Mrs. Hillbilly received a comment a few days ago and it got me to thinking. I just assume that people know how to budget, have seen a budget in action, or have some sort of unwritten one they go off of. But through the years I’ve heard from so many readers that they’ve never had a budget, but really want to start one—they just don’t know what an average budget looks like. That’s pretty much what the comment Mrs. HB got said:
Mrs. HB, I’m working on a grocery and Amazon budget this month. It’s my first time really trying for either.
Mavis, I’m so curious what other people’s grocery budgets are. What do you think of doing a poll on your blog so readers can select which range their budget falls into (<$100, $100-$200, $200-$300, etc) or something like that?
~Leslie
I have heard about and received comments on budget sizes hundred of times from my readers, but I’ve never tracked them. Until now. You guys up for a quick survey to help dear, Leslie out {and so many like her!}? Take just a sec and fill out the poll. What is your grocery budget. Include anything you’d buy at the grocery store, so food, toiletries, and paper products, etc. No eating out or fast food included. I’d include Amazon if it’s something you’d buy from a grocer but are opting to buy on Amazon, but not a pair of slippers or a new DVD.
You can also see the results and get an idea of what an average budget looks like. To try and get an accurate average, divide your budget per person. So if your budget is normally $200/month and you have 2 people in your family, that would be $100 per person. If your budget is $625 for a family of 4, it would be $156.25 per person, which you’d plop in the $150-175 category. Make sense?
So click on your answer and then head to the comments to give details on your monthly budget if you’re willing. I’m excited to see what the results are!
Budget away,
~Mavis
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Maria says
“Grocery” for me includes everything. Cleaning supplies, eating out costs, paper products, etc etc. And food. So $400 a month for two people for all that.
KariJean says
Ditto – grocery is everything I get at the store including paper products, cleaning, shampoo, vitamins, and some wet pet food, etc, but not eating out – we don’t set a budget for that we only eat out once a week and it is whatever it is $20 to $50. Grocery is usually $65.00 a week for 2 people. I eat a mostly vegan diet, my husband “needs” meat everyday. I can a lot and have a small garden and get a 10% discount on all produce & store brand health & beauty items thru a wellness program. I base my weekly meals on what is on sale and what I have coupons for.
KC says
To clarify, is this “all food you pay for”, “only food-based groceries, not including any eating out or fast food”, “food plus toiletries and laundry detergent and cleaning supplies and stuff”, or “food plus Amazon or other online purchases”? (we’d probably be in four different categories depending on which it is)
Mavis says
Anything you’d buy at the grocery store, so food, toiletries, and paper products, etc. No eating out included. I’d include Amazon if it’s something you’d buy from a grocer but are opting to buy on Amazon, but not a pair of slippers or a new DVD. Make sense? I’ll update the post to reflect that.
Teresa says
I typically spend 75-100.00 on groceries per month. That is for one person. Includes food, cleaning, paper products, vitamins. Some months as little as 25-50.00 others more than 100.00
Faith says
Our budget is $500 mo. for 4 people(two teens) and four animals, plus all toiletries and cleaning supplies etc.. I cook from scratch most things and can quite a bit, buy bulk and eat primarily whole, real foods .. limited meat.
Tammy says
What we’ve done ever since we’ve been married is for me to take out a weekly amount of cash. That cash covers groceries, household (small, regular purchases), toiletries, small extras, etc. Since I shop at places where I am buying those items all at once it’s hard to separate just what I am spending per week on groceries. However, I saw this chart recently: https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodJan2017.pdf and since my weekly cash amount for all the above mentioned items is less than the current “thrifty” plan for groceries alone I guess I’m doing ok! 😀
Nikki says
I saw this recently too and about tipped over!
Kari says
We have a family of five, plus we host athletes (2-3 large 20-somethings) in the summer for three months. I budget 450/month 9 months out of the year, and more in the summer. That figure includes our food and sundries. We also do some bulk meat purchases throughout the year, either by buying animals from the fair, butchering wild game my husband has gotten, or cases of chicken from Zaycon. With these purchases, our average is 600/month.
Beth C. says
Try looking at the USDA Food Budget. For 4 people, they have allocated $556.00 a month for a “thrifty” budget and $961.50 for a “liberal” budget. It was a pretty interesting read.
Mavis says
Wowza. Almost $1000 for 4 people? Is that like prime rib and lobster every night?
Marcia says
I guess we are “thrifty!”
I’ve known people who spend more than $1000 a month on food.
