Readers, today I have a question for you. What do you think is a reasonable amount for my family of 5 to spend on groceries?
A few details:
-4 out of 5 in our family have a dairy intolerance, so we buy Almond and Rice milk.
-I have a soy intolerance, and if you don’t already know, soy is in EVERYTHING. I can buy very little in the way of processed fooods, so I have not really tried to coupon recently as most coupons are for some form of processed food.
-We live in an area of the country that does not double coupons.
-When I can fit it in, I am trying to buy organic fruits and veggies (though I don’t feel we have to eat them exclusively, and I won’t buy them if they are outlandlishly expensive.)
-We have three kids: a seven year old boy who seems to eat as much as an adult :), and two girls ages 2 and 1. The two year old is very fussy, but the 1 year old will eat almost anything. (Love that!)
-Once a year we spend about $600 buying 1/4 side of beef.
I am trying to be frugal with our groceries, but I also want to make food that is healthy and tastes good. Currently, we are averaging $100 to $110 a week for groceries.
What do you think is a reasonable amount for our family of 5 to spend on groceries given our various intolerances? What strategies would you suggest for cutting our grocery bill, if it needs to be cut?
How much do you usually spend on groceries for your family? Do you coupon heavily?
I try and coupon as much as possible. My youngest has celiac and a dairy intolerance. We are a family of 5 and DH and my oldest son are eating like there is no tomorrow. I am also trying to keep losing weight and fresh produce kills our budget! We spend 75 a week on avg some weeks I can get it lower then that.
we spend about $100 a week for two adults so i think your budget sounds great for 5.
My husband and I spend about $75 a week for just us with no dietary restrictions so your budget sounds amazing. I know when I lived with my parents and there were 5 of us, my parents spent at least $100 a week, probably closer to $150+
We are a family of 8, and I struggle to keep it between $500-600 a month. We don’t eat much in terms of processed foods. I cook and bake everything from scratch and it seems that even my small shopping trips end up costing more than intended!
I read about all these extreme couponers and even though we do have some stores here that double coupons, I find that it just isn’t cost efficient. I never have coupons for what we normally eat, and if I print coupons out and use ink, I usually discover that the product I’m looking for is sold out and there are no rain checks….so it’s a loss.
I’m always looking for a cheaper way to buy groceries. Right now, our children are ages 1 to 9, and they are all boys except for our 2 year old….and they are starting to eat SO much. l have a feeling that when they are older, it’s going to be hard to keep our budget under a $1000 a month!
We are a family of 4 and spend $150 on formula for the baby but, we are weaning him right now and about $600 on average for groceries so a total of $750 but, this has been real recent with inflation costs and groceries going up. I know we can cut down by buying healthier foods as well but, for a family of 9 your budget of 1,000 sounds reasonable. For the most part many familes spend 100- 150 per person in there family weekly on groceries which is not bad so for 9 people anywhere from 1,000 -1350 is great. When you can catch sales and such especially on meat and eggs, cheese yogurt, butter, bread the staple foods you could bring it down otherwise I think you guys are doing real good.
God bless,
Denise
You’re doing amazing! We’re a family of 6 & I budget $150/week. I also put in an organic beef/pork order every 3 months at about $250-300. I’m allergic to soy, dairy, wheat/gluten, tree nuts, corn, and a whack of chemicals & preservatives. It’s MUCH harder to keep food costs down with food allergies! I eat absolutely NO processed foods. My hubby & kids eat some, but none for me. Oh, coupons are useless to me since I keep processed foods to a minimum.
I have been wondering this lately too. We are a family of 6. My kids are ages 5, 6, 9, and 13. They eat alot. I have recently had to up our food budget because of prices going up. I am now at $130 a week, but honestly I’m not sure if that’s going to be enough. I went a little over this month. There are things I would like to buy that I don’t, like steak. I don’t have to buy diapers or pullups anymore. This does includes all toiletries, paper products, but not dog food. I will be interested to hear what others say.
I forgot to say also that I do use coupons alot.
I think you’re doing great at about $110/week for a family of 5. We spend about $70 per week for two people.
