How much do you spend on food?
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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There are 399 comments to "How much do you spend on food?".
Through the first seven months of 2011 my family has spent $2800 on groceries (or $400/month) for a family of 4, which includes two toddlers, one still in diapers. We stockpile non perishable groceries making heavy use of coupons.
Our restaurant budget for the first seven months is about $1200 ($175/month) which includes work cafateria lunches for me, fast food takeout and family sit down meals at restaurants. $700 of the $1200 is for work lunches, which partly I chalk up as a “networking” cost.
We have a similar family makeup to John’s except we do not have either toddler in diapers. We spend $750/mo for groceries and HBA items. We sped $250/mo dining out which includes any work lunches that I may purchase, WAAYY too many trips to Caribou Coffee and family dining out.
We live in a suburban area of a major metropolitan city (3+ million)
I’m VERY interested in knowing where you live, what type of city/town etc. My husband and I spend more than that – and it’s just the two of us! We live in a pretty affluent suburb but we ourselves are not affluent and are very frugal.
Well I don’t know what I am doing wrong here. I have to be picky about what I eat and avoid gluten, and I like to shop organic. I enjoy going out to eat, but don’t go to extravagant places.
That said, I spend about 900 a month on a 2 adult household, sometimes when I have a party or dinner party it exceeds 1200 with alcohol.
200 bucks a month would be amazing, but I feel like I’d be eating rice and beans and beans and rice in for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
I agree Joanna – your numbers are closer to mine. We’re a couple in a suburb of NY, and yes we do end up having a lot of company, and alcohol. Maybe that’s the variable?
I will say, reading everyone’s comments was a little discouraging, considering I am the one that ppl in my group of friends call cheap. But i’m going to see it as a challenge to get my numbers waaaayyyy down. And then once I do, have ppl over again. 🙂
Joanna,
I’m Canadian and I’m always shocked (SHOCKED!) by how little groceries cost in the US. We live just outside of Toronto, and our family of four is lucky to bring in the grocery/household/toiletry budget for $950 a month excluding restaurants and alcohol (and we love to entertain).
I also make nearly ALL of our skin care items from organic, raw ingredients, and I also make ALL of our household cleaning products both to keep costs down and to ensure our home is free from nasty chemicals.
With the exception of our daughter’s favourite cereal, NOTHING we purchase comes in a box or is pre-prepared. We make everything from scratch, brown bag our lunches, eat (mostly) gluten free, and prefer fresh fish once or twice a week. We don’t eat a tremendous amount of meat but do enjoy artisan cheeses for weekend brunches now and then.
We’re a family of two/four ~ meaning, we have two (hungry) teenagers with us half the time.
While I would certainly agree that we would be considered a “foodie” family, I’m always a little sad to know that preference for natural, home-cooked meals with fresh, in-season ingredients (preferably organic) slides one over to the “foodie” category, rather than being accepted as the normal way of eating. We both work, and we realize that eating this way comes at both a financially and a ‘time’ price, but for us, it’s absolutely worth it.
I think the key variable (Lara & The+Other+Brian) is where you live. I live in the Triangle area in NC (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) and went to NYC (Queens to be a little more exact) for a visit. I went to a grocery store there and was shocked at how much groceries cost, even for basics like milk and cheese. I asked my husband (who lived there for 30+ years) how he could afford that (he never had a high paying job while he lived there) & he said he was just used to it since that’s all he had been exposed to.
I live in the Midwest and spend approx $225/mo for myself. I eat out way more than I should but the $225 includes groceries, HBA (which i buy very little), household (paper towels/facial tissues/toilet paper all bought in bulk)and even pet supplies. I do not buy brand name items, organic or even the high priced items (ie so called healthy items), usually buy on sale if possible, and rarely buy chips/cookies/etc. I do splurge on soda if on a good sale. I do shop at grocery chains and some cheaper chains.
I’ll also be interested in knowing how you manage to spend so little on food for a family of four.
We are two and spend almost $600. However we try to buy everything organic if possible.
We spend almost $600 on food, and that’s just me and my girlfriend… I guess we could be a lot more economical, but the worst part is we tend to throw away 10-20% of the food because we buy something and then just don’t feel like having that food, and then it starts to spoil.
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.
I budget $50 per week for food, clothes, and entertainment for my household of one. I often spend less than that (and put the rest in savings for those rare occasions when I need to spend more).
I don’t break it out by how much goes to food and how much to other things, but I’d say I spend about $150 per month on food (I don’t drink alcohol, rarely eat out, I get maybe one coffee per month at a coffee shop, I brown bag my lunch at work, and am a vegetarian, so am not buying meat). I eat lots of fresh fruits and veg and (happily) make most things from scratch (bread, pasta, dry beans, etc.)
I budget $100 a week for food/household items. I usually come in under that amount at the end of the month. I signed up for a vegetable CSA for 10 weeks ($135) and the stuff I get is plenty and I can make multiple meals out of it. I make my own bread, don’t drink alcohol and go out to a restaurant w/friend(s) maybe once every other month. I am an appetizer/dessert freak, so no big entree for me ‘-)
I don’t coupon shop, but buy store brand most of the time. The other day I got two bottles of concentrated Purex laundry detergent for $5 total. That’ll probably last me 3 months or so.
In the month of June this year, the first month in which we were tracking our spending, we spent £371 (about $565) on groceries and £62 (about $101) on eating out, for two adults and a small child. That is 23% of our income on groceries, 3.8% on eating out, for a total of 27% of our income on food. Groceries are our second largest expense (after rent) and I really think it’s the first budget item we need to start working on reducing. But I’m not willing to sacrifice on fresh fruit for the kid, or fresh vegetables for all of us. I think the best route is to eat less meat, and buy a little less “semi-prepared” food (e.g. chicken pieces with sauce already on them).
Our grocery budget has gone up a good bit over the last year. For a long time our spending averaged out to $700 a month. Now it’s up just shy of $900. We stockpile non-perishables when we can get a coupon/sale combo. As a result our spending is very uneven from month to month. The increase is due both to inflation and growing boys who seem to eat non-stop.
We probably spend on average another $300 on eating out, but some of that comes from our adult allowance so it’s not really counted. Eating out is the first thing to go in a month where money is tight.
We’re pretty similar to you. Family of six (me, two parents, three kids–though one is away at college most the time). The extra cost of groceries has been a killer. I buy the kids McDonald’s or Little Caesars a couple times a week, but I rarely eat out. I’m trying to lose weight, doing Weight Watchers.
We spend about $500.00 a month at the grocery store (includes most of our paper goods, laundry detergent, etc., but not for toiletries) and approximately $50.00 a month “dining out” which is usually take out pizza every couple of weeks or once in a while going out to a local restaurant once a month, usually for a lunch. We use coupons, both at the grocery store and for pizza or restaurants. This is for two adults and two teens.
This year has been interesting with the pregnancy (our first) and so our food bill has changed frequently.
This past few months we’ve spent around $350/month. It was around $500/month the second trimester as I got my appetite back from a rough first trimester.
Correction, that’s a percentage of our tracked expenditure on those things. If I use income instead, groceries is 18%, and food in total 21%. Knew it wasn’t quite as dramatically bad as the above comment seemed to suggest.
That’s still fairly dramatic – I’m in the UK as well and my monthly spend is less than 9% for food (including eating out).
We live in Europe as well (not the UK) here food is significantly more expensiv than in the US (lived in the us a few years ago) and still we spend no more than $300 on food for a family of 4. For us the difference is that we cook from scrach and also use high quality but less expensive meat and produce like chicken and pork instead of beef etc. E.g. we buy organic chicken for half the price of regualar beef…and it is better for the environment our helth and our personal finances.
Our figure does not include eating out which i include in our ‘fun budget’ but my assessment is that we eat out for about 100-150$ per month.
Depends on the month. As a single adult, I pay about $100 for groceries, and anywhere from $50-$100 on eating out (grad student who sometimes has little time to be at home and cook). During the winter though, I save big time. I hate driving in snow, so I stock up and freeze a lot beforehand (and I try to do it in budget for Nov/Dec). I don’t like walking in the cold, so I go out to eat far less. If I had a second freezer, I would consider doing this year round for all the monetary benefits, but it’s too much of a pain right now.
I am a single young professional with about the same food spending each month: $115 on groceries, between $50 and $100 on eating out. These figures include alcohol purchases, and pastured eggs and raw, local milk from my farmer. I’d consider myself quasi-foodie, too!
I’m with Allie – I throw in $125/month for my half of the groceries in our two person household (that includes TP, cleaning supplies, etc.).
I’ll grab lunches on the fly quite a bit, because it’s a convenient way for me stay near/on campus. We’re trying to cut back on our grocery bill by eating vegetarian more often, and this fall I’ll have access to a fridge on campus so I can pack lunches.
I’m also learning (very slowly) to use our crock-pot so I can make large meals that will last a couple days. This will be particularly useful in the winter for soups and chilis and whatnot.
Wow – I’m really impressed. I’m very very careful, make all of my food from scratch (except bread), I make lots of big pots of things that can be frozen, and I struggle to keep my groceries between $180 and $200, and maybe $50 eating out. Now I feel challenged to try to get it down either further!
I’m also a grad student, and living in a big city I’ve managed to get my spending down to <$250/month on food (for july, $110 on groceries, $54 on eating out). This generally doesn't include stuff like household goods, that gets sorted into the shopping budget, but it also doesn't include all the times my boyfriend will pay for us when we go out. Unsurprisingly, I've discovered that eating lunch at home dramatically cuts down on how much I spend (1 lunch at Arby's vs. sandwiches for a week!). It's not as glamorous as going to the food court on campus every day, but it's definitely worth it.
I spend about $200/month for one person on all food shopping. That probably includes about $15-20/month on fresh food for pets.
I think you do spend more than us. We are a family of two adults and we spend $300 for grocery and $80 -$100 per month on dining out. One differentiation might be that we don’t drink..
We are also a family of 2 adults and spend about the same amount (not including most paper products and tolietries). We are also not big drinkers.
Our household is two adults, two cats, a lizard and a cople of fish. We spend about 400 dollars a month on food/ household products/ animal food. Prob about 35 dollars on eating out. Eat out twice a month unless it’s for something special. ( Just for the record we prob spend about 70 to 80 in gas. 750 I think is a little on the high side for a family of two. But if you have the money more power to you!:)
Where does everyone live? (approximately) … there are definitely regional or urban/suburban/rural price differences at play too.
We are a family of two adults in downtown Philadelphia, PA. We average $300/month for groceries and about $80 a month for paper products, toiletries, and medicines (a couple prescriptions). For eating out, we range from $80-$300/month but we’re usually only on the high side when family comes to visit. We definitely consider ourselves foodies but we love ethnic food so when we find a good place that’s cheap, we tend to frequent it. Also, I try to replicate the dishes at home and have been pretty successful with the help of google.
We’re a family of two in upstate New York. We budget $350 for groceries a week and $30 dining out. Overall, our monthly budget is parred down as much as possible, but since I love to cook and we both enjoy eating well, we allow ourselves to splurge a bit on groceries. I usually try 2 new recipes a week, requiring extra ingredients that I otherwise would not purchase.
We’re about the same here. Our food budget is about 250/month for 2 adults in Phoenix. This includes a fair amount of meat with lots of fruits and veggies and mostly natural whole foods (and a husband who likes to cook fancy). We don’t specifically budget eating out but our “play” money every month is $50 for “us” and $30 apiece for him and I.
In 2011, our groceries average out to about £775/month, and restaurants to about £286/month. That’s about $1262 and $465 respectively, for two adults.
The groceries figure includes wine, toiletries, cat food, cat litter, and covers a couple of hosted dinner parties and barbecues. The restaurant figure includes some very expensive restaurants in Paris.
Overall, that’s a little under 18% of our net income, and our savings rate is around 28%, so we’re comfortable with it.
I’m wondering if it really makes sense to consider how much food is as a percent of your income. I consider food a mandatory expense and would incur it no matter how low my income goes. There is only so much you can cut from the food budget.
Conversly, if my income were to double (Ha!), would I really feel OK doubling my food budget, to be in the same ballpark % wise?
I tend to try to benchmark our grocery spending in real dollar against others, rather than %.
I prefer to measure both. Absolute dollar value would be of more interest to me if I was trying to trim the budget as far as possible, but if I’m spending money on good wine and expensive cuts of meat I don’t think I get much from comparing my dollar spend to someone who is cutting back. Percentage-wise, however, I like to be able to compare against large-population averages such as this one http://www.creditloan.com/infographics/how-the-average-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/ I can see that I’m spending slightly more of my income than average on food, but I’m happy with that because food is important to me. If I wasn’t saving much cash and living paycheck to paycheck, I’d cut back.
if food was as important to you as it is to me, you would. Because food makes up the vast majority of my discretionary expenses. We drive 2 cheap cars and if our salary was to double we might buy slightly nicer cars but not TWICE the price nicer. And we are not clothes people, I probably own 3 pairs of work pants, 10 shirts, and 2 pairs of jeans at any given time and more or less replace as I wear things out (pants faster than shirts obviously). I wouldn’t personally double that either, I don’t care to own more clothes than that. Ditto for shoes, I tend to live in just a couple pairs so owning more is silly and I take no additional enjoyment from owning more. More or less true of our housing, we wouldn’t pay for a place that was TWICE as nice but maybe we’d go up 50%.
But FOOD – Food I would spend more on. Food and travel – and I travel to eat anyhow. Food food food food food. I could easily double what I spent on food by eating out more often and at nicer places – I love eating out.
As far as our budget goes we don’t track that closely but I’m sure it tops 1000/month for the 2 of us every month.
We save the amount we want to save, pay our bills, and then don’t quibble much with the rest. I tend to manage my leftover money for food and extras kind of offhandedly – if I made some discretionary purchases that month i tend to make cheaper eating choices. If I didn’t, then a nice dinner or lunch (or two) tends to become my discretionary spending.
I’m losing weight right now though and that’s cut my food costs down (Yay!) because I don’t buy snacks or treats anymore (a few dollars here and there that adds up) and it also means that when we get fast food or takeout there are no chips/fries/drinks/added cheese or guac to pay for.
We have two teenage (16 and 18) sons so our food spending at times seems like a lot, but when I compare it to what others spend it seems pretty normal: $800 to $900 in groceries, $200 in eating out. We eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, lean meat, poultry, and seafood, and dairy. I don’t allow much in the way of junk food in the house, because I’m growing two young men and I want to give them a healthy start in life.
Food is a top priority to us, not just for nutrition, but as a family ritual. Gathering around a tasty, healthy meal at the end of the day helps maintain our strength as a family. If money became tight, we would cut our spending in several other categories first.
Teenaged boys are basically eating machines. I only have one and he consumes about 40% of the food that we buy. The best I can do during these years is stockpile on sale and buy fresh healthy products. We rarely buy convenience foods so he’s become selfsufficient in the kitchen and could quite happily live on his homemade egg mcmuffins, omlettes, grilled cheese and quesadillas. As a family of 4 I plan on $180/wk ($720). Four years ago we were spending $250/wk, then I started meal planning and shopping the sales. The next year I budgetted $225/wk and it worked fine. The next year I budgetted $200/wk and again could live with that. This year I set up the annual spending plan with $180/wk and managed for a couple of months, but I’m now averaging $195. Food costs have gone up noticibly here and I may have finally found the minimum we can spend without affecting quality. Yes, living on macaroni and hot dogs is cheaper but not a sustainable way to live. BTW – this cost includes ALL our food costs. We all pack lunches to school/work and virtually never eat out.
My husband and I spend around $550 a month on groceries. It breaks down as follows:
– ~$250 at Aldi or Walmart getting cans/cheese/milk/bread…
– ~$50 at the Farmers Market for fresh produce during summer. Winter we eat more canned/frozen vegetables.
– ~$100 at the bulk store (BJs or Sams Club) on TP, Paper Towels, Feminine items, Cat supplies
– ~$100 eating out. We eat out 3-4 times a month usually at our local diner or other local restaurant.
– Once a year we will spend $400-$600 on meat purchased from a local farmer. (Assuming $600/year = $50/month)
This year we are planning on hunting deer and that should save us a bit in meat purchases. Next year I will have bucket gardens so that will save on produce.
We do not purposefully eat organic but will if it is on sale.
We usually allow ourselves one or two luxury items per shopping trip (beer for my husband, fancy/stinky cheese or sweets for me).
We use coupons when we have them (which is not often since Aldi doesn’t accept them).
I belong to Sam’s also. I have found that you can get better deals on feminine products at Target if you use Target store coupons paired with manufacturer’s coupons. Also see: http://www.stretchingabuckblog.com/2011/07/target-weekly-ad-deals-7312011-862011.html
Spending $100 total on just the things you mention seems like a lot, but I have no idea how much cat supplies/food cost. Instead of depending on paper towels, try using sponges or the like more often. Just a thought.
With cat supplies, it really depends on the cat’s health. We had 1 cat who was fine with Purina Cat Chow and Nine Lives or Friskies wet food. He lived 16 years, & was healthy until the last few months of his life. Then we adopted other cats; we have 2 now. Unfortunately, for these ones, expensive prescription food is now required, and their food costs me about $6/day. Yowch. But we love them dearly, so we pony up. That doesn’t include cat litter, which costs us maybe $15/month.
We’re a family of 3 living on one income. We spend up to $50 a week on groceries including household and personal care items, with any leftover money used to purchase food pantry donations. We stockpile, use about $100 in coupons each month, concentrate our cash on fresh and organic when possible, and always eat our leftovers. Dining out comes from our adult discretionary cash, which is $50 each per month, so we only eat out once or twice a month.
My budget and life situation (3 people, 1 income) is very similar to yours. I think Grocery shopping (which includes toiletries) is aroun $200-240 per month and dining out (“Family Fun as we call it in our budget!) is about $150 a month
I would love to know how you do this. We don’t really splurge, buy meat when it’s on sale, some couponing,etc., but we spend more than twice as much–same size family and also one income.
Here’s what we’ve done:
* stockpile things that regularly have deals to leave more $ available for fresh produce and meat
* sign up on product websites to get any coupons they offer
* become more willing to try different brands (whatever is new often has free samples and great sales)
* follow a few local (by city or state) coupon bloggers. The best match local store sales with available coupons and pass on info. about rebates and freebies and coupons available by mail. If you can’t find a local blogger, do the matching yourself using an online coupon database, such as AFullCup.com.
* know your area. Stores vary wildly on sales and rules. Newspaper coupons also vary. If printable coupons are better for your area, consider getting some old computers with Internet capability (ask friends when they upgrade or try eBay/Craigslist/Freecycle/etc.), since most coupons can only be printed twice per computer. If newspaper coupons are better, ask neighbors and friends to share any they don’t want. If there is a recycling drop-off center near you, look through the papers to find coupons.
* avoid trying to do every deal; that just leads to burnout. Try different methods until you figure out what works best for you.
I hope something on this list helps!
