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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We’re a family of 2 adults and 2 cats and our grocery budget includes all food and household items. We are spending far less now than we were 5 years ago. Back then we spent $800/month and bought whatever sounded good for the week. Now we spend $400/month.
Some differences from then to now (aside from lower income):
I do scan for weekly deals at the store and plan meals around what I have, not just what sounds good. I still don’t use many coupons though.
We try to stockpile when we can, but could do better at that. I find myself “stocking up” every week if I’m not careful, which blows the budget if you never stop to *use up* the stockpile. Ha!
I buy a lot less junk/processed foods/ drinks now. This is a biggie.
We live in a rural area, so we only have a few stores to choose from. I do buy tons of local produce in the summer – which only covers 2 months in the high country, but it’s less expensive than the grocery store the rest of the year.
We only dine out a few times a month, but stick to local places and often it’s lunch and not dinner. We spend maybe $50 to $100/month. I think we’d spend way more if we had more choices out here in the boonies.
I used to be confused when I’d read about food budgets too! If the number was super low, I figured the person was only counting food, no household stuff. Reading all the comments shows that not to be true. Lots of variety. Interesting!
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$375 a month on food and household items for 2 adults that don’t really eat meat but eat mostly organics. We take our lunches to work.
Eat out probably $200 a month.
Eating out is my vice. I grew up in a house where we had takeout or ate out 3-4 times a week. My mom just wasn’t much of a homemaker even though she didn’t have a secular job…
I wish I didn’t feel the need to eat out so much. But at the same time since I do, I wish I had more money I could commit to this part of the budget…
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We are a family of 2, and we spend:
-Groceries (including all toiletries & paper/waste products): ~270/month
-Eating out: ~160/month
I’m still working on lowering both those numbers, but it helps that I actually like cooking. Some of the strategies we use:
- pack lunches almost all of the time
- make our own breakfasts (freezing muffins, baked oatmeal bars, etc)
- use meat as an ingredient in meals rather than the main feature
- eat vegetarian meals a few times a week
- purchase herbs/spices from a food co-op where you purchase only the amount of herb/spice you need, not containers (so, I can refill my cinnamon bottle for 53 cents, etc)
- stockpile staples when they are on sale
- make our own sweet snacks (cookies, shortcakes, etc)
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Budget $50 a week for food and $50 a month for Eat Out, one person. Currently hitting those amounts. Have 2-3 months of food stockpiled. Still tossing veggies that go bad before eaten. Live 16 miles from town so buy in bulk and often too much for perishables. Even with higher prices, I eat meat, believe my groceries should avg no more than $5 a day or $35 a week and eat well. Dog food budget is high as 1 is highly allergic and food is $120 for 30lb for her. Fortunately saved hard in the working years so can afford to keep her going to her natural end. Would be tough if the choice was winter heat or her living. Save hard. This world keeps flipping 180 much more often. I am a planner but never expected All the huge economic events of these last 10 years would happen -and will keep happening. Food is an easy place to save and still have fun, companionship and enjoyment.
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Wow. Good for all of you. From what I can tell, most of you:
1. Eat healthy/organic
2. Devote a large portion of your budget to farmers’ markets
3. Are vegetarian or semi-vegetarian
4. Have banished all junk food from sight
5. Shop at big box stores (which, politically, is at odds with point #2, but from a strict budget standpoint makes perfect sense.)
6. Budget very little for eating out but manage to do so at an impressive rate (given the amount budgeted)
7. And, have the time and motivation to clip coupons.
Either people are over-estimating their tendencies, or the GRS readership represent one of the most healthy, principled, and self-controlled populations in the U.S. I suspect there’s a little of both going on here.
For the reasons above I feel that comparing my own spending against yours, or conversely, you comparing your spending habits to mine, is like comparing apples and oranges. Nonetheless, I wanted to participate. So keep these points in mind when reading the budgets below:
Groceries (including occasional toiletries): $250-275/mo – mostly purchased from standard grocery stores (e.g., Giant, Safeway) but some from higher end stores (e.g., Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods).
Eating out: ? I budget a certain amount of money each month as “spending money”. I use this money for entertainment, shopping, and eating out. So it is impossible to tell how much I use for eating out. I eat out anywhere from 4-12 times a month, if that helps.
Food is my personal hobby. So my food budget is higher than average for a single adult male. On any given week I will make 1-4 recipes, go out to eat between 1-3 times, and occasionally buy a cookbook. I do these things and then blog about them. It’s cathartic.
I’m sorry that I don’t conform to the norms of this blog. I’ll try harder to meet the 7 goals above, I promise.
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+1 great post.
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I loved this commentary. Given the responses so far Im a little embarressed to report for 2 adults about 400/mo on groceries and I have no idea how much on eating out. But we eat out for lunch most days and about 2x a week for dinner. We do have our milk delivered from the local dairy, buy grass fed beef in bulk (like a eighth of a cow at a time), and tend to stock up when stuff I use is on sale. I am severely brand loyal though. Pretty much all treats are homemade which cuts down on the frequency and therefore the price. I would defintly label myself a ‘foodie’ as do most of my friends (who are not).
