the amount of money the average american family of four spends on groceries each based on a study conducted by consumer reports shopsmart magazine.
I know we have good shoppers here, myself included, and that total blows my mind. figured monthly thats just shy of $900 a month in groceries. I figure toiletries must be in that total too. I come nowhere even close to that, I am even less than half. So either these average americans eat really good and I dont or we are all just really good budgeters.
so I fiigure its time for a poll.
[Poll]
Re: $10,692 - Poll inside
Does that figure include eating out?
Jen - Mom to Jillian (10/2008) and Hayden (4/2010)
My Blog
I hate when toiletries and household items are included in grocery totals! The MM girls do this all the time, yet they can tell you how much they spend on formula. Break out your baby?s food, but not your dog food or Windex?
Groceries and dining totals between $550-$800 month. Lower months are generally followed by a higher month. Toiletries and household items are categorized as such in Quicken.
I haven't added it up in a while, but recently I have been shocked at my grocery totals. I don't know if it is because I go less frequently or things are more expensive, but the amount each time has been creaping up.
I go less frequently because I have been doing milk delivery and a farm box, so less need to get perishables.
Yup... here too. I was shocked, but I dedcided ignorance is bliss and still dont watch it.
Is this your method of choice for tracking? We have been spending absurds amount of money for the past four months. We can't figure out what we are doing differently and need to do so ASAP. We don't want to have to go into our savings when we are recklessly spending.
We spend $600/month on groceries alone, and I usually try to use coupons when I can. How do you guys spend so little??? It's actually a struggle for us to stay within our budget. We also have a $300 dining out budget that gets blown out of the water each month.
I'd love to save more $$ on groceries, so ladies who don't spend much...where do you shop? what do you buy??
"we dont eat (0%)"
Hahaha,
Until next month we're only a family of two, but we used to spend around $400 a month on food. When my fiance lost his job we realized that was kind of ridiculous and cut it down a lot. Since then I'm not entirely sure how much goes towards our groceries, but I would estimate $250.
For a family of 4, with kids older than 10 I believe it. Last week we had a family of 5 stay with us and I spent and extra $350 on food for them alone, for 1 week. This included a gallon of milk a day, chips, cereal, veggies, fruit and lunch meat sandwiches every day.
Our family of 3 doesn't come close to half of that each week but I take lunch (instead of eat at home where food is more accessable) and we have a toddler who doesn't eat much. As he grows, I can see this amount going up considerably.
Meal planning and stocking up during sales is key. I am not the best couponer, but I do save a lot of money by shopping sales.
We plan our weekly meals based on what is on sale that week. I get most of my meat at Costco, but only out of convenience, not because it's cheaper. Then, I plan meals around the ads. I find that planning ahead and only buying what you need for each meal saves a ton of money. I also stock up on things like tomato sauce, canned crushed tomatoes, beans, and baked goods when they are on sale (also a huge money saver). And I don't buy a lot of jarred/boxed/prepackaged food.
We only eat out once or twice a week, and we don't have crazy Starbucks habits.We average between $30-70/week in groceries. Our budget is set for $70 a week. The weeks we are lean are usually Costco weeks. We only spend between $400-500/week and that includes EVERYTHING, not just food.
The only Easter Bunny I can get behind.
Maxwell Joseph 4/09 Lucy Violet 10/12
We spend $600/month on groceries alone, and I usually try to use coupons when I can.
Coupons are great. I clip coupons from every ad we get and I print them off websites like coupons.com. Couponmom.com is another great site that will email you when stores have sales and/or coupons available. They help you get items down to mere pennies each.
I would try to cut back on this as much as possible. Cooking sucks (gahhhh, so bad), so dining out on a lazy night can be really tempting. Since we kicked our habit though, we've saved hundreds each month. When you absolutely need a break, make sure you join the mailing lists of your favorite places. A lot of restaurants (both dine-in and fast food) will email you really great coupons each month.
We try to do a lot of our shopping at Walmart and Grocery Outlet (I know, I know...but the money you'll save really is worth it). When we shop at regular grocery stores (Fred Meyer, Safeway) we watch sales and stock up on them. Also, store brand foods are usually just as good as the name brand and sometimes quite a bit cheaper.
I would never think to include toiletries in my grocery totals. Besides, most toiletries are free, or almost free using coupons. (shampoo, hand soap, body wash, toothpaste, etc)
I have a big Starbucks habit, but our weekly Starbucks visits come out of our personal "play" money. We both get the same amount for any lunches out, Starbucks etc. On the weekends, when together, we pay out of the joint fund. In act, I call my personal account, my Starbucks fund. Lol