your food budget-just curious

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NoAdditives
NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm curious, what is your monthly or weekly food budget and how many people does it feed? I thought I was doing well with spending as little as possible while still getting high quality, organic food. But from some comments in a thread earlier I'm thinking I may be wrong.

I have a family of 5: two adults, a preschooler, a toddler, and a breastfeeding infant who will soon be starting on solids. The max I have to spend on food each month is $476. I took on our food budget as sort of a challenge. My husband was spending at least $800 when he was in charge. Now I plan all our meals in advance and rarely deviate from our list. I know that I'm saving us at least $300 a month, and that's a huge improvement. But, it seems that some people are criticizing me for "bragging" about all the money I spend on food. Doing the math, I calculated that I spend $1.06 per person, per meal. (Yes, I count my baby since I'm eating close to double now that I'm making 50+ ounces of milk a day.) That doesn't sound extravagant to me, but maybe I'm wrong.

So, I'm wondering what others spend on food. I'm not going to judge or criticize, I'm simply curious.
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Replies

  • ArchyJill
    ArchyJill Posts: 548 Member
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    Great question!! We're trying to reign in our spending but still eat healthy. If I sit down and plan it all out and dont cave at the store I can manage $150/week for two adults, two dogs, and the baby. The closest thing to junk food we buy is beer/wine and the occassional bag of tortillas chips. I have to say though, for us eating healthy is very expensive and there's no way we could afford the organic section of the store. We live in the middle of nowhere high desert so there are no local farms and fresh veggies of any sort are pricey. We grow what we can, but with out ultra short growing season and drought conditions it doesn't amount to much.
  • Jewel0124
    Jewel0124 Posts: 119 Member
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    I'm unemployed so my food budget is EXTREMELY tight especially with the high cost of gas. I shop weekly which helps with meal planning. Since it's just my daughter and myself I spend around $250-300 a month. I plan my meals around sales and coupons (which helps). Luckily the warm weather months are coming and I can buy my fruits and veggies from one of the many farmer's markets in the area.
  • Mirdir
    Mirdir Posts: 39 Member
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    If absolutely everything you buy is organic I think that is actually a pretty decent number for a month. But ours for two adults and two dogs (Who get homemade dog food so they count too!) can range from $350 - $500 depend on the season and month and the only one who doesn't eat compleatly clean and organic is me (I'm a work in progress).
  • lelesmama
    lelesmama Posts: 26 Member
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    I have the exact same size family as you! And, we spend about exactly what you spend monthly! We rarely go out to eat so we can afford to buy super high quality local foods including pastured chickens, grass-fed beef, raw milk, etc. $8.00 a week on a gallon of raw milk sends our budget high! But, it is a bizarre culture that would blow all their money on an expensive car or house and neglect to nourish their own bodies with the proper food. I used to be turned off by the price of organic, but after seeing that little girls organic potato experiment Youtube video, I don't feel bad about shelling out at all! I order $5.70 jars of peanut butter (pure REAL peanut butter) and I just ordered 5 lbs of organic peanuts for the kids to snack on for $30.99!! These prices are crazy high, but I won't feed my family junk. Period. But I try to stay within a reasonable range for my family so we don't break the bank. I'm not sure how we are going to afford this lifestyle as my family grows bigger and my children get older??? Maybe we will have to buy some land and grow our own!!
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    About $100 a $200 per week for me and my two kids.

    I have been getting much much better. Using portions, for example, I am saving tons of money now. Food just lasts longer.
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    I buy just for me. I spend £30 a week, which is for meals, snacks and drinks.

    My fiance spends £10 a week on his groceries.
  • TKHappy
    TKHappy Posts: 659 Member
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    I make meal plans for the week, make a list and pretty much stick to it, have a family of 5 (husband, 14yr old, 10yr old, 9yr old and myself) and we spend anywhere from $100 - $200 dollars a week on groceries (this sometimes includes cleaning supplies and toilet paper and so on). About $50-$70 of that a week goes towards fresh fruits and veggies, if not more. We buy our meat on managers special to cut down, and we use coupons....we do eat out once a week but it is usually pizza! We also have dietary needs for each person in my house to follow, we have a diabetic, one with a dairy and gluten sensativety, and two vegetarians. Like someone else said I would rather spend more money on food to make sure we are eating healthy than wasting it on material things. :)
  • Maldivesbeachbodplease
    Maldivesbeachbodplease Posts: 444
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    I buy just for me. I spend £30 a week, which is for meals, snacks and drinks.

    My fiance spends £10 a week on his groceries.

    Wow! that is good going!! can i ask what you have on an average day please? i find eating clean/healthy is really expensive but i'm doing it anyway because my health is important to me and i am determined to shift the rest of my weight.
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    I buy just for me. I spend £30 a week, which is for meals, snacks and drinks.

    My fiance spends £10 a week on his groceries.

    Wow! that is good going!! can i ask what you have on an average day please? i find eating clean/healthy is really expensive but i'm doing it anyway because my health is important to me and i am determined to shift the rest of my weight.

