#GroceryBudget #FamilyBudget #MealPlanning
Hey everyone! ๐ I’ve been scratching my head about our grocery bill lately โ it just keeps creeping up and up! ๐ธ Our family of four with two little ones in Southern California seems to have a grocery budget that’s spiraling out of control. ๐คฏ
I’ve chatted with my wife about finding ways to cut costs, but she swears she’s already tried everything. So, I wanted to turn to you all for some insight. What’s a reasonable monthly grocery budget for a family like ours? ๐
Here are a few questions to get the conversation started:
– How much do you typically spend on groceries each month?
– Are there any strategies or tips you’ve found helpful in sticking to your budget?
– Do you think location plays a significant role in grocery costs? ๐ด๐
I’m all ears for any suggestions or advice you might have! Let’s help each other out and find ways to make our grocery bills a little less painful. ๐ช๐๐ฅฆ #GrocerySavings #BudgetingTips
Our grocery bill per month is probably around $1000-$1200. We will go to the store and pick up raspberries, orange juice, eggs, waffles, etc. and the bill will be 100 bucks. If we are doing a full shop canโt get out the door for less than 250 usuallyโฆ. Itโs been outrageous lately. And thatโs at normal grocery store not Whole Foods or some fancy place. Probably the same ish for you – just where we are right now.
Edit: similar family structure to op
My wife and I spend $600/month on average on groceries. We show at big box stores mostly and eat lots of meats and veggies. We also have a $250/month budget for eating out
I’m closer to Seattle than Sacramento, so ymmv. But lately for 3 1/2 adults it’s been about $250 a week. I’m not buying anything crazy.
We have a boarder who eats supper with us. We do about half our meals vegetarian. I don’t always have time or energy to make everything from scratch. We’re about half dairy free here due to casein allergies.
But maybe instead of asking us, **you could go with her and see what she’s up against**. It’s brutal lately. Every time I go to the store everything is up at least 5%, often more. (And if you aren’t, maybe get more involved in meal preparation and such–if you’re not currently aware what it takes to feed four humans it can be real easy to be unrealistically rigid in your approach to the financial and time budgets, especially if it’s not your personal labor involved. If you’re already very involved, awesome.)
We are a family of four with two young children. We spend about $1000/mo on groceries (which includes household items like paper towels, TP etc) and we spend about $500/mo outside of that with ordering food. So $1500/mo on food/household supplies youd buy at a grocery store.
My wife and I both do the grocery shopping depending on whose week it is to cook.
I would suggest if you believe you can do better then go ahead and try rather than second guessing your wife about it. You can do so virtually by opening a shopping cart online and filling it with a weeks worth or groceries and see what it totals to. If you do not know what a weeks worth of groceries even looks like then you are not really in a position to judge. In both my and my wifes experience a weeks worth of groceries/supplies is about $200-$300 for our family depending on what we need to stock up on. As we also get the occassional take-out that is not covering all of our food.
>But when Iโve discussed this topic with her and asked her to look for ways to bring down our monthly expense, she claims sheโs tried and cannot.
**I suggest you take the kids to the store and go shopping with them in tow to see what it is your wife is trying to do. I think it will be eye-opening.**
There’s a chapter in You Need a Budget where Jessie Meacham and his wife had the same conversation and, in navigating the store with young children, getting in and out quickly and with some peace of mind was, in the end, more important, than say, finding the cheapest can of corn.
I’m in a VHCOL area where a two bedroom is about $3000-$4000. $2500 if you want to commute 3 hours round trip. Our rent is 23% of our gross household income.
When my husband and I (early 30’s) shop for the two of us and our two cats, we spend about $500 per month. This includes all food, pet supplies, toiletries, and household goods.
We rarely get brand name products and always compare pricing per weight of our options on the shelves. For protein it’s usually chicken, we don’t do a lot of red meat. Steaks a couple times a year. I sometimes splurge on a fancy cheese or lox. There are many products I flat out refuse to buy on a regular basis because of the price per serving. Especially anything that you’re paying for convenience like pre chopped food. We don’t make enough to afford convenience, if we want a kid, a house, and retirement.
We eat out maybe once every month and cook/bake a ton. I make all my desserts at home, my husband makes a lot of bread and pizza from scratch. I spend a few hours meal prepping on Sunday because there’s no way I have time to cook at all during the week. I’m lucky if I have an hour of free time on a week day to have a slow dinner.
We eat 1.5-2 meals a day. No breakfast. For lunch at work I have raw veggies and something with 10-20g of protein, then a normal dinner and dessert at home.
Our “Household Goods” budget which includes groceries, toiletries, that type of stuff, is $1300 for a family of 3.
https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports
Have had this exact same conversation with my wife. Itโs incredible how much you can spend on groceries. We try and eat protein heavy healthy meals, so that immediately brings the price of things up fast, but with just my wife and I in Seattle, we spend $800 on average probably. I also eat for 2, if that helps ๐
Make sure you buy store brands. It can make a huge difference.
Northern, NJ – family of 3, organic produce, prime meat cuts. Usually spend $300-$400 a week. Could bring that down by buying lesser quality cuts etc. but don’t see a point. Bill may be less if not buying meat ,TP, and PT, then it’s gonna be around $250.
This is my biggest concern about budgeting. I’ve recently shifted to breaking down my food budget into categories like meat, carbs, coffee, etc. to try to get a better idea of food costs.
The number one thing I’ve noticed is that prepared foods like pre-marinated meats and deli items are the most expensive. Pork is very cheap and pretty versatile. Kids tend to like cheap stuff like cereal and frozen chicken tenders. I try to do all the shopping because my wife isn’t a bargain hunter.
