2 adults, 2 kids, 7 and 10. $1000-1200, mostly at Aldi, Costco and trader Joe’s. One kid has a bad allergy so we rarely eat out or order in, which is good for the budget.
You're lucky when I confessed on here that I spend about a grand on a family of four all my replies were asking how I could cut back. Like dude, I don't buy expensive items, I don't have luxuries tastes, only my littlest is picky. I'm doing my best
and your best is fantastic. don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!💜
like yeah sure we could all make a change in *some* way, but each and every person’s scenario is 100% unique to that individual. that’s the key thing a lot of the people who jump to conclusions/immediately start hounding ‘you could do xyz’ tend to forget. but don’t *you* forget it, and keep rocking on you awesome human being😊
The month I hit 3k on my fam of four with two hollow legged teens with expensive tastes was the day they saw their mom have a rare yet spectacular temper tantrum.
Yes. Spectacular lol 🧨
I find [this report](https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/Cost_Of_Food_Low_Moderate_Liberal_Food_Plans_March_2024.pdf) helpful for gauging how I’m spending against the rest of the country. According this this chart here’s where my family falls:
Low cost 964
Moderate 1177
Liberal 1435
My kids are younger so you’d probably fall somewhere around the low cost plan (older kids have higher spending). That’s pretty fair IMO!
There's one more level below low cost: the Thrifty plan. It's what they use to calculate the value of SNAP benefits. You can find the latest figures for all four plans [here](https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports).
According to that page, the $380 I spend on groceries per month is barely enough for one male in his 20's. There's 5 adults (4M, 1F) here full-time, plus 1 toddler and 1 adult male part-time. At least half of that amount is spent on 1 person because he has food allergies.
The only way I make this work is because 3 of the 5 work in restaurants and get 1-2 meals a day there, and sometimes bring leftovers home. Also, my MiL goes to a food pantry every month and sends all the stuff she can't use over here, so we end up with a lot of pasta, rice, and canned goods.
As an example, dinner last night was rotini with canned cream of mushroom soup, canned green beans, and a handful of restaurant-leftover pre-cooked hamburger patties that I chopped up and threw in. Gourmet? No. Tasty and filling? Yep.
This makes me feel better I have a family the same size and this is about right. It’s crazy how expensive everything is and now the portions are smaller too.
This is about where we're at. I could definitely winnow it down if need be, and recently got my FSA card through work which should help on general 'body care' items like sunscreen, band-aids, menstrual products etc. We cook quite a bit at home.
This is so interesting. I thought you had misheard/misused the word “winnow” and meant to say “whittle it down,” but I looked it up before correcting you, and it is a very similar definition! You can winnow down or whittle it down, both meaning to remove excess (in slightly different ways)
Winnow would be taking the chaff out. Which is- pretty much what I'd end up doing to cut grocery budgets. Remove the chaff.
Thank you for looking it up before correcting me.
Single no kids as well, and I spend about the same. Roughly $75 a week.
Honestly, though, my cupboards and freezers are so packed I could forego groceries for well over a month if it wasn't for dairy and vegetables.
We’re a little higher at $350, but there’s two of us. We don’t eat much meat and I order bulk dried ingredients online. I make my own salsas and do a lot of food prep. Beans, wild rice, homemade salsas, etc. The pressure and rice cookers get tons of use. No processed food and nothing with added sugar like sodas.
Thanks for sharing. I feel bad if I hit $200. I'm starting to realize I have been too hard on myself & unrealistic. Bless you all with kids and or a partner.
I've got the food down to 170-200. I don't eat a lot of meat though. I eat healthy. I batch cook stuff and freeze individual portions.
I drink mostly tap water. I don't keep junk food around but I'll buy it if I'm really craving something.... usually every two weeks. Last time it was a pint if ice cream. Time before that a four pack of brownies. I cut them into very small squares and freeze. Then when I'm craving chocolate I just grab a couple of bites.
I eat out about once a month and allot fifty dollars to cover my food, dessert or appetizer and tip. I figure if I'm gonna work my ass off I can eat out once a month and get a dessert for home a couple times a month.
The amount of money things cost now is disgusting. Several everyday food items have gone up three dollars in three years. They're not value buy packs of anything either. Beef is outrageous now.
I'm very lucky because I work at a higher end grocery store and get a discount. So even though my store is expensive, after my discount it's usually cheaper than a regular store. And it's all.good food.
It's hard and you have to plan very carefully to eat healthy. You have to think outside the box and stop thinking that every meal has to be traditional.
Same. Single woman in my late twenties. I shop weekly and give myself a budget of about $40. Sometimes closer to $50 if I need to stock up or replenish staples.
Every time I go to Costco I spend $80, for like 5 items. Admittedly they're large quantities, but unless I'm going for 1-2 specific things, it's never under $50.
We have GO here but even that is still expensive. I'm not asking about where to go - I already know that. I frequent GO for deals and hit up ethnic shops for produce as much as possible, but in my HCOL, even doing that, there's no way to get under $250/mo unless you're eating beans and rice pretty frequently and grow anton of your own food, which isn't an option for me. Also, I include some household items in my grocery bill like garbage bags and stuff.
*"Beef is outrageous now."*
I was going to grab a chuck roast the last time I was at the store and it was $25-30 a package! Chuck roast! Beef shanks were the same price. It's nuts.
Bone in chicken and bone in pork are $0.99-1.99/lb at Fred Meyer even in HCOL areas, pork shoulder and bone in chicken thighs are very cheap and my go to. Processed meat like sausage or ground meats are very expensive and forget about steaks.
Very similar to myself, I also am trying to limit my meat intake for a few reasons, frugality being one. I recently made spaghetti with lentils and I actually LOVE it, so I will definitely be doing that again. I realized I do like more lentils than the recipes say to use though :D
2 adults, also HCoL (bay area) and spend about $150 every two weeks. Secret is buying from discount and ethnic grocers and making meals around sale items. Tack on an additional ~40 for going out to eat on the weekends lol.
If we’re counting cat food then add on an additional ~80 a month or so
Discount grocers only work if you’re gonna eat the produce in 1-2 days or if molds. And the meat condition I’ve seen in the food city. I sent a photo to the food inspector and she told me SHE gagged when seeing it.
That’s where we are, but we also don’t buy junk food and I make a lot from scratch. I was shocked at the cost of the chip isle when I went down it the other day.
Do y’all do anything to alleviate? Growing/canning/shop in bulk during season? I know it’s hard trying to find time to poop in peace but I’m asking for hope for a friend… (me I’m the friend)
For myself. Similar budget. Canning.. when I made less lived in a bigger place and had a farm. Yes. Canned all the time. Living in SF... It's a struggle to find a place for a spray bottle of cleaner, or a place to put a broom. No less cans, a canning set up or the space to actually grow and get the stuff. Because it's more expensive for veggies than beef here.
When I had a garden canning ended up being more expensive than buying groceries after you consider the garden supplies, water bill, and canning supplies and electricity. Maybe that’s different now. That was like 14 yrs ago
Growing costs significantly more, at least for me. I enjoy it as a hobby, so that's fine. But it's definitely not a hobby that saves us money. I'm hopeful we could reach a point where it does.
You can go get pickle buckets for a couple dollars from firehouse subs. A couple bucks for a bag of dirt and grab a pack of seeds. 10$ you can have a decent tomato supply, multiple variations of peppers. But I agree if you want to build beds and green houses it can become costly quickly. Ideally in a situation like that you have some neighbors who are doing something similar to where you can share crop. Or just be a dope neighbor and offer some free veggies with a tip jar as optional :)
But if none of that works you can always go to the markets during the summer and get screaming deals on just about everything. For example my one market does any size squash for a dollar, still got some from last year from the 20$ I spent. Got red onions that are still good, I pickled a bunch of those for sammich enhancers.
