Figuring out how much to spend on groceries is tricky. Setting a realistic budget will depend on factors such as your income, family size, city of residence, diet preferences, whether you have pets or not, etc. A good range is to spend between five to ten percent of your income on groceries.
As a working mom in charge of my family’s grocery shopping, I feel like five to 10% is a doable amount to spend on your family’s groceries. However, to stay within the budget requires much intentionality.
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How Much Are You Already Spending On Groceries?
Before I started paying attention to what I was spending on groceries, my monthly average was between $1,100 to $1,300. Those expenses include groceries, toiletries, toilet paper, detergent, dog food, and any item from the grocery store that I need to take care of my family. For reference, there are two adults, two teenagers, and two dogs in my household.
This sounds crazy to say, but after our mortgage, groceries are our family’s second-largest expense! Some people have told me that I spend too much money on groceries. Which is true. So, I started meal planning to cut down and realized that I could meet our needs with a $1,000 monthly budget.
I must share too that my food or grocery budget does not include eating out at restaurants. I consider eating out a treat and not a basic necessity. For that reason, I track eating out within the entertainment category of my budget and not the grocery budget.
GOOD READ: What Percentage Of Your Income Should Go To What
Guidelines To Set Your Grocery Budget
While doing research to gauge if I was actually a crazy spender, I learned that my average is within the official U.S. Department of Agriculture food at home guidelines. The agency states that the monthly cost of food at home for a family of four ranges from $857 to $1,300.
The USDA breaks down the cost of food at home in four categories:
- Thrifty Plan
- Low-Cost Plan
- Moderate Cost Plan
- Liberal Cost Plan
These plans include the cost of all snacks and meals prepared at home. This information was helpful for me because I strive to make all my meals and snacks at home to save money.
Based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture data, and my real-life experience at the grocery store, I trust that the following guidelines will help you set a realistic budget.
Monthly Grocery Budget Spending Ranges Recommendations:
- Single adults: $40- $80 per week, or $160 – $350 per month
- Families of two: $85-$180 per week, or $380-$775 per month
- Families of four: $130-$300 per week, or $570-$1300 per month
Through my own experimentation, I have found that a comfortable average spending per family member is $250 per month. This amount will give you some wiggle room to buy supplies for your pets as well. This average may also be right for families with small children too since supplies like diapers, baby wipes, and formula are very costly.
Over the 16 years that I have been married, our monthly average grocery shopping spending has been very consistent. In general, we spend about $250 per person per month.
How To Reduce Your Grocery Spending
I realize that we are fortunate to have the means to set such a generous grocery budget. But I am also aware that there are many families for which spending $1,000 per month on groceries sounds absurd.
After starting meal planning and practicing smart grocery shopping habits, I was able to reduce my monthly bill to under $1,000. And considering that we cook most of our monthly meals at home, I think we are doing pretty well.
I also realized that many people are not aware of how much they are spending because they don’t keep track of or to budget. So, if you are trying to figure out the right amount for yourself or your family, I recommend that you first look at how much you are already spending. Then, use that amount as a starting point to set a budget.
Are You Spending Too Much On Groceries?
If you use a debit or credit card to make your purchases, log into your bank account or app, and pull your monthly spending per category. Many banks will organize your purchases automatically. Pull your grocery statement for the last twelve months to get an average of how much money you spend.
Use the ranges discussed above to compare your actual spending to the U.S Department of Agriculture guidelines. Then, ask yourself if you could do a better job to reduce expenses. A game-changer for me was to set a weekly budget and a meal plan ahead of time.
Ideally, you want to set a grocery budget before the month begins, when you do your estimated budget for that month. If you are not tracking your income and budgeting your expenses on purpose every month, you will most likely overspend.
GOOD READ: My Step-By-Step Guide To Budgeting
Monthly Grocery Budget
Budgeting for your weekly groceries before the month begins will be crucial, especially during the few months of the year that have five weeks instead of four. You will either have to reduce your weekly spending to spread out your budget for the five weeks or set a higher budget for those few months.
I have found that $1,000 per month is a very reasonable budget for my family. So, before the month begins, I look at how many weeks I will have to shop for, then divide my budget accordingly. As a result, some weeks, I have a $200 allowance for groceries, and some weeks I have more wiggle room with a budget of $250.
My Smart Grocery Shopping & Meal Planning System
If you want to see a detailed example of my monthly grocery shopping budget and expenses, make sure to check my grocery shopping expense reports. I’m using a specific system to track and reduce costs that has allowed me to save about $300 on groceries per month.
Reducing spending from $1,300 to $1,000 has been a significant accomplishment for me. My next goal is to stay under $900. That means that I could be saving $400 per month on groceries, which would allow me to save almost $5,000 in a year.
Looking at the opportunity of saving money to advance other financial goals, like paying down my house faster or using these savings to go on vacation can be a great motivator.
