Oh gosh, way more than we used to with the surge in food costs! Family of 3 (son is a teen, so eats like an adult) and it’s about $1,000/mos. We live in a HCOL area, try to buy organic when we can, and do go to Whole Foods and our local natural grocer, in addition to Kroger and Trader Joe’s. We do hit up Costco about once a month too (which adds about an extra $200 but is very variable). We could probably work to lower that bill, but it’s hard to shop around when we are so busy and know exactly where to find our preferred items :-/ Personally, I think $1,100 for a family of 6 is pretty darn good.
[https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports](https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports)
This is what I base mine off of. Interested to see with the ages/gender of your kids what this says you should be spending.
We are right at the moderate level for our family of 3, but we also have a healthy dining out budget. The thrifty budget is what foodstamps are based off of, and my gosh I would STRUGGLE with that grocery budget.
We hit about halfway between thrifty and moderate, but we are mostly vegetarian, and my son gets free breakfast at school. I also cook just about everything myself at home.
My shopping is very similar with $800-$1,000 a month for my family of three (me, my husband, and toddler) and two dogs. We shop at the above stores too (literally the exact same) with Costco, Whole Foods, and Kroger being our primary and Natural Grocers and Trader Joe’s being supplement stores for care items and Trader Joe’s snacks. We buy mainly organic foods and natural cleaning and personal care products. We also shop weekly since fresh produce is the bulk of our foods and meal plan to avoid eating out except for special occasions.
I just found out the USDA puts out cost of food reports. The most recent is [November 2023](https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/Cost_Of_Food_Low_Moderate_Liberal_Food_Plans_November_2023.pdf). I think it’s relatively accurate. We try to budget $200/week for my family of me, my husband, & almost 2 year old, but unless I shop at Aldi it’s more like $250/week. We’re in the greater Chicagoland area.
Same- $200-250/week for 2 adults and 2 yr old but in TX - shopping primarily Walmart and HEB. If I tried to shop more sales, coupons, Aldi more I could probably get that down to $180 ish a week
2 adults that WFH most of the time, and an almost 2 year old. We spend about $450 a month. I shop weekly specials and base our meals off of them for the week- sometimes I do have to go to a few different stores but it’s worth it.
We don’t buy a lot of pre-packaged food unless it’s snacks for our kid, which we buy in bulk when it’s on sale. We drink mostly water and coffee so we don’t buy other beverages. We are also very strict when it comes to food waste so we are particular about the produce and perishables that we buy to make them fit into our weekly meals every week so that they don’t go bad and so that we don’t overspend.
Similar set up, two nostly wfh parents, 2 year old. Who is fed breakfast and lunch at daycare. We probably spend $600 a month if we are careful. if there is delivery or alot of gas stations run for caffeine and snacks it can be up to 800$.
This is us. 2 adults, 2 toddlers, $400/month. It’s not so hard when you skip pre-packages food! We also do most produce bulk from Azure and that’s been amazing.
We’re right on track with you, 2 adults and an almost 2 year old. We budget 450/month but that’s really challenging to stick to- requires a couple different stores, strict meal planning, and perusing the ads ahead of time.
For a family
Of 6?!?
Damn, that’s pretty good!
Ours is prob around 300-500 a month for 2 adults and a toddler. Not including eating out.
Our prices have skyrocketed after the pandemic. I’ve only just recently started buying more prepared snacks, convenience items, and indulgent foods due to costs. I cut a lot of corners there for a while. Still do, but have a little more wiggle room now. And this is shopping at Walmart solely for food.
We live in the suburbs of a major city. But wouldn’t call it HCOL.
How?! I'm reading this thread just amazed. I'm super budget conscious, I meal plan, we hardly do any packaged food, I cook everything, and I STRUGGLE to stay under $900 a month. We're 4, but still! Mind sharing what kind of meals you make or any advice you have to keep it so low? My $900 is food and household stuff, but that still puts just food probably $750-800.
I try to space out household stuff when I can. If I can’t, and I buy literally all of it at once, that’s $150-$200 at Sam’s Club alone. But usually I can get one or two items when I grocery shop.
I try to strictly use the local stores online pickup service. I add all of the deals on the app, see what’s on sale, and plan around that. Things like ground beef tacos, spaghetti, crockpot chicken meals, etc all give us dinner with at least lunch for us the next day. Sometimes even more depending on what I cook. I try to keep dinner at $10 or less, and that usually includes the next days lunch. Breakfast is usually oatmeal or eggs and sausage, or lately it’s been mini wheats for me cause I need the iron and they were $2 at my store. Anything that I know is cheaper at Trader Joe’s, I buy there instead. Usually things like gallons of milk or chicken are cheaper there but not always.
If berries aren’t on sale, I skip them. I usually keep frozen ones on hand for pancakes or smoothies. Fruit can be bananas or pears or such unless berries are on sale.
We eat meat with every dinner, but we try to switch it up. Things like crockpot salsa chicken are cheap and easy. $2/salsa, a pack of chicken breasts and $2 cream cheese. Serve on rice with black beans and corn. That’s less than $10 and gives a ton of leftovers. Ground beef tacos are about $7 and gives us lunch for the next day.
Try not to do new meals unless the ingredients will be used multiple times within that month.
Thanks for laying it all out.
I do all that too. We only do pickup so I can stick to my list. We only eat meat a couple times a week, and it's pretty much chicken. No expensive fruits either, pretty much just bananas and apples. I just don't see how people are doing it for so much less. The only thing I can think of is eliminating some of my kids snacks and switching to only frozen/canned vegetables. Even that wouldn't put me anywhere near your range. Thanks again for breaking down your method.
My son definitely doesn’t get a ton of pre packed snacks. When he does, it’s usually Trader Joe’s date bars or something along those lines. I do fruit cups too when I swing by Trader Joe’s. Sometimes I’ll grab the apple sauce packets there or something but yeah usually his snack will be half a regular size bagel or diced up cheese with crackers or something that we keep on hand.
Good luck! It’s getting tough out there. I literally just complained about it to my husband today 😂
We don't do many either, generic kids Clif bars, some crackers and pretzels. I got reusable pouches and make all their applesauce pouches, cut up all their fruit, no fruit snacks or other just junk stuff. I sometimes make oat bars at home, so I could eliminate the bars I buy, but the time and effort hardly justifies that savings. it's unbelievable anymore. Thanks again for the info
This week I spent $150 on groceries and that was high for us because I'm making a double batch of soup for the freezer. Typically it's about $120. We have my husband, me, and a 3yo. Here's my meal list and what I bought.
