What's your monthly food budget

[tfinch2]

Usually $85 a week for 2 adults, a 10 month old, and a Jack Russell at the grocery store. It has gone down since our daughter eats what we eat now. That is for 7 breakfast meals, 3-4 lunches, 5-6 dinners, and snacks/fruit at home. Only drinks we buy are milk (2 gallons), bottled water, and tea. Occasionally juice if it is on sale and we are in the mood.

Tack on about another $50 or so for a couple of lunches and dinners eating out.

We don't really budget as much as we used to. We also spend more as it is pricier to eat healthier.

 

[Slew Foot]

WTF are you people eating? We go about $400 a month for two adults and two kids. Cooking virtually exclusively at home, very little processed foods.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

WTF are you people eating? We go about $400 a month for two adults and two kids. Cooking virtually exclusively at home, very little processed foods.

For me, eating out is the killer, and I'm not talking fancy sit-down places either.

 

[bononos]

WTF are you people eating? We go about $400 a month for two adults and two kids. Cooking virtually exclusively at home, very little processed foods.

Like you said, processed (and semi-processed) food costs alot more. I spend a similar amount- about $100-175 per month on food, lots of fruits/veges, not counting restaurant dinners.

 

[Markbnj]

WTF are you people eating? We go about $400 a month for two adults and two kids. Cooking virtually exclusively at home, very little processed foods.

We're eating in northern New Jersey.

 

[Fritzo]

Like you said, processed (and semi-processed) food costs alot more. I spend a similar amount- about $100-175 per month on food, lots of fruits/veges, not counting restaurant dinners.

Are you sure about that? Processed foods tend to be a lot cheaper than fresh foods. That's part of the reason our grocery bill is so expensive is I'm into weight training and don't eat many processed meats or boxed foods.

 

[Engineer]

WTF are you people eating? We go about $400 a month for two adults and two kids. Cooking virtually exclusively at home, very little processed foods.

To be fair, the $800+ that I mentioned includes everything we buy at the store (Walmart, Kroger, etc) and that includes household cleaners, makeup, etc. I didn't break it down simply by food (too much to process in my head). Also, that is for the summer months, when my wife and kids are home (wife works at school). It goes down when kids are at school but the school lunch budget kicks in taking part of that back up. Kid going to college and mandatory meal plan FTL!

 

[rcpratt]

Gonna go through my credit card bill for a month, which I assume will be unpleasant...

This is for supporting myself and my SO:

Grocery: ~$400 (estimated because I buy things at Meijer that isn't food...)
My work lunches: ~$50
Sit-down meals: ~$150
Pick-up, fast-food lunches, Panera, etc.: ~$100

So about $700. We are terrible about eating out too much, and we almost never cook. Mostly because it's a pain in the current apartment, that will change when we move.

It also includes pretty much all the alcohol that is consumed, which is definitely a non-trivial amount.

 

[rasczak]

Family of four, we try to budget for $800, but realistically it's $1000.

 

[ponyo]

WTF are you people eating? We go about $400 a month for two adults and two kids. Cooking virtually exclusively at home, very little processed foods.

You must hate food. My bill is easily 3 to 4 times that. Quality food is expensive. Fresh seafood, veggies, and fruits are expensive. Meat is probably the cheapest.

 

[Leopardos]

Just stuck this in your head:
Your born to have fun and enjoy, eat drink and do many things ...
But when it comes to food, dont be cheap.
Just eat the thing you want, you might be dead next day.

 

[bignateyk]

About $600/month for groceries for my wife and I. Then another $300-$400 for dining out. So in total maybe $800-$1000/month for food for my wife and I.

We eat lots of good food like crab, lobster, prime steaks, veal, lamb, fresh veggies and exotic fruits though, so it can be pretty pricey.

 

[edro]

Just stuck this in your head:
Your born to have fun and enjoy, eat drink and do many things ...
But when it comes to food, dont be cheap.
Just eat the thing you want, you might be dead next day.

Life's too short to drink cheap wine!

 

[Fritzo]

Just stuck this in your head:
Your born to have fun and enjoy, eat drink and do many things ...
But when it comes to food, dont be cheap.
Just eat the thing you want, you might be dead next day.

Your chances of being dead the next day increase greatly if you eat whatever you want. Better advice is don't eat anything that comes out a factory.

 

[Ben90]

Probably about 50. I eat free at work.

 

[waggy]

Like you said, processed (and semi-processed) food costs alot more. I spend a similar amount- about $100-175 per month on food, lots of fruits/veges, not counting restaurant dinners.

I don't think you are right.

Fruits and Veggies are the most expensive thing we buy. I can go cheaper and get more processed food. its far far cheaper.

 

[ichy]

I'm not even sure I could calculate how much I spend on food every month. I signed up for a CSA at the start of the year so I basically made a one time payment that bought most of my veggies for six months. My girlfriend & I don't live together but her house is across the street from mine so we eat most of our dinners together which means intertwined food budgets. Eating out is also more of what I'd consider an entertainment/social expense since it's only something I do when I'm going out with others. I've probably gotten takeout for just myself a grand total of once in the past year.

