A antiga Girl Next Door é agora uma mulher responsável. À procura de uma casa Flip-Worthy Must-Haves para cada quarto Ao procurar um retorno sobre o seu investimento, tenha estas coisas em mente enquanto você atravessa o mercado. Por que nos mudamos para fora da cidade para comprar nossa primeira casa Uma das coisas mais importantes a considerar sobre uma casa não tem nada a ver com o preço. 10 mercados imobiliários mais interessantes para assistir em 2017 O ranking anual do mercado quente da Trulias tem algumas surpresas na loja. Blake Shelton e Miranda Lambert8217s Southern Dream House vende por 2,245 milhões Os croons do país estão começando a fechar o capítulo imobiliário de seu romance. Como manter a sua casa quente, de acordo com as pessoas que vivem nas cidades mais frias das Américas A simples menção do inverno traz à mente dias claros e noites frias. Siga este conselho. 10 Formas acessíveis de preencher um grande muro em branco Desobediente ao pensar em preencher o espaço grande e vazio da parede. Heres o que fazer. Blog Trulia8217s Comprar, vender ou alugar uma casa não deve ser doloroso. Na Trulia, nosso objetivo é simplificar. (E diversão.) Apartamentos para alugar agora em todos os pontos de preço Não importa o seu orçamento, existem algumas ótimas opções lá esperando por você. Blake Shelton e Miranda Lambert8217s Southern Dream House vende por 2,245 milhões Os croons do país estão começando a fechar o capítulo imobiliário de seu romance. Poucas vezes tem estado em torno dessa pista, Gwen Stefanis Killer Estate é religado exatamente como falar sobre uma escapadela doces, Gwen Stefanis A mansão de Beverly Hills poderia ser sua por apenas 35 milhões. Rob Kardashian lista o site de 2.675 milhões de lar Kris Jenner comprou para ele É como o equivalente Kardashian de regifting DJ Khaled compra as chaves para uma mansão de 10 milhões de Robbie Williams Hes assumindo o bairro, graças às suas novas escavações de Beverly Hills. Stunner Holly Madison lê sua linda propriedade espanhola por 8 milhões A antiga Girl Next Door é agora uma mulher responsável. Por que nos mudamos para fora da cidade para comprar nossa primeira casa Uma das coisas mais importantes a considerar sobre uma casa não tem nada a ver com o preço. Se Walls pudessem falar: um olhar dentro da Mansão do Bachelor Já se perguntou sobre a misteriosa Mansão do Bachelor Trulia dá-lhe um olhar interior DeAndre Jordan avalia uma pata de Malibu de um dólar de multimillionário Uma vitória e uma perda: a estrela da NBA marcou em Malibu no mesmo dia em que ele Teve um sucesso imobiliário em Pacific Palisades. Perto do White Rock Lake, esta casa Tudor fica em uma das ruas mais procuradas das colinas de Greenland. Construído na década de 1920, a propriedade ainda mantém os vitrais originais de mais de 90 anos atrás. O guac no topo Uma cozinha brilhante e aberta perfeita para a noite de taco de terça-feira. (Pegue duas carnitas, por favor.) Clique no link do nosso perfil para entrar. Pegue seus patins e percorra o parque na esquina sudoeste. Você encontrará uma mini pista de patinação no gelo feita apenas para o congelamento do inverno. Quando você finalmente dominou seu eixo triplo, volte para este clássico da Geórgia dos anos 1910 para um pouco de cacau quente e pão de abóbora quente. Veja cada quarto através do link em nosso perfil. Neste momento espalhados por todo o país, há uma casa para venda a partir de cada década desde 1900. Tempo de congelamento nos próximos 12 dias para examinar mais de perto os últimos 100 anos. Iniciando. Agora, nos anos 1900, os vitorianos eram um dos estilos de casa mais populares que o dinheiro poderia comprar. As varandas e as janelas em mosaico foram especialmente desejáveis. Ela está olhando para você, linda. Faça o passeio completo através do link em nossa biografia. (Theres No Place Like) Home For The Holidays ChristmasSongInTheWild Se você está sonhando com uma cabine invernal neste Natal, diga-nos em que vizinhança você adora viver. O que é um orçamento familiar apropriado para uma família de quatro No meu artigo recente sobre ter um semanário Noite de jantar barata Eu fiz a seguinte declaração bastante inócua: olhei essa questão para minha própria família recentemente ao calcular nossos custos estimados de alimentos por um mês. Durante o período de um mês de 8211 e isso inclui os custos rateados dos alimentos a granel comprados anteriormente, eu estimuei nossos custos de alimentos para a nossa família de quatro anos em torno de 770. Isso significa uma média de 2,07 de alimentos consumidos em média por Membro da família por refeição. Esta afirmação simples suscitou muitas reações chocadas dos leitores. Aqui, uma amostra. 770 por mês em alimentos para uma família de 4 Isso é um erro de digitação E 770 por mês Realmente Isso parece muito alto, especialmente desde o seu jardim. Talvez eu tenha entendido mal, mas o 770mo parece um grande número para 2 adultos e 2 crianças com menos de 3. Eu estava pensando que 770 também era alto, especialmente porque Trent tem um jardim. Quando eu vi essa reação pela primeira vez, pensei que talvez algo estivesse fora da base, então eu recebi meus recibos novamente (e também adicionei minhas próprias estimativas por custos fracionários das coisas usadas, como especiarias e vegetais de jardim) e eu criei o mesmo Número novamente 8211, apenas um pouco de 770 para nós quatro por mês. Qual é o Bill Grocery Bill para uma Família de 4 Depois disso, fiz algumas pesquisas. O primeiro lugar que eu olhei estava nos enormes dados públicos disponíveis do governo federal, e não demorou muito antes de encontrar os dados que eu estava procurando. De acordo com o Centro de Política e Promoção de Nutrição do USDA8217, a despesa média para um plano de refeições de baixo custo para uma família de quatro Estados Unidos é de 786. Isso é substancialmente menor do que o plano alimentar liberal, que vem em 1.195 para uma família De quatro por um mês. Em outras palavras, minha estimativa está bastante em linha com o gasto normal em alimentos nos Estados Unidos. Isso parece razoável para mim, muitos dos nossos grampos são mais baratos, mas, como eu mencionei muitas vezes, nós criamos coisas como leite orgânico, galinhas e ovos de variedades livres, alguns vegetais orgânicos, queijos frescos e a garrafa de vinho bastante regular. O que constitui um plano de refeição moderada 82201 Os detalhes do que exatamente constitui um plano de refeições 8220 de custo baixo8221 são encontrados na publicação do USDA CNPP-20, Os planos de alimentos de baixo custo, custo moderado e liberal, 2007. Escusado será dizer que, se você navegar por ele, it8217s é extremamente detalhado. Mas é razoável compararmos o que é o plano de alimentos moderado e liberal ao que minha família e eu realmente comemos em uma determinada semana 8211 e, de fato, são bastante comparáveis. O conteúdo alimentar real do plano de refeições moderado e o que a minha família come é bem parecido. Eu também olhei os planos de alimentos de baixo custo e liberal e achei que eles realmente eram realmente diferentes em escolhas alimentares específicas, por exemplo, para escolher grãos de maior qualidade. É um pedaço de pão de doze gramas na loja melhor para você do que um pão de trigo integral normal Sim, mas é suficiente para fazer valer a pena esse custo extra Sua resposta a essa pergunta e inúmeros outros como ele 8211 e não há resposta correta para Todos os 8211 determinarão uma grande parte de seus custos de alimentos. Barato vs Saudável: Compras de supermercado em um orçamento A questão então torna-se o que é o equilíbrio certo entre escolhas de alimentos saudáveis e economia de dinheiro Aqui estão alguns princípios que aderem nas minhas próprias compras de alimentos. Às vezes eles não produzem a compra mais barata, mas eles produzem alimentos saudáveis e eles em grande parte produzem alimentos baratos. Cole com ingredientes básicos. Normalmente, comprar componentes de um item é substancialmente mais barato do que comprar o item preparado. Pegue com os itens no corredor do produto e o corredor de carnes frescas e you8217ll geralmente estão bem. Compre versões saudáveis desses ingredientes básicos. No entanto, eu não sugiro as pessoas a comprar a versão menos dispendiosa dos ingredientes básicos. Esta é uma decisão pessoal que você precisa ter em sua opinião sobre o 8211 I8217m, que não irá aconselhá-lo se uma galinha de alcance livre é uma escolha melhor do que uma galinha normal, ou a vaca alimentada com grama é a escolha certa para você. Na maioria dos ingredientes, a minha família tende a pagar um prémio por ingredientes com menos tratamentos hormonais, herbicidas e pesticidas, mas temos sorte de estar em uma situação em que esta é uma escolha que podemos considerar em mérito em vez de ser empurrada pelo nosso bolso. Faça sua própria pesquisa sobre este assunto e faça sua própria opinião. Verifique a sua loja de compras e obtenha os cupons on-line Planejando suas refeições de acordo com o que está à venda, essa semana é uma forma eficaz de economizar dinheiro e ser criativo com o planejamento da refeição. Descubra quais mercearias têm os melhores preços e baixe seu folheto semanal. Anote quais itens são verdadeiramente um acordo que irá poupar-lhe dinheiro e satisfazer sua família. Além disso, não se esqueça de verificar on-line para os cupcakes do fabricante8217s em itens de mercearia. O Simple Dollar Coupon Finder tem centenas de cupons atualizados e códigos de cupom8211simply, procure o que você está procurando e imprime. Algumas semanas serão mais bem-sucedidas, mas, em geral, você pode economizar uma quantidade significativa de dinheiro, colocando um pouco de esforço de busca. O importante para lembrar aqui é usar apenas cupons que realmente economizarão o dinheiro da sua família, e não comprar itens inúteis apenas porque eles estão à venda. Cresça alguns dos seus. Jardins não só produzem produtos muito baratos, eles também oferecem um hobby muito barato para preencher seu tempo. Não é tão difícil como você pensa, também. E você pode crescer o que seu coração deseja em seu próprio jardim. Olhe para um CSA. Se você se comprometer com a compra de produtos saudáveis, procure um grupo de agricultura apoiado pela comunidade local. A maioria das CSAs está fortemente comprometida com práticas saudáveis e sustentáveis (significando alimentos muito saudáveis), mas produzidas localmente, o que significa quase nenhum custo de transporte. Muitas CSAs exigem que você compre ações na parte da frente, o que lhe dá direito a alocações regulares de alimentos durante a temporada de crescimento 8211 e a quantidade de alimentos que você recebe é geralmente uma pechincha sólida. A única tentativa Encontrar um grupo com um slot aberto e pagar o custo pela frente para esse compartilhamento. Recomendado para você Descarte-se da dívida de juros altos com um cartão de crédito de transferência de saldo 0 Fazemos isso em cerca de 300 por mês. Nós don8217t comemos muita carne, quase nunca comemos fora, compram em massa em clubes, usamos cupons, e don8217t compremos algo se não estiverem à venda. Eu acho que nós comemos mais saudáveis, porque nós comemos grampos muito. Acabei de começar a espalhar meu orçamento de alimentos e fico maravilhado com o quanto eu posso fazer por muito menos do que eu já gastei. I8217m tentando comer uma dieta mais saudável, então não é sobre usar o menu do dólar ou os jantares em caixa. Ontem, minha corrida de compras incluiu, por exemplo, peru moído magra e carne moída extra magra (93), bifes, me enrolei de gordura, milho fresco, pimentas frescas, batatas vermelhas, tomates orgânicos enlatados, rapsberries frescos, aipo, cebolas e 100 Suco de uva, entre outras coisas. Tudo foi comprado no Safeway local e minha aba foi de 95. Porque I8217d usou suas promoções semanais para planejar por lista, economizei 40 do custo regular desses mantimentos. E o que eu comprei me permitirá fazer jantares saudáveis e com baixas calorias durante a maior parte de um mês. (Eu moro sozinho, mas entretojo duas vezes por semana). A lição para mim é que tomar o tempo para planejar pode reduzir os custos tremendamente. Eu já não ando na loja e pego coisas de forma aleatória. Eu assisto os especiais, compre de acordo, faça comida e use meu freezer. O resultado é alimento excelente e saudável que eu gosto em uma fração do que minha dieta não saudável me custou. Na verdade, um pão de doze grãos provavelmente terá farinha muito mais refinada do que farinha de grãos inteiros. Multigrain é realmente um gimic de rotulagem. A melhor opção é procurar 100 grãos inteiros no rótulo. I8217m ainda surpreendeu. Ainda mais para que esta seja a média dos EUA para uma família de quatro. 8216Lies, malditas mentiras e estatísticas8217 vem à mente. Nós (2 adultos) temos um orçamento alimentar de 200, a carne está em quase todas as refeições, quase todas as refeições são cozidas em casa a partir do zero. Eu acho que a reação ao valor apenas demonstra que as pessoas não fazem um bom trabalho de rastreamento onde seu dinheiro vai. O meu orçamento de alimentos sempre parece muito bom até eu começar a adicionar e tirar mesas de trabalho8230. Isso fica feio. Fazemos isso em cerca de 500 por mês, mas tenha pequeninos, então ainda estamos comprando sucos e bolachas e coisas que de outra forma não gostaríamos. Nós compramos vendas, usamos alguns cupons, compramos em 3 lojas diferentes regularmente, compramos o Costco e o mercado de agricultores8217s. Gostaríamos de comprar um 8220share8221 em um farm, mas nenhum deles está disponível (as listas de espera são longas). Compramos produtos orgânicos à venda, crescemos um pouco e preservamos frutas e vegetais na estação. Nós tentamos evitar a compra de alimentos frescos que são pulverizados com pesticidas, evitamos também xaropes de milho e gorduras trans, além de carnes curadas. Nós don8217t comprar muitos alimentos pré-embalados ou itens snacky. Eu tenho doença celíaca, e as farinhas e outras tendem a custar mais. Para compensar as despesas extras que temos, quase nunca comemos, assamos nossos próprios pães e biscoitos e limitamos coisas como refrigerantes. Nós cozinhamos quase tudo a partir do zero. Nós comemos muitos grãos e feijões sem glúten. Muita nossa carne é do meu marido caçando no outono, e nós comemos refeições sem carne para esticar o que temos. Se comprarmos carne, tentamos comprar on-line orgânico ou antibiótico. Nós temos um congelamento profundo e estocamos quando pudermos. BTW: I8217m contando detergente, papel de banho, folha, etc. em nosso total. Se eu subitê-los, eu devo dizer que vamos ser cerca de 450,00. Uau. Eu posso imaginar o que é 770month para 2 adultos e crianças pequenas. Eu vivo sozinho agora, mas de volta em casa minha mãe administra cerca de 400 meses para os 2 adultos, adolescentes e garotos de 11 anos de idade em casa8230 e a geladeira, o freezer e os armários estão tão cheios que eu duvido que muito mais comida pudesse Ser abarrotado neles. Legumes frescos, carnes boas, até mesmo junk food para 8220fun82218230 sempre que você quiser. (Embora nunca tivéssemos visto um benefício para o leite orgânico e a gama livre chickenseggs 8212, sempre foi por causa de um bother8221, uma vez que não há diferença comprovada entre o leite de vacas tratadas com RBST e não tratadas). Aprendi a comprar à venda, ganhei marcas genéricas , E usar cupons de seus hábitos de compras. Minhas compras mensais apenas para mim agora variam de 50-100 meses. Eu ia dizer que gastamos cerca de 300 por mês em alimentos para alimentar 2 adultos e um jovem de 5 anos. But8230 Adicione 24 por semana para a nossa assinatura csa, mais mais um dólar ou mais para cukes quando eles não estão na cesta. Além disso, presumem que cerca de 100 nossa nossa conta de dinheiro louco 150 é gasto em alimentos. E a maioria de nossa conta de entretenimento de 100 por mês é gasto em alimentos. Isso nos coloca em 600 por mês para comer. Acontece apenas alimentos sem bens de papel ou suprimentos de limpeza. 