What's your food budget?

[pseudoreality]

$150/week for a family of 3 is our grocery budget. Eating out comes out of our entertainment budget and probably at 150/month.

[OutOfTheCube]

We're typically in the $160-$180/week range, two of us and a 1 year old boy. We'll go out for dinner once a week, typically, and that will range between $20 (fast food) to $50 (family restaurants!). We both pack our own lunches and make our own coffee, don't buy too many extra snacks or anything. I think we do well.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by troutman

I'm more curious as to how much people spend each month on coffee.

60 bucks on beans a month.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I budget $60 a week for groceries. I probably spend a bit less but then I eat out sometimes which balances it out. That includes household items like shampoo, garbage bags, listerine etc.

Curious you chose these three to sum up your household expenses.

[calgaryrocks]

coffee: $13 every two months on beans and probably $3-$5 a week on mcdonalds coffee

[CliffFletcher]

Around $1000-1200 a month in groceries for a family of four. Maybe another $200 a month in a take-out and eating out.

In an effort to cut down on the costs, I tried to take over the grocery-buying role in my family. I cut our spending almost 50 per cent for a few weeks, but my wife had a breakdown. Freaked out. Tears. Hysteria. If the fridge isn't packed full with food she completely loses it. I'm thinking some sort of food-hoarding instinct switched on when we had kids. She has even acknowledged that it isn't rational.

So in the interests of marital harmony I let her take responsibility for groceries again, recognizing that it will cost us $200+ a month in wastage.

[Weitz]

I find it funny. Since I started making coffee at home, I no longer buy food for breakfast. I'll either eat breakfast at home or just not eat breakfast haha.

Saves like $30 a week.

[peter12]

Black coffee for breakfast every day.

[polak]

Can you guys start a gofundme so I can eat out more? Please?

[DoubleF]

$70-80 per week. On about the 3rd or 4th week, we spike to about $120-150 restocking something random on top of the grocery bill. This could be condiments, frozen food, instant noodles, rice, canned foods, spices etc.

Our spoilage is ridiculously low which probably helps. We buy bare minimum fresh foods and rely heavily on frozen and dry/canned goods combined with fresh foods to make our meals. We also consume a lot of noodles and rice which also is cheap. Snacks are minimal but still probably average $5-10 per trip.

Fresh foods are generally just milk, eggs, garlic and/or ginger, 2x leafy greens, vine ripe tomatoes, fruits, onions and whatever else is on sale or we have a craving for Kale, zucchini, rutabaga... everything else can be frozen.

Random: Pre cooking and then freezing ground beef helps us lots in terms of making stir frys, fried rice or even soups. No need to worry about typical meat spoilage or for the ground beef to come out chunky like meatloaf if you freeze raw ground beef. Also goes pretty damn good with those $2-3 frozen Naan bread or Pratha bread which can be spread out to two meals on occasion.

We probably go out for food about 3-5 times a month

Around $500-600 per month for two people.

We could go cheaper, but we enjoy our wine and cheese nights and enjoy our social gatherings. I spend nothing on tea and coffee as it's provided to me at work, my wife however I am assuming spends around $30 a month on it. (Her employer provides it, but she doesn't prefer it)

I sort of envy Hack&Lube. Gone are the days when KD or a hot dog in a croissant at home is considered fine dining and a super creamy garlic mashed potato could serve a second function as a chip dip to regular ruffles chips.

[doctajones428]

About $350 a month

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Around $1000-1200 a month in groceries for a family of four. Maybe another $200 a month in a take-out and eating out.

In an effort to cut down on the costs, I tried to take over the grocery-buying role in my family. I cut our spending almost 50 per cent for a few weeks, but my wife had a breakdown. Freaked out. Tears. Hysteria. If the fridge isn't packed full with food she completely loses it. I'm thinking some sort of food-hoarding instinct switched on when we had kids. She has even acknowledged that it isn't rational.

So in the interests of marital harmony I let her take responsibility for groceries again, recognizing that it will cost us $200+ a month in wastage.

Using mint.com I was shocked to see our food bill at $1600. Way too much restaurant food, and way too much buying all the ingredients for one meal at a time, then eventually throwing the rest of whatever sauces etc. we had left. We're down to about $1100 now and that's if we're careful.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by peter12

Black coffee for breakfast every day.

Breakfast of champions. I have replaced breakfast with just coffee for like 15 years now.

[Finger Cookin]

Looks like about $550/month. That includes anything I buy at the grocery store (I don't split out non-food items), restaurants, fast food, snacks, whatever. On good months, I manage this down to $450 or less. On bad months, I'm $650+.

Originally Posted by troutman

I'm more curious as to how much people spend each month on coffee.

I don't go out for coffee. Whatever's at work is fine, or I have a Keurig or instant at home instead.

[peter12]

It is absurd how much marriage racks up the food bills. Absurd. My wife used to eat kale, miso soup, and lentils before she met me (vegan bachelorette), and I ate the same chicken breast with whatever frozen veggies were on sale.

Now, it's like we need an assortment of sides to go with every meal.

Anyway, we had a talk last night, and are going to try to reduce our grocery bill to $400 a month, and throw the extra into her student loans. Might as well.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Breakfast of champions. I have replaced breakfast with just coffee for like 15 years now.

Cleans out the old pipes by around 10 am.

[polak]

Originally Posted by peter12

Cleans out the old pipes by around 10 am.

F***in' cleaners at my work always clean the nice private washroom at 10 am every day

[East Coast Flame]

Around $800-$1,000 a month for the GF and I, including going out for meals.

As for coffee, I maybe buy a coffee once or twice a month and the rest of the time drink the office gruel.

[Angelamc]

I have a teenaged boy who plays hockey etc. At least $500 for a week. I could probably do it cheaper but i'm not really into filling him up on cheap junk type food so I will buy better quality meats and fresh ingredients etc.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Around $1000-1200 a month in groceries for a family of four. Maybe another $200 a month in a take-out and eating out.

In an effort to cut down on the costs, I tried to take over the grocery-buying role in my family. I cut our spending almost 50 per cent for a few weeks, but my wife had a breakdown. Freaked out. Tears. Hysteria. If the fridge isn't packed full with food she completely loses it. I'm thinking some sort of food-hoarding instinct switched on when we had kids. She has even acknowledged that it isn't rational.

So in the interests of marital harmony I let her take responsibility for groceries again, recognizing that it will cost us $200+ a month in wastage.

I identify with this. My wife gets mad at me when I don't buy certain produce because for price.