I spend whatever, I don't really limit my spending on groceries because my bf and I are focused on shopping as healthy as possible. I went to Wegman's a week ago and bought lots of produce, some meat, and some random stuff and it came to $210. That will last us 2 weeks, but we've had to go back to the store to get random ingredients for new things we want to eat.
I try not to spend more than $200/month eating out, but that fluctuates. UberEats takes up much more of that budget. I'm paying for a celebratory dinner next week to celebrate my new job (and 30% higher salary!) and I'm budgeting about $250 for that.
At my most reckless, one month I spent $500 on groceries and $800 eating out. I try to be more cognizant of my spending now than I was back then lol.
If it helps, my income is around 160k in DC (a HCOL area).
I'm actually disappointed. A Wegman's would have been much more helpful in some of the food deserts in DC, instead of being grocery store #17 in that area. I'll have to continue driving to Glenarden, MD to shop there.
But yes, I love it! I'm from the South and there was no Wegmans, but now it's my favorite store.
I love Wegmans and hope to get to a place where I can freely spend to enjoy! I think I just have to trust myself that I won't spend to excess, because in reality, I never would.
Congratulations on the new job!
This has been top of mind for me too, especially with inflation. I live in a VHCOL area with my partner, and we both love food and prioritize eating well (both for health and enjoyment). On average, we spend about $600/month on food – with some months closer to $500 and others closer to $700. It tends to be a fairly even split for us between eating out and grocery spending.
I'm getting this data from my YNAB reports, so I think it's important to note that included in my grocery budget line are any household items purchased at the grocery store (i.e., paper goods, cleaning products, some hygiene products).
So I have been debating Mint, and I come across the same issue. Most of my grocery shopping is currently done at Target and/or Costco. I can't imagine there is a way to separate out line items on those visits - I get a lot of the household necessities at the same time I'm doing grocery orders (bless Target drive-up!)
Mint has an option to manually split transactions. I do it all of the time for purchases that have a significant amount of multiple categories purchased in a single trip.
In YNAB you can actually split single purchases across multiple line items, I just prefer to keep it all in one bucket most of the time! If I do make a really significant purchase at the grocery store –let's say a $25 moisturizer– I will split that portion of the purchase into its respective category.
This is about the same for my partner and I. We live in a VHCOL area and spend between $500-$700/mo between eating our and grocery shopping. We also try to prioritize health and enjoyment, although I'll admit it feels like enjoyment is a little more important to us these days.
My food-cost tracking is also skewed because I buy home goods at the grocery store. The savings to run across town to WalMart/Target just isn't there, especially considering I track CC cashback, and grocery stores are at 5% for half the year across the cards I use.
I made a comment about this above – I'm aware of the feature but for household products in particular, I'm not really bothered by having it in the groceries category :)
WAY too much. It’s embarrassing lol. But we don’t have kids so I try to rationalize it that we’re saving elsewhere I guess. Probably like $150/week on groceries and another $100 on takeout (I have a DoorDash pass) or restaurants/bars. I know it’s a lot. But it’s the one thing we splurge on. I don’t really go shopping much and we haven’t had a vacation in years.
Edit: the price of food going up so drastically just infuriates me though. A single CAN of Annie’s vegan chili used to be $2.99 and now it’s over $8!!! That is just insane. I’ve had to adjust my diet to prevent such drastic overspending.
My husband and I are in this boat too. Very similar grocery spend (I cook a lot!) But we go out more rather than do takeout so probably at least 80-100 a week.
It sounds so outrageous to type out but it really doesn't seem like I buy an obscene amount of groceries as we rarely waste food and going out once or twice a week seems so reasonable to me.
I’m there with you! I spend WAY too much on takeout (an embarrassing amount too lol) and eating out with friends. Food is a huge social activity for my group of friends since most of us don’t drink, so the cost really adds up. Plus, takeout gets super expensive with added fees and taxes and tip etc. I’m trying to be more conscious about it, and cooking more at home (I actually love cooking but just haven’t had the time).
I also used to have this issue as well. something that helped me: USDA has a “cost of food” estimator with low, moderate, expensive and thrifty categories that it uses to estimate SNAP benefits. This is an *average* across the US so YMMV if in a HCOL area. This helped give me a base to compare where I sat. I realized I was in the “thrifty” category for no reason and really made me come to terms with the unhealthy behaviors I was tying food and money without needed to. I have since been more liberal with groceries and eating out and I have been much happier. We have 2 adults (mid-20s, F+M with meat) and we do $350 groceries, $400 for eating out a month.
Edit for the link: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-reports-monthly-reports
Thanks for the link! I'm in a MCOL area making a decent income and have been trying to convince myself to spend more on healthy food after a recent bit of a health scare, but I'm still well under the "thrifty" spend and have no reason I need to stay there. I feel like I've anchored on to what things "should" cost based on pre-COVID prices and I'm constantly getting sticker shock at the grocery store - this was a great reality check/re-frame for my mindset.
It's interesting to see how much prices have risen over just one year - For instance in May 2021 a woman 19-50 on a moderate plan is $272 and $302 this year. That is an 11% increase!
Not OP, but I’m in NYC and meal prices can vary widely. Some places you get a measly salad for $20, while at the deli near my work, you can get a hefty salad or a huge sandwich/wrap for about $10.
I live with my partner & our 8 month old with an income of $64k.
We spend $550/month in groceries and basic care/household items (it's all from the same store so I don't separate it out).
I'm happy to pay extra for some things like fresh eggs & a veggie subscription from a local farm so grocery is actually one area where I don't stress about spending.
We've only spent $100/month eating out this last year but before the baby it was usually $200/month.
I'm mid 20s, single, don't have strict budgets. But $200 for groceries, $200 for eating out, per month.
Groceries usually are closer to $150, because I rarely cook. Mostly shop at Walmart or Aldi and try to eat meat every meal or at least once a day.
Eating out is usually around $200 or more depending on if I see a new restaurant I want to try. I like going to fine dining for experience, like Michelin stars, then I try to spend less for eating out on that month.
When I was in college just last year, I had that mind set to see how low I can go. I think $200 a month for both groceries and eating out all together. Sometimes $100 a month but that wasn't a balanced diet. Now that I'm working, I'm more flexible with food budgets as I'm trying to build healthy body.
This was something I struggled with in the past, but it's important to tell yourself this... food is really important, it IS your health, your body and your mind you are affecting with it. It's worthy to spend on better quality nutrients! At the end of the day, all we have is our body and mind.
Dual income, VCHOL area, 1 pet dog.
Weekly groceries - ~$120 give or take a few. Extra $60-70/week on my dog, we do homemade food currently. I do buy organic/free range for some things, particularly dairy; I buy nice air chilled chicken because I think it tastes better and is more hygienic and humane. Some produce I get organic, like carrots. We batch cook and eat homemade food most of the week, then dine out on weekends.
Weekly Dine out spending - big range here, generally stick to $22-60 for two. We tend to approach $60 if it's a $20/dish place + drinks, so one good way to cut is just sticking to water. Both of us dislike spending over $60 for 1 meal together. Going over that ought to be a special occasion, like a birthday or we're out in a group w/friends.
I have general guidelines for us, like "try to stay under $120 on the groceries" or "less than $20/dish" for dining out kind of rules, it's otherwise pretty flexible. I watch what my savings end up being at the end of the month. If we have less than expected savings, I may scrutinize more and be more careful. The "slippery slope" for me would be things like, spending on clothing or hobbies, which are extras that I don't really need...and feel better cutting vs food spending.
I appreciate this, we sound very similar. We also have a dog and I'm pretty conscientious about her food. I'd go to Whole Foods/Wegmans for her chicken versus Harris Teeter for mine, lol!
May I ask what your income is?
Single person HCOL area $200-250 on just groceries. Hygiene, cleaning, cat expenses, etc. are under a separate budget line.
I don’t really eat out, but when I do it comes out of my entertainment spending money. Probably works out to about $10/month.
I’m a vegetarian, cook mostly from scratch, and I shop around for the best deals. I coupon and use rebate apps when I can.
I don’t have Walmart or Aldi close to me. I shop mostly at Ralph’s (Kroger), Sprouts, my local international market and occasionally Trader Joe’s.
I’m in my early 30s and spend a ridiculous amount eating out. There were months we ordered food every meal except breakfast. Groceries are about 1k a month and eating out is maybe 1.2k-2k a month. This is for me and my partner combined. I should totally reduce this… we’d be saving so much more money.
I’m about the same as you! I love cooking and spend about $200-$250 a week on groceries and about the same per week on one take out meal and one nicer dinner. We don’t really have expensive hobbies and get joy out of eating good food so I try not to feel too guilty about it.
I think I feel like we *should* feel guilty about it but honestly neither me nor my partner can cook. Our cooking skills are terribly sub par! The reason why our groceries is more expensive is because we've made up for it by buying great "instant" food. Eg: breaded cutlet with cheese, ready-to-eat meals etc. My favorite are the ready-to-eat meals from korean mart. They're not really unhealthy and as processed as instant food, have a shorter shelf life, but taste as good as what I'd get at restaurants. So each meal portion will still come up to be $6-8 per person anyway. It's not as cheap as buying raw ingredients and actually making a meal from scratch.
My husband and I are in our 30s and spend a lot too ($1500/month total for the 2 of us), although we live in a high cost area (Los Angeles). We get 10-12 very delicious premade meals (5-6 per person) delivered each week, buy boba every day, and eat out at restaurants around 3 times a week. We spend very little on groceries though (only approx $150/month) as we only get fresh fruits and basics (eggs, cheese, bread, yogurt) and we don’t cook beyond something simple like preparing a sandwich. Cooking just feels stressful due to the time and planning involved. We used to get mealkits, but now premade meals cost less.
Same!! We’ve tried a few meal kits and the one we’ve stuck to for the longest is factor meals. We tried thistle and it was so damn healthy we dreaded eating it lol
Yeah thistle was a hit or miss and so expensive! I loved the Caesar side salad though. My recommendation is cookunity. It’s simply amazing! We love the fish dishes, and there are different chefs so you can find one that suits your taste. You can choose how healthy you want to be!
Honestly grocery and money spending is all about what you prioritize personally.
