How much do you spend on groceries a month?

[Liberty Belle]

We are a family of four: mom, dad, college student, middle schooler. I've started tracking how much we spend and am curious how we compare to others.

The past month (30 days) we spent $637.

 

[Marionnette]

We are a family of four: mom, dad, college student, middle schooler. I've started tracking how much we spend and am curious how we compare to others.

The past month (30 days) we spent $637.

You're going to get a wide range of answers and most of it will be based on family size and eating habits. Some people spend very little on groceries but their kids get breakfast and lunch at school. Others buy expensive organic and free-range, non-GMO products that inflate their grocery bill (a trade-off they are willing to accept for the healthy benefits of their purchases). Some people have pets and include their food and treats in the grocery budget. Others buy their HBA products at the same store where they buy groceries.

When the boys were teenagers, living at home, I could never keep enough food in the house to satisfy their hunger. $1200/month food bills were not unheard of at the time. Now, one has moved out and the other is in his final year at college. Our daughter, a vegetarian, has nowhere near the appetite that her brothers have but I often spent more on her food. She lives on her own now, too. So with just me and my husband. I get my HBA and pet products elsewhere and only buy groceries at the grocery store unless there is a really good coupon/sale on HBAs. A weekly grocery bill is in the range of $60-$75 with us eating almost every meal at home or bringing it with us to the office.

 

[puffkin]

I spend about $500 ($120 a week since I shop weekly). I do buy a lot of other things there though with coupons/sales because I try to stay out of Target as much as possible. Even though that amount doesn't seem terrible, it is just so much money and it doesn't feel like I am getting that much.

We are a family of 4, DS8 and DS2. DS8 is a competitive swimmer year round and eats massive quantities of food. We rarely eat out and brown bag lunches. We also try to limit the snack foods and processed foods as much as possible, but I work full time so don't have a ton of time to cook/shop. I do plan meals out carefully, coupon, and stock up on sales. I can't even imagine what my food bills are going to look like in a few years when DS gets older and the younger one (potentially) starts playing sports. It makes me want to cry.

 

[GaBelle]

We are a family of 4- 2 daughters ages 12 and 8.
We don't dine out regularly (maybe once per month) and I pack lunches for the girls every day.
I usually spend $600 per month on groceries but with prices going up do much, my husband wants to increase my budget to $800.

 

[texasroni75]

Family of 6 here. We spend about $150-$175/week. When money is tighter due to unexpected expenses (car repairs or whatever else comes up), I can get it down closer to $125/week, but the family eats a LOT of pasta, rice and breads, and fewer meals with meat when I have to do that.

I will say that we almost never eat out, and since I'm a SAHM we don't buy a lot of ready-made meals - since I have time and energy to cook from scratch. That helps keep costs down. When both DH and I worked, we actually spent way more on groceries because I was less careful with my food budget and went for convenience over price.

 

[havaneselover]

We are a family of 4- 2 daughters ages 12 and 8. We don't dine out regularly (maybe once per month) and I pack lunches for the girls every day. I usually spend $600 per month on groceries but with prices going up do much, my husband wants to increase my budget to $800.

According to the CPI, food prices are up 2.5% over the past year. A 33% increase in your food budget sounds rather large.

I'd guess we spend $450-500/month including hbc. It's me, dd10, and ds9. We pack lunch every day and only eat out for special occasions. I'm trying to cut out diet soda because that's $30/month. But I'm nog succeeding

 

[SGMCO]

I also think food prices vary depending where you live. If your location has a longer growing season, where you can get fresh produce cheaper, makes a difference.

 

[marmalade]

I spend too much! I do a big shop every week that costs me around $150-$200, but then I make random stops because I always want something different than what I already have all the ingredients for. I try to buy what I need for dinner for every night of the week, but then I change my mind and tweak the ingredients a little and always end up needing something from the store.

I blame the food network for my high grocery bill. I need to stop watching that channel.

 

[scrapquitler]

Family of 4 (DH, myself, DD17 and DS11). DH works at home, DS11 is homeschooled, DD doesn't eat at school , so thats 3 meals a day for all of us, plus snacks. DD going away to college in a few days, so that should lower my food budgets.

All told, I probably spend about $200 per week. We also eat out a couple times a week (usuallly breakfast or lunch rather than dinner).

