Groceries $$

sarahsxt

How much do you spend on groceries per month?

Please also include your calorie target and whether you are a meat eater, pescatarian, vegetarian, or vegan.

Elizabeth_C34

$500 per month for a family of 2 adults.

I eat meat, but all our veggies are farmer's market or locally grown. My calorie goal varies between 1450 and 1650 calories per day. Hubby eats between 2000 and 2500 calories per day.

joejccva71

$300 a month on a cut. $500 a month on a bulk, easily.

cheesy_blasters

I eat a weird diet (sometimes vegan, sometimes not but I only buy vegan right now...I just have lots of frozen food stored but don't want to waste it). I spend anywhere from $30-50 a week for one, depending on if I'm trying new recipes and need ingredients I don't already have or if I need to replace things I've used up. Generally right now I just buy produce and maybe some legumes or tofu. I don't eat a lot of grains. This doesn't include times I eat out.

Kandygirl

there is 5 of us in my family and i can normally feed us for around $600 a month. it's hard and i shop sales and buy as much fresh and local as i can.

Establishedn1986

$600+ per month! Family of 4. We eat meat. I alone eat my cut of 2290 a day.

Drenched_N_Motivation

Between my brother and I its about 400 dollars. My daily calorie intake is around 3,500

EnchantedEvening

$500/month for two people. We're both omnivores. I eat about 1800 calories per day, and BF eats around 2500.

shaynak112

My boyfriend and I spend $200 a month (combined). We are both vegetarians. He eats probably 1400 calories a day and I eat about 900 calories a day. We eat mostly veggies, beans, rice, oats. Our "splurges" are fake meats (like veggie burgers!).

momtokgo

I spent a lot on groceries. My calorie goal is 1590, I shop for a family of 5, and we spend at least $800/month.

But I feed 1 vegan, 1 vegetarian, 2 toddlers with mutiple allergies and huge appetites, and 1 very tall, hardworking and hungry husband. And we live in a part of Canada most people will never ever hear of, and everything is trucked in. EVERYTHING. Fruit does not grow here, very few veggies grow here and what does grow only grows for 2 months a year.

cheesy_blasters

I spent a lot on groceries. My calorie goal is 1590, I shop for a family of 5, and we spend at least $800/month.

But I feed 1 vegan, 1 vegetarian, 2 toddlers with mutiple allergies and huge appetites, and 1 very tall, hardworking and hungry husband. And we live in a part of Canada most people will never ever hear of, and everything is trucked in. EVERYTHING. Fruit does not grow here, very few veggies grow here and what does grow only grows for 2 months a year.

Are you up north? I knew someone who worked up north for awhile and hear horror stories about how much he spent on food (especially his comfort foods).

taunto

Anywhere from $100 -$200 for a single male. I eat all kinds of good stuff. Meats, cheese, good bread, fruits. This includes eating out btw (once-twice a week). Indian cooking is cheap

Edit: My calories are between 1700-2000

giggles7706

I would say about $500 a month. For 2 adults and 2 kids. And we do eat meat.

misschubbybutterfly

$250-$300 a month for a family of 3. We don't eat red meat and my son and I eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies. My Boyfriend eats less then healthy and hates veggies, but he's happy with himself and doesn't want to change. I only encourgae him to eat better but I don't push. My son LOVES canned green beans (yuk) so I allow him to have those. As far as childhood vices go, that's not too bad :P
My calories are 1700-1800 a day

carinnaj

about $600-650 a month for myself, my parents, and my 2 kids(2 and 4)... was doing alot better when I used coupons... need to get back into that.

we're all meat-eaters, my calories goal is 1500-1600... my kids both eat all..day..long.. ..but never tracked anyone else's calories except my own...

KBGirts

Maybe $500 or so. Lots of meat and veggies!! Very little processed foods.

domsmoms

About $600 for a family of 3 fulltime / 6 sometimes (family size varies as my 3 stepkids are not here consistently - some months we barely see them and some months they're here several days a week). I usually buy organic when possible, so that can be pricey. If it was just me, I don't think I'd be spending that much on food these days. My current calorie goal is 1430/day, and some days I'm sure I'm eating for around $5/day. Also, we cut down on our meat eating a lot since I've been doing MFP. My husband is very much a carnivore, but even he recently acknowledged that we should probably eat less meat.

momtokgo

I spent a lot on groceries. My calorie goal is 1590, I shop for a family of 5, and we spend at least $800/month.

But I feed 1 vegan, 1 vegetarian, 2 toddlers with mutiple allergies and huge appetites, and 1 very tall, hardworking and hungry husband. And we live in a part of Canada most people will never ever hear of, and everything is trucked in. EVERYTHING. Fruit does not grow here, very few veggies grow here and what does grow only grows for 2 months a year.

Are you up north? I knew someone who worked up north for awhile and hear horror stories about how much he spent on food (especially his comfort foods).