I second JM on the suggestion of following local coupon bloggers. The deals & coupon matchups they find blow my mind. They were deals I would have NEVER found on my own.
I found my first local coupon blogger through my local paper, where such a blog is featured.
How do I do it?
First and foremost, in my opinion, is I don’t mind consuming food on the cheap. I don’t have special needs in my diet. I’ll buy store-brands and plain white bread. I don’t eat a lot (any?) organic/free-range/fad-of-the-week foods. Maybe I buy more canned or frozen produce than fresh.
I did the coupon thing, too, for a while, but not religiously. I use them most with cereal and ice cream, two things I don’t usually buy store brands. Most of my grocery stores double coupons under a dollar. Sometimes you can get away with “stacking” coupons with store deals (Target, did you know they have a coupon section of their website? Safeway also let’s you load coupons on your club card online). My grocery stores double coupons under a dollar.
What makes my food budget most successful is understanding when something is good price. Costco is helpful for setting a baseline (I know I can get frozen chicken breasts for $2 a lb, Ground Beef for $2.60/lb, Milk for 2.89 a gallon, juice for $1/qt, etc.)
It might be easier for me based on where I live because food prices are quite volatile across the country. I also have a ton of grocery stores within a 10 minute drive of my home.
We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids with one in diapers). Through 2010, we spent about $200/month on groceries/paper goods/diapers. Since 2011 began, we now spend about $250/month. We started going all organic and local, so it has bumped us up a bit in the grocery budget. We cut coupons and match with sales, have joined a CSA, and get occasional pick-ups through a couple of co-ops. We also spend an additional $100/month on dining.
I’m finding that pretty hard to believe (no offense). Clearly you’re watching your expenses closely, but from my own parenting experience, huggies alone will set you back (easily) $50/mo or more, and that doesn’t include wipes, processed food, formula, and so on. $250/mo seems like it would probably be closer to your baby budget than your total budget, but hey, maybe you’ve got a method that works. It was not even close to my experience, tho.
I spend about the same amout, but we eat all organic, grass fed, free range, gluten free. We eat meat at least twice a day and usually have avocados, steak and other things that can be pricey. This year it is going down to $ 100 per month or there abouts because we are starting a veggie garden and have bought a side of beef/ networked with family egg and pork farmers for cheap prices. Maybe, because the south is cheaper? I live in the heart of Atlanta and can see the capital building from the end of the street- is good normally cheaper to buy food in the city?
We spend a similar amount to you JM. We spend about $80/week for a family of 5 (3 of those being 6 and under). That includes diapers for one and “household” items. I am a registered dietitian so eating healthy is very important to me. And we definately do eat healthy!
Full disclosure: while as a family we almost NEVER go out to eat, my husband works late many nights and eats at his office.
Some ways that we keep our expenses down: using rags instead of paper towels, getting most personal items for free via Walgreens deals, going to 2 stores weekly and only buying what is on sale. Check out my blog for more! 🙂
What are included in a grocery bill? Our grocery bill for two to walmart(or similar stores), costco etc account to $1000/month approximately. That is including food items, toiletries, cleaning products etc.., excluding electronics, pet supplies, prescriptions etc.
I am always confused when people say we spend X amount on groceries, are you talking about just food related items or is it the amount spent on one visit to a grocery store?
In my grocery amount (left in comment 1) I am counting all food, toiletries, baby supplies, etc in “groceries”. Anything I would go to a grocery store to buy.
I wonder that too! I include cleaning supplies and toiletries as part of my grocery budget. Actually some of my cleaning supplies are food — baking soda and vinegar.
In our $900, EVERYTHING that is purchased at BJ’s, Costco, Walmart, or a grocery store is included. This month, that means school supplies. So all cleaning, dog food, toiletries, paper and even printer ink is included. And underwear and socks come from the grocery budget too.
The only exceptions we make to this rule are large purchases, like last month I put new tires from BJ’s on my car and those are their own category.
Since we shop sales and stock up when we can, our grocery bill is wildly uneven from month to month. I took a six month average from our credit card statements. In December for instance, we spent $1700, which likely included Christmas presents, but not a Christmas specific shopping trip. In March, we only spent $250, which is almost certainly just fresh fruit and veggies (although we’re not afraid of frozen), bread, eggs, and dairy. Meat I usually buy on sale and freeze.
As far as what we eat, we are primarily a meat (mostly chicken), eggs, veggies, and dairy family. Also peanut butter. Sweets are either fruit or homemade baked goods. The kids definitely eat more carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.) than the adults in our house.
Just my wife and I, so we spend $50 per week on food. We eat at home a lot, so that is where all of this comes from. My wife loves to cook Rachael Ray, and has mastered making meals last for 2 or 3 with leftovers.
What’s Rachael Ray – some sort of fish? 😀
We are a family of 4 spending $150 a week at the grocery store (which also includes things like paper towel and detergents), and about another $60 a month on occasional take-out or fast food. We rarely go out to dinner, both because we can’t afford it, and because the thought of listening to my 3 and 5 year old sing “Jingle Bells” over and over at the restaurant makes me want to rip my ears off. So we’re at a total of $660 for the month.
I have found that for us, this is just about the least amount that I can spend without feeling deprived of something. When I have tried to lower our food budget, we walk around the house like zombies saying, “What is there to eat around here?” On weeks when we’ve splurged, I don’t think we’ve enjoyed anything more than usual, and some has gone to waste. So we’ve hit upon the magic number for us, and I no longer worry too much about tweaking it.
We are very similar – we have a family of 4 which includes 2 adults and 2 kids (2.5 yr old and 6 yr old). I bring $150 in cash with me to the store and as many applicable coupons as I can and that is it for the week whether I like it or not. It forces me to be creative and make some decisions. I include food, toilet paper, diapers, cleaning supplies, hygiene products in this budget too. I try to buy mostly organic produce, milk, and the occasional grass fed meats but we mostly do bean based dishes now for health and budget purposes. Oh and yogurt, lots of it. As for eating out, we budget $60 a month – mostly for pizza as a treat for the kids. Going out for dinner used to be fun before young kids, now it is a special form of hell with them with the screaming, whining, and having to get them to sit still so…yeah…
Special form of hell indeed 😉
I like your idea of bringing $150 cash to the grocery store and letting that be the only trip you make for the week. I am constantly going to the store – picking up fresh, organic produce at least every other day and i think that it’s really setting me over the top regarding my budget because i pick up other stuff along the way towards the check out line. I think i am going to try your method and see how it works for me. It certainly would save me time and get me to be a little more creative towards the end of the week when things are running lower. Thanks so much!
We (2 people) spend about $200 a month on bought food with about $80 worth of fresh produce being grown at home. We buy mostly from the farmer’s market for meats and any other produce we need. Dairy from the supermarket and the few other household items we need. We don’t eat meat everyday- usually every other day so this saves some money and we make a lot of stuff from scratch- tastes better that way!
I think the amount varies according to where you live as well!
When we were living in Eugene, Oregon (up until about 3 weeks ago), we spent about $600 for a family of six, including a baby who still drank formula until recently. That generally included a big “Costco shop” at the beginning of the month @ $250 for things like formula, bread, meat/fish, rice, baking supplies — basically anything that was either shelf-stable or freezable. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but we had been doing that for a LONG time, so our pantry was well stocked and much of that shopping was just replacing stuff we had run out of. The rest of the budget was for smaller weekly runs to the neighborhood grocery store, primarily for produce, perishable dairy products (like yogurt), and bulk items.
We moved to France 3 weeks ago and haven’t yet moved into our new house. (We’re staying with my husband’s parents until our lease starts next month.) I cruised the aisles of the local Intermarche (a big supermarket chain here) just to get an idea of what things cost, and my best guess is that we will be spending a bit less at the grocery store, and probably (okay, very likely) somewhat more on “good” cheese and bread at the local bakery, fromagerie, etc. We live (now and in the new place) in a pretty rural area, but not so rural that things cost a ton more.
I’m a single mom with 2 teenage kids.
Over the past 2 years, I’ve spent an average of $550/mo for groceries (this includes all needed household items like toilet paper, light bulbs, & shampoo in addition to food). I’m also including in this number my costs for groceries for several parties/BBQs/picnics during the year that I host at my house for extended family.
In addition to groceries, we spend an average of $140/mo for what I call “eating out” which includes $60/mo at actual restaurants/fast food and the rest for school lunch costs for my 2 kids & my purchasing lunch every day at my company cafeteria.
Grand total: $690/mo average for food over a typical year.
We spend the least $ on food during January thru April–it’s closer to $400/month at the grocery store in those months. Summer & December we spend much more because I host a few family BBQs, dinners, and picnics. We also eat out more in the summer because we are out and about doing fun things.
We’re economically comfortable. Providing good healthy food and family times for my family is a priority for me. If I felt we couldn’t afford it I might act differently, but currently it’s not a problem. We are also conservative in our spending in other areas (for example we live in modest home). I also work full-time, and I don’t want to spend my limited free time shopping at different stores or clipping coupons.
I shop once per week at a high-end grocery store that has an outstanding selection of produce, both local and imported. Grocery shopping takes me about 45 min/week. I buy the best fresh food I can get, without worrying about price or “organic” labels. I enjoy farmers’ markets but shopping there is more for fun than for actual grocery shopping. I cook from scratch most nights for my family and we rarely eat anything processed. I don’t ever buy any soda or junk food–it’s never been anything I ever fed my kids and they don’t even like it now that they’re teenagers (although I’d eat it if we had it in the house!). I’ve looked into coupons and food sales, but the coupons are typically for processed items I wouldn’t buy anyway. I don’t care if I have to pay a bit more for the rare shampoo or razor purchase–I just want to get the brand/type that I like–so I ignore coupons on those items also. I don’t chase store sales anymore because I don’t want to shop at more than one grocery store each week and the sales are usually at stores like walmart where they may may have 1 thing on sale for me but their selection of groceries otherwise is so limited that I end up having to go to another store to get the rest of what I need.
My numbers are a little out of date, but 7 months ago for two of us I was spending less than my £50 per week budget on supermarket shopping (not just food and always at least one bottle of wine), and about £15 per week on eating out.
The way I managed it was by deciding what I wanted to eat once I’d got to the supermarket rather than writing a list before hand. I walked the meat aisles first choosing reduced price cuts (but not old or poor quality). I would then decide on how to prepare the foods as I walked round basing the decision on which veg were in season or cheap and ensuring I would make at least 2 of the evening meals last 2 days. Pasta, rice and potatoes were always bought in bulk when on offer and I rarely touched prepared food outside of the odd pack of frozen fries.
Now I’m an ex-pat living in India and our spending is astronomical in comparison to most. I spend ~£20 a week at the supermarket and about £30 eating out.
i live alone and spend a little more than $100 a month. i use some coupons and i also go to the nearby salvage grocery store. i can get coffee for less than $2 a bag, tea for less than a dollar and most cereal is 75 cents. i get my baking staples there too.
i try hard to eat what is in my cabinets and fridge before i go to the store and i try to make only one trip every other week. i have just started making my own yogurt and that change should save me at least $12-15 a month.
As a 2 person household in recent years before couponing we would spend about $100 week on food alone, plus more on household supplies at Walmart. Now that I’ve given up my photoshop hobby and replaced it with couponing we actually make money on groceries with overage. All our food, household supplies and even gasoline gift cards are paid for with coupons. I get 6 sunday papers and more from friends so we stockpile what we can and use overage each week to pay for our fresh produce and dairy products. The items we purchase for overage are either donated or we have a yard sale quarterly to sell our stockpile, making several thousand dollars to cover any other consumable expenses we have. We have eliminated all expenses for consumables. But it is time consuming and requires diligence to keep on top of the deals.
I would love a reader story on this… What type of store would you give you cash back?
For a family of 3, wife with celiacs, son with lactose tolerance in Canada, we spend $250/week on groceries. Due to health concerns, we tend to not eat out a lot.
We are a family of 2 adults living in a smaller city and we LOVE food and cooking.
We go to the farmer’s market, buy local honey, and eat seafood at least once a week.
Our food budget used to be $300/mo, but since switching from Publix to Aldi’s for my main food items, our cost has dropped to about $200/month.
On toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. we spend about $30/mo but we buy in bulk.
Eating out costs us an average $200/mo and spend $50/mo on alcohol.
We used to spend $800/mth on food alone. I have now gotten that down to $200-$300. To do this, I go through my cupboards and come up with new food recipes. I also purchase very little meat and we eat pasta, soup, eggs and sandwiches. I won’t buy it unless it is on clearance or at a decent sale price. I also visit the dollar store (everything is $1) and buy cereals/pretzels/frozen foods there as long as they are pretty healthy. We do not have pets or smoke. We have 2 teen boys. I make my own cleaning supplies (I use vinegar for everything)and I am surprised at how well it’s been going.
My budget for food, toiletries, medicine, dining out, etc. is $100 per week for one adult, 6 children, and 3 full time daycare children. That said, it usually ends up being about $130 per week … though we just totally cut out eating out so that should change that. (it’s a really tight budget, but doable, and good for working to get out of debt)
I am a single adult, and my grocery spending averaged around $330/month over the past 3 years, but has crept up to around $400 in recent months. That’s partly because I have become a little more confident of my future income and have loosened up a bit, but I think it’s more due to rising food costs. My grocery bill does not include non-food items or alcohol. It does include what I spend at farmer’s markets. In addition, I spend roughly $75 a month dining out, usually in the form of a couple of nice dinners. I bring my lunch to work every day. Anyway, I am surprised at how much more I spend than some people. I guess I have expensive tastes, I buy a lot of meat and fresh fruit. I do not buy prepared foods, I cook my own meals and eat leftovers frequently.
My numbers looks fairly similar to John’s.
Single adult, larger Canadian city.
Groceries about $250-300/mo, dining out ~$75.
Groceries are pretty much just food and TP. Most cleaners etc tracked separately. Food budget is usually higher in the summer when I do upick for berries for jam.
I know I could spend less, but I don’t need to. Savings rate is high enough and good food is very important to me!
I feel the same way, John. I’m a single young guy and spend about $300 on just groceries with another $75-$100 on eating out. No achohol, so that does not add to it. I do know that I enjoy shopping at Publix, the best grocery store in FL. Every bluemoon when I stop at Wal-Mart I remember why I choose to spend more at Publix. Short lines, very clean store, and very good quality produce/selection. I do shop at an even more expensive local organic food store when I can, but I do try to not go there too much as it adds up quick. Organic is important to me, but I just don’t find coupons on things I want to buy. I do get my meat on sale and that helps. Overall I just feel I can’t save like others here are. Arrr.
I find it hard to believe that there are no farmers’ markets of any sort in Shauna’s city. Nor CSAs. Perhaps she might find this link helpful. I’m assuming she is an American, so I’m including it (Please correct me if she is not an American):
http://www.localharvest.org
The above link is basically an American repository of farmers’ markets, CSA produce boxes and other small, sustainable farm products.
We live in Seattle, WA. I’m a stay at home mom of one and we spend $90 a week on food, sometimes less. We eat very well- sure, it’s not trendy food made with the “of the moment” ingredients. But it is healthy, organic/local and unprocessed. We do a CSA box for two people (which is more than enough produce for the three of us) for $40/week. So that leaves $50 for the grocery store.
Here is a sample menu. Everything served with fresh fruit and salad on the table:
Sun: Fish Tacos (Wild caught halibut; corn tortillas, slaw [made from scratch], guac [scratch], pico de gallo [Trader Joe’s])
M: Shepherd’s Pie (diced lamb) (made double to freeze in lunch portions)
T: Grilled Veggie Fritata, whole wheat dinner rolls
W: Wild Alaskan King Salmon, grilled; mango/papaya salsa [Trader Joe’s]; spicy black beans (scratch)
Th: Homemade Mac&Cheese [usually fontina, ect.], grilled veggies
F: Grass fed, certified organic ribeye’s (we buy two small ones and split them between the three of us), baked potato
I don’t know if this helps. Our menu certainly isn’t what I would call fancy. It’s just simple. I wonder how two people could be spending $750/month on groceries. What exactly would they purchase and cook??
I think a lot of it is that it isn’t “$750 for food”, it’s “$750 for everything that has to be replenished monthly”.
For example, I know in my area we HAVE to buy our trash services at the local kroger by buying $50 trash bags (we have no other cost, but that ends up meaning that our entire trash utilities cost is rolled up in our groceries).
In fact, most everything we buy is at the grocery store. Napkins, Lightbulbs, stamps, gift cards for friends, party supplies, dish soap, toothpaste etc. When that’s the case, it’s really hard to separate out “food costs” and “life costs”. Yeah, there are ways to minimize food costs (such as farmer’s markets), but not everything applies.
In my town, the farmer’s market is NOT cheaper than the grocery store on most items. It’s usually about the same or higher than the stores. That plus the fact that our farmer’s market is beyond crowded, and it’s not convenient has been enough to keep me away. I love the experience when it’s not crowded, but that’s never. Oh, well.
Your menu sounds delicious!
Lauraelle – Your menu sounds delicious, but it would cost us $100 (if the meat/fish items were on sale). Never mind breakfast, lunch, snacks, dessert!
We just got a new TJ’s and we are inspired to go check it out today (has been very crowded)!
I knew I was blowing it (in anticipation of extra freelance income…and because I was working more). But I was surprised to find our grocery expenses for this month were $650 for groceries (including a CSA) and $229 for restaurants. We’re a family of 5 who normally budgets $550 for groceries and $85 for restaurants including lunches. We frequently blow the restaurant budget a bit, but this was certainly more than usual in both catagories. We also have a separate entertainment budget that is used for a date night which includes an adult-friendly restaurant.
I too find it confusing when people talk about their “food budget” without clarifying what exactly it entails. We budget $200 a month for two adults and a two year old. This includes food, household items and most toiletries. (Prescriptions and some over the counter medications go under medical). This usually includes two trips to Wegmans and a local produce market a month, plus one trip to Sam’s Club. (We typically shop every two weeks, approximately and go to Sam’s Club once a month). We also budget $20 a month for eating out, so we typically go out once every two or three months. In the summer our budget is eaten up mostly be fresh produce and dairy products. In the winter we buy a bit more meat (for soup and stew). We’ve been having trouble making ends meet though because of the rising cost of food in our area and the increasing appetite of our two year old. We really should be budgeting more like $225 a month or $250 but we try to make it work for under $200. During first trimester of pregnancy (of which I’ve been through twice this year, thanks to a miscarriage) I have to eat certain foods to keep nausea at bay, which is a little more expensive. I also have no problem spending a little extra to make a meal for a friend in need or to host a family for dinner.
Family of 5 budgeted
Groceries – $525
Dining Out – $90
I should add that we don’t buy disposable diapers, since we use cloth that we bought and paid for well over a year ago. This significantly lowers our “grocery bill” compared to families who must buy them.
My wife and I live in Manhattan, eat organic and mostly vegetarian (could we be any more of a stereotype?) We eat in mostly and take leftovers to work for lunch.