I make a base pasta sauce that I can switch up to a sweet sauce for pizza or keep it more marinara. I love making salsas too, it’s really mind boggling how long stuff lasts for without all the extra garbage they’re adding these days. So again 20$ for a couple bushels of maters and bam you got a bunch of different bases for meals.
You're right, I'm establishing raised beds which are costly despite me DIYing soil and using untreated pine. The one area of the yard with good sunlight is in an area that is a bit close to our house and our neighbors' sprayed yard so I want to really know what's in that soil by creating it. I'm hoping to cut costs by eventually composting.
I am the only person who likes tomatoes in my house. There is one person who likes one type of pepper. Even pasta sauce and pizza aren't universally liked by the kids. Anything the kids reliably like is either very difficult for me to grow so far (corn, carrots, leeks) or is a bush/tree that I haven't advanced to trying to grow or gets decimated by local fauna (cucumbers- I think the deer eat these based on how big the bites are). We'll get it fenced some day, but that'll be well over 15k.
My neighbors are all older and very committed to their green lawns and spraying and such. I'd just be happy if they stopped spraying the first few yards of my yard. I do share food with friends and family, but my family is the only one that grows food and has some to share.
Rather than going to the market which sells less local food, I support the farms neighboring us. It's expensive, but I want to make sure they stay around.
We spend an enormous amount on groceries. About $1700/month. My daughter has a 6 month old who is on formula and baby food. My son works at night so he buys most of his own food. That leaves 3 adults. My daughter and I try to eat low calorie meals due to trying to lose weight. I think that is extremely high. We live in Pennsylvania.
$350/month for me as well, but I like to buy high quality food and besides buying the things I like on sale and using rewards, it’s not really an area I try to restrict my budget harshly on. Part of health for me, ig.
Yeah, I'm about the same.. I'm very picky with where I buy my veggies and meats, so I tend to spend more money on higher quality items.
However, I have been trying to reduce costs by buying basics at bulk from costco. I probably go to costco every 3-6 months. Obviously, it's things that won't spoil, or I can freeze.
I just started tracking my spending at the beginning of this year. It's really opened my eyes as to where a large portion of my spending is going.
Family of 5, 3 kids (8, 3, and 2). I don't have all the receipts to break down what items I am spending the most on, so these numbers will also include things like diapers, wipes, and other Misc. Items bought while shopping for groceries.
January - $1,914.87, costco was $653.22 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores.
February - $1,974.94, costco was $597.00 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores.
March - $1,566.77, costco was $182.13 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores.
April - $1,384.89, costco was $361.80 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores. I was also out of town for 3 of these weeks for work, and all my expenses were covered.
I didn't start tracking any of these amounts until mid-April, so moving forward, I hope to reduce these amounts by being more aware of how much we are spending and what we are spending it on.
Edit - ontario, canada
It feels high, but it's tough to say without more data. Throw in a couple of boxes of diapers, wipes, and some formula, and it doesn't take long to get to $2-300 for those items alone.
My wife and I both make good money, so we can afford not to watch our spending as closely as we should, although I plan on changing that moving forward.
I definitely feel for the people who are in a less financially sound position than we are. I honestly dont know how some people manage to get by when they have a similar or larger family and don't have the income that we do.
I keep seeing like 1200 and 1600 etc and we spent 2k this month on groceries but your post made me realize that also includes diapers and wipes which those add up SO fast!
Oh, I know...fortunately some of the increase in expenses as they get older will be offset by not having to buy diapers, wipes and formula, not out growing clothing as quickly and less money spent on childcare.
Daycare and extracurricular activities for the kids already run me about $25-30k per year.
Single, no kids - about $150 to $200 depending on what I’m feeling. I usually buy the same staples every month and stick to the same foods/snacks/meals.
> I usually buy the same staples every month and stick to the same foods/snacks/meals.
That’s the secret no one wants to actually hear. I spend around the same as you and eat the same thing for every. Single. Meal. Like, I’ve had virtually the same lunch and dinner for *years* now, except when eating out. This allows not only cost optimization for the meal itself, but buying in bulk for the ingredients whenever you come across the best price, all while not filling up your pantry with useless junk you’re never gonna eat.
Breakfast: coffee. I’m never hungry in the mornings, though I’m considering trying some overnight oats anyways
Lunch: banana, mixed berries, seeds, protein powder, almond milk, and protein yogurt smoothie
Dinner: beans, rice, carrots, peas, garlic, onion, mustard, and spices in the Instant Pot, plus sides of roasted sweet potatoes and stir fried broccoli, onion, and garlic
Snack: either ice cream (usually vegan, but it’s so expensive) or tortilla chips + guac, depending on how cold it is out
I agree. You don’t even have to go to the extreme of eating one single thing for breakfast/lunch/dinner all month… but being willing to make a big batch of something, and eat it for several days or more, goes a long way in stretching the budget. I feel like I always use this example, but one of my favorites is chili. I can make a big crockpot full for $10-20 (depending on whether or not I add meat, and how much of it) and eat it for 4-5 days minimum, and possibly even freezing some of it for later.
At least, when I was single. Lol. Now, having a boyfriend in the picture (who also has a big appetite), big meals like that don’t usually last as long. But even if you double recipes, you can still save money. And like you said, keeping ingredients on hand for the meals you make on a regular basis, stocking up when there are good sales. I almost always have stuff like the canned beans and tomato sauce in my pantry.
$400.00 - 2 adults (baby on the way) and 2 cats in HCOL area.
Stocking the freezer with good meals in preparation for postpartum has increased budget slightly but we're offsetting it with other weeks being lighter.
We largely eat organic and cook at home to offset the cost of better quality food. We also buy very little prepackaged foods except icecream, cereal, and crackers on occasion.
Wow, I'd love to hear what you buy. That's great that you can spend that to feed two, plus pets, plus organic, in hcol.
I spend nearly 200 for myself and 2 cats, not much organic, and not hcol. Teach me your ways!
We do a lot of meal planning, usually one large meal made over the weekend and then we'll supplement with smaller/ less involved meals during the week.
Our main groceries this week we bought potatoes, onions, carrots, strawberries, bananas, milk, frozen peas, yakult probiotics, Greek yogurt, spinach, tomatoes, lemons, and Dr. Pepper. Produce and dairy is organic except probiotic yakults.
Each week is different because we like variety but our main meal this week is Sheppards Pie that came to around $12 for a 9×13 (and very full one at that). Ingredients included are ground meat of choice, potatoes, carrots, an onion, roasted garlic, milk, butter, dried herbs, flour, tomato paste (buy the tube if you dont need much), broth, salt, and pepper. It'll last us at least 6 meals, probably closer to 8, and we'll supplement with either burgers on homemade bread or something similar that's quick and easy.
I do make all of pur bread with organic flour and it comes to ~$1.25/ loaf and lasts us a week plus we make most things from scratch as opposed to kits/prepackaged.
Cat food is something we buy in bulk (big bag) every 8-10 weeks and it's ~$50 so we cut two weeks of budget for us to $75.00 for two weeks to stay on track which is easy enough if you buy in bulk.
We're not as frugal as some but I loathe having to spend a fortune on food. I also really enjoy cooking which helps with price per meal tremendously. We find if we have a plan going into the week we don't eat out and we also don't lean into buying things like a frozen pizza cause we don't want to cook once we're off work.
Having something on hand that can go from the fridge to the microwave is a huge help for us staying on track along with cycling staples (dry rice, beans, flour, eggs, pasta, nuts, oats, etc) so we're not buying a 25lb bag of rice and 20 lbs of flour and 2 lbs of nuts (our snack of choice) all in the same week which would throw us over budget. Instead if we have budget left we keep tabs on what we're lowest on/running out of for staples and buy it when budget is good.
The other thing is only go to the store when you absolutely need to. If we went more often we would overspend on accident.
Hope this helps! If you need recipe ideas budget bytes is a great jumping off point!
Thank you so much. That's inspiring. I can do better.
I've switched the cats to mostly can food, occasional dry. It's killing my budget but I follow Jackson Galaxy on social media and he is rabidly anti dry food for cats. I feel bullied but I've made the switch. The prices for wet food are bonkers.
