Five years ago, I posted the first-ever “Ask the Readers” question here at Get Rich Slowly. “How much do you spend on food?” I asked in a short post (the likes of which one never sees around here anymore). For five years, people have been posting their food budgets for others to see.
Shauna wrote earlier this week asking for an update:
Would you consider doing an update to the “How much does your household spend on food?” post from 2006? This is a constant point of contention in our household budget.
- On the one hand, my husband and I are sort of “foodies”: We love to cook, experiment with new ingredients and recipes, share that food with others, etc.
- On the other hand, it’s a significant part of our budget and I feel like the general theme of most of the food-related posts on GRS is on how to spend the absolute minimum on food.
Many of our friends have cut back in other areas of their life (cheaper housing, cars, etc) in order to be able to spend more on food. They budget for eating out at new restaurants once a month, shop at the farmers market because they enjoy the experience, etc. None of those things are possible for us, even though we are supposedly spending more on groceries than most of the other folks on GRS, if the comments from your 2006 posts are right.
Our “groceries” budget is $750 per month, but that includes food, household items like paper towels and laundry detergent, personal hygiene items, etc. Basically everything we would buy at a grocery store. We live in the inner downtown core of a medium-sized city. We both work, and we take our lunches with us every day. We cut coupons where we can. We maybe eat out once or twice a month at low-cost places (pizza, happy hour, etc). We do grow some of our own produce (lettuce, tomatoes, etc) but there’s really only a four-month window when we harvest significant amounts.
My question is: Are we really spending a lot more on food than most people? Or are we just using a budget that doesn’t tell the true story? I’d love to hear what number others come up with, and the factors that influence it (eating at home vs. eating out, living in a city vs. a rural area, both partners working vs. one staying at home, buying organic vs. regular, etc) so we can actually compare apples to apples.
If I weren’t vacationing in Alberta with Kris’ family, I’d share our food numbers too. Looking at the most recent summaries of my discretionary spending (2008 and 2009), I’d guess we spend about $500/month on groceries and $300/month on dining out. That’s for two “foodie” adults in Portland, Oregon. These numbers are both about $100/month more than what we were spending five years ago.
The restaurant dining is an ongoing issue, and one that I’ve tried unsuccessfully to address. On paper, we can afford to spend that much dining out, but I don’t like it. It feels wrong. I’d rather use that money for something else. On the other hand, I’m okay with our grocery budget. Like Shauna, that number includes various household goods. It also reflects an increased focus on healthy foods in the past eighteen months. I used to buy junk food from Safeway. Now I buy things like organic chicken sausage from the local health-food store.
So, five years farther on — and facing ongoing price pressure at the supermarket — let’s look at the same questions I asked in 2006.
What does your family spend on food in a month? 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? Is eating organic important to you? What other considerations do you make when spending on food?
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Ah, you’ve touched a nerve. My husband is a foodie and I’m not. He loves to grocery shop and I don’t. I’d like us to spend less on food, and he becomes viscerally upset at the idea of pinching pennies in this arena (or really, even counting them).
Since we can afford the food and groceries that are emotionally important to him, I’ve let go of my preferences on this. I’m content with the fact that we live by these thrifty principles
http://www.diamondcutlife.org/top-ten-things-to-happily-live-without-part-ii/
Hope they’re helpful to folks.
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For 2 adults we spend ~ $300/mo at grocery stores (includes paper products, toiletries, household cleaning, cat food, etc), $300/mo eating out together, and ~$160/mo on work lunches/dinners.
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Great topic, as I often wonder the same things. All other areas I feel like I have a good understanding of where I want to be, but food spending is a gray area for us.
For 2 adults and a 2 year old we spend:
$638 on groceries
$304 on restaurants
Since we had our little guy, we spend a lot more at the grocery store, partially because we’re trying to eat much healthier. We buy mostly organic produce and our little man literally puts away about $50 in vegetables a week.
The restaurant spending has two sources – lunches when we’re on the go and social events with family & friends.
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I feel like I don’t have a good handle on our grocery spending, either – when I was a SAHM I tracked really close and shopped really carefully, but I’ve been back at work 4 years now and it’s just a giant grey cloud. The totals seem really high to me but on an individual trip level, everything seems reasonable.
about $700/mo in groceries, paper goods, cleaning stuff, and toiletries, $100 or less eating out (we go out about once a week, but it’s usually Little Caesar’s – $8 for the 3 of us – or the kid-friendly buffet, $25.) No work lunches, we both work from home.