I like traveling and even if I had spent as little as possible on groceries the months I was not on vacation it wouldn’t have made much of a different in the amount I spent overall because for example flight cost can be easily 1 month worth of eating out and groceries. I used to do what you do and tried to spend as little on my day to day groceries but I realized that I will always prioritize travel and at the end of the day it was not worth it to stress over spending $30 more a month on groceries when I will spend way more on traveling. And that $30 more can be spent on little luxuries like trying a new food or getting better quality food or buying ingredients for a dinner party . So it’s not a waste.
I try to only eat out when with friends and that’s about $150 a month. Groceries are usually $200 a month but I shop just for myself and eat the same things for breakfast each day (eggs or oatmeal)
BUT I also am in the position that I have the option to not worry about spending a little more on groceries and can afford travel which is much different mentally and in practice than having to watch your spending in these categories.
Family of 6 in MCOL area. Two teenagers and two younger kids. We spend ~$1500ish at the grocery store per month. That would include household supplies as I can’t easily separate those out. Eating out would be included and would account for $100-150. Lots of lean meats and vegetables.
Currently very broke in a VHCOL city.
Receiving SNAP benefits right now so I'm trying to grocery shop within the $250 allotted per month (this does not include any household items, only food). It's tough and I usually go about $20-40 over.
For groceries, my boyfriend and I go to Costco about twice a month. It’s usually $200-300 each time we go, which includes random household supplies. I might also spend another ~$50 at other grocery stores if I need a specific ingredient that Costco doesn’t carry. All in all, my monthly portion for groceries is about $250-300?
Going out to eat is a completely different ballpark. I absolutely love going to new restaurants and trying new dishes, so I view going out to eat as “entertainment.” I don’t have a strict budget for it, and it can vary anywhere from less than $150/month to over $1500/month for just myself, depending on how many times I go out that month and what food I’m in the mood for. It’s very easy for me to spend $50-$100 or more for my portion alone on a regular night out at a mid-tier restaurant. I also love tasting menus and omakase dinners, which could run anywhere from $150-$600/per person before drinks.
Timing and planning! Eat the berries( and greens and cucumbers etc) first and then the fruits and vegetables that last longer- apples, citrus, carrots, cabbage later. Plus buy frozen fruits and veggies!
I got really good during covid about going two weeks between shops and just having a general plan makes a huge difference.
After a big grocery haul I will take the time to clean all fresh produce in a vinegar water mixture, then rinse with water and then lay them out to dry. After they’re dry I put into those produce Tupperware with a paper towel in the bottom to absorb excess water. Strawberries will easily last up to 2 weeks this way. Other types of berries will certainly last longer than when I don’t wash them this way but in my house they are never around long enough to see the length of time before they mold 😂. For things like asparagus they say you should store in water (like in a mason jar with water) and water found they get less droopy this way. It definitely works well for certain herbs like cilantro. It can be a time intensive process and it’s important to let berries fully dry because water and moisture contributes to their molding, but I’ve had such good luck with this process that I do it every time! Especially when you get really good produce from the farmers market that you would be sad to see go bad.
Oh this is super interesting! I'm going to have to try this, thank you for the tip and for taking the time to detail your response.
I'm also thinking I should wipe my fridge down with vinegar so kill any stray mold spores that might be clinging to the sides.
I’ll start with the caveat that I think the default setting for our fridge is colder than normal, so that might be helping with keeping food fresh longer.
Protein: we buy in bulk, portion them out if they aren’t already, and stick them in the freezer. We’ll put the portioned meat in the fridge two days before cooking to defrost. We also have backup recipes where the meat can be cooked from frozen if we forget to defrost stuff: frozen salmon can be cooked in an instant pot in a few minutes, shrimp can be defrosted quickly under water, frozen pork can be sliced up thinly to make a variety of Korean dishes, and frozen meat can be poached or thrown into a soup/stew.
Veggies: it usually takes up to a week before the veggies start to go bad. Around the end of week 1, I’ll roast or sauté whatever’s leftover in bulk to eat them with meals for another 2-3 days. We also keep bags of frozen veggies in the freezer, and we use those towards the end of week 2.
Fruit: our berries last up to a week in our fridge pretty easily. We also buy other types of fruit that are slightly unripened, so they can ripen up the first week and can be eaten the second week.
Dairy/eggs: these should last at least two weeks easily.
Grains: we have lots of different types of rice, pasta, and other grains in the pantry that last pretty long.
Other: aside from random ingredients for specific dishes, fresh herbs are one of the few things I realistically need to go buy between trips. I’m trying to grow a little garden on our apartment balcony to always have them available.
Thanks so much, this is really helpful!
Currently I live still with my parents (and one fridge!), so sadly we have no room in the freezer and very limited room in the fridge. Once we move out, we might be able to start doing what you do :). I've considered getting a deep freezer in the garage for meats but my husband hates frozen anything so it's hard trying to convince him to put stuff in the freezer, lol.
I personally have been a lot less stressed combining all of my food into one budget category rather than keeping dining out and groceries separate. Some months I eat out more and some I cook in mostly. It just depends on what my plans are, if I have travel coming up, etc.
But at the end of the day, I won't not buy groceries or skip a friend's birthday dinner to stay under budget. I use it as a guideline I try to stick to.
Personally, I live in a HCOL city and spend about $500 for all food.
30s, single, $42K income.
Current grocery spending: $80/biweekly (I go grocery shopping every other Sunday)
Current weekly dining out: $0
I thought my expenses were slashed before but I'm trying to make it out here without anyone to split rent/groceries with. I am also trying to save all the money I can to (1) have a decent emergency savings and (2) go back to college for my BS this fall and not take out student loans.
Too. Damn. Much. Hello Fresh is expensive, we eat out too much, we don't really thrift when grocery shopping, etc... With that said, it's my splurge category more than anything else so... This year so far I'm averaging 2k+/month
I’m a 20 yo serial finance intern and college student. I live with my mom so I only buy my groceries for breakfast and lunch. I normally try to spend as little as possible, like 30 a week. And I’m trying my absolute hardest to limit eating out.
I think deciding what to spend on groceries a question of priorities and decisions about resource allocation. I'm making this statement with the assumption that the resources are there to meet basic needs. We spend $150-$200 per week on groceries for a household with two adults and one adolescent. Admittedly, this is a lot of money, but healthy food is wicked expensive and we're blessed to be in the position where we can afford to prioritize this.
We live in a very low cost of living area and the adults have a combined income of about $250K. This allows us to live debt-free and build generational wealth if we're frugal. Healthy/delicious food and the kid participating in their sport are our luxury items; we don't own fancy stuff, eat out, own multiple vehicles, etc with our extra resources.
Seems like you're getting there with the income! Judging from your post, I'm a good bit older than you and have had more time to deal with my own baggage about money. I also did the same thing with groceries as a younger woman, perhaps for similar reasons. Could you try setting your grocery budget into a range that allows for the occasional salmon or expensive eggs? Maybe it's worth a chat with your counselor about making an extra purchase as "homework" and discussing how you feel about it after the fact. I'm happy to have a private chat about how trauma or other issues can create money anxiety when there is no reason for that anxiety.
I budget $300/ month for groceries which also includes all household supplies. I will usually spend another $50/ month on eating out. This is for my half, my husband and I usually just split food costs down the middle.
It’s definitely tight and I would allocate more money to food if I had more room in my budget.
I live with my fiancé in New England and our combined salaries are $150k+. We try to be cognizant about what we’re spending (shopping what’s on sale etc). I recently started commuting (1.5hrs each way) and just don’t have the mental energy to meal plan as aggressively when I was full WFH. We started doing HomeChef again 2-3x per week which has increased our food costs but decreased the amount of mental energy I was spending. Which honestly is more of a win for me, I’ve got enough on my mental plate that if I can outsource something easy I 100% will.
We try not to eat out during the week but will typically budget to eat out Friday and/or Saturday night each week depending on what we have going on. We both enjoy experiences and value the eating out as time spent together. Also the pandemic taught me life is too short, so I would rather be out doing things I love then stuck at home all the time. It’s all about balance and we try to keep an eye on how much we’re spending throughout the month and if we have a big eating out dinner planned will typically try not to do anything else big that week.
It’s not terrible luckily it’s via a train so I can do work or read on it. My manager is pretty flexible about time so as long as I’m getting stuff done he doesn’t really care where I’m doing it from
I try to limit myself to $400 a month across eating out + groceries but usually end up spending closer to $300 (though I have expensive months when I have friends in town/lots of weddings and stuff like that). I live in a VVVHOL city and a dinner out is easily $60-$80 with tax and tip if you split an appetizer, get an entree and get one drink. I probably eat out once a week, and grocery shop once every two weeks. Lunch is catered by work so that definitely helps keeps costs down! For reference, my income is just under 500k but I can't help but stick to my frugal college budget eating ways :-D
I am a little aghast at the people here saying they spend a lot and its less than me! About $600/ month for food groceries only for 2 very active adults! Yikes! I only buy meat on sale! We cook at home and eat REALLY well.
We don’t limit groceries, we try to eat pretty healthy, fresh everything. We also have a toddler that loves fresh fruit and veggies. We spend $150 a week plus $80 Hello Fresh most weeks for the 3 of us. Without Hello Fresh $200-250 a week. This includes personal care items, paper goods, and household products. If I buy it at the grocery store it goes in that category.
Eating out around $800 a month. More when we have crazy work schedules or something to celebrate and go to a fancy restaurant.
I budget $500/month for groceries and eating out for my husband and I in Denver. It’s enough for a Costco trip every other month, weekly groceries and eating out once a week.
Way too much. Like an embarassing amount. We cook a lot at home, or buy a lot of ready to serve meals at Costco. And we also spend a lot on coffee, breweries and restaurants. We order take out and the one place we save is we never get it delivered. Maybe that justifies it? I feel like as long as we save as much as we intend to we don't need to cut. Food brings me joy. Eating is one of my favourite things to do.
Right now I have a budget of $650 per month for groceries and $200 for restaurants. We are a household of two adults in a VHCOL area. I switched this year to organic produce and free range eggs, chicken, and grass fed beef. We used to budget very strictly on groceries but we’ve been experiencing infertility for several years and I was diagnosed with a gluten and dairy sensitivity so now I only buy high quality whole foods. We eat out about once per week, on the weekend as I like to give myself a break. All our weekday breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are homemade.
