Wow! Groceries Are Shocking Me This Summer!

[Josiegirl]

I think all totaled I spent almost $200 this past week. Twelve kids every day, my 20 yo dd, myself, 2 dogs and a cat.
One day, just out of curiosity, I made a list of all the food consumed just by 12 kids and it was...well, quite a bit. I've got ages 1- 12. The 1 yo eats like a bird all the way up to the 12 yo dcb who can pack it in. Must be some mighty high metabolisms here because the only one who is even remotely chubby is a little girl I have.(we're not counting adults of course )
Just curious how some of the daycares feed their summer crews economically.
I do participate in the food program so get reimbursed but still.....and it's not like we're living on shrimp and lobster.

[Brooksie]

And THIS is why I don't do the food program. :: I just don't have that out of pocket cash, reimbursed or not. Shew. Good luck with that!!

[Cradle2crayons]

Between my daycare kids, my kids, husband, and all the animals I spend about 1200 a month on groceries and pet food. And that's minimum

[cheerfuldom]

I am not eligible for a food program. I dont serve breakfast or dinner to my daycare kids and they also come with a sack lunch. There is no way I could afford to feed kids three meals a day and make a decent income.

[NeedaVaca]

I coupon and save a huge amount of money. It's time consuming at first but I've gotten better and faster now that I've done it for a while. I wrote some details about it in the off topic section if you are interested

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I can only have 6 so I don't have that much but I feel like I feed them fairly economically. All of mine are preschool age.
I don't buy a lot of processed food. I don't find that the food program makes it more expensive to feed the kids. And I do appreciate the checks.
I do know that I am paying a lot more for food than I was 3, 6, 16 years ago

[AmyLeigh]

I think all totaled I spent almost $200 this past week. Twelve kids every day, my 20 yo dd, myself, 2 dogs and a cat.
One day, just out of curiosity, I made a list of all the food consumed just by 12 kids and it was...well, quite a bit. I've got ages 1- 12. The 1 yo eats like a bird all the way up to the 12 yo dcb who can pack it in. Must be some mighty high metabolisms here because the only one who is even remotely chubby is a little girl I have.(we're not counting adults of course )
Just curious how some of the daycares feed their summer crews economically.
I do participate in the food program so get reimbursed but still.....and it's not like we're living on shrimp and lobster.

Man, I wish I could feed all those people on just $200!!! I spend almost that on just my family of 5! Goes to show what a difference geographic location makes. Too bad the food program reimbursement rates don't reflect that.

[LoraJenkins]

I guess I am the exception. I average $80-$120 a week for Hubby, me, 5 cats 1 big dog plus the 5 daycare littles. I stock up when things are on sale and do not serve a lot of processed foods. We have a produce stand less than half a mile from us and use only what looks good that week. We eat meats but cheaper cuts or reduced for quick sales. I only serve water except for lunch, and then I serve 1 glass of milk.Even I drink mainly water. I do coupon but only for the things I normally buy. Works for us.

[Laurel]

I guess I am the exception. I average $80-$120 a week for Hubby, me, 5 cats 1 big dog plus the 5 daycare littles. I stock up when things are on sale and do not serve a lot of processed foods. We have a produce stand less than half a mile from us and use only what looks good that week. We eat meats but cheaper cuts or reduced for quick sales. I only serve water except for lunch, and then I serve 1 glass of milk.Even I drink mainly water. I do coupon but only for the things I normally buy. Works for us.

I'm curious what an average day of your food might look like if you wouldn't mind sharing.

We spend about $100-$130 a week at the grocery store but then we buy most of our meat at a wholesale club and stop at another store for some of the fruit and veggies. Plus we eat out once in a while. There are 2 adults, no children of our own still at home (adult and live elsewhere), 3 daycare children (one who is an infant so parent provides food), no pets. Except for the daycare children we almost exclusively drink water (just a preference). We don't even drink coffee cause we just never liked it. Our cheap produce stand closed unfortunately.

I know I could plan better and waste less. So anyway, just wondering if you could share a sample menu for a day.

Thanks, Laurel

[countrymom]

thats roughly what I spend a week anywhere between 150-200. Now i'm feeding dh and I , and my 4 kids (ages 8-12) and 5 daycare kids everyday. But last week I didnt need to go and buy any food. I coupon too so this is why I didn't need to buy food last week, we had plenty.

ok, I will say that it all depends where you live. In canada food prices on some things are crazy high, now I shop in michigan all the time for my groceries and can buy a boat load of stuff for half the price.

[spud912]

We spend between $90 and 150 per week on groceries. There are usually 1-2 meals per week that me and my family eat out and that is not included in the above price. We are a family of 4 (me, my dh and my 2 daughters) plus 4 daycare kids (none of which are infants). The more expensive weeks are usually because I have to purchase laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet tissue, personal hygiene products, etc.

