[WestRace]

I live by myself and my monthly food cost is about $500 dollars conservatively. I don't know whether that's high or low. So if you have a family of four, that could easily be around $2000 dollars? For comparison, my monthly mortgage for a modest house is only $1250, which means potentially a house hold food budget will be a lot higher than their mortgage and since the mortgage is fixed, due to inflation, the food cost/mortgage will just going higher and higher in the future.

[upstatedoc]

i was spending three fitty a week for a family of five

[Joekerr]

For a family of four, our weekly bill ranges between $200-$325, but it is rarely below $200 and only up around the $300 mark one of the four weeks in the month.

So I figure we spend about $1,025 roughly per month. Two young kids though, so they don't eat much - I figure costs will go up when they hit their teenage years.

That's also the northern play money too - be more like $775 USD if it were just F/X.

[Run Silent]

Originally Posted by WestRace

I live by myself and my monthly food cost is about $500 dollars conservatively. I don't know whether that's high or low. So if you have a family of four, that could easily be around $2000 dollars? For comparison, my monthly mortgage for a modest house is only $1250, which means potentially a house hold food budget will be a lot higher than their mortgage and since the mortgage is fixed, due to inflation, the food cost/mortgage will just going higher and higher in the future.

I track it monthly to the penny. Here is mine broken down by 'grocery store' which includes food, but also household items such as toilet paper, toothpaste, deoderant, home cleaning supplies, etc. and 'restaurants' which includes eating out. This is for a family of three - myself, my wife, and our 4 1/2 year old child. Ignore May of both years as we were out of the country most of those months, hence the lower costs.

01/2018: Groceries - $759.06 Restaurants - $265.68
02/2018: Groceries - $736.04 Restaurants - $273.78
03/2018: Groceries - $952.17 Restaurants - $423.85
04/2018: Groceries - $730.40 Restaurants - $320.25
05/2018: Groceries - $356.05 Restaurants - $79.33
06/2018: Groceries - $927.22 Restaurants - $350.53
07/2018: Groceries - $769.12 Restaurants - $303.41
08/2018: Groceries - $819.65 Restaurants - $305.54
09/2018: Groceries - $983.93 Restaurants - $360.98
10/2018: Groceries - $658.66 Restaurants - $328.69
11/2018: Groceries - $814.01 Restaurants - $232.45
12/2018: Groceries - $748.92 Restaurants - $280.25
01/2019: Groceries - $657.19 Restaurants - $301.71
02/2019: Groceries - $706.13 Restaurants - $265.86
03/2019: Groceries - $910.51 Restaurants - $312.50
04/2019: Groceries - $803.47 Restaurants - $238.55
05/2019: Groceries - $176.15 Restaurants - $55.73

We buy all of our groceries at the local supermarket, with exception of meats and fish. Those we get monthly at either Earth Fare, Whole Foods Market, or The Fresh Market - which is a bit more expensive but much higher quality.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

i was spending three fitty a week for a family of five

I always thought it was three (or tree) "fiddy". Can anyone help? Neither of us are cool.

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by WestRace

I live by myself and my monthly food cost is about $500 dollars conservatively. I don't know whether that's high or low. So if you have a family of four, that could easily be around $2000 dollars? For comparison, my monthly mortgage for a modest house is only $1250, which means potentially a house hold food budget will be a lot higher than their mortgage and since the mortgage is fixed, due to inflation, the food cost/mortgage will just going higher and higher in the future.

I'm guessing a single guy living in LA isn't exactly good at food shopping. You're buying small quantities and I'm assuming quick fix or prepared food so you're paying more.

My other half does the food shopping and he is damn good at it. He will look through the flyers, cut coupons, use digital coupons. I do the specialty food shopping at the Italian supermarket. I will spend more for one meal and some specialties than he spends to stock the refrigerator and freezer for a week.

[1MOREMOD]

I dont want to know. I eat like 2 people at least I rarely eat out.

[Alfisti]

Family of four (kids 3 and 7), I do all the groceries and i'd say for a regular week of food, so no hosted events and taking out laundry supplies etc etc and adding in the odd delivery, we spend about $1,300 month. Includes organic fruit, veg and dairy.

I find that insanely expensive myself but it is what it is.

[NEfan508]

$1200-$1400 on groceries every month

$500-$750 eating out? No that's bull, me and my son spend that in a month? More like $1k-$1200 eating out family unit

Family of 5, twin teen girls that eat expensive, organic only and my wife is a wholefoods addict.
what happen to Mac n cheese and quarter waters after school?



Quarter waters = red cool aid drink that cost .25 cents (corner store specialty) with flaming hot fries (chips)

[2000cs]

When I was single I knew to the penny; since I’ve been remarried I am pretty clueless.

There are lots of ways to eat:
Eating cheap means stuff like peanut butter and ramen, fewer pre-packaged items (head of lettuce instead of bag of shredded greens), buying on sale, coupons, etc.
Eating for enjoyment means steak, cheese, wine, bourbon, and other goodies, even some desserts. Can get expensive, so eating out becomes a good option, especially if single (consider how much gets thrown out when you buy ingredients for a good meal).
Eating well can mean better quality ingredients, more variety, a good diet (like the Mediterranean diet, not a fad diet) and this can cost more because of the quality of the ingredients
Eating expensive includes eating out a lot, which somewhat surprisingly includes fast food (especially breakfast), Starbucks every morning on the way to work, etc.