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HAH! I’ll answer your observations for our family.
My husband and I eat much healthier than our kids who do eat their share of processed food. DH and I try to eat clean, but I can’t say we eat organic. We try not to keep much junk food in the house. I’ve never been in a farmer’s market. We are a family of carnivores. I do easily 75% of our grocery shopping at warehouse clubs, and I religiously coupon (BJ’s takes them).
In fairness to many posters on this board, I often have the impression that the people here either don’t have many kids or don’t have kids who are old enough to whine until they’ve been sated by a dinosaur shaped chicken nugget or by a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese, which, by the way can be purchased for about 20 cents a box at BJ’s if you’ve got the right coupons.
It’s the same thing with all the travel people on this board want to do. I don’t know anybody with two or more kids who values travel the way the majority of folks here seem to. All the parents I know (Philly area) consider the Jersey shore travel enough.
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1. Before kids we did not eat healthy/organic. When we started trying to get pregnant, we did.
2. CSAs are awesome, and there’s not much to do in our town on Saturdays besides the farmer’s market and the library.
3. Using meat in small amounts in a meal, mixed in with veggies etc. is actually very satisfying.
4. If we buy junk food, we will eat it, and that will cause me health problems (insulin resistance) so we don’t buy it. After years of having to live with me, many kinds of junk food leave my husband feeling queasy. You can lose your ability to enjoy some kinds of junk food.
5. We don’t shop at box stores. I think those posts are being conflated. Some folks do box stores. Some folks do farmer’s markets.
6. We eat out about once a week… it can be inexpensive if we go for lunch on a Saturday at a place that isn’t that expensive to begin with. We have some favorite local places like this. Pizza is also cheap.
7. I think the couponers are not the organic folks… We don’t coupon.
My cheese habit is pretty expensive, but we spend about $150/week on average at the grocery store (some weeks we don’t have time to shop, but we make up for it later) and probably $30/week on average eating out, for a family of 3 in an inexpensive part of the country.
We don’t buy very much processed food, and the processed food we do buy comes from the fru-fru aisle and has very few ingredients, all of which we can pronounce. Even with a kid. He can eat junk when it’s offered outside the house, but at home we stick to healthy options. In place of processed food, we do batch cooking and freeze meals for later when we’re too busy to cook. We also menu plan, have quick go-to meals, and Faster! I’m Starving! is a great week night cookbook.
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For a household of 3 (my husband, a male roommate who is a big eater and me), we spend about $850 – $1000 but we buy all local fruits/veggies at the farmers market, organic fruits/veggies/grains at Whole Foods and organic meats/grass fed beef. I do so because we have the income to allow it and I believe in using my $ as my vote in support of local/organic/healthy foods. I would also consider us foodies.
Aside from that, my husband and I spend about $300 on eating out (mostly him eating out for lunch and date nights on the weekends).
Food is by far our biggest expense in our budget, but I believe in paying for quality and enjoyment of experience.
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According to my Mint.com account, I’m over budget for this month but I tend to spend about $75 a month. This is strictly for groceries, paper towels and toilet paper. No other personal items go into my grocery list (those are paid with cash and run another $5-10 a month). This is for myself, the dog, and my boyfriend. I buy the fruits, dairy and veggies and he’ll buy the meats, frozen goods and breads. It evens out in the end.
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So really you’re spending more like $150/month total for 2, plus a dog?
That seems pretty darn low to me, unless you’re both tiny people with a tiny dog… or unless there’s something else in this equation you haven’t mentioned.
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I’m 110 lbs and 5 ft tall. The dog is 35 lbs. The boyfriend is the only variable; He’s a fluffy guy at 180 and 5 ft 8. Lately though, it’s summer where we live (new mexico) and too damned hot to eat.
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My family of four (My wife, my two boys, and my self) spend about $500 per-month on groceries and other items we buy at the the grocery store and about $250 per-month on eating out.
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I am amazed at how little some people spend, even the foodies. We’ll top most of the people who posted with 1 or 2 exceptions. For 2 adults, 2 little kids, 1 dog and 2 cats we spend a $1000 in grocery stores (food and non-food items), another $100 on alchohol (we get together with friends almost every weekend and my husband brings the beer, and it’s usually more costly European brands) and maybe $75 or so on eating out (we dine out at most once a month, most of this is coffee shops). This doesn’t include the CSA prepayment which we did early in the season, so maybe another 80 or so allocated per month.
We buy from farmers market, always cook from scratch, bake our own bread, grow some produce. On the other side we are foodies, we like to try new recipies and I often bake cakes for us and friends (my hobby). Also Northern New Jersey is rather expensive, we use Stop&Shop – even though a bit more expensive than the Shop Rite next to us, it has better quality food.
I’d love to bring it down a bit, even though we can afford it, I have some psychological unease of having a food bill above 1000. The best way I’ve found to manage it is if I plan the menu for the week and keep strictly to the shopping list. Still, we’ve never managed to fall under 800. I simply don’t see how we could live with a bill of $200 like some of the families here unless we try to survive on soup, rice and beans or something. Even as grad students living in center city Philly, we spent around 300 a month I think. We also tried BJ for a year but found ourselves actually buying more than we need and stopped.
