You could try and be a little stingier about their prepared foods. For example, my whole family loves their turkey and white bean chili. But it's $9 for a container, and we need two containers. It's easy to make a MUCH bigger batch of chili for about $7 worth of groceries. I can't justify paying $18 for a chili dinner.

In our house, breakfast is usually oatmeal or eggs -- both cheap.

Buy seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Food (grocery and dining out) expenditures should equal around 9% of your disposable income. Use it as a guideline. Pretty basic. Easy arithmetic.

I spend ~$500/month on all food and groceries for one adult and one toddler. Produce from the farmer's market (tends to be cheaper and I only get exactly what I need so no waste), meat from the farmer's market (very, very expensive but good quality and more sustainable), staples from a big chain grocery store. Organic milk and yogurt and lots of it and not stinting myself with respect to indulging in whatever ingredients move me. Very limited takeout/restaurant food. I could spend less (once I set myself a $200/month budget when it was just me and I stuck to it) but I enjoy cooking and accept that this is how I want to spend my money.

OP, to answer your question, I recommend tracking your budget closely and setting a budget per trip to the grocery store (e.g. no more than $100/shop and only let yourself shop once a week). That may you figure out what you're spending on that you don't need or want to be. Or you may realize that it's worth it not to you not to fuss about a grocery budget and you like how you eat at $1000/month. It's entirely up to you.

We shop between Whole Foods, Harris Teeter and Trader Joe's for a family of five and probably spend $2000 per month. Dont't forget that grocery includes paper towels, detergent, cleaning supplies, etc.

I don't think 1k sounds like a lot

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth are you buying? We shop at WF (supplemented by Costco for things that aren't available at WF) and spend $500/mo but are a family of 4.

I’m calling BS on this.

I also think this is pretty close to impossible. $125/week may be possible if you’re only eating rice, beans, eggs, and bananas. But if you’re also buying milk and meat and other foods like nuts and oils —especially at WF—costs a ton more. Do your kids get the free breakfast and lunch at school? That would be quite a money saver.

1. Don’t shop at Whole Foods
2. Look at the various store sales located near you and make your weekly menu based off of the sale proteins (ex: pork tenderloin is on sale at xyz store, you make pork tenderloin for dinner that week)
3. Don’t eat meat everyday
4. Don’t buy all organic produce (save for the dirty dozen)
5. Don’t buy all those uppity ‘healthy’ snack foods, so expensive for the volume
6. Add bulk with healthy grains/starches that are inexpensive like oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, beans, potatoes

Anonymous wrote:What on earth are you buying? We shop at WF (supplemented by Costco for things that aren't available at WF) and spend $500/mo but are a family of 4.

I’m calling BS on this.

We still shop at WF, but now get most of our organic fruits and veggies for the week through Misfits Market (delivers on Mondays). We supplement with WF and Amazon Fresh as necessary - and farmers markets on weekends.

Anonymous wrote:I mean, the obviously answer is don't shop at Whole Foods. And don't buy organic.

No. My husband used to think that WF was for rich people and shopped at our neighborhood Giant. Produce was always wilted and I hated it. I had to make an excel spreadsheet of all the prices of things we usually bought in both stores for him to accept that Whole Foods was in the same range of cost as what he bought at Giant.

Whole Foods becomes expensive when you give in to temptation and buy the luxury food items. But if you don't, and stick to unprocessed staples, it's perfectly reasonable. We've gone there for years now and our budget for 4 people is lower than OP's.

I probably spend $800/mo at WF for two adults and four kids, including lunches I pack for everyone and cooking huge batches for guests.

I mean, the obviously answer is don't shop at Whole Foods. And don't buy organic.

Anyone estimating their food budget here who doesn't actually track (ie review and categorize every purchase) is wrong. I'm sorry and I know you won't believe that, but you are. Try using a one month free trial of YNAB and you'll be shock at how much you are under-counting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth are you buying? We shop at WF (supplemented by Costco for things that aren't available at WF) and spend $500/mo but are a family of 4.

I don't believe this at all.

I believe it's possible. We track our grocery spending and our family of 4 bill is $5-600, though we're reversed--shop primarily at Costco, supplement with other stores. But unlike PP I'm not shocked by bills that are 1k+/month--it's really easy to drift upwards. We've had to work to keep it at this level.

Yeah I think that must be the case. Growing up my moms entire “job” was to plan, clip coupons and discount shop to keep our grocery bill low for a family of 6. (200/month in the 90s, no meals out). She stayed under budget but it was a huge effort! I could certainly reduce our bill if I planned more budget friendly meals and shopped around more, but I work a lot, and buy what I want to eat without looking at the prices so much. I barely have time to do even that much. I buy high quality meats, produce and pantry items and it costs a lot of money. If I wanted to save I’d probably increase our egg/bean based meals but right now with small kids and two working parents I just don’t invest a lot of time in grocery planning and budgeting. As one pp said I’m just grateful we can afford it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth are you buying? We shop at WF (supplemented by Costco for things that aren't available at WF) and spend $500/mo but are a family of 4.

Now tell us how often you eat out/takeaway. Because I fail to believe you're feeding four people three Whole Foods meals a day that each cost less than $2.

I made spaghetti once and made the mistake of buying everything at WF. That one meal cost $86.

Twice a month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth are you buying? We shop at WF (supplemented by Costco for things that aren't available at WF) and spend $500/mo but are a family of 4.

I don't believe this at all.

I believe it's possible. We track our grocery spending and our family of 4 bill is $5-600, though we're reversed--shop primarily at Costco, supplement with other stores. But unlike PP I'm not shocked by bills that are 1k+/month--it's really easy to drift upwards. We've had to work to keep it at this level.