ppl on a $300 wkly budget
They're funny! Cost of living constantly going up and my pay staying the same. Sadly my state has been hit pretty hard. They can shove their budget plan. 😁🤣🤣🤣
Family of 7 here. We can only spend up to $100 a week. Sometimes, like today, I had to spend $20 of that for gas.
Sooooo $1000 a month on food???? WHAT?!
That's because you live in the eastern US where groceries are cheap, and those charts are based on nationwide averages for grocery prices. Where I live, it's hard to get by on even the "low" budget category - the "thrifty" one isn't possible for us. And I have lived in a couple of places that are even more expensive than my current location. So yes, you can definitely do a lot more with that amount of money in your area. 😊
The northeast is one of the most expensive parts of the US and I spend 500 a month for family of 4. It's all about finding deals and shopping sales.
@@mindywatkins3219 That chart of grocery budget categories is based on nationwide averages for grocery prices, so there's no way that your area is one of the most expensive areas in the country if you can feed your family for far less than the national average. I shop at multiple stores, buy on sale, etc., but the deals that are available to you are not available everywhere. For example, I've been hearing from people in various areas of the northeastern states who say that they bought a turkey for 49¢ or 59¢ a pound, but the cheapest sale on turkeys where I live was 79¢ a pound, and you had to spend $25+ on other items in order to get the turkey for that price. Everywhere else, the sale price was 99¢ a pound for the cheapest store brand turkey. It's just completely different shopping in some of the western states where there's no Aldi, no discount grocery store, etc.
Same. Groceries are crazy expensive where I live in CA and most of the fruits/veg are grown here. One apple is $2.40! We don’t have budget grocery stores here. Luckily we have a Target which is about 1/2 the price of the grocery store here or we would never make it.
They call it thrifty but that seems like a lot to me. I spend around $150 to $180 a week for my family of 8, 2 adults and 6 young kids ages 9 down to 1.5.
You are doing phenomenal!
I’m clocking in at about $130 per week shopping for 4 - 2 adults + 2 kids (ages 8 & 2) all thanks to Aldi. That includes things like TP, toothpaste and laundry detergent tho.
I’m feeding 8 as well 13,9,8,4,2,newborn and it sounds like we spend about the same! :)
Outside of meals, does your family do snacks? We have 7 and spend about 200 a week including toiletries and budget snacks. I have 2 adults, 1 teen boy 😳 and 4 age 2 to 7. We also homeschool so no school lunches.
I’m so glad I’m not alone in thinking the k cups and other brand coffee pods just don’t taste the same anymore. We ditched them too and went back to making a pot every morning.
I wish I had $268 a week for food. I try not to spend $200/month for 2 of us. Eating a lot of rice, beans, cabbage.
Cabbage is one of the healthiest foods ever.
I would love to see you use that $268 thrifty budget to see what a week of eating at your house would look like versus your standard budget or a low budget!
I’m spending about $800 per month for our family of 3, me hubby and 16 year old son. Just under what the USDA recommended for a low cost meal plan. I cannot even believe how expensive groceries are anymore. Definitely appreciated Mindy’s pantry shopping video yesterday because that’s our meal plan this week, if we don’t have it in the fridge, freezer or pantry already we aren’t buying it
Wow I have a family of 5 (pregnant with my 4th) and we don’t spend that a week! Yikes. We also live up in the mountains so groceries are a tad higher but with help from WIC I spend roughly 100-150 a week.
I was on WIC about 40 years ago. I thought it was a great program.
@@marieschlatter9245 it really is. Without it idk how we’d afford groceries these days on one income! I’m thankful it’s there to help out
You really have to look at the gory details of the report. It’s 125 pages. 😳It goes thru the gyrations to meet caloric (2000/day) and nutritional needs. Then breaks out what’s being purchased. This is for a family of 4 with no teenagers. Like 16# proteins; 14# grains; 41# milk & cheese; 26# fruit; 35# vegetables. I’ve never had a family of 4 but that seems like a lot of food. 😮
Is that a week? 41lbs of dairy?!? Wow
For my family of 5 on the thrifty plan it came out to $1200 a month!!! And yes, it's the government's extreme budget.