It’s really easy to get there if you buy everything local and organic. Local/ organic, free range:
ground beef: $9/lb
Beef roast: $18/lb
lamb: $15/lb
chicken: $20 per bird
eggs: $7/ dozen
milk: I don’t even know what raw milk is these days
Carole says
That’s probably based on DC prices. Look who did the budget!!! I lived there and was in shock for weeks when we first got there. It’s absurd!!
Cheri says
The USDA food budget is actually how I set up my food budget–according to thrifty standards. It isn’t easy, either!
Lori says
My budget is for 3 adults and includes “everything”….lol
Lori says
forgot to add $200 is my budget for the month and I have to say we eat very well and very healthy
Diana says
I do not have a grocery budget. I have a huge garden so I “shop” there first. I try to buy fresh, local, and seasonal food. I do not eat meat, fast food, and rarely eat at restaurants. The cost of food does not factor in to what I eat, I go for healthy eating. I am sure I save money in the long run as we use no medications, no supplements, and rarely go to the doctor. Being healthy is worth all the money in the world!
Lena says
$415 for two people (young 20’s), that’s grocery + household/cleaning, toiletries, paper goods, etc. but not including out to eat/alcohol (“needs” vs “treats”..) We live in a high cost of living metro.
Michelle says
$400 a month for 2 adults includes all cleaning and toiletries.
Leslie says
Love this! I especially like the pie chart, and the map.
We’re a little higher than average, according the current numbers. Our biggest issue is eating so much meat. For our family of three, we are currently eating about 2.5 pounds of meat per day.
carrie says
I couldn’t see a key to the map. I assumed that the red areas were the highest spending, but maybe not.
Mavis says
Weird that it’s not showing up now. Yes, red is highest, green is lowest.
Leslie says
Oh- I assume the map indicated where votes came from!
Marcia says
We come in around $140 a month per person (family of 4). I have done better in the past, but I don’t really need to do better. Plus my boys are growing. In 2015 it was closer to $120 a month per person but that was exhausting. Required shopping at way more stores.
It’s food only and doesn’t include school lunches for the big kid ($2.50/day).
We don’t garden.
We eat a lot of produce.
Coleen says
Grocery budget has to include food, produce, cleaners, laundry products, OTC meds and personal hygiene items. So we average about $275 a month….sometimes more, sometimes less.
Deborah says
I did a long look at my checkbook to get an idea of just what we do spend for food and household items. Winter is higher then summer of course, but I also noted that when something we use all the time goes on sale, I will stock up. Which in turn increases the budget, but decreases it in the long run. I think I will start tracking my spending to see just what it is for the year. We also host a snack meal once a week at church and need to factor those costs as well. It is usually less then $20 a week. Most of that is just absorbed into our weekly spending. I prefer to make my own mixes from scratch and so seldom buy packaged items. I also can and freeze items to make them last. We have a garden every year and that too helps. I hope this helps someone.
Stacey says
I’ve always done about 125 per person but have crept up here and there. Then I have to bring it back to reality again. When I spend more I end up throwing away more food and having more pantry items just sitting. So I have always tried to do a month here and there when I get out of wack to eat from what we have, it compensates for the extra I had been spending and it moves some of the idle food I have around. I don’t know about most households but here if the food has been a resident for too long it ends up never getting used. Now my kids are in college and I use the same amount to feed them, they will need to learn how to keep their costs down too so it’s a great lesson.
Jenny Young says
I couldn’t get the poll to load.
I do keep a budget but it’s not as detailed as yours. I spend $100 a week on groceries, toiletries & cleaning supplies….much more than I need actually. When my husband & I entered the empty nest we raised our shopping budget & began to enjoy the results of all those frugal years raising a family. We pretty much eat what we want & still don’t really need to spend that much per week.
I think another thing to consider when comparing budgets is where people live. Some parts of the country groceries are much more expensive than others.
Beth says
I budget $20/week per person. I have 3 people in my family, so around $250/month is my grocery budget. I bring my lunch to work each day and we pretty much eat dinners and breakfast at home. This does not factor in my husband, who does eat out for lunch while at work. (I am still working on him taking his lunch.) I do host dinners for my friends about 3 times a month (additional 4 people) and I am still able to do this within my budget limits. My budget does go down once my garden starts producing.
Maggie says
For 6 people (2 adults, 2 High school Boys, 1 middle school boy, 1 Elementary Boy), I try to spend no more than $400 a month on groceries only. I am able to stay at home, so I cook mostly from scratch. I only buy meat if it is on sale, and have been known to get creative if we are low on supplies. In the summer I take advantage of Farmer’s Markets, which around here, provide low cost produce. It doesn’t always work, but for the most part, if I meal plan and stick to it, I can meet my budget every month.
