Survey: How Much Do You Spend on Food?

I’m a single female living in Los Angeles. My bill is about $780 I eat very well and pretty much shop only at whole foods market. I never eat junk food/fast food. But, after looking at my spending at whole foods which is $380 ($90 of that is on supplements) for this past month I’m thinking I should look into online natural food stores to buy dry goods and supplements at discounted prices. My eating-out bill was $400 for the month… I better cut back on the lamb and wine:( I don’t know how people get by on $200 a month. However, I would like to see my food bill down to half.

Knowing what others spend is a good eye-opener. Habits of indulgence are hard to break though.

My wife and I spend about $425/month on groceries and probably $150/month going out. That Consumer Expenditure Survey pointed out earlier in this Blog is really interesting and people should check it out.

Also, people on this blog are obvviously interested in analyzing their expenditures so my recommendation is to get Quicken or MS Money asap. We used to track based on receipts which was never accurate. Quicken automatically hooks into your credit card and bank accounts and graphs all expenditures into categories. I find their software really useful and wish someone would have told me about this years ago. Have a good holiday!

My partner and I pay $150 to $175 a month in groceries, including toiletries and cat supplies, and spend no more than $25 per week to eat out in any way. Usually that’s one sit-down dinner out a week and one trip to Subway for a weekend lunch.
We use no coupons and don’t grow our own food, but we do shop at the super-discount grocery store (WinCo) and budget very carefully to make sure our weekly grocery trip is under $50, which we’ve gotten very good at.
We still consider eating out a sort of luxury and we don’t do it if money is tight, but it works for us.

I am gladthat I read this. My husband says I could spend less on groceries- but we are about average. We are a family of 5 and I spend about 600 a month on food and cleaning and dog food. I still would like to spend less though. Maybe 400 a month.

I appreciate this site. I just pulled our end of year numbers together. They are staggering. We have a family of six. My wife, my self and 4 growing boys (ages 14, 12, 9 and 5). We spent $9,403 on groceries last year (this does include everything bought at grocery stores, soap, shampoo, etc.)and we spent $5,106 eating out. We live in the midwest with reasonable cost of living, but I feel my kids are eating us out of house and home as the saying goes. We clip some coupons, but its a challenge.

The following is for a household of two people:

My boyfriend and I recently moved in together and we’re currently spending $400 a month on groceries, not including toiletries, etc. I do the grocery shopping, I always prepare a list and I’m a coupon devotee. He is really disciplined about taking his lunch to work each day, while I eat lunch at work at least 3x per week due to a discounted employee meal plan we have in our firm’s cafeteria. I make sure to cook dinner at least six nights a week, and we always eat out on one of the weekend nights as a treat to ourselves.

Once a week is reserved for leftovers, or “hodge podge night” as we jokingly refer to it. The hardest part for me is meal planning because I was so used to living alone and it’s A LOT easier to cook for one vs. two. My boyfriend was raised on dinners prepared by his Mom that included a meat, vegetable and starch, and that’s how I prepare our meals. But I usually run out of meats and ideas mid-week, and resort to a pasta dish. I think a lot of this stems from being a novice cook, I’m really trying to learn and am finding that I enjoy cooking. I’d be interested in hearing how others organize their meal plans. BTW, great thread!!

My husband and I just crunched our numbers because we couldn’t understand where all our money was going. We knew we spent a lot on eating out, but we didn’t realize the extent to which this habit was hurting us financially. On average over the last year we ate out 4-5 times a week, spent $300 a week on just eating out and $100 on groceries and other household necessities such as detergents. That turns into $1600 a month on food. I thought, how one earth do we spend $300 a week on eating out? Well anytime we go somewhere we spend about $40-$50 on our meal with tip included. Plus my husband works in DC so he gets lunch everyday in the city for $10-$20 a day. This really makes me sick! Growing up, my parents had a budget of $125 a week on groceries for a family of four. We definitely need to make a food budget for ourselves and stop eating out!

