What's your food budget?

nndidiamaka · April 2011

I always run out of food money by the end of the month (as of today I'm down to $10 left). I start out with $420 for everything -- food, diapers, dog food, toiletries, etc. Is this a reasonable amount for a family of 3 with a small dog? It seems like a lot to me, but with cost of living going up, I don't know what's reasonable anymore.

How much is your monthly grocery budget? How big is your household?

Thanks!

MrsWindyCity · April 2011

Our "budget" is $350/month (but that's just food, doesn't include diapers or toiletries), but I've gone over the last couple months. I'm trying to get it back down there but it's hard with DS eating more and the cost of food skyrocketing. It's just the 3 of us and the budget includes all breakfasts, nearly all dinners (we very rarely eat out), and maybe half our lunches (DS's lunches are covered at DCP and on the weekends). We eat mostly whole/clean foods and a mix of organic and not.

lildevil968 · April 2011

We have a monthly budget of $250. We use alot of coupons for everything so that really helps us stay within the budget, and save money for other things.

2-Step · April 2011

We spend about $150 a week including toiletries, dog food, cat food/litter and everything else. I also tend to buy organic so sometimes I go over that budget. Plus my DH has a taste for expensive beer so he ends up adding to that too! I'd say a good month is $600 for our family. I know a lot of people on here do it for less, but I really try to go for quality food over quantity so I'm pretty picky as to the brands I buy and most of the coupons don't work for the brands I buy. I think $400-$600 a month is reasonable for a family of 3 plus a dog.

Jennicap · April 2011

We generally spend about 250-300 a month on groceries. We CD so it is a HUGE savings each month. We also eat 75% organic, its doable but you need to work your weekly meal plan around sales and in season foods to do it best.

Que*Syrah · April 2011

I spend $75/week strictly on food. We don't use paper towels, napkins or diapers. I buy toilet paper and baby wipes every 5-6 months at costco. For other household/personal stuff it's $50-$60 every month.

Doylesa · April 2011

Are grocery budget is $400/month. This does include diapers and household supplies. DH is gone about half the time for work though, so I'm sure it would be higher if he was home all the time. I don't usually "cook" dinner if he's gone, so that also saves money.

Ciconrad · April 2011

I run about $200-225 a week for cleaning supplies, groceries, toiletries, diapers and cat food. I live in HCOL area, we eat primarily organic meats and dairy products and I'm horrible at meal planning. I'll buy an expensive item and use it once (like $6 for goat cheese for one meal). If I worked harder at meal planning and shopping sales, I could probably get it down to $150/week

chankins14 · April 2011

Our family of 3 monthly food budget is $400.

Shari 86 · April 2011

We spend $300 a month just on groceries. We use specifically $75 a week, we live in a rural area so fresh produce is extremely expensive. I usually only spend $60 a week but we buy all of our meat every 2-3 months. Which makes up the $75 If we were somewhere else it would run about $50 a week including meat. We have another $200 allotted for everything else including gifts. We are a family of 3+ a medium sized Dog.

jnicole1120 · April 2011

We try to keep weekly grocery trips to $100 (lately they've been running closer to $120). We're a family of 3 with 2 large dogs. I try to use more coupons, but I buy a lot of fruit and produce and that adds up quickly and there aren't coupons for that. I'm looking forward to summer when more is in season and farmer's markets are open.

What's your food budget?

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