400 por mês estão em mantimentos crus que incluem vegetais orgânicos ou orgânicos locais, leite, ovos e carne. O resto é comida. Parece que gasto o mesmo a cada semana no Kroger e na cooperativa de comida local. Eu cozinho meu próprio pão e cozinho principalmente a partir do zero. Eu faço o meu melhor para planejar o menu da semana8217 com antecedência. Eu não tenho uma cozinha este ano, porque pensei que estivesse se movendo até agora e pensei que se tivéssemos que vender a casa vazia, as flores negligenciadas ficariam melhores do que os veggies negligenciados. Finalmente, eu sei que gastamos 300 em comida, porque este mês usamos dinheiro apenas e eu parei de comprar mantimentos quando o dinheiro acabou. De volta quando cobramos nossos mantimentos, muitas vezes passamos e raramente passamos. E ainda comemos o mesmo mês. Eu acho que o nível de surpresa pode ser que este seja um site onde você escreva freqüentemente sobre a frugalidade, incluindo tópicos de frugalidade alimentar, como assar seu próprio pão, comer muitos feijões e fazer compras com as circulares, estabelecendo a expectativa para os leitores que seus O orçamento alimentar seria menor em comparação com a maioria dos americanos, em vez de estar alinhado com eles. Em vez disso, parece que suas medidas de frugalidade estão levando a sua família a comer o plano alimentar liberal pelo custo do plano moderado. No final, como você disse, se trata de quais são suas prioridades culinárias. Eu apenas sinto isso, desde que eu gasto 250 por mês entre meu marido e eu (sem filhos), e temos bons hábitos alimentares, parece estranho aceitar dicas de frugalidade de uma pessoa que pode gastar menos do que a média nacional. Sua postagem começa com a surpresa compartilhada por muitos leitores que podem entender como você gasta muito em alimentos8230 e termina com dicas sobre como gastar menos. Talvez as pessoas que expressaram choque ao gastar 770 por mês talvez não precisem de dicas. Desculpe, mas mesmo que 770 seja a média nacional 82201, ele ainda parece extremamente alto para mim. Escrevalolaescreva. blogspot A quantidade de dólares também depende de onde você mora. Eu moro em um subúrbio de Cleveland, onde tem 45 minutos de difícil condução para chegar a um Costco ou Sams. A mercearia local é ridiculamente alta. Eu tenho uma família de 5 (com 3 adolescentes), nunca comer fora, comer carne em cada refeição do jantar, sem compras de lixo eletrônico, todos os almoços feitos e embalados de casa, sem movimentos, sem lattes E nossa conta de compras para 5 é 985,00 . ISSO é com ser um comprador muito inteligente, quando o cereal da marca de nome vai à venda no K-Mart de todos os lugares para 1,41 um box8230. Comprei QUATRO CINCO caixas8211não cupons8211 muitos tipos. Acho que Trent está certo com o dinheiro com 770.00. Rob em Madri diz: I8217ve lido um monte de postagens sobre o mesmo que eu, meu próprio sentimento, é aquele que parece estar bem abaixo dos 8220normal8221. Provavelmente, o rastreamento dos números é muito bom. Minha sogra gasta 350 CDN por mês para 2 idosos e compre muito com muito cuidado. Minha cunhada gasta cerca de 550 CDN por mês para 4 adultos, e não tem tempo para fazer muitas compras de comparação. Eu gasto cerca de 70 euros por semana, mas tende a comer muito quando a esposa está viajando. Eu não sei saber. Eu gasto 30 semanas para uma pessoa, a fim de arrumar o dinheiro para a aposentadoria que eu não tive quando eu deveria ter. E, como você disse, isso é tudo sobre prioridades. Não consigo ver a necessidade de comprar opções orgânicas, não hormonais, etc. caras de carnes e produtos. Para mim, isso é outro gimmico para obter meu dinheiro. Eu como carne (o tipo barato, hormonal que embalado em sacos separados e reutilizáveis no meu freezer) duas vezes por semana, nunca compre o almoço, don8217t compre 8216instant8217 ou comidas preparadas. Aceite produzir alegremente amigos, colegas de trabalho e vizinhos. Compre em lojas de taxa de corte e lojas de padaria. Todas as nove jardas. Eu tenho 2 plantas de tomate e 2 plantas de pimenta tristes que eu apenas corro 8211 don8217t mulch, fertilize e apenas vagamente erva daninha. Embora eu não precise dividir em detalhes minuciosos, eu aceito quanto dinheiro eu tenho que gastar na loja comigo e não mais. Stuff volta. Se a massa custa mais de 50 centavos por libra, ela fica na loja e eu como arroz. Então, em suma, me dê uma família de quatro e um orçamento alimentar de 770 por mês e eu paguei todos os nossos serviços públicos com 25 e 200 extra entrarão no banco. Salve Regina diz: Holy Smokes Eu tenho alimentado sete8211 incluindo meus cinco filhos (três deles comem quase como adultos) em 600mo Nós vivemos em NW VA8211 não é uma parte barata do país em que viver8211AND I8217m um cozinheiro chefe de meio período que gosta de comer BEM . Tenho me sentido um pouco culpado de que provavelmente vou ter que aumentar esse valor, dado o modo como os preços dos alimentos atravessam o telhado, mas não mais. Então, agradeço-lhe novamente, Trent, por um excelente blog. Estou recebendo boas informações8211 e essa vez82118220permission8221 para gastar mais. Legal, eu teria que dizer que parece-me que esses números ainda são elevados. Eu posso alimentar quatro, incluindo um adolescente em crescimento e dois cães saudáveis em cerca de quinhentos por mês. Isso inclui todos os tipos de carne, incluindo carne de cordeiro, principalmente vegetais orgânicos, refrigerantes, cafés e alimentos para cães. Não inclui vinho ou produtos de papel. Obviamente, os preços estão subindo. Não temos um jardim. No entanto, além de produtos lácteos e produtos, SOMENTE compramos líderes de perda. Nós compramos para armazenar nossa despensa e freezer e cozinhar a partir daí, exceto produtos frescos e leite e manteiga e tal. Aprendi que tudo, até racks de costeletas de cordeiro ou de vitela vão à venda em algum poitn e colocá-los no meu congelador então. Tenho uma família de 5. Nossa conta de compras a cada duas semanas é de 200 ou menos. Nosso orçamento total de alimentos para mantimentos e refeições fora é de 550 para todo o mês e nunca gastamos isso. Eu não consigo acreditar que alguém gasta 770. Usamos toneladas de cupons que minha esposa negocia por itens on-line, com preço de venda e, claro, não usamos itens de caixa de jantar. Nós compramos principalmente coisas da marca da loja de ALDI e compramos em 3 lojas diferentes. Não comemos carne de bovino. Nós comemos frango, peru moído, porco, e às vezes búfalo, que é definitivamente mais caro. Nós comemos muito arroz, macarrão, legumes congelados e geralmente faz grandes lotes. Nossas contas de supermercado para o mês são sempre menores de 450 e nossas contas para comer fora são cerca de 100. alyssa8217s direito re. Multigrain, mas é difícil aderir ao pão de carboidratos o tempo todo. Dê meu centeio judeu. Quando eu tinha 60 quilos acima do peso, minha conta de comida era cerca de duas vezes do que eu gasto agora em alimentos. Bem, pelo menos você tem dado a muitas pessoas a oportunidade de se sentir superior. -) Eu acho que é realmente interessante ouvir como outras pessoas distribuem seus alimentos, no entanto. Acabei de me bater ultimamente porque eu estava lutando para atender nosso orçamento de compras, mesmo cupons de compra, nos mercados de fazendeiros de venda, etc. Mas, olhando para a planilha do governo8217, parece que minhas expectativas provavelmente não são realistas e que eu deveria ficar orgulhoso de mim mesmo por quão bem eu fiz, então, obrigado pelo impulso. Isso parece certo para mim. Minha família de 4 (bem, realmente 3 porque o mais novo é um bebê) gastou uma média de 690 meses no último ano, e há muitos meses onde passamos quase 800. Nós vivemos na área de Boston, onde o custo de Viver é muito alto. Isso inclui tudo comprado no supermercado ou no centro do armazém apesar de 8211 não apenas comida, também inclui tudo, desde papel higiênico até lixo para gatos até pasta de dente. Eu apenas no mês passado comecei a rastreá-los em subcategorias, porque queria ver quanto de nossos gastos é comida versus artigos de papel e artigos de higiene pessoal. Talvez algumas das pessoas aqui incluam compras estritamente de alimentos e não aqueles outros itens que gastamos entre 700 e 8211 800 meses em alimentos. Mas compramos orgânicos e raramente comemos fora. Nós trazemos almoços para escola e entreter em nossa casa em vez de ir para restaurantes. Nós também somos uma família muito ativa de 4. (corrida de maratona, etc.), então comemos muito. (Mas aren8217t overweight8230) Juro) A comida é um dos nossos grandes prazeres. Além disso, penso que, a longo prazo, comendo de forma mais saudável, nós (espero) economizaremos em custos de cuidados de saúde. Talvez eu viva sozinho em Western Ma. E gaste 200 meses em mantimentos, então os números de Trent8217s parecem razoáveis para mim. Obrigado por este post8211. Esta é uma questão muito relevante para mim. Minha família de 3 gasta uma média de 640 por mês em mantimentos para produtos de comida para cães (todos os mesmos recibos, e eu não os separo.) (Isso não inclui o apx 100mo que gastamos comendo fora.) Fazemos compras na cooperativa local de alimentos , Compre em massa, e vá para a grande mercearia para abastecer o que é mais barato lá. Nós compramos muito pouca carne, muita fruta fresca, assinamos um CSA e também temos um pequeno jardim. Vivemos em Austin, onde pode ser um pouco mais caro. Eu acho que produtos orgânicos e produtos são o que impulsiona nossos gastos para cima. Esta semana, durante toda a semana, concordamos em comer feijão de amido de arroz (diferentes variedades) como método de economia de custos. Mas eu acho que é incrível que gastemos tanto na comida, e que isso seja tão difícil como para nós reduzir esses custos. O que é certo para gastos com alimentos e o que é certo são duas coisas diferentes. Eu concordo que, com base na minha própria experiência, os números da Trent8217 estão certos para o que uma pessoa decentemente frugal (família) pode reduzir razoavelmente seu orçamento alimentar. Em geral, sou céptico com a maioria das declarações de pessoas sobre o quanto gastam em qualquer coisa, porque vejo que muitas pessoas realmente sabem o que estão gastando. It8217s é fácil de se enganar sobre os custos. Por natureza, não fazemos bem em avaliá-los. Por exemplo, apesar de rastrear todos os meus gastos, percebi que, às vezes, ainda aguento estimativas mentais imprecisas sobre as minhas despesas. Durante meses pensei que poderia gastar 135 em mantimentos e 35 por mês comendo fora, por exemplo. Então eu continuei configurando meu orçamento de alimentos com base nesses níveis. Olhando para trás ao longo dos últimos 6 meses de registros de gastos reais mostra que, embora eu mantenha sob os 35 em comer fora, meu total de gastos mensais para mantimentos chega a entre 170 e 200 por mês apenas para mim. Isto é, mesmo com apenas comprar alimentos que são baixos preços em suas categorias (4 a libra de queijo, carnes de preços mais baixos, vegetais menos caros, etc.) (todos os grampos, sem material preparado, exceto talvez uma baga mensal de sorvete) e comendo de Uma despensa que na maior parte é comprada à venda (líderes de perda) e que provavelmente poderia me alimentar por 4 meses. Pouco de jardinagem, eu não poderia gastar menos, e ainda mais 40 a 65 maiores por mês do que eu estava convencido de que estava gastando. Tempo para eu aceitar a realidade e saber que minha renda atual não pode, e pode, ir tão longe quanto eu pensei. Uma vez que eu tenha números de gastos consistentes por um ano ou mais, eu poderei ver melhor o custo médio dos mantimentos , Mas eu ficaria muito surpreso se alguma vez derrubasse abaixo, 160 por mês, e se meus gastos globais caírem abaixo de 200 por mês (permitindo um mesquinho de 35 meses por comida). Um episódio anterior expressou choque em Trent8217s 770, ou 192,50 por pessoa, custo mensal para R alimentos. O mesmo post afirmou que comer alimentos locais e mercados de fazendeiros de compras era menos caro. Isso é algo que não vejo evidências de apoio na minha própria vida. Os mercados da Farmer8217s e 8220 alimentos locais8221 don8217t parecem custar menos e, de fato, parecem mais caros do que o meu supermercado local Stop and Shop em todos os itens básicos. Embora seja mais divertido, apoia a comunidade local, e a comida é mais fresca e de maior qualidade, não é mais barato em termos de dólar. No entanto, a mesma publicação que diz que o mercado do agricultor custa menos também diz que os números da Trent8217 para alimentos são exorbitantes. A menos que os mercados de fazendeiros em outros lugares além de onde eu vivo são muito diferentes em preços, eu digo que esse cartaz pode ter sido vítima de uma contabilidade difusa. Em uma nota lateral, apenas dirigir para U-Pick e para trás me custaria provavelmente 4 ou mais em gás, e muitos deles não são tão baratos a preços baixos em comparação com o que encontro no supermercado. (I8217m não diz que eles deveriam ser de baixo preço8211sessas pessoas merecem ganhar a vida. I8217d tem que, mas um monte de mirtilos para compensar o 4 no custo do gás na poupança de mirtilo. Então eu faço um ponto para não fazer U Pick, a menos que eu aconteça Estar dirigindo, e eu só compraria o que eu poderia comer em 3 dias. Se alguém conseguir gastar menos em comida por pessoa do que, diga Trent ou eu ou outros pôsteres e tem algumas dicas para compartilhar sobre como fazê-lo, Isso é óbvio. Tudo o que I8217m diz é que eu tenho dúvidas porque eu já