Comments on: The Average Cost of Groceries Per Person: Best Guesses

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:36:29 +0000

at Jill:

The author kept saying that the information had problems. Don’t throw a fit.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:57:37 +0000

A friend of mine (who also spends very little each month on shopping) made this statement to me that seems so true. How much people spend on groceries depends alot on if they Live to Eat, or if they Eat to Live.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 04 May 2011 04:47:36 +0000

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.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:19:39 +0000

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.

By: DD

DD — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:24:36 +0000

I wanted to suggest checking out Meals on Wheels. My father had it and it is sliding scale. We had it for free. Volunteers bring food to your door- ALso contact Jewish SOcial Services or Catholic Charities.
You do not have to go hungry. Lots of folks get meals on wheels- even if they have lots of money- if they are disabled and have difficulty shopping/cooking.
Whishing you the best.
DS

By: ashley

ashley — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 05:44:02 +0000

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.

By: Celeste K

Celeste K — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:25:15 +0000

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.

By: Sandi

Sandi — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 01:46:27 +0000

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.

By: Nicola Carpenter

Nicola Carpenter — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:44:50 +0000

Mary,

my boyfriend and I spend pretty much the same as you, $250-$300 per month. We buy most of our food from a local food co-op, and in the summers go to the farmer’s market (we live in MN, so our winter budget is higher than summers, because nothing really fresh grows here in the winter). Our pasta, rice, beans, lentils, etc. are usually bought bulk. We don’t buy meat, and I’m lactose intolerant, so we buy coconut or soy milk rather than milk. I’d say that I bake 1/4 to 1/8 of the bread we eat. We don’t buy much processed foods, though we do occasionally buy cereal for convenience. Though we could pretty easily spend less by eating simpler, I love to cook and we tend to spend some money on nice spices. We were growing potted herbs, but they got to cold and too little sun in the window over this past winter.

It seems like we do not eat that much more expensively than others, even though we buy organic.

By: greg

greg — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:48:06 +0000

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.