I only have to buy groceries for myself, and I budget for it. Last month I budgeted $100 and made it. This month I’m looking to spend just $90. I don’t use coupons too often, unless it’s for something I buy anyway, because I usually buy store brand and I don’t buy much packaged food anyway. $90/month still allows me to eat very healthy and even munch on a few organics. You just have to spend wisely and be willing to make more food from scratch.

P.S. — I should add that the eggs I buy alone are $4.29 a pop for a dozen now — I could get cheaper but it’s important to me that these are free range eggs. I don’t buy them every trip but you can imagine how other prices must be if eggs are $4 for me.

My mind is boggling at some of the low monthly expenditures here! We are 2 adults and we absolutely spend $600/month on groceries. We out once a month (somewhere nice, almost always around $80-100) and cook for ourselves otherwise. We buy all free-range, organic and non-processed food…eggs, cheese and the occasional specialty meat (quail, pheasant, etc.) For us, it’s important to eat well and feel healthy, and we don’t eat out, so it seems reasonable to us. It seems like we might be nuts, though…

We don’t eat frugally. We eat *well*. There are only two of us, plus 4 cats. We spend around $500-600/month.

I don’t use coupons. Generally, coupons are only for prepared products that we rarely use. I do comparison shop. Each week, I checkout 3 or 4 advertisements and plan my shopping and menus around what’s on sale at these places. I once calculated that I “earn” approximately $27/hour for the time I spend planning and shopping multiple stores.

I buy very few prepared or packaged products, which is why I find coupons mostly useless. I buy the basics in bulk: soft wheat, hard wheat, cornmeal, oatmeal, brown rice, various dried beans, sugar, etc. I buy a lot of baking supplies in bulk also: herbs & spices, yeast, cocoa, etc. I go to an Aldi’s about every 8 weeks or so and stock up on this sort of thing, as well as dried goods like pasta, cereal and the little junk food we buy (mostly crackers and some chocolate).

I attempt to buy nearly everything when it’s on sale. For instance, this week, I’ll buy a whole beef round (cut up as minute steak, stew meat, london broil-type steaks and a few roasts). We have a half-sized chest freezer that is usually between half and three-quarters full. When coffee is on sale, I buy 8-10 cans. My overall goal is to buy nearly everything when it’s on sale.

We spend WAY too much on dairy; it’s common to buy a gallon of milk, a couple quarts of cream, a quart of yogurt and a couple tubs of cottage cheese each week. I only buy hard cheeses on sale at $3/lb or less and freeze it. I buy butter at $1.50/lb or less and freeze it. But dairy is a HUGE epxenditure for us, probably more than makes up for all the packaged stuff I don’t buy.

I grow a large garden each year, and I’m including costs for seeds and accessories (e.g., plastic to cover the hoophouse) in my food budget here. As well as canning lids. Though probably I should only count 1/3rd as a food cost, 1/3rd as entertainment and 1/3rd as therapy. Gardening is not primarily a frugal thing for me, but a necessity of life!

In winter, my biggest splurge is buying fresh produce. Yes, we have dehydrated, canned, frozen and root-cellared stuff available year round, but I *want* fresh produce. And when nothing is really in season locally, I buy ridiculously expensive stuff shipped from cross-country.

We eat out maybe once or twice a month at an actual sit-down restaurant, and might hit a drive-through joint or grab a pizza another time or two.

We buy very little junk food and almost no prepared foods. We spend *way* to much on soda though, that’s one of our major vices, even though it’s either generic or bought on sale.

We also buy very little cleaning stuff. We use cloth napkins, dish towels, and rags for cleaning, so the only paper product we buy is toilet paper. I regularly buy bleach, ammonia and baking soda and make most of my cleaning supplies from those. We do buy Comet, Ivory dishwashing detergent and a generic brand of laundry detergent. I line my oven with aluminum foil, so I just replace that instead of cleaning the oven. I mostly use reusable tupperware or canning jars for storage and leftovers (and we have 6-gallon buckets for the stuff like grains), but do buy freezer paper to wrap my large meat purchases (like a whole pork loin last week). I buy regular Ivory soap, shampoo and conditioner, peroxide, first aid supplies and over-the-counter medications when they’re on sale.

