Hi friends!
How much do you spend per week on groceries for the daycare only? How much on supplies? How many children do you watch? Are they over 2 yrs old?
Does anyone use meal apps to configure costs?
Also, has anyone researched or have a low cost meal plan that I can see?

Thanks so much!!!

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When i was doing daycare last year, i spent $500 a month on groceries but this was for my family of 3 plus the daycare... 9 kids under 2.

I spent $80 a month on diapers and wipes... i didn't reallly buy anything else regularly

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I spend an average of $40 a week on daycare foods. I serve lunch and two snacks. I keep a smaller group than a lot of people on here. I have 5 to feed currently. I don’t buy name brands. The cost of living where I am is fairly cheap in general.


As for supplies it depends. Parents supply most things.

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I spend roughly $100 on groceries.
Costs are dependent on our weekly menu and the season.

Nothing really spent on supplies. I have enough supplies to outfit a couple Kindergarten classrooms...

Regular disposable supplies such as toilet paper, garbage bags and paper towels are bought in bulk so I usually buy those things every 6-8 weeks or so.

Parents supply wet wipes and diapers

I have 14 children enrolled.
10 full time and 4 part timers
Ages 20 months to 5 years old

I have 2 children under age 2.
One of which will be 2 at the end of April and the other will turn 2 in July.

No, nope meal planner app.
I stick to the basics and tweak my menus according to my current group. I don't think I spend all that much on groceries and I am pretty savvy with buying what is on sale or what is in season so cutting costs in that area has never been something I've looked too deeply into.

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I roughly spend $100 a week on groceries.

Supplies are bought as needed.

I have no kiddo's under 2.

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You were allowed to have 9 kiddo's under 2!?

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I’m not sure, because I don’t separate. But I spend about $225 per week right now, including paper goods and cleaning products. For 7 daycare children, my own 8 and 18 year old kids, and two adults.

Food program sends me about 550-600 per month.

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I usually spend between $100-$150 a week on groceries. Supplies tend to bought “as needed”, but I would SWAG it out at $20-$30 a week.

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I only have one child that I provide food for and so I dont spend much at all. Average is $15 per week for food for her. That covers 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 10 snacks. All my others are under the age of 1 so I require the parents provide all food/formula for them. I dont use a meal planner app, just make it up as I go along. An example of what I feed her: breakfast today was mixed fruit, a small waffle and juice. Lunch was bunless hot dog, beans, apples and milk. Snack was cheese and crackers this morning and will be peanut butter on celery sticks this afternoon. I’ve adapted to cooking for just one kid by breaking down large packages of food and freezing individual servings of things so they don’t go to waste before I get a chance to cook them.
As for supplies, parents provide wipes and diapers and I provide everything else. Things like paper towels and trash bags are bought in bulk at wholesale prices. I get any other supplies like construction paper, watercolors, books at places like dollar tree to help keep costs down.
I keep a total of 4 kids: 20mths, 11mths, 10mths, and 5mths.

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10 under 2 but one is my own...with an assistant. Before I expanded, I had 5 under 2 on my own.

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Wow!! We can only have four under two with an assistant and by ourselves we can only have 2. I can't imagine that many little ones together! Baby whisperer you must be

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I don't know how some of you manage to keep costs so low? I must be a horrible shopper.
Yesterday I spent about 90, 5 dcks and myself. That includes all cleansers and paper products. And I'll probably hit the store again to make sure I have enough produce to make it through the week.

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They live in the land of cheap grocery stores.

I have a Safeway and a small independently owned store. That is it. I have to travel about an hour and a half over mountainous terrain if I want cheap groceries.

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I think it worked way better when i was feeding daycare kids actually! haha!
when i was feeding 6 kids under 5 and over 18 months, AND my husband and myself, my groceries/supply budget per week was about $100.
now that i don't feed the daycare kids and i only feed my husband and my 2 year old and me i still struggle around $100 a week for groceries!! go figure :roll eyes:
maybe its because we had a very basic meal plan every day and left overs were ALWAYS consumed so there was no waste. now theres so much waste and the family wants "variety"
meal prep is tedious work so i stopped but enjoy it while you can, i got reimbursed only for the kids i cared for not even my own son but it supplied sooo much income! good luck!

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I have 4 DCKs, occasionally 5. Alle 2 and younger.
I spend no more than 70 $ a week on groceries for our AM snack, lunch and PM snack. Being infants and toddlers, they prefer simpler foods, and much of what we eat is homemade. I buy mostly organic.

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I shop at Walmart and Sam's Club.
I never buy paper products unless there is a sale and I only buy them in bulk so that right there is a huge savings. I know that paper towel at the grocery store is 2x what it costs at Walmart and 4x times what it costs at Sam's when bought in bulk..kwim?

