What does the average four-person family spend on food in a month? In a year? How much does a two-person household spend on food? How much does your family spend? How much of this is for groceries? How much for dining out? Do you make an effort to control food spending, or do you simply buy what you feel like? Do you use coupons? Do you grow your own food? I’m not so much looking for advice, but gathering anecdotes. I’m curious about general habits.
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My husband and I live in Southern California. We try to budget $450/month for groceries but generally spend around $700 or more – this includes all toiletries and sundries as well as food for our two cats. It’s just the two of us plus the cats. We spend less than $100/month eating out.
I don’t even wanna talk about the price of gas here. Yikes!
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HELP!!! I spend so much money on groceries, its crazy. I have a lot of allergies to foods, i can’t eat wheat, or wheat gluten of any sorts, I am lactose intolerant(which means i cant drink milk), I can’t eat shell fish, my stomach cant digest beef and i simply dont like pork.
I buy fish, chicken, fruits and vegetables, usually the freshest I can get or frozen. I shop at Ada’s health food store so I can get my pastas and breads and crackers, so i can get my grain intake. But my grocery bill is rediculous. We (my fiance and I) spend about $80 bucks at walmart, thats JUST food, no toiletries, no detergents, no shampoos, … No just FOOD ALONE. Then go to Adas Health Food Store to get the specialty items that I can eat, that won’t Kill me, lol… and thats about $30-60.00 bucks.. and this is only in a week…
But in just food we spend about $100-150.00 a week, thats $400.00 – 600.00 dollars a week on just food, and its not really including dinner foods, only for a couple of days… HELP…. I don’t know what to do, but we can’t keep spending like this, it is taking us under.
if you have any suggestions, please comment me back, or send me an email at BeautifulNatural@yahoo.com..
Thanks.
soon to be mother in distress………
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We have a household with four adults. We spend about $200/month in cash on food, and $200/month in foodstamps. About a year ago we used to spend only the foodstamps, and get the rest of our food out of the dumpster. We eat a lot of vegetables and fruit, some meat, and almost no grains.
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Two adult household, we spend about $400/mo on groceries and $100-200/mo on eating out. Almost all the food we buy is organic, free-range, and/or local. I know it’s a lot more expensive, but I also think it’s a more realistic price for food. As long as we can afford it, it will be a priority to buy this kind of food.
We also don’t buy expensive out-of-season produce, drink milk, or eat meat every day. I do garden and we buy as much in bulk as possible.
BeautifulNatural – can you wean yourself off the expensive no-gluten “substitute” foods like rice pastas and gluten-free bread and start developing a taste for potatoes, quinoa, and other non-gluten unprocessed starches? Around us, a box of no-gluten noodles (that would make one meal for two) costs $3-4; an equivalent quantity of potatoes would probably cost 50 cents. Do others in the family also eat the “specialty” foods? Sometimes it’s not too hard to do a meal with a non-gluten and a (cheaper) regular version of a side dish, which would stretch the expensive ingredients.
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We’re a family of 2. We spend 300.00 a month on groceries, and about 100.00 a month eating out. (usually sushi or Thai at $30-$35 a meal)
Our dinners have become very basic- vegetables (grilled, sauteed or steamed)and some sort of protein (I eat 4 oz of Salmon every night, my husband’s vegan and eats processed vegan protein sources).
Limiting our choices for dinner has saved us some money, and it helped my cholesterol drop 36 points in 6 months.
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My husband, my mom (who lives with us), my pre-schooler daughter and I spend about $800/month on groceries. We have recently completely cut out dining out in order to try to live within our means. Grocery-wise, we spend a LOT on organic produce and dairy, although we’ve been trying to find ways to cut the costs, somewhat successfully. We do live in NYC, but shop primarily at places like Trader Joe’s, our local food coop, and Costco. We buy very little meat- only my husband eats it- but we do tend to eat some expensive meat substitutes that counter the “cheap” factor of vegetarian eating. We do not buy much in the way of snacks, and don’t generally shop sales or use coupons- those aren’t usually available where we shop.
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My husband and I spend $300-$350 per month on food, and that includes toiletries and cleaning supplies, and alcohol.
We have a veggie and herb garden, and we enjoy fine foods. We live in a small town with only one grocery store, so our options aren’t always great in terms of selection and price.