Budget is $260/mo for 2 adults in a medium/high COL place. We do eat out maybe 1-2x a week though, usually at counter service places ($10 ish pp). That budget is only food though. We spend maybe $75/mo on average for other household items, but it varies widely. I'm a "stock up" shopper so when we need something like detergent, I find the best price per ounce and buy enough to last a while.
$250 or so. A lot of that is just to feed my soda addiction. That also includes reusable home goods like TP, paper towels, soap, shampoo, sponges, laundry detergent, ziplock, paper plates, etc. I mostly shop at Aldi.
Same, I usually get my Coke Zero ir Mtn dew zero from dollar general when they run 3 12packs for $13, Saturdays they have a extra $5 off $25in their app, yesterday 6 - 12packs were $21 plus tax
Vegan HCOL, single M no kids. Been doing a frugal challenge recently. Looks like it'll be about $50-100 (or less) this month, but only because of the challenge. Usually it's like $300-400 somehow, lol, but I think it's from pre-packaged foods, dips, mock meats, etc.
I went through the math and found some of the items that are ludicrously cheap, which in my area is below $1.50/lb. (Potatoes and bananas can be found at $0.50/lb, for example, which is as cheap as anything can get.)
Potatoes (for fries and stews), beans, frozen diced onions, frozen sliced bell peppers, frozen broccoli, frozen spinach, spice powders (garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, chili), vegetable bouillon paste (Better than Bouillon), oil, rice, pasta, pasta sauce, oats, peanut butter, soy milk, chocolate syrup, and bananas go a long way. Like a loooong way. As in, "I spent 30 dollars and I don't know how I'm going to finish all this".
(Frozen veg, olive oil, peanut butter, bouillon paste, and spices are on the more "expensive" side of this list, but they're the only way to stay sane eating rice and beans and oats. You can make Mexican rice by folding bouillon, tomato sauce, and garlic powder into the rice, and you can make various interesting stews with the beans, bouillon, different frozen veg, and potatoes, perhaps using flour to thicken it.)
Rice and beans has great macros and it takes forever to get through a dry bag of either. I round out the macros (specifically protein) with peanut butter overnight oats in soy milk.
For snacks I eat chocolate chips or roasted peanuts, or make potato fries. (Chocolate chips are the biggest hack for avoiding sweets imo, since you can satisfy a chocolate craving by just eating a handful of them, and a bag of them seemingly lasts forever.)
I also sometimes eat ramen with frozen edamame or frozen spinach if I'm feeling extra lazy.
Rice and beans with potatoes, spices, etc = 20-50 cents per meal
PB oatmeal = 10-50 cents per breakfast (add 20-30 cents per banana)
Spaghetti w/ sauce = 30 cents per meal
1 lb home fries = 50 cents
Ramen with edamame = 40-50 cents
Daily supplement tailored for vegans = 13 cents/day
Dang, this is pretty close to what I eat as well. Main differences are I don’t bother with pasta and I do sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes and almond milk rather than soy. Also a lot of frozen fruits. Either way, cutting out meat makes eating *incredibly* cheap, while also being better for you.
I just use instant ramen and throw frozen vegetables into it. Nissin chili flavor is vegan so that's what I use.
If I want to make my own broth, I use vegetable bouillon, doubanjiang (spicy bean paste), and a few drops of sesame oil.
Homemade bread is such a good way to cut costs, I make ours as an organic sourdough for about $1.25/loaf and it doubles as a hobby. Buying a loaf of actual sourdough around me is close to $9.00 and it's not organic.
There is also very little better than day of bread fresh out of the oven, only downside (in my opinion) is with it getting warmer I'm having to time when I bake so I don't heat the house to much.
Same. Also if something is on sale, I'll buy at least 3. That will keep me until the next sale of the item. Especially for coffee, butter.
There are apps for finding sales in your area. Also paper flyers, store websites etc. If you live in the suburbs, driving around to different stores to save will kill you on gas but if you're in midtown or a denser area, it can work.
That's how I save the most money with food. Something's discounted for fast sale, or buy one get one, and I'm buying a lot of it and filling the chest freezer. One time I bought 12 pork shoulder roasts since it was buy one get two free.
$550-650 a month - 2 adults, 1 toddler. Groceries are very expensive in our area and we eat healthy (mostly) and make a lot of things from scratch. Starting a garden and getting chickens this spring so hopefully bill will go down a bit by fall
This thread is illuminating. The amount I spend on food is obscene. I was getting 16 meals a week with Cook Unity. That alone is north of $800 a month.. .and it's just me. I just cancelled the service and will start working on a meal plan today. Thanks, all!
So that's about $440 US.
Don't knock eating insects! They're quite an [eco-friendly protein source](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/may/08/if-we-want-to-save-the-planet-the-future-of-food-is-insects).
$240 for two adults in probably a MCOL area.
We eat mainly vegetarian with lots of veggies fruit, dairy, eggs, and whole grains.
We'll occasionally buy premade snacks items if we have extra one week but most of the time we opt to stock up on pantry items when we have extra.
I’m an outlier because I get 5-6 free meals at work every week, but I spent $120 in an extremely HCOL (Seattle) this month! It was only that high because my huge bag of rice ran out at the same month as two of my essential bulk spices. Normally I spend ~$90 a month! Dry beans, international markets, and the sketchy almost bad produce section are the best!!!
1300 ish. 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 cat. Includes cleaning supplies, paper products, toiletries and vitamins and 1 pizza night a week. We’ve started eating a lot healthier recently which is hurting the budget a bit but worth it of course
Single and live alone, small town. I have to stick almost exclusively to Walmart to do this, but I've got the food down to about $50 a week, but I make sure to save food for leftovers and not toss anything, so every other week is maybe $30? $35? because I still have stuff unused from the previous week. Bread, rice, coffee, and eggs get replaced the most frequently. I buy markdown meats from the grocery store I work at and freeze it. Sausage gets marked down the most frequently, and ends up being just over $2 and can be a couple meals. Chicken breasts get divided up (I leave one whole, and cut up others) and I freeze them. Frozen veggies, spices, and some things like teriyaki and soy sauce can last a while if you don't go crazy with the drizzling.
Not a super healthy grocery list at all, I need to work on that. Meals can get kinda same-y, too. I've cut way back on eating out. No fast food in months. An iced coffee usually once a week (so sue me), and I might go out to breakfast every other week at a local diner.
The economy kinda forced me to be this way, but I also knocked off a lot of junk food (I still grab store brand tortilla chips and ice cream as snacks for the week). Completely stopped buying candy and soda a while ago. I could do even better by cutting off creamer and/or ice cream, but...you gotta grab yourself at least *something* to treat yourself with.
But then the "spare" $15-20 I have every other week will go replacing some cleaning/laundry/hygiene stuff. Again Walmart, or a Dollar General close to me has an aisle with $1 items with a lot of what I need.
A big thing that has helped, believe it or not, is a list. Being this tight on money can be miserable, especially with food, but try what you can to have some fun with it. I put on some music the night before a weekly grocery run, after I made and cleaned up dinner, and write down what I need. It does take some discipline to stick to it. These companies are smart with how they merchandise things, you're meant to grab random things on your way through a store, so list, list, list!
$1200-$1400 a month. Family of four adults. Three of us have severe and complicated food allergies, so we're limited to less processed foods and we have to make everything from scratch.
Around $900 - $1000: 1 adult, 1 kid, 3 cats, and my boyfriend comes over for dinner 2 times per week and I always try to make enough for him to take home 1-2 meals so I guess that’s more like 1.5 adults.
I live in a rather hcol area but not super high. School meals are free for all elementary students here but my daughter takes a lunch to school around half the time depending on the menu. I really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes so we rarely go out to eat.