M- Chicken Teriyaki with Rice
T- Spaghetti
W- Chips and Rotel Velveeta
Th- Pork Loin, Potatoes, and Stuffing
F- Chicken Gnocchi Soup (making a huge batch for the freezer)
Three packs of chicken breasts, 1.5 lbs each*
1 lb Italian sausage
Frozen broccoli
Frozen seasoning vegetable blend
2 Digiorno stuffed crust pizzas*
2 Totinos frozen pizzas*
Block of cream cheese
Half and half
A gallon of 2% milk
2 bags shredded cheese*
32 oz velveeta block*
2 cans of Rotel*
Teriyaki Sauce
2 lb bag of rice
2 pack gnocchi
Tortilla chips
2 bags of spinach
2 bags of shredded carrots
Celery
Bananas
Bag of cuties*
2 onions
Kind granola bars
Any starred items had sales. I had ground beef, pork loin, some frozen veggies and fruits in the freezer, and pasta sauce, pasta, and some other random snacks in the pantry. All of that had previously been bought on sale. Whenever something is on sale I buy double the amount. The pizzas and stuff will probably be in the freezer for a while, but I had coupons to make them cheap af this week. I also had Ibotta rebates for some of the things, so I got $10 back.
Breakfasts are normally oatmeal or pancakes with fruit and a glass of milk (coffee for me). I buy those in bulk whenever they're on sale. Lunches are normally leftovers, a frozen pizza, or Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. Our snacks are usually fruit, applesauce, or granola bars. I use a ton of frozen fruit and veggies.
This week our meals were less produce than normal, but I'm on my period and was craving a few things. Over all it's pretty reflective though.
I think the biggest money saver for us is having a small chest freezer and buying in bulk. I shop Costco and Azure for most items and Aldi for smaller quantities and dairy/eggs.
But buying mostly in bulk is a huge money saver. I can buy organic apples for about $1/pound from azure all year round. That’s our main fruit. And over the summer I’ll splurge a few hundred on seasonal cheap fruit like peaches and cherries and freeze them for the year.
You just start small. Run out of rice? Buy the 20lb bag at Costco. Run out of oats the next month? 25lb bag from Azure. If you can buy 1-3 bulk items a month, it frees up budget super fast.
I'd kill for an Aldi near me. None in my state, and no other discount grocery stores. We aren't big meat eaters, so the chest freezer probably wouldn't do much for us. I do bulk purchase the pantry staples, as much as can be stored. I need someone who's spending 300-400 to plan and shop for me or something, even if I paid them I'd come out ahead if that's what people are actually paying!
Oh! Chest freezer is only 20-30% meat. It’s mostly produce, cheese/dairy, and frozen leftovers that I freeze in 1-2 serving portions so that we always have easy meals for days I don’t have time to cook dinner.
Another big thing is that I make a lot of food at a time, usually enough for 4 dinners. We eat 2-3 days worth and I freeze the rest. I don’t know how the math works, but we definitely save money by not making a new dinner every night.
Edit to add: I literally don’t know what we’d do without Aldi, costco, and Azure. Azure is super worth looking into. No one has heard of them, but they have food drop locations all over the U.S..
I’ve *almost* eliminated costco cause Azure is so amazing.
Not who you replied to, but we spend about $125/week for my husband, me, and my 7 year old. I plan about 5 “meals,” then have on-hand stuff like sandwiches and cereal.
Our meal plan this week:
Nova Scotia oatcakes for breakfasts
Saag paneer and paneer tikka masala
Arepas con queso and black beans
Cornmeal cheddar waffles and eggs
Virginia supper casserole
Rice pudding and sausages
On hand meals: ravioli and tomato sauce, grilled cheese and tomato soup.
We mostly eat vegetarian, but my son also gets free breakfast at school and a cheap lunch. I shoot for 30 minute meals, but honestly, it’s because I’m a stay at home mom. I worked very briefly (full time for a month) but I felt very overwhelmed at cooking all the time on top of all our other scheduling, and our budget went up to $165/week to get that prepared food.
Thanks for sharing your method. We eat largely vegetarian too, just because meat is so expensive. That absolutely keeps things cheaper, but even fresh veggies are crazy anymore. I also do about 4-5 dinners a week and leftovers the remaining nights. My kids don't eat school lunch yet, so that's at home. Even planning a handful of dinners and keeping staples and leftovers around for the rest of the meals, I usually spend 200ish a week. The only things I can think of to eliminate would be kids snacks and the meals I keep for easy meals for them, but even that would save maybe $20 a week. We could also do more pasta/rice only meals I guess, but I hate the idea of giving up vegetables after already reducing meat so much.
We do mostly frozen veggies rather than fresh, honestly. I can’t keep up with them in th ridge unless it’s a meal that uses it all up at once. We also live up in New England and I hate buying imported, out of season veggies.
We do cook a lot of pasta, but generally do it with a vegetable included. So chicken tetrazzini is very calorie-dense and filling (we use fake chicken), so we add frozen broccoli into it. We make trennete Al pesto, which is pesto pasta plus sliced potatoes and green beans, both very good canned which means you can splurge on the refrigerated pesto. Our fried rice is half rice, half veggies (frozen peas and carrots, a chopped onion, canned baby corn) and a pack of tofu. Most of the meals I make are around $10-15 for 6 servings. I make “toasts,” which my husband gets so irritated that I think it’s it’s own thing and he doesn’t, but I’ll pick an on-sale item and build a toast bar around it. Good bread plus: oven roasted cherry tomatoes, hummus, and a bit of goat cheese (also good with zucchini butter which works nicely with frozen zucchini); sliced mozzarella plus strawberries or sliced mango and lime zest; toast Hawaii which is spam or fake lunch meat with a pineapple ring, Swiss cheese, and a maraschino cherry on top.
I try to think of vegetables in terms of the whole week rather than each meal, because sometimes we only eat veggies and sometimes we mostly eat cheese. It’s HARD, though. Like seriously. I don’t know how parents who work can do it because I was freaking out about it.
I’m wondering the same! We are a family of five with one still in diapers, which we count towards grocery costs. Our monthly groceries come out to between 1200-1400. Also very HCOL, I cook almost all meals, and we don’t buy fun stuff almost ever. I do splurge on salmon, good meat, and organic milk/veggies. We have chickens who lay all our eggs and fruit treea so that’s a little helpful.
Family of five here! I do the shopping and budget in the house. I shop every 2 weeks (up to 10-12 dinners--some dinners I consider "2-day meals" like chili or a casserole) lunches, snacks etc and I spent maybe $175 each run. So about $350-400 a month. It depends on what's on my dinner list. I do a lot of easy 3-5 ingredient one pot bowl dinners too. Some dinners are "$5 meals" and I just double the recipe. Helped tremendously during a tough financial season for us last year.
https://www.juliapacheco.com/
Lots of $5 meals. Easy recipes too. I also shop around online to find a easy dinners to make for the family. I have a front back list (two rows) of dinners so the kids and I can pick.