We are working on our budget, family of 4, in Northern California. We spend at least $1000 per month for groceries. My husband does the shopping. About $250 each weekly trip. This does not include eating out. We are working on decreasing that number, and like you, weโre feeding growing kiddos, so donโt want to pull back on good produce. We have to find other things to decrease our monthly costs.
I live in NYC. Besides the bigger chain stores like whole foods and Trader Joeโs, our regional supermarkets are where itโs at. I read the circular and see who has what on sale. And when prices are low, especially on canned goods, I stock up.
Aldi is where I do most of my shopping because of there relatively low every day prices, and especially in the produce section and snacks section. Monthly shopping budget is $500 for two grown adults.
Realistically, there are ways to reduce the spending but it takes a willingness to shop multiple stores (at times) and to not pigeon hole yourself into buying things that are at top dollar and not on sale.
Family of 4 with 2, 5 year olds. When we go without a plan to the grocery store we hit about $250 a week. When I plan I can keep it around $150 a week.
What I do now to save money is meal plan. I am a stay at home Mom and do all of the home shopping including groceries. (I am not adding toilet paper, paper towel, etc into the budget because I get those from Costco/Samโs and so here, I am talking only food).
I sit down the morning of grocery shopping (Northern California and we shop at Safeway) and first write the list. As I am, I figure out what is for Dinner every night, M-F because weekends are hard for us, I try to have several meals share ingredients. Then I go on the Safeway app and clip every single deal, even if I donโt plan on buying it. I see what is on sale and what we can sub in or out for example if Strawberries are on sale I will buy them instead of another fruit that week.
For example: My Meal Plan
M- Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
T- Frozen Pierogiโs with Steamed Veggies
W- Enchilada Casserole
Th- Spaghetti Leftovers
F- Pizza (Frozen, usually have deals at the store, or homemade)
Sat- Enchilada Casserole Leftovers
Sun- Breakfast for Dinner
I plan 2 nights where we can have leftovers so I make a lot of spaghetti or a big casserole. Breakfast for dinner is easy because we have eggs and toast on normal day so there is usually some left by the end of the week.
As for lunches, I donโt plan those but we donโt eat s a family, itโs just the kids and I so I pick something that can be used all week, like a pound of deli meat for sandwiches and always have peanut butter and jelly to switch it up (which you donโt have to buy weekly), maybe Mac and cheese for lunch one day.
Wife, myself and 2 dogs. Monthly: 400 grocery budget, 250 Costco budget, 500 eating out, 180 dog food. Suburban Houston.
Total: Food and recreational food/ cocktails… $1330/mo. Pretty ridiculous, but we would have to eat lower quality food and/or never socialize to get that down.
1000-1200, family of four with two kids under 10.
Includes toiletries and paper goods.
Meatless meals at least half the week – rice+beans is a complete protein without spending $$$ on expensive vegetarian/vegan processed replacements.
Less cheese
Shop the outside and batch cook from scratch weekly for some meals (not your wife, you and her together).
Bulk purchase absolutely anything that isnโt perishable within 4 weeks
According to the USDA food budget (https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports), a moderate budget for your family would be around 1300 (depending on your kids’ ages). The first result on Google says that socal people pay 110% compared to average American (but keep in mind there are expensive and cheaper spots in socal) So given that info, a moderate food budget for your family in socal would be about $1430 a month.
how much are you spending?
Have a similar situation, monthly budget of $1,800. It is expensive.
Costco membership helps get better value but generally feeding 4 people is costly.
Family of 3, includes my son who eats a lot as an 18 year old athlete. To be honest we could probably do it cheaper if we shopped around but we’re spending on average about $1200 a month including household items. We’re in Canada if that makes a difference.
DC area and two adults that exercise a lot and 6โ4โ teen boy. Some dietary restrictions and we buy all organic, grass-fed, sprouted grains, etc.
$300 a week is a good week!
But our fixed costs are low with redirect to our income, so itโs just a choice weโve made to buy high quality foods and some convenience items.
When my son goes to college in the fall, my goal will be to stay under $200 a week
Single, LCOL area, 26 y/o. ~$300 a month in groceries and ~$150 eating out.
I’m curious what your bill is, if you said it in the comments I missed it.
I’m in pittsburgh, so medium cost of living, and two adults for us is about 100 a week/400 a month. No kids, I hear they go through fruit like crazy, my husband and I only buy frozen berries for waffles/yogurt and bags of apples or bananas, so no fresh berries.
$200/week
Family of 5 in LA. We have 3 boys with big stomachs and I somehow make my budget work so I dunno what your wife is doing. Is she shopping at Erewhon?
2 adults, 1 teenager – low cost area
– $1000 a month groceries & toiletries
– $100 a month eating out (sometimes eating out goes over if thereโs a special thing like a birthday)
Depends a lot on how often you can cook and how much you eat out. My family of 4 spends like 600-700 a week on food. It feels insane but if we go to Taco Bell it’s $40-$50 and meat is expensive at the store.
Grocery prices have increased dramatically over the past few years. It would be very difficult for your wife to lower the shopping bill significantly. She also has the constraints of what family members will actually eat. Go with her to the store for an educational experience.
Family or 4 with elementary school kids. Groceries about $1k – 1200 a month. Eating out $300-600 a month. Hang in there folks. Prices arenโt coming down, but weโll find better balance as time goes on. Post inflationary periods are tough on everyone.
Family of 3, one young child. Ours is about $600/month (we aim for $500). We shop at Costco and eat a plant heavy diet. We eat meat 1-2x/month id say. We also donโt eat too many packaged things (frozen food).
Significantly reducing your meat and pre made food will likely reduce your budget a lot.