What I really try to do is keep my lunch expenses down. It's easy to blow a painful amount of money by blot six, eight or even ten bucks a day on lunch. So far my most successful lunch recipe is lentil soup. I can make around 15 servings at a time, freeze most of them in individual size gladware containers and the ingredients that go into it are so cheap it's practically free. Can't eat that every day though or I'd go insane.

 

[Vdubchaos]

WTF are you people eating? We go about $400 a month for two adults and two kids. Cooking virtually exclusively at home, very little processed foods.

I think a better question is: WTF are you eating?

How in the world can you feed your family of 4 on $13 A DAY???




I'm getting a feeling that LOTS of people in this thread really don't know how much they are REALLY spending on food.

 

[dquan97]

$300 groceries
$100 work lunch/dining out
Family of 6!

 

[waggy]

I think a better question is: WTF are you eating?

How in the world can you feed your family of 4 on $13 A DAY???




I'm getting a feeling that LOTS of people in this thread really don't know how much they are REALLY spending on food.

actually depends on where you buy and what. We buy weekly from the store/farmers markets. combined with what we grow we spend roughly $100 (on average. some weeks we do a lot more some less)a week (though its been going up. my son is eating more due to growing i won't be suprised if by the end of year we are closer to $150-175). We don't buy junk food or go out to eat. We always have full meals too.
though i did forget to add in the meat bundles 2x$400 a year.


typical day

breakfast: pancakes,waffles, muffins or bowls of fruit (all home made and not the pre-mixxed stuff)

snack is usually fruit

lunch: sandwich, leftover, fruit (another smaller meal)

snack: fruit/veggies (yeah my kids snack on veggies) or cookies if i have made them

dinner: this is the BIG meal. we have a meat, veggie, fruit, drink and a side (maybe 2 depends on what it is).

snack: this is the "bad" snack. we will have doughnuts (my one vice), cake etc.

we do a lot of small meals during the day and 1 big. both my kids are very active and get hungry fast. Fruit is our big expense in the winter its harder and more expensive (and not as good).

most veggies are home grown or given to us (we know plenty of farmers). I don't think i have purchased a dozen eggs in 4-6 years and we eat plenty of eggs.

 

[SP33Demon]

250ish and that's spending $6 every day for a lunch subway sub. The other half is breakfast and dinner but I buy mostly organic for milk/apples. Note this doesn't include going out to restaurants which probably tack on another 50-75 depending on the month. Also doesn't really include alcohol, but usually that consists of a big bottle of scotch which will take awhile (5-6 months) to finish so that's minimal (5/month?).

 

[The-Noid]

I think a better question is: WTF are you eating?

How in the world can you feed your family of 4 on $13 A DAY???




I'm getting a feeling that LOTS of people in this thread really don't know how much they are REALLY spending on food.

Probably the way my grandparents did for feeding 9.

Monday: Cook 3 lbs of ground beef, Take 2 pounds of ground beef mix with soy and make tacos.
Tuesday: Eat left over tacos.
Wednesday: Take 1 lb of ground beef mix with spaghetti sauce and have spaghetti with cheap side salad.
Thursday: Roasted chicken (2), potato and veggies.
Friday: Use chicken carcass to make soup, with vegetables and noodles
Saturday: Leftover soup
Sunday: Grill out/brisket or pot roast.

My grandma said she cooked like that for years. Would be easy to feed 9 on around $100 a week. Bologna or PBJ everyday for lunch and cheerios for breakfast.

Milk was the only choice to drink.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Probably the way my grandparents did for feeding 9.

Monday: Cook 3 lbs of ground beef, Take 2 pounds of ground beef mix with soy and make tacos.
Tuesday: Eat left over tacos.
Wednesday: Take 1 lb of ground beef mix with spaghetti sauce and have spaghetti with cheap side salad.
Thursday: Roasted chicken (2), potato and veggies.
Friday: Use chicken carcass to make soup, with vegetables and noodles
Saturday: Leftover soup
Sunday: Grill out/brisket or pot roast.

My grandma said she cooked like that for years. Would be easy to feed 9 on around $100 a week. Bologna or PBJ everyday for lunch and cheerios for breakfast.

Milk was the only choice to drink.

Ok but we are not talking Great depression/40s/50s here.

This is 2012

You cannot feed the family of 4 on $13 a day. Well ok, maybe you could here and there, but not over a month.

Again, I have a feeling most people here don't even budget/pay close attention to their expenses.

 

[bignateyk]

$300 groceries
$100 work lunch/dining out
Family of 6!

Eating ramen noodles for every meal?

 

[The-Noid]

Ok but we are not talking Great depression/40s/50s here.

This is 2012

You cannot feed the family of 4 on $13 a day. Well ok, maybe you could here and there, but not over a month.

Again, I have a feeling most people here don't even budget/pay close attention to their expenses.

This was in the 60's. Not really a depressionary mentality, they just weren't wealthy and wanted to save.

I want to say you can still do it fairly easily. You just use leftovers and cook two meals at once.