Anonymous wrote:We are spending over $500 dollars a month for a family of 6 plus 3 step kids who come over on the weekends, . 3 of the plus 2 of the step kids are teens and they are always eating when they stay up at late on the weekends.

You are spending less than the max SNAP benefits for a family of four. http://www.masslegalhelp.org/income-benefits/no-children-fs-chart

Are you growing your own fruits and vegetables?

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of four, two adults, 1 teen, and 1 tween
We ALWAYS eat at home, and spend about $200 per month.

How do you do this?

2 adults, 2 kids and we spend between $800-$1000 a month. I feel ok about it since this is almost all three meals each day all month for our family- we go out maybe 2 times a month for lunch or dinner.

It’s also a ton of produce and meat and fish. I’m trying to cut back on meat but DH is a competitive athlete and needs a lot of lean protein.

So OP you’re doing great compared to me!

We are a family of four, two adults, 1 teen, and 1 tween
We ALWAYS eat at home, and spend about $200 per month.

2 adults, 1 teen girl, 1 12 yr old boy. Maybe $450, excluding household items. The 12 yr old is in school until 5 and he eats dinner there, and my teen doesn't eat much. Teen boys eat a lot more. When my three adult sons were teens our food budget was much higher. I don't eat much at all, never have, and I have very strange tastes in food. From the end of October through the middle of January I mostly live on fresh cranberries (I know, it's weird, but it's my favorite snack, and I only get them during the holidays).

I think you're doing great. I spend that much or more on 4 of us. We don't eat out much or buy lunch so it's almost every meal.

Anonymous wrote:We are spending over $500 dollars a month for a family of 6 plus 3 step kids who come over on the weekends, . 3 of the plus 2 of the step kids are teens and they are always eating when they stay up at late on the weekends.

That is extremely frugal shopping!

2 adults, 2 teens -- $800 a month.

That's breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks all at home. Eating takeout lunch or dinner perhaps twice a month.

Includes no household goods like paper towels or shampoo or other personal toiletries but does include the things you need to store food like aluminum foil.

We're two adults, eat almost all meals at home, and I can't get by on less than $800 a month -- although that includes household items. No organics, very little processed food.

I think feeding 6 on $500 a month is amazing.

Anonymous wrote:We recently counted it up. We spend, on average, 1500 dollars a month on groceries and household items. I can’t believe you all spend so much less. We never go out to eat, like not even once a month, but still: I feel like our grocery bills are shocking.

Ha, us too! But most people who I talk to are in the $1000+ range. Fresh fruits/veggies, bread, meats/fish are expensive! We buy almost no frozen food or processed stuff.

1 person -- $225 - 250

We recently counted it up. We spend, on average, 1500 dollars a month on groceries and household items. I can’t believe you all spend so much less. We never go out to eat, like not even once a month, but still: I feel like our grocery bills are shocking.

We have a family of 5 and spend about $600 a month on groceries.

We spend more than that. 12 yo, 9 yo, 6 yo + 2 adults. Breakfast, lunch and most dinners are eaten from the grocery budget. I actually think $600/month is pretty good in your situation. Teenagers eat a lot.

We are spending over $500 dollars a month for a family of 6 plus 3 step kids who come over on the weekends, . 3 of the plus 2 of the step kids are teens and they are always eating when they stay up at late on the weekends.