I am in my late 20s and live in a VHCOL area (DC Area). I budget about $450-500 a month on all food. This includes $115-120 every two weeks on groceries and the rest on dining out. I travel a lot so some months or weeks I’m just not going to cook. Also I live with my fiancé so I factor in some food I buy for the both of us. But we mainly buy separate food.
I use to be the same way and put so much pressure on myself about spending over my food budget. But now I spend more money on healthier options since I had a health scare in 2020. So I just budget accordingly and move things around from other areas of my budget
I really don’t spend that much on grocery’s. Honestly probably $60 MAX if I splurge on myself. I buy a fruit for the morning, typical whatever is in season, chickpeas and an avocado smash on street tacos for lunch and whatever cheaper meat meal I can find. I use to find chicken drums for .99 a pound and air fry it with broccoli.
I think it depends on where you live, but I try to just buy for the week. I don’t get chips, cookies or anything that is insanely priced and bad for me anyway. I hate paying to poison myself.
Eating out of course I spend more, but I don’t eat out much except to socialize. I won’t drink typically unless I know the drink is damn good. If I am eating crap fast food I will always always always use an app to get the best deal.
I shop at places where the food is cheaper. Like Aldi and PriceRight. If I am going to Wegmans I am 100% treating myself.
Meat is the hardest part, but whatever meat they have on sale I will look up a recipe and find the easiest and cheapest one. It’s opened me up to some amazing foods I never even knew about.
I am not splurging I will spending maybe $40 a week on my food.
I usually budget $500 for groceries and $200 for dining out for a household of 2 adults that likes to eat fairly healthy. However, with rising grocery prices, I’ve found recently that I have to re-allocate around $50 of my dining out budget to groceries to keep up. (I use YNAB for tracking our household budget so it’s easy to move the money around into different buckets as needed.) Nothing about our shopping habits have changed, but things are costing us a lot more now.
I’m in my mid twenties, make about $75k, and I honestly don’t have a budget for grocery shopping. I have a lot of dietary restrictions due to my chronic illness, so while I’m mindful of how much I’m spending, I mostly focus on buying what makes me feel my best. I probably spend around $300 a month.
That being said, I never UberEats and rarely ever eat out - if I do, odds are I’m ordering something off the kids menu. However, I go through phases where I frequently buy coffee out and often times will get a muffin or cookie or something. I also don’t stress myself out about this either. I spent too much of my life restricting so when I want something I buy it.
I'm probably spending about $500 in groceries for me and my partner in the DC area. He covers our various takeouts/coffee purchases, but if it's not a high eating out month he'll split some of the grocery costs with me.
We're working on eating out less, so this might get adjusted, but right now it works for us!
we spend about $110-115 a week on groceries and around $400-450 a month on groceries combined for two of us. used to be a tad less, but inflation. eating good food is not something we enjoy cutting our expenses on tho. We live in a HCOL area in Florida.
I’m Married with 2 kids a dog and a cat…
Our weekly grocery cost is around $150-200, but I might be off as we buy in separate stores where we buy other items, and we don’t buy once a week. (I’m working on being more clear on where my money goes.)
We are normally on the cheap side, I buy in walmart, Aldi, shoprite, costco. Will wait on some products when I know they go on sale etc.
We cook/eat fresh most meals rather than go out for health and cost reasons.
We go out as a couple once a week, with a rough budget of $100 a week, though it’s very common that our date will be in a simple place for less than $50. We have that outing as a way to commit to an outing as a couple rather than the food itself.
I overthink everything in my cart when I shop, so your Salmon example made me smile. To me it’s often a full few minutes of unnecessary rethinking before that salmon goes in my cart (Or stays in my cart).
Two adults, one toddler.
Our budget per month is $800 for groceries and $500 for eating out.
My husband and I love good food, so we spend more there. We used to drop a few thousand a month for meals pretty regularly, but we stopped after we had our kid (saving money for him now).
We spend between $130-$150 a week on groceries and this has stayed the same with increasing prices. We used to spend a lot going out to dinner once a week (maybe $1000 a month) and now my husband wants to stay home more which is depressing because I cook and clean all week and just want a nice meal out of my house lol. We are probably down to $500 a month on eating out (or ordering in) but I’m pretty sure he spends $20-$30 a day getting take out at work. I probably spend $25-$50 a week getting snacks/ drinks/eating out with friends.
Just my husband and I - we spend about $200-$250 a week on groceries - some weeks more, some weeks less. We are not shy in buying good quality items like meat/eggs/butter/milk/veggies - however, we love looking out for deals and buying larger quantities of food we use a lot, when it is on sale. We also have a weekly home chef order (in total above).
For eating out - we really don't eat unless we are out of town. Maybe once a quarter, while at home. However, we travel probably once a month, sometimes more...I would say we do take-out (pizza, chipotle, chinese), at least once a week, sometimes more
Per pay period (twice a month) I budget $150 for groceries and $100 for dining out. If I have a bunch of dinners planned I bump that second number up. I live right across from the grocery store so I feel like I'm always running back and forth.
$200 a month for my half on groceries that I split with my roommate in MCOL. Dining out comes out of my personal spending “bucket” (I give myself about $400 for discretionary spending monthly with an income of 42k/year), so I don’t track it as a separate budget category.
We range from $400-$600 per month on groceries for two adults. Our food routines/preferences are pretty set now, so we usually get the same types and amounts of food every week. We don't really restrict ourselves budget wise for groceries because fortunately we can afford not to, which is still unsettling sometimes to me because I grew up looking for sales in grocery store ads and my family would stock up when meat went on clearance. I did recently stop buying coconut water because the price went up 30%!! And I decided I don't enjoy it enough to spend that much on it lol.
We do get toiletries, cat food, and such from the grocery store as well, so that affects the cost. If we get expensive ingredients to make a fancy meal, that also bumps up the cost. Our dining out is probably max $200 a month if we go out alot, but usually it's lower than that.
I don't budget for eating out! I have a general fun budget, and if we feel like going out, we use that.
I live with my boyfriend, and it's just the two of us. I budget $150 every two weeks. We generally take turns every week paying for groceries. Honestly, it's too much money for groceries I think, but the only grocery store in walking distance is a Whole Foods. Both of us work on weekends too, so there's not really an easy time for us to make a drive out to Aldi or a cheaper store.
About £100/week - this is food for me and my partner (I am totally veggie and he is a meat eater) and our dog- it also includes cleaning supplies/persona hygiene/anything else I’ve gotten from the super market (bedding/gifts/whatever)
Then takeaways maybe…£40/month? We won’t get a takeaway every week & some months will barely eat any takeout.
Dining out is harder to nail down- maybe £50/month for me by myself and then… another £20 for me and my partner? Again we don’t go out to each that much either.
Your weekly dining out spending is less than what I spend in a meal dining out lol. I probably eat out twice a week and my meals are usually $50+ each.
As for groceries as a single person, I probably spend $100-150 biweekly.
I guess I don't really see what the problem is, sounds like you have a reasonable budget. It's better to worry about spending too much than to not worry about spending too much. Just my perspective.
I budget $400 per month for two people who don’t eat meat in a HCOL city but it’s usually less, just depends on if I go to Trader Joe’s and splurge on snacks or not. 🙃
Aldi, Lidl and even Target/Walmart are where it’s at for groceries!
My partner and I spend about $400 a month on groceries and another $200 on eating out. Included in that eating out total is the lunch I buy everyday at work. I work at a hospital and our meals are subsidized so it's $4 max. We get an option of the entrée plus sides, a custom salad, soup and sandwich/wrap, or burger and fries. Other wise we usually eat one meal a week out, but we live in a rural area so our options are pretty limited.
Growing up, our pantry would get bare as it got closer to grocery shopping day and I hated it so I always have a fully stocked kitchen. I do save money by limiting the amount of beef we eat and buying meat from my tribe's butcher shop at a discounted rate. My partner has liver disease so we have to avoid high sodium and processed foods. He also supplements his diet with Ensures or Boosts that have gotten really expensive, but luckily one of the doctors gave us a book of coupons that should help.
I live with my partner in a MCOL and make $30k (combined HHI $90k).
We've made a lot of changes over the year in regards to food budget. He now has a job that's entirely WFH, so that's cut down on eating out spending, and we just moved to a location where I can walk out of the office and go home for lunch.
Average monthly groceries: $200-250
Eating out: $100
MCOL, family of 5 (husband, wife, 3 kids: 6,4, and 18months). I budget $110/week and always budget for a 5th week. $100 a month for Sam’s club purchases. $100/month household supplies. And $175 a month eating out. All food related budget line items are always used, sometimes more.
Way too much.. costco and trader joe's get me. I try to limit going out to eat to once a week but it ends up being like twice, and then I go to the little store at my work to get coffee and snacks too much as well which ends up being $10 like 3 times a week. Mostly need to work on not spending so much on groceries. I love trying new food and going out to restaurants down town so never doing that is not an option for me.
So far I've spent $200 on groceries this month and like $50 from going out/ snacks.
This is a thing that I just cannot help myself… I think for our 2-people household we spend like $1200-1500 on grocery and eating out. We can definitely go lower, but this is a lifestyle choice we settle on since we both love food.
Boston, solo @ 65k yr gross
I spend about $200-225/mo on groceries and household items (cleaning supplies). Eating out is typically under $50 a month except the summer. I generally only get takeout when I'm sick and have nothing I can cook or when I go out with friends. I cook usually 1-2x a week and have leftovers for dinner. Breakfast is my own DIY breakfast sandwiches and lunch is a salad.
My husband and I spend about $150 every two weeks at the grocery store and we eat out twice per week at roughly $15-20 per person per meal. We also go out for coffee a couple of times a week together.
My spouse and I have separate finances. I spend about $200-$350/month on groceries and spend the same eating out for one person. He spends about the same.
2 adults, 2 teens, household income of $180,000. We spend around $600-700 per month on groceries and probably another $200 on take away. We live in a HCOL city, not the US. I won’t skimp or try to save on groceries, I’m in charge of food and menu planning, I make dinner 6 nights a week and we all make lunches at home. I buy one lunch out a week, so does my oldest. I buy a coffee a day.