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My 2-person household spends 50/week on food. Or, that’s how much I budget for. Sometimes we don’t spend that much, but we never go over it. We try not to spend more than $225 in a single month (and that figure does include household items and cat food, etc).
Pretty much, we aren’t foodies. Nice restaurants are for special occasions. If we want to eat out, we’ll hit up Subway, Panera, or use a Groupon for a local place.
We buy what is on sale at the grocery store and fit our meals for that week based on what we buy. For instance, this week there’s tomatoes and peaches on sale. I’ll probably stock up on tomatoes (stuffed tomatoes, tomato salad, fried tomatoes, etc), and peaches are good for a load of desserts, breakfasts and just to eat.
I use coupons for products I would normally buy anyway, but I don’t use coupons on things my family doesn’t need. Toothbrushes? Great. Toothpaste? Awesome. Toilet paper? You betcha. But the new high-calorie fudge mint pops from Keebler? Nope.
We don’t grow our own food because we live in a high-rise. I have been stockpiling large pots though, and will try my hand at growing some herbs and small veggies indoors soon
I appreciate organic, and get it when I can afford it, but I can’t really see myself spending $4/lb on peaches when I can get them for a heckuva lot cheaper elsewhere…
I always buy what my household will eat. Period. There’s no use in trying fancy stuff we don’t like.. we do try new fruits and veggies, but try to stay away from the prepackaged stuff as much as we can!
So… $225 for the two of us for the month
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We are a family of five (two adults and three kids ages 6, 4 and 3). We spend $800/mo on food at the grocery store/farmers market/etc. That includes all food, paper products, cleaning items, diapers (nighttime pullups), etc. We spend another $200 on eating out.
I shop on double coupon day with my coupons, buy bread at the local bakery outlet, cook almost all meals from scratch and do a lot of baking. We buy organic milk and as much organic produce and meat that we can afford, but this is getting harder to do without changing our budget. For instance, this is the first summer I can remember when organic berries didn’t go on sale.
I am looking for ways to reduce our food bill, but it’s getting harder and harder to do without scrimping on quality.
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Right now, my wife and I spend about $300/mo on average for all groceries and food. Summer time we spend up to $300 and the rest of the time we spend markedly less, usually because there is less variety and less social obligations, I’d say about $200/mo. However, that is for only two of us and I think if we had more money we would spend more.
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When we lived in Miami we were spending $700-$800 just on food for two people. About $75 of that was eating out.
I don’t buy toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. from grocery stores as I find the prices to be higher. I use Walmart/Costco for that.
We just moved to Fort Worth and I am hoping to slash the budget in half. Groceries are MUCH cheaper here!
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That’s the kind of info I was hoping for – thanks!
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No kidding! Stop buying shampoo and cleaning supplies at the grocery, people!
When my daughter moved out she asked me, “Did you know shampoo is a lot cheaper at Target?” And I asked her, “Did you ever see me buy shampoo at the grocery store?”
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that only works if to get to a target, dollar general, walmart (if one would shop at walmart, some of us are involved in a political boycott), etc. one does not have to add on additional transportation costs to that bottle.
Anything at Target automatically gets a $4.40 surcharge for additional subway fare…add that to a $4 bottle of shampoo and it’s as expensive as the grocery you can walk to (and no gym fees needed).
If I can’t walk to it, it’s got a surcharge. Are you all figuring in extra gas for grocery runs or are you carefully planning out your driving route to get the best for your mileage?
With today’s gas prices, that needs to be figured into “procurement” too.
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About $320-$350 per month for two adults and three young children, plus $70 per month to eat out. We eat basic, simple foods mostly, and I glance through the grocery store flyers before we shop.
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Until 2.5 weeks ago, we lived in a college town in the Midwest – and it was pretty expensive. We spent about $300 on groceries, $250 on eating out. We drink some alcohol, eat meat and lots of produce, make a lot from scratch, shop at the farmer’s market/buy locally sourced meat and dairy when we can. I was pretty satisfied with that, given where we were. We just moved to Europe and it feels like food is a lot more expensive (esp. eating out, which we are doing only when we’re out exploring). It will be interesting to see how our new budget works out.
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Honestly, I don’t know what my food budget is. Right now, I’m focusing on losing weight (I’ve lost 15 pounds so far) and paying a lot of attention to the cost of groceries is too much for me right now.
I know we spend too much on food. I know pre-packaged meals are not cheap or particularly healthy. But right now, I’m trying to re-learn portion control. Buying these foods allows me to know how many calories is in the food. It also helps me to learn that I need a LOT less calories than I thought.
