You spend WHAT on groceries?

The church Matt and I attend have a campaign of sorts going on right now....a Quest if you will, to seek God in all different aspects of life.  The clergy have made a whole slew of different Bible Study and groups available to all members in hopes that people will find something to connect to and engage them to seek God and strengthen their faith.  Matt and I stopped and talked with our pastor a couple of Sundays ago at the info table and he asked us what we were going to join?  (We honestly had not decided on anything but caught on the spot now!).  With two small boys and both working, it was hard to find a time that was agreeable to our schedules.  Thankfully, as we learned, they provide free childcare!  ;-)  Anyway, he told us about how he and his wife had gone though Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey a few sessions ago and how much they got out of it and maybe that would be a good one for us to try.  We had discussed it before...but were never really sure that it was something we NEEDED as we only have mortgage and car payments as far as debt goes.  Was this something that we could benefit from?

Well, after some prayerful consideration, we decided we would give it a go.  We attended our first class last week, and interestingly enough, the majority of the class were people like us in similar situations.  Not necessarily debt to deal with, but lack of an actual budget on things above and beyond savings and bills.  And a desire to have a greater knowledge of their personal finances and take the stress out of dealing with money. 

Are you still with me??  I know this is a round about way to get where I am going with the groceries! :)

Our first assignment is to complete a high level budget.  Matt had one he had done about a year ago for us so that is getting us started.  He printed it out for me and we will go over it some more before Thursday.  One of the major things that sticks out to me, besides childcare which is not negotiable at this point...is GROCERIES! Holy HECK!  Now, one thing about that, is to us, groceries isn't just food....its beauty and cleaning products, toiletries, diapers etc.  All things that you would pick up at Kroger's or the occasional Target trip. Regardless, it is a huge chunk of our monthly bills and seems to be way too much for 2 adults and 2 small boys to be spending!

I cook meals for our family prob 3-4 times a week, and not extravagant ones.  None of the beauty or cleaning products I buy are outrageous or top of the line.  So why are we spending this much?  I am SO very curious to hear what other people in our class have down in that category.

After all that, my question to you is....are you on a Grocery Budget?  How do you save money at the store? Any tips to get started?  Would love to hear some people's suggestions on how they save money on the basic food/cleaning/beauty necessities they use for their families!