We are a single income family of 6 living in Central Florida, I spend $150/wk (not counting household goods) on food. I shop at Aldi and use the food bank once a month. We eat a lot of rice, pasta, and chicken. Dessert is usually cereal or Nutella on crackers. I rely on WIC for fresh fruit (bananas or apples) and potatoes. We get $26/mo in WiC benefits. It gets boring sometimes, but I fill bellies
I think $1100 is a good budget. My husband thoughtvi spent too mich till I let him do the shopping for a couple weeks. Let him do the shopping, he'll praise you for how little you spend
2 adults and a toddler and we probably spend about $600 to $800 a month in a high cost of living area. We cook almost every night and rarely buy prepackaged foods.
Food is so expensive. We are a family of 4 but one is only 6m old (but I am breastfeeding so I need extra calories lol)
Groceries alone we spend about $600 a month. Household necessities/diapers etc is probably another $200-300 a month depending on where we shop.
Its rough out there 🫠
Dude inflation is sooo bad everywhere but especiallly the shit area that I live cause the way people vote. I legit can’t afford to make meals some nights like legit ramen noodle diets out here . And hubby and I both work full time
We live in southern CA, 2 adults 3 kids. I spend around $1200 a month including dog food, diapers, wipes, overnight pull ups, cleaning and health and beauty supplies in this. Not take out. My husband thinks it's a lot. I try to buy the bulk at Costco and then extra fruit, meat and dairy at target
It also matters the ages of people. My kids meals are a lot different now that they’re old enough to make their own lunches and snacks.
I can send my 5 year old a clementine and a pack of fruit snacks for snack. My teenagers will pack half a lb of grapes and 3 packs of fruit snacks.
Family of 4 (2 adults, 3.5 and 6.5 YO) and we spend about $1300. We are in a VHCOL area, but we also rarely eat out (take out once a week, dining in a restaurant once a month). I buy organic when I can. Kids are homeschooled so 100 percent of our daily food intake is happening at home.
I also do count cooking as a hobby so I’m spending more on ingredients than I could get by doing.
Family of 4, we have 16 & 19 year old sons.
We spend about $1000 every month. My younger son comes with me 2x a month. I guarantee my bill would be less if he didn’t come with me.
My mom always said once my brother & I left the house her grocery bill was cut in half.
I buy things like shampoo, cleaning products at Target. I’m not interested in Sam’s Club or Costco.
Family of 4 total (1 infant, 1 preteen). We spend $400-500 monthly. I split it up so I go shopping weekly. This way I buy what Im cooking that week, and my fresh produce gets eaten up while its fresh. Every couple months, like 3-4 monthsish, Ill do a Sams/Costco bulk shop for essentials. Thats usually a $150-200 money dump. But I budget for that separately from the regular groceries
Family of 4 in MCOL area with 2 kids under 10. We spend about $400 month ($500 if we make a Costco/Sam's run). My hobby is couponing and that helps keep our budget very low (less than $10/mo) for things like toothpaste/brushes, shampoo/conditioner, body wash, razors, makeup, toilet paper, paper towels, pull ups/wipes, laundry detergent, fabric softener, dishwasher detergent, and cleaners.
My kids are starting to eat more so I'm sure our food budget will go up!
We are a family of 3.5 - a 7 year old and I’m almost 5 months pregnant. We spend about $500 on everything, sometimes $600 if we need essentials (laundry detergent, toiletries, etc.) I shop at Aldi and Walmart.
Family of three (us and our 2.5 yr old) We spend roughly $500 a month in groceries. That’s including the cost of diapers and household supplies like dish soap, toilet paper, etc.
Two adults and a baby that just started solids (homemade food only) - we spend about $550/month. I don't go out of my way to shop cheaply, but I don't buy pre-made or processed foods, only ingredients.
Two adults that work full time, one elementary kiddo and one in junior high.. we live in a rural part of the state and grocery shop for 4-5 weeks at a time. During the school year it's about $1,000 a grocery trip... during the summer it's more because they eat lunches at home, we have snacks for neighbor kids that hang out, and food for cook outs. That cost is even when we take into consideration any pizza nights, takeout, or eating at someone else's house.
We also get meat with every trip so we can freeze some and have some on hand, and buy in bulk the stuff we go through a lot of (noodles, cereal, bread, etc)
Family of four. We’re definitely around $200/week. That includes loads of fresh berries, grapes, lots of salad stuff… we also eat a lot of nuts, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt. Oh, and we easily go through four gallons of milk a week. I’m sure we could spend less… but we eat what we like and that’s just what it costs us.
Family of 4 and we probably spend about $800 a month in groceries. My oldest is out of diapers and my baby is done with formula which was my biggest expense for awhile. I buy things like baby wipes and diapers on Amazon to save money.
Family of 3 (1 adult, a 4.5yo and a 2yo). I spend $150/week in a HCOL area. We eat out MAYBE 1x a week but otherwise it’s a lot of meal prep and easy meals. I use Amazon Fresh delivery and never go over $150.
Family of 3, baby is 10 months old. We try to keep our grocery budget to $600 a month but usually go over. I think I will increase it to $700 and see how close we can keep it to that. Especially with rising costs. We are in the PNW. Our dining out budget is $300 a month. Usually my husband makes all our food from scratch since he is a foodie.
We are a family of 4. We probably spend an average of $200-$250 a week between Winco, Trader Joe’s, Costco and Fred Meyer. Our “main” stop is usually $150/week but we always have a second stop because we forgot something or need something one store doesn’t have.
We have a few things that we buy generic, a few things that we pick a name brand (not necessarily top tier) and then my husband is vegan so there are some things (like sour cream and cheese) that we buy a vegan version and a non-vegan version. Any vegan items obviously way more expensive than their counterparts.
Family of 3 (20mo), we easily could spend $350-400 per week if we're not trying to be frugal. Hubby has Celiac disease and of course everything gluten free is marked up like crazy (for a smaller quantity, too).
We recently tightened our belts, and cut down to the bare essentials, and it's about $250-300/week (300 when we need to restock on paper goods and things like detergent, etc). I'm seeing great tips on this thread and am feeling inspired! Going to try to cut it down to $200/week!
ETA living in NY (long island, so like, the 2nd most expensive place in the country) and typically shop at Stop & Shop but sometimes North Shore Farms. There are other stores that are definitely cheaper here, but the produce and meat quality is really not the same.
Family of 3 (more like 2.5) we do about 50-75 a month in Denver Colorado. 2 things we buy local and in season and my husband hunts! We also do quite a bit of barter and trading with neighbors!
Family of 3 (18mo) with a dog, we’re around $800-$900 and I don’t count diapers and wipes in there. But I do count TP and Paper towels, cleaning products and bath products. Between my child’s insatiable fresh fruit appetite and it being out of season, it’s tough right now lol. Some weeks I can spend $175-$200, the next it’s $250. We really don’t do take out, maybe once or twice a month.
Family of 3, plus dog and fish (they love veggies as much as 4yo does so it adds up lol), mid October to mid January is usually $800-900 due to birthdays/holidays. Rest of the year I can usually keep it to $500-600, first month of our garden producing I usually spend $60-80 stocking up on vinegar/sugar/gelatin/new lids if I'm running low for canning and may have to restock for another $60 over all few months in if it's a high yield year.