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$20 a week for a family of 3. (Well, 2 since our daughter is only 6 months.) This includes groceries and toiletries. And diapers (using CVS and Walgreens, I’ve never needed to spend $ on diapers!). An occasional splurge if we’ve saved in previous months. It can be done. We’ve done this for over 6 months now.
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My family of six (two overweight parents in our 40s, 19yo daughter, 17yo son, 15yo daughter, and 10yo son) spent $1000/mo. on grocery items (including non-food items) and $100/mo. on eating out (not counting a week-long vacation at one point) from August 2007 through July 2008. It’s not as frugal as some budgets but feels pretty tight compared to a lot!
I buy a lot of fresh produce and more soda and cookies and crackers and ice cream than we need. Coupons are not a viable option in our area, really, and there is little competition among grocery stores.
In my new budget, necessitated by a big car repair this week, we will spend $800/mo. on groceries and $50/mo. on eating out. Whew.
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We have cut down on grocery bills by eating less. We are getting rail thin ( which I like since my waist size is down to 32 inches ).
For 2 adults food bill $220.00. I shop at
” Mexican stores” they are way cheaper than name brand stores.
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It’s just me and my husband for our family. Our food bills vary, but on average we spend about $1200 on food each month. Acutally in June we spent about $1700! This is a combination of dining out and grocery shopping. On average we spend about $800 dining out and about $200-$400 in groceries. This month, I’ve cooked a lot more and it looks like our total food bill is closer to $800. About $400 dining out and $400 for groceries.
My husband has a job at the mall and his store does not have a fridge or microwave. It’s difficult for him to have leftovers. I used to go out to lunch with coworkers for the break away from work, but that’s when we were spending so much. I think in the future, our monthly food bill will be closer to $800-$900 for an average. Plus, by cooking at home, I’m able to control portions and ingredients. I’ve lost a number of pounds by not eating out.
Also, I usually try to buy organic whenever possible. I try to avoid the cheap processed box items in the middle of the store and only shop around the perimeter.
I love using microsoft money. It’s able to show our monthly spending habits over the past 12 months and then I export that to excel to find the averages.
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Today I just ate a small portion of food and drank simple tap water for lunch.
I donot drink these sugary drinks completely cut down on those expenses.
Once a week I go out and eat at a cheap Thai food place. Its OK to be thin for the moment. I like it… its me real me coming out..
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Mela, thanks for putting this into some perspective. My husband and I spend about $600 a month on food and I know we can cut back but hell, at least we have $600 a month we can spend, unlike some.
We don’t buy processed food and buy mostly organic. I’m going to try taking $100 in cash each week and making that our budget. Why am I complaining about how much we spend on food? We can spend less AND give something each month to the food bank. No one should have to go to the dumpster for their food – not in a country where we’re so spoiled with our food. Might I suggest that we all cut our budgets and do something good with what we save?
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Hi, I think it does depend on your food philosophy.
I tend to spend a bit more on healthy groceries as an investment towards better health and lower health care premiums/costs in the long run. (I also work out for this reasons, but also for enjoyment/entertainment.)
So, right now it’s a 2 person household. My daughter and I spend about $200 on food. We don’t eat a lot of meat (seafood primarily) and a good bit of our budget goes towards fresh bread, fruits and veggies, then dairy products and eggs. I do buy organic and grassfed, so I will spend more on an item to eat less of it.
But generally, we are frugal in all other respects. We buy in bulk where practical, use the farmer’s market and don’t eat out much(if at all) and take lunches to school/work, so this food lifestyle works for us.
Overall, we spend about $200/mo on food. I make it a ‘rule’ not to shop more than 1x a week; it helps avoid unnecessary spending.
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There are five in our family. My kids are 5,4 and almost 2. My husband works from home most days so we eat all three meals together. We also live in a rural community so groceries are expensive (one trip to a major grocery store costs us $20 just in gas). Our average monthly grocery bill, which includes all household items: personal items, candles, cleaning supplies, computer/office equipment, school supplies; is between $480 – $520 a month This has not increased with the rise in gas and food costs, so if food goes up, our pickings get slimmer. I use grocery coupons. I feel sorry for anyone who stands behind me in lines. I do not have a dishwasher so I tend to buy boxed foods, and not make food from scratch, which means we pay more. Organic? Forget it!