Monthly grocery food bills average $350-$400, although it can range a bit lower or higher depending on how many weeks in a month, and if we’re feeling especially experimental in the kitchen. We also spend around $300 on eating out / getting drinks (hey, it’s Manhattan), plus about $50-$100 on wine/beer.
When we’ve lived outside the city in the burbs, we spend half that, maybe less. Food prices are definitely inflated in a big city, and there’s too many good restaurants for us not to want to try.
We also live in Manhattan, buy organic and vegetarian, and spend around $400 a month including the grocery store, farmer’s market, and CSA share. I’d like it to be $300 but it can go closer to $500 – I’d probably have to give up good olives and nuts and cheese to get it that low though, and it isn’t worth it to me.
We spent about $100/month less when we lived in Chicago but that’s probably because we were spending $500-700/month on restaurants ($250 for work lunches for the husband and the rest was a weekend brunches with friends, nights out or with friends, and ordering in occasionally). Now we’re living on 1 income so we don’t go out much and don’t buy as much booze in general (though that’s probably more becuase they don’t sell it in the grocery store here).
I find it hard to track my grocery budget because I stock up in summer and can/freeze, I use a CSA (so, $450 up front), and I go to the grocery store almost every day on my walk home to get what I need for that night.
So glad to see a nyc post! I live alone in Manhattan and my food costs have been exorbitant! (i realize this now that i’m taking a closer look) I’m vegetarian and i buy all organic as well. In the past months, i have been spending up to $860 per month on groceries. (Not including trips to starbucks which reached $50 at one point and eating out sometimes up to $100 a month)
I go to the grocery store ALL the time and i’m sick of spending so much money on my lifestyle. I don’t even drink! I like buying good organic olive oils, fresh organic juices everyday ($7 a pop) and high quality vitamins and supplements etc.
Recently got a new job and see that i need to whittle my budget down to $400 a month on groceries. I’m terrified. Not sure how i’m gonna do this but feel inspired by everyone here. Any comments or suggestions welcome!!
I don’t know if this is practical for yup, but if you can, I’d try shopping in Brooklyn. I live in Brooklyn, & am in Manhattan maybe once a week for meetings or entertainment. I’ve been in a lot of grocery stores in both boroughs, as I love to cook. The Manhattan prices are often 40% higher! I also do a lot of shopping at a local small grocery, owned by a Russian immigrant family, and their prices are terrific. For example, my husband like Chobani yogurt. A small container costs up to $1.89 in most grocery stores I’ve been in. They sell it for $1.09 – regular price. Produce is about half price. I can’t get everything there, but I buy whatever I can there. Check out the smaller ethnic groceries – they are often cheaper.
We spend about $90 a week on groceries. I usually go about every two weeks and spend $180 which seems to help us have more food than if I went every week. We get creative with meals and I don’t buy many snacks for our family of five. I have found the crock-pot is a great way to have a meal ready when you get home so you won’t be tempted to eat out. We don’t eat out very much and it’s usually from the dollar menu at McDonald’s. We have two teenage boys so we do fairly well for what we have. I have tried using coupons but with working full-time and living in a rural community that is 30 miles from the nearest big grocery store chain it just never seemed to work for me. I have found the Aldi’s is cheaper then Save-A-Lot and is worth the extra driving to feed my family.
We spend about $750 a month on groceries (including alcohol, which we drink a fair amount of) and $200 a month on eating out, for 2 adults. Food is the area where we splurge the most. We have cut back in a lot of other places, but because food is a hobby and a source of pleasure for us, we choose to indulge rather than scrimp in this area.
Also, eating organic in some foods and eating locally produced foods as much as possible is very important to us. I won’t go crazy with it – there’s a local chicken farm, a fairly famous one because it was featured in one of those food documentaries (Food Inc, I think), where chicken breasts go for $16 a pound!!!!! We will not pay that much. But I will pay a dollar or two more per pound to get local, organic chicken from a different, less famous farm. Anyway, this means we spend a little more than we would if we were only paying attention to the bottom line.
Finally, we choose to use a grocery service. We ADORE this business – they go to 100+ local farms, a bunch of local stores (like bakeries, a fresh pasta shop, a chocolatier, etc.), a locally owned grocery store, and Whole Foods. You place your order online the night before, select a pick-up location (or pay to have it delivered to your home) and then they shop for you. The up side is the obvious convenience; the down side is you can’t use coupons or store bonus cards to get discounts. We’ve decided we’re okay with making that sacrifice.
I think your grocery service sounds awesome.
Wow, what is the name of that grocery service and are they in Seattle?
i third that “like.” where is this service, i want to KNOW!! LOL…sounds AWESOME!!!
Found a link to the grocery service on Jen_Alluisi’s personal page that she linked to (click on her name): http://www.horseandbuggyproduce.com/
It looks like it’s in the Charlottesville/Richmond/Lynchburg areas of VA.
Our budget is $700 for my husband and me, and I should include the cat too, I suppose, his food is $12/month. The $700 includes basically anything I buy from the grocery store. I love to cook, I cook from scratch and my husband is vegetarian- so, lots of fresh veggies, frozen veggies for recipes, dried beans, canned tomatoes, etc. We stockpile stuff when there’s a sale. This occasionally leads to budget overruns, like last week when I spent $300 (eek!) at the grocery store but bought a whole bunch of canned tomatoes and beans plus replenished some non-food stuff. Oh, and I freeze butter when I can get it on sale, that way I’m not paying $3/lb or more for butter when I bake in the cooler months. I visit the farmer’s market in the summer but otherwise I don’t go nuts on buying organic. The gluten free bread/bread mix and pasta I buy for me is darned expensive and I stockpile when I can. We don’t eat a lot of pasta anymore for supper. Next year we’ll have a garden.
In June, our accounting software says, we spent 210.49 eating out, in July we spent 117.5 eating out; this is outside the grocery budget and does not include $ for when my husband buys his lunch. We spend anywhere from $20 to $40 when we eat out and don’t usually get appetizers unless we’re at the Indian restaurant, yum. It’s been a couple years or so since we worried about how much we spend on eating out.
We use very few coupons- I can’t be bothered to spend hours only to find coupons for stuff we don’t buy. The grocery stores email me coupons a few times a month, which is great! If I don’t spend $700 on groceries for the month, I keep the extra and put it into my personal savings 🙂 . Having more funds in my savings account gives me incentive to do better on the grocery bills.
Just one statement there jumped out at me –
that you find $3/lb for butter to be expensive!
Just come on up to Canada… our dairy has always been more expensive… and SALE butter right now is hardly ever less than $4/lb. Regular price is about $5/lb near me.
Wow! $4+/lb of butter is very high. I don’t pay more than $1/lb and I buy as much as I can when I do get it. I know I can’t always count on finding reduced priced butter but I haven’t had to pay more than $1/lb in about 6yrs.
In Brooklyn, NY a good sale on butter is 2 (1lb. box)/$4 and only happens in the name stores twice a year or so on the store brand butter which is when I’ll stock up. Rarely do I see even the non-organic brand on sale for less than $3/lb. Organic or European, raw, etc goes closer to $6/half pound.
And I’ll be honest, I cannot afford to shop the “named” farmers’ markets in the city right now; I have to look for the unpopular and non price-jacked markets (rents) or simple sidewalk vendors in from Long Island. We have more of those in Brooklyn than in Manhattan, who tend to get more imported fruit on the sidewalk.
No name milk runs $3.00 half gallon…a half gal. of organic about 4.99 off sale and a quart of non-homogenized local about $7. The restrictions on raw are so draconian that I cannot either afford the cost nor the time jumping through the hoops to get it. Milk is more expensive than gas usually, even lately.
I’m a coupon hack so a house of two mature adults & pets with an active neighborhood BBQ type social network, runs about $50-75/week if I’m being good and $150 if I’m not. From what I understand from friends there are good CSAs in the city but I have a small garden that keeps us in enough produce during most months of the year. Although both of us like good food and know our way around a kitchen, I wouldn’t call us foodies.
Having grown up in an area where you could not pick up a phone and have people deliver food to you (not even pizza), I admit I’ve had to recently overcome a serious delivery habit when downsizing to one income. But then again, I can have Chinese food delivered more cheaply than I can procure the ingredients for cooking it. Not so much Turkish food.
I tend to live the feast or famine lifestyle and right now we’re practicing famine.
I’m from Canada too (Manitoba specifically), and prices depend on your location – my regular price for butter at Costco is $3.63/lb. Any sale price less than $3.50 is worth buying several extra pounds!
I’ve been feeding my family of 5 (including 2 teenage boys) on $800/mth – this includes things like shampoo and TP, but not household cleaners.
Milk is ~$4.50 a gallon, and we go through at least 5 a week, plus a lot of yogurt and cheese – dairy probably costs me ~$150 per month of my $800.
I cook from scratch, buy organic when reasonable, we eat tons of fresh and frozen fruits & vegetables, and a lot of meat. My husband and I are also runners/triathletes – which means we eat a fair number of calories.
Absolutely! I’ve been stashing Walmart butter in the freezer since winter. It was 2.97/# because of intense local comptetion, new WM and new competitor. A couple weeks ago it went to 3.13, but still more than 2.00 less than anywhere else within 20 miles. When milk hits 5.00 per gallon, I’ll have to stop.
For my family of two, my estimate would be $400/month on food groceries, $150/month on work lunches, $200/month for dining out (dinners). We make no effort to track this. We do make heavy use of Groupons, which are accounted for above. Dining out is a large part of our entertainment — for example, we do not have a TV subscription. We have no problems making ends meet, and save heavily for retirement, etc. We are also saving up for the wedding (next month), and for a big world travel experience. I’d like to be saving more for this last piece, but this is really not bugging me at this point. Once the wedding is done we’ll be able to direct our full effort to that.
We cook a lot, which is also part of our entertainment. We do buy a lot of premium products, and cook excellent food. When I taste the food that our extended family makes… I am glad I spend on these things. A lot of the reason that American cooking is so horrendous on the whole is that people never try to expand their repertoire. It’s baked chicken every night. And it’s bland, and the texture is awful, and the people making it actually think this is really good.
What do we do to limit spending? We try to incorporate basic staples (rice, noodles) into every meal as filler, and shop strategically for meat. We also eat vegetarian a lot more frequently than most people. But we don’t track this. There’s no way of knowing what this saves us, and I don’t particularly care.
One problem we know we need to do better at is making sure things in the fridge don’t go bad. This is challenging for two people who love food. There are no additional mouths to absorb the leftovers, so sometimes when we cook, we end up with 2 or 3 work lunches apiece. This sounds great (and it IS great) except that, by the end of the week, we really don’t want to eat it anymore. Our freezer is small, so while it does accommodate some leftovers, I really dislike the texture and flavor of what comes out on the other end, so try to avoid this. In general we just try to cook in batches that make 4 meals (2 dinners and two leftover lunches) so it stays interesting. This problem applies not only to leftovers, though, but also to products like lettuce (by day 4 who wants another salad?), etc.
I typically spend around $100 per month on groceries and I rarely eat out (maybe twice per month so around $30). I live in a suburban area and buy very little prepackaged food. Rather than spending the extra money on organic from the grocery, I stick to the local produce stands on the outside of town. I am only cooking for myself and am a veg. I prepare nearly all of my food from scratch.
One of the biggest differences I noticed when going veg was the reduction in my monthly food budget! A $2 bag of dried beans usually warrants 7-10 servings; a $1.5 can of organic beans, usually 4 servings. Even when I’m feeling lazy/rushed and buy more canned beans than dry, think of the savings versus getting your protein from meat products.
Even if you have no desire to go veg, you can save a significant amount of money on food each month by giving a non-animal based meal a chance two or three times per week!
Me and my husband spend roughly $500 a month on groceries (including paper towels and what have you), and $200 on eating out.
Thing is, both numbers include us treating our friends (cooking a dinner or a dessert to share, or taking them out to eat). So the two of us alone probably don’t use all of that, but at the same time there’s some numbers hidden by the fact that our friends’ll treat us, too. Not sure if it evens out…
Either way, we’re pretty bad at using coupons (sometimes it literally isn’t worth our time to look for any, and the ones we get for “free” from the store are crazy things like “50 cents off when you buy 10 frozen dinners that you couldn’t possibly all fit in your freezer). We get our standard fair from pretty cheap places, but sometimes splurge and get expensive, tasty treats from specialty grocery stores. We used to have a BJs bulk store card, but the one in our area closed…I don’t really think we were saving money when we went there, though.
In retrospect, I forgot to mention our situation:
We’re two working adults, living in a suburb of Atlanta.
Also, in replying to someone else, I realized that we, too, spend a lot on things that aren’t food that get lumped into our grocery budget. Pet supplies (two cats that need food, liter, toys, etc), our garbage services (rather than pay a monthly utility bill, our city just has us go buy really expensive garbage bags from the local kroger (can’t use any other kind).
We even buy our stamps from our grocery store, so yeah, there’s a lot of noise in the data.
I’m a 21-year-old living in a very large (and very expensive!) city, and I shop only for myself. I spend about $50 per week on groceries, including toiletries, and I try not to buy meat in order to keep my costs down. However, it does help that my boyfriend takes me out to eat once a week or so and buys the vast majority of our alcohol – my grocery bill would definitely be higher if it included alcohol.
I think I need to spend less on booze. 🙂
I hear you! That is SERIOUSLY a huge part of our food budget. When DH and I started tracking our spending 5 years ago we were shocked by how much we spent on booze. Those $8-$12 bottles of wine really add up. (I live in CA near lots of small wineries). Now we only buy our cheapest favorites when they’re on sale and we can get a case/half case discount, too.
I also stock up on alcohol during holiday sales. St Patrick’s Day = whiskey; Cinco De Mayo = tequila; Christmas = champagne. It’s kind-of embarrassing to buy 4 or 5 bottles of whiskey at once, but it lasts all year and sure helps our budget.
Family of three and we spend $450-$500 a month on food/alcohol/household supplies. We eat LOTS of fresh produce. Also included in this number is the occasional pack of disposable diapers (I mostly use cloth).
Unfortunately, I have have a weakness for good tequila…
We are two 20-somethings living in a very, very expensive city. We spend $200 a month on groceries, which includes household items and toiletries (I should add that we are vegetarian, and cook all of our meals from scratch, and we eat in most of the time). Every two weeks I create a menu based on what’s on sale at our grocery store, building in one “free night” per week. We usually go out to eat on those free nights, or order takeout.
That brings me to the embarrassing part of our budget. We currently budget $400 a month for “entertainment.” That seems like an awful lot to me, especially compared to what others are saying in these comments. But, this amount is not just for eating out. It also includes going to movies (which we do about once a month), going out with friends (maybe twice a month), and then dinner parties we throw at our apartment (maybe once a month). So, of that $400, I would say $250 of it is for eating out. I’m constantly working to bring this number down, but it’s hard — we don’t buy clothes or gadgets or anything like that, so I think we tend to justify this big expense with a “well, we deserve it” kind of mentality. One of our favorite pastimes is going out to eat, but I’ll be the first to admit that we could save tons of money if we ate out less.
You shouldn’t feel bad about it if it fits in your budget. Commenters here have a different life than you, different size families, live in different areas, have different incomes. I can’t fathom two people spending $700 a month on groceries, but that’s because it wouldn’t fit in my budget. If $400 works, then it works. If you want to cut it down, keep working on it diligently.
Erin —
Don’t feel bad about your enterntainment budget. My husband and I put $400 a month in our vacation account. In addition to trips, we also use it to buy tickets to plays, musicals, sporting events, etc… And our eating out is in addition to this account!
Don’t worry about it at all. These comments are starting to make me feel crazy too. We budget $390/month for groceries (average, most months are lower and some are much higher as we stock up at BJ’s with non-perishables and frozen foods) and we budget $541.67/month ($125/week) for ‘going out’. The $125 really only covers 1 meal out for the two of us with friends per week. It could probably cover 2 meals out if we ever felt like leaving our neighbor hood, didn’t have drinks and apps with the meal.
Just me and the wife, living downtown in an expensive North East city.
My wife and I live in NYC and like to both cook and eat out. I question whether we’re overdoing it on eating out.
We spend $300/month at Whole Foods and around $800/month on eating out, which does include drinks/happy hour/etc (we like good beer and good wine).
I’m hoping this is a result of the inflated NYC prices.
When I was working in Manhattan while living in Brooklyn, my “eating out” (also including delivery at home and lunches/dinners/networking at work) would easily exceed my grocery spending ($120/week at Fresh Direct for the convenience/organics) and yeah, $800 a month for two grown people was about average.
Holiday seasons and business cycles would make it more.
Yeah, the budget my girlfriend and I have for restaurants is like that too. About four times as much as our grocery budget ($750 : $200).
I’d like to cut back a bit, but then again going to restaurants is one of our favorite things to do and being single without any kids we don’t have lots of bills. Anyone have tips on encouraging yourself to cook at home more?
We live in central Florida and spend about $950 a month on all groceries (food, toiletries, cleaning products, etc.) plus eating out for 2 working adults plus 1 growing boy. We pack lunches for work. I have a husband who is lactose intolerant, cannot eat beef, and hates fruits and vegetables and beans.
We hit BJ’s Wholesale Club for the cleaning products, toiletries, and general bulk food items. I clip coupons when I can, but they never seem to be for what we buy or are not enough to warrant buying the item versus generic. I try to go to Wal-Mart more, but that store stresses me out. They do not consistently have what I need, and the lights and noises make my nerves too raw by the end of the trip. We have started shopping at Aldi more instead of Publix, which should show a reduction in our bill soon.
We end up eating out too much because we live in a bedroom community where everything is 45 minutes away. We eat a meal at home, but by the time we drive to a place and do our errand and start to drive back, it is time to eat again. (I have a health issue where I have to eat a small solid meal every 2 to 3 hours.) It is appalling at how expensive fast food is nowadays!
I just went into Quicken and looked at the last 30 days.
Groceries: $660
Eating Out: $270
Can you pack some water bottles and protein or granola bars (or even peanut butter crackers)? I began keeping water bottles and snacks in my car about 6 or 7 years ago and I was able to eliminate fast food from the budget. And during baseball season that line item was really adding up.
Yeah, I do need to start taking that sort of thing with me to at least cover those times where we are out and it is not already a meal time. A cooler with ice would keep the drinks consumable in the 100+ heat, too.
Too often, it is a meal time where crackers and peanut butter just do not cut it. 🙂
As counter-intuitive as it sounds CSAs and farmer’s markets are an urban thing. Those of us who live in rural, low population density areas do not often have easy access to these resorces. The closest farmer’s market to me is an hour away and it is very small, the closest one worth driving to is closer to two hours away.
Other downsides of living rural include- I had to go to all three grocery stores in the county this weekend to get what I needed for supper – my produce costs 25% more than the same chain an hour away – limited access to coupons since they only rarely appear in the local paper and seldom are in the big city paper in 7-11 or the grocery store and a subscription to the big city paper costs almost three times as much as it does in town. On the other hand my pork was raised by a 4-H student and butcheted locally my beef was processed by my neighbors and the grocery store clerks know me by name.