vi que, mesmo quando eu como sempre em casa, o projeto vem diretamente no nível que Trent está descrevendo por pessoa. Bem, estou prestes a me casar e me mudar de vida Com meus pais, então vou descobrir o quanto essas coisas custam em breve, eu concordo com os números da Trent8217s, somos uma família de cinco e eu orçamento para 700, mas estamos realmente lutando para ficar dentro desse orçamento. Nós comemos apenas o Mais raras de ocasiões e nunca adquiro nenhum item de 8220convenience8221. Nós ha Até mesmo comprar cereais. Eu compro ovos e carnes livres de gaiolas que não são hormônios e adquiro as frutas e vegetais orgânicos recomendados (os que são os piores para comprar no corredor principal), mas eu faço muitos feijões e compras a granel e honestamente 700 não mais Corta isso. Eu adoraria ver como essas pessoas fazem isso, que pensam que esses números são tão altos e se eles realmente estão comprando alimentos que eu simplesmente não colocaria nos corpos de minhas famílias ou eles são tão melhores nas compras do que eu. Vou dizer isso, eu uso muito poucos cupons porque, francamente, os cupons que vêm aqui é um monte de porcaria pré-embalada e eu gosto de alimentos caseiros frescos. Se estivéssemos comendo um pouco mais de liberdade, seríamos bem mais de 800 pessoas. Minha esposa recebe 180 semanas para uma família de nove. Isso inclui alimentos, papel, limpeza e artigos de higiene pessoal. Ela compra em três lojas principais (Aldi8217s, Wal-Mart e Wegman8217s) usando muito poucos cupons. A única outra parte da equação faz parte da minha compensação no trabalho é de 12 a 34 de uma carne por ano, que não durará um ano inteiro. Nós tentamos um jardim pela primeira vez este ano que não teve muito sucesso. Nós comemos muito arroz e pratos de massa. Vivemos no estado de Nova York. Concordo que 770 é uma estimativa bastante razoável para quatro pessoas. Nós gastamos cerca de 825 dólares por mês para itens de supermercado (incluindo papel higiênico, etc.) Mas acho que o fato de gastarmos tanto em mantimentos ajuda a economizar dinheiro com a comida. Eu acho que, se as pessoas não armazenam suas casas com itens que se preocupam com o consumo, estarão muito tentados a ir aos restaurantes. Além disso, alimentos saudáveis podem ser caros. Recebemos ovos orgânicos (5 uma dúzia), leite orgânico (4 por meio galão), etc. Custa mais, mas isso não é um investimento ruim. Nós também cultivamos um jardim, mas eu não sei o quanto isso salva quando você conta com palha, água e tudo mais. Eu acho que as pessoas são de duas mentes quando se trata de consumir alimentos. Algumas pessoas que valorizam a comida como fonte de prazer, então estão mais preocupadas com a qualidade e prazer do que o custo. Outras pessoas vêem alimentos principalmente como combustível e não têm valor no prazer da comida. Para eles, o valor é gastar o mínimo possível em alimentos. Depois de me preocupar tanto com meus gastos com comida (cerca de 85-100 por semana para nós dois), I8217ve decidiu que precisamos gastar mais porque eu quero ser ovos e aves de capoeira locais, além da carne de porco e da carne de bovino pastadas. E sim, nossos mercados de agricultores são mais baratos, porque vivemos na Califórnia, onde a maior parte do país produz. Nossos mercados da fazenda 8217 também estão abertos durante todo o ano. Como Trent, eu também sou um gourmet. O que significa que aproveito muito para fazer compras e cozinhar alimentos de alta qualidade. A comida é mais do que combustível para mim e eu não preciso comprar os ingredientes mais baratos. No entanto, parte de ser frugal significa que você faz o que você esticou e acredito que Trent faz isso. Gastar 770 por mês é razoável quando você freqüentemente compra carnes de campo livre, leite orgânico e assim por diante. Além disso, você pode pagar o agricultor, merceeiro, etc. agora para ingredientes de maior qualidade ou o médico mais tarde. I8217d preferia pagar fazendeiro. Parece ser certo para mim, We8217ve rastreou nosso orçamento de alimentos onoff há anos, e nós apenas oferecemos itens suficientes que cupons para reduzir significativamente os nossos custos de alimentos, embora cluamos e usemos cupons. Nós compramos vendas e descobrimos onde as melhores ofertas são e compram em massa quando possível. Nossa conta de compras é menor do que isso porque escolhemos comer um par de vezes por semana, mas se eu cozinhasse todas as refeições sobre o que I8217d esperava gastar em mantimentos sozinhos. We8217re currently spending 500 a month for the two of us and a 3 year old in Minneapolis. Nothing but food, but we eat all organic (or local grass-fed, hormone free, no pesticide, blah blah) and the cost of food here is at least 30 higher than where you are. I would have guessed your figures to be lower, but we also eat a few vegetarian meals a week, too. I think it depends were you live. I live in Melbourne Australia I am a widow. I spend AUD 290 per month. I could cut back but I rather spend money on good food instead of doctors and medicine. I also still think 770 is high for someone who claims to be preaching frugality. The Tightwad Gazette has a whole article on the USDA8217s numbers, and I agree with Amy Dacyczyn8217s claims that it8217s easy to feed your family healthy food for much, much less. I feed our family of five on organic fruits and veg, organic dairy products, whole grains, and highly nutritious breads, legumes, nuts and seeds 8211 and even without a garden, I do it for under 400 a month on average. If he8217s got formula and diapers in there, he8217s doing GOOD for 770. We struggle to keep our spending about the same with a 3 and 6 year old 8211 but our biweekly Costco run includes dog food (big greyhound), cat food, paper products, and some paper supplies (I work from home). We spend about 300month at Costco, 60month on organic local farm veggies, and another 400month for fruit and miscellaneous stuff we can8217t get at Costco or Farmer8217s Market. We eat a lot of pasta and beans, too, so it8217s not like we have an expensive diet. In the end, it8217s the eating out that gets us consistently, and I8217ve decided it8217s OK because those weeks we need to 8211 that 45 extra minutesday I have to sleep instead of clean up the kitchen are well worth the cost, at least in terms of . Being frugal isn8217t about not spending money on ANYTHING, it8217s about PRIORITIZING it and ONLY spending money on what truly is important8230 I see no disconnect between Trent8217s food spending and his blog. I guesstimate that it8217s about 70 euros a week between the boyfriend and I, but at least 10-20 of that isn8217t really edible: it8217s for kitty litter and cat food, toilet paper and toothpaste, and once-in-an-every-great-while things like oils (olive, sunflower), a bottle of port for him (relatively cheap here), and cleaning stuff. 50-60 eurosweek on strictly edibles is pretty close8211and it8217s really hard to spend much less if you don8217t have a car to take you out to the more distant grocery stores. I already make a 2-hour circuit by bike once a week, and as much fun as riding a bike is, it8217s not if you8217re loaded down with 20 euros8217 worth of fresh fruits, veggies, yogurts, cheese, olives, or whatever is a good deal that we8217ll eat that week (it8217s a lot of food). To be meaningful, expenses for food have to be about food and nothing else. Paper goods, pet food, and detergent belong in other categories (for me, that8217s 8220House8221 for toilet paper and detergent, 8220Pet8221 for the pet food and also bird seed in winter. Under 8220Food8221 I place food, vitamins, and other nutritional supplements, since those items all contribute to nutrition. In August my total was 186.80 for one person. RE: comment 32 about formula and diapers, formula is food. Diapers are not. If you have a separate category 8220Baby8221 for for formula and diapers, then you are cutting the baby out of the family where food and nutrition are concerned, and the food expenses are skewed. The categories need to be very clear for us to have a productive discussion. My family of four (2 adults and an 18yo and 11yo) spends about 350mo. on food. I track every penny I spend, so I know this is an accurate figure. I gasped at Trent8217s 770 figure too, especially since his kids are so young. I feel better about my grocery budget now, especially knowing that Trent likes to cook and eat good food and his kids are small. We are a family of 6 ( one infant) and I struggle to keep our budget under 800. We buy nothing organic except sunflower butter ( due to peanut and nut allergies), and very little that is prepackaged ( again food allergies). I do like fresh fruit and veggies though and my family will only tolerate just so many legumes. I agree with the people who commented that what makes Trent8217s 770month most shocking is the fact that his family of four includes an infant and a toddler. The 770 could seem more reasonable if he were feeding two teenagers in addition to him and his wife. I know that Trent does enjoy cooking with high quality ingredients, but 770 still seems high. I think the national averages include families with 2 teenage boys who eat much more. If you feel that you are getting your money8217s worth and can afford it, then that8217s great, but we eat very healthy on much less than that. I spend about 180 a month on food (approx 324), which is a lot for one person. In my defence, it8217s harder to buy for one, and I think food prices in the UK run about 10 higher than they do in the US. But, it8217s still an awful lot of money. I think a previous poster is correct8211that the reason for the shock was that most of your readers are already frugal and looking for tips to spend even less. For a lot of families, groceries is the first place to try strategies to save money. We have two adults and three kids (5, 2 and 2) and eat for about 300month. Although I coupon, it8217s mostly my weekly meal planning and shopping the sales (planning meals around loss leaders) that save us the most money. My grocery 8220budget8221 is nothing more than a recurring transaction in Quicken of 185week. This amount is intended to cover ALL grocery items 8211 food, toilet paper, laundry supplies, etc. for myself, my wife, two teenagers, and a dog. Some weeks we spend more, some weeks less (last two weeks, 100 and 140). If I have Costco8217s monthly coupon book, I8217ll go stock up, spending a 200-300 there alone, buying TP, paper towels, laundry, etc.. For my wife and I alone, I think we could get by on 14 of this amount. Not gonna happen with the teenagers however. I8217ve tried paring back what we buy, but if there aren8217t sufficient 8220grazing8221 foods in the house, the grumbling and threats of rebellion begin. I know, proper education, lead by example, blah blah, whatever, easier said than done. It8217s easier and less stressful to just buy the crap they want. Keep in mind also that Trent works at home. So (I8217m guessing) the 770 includes breakfast, lunch and dinner costs, too. Frugality is a very relative term. I8217m sure we could cut our grocery bill from pretty much the national average to something cheaper, but I don8217t think I8217d especially enjoy the diet. Also, my wife and I both work full time, so we don8217t necessarily have the time to make stuff from the true 8220staples8221. I think the 771month USDA average represents a typical family that overbuys at grocery stores with poor planning, allowing many perishables to perish before they are consumed. I bet these people have full trash bins each week. In other words, if you are reasonably smart about your grocery shopping, you should do better than this. 8220I think the national averages include families with 2 teenage boys who eat much more.8221 I provided the link, read it yourself. It includes a 2-3 year old child and a 4-5 year old child. Sounds totally reasonable to me. My hubby and I spend 400-450 per month on groceries for just the two of us. Like Trent, we buy mostly local andor organic foods, which are more expensive but are expenses we8217re willing to pay for. Good article. I8217m planning on moving out on my own soon and will need to be spending as little as possible to stay afloat. What would you say would be a good spending goal for food for 1 person per month That does sounds a little bit high but not outrageous. My budget for my girlfriend and I technically allows for 400mo but only goes that high if I buy something for a special occasion. For instance this past long weekend we went away to stay with friends and I spent a little extra on some ribs and chops for the whole group. Usually though we spend about 320 and put the excess into debt repayment. We follow sales to an extent but hardly ever clip a coupon. We eat pretty darn good for that too. we8217re only two and we spend 600. I shop at the farmer8217s market for all the produce and then a relatively upscale supermarket for the rest. we are vegans with a serious coffee habit, so that explains the high cost of our groceries. a lot of people claim that eating meat is more expensive than eating veg but I don8217t think that8217s necessarily the case. I started making some of my own vegetarian meat substitutes recently - TVP sausage and seitan, it8217s a big savings over the same thing purchased at the store (store bought costs 600 more than homemade) why are all these people having a fit about your grocery bill I appreciate these tips (we8217ve been considering CSA for some time now) and would love to have a garden and grow my own. Good food is very important - we might spend 600. but we never buy pre-packaged food and don8217t care to eat out because the food we have at home is better :) My husband and I spend around 112 a week on food for the two of us, plus two meals a month that we host my parents (they live nearby and cook Sunday dinner on the other two weeks). I know we could spend less, but we buy everything we can from a farmer8217s market, and only supplement from the grocery store. We could save money if we bought produce and meat laden with chemicals, pesticides, and dye, but that8217s not the kind of food we want to eat. I think it8217s strange that some people who complain that locally-grown, organic food is too expensive go home to a plasma TV and 500 channels of cable programming. It8217s all about priorities. I like to read about frugality, but the holier-than-thous annoy me. Good for you if you spend less than him. Trent8217s food budget works for his family, and frankly, I8217ve never seen a coupon for any food at the supermarket that I8217d care to eat. My fiance8217 and I have been keeping a budget of all food expenses for over a year now. I looked back, and we spend on average 140month. For 2. I can8217t even begin to understand how you could be approaching 200month per person. And it should go down per person for more people. 