I hate that we spend so little, I feel like our kids get too much junk food because it is cheap, but that’s the life when you’re a one income family.
We do spend more on eating out because we take one whole day as our shopping trip. It averages between $90-120 a month. And that is our splurge, we don’t spend much on anything else.
I live in Eastern Idaho
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I feel compelled to note that we live in FL, and so seafood is pretty inexpensive. I bought 1lb of shrimp (2 stir fries) fresh for $4.99/lb.
Also, we can get a lot of our own seafood with little effort. I’ve been scalloping, crabbing and fishing and I enjoy it.
We do grow some of our own veggies (not nearly enough) but I’m expanding my garden next year to be larger. We also get local produce of all kinds 10 out of 12 months of the year. I am joining an organic co op to learn gardening skills and for the price of two weekend mornings a month, I’ll take home a boatload of organic produce free of charge.
Frugal green lifestyle is the goal, for me.
So, if I were to pay for all of that in another area of the country, I suspect my bill would be much, much higher.
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My Mother and Father in law spend about $350 CDN a month for 2 seniors. He, being German, plans his monthly shopping out with military precision. I find dairy products in Ontario to be very very expensive, 4L (bit over a gallon) of milk is 4.69 (currently about 5US) butter cheese tends to be very pricey as well.
They tend to make most meals from scratch and are very very picky about not wasting anything. I learned that it’s best to let him cut the tomatoes I waste too much:)
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I’m a college student and spend around $100 a month in groceries and about $300 or so eating out. When eating out, it almost always includes my girlfriend, but it doesn’t include the 2 or 3 $5-7 meals she buys for me during the week and she usually cooks a pretty expensive dinner for me (20-30 for dinner and lunch the following day) once a week as well. I have NO idea how people are forced to be so frugral with their eating habbits. I spend nearly 33% of my monthly budget on food, 33% on rent, and the rest to entertainment/bills. I still manage to save a few hundred a month. I believe I live VERY modestly compared to most people, but reading this blog is making me think otherwise.
P.S. I grow none of my own food, rarely use cupons, don’t buy organic, ( I can’t taste the difference except in certain fruits like peaches), and don’t shop for bargains. Gas will eat up the pennies I save.
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In the last month, we (my fiance and I) have spent $168.33 at the grocery store and Sam’s. We also spent 179.77 at restaurants.
We eat at a sit-down restaurant about once a week, this usually comes to about $30. He sometimes picks up lunch at school, and 1-2 times each week we will get fast food.
We pick up a few items at Sams (frozen veggies and chicken, rice, whole grain bread, milk, juice). The rest is purchased at the grocery store down the street. I don’t clip coupons, but I rarely buy foods that are not on sale. I nearly always purchase store brands if they are available. I will buy organic if the price isn’t too much more.
We have family over for supper every Sunday. Sometimes it’s just one person, other times it is 6 extra people.
I tend to cook big meals on Sunday and Tuesday, then we have leftovers for lunch the rest of the week.
He often takes a lunchbox with icepacks to school.
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I find it really easy to spend less than $50/week on food–and everything I eat is organic. That includes eating out once a week at a good organic restaurant. I buy the majority of my grocieries at the local farmer’s market, with supplements from the bulk aisle of the food co-op. Perhaps my biggest money-saver is that I don’t eat meat (though I do eat eggs and dairy). Granted, free-range organic eggs are twice as much as conventional ones, but I just don’t eat them as often. And, get this, free-range eggs have HALF the cholesterol of eggs produced in a factory farm. The best part about eating this way is that I produce ZERO waste. No packaged foods, and most containers can be returned to be used at the market. Food scraps go in the compost. Easy.
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I find when the wife is on the road my shopping goes way down as I tend to eat out alot. In the end it balances itself out. Less on shopping more on eating out and visa versa when she’s home
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I’m a college student on co-op, so my meal plan for my dining hall is really small. I end up making myself breakfast and lunch most of the time, as well as dinner sometimes. I usually eat dinner at my dining hall (so, free…until the tuition bill comes) or grab dinner in town somewhere.
I do my weekly grocery shopping and spend between $30-$50. I’ve noticed that I buy a lot of unnecessary foods – usually ingredients for recipes that I want to try that I think my friends will like. Once I went shopping, and 11 of my 15 items I wouldn’t have gotten just for myself.