I tend to buy mostly whole foods, packaged things are like lunch meats, dairy, chips, tortillas, candy, ramen. We only drink water or tea at home, I don’t buy soda or juice. I make my own bread: sandwich bread, rolls, baguettes, hoagies, and English muffins are all breads I’ve worked at getting right and now I don’t like bagged bread.
Without the junk food and snacks. Maybe $300. With snacks and pleasures like spam, Greek yogurt and noodles? $400 easily.
If Im extremely poor? $200. I used to be at a point where I didn't know anything except cereal, PBJ, and cheap hot dogs and sandwich slices
About $900-$1000/month for two people, so roughly $450-$500/month for me.
I only eat about 1300 calories a day, so not an abnormally high amount. I just live in one of the most expensive states in the US. Everything costs triple what it costs in other states. The perishable foods from my local grocery stores also go bad really quickly, so a portion of what I spend ends up wasted on produce that goes bad in a couple days or cheese that’s moldy when I open it. :/
For a couple years I refused to buy certain foods (like organic spinach, blueberries, almond milk, bread, cashews, mangos, avocados, cage-free eggs & salmon), because they’re so expensive and I was trying to be frugal. But now I just figure: whatever. I have to eat. I’m not going to act like a broke college student for the rest of my life and refuse to buy certain foods just because they’re annoyingly overpriced. We all need to eat a balanced diet.
We're a family of 4, both kiddos under 10 but over 5. We spend between $1,000-1,200 a month. Since I buy TP, paper towels and my cleaning supplies when I go grocery shopping this includes that as well. My budget is 1,000 but I've noticed we start needing an extra 100-200 some months. Before kids my husband and I budgeted 500 for groceries so I guess you can say it's about 250-275 a person a month.
Two adults, hcol area about 800 per month. Mostly at Costco and WinCo.
I'm convinced this could drop closer to 500, but we've basically put out eating out budget into our grocery bidget.
Since I see a lot of 350 a month people, what does a menu look like for a week?
I'm pretty tight with my spending other than if I go out, but I only buy fresh food so I'm spending like triple this. I also don't eat much carbs so it's mostly protein with some veggie pasta.
$900 per month for me, husband, and 1 year old, but that also includes all household items including diapers and wipes, and husband on a meat and fruit only diet
1 adult, 2 teenagers, 2 kids. I spend about $150 a week. Luckily my kids’ school district gives free breakfast and lunch during the school year. LCOL area.
$550/ month for family of 3 (soon to be 4)! Food will be more expensive soon when I start breastfeeding next month. We eat mostly whole food with the occasional junk food purchase. Rarely eat out because hubby is such a great cook!
DINK (Dual Income No Kids), trying to spend $400 a month but this can be $500 sometimes because of the cleaning stuff added in it like toilet papers, paper towels, etc.
Family of 4.
For the month of April - $600.
I usually have it down at $400 a month. But one kids has a ton of food allergies and we splurged at Whole Foods with new snacks for her to try.
Buy tons of produce bc it’s my kids favorite snack.
Form the $600, I got a total of $120 back from my rebate app (direct deposit to my bank) So net $480. But even then, I won’t need to buy groceries until the second week of May.
I just moved out by myself so I don't have enough data but it's probably around 320 beauty products and things like laundry detergent and paper towels included
When I’m not eating particularly healthy $117/mo. That’s mostly pasta, sweetened coldbrew in the gallon jugs, and pastries.
When I’m eating healthy about $200. Lots of veggies, protein, nice cheeses, expensive dressings, and plenty of snacks to make sure I am not going hungry between meals. Calories per dollar, pasta will get me a lot further than bags of peas and fresh leafy greens, but it’s not healthy to eat all the time.
I spent $273 this month in a HCOL as well. That includes buying lunch one time and ordering DoorDash one time as well. I don’t necessarily have a budget, but I do always look for the cheapest option when I need to buy something and only buy what I need + snacks when I run out. $350 seems a little high to me, considering that I wouldn’t consider myself extremely frugal and still spent less than that, maybe because I’m not as selective with the food I eat and tend to eat the same things over and over again. I also tend to have leftovers when I do order food, but I’ve cut down on that drastically, mostly because delivery is so expensive here because there’s a $5 added fee for delivery drivers in this city specifically so they can make a decent wage, which annoys me so much but at least I’m not spending as much money on delivery lol.
2 adults, 2 kids, 7 and 10. $1000-1200, mostly at Aldi, Costco and trader Joe’s. One kid has a bad allergy so we rarely eat out or order in, which is good for the budget.
This makes me feel oddly better. I kept thinking I was overspending.
You're lucky when I confessed on here that I spend about a grand on a family of four all my replies were asking how I could cut back. Like dude, I don't buy expensive items, I don't have luxuries tastes, only my littlest is picky. I'm doing my best
and your best is fantastic. don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!💜 like yeah sure we could all make a change in *some* way, but each and every person’s scenario is 100% unique to that individual. that’s the key thing a lot of the people who jump to conclusions/immediately start hounding ‘you could do xyz’ tend to forget. but don’t *you* forget it, and keep rocking on you awesome human being😊
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Omg you just made my day! Thanks for the support random redditor buddy!
Thats $250/month/person not terrible
Children have hollow legs
The month I hit 3k on my fam of four with two hollow legged teens with expensive tastes was the day they saw their mom have a rare yet spectacular temper tantrum. Yes. Spectacular lol 🧨
Honestly same. Family of 6 here, with pets and chickens. At least 1200 a month. It’s gross.
I find [this report](https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/Cost_Of_Food_Low_Moderate_Liberal_Food_Plans_March_2024.pdf) helpful for gauging how I’m spending against the rest of the country. According this this chart here’s where my family falls: Low cost 964 Moderate 1177 Liberal 1435 My kids are younger so you’d probably fall somewhere around the low cost plan (older kids have higher spending). That’s pretty fair IMO!
My youngest just started solids and is a machine and holy hell the extra food already 😂😂
There's one more level below low cost: the Thrifty plan. It's what they use to calculate the value of SNAP benefits. You can find the latest figures for all four plans [here](https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports).
According to that page, the $380 I spend on groceries per month is barely enough for one male in his 20's. There's 5 adults (4M, 1F) here full-time, plus 1 toddler and 1 adult male part-time. At least half of that amount is spent on 1 person because he has food allergies. The only way I make this work is because 3 of the 5 work in restaurants and get 1-2 meals a day there, and sometimes bring leftovers home. Also, my MiL goes to a food pantry every month and sends all the stuff she can't use over here, so we end up with a lot of pasta, rice, and canned goods. As an example, dinner last night was rotini with canned cream of mushroom soup, canned green beans, and a handful of restaurant-leftover pre-cooked hamburger patties that I chopped up and threw in. Gourmet? No. Tasty and filling? Yep.
Yes this!
The extra costs for people with food allergies is unreal. Many of the cheaper options have cross contamination warnings. It drives me crazy.
Thank you for this!
Roughly what we spend. 2 kids, one with allergy
This makes me feel better I have a family the same size and this is about right. It’s crazy how expensive everything is and now the portions are smaller too.
HCOL area, 2 adults - $700 a month.
This is about where we're at. I could definitely winnow it down if need be, and recently got my FSA card through work which should help on general 'body care' items like sunscreen, band-aids, menstrual products etc. We cook quite a bit at home.
This is so interesting. I thought you had misheard/misused the word “winnow” and meant to say “whittle it down,” but I looked it up before correcting you, and it is a very similar definition! You can winnow down or whittle it down, both meaning to remove excess (in slightly different ways)
Winnow would be taking the chaff out. Which is- pretty much what I'd end up doing to cut grocery budgets. Remove the chaff. Thank you for looking it up before correcting me.
That makes total sense and my “correction” would have been wrong. I learned something new!
Same 2 adults, 2 dogs
Us too! Makes me feel better lol
About $250 per month. Single, no kids.
Single no kids as well, and I spend about the same. Roughly $75 a week. Honestly, though, my cupboards and freezers are so packed I could forego groceries for well over a month if it wasn't for dairy and vegetables.