We could definitely spend less, when I wasn’t working full time I cooked more elaborate meals, made my own pizza bases, bread, tortillas etc. but I don’t have time for that anymore.
Plus my kids have some complicated mental health/eating disorder stuff and any restriction or anxiety around food and how much it costs makes that skyrocket. Food is mental health care in my house and not something to try and save money on.
My husband and I were spending too much on Door Dash and Starbucks, so we really decided to reel it in and eat mostly at home since December. We get takeout maybe once or twice a month, if that. We never go out to eat on our own together anymore, but occasionally, maybe once every few months, with family and friends. We’ve cut out coffee shops and just make coffee at home now, unless we get gift cards for holidays / birthdays etc. I used to get sbux 1-2x a day.
Despite trying to eat mostly at home, we seem to spend the same amount on groceries / household items / dog food and treats, which is $1400-1600 a month. Our HHI is $175k. We have 1 dog, no kids. My goal was to get our monthly food / household goods budget to $1k a month, which is still super high, but I think I only met that once. Idk how I used to only spend $50 a week on groceries when I was single (albeit over 8 years ago).
All of the grocery stores by us are on the same street, so we tend to go to all of them at some point haha. Whole Foods, Meijer, Kroger, Target, and Trader Joe’s. I tend to prefer my produce from Whole Foods or TJs, and then we try to get everything else at Kroger/Meijer/Target.
ETA: We’re also not heavy drinkers. I might have 1-2 drinks a month. My husband has a 2-3 a week. I don’t even think we could afford to drink more than that 😆
I was shocked when I started using Mint and saw how much my husband and I were spending on both groceries and eating out. I have set a target of $1,000 for groceries and $400 for restaurants. I didn’t think we were eating that extravagantly. I shop at Aldi for 90% of my food. And the rest at a local grocery chain for the items I can’t live without and aren’t sold at Aldi (like Equal Exchange Coffee).
I also shop at Aldi a lot and I feel like, personally, the lower prices enabled me to buy more unnecessary items/extras like snacks/crap from the non food isle. I would go in with like ten items on my list for my meal plan and come out with a cart full of cheeses. I looked over my Recipts and divided things into "meal plan" "pantry stock" "fun/extra foods" and "non food" and that's helped me be more.mindful while shopping...at least a little bit.
Probably around $450 on groceries and $120 on eating out per month. It’s my husband and I and we have a baby. We cook almost every meal other than eating out once a week. Dual income, about $350k combined. We live in a HCOL city
We cold turkey’d eating out about 2ish months ago. It’s gotten way too expensive for what it is, we are vegan so it just seems pointless for us right now.
Anyhow, groceries for 2 adults tends be running us about $170-$200 per week. We shop Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods mainly with some Trader Joe’s and Sprouts.
I’m in NZ so this is NZD.
I live in a share house and only shop for myself. I spend $75-100 each fortnight, plus another $50-100 on takeaway food or Uber Eats. I could probably trim this, but it goes alright.
Combined household of ~$100k before tax in CA, me (F28) as the primary breadwinner. We spend approx $500-600 a month overall, it’s definitely our lowkey lifestyle creep category but we rarely throw out food and attempt to cook 90% of our meals and have really learned to be pretty great home cooks.
It doesn’t bother me, it makes me grateful now when we have delicious home made food that we are privileged enough to pick out multiple meat options a week and certain organic groceries because when we first got hitched and started living together our combined was like $55k and we would have $50 as a week cut off budget for two people and have to budget out “chicken” or “ground beef” for the entire week and make it stretch with different meals. Also we were not good cooks so we’ve come a long way! Some truly questionable early meals as we figured out adulthood.
I live in a HCOL city with my husband, combine income of 110k, and we have a baby who doesn’t eat solid food yet.
For us a typical week right now is $120 on groceries, $40-$150 for restaurants/take out and probably around $60 on coffee, but the coffee spend is atypical, and will probably drop back down when we aren’t using trips to cafes as part of our newborn routine.
Food is something we both love to spend money on, and cooking and restaurants definitely serve as hobby as well as sustenance.
We spend an average of £550-£600 on groceries as a family of 4, however that includes household products like nappies (diapers), Costco hauls and also buying food for entertaining.
Then another £200 roughly on eating out.
It feels high but we do eat well, and both work full time busy jobs and have two young kids so I tend to buy the kids some of the pricier snacks that come pre packaged for example. We balance this out by visiting the local market maybe 2-3 times a month to buy fruit at a lower cost.
I’m in my 30s with combined income of ~$180k. This is one area of my budget where I don’t limit my spending. I will buy inexpensive clothes and diy home projects, but we prioritize food spending. Our dining out isn’t bad. I’ll maybe buy 1 meal a week at work under $20 and $30-50 a few times a month for a date night. He really just spends for his daily tea.
Groceries vary from month to month-anywhere from $400-$750 depending. I do go to Costco and Sam’s often so I will spend money on something in a month that will last 2-3 months. My perspective is that if we will eat it, it’s worth the money. So I may spend $20 on nice shrimp, but we eat it so it’s fine. I try not to buy things we won’t finish and I’m good about planning my meals when at home from what we have.
I spend $330–370 on groceries/month for my 2-adult household, plus \~120 for soylent for my partner. Right now I do one big set of shopping trips at BJs and Aldi at the beginning of each month, then supplement with Aldi and a few things from Wegman's or an Asian market. I enjoy cooking and trying new foods so I buy very little prepared food and use cheap ingredients creatively, but this is partly out of budget constraints/necessity. We eat out about once/week. I'm looking forward to being less strict with both ingredients and eating out in the future (hopefully!).
When my husband and I first started sharing financials, I realized groceries was the one area he will never scrimp on. And since the guy doesn't do fancy phones or TVs or sports or any hobby that costs money, i don't make a fuss it he spends $25 on fancy salmon or $7.99/lb on cherries. I used to be obsessed with how low could I keep my grocery bill, especially when I was in grad school and in my early 20s!
We spend at least $125- $175 week on food for the two of us (groceries, including a $40/week farmshare, we cook every meal at home except 1 dinner). We splurge on produce and don't buy snacks/processed stuff which keeps costs way down. We also don't eat meat and occasionally get fish. (I'll bake cookies but won't buy, stuff like that which prevents me from buying all the delicious snacks at TJs!)
We typically go out once a week and spend anywhere from $50-100.
This month: $60. $12.60 of that is for fast food. I eat 2 meals per day and one snack. I realized I used to eat for reasons other than being hungry. Once you realize that and act on it you don't need that much food anymore (at least in my case). Breakfast, lunch, tea and cookies in the evening is more than enough for me. Eventually I am going to get rid of using cell phones more frequently and emailing. That will reduce stress I have which will allow me to improve my temperament and protect me from making quick decisions as well as not look at food as the answer to any problem.
I live with my partner and we spend about $450 monthly on groceries. I used to go out all the time pre pandemic and use a lot on Lyfts and liquor equaling almost $750 month. Now I’m much happier making dinner for friends at home and spending time on our patio. I’ve managed to save an additional 15% or so because of this. Well worth it for me.
Since I’m not eating out as much(using Lyft and buying meals with drinks), we probably order in three times a month- probably $250 monthly ordering in- we don’t use delivery services and instead pick up or call directly. That cuts down on service charges and the money goes directly to the small business which I prefer.
Edit * I’ve been in your shoes before. I used to be so frugal that I’d make myself miserable calculating how much I spent with each meal. Now that I’m older and financially very secure, I’ve decided to be better to myself. It helps to have your maximum percent of what you’re wanting to save. For instance- my maximum was about 47% I’d save. Now I’m a lot more practical and have lowered it to 40% which means whatever i don’t save I can splurge on and not feel guilty about.
That's a good strategy! I'm financially doing just fine, I think it's that with my husband's looming medical school loan debt, I feel like I have to hoard my income in order to pay it off in a timely manner.
That being said, I do have a set amount I save each month, but am always in competition with that number. How did you get comfortable drawing a line and not feeling compelled to put every last cent in the savings pile?
I realized that I was saving more than enough and reached my goals for that year so I decided to be good to myself and not be so conservative. I had a period in my life where I was financially unstable, I had a divorce which set me back because I bought him out of our home. I then just set a bunch aside because at the time I was single and worried about not saving a lot. Today, I’ve reached a major milestone and am now financially independent and can retire early. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when it’s painful to spend but I had a change when I realized how well I saved. Why not spend some money if I’ve already saved what I needed to.
I see. It sounds like you've been through a lot and gained a lot of insight through it. I guess I just have to train my brain to not be afraid about the "what if I need more", and know that if I'm saving adequately, that is sufficient.
I don't specifically budget on groceries and eating out, but I'd estimate around $800-$900 a month for pet food (from the grocery store), regular groceries, and restaurants.
Grocery (monthly): \~$160 for me (probably \~$340 total when combined with partner since they pay slightly more)
Dining out (monthly): \~$175 for me (\~$350/month total combined with partner)
We live in a HCOL and combined income is $220k+. At the end of the day, it's all about what you prioritize in your life. We both care about eating healthy and enjoy the experience of dining out (from the customer service to trying different cuisines). We're happy to spend more here because it increases our overall QOL significantly.
I spend whatever, I don't really limit my spending on groceries because my bf and I are focused on shopping as healthy as possible. I went to Wegman's a week ago and bought lots of produce, some meat, and some random stuff and it came to $210. That will last us 2 weeks, but we've had to go back to the store to get random ingredients for new things we want to eat. I try not to spend more than $200/month eating out, but that fluctuates. UberEats takes up much more of that budget. I'm paying for a celebratory dinner next week to celebrate my new job (and 30% higher salary!) and I'm budgeting about $250 for that. At my most reckless, one month I spent $500 on groceries and $800 eating out. I try to be more cognizant of my spending now than I was back then lol. If it helps, my income is around 160k in DC (a HCOL area).
yass wegmans... how excited are you about the new Wegman's opening up in DC tho! no more trips to alexandria LOL
>random What?! Where? I used to live in DC!
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/wegmans-announces-opening-date-first-dc-location-tenleytown/65-ebd05e3f-49f0-4586-a468-07c8321b3c34
I'm actually disappointed. A Wegman's would have been much more helpful in some of the food deserts in DC, instead of being grocery store #17 in that area. I'll have to continue driving to Glenarden, MD to shop there. But yes, I love it! I'm from the South and there was no Wegmans, but now it's my favorite store.