I understand that I’m paying a LOT of money for people to figure that out for me. But right now I need that.
We also spend a couple hundred a month eating out. I love eating out with my husband, it makes me feel special and allows us time to connect. I’m also learning to eat out while watching my diet; and I don’t feel like a hermit.
To me, food is about so much more than just fuel for the body. It’s all tied up in issues of self esteem and worth. It’s a way to support small business and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and buying local.
And we can afford it. I could put us on a grocery budget and save money. But I’m not sure I could do that and lose weight at the same time.
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Do what works for you and congrats because it’s working! Sometimes the convenience to one personally (paying for someone to figure out the portion control etc.) is the cost that needs to be reckoned, more than the monetary…and one cannot put a price on health.
One small caveat, which you probably have planned for at some future date, is to learn what you need while you need, but then cut the dependency on “other people” at some point and practice yourself–depending of course, on whatever else is going on in your life.
There’s nothing wrong about seeing food as something other than fuel because it is…especially to us humans. Build a different relationship with food as it were but still a relationship!
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700-800 a month just on groceries. My wife breaks this apart. Another 100-200 a month on restaurants and the occasional McDonalds or Pizza (twice a month?) I don’t think
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For two young adults and 3 small dogs, we spend $200 a month on groceries (food, cleaning products, makeup, some medications… anything we buy at the grocery store)
For dining out, I’d guess we spend between $250 and $300 a month (includes all weekend outings with friends, ordering sushi once a week, and Starbucks)
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Wow- we seem to spend a lot. We also live in the midwest- with no costco in sight.
Maybe if my husband would give up doggie treats for Fiddo jr ($50 a month)- it would go down!
We spend about $500 for the two of us. We are young retirees and eat at home for most meals. We always have a full pantry since we live in the country and never know when the next snow will hit. We also never know when our daughter’s family will come home–and eat us out:>)
The $500 includes everything from lights, batteries, towels and actual food. Most of our produce is VERY local- so I don’t worry too much about organic. We can live out of our pantry (without a fridge) for over two weeks.
We also allow $150 for eating out. We usually roll this over and use it when we see our kids (do you see a theme here?).
I just did a rehash of our budget and found that if we stopped seeing our adult kids we could live on about $800 less a month….it will never happen!
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We’re a 2-person household and we spend $250-300/m on groceries and another $250 on eating out. For us, groceries includes paper products, detergent – anything you can buy at the grocery store excluding dog food, which is a separate line item in the budget. So $500-550/m for sustenance.
I like to cook and try new things. I also believe in organic meat and veggies as much as possible. I coupon and look for good deals to stock up on some things – like detergent. Mostly though, I focus on reducing waste. We used to toss a lot of uneaten food because we chose to eat out when there were fresh veggies in the house, or I bought an ingredient to use one-time and the rest of it went bad. Now, if a recipe calls for a specialty ingredient we don’t usually buy, I see if I can make it from other things in the house. This is particularly available as an option with expensive spices – or with things like mayonnaise. I always have ingredients for mayo in the house so why buy it? (Fresh tastes better too.) I also will look for other new recipes that have that ingredient and put those on the schedule to use things up before anything goes bad – or shelve a recipe until I’ve got a few that I can integrate into a week’s grocery theme.
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We have averaged $50 per week this year for a family of four (4yo, baby, 2 adults) plus two cats. That includes everything from toiletries to diapers to detergent to cat food and litter to food. Last year we averaged $40, but my baby was born in July and breastfed until he started on some solids.
I use the buy-ahead stockpile principle, play the drugstore game, grow a small garden on my urban lot (tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli), and clip coupons.
In fact, this year I have not had to pay a penny out of pocket (save for sales tax) for: soap (dish, dishwasher, hand, bodywash), hair conditioner and shampoo, cold medicine, allergy medicine, pain relievers (adult, childrens and infant), hair accessories, first aid items… thanks to the drugstore game and coupon clipping.
I have about a 3 month stockpile of items we use. I do pick up free items that we don’t use, and I donate them to my church’s food pantry and a domestic violence shelter. I’m not an extreme couponer. In an average week I will use 10 to 20 coupons.
We pack our lunches. I do some freezer cooking for batches of things like spaghetti sauce or meatballs or pulled pork.
Our budget also includes the purchase of a 1/4 beef from my uncle each year. The beef is grass fed organic free range beef butchered by him, and he charges me $2.50 per pound. I just purchased 180# hanging weight 1/4 beef and paid $450 to my uncle.