We buy alcohol maybe twice a year… our consumption is probably about a case of beer, a couple boxes of wine, and a couple bottles of liqueurs. Every couple years, I buy a few bottles of Everclear for making homemade liqueurs.

When we raised chickens, we spent about the same – eggs and chicken meat are cheap so you don’t save much, and we had to buy grain for the chickens, so it came out about equal. Course, we were regular egg-pushers then too, insisting everyone who came near us take a dozen or more eggs.

I think we spend rather a lot, and I could feed us for probably less than half what I do, but we eat *very* well. I am willing to pay for lots of dairy, our soda habit and piles of fresh produce all winter – which are our main splurges.

Wow, what an eye opener. We are a family of five (me, husband, 8, 6 and 3 year old kids) live in a suburb of Boston and I shop a couple of times a week and we eat out quite a bit. I only looked at last month and we spent $1015 at the grocery store and $473 on take out or restaurants. Nearly $1500! We buy mostly organic, which is so pricey (eggs are $4.29, milk is $4.39/half gallon…) but eat out way too much. I bow to those of you who can feed a family so frugally. I really have my work cut out for me!

Family of 9 (7 children 14,12,9,7,5,3,9mo)
We spend approx $475-$575 monthly
this includes restaurants (rarely), toiletries, laundry items, diapers, gas money.
easy… NO!
necessary… YES!
We survive on very low quality prepackaged foods. My wife shops mostly at Aldi and Sam’s club.

Family of 5, we spend about $700 a month on groceries. I am a graphic designer for a specialty fresh market and so I am obligated to purchase groceries there. We rarely entertain (once or twice a month) and when we do it is only with a few people.

I certainly agree that you are what you eat. Better to spend more on good healthy food now than spend TONS on medical bills down the road.

I am a single male living out side of seattle and for the past five months my food bill has averaged out to 180 month or 5.85 a day

This includes a small amount of fast food and take out for two once and a while.

This is over my budget and i am taking steps to reduce it closer to 150/month mostly by less fast food and buying what i can in larger quantities.

I found this site today and it was interesting to look back and see what others spend a week. I am trying to be more aware of what we spend on food and drink. We are in a rural area of northeast GA. My husband and I have 3 children ages 12,10 and 8. Our youngest is a boy and he never stops moving and never stops eating!!! I feel like I do very well if I keep food to under 250 dollars a week. I can relate to those that feel like their kids are eating them out of house and home! I make 90 percent of our things from scratch, grind my own grains for bread, crackers etc. I purchase in season veggies from a co-op delivered twice a month. I also purchase raw organic milk for 4.00 gallon from local dairy averaging 2 gallons per week. I purchase organic cheese and butter in bulk mail order and freeze. I buy fresh eggs locally for 1.50 dozen. We very rarely ever eat out..less than once a month. I live an hour from any type of warehouse club but do purchase bulk from a buying club co op once a month. I spend a lot of time looking through the catalog comparing prices and watching sale trends.Snacks consist of fruit (we easily eat about 10 lbs of apples per week at my house), homemade crackers or bread. with nut butter (cashew or peanut) We eat meat 3 times or less per week in very small portions!! We all eat at home 3 meals a day 7 days a week, hubby comes home for lunch and kids are homeschooled. I avoid additives so prepackaged is very rare for our family. The only additive I get is from my terrible addiction to diet cokes. I am currently trying to put an end to this right now. It is very hard. BTW We don’t drink alcohol or smoke. Life is just expensive! I wish there was a way to know how much I should spend!! It is not easy.

We have a family of 4 on one income. budget is approximately $300/month on groceries(food only). We only eat out about 2x per month. On cleaning supplies our budget is about $10 per month and toiletries $20-$30 and things the kids need approx. $40.