So, cutting down on my eating out and excessive ingredients would save me a lot of money, but I enjoy cooking for people and I hate my dining hall, so I am content with my spending.
PS The meal plan for my dining hall equates to about $25/meal…I usually end up eating a bowl of cereal because its the only decent food there. If I honestly wanted to save money, I would not be attending a ~$50,000/semester institution…
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We’re new empty nesters, trying to adjust the amounts of food we buy and cook to 2 people instead of 4. We tend to eat out a lot and pay for our relatives’ meals as well. When I cook at home, since I tend to make too much of a dish, we set aside half to bring to my 90 year old mother-in-law. We use organic produce as much as possible and buy lean cuts of beef, good quality fish and chicken breast. We’re in Manila, by the way. In equivalent US currency, we spend $700/month on food. A third of that is on groceries and the rest on eating out.
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I just rang up the month’s food – this includes anything delivered or bought from a vending machine (sodas, trail mix, etc.): $235.50. That’s about average for the month for me. That’s a U.S./Northeastern City price.
How do I do it? Not any way anyone would want to emulate. Food is one of the areas where I cut my costs. Let’s hear it for vitamin pills.
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It is my husband, myself, and our 3 year old daughter and we live in the mountains in Colorado which is very expensive. We spend at least $600 a month just on groceries!! I can’t believe how we spend compared to the rest of you! Oh well, I am not willing to skimp on healthy foods, I buy organic meats, dairy, and produce when possible. I am signing up to receive some organic produce door to door which I think will actually save me some $ in the long run.
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Single Man ,early 50′s,live alone,no pets.
About $400/month including personal hygiene products,cleaning supplies,etc…in Miami,Fla.
Absolutely no junk food(Unless “natural” nuts can be considered as such);no eating out,take-out or delivery or cooked food bought at the store.
Tend to follow low-carb lifestyle,so no foods with high hypogycemic content(potatoes,bread,white rice,regular pasta,etc),…No processed foods which makes the use of coupons almost irrelevant.
Lots of protein…high quality Boar’s Head deli products(EXPENSIVE!) and appx 3-4 gallons of green tea a week($2.99/gallon at the Publix store)
Plus another $100-$150 monthly in nutritional supplements as I try to combat the side effects of diabetes and smoking too much(Quit 4 years ago).
I just can’t believe how little some people here claim to spend….($220/month for 2 ?!!)
Either you are starving yourselves in some form
of ascetic aspirations,or are borderline malnourished.
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my bf and i spend around $460 a month.(we don’t actually live together, but might as well with as much time as we spend together) this is higher then it needs to be, mostly because our university requires that i have a meal plan as part of my housing contract. ($8 per meal at the cafateria every day)
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Our family of twelve- not a typo- has a food budget of $1000 per month. This does not include the natural side of beef we purchase annually (another $700?/12=$60 per month). I do not buy things with coupons anymore as those items are usually “convenience foods”… To quote Michelle in #165 “This has not increased with the rise in gas and food costs, so if food goes up, our pickings get slimmer.”
$1000/month DOES include all toiletries, paper goods, chicken feed for 24 chickens, cleaners, whole grains, and kitchen implements… I shop the farmers market wholesalers, thrift bread store, co-op with others for bulk buys, watch unit pricing and AVOID prepacked foods. I also bake much bread and cook from scratch with rice, potatoes, and pasta-based meals, soups, fresh fruits and veggies… and we have a gluten intolerant daughter and a diabetic daughter who is low carb.
And I’m always fishing for new ideas to trim back and stay healthy! Thanks to everyone who shared.