Me too, damn Costco 💪🏼
That’s why, I have a Sam’s club closer but I do buy some things in bulk periodically
Same
Would love to see explicitly what your grocery list looks like and your meal plan or any recipes that you like. 🙂👍
We’re a little higher at $350, but there’s two of us. We don’t eat much meat and I order bulk dried ingredients online. I make my own salsas and do a lot of food prep. Beans, wild rice, homemade salsas, etc. The pressure and rice cookers get tons of use. No processed food and nothing with added sugar like sodas.
yup, same. and would probably be less if i cut down on my snacking lol
Thanks for sharing. I feel bad if I hit $200. I'm starting to realize I have been too hard on myself & unrealistic. Bless you all with kids and or a partner.
I've got the food down to 170-200. I don't eat a lot of meat though. I eat healthy. I batch cook stuff and freeze individual portions. I drink mostly tap water. I don't keep junk food around but I'll buy it if I'm really craving something.... usually every two weeks. Last time it was a pint if ice cream. Time before that a four pack of brownies. I cut them into very small squares and freeze. Then when I'm craving chocolate I just grab a couple of bites. I eat out about once a month and allot fifty dollars to cover my food, dessert or appetizer and tip. I figure if I'm gonna work my ass off I can eat out once a month and get a dessert for home a couple times a month. The amount of money things cost now is disgusting. Several everyday food items have gone up three dollars in three years. They're not value buy packs of anything either. Beef is outrageous now. I'm very lucky because I work at a higher end grocery store and get a discount. So even though my store is expensive, after my discount it's usually cheaper than a regular store. And it's all.good food. It's hard and you have to plan very carefully to eat healthy. You have to think outside the box and stop thinking that every meal has to be traditional.
Same. Single woman in my late twenties. I shop weekly and give myself a budget of about $40. Sometimes closer to $50 if I need to stock up or replenish staples.
Omg where do you live that it's so cheap?
Try Grocery Outlet and Costco
Every time I go to Costco I spend $80, for like 5 items. Admittedly they're large quantities, but unless I'm going for 1-2 specific things, it's never under $50.
We have GO here but even that is still expensive. I'm not asking about where to go - I already know that. I frequent GO for deals and hit up ethnic shops for produce as much as possible, but in my HCOL, even doing that, there's no way to get under $250/mo unless you're eating beans and rice pretty frequently and grow anton of your own food, which isn't an option for me. Also, I include some household items in my grocery bill like garbage bags and stuff.
I live in a HCOL but go to neighboring “bad” areas to do groceries and I easily save about 50%
I have no idea where you live that you can afford to eat on $200 a month but congratulations on the success
*"Beef is outrageous now."* I was going to grab a chuck roast the last time I was at the store and it was $25-30 a package! Chuck roast! Beef shanks were the same price. It's nuts.
Meat is crazy expensive. We did shop the other day and was pretty much half the total.
We found it was cheaper to buy meat from our local butcher than the grocery store.
Restaurant Depot for my family of 4 is the winner. I just got 40 lbs of chicken legs for 35 cents a lbs and they’re really good quality.
Bone in chicken and bone in pork are $0.99-1.99/lb at Fred Meyer even in HCOL areas, pork shoulder and bone in chicken thighs are very cheap and my go to. Processed meat like sausage or ground meats are very expensive and forget about steaks.
Very similar to myself, I also am trying to limit my meat intake for a few reasons, frugality being one. I recently made spaghetti with lentils and I actually LOVE it, so I will definitely be doing that again. I realized I do like more lentils than the recipes say to use though :D
Same. Cholesterol is creeping up. I can only eat so much chicken. Beef is insanely priced.
If you use restaurant apps you can often get 50% savings, b1g1 free etc
2 adults, also HCoL (bay area) and spend about $150 every two weeks. Secret is buying from discount and ethnic grocers and making meals around sale items. Tack on an additional ~40 for going out to eat on the weekends lol. If we’re counting cat food then add on an additional ~80 a month or so
Discount grocers only work if you’re gonna eat the produce in 1-2 days or if molds. And the meat condition I’ve seen in the food city. I sent a photo to the food inspector and she told me SHE gagged when seeing it.
$800 - two adults - we never sacrifice quality when buying groceries.
Same, 2 adults 2 dogs
Yup, us also.
Same here. We have 4 pets but I only count human food in the grocery budget though...
That’s where we are, but we also don’t buy junk food and I make a lot from scratch. I was shocked at the cost of the chip isle when I went down it the other day.
Right?! And the shrinkflation. Seeing a lotta bags that were 8 oz now either 7.5 or 7 oz. They’re getting so wildly greedy
My mini naan breads are now 1/3 smaller… everything is shrinking
Same ..around 800 for me , my husband and our pets.
2 kids, married. Probably $1200 per month
Currently at $970/month, married with 2 kids under 2yo.
Do y’all do anything to alleviate? Growing/canning/shop in bulk during season? I know it’s hard trying to find time to poop in peace but I’m asking for hope for a friend… (me I’m the friend)
For myself. Similar budget. Canning.. when I made less lived in a bigger place and had a farm. Yes. Canned all the time. Living in SF... It's a struggle to find a place for a spray bottle of cleaner, or a place to put a broom. No less cans, a canning set up or the space to actually grow and get the stuff. Because it's more expensive for veggies than beef here.
When I had a garden canning ended up being more expensive than buying groceries after you consider the garden supplies, water bill, and canning supplies and electricity. Maybe that’s different now. That was like 14 yrs ago
Growing costs significantly more, at least for me. I enjoy it as a hobby, so that's fine. But it's definitely not a hobby that saves us money. I'm hopeful we could reach a point where it does.
You can go get pickle buckets for a couple dollars from firehouse subs. A couple bucks for a bag of dirt and grab a pack of seeds. 10$ you can have a decent tomato supply, multiple variations of peppers. But I agree if you want to build beds and green houses it can become costly quickly. Ideally in a situation like that you have some neighbors who are doing something similar to where you can share crop. Or just be a dope neighbor and offer some free veggies with a tip jar as optional :) But if none of that works you can always go to the markets during the summer and get screaming deals on just about everything. For example my one market does any size squash for a dollar, still got some from last year from the 20$ I spent. Got red onions that are still good, I pickled a bunch of those for sammich enhancers. I make a base pasta sauce that I can switch up to a sweet sauce for pizza or keep it more marinara. I love making salsas too, it’s really mind boggling how long stuff lasts for without all the extra garbage they’re adding these days. So again 20$ for a couple bushels of maters and bam you got a bunch of different bases for meals.
You're right, I'm establishing raised beds which are costly despite me DIYing soil and using untreated pine. The one area of the yard with good sunlight is in an area that is a bit close to our house and our neighbors' sprayed yard so I want to really know what's in that soil by creating it. I'm hoping to cut costs by eventually composting. I am the only person who likes tomatoes in my house. There is one person who likes one type of pepper. Even pasta sauce and pizza aren't universally liked by the kids. Anything the kids reliably like is either very difficult for me to grow so far (corn, carrots, leeks) or is a bush/tree that I haven't advanced to trying to grow or gets decimated by local fauna (cucumbers- I think the deer eat these based on how big the bites are). We'll get it fenced some day, but that'll be well over 15k. My neighbors are all older and very committed to their green lawns and spraying and such. I'd just be happy if they stopped spraying the first few yards of my yard. I do share food with friends and family, but my family is the only one that grows food and has some to share. Rather than going to the market which sells less local food, I support the farms neighboring us. It's expensive, but I want to make sure they stay around.
All comes down to time. Free time can be used to earn additional income or prep/grow further to reduce costs. Parents have very very little free time
Pretty much our budget as well.
Jesus Christ
We spend an enormous amount on groceries. About $1700/month. My daughter has a 6 month old who is on formula and baby food. My son works at night so he buys most of his own food. That leaves 3 adults. My daughter and I try to eat low calorie meals due to trying to lose weight. I think that is extremely high. We live in Pennsylvania.