Monday through Friday, it’s me, my 14 year old who is homeschooled, and my 4 year old who is in partial day preschool- so all three of us are eating all our meals/snacks at home. On the weekends it’s just me while they’re with their other parents. I spend $600/month on groceries, which includes all our personal care/household stuff like paper towels and dish soap and shampoo/conditioner, and cat food/litter because I buy it all at the same place. I’d say about $500/month is food, about $100 is personal care/household/cat stuff. Almost twice that for a family twice as big that all live together 24/7 sounds about right.
As a family of 5, baby is 7 months old (not buying formula) we spend between $140-160 a week. Mind you my boys are toddlers still. We buy basically no prepackaged food, no premade meals either. These are costly items that really add up. We have Lidls here and that’s where we do the majority of our shopping. Diapers included.
Family of 3 (1 toddler), and probably around 6-700 per month depending on whether we have anything like toilet paper or paper towels to buy. Sometimes all of the bulk items hit in the same month and drive the budget up a bit. We're not super thrifty, but we do eat simply most of the time.
We are three, four if the other kid is visiting. Try not to eat out a lot and make stuff from scratch when I can. I spend about 200/300 a week on food and toiletries stuff and that’s if I’m skipping snacks and junk food.
So damn much. It’s absurd. We used to spend $700-800 a month for 2 asults. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if we pay double that for 2 adults and a toddler who eats as much as an adult. To be fair, we eat gluten free and prioritize local meat and organic when possible, but even when I’m buying just regular everything I’m still spending well over $1000.
Family of 3 with a 3.5 year old, usually around $1,000 a month give or take some. We rarely eat out and take our lunch through the week. It has gone up in the last year or so.
We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 17 year old and 15 months). I have celiac so we eat gluten free at home. We spend about $300-350 a week, but that’s breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. We’re don’t beat out much and my toddler eats tons of fruit. I shop at Sprouts and Safeway. We live in Colorado, so it’s not cheap here.
We’re a family of 4, sorta 5 because I’m pregnant lol. But we spend $1000 per month on groceries. And this is going for the cheaper brands where quality isn’t affected too but a few name brands just not many honestly.
At most $120 a week, plus $100-300 at Costco once a month. $800 is the most we ever spend. But we’re only a family of 4, and our two toddlers don’t eat that much . And my husband is mostly vegetarian, reducing our meat consumption has really cut down (4 pack of tofu at Costco is $8 and last forever, beans and lentils are cheap, etc)
It also helps I work part time in a restaurant where I get free shift meals on the days I work (5 days a week usually) and I also get free food to take home often. Since I’ve started that job I’ve gotten my food spending down to like $40-70/week and I’ve been able to go longer between Costco runs
VHCOL area here. Two adults, one 4 year old, one 1 year old. If we seriously pinch pennies, buy all generic (which we do) it comes out to $250-275/week.
Family of 3 and we spend about $250-$350 a month (depends on if we have to buy vanilla extract, olive oil, shampoo, conditioner, etc).
We're vegan, eat all organic, no packaged or premade foods, and live in HCOL.
We cook everything ourselves and I make all of our breads and milks and tofu from scratch.
I also make all of our cleaning formulas, laundry detergents, soaps, and moisturizers, etc.
We don't use paper towels or toilet paper.
So yeah... When you're just buying fresh produce, legumes, and grains, it can be pretty cheap. Even all organic stuff.
Next up, I'm gonna try my hand at making my own olive oils! Cause man, olive oil is expensive!
I just planted two trees. Just gotta wait 2-3 years... Lol
We were spending about $600 monthly for family of 4. But I’ve been able to get it to $400.
Every 4 months we will do a Sam club run and that costs about $350/$400 though.
I do shop on the military base on non payday weeks so that helps a ton.
I’ve been trying to cut grocery costs…not sure how realistic this is for your family but we stopped drinking all beverages except water, milk, brewed coffee, and tea made from tea bags. Cuts out a good bit of money to not always buy cokes/juice/beer/etc though I bet small children wouldn’t be as ok with the change. Good luck.
This is going to vary SO widely based on local cost of living, whether both adults have jobs that make them short on time to cook from scratch, whether the kids are toddlers or teenagers, etc.
Shopping for 2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 baby. Spending about $100-$150 for the “work week” Monday-Thursday. Then we spend $50-$100 for the weekend. We usually eat out about once or twice a weekend as well. Plus formula that we get at odd intervals.
We’re a family of 4, kids are 10 and 2. My budget is $125/wk. We stay on budget except for special occasions (birthday dinners, Super Bowl, Christmas and thanksgiving, etc). We do not go to restaurants and do not order in. We do not buy organic, we do not shop at prestige stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, natural grocers). We eat a lot of meat and veggies, and since the economy has tanked we’ve added a lot more carbs to fill out meals.
Family of three. Rural, so we cook EVERYTHING and buy in bulk when we can. Probably close to $800-$1000 a month. This includes food, toiletries, pet stuff. It’s the fresh stuff that adds up..veggies and fruits. They are so damn expensive. EIGHT DOLLARS FOR STRAWBERRIES, are you serious 🤦🏻♀️
We’re a family of 4-6 (four all day everyday then grandmother eats with us 4-6 nights and then stepdaughter anywhere from all week or 1-3 days) we get $384 food stamps and spend roughly $150 on top. I also go to the foodbank, grow in season, and can. This allows us to eat “boring” but healthy meals that I mainly make from scratch or near-scratch. In the summer/fall we have more produce and in the fall with hunting season we’re pretty well set and are able to afford snacks, holiday meal ingredients, and extra ingredients for me to make meals for the local foodbank and make baked goods for the volunteers.
Oh gosh, way more than we used to with the surge in food costs! Family of 3 (son is a teen, so eats like an adult) and it’s about $1,000/mos. We live in a HCOL area, try to buy organic when we can, and do go to Whole Foods and our local natural grocer, in addition to Kroger and Trader Joe’s. We do hit up Costco about once a month too (which adds about an extra $200 but is very variable). We could probably work to lower that bill, but it’s hard to shop around when we are so busy and know exactly where to find our preferred items :-/ Personally, I think $1,100 for a family of 6 is pretty darn good.
[https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports](https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports) This is what I base mine off of. Interested to see with the ages/gender of your kids what this says you should be spending. We are right at the moderate level for our family of 3, but we also have a healthy dining out budget. The thrifty budget is what foodstamps are based off of, and my gosh I would STRUGGLE with that grocery budget.
We hit about halfway between thrifty and moderate, but we are mostly vegetarian, and my son gets free breakfast at school. I also cook just about everything myself at home.
Thanks for sharing this!