So we eat meat, we eat dairy, we eat fresh seasonal fruits and veggies. I don’t really care about organic though. If it is cheaper I will buy it but otherwise I will not spend extra money on it. I have a Master of Public Health degree along with 9 years of experience working in public health and am very well educated about nutritional health to know that the label is mostly meaningless.
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Family of 3 in San Diego – $640/month food (includes CSA, alcohol, toiletries).
Eating out, around $200/month.
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Great post! I’ve been wondering where we fall in regard to “average” on our grocery expenses.
Monthly output on everything we buy at the grocery store (excluding prescriptions but including alcohol) is $750. That’s for two 50-something empty nesters who eat organic dairy, fruits and veggies like they’re going out of style.
Our eating-out comes out of a different budget and we eat out very little as we both work from home and love to cook. Eating out is more “entertainment” than “food” for us.
Also, we travel a lot and so in each new area (where we stay for weeks and months) requires us to start over with the basics–like condiments, etc.
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Our food costs range from $800 to $1000 per month for two adults. We live in the Hamptons, NY, so the food prices are quite higher than prices when we lived in Texas. It includes only food and drinks- groceries, eating out, food for work, and all drinks (juice, bottled water, seltzer, beer). We don’t go to sitdown restaurants but get takeout a few times a week. About half of our food is organic and we joined a CSA this year, which is providing quite a nice return of local vegetables and fruits. I try to shop and cook smart but don’t refrain too hard from buying higher quality and varied food.
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I usually spend about $150 a month on food, which includes personal care things (usually) and food for my cat. I keep it low by eating a mostly vegetarian diet and lots of veggies and fresh food, which is absolutely cheaper than processed stuff. It just means I have to do a lot of at-home cooking. I’ve actually been hoping to lower my grocery bill a bit, and in August I’ve challenged myself to get it down to $100—the amount I lived on when I was a broke university student!
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$400/month max for two adults and two dogs in medium east-coast city. Include household items and alcohol. We both take our lunch to work every day.
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This is an interesting read along with the comments!
We are a family of 5 – one kid is bigger than me LOL and the other two exercise a lot so eat a lot for their ages. Dh is no home for all meals but has a lot of pricey ‘necessities’ to keep him fueled properly so it balances out to someone who eats home more I think.
Our food spending [with household goods/paper etc] is about $800/month – I think the eating out budget should be separate – I don’t think of it as food budget so much as entertainment budget – we don’t spend much of that money on fast food type situations unless we’re on a road trip. So it’s fun time out, family time, etc, and we spend about $250 a month on average – widely varies by our life that month.
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I spend about $60 per week for one for groceries (I’ve found that I can buy the non-food items like paper towels, laundry detergent & personal items like deodorant/shampoo much cheaper by watching the sales or coupons at places like Target or Costco). I also eat mostly a Paleo diet (thanks JD for the turn on to CrossFit!) which means I do a whole lot of organic fruits, veggies & grass meat. I pack my own lunch and eat out probably once a month.
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I spend around $150-$175/month for just 1 person on groceries. This does not include laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towel, soap, etc. I do tend to shop the sales and use coupons and stock up on non perishables when there is a sale.
I budget for $75/month on restaurants/eating out just with my own money. Sometimes I pay for eating out, sometimes my boyfriend does. So in total, we pay probably around $150-$200 between the two of us on dining out.
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We spend $225/month but we are in a very low COLA. This does not include our cat expenses because our cat is on prescription food for another $45/month.
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If you want to see what average Americans spend (not just cheap-os like us), you can check out the USDA web site at
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2011/CostofFoodJun2011.pdf
The “averages” range from about $530 for a “thrifty” family of four with young kids to $1250 for a “liberal” family of four with teenagers.
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Thanks for sharing that link. Very interesting. It also makes me feel better when looking at how much I spend (single young adult in a high cost of living area) compared to some commenters (though they do inspire me to eat more creatively). I fall roughly in the moderate-cost range. I am not vegetarian, but I eat a LOT of pasta and veggies. I think the challenge is not just to eat cheap, but to eat healthy, as well, and that is something I am trying to figure out.
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My husband and I spend about $300 on food each month, this includes groceries, toiletries, and restaurants, but not dog food.
We live in a big city with lots of food options. We pack our lunches for work almost every day. Eating out is a special occasion, we mostly cook at home. We don’t really do coupons. We don’t buy organic, but we also don’t buy much meat. Mostly fresh fruits and veggies, and they are cheap.