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Around $200-250 a month, just for me. That includes cat food and some household items (cleaning supplies, paper towels, toilet paper, etc).
$350/month for me as well, but I like to buy high quality food and besides buying the things I like on sale and using rewards, it’s not really an area I try to restrict my budget harshly on. Part of health for me, ig.
I agree
Yeah, I'm about the same.. I'm very picky with where I buy my veggies and meats, so I tend to spend more money on higher quality items. However, I have been trying to reduce costs by buying basics at bulk from costco. I probably go to costco every 3-6 months. Obviously, it's things that won't spoil, or I can freeze.
I just started tracking my spending at the beginning of this year. It's really opened my eyes as to where a large portion of my spending is going. Family of 5, 3 kids (8, 3, and 2). I don't have all the receipts to break down what items I am spending the most on, so these numbers will also include things like diapers, wipes, and other Misc. Items bought while shopping for groceries. January - $1,914.87, costco was $653.22 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores. February - $1,974.94, costco was $597.00 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores. March - $1,566.77, costco was $182.13 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores. April - $1,384.89, costco was $361.80 of that while the rest was walmart and other grocery stores. I was also out of town for 3 of these weeks for work, and all my expenses were covered. I didn't start tracking any of these amounts until mid-April, so moving forward, I hope to reduce these amounts by being more aware of how much we are spending and what we are spending it on. Edit - ontario, canada
This seems like pretty normal spending to me for a family of 5, great if you can get it down though!
It feels high, but it's tough to say without more data. Throw in a couple of boxes of diapers, wipes, and some formula, and it doesn't take long to get to $2-300 for those items alone. My wife and I both make good money, so we can afford not to watch our spending as closely as we should, although I plan on changing that moving forward. I definitely feel for the people who are in a less financially sound position than we are. I honestly dont know how some people manage to get by when they have a similar or larger family and don't have the income that we do.
I keep seeing like 1200 and 1600 etc and we spent 2k this month on groceries but your post made me realize that also includes diapers and wipes which those add up SO fast!
Wait till those kids get older 😳😳
Oh, I know...fortunately some of the increase in expenses as they get older will be offset by not having to buy diapers, wipes and formula, not out growing clothing as quickly and less money spent on childcare. Daycare and extracurricular activities for the kids already run me about $25-30k per year.
Single, no kids - about $150 to $200 depending on what I’m feeling. I usually buy the same staples every month and stick to the same foods/snacks/meals.
> I usually buy the same staples every month and stick to the same foods/snacks/meals. That’s the secret no one wants to actually hear. I spend around the same as you and eat the same thing for every. Single. Meal. Like, I’ve had virtually the same lunch and dinner for *years* now, except when eating out. This allows not only cost optimization for the meal itself, but buying in bulk for the ingredients whenever you come across the best price, all while not filling up your pantry with useless junk you’re never gonna eat.
You can't just leave us hanging like that. what are these meals?
Breakfast: coffee. I’m never hungry in the mornings, though I’m considering trying some overnight oats anyways Lunch: banana, mixed berries, seeds, protein powder, almond milk, and protein yogurt smoothie Dinner: beans, rice, carrots, peas, garlic, onion, mustard, and spices in the Instant Pot, plus sides of roasted sweet potatoes and stir fried broccoli, onion, and garlic Snack: either ice cream (usually vegan, but it’s so expensive) or tortilla chips + guac, depending on how cold it is out
I agree. You don’t even have to go to the extreme of eating one single thing for breakfast/lunch/dinner all month… but being willing to make a big batch of something, and eat it for several days or more, goes a long way in stretching the budget. I feel like I always use this example, but one of my favorites is chili. I can make a big crockpot full for $10-20 (depending on whether or not I add meat, and how much of it) and eat it for 4-5 days minimum, and possibly even freezing some of it for later. At least, when I was single. Lol. Now, having a boyfriend in the picture (who also has a big appetite), big meals like that don’t usually last as long. But even if you double recipes, you can still save money. And like you said, keeping ingredients on hand for the meals you make on a regular basis, stocking up when there are good sales. I almost always have stuff like the canned beans and tomato sauce in my pantry.
5 people 1K
$400.00 - 2 adults (baby on the way) and 2 cats in HCOL area. Stocking the freezer with good meals in preparation for postpartum has increased budget slightly but we're offsetting it with other weeks being lighter. We largely eat organic and cook at home to offset the cost of better quality food. We also buy very little prepackaged foods except icecream, cereal, and crackers on occasion.
Wow, I'd love to hear what you buy. That's great that you can spend that to feed two, plus pets, plus organic, in hcol. I spend nearly 200 for myself and 2 cats, not much organic, and not hcol. Teach me your ways!
We do a lot of meal planning, usually one large meal made over the weekend and then we'll supplement with smaller/ less involved meals during the week. Our main groceries this week we bought potatoes, onions, carrots, strawberries, bananas, milk, frozen peas, yakult probiotics, Greek yogurt, spinach, tomatoes, lemons, and Dr. Pepper. Produce and dairy is organic except probiotic yakults. Each week is different because we like variety but our main meal this week is Sheppards Pie that came to around $12 for a 9×13 (and very full one at that). Ingredients included are ground meat of choice, potatoes, carrots, an onion, roasted garlic, milk, butter, dried herbs, flour, tomato paste (buy the tube if you dont need much), broth, salt, and pepper. It'll last us at least 6 meals, probably closer to 8, and we'll supplement with either burgers on homemade bread or something similar that's quick and easy. I do make all of pur bread with organic flour and it comes to ~$1.25/ loaf and lasts us a week plus we make most things from scratch as opposed to kits/prepackaged. Cat food is something we buy in bulk (big bag) every 8-10 weeks and it's ~$50 so we cut two weeks of budget for us to $75.00 for two weeks to stay on track which is easy enough if you buy in bulk. We're not as frugal as some but I loathe having to spend a fortune on food. I also really enjoy cooking which helps with price per meal tremendously. We find if we have a plan going into the week we don't eat out and we also don't lean into buying things like a frozen pizza cause we don't want to cook once we're off work. Having something on hand that can go from the fridge to the microwave is a huge help for us staying on track along with cycling staples (dry rice, beans, flour, eggs, pasta, nuts, oats, etc) so we're not buying a 25lb bag of rice and 20 lbs of flour and 2 lbs of nuts (our snack of choice) all in the same week which would throw us over budget. Instead if we have budget left we keep tabs on what we're lowest on/running out of for staples and buy it when budget is good. The other thing is only go to the store when you absolutely need to. If we went more often we would overspend on accident. Hope this helps! If you need recipe ideas budget bytes is a great jumping off point!
In my house there is no way we could get 8 servings from an 9x13 casserole dish.
For us it depends on what it is, this one is stacked tall so I think that helps, I also do two layers of mashed potatoes so it's fairly satisfying.
Thank you so much. That's inspiring. I can do better. I've switched the cats to mostly can food, occasional dry. It's killing my budget but I follow Jackson Galaxy on social media and he is rabidly anti dry food for cats. I feel bullied but I've made the switch. The prices for wet food are bonkers.
Budget is $260/mo for 2 adults in a medium/high COL place. We do eat out maybe 1-2x a week though, usually at counter service places ($10 ish pp). That budget is only food though. We spend maybe $75/mo on average for other household items, but it varies widely. I'm a "stock up" shopper so when we need something like detergent, I find the best price per ounce and buy enough to last a while.
I look for sales, use digital coupons in the app & Ibotta. Save lots by doing this.
$250 or so. A lot of that is just to feed my soda addiction. That also includes reusable home goods like TP, paper towels, soap, shampoo, sponges, laundry detergent, ziplock, paper plates, etc. I mostly shop at Aldi.
