Whats normal to spend on food each week?

[mirage0306]

Family of 4 here. We spend about $1000 all told every month on food, paper products, pet food, etc. I do not coupon--I shop at Trader Joe's. We only eat out (stuff like pizza) once or twice a month.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

For my family of 6 (2 adults, 1 teen, 3 children) and my in-home daycare, we spend about $150 each week on food and general household paper goods. We also spend about $100 or so each week on eating out.

 

[North of Mouse]

Couponing for me is the key - we have lots of great grocery competition in our area. Two nice chains that double every day up to $.99 with one of them (Harris Teeter) having triple to $.99 quite often or super doubles up to $1.98, so that is really a big saver. I seldom buy without good sales along with coupons for at least 3/4 of my shopping. We also have one chain that doubles daily up to $.50. Most of our toiletries, paper goods, cleaning products and many more items are basically free when you watch the sales, etc. I plan meals and we eat out once a week, sometimes twice. Most of the products I buy are name brand because I get the better deals on them.

 

[apnep]

I shop at Trader Joe's.

Woohoo! My sister travels to NM quite often and love Trader Joe's. I've never been but to hear her talk about it I am SO excited because we are getting one in my neighborhood in two months!! I can't wait!

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

I average around $150 a week for me and 2 of my 4 kids. Only 2 live with me. DH is only in town one week a month so he comes in and buys his own groceries separate from ours. My spending includes all household items and paper products, laundry soap, etc. I usually go to Walmart and buy it all at one time.

If DH was home every night eating with us our budget would probably jump to around $200 a week.

I try to take the kids out for one meal of fast food per week. Either a few soft tacos from Taco Bell ($7) or some burgers off the dollar menu at McD's ($7 for burgers and fries) So less than $10 a week for eating out. Once a month I will take them to a sit down place to eat and that usually runs around $30 with the tip and tax.

DH took us all out to eat tonight and it was $50 with tax and tip.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

We spend about $1000 a month. Me , DH and 2 DS(13,15) and they are at the stage of eating everything in site. In Fla there is no double coupons so you have to watch for slaes, coupons,.. We eat mostly fresh food. The coupons and store brands are usually for dry,box,frozen...which we just don't use as much of. Our produce, meat/protein every night(fish,chix,grnd turk,stk once a wk usually,sausage and peppers...) lots of produce,fresh veggies for salads, snacks, sides,...fruit, melon, berries...

We shopat BJ's, Aldi, Walmart,Publix,Cvs mainly. Todays bill at Publix with bogo and coupons was $99 after $78 in savings. They are not all like that. I still need to go to Walmart tomorrow for items that are cheaper there.

 

[KennesawNemo]

It's me, DH and DS6.

We spend on average $200 on grocery, including food for breakfast and dinner and all household items. $50 average for eating dinner out and $70 average for lunch. The three of us alternate between bringing lunch and buying lunch from school/work.

I don't coupon and don't study flyers at all. I go to Costco everyweek to get my fruit, veggie, frozen food, milk, egg bread, snacks and etc. I then go to either Super Target or Publix to buy whatever I don't get at Costco.

We eat a lot fresh fruit, veggie, meat, and seafood. We rarely use canned food or boxed dinner.

 

[rentayenta]

I used to try to grocery shop on the cheap. I don't anymore. We spend about $250 a week on groceries for the 5 of us. We eat well. DH is a fabulous cook. Last night's dinner cost $30 for the 5 of us. We had grilled Porterhouse steaks, smashed potatoes, and salad. It was far cheaper than any steakhouse would have been. If I'm going to eat at home it's going to be good.

 

[indimom]

We spend $500 a month for my family of four (kids are nearly 12 and 14). I spend another $500 a month for my day care kids (10) who eat two meals and one snack daily at my house. This does not include paper products (which we use a lot of).

I'm okay with that amount because our family eats a lot of lean meat/fish/fresh produce and it's difficult to get on sale. We only have a Kroger and a discount/bulk grocery store like Aldi's here. No walmart or target either. Our stores don't double coupons so couponing is not a huge help for me. I use them when I can, but it's not making a big dent in our expenses.

We garden to provide the bulk of our fresh produce in the summer. And we can/freeze what we can, but it doesn't cover all our produce during the winter months. The butcher will let us know when there is going to be an upcoming deal so we can order a surplus for the deep freeze, but we still spend a lot there.

We allow $100 a month for eating out. That may be ONE nice sit down meal for our family or a few fast food dinners/pizza, depending on the month. If I could convince my family to drink water when we eat out, I could cut that to $75. Makes me sick what they charge for a drink in a restaurant. I could buy a couple two-liters for that and have it last all week!!

 

[Couchy]

Dh and I spend about $100-$125 weekly on groceries

We buy very little processed food. Mostly fresh produce, lean meats, cheese, greek yogurt. In terms of processed we buy kashi cereals, granola bars and a bag of pretzels or something similar. He sometimes buys canned soup. I often look at the 3 bags of groceries and am amazed at how little you get for $100.

We eat out usually 1-2x a week. we bring our lunches to work.

 

[ilovemk76]

We spend almost $300 a week on food at home and at least $100 a week eating out. Not including paper products or personal products. Looking to get down and wondering if its already cosidered low?

There is no normal amount that anybody spends. If you follow Gail your food it included in your "life" catagory. Life should be no more than 25% of your take home pay. Life includes food, eating out, paper products, all insurances except for home and auto, medical costs and the like.

In your case that amount maybe just fine or it could be way too high. Staying in your budget is great but eating healthy is just as important.