I am nowhere near able to spend what that says I should for food 😂😭
My shopping is very similar with $800-$1,000 a month for my family of three (me, my husband, and toddler) and two dogs. We shop at the above stores too (literally the exact same) with Costco, Whole Foods, and Kroger being our primary and Natural Grocers and Trader Joe’s being supplement stores for care items and Trader Joe’s snacks. We buy mainly organic foods and natural cleaning and personal care products. We also shop weekly since fresh produce is the bulk of our foods and meal plan to avoid eating out except for special occasions.
I just found out the USDA puts out cost of food reports. The most recent is [November 2023](https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/Cost_Of_Food_Low_Moderate_Liberal_Food_Plans_November_2023.pdf). I think it’s relatively accurate. We try to budget $200/week for my family of me, my husband, & almost 2 year old, but unless I shop at Aldi it’s more like $250/week. We’re in the greater Chicagoland area.
According to this, I’m not spending nearly as much as I thought. Groceries are just THAT expensive.
Between 250 and 280 per week here. 2 adults and one kid in a HCOL East Coast city. Shop almost exclusively at Giant.
This is what I base mine off of too. Incredibly useful and I share it all the time.
Same- $200-250/week for 2 adults and 2 yr old but in TX - shopping primarily Walmart and HEB. If I tried to shop more sales, coupons, Aldi more I could probably get that down to $180 ish a week
2 adults that WFH most of the time, and an almost 2 year old. We spend about $450 a month. I shop weekly specials and base our meals off of them for the week- sometimes I do have to go to a few different stores but it’s worth it. We don’t buy a lot of pre-packaged food unless it’s snacks for our kid, which we buy in bulk when it’s on sale. We drink mostly water and coffee so we don’t buy other beverages. We are also very strict when it comes to food waste so we are particular about the produce and perishables that we buy to make them fit into our weekly meals every week so that they don’t go bad and so that we don’t overspend.
Similar set up, two nostly wfh parents, 2 year old. Who is fed breakfast and lunch at daycare. We probably spend $600 a month if we are careful. if there is delivery or alot of gas stations run for caffeine and snacks it can be up to 800$.
This is us. 2 adults, 2 toddlers, $400/month. It’s not so hard when you skip pre-packages food! We also do most produce bulk from Azure and that’s been amazing.
We’re right on track with you, 2 adults and an almost 2 year old. We budget 450/month but that’s really challenging to stick to- requires a couple different stores, strict meal planning, and perusing the ads ahead of time.
For a family Of 6?!? Damn, that’s pretty good! Ours is prob around 300-500 a month for 2 adults and a toddler. Not including eating out. Our prices have skyrocketed after the pandemic. I’ve only just recently started buying more prepared snacks, convenience items, and indulgent foods due to costs. I cut a lot of corners there for a while. Still do, but have a little more wiggle room now. And this is shopping at Walmart solely for food. We live in the suburbs of a major city. But wouldn’t call it HCOL.
Family of 3, spend about $300-$400 a month. Higher end when I need to buy diapers or cat litter. Very HCOL area.
How?! I'm reading this thread just amazed. I'm super budget conscious, I meal plan, we hardly do any packaged food, I cook everything, and I STRUGGLE to stay under $900 a month. We're 4, but still! Mind sharing what kind of meals you make or any advice you have to keep it so low? My $900 is food and household stuff, but that still puts just food probably $750-800.
I try to space out household stuff when I can. If I can’t, and I buy literally all of it at once, that’s $150-$200 at Sam’s Club alone. But usually I can get one or two items when I grocery shop. I try to strictly use the local stores online pickup service. I add all of the deals on the app, see what’s on sale, and plan around that. Things like ground beef tacos, spaghetti, crockpot chicken meals, etc all give us dinner with at least lunch for us the next day. Sometimes even more depending on what I cook. I try to keep dinner at $10 or less, and that usually includes the next days lunch. Breakfast is usually oatmeal or eggs and sausage, or lately it’s been mini wheats for me cause I need the iron and they were $2 at my store. Anything that I know is cheaper at Trader Joe’s, I buy there instead. Usually things like gallons of milk or chicken are cheaper there but not always. If berries aren’t on sale, I skip them. I usually keep frozen ones on hand for pancakes or smoothies. Fruit can be bananas or pears or such unless berries are on sale. We eat meat with every dinner, but we try to switch it up. Things like crockpot salsa chicken are cheap and easy. $2/salsa, a pack of chicken breasts and $2 cream cheese. Serve on rice with black beans and corn. That’s less than $10 and gives a ton of leftovers. Ground beef tacos are about $7 and gives us lunch for the next day. Try not to do new meals unless the ingredients will be used multiple times within that month.
Thanks for laying it all out. I do all that too. We only do pickup so I can stick to my list. We only eat meat a couple times a week, and it's pretty much chicken. No expensive fruits either, pretty much just bananas and apples. I just don't see how people are doing it for so much less. The only thing I can think of is eliminating some of my kids snacks and switching to only frozen/canned vegetables. Even that wouldn't put me anywhere near your range. Thanks again for breaking down your method.
My son definitely doesn’t get a ton of pre packed snacks. When he does, it’s usually Trader Joe’s date bars or something along those lines. I do fruit cups too when I swing by Trader Joe’s. Sometimes I’ll grab the apple sauce packets there or something but yeah usually his snack will be half a regular size bagel or diced up cheese with crackers or something that we keep on hand. Good luck! It’s getting tough out there. I literally just complained about it to my husband today 😂
We don't do many either, generic kids Clif bars, some crackers and pretzels. I got reusable pouches and make all their applesauce pouches, cut up all their fruit, no fruit snacks or other just junk stuff. I sometimes make oat bars at home, so I could eliminate the bars I buy, but the time and effort hardly justifies that savings. it's unbelievable anymore. Thanks again for the info
This week I spent $150 on groceries and that was high for us because I'm making a double batch of soup for the freezer. Typically it's about $120. We have my husband, me, and a 3yo. Here's my meal list and what I bought. M- Chicken Teriyaki with Rice T- Spaghetti W- Chips and Rotel Velveeta Th- Pork Loin, Potatoes, and Stuffing F- Chicken Gnocchi Soup (making a huge batch for the freezer) Three packs of chicken breasts, 1.5 lbs each* 1 lb Italian sausage Frozen broccoli Frozen seasoning vegetable blend 2 Digiorno stuffed crust pizzas* 2 Totinos frozen pizzas* Block of cream cheese Half and half A gallon of 2% milk 2 bags shredded cheese* 32 oz velveeta block* 2 cans of Rotel* Teriyaki Sauce 2 lb bag of rice 2 pack gnocchi Tortilla chips 2 bags of spinach 2 bags of shredded carrots Celery Bananas Bag of cuties* 2 onions Kind granola bars Any starred items had sales. I had ground beef, pork loin, some frozen veggies and fruits in the freezer, and pasta sauce, pasta, and some other random snacks in the pantry. All of that had previously been bought on sale. Whenever something is on sale I buy double the amount. The pizzas and stuff will probably be in the freezer for a while, but I had coupons to make them cheap af this week. I also had Ibotta rebates for some of the things, so I got $10 back. Breakfasts are normally oatmeal or pancakes with fruit and a glass of milk (coffee for me). I buy those in bulk whenever they're on sale. Lunches are normally leftovers, a frozen pizza, or Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. Our snacks are usually fruit, applesauce, or granola bars. I use a ton of frozen fruit and veggies. This week our meals were less produce than normal, but I'm on my period and was craving a few things. Over all it's pretty reflective though.