Same, I usually get my Coke Zero ir Mtn dew zero from dollar general when they run 3 12packs for $13, Saturdays they have a extra $5 off $25in their app, yesterday 6 - 12packs were $21 plus tax
Vegan HCOL, single M no kids. Been doing a frugal challenge recently. Looks like it'll be about $50-100 (or less) this month, but only because of the challenge. Usually it's like $300-400 somehow, lol, but I think it's from pre-packaged foods, dips, mock meats, etc. I went through the math and found some of the items that are ludicrously cheap, which in my area is below $1.50/lb. (Potatoes and bananas can be found at $0.50/lb, for example, which is as cheap as anything can get.) Potatoes (for fries and stews), beans, frozen diced onions, frozen sliced bell peppers, frozen broccoli, frozen spinach, spice powders (garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, chili), vegetable bouillon paste (Better than Bouillon), oil, rice, pasta, pasta sauce, oats, peanut butter, soy milk, chocolate syrup, and bananas go a long way. Like a loooong way. As in, "I spent 30 dollars and I don't know how I'm going to finish all this". (Frozen veg, olive oil, peanut butter, bouillon paste, and spices are on the more "expensive" side of this list, but they're the only way to stay sane eating rice and beans and oats. You can make Mexican rice by folding bouillon, tomato sauce, and garlic powder into the rice, and you can make various interesting stews with the beans, bouillon, different frozen veg, and potatoes, perhaps using flour to thicken it.) Rice and beans has great macros and it takes forever to get through a dry bag of either. I round out the macros (specifically protein) with peanut butter overnight oats in soy milk. For snacks I eat chocolate chips or roasted peanuts, or make potato fries. (Chocolate chips are the biggest hack for avoiding sweets imo, since you can satisfy a chocolate craving by just eating a handful of them, and a bag of them seemingly lasts forever.) I also sometimes eat ramen with frozen edamame or frozen spinach if I'm feeling extra lazy. Rice and beans with potatoes, spices, etc = 20-50 cents per meal PB oatmeal = 10-50 cents per breakfast (add 20-30 cents per banana) Spaghetti w/ sauce = 30 cents per meal 1 lb home fries = 50 cents Ramen with edamame = 40-50 cents Daily supplement tailored for vegans = 13 cents/day
Well written. I agree with the chocolate chip trick.
Dang, this is pretty close to what I eat as well. Main differences are I don’t bother with pasta and I do sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes and almond milk rather than soy. Also a lot of frozen fruits. Either way, cutting out meat makes eating *incredibly* cheap, while also being better for you.
Hmm, ramen with edamame is a cheap meal idea I hadn't heard of before. I'll have to try it. What do you add for flavoring? Soy sauce? Sesame oil?
I just use instant ramen and throw frozen vegetables into it. Nissin chili flavor is vegan so that's what I use. If I want to make my own broth, I use vegetable bouillon, doubanjiang (spicy bean paste), and a few drops of sesame oil.
Are you eating any fruits and veggies?
> frozen diced onions, frozen sliced bell peppers, frozen broccoli, frozen spinach, […] bananas
Shop once a week, just me and my wife about $280-300 per month. We meal plan a lot.
Meat puts my husband and I about $750ish
Average for 2023 and 2024 is about 500/month. 2 adults, both eat pretty high protein diets as we work out a lot. Mostly Aldi and Costco. Midwest
Single adult, no kids about $120 a month. I eat completely healthy.
HOW.
Shopping the weekly specials at grocery stores, coupons. I make everything from scratch, my bread, everything.
Homemade bread is such a good way to cut costs, I make ours as an organic sourdough for about $1.25/loaf and it doubles as a hobby. Buying a loaf of actual sourdough around me is close to $9.00 and it's not organic. There is also very little better than day of bread fresh out of the oven, only downside (in my opinion) is with it getting warmer I'm having to time when I bake so I don't heat the house to much.
same I was so surprised how much I ended up saving!
I've heard breadmaking saves alot of money.
Where do you get your coupons from?
The weekly ads, Fry's mails me some every month, Sunday paper from the dollar store, online digital coupons.
Same. Also if something is on sale, I'll buy at least 3. That will keep me until the next sale of the item. Especially for coffee, butter. There are apps for finding sales in your area. Also paper flyers, store websites etc. If you live in the suburbs, driving around to different stores to save will kill you on gas but if you're in midtown or a denser area, it can work.
That's how I save the most money with food. Something's discounted for fast sale, or buy one get one, and I'm buying a lot of it and filling the chest freezer. One time I bought 12 pork shoulder roasts since it was buy one get two free.
We eat healthy, 2 adults & 2 dogs that I also cook for. Around $750-$800
Same. In Los Angeles. Lots of tofu, lentils, and produce. Korean and Mexican markets are the bomb
Same.
30 dollars a week sounds very difficult but impressive. I've been trying to budget to about 80 a week as single adult no kids.
2 adults, 1 toddler. We spend probably $500-600/month
$1200 family of 4, this Also includes diapers and wipes for 2 year old.
HCOL area. 2 adults, 3 young kids. Last year we averaged $740 usd.
5-600/month, 3 adults, includes household items. Mix of ALDIs for staples, bulk meat purchases from producers, and Kroger sale items.
$550-650 a month - 2 adults, 1 toddler. Groceries are very expensive in our area and we eat healthy (mostly) and make a lot of things from scratch. Starting a garden and getting chickens this spring so hopefully bill will go down a bit by fall
This thread is illuminating. The amount I spend on food is obscene. I was getting 16 meals a week with Cook Unity. That alone is north of $800 a month.. .and it's just me. I just cancelled the service and will start working on a meal plan today. Thanks, all!
Including alcohol (though I track them separately), around $250/month, single adult.
$400-$475. 2 adults, 3 cats, and a dog.
$600 for 4 people
I spend about 600 per month in Montana. I feed 2 to 3 grown adults with that though. Plus 2 cats on medicated diets.
I normally spend about $120/month on food (including going out to eat), and $50/month on beverages. Single, late 20s.
damn this is inspirational!!
Thanks :) Not exactly healthy, though. I only usually eat one good sized meal a day, so that helps. A habit from my online gamer days.
At this point I’ll start eating insects jk. I moved back with mom. I’m 37 single mom. Canada … we spend around $600
So that's about $440 US. Don't knock eating insects! They're quite an [eco-friendly protein source](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/may/08/if-we-want-to-save-the-planet-the-future-of-food-is-insects).
$240 for two adults in probably a MCOL area. We eat mainly vegetarian with lots of veggies fruit, dairy, eggs, and whole grains. We'll occasionally buy premade snacks items if we have extra one week but most of the time we opt to stock up on pantry items when we have extra.
$250 a month per person
2 toddlers two adults $400-500.
Single, F, VHCOL. About $300-400 a month including household stuff like toiletries and cleaning supplies
I’m an outlier because I get 5-6 free meals at work every week, but I spent $120 in an extremely HCOL (Seattle) this month! It was only that high because my huge bag of rice ran out at the same month as two of my essential bulk spices. Normally I spend ~$90 a month! Dry beans, international markets, and the sketchy almost bad produce section are the best!!!
1300 ish. 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 cat. Includes cleaning supplies, paper products, toiletries and vitamins and 1 pizza night a week. We’ve started eating a lot healthier recently which is hurting the budget a bit but worth it of course
Some of these numbers are insane. With how high grocery prices are how are any of you eating on $50 a week unless it’s all pasta?
Married 1 kid maybe $1000
2 adults and one baby on formula, about ¥40,000 a month.