 

[ellochka]

Two adults and a 3 y.o. We spend $600-$700 on food a month, which is a lot, and we don't even buy organic/free range. My husband shops for groceries and cooks most of the time, and he often wonders how come we spend so much compared to what he remembers back when he was poor and lived alone. Well, now we never eat frozen dinners, and pasta with a little bit of cheese is rarely on the menu - always add mushrooms, chicken, shrimp, etc.

We don't eat out much, 2-4 times a month, and when we do, we usually go to nice restaurants.

 

[pryncess527]

2 adults, no children. We budget $465 a month for groceries. That does not include OTC meds or paper goods, but does include alcohol (though we aren't heavy drinkers). Nor does it include our dining out budget.

Most months we come in a little under that amount.

 

[kerplop]

We are also two adults with no children and we budget about $400 a month for food. We do eat a lot of organic produce and that also includes household/personal goods since we rely on public transportation so we just get it all in one place. It doesn't include food for our cat, but his food costs are negligible really. We also eat out once a week or once every two weeks depending on our moods.

 

[ChanFO]

Two adults, approx $500 a month for groceries and eating out. We could be cheaper, and we do when we have something in specific we're saving for, but... we like our food. You don't get to be as Pooh-sized as we are by not liking food.

 

[Stephaniesue]

We are a family of four. Me, DH, DD 11 and DS 9. I budget 150 per week on groceries, this also includes any cleaning supplies or household items that we need.

We eat breakfast at home, we all pack our lunches daily, and dinners at home. We rarely eat out (once a month, most of the time not even that).

I am not a huge couponer, but if I find some that work for me I use them. I love Kroger, I can add digital coupons to my card.

 

[Monykalyn]

I spend too much! I do a big shop every week that costs me around $150-$200, but then I make random stops because I always want something different than what I already have all the ingredients for. I try to buy what I need for dinner for every night of the week, but then I change my mind and tweak the ingredients a little and always end up needing something from the store. I blame the food network for my high grocery bill. I need to stop watching that channel. [/QUOTE

Oh I hear ya on the food channel!!
Family of 5- budget $500-600/month- including paper goods etc. eat at home usually and cook from scratch. I am a big meal planner and write menus for 2weeks at a time. I also have a big garden, DH is a hunter (yum venison! And pheasant when we can get them), and we buy a side of beef about every 2 years (friend at works dad retired and raises beef cattle on grass, no hormones etc-since he does this as a hobby it is very very cheap to us! Paid $4/lb including processing last year). Without the meat connection our grocery bill would easily be $300 more a month.

 

[Minnesota!]

We budget $350 for our family of 4 - mom, dad, and 10/7 year old boys. Some months we go over, some months we stay under.

 

[pigletto]

I've been tracking in YNAB and it's kind of disappointing. I am not using coupons but I am using sales and loss leaders and menu planning. I can't seem to get under $750 a month this summer no matter what I do. Mind you, I have some unique circumstances. My husband lives in an apartment during the work week because it's too far to commute. So we shop for both places. I have two kids home all summer, that amount includes all pet food and household supplies and I do some daycare in the summer. Not every day, but some weeks might include up to three extra kids. So I guess it's not too high all things considered but I was hoping to have it around $600 and we seem WAY off that mark.

 

[CandleontheWater]

I am also really disheartened by our food bills. I coupon like crazy and do all my grocery shopping at Super Target (which is cheaper than our local grocery stores), but we still end up spending about 700 a month (me, DH, and two boys aged 1 and 4). I've been trying to keep it under $600 with no success.

I meal plan and we have virtually no food waste, I've also stopped buying organic fruits/veggies and meats. The only organic I still buy is milk, and that is only for the kids.

I think I'm just going to have to find cheaper recipes, or maybe start shopping at Aldi?

 

[Richard M Nixon]

For the girlfriend and myself, we budget $250 a week on food (no supplies), but it's from Whole Foods which is definitely more pricy for all their organic everything. Probably $15-30 a week for supplies (bleach, TP, soap) but it's harder to track as it's all on odd delivery schedules from Amazon. Eating out is combined with entertainment and budgeted at $600/month.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

We don't budget a certain amount for food, we buy what we need. We eat preservative free, artificial color/flavor free, mostly organic but not all, mostly whole foods (not processed) but do by cookies, crackers, boxed 365 mac n cheese (for easy kids lunch) etc. I cook most things from scratch.

I would have to guess we average 800 a month for our family of 4 (2 adults, 2 girls ages 7 and 9). I keep receipts so I can add them up but my guess is it will vary month to month. Cost of living is high here. I shop at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Costco, and Giant (of all of them Giant is the biggest rip off but is closest).