How much do you spend on food?

[Anonymous]

I dont want to know.

we also eat out a lot, and dont pack lunches (no kids yet)

[Anonymous]

So looks like people spend from $200/person/month and up.

[Anonymous]

about $800-$900/month for 2 adults and 2 kids ages 4 and 2, including cleaning supplies, TP, paper towels, etc., but not diapers or most toiletries. DH tends to buy lunch but I bring to work, and we probably order in 2x/month for dinner.

We have the luxury of not needing to be on a strict budget, and I buy virtually all of my perishables at Whole Foods - go to Safeway just for cleaning stuff, sandwich bread, I dont blink at occasional pricey steaks or fish. That said, I think we stay on a relatively reasonable budget (compared to some numbers I see here) because I religiously meal plan. We throw out almost nothing.

[Anonymous]

400-500 a month for a family of 3 on groceries. Eating out about once a week is separate. This includes packed lunches for 3.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, way too much. I eat out every other night to be honest because I don't like cooking - yeah, yeah, I'm a horrible person - so that with groceries is probably about $600-$700 I guess.

[Anonymous]

We spend around $800 for a family of 4 all inclusive. I would like that figure to be $600. We also spend $200-300 on food eaten outside of the house some months. That includes casual dining like the coffee shop.

[Anonymous]

Great info - I am wondering about the folks who say they never/rately eat out. How do you do that, we are so lazy/busy/tired it just seems to easy to get take-out too often.

[Anonymous]

$300/week for 2 adults, 1 kid. It's ridiculous. I don't know what hell I'm buying (like 19:39 PP). Plus we eat out or do takeout at least 3-4 times a week, generally over the weekend. Whole Foods, regular grocery, prepared foods (what a waste of $$$) and organic produce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$300/week for 2 adults, 1 kid. It's ridiculous. I don't know what hell I'm buying (like 19:39 PP). Plus we eat out or do takeout at least 3-4 times a week, generally over the weekend. Whole Foods, regular grocery, prepared foods (what a waste of $$$) and organic produce.

I should add that my $300/week does NOT include restaurants, which add another $200/week to the total. Ugh. Even writing this out makes me queasy.

[Anonymous]

$1200-$1500 month, for 4. We eat out on weekends and we have special diet needs. Lots of fresh fruits. Fresh food is expensive! That also includes cleaning and other sundries from the grocery store. We don't like Costco, b/c we end up eating way too much.

[Anonymous]

Family of 4, with kids aged 4 and 2. We track our spending very carefully. We don't buy diapers or many paper products, and that kind of thing isn't including in our food budgeting.

Groceries budget for food only is $480

Eating out budget is $100

Booze budget is $80

We eat well!

[Anonymous]

Probably about $600 per month on groceries and about that again on eating out. 2 working parents (so we buy lunch every day), 1 preschooler.

[Anonymous]

We spend between $1000-$1200 a month on groceries for a family of 4. We also eat out on the weekends for many meals. This is one area that DH and I both agree to splurge on. I grew up lower middle class and really had to watch what we spent at the grocery store so it is a great feeling to be able to go the store and pick up specialty items without worrying about the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$300/week for 2 adults, 1 kid. It's ridiculous. I don't know what hell I'm buying (like 19:39 PP). Plus we eat out or do takeout at least 3-4 times a week, generally over the weekend. Whole Foods, regular grocery, prepared foods (what a waste of $$$) and organic produce.

If you eat out frequently then you might just be overbuying at the grocery store. I had the same problem where I would buy all these groceries but then we would be eating out from Fri-Sunday.

[Anonymous]

About $200 - 225 a week, family of four.