770month is a really disappointing number to hear. I eat healthy as well. Vegetables, grains, water, milk, fruit in every day. Buy huge bulks of chicken, hamburger, local produce whenever possible, etc. I use coupons all the time, and make a shopping list. I also buy a ridiculous amount of food when it8217s on sale. For just the two of us, I have a 5 ft3 deep freezer and freezer on the refrigerator stocked full of food, mostly meats. I8217m just so shocked8230. 770month is my house payment lol I am surprised to see so many people criticizing Trent8217s food budget. Yes, it may not be the cheapest way to eat, but Trent writes often about food, why he may or may not believe in certain types of food (organic, local), etc. I am a college student living in NYC, which is one of the most expensive places to feed oneself in the country, even if one cooks all meals at home. I am blessed to have a kitchen, but things around here are rarely on sale and I usually won8217t compromise8211I like organic produce and dairy, and am willing to pay a premium to have a diet full of fruits and vegetables, even when they8217re pricey. Everyone has to decide what they8217re willing to compromise on frankly, I8217ll take better food and spend less on other luxuries. After all, food goes into your body and has a very great effect on your general well-being. I8217m also surprised to see so much criticism of Trent8217s budget. DH and I spend 400-500month on food (mostly groceries, some eating out). We don8217t buy meats in bulk as we don8217t have an additional freezer or space for it. We do buy a lot of fresh veggies and fruit and free-rangeorganic meats, dairy, eggs and limit pre-packaged foods. I would love to see the grocery list and associated prices for those of you who have such low costs. We8217ve tried coupons, but find that the store brands are still cheaper for things we8217d use coupons for (paper goods, toiletries). I8217ve also found that the free-rangeorganic items we purchase are cheaper at Whole Foods than at the local supermarket, so weekly shopping often involves two stops. We have a family of four. We plan meals and use a shopping list. We pack lunches four days our of five on the workweek, and generally eat lunch in on the weekends. We bring breakfast to work. Yet we still reliably hit the 770 number. However, that8217s based in a large part on the TOTAL grocery bill. We don8217t necessarily separate out things like diapers, formula, toilet paper, kleenex, etc. Our fridge is generally pretty sparse by the end of the week. We might have one vegetable that we throw out, but that8217s about it. We have tried to reduce the bill many times, but find that we might be able to squeeze it down by 30-40month at most, then grocery prices increase again and all the savings are lost. Most of the stuff we buy rarely has a coupon, too. We8217ve tried that tack, as well, and at most saved 1-2week. We don8217t buy stuff just because it8217s on sale, either. We used to eat on 400-450 per month (family of four), but as food costs have risen and our own desire for a more healthy diet has come on strong here in the last few months, we8217ve seen our monthly grocery bill approach 600-700. I don8217t consider your 770 food bill excessive, and it is still much less than if you took your family out for one meal a day I noticed a 10 drop in our food expenses when we stopped buying at two supermarkets and started buying in only one of them. Going to two supermarkets, we would end up buying a lot that was 8220on sale8221, even if those included things we didn8217t really need. Anyway, Trent can spend as much as he wants on food. My point is that a frugality expert should spend much less than average 8211 especially when he recommends coupons, gardening, and making homemade things (diapers, bread, etc) to keep costs down. All these strategies don8217t seem to work, or else Trent would be spending much less, right Or you mean to say that, without coupons and gardening, his food costs would be even higher than the 8220average8221 770 a month Also, I would like to hear a better description, if possible, of what those 770 include. Eating out Anything bought at a supermarket (toilet paper, cleaning products, dog food etc) or only food for the four humans Personally, I believe it would be very easy to spend that much on food. The big challenge is to spend much less than average. It would be great if you, Trent, could write another post about all this discussion. But without getting offended or defensive After all, the beauty of interaction is that we all can learn from each other. Maybe, after some thought, you could reach the conclusion that you are overspending escrevalolaescreva. blogspot I guess I should clarify that my 320mo stated above includes all grocery store items (cleaning supplies, light bulbs, etc..) as well as food. I buy almost all my meat and produce from a market. Food costs vary greatly by region, and not necessarily the way you think they would vary. My family is from Cincinnati, Ohio. They are always blown away by the food prices (especially meat) where I live in St. Louis, Missouri. Using a cost of living calculator available from CNN Money, groceries would cost between 9 8211 13 less if I moved from St. Louis to Cincinnati, Kansas City or Des Moines, even though housing in all those areas would cost more I think some people just clearly like to get in drama. Keeping with my post from yesterday8212WHAT AREA of the country are these purchases made store competition in area It is substantiallly CHEAPER to live in the South than the North8212I know that firsthand as a recent transplant. I8217m a firm believer that if a nice variety is available at home, then you won8217t want to eat out8212with three teenagers I know. I realize that Trent has toddlers but also knowing 8211most of them are the worlds pickiest Just because Trent is a 8220frugality expert8221 as quoted by a previous post, you expect him to eat only beans I8217ve never thought of Trent as an 8220expert82218211just a normal guy trying to help others learn while he is also learning AND I8217m thankful for that I guess I feel relieved because we spend around that (and more) but keep feeling bad because people are posting that they are feeding a family of 4 on 400, as many of you seem to be doing. However like Trent food is one of the things we 8220splurge8221 on, especially as the 2 kids are young, I want to make sure they have a high quality diet. I8217m also curious what the food budget includes, if it includes toliet paper, diapers, wipes, dog food, other stuff get at grocery store that is not food but not seperated out. If so we may be even closer to Trent8217s numbers. Salve Regina says: I8217m with Anna up there, who said that the 8220grocery budget8221 cannot include TP or toothpaste. Unless you have that for supper once a week (and I had to put it in those terms for it to compute with the spousal unit). Our 600mo for seven (one infant who eats what I send down)is just food (including raw milk and pastured eggs at 6.50gal and 3.50dz). No cleaning supplies, diapers, etc. Our spending is easy to track because I have 300cash in my hands every two weeks. When it8217s gone, it8217s gone. Golly, I keep trying to get our bill for two down under 800. Of course that includes whatever we spend money for at the grocery, not just the food items. And it does include the beer and wine. - P Trying-Trying-Trying to stop throwing away food that8217s gone bad. That just galls me. I don8217t think people mean to criticize, it was just a very shocking number to see Trent write when he talks about saving a few dollars a month with CFL8217s and making your own laundry detergent like it8217s a big deal. He could save over 2000 a year on groceries without breaking a sweat and still buy organic healthy food but doesn8217t see the need. I think that undermines a lot of his frugal messages on this site. Now if that number includes diapers, formula, wipes, household supplies, then it makes sense. I agree with Sandra (comment 53). Trent is not a 8220frugality expert.8221 He is opening up a part of his life to his readers in the hope that it will help them in some areas. Also, the term 8220frugal8221 means 8220economical in the use of resources not wasteful.8221 It does not necessarily mean 8220cheap.8221 (Anyone remember The Frugal Gourmet He used to point this out all the time.) Trent seems to me to be very frugal. I would bet that very little is wasted in his household. The comments have been interesting, though. Families of four and five for under 500. Good for them I wish I could do it, but I can8217t, so I8217ll stick with what I spend and not feel bad about it. 770 sounds reasonable to me. Just my wife and I spend 400 8211 500 a month on groceries. Obviously these costs are going to vary depending on what part of the country you live in. People need to think about that a bit before they react in shock that some of us have to spend a bit more money for food. Uau. With a family of 3, we spend an average of 275 month for food. Add in dinners out, and the total is just over 400. Add in supplies, like TP and soap, and we8217re at 450 a month. Every receipt is recorded, so this IS accurate. We don8217t do much coupon-clipping. We do buy the store brand of almost everything. Of course, we8217re on a budget of under 2000 a month, total. Trent I honestly feel you are spot on. Me and my family of 5 live off around 500 a month. We buy EVERYTHING on sale and my wife is really the coupon queen. Literally every time shes in the supermarket the cashiers always give her the most amazed looks based upon the amounts we save. We have twin 7 month-olds and 1 nine year old. Once we get out of the formula and diapers phase I feel confident we can get that number down some more but maybe I8217m wrong. My 8217s include everything we can buy at the grocery store, any dining out, plus any stops at the convenience store for the occasional sodajunk food. My wife8217s dedication to research gave her the ability to find MANY coupon clubs (baby clubs were VERY beneficial) and trading coupons with her friends yielded great results. If you didn8217t count coupons we8217d definitely be around that national average. At first I was very shocked with Trent8217s budget. I8217ve followed 8220Tightwad Gazette8221 for years, shopped for all my gourmet bread flours and supplies at Mennonite stores and institutional wholesale centers. but I also remembered my own situation when I was in a family of four. One of us was at home, so that person did all of the from scratch recipies organic or not. Now that I8217m a divorcee with two teenagers, I depend a lot on school lunches so I dont have to make them and eating out on soccer amp football practice nights. Sundays I often spend cooking up a week8217s worth of meats so dinners are quicker and cheaper. One night a week I let the kids have fun with ramen recipies (they love the stuff. I can8217t stand it) and we eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast still. My own budget would be a lot less if I had the time to do more. So yeah8230 Trent8217s budget is understandable. When you8217ve got a really busy life trying to meet your other goals, it8217s really easy to spend 770.00 on four with two young kids. You8217ve got snacks and sippy cups and juice instead of water, formula and milk instead of iced tea. Teenagers just eat volume, but little ones eat more expensive items. It8217s about the same budget wise really. i8217m not bashing you by any means (people should spend money on the things they want to and save where they can), but i just posted my august numbers and i spent 624 on all my groceries and household items combined (along with expenses for a party and many school supplies). this does not include our once a week eating out (ranges from 10 to 50). we have plenty of food (my cupboards are nearly overflowing) and we eat balanced meals with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. i only buy 100 whole grain bread. but i8217m also very committed to matching up sales with coupons so i stock up every week on different items. if 770 is what works for your family, great. but it can be done for less. My boyfriend and I budget for and spend about 400 per month on groceries. Most of our meals are vegetarian. We don8217t buy pre-packaged foods (frozen dinners, etc.) and buy about half of our produce organic. We only go out once a week, so 400 covers most of our meals (and the occasional friends that come over). That is 20 meals a week x the two of us 160 meals per month. 