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How much do you/should you spend on food (US)?
Replies
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I WAS spending way too much money on food - but that's because I was being lazy and eating out all the time, and hardly cooking at home.
Started doing more cooking at home, cutting back on full meals, and my food budget was slashed in half.
I've lived on as little as $100/month (actually, less than that a few of those months). Don't recommend that, but I've done it.
Current food budget (which still includes all eating out) is approximately 8-10% of my monthly take home.
Generally eat pretty healthy, but I do vary which grocery store I go to based on prices and what I need to buy that week (for example, one store has cheap produce and some meats, but nearly everything else is WAY overpriced; another has cheaper and good condiments/sauces/frozen foods, etc; another has the best prices on canned goods and dairy products - you get the idea). Try to rotate my shopping a bit based on that.1 -
I would say about $800/month for a family of four, give or take. We go through a TON of fresh produce, my kids are huge fruit eaters and I eat a lot of vegetables because I can’t tolerate meat well. If my husband is bulking it’s always more expensive because he eats that much more but he’s a big eater anyways.0
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I live in a pretty unequal (income-wise) area, so while I technically live in one the poorest counties in Georgia I work as an engineer in a factory so the pay is high. So while I spend ~8% of my income on food (~$200 a month), my rent is the same as my food bill. We also have a college town right nearby with students whose parents are very rich and so while my spending is thrifty compared to them it's probably a little high compared to my neighbors, but here I could definitely feed one person for $150 a month without being too pressured.2
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It's just me & husband &6 dogs. We raised 4 kids that are grown. We spend about $400/month. We don't have to spend that much(we live in California) but without the children we are able to each have more foods we like-finally. We live in our first home we bought for 30+ years so we don't have a mortgage or credit cards. My husband had to quit working due to his health in 2005 & I worked full time till 4 years ago when I along with others got laid off after 15 years so now I work 12hrs/week. We're in our 60's. I CAN work more & make more $ to have more stuff but don't need to & don't need more stuff so we're willing to do with less & focus more on our family(we have 9 grand children) & friends. I also volunteer at a local animal rescue. My husbands lost all his extra weight a while back & could have gone back to work but decided to retire0
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We budget $250 per week, so $1000 a month. There’s 2 of us. Includes going out to dinner, alcohol & all groceries.0
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Packerjohn wrote: »Aaron_K123 wrote: »There was no way for me to save a year's mortgage plus down payment in California. They were taking too much tax when I had no write off and rent was sky high. I am grateful to be in a house now.
If you were able to save up enough for a downpayment then wouldn't continuing to wait longer and continuing to save allow you to save up enough to have both a downpayment and a financial cushion in case of job loss? I'm not saying you can't buy a house as soon as you have enough for a downpayment, obviously you can. I'm also not saying that you couldn't save money with a home over rental, obviously you can although unlikely at least until the mortgage is paid down. I'm just saying it isn't that financially prudent to purchase a house if the result is to completely empty out your bank account because that is extremely risky. It is hard to recover from defaulting on a mortgage and job loss or economic crashes can come with little warning (2008 anyone?). Buying a house without a safety net is gambling, it is a gamble that very well might pay off...but it is gambling. I'm just an advocate for prudence over basically betting that you won't lose your job in order to save a few extra thousand a year in the short-term.
I ended up taking out a loan on my 401K to get the money for the down payment. That was the only way I could do it. I was renting a modest 1 bedroom apartment and driving a paid off used car. Even now, with my write off I only see about 60% of my income in take home pay. That is how bad the tax situation is here. There was no way I could save up the money before.
wow, things have changed, I didn't know getting loans for a downpayment was even possible! I think you are doing very well to see 60% take home pay. well done!
edit for spelling
Thanks but I feel like as hard as I work that I deserve to take home more than 60% of what I earn.
Do you get state and federal tax refunds? If so, you have too much withheld from each paycheck. If you you're not getting a large refund you must have a very high income.
I don't. About 40% of what I make goes into taxes of one sort or another, and I usually end up cutting a check to the IRS when I file.
This whole we need the government to do _______ nonsense needs to stop. I can't afford it.4 -
I budget $650/month for groceries and $400/month for takeout/bar tabs/whatever else we buy. Just two people. This is after I did a serious look at budgeting. We were spending a significant amount more before I decided to start cooking at home. Cooking at home instead of take out is a huge money and calorie saver.0
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My city puts together a price list each month of what it costs to follow the governments nutritious/health eating recommendations.