(We eat out as a family maybe ONCE a year, but each child gets a restaurant breakfast with Dad on their birthday)
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I usually spend about $800/month for food for a family of 5 (me, husband and kids ages 18,15,12). Oldest just started college but the grocery bill is still the same here. ?? I have always tried to cut this down and don’t know what to cut. I buy some prepackaged things like cookies, chips, crackers but cook homemade dinners every night. I bake from scratch and we do not use a lot of frozen food such as pizza, dinners, etc. If they are on sale I will buy some but only then. I have a freezer chest (got them to knock off $150 cause it was a scratch and dent sample at Sears) and when chicken, pork, beef goes on sale I stock up. My monthly bill includes cleaning supplies, paper products, etc. I buy generic for things like bread, milk, butter, frozen veggies. I always see whats on sale and will not buy certain things – like ice cream – unless its on sale. I’m always looking for ways to cut this bill. I cut coupons but often find the generic brand – like sandwich baggies – is cheaper than the name brand, even with a coupon. We don’t eat out often. Sometimes we’ll order a pizza or cheesesteaks. Once every three months or so we’ll go to an Applebees or something similar. But it’s rare. I ‘add as I go’ when I shop — this helps me stick to my list and not be tempted to impulse buy. Still, I think I spend too much. If I could cut the bill by $25 per week even, it sure would help. I’m always amazed how much can get spent on very little items. Oy.
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I usaually spent around 15 euro’s a day. Which would be 450 euro’s or 575 USD a month.
I’m a 22 year old single student from Amsterdam.
Seems life over here is quit expensive.
G
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my husband and I spend at least $500/mth on groceries (an it is just the two of us) and $200/mth on eating out. At the grocery store, we buy organic diary products and organic meat, sometimes organic produce. We buy only good healthy food, no junks. aside from ice cream and chocolate that my husband loves. we buy imported cheese and olive oil. When we eat out, we do not go to expensive places, it is usually noodles, pizza or a sandwich. I really do not know how to cut on our grocery bill because for health reasons i can only eat organic meats and diary products. I say “GOOD JOB” for the moms who can control their bills. I just buy what I like… i never thought of buying only what is on sale… I will try that next time…
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Well, my husband and I are trying to budget $300 a month on groceries. However, we tend to go over sometimes. I always want to spend more because I like a lot of fresh veggies and fruit. Here in Wyoming that can be expensive. Also, milk here is 3.79 a gallon and seems to be getting higher.
In order to keep the budget low, I cook with a lot of rice, legumes and potatoes. I also garden in the summer and will can some of my own food this year.
Did I mention that I am pregnant with twins? I think that contributes to our escalating grocery bill. We eat out once or twice month too. Since the pregnanacy our monthly grocery bill seems to be just under $400. After reading about half the entries here I think we aren’t doing to bad.
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With a family of six, our budget for weekly groceries is $100. We spend about $400 in a month. Three kids are 5 and under and one is 10. So the only ones that consumes more food are just me, the husband, and 10 yr old. I try buying in bulk as much as possible for toilet, milk, eggs, rice, etc… Every meal is eaten with rice to help the kids feel more full during meals, unless they are eating food consisting of pasta,noodles, or bread. I shop for food maybe 2x a week dividing my amount spend on food about $50 each visit–if I spend $100 in one visit then that would be the only visit of the week for grocery shopping. We eat alot of home-cooked meals and rarely eat take-outs (maybe 1x a week).
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Wow! I’m amazed at what some of you spend. It makes me jealous and makes me want to give second thought to my budget.
We’re a family of four and I budget $200 every 2 weeks, so $400/month. However, we do eat out 2 or 3 times per week, but that is usually fast food and we maybe spend total $500/mo on food. Our kids are 4 and 2. I think it’s crazy how much we spend and apparently it isn’t a lot!
What bothers me is that my sister is on food stamps (and doesn’t need them…she just won’t work!) and the max for food stamps is almost $600/mo for a family of four. WHAT!??? What the hell are they eating?????? STEAKS? I hate that every year their benefits go up, yet my husband’s paycheck doesn’t.
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My two roommates and I are twenty-somethings living in the Midwest.
We spend about $250 per month on groceries. This doesn’t include cleaning supplies or toilitries. Plus we go out about once per week.
However, my two roommates eat a lot so it’s almost like there are five mouths to feed!! And we do entertain guests about once per week.
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Between my wife and I, we average $800 a month between groceries and eating out.
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We are a family of five in the Midwest, and we eat almost every meal at home (we eat out about three times a month). Our budget is $700/month for food and toiletries, diapers (two in diapers, three if you count the older one’s bedtime diaper), cleaning products, etc. About $600 is for groceries and $100 for other stuff.
