How much do you spend on food?

[kork13]

I'm sure someone noticed that I didn't post my numbers. I wanted to see what everyone else said first. Now I don't feel so bad - thanks for the replies. Last month, we charged about $600 at supermarkets and restaurants. Then there is probably another $30-$50 that wasn't paid for by CC. That is for 2 adults and one full-grown teen, so essentially 3 adults. That looks to be in the ballpark for what several of you spend.

I dunno, sounds a bit like a cop-out to me, Steve... Looking at us to try and validate your wildly out-of-control spending....

[wincrasher]

For my gigantic family of 1 (me), I spend about $300 per month on lunches out and snacks from vending.

For groceries at home it's about $200/week. So $800 for the month.

Gasp! You must be a pig!

No, I have a cook-out each weekend for family & friends and brunch on Sunday for family.

[disneysteve]

I dunno, sounds a bit like a cop-out to me, Steve... Looking at us to try and validate your wildly out-of-control spending....

Yep. That was pretty much my plan.

[PrincessPerky]

I honestly do not want to know what we spend..

roughly 150-200 a week on groceries, with the occasional week of 250, and rare one of only 100. So 600-800 a month.

For a family of 6 big eaters (yeah 4 are kids, but you can barely tell from their appetites)....I guess it could be worse?

Oh btw we generally don't eat out..maybe once every month or two. Husbands lunches are brown bagged.

[Broken Arrow]

For myself, my budget is $320 a month. (This includes eating out, by the way.)

For three growing kids that are with me sometimes, that's another $200 a month.

Uh, that's budgeted anyway, not what I actually spend. I always budget high, and any leftovers are put into savings.

I don't skimp either though, as you can see, and I'm happy with the budget.

[snafu]

We buy household/toiletries/cleaning products at discount or Dollar stores. Groceries are budgeted @ $400. per month for 2 adults, 2 teens and we generally have friends for dinner every Sunday. We budget $ 100. ea. month for restaurants and Costco. I've been under budget the past 7 months as menus are being designed around pantry and freezer foods at hand.

Food costs in this region have increased close to 10% this year. Every few weeks fresh foods are more expensive. I buy bread at the outlet store, use powdered milk for cooking/baking, cook cheaper cuts of beef in the slo cooker which also keep the house cooler and give up on fish except an occasion treat of salmon from Costco. I was so annoyed at the increase price of salad dressings, I am again making them from scratch.

[GREENBACK]

Should I include the dogs let's just not.

Seriously, usually two, but sometimes three or four to feed. Rarely more than $500 and we eat really well in my opinion. We mostly eat at home and if I want King crab or prime rib I go out and get it but we buy zerojunk food which helps keep things in line.

Fine dining at home is my reward to myself, and anyone who wants to sample it, for saving and investing my hard earned cash. If I spend a lot, so be it.

[GREENBACK]

By current breakdown on my personal AmEx statement, the last period for food was $1,500.82.

Holy cow!. Maybe it's where you live, but I could eat like an absolute king on that. It's your dough so have fun with it but did I say, holy cow!

[anonymous_saver]

$350/month on groceries for two adults. We buy all organic/vegetarian/vegan specialty items and I thought we spend a lot on food. We eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

Eating out? About $50/month. Although I wouldn't count that because that is included in our spending money each month. I allow myself $60/paycheck and that seemed like a lot to me.

[getforfree]

We have 3 adults, and 2 kids, and I am pregnant. We spend anywhere between $0 to $60 a week. It depends what is on sale, and what I have stocked up. We berrely eat any meat anymore, mostly eggs instead because I stocked up for 69c/dozen. We get some veggies from our garden. And I froze tons of small packages of blackberries I picked this summer and now we make fruit punch from it, so no buying drinks. Soups and salads are the main things we eat, good for nutrition and don't cost much.

As for personal items, most I get free after rebates, got tons of them. Detergent-- I make my own, toilet paper--I use newspaper(free) most of the time, so a little saving there too.

We don't eat out, so no spending there.

[MonkeyMama]

To answer the other question - not - we don't track household items and other things separately from our food purchases.

We spend about $500/month on regular needs at the store, and on dining out. I subtracted $50/month for toiletries, cat litter, cat food, laundry detergent, etc. I just rounded to make it simple. All that stuff comes from the same stores, so we lump it all together.

[Ima saver]

I spend $50-$60 a week and that is for two adults and two dogs. ( dog food is expensive, the kind my dogs like) We now eat out twice a week for about $40, so food is running us about $100 a week.

[stressedmama]

For 2 adults and 2 kids we spend right at $450 a month (includes some but not all household items/toiletries). We also spend between $100 - $125 eating out every month.

[sandrark]

Steve, this is an are we need to do better on as well.

We live in the SF Bay Area; I shop at Safeway, Costco and BevMo.

For two people, inclusive of everything including pets and toiletries, we're averaging $852 per month.

That's all groceries, all eating out, all wine or liquor, and all beverages. I will note our one weakness is food. We're not wildly extravagant, but this is one area I hope to do a little better with meal planning.

I am not willing to bargain shop until I drop. My current breakdown is approximately:

$250 at Safeway per month
$300 eating out (one dinner per weekend @ $75, or a cheaper dinner (no wine!) plus one breakfast out each weekend)
$175 Costco - sodas, bottled water, beer, cat food & litter, frozen chicken, cheese, paper products
$125 BevMo - wine and mixers, tequila

I think realistically, this is our lifestyle. Would I like to shave it down a wee bit? Yes. But I'm not sure I could easily trim more than $100, and at some point, I'm not sure I need to.

How's that for your justifications? Did I help?

Sandi

[thekid]

This is probably the area of our budget that would need to be dealt with.

2 adults:

- Groceries (includings toilet items, etc.): about 800$/month
- eating out: about 200 $/month.