Nicole says
Our monthly grocery bill is about $300 give or take. But this includes everything. Cleaner, paper needs animal food etc. This is for 3 people, 1 dog, 3 cats, 2 ducks, and 1 chicken.
carrie says
I live in New England and I would love to stick to my budget of $137 per person but in the last eight months it has averaged to $204 a person. We are a family of 5. Two teenage boys, which I know explains a lot of my budget issues. But I don’t by processed food. I make everything from scratch and 3/5ths of the family are vegetarians. I do wonder if other New Englanders struggle to keep their budgets in line too.
Becky-TN says
My budget is $800-$1000/ month. That includes 10 of us and only edible food. We buy grass fed beef in bulk and eat a lot of veggies/fruit/other meat from farmers market/pick your own. That also includes a diet for a severely anaphylactic allergic child. We rarely eat out and I cook a lot from scratch.
Mable says
Don’t know how helpful this is, given that estimates are that Americans spend nearly as much in restaurants as they do in grocery stores.
Karin says
I agree with this. I count ALL food in my food budget. Some people eat out multiple times per week or even multiple times per day. Those people who eat out a lot may spend much less on grocery store purchases. So I don’t think you can get an accurate picture of a food budget without including restaurants and takeout.
Cheri says
I only included food in my vote, because that’s what “groceries” means to me. My budget is $800 for 6-7 people (one daughter is in college and thus in and out of home), and I live in a metro area with a high cost-of-living. Because I am picky about what I buy, I find it very difficult to follow this budget, but I try. I shop at Trader Joe’s for most items, because it has the cheapest overall cost in my area, and at other stores I am as thrifty as I can be outside of special treats. I also prepare most meals from scratch, and we don’t eat out a lot. It doesn’t help that my husband wants a lot of meat, and since I won’t buy cheap, low-quality, conventionally-raised animal products, that adds a lot to the cost that I would otherwise avoid. I could eat vegetarian most of the time, myself.
Ashley C. says
$350 a month for my family of 7 including dog feed, toiletries, and all food. We eat a LOT of meat, most of us hate soup and beans which adds cost and my husband is on the low carb diet which is pricey. I don’t buy a lot of convenience foods and cook almost everything from scratch which is mostly how I keep our budget down.
Rachel says
Your budget is low for your size family. I am sure it is a lot of work on your part to keep it that low!
Sarah says
Wow, this is really interesting. I currently budget $350/mo for 1 person for my groceries (I have a “going out” budget that is separate) and I struggle every month to meet that. It isn’t very satisfying to cook for just one person, so “cooking” often means buying high-priced convenience foods from the deli, hot food bars, etc. My grocery budget is one area of my budget that I have the most control, so my plan over the next few months is to get it comfortably at $300/mo, and then maybe drop it down a bit more after that. Veggie garden in the summer will help, plus picking my own berries when they are in season and freezing them for the winter.
Cheryl says
I agree with you about the cooking for one person, it is a huge pain in the arse!
Brianna says
I have a household of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids 7,5,2). I spend around $200 at Costco to stock pantry staples (usually inldes 2 bags of DD coffee, 1 bottle maple syrup, 1 jar jam, 1 bag flour, 2 blocks cheese, 1 case juice boxes, 2 bags frozen fruit, 1 bag brown sugar, canned tomato products, 1 bag rice, 1 box diapers). I spend approximately $125/week at the grocery store to purchase my regular groceries (meat, produce, organic, dairy) and I do shop the woohoo Kroger deals and blemished produce if available. My kids take lunch to school because I refuse to pay $2.95 for a processed junk lunch, but I buy milk for them there so I put $15/mo. per child onto their lunch account. My daughter has 1 snack day a month in her class an it has to include an individually packaged beverage and store purchased nut free dairy free non perishable snack for 24 students, I budget $20 for this. So, my family budget is usually $750/month. About $150 per person each month.
Renee says
I spend around 200 to about 300 dollars per month on groceries for a family of 4 (all adult eaters). I make most of my cleaning products, lotion bars, laundry soap, sometimes toothpaste and lip balm. So every couple of months I buy ingredients for those items. I use reusable towels for cleaning and cloth napkins. The only paper product I buy is toilet paper. We are mostly vegetarians (my daughter and I). The only meat I buy is pizza topping, lunch meat for the hubby and fish. We eat leftovers for breakfast (hubby) and for lunches. I try to cook from scratch when ever possible, including making my own cooked beans,dressings, ketchup and sauces. I try to buy organic when I can afford it. We take our elderly neighbor to church on Sat. evenings then pop for dinner out with him. He looks forward to our weekly night out for dinning and socializing. If I leave my daughter at home I can stay at the lower end of my budget. Shopping with kids can be a real budget (even over 18 year old kids) breakers.