As to money, it averages out to $250 a month for food, household and hygiene for a family of one.
Some rural areas do have farmers markets and CSAs. I think it depends on whether the community uses them as to how good/available they are.
Most rural coupon circulars aren’t very good, but there are great printable coupons on the Internet.
We spend $25 per week on food for two. (doesn’t include paper products, just food groceries) We eat well with a wide variety of dishes, spices, herbs and a ton of produce, but we’ve been practicing at eating on a budget for a while and eat mostly vegetarian. We eat out about once or twice a month at low-cost places which is not included in the $25. It might add another $40 per month with paper products maybe another $10? That would make our monthly total around $150. Mint says our actual average for the last four months is $174.
We live in a fairly high cost of living area, both of us work full time, and we don’t usually buy organic.
I don’t think there’s any need, even as a “foodie”, to spend $750 a month to eat well, try new recipes, have friends over or have variety in your diet. That’s about how much we spend on rent! But if that’s what makes you happy and you can afford it – go for it.
If you’re looking to cut I wrote about how we make our grocery budget so low here:
http://www.nodebtmba.com/2011/05/how-we-make-our-25-grocery-budget-work.html
I agree that $750 may sound high, but food (like everything else) is usually more expensive in high density urban areas. We’re (two) foodies in the DC area and we spend $600 a month on groceries and household products. One of our challenges is that most of the discount grocery stores and bulk stores are in the suburbs. We don’t own a car, so its a challenge to get out there and then you have to lug all those groceries/bulk items back on the metro.
What I can’t fathom is living in a place where rent is $750! I mean, when I was living in Arizona that was possible, but here you’d probably be putting your life on the line. Average for a one bedroom in my neighborhood (which is by no means high end) is $1650. But having said that, when I was in Arizona I think my grocery bill was much smaller. . . so was my paycheck.
Yeah, Lo, I’ve got to agree with you here, my GF and I live in DC, where rent for a 1,000 sq ft apartment can easily top $2,500. As I read these posts, I start feeling extremely guilty about our $451/month on groceries, toiletries, and food for 3 pets, and our $543/month on restaurants (including vacations).
But you know what? I like buying red wine with my meals, I can afford it, and I’ve yet to see a place in DC where 2 people could spend $750 a month on rent.
So I’ll try to stop judging myself.
I’m just stunned that you claim to spend just $25 a week for 2 people and that you eat lots of fresh produce..I also followed your link to your blog and I’m still having a hard time accepting that.
I’m a single middle-aged man in Miami and I spend between $400-$500 a month on just edibles.I NEVER eat out,order in or buy cooked or processed food and I cook virtually all the food I eat and bring my lunch to work every single day;and no alcohol or junk food or sweets whatsoever(I’m diabetic).
I do spend $7-$9 a week on Boarhead’s meats
from the deli at Publix for the daily salad I have for Lunch,and another $3-$7 on 1/2 Lb.
of various cheeses for the salads.
I buy packaged salads,usually BOGO Free for about $3-$4,plus a package of low carb 10 pack
tortillas that I use to make a wrap from my lunch salad for $3-4.
Brown rice 5 Lb pkge #3.59
A package of Kale $4
2 Lbs of turnips $3
Chicken Quarters on sale for $1.29/Lb
Bought a pkge with 6 pcs that will last me 2 weeks.
Fresh fruit ,just last week was $5 for 2 canteloupes,$6 for 2 pints of blueberries,$4 for 2 pints of strawberries,$3.74 for 4 Bosc pears.For snacks,a 12 oz container of natural Publix store brand almonds was $5 and a jar of unsalted peanuts was $3.
Just the most typical items for the week listed above is already more than what you claim to spend for 2 people.I also buy other stuff to spark up the salads,like black olives,feta cheese,cucumbers,broccoli slaw,
bacon bits,turkey pepperoni and red onions,
But these are not bought on a weekly basis.
I also don’t eat bread,potatoes,white rice or regular pasta.
IMO,this is not really a lot of food for my fairly active lifestyle and 6 Ft 200 Lb. frame.Unless you two are eating tiny,measured with a Weight Watchers scale infrequent portions of food and A LOT Of cheap carbs like
pasta and white rice I have to respectfully
doubt that $25 figure,
.
.
My family (3 people) isn’t too far off of No+Debt+MBA. We shoot for about $100/month. I posted at #245. The main difference, it seems, is that No+Debt+MBA actually cooks well, and has a knack for it. We don’t, although we still do try to eat healthy, even if our meals aren’t inspired. A lot of our expenses are low because I’m the one who shops and I have very little interest in paying more for something that tastes better. My wife sometimes wishes it were different, but it keeps our costs low.
As for your grocery list, there’s a lot of room for cost-cutting if you gave up things you liked for things you need…like buying lettuce instead of pre-packaged salads, reducing you meat intake drastically and replacing it with a cheaper and healthier protein source (eggs for a cob salad?), replacing more expensive cheeses with cheddar or something. That may not be worth it to you, and it may not be what No+Debt+MBA does, but by sacrificing our food wants, while addressing our food needs, we’re saving a bundle of money that we’ll use somewhere else.
Also, you don’t mention anything about sales or coupons. If you really want to get your costs lower, you’ve got to be ready to buy on great sales, and not buy something unless it’s on sale, with few exceptions.
Another thought is that you don’t seem to mention buying in bulk…even a 5 lb bag of brown rice isn’t really “bulk.” Buying a 25 or 50 lb bag of brown rice to last over months and months, for instance, would end up saving a lot of money, especially if you applied the bulk principle across the board to other items (nuts, cheese, fruit – compare a bag of 15 apples to the cost of one single apple).
Hi all,
I definitely was not trying to criticize anyone’s budget! A low food budget is a priority for us but may be an area of high spending value for others. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with spending more. I wouldn’t call us foodies and food costs can vary significantly from location to location and based on diet. We’ve lived in both rural areas and urban ones including some of the more expensive areas of the country and have averaged $25-30/week long term. However, we don’t each much meat or cheese, eat a lot of beans (which we happen to enjoy; we buy black, kidney, garbanzo, canellini and now pink beans which provides plenty of variety) and a low food budget has also been a priority for us.
Last week at our local grocery store (which is often expensive of for produce) I noticed cantaloupes on sale for $1 each so 2 for $5 seems expensive and I wouldn’t pay for it. Also, $4 for kale? I can usually find it for $1/lb as a bundle, particularly if it’s in season which it’s not now. We buy produce at a local market that typically has better prices (but had we needed cantaloupe I would have bought it). When we go shopping we buy pretty much only what’s on sale or a good deal and cook around it for the rest of the week. So I don’t go out and buy ingredients for recipes, instead we modify recipes for the ingredients on hand. We also don’t buy prepared anything most of the time unless it’s on super sale.
This week we bought 3lbs of roma tomatoes for $1.50, cilantro 2/$1, green onions 3/$1, 10lbs of onions for $3, 3lbs bananas for $1, and I can’t remember what else off the top of my head. We bought a ton of chick peas at $.75 per can since I’ve been on a hummus kick lately and a large pack of whole wheat pita ($1.50) and some tortillas ($1.50) We’ll probably make another shopping trip later this week for some milk and cereal, but have some leftovers from last week we need to use up. Last week we scored 5 eggplants for $1 and grilled them for sandwiches. We also have access to a burgeoning herb garden so herbs have been going into everything recently.
I don’t buy whatever I want at the store, I buy what’s affordable, on sale, and versatile. This means generic, in season, or on sale most of the time. My meals and cooking are then focused around turning what I’ve bought into something tasty and making sure nothing goes to waste. Our plates are usually 50% produce, 25% carb, 25% protein (typically beans which provide an excellent source of a complete protein when combined with a carb).
Downtown DC is a bit of a food desert leftover from the early 90s when not many people affluent people lived there. You’re right, H-Mart (good deals!), Costco and the like are all in the suburbs. I’ve never lived in downtown DC so I don’t know if we could make our budget work. What I’ve found in general is that we’ve had luck scoping out alternatives like tiendas, farmers markets, roadside stands, or other options for what their loss leaders are and just cherry pick the good deals from about 2-3 sources once a week. I don’t know if that would cut it in DC since the farmers markets, like at Eastern Market, give me a heart attack with some of their prices.
Like I said, I wouldn’t call us foodies, though by my standards we eat a healthy, balanced diet that tastes pretty good. I never meant to imply that foodie-style grocery shopping and cooking could be had easily for $25 per week. My thought was more if we can eat for $25/wk than a foodie version of our diet probably should be doable at $100/wk or a bit less. $750 just seemed high.
Here’s a couple who does a great job documenting their $30/wk budget in NYC: http://thirtyaweek.wordpress.com/
$4 for kale is horrendous! Here in the UK, I’d never pay more than £1/$1.60 for it and it can often be found on offer at my local supermarket for £0.50/$0.80.
It takes a talented cook to make kale taste good, it’s tricky enough to make it taste ok 😉
“So I don’t go out and buy ingredients for recipes, instead we modify recipes for the ingredients on hand.
That’s an intersting point. I’m just beginning to learn how to really cook from scratch, so I really need to look at recipes and shop the recipe. When finding recipes, I try to keep in mind what I think MIGHT be on sale… but that doesnt always work. I can see how more knowledge of cooking will eventually allow me to save money by seeing what’s on sale at the store and then deciding what to make.
We spend about $400 a month on groceries including toiletries and household items (which I stock up on when it goes on a big sale). We have two in our family. We don’t use paper towels at all–old rags do great.
But eating out is a big temptation. We both have a very busy schedule and using restaurants as a fall back is a problem.
I’ve found that increasing my grocery bill a bit and buying a few luxury items (fresh baked bread from the Farmer’s Market, stinky cheese, etc.) makes it easier to stay out of the restaurants. And I also find it helpful to have a few things on hand that can give us a faster meal than we could get by ordering carryout–like eggs for omelets and cheese, crackers, and fruit.
We try to limit our restaurant dining to thing we could not make ourselves–like sushi.
But Shauna alludes to a good point. Not everything is worth going cheap. Supporting local farmers or foods that can’t be mass-produced is a worthy value to hold. And breaking bread with friends and family cultivates community.
So, Shauna, I’d advise you to not worry too much about how you stack up to other people. But ask yourself if your food choices are serving your values and goals. If they aren’t, make a change.
But if they are, find other places less important to you to cut if you’re concerned about your spending.
We spend about $700/month on groceries, for 2 adults (no kids). That does not include “household” items like toilet paper, kleenex, cleaners, etc. That’s just food.
Most of that amount is dairy and protein.
I’m a single professional, working full time, living in a big city with one roommate. I budget for and spend $250 per month for groceries and eating out.
Groceries includes anything that I buy for the house at the grocery store (cleaning supplies, toilet paper, etc.).
My roommate and I alternate buying things that we share like milk, coffee, and non-perishable baking food.
I like to eat out at decent restaurants about once a week, so while I don’t split the budget between the two categories, I estimate that I spend roughly a third my food budget at restaurants, and the other two-thirds for food that is eaten at home.
$750 seems very high to me. I’d say we’re around $400/mo on average for food (that is, grocery store trips, though non-food items probably make up maybe 2% of that cost), alcohol (there’s a fair amount of it!), and dining out. It varies a lot – this was definitely a more expensive month. We don’t use any coupons, though we do try to make smart cost choices at the store.
D’oh – “we” are my husband and me, no kids. I don’t include my dog’s food in this, because we don’t buy his food a the grocery store (and shame on you if you do, unless you get Costco’s Kirkland).
No shame on me – it’s a budgetary choice that we all make where we spend our money and how.
Since my elderly cat is now only eating freshly cooked chicken, I’m now buying bulk chicken thighs (at the supermarket) and cooking them up every 2-3 days. Turns out to be only slightly more expensive than the cat food we were buying before.
For people food, in the Seattle area, 3 people, about $500 per month. I don’t coupon, stock up at Costco for staples and do most of my other shopping and the gourmet grocery because I can get what I’m looking for all at one stop (Asian ingredients, stinky cheeses, excellent fruits and veggies).
Sorry, I should’ve been clear. I meant shame for buying packaged pet food at the grocery store. No shame for you – kudos for feeding your cat from scratch!
Costco’s Kirkland??? My dogs eat real meat every day and (shocker) I sometimes buy it at the grocery store. It’s part of my grocery budget wherever I get it. No kibble or canned commercial dog food.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 🙂
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.
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.
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!
That’s the kind of info I was hoping for – thanks!
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?”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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)
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!
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.
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.
Family of 3 in San Diego – $640/month food (includes CSA, alcohol, toiletries).
Eating out, around $200/month.
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.
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.
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!
$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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
Family of 4: 1 adult, 3 children (3 – 8)
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/
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This post totally needed some graph-love. Here is what I could piece together, from posts 1-38.
http://i.imgur.com/D9DHs.jpg
Whoops, sorry, my bad. Here is the corrected graph: http://i.imgur.com/xEv24.jpg
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
$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…
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)
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.
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.
+1 great post.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2010 figures for food only:
$103 per person (adults) each month. $30 per person eating outside of the house.
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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)
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…
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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Wow, I need to stop shopping at Whole Foods…
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).
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.
Prices have also gone up – my average monthly amount for groceries was about $375 for 2010.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
That’s incredible. You had a 75% increase just from moving to a different area.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!).
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.
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!).
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.
Great point! Would you mind sharing some of the meals you make?
I live in Astoria, Queens. I spend about $200-$225 per month on groceries/going out/drinks. I don’t eat meat, which allows me to buy a few luxury few items per month. I usually make my own breakfast, lunch, and dinner during the week so when I do go out on the weekend it is an enjoyable meal, and not just something to feed me. My monthly spending shrinks in the winter because I end up using a lot more dry goods than fresh ones.
My family of four, (which included two teenage boys) spends around $450 a month on food, which includes eating out. However, this month we’re trying to spend to spend the amount that an average food stamp recipient would get in the state of Oregon, which is $101 per person.
This is because we’re doing a food stamp challenge on The Non-Consumer Advocate, where participants donate any money saved at the end of the month to their local food bank. So far, we’re at $321.73 for the month, which includes having eaten out once.
This is the second time we’ve done this, and it’s always an eye opener.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
How in the world do all of you do it? We spend $275 a week so it’s $1,100 – $1,375 in a month. This includes toiletries. Lots of produce, dairy. No junk food. We do our own cooking. Includes perhaps 3 very small meals out a month. Nearly all shopping is done at Meijer and Target with coupon use. Family of 2 adults, a 3 year old and an infant (but she only drinks breastmilk). MOney wise you would think we gigantic people who buy a mountain of food, but we’re healthy active folks. What the heck are we buying that you guys aren’t?
In our case, we shop mainly at ethnic grocery stores (for food items), and we buy household items mainly at Giant with coupon use (they double coupons up to 0.99 in our area) and sale combined… we stock when double coupons + sale offers great bargains.
Me thinks we buy things you buy, we also love cooking and cook from scratch, but one of the big things for us is shopping at ethnic grocery stores (Indian, Korean, and sometimes Chinese). I know food item prices there and Giant, and the differences are quite significant.
Well, we spend about $900 on our family of 7. I think part of it has to do with being able to shop at BJ’s and Costco for produce since we can easily finish their sizes before it goes bad.
But I would guess the main reason we don’t spend as much would be we now have a stockpile of pretty much everything that doesn’t go bad quickly so I no longer buy anything like toothpaste, deodorant, sugar, flour, tin foil, canola oil, etc. unless it’s on sale and I have a coupon. I also don’t buy meat unless it’s on sale or if I have a coupon (like Perdue, which are sometimes available). I freeze meat and it’s rare that we don’t have at least some meat during the day. Chicken and pork, including bacon, freeze great and really should only be purchased on sale.
Even eggs and yogurt can be stockpiled and are good for two weeks or more past their stamped dates – don’t be foolish, make them pass a smell test – but these are items which can be somewhat stocked up on when there’s a sale and/or a coupon (Eggland’s Best and Land o’ Lakes have egg coupons at least every other month).
As far as fresh produce in the house, we pretty much only get what’s on sale with exceptions for apples, bananas, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, and celery – all of which we always have in the house.
We also eat a good bit of frozen veggies which are purchased on sale with a coupon.
We have four teens, two dogs, two cats, and two adults in our family, plus sometimes feed our kids’ friends. We spend around $900/mo on food and household stuff – toiletries, cleaning supplies, pet food/litter, supplements and OTCs. It’s our single largest family expense.
I could get the expense down if our sons weren’t autistics with food related sensory issues. The only way I’ve found that keeps the rest of the family from dying of lack of variety or me cooking multiple meals is to keep things in the house that the boys can pepare for themselves while the rest of us eat sort of like normal people. I have become a competent cook over the years, but I don’t enjoy cooking.
I guess I do not fit into the GRS average. We spend a lot on food every month, approximately $1,000-$1,200. That includes nearly all household items and occasional take-out, but we buy many foods that are not cheap — like prime-grade steaks and fresh fish. We buy a lot of different fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and wines. Every week I go to Costco, I spend about $200, and we also spend $50 here and there at the grocery store. We like to try new recipes, which often involves new ingredients. We could probably save a lot of money by eating less expensive foods, but it’s something we enjoy. We use coupons and try to find good deals, but we like food.
Food is one area that I never feel bad about spending money on. I don’t buy more than I can eat or store for later use, and I have never eaten my way into budgetary problems. It’s also a great way to strenthen social connections by having people over for dinner, or brunch, or whatever. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are some of my favorite parts of the day, not only because of the company, but because I enjoy eating.
Two adults, two cats- we clock in at about $800/month. This is all human food, cat food & litter, paper products, toiletries.
Sometimes it feels like a high number, but we live in a dessert so 95% of our food must be shipped in, and the price reflects it. I remember when we lived in the Willamette Valley and I couldn’t believe how inexpensive (and fresh) food seemed.
We eat out around three times a week, take dinners to friends and family who are ill, bring baked goods and snacks to work to share (we work at a university and have poor college students working in our department), and will have a dinner party at least once a month for friends.
Personally, I’d rather cut back on other expenses than touch the food budget. We stopped cable and reduced our cellphones so we wouldn’t have to alter our food habits as the prices have been going up.
Sometimes we have rice and beans or homemade soup for lunch for a week. Other times we’ll go out.
You live in a dessert? Yum! That must help keep chocolate costs down. 😉
(I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist!)
i’ve been tracking my food expenses from the beginning of this year. wanted some accurate figures to see how much my grocery spending varies. sorted the data by week, because a month would have been too long a time, i’d need to wait too long to get enough data, and an arbitrary amount of days like five or ten seemed inaccurate because spending might concentrate on some specific weekdays.
Now i have 29 weeks worth of data. on average i spent (single person household) 28.85 EUR on groceries a week. by todays exchange rate that equals 41.46 USD a week or 180.28 USD a month.