I have to say I find it baffling how some families with 7 kids spend only 500 dollars a month including eating out, toiletries and gas money. This is impossible. Maybe it’s U.S. prices but there are no stores in Canada (even Costco) that would make that possible.

We have 4 children and a dog. Not including toiletries, diapers or dog food, I still end up spending 800 dollars a month. Yet I buy in bulk, shop for specials, cook a lot of stews and pasta dishes, we eat homemade cookies and oatmeal, and we don’t buy name brands for a lot of items. We don’t buy soda, and our eating/take-out bill amounts to 100$/month (we rarely do this). We work from home so we don’t eat out for lunch or buy stuff from vending machines. And yet it is all I can do to keep that bill down to $800/month no matter how I try to cut costs. The kids can’t go hungry, right? We eat a lot of fruit, drink a lot of milk, but all of us brown-bag it for lunch. Maybe it’s U.S. stores or something but I just can’t believe some of the numbers here.

It is interesting to see how much money can be saved on food. And how much can be spend, too!

My budget is $250 per month for a single person. I am a vegetarian, cook everything from scratch, no sodas, no junk food, I don’t eat out.

I think I could do a little better if I lived in a different state. Alaska is not exactly cheap state, and a brief walk through produce aisle can cost you:)! Visiting farmers markets doesn’t help much because they charge even more then a grocery store, claiming that local produce is better, therefore they feel it’s ok to sell 1 cucumber for 3 dollars.

I also appreciate reading everyones comments, particularly the one from Alaska. She’s not kidding? We live in SE Alaska, with 6 of us (4 kids)and only fish for pets. A gal. of milk (at Costco) is $3.89 and no local products (except fish). We rarely buy soda or crackers/cookies. We do buy some alcohol. We pack lunches and eat out only about 4x per yr. Our grocery bill (including houseold items)runs around $1,200 per mo. We can do a bit better, but I’ve never gotten it less than $1000. Looking at this I think I’ll cut out the alcohol and soda for August and see what difference that makes.

We have 6 children and of course my hubby and I. We spend $600 US on food a month. That includes all toiletries and paper goods. I am still looking for ways to cut it down.

Three person household. $200 monthly we also don’t eat out. This includes snacks,soda. Not including the extras such as detergents and toiletries

As an afterthought it is possible to eat much cheaper than average but it means skimping on everything. I’ve eaten at a few peoples places who do that and you notice it. Take for example Spaghetti, mine is stuffed to the gills with meat veggies tomato paste etc, theirs, well let’s just say it’s a dusting of tomato paste on noodles, or my chickpea recipe “chick peas, bacon and Spanish sausage” mine is stuffed full. Full pack of bacon sausage etc, theirs maybe 2 slices of bacon and a quarter of a sausage. Nice but almost no meat.

Yes you can eat very cheap but it means being very skimpy.

There are five of us…myself, my partner, my 8yo son, his 7yo and 10yo daughters…oh, and the cat…in New Zealand.

I spend about NZ$300 (US$216) each fortnight at the supermarket. This includes toiletries and household supplies. Then each week we budget NZ$40 (US$29) at the local market for fruit, vege and eggs. So monthly that’s about NZ$760 (US$550).

I buy as little processed food as possible preferring to make as much as I can from scratch including baking (not bread though anymore). No alchohol (unless needed for a recipe), no cigarettes, no lollies and no fizzy drinks. I write fortnightly menus (I recently subscribed to a 3 month online weekly menu mailing group) and create my grocery lists (‘market’ and ‘supermarket’) from that. Usually the only thing we need to get outside those particular trips is milk. Alas, I do catch myself putting more and more treat types of foods into my trolley of late!

We grow nothing (although I want to start a small garden). We eat meat every night. We have eggs for breakfast five out of seven days a week. I have shopped at the same supermarket out of town for the last three years, only using the local supermarket to get things like milk or anything we run out of unexpectedly. I don’t use coupons. We rarely dine out – maybe two or three times a year…unless you count McDs maybe once a month and very little takeaways. Oh, Friday – ice-block day…the kids love the once a week treat!