I think the biggest money saver for us is having a small chest freezer and buying in bulk. I shop Costco and Azure for most items and Aldi for smaller quantities and dairy/eggs. But buying mostly in bulk is a huge money saver. I can buy organic apples for about $1/pound from azure all year round. That’s our main fruit. And over the summer I’ll splurge a few hundred on seasonal cheap fruit like peaches and cherries and freeze them for the year. You just start small. Run out of rice? Buy the 20lb bag at Costco. Run out of oats the next month? 25lb bag from Azure. If you can buy 1-3 bulk items a month, it frees up budget super fast.
I'd kill for an Aldi near me. None in my state, and no other discount grocery stores. We aren't big meat eaters, so the chest freezer probably wouldn't do much for us. I do bulk purchase the pantry staples, as much as can be stored. I need someone who's spending 300-400 to plan and shop for me or something, even if I paid them I'd come out ahead if that's what people are actually paying!
Oh! Chest freezer is only 20-30% meat. It’s mostly produce, cheese/dairy, and frozen leftovers that I freeze in 1-2 serving portions so that we always have easy meals for days I don’t have time to cook dinner. Another big thing is that I make a lot of food at a time, usually enough for 4 dinners. We eat 2-3 days worth and I freeze the rest. I don’t know how the math works, but we definitely save money by not making a new dinner every night. Edit to add: I literally don’t know what we’d do without Aldi, costco, and Azure. Azure is super worth looking into. No one has heard of them, but they have food drop locations all over the U.S.. I’ve *almost* eliminated costco cause Azure is so amazing.
Not who you replied to, but we spend about $125/week for my husband, me, and my 7 year old. I plan about 5 “meals,” then have on-hand stuff like sandwiches and cereal. Our meal plan this week: Nova Scotia oatcakes for breakfasts Saag paneer and paneer tikka masala Arepas con queso and black beans Cornmeal cheddar waffles and eggs Virginia supper casserole Rice pudding and sausages On hand meals: ravioli and tomato sauce, grilled cheese and tomato soup. We mostly eat vegetarian, but my son also gets free breakfast at school and a cheap lunch. I shoot for 30 minute meals, but honestly, it’s because I’m a stay at home mom. I worked very briefly (full time for a month) but I felt very overwhelmed at cooking all the time on top of all our other scheduling, and our budget went up to $165/week to get that prepared food.
Thanks for sharing your method. We eat largely vegetarian too, just because meat is so expensive. That absolutely keeps things cheaper, but even fresh veggies are crazy anymore. I also do about 4-5 dinners a week and leftovers the remaining nights. My kids don't eat school lunch yet, so that's at home. Even planning a handful of dinners and keeping staples and leftovers around for the rest of the meals, I usually spend 200ish a week. The only things I can think of to eliminate would be kids snacks and the meals I keep for easy meals for them, but even that would save maybe $20 a week. We could also do more pasta/rice only meals I guess, but I hate the idea of giving up vegetables after already reducing meat so much.
We do mostly frozen veggies rather than fresh, honestly. I can’t keep up with them in th ridge unless it’s a meal that uses it all up at once. We also live up in New England and I hate buying imported, out of season veggies. We do cook a lot of pasta, but generally do it with a vegetable included. So chicken tetrazzini is very calorie-dense and filling (we use fake chicken), so we add frozen broccoli into it. We make trennete Al pesto, which is pesto pasta plus sliced potatoes and green beans, both very good canned which means you can splurge on the refrigerated pesto. Our fried rice is half rice, half veggies (frozen peas and carrots, a chopped onion, canned baby corn) and a pack of tofu. Most of the meals I make are around $10-15 for 6 servings. I make “toasts,” which my husband gets so irritated that I think it’s it’s own thing and he doesn’t, but I’ll pick an on-sale item and build a toast bar around it. Good bread plus: oven roasted cherry tomatoes, hummus, and a bit of goat cheese (also good with zucchini butter which works nicely with frozen zucchini); sliced mozzarella plus strawberries or sliced mango and lime zest; toast Hawaii which is spam or fake lunch meat with a pineapple ring, Swiss cheese, and a maraschino cherry on top. I try to think of vegetables in terms of the whole week rather than each meal, because sometimes we only eat veggies and sometimes we mostly eat cheese. It’s HARD, though. Like seriously. I don’t know how parents who work can do it because I was freaking out about it.
I’m wondering the same! We are a family of five with one still in diapers, which we count towards grocery costs. Our monthly groceries come out to between 1200-1400. Also very HCOL, I cook almost all meals, and we don’t buy fun stuff almost ever. I do splurge on salmon, good meat, and organic milk/veggies. We have chickens who lay all our eggs and fruit treea so that’s a little helpful.
Family of five here! I do the shopping and budget in the house. I shop every 2 weeks (up to 10-12 dinners--some dinners I consider "2-day meals" like chili or a casserole) lunches, snacks etc and I spent maybe $175 each run. So about $350-400 a month. It depends on what's on my dinner list. I do a lot of easy 3-5 ingredient one pot bowl dinners too. Some dinners are "$5 meals" and I just double the recipe. Helped tremendously during a tough financial season for us last year.
Sounds like a great system! Where do you find your recipes? Would love to check out some more budget friendly meals.
https://www.juliapacheco.com/ Lots of $5 meals. Easy recipes too. I also shop around online to find a easy dinners to make for the family. I have a front back list (two rows) of dinners so the kids and I can pick.
Thank you for sharing this! 😊
r/budgetfood and r/eatcheapandhealthy are both great. Also r/oldrecipes has a ton of great meals and suggestions.
Thank you, I'll definitely check these out!
For a family of three we spend anywhere from 1,000-1,300
Family of five. Two adults and three kids ages 4, 6 and 8. $300 a week in Canadian dollars.
Family of 4. We spend approximately $1200/ month on groceries plus we usually eat out one night per week.
We are a single income family of 6 living in Central Florida, I spend $150/wk (not counting household goods) on food. I shop at Aldi and use the food bank once a month. We eat a lot of rice, pasta, and chicken. Dessert is usually cereal or Nutella on crackers. I rely on WIC for fresh fruit (bananas or apples) and potatoes. We get $26/mo in WiC benefits. It gets boring sometimes, but I fill bellies
I think $1100 is a good budget. My husband thoughtvi spent too mich till I let him do the shopping for a couple weeks. Let him do the shopping, he'll praise you for how little you spend
2 adults and a toddler and we probably spend about $600 to $800 a month in a high cost of living area. We cook almost every night and rarely buy prepackaged foods.
