Grocery Budget

[LivingAlmostLarge]

What's your grocery budget? Okay when I started this year I figured I spent about $400/month on groceries. I was right when I tracked it in January/February. I also guessed I spent about $400/month eating out. Actually I spent $300/month. Anyway I've been tracking my spending, not necessarily curbing it but slowly trying to cut my spending.

Well as of last month my average is $300/month from January to October. During this period I've also average $250/eating out. This is for a DINKs living in HCOLA. Before September I was more along the lines of $200/month for eating out and $200/month groceries.

Now a few things happened which really threw my budget. First we had a roommate moved in July, a 30 year old 6' male who bikes 5-7 days a week. He eats more than the 2 of us combined. And we feed him a lot. He mostly eats dinners with us. Now this has definitely increased the bill I feel by A LOT. But since I've been coupon shopping, stretching our meals and really planning, I haven't seen a huge increase.

However, we also had family/friends visiting from end of August to middle of October. So about 6 weeks of extra groceries (tons) and eating out. We spent in September alone $1k eating out and $1k on groceries. We had an average of 3 people/day staying with us for the 6 weeks, we calculated. Of course it was just more utilities, etc overall.

So is $300/month a lot for 3 adults, 2 males/1 female? Or have grocery prices gone up a lot which accounts for some of it? I feel if we didn't have our roommate I would be able to spend $200/month groceries and $200/month eating out. Is this too much or not terrible? I also buy mostly fish, lean meats, and organic/fresh veggies.

I know groceries has increased a lot over the year looking at past receipts.

[MonkeyMama]

It's really hard to say. We land around $400-$450/month on average (another HCOL area) but that includes diapers and lots of milk, etc. I just throw all the paper products/toiletries in that category since it is not much.

Maybe $50/month eating out.

We tend to cook most our meals and the kids are fruit/veggie monsters, but we don't tend to shop organic as a whole (which is much more pricey).

Honestly our bills have gone down as a whole since we have had kids (counter-intuitive perhaps) since we make an effort to eat in all the time to save money. Economies of scale also help keep costs down. So I don't think your budget sounds too far off from where we were before kids. It's harder to buy in bulk and cook cheap when you are only cooking for 2. & when we both worked we paid a lot more for convenience...

[Broken Arrow]

Well.... My current food budget for my kids and I are $480 a month.

I am acutely aware that food is my #1 budget killer right now. That's why I am trying so hard to learn to cook. I also technically don't have a slush fund for the occasional odds and ends, nor do I have an entertainment budget. As such, when such wants arise, I will take it out of the food budget. So, what's budgeted there isn't always how much I actually spend each month.

But I'm hoping to slim it down in the near future. Well, I try to do that for every item on my budget, and this is no exception.

[humandraydel]

I spend $250-300 a month feeding 2 people. Almost everything I buy though is organic and we are vegetarians so that means lots of fresh veggies and fruit. Your budget sounds perfectly reasonable. On the other hand, we never eat out - cutting that down is going to be your quickest way to save money.

[Caoineag]

We are Dinks in Denver, Colorado (not neccessarily high cost of living but food is a bit pricier than in other areas). We spend $250-$300 for 2 people. We do tend to eat a lot in comparison to other people because we are road bicyclists and are very active but I have to say your budget sounds pretty good. I do agree through that eating out is the most expensive part of a food budget so if you want to cut, that is where you will need to do it.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Am I spending too much on groceries?

[Gruntina]

Am I spending too much on groceries?

In general I do not think you’re spending too much. I live in a very HCOLA myself.

However, I think your buying too much food for too many people. Why can't the roommate chip in or buy his own food? He is around my age (I am 31) and I would be embarrased to have someone else pay my food. I would feel it was not the right thing to do unless it was a barter system where I worked for it (beyond chores work).

[LivingAlmostLarge]

He does help out. Specifically with our dogs. If things run late he'll walk them. Or if we go away for the weekend he'll walk and stay at home with the dogs. Because of biting issues we are very reluctant to just place them in daycare or boarding. We have had trouble in the past with certain dog boarding places that have not treated our dogs well.

So since he moved in he's watched our dogs 4 weekends. About 1 a month. Usually one night but still we usually can never go anywhere because of our dogs, or we try and take them with us.

[project15]

DINK's here too. We spend $350 a month in the chicago suburbs on just groceries. Not sure how much on eating out since it's part of our allowance, but I would say it's about $200 a month for both of us.

[Nikki Sixx]

Hmm I try to keep my grocery spending to 250 per week and even that is tight. I use a list and rarely stray from it...I live in NJ is our food that much more or am I spending way too much?

[shelbylovesmelby]

We probably spend like $60 a week @ most for all 5 of us (2 adults + 3 lil ones.... not old enough to eat us out of house & home YET!)

There's always room for improvment in most any budget. We shop alot @ aldi's & it's rare we buy organic. Though we do have a garden in the summer and that's about as organic as we can afford + everyone enjoys the fruits of our labor

[Lindahfx]

I am amazed that you all can spend so little on groceries. I've had posts on this site before about groceries costs. We spend much more for 2 adults and 1 toddler (and 2 cats) - approx. $700 per month. Now, that includes diapers, etc. and I do live in Canada where I know that things are more expensive. We buy a fair amount in meat/fish/poultry but I'm really not sure where it all adds up. I'd like to compare some prices with some of you to understand if it really is the Cdn price differences. I do clip coupons where possible but we don't seem to have the same sort of deals as in the US.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I live where groceries cost as much or more than canadians. I am married to a canadian and our roomie is canadian. My in-laws and friends who visit from canada go into shock when they go to the grocery store with us. We live in a super HCOLA. In my blog and on another thread I posted price/lb of food. It's expensive. DH has lived in different cities and our roomie has lived in many, many more. And he comments that he hates where we live now for expenses.

[Tree0164]

We spend about $400 a month on groceries includng health and beauty. Last year at this time time it was closer to $350-it shows food prices have gone up. We are a family of 5-2 adults, and 3 boys- 8, 5,5

[myself]

What's your grocery budget?

Ours averages $1,100/month. That's for 2 adults, 4 kids (all 7 years old and younger), and 1 large dog. Not to mention an average of once a week visit from our in-laws (who have 2 adults and 2 kids - 7 years and younger).
That also includes all paper products, diapers, food/fruits/snacks, toiletries (well for the Mrs. anyway), cleaning products, etc. And it also includes eating out once a month.
Not too bad, considering we seldom use coupons, unless the ACME sends 'em to us (or occasionally the ones that printout at the register).