I’d love to see some analysis on the blog after all posts, even though the sample is not big. Also I wonder how much the region matters – there must be stats somewhere on average grocery spending by area, right?
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Love this! I talked about this on my blog at some point. Here’s our break down for 2 uppper 20s adults (no kids) who love to eat out, but try to avoid eating processed foods whenever possible (which means we don’t shop at Vons/Ralphs/Albertsons, but more like TraderJoe’s/Henrys/Whole Foods.
Groceries: $80-100 per week (the only reason I don’t like saying per month is because some months have 5 weeks, so it can vary; on average it’s $400 per month)
Target-type-stuff: $100 per month
Eating out: anywhere from $150-200 per month
We DEFINITELY prioritize spending on food, and I feel that it makes a huge difference in our day to day health.
What helps our budget is that we buy very little meat (2 chicken breasts per week for the boyfriend’s lunches) and a pretty low amount of dairy. The most expensive thing we buy is protein powder that costs $25.
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I Spent in restaurants 3338 dollars but almost 90% i reinburse because i work traveling.
I don’t have food costs, it’s a bless!!
I save and invest 63,78% of my income.
I hate working and being poor and i want to get out of the rat race as soon as possible.
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Our food budget is $180($150 grocery,$30eatint out) a month for my husband and me. I cook all the meals with fresh produce/no processed food, and brownbag his lunch.
$30 eating out means we don’t go to fancy restaurants. We will just get a $5 pizza or go to Tacobell(not even M’s or KFC..too pricy)ordering from the dollar menu when I feel like giving myself a break at cooking.
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If you really care about how your spending compares to others, check out some national averages:
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/usdafoodcost-home.htm
If you click around “USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food” you can get all the details of what goes into each plan type. Based on these data, I just added up the cost for each of us (considering gender and age) at the “liberal plan” level, and set that as our food budget. Careful choices have allowed me backlog some food so we don’t have to go to the grocery store as often – huge savings in time, stress, gas and angst! Beef and veg come from local CSAs that I pick up (essentially) at work, so don’t picture us eating some sad, limp celery stalk that’s 3 weeks old.
In my experience, the BIGGEST savings came when we stopped wasting food. Once you make use of *everything* you buy, it is way easier to make other adjustments. I started by buying less, then gradually built up a repertoire of foods that we actually eat, rather than having a bunch of foods lying around that fit some fantasy image of ourselves.
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My family of 4 (2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 baby) spends about $600/month at the grocery store, less than $100/month eating out.
Our food used to cost less (even a year ago), but we’ve trimmed as much out of the grocery budget as we’re really willing to do. We try to buy inexpensive things (like beans and rice, for example) but we don’t tend to buy the items that are coupon-able, as those are generally highly processed and contain a lot of sugar/HFCS and we don’t want to eat those things or give them to our kids.
We could probably cut another $75/month if we cut out “luxury” food items (fresh cheeses, $6 wines, etc.) but beyond that we’d be back to buying less healthy food, and we just don’t want to do that.
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2010 figures for food only:
$103 per person (adults) each month. $30 per person eating outside of the house.
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I spend $400/month on groceries and $50/month on restaurants. This is based on actual spending for the last six months.
I’m a single mom of a teenager living in the suburbs of a very large city.
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I have a budget of 90 euros a month for “food”. It’s actually my budget for any non-fixed expense (food, other groceries such as cleaning supplies or hygiene, entertainment, transportation…)
It’s almost exclusively food though so I call it my food budget. If I have some left at the end of the month I might spend it on something else, and if I have an unexpected expense I spend less on food for the rest of the month, but its main and intended purpose is feeding me.
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This is always such a helpful topic. I love knowing what others spend because it helps me to be realistic but also have a goal to strive for. Anyway…
We are a family of 3 living in a medium-sized coastal CA city. I think our cost of living is one of the highest in the nation (I recently returned from a trip to NYC and thought that food prices there seemed fair and reasonable, if that’s any indication). We are definite foodies. For example, I recently made goat cheese ice cream with roasted cherries because that sounds awesome to me. I meal plan partly for budget reasons but also because I love trying new recipes and look forward to cooking. We also eat mostly organic veggies/fruit, dry goods, and chicken when it’s reasonable. We only buy organic milk and beef and sustainably harvested fish. I make lattes every morning for my husband and I using organic fair trade coffee and organic milk.
We spend $550/month, which includes all personal care, household, and pharmacy products. Eating out/coffee/lunches is another $260/month. I do coupon (especially for drug store items) and stock up when there are phenomenal sales (Whole Foods one-day specials this year have included organic chicken for $1.99/lb, organic strawberries for $1.99/lb, and organic cherries for $2.99/lb). I also take advantage of the farms around here and buy huge boxes of organic fruit and veggies when in season. I can and freeze a lot so that we can have fresh tasting, fantastic food in winter. I have an herb garden and make my own cleaners so we don’t pay for those.
