How much do you spend on food per month?

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Disrespective

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#154711 5-Nov-2014 09:28

I've been using some software called You Need A Budget for nearly a year now and have noticed that our monthly grocery bill feels ridiculously high on average.

In the ballpark of $1500 per month. That's $375 per week...

There are two adults and a toddler in the house but it would be good to know if we're either terrible shoppers (which is what I suspect) or if that's fairly typical.

I won't go into specifics of what we buy etc but it would be good to know if others have to spend that much. We don't eat out more than twice a month and I cook most meals each week from scratch for what it's worth.

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#1169052 5-Nov-2014 09:39

really depends on my mood :D

when I'm like yeah lets eat like crazy (eye fillet, fish, expensive snacks) - at least $300 a week for 2 adults

average week in the range of $120-200.

these includes lunches at home and cooked dinner 6-7 times a week.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

Stu

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#1169053 5-Nov-2014 09:39

There are 5 of us in the house. Wife and I, adult son and daughter and a daughter under 15. We spend about $300 a week all up on food etc. This would include the odd takeaway meal, but not eating out. Older two kids don't always eat at home, but sometimes the son's girlfriend will eat here on Friday and/or Saturday nights, so on average I guess that $300 would be feeding 4ish people.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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Lyderies

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#1169054 5-Nov-2014 09:40

Anywhere from $100-$150 for myself per week, thats cooking one meal for 5-6 people for one night a week usually (around$60-$80) and the rest usually goes on my lunch and breakfast

I'm going to noob myself past judgement

garvani

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#1169055 5-Nov-2014 09:40

Not going to be of any help to your particular cause, but the thread interests me and im sure i wont be the only one in my situation so would be good to see a lot of varying responses.

Single male in early thirties, i feel i eat quite well with a decent selection of proteins and vegetables etc. I do a big shop each fortnight and then top up milk, vegetables when needed. Spend ~$300 a Month. The occasional eating out is not included.

surfisup1000

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#1169056 5-Nov-2014 09:41

We spend around $400 a week on groceries, 2 adults, 3 children 6-11yo. I reckon we could cut it in half by getting cheap meat and dumping alcohol and stop going to nosh for the goodies.

We eat well enough, a bit too much fruit gets wasted. We cook most nights, maybe one takeaway or restaurant meal per week unless we are busier than usual and might up that a bit.

jnimmo

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#1169057 5-Nov-2014 09:41

Very pleased to have started using YNAB in August. In the first month we reduced the grocery bill by a third after seeing how much we were spending.
For just the two of us probably costing about $170 or 80/week; however do eat out/takeaways probably once a week + probably skip a meal per week.
Shampoo & cosmetic products are from other categories though.

Have picked up some good tips from Save with Jamie for making some cheaper meals, also trying to make more of an effort to buy seasonal rather than cooking strictly to a recipe & using more expensive produce just because it asks for it. Switched to Easi Yo for yoghurt but that isn't a big saver just reduces a bit of plastic waste.

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khull

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#1169058 5-Nov-2014 09:44

I eat out most days and it works out to be cheaper for my arrangement as I don't want to have the same menu 3 days of the week and a freezer filled with things you never thought you had. With children/toddlers I guess it is different....

Reality for those single/couple/group is if you can't make your meals (healthy or otherwise) for less than $6-7 - it is better off to just go out and buy out and then portion it out. Consider the time you take to prepare, clean up, any associated bills electricity as well. Also nothing worse than going out for a weekend/night market vege shop only to have the produce go bad before you could end up using it.

Nevertheless same applies with groceries, you'll know what is the true price for items you normally buy. And never accept a price higher than what is reasonable.

BlueShift

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#1169060 5-Nov-2014 09:48

Its nice to see that my shopping seems fairly average. There's 5 of us, 2 adults, 2 teenage boys (food black holes), 1 pensioner and a small dog. We spend about $500 on a fortnitely 'big shop' and $50-$100 on topping up the milk etc and the occasional takeaway. So roughly $300 a week. We eat well, with plenty of veges and probably more meat than a dietician would suggest, and we all take turns cooking.

Stu

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#1169076 5-Nov-2014 09:52

Should possibly add that we use Countdown online shopping/delivery fortnightly for everything except meat and fruit n veg, which we source from a butcher and veggie shop weekly or fortnightly as required.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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BlueShift

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#1169079 5-Nov-2014 09:54

khull: I eat out most days and it works out to be cheaper for my arrangement as I don't want to have the same menu 3 days of the week and a freezer filled with things you never thought you had. With children/toddlers I guess it is different....

Reality for those single/couple/group is if you can't make your meals (healthy or otherwise) for less than $6-7 - it is better off to just go out and buy out and then portion it out. Consider the time you take to prepare, clean up, any associated bills electricity as well. Also nothing worse than going out for a weekend/night market vege shop only to have the produce go bad before you could end up using it.

Nevertheless same applies with groceries, you'll know what is the true price for items you normally buy. And never accept a price higher than what is reasonable.

The problem with eating out rather than cooking at home is getting a decent balanced meal. There's stuff-all takeaway options that you could healthily eat on a daily basis, and even at restaurants the portions tend to be a lot more meat and carb heavy than I'd cook at home.
Where do you go for a decent variety?

Geektastic

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#1169080 5-Nov-2014 09:56

We have two in the house. At the moment SWMBO works in Auckland during the week so I only need toast and peanut butter in the house Mon-Fri!

When she's home every night we spend $200-$300 a week at the supermarket but that includes occasional stuff like dishwasher tablets which can be as much as $30, wine for her and so on.

Don't forget that 15% of your food bill is tax.

We do tend to spend $50 or so at the butcher too because I usually feel like I am in Moscow circa 1976 when looking at the rubbish our local supermarkets try and pass off as meat.

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BlueShift

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#1169081 5-Nov-2014 09:57

BigHammer: Should possibly add that we use Countdown online shopping/delivery fortnightly for everything except meat and fruit n veg, which we source from a butcher and veggie shop weekly or fortnightly as required.

That would make a difference to your bill - we do our big shop at Pak N Save as we find we save anywhere up to $80 on a $500 trolley-load. If we got the same trolley from Countdown online, we'd be paying a lot closer to $600 for what we get for $500 at PnS. I don't mind paying a premium for convenience, but that's a saving worth me & the Mrs spending 90 minutes once a fortnite.

MikeB4

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#1169083 5-Nov-2014 10:11

Geektastic: We have two in the house. At the moment SWMBO works in Auckland during the week so I only need toast and peanut butter in the house Mon-Fri!

When she's home every night we spend $200-$300 a week at the supermarket but that includes occasional stuff like dishwasher tablets which can be as much as $30, wine for her and so on.

Don't forget that 15% of your food bill is tax.

We do tend to spend $50 or so at the butcher too because I usually feel like I am in Moscow circa 1976 when looking at the rubbish our local supermarkets try and pass off as meat.

+1 re meat , thats why we travel over the Rimutaka's to get our meat at the Greytown Butcher, best in the region.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

afe66

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#1169086 5-Nov-2014 10:15

400 per week between 3.

It's a lot and we could cut down but cooking/eating/baking is one of our pleasures/hobbies.
(especially after a long time eating craps quality food when students)

Don't have fancy car / clothes etc.

A.

Inphinity

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#1169088 5-Nov-2014 10:16

About $300/week including the odd meal out, takeaways, etc. 2 adults and a child.

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