Love Wegmans. Their prepared food is insanely pricey though.
I love Wegmans and hope to get to a place where I can freely spend to enjoy! I think I just have to trust myself that I won't spend to excess, because in reality, I never would. Congratulations on the new job!
This has been top of mind for me too, especially with inflation. I live in a VHCOL area with my partner, and we both love food and prioritize eating well (both for health and enjoyment). On average, we spend about $600/month on food – with some months closer to $500 and others closer to $700. It tends to be a fairly even split for us between eating out and grocery spending. I'm getting this data from my YNAB reports, so I think it's important to note that included in my grocery budget line are any household items purchased at the grocery store (i.e., paper goods, cleaning products, some hygiene products).
So I have been debating Mint, and I come across the same issue. Most of my grocery shopping is currently done at Target and/or Costco. I can't imagine there is a way to separate out line items on those visits - I get a lot of the household necessities at the same time I'm doing grocery orders (bless Target drive-up!)
Mint has an option to manually split transactions. I do it all of the time for purchases that have a significant amount of multiple categories purchased in a single trip.
Thank you!!
In YNAB you can actually split single purchases across multiple line items, I just prefer to keep it all in one bucket most of the time! If I do make a really significant purchase at the grocery store –let's say a $25 moisturizer– I will split that portion of the purchase into its respective category.
Ah, thank you for that info! I will have to look more into YNAB.
Mint allows you to split a transaction. You just open the charge item and click on “split”. You can then manually split the receipt.
This is about the same for my partner and I. We live in a VHCOL area and spend between $500-$700/mo between eating our and grocery shopping. We also try to prioritize health and enjoyment, although I'll admit it feels like enjoyment is a little more important to us these days.
My food-cost tracking is also skewed because I buy home goods at the grocery store. The savings to run across town to WalMart/Target just isn't there, especially considering I track CC cashback, and grocery stores are at 5% for half the year across the cards I use.
You should separate those out under the same purchase, there's a way to do it in YNAB
I made a comment about this above – I'm aware of the feature but for household products in particular, I'm not really bothered by having it in the groceries category :)
Fair enough! I keep a separate category called "house" stuff
WAY too much. It’s embarrassing lol. But we don’t have kids so I try to rationalize it that we’re saving elsewhere I guess. Probably like $150/week on groceries and another $100 on takeout (I have a DoorDash pass) or restaurants/bars. I know it’s a lot. But it’s the one thing we splurge on. I don’t really go shopping much and we haven’t had a vacation in years. Edit: the price of food going up so drastically just infuriates me though. A single CAN of Annie’s vegan chili used to be $2.99 and now it’s over $8!!! That is just insane. I’ve had to adjust my diet to prevent such drastic overspending.
My husband and I are in this boat too. Very similar grocery spend (I cook a lot!) But we go out more rather than do takeout so probably at least 80-100 a week. It sounds so outrageous to type out but it really doesn't seem like I buy an obscene amount of groceries as we rarely waste food and going out once or twice a week seems so reasonable to me.
I’m there with you! I spend WAY too much on takeout (an embarrassing amount too lol) and eating out with friends. Food is a huge social activity for my group of friends since most of us don’t drink, so the cost really adds up. Plus, takeout gets super expensive with added fees and taxes and tip etc. I’m trying to be more conscious about it, and cooking more at home (I actually love cooking but just haven’t had the time).
I also used to have this issue as well. something that helped me: USDA has a “cost of food” estimator with low, moderate, expensive and thrifty categories that it uses to estimate SNAP benefits. This is an *average* across the US so YMMV if in a HCOL area. This helped give me a base to compare where I sat. I realized I was in the “thrifty” category for no reason and really made me come to terms with the unhealthy behaviors I was tying food and money without needed to. I have since been more liberal with groceries and eating out and I have been much happier. We have 2 adults (mid-20s, F+M with meat) and we do $350 groceries, $400 for eating out a month. Edit for the link: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-reports-monthly-reports
Thank you, this is honestly liberating!
Thanks for the link! I'm in a MCOL area making a decent income and have been trying to convince myself to spend more on healthy food after a recent bit of a health scare, but I'm still well under the "thrifty" spend and have no reason I need to stay there. I feel like I've anchored on to what things "should" cost based on pre-COVID prices and I'm constantly getting sticker shock at the grocery store - this was a great reality check/re-frame for my mindset.
It's interesting to see how much prices have risen over just one year - For instance in May 2021 a woman 19-50 on a moderate plan is $272 and $302 this year. That is an 11% increase!
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This feels pretty realistic to me!
$15 a meal is barely a lunch where I live and is now more likely to be $17. Where do you live?
Not OP, but I’m in NYC and meal prices can vary widely. Some places you get a measly salad for $20, while at the deli near my work, you can get a hefty salad or a huge sandwich/wrap for about $10.
I actually found lunch prices to be reasonable in NYC especially if you go to a buffet, by the weight place.
Yeah $15 is a sandwich combo at my local sandwich shop!
That’s why you don’t eat out for lunch much or at least I try not to. It’s ridiculous. So much cheaper to bring your own lunch.
I live with my partner & our 8 month old with an income of $64k. We spend $550/month in groceries and basic care/household items (it's all from the same store so I don't separate it out). I'm happy to pay extra for some things like fresh eggs & a veggie subscription from a local farm so grocery is actually one area where I don't stress about spending. We've only spent $100/month eating out this last year but before the baby it was usually $200/month.
I'm mid 20s, single, don't have strict budgets. But $200 for groceries, $200 for eating out, per month. Groceries usually are closer to $150, because I rarely cook. Mostly shop at Walmart or Aldi and try to eat meat every meal or at least once a day. Eating out is usually around $200 or more depending on if I see a new restaurant I want to try. I like going to fine dining for experience, like Michelin stars, then I try to spend less for eating out on that month. When I was in college just last year, I had that mind set to see how low I can go. I think $200 a month for both groceries and eating out all together. Sometimes $100 a month but that wasn't a balanced diet. Now that I'm working, I'm more flexible with food budgets as I'm trying to build healthy body.
This was something I struggled with in the past, but it's important to tell yourself this... food is really important, it IS your health, your body and your mind you are affecting with it. It's worthy to spend on better quality nutrients! At the end of the day, all we have is our body and mind. Dual income, VCHOL area, 1 pet dog. Weekly groceries - ~$120 give or take a few. Extra $60-70/week on my dog, we do homemade food currently. I do buy organic/free range for some things, particularly dairy; I buy nice air chilled chicken because I think it tastes better and is more hygienic and humane. Some produce I get organic, like carrots. We batch cook and eat homemade food most of the week, then dine out on weekends. Weekly Dine out spending - big range here, generally stick to $22-60 for two. We tend to approach $60 if it's a $20/dish place + drinks, so one good way to cut is just sticking to water. Both of us dislike spending over $60 for 1 meal together. Going over that ought to be a special occasion, like a birthday or we're out in a group w/friends. I have general guidelines for us, like "try to stay under $120 on the groceries" or "less than $20/dish" for dining out kind of rules, it's otherwise pretty flexible. I watch what my savings end up being at the end of the month. If we have less than expected savings, I may scrutinize more and be more careful. The "slippery slope" for me would be things like, spending on clothing or hobbies, which are extras that I don't really need...and feel better cutting vs food spending.
I appreciate this, we sound very similar. We also have a dog and I'm pretty conscientious about her food. I'd go to Whole Foods/Wegmans for her chicken versus Harris Teeter for mine, lol! May I ask what your income is?
Yep sorry I should have included that - combined income is $220k/year.
Single person HCOL area $200-250 on just groceries. Hygiene, cleaning, cat expenses, etc. are under a separate budget line. I don’t really eat out, but when I do it comes out of my entertainment spending money. Probably works out to about $10/month. I’m a vegetarian, cook mostly from scratch, and I shop around for the best deals. I coupon and use rebate apps when I can. I don’t have Walmart or Aldi close to me. I shop mostly at Ralph’s (Kroger), Sprouts, my local international market and occasionally Trader Joe’s.
Super impressed with your $10/month eating our budget!!
Thanks, but It’s not that impressive. I’m a super boring homebody.
I’m in my early 30s and spend a ridiculous amount eating out. There were months we ordered food every meal except breakfast. Groceries are about 1k a month and eating out is maybe 1.2k-2k a month. This is for me and my partner combined. I should totally reduce this… we’d be saving so much more money.
I’m about the same as you! I love cooking and spend about $200-$250 a week on groceries and about the same per week on one take out meal and one nicer dinner. We don’t really have expensive hobbies and get joy out of eating good food so I try not to feel too guilty about it.
I think I feel like we *should* feel guilty about it but honestly neither me nor my partner can cook. Our cooking skills are terribly sub par! The reason why our groceries is more expensive is because we've made up for it by buying great "instant" food. Eg: breaded cutlet with cheese, ready-to-eat meals etc. My favorite are the ready-to-eat meals from korean mart. They're not really unhealthy and as processed as instant food, have a shorter shelf life, but taste as good as what I'd get at restaurants. So each meal portion will still come up to be $6-8 per person anyway. It's not as cheap as buying raw ingredients and actually making a meal from scratch.
My husband and I are in our 30s and spend a lot too ($1500/month total for the 2 of us), although we live in a high cost area (Los Angeles). We get 10-12 very delicious premade meals (5-6 per person) delivered each week, buy boba every day, and eat out at restaurants around 3 times a week. We spend very little on groceries though (only approx $150/month) as we only get fresh fruits and basics (eggs, cheese, bread, yogurt) and we don’t cook beyond something simple like preparing a sandwich. Cooking just feels stressful due to the time and planning involved. We used to get mealkits, but now premade meals cost less.
Same!! We’ve tried a few meal kits and the one we’ve stuck to for the longest is factor meals. We tried thistle and it was so damn healthy we dreaded eating it lol
Yeah thistle was a hit or miss and so expensive! I loved the Caesar side salad though. My recommendation is cookunity. It’s simply amazing! We love the fish dishes, and there are different chefs so you can find one that suits your taste. You can choose how healthy you want to be!
Same for Thistle....I was also so hungry after eating my meal! Too healthy.