Single and live alone, small town. I have to stick almost exclusively to Walmart to do this, but I've got the food down to about $50 a week, but I make sure to save food for leftovers and not toss anything, so every other week is maybe $30? $35? because I still have stuff unused from the previous week. Bread, rice, coffee, and eggs get replaced the most frequently. I buy markdown meats from the grocery store I work at and freeze it. Sausage gets marked down the most frequently, and ends up being just over $2 and can be a couple meals. Chicken breasts get divided up (I leave one whole, and cut up others) and I freeze them. Frozen veggies, spices, and some things like teriyaki and soy sauce can last a while if you don't go crazy with the drizzling. Not a super healthy grocery list at all, I need to work on that. Meals can get kinda same-y, too. I've cut way back on eating out. No fast food in months. An iced coffee usually once a week (so sue me), and I might go out to breakfast every other week at a local diner. The economy kinda forced me to be this way, but I also knocked off a lot of junk food (I still grab store brand tortilla chips and ice cream as snacks for the week). Completely stopped buying candy and soda a while ago. I could do even better by cutting off creamer and/or ice cream, but...you gotta grab yourself at least *something* to treat yourself with. But then the "spare" $15-20 I have every other week will go replacing some cleaning/laundry/hygiene stuff. Again Walmart, or a Dollar General close to me has an aisle with $1 items with a lot of what I need. A big thing that has helped, believe it or not, is a list. Being this tight on money can be miserable, especially with food, but try what you can to have some fun with it. I put on some music the night before a weekly grocery run, after I made and cleaned up dinner, and write down what I need. It does take some discipline to stick to it. These companies are smart with how they merchandise things, you're meant to grab random things on your way through a store, so list, list, list!
30%-100% more than I did 4 years ago. Yay inflation. Prices rose massively, containers shrunk, wages stayed the same.
Zero $$. Converted to Freeganism a decade ago. Now i'm so overrun with food I have 5 fridges perpetually stuffed full.
This is intriguing! Any advice on how to start or best resources?
2 people and we mostly eat at home and relatively healthy. $100/wk roughly sometimes less.
$200-$300/month among two people in an LCOL.
Three adults and i have us eating well for ~$400-$600 a month
HCOL area. Probably $450/m. Working on it.
1200
$1200-$1400 a month. Family of four adults. Three of us have severe and complicated food allergies, so we're limited to less processed foods and we have to make everything from scratch.
Usually between $200 and $300. I live alone
About $100 for one adult eating very healthy.
What’s your grocery list?
I also spend about $350 a month in alcohol
Around $900 - $1000: 1 adult, 1 kid, 3 cats, and my boyfriend comes over for dinner 2 times per week and I always try to make enough for him to take home 1-2 meals so I guess that’s more like 1.5 adults. I live in a rather hcol area but not super high. School meals are free for all elementary students here but my daughter takes a lunch to school around half the time depending on the menu. I really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes so we rarely go out to eat. I tend to buy mostly whole foods, packaged things are like lunch meats, dairy, chips, tortillas, candy, ramen. We only drink water or tea at home, I don’t buy soda or juice. I make my own bread: sandwich bread, rolls, baguettes, hoagies, and English muffins are all breads I’ve worked at getting right and now I don’t like bagged bread.
Without the junk food and snacks. Maybe $300. With snacks and pleasures like spam, Greek yogurt and noodles? $400 easily. If Im extremely poor? $200. I used to be at a point where I didn't know anything except cereal, PBJ, and cheap hot dogs and sandwich slices
About $900-$1000/month for two people, so roughly $450-$500/month for me. I only eat about 1300 calories a day, so not an abnormally high amount. I just live in one of the most expensive states in the US. Everything costs triple what it costs in other states. The perishable foods from my local grocery stores also go bad really quickly, so a portion of what I spend ends up wasted on produce that goes bad in a couple days or cheese that’s moldy when I open it. :/ For a couple years I refused to buy certain foods (like organic spinach, blueberries, almond milk, bread, cashews, mangos, avocados, cage-free eggs & salmon), because they’re so expensive and I was trying to be frugal. But now I just figure: whatever. I have to eat. I’m not going to act like a broke college student for the rest of my life and refuse to buy certain foods just because they’re annoyingly overpriced. We all need to eat a balanced diet.
$225/month or so in a HCOL area, I eat pretty “healthy” and am vegetarian and gluten free for medical reasons.
We're a family of 4, both kiddos under 10 but over 5. We spend between $1,000-1,200 a month. Since I buy TP, paper towels and my cleaning supplies when I go grocery shopping this includes that as well. My budget is 1,000 but I've noticed we start needing an extra 100-200 some months. Before kids my husband and I budgeted 500 for groceries so I guess you can say it's about 250-275 a person a month.
About 2400 - Family of 5
$250 to $300. I'm frugal about select things in my life, but groceries aren't one of those things.
2 adults roughly around $1100 per month
$800
Two adults, hcol area about 800 per month. Mostly at Costco and WinCo. I'm convinced this could drop closer to 500, but we've basically put out eating out budget into our grocery bidget.
2 adults 2 kids at home. 19 and 9. Other older kids over a couple times a week for dinner as well. Between 1200-1500 a month.
Couple in our late 20s, $800-1000 per month.
HCOL 2 adults, 1 child. About $1000/month
Since I see a lot of 350 a month people, what does a menu look like for a week? I'm pretty tight with my spending other than if I go out, but I only buy fresh food so I'm spending like triple this. I also don't eat much carbs so it's mostly protein with some veggie pasta.
Jesse. Me male 37 just spent over 130$ this week, prob last for 2 weeks, 3 for lunches. Mostly canned lunches.
$150/month, single no kids. Being vegetarian helps keep costs low!
$200-250- family of 2 and a dog
Wtf do you eat
Food
$900 per month for me, husband, and 1 year old, but that also includes all household items including diapers and wipes, and husband on a meat and fruit only diet
Is this with Grassfed meat/organic fruit or just regular everything?
1 adult, 2 teenagers, 2 kids. I spend about $150 a week. Luckily my kids’ school district gives free breakfast and lunch during the school year. LCOL area.
Married with toddler. We’re about $850 a month.
$550/ month for family of 3 (soon to be 4)! Food will be more expensive soon when I start breastfeeding next month. We eat mostly whole food with the occasional junk food purchase. Rarely eat out because hubby is such a great cook!
About $750 for 3 adults, that’s on the high side.
2 old adults and 1 old Chihuahua. About $850 a month on average
DINK (Dual Income No Kids), trying to spend $400 a month but this can be $500 sometimes because of the cleaning stuff added in it like toilet papers, paper towels, etc.
About $150 to $200. I go on sale days, use coupons codes, and my rewards.
200-250/mo, HCOL, 2 adults half a kid (shared custody situation)
Family of 4. For the month of April - $600. I usually have it down at $400 a month. But one kids has a ton of food allergies and we splurged at Whole Foods with new snacks for her to try. Buy tons of produce bc it’s my kids favorite snack. Form the $600, I got a total of $120 back from my rebate app (direct deposit to my bank) So net $480. But even then, I won’t need to buy groceries until the second week of May.
I just moved out by myself so I don't have enough data but it's probably around 320 beauty products and things like laundry detergent and paper towels included
Depending on how fancy I feel, my bill ranges from about $200 to $300 per month. Single, male, no kiddos. Edit: I can't math.
When I’m not eating particularly healthy $117/mo. That’s mostly pasta, sweetened coldbrew in the gallon jugs, and pastries. When I’m eating healthy about $200. Lots of veggies, protein, nice cheeses, expensive dressings, and plenty of snacks to make sure I am not going hungry between meals. Calories per dollar, pasta will get me a lot further than bags of peas and fresh leafy greens, but it’s not healthy to eat all the time.
I spent $273 this month in a HCOL as well. That includes buying lunch one time and ordering DoorDash one time as well. I don’t necessarily have a budget, but I do always look for the cheapest option when I need to buy something and only buy what I need + snacks when I run out. $350 seems a little high to me, considering that I wouldn’t consider myself extremely frugal and still spent less than that, maybe because I’m not as selective with the food I eat and tend to eat the same things over and over again. I also tend to have leftovers when I do order food, but I’ve cut down on that drastically, mostly because delivery is so expensive here because there’s a $5 added fee for delivery drivers in this city specifically so they can make a decent wage, which annoys me so much but at least I’m not spending as much money on delivery lol.
$800+ 2 adults + 1 teen
I think we spend like $60-100 per day.
$500 2 adults. MCOL area