I figured out the cost for my household (2 adults between age 31-50) it is $155.63 per week ($117.67 USD).
I have to say that is pretty darn accurate for what we are spending.2 -
I generally budget roughly 300 a month for myself (in an expensive coastal city). I'm careful with my grocery shopping - picking out cheaper stores, etc, but do include a fair amount of eating out - nothing fancy, but getting a coffee most morning, grabbing a burrito for lunch a few times a week, a drink on the weekend, etc. I could probably fairly easily cut the total down to under 200.0
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I spend around 400€ a month on food, in dollars that's approx euro to dollar 4460
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For 2 people we normally spend about 600 a month. We are in NYC. That doesn’t include going out to lunch or dinner a few times a week.0
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I honestly couldn’t tell you. I tend to be a thriftier shopper in the sense that I avoid paying full price on stuff but I don’t add it up.
I’m probably in the 300-500 a month range for just me. I don’t eat out as being a power lifter I’m on a pretty stringent eating regimen.
I eat 12oz of flank steak at night with 1 cup of sliced avocado turned into paste for dressing and a whole sweet potato. I eat a crap ton of brocolli and white rice as well as avocados. Most of the money I spend goes to chicken, salmon, steak, shrimp and avocados.
I try to stick with nutrient dense foods. I’m a creature of habit so once I get it down I’m good.1 -
Single and I spend about $100 a month on groceries. I do admittedly drink soda which is pretty expensive.1
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Wow you all spend a lot on groceries!!
2 adults plus a toddler plus a baby. We used to spend about $280/month on groceries, plus $60-100 eating out per month. Now, it’s about $350/mo groceries, $70/mo eating out regular months, or $120-ish for special months such as birthday or anniversary. We live in the northern Midwest, and are in a low cost of living area. We eat well, though don’t buy meat very often any more. I don’t feel like we’re bare-bones-beans-n-rice by any means. $350/mo felt high to me until I read this thread lol. Not anymore. It’s only about 6 to 8% of our variable take home pay.1 -
This got me thinking, I'm going to keep track now and see.
Problem is I'll pick up beans in Walmart along with a garden hose. Or a can of asparagus at Dollar Tree when I'm getting a greeting card. Or a sweater and cereal at Target.
It's hard to separate the food purchases out if it's not at a grocery store.1 -
on average 150-200 a week. that includes non food items like dog food and laundry detergent.
when hubby is working out of town and away (which he usually is) tack on another 50-75 between him eating out and groceries he buys to keep in his motel kitchenette
family of 3 and 4 dogs (1 on special food- i did not count her food into that since hers is ordered online and not done in the store)1 -
As a single adult who likes to cook from scratch but doesn't always have the time and energy, who shops at a mix of grocery stores (more at full-service, higher-priced grocery stores than at discount grocery stores), farm stands, and farmer markets, who probably eats less meat (from preference) than the average American, and who frequently buys specialty produce and other pricier niche products out of curiosity, I spend about $200 a month at the grocery store (although that also includes most of my toiletries, cleaning products, and paper products such as paper towels and toilet paper), and probably on average about $120 a month dining out or getting carry out/delivery. I also occasionally order products I can't find in my grocery store online (specialty flours and beans, products I used to find in the grocery store and don't anymore). I only do that a few times a year, but shipping costs tend to encourage large orders. My best guess is that it would average to about another $40 a month.
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I spend about $80 a week for just myself. That's $320 a month, and I think it's a bit too much. I was eating one avacado a day, and I've cut that down to 1/2 per day. I need to look at where I'm spending my money, because I don't buy anything overly pricey. I don't eat a lot of meat, and I've been going vegan recently. Pasta is cheap. I bought these vegan sausages for $5, but that gives me 4 servings. Mushrooms, brocolli, wild rice, almond milk. Every other week it's either chicken or grass fed beef. The beef is $6, but I can get 3 days worth. Chicken will last me 2 weeks. I consume about 3,000 calories. I also buy nuts, peanut butter, 85% dark chocolate. It just ads up. $3 here. $5 here. $4 there. I also do everything at home. Food prep on Sat and Sunday. Oh, and I also do a full fast on Sunday, so I'm not even eating then. My groceries are only for 6 days.2
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shrinking_amazonian wrote: »My city puts together a price list each month of what it costs to follow the governments nutritious/health eating recommendations.