I definitely would like to be spending more like $400/month. But I agree with a lot of the previous comments: good food is worth paying for. I want my money to support food I believe in. I do want to make sure people know, however, that you can get coupons for organic or minimally processed food. You might have to look harder but I’ve successfully used coupons to get whole wheat pasta for free, organic tomato paste for 15 cents, and Annie’s organic mac & cheese for 50 cents (cheaper than Amazon subscribe & save). Our Vons (Safeway basically) also offers produce coupons. When Albertson’s ran a free milk promotion a couple of months back, I used those coupons to subsidize organic milk rather than getting the free regular. When there aren’t sales and/or coupons for things I like to buy, I just get them at Costco and Trader Joes where the prices are reasonable for the items I buy.
Also, my monthly budget varies throughout the year. There are months when I only spend $300 and others where it’s $600 because I paid $60 for a 20 lb box of organic apricots.
There was a great article in the NY Times recently asking the government to subsidize fresh food as opposed to all the processed stuff. It’s a great idea but until they do, buying fresh, seasonal food just costs more.
Here’s the link if anyone’s interested: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24bittman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=subsidize%20fresh%20food&st=cse
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I don’t really do budgets – I’m naturally quite frugal and easily save a big percentage of my below-average-salary each month. A couple of years ago, I tracked every dollar I spent and while I know I could spend less on food, I’m also not doing badly. At a guess I might say I spend about $400 a month on food?
For me, food purchases are just like any other purchase. I weigh up how much I want it, how much I would enjoy it, whether it’s worth it. And, like what is so often repeated on this site, I spend less on other things that are not important to me, so I can spend more on food.
Food is my hobby – it keeps me busy enough, and while it comes with its costs, it also I’m less likely to spend on other stuff! I run a food blog and it’s been a cool learning curve. I’ve improved my cooking, writing and photography skills. Not only that, but thanks to my blog I’ve been offered a couple of gigs on the side that supplement my income, and I’m hoping to leverage the experience towards a career change. Plus, I entered a recipe competition recently and won $1000 – how good is that!
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I should also mention the estimated $400/month is just for me, and that I live in Australia. My expenses for groceries and eating out are a mixed bag – I can be happy getting cheap, discounted food, but I also enjoy splurging on slightly pricier produce/experiences. It’s all good.
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Thank you for posting your budget for Australia! I’m living in Perth for a year, and having come from a relatively low cost of living U.S. state (New Mexico), I feel like everything here is more expensive. I try to buy only the absolute necessities at the grocery store, and only buy the “luxuries” (meat, fruit, baked beans, chocolate) if it’s on sale. But at the same time I’m willing to spend a little more on eating out if it’s part of socializing and making friends (very important to an exchange student all alone in a foreign country).
So far my budget has aimed to spend less than $60 per week (one adult, just food, both groceries and eating out), but I accidentally blew the budget last month on a few too many nights out and food for a celiac friend who is visiting for a month (he eats a LOT more meat than I do).
This is such a great post (I’ve been fretting about my food budget for a while), though it’s still hard to make comparisons unless you manage to find someone with enough of a similar situation to be comparing apples to apples, especially among the proverbial haystack of 300+ comments…. I wonder if there’s a way to create forums based on people’s situations? A family in the suburbs is pretty different food budget-wise from a DINK couple downtown, and Albuquerque prices are VERY different from Los Angeles prices. Just a thought.
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When we lived in a Midwestern college town, we spent about $300/mth for 2 adults, including about 2-3 bottles of wine a month. Mostly organic and/or locally produced meat, dairy, and lots of produce. We went out to eat about 2 times a week, always sit down restaurants and mostly local ones, so we spent about $300 on that. We moved to Ireland 2.5 weeks ago (time flies!) and are finding that groceries are generally more expensive here, but it also doesn’t help that we’re starting all over. It will be interesting to see how it works out over time, since our fridge is tiny and we have to shop every 2-3 days for some goods, don’t have room for any bulk storage (and bulk discounts don’t seem to be that common anyway), and have fewer options for ethnic groceries or farmer’s markets.
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family of 4 in canada, urban/$600-700 month for food/essentials (shampoo/soap/etc-lots of fresh fruit,vegetables,2 lactose intolerant-some dairy and protein)
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Right now I have no idea how much I’m spending. I used to live with roommates and tracked how much we spent but now I have no clue. I also moved to an area where the grocery stores are more expensive and have less variety which sucks. I’m also learning to shop for one without wasting so much food which is hard because I was used to buying things more in bulk which I can’t do anymore.
I also don’t have access to a car and I’m further from public transportation than I was before so buying a lot at a time is difficult.
I coupon a little, more for non perishables like cereal, canned goods and paper goods and toiletries. However, couponing in Canada only gets you so far because its way stricter.
I really need to start tracking again…
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Family of eight (three adults, five children) and we spend $900 per month on food and sundries (including diapers and pet food) and another $200 on eating out and entertainment (we lump them).
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I spend $400/month to feed my family of six (that includes toiletries/cleaning supplies). But, we’re not football-player sized people, so I can get away with a small-ish budget.
