How much do you spend on groceries per month?

[Liberty Belle]

Yep. I "waste" even more money on Disney trips and cruises. Those cruises and staying at the Grand Californian are not cheap.

Only a waste, if you think so, when we're talking about your own money.

 

[skittles67]

I don’t think she is factoring the eating out into the grocery budget, and that’s why the grocery budget is so low.

Yes, that is what I spend only at the grocery store. We do a big trip every couple of weeks. I tend to buy what is on sale and try to plan meals around that. Then during the week we go and pick up anything we might run out of like milk, bread, or if I need something for a recipe like fresh veggies. Our lifestyle is hectic and the guys work insane hours. The money we spend going out to eat is ridiculous! We always talk about cutting back, back it never happens. This week 3 of us went out for dinner Monday night (DS was working and we didn't have the youngest with us) and last night 4 of us went out (my DH was working). We already have plans for eating out tonight (all of us) and Sunday DH and I have dinner plans with friends. So that will be 4 dinners out this week. If you count our going out to eat habits and grocery together our total is more like $2000 a month (Oh that hurt typing that out!)

 

[DisneyEater]

Family of 4, HCOL area, been spending about $700 a month on groceries. Would be a little less if my daughter didn't need specialty food.

 

[linzjane88]

We're in a low cost of living area and typically spend about 900 on groceries and 300 on dining out /takeout For our family of four.

 

[charming23]

I am a single girl living in ohio and I spend about $150 a month plus $120 in Hello Fresh deliveries. I get my hello fresh every other week, I get the three meal, two servings per meal plan. That gives me 6 meals each week I get it. I then fill in with other dishes. I take my lunch most everyday and eat breakfast at home.

Household items I buy once a month along with pet supplies for about $50.

 

[tasha99]

We spend around $1200/month for two. That includes all our food, food for 3 cats, and nightly inexpensive wine (maybe $400/month?--so that minus the cat food puts our food bill around $700 per month). That doesn't include a lot of paper or toiletry products. I guess that's a lot, but we tend to have lots of more expensive meats such as seafood and prime steaks. We eat a lot "fancier" now that I'm cooking for two rather than 4 or 5.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm trying to keep our grocery spend to about $650 a month (including cleaning products, personal care items etc.) Family of 4 in the northeast. Doesn't include meals out- we don't eat out often, but we tend to eat at pricier places when we do eat out, so averages out to something like $100 a month.

I've really been working at this - used to be at least $1200 for groceries and we could easily spend $500 on eating out in a given month. Our closest grocery store is a Whole Foods, which did not help. Fortunately there is an Aldi, Costco and a fantastic asian market that are also nearby, so we pretty much only buy meat and a few other specialty items at Whole Foods anymore. Still eating well, just being much more mindful of using up everything we buy and shopping where prices are better, rather than always going for convenience.

Adong???

 

[mrs_coco]

Family of 4 in south Jersey, we spend about $600 a month on food shopping-and that's with me hitting multiple stores (walmart/lidl/bj's) for the best prices. We all eat breakfast at home and pack lunch. Order pizza friday nights-that's the big event

The one thing I have figured out keeps the budget down is making things we all like...tacos, ravioli, eggs etc....

 

[disneymagicgirl]

If you count our going out to eat habits and grocery together our total is more like $2000 a month (Oh that hurt typing that out!)

That is about what we spend too.

 

[tvguy]

$131.72 today for the next week for 3 adults. Includes $6 for sunscreen for our Phoenix trip coming up and $4 for a case of bottled water that should last about 5 to 6 weeks, and $5 for a 5 pound bag or Jasmine rice that should last 2 months.

 

[barkley]

I just ran the numbers for February and JUST for consumable groceries the total is $490.04 (family of 3 adults + providing some foods to dd at college).

in march we will continue to meal plan around what I already have on hand (still allot in the freezer/pantry), some of the stuff I bought this month will eliminate the need to repurchase in march (some dry goods, beverages) but I need to restock some spices (always a spendy item) so it will be interesting to see where the numbers will fall.

 

[AllthingsDisMom]

I didn't read everyone's response but I guess I am surprised at how much more I spend at the grocery stores than just about everyone else... probably spend at least 1800 a month at the grocery stores in my area.

I just find this hard to believe!

 

[StarlitNight05]

We are a family of two. We spend about $150 a week on groceries, which includes wine/beer and our pet food too (cat and chinchilla). We live in Northern California, and I try to shop sales as much as possible! We eat out (usually takeout) about once per week, usually pretty cheap though, $20-30 each occurance.

 

[neatokimmo]

We are in a super low cost area, there are three of us. Our average is about $70 a week. I only buy sale stuff. We eat a lot of kale (organic 99 cents a pound), fresh broccoli ($1.29 pp), and chicken breast (1.99-2.49 pp). We do not drink milk, they do not eat anything that swims. We eat out about once a month for $30-35. There are also a couple of $8 promo pizzas a month. I buy organic coffee off amazon for $40. The five pound bags lasts a little over a month.