That is way too much. I’m sure this includes ALL meals at home, snacks, paper products. It has to otherwise it makes no sense.
We are a family of 6. I spend about $200 a week In florida
I have 5 kids and I spend less than $200 a week normally. (Family of 7)
mazing how much they say people should spend compared to what they give to families on food stamps! I think food stamps should be a temporary thing in most cases but it is definitely not enough to feed a family when there is a job loss or death.
I love your channel. I like to make budget meal videos also for our large family. I saw that the thrifty plan said it would cost $304 to feed my husband for the month. I am in the process of doing a grocery challenge to feed one person for a month for $100. You have inspired me. We don’t have much extra so we are not in a place to donate but I love how you encourage others to that
I like the dollar store by my apartment. There’s lots of homeless people here and I decided to buy one meal a week from the dollar store that is approximately $2.65 to give to one of them. I think if everyone did that, no one will be overwhelmed financially and no one will go hungry. I looked at items like spaghetti and sauce, rice and beans, bread and peanut butter, oatmeal and jam, pancakes and syrup. Many of the homeless do have skillets and a pan to cook food in. For those who don’t, I would suggest bread and lunch meat.
Where you are located definitely changes how much you need. When I've watched her shopping vids and see the food prices in her area, I'm more than bit jealous. A lot of the things she picks up is double the price in my area, AND we have one of the highest sales taxes in the country and that's including food.
Yes you are right that seems like a lot
We are a family of 4, with medical needs and food allergies. Youngest is on medical Formula covered by insurance ($3,000 a month) but we cover bottled water ($100ish a month). So 3 of us eat. Anyways I spend between $200-270 a week. I am allergic to all meats so I eat a lot of produce and beans. That is costly. I shop meats on sale for oldest and husband. No nuts in the home and due to Celiac I hand make 99% of our food. Exception is lactose free ice cream safe chips, and a few snack items. I can not get it below $200 as we can't have convenient foods or boxed foods.
agree!!
I suspect those numbers are an average across the country. Grocery prices fluctuate across locations.
If you look closely it says that you must assume there are 0 meals eaten at restaurants. I think if we all added that in we do come closer to those numbers. For my family, when I factor in all food and drink spending, we land between thrifty and low. When I don’t count any restaurants we are below thrifty as well.
I plan my meals weekly for a family of 4 that's one adult, 3sons ages14,9, and 7. I spent $540 in March 2024, but that doesn't include eating out. but that money didn't come out my budget but someone else's.
That's pretty good. I have a rule for my home which is $100 per person, per month starting at $200. 1 person-$200, 2 people-$300, 3 people-$400 etc. I got that from Jordan Page's YT channel and haven't looked back since.
Mindy I have asked before since you always have great advice. Could you do a whole food weekly budget meal plan and shop with me? Curious if I am missing anything to save on groceries. We can not have any boxed or canned items (like cream of celery, Ramen noodles, canned soups). We have to have a meat protein due to medical need (must be grain free fed and fresh due to ingredients added to freeze), 2 produce sides that are fresh, starch (must be gluten and egg and nut free).
Any tips would be great.
You lower budget for the week is more than my entire budget for the month for a family of 4
The "thrifty" category isn't the same thing as an extreme budget challenge like a lot of people do on RUclips; it's just meant to be a careful budget but to still provide what people need. It shows the amounts that food stamps are based on.
I'm not spending anywhere near that much a week! Nor has my income inflated to support spending that much
Family of 5 here. I spend $125- $150 per week. Aldi and Walmart shopper.
They say that's what we should spend on our food but they don't want to raise the minimum wage so that people could afford it..., no way the average family could afford to spend that much on food
As a family of 6 I only spend around 300 a month
You should come to Phoenix it cost a ton of money to live here. If you're going to have some kind of protein and you're not vegetarian, it's very expensive here all the spices on their vegetables and produce are cheap but extremely high priced on everything else I wish you the best if you're going to be.
