How much do you spend on groceries/month?

KellyLouise...

I am ASTOUNDED by the amount of people drop on friggin groceries each month. My boss spends about $75/wk for her husband and her, and a coworker spends about the same for JUST her!

 That's $300/month to feed your face, not counting what you spend on going out to lunch/dinner at least once per week.

We spend around $35/wk. We always buy name brand, but we maximize by using coupons for on sale items. I mean, we got friggin butter for .07 the other day for crying out loud! It takes me about 1hr to go thru the sales paper and coupon book to do the match up.

heathercara

For two adults and one child (plus two large dogs) I spend $100 a week. But we do not go out to lunch or dinner once a week.  We go out to dinner once a month and otherwise eat from the grocery food bought.

LeighAnne1941

We spend $400 a month for 2 adults and one child.  And every time I go to grocery store I wish I lived in the states where copuons are so available.  We get pretty much nothing up here except for processed crap.

AppleRidge

I am embarrassed to admit this, but we are total food and wine snobs.  So including alcohol, toiletries and pet food, we easily spend $500-600/month, for just the two of us.

Rogue Lily

We shop at Whole Foods, and have been working really hard at not overshopping and not wasting foods. (IE if the bananas get too ripe, make something with them rather than tossing). Even still, we spend around $120/w, so I guess that's about $480 a month.

However, this is something that majorly changes depending on the cost of living in the area. When I moved from upstate NY from Philly, I almost died at the prices. I had a really hard time transitioning to the fact that a pound of lunchmeat is generally $8-$12.

Mrs.PinkPearls

I got shopping about twice a month. We spend anywhere from $75-100 each time. It all depends on if DH comes too because if hes hungry he buys everything and anything!

craftlady07

the the grocery store, I spend about $200-$250/month (includes food I get at Sam's club about once a month or so). most my that goes towards veggies and meats, things I can't use coupons for. I try to get the organic/natural stuff as much as possible and it's just more expensive then the regualr stuff, no way around that.

kristen6

I am bad at coupons, I try to find them and look online, but I never find what I want.  What really jacks the price up for me is I buy only the leanest cuts of beef - only 92% lean ground beef, etc.  Fruits and vegetables are also expensive.  I don't buy any premade meals like hamburger helper or anything like that. 

I spend about $100 a week on groceries.  There aren't coupons for meat and vegetables.  What kind of dinners are you cooking that you can get away with that?  You figure 4-5 dinners with fresh meats is going to get you into the $30 range already.  I would love to save some money.

ETA - the $30 is just for the meat, not any sides.

jennifer_h_rn

I don't even want to know how much I spend.  I really should spend less.  I spent $250 last time I went, which was to feed DH and the kids (2) and I.  I always spend more when I'm trying to buy healthier food.

MamaFantastic

Rogue Lily:

We shop at Whole Foods, and have been working really hard at not overshopping and not wasting foods. (IE if the bananas get too ripe, make something with them rather than tossing). Even still, we spend around $120/w, so I guess that's about $480 a month.

However, this is something that majorly changes depending on the cost of living in the area. When I moved from upstate NY from Philly, I almost died at the prices. I had a really hard time transitioning to the fact that a pound of lunchmeat is generally $8-$12.

agree almost word for word - but i think we budget about 350 a month for groceries for two adults.  organic eating is really expensive but smart shopping makes a noticeable dent in the total cost.

jteam06

I would say that I usually spend about 300/month for the two of us.  I am pretty good a clipping coupons, and for a lot of things I buy the store brand instead of the name brand.  Most of the time, I can't tell the difference, and if I can, then next time I go back to the brand name.  Also, we almost never go out to eat.  I don't mind cooking, and I hate to pay four times as much for something I could have made myself.  I'm sure that the area/region people live in will have a great impact on this number.  When I was living in Boston for school, I would probably spend about the same amount, just for myself. 

aspears2

We spend about $130 every two weeks for DH and I (that includes toiletries, dog food, etc). We are going to start using coupons once we move into the new house.

court1703

For DH and I we spend about 100- 150 a week. 

Mrs_Hamlin

We spend $200 - $250 every other week for just DH and me.  I try to cut this # down, but I haven't been successful.

KellyLouise...

kristen6:

I am bad at coupons, I try to find them and look online, but I never find what I want.  What really jacks the price up for me is I buy only the leanest cuts of beef - only 92% lean ground beef, etc.  Fruits and vegetables are also expensive.  I don't buy any premade meals like hamburger helper or anything like that. 

I spend about $100 a week on groceries.  There aren't coupons for meat and vegetables.  What kind of dinners are you cooking that you can get away with that?  You figure 4-5 dinners with fresh meats is going to get you into the $30 range already.  I would love to save some money.

ETA - the $30 is just for the meat, not any sides.

I have a really inexpensive fruit market by me. I can get produce for an entire week for under $20 (but I should mention that's just for myself.) DH eat's like a child (chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, etc.) We also go to Sam's Club once a month and spend about $50.00 on just meat. So total grocery bill for the month ends up around $200 for the month.

Megcheer2

We spend about $100 per week for the two of us. That doesn't count going out to eat, which we don't do very often anyhow. We use coupons but typically buy things that coupons aren't made for - fresh fruits, veggies, meat.

missmisery

We budget $240 a month and usually hit the target exactly.  This doesn't include the dog food.  (They eat a LOT!)  We clip coupons, buy some store brand stuff and shop Aldi and Sam's every once in a while. 