Yep, up North in oilpatch country. (fort st john BC) In a small town too, which makes it worse. It could be worse, my husband worked in Fort Nelson once (4 hours north of here) and he forgot to take his toothbrush. $7 to buy a new one.

victoria4321

Probably 200-300 a month for just myself. I try to eat around 2000ish, maybe more calories. I buy mostly meats, fish, chicken, eggs, fruits, veg, and raw dairy. I cook almost all my meals usually.

ladyace15

Easily, 600.00 a month for 2 adults (one being a VERY hardworking man) and two little boys (both who have VERY high metabolisms and eat like grown men sometimes) LOL. We mainly eat fish and chicken and maybe twice out of the week beef. My husband has to have his tea, I have to have tilapia, my oldest son has to have banana's and granola bars and my youngest has to have banana puffs! My calorie intake is close to 2400

Jflowwers

Around 600 for myself and my husband. We are in the NYC suburbs and its expensive .

jfan175

About 300-350/month for a family of 3. I have a 14yo 3 sport playing eating machine. We eat a lot of chicken, tilapia and leaner cuts of pork and eggs for our protein. Beef has gotten so expensive that I have to wait for sales. Luckily, fresh produce is relatively inexpensive around here.....and he loves generic Cheerios for breakfast (along with some fruit and milk). My wife and I are quite creative with our cooking. I'll grill about 4-5 days worth of meat at one time, and then we'll have it fresh from the grill that day....and then we'll make wraps, stir fry, omelettes or whatnot on other days. I skip the potatos and bread to meat my macros, but it's on the menu to feed the machine. I didn't include protein bars and powder in that total, and that would add another 40 or so.

xTwK

I spend around $100 a month on groceries; looks like some people need to learn how to shop savings and lay off pointless name brands and expensive junk food...

monicamk1975

About $350 a month for me and the little one (almost 2 years old) and when the husband is home about $450, but that includes eating out at least once a week.

queenbcronen

SOME people should take into consideration areas of the country affect prices. :frown:
I live in a rural are where you would think a lot of "farm produce"would be available. That's not the case. So to eat as "clean" as possible for my daughter and myself, it costs at LEAST $300 a month. that's the minimum.

Thesoundofwolf

Omnivore. I live in a house hold of three adults. One adult has had gastric bypass, so she doesn't eat much, and eats odd things.

However we're all roommates, but on average we're expected to spend 60/a week (this includes tolietries, non-food stuffs that we consume through), so on average we eat 40/week.

I buy vegatables and fruits in season, and coupon like crazy. I live in central georgia, and I eat a net worth of 1.2k calories a day- which is dictated by how much i work out that day.

Also, I shop at where the best deals- not just one singular grocery store. Between Kroger, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Save-A-Lot, Family Value and a few others. I just look what the news paper gods have to offer. And the PnG saver on Sundays.

By planning out your meals, having a stocked pantry, you can pretty much reduce your budget in half.

Cheap meal plans that are healthy include:
-Rice and reduced sodium soy for fried rice nights, use your left over veggies and meats you can't normally use. From my understanding with the other military wives from Korea, its typically what most Koreans do. In Korea, Kimichii is literally made out of anything that is 'going to spoil' so that it is pickled and none to waste. A high vegetable diet, with low meat- as meat is expensive and rare tradtionally in that area of the world. If you have an Asian market, even better. You can get spices, noodles (like soba, or even glass- which are bean based and better then traditional pastas).

-Mexican taco nights are traditionally cheap and can be controlled to be good depending how you prepare your ground beef/ground whatever/fish filets/not-meat. By replacing things like sour cream for plain greek yogurt, small steps towards healthier food choices can be made. I often have a set of flour tortillas in the fridge to quick grab and make wraps for lunches, quesodas with my foreman grill, or even just to dip into hummus. By buying foods that can be used in multiple meals, you save.

Plan your meals out. Buy on week to week basis- so no food goes to waste (especially when working with fresh meats and vegtables, less so much if you guy canned/frozen foods).

I can't stress the use of this site enough, if you are seriously intrested in buying what in season.
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/seasonalingredientmap

Research local farmers markets, or go news paper hunting for where the best deals are. Its only 10minuets one day flipping through flyers or even internet adds, and worth the savings

There are multipul couponing sites as well that pop up on google- such as redplum.

rachaela06

Somewhere between 350 and 400 a month, for a family of four. That includes stuff like toothpaste, paper towels, pet food, etc. I eat close to 1600 calories a day. I get a lot of the toiletries for nothing, I'm a huge coupon shopper and just too cheap to pay full price for anything other than meats and veggies. I buy meats that are on sale and veggies I buy at farmer's market or Sam's club. They don't go to waste buying at our house. I have 2 kids that are eating machines, both are very active and I try to limit the junk food they consume, but they are kids.

alexandria412

$300 per month, for 2 vegetarians. We eat out about once or twice per month, so the grocery budget is the large majority of our food.

ETA: I aim to eat 1300 calories, but haven't tracked in awhile and honestly have no idea. My husband is probably closer to 1800-2000.

StarvingDiva

I live in New England so groceries aren't cheap. I don't do a once a week grocery shopping because I just don't have the money, I make random trips, so I would estimate that I spend about 100 bucks a month for groceries for just me. I eat, veggies, fruit and meat and some grains.

It's tough but I just don't have the funds right now, so I make meals that can stretch for several days.

erickirb

$380-$400, 2 adults and one toddler. Diet is about 80% vegetarian. I eat meat, but not everyday, and the toddler eats very little meat.

mfp_junkie

Family of three, meat eaters, pretty healthy stuff, $600 to $700 a month. I bring my lunch to work every day, so no expenses there, but increase in grocery budget for lunch items.