I have to admit that before I started trying to be more frugal, we (my husband and I – empty nesters) were blowing away that number, probably spending double that amount (more than $400/mo for just the two of us). That number really disturbed me, so a few months ago I started earnestly trying to shave dollars off using couponing to stockpile and then buying only items on deep discount during the week. Now we’re at about $50/week for the two of us, which I consider pretty good It really helps to start reading all the blogs available for grocery store – coupon match-ups. And if we didn’t have a grocery store in the area that doubles coupons including the $1 ones, it would be much more difficult.

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Interesting post. I probably spend more than average on groceries…maybe $150-$175 per month. In my case (and probably many others) my monthly grocery spending fluctuates depending on how I am doing financially. While money was limited I ate a lot cheaper, but once I was more comfortable financially I ate more expensive. These days I don’t watch how much I spend on each meal and I’m more willing to splurge on the more expensive items. I sure eat a lot less macaroni and cheese now anyway.

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Very interesting! IMHO, $112 per person seems a little low, although households with several people probably have an economy of numbers. However, for this to make sense, it would be useful to know how much per person is spent on eating out over the same period.

Clearly, if you habitually eat out, you’ll spend less on groceries: each meal you eat in a restaurant is one you don’t have to prepare in your kitchen. If you rarely or never eat out, you’ll spend more on groceries but less overall on food consumption.

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We spend about 850 a month for five people. I could eat cheaper, but eating healthy makes that more difficult. White rice is very cheap, but brown rice is about 25% more, and whole brown rice cost twice as much. Sweetener costs around three times as much as sugar. I still have to make huge cuts and I do use some coupons. If I didn’t I would likely be spending over 1k every month.

We also don’t eat out much. If you look at those numbers people are spending almost as much on eating out as in their home, but we usually spend less than $50 a month eating out.

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I spend about $400 a month. The enough for my wife, myself and our 20-month old daughter. I think our biggest savings come from going to BJ’s and buying what we can there. We spend about $200 a month there and then about $50 a week buying whatever else we need at the supermarket. A great find for us in the last few months was Aldi’s. They are a new supermarket and are kinda no frills, but the prices are fantastic. For example, 1 gallon of milk costs $2.19 compared with $3.49 at the supermarket. Considering my daughter drinks about a gallon a week, the savings start to add up.

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My husband and I grow all our own Veggies in wading pool gardens and hunt and fish so our grocery bill never excedes $100.00 (that includes toiletries though.) I would bet our bill for the 2 of us and 2 cats is around $75 on average.

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Great comments. All of you show just how different the average grocery budget can be depending on the individual and his or her income, family size, lifestyle, etc.

Fairydust… I definitely think $50 per week for two people is good. It’s amazing, really. I can’t imagine how you do it.

Cashback… I’m with you. The days of eating Ramen noodles and drinking Kool-Aid are gone for us, too. It’s one thing to eat cheaply, another to detract from the quality (and quantity) of your life to do so.

FunnyAbout… That’s a good point. The data I highlighted in the post does break down the averages for eating out, but I didn’t notice anything that provides the kind of analysis you’re discussing.

Denise… I think you make an incredible point. Unfortunately, the cheaper foods are the ones that aren’t as healthy. Sugar, corn syrup and processed stuff is always cheaper than healthier alternatives. It costs less to around here to buy two big boxes of oversized Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies, for instance, than it does to buy a box of unsweetened instant oatmeal with flax seed. It’s not hard to see why obesity is so common on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, is it?

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We are a family of 5 and are able to shave about 1,000 off the final yearly # of groceries and eating out referenced in the article. The best way we have found to save money is to butcher our own meat(much better quality) once a year and also to do once a month cooking. The coupons and weekly specials help…..if I have the time that particular month. One could make coupon cutting a hobby and really reap even more savings…but I would rather spend my spare time with my kids!

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Darn, you people do really well. I spend give or take around 700.00 for 2 people every month. This includes paper products, shampoo, soap, etc. Plus, we do not eat out. My husband hates to go to restaurants. However, my husband spends about $250.00 for his lunches at work per month.

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For 2 adults and 3 kids under 4 we spend $300 on food and about $40 on eating out a month. I wanted to get it lower but I’m trying to trade more of our cheap snack crackers for vegetables.

I know some bloggers who say they can do it on $160 a month but as it is we rarely buy meat.

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How much do you need to earn if you spend 900 bucks in rent and 200-400 in groceries, you have a wife and a 3 years old child, you wish to have some savings and live in sacramento, CA?