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I am single and childless and admit to spending quite a bit monthly on food and groceries. Maintaining a healthy weight and nutrition is very important to me. Unfortunately being gluten intolerant and insulin resistant, I just cant eat live on rice, beans and sandwiches. On Mint.com, I separate paper products, cleaning supplies, etc from my actual grocery bills to keep it as accurate as possible.
It varies monthly, but I spend an average of $400/mo. I cook at home the majority of the time and sometimes (not always) I cook for others.
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I forgot to mention, I also don’t eat grains, starchy foods and most soy products. All those are very cheap. My meals consist of lots of organic vegetables including sea vegetables, organic nuts and seeds, pastured chicken and eggs, wild fish and occasionally grass feed beef (not very often though).
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we spend $300 every two weeks on groceries. Family of 4. Eat fish once a week, no meat about once a week, and we bounce between 4 different stores shopping. Then another $50 or so eating out. I don’t lump the two together ’cause one is discretionary.
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I don’t always track my spending every month, but I did specifically look at food expenses in early July, because I feel like my spending has risen a lot recently, so I want to cut back. Since food is an area where I traditionally spend more, it seemed like a good place to start my focus on cutting back.
Between June 6 and July 5, I spent $535.28 on groceries and eating out (no toiletries or other items you might buy at the grocery store were included) for three people in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. My goal was to cut back 10% over the next month. To date, I’m doing quite well: I have spent $259.98 on groceries and eating out. That said, we are consuming a lot of things that we have on hand, like freezer meals and shelf-stable items, so we cannot sustain such low costs indefinitely.
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This gave me a good excuse to delve into my Mint account and do a bit of personal data mining. Fun! I’ve been tracking finances using a Mint for one year now, so these figures are averaged over that time period. Anything purchased at the grocery store falls into this spending category, so the few toiletries, paper products, and cleaning supplies I buy are included. Those don’t end up costing much, but it also often includes a few bottles of wine and I do drink that nearly every week.
Household: one person plus (I say “plus” because about 3 times a week my boyfriend eats with me and I will occasionally share a meal with my roommate)
Location: Chicago (in the actual City of Chicago, not a suburb, although I do quite a bit of food shopping in the suburbs)
Average total food costs: $413 a month
Groceries: $273/mo
Eating out: $140/mo (includes coffee and the occasional “my treat” dinner with the BF and friends and some really good restaurants, as well as a weekend lunch at Chipotle or something comparable)
I have recently started cutting *all grains* from my diet, so it’s possible my food costs will go up. The starchy stuff like rice, pasta, and bread is usually the cheapest stuff to eat, and I’m now eating a lot more veggies, fruit, and animal products. In the past I would eat a vegetarian meal or two a week, but now that’s not really an option. (Goodbye beans and rice. *sniffle*)
While I love the farmers markets, recently I’ve been frequenting a large international market for most of my food. I used to make it a priority to go to the farmers market, but my other commitments are taking priority now. Also, although I wish I could buy local and organic all the time, paying less than $8 for three lamb shoulder chops at the international market (three meals) won out over $31 for the 1.75 pound lamb shoulder roast at the farmers market (maybe five meals?). I can spend $50 on fresh veggies, fruits, and meat at the international market and have that last me at least a week, plus stock up my freezer with the extra meat for later.
Although it’s probably obvious, I’ll point out that I prep and cook most of my own meals, as well as packing meals + snacks for those days I go to the office.
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Wow, I need to stop shopping at Whole Foods…
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We recently decreased our food budget to roughly $425/month for groceries, $150/month for eating out, and $50/month set aside for my lunches at work (which are usually a split of grocery purchases and going out).
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For my family of 3, my monthly averages for 2011 have been $425 for groceries (food only), $200 for household supplies (including personal hygiene), $50 for beer and wine, and $200 for eating out (excluding my DH’s lunches). I do use some coupons.
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Prices have also gone up – my average monthly amount for groceries was about $375 for 2010.
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My husband and I budget $250/month for groceries and $75/month for eating out. We’re usually under the grocery budget and a little over the eating out budget, so it evens out.
Groceries is usually just food items, other household goods are pretty rare purchases (we buy in bulk) and fall under a different budget.
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My last term of university this year, I budgeted £20 (~$25) a week for food and didn’t go over it a single time.
I’m a small person, so I don’t need huge portions (although I was training for cheerleading every day by the end, so I did end up eating more than usual that term). I eat pretty healthily, lots of cheap frozen veggies, rice, lentils, canned stuff, and copious recon missions to the discount bin on my way home.
My family back home, in contrast, spend about £150 a week at the supermarket for a family of four, plus whatever they spend on the organic vegetable box. But my mum ends up throwing away quite a bit of food (I am always telling her off for this, it drives me mad).
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Oh, I forgot to mention. Alcohol came under my fun budget which was £15 a week and covered anything that wasn’t food or travel.
Drinking is very expensive in London, so I didn’t do much.
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Interesting exercise. In July I spent $798.35 for household groceries and eating out. $484.12 was just groceries, although stocking the freezer was part of that, and prep for a very indulgent seafood paella as well.