    I'm not necessarily the most healthy person (nowhere near clean eating). My breakfasts are cereal (Asda brand), weekday lunches are wraps with a Cheestring, some cooked sliced chicken and Philly Light, and evening meals are usually turkey spaghetti bolognese, some kind of thin cut meat steak with potatoes/sweet potato and vegetables, or a roast dinner.

    Then, if I'm having treats I'll have a baked potato with tuna, or a pizza. Snacks are generally light crisps and chocolate biscuits, and I buy 14L of flavoured water.
  • shorty313
    shorty313 Posts: 432 Member
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    I spend about $100-150 a week for two adults, a preschooler and a toddler. It seems to alternate a $100 week followed by a $150 week. Both kids eat like teenagers, lol, they eat constantly! I buy organic as much as our budget allows - milks, eggs, chicken, selected produce. We also bought 1/6 of a grass fed cow, so I don't need to buy meat. We rarely eat out (mostly because eating out with a toddler sucks :P ). I find with menu planning there is very little waste.
  • bio_fit
    bio_fit Posts: 307 Member
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    Just for me, about £20-30 per week :smile:
  • jillomahony
    jillomahony Posts: 23 Member
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    It is just me and my husband and we spend 100-150 a euros on groceries to eat healthy. It i so expensive, and we can barely handle that much, but it is important.
  • tisha220
    tisha220 Posts: 13
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    I spend $200-250 a week on two adults, two teenagers, and two kids and a dog. This includes one vegetarian and two finicky eaters!!
  • mousepaws22
    mousepaws22 Posts: 380 Member
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    I have £100 a month for food- absolutely cannot afford any more than that, but I usually manage to stick to it, I try to buy meat when it's on offer, buy reduced items etc. I can't afford to buy organic.
  • silmeria2
    silmeria2 Posts: 13
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    For two adults and two dogs (we count the dogs because we tend to be pickier about what they're eating than what we're eating) We spend about $220 dollars a week. I plan all the meals in advance, and buy organic or all natural whenever I can. I also buy specialty meats like ostrich which cost more.
  • sarahkatara
    sarahkatara Posts: 826 Member
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    Mine is no more than $160 every two weeks for me and my fiancee. I eat a lot of eggs and protein shakes toward the end of the two- week cycle! Hopefully we are both going to be seeing our paychecks go up and be able to spend more. I love having fresh produce for each week but if i buy too much it goes bad :/ I make the budget work by couponing (no, i'm not crazy about it!), as there are sites online where you can print out coupons for free. We also shop for certain things at certain places. We use Winn-Dixie (like Kroger's, Publix, etc) or Wal-Mart for most things. However, to keep the cost of meat down we shop at a sort of market-style store called Penn Dutch and that has cut our meat and produce bill at least by a 1/3-1/2. Then, we visit the Dollar Tree and Big Lots for snacks, frozen dinners (when you're waiting for the next paycheck, these come in handy, whether or not they're great for you!), lots of frozen veggies, etc. Also, all products like toiletries and household items are bought at the $1 store or big lots which saves sooo much money. For example, I buy my fiancee basically the same thing as Axe body spray for $1. I stock up on them for $5 and he doesn't run out for weeks. I do the same with my shampoos, toothpaste, deodorant, hair and makeup products, and many cleaning products too.

    lol sorry for the ramble but i've been shopping on a tight tight budget for about 2 years now so i've gotten pretty good. Good luck! :flowerforyou:
  • teagin2002
    teagin2002 Posts: 1,901 Member
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    300 a month with a $100 buffer for two adults, that does not include cleaning supplies or going out.
    We don't usually go over and I am the only one who eat fruits.
  • PapaverSomniferum
    PapaverSomniferum Posts: 2,677 Member
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    I feed a family of 4, plus our numerous pets, on $250 a month groceries plus an extra $100 we consider our "junk food and restaurant" budget and a separate $30 a month I spend on a local farmer who delivers raw milk.

    We grow our own sprouts and greens in the house. We get our eggs from family chickens. I grow vegetables all summer. I buy flour/sugar/herbs/whole grains in bulk and bake all breads and such myself.

    It's not easy being poor, but we manage. The hardest part is cooking for our different needs. One of us is a vegetarian. One of us can't eat greasy food without stomach pain. One of us has a soy allergy.
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
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    We spend about $400-450 a month on food for a family of four (that includes things like toilet paper, dish soap, pet food, etc... too)...we try and stock up when things go on sale...so one week we may spend $150 and another week $80...I am hoping we can cut some of the $$ down a bit this summer since we have a nice garden in the summertime and there are a ton of farmers markets where the produce is local field grown and cheap....and easy to swing by after work and get exactly what you need for the next day and not having stuff go to waste
  • jenaissance
    jenaissance Posts: 302 Member
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    family of 5: me and hubby, 7 year old boy, 5 year old girl, 4 year old girl
    I try and stay as close to $200 every other week as I can. I shop for two weeks at a time on payday, and usually average about $180/trip. No ready-to-eat convenience foods, very few "snack" foods (the kids looove their fruit roll ups), we basically eat "clean". Mostly organic fruits and veggies, etc. This is a big change from a few years ago when I was spending upwards of $300/trip.

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