Spending has varied. at lowest i spent nothing in one week and at highest i spent 73.07 USD one week. when i plotted the data (how many weeks i spent an amount that fell within sequential intervals, (think 0-4.99 ; 5-9.99 ; 10-14.99 and so on)) i got a curve with a concentration of weeks in the middle range, as would be expected. looking at this plot i seem to spend most weeks about the same amount on groceries, between about 25 and 55 USD.
To be exact, i spent 62% of the time between 23.07 and 59.85 USD a week, which feels like fairly variable, but i don’t really have any data to compare this result to.
I average about $275 each month for “things I eat and drink,” which includes trips to the often-pricey Whole Foods, a subscription to our local Farm Share, a visit to the farmers market every once and awhile, and eating out. I feel like I spend less than most because I rarely buy alcohol when I’m dining out. Doesn’t mean I don’t splurge on a good bottle of wine at home every now and then!
One interesting website I’ve started exploring is Bundle.com. It lets you see how others in your demographic are spending their money(for example, a single female age 25-35 making $50k-$75k per year in Washington D.C.).
That’s fun! According to them we’re about average for our demographic group for groceries and lower than average for eating out.
I spend about $250/mo on restaurants (including semi-frequent nights out at bars, and occasionally purchasing overpriced beer at sporting events and concerts) and another $200 on groceries. My grocery shopping is balanced between coupon savings and some very low cost basics, and more expensive organic and/or local items.
We spend about $600/month on groceries/household items and eating out for a family of 4 (2 toddlers). Probably $400 on groceries & $200 on eating out. We’re eating a lot less meat these days but we’re buying mostly organic or more “natural” brands. Every so often Whole Foods has a 1 day sale on some meat item at a pretty good discount, like today I purchased ~4 meals worth of wild Coho salmon for $8.99 lb. I’ve also stocked up on whole organic chickens, free range ground beef, etc. We stockpile, shop almost exclusively sales and use coupons. I also can fruits and vegetables in the summer to get us through the fresh veggie drought of New England winters. Most importantly, I know the “good” prices of the items I buy and when I know something is a good price I buy it. If not, I wait.
One mostly-vegetarian, gluten free adult shopping in San Francisco from a co-op, including all organic fruit and vegetables = a rough average of $240/month. I do not eat out or drink. I DO buy things in bulk, in cases, in season, and so on. I’m also in my first year of canning. (Expenses for me rise in the summer/fall when I’m buying plenty of fresh produce.)
I spend about $500 a month on groceries for two adults and two preschool children in central Seattle.
I’ve experimented with many ways to get that number down — CSA box, grocery outlet store, coupons, etc. I stockpile and freeze when things are on sale, make my own pickles and jam, trade homemade foods with friends, and am getting into cheesemaking. I garden too, but the amount of food we get out of that is trivial.
I pack my own lunch almost every day and cook almost every night; a restaurant is a very rare thing for us.
Still, $500 a month on food only seems to be going up as the children get older and hungrier. :-/ I wish I could get it lower, but we keep needing to eat!
1 adult, 1 preschooler. $225/month on groceries, by which I mean short-term consumables.
I shop at Costco mostly and don’t pay attention to what things cost (I don’t use coupons, for example). I find this fairly cheap. We waste very little and almost all of it is unprocessed food.
I bulk cook and freeze most of the food for me, which I think reduces the cost a lot.
In our household of two adults we try, but don’t always succeed, to stay within:
$120/week for groceries/household items – $40-50 in produce, $20-30 in meat (though sometimes we buy fish so it’s a bit more), $50 for everything else. We only occasionally use coupons, but we are price conscious and buy the sale/in season produce, choose meats based on what’s on special and stock up on non-perishables when they go on sale.
$20/week convenience food (sandwich for lunch, coffee, etc.)
Plus dinner out 3-4 times per month, low end sit down restaurants – $120-$150/month.
So $600/month groceries plus household items. Eating out brings us to $700-800/month on food. This is a huge part of our budget, but we’d rather cut out other things than the $200 or so we could cut from our food expenses if we really needed to.
Some of these numbers are . . . wow! It must vary wildly by location. In downtown Toronto we’re currently spending $1250 for staples for a family of four. We’re sort of foodies. We buy good quality fresh ingredients including a few organics. We get take out out four times a month or less. Never dine-in. When we aren’t budgeting carefully the number can reach $1700 like it did in April when we had a family emergency and I couldn’t cook most of our meals from scratch.
I find our bill is slightly higher in summer because the kids take seconds when they’re home. This month we’ll hit $1400 with careful planning.
Five years ago I would estimate it was $200 less per month, but I’ve also made changes to offset inflation. Less meat mostly. More rice.
A family of 2 adults, 2 dogs and 2 guinea pigs we spend about $300 on groceries a month that inc, pet food cleaners etc. Eating out comes out of our entertainment budget so we tend to make eating out an experience instead of a I can’t be bothered to cook event.
In times when moneys been tight I’ve gotten that down to $200.00. I do a bit of couponing and stockpile basics, beans, rice, meat, frozen veg so when times have been super tight I’ve managed to go 6 weeks with no shopping for anything but basic produce, bread and milk.
We spend $160 a month for food, toiletries, and cleaning products. We are a 2 adult family living in the suburbs of Atlanta. I shop at 3 grocery stores (Kroger, Ingles and Publix) as well as CVS, Walgreen’s and Target.
I hope you make us a pretty pie chart or something! Look at all these answers!
I eat out 12 meals per month on average; the rest of my meals are from the grocery store (meals I cook or prepared meals I nuke all fall under that category, though the cost per meal can vary widely).
I’ve been tracking my spending since the middle of 2007 and have seen my spending in each category creep up from 358/month (2007) to 480/month (2011). Of course I was paying down debt them so was a little more frugal!
Jul-Dec 2007
eating out: 163/month; groceries 195/month
Jul-Dec 2010
eating out: 218/month; groceries 206/month
Jan-Jun 2011 was even worse
eating out: 237/month; groceries 243/month
My household is just me; I am a decent cook; I live alone in the bay area, with ten billion awesome food choices and amazing fresh ingredients year round!
I just buy groceries for me, but I find that every other week I buy a lot more than the week before, just because of how long certain perishable foods last. Also, I have a huge dog who needs a huge bag of food every other week, so that adds a good $20 to the bill. I also don’t cook… ever. So I guess all of the pre-cut organic veggies and nice little packages of things I buy really add up. I think, though, as long as you cut back elsewhere, like this post was saying, you can spend more on food. And who doesn’t love food? If you have products you just love and must have (I do– I have an addiction to those little frapuccino bottles), just make sure you’re getting the best deal on them. It’s amazing how much prices can vary for the very same products, just between neighborhood grocery stores. I work for Mango Money’s blog and we have some great (and healthy!) ideas for all of you foodies out there. Check it out: http://www.mangomoney.com/blog/how-to/healthy-waist-healthy-wallet-12-good-for-you-meals-under-5
Family of 6, suburban Atlanta: $1100/month.
This includes food, eating out, and all toiletries and cleaning products. I coupon a little bit, but not much.
DINKs (dual income, no kids)
We strive for $400 (necessity) and $200 (luxury) each month, $600 total on food/alcohol only. We are usually a bit over, but not too egregious.
I track using Google Docs Spreadsheet so that I have access to the figures at any time, as I try to enter all receipts at the time of purchase.
What does your family spend on food in a month? $560. This is everything/anything I get at the grocery store as I budget for “groceries” and not “food”.
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? I control what I buy, the what is more important than the cost as I have a strict high/protein low carb/low sugar diet. But I spend the least amount possible to meet this requirement.
Do you use coupons? When possible, yes.
Do you grow your own food? No.
Is eating organic important to you? No.
What other considerations do you make when spending on food? Since I don’t eat that much, I worry about how long the food will last before it will spoil. Because of that, I focus on items that either freeze well or have a long shelf life. Take milk for example. I love it but whenever I buy it I end up dumping it because it went bad, so I buy Soy milk instead since it lasts longer.
ps I’m overseas and at the mercy of whatever the commissary carries. Local cuisine is primarily items outside of my diet and cost 3 times as much as their US equivalents.
Mint tells me that my husband and I have spent a average of $666/month on groceries over the past year. This category includes food for a 55-lb dog, food and litter for two cats, plus everything we buy at the grocery store – beer and wine (about $50/month including supplies to brew our own), paper products, trash bags, etc. We live in rural New England. We buy bulk staples (brown rice, nuts) from a co-op. In the summer we spend $30/week on a CSA. We buy a 1/2 grass-fed lamb for the deep freeze every fall from a friend, and buy some organic food when it has a good price. All the above factors into the average.
We eat meat or fish sometimes (once or twice a week), and a whole lot of vegetables. It’s important to us to only buy humanely raised hormone/antibiotic-free meat and dairy products. We have chickens (their food not included in the grocery total), and buy free-range eggs in the winter when they stop laying. When my income went up recently we started buying much more fruit, which I sorely missed when money was tight. We collect wild berries, fiddleheads, sea vegetables, and apples in season to freeze, dry, and preserve. I have a small vegetable garden this summer (the first opportunity we’ve had to garden for a while) and plan to expand it next year.
When I was struggling to save money on food, eating a lot of starchy stuff, we were averaging $561/month. Now that I have relaxed and we buy as much fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy as we are hungry for (and feel MUCH better) we average $714/month.
We’re both good cooks and make most things from scratch, except that sometimes we buy our bread and crackers. We don’t buy soda; I drink lots of tea and he drinks some coffee, I average one beer or glass of wine a day and he has a glass of wine maybe once a week.
Our separate restaurant budget (now that we have one) is $45/month. We haven’t gone over that yet.
I don’t coupon. Maybe I should, but have always felt that since I mostly buy scratch ingredients it would be a lot of looking for little gain.
I forgot – about $60/month of that amount is laundry – we get cash for the laundromat at the grocery store.
We budget $350/month, but I’m guessing this year we’ll be at $400/month once we add it all up. We’ve blown our budget the last two months in a row. That budget covers two very active adults, a 3-yr old and a 1-yr old. We are medium couponers, do some shopping at Costco, and our budget includes health & beauty, paper products, basically anything disposable or edible.
We do buy 95% of our produce, dairy, meat and beans organic, and buy conventional for the few processed foods that we eat regularly (pasta, pasta sauce, pretzels). I think this is largely why the budget had been blown the last couple of months–food prices have just started noticeably rising, particularly on organics.
We live in the heart of a medium/large city.
My husband and I (no kids)spend on average %500-550 per month on groceries. We live in a major city on the East Coast. We live in the city, not the suburbs. So, no garden and no stockpiling for us. The $500 includes paper products, and some health and beauty items.
This time of year, I spend about $60-$80 per week at the farmers market. I get all of our produce, eggs, milk, meats and seafood at the farmers market from May to the end of September. I do not use coupons, since most of our groceries are purchased at the farmers market. We don’t eat processed foods. (I will admit to purchasing ice cream!) Quality food is a priority for me, and I’m willing to spend what I need to on good produce, dairy and meats.
Lately, we haven’t been eating out that much. We spend about $75 per month on meals out. After my vacation in September, we plan on eating out at good restaurants about 1-2 times per month. There are lots of great restaurants in our neighborhood, and its important to us to support them. It contributes to our quality of life!
A family of 2 adults living in an urban area of the Mid-Atlantic region, we spend on average $ 200ish per month on groceries (food), and $30 to $50 on dining out. Non-food items like cleaning supplies, toilet paper etc are about $30-40/mo. It fluctuates month to month but we adjust along the way so it in the end averages out within these ranges at the end of the year.
Essentially maintain the same lifestyle as we had as grad students.
I honestly don’t know how two people can spend less than $500/mo on groceries. Some people say “I think we spend about…” and so I take their number with a huge grain of salt. I know what we spend because we track our spending. I’m rather amused that as a household (two adults, one infant) living also in Portland, OR. Our target is $500/mo on groceries and $300/mo on dining out. Just like JD! Heh.
In truth, since baby came along spending has gotten out of control. Mostly because our schedule is erratic and we are harried and sleep deprived. However, the last time I was at the store stocking up on regular stuff, I noticed that prices have gone up, discounts are meager and lots of packaged items are getting “right sized.” Anyone notice that their Tom’s of Main toothpaste is in a different type of tube and now about an ounce less? Thanks, Colgate-Palmolive! Same great price, less great product!
So far this year, we are about on target with dining out. $300/month. Groceries, however, have gone insane. $700/mo. Last fall, staying at or under $500 was not too difficult. Life is conspiring against us.
For the data: typically shop at Fred Meyer. Sometimes at New Seasons or Whole Foods. Trying to get all my produce at the farmer’s markets and plan meals around that.
Not only is it a plastic tube, and less toothpaste, but they stopped making Tom’s fennel with fluoride and it was the only fennel flavor with fluoride available in North America.
That was the only kind of toothpaste I’ve ever liked. So now we’re back to trying random flavors/brands and I am the one who gets stuck using up the flavors the kid won’t use (we have the same problem with intense flavors but I suck it up and deal since I’m the grownup.)
Maybe it’s a Portland thing. The folks who’ve identified as Portlanders all seem to be in the same range we are. And yes, I’ve lately noticed stuff seems much more expensive. Two years ago we were spending $500 a month and buying way more “gourmet” stuff, eating out 1-2 times per week. Now that $750 barely covers basics with no eating out.
portland is more expensive from what i’ve seen just having moved into the gorge. but check out winco. you’ll save quite a bit over fred meyers and safeway. i only go to freddies for things that winco doesn’t carry.
We are vegan and eat all organic with two kids who eat dairy and cheese. We spend at least $1,400 a month on food even buying bulk. We eat sprouted, whole grain bread, tofu ravioli, assorted soy/grain burgers and nuggets. Organic everything. We buy lots of fresh organic fruit for the kids in a wide variety. We belong to a CSA which runs about $25/week over the season, though we supplement with prewashed lettuce and spinach and a few other veggies. We shop at local farmers markets and buy certain items at the local health food store even though we could get them cheaper at shop-rite, just because we like supporting a local business and we want him to survive so we don’t have to drive 60 minutes round trip to get specialty items. We buy organic brown rice and lentils in bulk and store them in basement bins. The kids go through milk, yogurt and cheese sticks like crazy. We have a large pantry and do most of our cooking at home. Every few months we’ll road trip to Trader Joes to restock our pantry with loads of whole wheat pasta, salsa, olives, etc. We try to keep a deep pantry in case there is ever an emergency. We’d love to cut down on expenses, but most of the above factors are important to us. If we hit a financial rough patch there are lots of things we could trim, but for now it works.
“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.”
This rings really true to me. 2 vegetarian adults, we shop for organic more than “foodie” items, trying to by lots of organic and fresh food through local markets and avoiding lots of boxed and premade foods. In the last 12 months, we spent $300/month on groceries and $200 on restaurants.
Our grocery costs definitely go down in the summer when our garden is in full swing. It’s amazing what a bunch of lettuce and spinach, etc. will do for the food costs of 2 vegetarians. Cost was maybe $20 for seeds. It goes a long way, and it’s way healthier and tasty.
We try to mitigate the restaurant costs via groupon and splitting plates or appetizers. Not sure if that helps.
For two adults + 1 toddler, living in Berkeley, CA, we spend about $500-600/month. That includes eating out (which we hardly ever do), entertaining guests (4-5x/month), and our gourmet coffee habit. We love cooking & good food. I don’t go out of my way to buy organic but I will if it’s priced similarly to conventional produce. Fortunately there’s a lot of good, cheap local produce in CA for us to choose from. We eat meat at dinner more often than not, and leftovers for lunch.
2 grownups in Albuquerque, $700/mo., including wine and beer but not including toiletries, home supplies, etc.
We no longer eat in restaurants, as they are not worth the money– I can cook almost anything better at home, so we “splurge” (so to speak) on nice things to eat at home.
This $700 is after curbing myself– I can in fact spend an unlimited amount of money on groceries, just drop me into a Whole Foods and watch the money burn.
I shop at Costco, Walmart, Sunflower Market (a regional chain) and every once in a while the local food CoOp (used to be my main supplier, not anymore). I used to do farmer’s markets but they are too expensive as well.
I’ve tried more “frugal” ways to eat, from buying lower quality to eating vegan to cooking weekly batches in advance, but such reheating and deprivation only bring me ill feelings and sadness. LIfe is meant to be enjoyed. To quote the ever-popular Olaf, there is some #$@# I will not eat.
We are a family of 2 adults and a 5 year old who live in suburban Philadelphia. We spend about $500 a month on groceries and about $50 a month on eating out. We spent $400 a month on groceries when I worked only 15 hours a week and was diligent about planning our meals, but now I work 30 hours and rely on some prepared meat items from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. I would call us foodies only that we don’t eat many processed foods and buy organic and local when available which can really bloat your budget.
First of all: YAY! Alberta! (I’m about 4 hours north of you 🙂 )
But on topic:
My “Grocery” category in quicken tells me that my daughter and I spent $3,360.14CDN on groceries year to date, plus another $1563.37 dining out and having coffee.
But in there is a fair bit of wine… like the entire year’s worth, and a fair bit of coffee. So it is probably closer to $2200 of groceries and $1,000 dining out. Still a lot of money!
Groceries for us include a number of the “dinner assembly” type services, so while high, so I justify this as being not as bad as it would have been if we were eating out all those meals…
I really need to get back in the kitchen!
Shauna’s Husband here.
I think the real question is not so much how much you spend, but what influences how much you spend on groceries. Such as:
Demographics, location, organic/non-organic, non-food groceries such as alcohol, bath products, etc. (Perhaps JD could run a more formal survey) Another issue is the concept of local sustainability. Living in inner Portland, OR we are blessed with locally sourced choices, which tend to come with a higher price tag since it is not coming from a factory farm. The concept of buying local is something that has a lot of influence over our food purchases, and when given the choice we will buy local and organic. I liked the comments about what % of your income is spent on groceries; this was a little more helpful in comparing our situation to others. We spend approximately 7-9% of our gross income on “groceries.” One thing that is lumped into that figure is “adult beverages” at about $100-150 month. It doesn’t help that we live in wine, Micro-brew, and now a distillery region.
Over the last year my fiance and I have averaged $308 per month on just food and $121 per on dining out. I track household consumables and toiletries separately. They account for about another $100 per month.
we just moved to a rural area after living in Boise, ID and having grown up in a suburb outside of Seattle. i have been very disappointed in rural living. the farmers markets around here are pathetic. like someone else said i would need to go into “town” portland or vancouver which is an hour away or more. i’ve heard beaverton has an awesome farmer’s market. i drive into town once a week to grocery shop and spend about $400/mo for our family of 3 (one teenage boy with an appetite to match!) we do have a local store that we go to in a pinch, but its very expensive. we do spend more than we did in boise, but some of that is we are making a bit more now and are splurging on beer, wine and ice cream =) we do spend more on meat now too. but i have noticed that food prices in general have risen over the last few years. our grocery budget includes toiletries, cleaning products, misc items that can be found at the grocery store. no pets tho. we also go out to eat weekly and spend probably 200-250/mo on that. that is where i’d like to trim the fat from our budget and put it in our vacation acct instead. love this conversation …. good comments
Sorry for the comment logjam today, folks. Kris and I left Banff at 8:30am Pacific, and I haven’t had internet access again until now. In the meantime, there were nearly 100 comments stuck in moderation. Oops. Yet another reason I’m in the process of bringing on an assistant editor around here.