I also buy very simple too. Lots of fresh veggies (in season) and lots of filling foods (wild rice, oatmeal, pasta etc). I don't buy a lot of fruit as I feel kids get alot of that at home and to me it's just added sugar. I focus on extra veggies instead. I plan ahead and try to use left overs for hotdishes and casseroles later so there is less waste. I also have a clean out the fridge day on Friday so that helps too!

On a side note, I don't know how much milk is where you are but I can buy a gallon of milk for $1.79 at Walmart.

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. blackcat31

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I was hanging out socially with one of my dcms last night and she was talking about what great deal she got on bread and buns at the grocery store and I said “you know that’s the price it always is at walmart right?” She refuses to shop there but agreed that when it comes to kids it makes sense as a lot is probably wasted anyways. I have no problems with shopping at walmart for the kids or even myself.

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We shop at Wal-Mart but sometimes I want to go somewhere else just because I need a break from Wal-Mart. I love how other grocery stores seem so nice and everything stocked so well. I needed band-aids this weekend and wal-mart was out of the kind I was specifically looking for and out of most band-aids. I'm like really, was there a run on band-aids. The weekend before they were out of bananas.

I want to be a rebel and start shopping somewhere else but it would sadly blow the grocery budget

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All of our local stores will price match any advertised deals.
It takes work sometimes to follow up on all the ads etc but sometimes it's totally worth it.

I don't like shopping at Walmart much either but instead of just spending more by shopping elsewhere I do a price match or I have just learned what times are ideal and what times are not so ideal for shopping at Walmart.

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Okay.... so jealous of your grocery expenses! I spend around 700 a month on groceries. I just bought 3 gal of whole milk from the local grocery store for $4.29 per gal! It's horribly expensive here. And... The food program pays only about $160 per month. I have 7 children total right now (2 are mine).

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I have 12 children daily, breakfast, lunch, snacks. I serve whole wheat, organic. Produce is the biggest chunk. I am part of a farm share and that's 495/6 months. I spend about 100-125 a week aside from that.

I do a monthly amazon auto ship for diapers, wipes, TP, diaper genie, disposable gloves, and printer ink. It's around 150. No paper towels as we use reusable.

I also spend a good 20-25/week on crafts, books, curriculum, and reusable art items. My kids are big art lovers.

My FP pays well, I get around $1,000/month so it covers my expenses.

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Dh and I were just doing estimates out loud because of this thread and he said "You realize we spend more feeding the dogs than we do the kids."

They eat a combo of expensive grain free and a raw diet.

EVERYONE eats well though.

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I spend $100-$150 per month on groceries for the dcks. All groceries are organic and local when possible and the bulk of the expense is on fresh produce. I provide morning and afternoon snack - parents provide their own child's lunches.

Supplies like toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, cleaning solutions and wipes are purchased as need about every 2-3 months at Costco and I spend about $100 each time.

I have 6 dcks all are 2+ years old.

I have used Plan to Eat in the past and liked it for menu planning but it did not track cost (not sure if it does now as I have not used it in a long time). I no longer offer as much variety so there is no longer a need to menu plan for the dcks.

Our snacks are on a weekly rotation so every Monday the dcks have the same thing, every Tuesday is the same, etc. it helps me to avoid waste and creates a nice rhythm for the kids.

Since I have a preschool program I spend about $100-$150 on materials for that.

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I do clean-out-the-fridge on Fridays too. I still end up with too much waste. I paid 2.99 for a gal. of milk Sunday but it's usually 3.29. I'll have to check out our closest Walmart and see what their prices are. They just added more to their grocery aisles within the past couple years. I've tried to limit my trips there because the cart becomes a magnet and I easily spend $100 before I know what I'm doing. The local store I go to usually has good deals and I follow their sales circulars, buy what's in season.
I haven't gone to a club store for a long time because 1) closest store is an hour away and 2) my cart was always a magnet there too. I can be a terrible impulse shopper.

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Do you follow a menu with the dcks? I have found that rotating my menu and having an exact plan of what we are having helps me when I shop. I only buy the things on the list for that week. I shop on Thursday nights for the following week.

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A super great way to break that habit is to use their mobile app and shop without going into the store. It helps keep you to buying only what's on your list since you aren't in the store to see all the other good stuff they have...

I use the app, buy what's on my list and then when DH and I get to the store, we go to the pick up area and pick up all the items on my list all bagged and ready to go. Nothing extra in my cart.

You can "practice" doing this in regular stores too and pretty soon it gets super easy. I make a list and challenge myself to buy ONLY what is on the list. Nothing more.

Sometimes I'll see something I think I forgot to add to the list but I'll still pass it by and not get it because the focus is staying on task and buying only what is on the list. I figured if I could master that, I'd be doing ok.

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