I also stock up on sales. Last week pasta and peanut butter were the promos. So I got the max, 5 each. Special k is 89 cents a box at Kroger this week so I got five.

For dinner tonight I will grill a pound of chicken breast and slice it for salad, $2.49 this week. I got two markdown salad mixes (vinaigrette cranberry nut something or other) for $1.49 (had been $3ish each). So with tax dinner is under $6. That is typical price wise for us.

 

[amccu18007]

We spend about $200 per week including paper products. Dog food costs us another $200 plus per month as my husband only wants the best for his boy
We eat out a few times a week out of necessity because of kids activities and work but try to mostly eat home-cooked meals. We probably spend another $150 a week out. We are a family of five. My kids are big eaters, my oldest is a 19 yo boy. We live in a rather high-cost area but do shop at Aldi's for most things as well as Costco for bulk items.

 

[tzolkin]

Our average has been under $600/mo for quite a few years (usually comes in a bit less, sometimes $450ish).

Family of 4/5 (oldest now in college) plus we have guests at least once per week. (We host lots of church events for ~20 people that I will either cook a meal or at least provide snacks.)

This total also includes alcohol, which honestly is a noticeable percentage. DH and I enjoy craft beer almost daily and always have a variety on hand for guests.

It does not include dry pet food and Most household supplies, but a percentage of the dogs’ diet does come from fresh foods in our regular groceries.

Eating out is a separate category for us, but we hardly ever do so that always stays at or under $100/mo unless we are in vacation.

 

[Louie7080]

I just find this hard to believe!

Here are some random thoughts: I also buy a monthly phone card at the grocery store and pet supplies so those items might not be usual things people buy. We eat a lot of fruit, per calorie fruit seems to be one of the more expensive things to eat. I try to minimize processed food which can be extremely cheap. Grain is cheap and one of the least nutrient containing food groups. We seem to drink a lot of juice and I buy premium chocolate as a dessert/treat as I think it is a better choice than other sweets. Those are additional things I thought of why I spend alot at the grocery store, to the other reasons I already stated. Someone posted that they can get organic kale for 99 cents a pound - I have never seen that kind of deal where I live. Produce is expensive in my town. Like wrote before, I've see what my in-laws pay in much more affluet east coast community, and it seems they have more access to deals, etc... on food compared to me (I live in the middle of the country). Both my kids seem to eat more than their classmates, (but they are not overweight in case that was a thought). I consume the average amount of calories a day, not sure about my husband but guessing he eats what the average man eats as far as calories. I spend at least $100 on organic dried fruit a month, probably more but we eat much more fresh fruit. Maybe I over estimated how much I spend at the grocery store but I don't think by much if I did. My husband is an agreement with you all and thinks I spend too much at the grocery stores in the area - he says we could all eat out everyday and spend less on what spend at the grocery store so I get that it is unusual but I feel like I buy the best food for the money I spend and save elsewhere where most others spend a lot. We have one cell phone in the family, we wear used clothing and have used furniture and our cars are over 10 years old - more like 15 years old and used when we bought them too! The cars are small so we don't spend much on gas. I cut my husband's, son's and daughter's hair and even used to cut my own but gave up on that. I don't get my nails done, get facials, etc.... like many women I know do. In fact I don't buy cosmetics or special skn care products, just chap stick and cheapish grocery store shampoo and conditioners.

edited for some spelling errors though there might be more.

 

[Louie7080]

I did one calculation to compare how expensive fruit (in this case pineapple) is compared to bread. These two items are the first 2 I thought of. A pineapple where I live costs between 3 and 4 dollars each and according to the web has around 450 calories. Bread varies a lot more in cost but say it is 3 bucks a loaf. A loaf has around 20 to 24 slices and each slice has around 80 calories. So a loaf of bread has around 4 times as many calories as a pineapple but a loaf costs about the same as pineapple. This calculation would be even easier to show a bigger difference between bread and pineapple since you can often get bread for less that 3 dollars a loaf but I rarely see pineapple less than 3 dollars.

 

[CHEMISTSP]

Family of 5 with 3 boys ages 11-17 (2 are athletes with insatiable appetites!). I try to maintain a budget of between $150 - $200 a week (not including going out to eat). More times then not it is closer to $250 a week.

 

[tvguy]

I did one calculation to compare how expensive fruit (in this case pineapple) is compared to bread. These two items are the first 2 I thought of. A pineapple where I live costs between 3 and 4 dollars each and according to the web has around 450 calories. Bread varies a lot more in cost but say it is 3 bucks a loaf. A loaf has around 20 to 24 slices and each slice has around 80 calories. So a loaf of bread has around 4 times as many calories as a pineapple but a loaf costs about the same as pineapple. This calculation would be even easier to show a bigger difference between bread and pineapple since you can often get bread for less that 3 dollars a loaf but I rarely see pineapple less than 3 dollars.

LOL I buy the 99 cent a loaf store brand bread. Same weight, a lot less money.