They say prepper pantries are food hoarders. I don't agree with this. Even food pantries are barely covering needs. Sounds like they need to look at reality.
I wonder if us living in OK makes a difference. maybe our prices are a little lower?
I’m sure where you live and what you can access makes a huge difference in what your budget has to be.
I’m living close to Washington DC. My area is quite expensive. Maybe I could spend that much shopping at Safeway, but I shop nearly exclusively at Aldi except for a few items.
I spend about $130 per week, but I could def do better if I planned. I used to spend $100 before inflation only 3 years ago. Family of 4 - 2 small kids ages 8, 2
That's cheap in the state which you live in. My city and state outnumbers your bill for the week.
Family of 5 (2 adults, 2 boys that eat same as adult and my 7 yr old) upstate SC and we spend 240 per week. Strict meal plan and I have strict dietary restrictions. If I bought what we use to buy 2 yrs ago it would be Easley 300+.
Absolutely ridiculous. And I cook alot from scratch.
The pencil pushers probably didn't consider sale prices .
We have a family of four. Grandparent, mom, dad, and teenager. The thrifty plan puts us at $1054 a month.
Lol I spend $150 per WK I wish I had $258 a WK there's 3of us
Seems pretty accurate for a family of 5 in California. Idk where some of you are located, spending less than $200 for families of 5+ 😭
That is way too much money
Do you think these estimates are based on larger more expensive cities?
We are fortunate to live in Oklahoma!
We spend $45 on average a week for normal food then we spend $100 on meat a month. We eat very very well. Some weeks I can get us down to $20!! That’s around $250-$300 a month. If we went completely cracked down I can get us down to around $200 a month for food! It’s sucks but we can do it!
😮I thought you budgeting per month
I’m guessing because they’re going off of “low”politician Salaries of “only” $150K a year
And the thrifty meal plan is what they base the food stamps budget on! When a single person I know shared how she gets $700 monthly for just herself, I was shocked. Not sure if that’s how it is everywhere, but daaaang.
Huh, funny. The most you can get on SNAP anywhere in the US for one person is $291. So I think she is pulling your leg
I’m on hospice care. I get a whopping $23/month in food stamps. In CA. It’s ridiculous.
Family of 8. We spend less than that 260 for a week for 8.
I told a coworker I spent 150 on groceries for the week for my family of 6 she was shocked! Now I see why. She said she spends 500 every week for her family of 7. This was a lighter week but I definitely am not spending 2k a month on groceries.
This is how much we spend. Family of 4 , 2 adults and 16 and 10 year old kids who eat all the time .
My family of 5 spends 140 or less a week.
$50/person/week is not absurd
What are they NOT spending money on because that seems like a lot ... Especially for a single income family.
The way she writes her 8's..
Who thought her?
family of7 cook for family of 8 budget $500 month
$288 is too expensive? Girl, my family of 6 spends $400/week on groceries!
Why? Is that just food?
The link isn't clickable
YT stopped allowing clickable links in shorts descriptions. When this was made, we could have links in the description, now we can't. :(
@@SeeMindyMom yes smh I Googled the issue because I noticed it on someone else's video smh not fair. Thank you so much for responding!
I do wish you would be more aware of your tone when you talk about this. Your PER WEEK stung because that is what I spend. And it makes those of us who do feel bad for spending more than what you or others do. You need to be mindful that there is a wide range of viewers on your channel with a wide range of budgets. I'm here for tips not to be looked at differently due to my budget
I'd love to be able to spend that a week for a family of three.. we can't afford that a month .. sad times we're living in...
We spend 350-400a week for me my wife and 4 kids sucks.
Same! How are all these people only spending $150/week? lol
That's what I'm saying!! Where are you located?@@trackee2024
This is actually normal.
Just goes to show how out of touch they are with the working people of the country. I used to love America-now I can’t wait to move-this election year is our deciding factor as a family.