I’ve consciously cut out all soda and cookies, they were killing us (budget wise and healthwise). We make our own iced tea, and snacks like popcorn (NOT in the microwave!). We don’t buy bottled water or frozen meals. If you keep it simple, its healthier and less expensive.
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For 2 adults, we have a budget (that we adhere to) that gives us $375/month for food from the grocery store, $75/month for dining out/date nights, $50/month for home supplies (including paper goods, detergent, etc), and $25/month for toiletries. That’s $525 in total.
We use groupons or entertainment book when we dine out and never have more than one drink a piece at a restaurant.
We use coupons and shop on days when they’re doubling. We also play the drugstore game at Target, CVS, and Walgreens.
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We are a family of 2 adults, 1 toddler, 2 cats; we both work full time, plus I go to school at nights. We rarely eat out, and cook mostly from scratch at home. The first 7 mo. of the year, we spent approx. $425 a month for food, personal items, cat food, paper products, cleaning supplies (I make some of my own). But that includes buying bulk produce from a farm that I will receive in the fall to can, a fruit share from a farm that has not yet started, and 1/2 a small pig and we have a few cuts still left. I also included $500 we spent doubling the size of our vegetable garden this year(from 2 beds to 4 beds, plus soil, seeds…). We are now reaping those benefits! I expect our number to go down in the fall as we start eating what we’ve stored and frozen.
I would consider that we are also foodies, we buy mostly organic produce (the “dirty dozen” especially), pastured eggs and some pastured meat, I can fruit and pickles and sometimes make bread by hand. We use a number of tricks to keep the cost down, but still eat well.
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We spend about $700 a month on a family of 5 (three adults and two kids (9 & 11). This includes the monthly cost of our organic CSA…. We buy very little processed food and so it is mostly meat, fruit&veggies and dairy.
This does include our Costco runs for household supplies and some bulk food items. We live in Madison, WI.
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Since losing a friend to cancer at 30, my eyes have been opened to the need to make healthy living choices a priority. I have since transitioned into the “foodie” lifestyle. Food quality, personal care & clean products that are chemical free have become top priorities in my eyes – I feel like it is worth the extra time, energy & money now, to stay healthy, have a better quality of life & lower health care costs later.
I plan our food out in advance & keep detailed listed of foods we have & need. I keep a spreadsheet comparing prices between Costco, Sam’s Club & the 3 food buying clubs I participate in. I buy 50% or more of our foods through cooperative buying clubs. Read more on my blog here – http://slowsimpleliving.blogspot.com/2011/06/food-buying-club-part-1.html
A perk with using buying clubs is networking within the co-op groups to do group buys on expensive items to get a discounted rate (cod liver oil through Green Pastures for example).
It does take time & planning to place monthly bulk orders, but to me it is worth the time & energy to eat healthy (and the bulk buying helps cut costs a bit).
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Family of 4 (one full time kid, one “part time” kid), $550/grocery shopping (includes toiletries and such), $150 eating out ($40 of which are my DH tea to break the work day, one date night, couple of lunches with kids, an ice cream lace visit).
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My husband and I budget $400 a month to spend on groceries (including things like toilet paper, beauty products, cleaning supplies, etc.) but we often spend less, and occasionally spend more. We dine out a few times a month and have $100 to spend on that. We’re definitely foodies – I LOVE to cook and he used to work as a cook, so food is very important to us and to how we connect. I think overall we do pretty well – I’m very careful to buy things on sale and I never pay full price for things like crackers, tortilla chips, cereal, etc. I write out my entire week’s menu before I shop – that way I only buy what we need and don’t grab stuff that just looks yummy at the time.
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Influences:
-Household of 1 with frequent dinner guests
-Live a 5 min. bus ride from downtown Minneapolis
-Most definitely a foodie
-90% of my meals are vegetarian
-95% of what I eat is organic, local, or both
-I am part of a CSA that supplies all my fruits and veggies for 9 months of the year – it is a bit more than I need, so I purposefully blanch and freeze (or pre-cook meals and freeze) to cover the other 3 months, supplementing with some fresh as needed.
-I eat out about once a week. This ranges from cheap thai takeout to nice dinners at small local restaurants
My grocery budget is $175 per month. This includes the cost of my CSA, supplementing grocery shopping, etc. My kitchen is paperless (no paper towels, napkins, etc) but I do occasional pick up non-food items at the store. This also includes toiletries, but not make-up.
My restaurant budget ranges from $50-$150 a month depending on where I went, with whom, etc. I budget for it separately and have no issue with the fluctuation as I plan for it.
