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how much do you typically spend on weekly basis in your grocery store? and how big is the household you're growing/feeding too?
you can include other misc such as eating out/take out, big warehouse club (costco/BJ's/Sam).
it is a weekly occurance along with your grocery store or a monthly run to every few months?
i feel like we spend way too much on food, but when i google on average cost of feeding a family of 4, im shocked! it seems like i am on pace which feels crazy to me.
family of 4 (me, hubby, 5 year old boy, 2.5 year old toddler)
easily spend anywhere from 180-275 a week depending what i have on hand in my fridge/freezer/pantry.
we spend 75-100 bucks 1-2 nights a week with take out
sit down meals out of house:2-4 x a month around $175-200 bucks
Costco run: $250-350 every 8 weeks
and i think it is helpful if you indicate what type of food you usually buy:
for ourselves:
lots of nuts, seafood, and good amount of fresh fruit/vegetables, gluten/wheat free (one of kids is allergic to certain type of food and nuts) along with good cuts of beef and chicken and the few nights of pasta i usually go for fresh/pricier brand with cento.
How much one spends depends on how much they eat, what they eat, their dietary needs because of illness or medical condition and what region of they live in.
we spend for a family of 5 about $400 a month. Its all about budget, coupons and shopping cheap. 1 mom, 1 dad, 1 11yr old boy, 1 10yr old girl and 1 8yr old girl.
Your food expenses aren't far off from what I spent to feed a family of 5 when we had three teenage boys at home. If you're fine with it, then no need to change, but there is a lot of room to save if that's your goal.
I can't fathom how 2 adults and 2 very young children can spend $75-$100/week on takeout if it's only once or twice. What are you ordering?
We spend more, and go more often, at Costco, but we don't impulse buy, we just use them as a source for all meats, coffee, and pet foods as well as filling in staples when needed.
I spend about $900/month for two adults, a 14 year old, an 11 year old, two dogs, four guinea pigs (the expensive ones to feed), three birds and some fish. This includes our laundry soap and toilet paper and toiletries.
We eat a lot of boneless skinless chicken, beef once a week, hamburgers once a week, pizza once a week. Lots of fruit in season, vegetables (fresh or frozen depending on the season), a pretty bad diet soda habit and a lot of sports drinks.
I go to Sam's every two weeks and spend $200. That includes meat, chicken, eggs, cheese, paper goods, dog food, vegetables, cleaning products and laundry soap. Then I spend $100 at the grocery store once a week, which includes soda, sports drinks, fruit, some veggies, beef if it's on sale, canned goods, pasta, some frozen foods. Toiletries, school supplies, ice cream if it's on sale. Then there are those little trips to the store for "one thing" that add up to about an extra $50/week. Every 3 months I spend $75 at the feed store.
We ate a lot cheaper when we had less money and gas prices were higher. It can be done pretty easily but it usually means less veggies, less protein and more carbs. I'm paying the price for years of eating that way, as far as health.
My kids are home all day, every day, so sometimes that means more food is consumed here.
We might have takeout once a month, $30 to feed four of us. We've quit getting food from most of the restaurants around here because I learn to cook the same food at home cheaper and it tastes better...pizza for example.
Your food expenses aren't far off from what I spent to feed a family of 5 when we had three teenage boys at home. If you're fine with it, then no need to change, but there is a lot of room to save if that's your goal.
I can't fathom how 2 adults and 2 very young children can spend $75-$100/week on takeout if it's only once or twice. What are you ordering?
We spend more, and go more often, at Costco, but we don't impulse buy, we just use them as a source for all meats, coffee, and pet foods as well as filling in staples when needed.
I agree. Your food bills seem quite high. Many people find that their food bills may double, or even more than double, when the two little kids with toddler/preschool size appetites become teenagers with football player size appetites. Are you prepared for that to happen?
My recommendation is to try to cut down now, do more bulk cooking at home, less take-out food, shop more sales, etc. or you may end up broke when your kids really start to eat hardy.
We are also a family of 4 (2 adults, 7yo and 4yo) who used to spend like you guys, but since our eldest started private school we now have to budget just a tad. We get takeout once a week, $32. Sit down meal is maybe once a month, usually around $45 (only water to drink is allowed!). We do spend about $300 a week at the store, but that includes our Sam's run, the night time pullups for our 4 year old, and all clothing expenditures. We eat a lot of fresh and steamed veg, fresh fruit, chicken, and fish. And we take a lot of vitamins (which are pricey!!) Oh and during the school year we let our eldest buy lunch twice a week (as long as she behaves herself), which is another $8 a week.
When our children were that age, we had limited take out, and almost no "sit down restaurant' meals. We did not belong to Costco/Sam's club.
We ate fairly healthy meals, more chicken & fish than red meat, some fruit & vegetables (probably not enough).
We live in a High COL area but not an outrageously HCOL area.
We probably only spent about 1/5 to 1/4 of what you spend on food (when our kids were that age). We were both fairly well paid professionals. Frankly, unless you are millionaires, I can't imagine spending that much money on food, especially on take-out and eating in restaurants.
Last edited by germaine2626; 07-01-2016 at 09:30 AM..
We probably only spent about 1/5 to 1/4 of what you spend on food. We were both fairly well paid professionals. Frankly, unless you are millionaires, I can't imagine spending that much money on food, especially on eating out.
This is my family too. It's 4 of us. Kids are 5 1/2 & 8 1/2. I spend about $100 every 2 weeks on groceries and we eat out about once a month, so it's a lot of home-cooked meals. How are you spending so much? Sometimes there are in between trips once a week at $10-25 if I just need more fruits or veggies for something.
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