Single People: what's your monthly grocery budget?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Groceries and eating out = ~$1500.

Thank you! Mine is AT LEAST this. I’ll never understand how the people that say $250/month do it.

I mean, I have a family of four (including two teens) and spend less than $1500/month on groceries and eating out. I know there are economies of scale, so I'm not saying I'd spend only a quarter of this if I were on my own. But I'd be eating a lot of caviar and truffles if I had a budget of $1500/month just for me!

I’m one of the $1,500+ posters. In my case, it’s not caviar but rather the following:

1). I do all shopping at Whole Foods. It’s very close and I just don’t want to go from store to store to buy different items.

2). Due to the requirements of my job, I don’t like or want to spend a lot of time cooking; hence, there is more takeout than normal. Nothing super fancy but it still does add up.

3). I do like healthier (and more expensive) versions of food items. For example, I buy Fiji water. Some people say all bottled water is a waste of money but I like the taste, and Fiji does have good mineral content and a higher pH (lower pH and acidity can cause some health problems).

Overall, I wish I spent less but I’ve never had a single health issue (or even colds really) now at age 40. The combination of healthier food and lower stress/more convenience is worth it to me.

Stupid. https://www.newuniversity.org/2021/03/10/the-dark-secret-of-fiji-water/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New to the area and not making much $, having a hard time budgeting and saving. Wondering what seems to be the average monthly spend for folks here on groceries, plus maybe some going out to eat?

TIA

If possible, maybe how much you make would help for perspective?

Per diem DC=$79/day or $2370/30 days. If you have an iron gut go ahead with Costco. If you save $1200 for not paying Big Doctor/Ambu for IBS/food poisoning, do it. If you live off tv dinners so you can dance and meet people do it. If you want to save $ to get a safe strong car because of all the accidents, do it. If you want a place where your kid doesn't have to switch schools, do it.

Tips on budgeting:Go online and make an apples to apples cart (shipt to shipt, instacart to instacart, or giant to safeway to walmart to harrisT to etc). Buy a freezer and shop the sales. Even Balduccis wins on occasion.

[Anonymous]

I spend about $75 a week on groceries. However, that doesn't include daily trips for coffee at Dunkin and mid-day pick-me-ups from Starbucks. Those trips likely add an extra $40 per week.

[Anonymous]

How do you people spend so little I just got back from ALDIs. I used to be able to get a cart of groceries for under $100. This weekly shop was $215. My mind was blown. Mostly veg and fruits, a few packs of meat (2lbs ground beef, 2 steaks, sausages, ham and chicken), milk, bread, eggs, cheese and frozen veg., some side items for school lunch items (apple sauce, chips, crackers, cheese, protein bars, almonds, peanuts).

I also noticed for some items they didn’t even bother to put up pricing info, mostly on the more expensive items. So I skipped the organic 1/2 carton of strawberries rather then get a rude surprise at checkout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you people spend so little I just got back from ALDIs. I used to be able to get a cart of groceries for under $100. This weekly shop was $215. My mind was blown. Mostly veg and fruits, a few packs of meat (2lbs ground beef, 2 steaks, sausages, ham and chicken), milk, bread, eggs, cheese and frozen veg., some side items for school lunch items (apple sauce, chips, crackers, cheese, protein bars, almonds, peanuts).

I also noticed for some items they didn’t even bother to put up pricing info, mostly on the more expensive items. So I skipped the organic 1/2 carton of strawberries rather then get a rude surprise at checkout.

Safeway has 16 oz (extra-wide clamshell) organic strawberries from FL for $5.06 during the sales-delicious and no mini-worms!

[Anonymous]

I spend about $100-125/week on "things bought at the grocery store"--including food, some cleaning supplies, paper products, etc. This has gone up signficiantly (mostly due to increases in meat prices) over the last year. I'm a reasonably smart shopper, but I don't have much storage space, so I am limited in how many sale items I can buy and store.

[Anonymous]

I have a family of three and spend $125/week. When I was single and poor, I would spend $25-50/week. I mostly ate vegetarian, planned out meals and grocery lists, and tried to meet friends for drinks or other activities instead of meals.