# People: 2 adults, 1 baby
Grocery Budget (everything included): $100
Eating out Budget: $40 (we rarely max this)
What I’d spend if I had my way, for both Grocery and Eating out: $75
Location: Suburban Utah
Common breakfast: Oatmeal
Common dinners: Spaghetti. Rice and Beans and Cheese. Taco Soup.
Reason for being cheapskates: If we spend this little and save it up (not even factoring in other areas of savings), eventually we can buy a $20,000 tiny house and never have a mortgage. If the average for a family of three is $500 per month, then we’ll be able to buy our home outright in less than 5 years with these savings, and then neither of us will have to work full-time but can spend more time with our family.
My wife and I have debated for the last couple years about whether our grocery budget should be $100 or $150 per month. Either is doable for us (even with a 1.5 year old daughter), but at $100 my wife feels she doesn’t get enough of what she wants. We cloth diaper, so diapers aren’t the monthly expense they could be. But we do buy baby food still.
Our grocery bill for June was $146, and for July it is so far $98.
We live in suburban Utah, and we mostly shop at Smiths, and Buy Low for produce.
The trick, for us, is to get comfortable with a few low-cost meals, and then eat them all the time (neither of us likes to cook, so experimentation is not high on our priority list). If I had my way, we’d eat maybe a total of 5 different dinner options, and just rotate them. My wife demands at least double or triple that. I do know other people who experiment a lot more (and eat a lot better) on an even smaller budget than ours, but they are really aggressive with following local coupon shoppers and such. I don’t clip any coupons, I’m just careful to buy things at a good price.
It’s important to realize that even when something is on sale, it may not be a good deal. For instance, I know that cold cereal at my Smiths sometimes goes on sale for $1.00 per box, even for name-brands. So when a box of cold cereal drops from 3.19 to 2.19, I don’t buy it. I wait until the price hits what I’m hoping for, and then I buy in bulk. Or, take milk (a frequent purchase). At our Smiths, it usually costs between 2.49-3.19. So when it goes on sale for 2.19, or even 1.99, that’s not bad, but I know another store ALWAYS has it on sale for 1.66. When you buy about 4 gallons of milk per week, knowing the right place to buy it and the best price you’ve seen it reach routinely makes a real difference by the end of the month.
I have to admit, though, that a lot of people would be bored by our daily cuisine. If we were rich, we’d eat a lot better (not in terms of health, just in terms of enjoyment). But I’m a bit of a mountain man/survivalist, and I like to think that we eat a lot better now than almost anyone did a couple hundred years ago. I’d like to think that if I got somehow transported to the American frontier, I’d not die after a few days because I couldn’t have my Starbucks.
On average I spend $285/month on groceries (including alcohol and cat food, but not toiletries), $111/month on restaurants, and $35/month on eating out for lunch during the week.
This is for a single woman in Oakland, California.
I’ve got a handful of cheap recipes under my belt, many using the crock pot or marinades to soften tougher cuts of meat, which I try to work into our rotation. I implemented some great ideas from frugal websites, such as batch cooking beans and freezing portions (cheaper, healthier, more flavorful than canned), using powdered chicken/beef/tomato broths over canned, trying to get into baking my own breads, homemade pizza, making gourmet Starbucks imitation drinks at home, etc. We love cooking and eating, and can afford to spend $750 or so, but I think the cheap meals keep us closer to $400-$500.
I think it makes a huge difference to include razors, toilet paper, toiletries, lightbulbs, household goods (which sometimes also include garden and pet items), etc. along with the food budget. I would be closer to the $750 mark if my “food budget” were more of a “food and all other misc.” budget.
No matter what I spend on food at home, it’s always cheaper than eating out. Therefore, I allow us some grocery splurging (and we’re still saving over $3k monthly so I can, in good conscience, afford it).
We’re at about $600/month for two adults and an infant who’s still nursing. We eat organic fruits & veggies and free-range, organic, grass-fed, Montessori-educated meat & dairy. Almost no processed foods, and very little wheat. (My husband doesn’t eat it.) I wish we could get these things more inexpensively, but I can’t see how.
We are a family of two “foodies” and spend about $600 a month on food – that includes eating out (not often) and all the other household supplies we would typically buy at a grocery store or Target.
Instead of eating out, we end up spending a little more to get high quality, fresh ingredients. We also buy organic if the price is somewhat comparable to conventional, but we are lucky to have natural food stores other than Whole Foods that do not gouge you on produce prices (Henry’s or Sprouts are great!)
We are willing to spend more for fresh, homemade pasta at the farmer’s market than we would have in the past. But we also used to go out to eat 3-4 times per week and also eat out often at lunch during the workday. I consider this a reasonable tradeoff and really enjoy all the fresh ingredients we use.
I just ran my exact same report for 2006 that I ran for 2011. I spent $872 TOTAL from Jan 1 – July 27 on groceries and dining out. This year I spent $4923 in the same period. That is almost SIX times as much.
Given some of that is simple inflation – which is projected to continue to hit food prices hard – but the rest of it is “lifestyle inflation”. And THAT is NOT acceptable.
Imagine where that $4000 could be taking me on vacation this summer??!!
We’re a family of 5, and in 2010 we spent $300/mo on groceries (defined as things I buy at Kroger + CSA membership–which does NOT include paper products, personal care, cat food, etc) and about the same on eating out (but that’s harder to define; my husband travels a lot for work and is reimbursed for meals). We also spent $150/mo on paper products, personal care, cat food, etc at Walmart and CVS.
Using our 2010 numbers, for a family of five:
–$325/mo groceries (includes CSA membership)
–$300/mo eating out (not including DH’s eating out for work when he travels)
–$200/mo paper goods, personal care, etc.
–$150/mo DH’s wine budget 🙂
–$50/mo school lunch during school year
We eat well but live in a low COLA area. I coupon and play the CVS game.
I’m a frugal guy, except when it comes to food. Me and my wife love to go out and eat a lot, I maintain a food blog, is active on Yelp, and we splurge like crazy on food. I guess I’m not really frugal then. I would love to clamp down on our expenses for food though like I do with other stuff.
So far, we spend well over $1000/month on food for both of us. That includes going out and groceries. Our goal, for the short term, is to get below $1000/month consistently.
I feel ashamed and in awe at some of the comments I read and their food budgets. I would love to get below $800/month for food for both of us.
You’re not alone JWC. My husband and I spend an average of $1000 a month on food (combined out and in, for all of 2010). We work long hours and tend to meet for dinner out several nights a week, and when we are home, I like cooking with quality ingredients. We also have a Starbucks habit, which I could give up if I HAD to, but it is a nice luxury. 🙂 Unfortunately since we don’t cook at home as often, the pantry is sparser than I would prefer and getting ingredients for one dinner is always more than if you can shop in bulk. We live in Seattle and shop Whole Foods, Farmer’s Markets and the local organic grocery shop just down the street (prices are high there, but it is so nice to support the local guy).
We rarely eat out (once a quarter?), minimize convenience food, and still we spend over $1000/month on food. We have 5 kids though, and they go through more than a gallon of milk a day. That adds up!
I spend ~$300 a month for myself. Includes eating out, groceries. I tend to eat healthier, and I enjoy splurging on tasty fruits, berries, better tasting meats, etc.
I’m more of a foodie than I thought I was! I am not strictly organic-only, but I won’t buy conventionally raised chicken or regular ground beef, for example. I actively work to eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup in our diet. Feeding my family food that is hormone-, antibiotic-, dye-, and MSG-free is a big priority for me.
I feed 11 people (2 adults, 9 children aged baby-13) on $800 a month (including incidentals like TP, soap, diapers, etc.)
I actually wrote a post detailing HOW I do it here:
http://www.milehimama.com/pinching-pennies/real-food-frugal-food-working-the-budget/
And I’m going to be blogging my food shopping again starting this week for another “food stamp challenge”, where I feed my family for less than our food stamp allotment. I did this (and blogged it) for 40 weeks a couple of years ago but food prices have risen since then so I’m going to go at it again!
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?
My girlfriend and I spent $180 this month for groceries (in Seattle). We make an effort to control food spending and I think we do a good job. We don’t use coupons and don’t yet grow our own food, but we do make a lot of our food ourselves. Homemade feta, hummus, pita all cheaper than the grocery store equivalent. We don’t bother much with organic unless its cheaper. We’ve found ourselves eating a lot more vegetables as they are much cheaper than meat. Veggie soup and grilled feta cheese sandwiches are delicious.
We are a family of 3, 2 adults and one ~19 month old. This is a an area of our budget I am constantly trying to wrangle so I am glad it is being addressed again here at my favorite finance blog. In the last few months, my food/grocery budget seems to have creeped up about $100 partially due to my toddler eating more solid food and partly due to rising food costs. We consider ourselves sort of “foodies” also, and how that manifests for us is mostly in the form of buying organic fruits and veggies for those that are part of the “dirty dozen”, plus an occasional splurge of a dinner when we have relatives in town or a birthday to celebrate. We live in a suburb of LA, probably one of the most expensive zip codes outside of Beverly Hills, and we are renters. We live here as it is close to my husband’s work and used to be close to mine, before I became a SAHM (who is now re-entering the work force, albeit part-time, slowly, and mostly from home). It is also a safe neighborhood relatively with a good public elementary school.
According to our online budgeting/checkbook software, for 2011:
We have spent an average of $717/mo for food/toiletries/papergood/cleaning items (spent at Costco, Trader Joe’s,Diapers.com, the occasional Ralph’s or Vons if we have something that is on coupons or something we can’t get at Costco or Trader Joe’s. We also get a box every other week from a CSA like outfit that costs ~$35 with fresh fruits and veggies)
We have spent an average of $329/mo eating out. (This includes our weekly $22 Friday night date of mediterranean food from our favorite restaurant, plus an additional 2-3 times out on weekends, plus clearly some other things that need to be eliminated!)
Our typical week looks like this:
Saturday: Breakfast and lunch in, dinner out
Sunday: Breakast in, lunch out maybe, dinner in or pizza night ($24 for 2)
Monday-Friday: Bfast, and lunch in, maybe a frozen prepared meal one night from Trader Joe’s, and then I tend to cook one day a meal that will last us 3 nights for dinner. This will be a whole wheat pasta with organic broccoli and grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts or a crockbot tex-mex tacos, or turkey meatloaf.
Breakfasts in are usually oatmeal with organic milk for my daughter, oatmeal or greek yogurt for me and cold cereal for my husband. We choose regular milk for ourselves, but once our daughter is off whole milk we will go organic as well.
Lunches are cold cut sandwiches or frozen Weight Watcher meals that have been bought on sale or the reduced guilt ones from Trader Joe’s.
We go to Costco about once every 6 weeks and purchase cold cuts and cheese that we will freeze if necessary plus bread to freeze. We don’t have a lot of space to buy too much in bulk but we do what we can.
From what I see, what needs to be eliminated for us is the little impulse buys we make at store (menu planning has helped this immensely), plus bringing our own food to outings we do that are not in restaurants (zoo, beach, etc.).
I totally admire those who live on $30 bucks a week for food, but I truly could not do it. My husband is a carnivore and would not be happy in the least if beans and eggs were his staple foods. I would not be happy if I had to make every single meal we ate with no breaks. I will be doing everything I can however to get my actuals to meet my budget ($500 for food $250 for eating out)
I live in the ACT, Australia. During the 2010-11 financial year my household (two adults, two cats) spent an average of $520 on grocery items (bathroom, cleaning, toiletry etc included – but not pharmacy medicines) and $200 dining out, over a 28 day period ($AUD). We bring out lunches to work every day and cook almost every night per week.
We spend $1000/month for a family of 3 adults & 2 young children. This includes most of our toiletries. We live in Brooklyn NY and shop weekly at Costco, Trader Joe’s (which is considered cheap for the items we buy), our amazing food coop, and every few months at Target for stockpiling veggie burgers, protein bars (which I eat a lot at my 80-hour/week-and-often-no-break-for-lunch job), and a few toiletries. We are vegetarian, buy organic as much as possible, eat tons of fresh produce and organic dairy, and buy fairly pricy frozen meals for me for lunch (though they often go untouched for several days at a time :p). This does not include the cost of the help we hire to assist my mom with cooking and cleaning in the afternoons. I adore eating out (which comes from out personal allowances, not our grocery budget), so we typically eat out for most meals on my 1 day off per week, and I will sometimes stop at a local gourmet deli on my way home if I get off too late to eat with the rest of the family. Well actually, my husband just lost his job, dropping our income by 2/3, so eating out is now reserved for my stockpile of Groupon (and other) vouchers, and we’re cutting back on the help, but our grocery bill has stayed the same so far.
We spent $800/month on groceries before I graduated from school last year, but also didn’t eat out much at all back then. With my super long work hours- which don’t include all the preparing presentations and studying and such I have to do for work outside of those hours- I get much more value out of spending my free time playing with my 3- and 6-yo than cooking and shopping.
My boyfriend and I spend about $400 a month on groceries, which includes the other household items like paper towels, windex, etc (I want to keep it closer to $300 but it seems I struggle to succeed here). We also spend about $150 – $200 a month going out, and this is after cutting our expenses here quite a bit. I occasionally cut coupons (usually I bring a $5 or $10 off competitor coupon, as the store I got to accepts those from other stores). I have been trying to be a more avid coupon searcher online, but it seems like a lot of work for a little pay off ($.50 off $8.00 paper towels). I would like to eat more organic and more local farmers market food, but feel its out of my budget right now. We occasionally entertain about twice a month with a few (no more than 4) friends.
We are in the same boat, wondering if we can cut back, but we spend a MINIMUM $800-$900 per month on groceries / household. This might include a set of curtains or vase etc.or other misc. household items inc. food and cleaning, supplies, etc. The MAIN reason is that we eat NO processed food and we spend alot at the natural food store. Coupons are nearly nonexistent for what we buy (we dont’ get the paper anyway and it takes 20 hours of scouring the web to land that one $1 off a box of organic dumplings…) — when our daughter was on a no gluten diet for a time, we spent $1,200. This is a family of 2 adutls, VERY VERY light eaters and 1 9 year old child in Central Maine.
I don’t know if anyone will actually get down this far, but I just added up the food costs for the last 4 months. This is for a household of two adults in the US. This generally only includes food and toilet paper, as I don’t usually buy toiletries at the grocery store.
Apr–groc, $143.40; dining, $11.21
May–groc, $209.71; dining, $11.79
Jun–groc, $225.95, dining, $16.00
Jul–groc, $31.76; dining, $183.38
This does not include a once a month eating out experience which is our Christmas present from my MIL. Our grocery costs could be reduced by $25/mo or so if we stopped buying organic granola bars and the like, but they are a luxury we enjoy since they are convenient for hiking. And also for snacks while we are out and about, which cuts down on stops for snacks.
We shop at grocery outlets, farmers markets, and the local fish store for most of our food, and use mainstream grocery stores mainly for dairy and sometimes eggs, and loss leader sales (tuna steaks, yum). We are ‘pantry principle’ shoppers so don’t buy to a specific planned menu. So, for instance, the last 4 mos spending does not reflect the 1/2 pig we share with my parents every 8 mos or so and store in the freezer, although we ate homemade sausage several times in the last month.
June saw the opening of a new grocery store near us with lots of super loss leader sales, so we bought in quantity for the freezer. July we went on vacation, so the eating out costs went way up, and we also did about half of the grocery spending while we were on vacation for breakfasts and lunches.
Wow, I’m amazed how some of these families can spend so little. I literally can’t figure out how some of you can do it. For a family of 2 adults and 2 kids ages 3 and 6 we spend $800-1000 month for food, cleaning supplies and toiletries. We are in the greater Boston area which is fairly expensive. Alcohol is separately budgeted, that’s $20-$40/month. We’ve cut way back on the amount of meat we eat. We do eat some processed stuff such as crackers, boxed cereals, pretzels, granola bars, etc, although I try to keep that to a minimum. We hardly ever buy juice or soda. We do buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies which I think is a big part of our budget. We try to buy paper goods, toiletries, and whatever food we can at BJ’s or Target. I rarely do coupons. I’ve tried several times to get into it but haven’t been able to make the time investment pay off.
No kidding!! Your budget is like ours- we are 2 adults and a 5 yo and 8 yo. I have yet to keep our costs at $800/mo (including eating out, which is never true meals). We live in Midcoast Maine. I shop a variety of places, from group co-ops (where i buy flour/sugar, etc.. in bulk) nat. food stores, reg. grocery stores and we raise our own chickens, buy a 1/4 grass fed cow (cheaper than any supermarket price at $5/lb. for all cuts) and this year a 1/2 pig. we do get mostly organic, though i will often buy conventional fruit because i won’t pay $4 for one nectarine.
i know we could shave more if i was more diligent, but i can’t imagine getting it below $750 and not just be eating what i consider to be low quality food- processed white flour, factory farm meat and dairy, etc…
Definitely don’t underestimate the wide variation in food costs from state to state, and city to city. Living in Spokane, WA, we spent about $280/month on meals for two adults, and that definitely did not include many “foodie” type ingredients. At that time, I was clipping coupons and shopping at discount/bulk stores heavily. Now, we live in central Ohio, and spend maybe $180/month on food–and I’m no longer clipping coupons or shopping at discount stores. We also buy more fruits and fresh vegetables than we used to. I’m amazed that our food budget dropped so dramatically, especially since I’m not trying to get “deals” the way I used to, but food is just cheaper in this part of the country. I guess my point is, don’t beat yourself up thinking you can spend as little on groceries as someone in Kansas or small-town Ohio if you’re living in a city where food just costs more to begin with.
My husband and I spend $600/month. We only eat grassfed beef, poultry, fish, veggies, fruit and nuts. We don’t eat grains/wheat due to a gluten allergy. The $600 includes pet food, household items, etc just like you. I don’t think your budget is too much considering you don’t eat out ever, just like us. We choose to spend more on groceries b/c we want to eat healthy. We don’t buy processed anything- none of our food comes in a box which would of course be cheaper.
We may cut a few coupons if I see something I know we’ll use but we tend to be brand loyal.
We eat every meal at home- very rarely eating out except for a special occasion like a friend’s birthday or something. It’s just me and my husband (no kids); people tell us we spend a lot but if other people combined their “eating out” budget with groceries, I think they’d spend more.
What else? Oh, we don’t always buy organic except sometimes apples (for example) are the same price so why not?).