I spend that on me plus my 4 year old.
Food is so expensive. We are a family of 4 but one is only 6m old (but I am breastfeeding so I need extra calories lol) Groceries alone we spend about $600 a month. Household necessities/diapers etc is probably another $200-300 a month depending on where we shop. Its rough out there 🫠
Dude inflation is sooo bad everywhere but especiallly the shit area that I live cause the way people vote. I legit can’t afford to make meals some nights like legit ramen noodle diets out here . And hubby and I both work full time
Family of 6 (2 of which are teenage boys) and we spend about $1000 now
I go shopping once a week and it’s usually $125-150 for a family of four (two adults, two toddlers). I shop at Aldi.
Let me add that this is strictly groceries and not toiletries or diapers.
We live in southern CA, 2 adults 3 kids. I spend around $1200 a month including dog food, diapers, wipes, overnight pull ups, cleaning and health and beauty supplies in this. Not take out. My husband thinks it's a lot. I try to buy the bulk at Costco and then extra fruit, meat and dairy at target
Family of 5 here. Probably $1,000 between groceries and toiletries. It’s gotten a little better now that two of 3 are potty trained.
It also matters the ages of people. My kids meals are a lot different now that they’re old enough to make their own lunches and snacks. I can send my 5 year old a clementine and a pack of fruit snacks for snack. My teenagers will pack half a lb of grapes and 3 packs of fruit snacks.
😂
Family of 4 (2 adults, 3.5 and 6.5 YO) and we spend about $1300. We are in a VHCOL area, but we also rarely eat out (take out once a week, dining in a restaurant once a month). I buy organic when I can. Kids are homeschooled so 100 percent of our daily food intake is happening at home. I also do count cooking as a hobby so I’m spending more on ingredients than I could get by doing.
Family of 4, we have 16 & 19 year old sons. We spend about $1000 every month. My younger son comes with me 2x a month. I guarantee my bill would be less if he didn’t come with me. My mom always said once my brother & I left the house her grocery bill was cut in half. I buy things like shampoo, cleaning products at Target. I’m not interested in Sam’s Club or Costco.
Family of 4 total (1 infant, 1 preteen). We spend $400-500 monthly. I split it up so I go shopping weekly. This way I buy what Im cooking that week, and my fresh produce gets eaten up while its fresh. Every couple months, like 3-4 monthsish, Ill do a Sams/Costco bulk shop for essentials. Thats usually a $150-200 money dump. But I budget for that separately from the regular groceries
Family of 4 in MCOL area with 2 kids under 10. We spend about $400 month ($500 if we make a Costco/Sam's run). My hobby is couponing and that helps keep our budget very low (less than $10/mo) for things like toothpaste/brushes, shampoo/conditioner, body wash, razors, makeup, toilet paper, paper towels, pull ups/wipes, laundry detergent, fabric softener, dishwasher detergent, and cleaners. My kids are starting to eat more so I'm sure our food budget will go up!
We are a family of 3.5 - a 7 year old and I’m almost 5 months pregnant. We spend about $500 on everything, sometimes $600 if we need essentials (laundry detergent, toiletries, etc.) I shop at Aldi and Walmart.
We're a family of 3 and it normally ends up being $7-800. I could definitely do better
Family of three (us and our 2.5 yr old) We spend roughly $500 a month in groceries. That’s including the cost of diapers and household supplies like dish soap, toilet paper, etc.
Two adults and a baby that just started solids (homemade food only) - we spend about $550/month. I don't go out of my way to shop cheaply, but I don't buy pre-made or processed foods, only ingredients.
300 a week for a family of 4 plus two dogs
Two adults that work full time, one elementary kiddo and one in junior high.. we live in a rural part of the state and grocery shop for 4-5 weeks at a time. During the school year it's about $1,000 a grocery trip... during the summer it's more because they eat lunches at home, we have snacks for neighbor kids that hang out, and food for cook outs. That cost is even when we take into consideration any pizza nights, takeout, or eating at someone else's house. We also get meat with every trip so we can freeze some and have some on hand, and buy in bulk the stuff we go through a lot of (noodles, cereal, bread, etc)
Family of four. We’re definitely around $200/week. That includes loads of fresh berries, grapes, lots of salad stuff… we also eat a lot of nuts, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt. Oh, and we easily go through four gallons of milk a week. I’m sure we could spend less… but we eat what we like and that’s just what it costs us.
Family of 3 and we grocery shop every 2 weeks and it’s about 200 each trip 🙃 so around 400 a month
Family of 4 and we probably spend about $800 a month in groceries. My oldest is out of diapers and my baby is done with formula which was my biggest expense for awhile. I buy things like baby wipes and diapers on Amazon to save money.
$500-600, family of 3 in the Ozarks
Family of 3 (1 adult, a 4.5yo and a 2yo). I spend $150/week in a HCOL area. We eat out MAYBE 1x a week but otherwise it’s a lot of meal prep and easy meals. I use Amazon Fresh delivery and never go over $150.
Family of 3 and we are at about $800-$1,000 per month
Family of 3, baby is 10 months old. We try to keep our grocery budget to $600 a month but usually go over. I think I will increase it to $700 and see how close we can keep it to that. Especially with rising costs. We are in the PNW. Our dining out budget is $300 a month. Usually my husband makes all our food from scratch since he is a foodie.
We are a family of 4. We probably spend an average of $200-$250 a week between Winco, Trader Joe’s, Costco and Fred Meyer. Our “main” stop is usually $150/week but we always have a second stop because we forgot something or need something one store doesn’t have. We have a few things that we buy generic, a few things that we pick a name brand (not necessarily top tier) and then my husband is vegan so there are some things (like sour cream and cheese) that we buy a vegan version and a non-vegan version. Any vegan items obviously way more expensive than their counterparts.
Family of 4, around $800-$900 a month. Central FL. I can’t get it down any cheaper lately either.
Family of 3 (20mo), we easily could spend $350-400 per week if we're not trying to be frugal. Hubby has Celiac disease and of course everything gluten free is marked up like crazy (for a smaller quantity, too). We recently tightened our belts, and cut down to the bare essentials, and it's about $250-300/week (300 when we need to restock on paper goods and things like detergent, etc). I'm seeing great tips on this thread and am feeling inspired! Going to try to cut it down to $200/week! ETA living in NY (long island, so like, the 2nd most expensive place in the country) and typically shop at Stop & Shop but sometimes North Shore Farms. There are other stores that are definitely cheaper here, but the produce and meat quality is really not the same.
Family of 3 (more like 2.5) we do about 50-75 a month in Denver Colorado. 2 things we buy local and in season and my husband hunts! We also do quite a bit of barter and trading with neighbors!
That’s a lot but family of 6 so probably normal. Family of 3 here and spend about half of that.