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I spend about $250-$275 per month for me and my husband. I cook 6 nights per week and we may eat out every 2 weeks. I also eat breakfast my husband does not. We usually both eat a lunch 6 times per week. I buy from the local fruit market one time per week,we hunt and fish year round,we grow our own herbs and tomatoes .I also shop Sams club,and the dollar store for canned tomatoes,salad dressings,condiments. This includes paper products(saran,foil,kleenex,soaps,toothpastes,shampoo’s,toliet paper. I do buy in bulk for my creamer,cereal,tuna fish,peanuts. I bake and cook all from scratch and I entertain fancy one time per month.I would like to think I cook very healthy. The meat I buy may be burger,turkey burger,shrimp,very little bacon,whole pork loin which I slice and freeze.I do not use coupons I buy all my grocery store brands never brand items.

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for 2 adults ( we support my stepchild,,, he does not live with us, with $525 for one child a month ) so we have left in our budget between $180 to $200 a month for 2 adults…. breakfast lunch and dinner..it includes vegetables meats( even steak cut from round roast) chicken , pork hamburgers hotdogs and sides…snacks and lunch everyday for both of us. we eat healthy and reasonable portions…we do run out of food toward the end of the month but always have enough just not too much…the difference between 180 and 200 is paper goods laundry detergent shampoo etc…depending on what is needed….

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we are 2 adults …budget 170 to 200 a month..we eat meat…i buy round roast and cut it into flat iron steaks one roast is about $13.00 and you can get 8 steaks and a small amount of stew cubes from the left over that aren’t big enough for steaks this will be enough for another meal of stew or chili the steaks are no more than $1.50 a steak and are about 4 to 5ozs which is a real portion not a 8 oz steak sold as a portion .i buy chicken (breasts) hamburger hotdogs ..pasta vegetable( mostly frozen) we do not eat out and we take lunch everyday…we buy juice no soda..popcorn that you pop in a pot is a great snack and costs pennies. a meal ( with meat) at night doesn’t cost more than $3.00 a person. the other nights are cheaper because pasta is cheap! we don’t have much left over by the time we have to shop again but we eat well and healthy…

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I spend on average about $100 – $150 a month on groceries for 2 people. We seldom eat out and don’t count when we do toward the grocery bill, that goes on our “entertainment” budget.

I shop at discount grocery stores and shop by what is on special. I have a deep freezer in the basement so I buy big economy packs of meat and repackage into smaller packs and put down in the freezer. I buy a lot of produce and we eat very well at our house. I seldom purchase processed foods.

With that said, I stockpile as well if something is on sale for super cheap.

I also will state that by using our crock pot we save a lot since you can put inexpensive cuts of meat in it and they always come out tender and wonderful. Also, cooking a lot of ethnic type foods really helps stretch the budget. I think we eat really well at our house.

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We are a family of 3, I am a single mom with a 3 year old son and a 24 year old exchange student. We spend an average of $150/mo, some months more if there are sales and we stock up on an item, some months less when we’re eating what we’ve stocked up on. We are blessed with a discount grocery store nearby and do most of our shopping there. We also have 4 chickens and a garden. We hardly ever eat meat and have a pretty paper-productless household, aside from toilet paper. When we find a sale on laundry detergent or toilet paper we stock up enough for 6-12 months, enough time to get us to another sale

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I have a family of five and my kids are 7 and up. On the Average month I spend $300-$350 total in groceries. I buy 90% of our meats during annual meat sales, then I slice, dice, and repackage it for freezing. I grow veggies all summer long, and always shop for the best deals. If a person is handy with a knife they can take many lower priced meats and butcher them down to a much higher priced cut. I also make all my foods from scratch and go for healthier options. This year I am even extending my garden and canning our veggies. This is my hobby, I love cooking and love saving money. I believe strongly that flavor should never be compromised, and neither should your wallet.

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I’m a 19 year old girl that just moved across the country from her parent’s house. I’m currently living with my grandma, however, and only have to buy my own food and pay rent. I’ve been here for a month and a half now, and have spent $95 on food so far.
I don’t eat large portions, or much meat, and don’t buy my own milk, eggs, or butter.
Each week I buy a loaf of bread, some yogurts, 1-3 kinds of fruit, soup, lunchmeat, cereal, 2-4 tv dinner type things, bottled flavored waters, and a few more prepared type items to fill out the rest of the week’s meals.
I primarily shop at Jewel, which can be a bit overpriced at times, but with the Preferred Card, I’m only spending $20-30 a week for myself.