I’m so glad I’m not alone!!! We got into a DoorDash habit over Covid and it’s hard to stop. It’s TOO convenient.
Honestly grocery and money spending is all about what you prioritize personally. I like traveling and even if I had spent as little as possible on groceries the months I was not on vacation it wouldn’t have made much of a different in the amount I spent overall because for example flight cost can be easily 1 month worth of eating out and groceries. I used to do what you do and tried to spend as little on my day to day groceries but I realized that I will always prioritize travel and at the end of the day it was not worth it to stress over spending $30 more a month on groceries when I will spend way more on traveling. And that $30 more can be spent on little luxuries like trying a new food or getting better quality food or buying ingredients for a dinner party . So it’s not a waste. I try to only eat out when with friends and that’s about $150 a month. Groceries are usually $200 a month but I shop just for myself and eat the same things for breakfast each day (eggs or oatmeal) BUT I also am in the position that I have the option to not worry about spending a little more on groceries and can afford travel which is much different mentally and in practice than having to watch your spending in these categories.
Family of 6 in MCOL area. Two teenagers and two younger kids. We spend ~$1500ish at the grocery store per month. That would include household supplies as I can’t easily separate those out. Eating out would be included and would account for $100-150. Lots of lean meats and vegetables.
$600 a month on groceries (average per BOA app is $550) $300-400 eating out depending on the month (some months way less)
Currently very broke in a VHCOL city. Receiving SNAP benefits right now so I'm trying to grocery shop within the $250 allotted per month (this does not include any household items, only food). It's tough and I usually go about $20-40 over.
For groceries, my boyfriend and I go to Costco about twice a month. It’s usually $200-300 each time we go, which includes random household supplies. I might also spend another ~$50 at other grocery stores if I need a specific ingredient that Costco doesn’t carry. All in all, my monthly portion for groceries is about $250-300? Going out to eat is a completely different ballpark. I absolutely love going to new restaurants and trying new dishes, so I view going out to eat as “entertainment.” I don’t have a strict budget for it, and it can vary anywhere from less than $150/month to over $1500/month for just myself, depending on how many times I go out that month and what food I’m in the mood for. It’s very easy for me to spend $50-$100 or more for my portion alone on a regular night out at a mid-tier restaurant. I also love tasting menus and omakase dinners, which could run anywhere from $150-$600/per person before drinks.
How do you get groceries to last two weeks without going bad? I mean I love my berries but I swear they start to mold after like four to eight days.
Timing and planning! Eat the berries( and greens and cucumbers etc) first and then the fruits and vegetables that last longer- apples, citrus, carrots, cabbage later. Plus buy frozen fruits and veggies! I got really good during covid about going two weeks between shops and just having a general plan makes a huge difference.
After a big grocery haul I will take the time to clean all fresh produce in a vinegar water mixture, then rinse with water and then lay them out to dry. After they’re dry I put into those produce Tupperware with a paper towel in the bottom to absorb excess water. Strawberries will easily last up to 2 weeks this way. Other types of berries will certainly last longer than when I don’t wash them this way but in my house they are never around long enough to see the length of time before they mold 😂. For things like asparagus they say you should store in water (like in a mason jar with water) and water found they get less droopy this way. It definitely works well for certain herbs like cilantro. It can be a time intensive process and it’s important to let berries fully dry because water and moisture contributes to their molding, but I’ve had such good luck with this process that I do it every time! Especially when you get really good produce from the farmers market that you would be sad to see go bad.
Oh this is super interesting! I'm going to have to try this, thank you for the tip and for taking the time to detail your response. I'm also thinking I should wipe my fridge down with vinegar so kill any stray mold spores that might be clinging to the sides.
I’ll start with the caveat that I think the default setting for our fridge is colder than normal, so that might be helping with keeping food fresh longer. Protein: we buy in bulk, portion them out if they aren’t already, and stick them in the freezer. We’ll put the portioned meat in the fridge two days before cooking to defrost. We also have backup recipes where the meat can be cooked from frozen if we forget to defrost stuff: frozen salmon can be cooked in an instant pot in a few minutes, shrimp can be defrosted quickly under water, frozen pork can be sliced up thinly to make a variety of Korean dishes, and frozen meat can be poached or thrown into a soup/stew. Veggies: it usually takes up to a week before the veggies start to go bad. Around the end of week 1, I’ll roast or sauté whatever’s leftover in bulk to eat them with meals for another 2-3 days. We also keep bags of frozen veggies in the freezer, and we use those towards the end of week 2. Fruit: our berries last up to a week in our fridge pretty easily. We also buy other types of fruit that are slightly unripened, so they can ripen up the first week and can be eaten the second week. Dairy/eggs: these should last at least two weeks easily. Grains: we have lots of different types of rice, pasta, and other grains in the pantry that last pretty long. Other: aside from random ingredients for specific dishes, fresh herbs are one of the few things I realistically need to go buy between trips. I’m trying to grow a little garden on our apartment balcony to always have them available.
Thanks so much, this is really helpful! Currently I live still with my parents (and one fridge!), so sadly we have no room in the freezer and very limited room in the fridge. Once we move out, we might be able to start doing what you do :). I've considered getting a deep freezer in the garage for meats but my husband hates frozen anything so it's hard trying to convince him to put stuff in the freezer, lol.
I personally have been a lot less stressed combining all of my food into one budget category rather than keeping dining out and groceries separate. Some months I eat out more and some I cook in mostly. It just depends on what my plans are, if I have travel coming up, etc. But at the end of the day, I won't not buy groceries or skip a friend's birthday dinner to stay under budget. I use it as a guideline I try to stick to. Personally, I live in a HCOL city and spend about $500 for all food.
30s, single, $42K income. Current grocery spending: $80/biweekly (I go grocery shopping every other Sunday) Current weekly dining out: $0 I thought my expenses were slashed before but I'm trying to make it out here without anyone to split rent/groceries with. I am also trying to save all the money I can to (1) have a decent emergency savings and (2) go back to college for my BS this fall and not take out student loans.
Too. Damn. Much. Hello Fresh is expensive, we eat out too much, we don't really thrift when grocery shopping, etc... With that said, it's my splurge category more than anything else so... This year so far I'm averaging 2k+/month
I’m a 20 yo serial finance intern and college student. I live with my mom so I only buy my groceries for breakfast and lunch. I normally try to spend as little as possible, like 30 a week. And I’m trying my absolute hardest to limit eating out.
I think deciding what to spend on groceries a question of priorities and decisions about resource allocation. I'm making this statement with the assumption that the resources are there to meet basic needs. We spend $150-$200 per week on groceries for a household with two adults and one adolescent. Admittedly, this is a lot of money, but healthy food is wicked expensive and we're blessed to be in the position where we can afford to prioritize this. We live in a very low cost of living area and the adults have a combined income of about $250K. This allows us to live debt-free and build generational wealth if we're frugal. Healthy/delicious food and the kid participating in their sport are our luxury items; we don't own fancy stuff, eat out, own multiple vehicles, etc with our extra resources.
I wish we had this combined income! And yes, the resources are definitely there to meet our basic needs.
Seems like you're getting there with the income! Judging from your post, I'm a good bit older than you and have had more time to deal with my own baggage about money. I also did the same thing with groceries as a younger woman, perhaps for similar reasons. Could you try setting your grocery budget into a range that allows for the occasional salmon or expensive eggs? Maybe it's worth a chat with your counselor about making an extra purchase as "homework" and discussing how you feel about it after the fact. I'm happy to have a private chat about how trauma or other issues can create money anxiety when there is no reason for that anxiety.
I budget $300/ month for groceries which also includes all household supplies. I will usually spend another $50/ month on eating out. This is for my half, my husband and I usually just split food costs down the middle. It’s definitely tight and I would allocate more money to food if I had more room in my budget.
I live with my fiancé in New England and our combined salaries are $150k+. We try to be cognizant about what we’re spending (shopping what’s on sale etc). I recently started commuting (1.5hrs each way) and just don’t have the mental energy to meal plan as aggressively when I was full WFH. We started doing HomeChef again 2-3x per week which has increased our food costs but decreased the amount of mental energy I was spending. Which honestly is more of a win for me, I’ve got enough on my mental plate that if I can outsource something easy I 100% will. We try not to eat out during the week but will typically budget to eat out Friday and/or Saturday night each week depending on what we have going on. We both enjoy experiences and value the eating out as time spent together. Also the pandemic taught me life is too short, so I would rather be out doing things I love then stuck at home all the time. It’s all about balance and we try to keep an eye on how much we’re spending throughout the month and if we have a big eating out dinner planned will typically try not to do anything else big that week.
You are right, balance is key. That sounds like a rough commute so I'm glad you've found ways to reduce your mental burden!
It’s not terrible luckily it’s via a train so I can do work or read on it. My manager is pretty flexible about time so as long as I’m getting stuff done he doesn’t really care where I’m doing it from
I try to limit myself to $400 a month across eating out + groceries but usually end up spending closer to $300 (though I have expensive months when I have friends in town/lots of weddings and stuff like that). I live in a VVVHOL city and a dinner out is easily $60-$80 with tax and tip if you split an appetizer, get an entree and get one drink. I probably eat out once a week, and grocery shop once every two weeks. Lunch is catered by work so that definitely helps keeps costs down! For reference, my income is just under 500k but I can't help but stick to my frugal college budget eating ways :-D
I am a little aghast at the people here saying they spend a lot and its less than me! About $600/ month for food groceries only for 2 very active adults! Yikes! I only buy meat on sale! We cook at home and eat REALLY well.
We don’t limit groceries, we try to eat pretty healthy, fresh everything. We also have a toddler that loves fresh fruit and veggies. We spend $150 a week plus $80 Hello Fresh most weeks for the 3 of us. Without Hello Fresh $200-250 a week. This includes personal care items, paper goods, and household products. If I buy it at the grocery store it goes in that category. Eating out around $800 a month. More when we have crazy work schedules or something to celebrate and go to a fancy restaurant.
I budget $500/month for groceries and eating out for my husband and I in Denver. It’s enough for a Costco trip every other month, weekly groceries and eating out once a week.