This is for a family of two full-time-employed adults in Los Angeles. I buy most of our wine at the grocery store, so that cost is included, as is cat food. Most toiletries are from the drugstore and I excluded those.
We both eat at least one meal a day out of the house M-F. I bring my breakfast almost every day and bring my lunch about 3x a week. DH does not pack meals – he doesn’t have access to a refrigerator, or anything else, during the day. We make coffee at home only on the weekends.
June was not nearly so frightful, as the freezer-stocking did not come into play and eating out was less indulgent. $545.93 total, with $377.79 on groceries.
It would be safe to estimate an average of $600/mo for groceries and eating out, noting that this is just what *I* spend. DH spends probably another $100/wk for a monthly household total of $1000.
For points of comparison, our total monthly insurance bills are (health, auto, renter’s, professional liability, and term life, averaged to account for annual or quarterly bills) over $900/mo. Our rent is $2400/mo.
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We are a family of 5, and we pay about $750 a month for groceries, which includes pet food for 1 dog and 1 cat, and cleaning supplies and soap/shampoo etc. We also pay about $500 a month dining out. I just recently put together a budget and didn’t realize how high both these numbers were until I put the budget together, so I am trying to work on this. My wife and I both work full time. Groceries is 9% of our income and eating out is about 6%.
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I’ll start off by saying:
* We’re a family of 2 humans, 2 cats, and a dog.
* My partner is anaphylactic-shock level allergic to poultry, pork (including gelatin!), and eggs. He was also just diagnosed with diabetes in May. This has a huge impact on what types of food we can purchase.
* This does not include pet food and supplies, but they’re less than $20/month for 2 cats and a dog. One cat has both a grain and a protein allergy and the dog has a severe corn allergy (in addition to epilepsy).
* We buy paper goods less than once every six months because we get them from Costco (I think we bought toilet paper once in the past year).
* I have a Diva cup, so I haven’t really bought f. hygiene products in 6 years.
* This does not include any of our prescriptions. Mine are $35/month, the dog’s is $10/month, and my partner’s are probably close to $75/month, if not more.
From June 1 to today, we’ve spent $459 at the grocery store and $174 eating out. It works out to ~$57/week in groceries and less than $25/week in eating out (fast food and restaurants) for 2 people. We had gotten ridiculously high on the eating out front towards the end of last semester, so I’m pleased that we’re back down into territory where I feel much more comfortable.
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My grocery budget for my husband and I is $400 a month. I try to hit that, or below it. Eating out is usually included in that number.
We have really tried to curb our eating out, and have been trying to only eat out with friends for entertainment and socializing. We are down to about once a month now. We used to go out every week, and I am proud of how we have reduced that.
We do not make a meal every day though. We make a couple large meals a week and eat the leftovers for our work lunches.
I make a trip to Walmart every 2 months or so to stock up on canned food and household products.
I would like to start growing vegetables, maybe next year.
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I have to reply because your family sounds almost exactly like us. My husband and I have stuck to a budget of $400/month on food for the past several years, living just outside of Boston, MA. That includes anything we buy at the grocery store and Costco, except when I remember to divide out major Costco purchases (tires, printer cartridges, clothes).
We gave up eating out almost 4 years ago to afford our mortgage, but have gradually added it back in as a social thing with friends or when traveling. We’re up to about twice a month during summer and ski season, less in spring and fall.
We generally cook 4-5 times a week, switching between 4 and 8 portions and bring leftovers to work for lunch.
We don’t live near a Walmart, but go to Costco every few weeks and supplement that with approximately weekly trips to one of several local grocery stores. Last summer, we used a CSA for veggies and hardly needed to go to the grocery store at all. I found that paying extra for local produce lowered my overall food spending because I made less trips to the store.
I had a vegetable garden several years ago but not since we moved. It’s a large amount of effort to get one started but not that much to maintain it. I’m hoping to try growing greens this fall to get back into it.
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IT seems I spend around $400-500 per month for me and my two kitties. It flucuates some because I don’t have to buy cleaning supplies every month, takes a little time to go through that.
My dining out budget is $150 per month, but I don’t always use it. Depends on how often my friends and I go out.
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I live in Seattle and cooking is my main entertainment and hobby. I budget about $100/week for groceries, not including wine/booze, for me and any guests I have. I budget about $35/week for eating out.
Some weeks, I spend around $180 for groceries– others, I spend around $40. It really depends on my projects, if my pantry needs restocking in the basics, etc.
I also try to eat gluten-free/dairy-free, so lots of vegetables and meat. I try to buy the happiest meat I can.
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Oh yeah– absolutely no coupons used. (Barf at the time that would require on my part.) I just go to Trader Joes, Safeway, and occasionally specialty stores for whatever will let me make the dishes I want to make that week.
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Our monthly food budget has been $600 for a family of 6 (2 adults, 3 teenagers and 1 soon to be teen).
We have become a lot more health conscious in recent years and because of the pinch we are feeling at the grocery store we have taken to preparing many of our foods from scratch. While time consuming, this does cut down on the pre-packaged/processed food intake and cost.