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My husband and i spend around $200 for grocery a month.ie around $50 a week.we buy meat, fish and eggs every week and still manage to be at $200. i love cooking, so we eat out only twice in a month. He comes for lunch everyday, and we being Indians rice should be there for every meals.I buy white rice from shop rite or costco and stock it…when i discuss it with my friends , they say they cant believe it, but what i couldnt believe is their expenses…

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Wow… I spend too much I think after reading all the above comments. There are 4 of us in the house: Me, husband, and two teenage boys. I spend $600/month on groceries, and we eat out rarely (maybe a pizza or Taco Bell twice a month). I am going to be more vigilant with my coupon shopping I think…

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I went on a special diet this month called the Paleo Diet. I was only allowed to eat fruits, vegetables, lean meats, berries, and nuts. I could not eat any grains (rice, flour, corn, etc.), sugar, refined or processed foods, salt, legumes (beans, peanuts, peas, etc.), or tubers (potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.). I ate about 70% organic. I kept all my grocery bills for 30 days. I spent $515 just on myself for 30 days. I am very active, and eat large meals. It made me realize how cheap and filling potatoes, bread, and rice can be.

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All I can say is HOLY COW! I think we need to review our spending. I had no idea. We eat mostly a vegan diet and this IS more expensive. We eat virtually no meats or dairy. We buy almost all organic and the base of our diet is beans, nuts, seeds, fruits and tons of veggies. For the two of us, we average $975/month on groceries only. Another $200/month eating out for lunch 1x per week and dinner about 1x per week. GULP. Time to start looking into farmer markets and food co-ops and maybe a garden to lower this bill down. It’s practically a mortgage.

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Wow I can’t beleive what little people spend. For just myself and my wife we spend about $800 – $900 a month although that includes toiletries, paper towels, ect… We eat out probably 2 or 3 times a week as well. The funny thing is that we eat cheap foods at home too as my wife is a vegetarian. Lots of pasta, ect… and I only buy steaks for myself when they are on sale. We aslo don’t throw anything out and we shop mostly at Stop & Shop which is not an expensive grocery. I think the biggest reason we spend so much is that we like to eat our vegies/fruit and that gets expensive. Also, I make all my meals for work at home.

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Wow, that is a lot. My family consist of 5 people two which are kids and we only have a budgeted $280-$350 for food each month. I’ll admit, it doesn’t buy enough healthy food for the house at the moment. Go Farmer’s Market!!! (I used to be a vendor, and boy is it cheaper than the supermarkets.)

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I have been trying to find out what people spend on average for groceries and Mr. Lampsen is right – there’s not much info out there. Why the Dept. of Agriculture doesn’t have to the minute info is beyond me. How do they figure food stamp program amounts?
I would assume location can be a big factor in pricing, having lived here in the Phila. PA area, Cleveland, OH and Atlanta GA areas. I can tell you the south was much cheaper. We are a family of four adults and i spend typically 700-900 or more (sometimes) on groceries and household/personal care products. My two girls are 18 and they go through quite a bit. I’d like to see this number go down obviously and really appreciate all this info. I would like to see the numbers represented geographically though.

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Over the years I have agonized over whether I was spending too much, and there is a chart of average cost of food at home published by the USDA. The Thrifty level is that which they use for determining food stamps.

We tend to be under this, but I am always pinching pennies, and probably not giving the kids enough fresh produce and milk at times, esp. when prices are up. We have 7 kids, and according to the “thrifty” level should spend about $506 every two weeks (that’s how my husband gets paid). It decreases as the family gets larger up to 10% less for a family of 7 or more.

I am currently spending a bit over that amount, but I do buy quite a lot of non-thrifty things because I want the family to be healthy. Brown rice, lots of veg, a few health food/organic type things so we avoid high fructose corn syrup.

You can find it at http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodCost-Home.htm, and either feel better or feel worse. There are 4 different spending levels they chart, and it is for eating exclusively at home.

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In Manhattan I’ve seen cans of soup go for three dollars a piece and cereal go for six bucks. Milk is $4 for half a gallon.

The cheapest grocery is actually an organic food store, to put things in perspective. The only cheaper places are discount stores such as Lot Less that occasionally distribute a few closeout foods – and fruit vendors on the street.