Mavis says
I love that you take your elderly neighbor out. That is so awesome!!
Mable says
Thank you for taking out your elderly neighbor. We lived far from my father-in-law, so seldom saw him in person. He had a younger neighbor who took him out to breakfast every Sunday, probably for a decade. My father-in-law is dead now but I try to pay the kindness of the neighbor forward by spending time with a lonely older friend who has no family. Luckily she likes gardening, so we have a lot to talk about!
lynn e says
just 2 of us, and the total for both per month is $300. I try to buy mostly organic/local produce and stuff. Interestingly, this does not include our beef or chicken, as we buy 1/4 cow every year from a local farmer, and 10 chickens a year – also from a local farmer. So the only meat I buy is pork, which isn’t a lot since it doesn’t agree with either of us, and any fish/seafood. LynneinMN
Amy says
For my family of 12 (husband, 10 kids, and myself) my budget is $400 per month or $100 per week on a good week/ month.
This breaks down to $33 per person/ per month – we keep a very basic diet, but also avoid most pre-packaged stuff… mostly produce, dairy, baking ingredients, rice, beans, etc… We rarely buy meat because we raise it ourselves on our hobby farm, otherwise that would add about $100 per month to what I spend (average of what I spent before we decided to raise our own)
We drink a lot of water instead of other things, and that makes a *huge* difference in total cost.
One child in diapers, toilet paper and laundry detergent, dish detergent are included in my grocery budget – we use cloth napkins and wash cloths/ towels instead of disposables/ paper products. And purchase feminine hygiene items on amazon to the tune of approx $15/ month for myself and 4 teen girls…
sharon says
You should google menstrual cups.
Mimi says
My winter grocery budget far exceeds summer spending so lately I’m spending about $90.00 weekly for 3 adults. When the garden starts producing and my husband begins to reel in some fish our expenses will drop quite a bit.
Deb says
I listed $150 to $175 per month for just myself to include all groceries including toilet paper and vitamins. It’s hard to list a monthly figure because I do stock up on sales a lot so once in a while I go over. I also frequently (several times a week) have a least one grandchild for a meal and also have Sunday dinner for son, wife, and four grandchildren plus I bake and send home goodies with them. I cook almost everything from scratch and am fortunate enough to live near several different grocery stores, including ethnic markets, so I can take advantage of sales.
Chris Glover says
I said $50-75 to just include miscellaneous things. We’re a two person household and I roughly spend $50 on groceries just yesterday! But a lot of those things were high priced staples that I needed to replace, like frozen strawberries and a pack of chicken. I work from home so I can make whatever I want usually, and a lot of the time my partner will eat free at work. My goal is to ultimately spend as little as possible but still eat high quality and tasty fresh food. We basically never buy convenience food anymore (go us!)
I included everything, but our cleaning products are: vinegar. And dawn.
Suzanne says
I spend between 400 and 500 dollars a month for a family of 5. That includes cleaning products, food and toiletries. I have tried keeping it under 400 but just can’t seem to. I never go above 500.
Rachel says
I spend betwen $400 to $650 a month for a family of 6. 2 Adults and 4 kids (7, 5, 3, 1). This includes eating out, holiday food, and hospitality. It also includes Amazon food items and toileteries, and cleaning supplies. My husband hunts so that cuts down on our meat expenses. I cook a lot from scratch.
Amber says
I like that this survey had a map that showed where the responses were coming from. However, I really want to compare the cost of food by city or state. That would be more telling. I’ve been on other budgeting blogs where people in some states pay WAY less for groceries and they get in verbal tangles with others who live in cities where the cost of living is much higher. The sad end result is that often people judge others or themselves wrongly because it’s not apples to apples.
