Comments on: What Do You Spend on Food?: A Grocery Budget Experiment

By: Unintentional Housewife

Unintentional Housewife — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:47:01 +0000

You’ve all got me beat (well, except for the folks from Japan, I guess), and I just have myself & Hubby to feed right now! We’re going to have to seriously look at our grocery bill and see where we’re spending too much. Good think I started tracking expenditures this month!

By: tannie13

tannie13 — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 01:09:03 +0000

i get by off 230.00 a month with a family of five,it is not easy but thats all i have,the trick is alot of dumplings and beans,we do not get to eat out.

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:09:26 +0000

Lillie – Are you talking about a fast from buying food?

By: Lillie

Lillie — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:09:31 +0000

I’ll have some results beginning next month. Beginning February 17th I will be on a 40-day fast which is definitely going to force me to eat more healthy. My biggest problem is that I like to reward myself with my favorite ice cream too often.

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:17:09 +0000

Lainey – Thanks for the input and thanks for the post on “Possum Living” on your website. I had forgotten about that book and want to read it again.

By: Lainey

Lainey — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:15:54 +0000

Wow, $100 for groceries? I spend $400, and that’s just for me and my husband, NOT including eating out! I live in Canada, though (groceries are more expensive here). I’m trying to lower it and chronicling my efforts at http://theskepticalhousewife.blogspot.com.

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:06:47 +0000

Marilyn and Katherine – Your ability to keep your food bill so low is impressive. I knew there were people spending less than me. It is interesting to see how much people’s food budgets vary.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:54:20 +0000

My husband and I eat on 35 bucks a week, with 25 dollars a month (out of our budget) to eat out on. If we get extra gift cards (like from MyPoints and or whatever) we don’t count that in the 25$.

It’s not easy, but with stockpiling, the drugstore game and coupons we usually make it. Actually, eating healthy on so little is a challenge, but I get a rush from saving an average of 50% from my grocery bill every trip.

We also live in a relatively low-cost area, so that helps.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:19:00 +0000

Andy, I spend about $200 per month for a family of 2 adults and one teenage girl. I also spend about $75-$100 a month eatting out. (I wish I could stop that!) We eat a variety of foods and fresh meats everyday. I try to keep meals under $4 for 4 servings.

By: Andy Hough

Andy Hough — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:39:22 +0000

Frugal Miser – I think we are pretty close on the food budget other than the eating out.

MP – I will be sharing what I buy and what I spend next month so you will be able to see how I do it.

John Bardos – Japan is a lot more expensive than Kansas City. Since I don’t make $1500 a month I couldn’t spend that much on food.

thriftygal – Your budget is lower than average I would think. The last U.S. government info I could find was from 2004 and they had a total food cost of about $192 per person per month. That was including eating out. Since that data is almost six years old I would guess the average is over $200 now.