What is the 'average' or 'normal' amount of money a family of 5 spends on food per month? This would include eating out budget (we don't eat out much though) and mostly organic. A few years ago when my littles were littler but we had a highschool exchange student and a college student living with us I was really good at meal planning and we spent about $400-500/month. Now without the highschooler and college student but older littles (2, 6 and 7 instead of 3 and 4) we spend a good amount more. Last month I really paid attention to the budget, I meal planned moderately (dinner co-op was well planned out, other meals less so, eating out almost non-existent) and we barely kept it under $700.
I really expected that we spent less on food, I feel like that is a ton of money to spend on food. Looking back over the month I'm not sure how I can get it much lower easily and so I wanted to compare budget notes before I put to much work into this. This is without any stock up shopping, none to minimal convenience food buying (we don't eat much of this anyhow), no eating out, no special dinners with friends...... Just family normal eating at home. Our diet is minimal meal, not as much veggies as we want but more than 'others', lots of fruit, no juice, no eggs (our chickens provide all the eggs we need)....
Thanks,
Sarah
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Well, we don't have a family of 5 (although a couple of my kids don't eat much!) but I think it DRASTICALLY depends on your geographic region.
I know Emily's conventional groceries cost more than some of my organic ones because we live across several states from one another. It also depends on your sources (ie. you having eggs, the type we'd pay $3 - $4 a dozen for and if you have a local source for meat or produce - ie. my CSA feeds us many weeks of the summer and we don't really put that money in the budget because we pre-pay for the whole 26 week season).
What I would suggest is sit down and figure out what you spend now and then what you would LIKE to spend - less or more - and where you can make those adjustments.
Necessity is the mother of all inventions. It seems that whatever I have available is what I spend. It may be lower or higher, but whatever it is, it's gone. I'd suggest not to worry about how much you need, but instead estimate at what you think "should" be practical. Take the excess money and bank it someplace where you can access it, but not easily. Then see if you can cope. Betcha you can! After one month you will really know what you need. (which could be higher or lower than your original estimate)
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I think it would be difficult to compare what you were paying a few years ago to now....food prices are MUCH higher.
When it is the five of us (and my 18 year old is at college), I spend $150-200 per week at the store (but that doesn't include eating out costs).
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Okay - re-reading your post, I'm wondering if you have a receipt that breaks it down by where you're spending the money? Like, at my grocery store, they have the produce in one section of the receipt, the dairy, etc.
And, in my case, we spend the bulk of our grocery budget on produce. But, when I look at the price of, say, a whole chicken or a roast these days - eesh. I don't mind spending $3.99 on asparagus
Necessity is the mother of all inventions. It seems that whatever I have available is what I spend. It may be lower or higher, but whatever it is, it's gone. I'd suggest not to worry about how much you need, but instead estimate at what you think "should" be practical. Take the excess money and bank it someplace where you can access it, but not easily. Then see if you can cope. Betcha you can! After one month you will really know what you need. (which could be higher or lower than your original estimate)
I agree with this totally. In Novembert and December, we got by on $30-$50 a week including pet food, dish soap etc. In the past, I have spent over $200 on a week and a half's worth of groceries and supplies or anything in between.
Currently, I am starting a google spreadsheet with grocery expenses to get a handle on what we spend per month. I am saving receipts and at the end of every month I am going to total up expenditures for categories such as produce, non-edibles, bread/bagels/etc, frozen foods, snacks etc. and figure out what would be best to either buy in bulk or by the case.
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Okay - re-reading your post, I'm wondering if you have a receipt that breaks it down by where you're spending the money? Like, at my grocery store, they have the produce in one section of the receipt, the dairy, etc.
And, in my case, we spend the bulk of our grocery budget on produce. But, when I look at the price of, say, a whole chicken or a roast these days - eesh. I don't mind spending $3.99 on asparagus
I totally agree with you about the cost of meat compared to produce- I'm fine with spending it on produce. When I finish up with the kids school stuff here I will sit down with the food reciepts and look at them closer.
The thing is that in our budget I 'can' spend $700 on food but it just sounds high and I don't know if it is or not. I know what we spent years ago- as before mentioned. If I could put more of that away or give more to charity without eating beans daily then that would be great
I agree with this totally. In Novembert and December, we got by on $30-$50 a week including pet food, dish soap etc. In the past, I have spent over $200 on a week and a half's worth of groceries and supplies or anything in between.