I spend upwards of 400 dollars a month on one person but I’m trying to cut that down a LOT by subsisting on cans of refried beans and rice from the box. I have a nice stash of foods so maybe I’ll just avoid the grocery except for a few choice items, and try to live on what’s in the cupboard. I’ve got to empty out my drawers before I move anyway.

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My DH and I spend $150/m on Food and grocey items. We are careful to deduct how much we spend each time we go to the store, from our target($150). That way we always know how much we have left to spend for the month. This is the only way I can keep us at that number and have been doing so for several years. We eat no processed food,little pasta or rice, LOTS of fresh produce, high quality meats and some dairy. We set price maximums on everything we buy and will not purchase an item if the cost exceeds that limit. These are a couple of the strategies that work for us.

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Contrary to the implication of the person who replied to my first comment, I actually do buy a share from the local CSA (community supported agriculture) farm collective – and the cost of that box of *Local*, *Organic* produce is factored into my $50/week budget. The way I save money on the rest of the things I buy is possible through learning good couponing and stockpiling techniques. And I picked all that up from reading the couponing and frugalista blogs online. It’s not hard, it just takes determination to make it work – and every person’s situation is completely different from everyone else’s

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I’m 20 years old, and I have to eat certain foods to stay fit for my job. I earn an average of $500-$1000 a night for three nights of work, but since you never know what you’re going to make, spending wisely is a priority. (I’m a stripper). I have to eat mostly alkaline foods to keep my metabolism up, and luckily I don’t like meat, so I don’t spend that much money on food. In my spare time I clip coupons and use the discounts the VIP cards can get you. I also never eat out. On average I spend less than $150 a month on food, and if I make sure there’s leftovers with what I cook, I spend even less.

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I have a feeling I am going to blow everyone else’s averages away.

First of all, I consider myself upper middle class (not rich by any means), with a wife who stays home with the kids and two children 12 and 6. I have gotten after my wife for years about spending so much money on the credit card, and this year I decided to itemize every expense by category.

I knew we spent a lot on groceries, but I was shocked at the total – over $16,500 in 2010. I don’t even eat breakfast, and I don’t pack a lunch at work — so you can only count me for consuming groceries 1 meal (dinner) 5 days a week and 2 (lunch and dinner)on weekends.

If my math is correct, assuming that 20% of the grocery bill (conservatively)is non-food — i.e. cleaning supplies, toilet paper, etc. then the actual food cost is still about $13,500. My total for restaurants is $6,500 for 2010. So that is a total food cost of $20,000 !! So each person in my family on average is consuming $5000/year in food (and we are all normal height and weight). We don’t drink alcohol, or go to fancy restaurants (mostly Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday’s etc). We all drink tap water, so there are no sodas or other drink costs. Granted, my wife is from Spain and she likes fresh fruit and vegetables, but we also eat our fair share of rice, pasta, potatos, etc. I always ask her is she is leading a double life and cooking for another family that I am not aware of !!!!

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Wow! How are you people doing this? It must be where you live. We live in the Bay Area. My girlfriend and I make all our own meals and never eat out. We go to 3 different stores and stock up when we see something on sale, we use coupons, we are both small people and we still spend about $150 a week. I can’t understand how we could spend much less unless we started skipping meals.

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Columbia, South Carolina
My wife and I have a 4 year old with a baby girl on the way. We currently spend about $800 a month on groceries. She buys mostly organic foods when she can. (cereal, milk, frozen foods for the 4 year old that are organic.)

We both work and make a middle six figure salary, but will be down to my salary alone when the next baby arrives. I’m nervous!

Buying organic really adds to the cost, especially locally raised meats. I’m hoping to cut grocery bills by buying bulk and making large meals at home that will provide left-overs for my lunches at work.

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I am a college student first of all, so I don’t have a huge budget for groceries. I never eat out, though, and I spend about $120/month. I don’t actually eat ramen and mac ‘n cheese, though I do eat a lot of cheap stuff, like potatoes pasta, rice and tuna. I generally never buy anything that isn’t on sale, and I always buy meats in bulk then freeze them for later. This has seemed to work out so far, though I can’t wait until I have the money to splurge on some fresh produce and more exotic ingredients for recipes

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I’m in college, and I shoot for around $160 a month, which is around $40 a week. I’m buying for myself, as for the most part, my roommates and I don’t share food. My problem comes with the fact that I have to walk close to mile to the grocery store, so I refrain from buying too many items, especially heavy things like milk or juice, at the supermarket itself. I end up buying these items at a local convenience store where everything is very overpriced ($5 for normal sized cranberry juice, $4 gallon of skim milk, usually around $5 for a box of cereal..). On top of that, I live in Boston and go to Shaw’s, which is pretty expensive, at least the one where I go in the center of the city. A box of Cheez-Its is $5, a big bag of chips is $5.. with a few snacks can go up to $15 before even accounting for food for dinner. I do usually manage to stay under $40 a week, but then when I look at my bank account later in the month I realize how much I end up spending at the convenience store – just milk and juice each week (I drink a lot of milk and juice) can cost me an additional $40 a month.