We (two adults) spend $600 per month at the grocery store. That amount includes cleaning supplies, paper goods, vitamins, wine, beer, pretty much anything you can purchase at the grocery store or Costco. I should try breaking it out for a month to see what’s really food. We also grow our own vegetables during the summer. I make pesto from the basil and freeze beans when we get too many. I also can or freeze applesauce. Our eating out budget is $100 per month, but it’s come in at $150 a month so far because we had family that we took out. I try to use restaurant.com coupons or coupons from the paper. We use our personal allowances to eat out sometimes, which we don’t count in our dining out budget. We’re in Boise.
I think between five adults living in the same household we do fairly well. I think we buget about $400.00 average/month on food and stuff from the supermarket,
we don’t dine out as a family often but we do dine out with friends maybe 8 times in a really active month.
I pretty much do all of the garden for the house.. I can produce a fair amount but certently not enough for the whole year… durning the glut of the season I produce enough veges for a couple dinners a week. But i don’t bother bugeting it much… Its only a $30.00 investment for maybe one hundred on a good year…haha
I only grow organic.. and we only buy what we need really and we don’t use coupons.. we do keep an eye out for sales though
I am a single professional. I buy all my bulk supplies (flour, rice, pasta, canned food, sugar, spices) as well as meats to freeze (chicken, beef) 3x/year at costco, which costs me about $400/trip or $1200/year. I then spend around $40 per week (or $160/month) on groceries – mostly just the basics like fruits/veggies, bread, eggs, milk. I make most things from scratch and I tend to eat pretty well (ie. healthy). So I spend an average of about $260/month of home cooked food. I eat out at nice restaurants ~1x/week, mostly for social reasons, so I spend an average of $100 a month dining out. I know I could spend less eating in, but eating out is a major part of my social life, so I practically consider that entertainment/socializing rather than food.
That’s a total of $360 on food a month.
My husband and I live in a semi- rural area that is a tourist town with some inflated prices. We typically spend $450 per month on groceries (not including toiletries and rarely including paper goods), and $200-$300 per month on eating put. That is probably high for a family of two, but we value quality food, typically fresh and organic. Our expenses are often higher in the summer when we stockpile food in season and pay for our half cow. Conversely, the expenses decrease in the winter.
I spend $800 per month for a family of 8, we have six children, they are all under the age of 8, however, two of my boys already eat more than my husband and me.
That includes all household products as well as diapers for 3.
I make most everything from scratch and hardly anything processed. It is a rare occasion when a box of cereal crosses our threshold.
My husband works, I stay at home with the kids, homeschool them and moon-light as a free-lance writer.
I buy a lot of our produce at the farmer’s market. What I don’t buy there, I buy organic at Costco.
I’d say we buy about 60% of our meat organic, and I milk goats for our milk. I actually really enjoy the goats, so even when we increase our grocery budget, I’ll still do it. I make a mighty fine chevre.
We eat out only occasionally, and it comes out of the grocery budget.
Ashley
Our family of three spends $400 a month on food bought at the grocery store and our community supported agriculture share, which lasts for 6 months of the year. We also spend about $120 a month on eating out.
We don’t track exact amounts any more (all of our spending on not bills comes out of one cash pot every week), but we typically spend between $60 and $80 per week, more often leaning to the high side, so close to $300. Most of the time, we don’t buy cleaning products or toiletries at the same time/place as we buy food. The amount we spend eating out is determined by what else we spend money on that week, as we rarely eat out during the week.
Our budget for 2 people is $150/month for groceries and we spend another $75-$100 eating out together once a week. I could probably get it lower if I were better at getting my hands on coupons. I have categories of items with price-points that I will not buy things over. For example, if we want cereal we go in the store and see what is for sale for $1.99 or less. If there is nothing that cheap, we just don’t buy anything and wait until the next week. .99/pound for fruit, 1.99/pound for meat, etc. When something is well below the price-point we stock up and freeze it. I’ve learned the cycle of my local supermarket pretty well, so we rarely have to forgo something we want for longer than a week before it goes on sale below our price-point.
I could afford to not worry about it so much (along with a bunch on nicer things in my life), but I’m trying to pay off my student loans as fast as humanly possible. At this rate I’ll be able to pay off over 50K in loans in less than 2 years (over halfway there!).
Wow, actually reading all these replies makes me feel BETTER about our budget. I’m always reading about people who feed a family of 20 on $10 a week and feel guilty.
We are a family of 3 (2 adults plus a 4 year old) in central MA (suburban).
I just pulled up a report in Quicken and we spend on average $350 a month for groceries and $220 eating out. For groceries, we shop mostly at Trader Joe’s. If there’s a super awesome coupon deal I’ll hit up one of the regular grocery stores for items that are free or almost free. I didn’t include HBA’s or paper products since we get those at either Target or CVS, and I can’t pull that from Quicken with any accuracy. Those figures also don’t include alcohol (we buy it, but not very often) and eating out lunch at work. If either DH or I choose to eat out at work, it comes out of our allowances. This figure also doesn’t include stops at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks.
I’d like to say that we eat all organic and cook from scratch, but I’d be lying. I tend to purchase organic about half the time but don’t worry about it. I also buy a fair amount of prepackaged foods – TJ’s has a family sized vegetarian lasagna for $6. Sure it’s a convenience food, but it fairly healthy and cheap. We both work, and cooking isn’t a really big thing of mine, so there’s a lot of nights of hot dogs and beans, or fish sticks and fries, so I try and at least buy the healthier versions. We do buy our milk from a local dairy, and I’d like to do a CSA or at least buy from a local farm stand, but honestly, right now I really have been focusing my time and efforts on other areas of our lives.
We do eat out maybe twice a week. Mostly small pizza places or local sit down family restaurants. I’d like to cut this down to maybe once a week. I use coupons when possible.
I must admit I don’t track our food budget as closely as I should but it’s high.
Reason one: both adults in our house purchase lunch at work. But that’s one of those trade-off things: I’m buying myself some time. Once I am not working too much while trying to be a creative parent, I will go back to planning lunches. Fortunately we have healthy & not too badly priced options.
Reason two: we’re eating our consciences. I firmly believe that the people who grow and process the food that sustains me and my family deserve to earn a living wage. If it would break my heart to see my son working for a producer, I think twice about buying their product. That means fair-trade. That means choosing the independent natural foods store who pay their employees well, provide them with benefits, and screen their suppliers, or, better yet, buying straight from the farmer. That means trying not to support ginormous agribusinesses with questionable ethics, no matter how enticing the price (that part is a work in progress).
That means, more money. But I’m ok with that. We balance the budget by not buying alcohol or junk.
I’m impressed with how little a lot of people spend on food on this blog–<$200 for 2+ people! I'm a single woman household and spend $275 per month on food, including household but not drugstore items or alcohol. I have been tracking my food spending to the penny for about 3 years and have never been able to get it substantially lower. I would call myself a health-oriented eater so buy a lot of fruit, veggies, organic milk but rarely buy meat or processed food. I bring my lunch every day. It seems like my bill should be lower than it is.
I’m a single college student living downtown in a medium/large city. I give myself $30 a week for groceries and always get everything I need. I eat out, at most, once every two or three months. I would actually love to eat out for every meal because there’s nothing I can make that competes with a nice Chipotle burrito or a huge slice of Brooklyn-style pizza, but I’ll take the cheap pasta and rice dishes and quesadillas (and a heftier bank account) for now.
We are a couple in our mid-30s, no children, two dogs, both working full time and living in Grand Rapids, MI (~775K in the MSA). We separate our food items from toiletries, household goods, dog food, etc., in our expense tracking system. Our food costs average about $350/mo, and our dining out averages about $200/mo. (dog food ~$80/mo) We brown bag our lunches every day and eat breakfast and dinner at home at least 4 days/wk. We don’t drink much alcohol, maybe 1-2 bottles of $12 wine a month, if that. For stuff like vodka and scotch, we buy a bottle or two in Chicago once or twice a year because it’s so much cheaper than MI, even with Chicago’s 9.75% sales tax.
We are semi-foodies and I love to cook. We do try to buy organic fruits, veggies, and meat whenever possible but there isn’t a lot of that in our stores. We’re fine with buying store-brand stuff IF it tastes good. We do buy some things at Costco if the price is better. I’ve noticed the cost of groceries has gone up quite a bit in the last three or four months.
I tend to work more than 40 hrs/wk so I am not able to spend as much time cooking as I would like. I think if I worked only part time our grocery bill would come down considerably from being able to cook in larger quantities for freezing and not buying as many prepared items.
Single professional here, spending about $200/month on groceries, with maybe an additional $50 eating out if I’m in the mood. My grocery bill has definitely decreased ever since I spontaneously stopped buying frozen dinners as my default grocery item.
I live in a small town in Central Oregon. My wife and I both work full time and do not have good cooking habits. I am dedicated to lowering eating out expenses. Our numbers are the following:
2011 Food expenses (7 months)
Groceries – $2636 / $377 per/mo.
Fast Food – $1381 / $197 per/mo.
Restaurants – $1089 / $156 per/mo.
Work Breakfast – $118 / $17 per/mo.
Alcohol – $64 / $9 per/mo.
Monthly Food = $756 per/mo.
Summary
I have been trying to cut impulse food buying but it seems to be my big weakness. I detest other types of wasteful impulse shopping. Still I find myself struggling regarding spending in the eating category. The next milestone in my finance goals is understanding the psychology of impluse eating/spending and changing that behavior.
I am certain my wife and I could live on $400-500 per/mo in groceries without much loss in quality of life.
Open to ideas/reading/advice on impluse eating.
K
J.D., I LOVE LOVE LOVE this type of reader question–so very helpful. I’d love to see more of this on various topics (% of mortgage to income, electric, clothing, hobbies, etc). It’s really interesting.
We have a grocery budget of $350 for two adults and one 11 month old. That includes all toiletries, baby food, paper products, and pet food for two cats.
We use mostly cloth diapers, when we do buy disposables, we usually buy in bulk from amazon and use “free” gift cards from credit card rewards or swagbucks, so that doesn’t count in the grocery budget.
We budget $26 a month for “date nights” which includes eating out and movies, etc. We usually also use credit card reward gift cards or purchase Groupons for eating out. Apparently we use our credit cards a lot, because we still have plenty of rewards available. Or maybe we just don’t have time/energy to go out much with the little one.
I have been using Mint to track this for my household of 2 that are moderate foodies, with a CSA for veggies. Husband is avid cyclist which is capable of cleaning out a fridge if left to his own devices.
Category/YTD/Monthly
Grocery Store $3,464/ $494
Restaurants $2,176 /$310
CSA $742/$106
Fast Food $586/$83
Alcohol $458/$65 (Wine clubs etc…beer is under grocery)
Other Coffee Shops $240/ $34
Total Per Person Per Month $546 or if we assume 3 meals a day for 30 days $6.06 per meal
My goal is to get grocery + CSA to be $500 so working on reduce the purchase of chips, beer, wine. Budget for restaurants is $150 a month but the two trips this year to the east coast did not help..lobster tastes so good
We are a family of three with one cat living in the Northeast. Up until recently, I thought I spent around $400 a month in groceries-including cat food, pullups for my son, detergent, etc. I checked my budget with Mint.com and realized that I was over by $100 for the month of July! We don’t eat out much, so this covers lunches for me at work as well (hubby is part time and eats at home before and after his shift).
So, I will be keeping a close eye on my grocery budget and see if we can get it back down.
I used to shop regularly for food. Now I do not because I do not eat alot and therefore I used to throw away more food. Now I save by spending only 25 dollars a week.
We spend about £350/$570 a month for two foodie adults – about £250/$410 for groceries and about £100/$160.
We both work from home so the groceries covers all our meals (three meals a day), drinks and snacks.
About nearly half our grocery budget goes on “premium” products – my boyfriend likes fancy coffee and spends about £20/$30 on freshly roasted coffee beans each month and we also have a “meat box” delivered each month, which costs £90/$145 – all the meat we eat in the month, raised organically at a local welfare-driven farm. We “justify” these by saving in other areas – cooking nearly everything from scratch, minimising food waste and growing our own veg/keeping chickens for eggs.
Great question! I am looking forward to reading the comments. Sorry for the long answer below. This is an area that really interests me!
We are a family of 4: 2 adults, and a set of 3.5 year old twins. Depending on what’s offered, each child will eat an amount between half an adult serving to the same amount as an adult. We live in rural New England.
Groceries: $500/month
Eating out/food bought out: $40/month
non-food (paper goods, cleaning supplies, etc.): $80/month (I’m not sure this is an accurate number any longer–haven’t tracked it for a while)
We have 2 chest freezers and a basement that is adequate for storing potatoes, onions, and winter squash. Last fall we acquired a second fridge (nearly new, good price), also kept in the basement. It was ostensibly for occasional use, but it’s on all the time for fridge overflow, including up to 3 gallons of milk and 3 half gallons of OJ, as well as produce waiting to be cooked/frozen. The second fridge has allowed us to limit our grocery trips to 1 or 2 a week. We drink 3-4 gallons of milk a week, so storage is an issue. I’d like to further explore the cost of this storage, although the time savings is very important to us right now.
We do use coupons, shop some at Sam’s Club (paper goods, cereal, toiletries, deli items, some meat), use some discount stores, and try to watch grocery store sales carefully. (One of the higher-priced local grocery stores has some very good buy-on-get-one sales. But we try not to do any other shopping there, or else we lose the savings.) Careful comparison shopping and coupon use can fall by the wayside if the kids are restless.
We have some preferred products and brands for which we do not substitute, but we go for low/lowest cost on many other items. I have really noticed the rise in grocery store prices lately.
We also have a large vegetable garden and store and freeze some produce. So, we purchase minimal vegetables during the year. Despite being in New England, we are working to grow most of our own vegetables. That involves some season extension techniques, crop choices, and changing how we eat.
We seldom drink wine or beer these days.
We will sometimes purchase things like a bakery coffee cake, good bread (to eat with fresh tomatoes!), or good cheese.
Time and energy to plan, shop, and prepare is our biggest challenge. We do like to cook and eat, but with our schedules we find that we cook very simply these days. We avoid prepared foods, but will often cook large batches to simplify life. Cooked meat from the freezer (bought and cooked in bulk, frozen) saves us lots of time and stress at 5:30 on a weeknight.
2 adults, living in an expensive city. We are foodies.
We spend about $600/month on groceries, including paper products and pharmacy items. We shop at the farmer’s market, and mainly buy organic food. We pack our lunches most days. We don’t cut coupons. We don’t eat a lot of meat. We don’t buy a lot of alcohol. We don’t buy much processed food. We rarely try to be ‘frugal’ when it comes to food, because we can afford $600/month and we don’t want to be bothered at this time in our lives.
We did take certain steps to cut our bill down to $600/month, though. I’d say our biggest savings come from the fact that, while we buy veggies and meat from the farmer’s market every week, we buy everything else at a discount grocery store in the suburbs every two weeks. There’s something about reducing the number of trips to the grocery store (we used to go every week) that has cut about $200 off our monthly groceries bill.
Our eating out expenses fluxuate wildly. For a long time we were good about eating out once a month, but we’ve fallen off the wagon lately.
2 adults, medium sized city
2011 monthly average
Food-grocery: $431
Restaurant: $148
Alcohol: $193
Average total: $772/month
– Grocery includes weekly CSA and household supplies
– Alcohol includes going out with friends and beer/wine we buy at grocery store
We pay more in food/alcohol than any other budget category, including rent. I am impressed by how little some can spend. I cook most meals from scratch using “whole foods” and we like high quality fruits and veggies. We eat meat ~2x per month. If I eat meat, I want it to be a decent, high quality cut.
My husband and I are both graduate students living in Columbus, OH. We were lucky to start our marriage little debt (a few hundred dollars on a credit card) and a small nest egg of $7,000 in the bank. While we are young, we live pretty frugally (blame our childhoods, lol). Our grocery budget for the two of us per month totals around $250. We buy organic on things that are important to us (meats and eggs) but for the most part we shop as much as we can at the discount store Aldi. Most other things (that can’t be found at Aldi) end up being store brand from another grocery store or in bulk from Costco. We are fairly frugal, but we still splurge on things we really like and manage to keep our bills under $250 a month.
We also limit our restaurant eating to about $50-75 per month…which we both consider to be a lot.
We budget $500 a month for groceries for two adults inside the City of Chicago. We shop first at the farmer’s markets though so that is why it is so high. What we can’t get @ the markets, we spread between Aldi, Jewel, Whole Foods and Costco. We have it down pat about what we comfortable buying from where. We focus on source of product as priority on some things and price on others. We are price aware but also aware of trying to eat healthy and environmentally sound as well.
I keep my budget really tight because while I qualify for IBR/ICR plans for my student loans…god I want to get out of debt. I give myself about $100/mo allowance for food, and this includes eating out (like, pizza or happy hour or lunches I buy at work). Most of the food I buy is organic, and also bulk rather than pre-packaged. I’m not vegetarian, but I rarely buy meat. Eating organically is probably easier because I work part-time at a co-op and get a discount. Some months I might spend a little bit more on food, if I decide to use my ‘having a life’ (yes, I have envelopes with these budget titles on them :D) allowance to buy beer or get popcorn at the movies or something. I live in a high-density urban area, but it is one of the less expensive big cities in the US.
Of course, if I had more money, I would probably spend more on food because I do love it and I think that eating locally and organically is important, and I don’t think I get enough fruits and veggies. That being said, I’m not sure why any one person would need more than my monthly income to buy food.
the dude and I spend about $150 per month on food, if that, in New York City. We belong to a CSA, so our produce is taken care of upfront (but even if it weren’t, it would be about $20 a week) and because he’s a professional chef, he is like the MacGyver of the kitchen–he can make ridiculously long-lasting meals out of ANYTHING. We almost never shop for groceries unless one of us has a specific craving–pretty much the only thing we ever get from the grocery store is rice and/or beans, milk, and occasionally cereal. We just get our produce, and pick up whatever meat is on clearance at the butcher shop, and there you have it.
Dog food I buy in bulk but the dog has her own bank account, so it doesn’t come out of our food budget. Either way, it’s maybe $40 every four or five months.
It actually began as a challenge for us–we jokingly decided to see how little we could spend on food in this city and then it was so much fun, we kept doing it. We eat a LOT of leftovers and rarely eat out except for occasional takeout from our favorite Indian place (where you can get a full meal for $8), so those are two major factors. We could spend more money on food, but most of the time, we just don’t need to.
we have an $80/week grocery budget (so $360/month) for two people. we use cash, and tend to build up a bit of a cushion, which we spend on things like stocking up on natural meats for the freezer, or a crate of tomatoes to can (though not this year-the heat’s pretty well done in the tomatoes).
that doesn’t include eating out, which we do way more often than i like. but we’re halving our income this week, so that’s out the window now. that said, i had no problem 5 years ago with a $40 budget and no eating out.
i suspect it’s all pretty dependent on location, though.
oh, and as the wife doesn’t drink, alcohol comes from my allowance, not the family food budget =)
These comments are making me feel a LOT better about my household budget. My DH was complaining the other day about our budget of $500/mo for groceries/farmer’s market/Costco. We are a family of 2 adults in an extremely HCOL area (milk is $8/gallon, if that means anything). I work F/T, but do as much sale shopping and couponing as possible. However, I cook from scratch and am extremely picky about what goes into our bodies, so 50%+ of the food I buy is organic. $80-$100 of the budget is for local produce/organic meat/honey from the farmer’s market. The Costco part of the budget includes non-food-items such as TP, dish liquid, Ziplocs, batteries, toothbrushes, tupperware, etc (I don’t separate out food & non-food items).
