How Much Do You Spend on Groceries?
October 9, 2008 by Karen Weideman
Filed under financial matters, food
As I write this, I’m sitting in a doctor’s office surfing the net. (Yes, they have internet. Awesome, huh?) I came across an article which states the monthly food stamp allowance is making the largest jump in two decades. I clicked on the article. I’m expecting them to say that now they’re giving a family of four $385 instead of $350. Nope. Now the benefits for a family of four is going from $542 to $588. Wow! Really? Maybe I am just too much of a penny pincher, but I think $588 a month is a lot of money. I’m not saying they don’t need that much money to eat, but that I didn’t realize people are spending that much on groceries.
All of this information has got me wondering if $550-600 is a normal amount of money to spend on groceries. What do you think? How much does your family spend on groceries each month? Please let us know approximately how much you spend, if you use coupons, shop sales, and how many people are in your family. I’m looking forward to some good conversation. In the meantime, please check out 50 Ways to Save Money on Your Grocery Bill.
*******
This is a Blogtoberfest Sponsored Post. If you would like to enter for a chance to win the surprise gift behind this blog post, please leave a comment. Prize and Winner will be announced within a week. Check back to see if you’re the lucky winner and what you’ve won!
You also have lots of chances to win great Blogtoberfest prizes! Today, October 8, your chances (and prizes) are hiding at the following blogs: Blog Fabulous; Drinks After Dark; Mother Earths Garden; Offbeat Homes; Simply Thrifty; Thrifty Mommy; Tree Hugging Family; Chocolate Bytes; Foodie Obsessed; Keeping the Castle; Our One Heart.
We spend $160 every 2 weeks. We have 4 kids (ages 8 to 14). I split shopping between Costco and our local discount market. I stock up on sale items, grow a big veggie garden and bottle or freeze the proceeds myself. And we don’t but pre-made stuff. I always make it from scratch if I can find a way to do so!
We spend about $250 a month on groceries. And thats on top of eating out wayyy too much. We are currently trying to adjust that, to end up saving more money in the end.
We are a family of 4 – 2 adults, 1 growing teen, and 1 growing child, but we also feed my adult MIL dinner each day (sometimes other meals, too). I also should mention that 2 of us have multiple food allergies. My budget is $800/mo – for gas, food, and miscellaneous. I really haven’t broken it down. I think gas is actually around $200 – 250 mo. (We live in the country, so we have to drive everywhere and gas for the mower, tractor, and rototiller costs, too.) One month we spend more on gas, the next it’s food. We do have a huge garden and I can and we forage for wild foods. I cook most of my meals from scratch, with the exception of our bread (cannot find a recipe for – $8/loaf) and cookies (cheaper to buy premades – $3.99 for 9 cookies!)
BTW, we’ve been averaging $10 a month for eating out. When you have food allergies, it just can’t be done. Our budget does allow one child in public school to buy a lunch at $2.25/day. She is not allergic to food, and she said she “craves” the junk food. LOL!!! So we allow her to buy her lunch. (BTW, that would be a great post – the school lunches are getting higher $$ and very scimpy portions)
Let me just get off my soapbox here, and say that we have always stockpiled with sales. This is nothing new to us. I am still using many foods bought from the cheaper days. I will be allowing for my grocery budget to go up about $100/mo the first of the year.
I was surprised to hear that the government allows as much for food stamps, but unless they teach families to coupon, budget, and cook from scratch, and care about nutrition, that amount probably isn’t much. Many of these people are working single mothers or families. They are plain tired from working all day, they just want to pop something in the microwave to eat, then crash. I know I was a working single mother with two children before. I know it’s no excuse, but have a little compassion, these people are sick. They are not getting the nutrients from living foods, they’re tired for the same reasons, and many don’t have the knowledge of doing something differently. They do not have the education. This generation came from split homes and was taught by government public schools. They do not teach health and nutrition in schools.