The Key To Save On Groceries
I must share with you that I have learned a great lesson. The key to save on groceries is to understand that a grocery shopping list is not a meal plan!
I realized, after 16 years of doing my grocery shopping wrong, that going to the store with a shopping list is a waste of money and time. What you need to do instead is…
DO THIS:
- Set up a budget
- Create a meal plan
- Go to the store
But many of us do it backward!
DON’T DO THIS:
- Make a list
- Go to the store
- Piece together your meals
Meal planning the right way is what has helped me reduce my grocery bill from $1,300 to less than $1,000 per month, and it can help you, too, if done right.
However, meal planning can be overwhelming, especially if you are someone who, like me, doesn’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I figured out a way to simplify every day and prepare hearty meals only a few times per week.
Keep in mind that if you use to go to the grocery store with a shopping list and not a meal plan to back it up, you are likely wasting a bunch of money and time every single month. I recommend that you stop doing that immediately! Instead, set a monthly grocery budget, determine your weekly grocery allowance, and then create a meal plan to shop for.
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Setting A Grocery Shopping Budget Consistent With Your Financial Goals
When setting a grocery shopping budget, it’s essential to consider what other financial goals you may have. For instance, if you are trying to pay off credit card debt, you should try to stick to a thrifty grocery budget. Saving as much as you can on groceries will free extra money to pay down your debt.
Other important financial goals that you should consider are:
- Starting up a baby emergency fund of $1,000
- Building a fully-funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses
- Investing 15% of your income for retirement
- Saving for your kids’ college
- Planning to pay cash for a dream vacation
- Paying off your home early
Watch Your Food Spending Outside Of The Home
We don’t go out to eat a lot for a very good reason. There are financial goals that we’re trying to achieve, like paying off the house in five years instead of fifteen. So, when we decided that we wanted to be saving money and using our money for different goals, cutting eating out was one of the first things to go.
A long time ago, when I still had to learn the importance of making smarter decisions with money, we used to go out to eat every single weekend! But when I started budgeting, I realized how much money we were spending. It was anywhere from $300 to $500 per month on restaurants. That was way too much money for a couple that was still in debt and trying to figure out life!
If we just stopped going out to eat, we could be building up our emergency fund, investing more for retirement, or saving up that money for the kids’ college fund. The problem was this, I felt entitled to going out to eat. Because we worked hard and had little kids, the last thing I wanted to do on the weekends was to cook.
But when I did the math of our monthly eating out expenses, I lost my appetite. I realized I wasn’t entitled to waste my money that way, so we decided to cut out eating out almost entirely. We have a small budget now of about $100 per month to eat out for a family of four.
Why You Should Stop Eating Out
I should tell you that even though today we can afford to go out to eat more often, we choose not to. Instead, I prepare the family meals at home. My advice for you, if you are trying to advance other financial goals like getting out of debt, is to stop going out to eat. You will see how that money will help you move forward with your money goals tremendously.
Not eating out is a sacrifice, it is hard. You have to prepare meals even when you are tired. Then you have to clean the kitchen. And probably, the most painful to me is having to go grocery shopping and putting up with rude people at the store.
Besides the inconvenience of cooking at home for those of us who are not kitchen people, there is also the social pressure. I have had people make fun of me because we don’t go out to eat a lot on the weekends. They would tell me things like if you don’t go out to eat, what is it that you do?
Thankfully, my husband is great at grilling, and I really like my crockpot. We decided to just go out to eat out for special occasions, like birthdays, when we are out of town, or when we are stuck at kid’s activities like tournaments and unable to eat at home.
In Conclusion: How Much To Spend On Groceries
I believe that the official USDA Food Plans provide an accurate guideline for single people or families. I also find that single people will be safe to budget around five percent of their take-home income on groceries, and families about 10-15 percent.
For your weekly or monthly budgeting follow these guidelines:
- Single adults: $40- $80 per week, or $160 – $350 per month
- Families of two: $85-$180 per week, or $380-$775 per month
- Families of four: $130-$300 per week, or $570-$1300 per month
Remember that these amounts only include food and items that you buy at the grocery store. This budget recommendation does not include food that you pay for at restaurants. That expense should be tracked separately, as eating out is not a necessity but rather a treat. And if we included restaurants in the grocery/food category, I am pretty sure we would be blowing up the budget every single month!
To stick to the budget and stay motivated, come up with a goal for your grocery savings. A great way to maximize your money is to use the savings to pay down debt and advance other financial goals like building up savings, retirement, or saving for a nice vacation.
Now it is your turn to share with us, how much do you usually spend on groceries? Do you think you can feed your family with less than that? Share your thoughts in the comments, please!
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- Our Family Grocery Expenses For February 2020
- What Percentage Of Your Income Should Go To What?
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