Food Budget

[griff]

Hey guys, just trying to make a food budget and I don't even know where to start. How much should a household of two adults and one dog spend on grocery shopping a week assuming we don't eat out. Thanks all!

[ktmarvels]

In my opinion, this will be a hard question for people to answer. It varies so much due to several factors, coupons, sales, cooking from scratch, stores shopped at, area of the country. When I was determining the food section in my budget was we tracked our spending for a couple of months and then averaged it.

To answer your question more directly we are a 2 adult, one cat household and we budget $300/month for groceries. If needed we could trim this area of the budget more if needed, (we rarely spend $300/month anyway), but right now the need isn't there. We have another $200/months for eating out, again a figure we rarely reach, but is still allotted.

[griff]

Thanks for the reply! I will track my grocery spending for the next three months but i wil try to budget around $300 dollars and see how that works. It's just a ball park figure to get started. Thanks again!

I agree with kt. You could eat Ramen noodles bought at an Aldi's in rural Mississippi and come up with some very low grocery bills.

The number could (should?) vary from week to week if you're doing things like taking advantage of sales. (If you stock up during a really good sale, that may raise your bill that week, but lower it the next few weeks.)

Having said that, I also struggle with figuring out exactly what the right number should be. You can always go lower if you really want to, but at what cost. For example, fresh fruits and vegetables tend to be more expensive. But if you cut them out of your diet, what's the effect on your health....

[GRITSinMS]

My research suggests Food, although a variable expense, should be budgeted at approximately 11% to 12% of your net income. If you are under budget one month, carry it over to the next month. If after 3 months, you find too much overage or shortage, adjust accordingly.

[eisor]

We spend about $80 a week feeding 2 adults. That includes shopping at Aldi, Kroger, Ingles & Wal-mart (occasionally). It also includes some frozen meals and some organic products. We've stopped eating out for the most part.

[boefixepa]

For two adults we get 300-400 a month, including eating out. The dogs, 3 Malautes, have their own budget....I get 5 - big bags shipped to me from Bill Jack when they are getting low. That's $160 a shipment, but I only have to do that 3-4 times a year.