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This is a great site…who knew that grocery spending can vary by a factor of 10 or more? My family of 3 (child is 12) has consumed $1856 worth of groceries since the first of the year. Last year’s total was $13,209 – so a little over a thousand a month for a virtually all organic, non-gmo, free-range, wild caught, cooked from scratch at every meal, super healthy diet.

(note: the figures do include toiletries and the odd extra item like candles or flowers on occasion, I don’t break those out of the budget – but they don’t include my husband’s lunch money, $80 a week, or eating out perhaps once a week on average, but does include 3 meals a day for 2 of us)

We waste nothing and eat *every* speck of leftovers, but local organic produce and non-industrial protein sources are simply expensive (at least in L.A., maybe everywhere?), even when shopping for only seasonal items.

On the other hand, our medical expenses are essentially negligible. Better to pay the grocer than the doctor as they say, and in our family’s case we feel we are making a good investment in our health and in the health of the planet.

Still, more power to you, you frugal souls – I’m going to keep reading to find ways to stretch the food budget further – it’s obvious that I have **A LOT** of room for improvement!!

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Also a college student. I go to a big expensive art school, and my family’s pretty poor, so my grocery food budget is around 60-80 dollars a month. I’m not kidding. Though I do keep 30 bucks around to eat out with friends, and will use that if we don’t go out much that month.

Like Shannon, I don’t eat a lot of preprocessed stuff, either. I have ramen for those times when I just want to eat something without really cooking, but I mostly buy oatmeal, potatoes, pasta, rice, tuna, beans, veggies, eggs, tortillas, whole wheat bread and meat.

May start looking into coupon clipping since it’s apparently a big deal! I’ll take any advantage I can get.

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Middle Tennessee

Wow, ok me and my husband really blow the budget on food. I buy some no-name brand foods, frozen veggies, and meat at every meal. We eat out maybe twice a month for dinner. Lately I have noticed a trend that I eat out every breakfast and lunch 5 days a week (cafeteria at work) for a total of about $35. My husband also eats breakfast and lunch out mostly fast foods and his total is $50 per week. Our grocery bill includes toilteries, paper products and all the food we prepare at home and we spend approximately $800 a month. So the grand total is $1140 for just 2 people and believe you me we are middle class but barely. I have tried to coupon thing and it always seems they have coupons for items I don’t use at all or a brand that I do not care for. I wish someone could move in and I could just give them all our money and they would pay all the bills, prepare all the food and then I could really see how it should be done.

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Am I over paying for groceries? This is the last 2 weeks of grocery lists for a 2 person household (a 44 year old man, and a 72 year old woman). Took advatange of in house store sales, givebacks, and manufacturer cupons.

$86 dollars March 15 2011
1 loaf Irish  soda bread
5 pounds red potatoes
Corned  Beef flat cut – 7.4 pounds
Boneless Chicken breast 4.3 pounds
80% Ground Beef-  7.7 pounds
Fresh Kielbasi – 1.35 pounds
Smoked Kielbasi -  3 pounds
Nathans Hot dogs- 2 paks- total 2 pounds
Lays Potato Chips – 2 bags –  11 ounce each
Tuna fish – 4 cans
Totinos pizza rolls- 1 box – 7.5 ounce
Tropicana OJ – 2 cartons – 1.8 quarts each
Butter- 1 pound
V8 Juice – low sodium – 2 bottles – 2 quarts each
Laundry  detergent – 2 jugs – 50 ounce each
Mr Clean Magic Eraser – 2 boxes – 2 pads each
 

