How much do you spend on groceries monthly?

245

Replies

  • SrMaggalicious
    SrMaggalicious Posts: 495 Member
    _Terrapin_ wrote: »
    If you can get in to Boston and hit Quincy's market about an hour prior to closing you can usually get produce very cheap; otherwise they toss it. Then again, is Quincy's market still there?

    Yes, it is. I buy all my produce there. Even the fish is great. i walk away with TONS of food for about 40 bucks a week.

    OP, it's right off the Orange line, Haymarket Stop...it's worth checking out!

  • fat2strongbeth
    fat2strongbeth Posts: 735 Member
    Honestly, I have no idea. Probably in the $500-$1,000 range for three people.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    $600/month for two adults and 3 teenage kids who eat like adults. We eat pretty healthy too. Not too many snacky foods.
  • thenk83
    thenk83 Posts: 22 Member
    2 of us. $550-650. That amount includes toiletries, household items, and eating out.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »
    $500/month for my husband and me.

    Same here. Back when I had a tighter budget, I skipped a lot of the little luxuries and impulse buys and it was around $350 a month, but I was still able to buy good quality food. I cook from scratch at home, so not a lot of eating out.
  • ancurtis
    ancurtis Posts: 68 Member
    two adults, one teenage son (17) and two cats, right around $400 a month, including all paper items/toiletries, etc. I buy what is in season and cook once for multiple days. I take my lunch to school and limit 'junk'. Make the teenager buy his own sodas and poptarts, etc. Oh, I'm in Atlanta.
  • daffodilsoup
    daffodilsoup Posts: 1,972 Member
    edited December 2014
    I live in a major metropolitan area. $400 per month for my fiance and me, and that includes groceries, meals out (usually once a week), as well as personal health and beauty products.

    We don't eat animal products, and I pack my lunch every day - both the most important ways to keep our budget down!
  • abcmommyx3
    abcmommyx3 Posts: 123 Member
    40 minutes south of Boston here our budget is $400 - $500 per month for five people. We buy mostly fresh in season fruits and vegetable. Whole cuts of lean meats... We eat pretty healthy but we have to work for it. North of Boston you are lucky you have Market Basket... We should have one end of the the year! Trader Joes is a great place also for some items
  • Kellyfitness128
    Kellyfitness128 Posts: 194 Member
    I spend about $55 weekly... so just over $200 a month to feed myself.
  • MissJay75
    MissJay75 Posts: 768 Member
    $350 a month for food & toiletries + $40 a month for eating out. That's for 2 adults & 2 kids in a suburb of a major metropolitan area.
    I aim for $0.50 per person for breakfast and lunch and $1 per person for dinner.

    A couple things that make a huge difference:
    1) we have no allergies or special food needs
    2) I save a lot on toiletries using coupons
    3) sometimes we get venison from my Father-in-law
    4) I jam, can, freeze, juice, and dehydrate as much in season fruit as I can
    5) I have access to free apples, concord grapes, plums, pears, and blackberries
    6) I am a stay at home mom, I use my time to meal plan and cook from scratch which saves a lot of money.
  • SapiensPisces
    SapiensPisces Posts: 992 Member
    edited December 2014
    $100-$200 per month for me
    $400-$600 for family of two adults and one toddler

    Sometimes I can spend less if I get good deals and buy in bulk. I also do some couponing.
  • melinmen
    melinmen Posts: 5 Member
    About $600-700 for two here in Los Angeles. We shop at Trader Joe's and Ralph's.
  • kirianna55
    kirianna55 Posts: 459 Member
    $388 in Washington state near Seattle for my husband and myself.

    We very rarely go out to eat. This month I don't have to buy a lot of meat because last month I bought a lot so this month it is filling in the meat gaps since we are down to chicken drumsticks and steak. My goal is for a lot more veggies this month and smoothies for breakfast.
  • Tigg_er
    Tigg_er Posts: 22,001 Member
    I'd say 500-550 for two adults and if I have my grand daughters over for a bit another 50-75 for goodies. Ya know just for the kids B)
  • jsanford76
    jsanford76 Posts: 20 Member
    edited December 2014
    http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/29/killing-your-1000-grocery-bill/ This article fits into mfp slightly as he does talk about cost vs caloric needs, but other than that we spend about $400.00/ month for 3 people. Sometimes less, sometimes the freezer gets too full and we have to stop buying meat. I live in Alberta, Canada. Oh, yeah. Use a grocery list too. Makes a big differance.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    _Terrapin_ wrote: »
    If you can get in to Boston and hit Quincy's market about an hour prior to closing you can usually get produce very cheap; otherwise they toss it. Then again, is Quincy's market still there?

