How much do you spend on groceries/eating out each month?

Question

I know I'm spending WAY too much, but having a hard time figuring it all out. How much do you spend (and family size) each month for groceries? Here's what I'm including: any eating out (sit down restaurants, fast food, starbucks, etc) & all groceries (anything you buy at the grocery store, including cleaning supplies, toilet paper, laundry detergent, food, drinks, meat, veggies, etc). I keep track of my spending and for my husband & I we are spending close to $1000/month! This is about $400-450 for groceries (as described above) and around $525-$600 for lunches & eating out. We dont' go to "fancy" places and I do buy some generic items instead of brand name. I have been logging my receipts to see what I really spend (not just what I think) and I have been shocked. Do others spend this much? Are you just estimating? How sure are you that your guess is accurate or do you have a budget? Thanks.

Answer 1

We spend about $600 in groceries and about $200 in dining out, family of five, kids 12, 9, and five.  We eat out only for pizza on Sunday's and fast food or cheap sit down for lunch.  We eat well at home though, we have fish, steak, shrimp, etc. and nice gourmet style meals during the week.  Tips to cut down are "kids eat free" deals, and only buying the meats that are on sale that week, also use store brand whenever you can, it saves me about thirty dollars a week.  We have a flexible budget, I can tell how much my cart costs just by looking at it and only shop once/week to cut down on unnecessary spending.  Bring a list that has your weekly dinners listed down and necessary things to purchase and try your hardest to not deviate from the list.  If we ar!e going to have a fancy meal one night (NY strip or something) another night I'll make something cheaper, like pasta with grilled veggies.  Good Luck, eat in more often and you'll save bundles...put the saved money in a seperate account for a trip or savings and it will really add up.

Answer 2

I spend around $50 a week (just for me), so thats about $200 a month, just in groceries. I might spend about $50 less in eating out, since I only eat out 3 or so times a week.

Answer 3

Sounds about right for groceries for 2.  $5-600  on dining out is very high.  but, we all work hard and enjoy our free time differently.  If your concerned about this expense being too high, maybe try staying in more and preparing a "fun" meal together...such as grilling or trying a new recipe.

Answer 4

my boyfriend and i spend a lot of money on eating out and groceries.... usually over 1000 a month.... about 1400

Answer 5

For just my hubby and myself, we're at an average of about $350 a month.  We only dine out maybe twice a year, otherwise we cook.  And he takes leftovers to work or I make his lunch.  I've been tracking this in Excel and it's really done wonders.  One quick glance and I can see that I bought the cream/broccoli/mushrooms/whatever 2 weeks ago, therefore needs to be used fast.  It really eliminates waste.  And when I do run out of something I have a running grocery list as a reminder.  I shop about 5 days a week and only buy what's really needed for that day, the rest stay on the list.  Our monthly groceries have gone from over $600 to the $350, sometimes $250.  Our new goal is to keep the monthly bill under $300.

Answer 6

My family consists of my husband, myself and my mother. Hubby and I are in our mid 50's - my mother is 80.

My husband and I both work and my mother is home all day.

I spent an average of 400-450 a month on groceries. I cook 5 nights a week and usually take leftovers for my lunch. My husband usually eats at fast food places for lunch. We do eat out on the weekends - but usually only one meal a day. (breakfast at home) late lunch/early dinner out.

So on average I would say we spent 500 a month on dining out. I, too was shocked at what we spend - I sometimes buy "gourmet" items since I love trying new things - but not all the time.

Answer 7

We spend around 150-200 on groceries a week but that includes like shampoo's and stuff like that....

eating out a week I'd say 50 dollars we don't go out to often

Answer 8

Well I spend on average $40 bucks a week for 2 adults and 2 kids ages 4 and 2. My secret? I have a grocery story near by that does double coupons so I shop their sale ads each week and use coupons on those items. Example they had yogurt on sale for 2 for .89 cents and I had a .25 cent coupon which they doubled so I spent .39 cents for 2 yogurts. I also do angel food each month for 25 bucks. Oh and the 40 a week includes toilet paper, laundry soap, paper towels, etc. Like this week a local drug store that's walking distance from my house has my detergent that I normal use (not the cheap stuff) for 3.99 and I have 1.50 coupon for it so that's 2.49 for 32 loads of laundry. I don't like this tight budget but right now its all I have to work with. So I have to make the most of it.

Oh and for the fast food or eating out thing. I haven't calculated that. But I usually do coupons on that too. Like KFC on Mondays has a chicken fried steak meal w/ cole slaw, mash potatoes and gravy, and a biscuit for 1.99. So I usually get 3 of those cause its so big the kids share one. So that's like 5.97. Or we do a $5 dollar pizza from Little Ceaser.

Answer 9

I spend a lot (family of five) I try to go to superwalmart and buy as much there as I can at least once a month. That will be around 200.- 300. Of course that doesn't include meat which I tend to buy a few days worth at a time because of lack of planning ahead for dinner. Every week  I may spend anywhere between 60-100 for "other stuff", milk, eggs, bread, a snack. We eat out at least one a week, again due to lack of planning ahead.

I recently starting working full time because my husband was ill, so lack of planning is my biggest problem, and no time to cook. (I am still very disorganized) My budget depends on my bills. I pay bills, and see how much I have left over, if it isn't enough, well then we don't eat out or we eat very light, easy meals. It all depends. The majority of the supermarkets are expensive. Superwalmart seems to be the best priced, but you can't find eveything there. And I like my meat fresher.

Answer 10

My husband and I don't eat out that much because of finances for now, but on groceries I spend about $450 a month. Between food, cleaning supplies and whatnot, it always racks up.