400 160 meals 2.50 per meal. That is a great deal for yummy homemade food. Your grocery budget sounds reasonable to me. Plus your budget is YOUR budget. If it works for your family, don8217t worry about what others say, but thanks for opening it up for discussion. We spend quite a bit less for our family of 3, but we also cuts lots of corners amp have time to shop at various stores. Kenny Johnson says: We spend about 700mo on groceries for a family of 3. But I8217m including non-food items here (laundry detergent, diapers, trash bags, cleaning supplies, toiletries, cat litter, etc). I typically buy all this at the grocery store, so I just keep my grocery budget at 700. In reality, we probably spend about 600mo on food. I still think this is really high, but we buy a lot of convenience foods because we8217re lazy8230 And we have a small kitchen that is hard to cook well in. I don8217t get home until about 6pm or later and I don8217t feel like spending an hour preparing food in our tiny kitchen. We8217re trying to cut our grocery bill further by including a lot more coupons. I already buy mostly generic and on-sale items8230 I just think our bill is higher due to the boxed foods we buy. Our problem lately is we tend to repeat the same dinners every week. The wife works 3 days a week and we don8217t have much time to cook when we get home before our one-year old gets hungry. Anyone have any good websites they could suggest with good, easy and healthy recipes that we could try out Last week I did buy a whole chicken, made it on Sunday in the crock-pot and had that for dinner. The leftovers were used for chicken salad sandwiches all week for lunch and BBQ chicken pizza later in the week for dinner. However, I think we8217d get sick of doing that every week. I have two children roughly the same age as Trent8217s and we easily spend 800month on food. My three-year-old has a huge list of allergies so we eat almost exclusively organic, no milk, no corn (corn syrup, dextrose, etc.). I am comfortable saying that we eat healthier than 99 of Americans. In addition, we follow a rotation diet, no foods may be repeated within a four-day period, therefore, we also get a healthy variety of foods. We could easily cut down our food bill by buying more processed foods but we would pay for it with doctor bills and overall comfort, so for us it is worth it, and basically a necessity. I think the point here is that Trent is feeding his family more healthy food than many get, despite the fact that many believe they are feeding their families healthy food. If it is processed at all, it is not healthy. To the folks who say 8220it seems strange to accept frugality tips from a person who cant spend less than the national average82308221, please re-read Trent8217s post. He says that he and his family spend MORE on some items on purpose, such as free-range chicken, grass-fed beef, etc. If he8217s adding these higher-cost items into his food budget, then yeah, he8217s spending more - but he8217s doing so conciously, choosing to buy some pricier items and spending less on others so he can fit them into his budget. Trent is a guy who has paid down massive debts in the last two years, so I8217d say yes indeed, we should accept tips from him - he8217s proven that he knows what he8217s doing Kate 8211 I agree that Trent has expressed a clear interest in food. However (I hate writing 8216about8217 someone) he also cuts coupons, comparison shops and presumably grows some food items in his garden, hence my personal surprise at the figure mentioned. Additionally and more importantly (live and let live for Trent personally), I just do not believe it is indicative of US spending in general. I have a family of four with children of 7 amp 8. This makes enough of a significant difference when it comes to appetite and calorie requirements. I8217ve just done my homework 8211 an infant aged 1-3 needs 1165-1230 caloriesday, whereas my children need around 1800 calories a day 8211 not far off the recommended 1940 for an average adult woman We have a full grocery budget of 400month which equates to 720month. We have been under budget every month this year so far 8211 by 150 this month alone. The budget is for everything from shampoo, toilet rolls, cleaning products, cat food amp other items. These non-food items would total at least 100month (except during Aug obviously otherwise we would have starved to death) No coupon clipping, bulk buying, low quality 8216meat8217 etc to stay within our budget, hence my personal surprise. And naturally food, like everything else, is more expensive in the UK than in the USA. Oh my First, I think we can agree that Trent positions himself as a frugality expert (he has this site with many well-researched posts, huge traffic and huge respect, and he8217s writingwritten a book too). But since when does being frugal mean one must spend the absolute least in every single category Regular readers know he has a ginormous savings account, moderate expenses, and I doubt he splurges on a lot of designer clothing or a string of mansions. So his family enjoys good food 8212 and plenty of readers sync with his budget, too. My favorite part of this post is the interesting comments that have added to the comparison. (And at our house, so far this year our average is about in line for a family of 3, although the number will go down over the coming months as big expenditures on a CSA membership and a quarter of a free-range, organic cow average out.) It sounds pretty close to me. Our family of 4 budgets 700 a month for groceries. Sometimes there is a little left over for a few meals out a month sometimes the meals out are over and above the 700. We eat clean and healthy so nearly all of that goes to buying fresh whole foods. We buy very little if any prepared foods but we don8217t skimp on quality when it comes to our ingredients. Range fed meats. Organic produce etc. We don8217t bulk shop or really try to clip coupons. We do try to buy whats on sale. That8217s in line with what we spend. I just checked my Quicken, and in an urban area in Texas, two adults and a 4 and 6 yr. old, we8217re averaging 706 a month. It includes some alcohol, some entertaining, some non-food items, and a decent number of splurges (good cheese, occasional ice cream, fancy condiments, soy meat substitutes, etc.), but not our dining out (which is a bloated budget category here). I use coupons, do some warehouse shopping, belong to a veggie coop (which I think is actually MORE expensive than standard grocery store produce bought on sale), and we are 85-90 vegetarian. Basically, we eat a lot of beans, grains, veggies and fruit. We could spend less, and I am trying to cut the bill through better planning and less waste. I dont think people mean to criticize, it was just a very shocking number to see Trent write when he talks about saving a few dollars a month with CFLs and making your own laundry detergent like its a big deal. He could save over 2000 a year on groceries without breaking a sweat and still buy organic healthy food but doesnt see the need. I think that undermines a lot of his frugal messages on this site. Now if that number includes diapers, formula, wipes, household supplies, then it makes sense. I just copied and pasted the best post. I don8217t think Trent has ever identified himself as either being or wanting to be a 8220frugality expert8221. And I don8217t need him to prove to me that he can get by on less than I can. I personally am not in a competition much I can cut things or deprive myself, and I don8217t expect Trent to, either. What I have taken from the Simple Dollar is that Trent is writing about the steps he is taking in order to set and reach his financial goals, which in turn are themselves only a tool for him to reach larger personal goals. For most of us, regardless of our income or assets, prioritizing and controlling our spending is an important part of meeting our financial goals. It8217s a misleading mistake to get overfocused on frugality and make a religion of it. Frugality is a tool, and should not be put up on a pedestal as the be-all-and-end-all of existence. The really important goals in life are much higher than that. One thing that should enter into the discussion a bit more is that cost of living varies dramatically across the country. I checked a couple of online cost of living calculators, and they show that Des Moines is maybe 30 8211 40 cheaper for groceries than the Bay Area, which is where I live. It did surprise me that Trent spent the national average, but that was more because he lives in Iowa, which is generally an inexpensive place to live. He clearly prioritizes healthy food for his family, though. Good for you on choosing to eat well for your family - each family has different areas where they spend more. I have found that we spend about 400 a month (2 adults and one baby) but I shop with coupons and buy only things that are on sale. My husband drives me crazy when we shop together because he chooses with his stomach and not his wallet - when I shop the sales and buy much more than we need and stockpile. If only we had the space for a chest freezer. Trent, you should write a post on the benefits of shopping at the farmers market. We live in the 8216burbs of DC, but there are tons of local farms nearby. We buy local farm raised produce, frequently for the same price at the grocery. It is better for us and supports the local economy :) I8217m not a family of four8230 more like a family of one I currently do the following: 8211 clip coupons for my 8220staples8221 (things like beans in a can, steweddiced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tuna, frozen veggies, etc) 8211 buy ALL meat in bulk from my local BJ8217s and freeze it (this is the ONLY thing in my freezer, that and frozen veggies) 8211 shop at my local farmers market for my producefruits (except bananas, as they8217re actually cheaper at my local grocery store 8211 same with granny smith apples depending on the time of year) Averaging out the meat puchase to 2 months (I spend about 150-200 each time I go) and my other purchases, I end up spending abour 120-150 on food for myself for the month. Nothing organic, I don8217t grow anything, and I also don8217t eat pasta, potatoes, or rice 8211 my main complex carb source is beans I could do it much cheaper if I ate cereal, mac n cheese, or ramen noodles, but I don8217t. My family typically spent about 400-600 when we were a family of 4 8211 sooo 4 years ago (the kids have since both moved out). Given how prices have escalated, I8217d say my parents would be spending 800-1000 for the same items nowmonth, and my mom is a modest coupon-clipper Trent8217s overall message seems to be that he puts his money where his priorities are. Investigate and practice frugality whenever possible, but if you feel that eating healthily is a priority for you, make you budget accordingly. Frugality doesn8217t modest in all areas for the sake of saving money EVERYWHERE8230 at least that8217s what I get from his posts (Perhaps I8217m wrong) 770mo for family of 4 sounds right to me. We are a family of three, two adults and a one-year-old, and we spend 600 or so per month (varies based on whether there8217s a bimonthly Sam8217s club visit or not). We enjoy good food, including locally grown andor organic where practical. We buy lots of store brands, too, though, and very few name brands, very few prepared foods or boxed mix type things, and meat in bulk. (Note that this amount includes paper products, personal care, diapers, formula, etc. If you can buy it at your local grocery store, shouldn8217t it be considered groceries) It would be less if I could convince DH that meat was not required at 5 out of 7 dinners per week. It was quite a bit more at one point, but we made a conscious effort to use what we bought and ended up buying less. I read all the time on blogs about people who feed their family of four on 300 per month. I8217d love to know how they do it. One thing that is cheaper for me at least, at the farmer8217s market, is eggs. I8217ve noticed that the store eggs are usually older. I live alone so I can8217t eat a full dozen of theose before they8217ve gone bad. But I can buy an 18 pack at the farmer8217s market for less than a dozen would cost at the store, and eat them all while they8217re still good. I spend about 300 a month on food just for myself. I eat out pretty often and buy almost everything organic, free-range, local, whole foods. I think that my frugality in areas like clothing and entertainment covers the cost of really good, delicious food for myself. It8217s all about your own priorities, right I think, Trent, that people are so used to you encouraging frugality that we were surprised that your food budget isn8217t more frugal. That said, with a little more thought we would have remembered some of the things you pointed out8211that you pay extra for some organic food8211and the fact that GOOD food is really, really important to you. You8217re frugal elsewhere, so you can afford not to be so frugal in this area. Right Trent8217s numbers are his own business (nice of him to post them) and should not affect whether you take his advice or not. Remember he 8220paid his dues8221 as a college student, so why should he go back to that minimalist level of diet How many of you remember that Trent likes a bottle of wine At 7-10bottle, 3 bottles per week, that8217s 84-120month. Hmm, adds up quickly (and I8217m not saying his family actually drinks that much or that they drink less) You know, what8217s frugal for one guy isn8217t frugal for another. 7 years ago, my husband and I were spending 450month on groceries and 400month eating out. This was with no attempt at being frugal. The best I ever did, consistently, was to bring that down to 280month for groceries and 100month eating out. FOOD ONLY (no alcohol). But with the increasing grocery prices, our grocery bill doesn8217t really ever go under 375 (with one toddler). That8217s with eating mostly vegetarian, buying sales, mostly staples, having a price book8230I8217ve been into keeping my grocery bill low for years now. 770 month seems high at first, but if that includes wine and free-range meat, and organic dairy, I have to adjust that. A free range chicken locally is 12. It8217s 2.50 on sale at the grocery store. Organic milk is 6.50gallon. Regular is half that. Trent CHOOSES to spend more on certain items, which doesn8217t mean he8217s not frugal overall. I choose to spend 20week on the local, organic CSA. I could buy enough produce for my family at local stores for half that 8211 it wouldn8217t taste nearly as good, nor would we have the variety. And finally, a lot of people REALLY don8217t know how location makes a difference. I live in So. Cal. I have shopped, fairly often, in rural PA and upstate NY (near our families). HUGE difference in prices. Those areas have regular sales prices that are often often 25-33 cheaper for staples. If you are shopping at Aldi and Walmart, you have a financial advantage that some of us simply don8217t have. YOU try finding dried garbanzo beans for less than 1lb in my town. Boa sorte. I8217m with JE (comment 31) 8211 I think Trent8217s number sounds really high. I feed and equip our family of about 3 and 12 (one is only 3) for 400-500 per month. (Equip meaning toiletries and personal care items.) I live in northern Virginia, in one of the richest counties in the country (though I am definitely NOT part of that rich majority) and a very high cost of living. That budget includes MAYBE one trip to Subway for the four of us each month. We don8217t do that every month. We eat very well 8211 very little processed crap, all whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies, legumes and beans, and very little meat. I know Trent8217s made a lot of people feel better about how much they spend, but you really shouldn8217t compare yourself to other people. There can be so many variations in situations that you should really take a look at your budget and challenge yourself to do with a little less every month. See how low you can take it 8211 get creative, start baking your own bread, making your own granola for cereal (cut down the sugar and fat from most recipes though), try beans for dinner. You8217d be surprised what you can do when you really put your mind to it. Wow-We are a familly of 6 and manage to buy groceries and soft goods(paper products, toiletries and laundry products) for 550.00 or lessmonth. We garden and can and make most everything from scratch and pack our lunches. I even pay myself each week out of my grocery fund for my work in saving us money