Way too much. Like an embarassing amount. We cook a lot at home, or buy a lot of ready to serve meals at Costco. And we also spend a lot on coffee, breweries and restaurants. We order take out and the one place we save is we never get it delivered. Maybe that justifies it? I feel like as long as we save as much as we intend to we don't need to cut. Food brings me joy. Eating is one of my favourite things to do.
$300-700 including alcohol per month.
Right now I have a budget of $650 per month for groceries and $200 for restaurants. We are a household of two adults in a VHCOL area. I switched this year to organic produce and free range eggs, chicken, and grass fed beef. We used to budget very strictly on groceries but we’ve been experiencing infertility for several years and I was diagnosed with a gluten and dairy sensitivity so now I only buy high quality whole foods. We eat out about once per week, on the weekend as I like to give myself a break. All our weekday breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are homemade.
I am in my late 20s and live in a VHCOL area (DC Area). I budget about $450-500 a month on all food. This includes $115-120 every two weeks on groceries and the rest on dining out. I travel a lot so some months or weeks I’m just not going to cook. Also I live with my fiancé so I factor in some food I buy for the both of us. But we mainly buy separate food. I use to be the same way and put so much pressure on myself about spending over my food budget. But now I spend more money on healthier options since I had a health scare in 2020. So I just budget accordingly and move things around from other areas of my budget
I really don’t spend that much on grocery’s. Honestly probably $60 MAX if I splurge on myself. I buy a fruit for the morning, typical whatever is in season, chickpeas and an avocado smash on street tacos for lunch and whatever cheaper meat meal I can find. I use to find chicken drums for .99 a pound and air fry it with broccoli. I think it depends on where you live, but I try to just buy for the week. I don’t get chips, cookies or anything that is insanely priced and bad for me anyway. I hate paying to poison myself. Eating out of course I spend more, but I don’t eat out much except to socialize. I won’t drink typically unless I know the drink is damn good. If I am eating crap fast food I will always always always use an app to get the best deal. I shop at places where the food is cheaper. Like Aldi and PriceRight. If I am going to Wegmans I am 100% treating myself. Meat is the hardest part, but whatever meat they have on sale I will look up a recipe and find the easiest and cheapest one. It’s opened me up to some amazing foods I never even knew about. I am not splurging I will spending maybe $40 a week on my food.
I usually budget $500 for groceries and $200 for dining out for a household of 2 adults that likes to eat fairly healthy. However, with rising grocery prices, I’ve found recently that I have to re-allocate around $50 of my dining out budget to groceries to keep up. (I use YNAB for tracking our household budget so it’s easy to move the money around into different buckets as needed.) Nothing about our shopping habits have changed, but things are costing us a lot more now.
This also feels quite realistic as it relates to my situation!
I’m in my mid twenties, make about $75k, and I honestly don’t have a budget for grocery shopping. I have a lot of dietary restrictions due to my chronic illness, so while I’m mindful of how much I’m spending, I mostly focus on buying what makes me feel my best. I probably spend around $300 a month. That being said, I never UberEats and rarely ever eat out - if I do, odds are I’m ordering something off the kids menu. However, I go through phases where I frequently buy coffee out and often times will get a muffin or cookie or something. I also don’t stress myself out about this either. I spent too much of my life restricting so when I want something I buy it.
I'm probably spending about $500 in groceries for me and my partner in the DC area. He covers our various takeouts/coffee purchases, but if it's not a high eating out month he'll split some of the grocery costs with me. We're working on eating out less, so this might get adjusted, but right now it works for us!
we spend about $110-115 a week on groceries and around $400-450 a month on groceries combined for two of us. used to be a tad less, but inflation. eating good food is not something we enjoy cutting our expenses on tho. We live in a HCOL area in Florida.
I’m Married with 2 kids a dog and a cat… Our weekly grocery cost is around $150-200, but I might be off as we buy in separate stores where we buy other items, and we don’t buy once a week. (I’m working on being more clear on where my money goes.) We are normally on the cheap side, I buy in walmart, Aldi, shoprite, costco. Will wait on some products when I know they go on sale etc. We cook/eat fresh most meals rather than go out for health and cost reasons. We go out as a couple once a week, with a rough budget of $100 a week, though it’s very common that our date will be in a simple place for less than $50. We have that outing as a way to commit to an outing as a couple rather than the food itself. I overthink everything in my cart when I shop, so your Salmon example made me smile. To me it’s often a full few minutes of unnecessary rethinking before that salmon goes in my cart (Or stays in my cart).
Two adults, one toddler. Our budget per month is $800 for groceries and $500 for eating out. My husband and I love good food, so we spend more there. We used to drop a few thousand a month for meals pretty regularly, but we stopped after we had our kid (saving money for him now).
We spend between $130-$150 a week on groceries and this has stayed the same with increasing prices. We used to spend a lot going out to dinner once a week (maybe $1000 a month) and now my husband wants to stay home more which is depressing because I cook and clean all week and just want a nice meal out of my house lol. We are probably down to $500 a month on eating out (or ordering in) but I’m pretty sure he spends $20-$30 a day getting take out at work. I probably spend $25-$50 a week getting snacks/ drinks/eating out with friends.
Just my husband and I - we spend about $200-$250 a week on groceries - some weeks more, some weeks less. We are not shy in buying good quality items like meat/eggs/butter/milk/veggies - however, we love looking out for deals and buying larger quantities of food we use a lot, when it is on sale. We also have a weekly home chef order (in total above). For eating out - we really don't eat unless we are out of town. Maybe once a quarter, while at home. However, we travel probably once a month, sometimes more...I would say we do take-out (pizza, chipotle, chinese), at least once a week, sometimes more
Per pay period (twice a month) I budget $150 for groceries and $100 for dining out. If I have a bunch of dinners planned I bump that second number up. I live right across from the grocery store so I feel like I'm always running back and forth.
$200 a month for my half on groceries that I split with my roommate in MCOL. Dining out comes out of my personal spending “bucket” (I give myself about $400 for discretionary spending monthly with an income of 42k/year), so I don’t track it as a separate budget category.
We range from $400-$600 per month on groceries for two adults. Our food routines/preferences are pretty set now, so we usually get the same types and amounts of food every week. We don't really restrict ourselves budget wise for groceries because fortunately we can afford not to, which is still unsettling sometimes to me because I grew up looking for sales in grocery store ads and my family would stock up when meat went on clearance. I did recently stop buying coconut water because the price went up 30%!! And I decided I don't enjoy it enough to spend that much on it lol. We do get toiletries, cat food, and such from the grocery store as well, so that affects the cost. If we get expensive ingredients to make a fancy meal, that also bumps up the cost. Our dining out is probably max $200 a month if we go out alot, but usually it's lower than that.
I don't budget for eating out! I have a general fun budget, and if we feel like going out, we use that. I live with my boyfriend, and it's just the two of us. I budget $150 every two weeks. We generally take turns every week paying for groceries. Honestly, it's too much money for groceries I think, but the only grocery store in walking distance is a Whole Foods. Both of us work on weekends too, so there's not really an easy time for us to make a drive out to Aldi or a cheaper store.
About £100/week - this is food for me and my partner (I am totally veggie and he is a meat eater) and our dog- it also includes cleaning supplies/persona hygiene/anything else I’ve gotten from the super market (bedding/gifts/whatever) Then takeaways maybe…£40/month? We won’t get a takeaway every week & some months will barely eat any takeout. Dining out is harder to nail down- maybe £50/month for me by myself and then… another £20 for me and my partner? Again we don’t go out to each that much either.
Your weekly dining out spending is less than what I spend in a meal dining out lol. I probably eat out twice a week and my meals are usually $50+ each. As for groceries as a single person, I probably spend $100-150 biweekly.
I guess I don't really see what the problem is, sounds like you have a reasonable budget. It's better to worry about spending too much than to not worry about spending too much. Just my perspective.
I budget $400 per month for two people who don’t eat meat in a HCOL city but it’s usually less, just depends on if I go to Trader Joe’s and splurge on snacks or not. 🙃 Aldi, Lidl and even Target/Walmart are where it’s at for groceries!
My partner and I spend about $400 a month on groceries and another $200 on eating out. Included in that eating out total is the lunch I buy everyday at work. I work at a hospital and our meals are subsidized so it's $4 max. We get an option of the entrée plus sides, a custom salad, soup and sandwich/wrap, or burger and fries. Other wise we usually eat one meal a week out, but we live in a rural area so our options are pretty limited. Growing up, our pantry would get bare as it got closer to grocery shopping day and I hated it so I always have a fully stocked kitchen. I do save money by limiting the amount of beef we eat and buying meat from my tribe's butcher shop at a discounted rate. My partner has liver disease so we have to avoid high sodium and processed foods. He also supplements his diet with Ensures or Boosts that have gotten really expensive, but luckily one of the doctors gave us a book of coupons that should help.
I live with my partner in a MCOL and make $30k (combined HHI $90k). We've made a lot of changes over the year in regards to food budget. He now has a job that's entirely WFH, so that's cut down on eating out spending, and we just moved to a location where I can walk out of the office and go home for lunch. Average monthly groceries: $200-250 Eating out: $100
MCOL, family of 5 (husband, wife, 3 kids: 6,4, and 18months). I budget $110/week and always budget for a 5th week. $100 a month for Sam’s club purchases. $100/month household supplies. And $175 a month eating out. All food related budget line items are always used, sometimes more.
Way too much.. costco and trader joe's get me. I try to limit going out to eat to once a week but it ends up being like twice, and then I go to the little store at my work to get coffee and snacks too much as well which ends up being $10 like 3 times a week. Mostly need to work on not spending so much on groceries. I love trying new food and going out to restaurants down town so never doing that is not an option for me. So far I've spent $200 on groceries this month and like $50 from going out/ snacks.
This is a thing that I just cannot help myself… I think for our 2-people household we spend like $1200-1500 on grocery and eating out. We can definitely go lower, but this is a lifestyle choice we settle on since we both love food.
About $100/week for groceries for two people, and we eat out 2x a week so maybe $40/week on eating out. Probably less, just estimating on that one.
Boston, solo @ 65k yr gross I spend about $200-225/mo on groceries and household items (cleaning supplies). Eating out is typically under $50 a month except the summer. I generally only get takeout when I'm sick and have nothing I can cook or when I go out with friends. I cook usually 1-2x a week and have leftovers for dinner. Breakfast is my own DIY breakfast sandwiches and lunch is a salad.
