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How much do you/should you spend on food (US)?

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Replies

  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
    edited August 2019
    To add a Canadian perspective on the food - roughly 1000 a month for food for 3, pet food and supplies (1 cat) and drugstore items (washing and cleaning supplies, shampoos, etc.) Including coffees and any lunches out. We rarely do takeout or restaurants so those would be included. We make no effort to be frugal when purchasing but we almost never throw food out. Don't buy bulk but rarely buy organic either.

    Edited because hit post too soon.
  • KerrieA87
    KerrieA87 Posts: 167 Member
    I’m U.K. based and we spend possibly upto £2000 most months on combined groceries and eating out. I definitely believe we could cut it down by more than half on a regular basis. Just last month I refused to buy anything because I was fed up of topping up food when we already had fridges and freezers full, one meal plan and less than £50 later we had 21 evening and lunch meals for 2 adults and 3 kids with options left over. I just don’t have the patience or stamina to keep up to it
  • missjck2
    missjck2 Posts: 146 Member
    I spend about $425 a month grocery shopping, just my dog and I. I also live in Alaska where the cost of living is super expensive.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    There are so many contributing factors here....where you live, your income level, your way of eating, and your budget priorities.

    My husband and I spend around $500-600 per month on groceries. We only eat out a few times a month.

    We live in a large urban area in the US with a high cost of living.

    I could probably cut this budget in half if I needed to. We are not "rich", but comfortable enough to include nice wine, fresh seafood, and high-end meats in our regular meals. I could easily save money by cutting back on the "luxury" items and shopping at discounted grocery stores. It's all about priorities...we really like cooking good food at home, and like our wine and treats, so that's where we spend our money.
  • happysquidmuffin
    happysquidmuffin Posts: 651 Member
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    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 well

    That’s a good point, comparison of all those factors helps paint a more accurate picture of whether you’re spending a lot on food or about the right amount. It’s crazy how huge the difference in cost of living is in the USA. $40K in Idaho vs $40K in California or New York, for example. Huge difference in spending power.

  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    happysquidmuffin wrote: »
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    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 well

    That’s a good point, comparison of all those factors helps paint a more accurate picture of whether you’re spending a lot on food or about the right amount. It’s crazy how huge the difference in cost of living is in the USA. $40K in Idaho vs $40K in California or New York, for example. Huge difference in spending power.

    Definitely for housing. A 600sqft condo in San Francisco would buy you a mansion in most parts of the country. Actually just checked and prices have dropped in SF. Can get a 2bd 1 bath condo with almost 1000sqft (with no yard at all) for under a million now. Price per sqft ($1,027):

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1800-Turk-St-APT-303-San-Francisco-CA-94115/15084450_zpid/

    In Des Moines Iowa that gets you a 6bd 7ba ~6k sqft mansion with a gigantic yard and what looks to be a second house in the backyard that is probably in itself bigger than the San Fran one. Price per sqft ($168):

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4212-Cherrywood-Ct-West-Des-Moines-IA-50265/866938_zpid/

    I need to look into telecommuting.

  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,750 Member
    I grew up in SF & Daly City. Before we moved to central CA, we looked at homes to buy in SF, the average price was $23,000. This was in the mid 70's
  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
    We spend a large percentage of take-home income on food (mixed grocery, as I call it, also includes hygiene and TP, pet food, etc). We spend about $200/week, which is like just over 30% of take-home pay. We are a single income family, 2 adults, 3 kids, a dog, and a cat. We don't have a mortgage (live with family). I don't think we could afford it. I did not really realize how much of our income went to food until now. We've tried to spend less, but then the next week we end up spending more to compensate. But honestly, that is $40 per person each week, which is quite low.
  • Lattesweet
    Lattesweet Posts: 236 Member
    edited September 2019
    We live in New York City and typically we spend over $700 a month on groceries alone for two people ( not even including the coffee trips and eating out..). We also feed our cat raw food and that runs us around $80ish every month. We also go out every weekend and spend usually around $100 at a time. We like cafes and exploring new restaurants/food eateries often. We both enjoy and prioritize food so we don’t mind spending money ..we shop at Whole Foods weekly and sometimes Trader Joe’s.

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