We are a family of 5 but my youngest is strictly tube fed so really we can just count 4. We spend about $400 a month on groceries and about $120 a month on eating out.
We don’t use paper products at all so that cuts the expenses down. We also don’t eat out much at all. It’s hard being vegan in the midwest to eat out!
Two adults, a 3-year-old and a 1 1/2 year old comes to about $400 – $500 per month in groceries (no household products included in that figure). Going out/buying take-out costs us on average $100/month.
We live in Northern Indiana. I have a garden where I grow small amounts of kale, lettuce, turnips, tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, and some green beans, which helps a little bit.
Oh, and another $100 for my husband who eats out for lunch sometimes when he’s at work.
So, per month: $400 – $500 in groceries, $100 for family meals out, and $100 in occasional lunches out. I would love to bring these figures down further by growing more food, and am trying to learn to cook with more fresh produce so that I can do that.
For my wife, 2 toddlers, and I:
We spend ~$200/week on groceries, $30/week dining out, and $10/week for my lunches. I only eat out for lunch once a week, the rest of the week I pack.
We were only spending ~$120/week last year but have since found out both boys have some allergies to dairy, soy, wheat, and rice. Therefore we’ve had to go almost organic and I now shopping at Whole Foods and other grocery stores rather than a Wal-Mart or Meijer.
Single Male living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I live downtown, no car, but I’m in an area where I am a 15 minute walk from approximately 4 different grocery stores and a pharmacy that might as well be a grocery store.
I follow a strict-ish “Slow-carb diet” or even what some would refer to as a “Paleo diet”. I mostly each fresh vegetables and all types of meat. I eat the same things all the time and I have a huge freezer that I use to freeze meat when it goes on sale (I never pay more than ~$3/lbs for any type). I don’t eat much seafood unless it is on sale.
Weekly Cost: $30-35 CAD
If I substituted more of my meat for lentils/beans I imagine I’d spend $25-30/week.
We have a family of 5 which lives off of 1 income, which includes 2 adults, a boy will be 11 at the end of the month who eats like an adult, a 28 month old and a 4 month old who is exclusively breastfeed. The younger two are in diapers, but we use cloth diapers. We live in Southern Illinois, in a town of 25,000 not including the students from the University.
On groceries alone we spend $320 a month. We eat very little meat. Due to allergies we have to get hormone & antibiotic free meats & dairy products. We stick to the dirty 15 on fruits/vegetables. Most of our meals are made from scratch, every now & then I will spring and buy junk food for the family. If I do I use coupons for it. I rarely find coupons for the products that we buy and tend to buy in bulk.
On toiletries, supplies to make detergents and supplies to make our cleaning products (vinegar, baking soda & essential oils when needed) we spend $75 a month.
Dining out for us comes out of our entertainment budget. We spend a max of $100 a month on dining out.
For my family of three+ (two adults, 4-year old child, plus senior cat), we’ve spent an average of $750/month in 2011 for food. This includes most of our sundries (paper goods, toiletries, minor first aid, etc), and also includes specialty canned cat food & litter ($40/month). Dining out averages below $50/month. We live in a suburban area just outside Sacramento in central California.
We get most of our meat, fruit, and vegetables at farmers markets, and buy everything else organic at our local Co-op, Trader Joes, and supermarket. Difficult to use coupons for most of our staples. Our grocery bill also includes alcohol, maybe a cheap bottle of wine or 12-pack of beer each week.
For reference, our food bill has increased in the past few years. In 2009 it was $550/month, in 2010 it was $650/month. I suspect most of the increase is due to focusing more on the farmers markets, especially for meat; we try to reduce quantity, but still have a little meat with nearly every meal. All in all, I’m satisfied with our numbers — in 2008 (before we had a family budget) we regularly spent over $1000 per month for groceries living in Los Angeles, buying much more packaged food, not to mention many more meals out.
I find this all very surprising. I understand that, depending on where you live/size of your family/type of meals you eat, your costs will vary. However, based on the people I saw closest to our situation, I am aghast at the amount of money spent. My situation: 2 person household, my husband and myself. We spend between $150-$175 dollars on groceries and between 0-50 dollars for toiletries/cleaning supplies (this varies because we buy in bulk so we rarely have to buy them). We eat meat at least 3 nights a week, cook all our meals at home and take our lunches. We rarely eat out (once or twice a month, maybe) so that’s budgeted as entertainment, not in our groceries. Our groceries on the other hand are fresh, organic/local, include meat from a butcher, include our lunches, and we still manage to have a very varied menu. He cooks a lot and I bake everything from scratch, so I know those factor into it as well….but i’m still surprised by the difference in responses. Very interesting.
Our grocery budget is $ 80.00 a week including cleaning supplies and paper products. This is for a family of four, it provides breakfast and brown bag lunches for three of us and dinner for all four of us plus friends and extended family members on many occasions. I am also a bit of a baker and love to take treats to work to share with my coworkers. I buy fresh fruit and vegetables every week and cook from scratch most of the time, keeping prepackaged food to a minimum.
We also allow for a $ 50.00 dining out budget per week, it usually provides us lunch out after church on Sunday plus a treat or two during the week……..like a vanilla coke or scoop of ice cream 🙂
I spend an average of $280/month on food – $182 on groceries and $97 on eating out, for one person. I don’t try all that hard to control my food spending, but I do make and pack all my lunches. I tend to pick up the tab more often when I’m out with my boyfriend because I’m in a better financial position than he is. I avoid processed crap and try to eat lots of produce (not worried about organic food) and make meals mostly from scratch.
I am a semi-recent grad working full-time in a small city (11k pop) outside of Sacramento, CA. I spend approximately $400/month on food (probably 50/50 groceries and eating out), and it’s just me!! I blame it on the lunches with the coworkers. Prior to graduation, I worked full-time during summer months with a good number of people who brought their lunches practically every day and only ate out occasionally as group. I do not cook very well so I subsisted on a lot of fruit during the work day and forewent dinner. Now, the size of the office I currently work at is substantially less and, for the most part, do not brown bag their lunches.
I find I really only eat out socially, hence the blame, and/or possibly to compensate my lack of cooking skills. My goal, for the sake of my bank account and my waistline, is to stop the lunches and sodas and semi go back to the fruitarian diet. If I just went on weekly sales, $20-$30/week on fresh produce, meats, and the occasional dry grain/bean/pasta for one person seems more than doable.
We spend approximately $1100 a month on food. About 20% of our income. Mostly organic. Little processed food. Me, DH, and college aged son. Shop at Whole Foods and Costco. Crazy and scary expensive.
We live in a major metropolitan area.
I’m a single female living in an urban area (Dallas city) and I spend $375 a month on groceries at Whole Foods. I buy primarily organic produce but also organic dairy and meat which ups the bill considerably. And I throw in the occassional “specialty” item like the $9 bag of organic exotic dried fruit, the $12 sushi tray, etc.
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.
Groceries and household necessities like toilet paper, cleaning products, etc are a big part of my household budget and there are only 3 of us in the house.
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.
Me and my girlfriend live together no kids
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
I must add i live in Major Metro area Philadelphia
$280 a month is STRICKLY on food not including things like paper towels etc
I am a single parent with an 11 y.o. child working in a professional occupation. On average, I’m spending close to $800 per month – TOTAL, for all food and toiletries and consumables.
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
I spend about $20-25 a week on food. I buy primarily fresh produce, some cheese, and a bit of meat. I’m trying to get the most nutritional bang for my buck and see food as medicine as well. That having been said, 3-4 times a year I will splurge on wine & chocolate.
Since November of 2008
Groceries $14,494.67
Restaurants $10,497.55
Fast Food $7,389.85
Snacks $351.42
Alcohol & Bars $73.36
Coffee Shops $28.25
Food & Dining (Other) $10.03
This is an interesting one for me. Food is one of the few things I’m truly willing to spend on. I LOVE food but I hate cooking so I’m willing to spend to eat out. I don’t usually have the budget to do so though so it’s a constant internal dilemna. I’m in LA and I’ve spent $100 a month on food and I’ve also spent around $500 a month for food. Groceries tend to be $100-200 and eating out from $50-400. I shop usually at Trader Joe’s, sometimes a local grocery store buying stuff like eggs, bread, tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, apples, berries, ice cream, a few frozen meals, pasta, stuff like that. And for eating out, I go to coffeshops (more for food though), once in awhile fast food and restaurants spending $8-20 for a meal. It all adds up but I looove getting to try new kinds of foods and new restaurants. Once I spent $100 on my favorite restaurant and I felt soooo guilty but it was the best meal I ever had so it was worth it.
I stumbled across this thread and just had to post. I’m currently in school and have been studying food and agriculture from a sustainability perspective with particular focus on the American industry. I, too, like to keep a tight budget, but I’ve come to be more flexible when it comes to food. I live alone and spend $400-500/month on food, combo restaurant/cooking. Sure, it’s tight on what I make, but of all the things I could be spending money on, the fuel that makes my body and mind work right is a top priority.
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.
We live in Tennessee in 2006 we had a real income and we spent about $2000 per month on all household items we ate very well ! I like this budget. We lived in Florida at the time.
Fast forward to 2012 we use at least 40 a week in coupons we have lost almost all of our income and we now are on diets that are almost all fruits and veggies, all household items diapers, cleaning supplies, drug store items everything runs $125 per week and I can not get it any lower.
We don’t buy anything! I use everything that is donated to our family in any way shape or form. I have washed clothing in shampoo to get by for one month. I clean with vinegar and baking soda and soap.
We skip or do without on everything and we still can not get the budget any lower. We started off with 4 at home now we have just 3 of us. The budget keeps inching up.
We eat oatmeal at breakfast bought in bulk.
We have veggies for lunch, veggies for dinner and we snack on Cherrios and this is all that comes into the house is veggies, milk, and juice. We do not buy organic due to the price.
We eat at least 4 to 6 heads of lettuce a week.
I use very light olive oil to stir fry veggies in. We have stopped buying everything!
Last week one light bulb was $20.00 how can a budget be lower? I thought it was lower until I started writing down every dime we spent!
Wow does it add up!
Even when you do not go shopping at all.
I go to the store one time in every 10 days and we buy all veggies I often get out for under $70.00 if we need something else we stop after a day at work (which is not often) the income is down by 70 % so the groceries have to stay down. I do include everything we spend including every penny at every store.
We also spend, $110 per month on dining out this is one meal out every week and often it is very simple like a shared meal and one extra side dish with water to drink and a tip.
I think many of the above post are best guesses not every dime written down for one entire year.
I keep track of every dime , postoffice we spend at least $100 more, gas close to $200 (this is zero driving I mean we go to what is need and that is all)
Hair cuts We spend $100 and I cut all the guys at home.
Plus the girls bangs until the desperately need a haircut.
Christmas and Birthday gifts we spend about $1,500 and that does not buy anything and we add gift cards and points that I get from survey’s and swag bucks and coupons and I get like one decent item which looks like nothing when it is all wrapped and ready to give as gifts.
If you are middle class America and you want to live a true middle class lifestyle even cutting way back you will need at least $125K to $135K and you will still feel poor.
Wow! It has been so fascinating to read all of the responses. My husband and I spend $250 a month on food (does NOT include alcohol or eating out) and we buy 90% of our food at the local Farmer’s Market. We buy mostly organic food and even have enough in there to buy some fancy foods – cheese, artisan bread, local eggs and milk. I think one way we get by on this is that we rarely (maybe every 3 months) buy meat. My husband also gets lunch for free at work, so that cuts down on our costs. And we eat healthy, from scratch meals. They’re not fancy but I think they taste great!
Wow – all of these seem amazing to me. I spend $1000 – 1200/month at the grocery store. I am single, live in an expensive area – near San francisco, eat all organic with quite a bit of meat – I’m on a diet that prescribes two .4-lb portions of meat every day. I also eat 2 or 3 protein bars every day at $2 a pop. The rest is mostly fresh produce, mostly vegetables. I buy very little alcohol, virtually no snacks. And I dine out a couple of times a month as well as eat at the cafeteria or local restaurant a couple of times a week for lunch.
I have to find a way to cut down on these expenses, but I don’t see any way to do it without lowering the quality of food I eat – maybe I need to start making my own protein bars …
Ok, we are empty nester’s, mortgage free for 10 years, and the most important fact..which seems to be remiss in most postings here, is the percentage of our household income that is dedicated to nutrition. Sorry, booze, entertaining or expensive “organic” items excluded. $500-600 per month. We live in the country, and buy local when in season. We could spend a bit less if we didn’t by cane sugar vs refined, Kuerig vs large cans etc. We do not entertain, and rarely eat out…keeping in mind it’s not because we can’t afford to, we are just cheap LOL! We coupon clip, bargain hunt always…and I ma extremely fortunate that my wife is a phenomenal budget master..and chef IMHO. Trading in gas guzzlers for sippers, not trading up cell phones and laptops every 6 months, and saying no to data plans saves a ton. I digress…bottom line, we spend roughly 15% of our after tax income on food.
I budget $250-300 per month for food and food related items (which may include other nonfood groceries). I am single and this does include everything I spend on eating out, farmers markets, food for my cat, etc. I consider this a generous amount for my budget, but one I’m not willing to skimp on or cut back on. I am conscious about using coupons, shopping the sales, and not wasting food. Limiting my spending on gas, bills, and unnecessary nonfood purchases is where I save the most money.
I spend about $250 a month on food and groceries. for a household of one. I bring my lunch to work every day but I go out for coffee a couple days a week, I also enjoy happy hours with friends. I’ve tried to limit my spending outside eating at home, but it’s a huge social aspect for me and I’m unhappy without it. I just try to drink what’s on special and eat before I leave so I’m not tempted to order food.
Family of 5 (2 adults, 3 preteen boys) in southern town with both good farms and good access to a good variety of competing stores. Mostly primal diet, which is animal protein/vegetables, very little beans/grains. Lots of shopping for nonperishables on Amazon. Meat, raw milk, and eggs come from local sources, which takes time and effort to get. I have easy access to a farmer’s market (the kind where the food really is affordable, straight from the farmers, not the urban upscale type) and several grocery store chains where weekly sales allow for stocking up on basics.
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%
Last year we spent nearly $20,000 on food for a family of two adults and two preschoolers. I thought this was ridiculous, and took over the groceries from my wife for six months. I stopped buying the box stuff, stopped the going out 3 or 4 times a week. I compiled a list of cheap and easy recipes, made everything from scratch (most meals took less than an hour from prep to serve). We cut down the dining out to once a week. Bonus: now the kids (3 and 4) eat healthier than any other kids we know–they actually eat salads!
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.
I just did a mid-year analysis to revise our household budget. We are a family of two adults and one 6 year old living in suburban Philadelphia USA. Our average expenditure for groceries is $575 per month and $60 for eating out. With a little more planning and restraint on buying packaged snack foods and desserts, I’m sure I could cut our monthly grocery bill down to $500. Even with my being unemployed since March, $575 is an OK amount for us to spend on food, especially since we go out to eat only once, maybe twice, per month.
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.
I live in California, near Sacramento. For a family of 3 (I’m not including the 3 dogs and 1 cat here, because they’re on a different expense account), two adults and 1 teenager, I think my groceries (including none food items) is closer to $600 a month. Or $300 every two weeks. I budget $140 every two weeks, but that’s only food, and sometimes that’s not enough. LOL! So, I know I’m paying more on Groceries because if you include laundry items, cleaning items, bodywash, soap, toothpaste, etc… that’s quite a big chunk. Since the doctor charged us to eat healthier (I don’t want to swallow pills as big as my fingers), I’ve been more conscious of getting farmers’ market goods. Of course, freezing some summer produce is a must and I think that’s adding to my summer budget as well. The change from white rice to brown has made us not go through 20 lbs of rice as quickly as before. The price is about the same as well. So that saves me some cash. But, subbing shellfish and fish for beef has been rather trying as the former is more expensive sometimes. This “diet” is still fairly new so I’m working on the budget as we speak. I’ll let you know in a couple of months how it’s going. Couponing isn’t working very well in this side of town as the coupons available are usually for things I don’t buy.
I am still blown away by some of the low numbers I am seeing here. Can some of you with low budgets give me an idea what you are eating/paying?
The last two posts show people spending $200/month per person for their whole grocery bill. I figure I spend 250 to 300 a month on meat alone (figuring average price of around $8/lb for organic chicken or beef, and eating 30 pounds of meat per month)… is that what I’m doing wrong? Eating too much meat, or am I paying more than you are for it?
Veggies seem to come in at roughly $2 or $3 per meal, 2 meals per day (well, most days) – that’s got to be at least another $120/month.
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.
Hubby and I have a budget of $300 per month–sometimes it’s more and sometimes it’s less (though with food prices lately it’s not less very often-LOL!)
A pound of meat seems like an awful lot of meat to me. We are not vegetarians, but we don’t eat a pound a day for the two of us. I might have a roast or a chicken a week and maybe a pound of ground chuck and either pork chops or brats. We use meat “sparingly” and use potatoes/pasta/rice and vegetables as the “big” part of a meal.
We’re able to buy a side of beef for $3.25 a pound–that’s grass fed/organically raised once a year. We’ll be raising our own chickens starting next year and that will help too. Although we have to feed them, obviously, it will be cheaper. For some reason, organic chicken around here is more expensive than beef—go figure!
I also garden and don’t have to purchase ANY potatoes/onions/garlic/salad fixings/corn, or beans.I also grow all our berries, apples, and peaches. That helps a LOT. I bake all breads/rolls/etc from scratch–but I do use all organic ingredients. It’s STILL a lot cheaper than buying them ready made. I go through all this because hubby is retired and we live on a VERY small pension. Our monthly expenses are less than some of these grocery budgets I’ve been seeing. I guess it’s all in what you HAVE to live with—and being below the federal poverty line, I’ve learned to live with a lot less-LOL! I WON’T take help-we don’t need it. It’s all about being careful.
We’re healthy and well fed. That’s the goal after all, isn’t it?
Here in Australia food is expensive, as is everything else! I spend about A$800 per month on groceries and the odd take away for two adults. I shop at Aldi and a bulk food store and make everything from scratch including bread, pastry, pizzas and all snacks. I plan vegetarian meals 2 or 3 times a week. During the past 2 years I have been researching a book on commando food budgeting which I have now completed and we have consumed all the recipes that I have tested! Despite all of these heroic efforts we still pay far more for our monthly food requirements than our American friends. I am always looking for further ways to eat better for less.