    You mean haymarket? I stopped buying there when I noticed a trend of where everything I bought went bad within 3 days. Not just bad, but horrifically bad, as in mold everywhere, like I was making antibiotics for TEOTWAWKI
  • gertudejekyl
    gertudejekyl Posts: 386 Member
    $280 month when son is home--- few packaged foods ! Wow, so much lower than others!
  • gertudejekyl
    gertudejekyl Posts: 386 Member
    lauraripson wrote: »
    I spend about $120 every other week for my husband and I. I try to stick to my budget and don't buy anything in between unless we run out of something that we really need.

    I like this budget :)
  • gertudejekyl
    gertudejekyl Posts: 386 Member
    mistikal13 wrote: »
    We spend $250-$300/month for two adults in NYC. I make all our meals, snacks, breads, yogurt, etc from scratch and we don't eat out. Hope this helps =)

    Really like this budget. Made my bread one week - got to do it again.
  • chloeelizabethm
    chloeelizabethm Posts: 184 Member
    We allow £300 a month for 2 and usually have a little left over :)
  • squirrelone
    squirrelone Posts: 58 Member
    Somewhere around the $600,- mark.
    One person and not including any meals eaten out.
  • sheepotato
    sheepotato Posts: 600 Member
    For two of us we budget $400ish a month for groceries, and $200-$300 a month dining out. Sometimes it's way over sometimes it's way under, we will likely spend more on groceries but less dining out once the little one arrives.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    jsanford76 wrote: »
    http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/29/killing-your-1000-grocery-bill/ This article fits into mfp slightly as he does talk about cost vs caloric needs, but other than that we spend about $400.00/ month for 3 people. Sometimes less, sometimes the freezer gets too full and we have to stop buying meat. I live in Alberta, Canada. Oh, yeah. Use a grocery list too. Makes a big differance.


    i like mrmoneymustache. I learned quite a bit from the tightwad gazette's meal plans/ and her pantry principle. Really good resources.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    edited December 2014
    $800 a month for 6-7 people (depending on if my brother is being a mooch that month) :p

    ETA- I am from NYC. :)
  • CarrieCans
    CarrieCans Posts: 381 Member
    I spend a firm $300 per month for 2 adults and one bottomless pit 10 year old. I buy bulk whenever possible, put food up in jars and freeze a bit. This includes going to my moms once or twice a month and cooking a meal for anywhere from 13 to 16 people. This also includes food gifts, things i make to give as presents. I am very strict at only buying things when they are on sale and sometimes couponing. This does work for fresh produce and meats.

    In the past i had a food budget as low as $175 a month for 3 people. That did not include any fast food or dining out and wasn't fun.
  • Anonycatgirl
    Anonycatgirl Posts: 502 Member
    Probably about $250-$300/month for my husband and me, south of Boston, including "stocking up". We buy a lot in bulk, grow a lot of food and preserve it, and stock up whenever there's a sale on meat. (We have two chest freezers and they're always full.)
  • kshadows
    kshadows Posts: 1,315 Member
    Southern Tier of NYS, I spend ~$500-600 a month for myself, my husband and two kids (2 and 6)
  • carriecarrio
    carriecarrio Posts: 70 Member
    450-500 a month for 2 adults and 1 toddler who hardly eats :-) - We live in NJ and eat lots of fruits and veggies. No meat or cleaning products including in the mentioned budget.
  • NoelFigart1
    NoelFigart1 Posts: 1,276 Member
    I live in the same area of the country as the OP. In the past three months, we've spent $84/person/week on groceries. But that included personal items and cleaning supplies. Kinda high, when I look at it, but when you replace pasta and rice with veggies, you are going to see a price jump.
  • kasiaj
    kasiaj Posts: 63 Member
    $200 in upstate NY (2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 baby, 1 dog and 1 cat). This includes everything (toiletries, dog/cat food and our food), but I bf and use cloth diapers, make my own cleaning supplies and cook from scratch. I buy in season veggies and fruits. Oh, and we raise our own pigs (which end up being free since we do a couple for other people that offset the cost of raising them). We live in the country and have great neighbor and friends who we barter with. So we trade some ground pork for ground beef. My husband helps our friend with butchering his chickens so we end up with some of those for free. He helped with a turkeys this year so for Thanksgiving we had a fresh, natural 20lb turkey for free. We also have a garden and I store as much as I can from the harvest for the winter months. This spring we'll be adding some chickens for fresh eggs.
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