Organic fruits and veggies are very expensive in our area…. I wish there are better options there.
We spend $25/wk for a mostly vegetarian diet for two adults and pretty much never use coupons since we try not to eat many processed foods. However we also have a good source for cheap produce near by. We’re $12.5 per person per week you’re $20 per person per week. But you have dietary restrictions and kids which makes shopping much harder so you’re doing really well in my opinion.
You may benefit from doing some intelligent bulk buying of staples for your family, especially for soy and dairy free products. Rice Dream says their products will stay good in your pantry for up to a year http://www.tastethedream.com/products/category/202.php. We’ve sometimes seen rice or almond milk go on sale so maybe you could stock up and save a little if your cash flow allows?
I don’t know how much meat you buy aside from the side, but beans would be a cheap, soy free alternative to lower your bill. I wrote about them yesterday. Target your organic purchases based on the “dirty dozen” list that ranks by pesticide content. Maybe think about which parts of your grocery bill are costing the most (produce, protein, dairy replacements etc) and think about ways to address the worst offenders?
I think what you are spending is pretty good. We spend about $120 a week for a family of four with no intolerances, and a 12 year old boy and grown man who eat a LOT. That budget includes household supplies like toilet paper, laundry detergent, bath soap etc. but not irregular household supplies like gardening supplies or home improvement supplies. I would say that we probably spend about $100 a week of that budget just on food.
There are so many variables here, you post your dinners but not your breakfasts. I suppose the budget could be lower ($75.00 sounds reasonable) but not having more informoation I wouldn’t know where to cut.
I think it really depends on where you live and what requirements you have. I think $100-$110 for a family of 5 is great but if you do want to cut it, have you thought of gardening? It could be a good family chore together. It is good exercise and you might be able to get some tools free on freecycle.
My husband and I spend about $60 per week (we grocery shop every other week, so $120 every other week). We buy both milk and rice milk because of my intolerance (but Paul’s love of dairy). I think your budget is great!
I think you are already spending a small amount, especially with all of your dietary requirements. Couponing could be good for personal hygiene products and household products. We are a family of 5 (my daughter moved back in from college), and two other teenagers, we spend close to $200.00 a week. I would LOVE to bring that down to 100.00, but I’m not sure that is possible.
I think you are “killing it”. I have a family of 5 and I spend far more…even with my couponing!
I’ve just brought our grocery budget down to about $250 a month, so about $60 a week. We’re only 2 adults and a 3 year old. I think your budget sounds good, especially with your special dietary needs. I do use coupons some, but not all the time. I always check the online sales flyers before shopping, so I can plan around them. I cook from scratch and try to do one or two suppers a week that are meatless. I’ll use dry beans or eggs or something instead.
My husband and I have some dietary restrictions similar to yours and we also buy some organic items when price is acceptable. I spend about $7 per day to feed the two of us or about $210/month and that includes our 1/4 cow (averaged out over the year). I do use some coupons for non food items and food coupons when I can find some that work. I also read the ads and shop to restock my pantry at rock bottom prices and then cook from my pantry and freezer. I cook everything from scratch, BUT I do not have little ones to take care of either. If you want to drop your amount per month I sgoals (cutting $5/week this month or learning to make and not buy xyz this month
. I have been doing this for 35 years. It talkes time.
Your budget sounds great, especially considering that you try to buy organic when possible – we spend more than $100 weekly for a family of 3, and that’s a lot because lately we’ve been eating out/taking out A TON and we’re still spending over $100 on groceries. We use Costco for things like organic eggs and milk, and sometimes their organic produce. I recently started couponing, but not for edibles…you are right, most coupons are for processed foods, so they don’t appeal to me. However, I do save money couponing on items like paper towels, toilet paper, razors, soaps, bandages, aspirin…things I am not too concerned about going “naturopath” or “organic” on (I just can’t spend 5x the normal amount for Seventh Generation paper towels, although I do use their diapers). Although it doesn’t save on food, it helps the overall household budget!
We spend about $100+/wk for 2 adults and a 6mo. old baby who is on formula and some solids. The formula alone eats up about $30+/wk (he goes through a $23.79 tub in about 4-5 days).