I know that I could get by on $50/week if we ate soley from our well stocked pantry and freezer- but that would only last so long. So for a temporary time period (1 month at least, possibly 2) I could do that but that is without any restocking going on and being very bare in the end. I plan to do this anyhow because I don't like to be as stocked as I am at the moment, it feels wasteful if we aren't eating through it and replenishing and keeping it at least somewhat fresh. So that is why I am looking for some sort of average.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snugbug
The thing is that in our budget I 'can' spend $700 on food but it just sounds high and I don't know if it is or not. I know what we spent years ago- as before mentioned. If I could put more of that away or give more to charity without eating beans daily then that would be great
Sarah
I guess it's all in your perception. I don't think $700 a month is high to eat well. If you can afford it - it's your health and wellness that are so hinged on a balanced, healthy diet - and that's worth it, IMO
What I usually do is plan at least one super frugal night a week (something dried - peas/beans/lentils - in your case that might be an egg dish) and a night where we eat from the freezer/pantry. Otherwise, I tend to not use what's already there, and I just keep buying more things.
But, we did eat from our freezer and pantry when we hit a rough spot (or eight) this year and it REAAAALLY saved our behinds, financially. Everyone should have a stash of food, period! When we got a little extra money around the holidays, our first trip was to Sam's to re-load the freezer and pantry. Then, if I have to get by on $50 or $100 a week one month, I know we'll be okay with the things we have stashed.
What I usually do is plan at least one super frugal night a week (something dried - peas/beans/lentils - in your case that might be an egg dish) and a night where we eat from the freezer/pantry. Otherwise, I tend to not use what's already there, and I just keep buying more things.
Thank you for sharing that tip- I will definitely be doing that when I work on meal planning this week! I had forgotten that I used to schedule at least one freezer/pantry meal per week when I was actively meal planning before- good reminder.
Alslo remember that food costs have gone up dramatically over the last 2-3 years. I found a receipt the other day while cleaning out, and I was shocked at some of the differences.
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One thing I noticed today was that at least half of what I normally buy was up by at least 50cents to a dollar. I've seen suggestions where folks have a book that tells them the least they've paid for a product & that would come in very handy to compare, I haven't been bothered to put one together in a long while, but it may be time to do that again. I was very surprised as these were things I buy weekly & know the price (& bargain price of).
eta, I think alot of the difference has to do with gas (shipping) price increases.
I spend $300 a month on groceries for our family of six.
However, that's not organic, unfortunately. It's buying everything as ingredients and making them from scratch. It means we usually only buy what is on sale or in season. We stock our freezer and pantry with good deals so we're always eating low-priced food. I buy big 22-pound bags of flour and rice. I am very inventive as far as making meals or recipes based on what's on hand or needs to be used up.
For school lunches, the kids get a sandwich, a peice of fruit, and something homebaked like a muffin or a couple of cookies or something. For my husband's lunches, he packs leftovers and heats them up at work in the microwave. We're not as whole-foods and perfect-eating as many on here, but we're way ahead of most people in real life! LOL.
Kerri
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I think it varies so much. We currently eat on $400/month. That doesn't include toiletries or toilet paper or pet food. It does include bulk purchases like our 1/4 beef and CSA share in summer. It doesn't include eating out, which we do only rarely. It also doesn't includes schoolday breakfast for either kid, they get free at school, and only includes lunch for one, the other one eats at school for $8/month. And dh's lunch is not included either! So that alone tells you why it's so low...
I think that in your case, what Meeshi and others suggested, really tracking and tallying up where in the shopping list the $ is going, will help you see if you can cut somewhere, you know? Then you can decide: how do I want to reallocate our spending for groceries? It's very positive that you are able to do $700 and just looking at reducing to put money elsewhere...I mean that must be a good feeling. You're able to approach this from a position of strength not a need to cut back. So every time you weigh a purchase, you can say: I'm looking at healthy eating and amount of spending. You can continue to prioritize healthy eating and feel good about your budget if you can't cut much, kwim?
Also food costs have gone up incredibly. And the older they get the more they eat.
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but I think it DRASTICALLY depends on your geographic region.
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