I routinely spend less than our food budget on groceries–closer to $450-$500/month. I buy only organic milk (three gallons/week = $20) and organic produce, and I buy as much unprocessed food as I can. I also buy some organic meat and cleaning products.
I bake and cook from scratch every day. I grocery shop only once a week on double coupon day. We also shop locally at our farmers’ markets on Saturdays during the summer.
DH takes leftovers for lunch. The kids take snacks and treats to school from our stockpile and whatever I make at home. If we go to the park, we take our own treats/lunches/snacks.
We waste very little food, and we compost what we don’t eat. Our new expanded garden is huge and will hopefully offset some of our produce costs when we start harvesting.
I coupon like crazy and use the local thrift bakery store. I also stockpile when the savings are exceptional. This is essential to my savings strategy! I buy a lot when it’s on sale and I have coupons, which saves me money in the long term. If I didn’t stockpile, my grocery bill would be cut in half. But I like making sure we always have what we need at a price that’s lower than normal. My stockpile gives me the flexibility to skip a week or two if I need that money for other things.
Overall, I’m really happy with how we spend our money on food. I think we have an amazing diet at a pretty good price. We might spend more than others do, but I think we get a lot of really high-quality food for our money.
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I live alone with the bf visiting on weekends, I spend 100.00 a week unless it is for enttaining. I am relearning to cook for one and it is hard. Very rarely eat out, brown bag at work. I need more fruit and veggies, but the stores I have available the produce section is pretty but tasteless. I grow blueberries raid the wild blackberry vines, buy from local farmers and freeze. I am in a very rural area and wish we had a farmers market close, by the time I drive to the closes one, I have spent more in gas than making a saving. The growing season in NE Florida is not long too hot. So I try to adjust and have learned to do without
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There are 7 of us. I would have to say on average we spend 1,200 on food a month; single income, midwest(USA), 2 adults and the rest are teens. This also includes papers stuff, cleaning stuff, pet food, and eating in/out. This doesn’t include gas to get to the store, that’s 20 miles away. I try to shop bi-monthly but some how it never quite works out that way. Oh and I gave up paper towels 3 years back. They’re to shake dry or use a hand towel. I’m now on the verge of cutting out all toilet paper and switching to cut wash clothes. And ouch the price of aluminum foil, even generic is expensive. This will be the first year we grow a large garden, now that I have willing participants, so perhaps we will save money there. I saw milk go over $4 a gallon last summer and it will be the first thing to be cut out if it heads back in that direction. Cheese is still considered a luxury to us, I view it to expensive. I say throw spinach leaves on those sandwiches in place of it. I can’t imagine what some are eating with 7 or greater on a less than $400 budget.
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Hi I’m from Manila, Philippines and my family belong to a middle income group. Salaries in the Philippines are low compared to 1st world countries such as the US. My answer to your question about food expenses is about $280 per month this includes a bi-monthly grocery and eating out. $280 here is already big; it’s like 9% of our total household income already; and yeah food is expensive here. Most salaries of Filipino’s here in the Philippines goes to basic needs such as food.
Tips to lower food expenses:
1.) Do not buy snacks (e.g. chocolates and chips)
2.) Just buy the essentials (e.g. chicken, fish, and vegetables
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I would love some receipes from the Philippines! I had some friends from the Philippines way back in the 70′s and the food they cooked was wonderful. I learned to properly cook rice from them and learned to make eggrolls and puncit(sp?) very good and healthy food!
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I have a family of 7. We have an 18, 16, 13, 11, and 9 year old so I have 3 teens that are very big eaters. We also have extra kids friends over a lot that we feed. I budget $500 but have been really spending about $600- $650 because we are in baseball season and end up doing more quick Hot Pocket meals or picking up fast food. This includes toiletries, medicine, and cleaning products. I can do much better, but fall during hectic seasons.
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Bewildered… $500 a month for a family of seven? Is this a bread and water diet?
We live in an expensive area (Wash DC suburbs), but our two teens and two parents easily burn $500 a week on food and household supplies not including eating out!
We don’t use coupons, but that’s because we buy zero processed food. lots of fresh veggies and organics, but I don’t feel we’re extravagant by any means. Rarely do we have steak… more often vegetarian meals or something with chicken. Our big variable is that I work from home and we homeschool, so we’re all home, all the time. Still… I feel very disconnected from the rest of you.