debra Basquez says
Our food budget has been $400 a month for 15 years. we had 4 kids ages 2-11 at that time and have never adjusted it. so this was for a family of 6, which we took our own lunches to school and work. We’ve kept this budget intact as kids have moved and gone to college and move back. we currently have 3 adults and 1 teenage boy living at home, then our 22 year old son just moved home on Friday from college to do his quarter of student teaching. we will still adhere to this budget. Some months, we only spend $250 then make up for it other months when we do a large meat purchase. I home can a lot of our garden, glean fruit trees that people offer, etc. that helps offset much of our budget. we also help our grown daughter out with food (she shops our pantry when her budget is tight) another college student. we just seem to manage some how. this fall 2 are moving across state to go to college, 1 might be moving out the country to work and that leaves us with one grown son still living at home. I hope to reduce our budget to $300 a month at that time. we’ll see
Cheryl says
I do not budget exactly; I pay all the bills first down to about $200 and then I use those funds for gas for the truck and groceries. The groceries include housecleaning products, personal care items, dog food, etc. I average about $260 to $300 a month. But at the same time, I am cursed in that my stomach cannot digest the chemicals in our food anymore, so I buy a lot of organic.
Vy says
I do really well for four people (three of them teenagers!) … around $400 a month. I buy in bulk, cook whole foods with nothing from a box (except the occasional mac and cheese, etc, only human here!), bargain shop, watch the FM ads and coupons and have a lot of meatless options, grow as much as I can. I also eat out only once or twice a month, and that’s usually happy hour specials (same awesome food, so much less). And no fast food at all. It started because I was a single mom with three kids and a very limited income, but now I feel I eat better than my peers, healthy and tasty and varied.
Katrina says
Mine is $220/person (there are 2 of us and 3 animals). It does not include our every 3 month butcher box ($238). We buy organic as much as possible with lots of meat and veggies. It includes dog food.
Angela D. says
Wow! After reading through all of the comments, I’m not sure I did the poll correctly. I was just thinking about my main two grocery stores, and forgot to add Costco, Target (laundry, OTC meds, health & beauty) and my twice yearly Zaycon order. I guess the point I’ll take away from this blog entry is that I don’t really track my spending–I might spend differently if I knew my monthly budget!
gina says
UMKAY……I am the worst of the lot! We have 3 people in our family and a dog. According to the way you calculate stuff, I must be spending 250+ per person/month. Yes, I said it. THIS IS WHY I NEED YOUR BLOG, Mavis! I really do look forward to every visit with “you” each day and have learned lots. Believe it or not, my Amazon spending is down lots from last year already. I will keep working on getting better at this. I am an impulse buyer and that is a problem! I need to get back to clipping coupons and buying cases of stuff when it’s cheap, not just one can/bag at a time when I run out. No shamers please! Lol.
Mavis says
No shaming AT ALL! You are working to reduce it and have even already made some cuts. That right there should be praised!!
gina says
Thank you! Your blog is very encouraging! Baby steps.
Rhonda says
For us that includes cleaning products and paper goods. I have a huge garden in the summer and can and freeze A LOT. We make most of our food from scratch. We have our own chickens, and we will buy some meet from local farmers.
Traci says
Mine is $600 for two adults – yes, you read that correctly! I don’t feel guilty about that at all. For one thing, we can afford it. There were plenty of years in our almost 32 years of marriage when we were accounting for every penny and I know I spent less than half that for our family of four. For another, we live out in the boonies where the closest grocery store is a 30 minute drive and groceries are more expensive than when we lived in a big city. We dine out at most one meal a week so I’m cooking the other 20 meals. I’ve tried meatless meals but neither my husband nor I really like them. I have a brown thumb and don’t enjoy gardening anyway so we’ve either had a CSA share or shop at the farmers market for produce, both of which support local businesses. I choose to save $ in other ways than groceries – to each his own!
Danielle says
I had to go with over $200 per person for our family of 4 in Northern California. That’s not a Budget, it’s information from tallying receipts over the last few months. Three vegans on one teen on Whole30.
$100-150 each week at the grocery store, $100-$150 each month at each Trader Joe’s, Costco, and Target. Maybe 10-20% of the food is organic.
One dinner out per month as a family, hubby eats out for lunch 2-3 lunches each week, the kids and I end up eating 2-3 quick lunches out each month.
Perhaps this is why I’m so curious about this blog and other frugal families. I’m really careful with our money and I cook so much from scratch, I have no idea how bigger families eat for so much less.
Bargnhtress says
We eat pretty cheaply and have a garden but when you include all the other stuff that I would not consider groceries the results are skewed.
It would of been better to have a poll for food only. Once you add in paper products, toiletries, pet food, cleaners etc., my budget is doubled. I have a lot of dogs and cats, use decent – not luxury but not the cheapest skincare, etc. so when you add all that in, it goes way over $200 a month per person. There are only 2 of us. I mostly buy non-perishable food and household items on Amazon. I never buy those items in a grocery store.