I think you are doing great for a family of 5! We also try to eat few processed foods which is what the coupons out there are mostly for. Occasionally there will be a coupon for produce or cheese but they certainly aren’t as readily available as coupons for the boxed foods.
I’m a vegetarian and my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy but the last 2 weeks I haven’t bought any meat. With the baby I find it impossible to have time to cook 2 different dinners so he can eat what I’m eating or make something for himself out of what we have in the house.
Cutting meat out of the grocery list has certainly helped some with the budget but I realize that isn’t possible for everyone. Adding in a day or two of meatless meals seems like something most households could consider though.
My wife and I could really spend less on groceries (and eating out). As a whole, we spend about $350 a month on food.
Eeek! I’m feeling worried now about our spending. We’re a (Canadian) family of 5, oldest kid = 6, youngest = 1. We spend about $160/week. We do not coupon at all, basically because I just don’t have the time. I know we could be better, but I always feel in such a rush, etc, etc. We eat very little processed food, frozen, etc. I have started making my own cereal b/c that was the most expensive item consistently on our list.
Of course, the cost of groceries in Canada may be much higher than here in the U.S.
I think you are right on track. I live in Colorado and have a family of 6. 13,10,6 and 3 and me and DH. We try to spend an average of 450 to 500 a month but there are months that we go higher because of stocking food. My 6 yr old also has a milk intolerence so we buy rice milk. Last month I was able to get the 64oz box for 2 for $4 so I stocked up for the rest of the year. Normally we pay 3.69 to 4.19 for his milk. I try to set the max I will pay for an item and then stock up when it goes really low. I know that storage is an issue for you guys in the apartment but sales usually come around every 3 to 4 months for some things. It has taken me a few years to get my budget down but keep at it and you will find some creative ways to save money on food.
Thanks for the words of encouragement. Your budget is great for 6 people and bigger kids. 🙂
We live in Southwest FL, with a family of five, we spend about $300/week on groceries. We don’t eat meat, but we do buy soy and almond milk, which an expensive alternative to cows milk.
We do some coupons, not much.
No one in our family is overweight, but we probably consumer more calories than average because of year-round sports. Also, we sometimes buy convenient snacks to eat during and after our outings. Those foods are definitely more expensive.
We’ve been trying for more than a year to cut costs, and, instead, they’ve increased. In some cases, it’s actually cheaper for us to buy prepared foods or do take-out.
Last spring, I finally instituted a grocery budget in my household because we were spending over $200 a week for a family of 4: 2 parents, one grown son, and one college son who was home for week-ends but in a dorm and on a meal plan uring the week. As you can imagine, with 3 grown males in the house, we eat a lot, especially meat and poultry. My husband is also diabetic, so we buy only whole grains and lots of produce.
I read about a group of students living together who were putting together healthy meals at roughly $30 a person, so I began to budget $120 for a week. I spend this only on food, not paper products, cleaners, or toiletries. My husband got a raise this summer, so I added another $5.00. I do “big shopping” once a week, and if we make a stop to buy milk and eggs midweek, I subtract that from the budget for the major trip. My market has a scanner, so I could track my spending, It was a good discipline because I would often put stuff back if I was going over budget — mostly packaged extras like crackers and snacks! Also, while I’m not an extreme couponer, I do save between $10 and $15 a week with coupons for cereals, pasta, frozen foods, and the like.For a while, the plan worked. but over the summer, it seemed that food prices started going way up, and it is harder to stick to budget just buying what we need.
I was starting to feel guilty about overspending, so I looked up the food stamp allowance for a family of 4 to estimate a reasonable amount to spend on food. The monthly allowance is $668, which if you divide by 4.5 weeks, comes to $148. So, if you’re spending less than that just on food, you’re probably doing pretty well, especially since food stamps can’t be used for nonfood items like household cleaners and paper products.
Thanks for this answer. We are a family of 5, and I know we don’t (can’t!) spend $668, but this month we are going to end up being close to $500, which still bothers me. I have to adjust to the inflation.