I figured out the cost for my household (2 adults between age 31-50) it is $155.63 per week ($117.67 USD).
I have to say that is pretty darn accurate for what we are spending.
Wow! What a great service your city provides. I wish more cities did this.0 -
Two adults and four teenagers (18, 15, 14, 11), plus three cats and a fish, under one roof. I diligently split my grocery bills into a number of categories. Looking at just FOOD and TREATS (soda, cookies, etc) we spend about $900/mo. That number swells to over $1500 when we factor in cleaning supplies, hygiene, pet supplies and dining out, which we do way too often (typically burgers at lunch and pizza at dinner 2-3 times per week).
When we were playing host to 4 additional persons (3 young adults and an infant, all homeless til we took them in and got them on their feet), our groceries bill ballooned to over 25% of our take-home.1 -
We spend a ton on food, about £1200 a month in central London but that includes rather a lot of decent wine. We mostly cook from scratch but buy some prepared stuff like taramasalata and prosciutto. We do buy some rather decadent ingredients like fresh artichokes and asparagus, duck, sashimi grade fish, nut oils because I like to cook.5
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Packerjohn wrote: »Aaron_K123 wrote: »There was no way for me to save a year's mortgage plus down payment in California. They were taking too much tax when I had no write off and rent was sky high. I am grateful to be in a house now.
If you were able to save up enough for a downpayment then wouldn't continuing to wait longer and continuing to save allow you to save up enough to have both a downpayment and a financial cushion in case of job loss? I'm not saying you can't buy a house as soon as you have enough for a downpayment, obviously you can. I'm also not saying that you couldn't save money with a home over rental, obviously you can although unlikely at least until the mortgage is paid down. I'm just saying it isn't that financially prudent to purchase a house if the result is to completely empty out your bank account because that is extremely risky. It is hard to recover from defaulting on a mortgage and job loss or economic crashes can come with little warning (2008 anyone?). Buying a house without a safety net is gambling, it is a gamble that very well might pay off...but it is gambling. I'm just an advocate for prudence over basically betting that you won't lose your job in order to save a few extra thousand a year in the short-term.
I ended up taking out a loan on my 401K to get the money for the down payment. That was the only way I could do it. I was renting a modest 1 bedroom apartment and driving a paid off used car. Even now, with my write off I only see about 60% of my income in take home pay. That is how bad the tax situation is here. There was no way I could save up the money before.
wow, things have changed, I didn't know getting loans for a downpayment was even possible! I think you are doing very well to see 60% take home pay. well done!
edit for spelling
Thanks but I feel like as hard as I work that I deserve to take home more than 60% of what I earn.
Do you get state and federal tax refunds? If so, you have too much withheld from each paycheck. If you you're not getting a large refund you must have a very high income.
Not necessarily, if she did mean take home pay versus [gross pay-taxes]. Actual take home pay will also be after deductions for medical insurance (if through employer) and any 401K contributions, and not just taxes. The 60% may or may not have been adjusted for that. My take home pay is 65%, with my employer covering 2/3 of the health insurance premium. Only ~20% is going to statutory deductions (taxes) in my case.0 -
This discussion is interesting, and I'm learning that my ideas on what constitutes spending a lot of money on food needed expanding.
I'm currently in a 2-adult, single-income household. We budget (and spend) $500 on groceries and $70 on eating out every month. We also take it out in cash at the beginning of the month so we know how much we have to spend in each bucket at any given point during the month. Some months we might splurge and up the restaurant budget to go out somewhere nice, but that's our typical budget.
Looking at our budgets YTD we've been spending anywhere from 10-13% of my take home pay on food. We don't scrimp on food, although I do look for coupons/sales because it just seems like a wise financial choice. I know we could knock down our food budget if I meal planned more, but I just haven't made it a priority recently. I feel like food is reasonably priced where I am. It's less expensive than when I lived in New England, but I also get less variety in my grocers.1 -
I don't cook, so that impacts my food budget considerably. I spend about $100 a week on a meal delivery service, plus a trip to the grocery for snacks, drinks, household stuff etc. Then I probably spend another $50 or so a week on dining out. I just figure food is like gas--you need it, so you just pay whatever it costs and make it work.2
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happysquidmuffin wrote: »Wow you all spend a lot on groceries!!