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Family of 4: 1 adult, 3 children (3 –
Average spending on food Jan – July
Groceries: $255
Fast Food: $70
Take Out/Delivery: $120
Dining Out: $175
TOTAL FOOD SPENDING: $615/ month
“Groceries” includes anything purchased in Publix or Winn Dixie plus any household products bought at CVS. Because I generally don’t buy personal care items at Publix or Winn Dixie, and if I do I pay close to nothing, I track that separately. In case you’re curious, that averages to about $48 a month but includes things like haircuts.
I do make an effort to take advantage of coupons but not at levels of extreme couponing. Still, it seems apparent compared to the budgets of others it IS making a bigger impact than I had imagined.
I have a feeling that what is really helping me save is the approach I have taken to Personal Care and Household products. I am NOT brand loyal and I make a killing at CVS with coupons and ExtraCare bucks.
Example: On one trip to CVS that I blogged about, by splitting into two transactions, I was able to buy:
1 Dove Go Fresh Body Wash
2 Dove Deodorants
1 Dove Shampoo
2 bags of Halls
2 Colgate toothbrushes
1 Pledge Lemon Spray
1 Skintimate shaving cream
4 Clean & Clear Body Washes
2 Softsoap Body Washes
I paid a total of $5.52. The receipts showed I saved a total of $75.16. This was back in April and I still have most of this stocked in my bathroom.
A lot of people lament the high grocery budgets but don’t realize just what a huge chunk of that is going to things that are not food or food-related. These happen to also be the things couponing is best suited for.
BTW in case you’re interested on the breakdown of that trip, here’s the link: http://mutantsupermodel.com/2011/04/04/holy-monday-haze/
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Same here – haven’t paid any where near full price for toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, razors, shaving cream, etc in years – ie routinely pay .25 for a $7 bottle of John Frieda sham/cond with coupons.
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I am a single meat eating adult. I budget $150 per month for groceries. I usually spend about $140. I purchase all of my meats from a farmer who feeds his animals on grass and does not use growth hormones in his poutry and beef. I also grocery shop once a month to keep gas costs down. I regularly eat out about twice a year(Mother’s Day and Father’s Day). Eating organic is extremely important for me because of chronic health conditions I have to deal with. I can’t afford to consume preservatives and other non food ingredients. I don’t use coupons very much because there are usually no coupons for most of what I buy. I truly enjoy cooking from scratch however I have developed a system where I don’t have to cook every day.
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Interesting post. I really wonder how much these vary by region. I’m in SF, and definitely a “foodie,” though a vegetarian one, which does keep the cost relatively lower. My husband and I spend ~ 800/month on groceries + dining out. We mostly shop at whole foods or rainbow (a natural food co-op), or at the farmers market, and rarely buy things that have coupons (i.e. most of our purchases are veggies, fruits, bread and milk, and bulk grains, etc.). We don’t eat out a ton, but when we do, San Francisco restaurants are quite expensive.
For us, the act of buying food that’s good for us and for the environment is part of who we are. I know we could spend less, but that would be a compromise on quality. Being a vegetarian really helps though – I highly recommend it if people are looking to eat well, but avoid the crazy high price of quality meats.
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Very interesting topic! My wish — do this as a survey and ask people to include # of adults/kids in household and region
I’ve been browsing the posts, trying to find someone close to me for comparison.
Who: Two adults
Where: SF Bay Area (north of San Francisco), in the suburbs
Includes: Food for cooking at home, dining out (maybe once a month), and other typical stuff purchased at a grocery store (cleaning supplies, toilet paper, band-aids, etc)
Been buying primarily organic, don’t clip coupons, will stock up on staple items if I see them on sale.
Shop primarily at Whole Foods, Safeway’s, and Trader Joe’s.
Average for Jan-Jun 2011 is $560
80% – grocery store
20% – restaurant dining out (including coffee)
(May was abnormally high at $735 because we trekked to the aforementioned Rainbow Grocery and did a humongous shop on specialty food items)
Also a strict vegetarian or vegan (no meat, dairy, eggs or other animal products), and no tobacco or alcohol
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We’re a family of three living in suburban High Point, NC. We budget $670 a month for food (including those other household items) and it has been tough to meet, but this month I think we’ll come in a little under budget.
Also budget $70 for restaurants. We missed this month by a lot. I’d like to add to the number but don’t know where to take it from other than savings. Not good.