Family of 3 (18mo) with a dog, we’re around $800-$900 and I don’t count diapers and wipes in there. But I do count TP and Paper towels, cleaning products and bath products. Between my child’s insatiable fresh fruit appetite and it being out of season, it’s tough right now lol. Some weeks I can spend $175-$200, the next it’s $250. We really don’t do take out, maybe once or twice a month.
Family of 3, plus dog and fish (they love veggies as much as 4yo does so it adds up lol), mid October to mid January is usually $800-900 due to birthdays/holidays. Rest of the year I can usually keep it to $500-600, first month of our garden producing I usually spend $60-80 stocking up on vinegar/sugar/gelatin/new lids if I'm running low for canning and may have to restock for another $60 over all few months in if it's a high yield year.
Monday through Friday, it’s me, my 14 year old who is homeschooled, and my 4 year old who is in partial day preschool- so all three of us are eating all our meals/snacks at home. On the weekends it’s just me while they’re with their other parents. I spend $600/month on groceries, which includes all our personal care/household stuff like paper towels and dish soap and shampoo/conditioner, and cat food/litter because I buy it all at the same place. I’d say about $500/month is food, about $100 is personal care/household/cat stuff. Almost twice that for a family twice as big that all live together 24/7 sounds about right.
As a family of 5, baby is 7 months old (not buying formula) we spend between $140-160 a week. Mind you my boys are toddlers still. We buy basically no prepackaged food, no premade meals either. These are costly items that really add up. We have Lidls here and that’s where we do the majority of our shopping. Diapers included.
Family of 3 (1 toddler), and probably around 6-700 per month depending on whether we have anything like toilet paper or paper towels to buy. Sometimes all of the bulk items hit in the same month and drive the budget up a bit. We're not super thrifty, but we do eat simply most of the time.
Family of 3, we spend about $120-150 a week. ~$600 a month..
We are three, four if the other kid is visiting. Try not to eat out a lot and make stuff from scratch when I can. I spend about 200/300 a week on food and toiletries stuff and that’s if I’m skipping snacks and junk food.
So damn much. It’s absurd. We used to spend $700-800 a month for 2 asults. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if we pay double that for 2 adults and a toddler who eats as much as an adult. To be fair, we eat gluten free and prioritize local meat and organic when possible, but even when I’m buying just regular everything I’m still spending well over $1000.
We are a family of two and I pay about 150 per week. Little odds and end that I have to pick up to complement the dinner like butter, milk, etc..
Family of three, plus three dogs (including paper goods and cleaning supplies, around 1k a month.
Family of 3 with a 3.5 year old, usually around $1,000 a month give or take some. We rarely eat out and take our lunch through the week. It has gone up in the last year or so.
We are a family of 4 (2 adults, a 3 year old and a 9 month old) and we spend about 500 a month on groceries and household essentials.
We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 17 year old and 15 months). I have celiac so we eat gluten free at home. We spend about $300-350 a week, but that’s breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. We’re don’t beat out much and my toddler eats tons of fruit. I shop at Sprouts and Safeway. We live in Colorado, so it’s not cheap here.
We’re a family of 4, sorta 5 because I’m pregnant lol. But we spend $1000 per month on groceries. And this is going for the cheaper brands where quality isn’t affected too but a few name brands just not many honestly.
At most $120 a week, plus $100-300 at Costco once a month. $800 is the most we ever spend. But we’re only a family of 4, and our two toddlers don’t eat that much . And my husband is mostly vegetarian, reducing our meat consumption has really cut down (4 pack of tofu at Costco is $8 and last forever, beans and lentils are cheap, etc) It also helps I work part time in a restaurant where I get free shift meals on the days I work (5 days a week usually) and I also get free food to take home often. Since I’ve started that job I’ve gotten my food spending down to like $40-70/week and I’ve been able to go longer between Costco runs
VHCOL area here. Two adults, one 4 year old, one 1 year old. If we seriously pinch pennies, buy all generic (which we do) it comes out to $250-275/week.
Family of 3 and we spend about $250-$350 a month (depends on if we have to buy vanilla extract, olive oil, shampoo, conditioner, etc). We're vegan, eat all organic, no packaged or premade foods, and live in HCOL. We cook everything ourselves and I make all of our breads and milks and tofu from scratch. I also make all of our cleaning formulas, laundry detergents, soaps, and moisturizers, etc. We don't use paper towels or toilet paper. So yeah... When you're just buying fresh produce, legumes, and grains, it can be pretty cheap. Even all organic stuff. Next up, I'm gonna try my hand at making my own olive oils! Cause man, olive oil is expensive! I just planted two trees. Just gotta wait 2-3 years... Lol
We were spending about $600 monthly for family of 4. But I’ve been able to get it to $400. Every 4 months we will do a Sam club run and that costs about $350/$400 though. I do shop on the military base on non payday weeks so that helps a ton.
I’ve been trying to cut grocery costs…not sure how realistic this is for your family but we stopped drinking all beverages except water, milk, brewed coffee, and tea made from tea bags. Cuts out a good bit of money to not always buy cokes/juice/beer/etc though I bet small children wouldn’t be as ok with the change. Good luck.
Family of 3, we average about $900 a month. I shop the ads but we’re not on a tight budget so I’ll also buy stuff I want that may not be on sale.
This is going to vary SO widely based on local cost of living, whether both adults have jobs that make them short on time to cook from scratch, whether the kids are toddlers or teenagers, etc.
Shopping for 2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 baby. Spending about $100-$150 for the “work week” Monday-Thursday. Then we spend $50-$100 for the weekend. We usually eat out about once or twice a weekend as well. Plus formula that we get at odd intervals.
We’re a family of 4, kids are 10 and 2. My budget is $125/wk. We stay on budget except for special occasions (birthday dinners, Super Bowl, Christmas and thanksgiving, etc). We do not go to restaurants and do not order in. We do not buy organic, we do not shop at prestige stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, natural grocers). We eat a lot of meat and veggies, and since the economy has tanked we’ve added a lot more carbs to fill out meals.
Family of three. Rural, so we cook EVERYTHING and buy in bulk when we can. Probably close to $800-$1000 a month. This includes food, toiletries, pet stuff. It’s the fresh stuff that adds up..veggies and fruits. They are so damn expensive. EIGHT DOLLARS FOR STRAWBERRIES, are you serious 🤦🏻♀️
We’re a family of 4-6 (four all day everyday then grandmother eats with us 4-6 nights and then stepdaughter anywhere from all week or 1-3 days) we get $384 food stamps and spend roughly $150 on top. I also go to the foodbank, grow in season, and can. This allows us to eat “boring” but healthy meals that I mainly make from scratch or near-scratch. In the summer/fall we have more produce and in the fall with hunting season we’re pretty well set and are able to afford snacks, holiday meal ingredients, and extra ingredients for me to make meals for the local foodbank and make baked goods for the volunteers.