 

[ilovemk76]

Our budget for food $100 bi-weekly & $20 for personals for me, Dh, DD20, DS18 (when he's home on leave) Ds14, and Dd 10. I have been coupon (not hardcore) for about 2 yrs. We eat out on bdays

You spend $200/month for a family of 6 with four adults? What do you cook each day?

 

[herdtoDisney]

We are a family of 7-myself, DH, 3 teen boys and two school-aged girls.

I probably spend about $800 a month as far as food-more of course when you count in paper goods and stuff like that. Admittedly, I do buy some pre-packaged type items that I might not if I wasn't so tight on time all the time. But at this season of life, my time is money too.

I don't coupon-the time thing-but I absolutely shop at lower price stores! Like Aldi's and PriceRite, and Sams Club. My local Walmart will become a Supercenter this year and I cannot wait!!! If I just went to, say, Stop & Shop or Price Chopper for everything, I'd probably spend TWICE as much! So for me, it's worth it to hit the lower-cost stores.

 

[Maddies Mama]

Our budget is around $30 per person per week, so roughly $90 weekly and $360 monthly. That is just my guide. Some months I come in with a lot leftover in the budget and I put the leftover into savings, some months I go over, but usually not by much. We usually spend $0-$50 per week dining out. I shop at the commissary though, so I save a lot of money to begin with and then I normally save around 10-20% with coupons each time I go to the store. Without the commissary savings & coupons, I'd probably end up spending about $450-$500/month.

 

[hsmamato2]

I think it depends on what region you're in....partly here in the (expensive) northeast, I budget 150.00 per week for 4,includes all paper,pet food,cleaning,etc.
I have 2 teen boys with HUGE appetites,and I try to buy high quality foods that fill them,and taste good. for us that means I cook and bake a LOT to keep under budget. By high quality,I mean ingredients that are 'whole' -whole wheat bread, real o.j.- dozens of eggs- gallons of milk,etc etc.
Shopping Aldi weekly helps keep me on track no one beats the prices and simplicity- ( you can't over buy when the choices are limited)
I rarely go elsewhere, I did stop at Target last week to save some time, it cost about twice as much as Aldi.
WHen I say HUGE appetites,I'm not kidding, I can't keep my younger ds filled, it's never ending! ( When I buy a bag of clementines 3 lbs. are 2.99 @ Aldi,they last less than one night. Literally gone by next morning.)
I try to buy fruit and veggies on sale,b/c it's expensive!
I don't buy a lot of cleaning supplies, use 2 or 3 simple cleaners for everything-
I buy paper towels maybe once a month,and use dishtowels and cloth napkins most of the time.
That saves quite a bit.

 

[sleeperclan]

Our family of 4 (+ 4 cats/2 big dogs) usually spends $600-$650 a month. I menu plan for two weeks and that cuts down on unnecessary items...except when DH comes with me to the grocery store...then we overspend My DD is gluten free and that accounts for a higher grocery bill because gluten free products cost an arm and a leg! We make a trip to Whole Foods to get whatever else she may need and stock up for about 4-5months. Our last bill for that trip was over $130

I try to make meals that will result in leftovers for DH to take for lunch. We homeschool, so lunches are eaten at home and we make our own pizza crust, bread, and use fresh veggies instead of frozen or canned when we can get them, and cook up dry beans to freeze for later use. We also had our first garden last year and were able to make our own pasta sauce and freeze it and our romas gave us enough sauce through most of the fall and some of this winter.

It's been an adventure working with DDs allergy and trying to keep everyone else well fed and happy, but I think we are in a pretty good routine now and DD is finding her way around the kitchen to cook gluten free for herself

 

[kinntj]

On the budget board you'll find lower numbers. Most on here know how to save a buck. We are a family of 5 (my mom lives with us).

This week I spent $135 on groceries including cleaning/paper products, health and beauty aids (when needed or a great deal), etc.
I budget $150 for groceries a week and try to keep it as low as I can.

Most of my budget is taken up by produce, meat/deli and dairy. I buy my chicken breasts with the bone in and skin since it's cheaper than skinless/boneless. I try to limit the amount of beef we buy and eat it once a week. Those things really help the budget. Eat more bean meals or add beans to your dishes. I'm trying to do this more often.

As for the eating out, we do that once a week. We spend $45-$50 at one sit down meal.

 

[vicki_c]

I didn't realize the OP had a family of 7. So I retract my statement about their spending seeming really high. Maybe a little high to me - but not that much for 7 people.

But yes, as someone else said - how much of your income it is is obviously an important factor as well.

 

[hsmamato2]

I try to make meals that will result in leftovers for DH to take for lunch. We homeschool, so lunches are eaten at home and we make our own pizza crust, bread, and use fresh veggies instead of frozen or canned when we can get them, and cook up dry beans to freeze for later use.

It's been an adventure working with DDs allergy and trying to keep everyone else well fed and happy, but I think we are in a pretty good routine now and DD is finding her way around the kitchen to cook gluten free for herself

your life sounds a little like mine one ds is GF totally,so that does cost more than regular- I LOVE Bisquick GF,subscribe and save-get from Amazon- it saves time and money,and we can easily whip up biscuit,pancakes and quick casseroles now,and it tastes good!
Or Trader Joes has less expensive Gf options than whole foods, plus Bobs red mill has a good GF bread mix I get for less than 3.00.....

 

[robinb]

I am positively a spendthrift compared to many budget boarders. I think I pay about $150-$200 per week for our family of 3. I buy a lot of fresh vegetables and meat. I am a carnivore and I like to eat meat with just about every meal and meat and veggies are expensive. In addition, I have been buying more natural meat (esp ground beef and chicken) which costs more but I want to avoid chicken mega farms and mass processed ground beef.