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We – 2 retired adults – spend £108 (average for first 6 months of this year, comparable with average for last year) per month. This includes no restaurant meals (less than one a month), alcohol or cleaning products. We eat largely vegetarian, but occasionally eat meat, cheese, etc. We cook from scratch, grow some fruit and veg in the very small back garden, stock up on pantry items when on sale. I’ve collected recipes – for ideas, not to strictly follow – that use only one protein at a time (ie, not beans and cheese, just beans or cheese) and I think this saves a lot of money. I have a schedule of proteins just to ensure a variety and a ‘combination’ is on the list (usually pizza with cheese and sausage!) as well.
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My household includes one adult and one child, so our monthly grocery bill is about $200.00. We live in DC, and to save money we take the cart on the Metro and shop across town at the Trader Joe’s instead of the Giant a block away. DC has no tax on food (including pet food), so our 6 cats eat dry food once a day. DC and nearby Alexandria, VA have Restaurant Week twice a year, so that’s when me and both my daughters (the grown one joins us) eat a fancy lunch or dinner. We save more money by not buying prepared meals; everything is done from scratch, usually very simple (tomatoes sauteed in olive oil with some capers, tossed into pasta). We use reusable wipes instead of paper towels, and buy toilet paper in 20-roll packs when it’s on sale (usually monthly). Little one eats breakfast and lunch at school, including summer school. I live off 7-Eleven coffee during the workday.
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It was interesting reviewing my numbers over the last five years. Before kids, our grocery bill was around $500 per month. This included food, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc. We also spent about $125 on dining out. Now that we have two kids and I stay home, that food amount has dropped considerably. We spend about $300 per month on groceries and $75 on dining out.
The biggest change is a desire to reduce where we can and purposefully spend on what we want. Alot of this is from couponing and shopping sales. When I first started couponing (is that a word?), I found myself buying alot of unhealthy processed foods as they were really cheap. Our waistlines paid for it.
After having our second child, I decided we needed to not only watch our expenses but also keep healthy. I no longer buy processed foods, cook almost every meal from scratch, and make sure the kitchen is stocked with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.
The biggest trick is preparing meals from what I have on hand. I have a very large pantry and two freezers that are very well stocked. When I see a great deal on ground turkey, I buy 10 pounds. When I see blueberries for 99cents a pint, I buy 10 pints. When I see 100% whole wheat bread for $1, I buy eight loaves. These great deals all go into the freezer. And even better, I use coupons to purchase healthy shelf-stable products for nearly free. I just picked up 15 boxes Ronzoni whole wheat pasta for free and 10 cans of died tomatoes for $0.20 a can
The other trick is to use coupons to pick up cleaning, health and beauty items for free or nearly free. My storage closets are filled with soap, shampoo, hairspray, razor blades, shaving gel, deodorant, cold medicine, diapers, wipes, feminine products, toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, bug spray, suntan lotion, and even school supplies that I picked up for free or nearly free. I buy them in bulk at huge discounts and use them throughout the year.
To keep our family eating healthy, I signed up for a CSA and get weekly deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables. This week, I had fresh onions, tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, green beans, and kohlirabi. What we can’t eat gets frozen.
And to help those that are less fortunate, I donate. And I donate alot. Last year we had over $3000 worth of donations to the food pantry.
The trade off for these savings is time. I left my job paying a great salary to stay home with the kids. I figure it takes my 3 hours a week to save this amount of money. I shop one local grocery store (they price match all other stores). And I use an online coupon service to help me match up coupons with my local grocery store ads.
And last but not least, I hate cleaning. So yes, I hire a cleaning lady. She spend 5 hours at my house every two weeks making my house spotless. As JD would say, spend your money where it makes you happy!!
Dining out has been partly reduced due to focus on the finances, but a huge portion is realizing that cooking can be fun. And the fact that taking a 1 year and 5 year old out to a restaurant can be a challenge. So dining out mostly consists of subway when we are out of town ($5 footlongs split between two people) or an occasional sit down meal on date night when the kids are at the grandparents.
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I spend about $30 on food and household products a week. This is technically just for me, although my roommates and I will spot each other for some items, like a cup of milk for cooking and such fairly frequently, and we split household items more or less evenly.
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We spend about $1,500 per month for groceries (includes paper and cleaning products, supplements of which we use a lot, and a case of wine per week) and $200 per month eating out for a family of two adults and two children. Probably about 75% of the food we eat is produced within 100 miles of our home and we willingly pay a premium for this because we feel it is more healthy for us as well as our local economy. This year we are growing more of our own food including pigs, ducks, chickens, and veggies. Producing your own meat sometimes cuts costs (though if you factor in the value of your time it may actually cost more).
