I guess i am getting poorer, slowly, and not the other way around. But i know i should turn it around, i am working on a food-plan right now – planning my meals an then i’m gonna try to stick to it and not just eat whatever i want all the time.

We are two and spend almost $600. However we try to buy everything organic if possible.

That doesn’t include my between-meal snacks (yogurt, fruit, protein bar, etc…) which probably add another $5/day.

So I am having trouble seeing how I could ever get below $500/month per person.

Planning out meals for the week and shopping to this list of ingredients saves a lot of money, I’ve found. We have a garden during the summer and I usually buy organic/local foods when possible, and shop at farmers’ markets. We eat vegetarian a lot, which saves money, and I try to cook from scratch at least a few times per week. My mom and I buy meat, eggs and poultry directly from local farmers; organic grass fed ground beef for $5 a pound – can’t beat it! We buy lots of foods and all of our spices in bulk, which saves a lot of money. Plus, you can buy only what you need so there’s no waste. Instead of soda, I make my own iced tea or drink water. That has saved $30+ per month and probably several cavities at the dentist. There are lots of ways to save money with groceries. Over time, putting them into action has made a big dent in our grocery bill.

In those six months the food bill was cut in half. I couldn’t get the groceries down quite to half, but we saved a ton on eating out. Right now we’re on track to have less than $10,000 towards food by the end of the year.

It definitely doesn’t cost a ton to make healthy food from scratch, and it doesn’t take too much time once rudimentary cooking skills are learned. Google and Youtube have just about any lesson and recipe the aspiring cook can hope to have. And for me, there’s nothing better than chopping food after a stressful day at work.

Our total (food, household goods) has averaged about $1,000 a month, and while that seems higher than other families here, particularly since we live in what is probably a fairly reasonably priced area, I don’t see it as a problem. We came up with a budget based on our values and priorities, and that number is what we were comfortable with. If a lower budget were a priority for us (as we all know it could be at any time!) we could do that. (and in reality, our actual spending is less because I coordinate a lot of the local beef/milk/egg buys and make deliveries between farmers and a buying group, and get a very deep discount for doing so. My milk and eggs usually end up being free, and the meat ends up being less per pound than any other way I could get it. But I didn’t want that to skew the amount we’d be paying if it were all full price. My discount for coordinating things brings my actual spending down by several hundred dollars per month.) Without my coordinating discounts, eating this way would be about 20% of our income, which is what we were aiming for, and the extra work I do brings us in close to 15%

As some of the non-American contributors to this thread of expressed, food here in American is CHEAP. Artificially cheap, mind you, because the industry is loaded with government issued subsidies that keep our food prices extravagantly low compared to the rest of the world (which, if you think about it, means you’re also paying for your food with higher taxes).

Even among developed nations, our food prices are ridiculously affordable. However, in America in particular, you get what you pay for. A lot of the food at conventional grocery stores is mass produced with significant debate as to its health content. There have been movements for whole food, organic diets, but of course this comes with a cost. The less industrial influence you want on your food, the more you’re going to pay for it…for now. Until “organic” and “whole food” become industry standard, if you want quality food to fuel your self then you do need to pay a premium. However, the way I reason it financially is this: I could spend less on food by buying lower quality products, but in the long run I’m putting my health at a disadvantage by loading it up with less than adequate foods. If I were to spend more now on high quality food, then I avoid long-term health costs associate with a poor diet. Goodness knows we have a huge problem with rising health costs in this country. Look at paying for your food as less of an in the moment cost and more of a long term investment, for yourself and your family. When it comes to food, do not skimp on quality.

That’s 2 trips to the grocery store per month at roughly $200 each, and a couple of follow-up visits to the grocery store for fresh meat and veggies, + about $70 a week for lunch at work (over 5-day work week).

We tend to throw away a lot more food than I’d care to admit. usually because our schedule is so hectic with work, commute and horrid traffic patterns, plus other activities that it doesn’t allow us to have a predictable schedule to follow.

We don’t drink alcohol, but we do seem to use a LOT of soft drinks because no one drinks coffee. I will frequently switch out to iced tea throughout the spring and summer.

We tend to buy the typical foods that match our lifestyle, so not a lot of things that tend to spoil immediately. I’ll usually shop twice for non perishable goods, and then buy the perishable goods in alternating weeks.

Food now represents a sizeable portion of my monthly budget. Adjusting our variable expenses are the only way that we will be able to balance our budget and remain in the black. Everything else is spoken for, financially speaking

$280 a month is STRICKLY on food not including things like paper towels etc

i keep it simple

Mon-Fri i dont eat out at all (this includes breakfast lunch & dinner)

on the weekends i eat whatever i want

this equates to about $30 Mon-Fri and maybe $40 Fri Sat and Sun

So i spend about $280 a month

Food I find fluctuates depending on the month. Some months we entertain more than others; holidays, summer…but if I was going to average it out, I would say we spend about $600 a month on food.

Household supplies also fluctuate a bit because I buy most of that stuff in bulk when it is on sale. Again, averaged out it would be about $150 a month.

We don’t eat out very often, special occasions only for the most part and we cut back in every other area we can. I wish the food prices were lower, but that is not the reality and we won’t sacrifice on quality food to save a few more dollars because to me, that is not living.

I also spend another $375 a month on restaurants/alcohol but that I consider to be “entertainment” expense as my meals out are my primary social/entertainment spending.