What's your family food budget?

[DisneyHardin]

See my other reply. For further details, we keep it simple. For example, breakfast is usually egg muffins (I like ham & cheese with either mushrooms or spinach, but you use pretty much whatever you want). And some type of bread-toast or waffles or muffins.
Lunch is either leftovers or a simple cold cut sandwich with baby carrots and either a banana or grapes.
Dinner is protein based due to stomach issues, but revolves around either chicken or pork.

Wow - you must be a super shopper to only spend $90/month (after you take out the $40 for the hog). I am very impressed.

 

[RamblingMad]

I can’t do a food budget because some foods are seasonal. However, my lunch budget is usually $10-12 a day. Some days I’m under. Some days I’m over. With COVID-19 I expect to bring meals and be under, or I’ll get delivery and be over.

 

[disneychrista]

Single person and I spend budget about $300 - $350 per month for groceries and household items.

 

[Mom24Princesses]

We are DH, me and a 20 year old DD.
We spend around $500 on groceries per month. We limit eating out at most one average meal out per week. Maybe a fast food lunch too as a treat. We are recently retired and trying to not touch savings. We get teacher retirement each month.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Family of four. Two adults, DS20 and DD14.

right now that everyone is home all day everyday (except me, I still go into work) and prices have gone up I’m spending about $800 a month on groceries.

Any other time it’s about $500-600 a month.

 

[DisLiss]

We average approx. $215 per week on groceries. I don't have it divided up between food and other goods.
That's for 2 adults, 1 almost adult teen boy, and 1 tween boy. We spend approx. $200 per week at the grocery stores and we put $50-$60 per month onto the school lunch account for the tween. So that's where I got the extra $15 per week in my $215 total.

We find we're spending a bit more now because people seem to think buying extra cool/fun/yummy stuff they don't usually buy is a great way to make staying home a bit better.

 

[Searc]

No, she takes her lunch & then comes home to eat second lunch after school.
Yes, $40 of the $130 is a sinking fund/envelope for the hog.

So you claim to spend $22 a week on groceries and eat fresh fruit, produce and meat?? I want to shop at your grocery store.

 

[Sadeesmom]

So you claim to spend $22 a week on groceries and eat fresh fruit, produce and meat?? I want to shop at your grocery store.

Other than two $20 packages of chicken breasts per month, you have to remember that I don’t buy meat at the store, and we grow our carrots, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, and a couple other things.
It’s all about living a no waste life. We eat simply and live in a low cost of living area-I’m sure that helps.

 

[DLgal]

We have 2 kids. High COL area. We spend at LEAST $1000/month on food and household essentials. Right now, I'm spending $300/week with just 3 of us here. 2 are teenage boys.

If you want 3 kids, and considering that the price of things just keeps going up, budget $1500/month.

 

[Searc]

Other than two $20 packages of chicken breasts per month, you have to remember that I don’t buy meat at the store, and we grow our carrots, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, and a couple other things.
It’s all about living a no waste life. We eat simply and live in a low cost of living area-I’m sure that helps.

So do we and there is still no way I am buying 21 meals plus snacks for two people for $22 a week.

 

[Tallis]

It’s all about living a no waste life.

Is this code for dumpster diving? I'm not trying to be rude or sarcastic, I have seen internet groups who survive solely on items salvaged from grocery dumpsters. They use that phrase, so made me wonder. It's intriguing to me, but I couldn't do it myself.

Anyway, four adults here and 3 grandchildren that live next door and eat here a lot. We spent about $800 a month on groceries and I'm a frugal shopper and cook from scratch.

When we lived up north, having a garden helped. Here in Florida, we have never been successful with a garden, so eventually gave up.

 

[Sadeesmom]

Is this code for dumpster diving? I'm not trying to be rude or sarcastic, I have seen internet groups who survive solely on items salvaged from grocery dumpsters. They use that phrase, so made me wonder.

Definitely not (although I might have to reconsider my word choice now-thanks!)