2 adults plus a toddler plus a baby. We used to spend about $280/month on groceries, plus $60-100 eating out per month. Now, it’s about $350/mo groceries, $70/mo eating out regular months, or $120-ish for special months such as birthday or anniversary. We live in the northern Midwest, and are in a low cost of living area. We eat well, though don’t buy meat very often any more. I don’t feel like we’re bare-bones-beans-n-rice by any means. $350/mo felt high to me until I read this thread lol. Not anymore. It’s only about 6 to 8% of our variable take home pay.
2 adults plus 2 toddlers and we spend about $1000 to $1200 a month on food although we live in a city that is top 5 in the nation fir cost of living. That is about 8 to 10% of our take home and about 33% relative to our mortgage. I think as dollars there will be a lot of range but as percent of take-home or percent of mortgage or housing costs people will be pretty similar as that sort of normalizes to the cost of living of the area. Subjectively I feel like if your food costs are less than 10% of your take home you are doing pretty well2 -
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"I think the only way we could do it cheaper is if we cut out all flour based items (celiacs so we need to buy gluten free - as it is, I limit the house to 2 loaves a week) , stopped nuts and seeds and really limited meat."
gluten free means "cut out all flour based items" no bread
Not sure who you are quoting, but not all flour is made from wheat. Not all flour has gluten.3 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Aaron_K123 wrote: »There was no way for me to save a year's mortgage plus down payment in California. They were taking too much tax when I had no write off and rent was sky high. I am grateful to be in a house now.
If you were able to save up enough for a downpayment then wouldn't continuing to wait longer and continuing to save allow you to save up enough to have both a downpayment and a financial cushion in case of job loss? I'm not saying you can't buy a house as soon as you have enough for a downpayment, obviously you can. I'm also not saying that you couldn't save money with a home over rental, obviously you can although unlikely at least until the mortgage is paid down. I'm just saying it isn't that financially prudent to purchase a house if the result is to completely empty out your bank account because that is extremely risky. It is hard to recover from defaulting on a mortgage and job loss or economic crashes can come with little warning (2008 anyone?). Buying a house without a safety net is gambling, it is a gamble that very well might pay off...but it is gambling. I'm just an advocate for prudence over basically betting that you won't lose your job in order to save a few extra thousand a year in the short-term.
I ended up taking out a loan on my 401K to get the money for the down payment. That was the only way I could do it. I was renting a modest 1 bedroom apartment and driving a paid off used car. Even now, with my write off I only see about 60% of my income in take home pay. That is how bad the tax situation is here. There was no way I could save up the money before.
wow, things have changed, I didn't know getting loans for a downpayment was even possible! I think you are doing very well to see 60% take home pay. well done!
edit for spelling
Thanks but I feel like as hard as I work that I deserve to take home more than 60% of what I earn.
Do you get state and federal tax refunds? If so, you have too much withheld from each paycheck. If you you're not getting a large refund you must have a very high income.
Not necessarily, if she did mean take home pay versus [gross pay-taxes]. Actual take home pay will also be after deductions for medical insurance (if through employer) and any 401K contributions, and not just taxes. The 60% may or may not have been adjusted for that. My take home pay is 65%, with my employer covering 2/3 of the health insurance premium. Only ~20% is going to statutory deductions (taxes) in my case.
Typically take home pay is defined as gross pay less statutory deduction (taxes). Things like insurance and 401k contributions would not be considered as reductions in take home pay when applying for a loan, etc.0 -
single dude here..I probably average $125 a week ..but I buy a lot of meat. I prepare most of my meals and rarely eat out.0
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tbright1965 wrote: »
I don't. About 40% of what I make goes into taxes of one sort or another, and I usually end up cutting a check to the IRS when I file.
This whole we need the government to do _______ nonsense needs to stop. I can't afford it.
I pay 40% (a bit more actually) in Canada and am very happy with it - it gets me free healthcare, free education for my kids, plus al the usual infrastructure law enforcement etc. benefits, a social safety net should I ever need it, and the peace of mind and satisfaction of knowing I live in a peaceful and just society that values solidarity.
In my view, governments do need to do ________, and taxes are the easiest way to afford it, but some governments dont do it. I can commisaretae
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