But I started thinking about it, and I don't even know what a reasonable amount of money per month is to spend on groceries. BF and I were spending $300+ each month, which always seemed really high to me, but maybe that's just typical for two people?
Thankfully, I found this awesome chart from the USDA that breaks down what a person or family should roughly be spending on food.
 |
| http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2013/CostofFoodApr2013.pdf |
That's obviously a little small, but click the link to see the full chart. Man, I just love charts. This is the part I'm most concerned with though:
I'm lucky in that I don't like meat and therefore don't eat it, I like lentils and most of the food that I actually want to eat is pretty cheap. Hopefully I don't develop a taste for truffles in the coming months (yummy truffles), and I'm also planning on buying less food overall, and hopefully wasting less too.
Wish me luck!
I think this also depends on where you live. You probably live in a higher cost part of the country, so you might not be able to stay much below the $163/mo. For us (2 adults, 7 yr old and 9 yr old), it says $612/mo for the thrifty plan. We budget $350/month and don't always spend it all. But we live in the part of the country with the cheapest groceries, and I also buy larger amounts of things on sale b/c I have the pantry space. We eat meat probably 5 xs a week; usually 1/2 lb of whatever meat is on sale is part of our dinner for 4. Also we almost never eat out, which makes a huge difference, and we don't buy much alcohol.
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly true, and I noticed just yesterday that while the grape tomato tubs at the store cost the same amount, they have gotten noticeably smaller.
ReplyDeleteAt least even though I can't have a garden, I have a lot of friends who do and certainly will need to unload some produce later on this summer ;)
My grocery budget is $200/month, but that also includes toiletries and cleaning supplies because I get most of those at the grocery store (yay double coupons!). I try to aim for the overall total every month rather than $50/week because I stockpile when there are sales (especially on meat because I can freeze it), some some weeks I might spend closer to $75 or $80, but others I only spend $30.
ReplyDeleteOh I'm feeding myself plus my boyfriend, who I cook for 2 days a week.
I feed my family of 3 on $35-50 a week. The key is stocking your pantry when things are on sale. On thursday I'm writing a blog post about stockimg tips.
ReplyDeletehttp://lifeourwayblog.blogspot.com