How much do you spend on your monthly food budget?

[YLTL_Dan]

Before we left on our trip, we spent about $700/month on food - usually $500 on groceries and $200 on restaurants. Admittedly, we probably spent way more than we needed because there were only two of us, but we cooked a ton of fresh vegetables and meat that we usually bought at whole foods. I did a post on this subject a while back, and found this very informative chart from the BLS:

[gradi]

roughly 700- 1000 per month . It depends if we have guests or family staying over.

[llckll]

Our current budget is $500/month cash envelope method. We would always go over the budget so this should help us not to. This feeds, myself, my wife (baby growing in her womb), 13.5 month toddler, 5 year old lab mix.

[lamar411]

For my family of four, roughly $500 a month, but that increases depending on the amount of friends we have over in the time span. Eating out is kept to around $120-150 a month unless we end up going out with friends where in gets expensive quick.

[OldAndInTheWay]

2013 food stats

This is for a family of 14. At any given time 1 or 2 kids could be out of the house but we also have friends, acquaintances and those we can hardly tolerate over for meals a lot. This for 2013, I track our spending to the penny. I have issues.

Food and Drink Expenditures for 2013 (includes eating out).
Year - $15,120 ($1,080 per person per year)
Monthly - $1,260 ($90 per person per month)
Daily - $41.54

[hamchan]

This post made me smile. I miss having random extra kids in the house, some of whom I did not even know their names but they stayed for dinner. lol

[LizfromtheBronx]

I'm trying to figure out how much I need to budget for food. I live in Manhattan, so grocery prices (and eating out) are higher priced, but I do tend to cook a lot of my own food.

I've never had to budget for food before - for the last 15 years, I've worked two jobs - one, a regular day job, where the pay was used for my bills, and then a night (waitressing) job, which I used to live off (food, transportation, entertainment). I was paid every night I worked, so I never really had to look ahead. This is a huge shift in my thinking.

Right now, I'm planning on $400 a month for food/toiletries/household items, and still trying to work out amounts for personal care (nails, haircuts, etc), entertainment, and shopping. I do shop sales, and if I can do my food shopping by my mom's house (cheaper), I do.

[samuelwright]

First, thanks to all of you that shared here. It's been a valuable way for me to gain perspective. I spend more as a single adult than some of you do on a family, which gives me a great opportunity to pause and reflect.

My budgeting process is strikingly different than most here (not saying that it's better!) In short, I lump food in with all of my "consumables" which includes food, entertainment, travel and gasoline. The "consumables" portion of my budget is the amount remaining after my mandatory bills are paid. Here are my monthly bills:

Housing 600.00
Utilities 150.00
Internet 63.00
(no cable TV)
Auto Insurance 40.00
Wireless 90.00
Netflix 7.00
Consumables: remainder

I've come to learn that I can eat very well for very low cost, if I plan (as others have noted here.) If I eat out often, then I know that I need to cut back on gas and other consumables. My diet is best described as "bi-polar." Here's an example from yesterday's food intake:

Breakfast: Coffee (black), No-salt mixed nuts (1 ounce)
Lunch: McDonald's McChicken sandwhich, small french fry, 8 ounces of low-sodium vegetable juice
Dinner: 1/4 pound of low-salt turkey breast, peas, salted whole wheat crackers
Alcohol: 6 beers. *hiccup*

I think I win the award for least healthy diet. *wry smile* My recurring "staples" include: tuna, black beans, whole wheat pasta, 2% milk, eggs, OJ and vegetable juice.

Some days, I eat healthier and other days, I miss the mark. I venture to say my diet is "above average" compared to the average American. Then again .. that doesn't say too much does it? ;-)