I am a Dave Ramsey follower, and while we were in the first three baby steps, strictly followed a rice & beans, beans & rice diet (not literally). It taught me to be cheap in a lot of ways and really evaluate wants versus needs in all aspects of life. I’m not quite a minimalist, but close. Probably the biggest waste of money I see food wise is snacks, and we just don’t eat them unless we grow them or they are leftovers (such as extra bananas or pears). A lot of times, people snack when they’re really just thirsty, so we drink a full glass of water first. (And no, we’re not under-weight/malnourished either. I could lose about 40 pounds & still be slightly over weight & my child has always been in the 85%+ brackets for her age group)

 

[Delite]

Mortgage should be 1/4 of after tax take home monthly.

Example 4000 a month. Means get close to 1000 a month home. If your unhappy with what's available at your 1/4, save a bigger down payment. Most lenders have cut off anything less than 20% down wait six months save 40%.

Food includes my eating out. I try and aim for restraunts that serve enough to eat meals twice. I do fill up on bread at texas roadhouse cause I share a steak with hubby. Chips at Mexican places. Enchiladas aren't usually made fresh they're sitting in a warmer for serving.

Formula and diapers will run you $hundreds$ a month.

Home food is carb based. I've started lowering the meat added for most recipes.

Still a grocery trip hits $150 easy. Kid likes fruit and cheese sticks. I'd love to scrimp the food budget but that means no eating out which means I'm constantly doing dishes

Grocery can be fiddled with to a budget. But I don't want to go to my grave living on spam and eggs at retirement. So with our second home I'm aiming to stash 300 a month into Ira.

Finances are wiggly but don't make yourself house poor. Pay off cars will help afford the kids too.

 

[Delite]

Snip snip

When we lived up north, having a garden helped. Here in Florida, we have never been successful with a garden, so eventually gave up.

This might be fixable, just have to dump foot depth mulch and let it settle a full year. Or if you want it quick, load of compost. I'm hoping to amend the Florida sand when we move. My corn and tomatoes here in Texas are crazy growing in rocks and clay. The soil is very happy this year, been a 3 year process. Dumped two trailers of compost last year to add to the clay. My old lady goal would be no till gardening. Now let's add on the flower bed budgets

 

[jen7233]

I don't know how people that have small grocery expenditures they list here do it and no further thought on that as it's the internet. But sure, there are ways and lots of YouTube channels purporting their cheap grocery hauls, Aldi hauls, whatever, and their grocery shop list. I'd say it's hard to know what you will spend until you're in it. Now the answers on your questions from my point of view:

How big is your family and how much do you spend a month on groceries? I spent $660 this month so far, family of four, two boys a teen and about to be a teen.

Is $1,000 for three kids too low? Too high? Just looking for some real world examples.
In today's dollars and for my family, it's a bit on the high side - but that's mine. Someone else is going to come along and say they spend $300 for a grocery haul family of four, and honestly who knows what they really buy, and why, so I can't really compare and don't want to. But anyway, there have been times I've spent fairly close to that $1000, but that includes household supplies or a Costco run. Your costs are going to vary depending on specifically your family's lifestyle as it unfolds, food choices, as kid's grow, like/dislikes/allergies, tomorrow's grocery costs, etc.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I will say, as an extra thought now that I've developed 2 allergies in 2 years...that's where your grocery bill will kill you.

As the only allergy person in the house, I easily spend $50/more per month JUST ON ME. And I can be around my allergy and not eat it. And I only buy a few specific "allergy free" products and make do with normal product subs and cook for myself a TON.

When you have a kid with allergies, you need to not have any of the allergen in the house, so you'd be adding that total to each person. So, it's something to keep in mind...aka, have a buffer!

 

[Delite]

The YouTube ladies that squeak a crazy low budget shop at specific stores and are willing to grab 4 loaves of clearance bread and freeze them. Just to shave a few dollars. Most times their eating brands I've never heard of.