We price match what we can at Wal-Mart. The remaining groceries are purchased at Sprouts and Costco. What helps us a lot is making large meals and spreading it out throughout the week (like spaghetti for dinner, a daycare meal of spaghetti and dinner of leftovers where spaghetti is one option).

Here are some sample meals:
Dinner (all of which can be pre-prepared and served for daycare lunches also):
*Cobb salad with homemade blue cheese dressing
*Grilled chicken over whole wheat penne pasta with caprese sauce (chopped fresh roma tomates with freshly chopped basil and olive oil)
*Pot roast
Lunches:
*Whole wheat pizza with tomato sauce, Canadian bacon and freshly sliced pineapple, served with fresh fruit
Breakfast:
*Homemade zucchini carrot whole wheat muffins, turkey sausage and fresh fruit

[momofboys]

We are a family of 5 (3 growing boys, , 12, 9 1/2 & 5) & we spend about $125-$150/week and this includes daycare foods; however, a few of my daycare kids are babies so currently I don't provide anything for them as the moms provide BM or formula plus during the summer months the one family is only very part-time (I provide mostly school-year care). I don't anticipate our costs going up much though as I only provide lunch & snacks & of the 4 kids I will have in the fall 2 of them are babies. That being said I feel like we don't buy a lot of meat - I would like to buy more but it's so expensive we tend to buy chicken when it is on sale or fresh ground turkey/chicken as we can normally get it cheaper than hamburger.

[daycarediva]

WAY JEALOUS.

I spent almost $400 this week on food alone. I feed 12 kids breakfast, lunch & 1 snack/day and my own family of 6 dinner.

I don't coupon as most of the food items are processed. No coupons for produce.

Daycare and my family eat all fresh, locally grown, organic food, with a few minimally processed things, usually organic (I am an Annie's white cheddar shells and cheese ADDICT) .

I don't buy ANY junk food.

[blandino]

I grocery shop for the daycare completely separately than my personal grocery shopping, and for the daycare I spend about 160/ 2 weeks.

That is for 12 children (2 not on solids), breakfast - lunch- pm snack. I do most of my grocery shopping for the daycare at aldi, and am on the food program. All of DCK are under 4, so portion sizes are smaller than OP's.

Personally, I eat mostly organic and non-processed foods, I believe that 1/2 my clients would be willing to pay a higher rate for an all organic diet - but the other half would not. I feed the DCK very little processed foods, so I feel like the groceries/ ingredients I buy at Aldi are comparable to the conventional ones from a Wal-Mart type grocery store. I would feel Leary about Pre-packaged foods at a discount store, but buying the ingredients for meals, I feel okay about.

Last weeks menu:

Breakfast:
M: cereal bars & bananas
T: biscuits & strawberries
W: cheerios & bananas
Th: Pancakes & strawberries
F: toast with jam & grapes

Lunch:
M: scrambled eggs, hash browns, oranges, carrots
T: Beef franks, buns, sweet potato fries, corn, tomatoes
W: grilled cheese, raisins, peaches
Th: yogurt, egg noodles, green beans, oranges
F: beef and cheese burrito, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples

Snack:
M: yogurt & apples
T: cheese sticks & grapes
W:baby carrots & oyster crackers
Th: diced turkey & cherry tomatoes
F: graham crackers & strawberries

[Play Care]

Food prices have shot up, so I'm trying to do what I can to make my dollar stretch.
I'm going to be honest, while my family eats lots of fresh produce and very little (probably none if I think about it) processed foods, I am more relaxed with the day care. Why? Because their parents feed them crap, and they won't eat the things I make for my family. After years of trying and having my efforts wind up in the trash I've had enough. I just recently scrapped my 4 week rotating menu and made a ONE week menu.

Monday - HM pancakes, fruit, milk lunch is deli meat, cheese, ww bread, 2veggies, milk

Tuesday - French toast (packaged because hm French toast never gets eaten) fruit, milk and lunch is pb & j on ww bread, 1 veg, 1 fruit, milk

Wednesday - waffles (frozen - same deal as French toast), fruit, milk and lunch is grilled cheese, 2 veggies, milk

Thursday - HM oatmeal, fruit, milk and lunch is chicken (frozen, because the majority of the kids have no idea what grilled or baked chicken is) 2 veggies and milk

Friday - eggs, ww toast, fruit, milk and lunch is hm pizza (I make the whole thing, crust included) This is the *only* thing I make from scratch for dc that everyone eats. Pizza... 2 veggies and milk.

I get around rules about the "same" foods by changing things up a little and using seasonal fresh produce. Do I love it? No. But I will say it has cut waste tremendously. And really, if the parents are just going to bring them to Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds for dinner every night...

Kudos to you who fight the good fight, I just can't afford it anymore