with coupons and comparison shopping. I take 5.00 out of my grocery fund before shopping for my savings fund and then whatever else is left over after shopping goes in the fund as well. It is a motivator to play the game even better. I am an avid CVS and Walgreen8217s shopper so am able to get many of my supplies there for free or near free. There are websites devoted to teaching one how to excell in that as well. Finally, I glean whatever I can from field and tree to freeze and can. The men in our family hunt deer which helps as well. I have been doing these things for years and think I can excell still more. You can always get better at the game. Thanks for all the great info on this site. I am always looking for ideas on being a better steward of the resources I have. My personal food bill (17 year old girl who can out-eat my parents) is as follows. Breakfast: Pastry from day-old rack, glass of milk or juice: 1 Lunch: Granola bars, simple sandwich, bottle of pop or water (water is free, pop is 16.6 a bottle in a three liter that I pour into smaller bottles): 1.50 Dinner: High quality, huge meal cooked by my amazing mother, usually including chicken or pork (under 1.50 a pound at our grocer) salad, fruit, and side dish. 2.50 So I eat at about 2 a meal, but some days I skip lunch if I8217m not hungry, and if we go out, it8217s usually fast food (Last night I had water polo until way too late, so we stopped and ate dinner for about 2-4 a person I was starving so I ended up going back for seconds). My meal costs go up in the school year because of water polo and decrease substansially in the summer when I sometimes eat brunch because I slept until 9. I think people need to remember the huge variation in basic food costs in different areas of the US, and also to make sure they include everything they eat into their monthly totals8230many people forget if they buy lunch at work, or go out, and are only listing groceries. I used to feel bad about what my husband and I spend on food each month, because I would look online and read about frugal families spending 400 a month or less for a family of 4. We live in San Francisco, and the two of us spend at least 500 a month just on groceries. Neither of us buys any food at work, and I plan all our meals in advance for the week calculated for leftovers to take to work. If we eat out at a non-fast food place once a month, that raises our total by at least 50. It is a very expensive area8230much more expensive for basics than where I lived in Texas for the last 20 years As a side note, I am 27 and have been lurking on the simple dollar for about a month, and it has really really inspired me to change my habits and worldview of money and wealth. According to the US government, it only takes 80 per month, per person to eat a healthy nutritious diet. This does not include things like alcohol, toothpaste, toilet paper, pet foods, etc. The figure only includes things intended to be eaten by humans. Where did I get this figure from This is how much they give people on Food Stamps. About 2-3 years ago when my family was on Food Stamps, I actually got yelled at by my case worker because I wasn8217t spending the full 240 each month to feed my family of 3. This was in spite of the fact I was splurging on things I wouldn8217t have considered buying before, and my cabinets, fridge amp freezer were packed full, and I even had a laundry basket loaded full of snack foods (yeah, I know, but they told me I had to spend it and I didn8217t know what else to buy). The surplus just kept growing amp growing till I had to start giving away stuff to the local food pantry or face my apartment being so full of food it wouldn8217t fit my family. I even started shipping coffee to online friends that were college students, that couldn8217t afford any to keep themselves awake, to study for finals. I have no clue how to spend an amount equal to 770month on food, unless I invite all my neighbors over to help me eat it all. I8217m sure the cost varies by location. And it also varies seasonally. More fresh produce available in the summer. We also tend to eat lighter food now than in the winter. Also, here in FL, we don8217t keep our freezers full during Hurricane season. So we don8217t stock up until late fall. (Lose power for just a day or 2 and you8217ve thrown away hundreds of of food) I live in Minnesota where we have a very short growing season. I8217m trying gardening to stretch our food budget (about 350-400 for seven of us, with 3-5 extra visitors to feed usually 4 days a week). I love to shop our whole foods co-op and farmer8217s market, but rarely do since they are too pricey. I8217ve found mostly local, no hormone, free range chicken and beef (not always grass fed since we have a lot of winter here) that I buy from local parties and stock up. (I have 2 upright freezers). I buy local raw milk for 2.50gal and freeze between 8-12 gallons per visit to the dairy as it is 20 miles away to cut down on gas costs. I buy day old bread from the organic bakery and freeze them, along with muffins. Being a single parent, I try to combine shopping trips, stock up, and freeze to cut down on costs. This year we went to pick your own berry farms. I froze the berries to later make jam. We try to limit refined foods, and since I8217ve made that change, the variety of my purchases has become much more limited to shopping the outside aisles of the supermarkets. I think someone8217s budget depends a lot on their location and whether they buy organic or not. I hustle to find deals, but rarely can use coupons anymore because they usually are for highly processed foods. I8217m always looking for ways to cut costs, so I8217ll continue to use this site. For some folks, giving up perceived quality is simply not a good ROI. It really comes down to that. I found a feed-your-family-for-70week on Hillbillyhousewife 8211 you use all reconstituted milk, lots of maccheese, tea, corn-based baking goods. Not a terrible diet as it includes lots of veggies and legumes 8211 but DH would be miserable. Making peace in the family for us means spending a bit more on food. It8217s the one thing we haven8217t completely cut out 8211 and for my guy 8211 if I give him ravioli twice a week instead of beans yet again 8211 he8217s much nicer to live with Our compromise is I get the ravioli from Costco 8211 half the cost of Vons here (So Cal). I just can8217t see good food being considered any kind of vice, unless it is costing you longterm goals. It makes a BIG difference for some folks in their day to day well being. In the I8217m-cheaper-than-you olympics, this one isn8217t necessarily worth winning. Frugal Dad, Trent8217s budget isn8217t much less than if he took his family out to eat every day. It averages to 26day. My husband and I could eat at a sit down place every day for 750mo. Add in another 50 for lunches and breakfast at home. True, that doesn8217t include kids, but at their ages, they should be only eating a few ounces of food off their parent8217s plate. So Trent splurges on a few items with his groceries. He admits to liking to eat well and buy the occasional bottle of wine. I see nothing wrong with that since the cornerstone of frugality is to not spend on things that are unimportant to you so you can spend on those things that are. Could he spend less on groceries Of course, but it would lower his quality of life. To aim to spend the absolute minimum in every area would not be living frugally but living miserly. I think Trent8217s numbers make perfect sense. I was thrilled when we cut our monthly grocery budget in half 8211 from 1,000 down to 500 per month. That does NOT include eating out, which we no longer do. We8217re vegans, so we don8217t buy expensive meats and we no longer buy organics. No alcohol and no junk food. We shop at Food 4 Less, Dollar Tree and Trader Joe8217s and we stick to a strict list. We even grow a lot of our own vegetables and I8217ve been experimenting with baking our own bread, which is what originally led me to The Simple Dollar months ago (so far, just baking a few whole-wheat bricks, but I8217m not giving up). I would use coupons if I could find any for healthy items, but most seem to be for unhealthy convenience foods. I won8217t compromise my family8217s health to save a few bucks. Any tips would be appreciated. I live in the heart of Central California and we have no fewer than five weekly Farmers Markets nearby. However, they are MUCH more expensive than the grocery stores and seem to be geared toward the trendy and affluent. Why produce grown a few miles from me costs four or five times more than produce grown on another continent and shipped thousands of miles is beyond me. Very disappointing, which is why I try to grow much of my own organic produce now. When I read posts from people who spend 250 a month for a family of 6 and that even includes a few meals out, it makes me wonder what I8217m missing8230 Thanks for pointing folks to the USDA numbers. I often reference this site when helping folks set up budgets. They often underestimate how much they spend on food or need to spend on food. For example, my friend8217s husband wanted her to spend 200mo on all grocery items amp household goods (soap, tp, etc.) for the two of them. USDA thrifty plan is 350 for them and that is just for food8230 You can see where this caused some problems for them especially since he is over 6 ft tall, in the military and trying to gain weight I still think 770 is awfully high. We are a family of 3 (3-year-old, me and my husband), and we spend between 350-400 a month. We buy one weekly whole chicken8211it8217s amazing how far you can stretch that8211and eat a lot of rice and beans. Like Trent, though, we love nice cheese and wine, but unfortunately don8217t splurge on that stuff as often as we8217d like. I still think 770 is a LOT of money. Putting it in perspective: Trent8217s numbers are 2.17 per person per meal. If the kids didn8217t eat anything, it would be 4.34 per person per meal and, even so, that8217s pretty good value I routinely feed a family of 6 on 50 a week. It can be done, cheaper. What a relief to see those numbers I was feeling like a failure because my husband and I spend 400 a month on food. We brought that down from 500, but it still felt like a lot. Five years ago we were both Jesuit Volunteers. We had a budget of 420 for six people (70 a month each), so I was thinking that for two people we should easily be in the under 200. But now we eat meat and enjoy cooking fancy meals once in a while. I have found that our local Farmer8217s market doesn8217t save any money. I think your numbers are right on, even for the children being young. It is just me, my husband and an infant (on some baby food, mostly formula) and we probably spend the same as you. I like to think I am frugal with the grocery shopping, as I use coupons, work CVS for the household goods, buy the formula at BJ8217s, etc. but I also buy organic milk, eggs, meats, etc. which are much more costly. I think you8217ll find that a lot of the readers that are shocked at your spending are the ones using the grocery game to get free boxes of macaroni and cheese to feed their families. Not that you would, but don8217t let them upset you. You are obviously doing a good job in all of your other budgeting areas. Wow We have 2 parents and a 18 month old and squeak in between 100 and 150 every month. Granted, we are students and take advantage of every mooching opportunity for free food we get, it can8217t have that much of an effect. Maybe we just eat boring food all the time8230.I didn8217t think so, but hey, I don8217t know anything different. There seems to be a lot of criticism about how a 8220frugal8221 person could spend so much on food. I could eat for free if I really wanted to, by picking perfectly good food out of the dumpsters behind the grocery stores. I could feed my family off the dollar menu at McDonalds. But frugality isn8217t about giving up quality of life. Its about expanding your quality of life 8211 making your purchases meaningful, and stretching your dollar so you can get what you want for less. Some people have a priority to spend the absolute smallest amount possible on food, and you absolutely can do that if that is your priority. But, my priority is eating healthy, organic, local, fresh, and delicious food. Im not going to punish my body for the sake of saving a few bucks. There are certain things I am willing to do to save money8230 like fewer restaurant meals, and vegetarian options. But, its about making the changes you are willing to make, or getting the same thing for less money. Not abandoning your standards and basing everything on price. People also seem to be up in arms that 8220Mister Frugality Expert8221 seems to be unable to pare down his food bill to something you deem as acceptable. But just because he is offering options and tips for saving money on your groceries, doesn8217t mean that these are the things that he personally does, or that they are going to work for everyone. I personally won8217t touch coupons. It8217s cheaper to buy food that is not pre-packaged. But8230 you will find plenty of people who clip coupons and save money on their groceries because they base their shopping list on the sale items. Its all about what works for you. Yep8230this is one of those topics where 8220Your mileage may vary.8221 And there are lots of variables in food budgets: 8211 locationmarket prices (our farmer8217s market is more expensive than the store) 8211 perceived quality of food (I don8217t insist on organic) 8211 tastes (the kids won8217t touch a cooked bean, and DH doesn8217t eat anything with cooked tomatoes) So the name of the game is doing the best you can in a mindful and attentive way, which I think is what Trent proposes. But as I read people throwing our their numbers, we must note that there is a huge difference between a Food budget and a 8220Grocery8221 budget. In an ideal world, we would track our food spending separate from the household goods. In reality, I buy food and groceries from the same stores and I don8217t want to take the time to parse out the separate categories at the end of each trip. (I shop 2-3 times a week.) So I lump it all together8211food and household stuff8211and run 650-700 a month for 2 adults and 2 teens. We8217d be where Trent is if I bought better meat and more organic. Mantenha o bom trabalho. I think the USDA numbers are high. I remember before my husband and I got married during the financial part of the pre-marriage counseling we talked about these numbers and I told the leader we would be under even the 8220thrifty8221 section and he said it couldn8217t be done. Well, two years later we8217re still under the USDA8217s numbers. We eat meat in most dinners, eat a lot of leftovers and many fresh fruits and veggies. Our meals are based on what is on sale at the local grocery store and we clip coupons. I think it8217s possible to eat for less and still eat healthy. 