MrsCarroll.6-10-07

$35 a week and we would be hungry....maybe prices around here are different...we spend between $75-100 a week. DH eats out once a week on us at work, once on work, and we tend to eat out a few times a month for dinner. I buy generic brand any and everything. Publix brands are just as good at more brand names and I will buy some things Walmart brand too. We probably spend in total $500 a month in food and grocery items from Publix/Walmart/BJs.

craftlady07

KellyLouise...:

kristen6:

I am bad at coupons, I try to find them and look online, but I never find what I want.  What really jacks the price up for me is I buy only the leanest cuts of beef - only 92% lean ground beef, etc.  Fruits and vegetables are also expensive.  I don't buy any premade meals like hamburger helper or anything like that. 

I spend about $100 a week on groceries.  There aren't coupons for meat and vegetables.  What kind of dinners are you cooking that you can get away with that?  You figure 4-5 dinners with fresh meats is going to get you into the $30 range already.  I would love to save some money.

ETA - the $30 is just for the meat, not any sides.

I have a really inexpensive fruit market by me. I can get produce for an entire week for under $20 (but I should mention that's just for myself.) DH eat's like a child (chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, etc.) We also go to Sam's Club once a month and spend about $50.00 on just meat. So total grocery bill for the month ends up around $200 for the month.

 

that makes more sense. $35 per week seems pretty difficult.

JennlovesAustin

For the two of us, we spend $100-150 per week.  We buy all organic meats and produce though so just for 1 pound of fish or beef, it can be up to $20-25 per pound.

We make dinner at home every night though and also bring our lunch to work every single day.  I do coupons and buy what's on sale, but it's always still expensive!

EDIT:  I don't cook meals like mac and cheese, etc. so my dinners probably average $15-20/meal

Also, last week, my bill was $150, but my savings with coupons and deals was $60 so it's still expensive, even with coupons and bargain shopping!

boxie

We spend between 80 to 120 dollars a week on food, and this includes our pets and eating out once a week for dinner (25 dollars at a kabob place for example) and once a week each for lunch.

I can't get below 400 dollars a month total, we eat a lot of fruits veggies and fish.

juietbride

$100-150/week, and that is for the three of us.  Our big downfall of late is diapers and alcohol.  DH likes good whiskey and scotch so he will invest in a few pricey bottles and rotate them, I like decent wine, and we love to entertain so the basic liquors have to be on hand all of the time.  Oh and DH has a few things that are must have for him, DS has a few must have for him, and I have to have a few must haves for me.  I need to start looking at coupons.

floridakat

To the OP: If you're buying your produce and meat elsewhere and not counting that in your weekly grocery budget, then $35 buys a helluva lot of mac and cheese for your husband.

I think everyone is posting reasonable amounts in here, especially for couples who prepare full, healthy meals most nights and don't go out to eat once a week.

We rarely go out, because the food we prepare at home is both cheaper and better than what we get in most restaurants. 

nikkiw421

We spend $75-100 /week on food for 2 healthy eaters and 2 pets (1 dog/1 cat), which I don't think is unreasonable for the quality of food I buy. I also shop sale items and clip coupons but we really only eat fresh, whole foods. I buy organic, natural foods as much as possible. We don't eat processed foods or convenience items so our grocery bill might be higher than others because we're picky about what we put in our bodies. I also buy all natural foods for my pets too. The foods with no by-products are more expensive but worth it, in my opinion.

I buy as many of the fresh/organic foods that they have at Costco as I can, we do not eat out for lunch ever and we maybe eat dinner out twice a month.

I think for every household it's going to be different just based on what people's priorities are. I'm in the preventative health field, so healthy eating is a priority for us.

Nova726

including the little runs to the store for 1 or 2 things, I'd say about $200-300/month.

ondjima

$160  a month for groceries, $80 a month for eating out.

jteneback

This made me curious so I ran a Quicken report and it looks like we spent $330/mo last year on average, or $75/wk.  We are in a high-cost area so that doesn't seem too bad to me.  It doesn't include pet food.  We rarely eat out for dinner, but DH spends $5 per day on lunch and I spend a little more but I only eat lunch out once or twice a week. 

I do use coupons when there are great deals but we buy most of our food at Trader Joe's and spend a bit more for the nice chicken, eggs, etc.

mrs.pepper

Good Morning Ladies! 

We belong to our local CSA, which = $240 for three months of veggies (all organic from local farmers).  That averages to $20/week for veggies plus maybe $40/week for meat/fish from Whole Foods.  I'm vegetarian and slowly converting DH, but I don't see that $40/week changing (so total $60/week). 

Now....our wine spending per week...that's something entirely different....

Pink22_83

We spend about 120/150 CDN a week on groceries, but that includes pet stuff and toliteries. But it stinks because up here they dont really do coupons, or have really amazing sales. Times like these wish I lived in the states.

pocoabeja

I spend about $100-120 every 10 days or so to feed my family of four. I budget about $500/month for groceries/diapers/formula etc. I think I stay under that though. Buying food is our biggest budget issue. We try not to eat out more than once a week, and eating out is usually Subway or Chinese. I try to cook all of our meals at home. When it was just DH and I, I spent about $50/week. But, I'm also cooking better, healthier meals now, too. We aren't living off of frozen pizza and casseroles. lol.

nygirl07

We also spend around 120 a week and that's for fresh produce, meats and luchmeat from the butcher and the regular stuff.  I wanna know what the OP buys for $35 a week that feeds them that's not Mac n cheese and soup.  We eat healthy meals with a salad, veggies, startch and meat atleast 5 days a week and past once a week... We only go out to eat once a month and that food budget includes our lunches and breakfast.  We don't buy any meals out other then our once a month dinner so I think 120 isn't bad