Well, I should add now that it’s been clarified – our grocery spending includes our food, cat food & litter, and household items (toiletries, vitamins and cleaning products, etc.)
Just for our food? Still probably close to $500 a month.
I’m a single Canadian student, so it might be hard to compare. I try to buy organic food, and I budget about $250 per month for groceries (including food, toiletries, and cleaning supplies). It would cost me more if I was buying meat, but we raise that so I bring it with me from home.
We are a familyof 4. In WA. the food prices have been rising alot. We now spend about $400 a month. I shop at Albertsons, generally.I cook from scratch, which is cheaper.And , I shop only sales, buying only what is needed. I do buy Dr Pepper for my Hubby to keep him happy though!
I currently recv. food stamps, before the raise for my family of three we would get $368 the max for our family size was $408. The $368 was almost just enough for the month, if we didn’t have an income we would not be able to afford food for a month, or even the better products in the grocery store such as fresh veggies and some dairy such as yogurts, cheeses. Even though I am a coupon queen I could never get more than an extra $100 or $150 out of the $368. So my $368 easily becae $500 which is about what I need for a month to feed my family well. We now we reveice $516 which I think is a blessing, but way too much. I still use my coupons and shop only the sales, and stockpile what I can. I just cannot spend all of these “money” on justifiable “foods”. I create meal plans, and shop almost a month in advance for meats and other freezable goods. I feel that I was able to $368 to its farthest with ease and feel good about receiving this benefit and not buying junk food.
Living in NYC where milk is $5.00 and a pack of 4 chicken breasts can run you $7.00 easily it can be hard to feed your family well and healthily.
We are a family of 3 in VA. We spend somewhere in the 300 range, which includes household items like TP and diapers.
For my husband and I we spend $200/month which includes cleaning and personal care supplies. And we spend $100 a month on our pets (3 cats and a large dog). For our area, that seems to be pretty good.
We also do the angel food boxes (which helps) and I stock up on meat when it is on sale. We only do the angel food box once every other month and we use the menus from http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com (which last us two months for four weeks worth of menus and shopping lists). This is actually the first month we’ve used these menus, but it ha only run us about $50 per weekly menu in groceries so we may be lowering our budget.
I get $704/month in disability and $10/month in food stamps. I don’t know anybody who gets the maximum in food stamps! Sounds too good to be true….
I do know quite a few persons who receive food stamps, but I too don’t know anyone who receives the max amount. It is allocated according to income, and if you make any money the benefit amount goes down. Example: a friend with 4 children who has had difficulty finding work after some changes in her situation made a total of $890 one month, and received $200 in food stamps. Not exactly high on the hog considering she pays $860 for rent. (that is also very low for this area) She is neither lazy, frivolous, nor uneducated.It is not an ideal way to live, and you can trust she is doing everything she can to change her circumstances. I don’t think we can make generalizations about people who must use these programs.
We are a family of 6, 2 adults and 4 children, aged 13 to 3. I spend about $120/week on groceries. That includes EVERYTHING!!! I am a huge couponer, shop the sales, have a good stockpile, grow a garden etc. Coupons are NOT hard to come by. There are many sites that you can print grocery coupons from. Contact the companies and they will send you coupons!! Coupons can be bought for pennies on the $$ on eBay. Also, coupon trading forums are invaluable!! It’s definitely worth the effort! My February totals were $532 spent, $503 saved! And I know I can still do better!
We spend anywhere between $125 and $175 a week on groceries. There are 8 of us. I don’t really use coupons, except the one’s I get at the checkout. I don’t buy a whole lot of junk food. The occasional box of sugar cereal, and a box of nilla wafers here and there will find their way in. I hear people say “it’s so much cheaper to eat unhealthy” I just don’t agree. Ok, maybe, but I find if you eat a simple diet, rich in beans and fresh veggies, eating healthy isn’t as expensive as one might think.