We live in a very very rural area. The closest grocery store is 30 minutes away. While I wish I could shop once or twice a month I cannot due to the amount of fresh produce we consume. The produce usage also prevents couponing and is consistently the largest part of our budget.
My husband and I both work and travel quite frequently for it so a home garden has not been a viable option for us, not to mention the harsh New England winters only provide a short season in which to grow and harvest, not nearly enough to provide for our family for a full year.
We have a pizza or calzone night once a month and chinese food once every two months, so this year to date we have spent $660 on eating out.
By the way, the food budget ($600/month) does NOT include our household items. I purchase those separately for expense tracking purposes. For our family of 6 our monthly household goods (paper products, personal hygiene products, etc) equals approximately $100 a month.
Food costs are rising rapidly in this area and we have been discussing ways to further “cut” our food costs in order to try and maintain our $600/month food budget. We eat well and would like to continue to do so.
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Single middle-aged male living in the northeast. My food costs are about $450/ month, which includes eating out about once a week. I’m counting all the stuff I buy in the grocery store–towels, tp, sandwich bags etc.
This seems high but I do spend a lot on local free-range eggs, local meats, very pricy imported cheese etc.
Dog food is a different story–$50 a month for Blue Buffalo for my two shep mixes.
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Our food budget hasn’t changed. It’s been $300/mth (food only) since 2005. We’ve added 1 more child to the mix as well so we’re now a family of 6. But what I buy and how I buy it has changed. I used to coupon heavily but I no longer do that. I try to keep to the outer edges of the grocery store when shopping and I’ve found certain days of the week are better for finding marked down produce/meats so I shop then. I do stock up when I can get things for a great price. Like I just bought 10 loaves of bread for .59 each. Whole grain and 100% whole wheat. I also ‘stalk’ the organics area at our local grocers. Organic is not popular in my area so things are forever getting marked down to even lower than their regular counterparts. I also will take about 30mins each week and plan out what I’m going to price match at Walmart. I won’t buy meat there but I will buy produce and any pantry items. We don’t eat a lot of meat so that helps keep the budget low.
We also have a household budget of $70/mth as well. This $70 has to include any toiletries or cleaning supplies we might need as well as my soda habit. We rarely use it all and it mostly ends up going to eating out.
Our eating out budget for each month is $60. So with 6 people that makes eating out a rarity. We mostly use it for quickie snack stops for the kids.
I found it was easier to adjust my purchases instead of raise my food budget. If I had to raise my budget I suppose I could but for right now, there is no need to.
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Our monthly average for the last 10 months is $375. That’s for two adults and one small child, and it includes groceries and stuff like shampoo and toilet paper.
For the same time period one year ago, we spent $212 a month. I’d say the vast majority of that increase is from moving to a way more expensive location. The rest is from the small child being a little bigger and me being a little less focused on keeping costs down (because it’s not as necessary anymore).
Eating out is separate; it’s part of our “entertainment” budget, and it also includes times my husband buys his lunch. It’s come to average out to $55/month (up from $30 a year ago).
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That’s incredible. You had a 75% increase just from moving to a different area.
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Yes. And trust me, the sticker shock was terrible for a few months.
But it’d be more conservative (fair?) to say a 50% increase, given my less intense couponing and that our son eats a little more now. We’ve also had a couple visitors for a couple weeks each, and that costs more too, especially when some have dietary restrictions.
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My budget (for me only) is 250/month on “groceries” (including other household goods and the occasional liquor purchase) and 150/month on “dining”, which includes eating out, going to the bar with my friends, and the portion of my coffee habit that doesn’t fall under groceries. I’m also something of a foodie (with an espresso obsession) and do a great deal of my shopping at the farmer’s market and try to buy certain foods organic and my meat/eggs/dairy pastured. I pack my lunch most days.
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Ooh, this is fun!
Here are our stats:
Husband and I are 32 and 31
Live in Seattle
Both work full time in downtown Seattle
No kids
Avg. monthly income: $8500
Avg. monthly expenses: $6700 (includes debt repayment and vacation pro-rated)
Here’s our avg. monthly food cost breakdown:
$400 Groceries
$500 Eating out together
$500 Lunch and coffee at work
That’s a total of $1400 per month on food. We buy almost exclusively organic groceries and are “foodies” – we eat out about once per week and go to nice, often new, places.
I often worry we should cut down on our food costs, but I weigh that with the fact that food experiences are a big part of how my husband and I enjoy life.
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We have a family of 4, two adults and 2 children ages 3 and 1. Our food budget consists of all things purchased at a grocery store (food, diapers, personal hygene, etc.) plus eating out. We cut coupons regularly and shop at Harris Teeter, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. We spend about $550-600 on groceries and $100 on dining.
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For two adult foodies in San Francisco, in June we spent about $630 on groceries (including paper and cleaning products) and in July we spent $782 (including paper and cleaning products and also entertaining — brunch for six — and some flowers). This does not include things like shampoo and toothpaste, which we buy at Walgreens or Amazon. We use the Safeway club card and online coupons. The three places we regularly shop are Safeway, Whole Foods and Costco. I don’t often buy organic produce but always buy organic local milk and organic grass-fed ground beef. We usually buy chicken breasts, steaks, fizzy water and wine in bulk at Costco.