770month. Sorry, but that is nuts. My family of 4 (one being an infant) spends less than 300 per month, and we live in Europe. We eat great, meat every meal, very balanced, no corner cutting. 7708230Wow I looked at the website and to feed my family of seven it was 1017 a month for the thrifty plan. I budget 500 but have been spending more towards 700 in reality (I need to both increase my budget and reduce costs) I have a 15 year old football player, 18 year old girl, 12 year old girl, 10 and 8 year old boys. I also feed my daughter8217s boyfriend most nights. Most weekends we have 5-8 kids friends(mostly teens) that we feed. This is why I am over budget. My 15 year old has football practice for 3 12 hours each day and comes home starving. He will eat 4 sandwiches at one sitting. I buy stouffers meals for 1.00 as a snack for him before supper. We are trying to get calories in him so he will bulk up some. My daughter8217s boyfriend also eats a lot. It is true that buying the health foods costs more and although I try to cook from scratch we do eat worse that if I had money to buy all the organic stuff. I cannot afford organic. I have a garden and am learning to grow some food. I bulk buy produce and meat on sale. I use CVS and combining sales and coupons and buy snack foods and brownie mixes and stuff that are not as healthy but they are almost free. I am the only one overweight - the eye doctor even complimented me that all of my children were of a good normal weight. He said he sees so many fat kids. I don8217t like all the preservatives in food but I cannot go overboard with it - I can only do so much to cook from staples and mix that with adding some boxed stuff when we are busy. It is good that Trent has the choice to spend more for healthier options. His budget seems high, yes, we could all do it cheaper, but it comes down to the choices we make in what we do with our money. When you live without debt and have more money you can choose what things are important to you and spend more in some areas and less in others. I choose to be a home where kids are welcome and being southern that means feeding them while they are here. The kids love to come here and I love 8220knowing8221 my kids friends. I would rather put a little more money into our food budget so that I can feed them than have them feel unwelcome or a financial burden. Dale, you8217d be surprised, I think, on how mooching free food can really make a difference. I am around a lot of grad students, so I see it In fact, I used to have a lot of mooching opportunities at work. They have ended now, and my food budget went up. (Free tea, free leftover pizza from a business meeting, maybe a donut leftover from someone8217s breakfast8230my husband gets free soda, and at least 3x a month leftovers from someone8217s meeting.) I keep a specific grocery budget, and track only food. This includes buying a soda or a bottle of water while running errands, but doesn8217t include pet food or vitamins. Looking at the link, I spend above the moderate cost plan but well below the liberal plan. I know that my grocery budget is high and that I could spend less, but I make the choice to buy some higher quality, more expensive items, and it sounds like that is something Trent does as well. I8217m impressed that Trent also gets a few bottles of wine into that budget, which can easily tack 40 or more onto your monthly food budget. 120month for one. That includes Tillamook cheese and ice cream :) But all the rest is from scratch cooking and cooking for the freezer for the leftovers for lunches etc. This is NOT a cheap area. I go to Costco 8211 85 miles away about 3 times a year for bulk flour, rice, beans, cornmeal, powdered milk, etc. Just use the newspaper coupons 8211 nothing fancy and few rebates. ONLY buy when something is on sale, and stock up That8217s the secret. Seems like no one is factoring in the fact that he buys organic and free range items. These are usually much higher costs than the regular produce. Also if he is eating a healthy, whole food sort of diet again costs are higher here. If he were to throw organic, all natural out the window and begin to shop with coupons for ridiculously unhealthy processed garbage like Hamburger Helper for 50 cents a box then I bet he could get the grocery bill down to under 250 month. But why would any sane person want to do that Less processed garbage means less medical bills healthier person. 771 might be the average, but the average family also eats a whole lot of expensive junk and drinks a lot of expensive soda, bottled water, juice, and other unnecessary (and unhealthy) drinks. The average family also spends a lot on 8220groceries8221 that are actually expensive pre-prepared meals, if frozen. If you actually by ingredients and prepare meals yourself, you can save a TON. Now a lot of working parents don8217t have time to cook, and that8217s fine if your time is more valuable than the money you could save doing so. But if I had a family of four I would cap my monthly food budget at 500 (but I don8217t buy any drinks besides the occasional milk and I don8217t buy a lot of snacks or desserts either). My SO and I (who live separately, me in upstate NY, him in western PA) each spend nearly half of what Trent spends, just for one person. And, I8217m only counting food, bought at the grocery store. no toiletries or cleaning supplies, and certainly not the cost of eating out every so often. I consider myself fairly frugal. I buy the cheapest product that doesn8217t suck, and I use coupons when possible. I also do not buy organic produce. I mostly buy fresh produce (my lunch every day is a salad), dairy products (yogurt, milk, cheese), and tofu. And I8217m still spending 50-90 per week. My SO spends a bit more than that, maybe more like 100 per week, but he also buys meat, some organic stuff, and the occasional junk food. Neither of us buy things like frozen meals or other convenience foods. Uau. I really don8217t even know what we spend on food. It isn8217t that I don8217t try to keep track, but I have a check card for bills and one for groceries, my husband has a card for each of these accounts as well. So sometimes, to offset a huge and unforeseeable electric bill, replace a cracked windshield, have an injured or ill pet go the vet, have to call an electrician, etc, we may need to dip into the grocerygeneral expense account more than we want toshould, or even have to dip into the bill account which means that after all is said and done, there is very little if any, left in either account to go into extra savings, or into a vacationhome improvementetc account. We are a family of four in Suburban Atlanta. I am a stay at home mom, my kids are 8 and 11. My husband makes somewhere in the 120k-140k area, which after taxes, 401k, healthcare and dental coverage, and all the rest that most of us know gets funneled out of each paycheck plus the cost of gas, oh the gas8230Dh has a long commute and thanks to the housing market, we don8217t have close to enough equity anymore to be able to move further into the city near his job if we could even sell the house anyway, no one has sold a home in this area for almost a year, and not for lack of trying. His car is virtually costing as much as us to feed, just so he can get to work. It is just a mid size sedan, not a Hummer or anything. So basically, it is incredibly hard to figure what exactly we are spending on FOOD. Considering that there are nights my husband gets home too late for me to cook the dinner I planned, so he picks up something on the way home. Or the kids eat the tomatoes and cheese as a snack while I am in the shower, and so dh has to stop and grab replacements on the way home, and with our luck, the store will be out of at least one of the things I needed, so one of us ends up going thru a drive through for dinner that night. While dh is still in the store, he will grab some diet coke, maybe some beer, or if I have PMS, some chocolate ice cream. On top of that I will realize the dogs are out of food and the cat litter is getting low and call him to tell him8230 He remembers that he needs shaving cream and grabs it8230 Maybe he used the grocery card, sometimes the bill card, depends on if we are seriously close to being out of grocery money or not. If I had to use some grocery money on an uncovered rX, or to buy socks, shampoo, and underwear for the kids, a birthday gift for the party they are going to, some vaccum bags, or even a new vaccum because ours started smoking and repairing it costs almost the same as a new one those things would have all come out of the groceryexpense account, and therefore it maybe low, so borrowing from the bill card would be needed, assuming we know(and usually do)that we have a 8216cushion8217 in there, that if we are lucky can go into savings at the end of the month. Therefore, next time we go to see what we are spending, we have no idea what is going on. Total financial chaos. I know I usually get out of the grocery store spending about 350 for 8216most of 1-2 weeks of food8217. I say mostly because they are always out of the one key ingredient that I needed for a certain meal, because fresh fish and produce needs to be purchased within a few days of eating, so if we have Salmon and fresh asparagus for dinner, it needs to be bought within a day or so of when we are going to prepare it. We try to eat fresh fish at least twice a week, and fresh vegetables every time I cook (except spaghetti or cheese burger nights), so going back out every few days or so, or having dh stop and grab those items, means I don8217t know what that week may have run us until it is said and done, even then all I have is a vague idea. Even then, if I get a migraine there is no one else who can boil water here, so in comes more take out. I just cannot seem to get a good idea on what we spend on food, and thus I cannot decide on a budget amount, or have no idea if I am sticking to it or not. The last time I was grocery shopping at Walmart, we were out of vitamins, advil, almost all our cleaning supplies, and other necessities. I spent close to 400, and that only included breakfast for the kids, lunch for me (usually a Weight Watchers Muffin or a bowl of Kashi per day), and about four to five dinners. So it looks like we spend a ton on food, but I know that alot was spent on non food necessities. Does anyone else have issue with trying to grocery budget because so much bought at the grocery store are non food necessities How do other people figure that What about finding that after extensive meal planning, the store did not have the last ingredient needed for one or two meals, therefore you come up short on meals or have to make a special trip for those items and it not only gets confusing when you look at your spending, but also costs more because while at the additional store, some one will call and say we need milk, dish washing soap and toothpaste8230 Pet food Toilet paper Do I count that in the budget, or not If not, how then do we find a good way to budget those items, separately from food, even though they are bought in the same transaction as the food, and came out of the same account Also, I see a lot of people saying that they are taking a family of four or five out to eat for a 100 per month Where on earth can you take a family of five, just once for under 100, unles s it is fast food. When my dh and I take the kids out it ranges from 50-125 depending on the restaurant, and averages 80 including tip, excluding fast food or all you can eat or cafeteria style restaurants that is for us to eat out one night No, we are not eating lobster either. We do try to eat healthy. Try to choose organic if possible. Always try to get the all natural super lean meats. What are people eating that they can spend so little at the store What restaurants are you going to that you can take the whole family 2 or more times for a grand total of 100. I use coupons, buy in bulk when needed or smart, usually buy store brand if the quality is good and the product is nearly identical to the brand name. Also, my husband eats out every day for lunch. He says that taking lunch is not an option and has a thousand excuses for why. Sometimes he uses cash, other times the grocery card. I know he pulls a lot of cash out, but often I don8217t know if he bought gas, his lunch, or my missing groceries with it. By the time we meet to discuss it, he doesn8217t recall where the cash went exactly, so I don8217t know what percent of his cash withdrawals are on food. He often has to attend business conferences where he has to pay cash to park - in one of the many fine Atlanta parking lots that charge you 5 on a good day, but upto 20 on a busy day where demand for parking is high. I don8217t like to harp on him because since his last promotion, he works 100 hours a week, and I feel bad telling him that he can8217t pull out cash so he can eat at the deli across from his office, or that I need receipts from everything he is struggling as it is trying to get sleep in, let alone worrying about every receipt. We do like wine with dinner 4 days a week, give or take a day. We almost always, with little exception get a bottle over 12, and strive to spend 8-10 most of the time, as we do have access to some great wine sales. A bottle lasts 1-4 meals depending on whatever. It sounds out of control, and it is How are you all doing it 8220Does anyone else have issue with trying to grocery budget because so much bought at the grocery store are non food necessities How do other people figure that8221 I actually buy very little non-food at the grocery, because it8217s generally cheaper at Target. However, I keep a list of how much I spend on each grocery trip, and if I bought something other than food, I make a little note with the cost. As for eating out inexpensively, it can be done, but it really depends on where you are. My city has a fantastic selection of restaurants, some of which are relatively inexpensive (but still yummy and fairly-healthy). At my favourite Mexican restaurant, two adults can have a delicious, filling meal for under 20 (slightly more if we get one of their giant 8 margaritas which is enough for two people, especially if one of them needs to be able to drive home afterwards). Last night, 40 paid for dinner for three adults plus leftovers for my lunch today at a Chinese restaurant (and I mean good Chinese. we could have spent even less if we8217d gone to one of the many take away places). I mean, yeah, there are certainly restaurants here where you can spend upwards of 40 for two adults, especially if you8217re drinking, but I try to balance it out with the less expensive places every so often. Judging from the responses on this list, I don8217t doubt a lot of people are sacrificing qualitytaste and eating so cheaply because they8217re going to diners or chains. possibly even fast food. But you don8217t necessarily have to. 360month for two adults, a six year old, three year old, and 10 month old. I can claim no credit for the low figure, that8217s all due to my wife8217s aggressive couponing8211buying primarily loss leaders, stocking up when things are free, etc. This is in southern CA, where the cost of living is pretty high. Local supermarkets have stopped doubling coupons, which will definitely affect us. There was this one time they tripled coupons for a promotion. Oh, man, what a day we had We did the research, and went through with two carts heaping with merchandise. Total before coupons must have been at least 300. The sizable stack of coupons took some time to process, so I was standing around, credit card in hand, waiting for the actual total. Which turned out to be something like 3.00. Bemused, I dug into my wallet for a few ones and handed them over to the patient clerk. I don8217t know if we8217ll ever top that, but luck favors the prepared. It does take research. I might add a couple of points to my previous comment: 1. We eat quite well, thanks. We have occasional meals that are quite inexpensive (spaghetti), and occasional meals that aren8217t (prepackaged, for example). 