$108 dollars March 9, 2011
1 loaf Irish soda bread 3 loafs rye bread
dole coleslaw in bag
5 pounds russet potatoes
flat cut corned beef 5.5 pounds,
flat cut corned beef 3 pounds
tyson chicken thighs jumbo pak 5.3 lbs
tyson chicken breasts jumbo pak 4.5 lbs
eye round roast 3.1 lbs
4 cans maxwellhouse coffee
apricot preserves 2 -12 ounce jars
4 cans tuna
ajax laundtry detergent 4jars -50oz size,
totinos party pizza-3 boxes
ellios 9 slice pizza-3boxes
hungry man dinners-4 boxes (1 pound dinners)
mrs t’s perogis -3boxes
gortons fish sticks- 4 boxes
2 dozen large grade A eggs
1 pound bacon
1 pound butter
1 can baked beans
5 frozen chicken sandwhiches
1 quart milk
4 reusable grocery tote bags
1 Greeting card

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I’m sort of astounded by these average numbers, personally. We are frugal with our spending, but right now averaging around $300/person-month on groceries alone. We prefer fresh produce and are very close to being a vegetarian household (not quite, I still eat meat ~3 times a month). We also eat out several times a week, as well, for an additional 1-150/month. If we were REALLY diligent, we could cut this number down, of course, but an average of ~$112 does not seem realistic given our current ~$400 spend.

We’re a DINK (Dual Income, No Kids) household living in Cambridge, MA, definitely not one of the cheaper places to live in the US.

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I am recently dvorced, we were together for 12 years. While together our food bill averaged $100 a week at the end,or $400 amonth plus he would often spend to eat at work too, and sometimes order food a few times a month/but only rarely went out to eat . So now that I am single again,and an empty nester too. I eat more quick meals,snacks in place of real meals for lunch, and dinner I try to have a real meal or quick meal-If I can 1 time a week fresh seafood as I do like to grill often.I also cook two meals at once and just reheat the other one the next day.
I spend on avg. $200 a month living alone now- plus maybe $50 month paper product/pet food /cleaning & personal item supplies additionally..
I rarely eat out now but often did for the many years when I worked in a restaurant. I often ate a meal at work and at that time would get it at half price and then I rarely cooked back then since I worked most days about 6 days a week/ sometimes up to 12 hours a day – so I had little choice but to eat at work .I spent my whole life in the restaurant business, but am now disabled.
I do have to rely on food assitance at this time. I get just $200 a month and it is rarely enough due to food prices going up so much in the past couple of years – I started seing the prices soar when gas first went up..

But when I was feeding two , the prices were cheaper for food and it did incl. our paper products and we were a one income household for several years after I became seriously ill.
It seems like I do eat too much frozen stuff like lean cuisine, etc, I do have a sweet tooth, but only a little meat, ham , ground beef, chicken,lots of pasta, rice, some potatoes, and cheap snack cakes, a good bit of frozen and some fresh seafood which is sometimes on sale so I stock up if its BOGO on frozen seafood items, I buy large portions of Salmon and cut into smaller single portions and freeze.I often do the same with meat or ask them to sell me a single portion of a meat..I do buy soups,and make mac & cheese from -homemade, never eat breakfast or a real lunch though- just a little snack if anything,I mainly just eat dinner each day.I rarely drink soda,mainly water, I buy store brands often,use register coupons.check the sales before I go but I have personally gone from a avg. income household to a poverty level household in the past year.
I almost never can eat out anymore,unless I am taken to Dinner due to finaces.. but I am okay with that. I am not well so its hard to prepare meals,or to shop for that matter.
I used to love both cooking at home -real meals and eating out, but not as much now. I do stock up on sale items and buy things at half price when I only need one and its BOGO, and use coupons and discount grocery store cards, I shop at multiple stores to shop the sales. I only go shop twice a month.Unless I forget something that I must have- or I do without.
I think I am right on average as I do believe it is cheaper to feed more ppl. as the cost goes down per person for making the whole meal…trying to feed just one person is more expensive,I don’t eat a lot of fresh veggies or fresh fruit, and I never bake anymore.
When I was raising my daughters I know it was cheaper overall per person but that was many years ago.

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We have 7 to feed in our household, 4 kids 4yrs-16 and 3 adults, (my husband’s sister lives with us) and it is rare if we do no have at least one guest at dinner. We spend an average of 735 a month on groceries (including toiletries and the like). I cook most things from scratch, we garden, I love surprises from neighbors and I have never met something fresh I could not use, and I freeze it or dry it it I can not use it right away. We eat some processed things. Mostly my husband is the only one that eats out (except for a date night)we spend about 80/month. Oh and the kids often eat at school which adds about 60/month if you spread it over the year. I coupon, and meals are planned around what’s on sale and what’s in season, I love to cook from many cultures and a large variety of ingredients. And thank you for looking for the answer to this question it a plagued me for years.