 

[danceintherain]

I just had our 4th kid. We've been zero based budgeting for almost 5 years now (since between child 2 and 3). Our food spending has been fairly fixed for a while, although it fluctuated a bit while I was pregnant This last pregnancy was extra rough for me and I reached for convenience foods more often.
In any case, the current budget has $700 for groceries. Diapers and wipes are budgeted separately. I have 2 in diapers right now, and it's about $50/month for Target brand. I have spent $50/month on just one kid in the past, when Pampers were the only ones that worked well.
Plus $150/month for "eating out" as a family, which more often than not means pizza once a week. Sometimes I get better deals, but this week we got 3 pizzas (2 large, 1 medium) and a chocolate chip cookie from Pizza Hut for about $30. Nobody delivers to our house, so that did not include a tip or delivery charge.
DH spends around $100/month on eating lunch out while at work. Ideally, this wouldn't be a thing, but if he didn't have it allocated in the budget, and didn't plan well then he just wouldn't eat, and he has some health problems that make not eating a worse problem than it would be under typical circumstances.
I have a token $40/month for my own lunches out, which typically acts as a buffer for the family eating out. I SAH, and only actually eat lunch out maybe once a month...usually.

So anyway, we are just under $1000/month for what is basically a family of 5. The baby is breastfed, so there's not much of an added cost there, if we do a good job sticking to our budget. When I was going to Aldi regularly, I could keep it a little bit lower, but it's a bit of a drive and it was easier to do grocery pick up while I was pregnant. It will probably be another 3-4 months before the baby's feeding and napping schedule is stable enough for me to feel like going to Aldi again. By then with the kids getting older and eating more, we may have to budget a little bit more or eat "out" less.

Honestly, I would focus on building better habits now (cooking at home as much as possible, buying store brand, reducing food waste as much as possible) rather than focusing on a target number for the future. So many things change over time. Part of the reason I can keep my food spending reasonably low is the cost of food where I am. A gallon of milk is usually $1.89. Unless I do a better job keeping things under control, then I expect costs to increase even more as my kids get older. I have 3 boys, and the 3 year old already eats more than his older brother and sister combined sometimes.

If you keep PITI under 25% of net income AFTER taxes AND 15% going into retirement, then you'll likely be fine. It's a good plan to be aware what you're spending on food and everything else, but keeping your truly fixed expenses at a reasonable level ends up being more valuable in the long term.

 

[tzolkin]

Definitely not (although I might have to reconsider my word choice now-thanks!)

I am a Dave Ramsey follower, and while we were in the first three baby steps, strictly followed a rice & beans, beans & rice diet (not literally). It taught me to be cheap in a lot of ways and really evaluate wants versus needs in all aspects of life. I’m not quite a minimalist, but close. Probably the biggest waste of money I see food wise is snacks, and we just don’t eat them unless we grow them or they are leftovers (such as extra bananas or pears). A lot of times, people snack when they’re really just thirsty, so we drink a full glass of water first. (And no, we’re not under-weight/malnourished either. I could lose about 40 pounds & still be slightly over weight & my child has always been in the 85%+ brackets for her age group)

This is certainly true. I think snacks and drinks account for a larger portion of many families' food budgets than they realize. For many years my family exclusively drank water. Now that my kids are teens/young adults and we have more money to splurge, we are probably spending a good chunk of our grocery money on seltzers and craft beer. We also recently started getting into tiki drinks, so I've been buying juices that never would have before. These things are all definitely not necessities.

 

[Maine_Belle]

We are in an average COL location in Maine, that has slightly higher COL averages for groceries. Food is my hobby, so I never skimp- I buy almost any ingredients I want (except scallops- so tasty, so damn expensive!) and cook from scratch 95% of the time happily. Plenty of meat, fish, and fresh produce, plus occasional fancy cheese and specialty ingredients. We also drink, so weekly 1-2 bottles of wine, plus seasonal beer and restocking of the hard stuff. We only eat out or get dinner take out on average once a month, and eat lunch out 2-5 times/month, which are a different line item.

I've been consciously trying to reduce our food budget this year for the 4 of us- me, DH, 10 year old hungry boy, 7 year old picky girl. We are averaging around $200/wk. I had gotten it down to around $180/wk before the pandemic hit, but mid March on has messed me up a little. This number includes household items- paper goods, health and beauty, etc.