I eat out a lot because of work meals, and in winter because my wife hates the smell of fish being cooked inside (she is vegetarian), so I usually only grille it in season (and beef). Sometimes I’ll stop at the Waffle House and have bacon and eggs just so there is no mess or aroma in the house. I could eat both better and cheaper, but I’m not working toward immortality.

[TheWatchGuy]

for my family of 2 we spend roughly

$60 / week on hello fresh meals (3 dinners)
$50 / week on random groceries
$100s / week on eating out/delivery. (probably average 150/week)

so 1kish per 4 weeks

[WestRace]

I am very surprised why my food cost is quite higher than most (if not all) those posted here. I do occasionally cook a few fancy food such as fresh natural salmon, some high end steaks, and I do spend on wine but no more than most people. I occasionally go out oh may be three times a month. My main local store is Albertsons which may not be the cheapest but not the most expensive either.

I guess for a larger family you could save a lot by going to Costo or Walmart, but for a single, it's just not practical buying large quantity of food. It's hard to store fresh vegetables for more than a week.

My estimate includes miscellaneous stuffs such as condiments, plastic/aluminum wraps and so on which could cost quite a bit.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by WestRace

I am very surprised why my food cost is quite higher than most (if not all) those posted here. I do occasionally cook a few fancy food such as fresh natural salmon, some high end steaks, and I do spend on wine but no more than most people. I occasionally go out oh may be three times a month. My main local store is Albertsons which may not be the cheapest but not the most expensive either.

I guess for a larger family you could save a lot by going to Costo or Walmart, but for a single, it's just not practical buying large quantity of food. It's hard to store fresh vegetables for more than a week.

My estimate includes miscellaneous stuffs such as condiments, plastic/aluminum wraps and so on which could cost quite a bit.

Well hang on....I don't consider alcohol to be part of "groceries". So if you are including that in your amount, I wonder how many others are too. Please clarify. Might make you feel better.

[RickFLM4]

My wife and I spend around $225 / week on avg. at the grocery store, Whole Foods / Fresh Market / Italian Market, coffee from Dunkin and mail order steaks from Allen Brothers a few times a year. Some portion of that total is not food - paper towels, TP, aluminum foil, some cleaning products, etc. I don’t track those items separately from food, but know they add up.

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

Well hang on....I don't consider alcohol to be part of "groceries". So if you are including that in your amount, I wonder how many others are too. Please clarify. Might make you feel better.

It is another grain (spirits) or fruit (wine), so why not include it?

[1MOREMOD]

Cuz will double the bill

[M_Six]

I honestly couldn’t even ballpark a guess what Wifey and I spend on food in a week or a month. Although since we charge pretty much everything, I suppose I could figure it out.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I honestly couldn’t even ballpark a guess what Wifey and I spend on food in a week or a month. Although since we charge pretty much everything, I suppose I could figure it out.

Well, that's.....useful.

[M_Six]

Well, I “could,” if I weren’t so lazy.

[dinonz]

Damn - I live alone, spend about $1200 a month on groceries, and about $1000 on dining out (usually, me taking friends out). Joys of being single and having disposable income I guess.

[WestRace]

I don't mean to be critical but for a concrete example, if I order a medium Supreme pizza Hut for a delivery, it would cost me almost $30 dollars. OK, so if you have a large family, then the overhead cost would be less, but still $30 is a lot for just ordering a small pizza.

My estimate of $500 is a bit on the conservative side, because if I am not careful in my groceries shopping, it could get as high as $700. Maybe I live in Socal so things are a bit more expensive here. Also, my diet consists of mostly fish an sushi so that could add to the cost.

I once made a visit to my sister in Seattle and we decided to do a barbecue. We went shopping together and bought some salmon, some fancy beef and a bunch of other stuffs and the total cost was about $200. And that is just for one barbecue albeit a fancy one.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Run Silent

I track it monthly to the penny. Here is mine broken down by 'grocery store' which includes food, but also household items such as toilet paper, toothpaste, deoderant, home cleaning supplies, etc. and 'restaurants' which includes eating out. This is for a family of three - myself, my wife, and our 4 1/2 year old child. Ignore May of both years as we were out of the country most of those months, hence the lower costs.

01/2018: Groceries - $759.06 Restaurants - $265.68
02/2018: Groceries - $736.04 Restaurants - $273.78
03/2018: Groceries - $952.17 Restaurants - $423.85
04/2018: Groceries - $730.40 Restaurants - $320.25
05/2018: Groceries - $356.05 Restaurants - $79.33
06/2018: Groceries - $927.22 Restaurants - $350.53
07/2018: Groceries - $769.12 Restaurants - $303.41
08/2018: Groceries - $819.65 Restaurants - $305.54
09/2018: Groceries - $983.93 Restaurants - $360.98
10/2018: Groceries - $658.66 Restaurants - $328.69
11/2018: Groceries - $814.01 Restaurants - $232.45
12/2018: Groceries - $748.92 Restaurants - $280.25
01/2019: Groceries - $657.19 Restaurants - $301.71
02/2019: Groceries - $706.13 Restaurants - $265.86
03/2019: Groceries - $910.51 Restaurants - $312.50
04/2019: Groceries - $803.47 Restaurants - $238.55
05/2019: Groceries - $176.15 Restaurants - $55.73

We buy all of our groceries at the local supermarket, with exception of meats and fish. Those we get monthly at either Earth Fare, Whole Foods Market, or The Fresh Market - which is a bit more expensive but much higher quality.

Freakin' accountants....