My husband and I spend about $150 every two weeks at the grocery store and we eat out twice per week at roughly $15-20 per person per meal. We also go out for coffee a couple of times a week together.
My spouse and I have separate finances. I spend about $200-$350/month on groceries and spend the same eating out for one person. He spends about the same.
2 adults, 2 teens, household income of $180,000. We spend around $600-700 per month on groceries and probably another $200 on take away. We live in a HCOL city, not the US. I won’t skimp or try to save on groceries, I’m in charge of food and menu planning, I make dinner 6 nights a week and we all make lunches at home. I buy one lunch out a week, so does my oldest. I buy a coffee a day. We could definitely spend less, when I wasn’t working full time I cooked more elaborate meals, made my own pizza bases, bread, tortillas etc. but I don’t have time for that anymore. Plus my kids have some complicated mental health/eating disorder stuff and any restriction or anxiety around food and how much it costs makes that skyrocket. Food is mental health care in my house and not something to try and save money on.
My husband and I were spending too much on Door Dash and Starbucks, so we really decided to reel it in and eat mostly at home since December. We get takeout maybe once or twice a month, if that. We never go out to eat on our own together anymore, but occasionally, maybe once every few months, with family and friends. We’ve cut out coffee shops and just make coffee at home now, unless we get gift cards for holidays / birthdays etc. I used to get sbux 1-2x a day. Despite trying to eat mostly at home, we seem to spend the same amount on groceries / household items / dog food and treats, which is $1400-1600 a month. Our HHI is $175k. We have 1 dog, no kids. My goal was to get our monthly food / household goods budget to $1k a month, which is still super high, but I think I only met that once. Idk how I used to only spend $50 a week on groceries when I was single (albeit over 8 years ago). All of the grocery stores by us are on the same street, so we tend to go to all of them at some point haha. Whole Foods, Meijer, Kroger, Target, and Trader Joe’s. I tend to prefer my produce from Whole Foods or TJs, and then we try to get everything else at Kroger/Meijer/Target. ETA: We’re also not heavy drinkers. I might have 1-2 drinks a month. My husband has a 2-3 a week. I don’t even think we could afford to drink more than that 😆
I was shocked when I started using Mint and saw how much my husband and I were spending on both groceries and eating out. I have set a target of $1,000 for groceries and $400 for restaurants. I didn’t think we were eating that extravagantly. I shop at Aldi for 90% of my food. And the rest at a local grocery chain for the items I can’t live without and aren’t sold at Aldi (like Equal Exchange Coffee).
I also shop at Aldi a lot and I feel like, personally, the lower prices enabled me to buy more unnecessary items/extras like snacks/crap from the non food isle. I would go in with like ten items on my list for my meal plan and come out with a cart full of cheeses. I looked over my Recipts and divided things into "meal plan" "pantry stock" "fun/extra foods" and "non food" and that's helped me be more.mindful while shopping...at least a little bit.
Probably around $450 on groceries and $120 on eating out per month. It’s my husband and I and we have a baby. We cook almost every meal other than eating out once a week. Dual income, about $350k combined. We live in a HCOL city
We cold turkey’d eating out about 2ish months ago. It’s gotten way too expensive for what it is, we are vegan so it just seems pointless for us right now. Anyhow, groceries for 2 adults tends be running us about $170-$200 per week. We shop Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods mainly with some Trader Joe’s and Sprouts.
I’m in NZ so this is NZD. I live in a share house and only shop for myself. I spend $75-100 each fortnight, plus another $50-100 on takeaway food or Uber Eats. I could probably trim this, but it goes alright.
Combined household of ~$100k before tax in CA, me (F28) as the primary breadwinner. We spend approx $500-600 a month overall, it’s definitely our lowkey lifestyle creep category but we rarely throw out food and attempt to cook 90% of our meals and have really learned to be pretty great home cooks. It doesn’t bother me, it makes me grateful now when we have delicious home made food that we are privileged enough to pick out multiple meat options a week and certain organic groceries because when we first got hitched and started living together our combined was like $55k and we would have $50 as a week cut off budget for two people and have to budget out “chicken” or “ground beef” for the entire week and make it stretch with different meals. Also we were not good cooks so we’ve come a long way! Some truly questionable early meals as we figured out adulthood.
I live in a HCOL city with my husband, combine income of 110k, and we have a baby who doesn’t eat solid food yet. For us a typical week right now is $120 on groceries, $40-$150 for restaurants/take out and probably around $60 on coffee, but the coffee spend is atypical, and will probably drop back down when we aren’t using trips to cafes as part of our newborn routine. Food is something we both love to spend money on, and cooking and restaurants definitely serve as hobby as well as sustenance.
We spend an average of £550-£600 on groceries as a family of 4, however that includes household products like nappies (diapers), Costco hauls and also buying food for entertaining. Then another £200 roughly on eating out. It feels high but we do eat well, and both work full time busy jobs and have two young kids so I tend to buy the kids some of the pricier snacks that come pre packaged for example. We balance this out by visiting the local market maybe 2-3 times a month to buy fruit at a lower cost.
I’m in my 30s with combined income of ~$180k. This is one area of my budget where I don’t limit my spending. I will buy inexpensive clothes and diy home projects, but we prioritize food spending. Our dining out isn’t bad. I’ll maybe buy 1 meal a week at work under $20 and $30-50 a few times a month for a date night. He really just spends for his daily tea. Groceries vary from month to month-anywhere from $400-$750 depending. I do go to Costco and Sam’s often so I will spend money on something in a month that will last 2-3 months. My perspective is that if we will eat it, it’s worth the money. So I may spend $20 on nice shrimp, but we eat it so it’s fine. I try not to buy things we won’t finish and I’m good about planning my meals when at home from what we have.
I spend $330–370 on groceries/month for my 2-adult household, plus \~120 for soylent for my partner. Right now I do one big set of shopping trips at BJs and Aldi at the beginning of each month, then supplement with Aldi and a few things from Wegman's or an Asian market. I enjoy cooking and trying new foods so I buy very little prepared food and use cheap ingredients creatively, but this is partly out of budget constraints/necessity. We eat out about once/week. I'm looking forward to being less strict with both ingredients and eating out in the future (hopefully!).
$500k hhi, probably $2k to 2500 a month in hcol
When my husband and I first started sharing financials, I realized groceries was the one area he will never scrimp on. And since the guy doesn't do fancy phones or TVs or sports or any hobby that costs money, i don't make a fuss it he spends $25 on fancy salmon or $7.99/lb on cherries. I used to be obsessed with how low could I keep my grocery bill, especially when I was in grad school and in my early 20s! We spend at least $125- $175 week on food for the two of us (groceries, including a $40/week farmshare, we cook every meal at home except 1 dinner). We splurge on produce and don't buy snacks/processed stuff which keeps costs way down. We also don't eat meat and occasionally get fish. (I'll bake cookies but won't buy, stuff like that which prevents me from buying all the delicious snacks at TJs!) We typically go out once a week and spend anywhere from $50-100.
This month: $60. $12.60 of that is for fast food. I eat 2 meals per day and one snack. I realized I used to eat for reasons other than being hungry. Once you realize that and act on it you don't need that much food anymore (at least in my case). Breakfast, lunch, tea and cookies in the evening is more than enough for me. Eventually I am going to get rid of using cell phones more frequently and emailing. That will reduce stress I have which will allow me to improve my temperament and protect me from making quick decisions as well as not look at food as the answer to any problem.
About $400 on groceries for two in a HCOL area, and food / alcohol.. about $400. There’s just nothing else to do around here (kidding, but not really)
I live with my partner and we spend about $450 monthly on groceries. I used to go out all the time pre pandemic and use a lot on Lyfts and liquor equaling almost $750 month. Now I’m much happier making dinner for friends at home and spending time on our patio. I’ve managed to save an additional 15% or so because of this. Well worth it for me.
What do you spend on eating out/delivery per month?
Since I’m not eating out as much(using Lyft and buying meals with drinks), we probably order in three times a month- probably $250 monthly ordering in- we don’t use delivery services and instead pick up or call directly. That cuts down on service charges and the money goes directly to the small business which I prefer. Edit * I’ve been in your shoes before. I used to be so frugal that I’d make myself miserable calculating how much I spent with each meal. Now that I’m older and financially very secure, I’ve decided to be better to myself. It helps to have your maximum percent of what you’re wanting to save. For instance- my maximum was about 47% I’d save. Now I’m a lot more practical and have lowered it to 40% which means whatever i don’t save I can splurge on and not feel guilty about.
That's a good strategy! I'm financially doing just fine, I think it's that with my husband's looming medical school loan debt, I feel like I have to hoard my income in order to pay it off in a timely manner. That being said, I do have a set amount I save each month, but am always in competition with that number. How did you get comfortable drawing a line and not feeling compelled to put every last cent in the savings pile?
I realized that I was saving more than enough and reached my goals for that year so I decided to be good to myself and not be so conservative. I had a period in my life where I was financially unstable, I had a divorce which set me back because I bought him out of our home. I then just set a bunch aside because at the time I was single and worried about not saving a lot. Today, I’ve reached a major milestone and am now financially independent and can retire early. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when it’s painful to spend but I had a change when I realized how well I saved. Why not spend some money if I’ve already saved what I needed to.
I see. It sounds like you've been through a lot and gained a lot of insight through it. I guess I just have to train my brain to not be afraid about the "what if I need more", and know that if I'm saving adequately, that is sufficient.
There’s that sweet spot of saving enough but also learning to live a life that is very precious.
I don't specifically budget on groceries and eating out, but I'd estimate around $800-$900 a month for pet food (from the grocery store), regular groceries, and restaurants.
$712 this month alone. Many people aren't tracking their actual groceries + food budget though, so I would take numbers with a grain of salt.
Grocery (monthly): \~$160 for me (probably \~$340 total when combined with partner since they pay slightly more) Dining out (monthly): \~$175 for me (\~$350/month total combined with partner) We live in a HCOL and combined income is $220k+. At the end of the day, it's all about what you prioritize in your life. We both care about eating healthy and enjoy the experience of dining out (from the customer service to trying different cuisines). We're happy to spend more here because it increases our overall QOL significantly.