Compared to the other posts here, the amount we spend seems high, but we see this as a worthwhile investment in a healthy future for ourselves, our children, and our community. We make up for it by not spending on tv / cable, fancy cell phones and other techy gadgets, keeping our cars until they fall apart, frequenting the thrift stores, and keeping debt down to a low interest mortgage only.
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We (two adults) never exceed $400 a month on groceries. We are lucky to have a couple of special circumstances that ease our grocery bill. “Groceries” are anything we buy at the store, the farmers’ market, and from our meat source. That includes toilet paper, paper towels, toiletries, detergent, an occasional bottle of wine. I have a disease that means I can’t eat any grains or legumes, so we eat meats, eggs, quality cheeses, veggies, fruits, nuts, real butter and cream, and certain oils. I buy our beef and pork (and goat on occasion) from the local university (they have a meat science/butcher program with pastured-only animals), and have standing weekly orders of fruit, vegetables, butter and cream from vendors at the farmers’ market. My husband grows and sells sprouts at the farmers’ market, and our vegetable source takes sprouts as payment. So does our egg source. Most would think I live in a large city with many sources, but I live in a very isolated town of 6,000 (the closest supermarket is 170 miles away) with two small grocery stores and one farmers’ market.
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This post totally needed some graph-love. Here is what I could piece together, from posts 1-38.
http://i.imgur.com/D9DHs.jpg
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Whoops, sorry, my bad. Here is the corrected graph: http://i.imgur.com/xEv24.jpg
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We are a family of five with three of the five being teenage boys. We spend $100 a week in groceries on average. We all take our lunches. We don’t currently eat out at all. We eat everything, by using up leftovers for lunches. We cook alot, always from scratch, and seem to manage ok. The $100 includes cleaning supplies, paper towels, toilet paper etc. In the spring and summer we grown lettuce, beets, basil, tomatoes, blueberries and strawberries.
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In 2011, my family of 4 is averaging $350/month on groceries. We have a 2 year old and a baby; I am nursing and require an extra 500 calories a day as a result. That figure does not include toiletries or household goods, as I would never purchase them from a grocery store. Additionally, I buy a quarter of organic grass-fed beef each year for $475 which adds $40/month. I shop at my farmer’s market, Costco, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Target & a tiny local chain supermarket in any given month, so what we buy and pay can vary wildly sometimes.
We have averaged $200/month this year on dining out. This figure is a bit higher than last year due to my recent pregnancy… being uncomfortable and craving Five Guys led to more lunches out than usual. But dining out has always been a budget buster for us because my husband and I like local, yuppie-ish places when we go out instead of a drive-thru or chain eatery.
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Our family: two adults, three children ages 3, 1, and newborn.
Our grocery (just food) budget: $400/month, plus $100/month for husband’s lunch/coffee-with-coworkers.
I cook most of our meals, including the lunches that my husband brown-bags 85% of the time, and we eat a lot of produce. I’ve found that it pays off for us to get lots of yummy food for the pantry and fridge instead of strictly budgeting for practical food only; otherwise, we feel restricted and go out to eat whether it’s in the budget or not.
If we do go out to eat, it comes out of our fun money, so I didn’t count that.
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We spend about $1,500 per month for groceries (includes paper and cleaning products, supplements of which we use a lot, and a case of wine per week) and $200 per month eating out for a family of two adults and two children. Probably about 75% of the food we eat is produced within 100 miles of our home and we willingly pay a premium for this because we feel it is more healthy for us as well as our local economy. (Even when we go out to eat, it is at restaurants that serve mostly local foods – the closest we get to fast food is Chipotle where the pork that we get is from a local farm.) This year we are growing more of our own food including pigs, ducks, chickens, and veggies. Producing your own meat sometimes cuts costs (though if you factor in the value of your time it may actually cost more).
Compared to the other posts here, the amount we spend seems high, but we see this as a worthwhile investment in a healthy future for ourselves, our children, and our community. We make up for it by not spending on tv / cable, fancy cell phones and other techy gadgets, keeping our cars until they fall apart, frequenting the thrift stores, and keeping debt down to a low interest mortgage only.
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We spend about $500 a month on groceries for a family of 4. That includes food, cleaning products, toiletries. Note that 4 of us eat gluten and dairy free, and we buy organic beef and all natural chicken. We only go out to eat for our anniversary, and then we spend money that has been gifted to us for our anniversary-parents send money. So, we have a $0 budget for eating out.
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I am a Canadian university student and spend about 650 dollars CND on food per year (no meal plan) I buy a lot of bulk foods.
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