Monthly Grocery Budget

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salad_bar
salad_bar Posts: 66 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey all,

I wanted to get a feel as to how much you spend on groceries every month. We have been packing our lunches every day and preparing dinner every night (for both cost and health reasons). I'm trying to pinch pennies a little bit more these days, so I'm certain we can trim our monthly budget. Currently it's $400 a month.

Major things such as meats, we will usually get once a month, maybe once every two months. Things like vegetables I tend to purchase once a week. I'd say I can spend $40 bucks a week on vegetables, so that's $160 per month. Even if I spend $140 a month on everything else (which I can see being totally fine), I'm able to cut the budget by $100.

Just want to hear your thoughts on how much you spend.

Thanks!
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Replies

  • redoakcircus
    redoakcircus Posts: 32
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    $800-$1000 roughly for a family of four. That includes non-edible stuff like diapers. We don't try to cut costs though. We just buy what we like.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    It kind of depends on how many people you are feeding and where you live how low you will be able to go.
    I'd say our food budget is about $400 a month for our household of 2 adults and 1 teenage girl.
    We eat almost all of our meals and snacks prepared from home. We do eat meat... not every meal. We are not on special diets or buying all organic or anything like that. Costs are not as high here as some places.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,701 Member
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    For 3, it's about $450. Meats are always on the list, along with fruits and vegetables. We don't eat a lot of bread or cereal, but I do by a couple of cartons of eggs (18 pack) a week.

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    About $800 - $,1000 for a family of four...but this is more than just food...basically that's our monthly expenditure for all of the different things we need for which food is a substantial portion...but we have diapers, dog food, alcohol, clothes, etc. all wrapped up in that number...we've never bothered to break it out, mostly because most of our shopping is done at Costco.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    $1000-1200 for my parents and myself. And then $150-200 stocking up at the butcher shop every other month.
  • Vune
    Vune Posts: 673 Member
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    $140 for one and a half people. My boyfriend and I split weekend costs. I subsist on fruits, veggies, eggs, tuna, and cheap cuts of meat throughout the week. I used to buy fresh fish when it was on sale, then the cod worm happened.
  • ti807910
    ti807910 Posts: 2 Member
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    My husband and I spend about $400/month but that can sometimes include big ticket items like needing to buy more olive oil or huge bag of basmati rice (about $15 each) which can throw it off. Some weeks we spend as little as $60/week. We eat all of our meals at home and are vegetarian which helps a ton. It is so cheap to buy our food. We don't buy organic, because it gets crazy expensive. Things we splurge on are veggie specific items (like fake meat products or veggie parmesan) though we don't buy those often.

    Some of recipes we rotate weekly:
    Rice and beans - At least 4 servings. 2 cups of rice and 1 lb bag of beans... Total cost is less than $2.
    Baked potatoes with cheese, chives and broccoli - 2 servings, Total cost is about $3.50
    Pasta - At least 4 servings. onion, pasta, can of tomatoes, spices. Cost is about $3
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,286 Member
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    between 1200 and 1600 depending what's on the list, (we host a family dinner once every other month, participate in work potlucks, etc) this is just food- does not include formula, diapers, dog food, bathroom stuff, etc. we shop at whole foods, safeway, and costco. There's six of us =) and to be honest I just get when we want/need. we eat healthy, but I do not price compare or cut coupons.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    About $200/month for us two... it really depends where you live and where you shop. :)
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
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    I am at 140.00 a month for one person
  • spygirl821
    spygirl821 Posts: 2
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    I spend about $300/month to feed myself and my boyfriend. It would be lower but I eat an entirely vegetarian/whole foods/organic/non-gmo diet which can be pricey. I highly recommend growing your own food to cut down on costs! All spring/summer I grow as much food as possible & can it to cut down on the all-year grocery costs :)
  • nicola1141
    nicola1141 Posts: 613 Member
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    Like some others above, we're at about $800-$1000 for a family of 4, including diapers, toiletries, cat food, etc.
  • jonnyman41
    jonnyman41 Posts: 1,032 Member
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    no idea about the dollar to the pound but I live in the uk and spend roughly £ 200 every two to three weeks for three adults (One grown up son) That includes dog food and also laundry and toiletries e.g washing powder. Don't try to cut the budget but do look for bargain offers like fresh meat packs on 3 for £10 etc. That includes foods for packed lunches too
  • SuggaD
    SuggaD Posts: 1,369 Member
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    around $500 for 3 people
  • notnikkisixx
    notnikkisixx Posts: 375 Member
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    I spend between $200-$300 to feed myself and (occasionally) the boyfriend. I buy a lot of produce and higher-quality foods...so I think that is why it is so high. Also, sometimes my booze budget falls into my grocery category.
  • NateMcG76
    NateMcG76 Posts: 44 Member
    edited March 2015
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    About $1k here, but that's everything for the month. Food, toiletries, cat stuff, laundry, cleaning.. Family of 5.
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
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    In Chicago here....I feed 5 people (2 adults, 3 kids (7,5,4)) on $500 a month. That includes all health and beauty items, and all paper products. It does not account for our animals or the baby's items like diapers and formula.

    We eat meat with every meal...75% beef. The rest chicken. We rarely eat eggs. My kids INHALE fruit. This week I bought 9# of clementines, 6# bananas, 5# apples, 4# plums, 4# grapes, 8 kiwi, 1# guava and 3# strawberries. If I'm lucky that will last the entire week.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,280 Member
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    Way too much. Right now I am at $500 a month for myself but that does include more then groceries. That amount also takes into account what the cats need, cleaning supplies, paper products, health and beauty, etc etc. So it is really a catch all section.

    I also can't always buy what is on sale or what the coupons are for due to having a medical condition that is very food sensitive.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I spend about 40$/week on food. I don't typically dine out myself- but I eat with my BF out for dinner at least once when he is here- sometimes twice- but he pays typically so it usually does not come from my budget.

    that's about 160- but add in random trips- higher bills for "essentials" or when there is a big can goods sale- and or when I go out to eat by myself- I'd say 200 is a comfortable number for monthly food.
  • JohnBarth
    JohnBarth Posts: 672 Member
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    My wife and I probably spend $4-500 on groceries each month. I'm of the philosophy that I really couldn't care less about my grocery bill because it's hundreds of dollars less than if we were dining out regularly as we have in the past.

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