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Ross,
I am with you. We are a family of 5 in the Boston burbs and our food costs are exorbitant.
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Ross,
I am with you. We are a family of 5 in the Boston burbs and our food costs are exorbitant. We spend about $1200 – $1300 a month on groceries and supplies and anywhere between $250 – $400 eating out. We also eat organically and avoid processed foods. In the summer it’s much more because we go away often and eat out much more frequently.
An informal survey of friends tells me that we are spending the same as many families in our area. I know there are food costs I could cut back on, but I could never feed my family for some of the amounts quoted here. Maybe food costs are higher in some parts of the country?
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We are a family of 6 in the midwest. Food costs here are close to half of what I’ve seen on the east coast for similar shopping habits.
I spend $75/wk on groceries(an avg of our monthly grocery budget). I do have 4 younger children. 1 still in diapers. I coupon for things we buy on a regular basis and we have double coupons here every day.
I also spend $30 a month on eating out, obviously we don’t eat out much. And $70/mth on household items.
We don’t eat a bunch of processed junk. I buy fresh fruit almost every day. Yogurt and fresh veggies several times a week. I have to pass the grocery store parking lot to get to the main street so it’s not any extra gas or time for us to stop all the time and I don’t buy extra things when I there.
If we lived on the East Coast our grocery budget would be impossible.
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Currently, we spend about $85-90 a week on food for our family of 2 people and 2 dogs. This is after I put us on a strict grocery budget after years of spending blindly. I used to spend about $120 per trip, with little trips in between, so probably about $160 per week. I had no plan then, and could kick myself for all the money we had wasted over the years! Now I shop the sales, plan meals, and only go to the grocery once a week on pay day. I add up what I am buying as I go so I don’t go over budget. We cook more and eat frozen meals never, and maybe go out to eat once or twice a month.
I initially did this drastic change out of necessity, but will continue these habits even if our income goes back to normal.
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We are a family of 4 (two boys age 8 and almost 5). I spend about $600 on groceries each month – that is only groceries and not toiletries or other household items. I cook at least 6 nights per week. I get free meals during the week at work; my husband takes leftovers or picks up a salad at the grocery store over his lunch hour. This is included in my grocery bill. We eat out less than $100/month – maybe pizza or Chipotle a time or two and my husband grabs lunch with the office gang once or twice a week. I look for sales, stock up at CostCo, use coupons if possible, buy store brand on some things, but buy name brand soda, crackers, bread, etc. I make a menu for each week and purchase items for those specific meals along with our regular staple of snacks and on-hand fruits and such. I grow tomatoes and other veggies in the summer, but just enough for some yummy additions to our meals and not to subsidize our grocery bills. We entertain often, eat meat at each meal and buy tons of fresh fruits and vegetables and very few convenience items. It seems like a high cost, but we eat well, we eat healthier options at home versus restaurants and we spend more time with family and friends. We try to have dinner at the table every night together as a family. That’s what is important to us.
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Wow, I thought my grocery bills would be a lot cheaper. When I crunched the numbers, I found out that for a household of 2 people, I spend:
$523 a month on groceries
$68 a month on restaurants
$326 a month on toiletries and household items
Clearly there is a black hole hiding in my food budget. Thanks for posting the survey, I’m definitely giving my food budget a closer look.
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My husband and I are in our early twenties, spend about $350-400 a month on groceries (toiletries and such included), and between $250-300 a month on eating out. Food is very important to us, we like to feel that we are eating well, and that we are healthy. But, I believe we still spend wayyy too much. The biggest problem for me is- how to balance eating healthy and saving money. Additionally, we like other posters, work from around 7-5:30 and do NOT always have the motivation to cook (but do pack our lunches) and typically eat out for dinner 3 times a week. I have the feeling we would save a good deal of money at Sam’s.. and that our food budget needs a closer discerning eye. We also do not use coupons (don’t get the paper), and don’t really compare store to store. We just know that WalMart has cheaper toiletries and big items, but typically we find it more worthwhile to shop Kroger for meat- we live in an area that is EXTREMELY limited in grocery stores. We have no discount groceries, no whole food markets, no organic food suppliers, and the only farmer’s market is 20 miles away during the time that we work. We do, however, grow some of our own food- our first year growing, next year we will probably grow more.
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