Food budget?

[Zona]

I don't budget in advance but I do track all of our spend in Quicken after the fact. Dining is tricky because if we go out to eat, we call it "Dining" whether we are home in the US or traveling abroad. And we often travel for a couple months at a time. So it would be difficult to compare a year where we spent six weeks in Asia with a year where we spent a couple months in Western Europe for example.

But for groceries we cook most meals at home when we're not traveling. These numbers are for groceries for 2 people, with occasional entertaining at home for family/friends. Numbers do not include alcohol spend but do include paper products, toiletries & whatever else we buy at the grocery store:
2021: $5919
2022: $7515
2023: $6230
2024: $6196 (YTD thru Oct 31, so looks like we'll spend a bit more than what we did in 2023)

 

[Teacher Terry]

I was spending about 400/month for just me which includes all my paper products, laundry detergent, etc. I decided to find some lower cost alternatives such as yogurt in big containers versus individual cups, cheaper coffee, etc. I’m now spending 309/month.

I also shop at Winco which is the cheapest option here. I have 2 friends over once a week and every few months have a group of 5 friends for dinner.

 

[ElizabethT]

In 2012 when we FIRE'd our Grocery budget was $100 a week, which is where it stayed for 10 years. In 2023 we bumped it to $125 a week, where it's been since, and which has been more than adequate.

We shop mainly Trader Joe's and Aldi, with supermarkets generally visited primarily to buy whatever proteins are on sale, which I then breakdown and flash freeze in small portions, ensuring my freezer is continually well stocked.

I cook from scratch vs buying prepared meals. I also have a small herb garden, which adds so much flavor to our meals. I generally get two meals from whatever I make. I am a very good home cook, and I want big flavor in my meals, always. In line with that, my current favorite loaded-with-flavor cookbook is One Pan Wonders by Cooks Country. I cook once, we eat twice. Each recipe makes enough for multiple meals.

We are active trim seniors, covering many miles each week in our love and pursuit of being outdoors as much as possible. I think that rolls over into our eating habits in that we hunger for quality vs empty calories, which are fairly reasonable $ - hummus, cheese, crackers and vegs being our primary snack foods.

All to say that non-prepared food items like proteins, dairy, fruits and vegs now seem back or very close to their pre-pandemic pricing. I do have to watch weekly sales ads a little more closely than before, but the pre-pandemic pricing is definitely there at this point.

However . . . still NOT in standard supermarkets. Their non-sale pricing seems absolutely ridiculous to me at this point. Thank goodness for the steady reliability of Trader Joe's and Aldi!

 

[old medic]

No budgeting here.... DW is a bargain hunter from birth... and so many years living paycheck to paycheck....
I will say our eating out spending has majorly increased since the mini-me's have left the nest...
Very rare do we do any fast food stuff.

 

[GamblingMan]

I haven't budgeted for food since the last lean period (a layoff in the family). My waistline and my jeans think I should start budgeting.

 

[athena53]

I was spending about 400/month for just me which includes all my paper products, laundry detergent, etc. I decided to find some lower cost alternatives such as yogurt in big containers versus individual cups, cheaper coffee, etc. I’m now spending 309/month.

Good point on the individual serving sizes. I rarely buy them because they're mostly processed foods- I buy large containers of plain Greek yogurt and add Stevia and cinnamon. Most flavored yogurts are glorified candy. I used to buy coffee at Big Lots and Marshall's- I like the flavored varieties and they're cheaper than at the grocery store- and I'm finding smaller selections of bagged coffee. Everyone is going for the K-cups. I don't get it- the price per cup is multiples of the price if you brew a pot full.

ETA: The Big Lots near me is closing but both Big Lots and Marshall's have food sections that I like to check out- good but random selections of coffee, interesting sauces, protein bars at lower prices than the grocery.

 

[Surewhitey]

We have stopped tracking groceries for 2 years now and only look at overall spending. We're tracking pretty close to last year but considerably more (20%) than the years before that mostly due to travel.

We do focus on the quality of the groceries and don't eat out much though. High protein and lowish-carbs mostly. Good veggies and chicken, beef & salmon (and a little pork). Probably ~$9-10k if I had to guess. We do a bit of entertaining too, so that's a chunk of it.

We do most shopping at Sam's as Kroger and Sprouts have gotten out of control...

 

[EastWest Gal]

I don't budget either, but since I am eating low carb, I look for meat deals. The grocery store often puts cuts of meat on half price when it is close to the "sell by date", usually on Tuesdays, so I look for the budget labels which are bright yellow and end up saving a ton of money that way. For example, I bought 2 lbs of pork tenderloin for under 6 dollars a couple of weeks ago and put it in the freezer. I cooked it a couple of days ago and it's worth 6 servings. That's $1 per serving.

 

[surprising]

YTD spending on all things food is $19K. This is mostly two people plus daughter home for summer. But as usual this contains some 'one-off' expenses. Probably average is around $1500/month for the two of us.

 

[Koolau]

We buy most food from Costco or sometimes Sams. I really do not know how people here can afford to eat otherwise. Costco/Sams must save us half over the regular grocery stores. The mix of stuff that I buy is even less than half grocery store prices. The exception: Costco/sams soft drinks are relatively high in price (every day.) They still beat grocery store prices (for every day) but the grocery stores OFTEN have specials to draw in customers. THAT's when I buy my Diet Pepsi!