For people wondering how two adults could possibly spend $750 on groceries in one month, I think for us these very high numbers are a combination of two factors — one, that we prioritize good food and are willing to spend a lot on what we want (including wine); and two, prices are high in San Francisco. Examples —
Half-gallon of Strauss Family Creamery organic milk: $4.39 (plus refundable $1.50 bottle deposit on top of that)
Loaf of Vital Vittles organic three-seed bread: $5.89
Bag of unbleached flour: $3.79
One dozen brown cage-free eggs: $4.29
Granny Smith apples: $1.99/lb.
Haas avocados: $2.00 each
Yellow onions: $1.49/lb.
Half-gallon Odwalla orange juice: $6.99
Aidell’s chicken-apple sausage (4 links): $5.99
Jasmine rice: $2.39/lb.
Rochetta three-milk cheese: $13.99/half lb.
Monkey Bay Marlborough NZ Sauvignon Blanc: $8.99/bottle
Numanthia Termes Toro (Spanish red wine): $21.99/bottle
We’ve been doing better about cooking more at home and eating dinners out less, but both eat most of our lunches out (going out from work) and get quite a bit of takeout/delivery. Haven’t added up our dining out totals because they vary so wildly from month to month — for individual instances, it’s about $30 for Thai or Chinese delivery for two; $60-80 for German or Indian dining out; $100-120 for sushi out; and $200 and up for a splurge dinner out at a higher-end place like Nopa, Harris’ or Gary Danko (not often!).
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We have a family of 6 (40, 35, 19, 15, 14 and 1). Myself and all 3 teenage boys are human vacuums, so we need to cut costs wherever possible.
We spend an average of $200 a month for groceries. We do a terrible job of tracking our dining out costs, but that’s usually just my wife and I and we think it’s about $120 a month. That $200 does not generally include cat litter, but does include cat food, TP and detergent.
The grocery money is spent in a couple of places – who has sales and what coupons do we have on hand? We don’t use clipping services (but likely will soon) and show no brand or store loyalty. We also buy fresh vegetables from a local farm in season, by picking our own we save significantly on the costs. We make a trip every 2-3 weeks to the salvage food grocery (it’s 40 miles each way but an overflowing cart of food that our family will eat costs us about $25) We shop at discount grocer’s like Aldi for most of our staples unless the name brand grocer’s has a better deal. We are also both pretty good at spotting manager mark downs on food and freezing meats or taking stuff home to use right away.
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For two adult foodies in San Francisco — in June we spent about $630 on groceries (including paper and cleaning products) and in July we spent $782 (included entertaining — brunch for six — and an $18 potted hydrangea). This does not include things like shampoo and toothpaste, which we buy at Walgreens or Amazon. We use the Safeway club card and online coupons. The three places we regularly shop are Safeway, Whole Foods and Costco. I don’t often buy organic produce but always buy organic local milk and organic grass-fed ground beef. We usually buy chicken breasts, steaks, fizzy water and wine in bulk at Costco.
For people wondering how two adults could possibly spend $750 on groceries in one month, I think for us these very high numbers are a combination of two factors — one, that we prioritize good food and are willing to spend a lot on what we want (including wine); and two, prices are high in San Francisco. Examples —
Half-gallon of Strauss Family Creamery organic milk: $4.39 (plus refundable $1.50 bottle deposit)
Loaf of Vital Vittles three-seed bread: $5.89
Bag of unbleached flour: $3.79
One dozen brown cage-free eggs: $4.29
Granny smith apples: $1.99/lb.
Haas avocados: $2.00 each
Yellow onions: $1.49/lb.
Half-gallon Odwalla orange juice: $6.99
Aidell’s chicken-apple sausage (4 links): $5.99
Jasmine rice: $2.39/lb.
Organic grass-fed lean ground beef: $8.99/lb.
Rochetta three-milk cheese: $25.99/lb.
Monkey Bay Marlborough NZ Sauvignon Blanc: $8.99/bottle
Numanthia Termes Toro (Spanish red wine): $21.99/bottle
We’ve been doing better about cooking more at home and eating dinners out less, but both eat most of our lunches out (going out from work) and get quite a bit of takeout/delivery. Haven’t added up our dining out totals because they vary so wildly from month to month — for individual instances, it’s about $30 for Thai or Chinese delivery for two; $60-80 for German or Indian dining out; $100-120 for sushi out; and $200 and up for a splurge dinner out at a higher-end place like Nopa, Harris’ or Gary Danko (not often!).
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I am surprised by how much people spend. I spend about $350 a month for myself and two kids. We eat fine too. I don’t eat out much because not only is it expensive, if you have to take a two year old with you it’s not really worth it.
I serve really simple dinners, usually a one-pot main dish type thing and a simple side, like a salad, applesauce or steamed broccoli. If I make a soup I do bread or rolls with it. I think a lot of people make too many things for dinner which is not only expensive, it dirties a lot of dishes and more variety tends to make us eat too much.
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Great point! Would you mind sharing some of the meals you make?
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