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MY husband and I are a single income family and we have a 1 year old daughter. I have been couponing, shopping sales, and meal-planning my butt off, and we still spend about $800/month on groceries and home supplies (toiletries,diapers,etc.) I cook all of our meals and I send my husband lunch to work everyday. We spend maybe $60/month on eating out. I’m really trying to tighten the budget so we can rack up some savings, but I can’t seem to spend less on groceries. We are both doing weight watchers and eating as healthy as possible, lots of fresh produce and chicken. I just feel like it is outrageous for 2 people to spend so much on groceries, but I don’t really know what else to do.

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For my husband, a 2yr old – in diapers, me, 2 dogs and a cat, I spend on average about $275 a month on shopping (food plus any hygiene, diapers, and paper products)Sometimes dog food is bought outside of that ammount. I have to admit that it is hard and sometimes our meals are usually cheap but we are not going hungry and always have some kind of meat at every meal even if it’s just hot dogs I’ve tried coupons but most times I can always just buy it cheaper at Walmart by just buying the store brand so have never had luck with clipping. I used to look at the sales paper for other stores and there would might be one thing cheaper but still cant buy it if it’s not on my list and dont think it’s worh going to another part of town to save $.50 for one thing I find a little cheaper. I have been doing research though and reading blogs to see how I can get a little more for my money. To spend what I do, I plan most days’ main meat dish in my head and make a list of things I dont have for that dish. I add it all up and if it’s over the limit I take some things off and do a cheaper dish. And then I add in some vegetables and pastas. Potatoes are cheap and eaten alot. I dont waste food either. Like if I buy a pack of buns, I make sure I have 2 meals using them to use them all up which saves money. I dont buy any lunch food either. I send leftovers and maybe some yogurt and homemade cookies etc to work with my husband for his lunches. I would definitely take more to buy things for what I would like to make, but I feel it is important and the responsible thing to do to buy within your means. I buy no junk food such as drinks, cookies, crackers, chips etc either. It can be done. Even if I had just $50-$75 more a month I would be in Heaven and able to make even nicer meals, so it blows my mind to see what some people spend on food. I dont think our family could half eat it all if we could spend so much.
I have meals that I can make to go even cheaper if I have to.

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It’s just me and my 3 month old daughter. I spend about (40 monthly) 10 a week on food. I have to admit I’m on WIC because I just had a baby and my husband passed away so… Milk, bread, eggs, fruits and veggies, cereal, peanutbutter, cheese and formula are all taking care of from that. The microwave is my best friend though haha. I get a weeks worth of those “healthy” hormel meals that are a dollar a piece and a gallon of gerber water is 1 dollar too. I buy 3 gallons of baby water and 7 hormel meals and I’m definitely not going hungry.

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Not sure how two people are living off of $200.00 a month. I am disabled and receive food stamp help. I spend the total amount given (about $169) and easily spend another $50-100 in cash. While I’m not vegeterian, I try to eat fresh fruit/vegetables daily. Even with buying what’s at the supermarket(and not necessarily organic)having a “fresh” diet is expensive. I will settle for frozen, but find the quality or cuts aren’t the same as fresh nor taste. I don’t consume much dairy as I’m lactose intolerant. I instead drink soy, rice, or almond milk which is far more expensive. I don’t gorge myself on ready snacks, usually purchasing only two snacks per month (such as a store brand Chex mix, rice cakes or granola bars). The food stamp amount is gone well before the 14th of any given month. I also go to pantries. Unfortunately, most of what they give is can goods which I don’t like but will eat once rations get low. Fresh anything is unheard of at most pantries. I don’t eat a lot of processed foods either, purchasing a few boxes of seasoned pasta which I add albacore tuna to. I try to consume lean ground turkey, (90%) fish, and whole chickens for made from scratch chicken noodle soup/baking. I do buy juices, but 100% juices or those with no added sugar. Some might say that my eating “likes” are out of proportion with what I can afford…I just am making an attempt to eat healthy. I have a weight issue that isn’t of my own doing. The medication I have to take to control symptoms from a lifelong disease ALL cause weight gain. Yes, I’m physically active, exercising 4-6 times per week. I ride a bike, and cycle more than 50 miles per week. The medicine I take has caused weight spikes anywhere from 50-100lbs. My prescriptions are changed about every two years (as they become ineffective)or if my side effects become too pronounced. This is a vicious cycle. @Naomi who made the comment that some people eat to live, while others live to eat…My now deceased grandmother was fond of saying that very same saying. Her underlying reason for saying that was to illustrate that one is fat due to their own undoing. She raised three daughters, who I felt were so self-conscious about weight, that they had borderline eating disorders (despite their strick religious upbringing, all became smokers and caffeineholics as a means to control weight). Society does look at an overweight/obese person an instantly make judgments. If someone met me they’d perhaps think I’m sedentary and eat poorly…My cholesterol levels are well below 200, and I have no other pronounced health issues except illness I take medication for. My weight has yo-yoed my whole life (since being put on medicine). I have had 2 hour workout regiments and only lost 5 pounds in a three month period. What I spend on groceries directly correlates to my trying to maintain a healthy weight. I eat better and exercise more than anyone in my immediate family (yet, I still have a weight issue based on medication consumption and not poor eating habits). I still have room for improvement, as I move towards a vegan lifestyle (I can count how many times I’ve had beef or pork this year…I even went a portion of the year without consuming chicken). What I spend monthly on food still isn’t enough to leave me with food at the end of the month.

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We are a family of 7, soon to be 8. Ages 65,62,31,30,11,9,2 and in a few months a newborn. The two eldest of the family are no longer working, not due to retirement, but more so because of health related reasons. The second two eldest, 1 being myself and the other my husband are also not working at this time. I am currently unable to work due to pregnancy and he is unable to work due to “legal reasons”.

Even when we had jobs, we were unable to support us all without losing things. We couldn’t afford to NOT apply for foodstamps, so we did. Even on foodstamps, we get $793/mo. Obviously, if you count this out and do the math, you’ll see, this is a ridiculously low amount for this many people to live on. For 7 people, that’s $26.43 a day for all three meals- $8.82 a meal- $1.26 a person, per meal. We barely stretch it out to cover everything at the end of the month, and that assuming we had any left overs to use in ‘thrown together’ soups and so on.

It’s funny to watch people wonder or complain about the amount their spending on their 4 people or less home, especially when they’ve got great jobs to cover other expenses. We can rarely even keep a home due to rent being far too high ($550+), electric being outrageous ($300+), water is no different ($100+), and we get paid minimum wage- which is something like $7.45/hr at 7 hours or less a day. Well anyway, rant ended there…

Family of 7 (8)-$1.26 a meal (per person)
-$3.78 for all 3 meals a day (per person)
-$8.82 a meal (for all 7 people total)
-$26.43 a day (for all 7 people)
-$185.01 total for 7 people a week

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I spend about $75 on food related groceries a week and eat out once or twice a week with family and friends. I buy and eat a large varieties of fish (e.g. Chilean Sea Bass $17 per lb, wild salmon fillet $9 per lb), ground chicken and thinly sliced port (so not a high quantity would be consumed per meal), one or two large cartons of Greek yogurt, two large cartons of organic chicken stock, 5 cartons of black bean soy milk, a large quantity (7 to 8 servings a day) of exotic fruits (e.g. papayas from Hawaii, kiwi, mangos, different varieties of tangerines, bananas and apples), at least 8 different types of common and exotic veggies (e.g. Japanese squash, Asian egg plant, exotics greens) and I restock a huge variety of common and exotic herbs, spices and sauces in cooking. For example, I use balsamic vinegar from Medina, Italy. I do not buy or eat sliced bread (that would include sandwiches), rice, cereal, pasta, beef (unless I’m served on occasions), potatoes, potato chips and do not drink carbonated beverage.

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How are you people spending so little on groceries? I spend about $350 for just myself (a 130lb vegetarian female) each month. The boyfriend and I split the cost of food we both eat and pay individually for the food we each individually eat…eg., we split the cost of a shared bag of oranges, but I buy my own almond milk.

And that’s while being frugal! We do all of our grocery shopping at Target, use coupons when we can, buy mostly stuff on sale, etc. We don’t eat extravagantly – I eat cereal with milk for breakfast, bring a homemade salad to work, and usually we split a frozen pizza and salad, or pasta with veggies, every night.

Is it because we live in the D.C. area? Very depressing.

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How on earth are people spending so little on food? My husband and I spend an average of $1000 on groceries. It does not include breakfast or lunch costs because we eat out in the mornings and lunchtime. So it’s mostly just dinner, milk, snacks etc. adding up to $1000. We shop from Sprouts, Joe’s, Whole Foods, Costco and Ralphs…We buy organic meat, dairy, fruits etc. I need to take a closer look at our receipts now.

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