2. In my opinion, as long as you know where your money is going you8217re way ahead of the average, and really on the right track. 3. Trent, you guys should try couponing for a month, in the spirit of the one month trial concept. I8217m sure there8217s tons of commenters that could get you started. You don8217t have to commit forever, just try it a month. We eat on 65-75 a week depending on if our staples are on sale. Family of three and a neighbor who visits for at least 3 or so meals a week. We buy 98 organic and our meat we buy free range-vegetarian fed if the organic meat is not on sale. 770 seems extremely high to me because we shop at the expensive natural grocery AND we live in Portland(pretty pricey). I found your blog because I was searching for the government link in your post. I wanted to see where we fit compared to the average family of five. I agree that buying organic, fancy cheeses, and wine will definitely increase your grocery budget. If you were on a tight budget, those kinds of things would be the first to go. My family is on a tight budget so we do not buy organic. However, I do buy hormone free milk and provide my family with a nice variety of healthy, home-cooked meals. That said, we spent 438 this month on all food, household products, and baby products (diaperswipes) for our famly of five. In addition to that, we spent 70 to eat out three meals and 20 to take a friend out for a birthday dessert. I guess that means I8217ve succeed in living frugally. oh my gosh. We eat very, very well 8212 healthy food and spend maybe 150-200 a month for 3 people. I do the same as a previous post aggressive couponingbuying primarily loss leaders, stocking up when things are free 8211 yes you can get groceries (healthy) very cheap. Where I live there are no double coupons and I regularly get 80-90 off my bill with couponssales. It8217s all in the planning and knowing your prices. I simply can8217t image spending that much money a month. Quote from The Simple Dollar September 2006. Once I understood my budget both in and out, I put strong caps on all of my frivolous spending. I allowed myself to spend a bit on entertainment, but I strongly budgeted it. I also began to cut down on frivolous spending even on things like groceries, where I taught myself how to shop in a much more frivolous fashion using tools like coupons and shopping lists. How quickly we forget. Trent, if you used coupons in 2006 8211 why did you stop I live in the Midwest 8211 just quit my job in March and am trying to feed my family on a budget. We are a family of four wtwo teenage boys 8211 (adds to the bills) For food 8211 including all work lunches and school lunches which I pack at home, I have averaged about 700 per month, so I think Trent is about right. I use coupons, shop store specials, etc. We eat meat about 4-5 nights per week. We have a family of four. Two under three years of age and my husband and myself. And I figure that we spend at least700 a month at the grocery store. Plus we probably spend another 50 eating out a month. It is hard for me to believe how people say they spend so much less. Especially with more people in their family. I guess I have alot of food allergies, so some of the foods I buy are more expensive. Like quinoa is a staple for me (cause I have a gluten intolerance). Most of the really cheap foods I am allergic to (like eggs, bread, peanut butter, tomatoes, etc). But we still stick with low cost, but healthy foods and don8217t buy junk foods. We also drink mostly water. We eat lots of produce, meats, and whole grains. So 700 for a family of four seems about right to me, and when my little ones get older, we will be spending a little more. I8217m always looking for ways to save money in my grocery budget. We spend 125 a week for our family of 5. It could probably be lower, but we do love to eat. Trent: You spend that much because you have it to spend. I am a single mom w 3 teenage girls to feed. We bring it in at 350-400 month. After a breast lump, I was told: no more hormone-containing milkmeat. So, organic only. I think if we dared buy the cheap milk and the cheap meat i could bring this baby in at WAY less. I bake the week8217s bread every weekend, that8217s a way to balance out the high cost of organics. EVERYTHING we eat is cooked at home, period. I don8217t use coupons cuz we only buy bulk. And the bottom line is8211I JUST DON8217T HAVE MORE MONEY EVEN IF I WANTED TO SPEND IT. I only use cash. No credit cards. Also, my grocery bill includes TP, printer ink, kitty littercatfood, laundry soap, light bulbs. the works. My godsend is the extra freezer I bought years ago8211buycookfreeze in bulk. There8217s always food in our house AND8211we virtually never get sick and we8217re slim 8216n8217 healthy too. Hey hey. Wow, Trent, I8217m not gonna say you spend too much, but I have never had that much to spend on my family. I didn8217t see the first article, but does this just include food OR is it petfood, cleansers, toiletries, etc. I agree wLalina 8211 you have it, so you spend it. We NEVER eat out, don8217t have a garden (lots of times I get it from the mark-down bin in the produce dept.), and I use salesclubsand group cards. I don8217t want to sound like a reverse snob, but I guess since we don8217t have the money, my kids expect very little as far as steaks, or 8220fancy foods8221. It8217s just a lifestyle thing. If this is budgeting for you and your family, then great 8212 I think alot of people can8217t do it, tho8217. Some of you are clueless 8211 the cost of living varies depending upon where you live. Two adults and two boys are probably going to eat more than two adults and two girls 8211 two adults who have small frame and possibly work in an office are going to eat less than two adults that might work in construction 8211 the 8220average8221 is from all areas 8211 so sure, some will make it on 300 a month 8211 while some might need 800 a month 8211 anyone here have teen boys that play sports. I really appreciate your sharing this. I was beginning to feel guilty about my grocery budget: 220 a month for one person for all grocery items (food, household items, paper products, toiletries, etc.) When reading a lot of websitesblogs about this subject, it seems that many people spend a lot less on groceries than I do. However, this is a conscious decision I have made for several reasons. First, I am blessed with the income to be able to spend that amount (and still have a very good amount left at the end of the month to go toward my debt). Second, I am prioritizing my health and weight loss and therefore I would prefer to eat a lot lean meat and fresh produce and very little breadscerealsstarches that don8217t really fill me up rather than save 100 dollars a month. Third, I have also made a conscious decision not to spend several hours each weak clipping coupons, looking for deals, and shopping because many other things (such as having time for exercise) are more important to me. I do buy most of my groceries at Aldi so I buy the cheapest possible of the things I do buy and I do still try to buy the produce and things that are on sale, but I just don8217t spend hours poring over coupons and sale papers. Fourth, I do spend less in other areas to make up for it. That said, I think your amount is very reasonable and it is a very personal decision based on your priorities and goals. I don8217t think being wise with your money means spend the absolute least amount possible in every area 8211 it means consciously deciding what you value and what is important to you how much it8217s worth. To me, it8217s definitely worth an extra 100month not to spend countless hours chasing every grocery deal and to be able to have very healthy, convenient foods available for myself. I like your budget number because it is a lot higher than mine. However, I think that unless you have diapers and (if you use it) formula in that calculation, you probably could count your children as one adult, which would put you a bit higher than average. For me, frugality in the marketplace is KNOWING that you are spending more for a given option, and deciding that it is still what you want to do. I have seen people just blindly saying 8220this is what8217s on TV, has the best, brightest packaging, or is just in front of my hand8221 and end up paying a lot more for identical items. Likewise, I have a friend who would die if she had to use margarine instead of butter and another who wouldn8217t dream of hand-me-down clothes for her family8230 but they both know the costs of those choices. I think a lot of people leaving these comments have a difficult time with math. 400month for a family of 4. That breaks down to 13day for the family, 3.33day per person, 1.11meal per person. It costs more than that for a head of lettuce and a tomato We8217re at about 800month. That is a little less than 9meal for 4, which seems pretty cheap to me. We have a total of 48230two adults and two children 8230we have a total of 120 a week for gas, necessities and food8230we don8217t buy any junk food, no can or boxed food8230we buy meat, veggies, fruit, grain(bags you have to cook up lentels, bean, etc.), eggs, milk, yogurt8230we are very simple WOW My family inlcudes my husband, son-10, daughter-8, other daughter-5. We spend aproximately 800 per month. I would need to track the in-between stops for bread and milk and add the school lunches I allow them to buy. And now I WILL. I have learned alot here. You think your doing something right and then BAM I almost had it right. I never by ANYTHING that isn8217t on sale or that I don8217t have a coupon for. If I really HAVE to have it I will buy the storebrand. I can see now that this is only a good beginning. Something I have noticed, the cheaper I buy the heavier we all get. When I prepare meals that include lots of fresh vegitables and fruit my grocery bill is higher and dramatically so. The local farm market is not much savings at all. We are talking cents per month. BUT I am trying to grow my own, seeds are very inexpensive. And I have a groundhog issue. aaargh NO I will NOT eat the groundhogs LOL I know a few of you were thinking it. The figure above does include toiletries and cleaning products. I stock up when these items are on sale and I have coupons at the same time. I will be taking bits of informationfrom here to help reduce my monthly grocery bill. I saw some great ideas. Obrigado. 770 is not splerging, but we MAY be able to do a little better. I am going to try. WOW - I got on this website to get some money saving tips. After seeing this I think I should start my own site. I have a family of 6 and my budget is 400mth. That includes all of our cleaning and paper goods too (shampoo, laundry, hygene, dish det. etc.). Even if we went out once a week at 50 each trip my amount for 6 is considerably lower than Trents. I did look up the amount we would get for food stamps if we were unemployed and for my famiy size it would allow up to 981mth just for FOOD. Do we wonder why Americans are so fat and lazy. GYM CHICK 97 says: I could definitely see spending over 700 a month on food, however, our new rule is everything must go before we food shop. I8217ll buy basics (milk, eggs, bread, peanut butter) but that8217s it. Once snacks are gone that8217s it We8217ve gone from soda to sparkling water at 0.68 a bottle and we love it. My food bill went from the over 700 to about 400 a month. i diligently clip coupons, make a list based on the supermarket add and plan my meals for 2 weeks so I8217m sure I have what I need and don8217t need to 8220run out quickly8221 for something. We all take lunches to workschool. We only let them buy lunch on Friday8217s when it8217s pizza day and that money comes from extra change during the week that gets put into a jar. I could spend upwards of 50 a week on food at work if I bought lunch8230.i refuse too. I8217m definitely getting alot of helpful tips from this website8230.Glad I stumbled upon it. Quick update for me. Family of two in Minneapolis, all toiletries included, about 45week (we eat almost exclusively at home). I suppose if we had two younger kids, we8217d be looking at perhaps 400month 700 sounds really insane to me unless you live on the coast or something I live in Minneapolis too, and we spend about 500mo 8211 we only buy local freerange meat amp grassfed milk amp butter, which is more expensive but 1) we can afford it and 2) I grew up downstream of here and don8217t to be responsible for manure spills anywhere. It8217s totally possible to spend less 8211 when I was a stay at home mom we spent about 13 less on food (same amount of cooking) and before that we were pretty much freegan for a few years 8211 in 2000 my grocery budget was 50mo for two people. But that doesn8217t mean you have to. I think the commentator who said Trent8217s family is eating the 8220liberal8221 meal plan on the 8220average8221 budget is spot on. I have a family of 4 in New York. I clip coupons and closely follow the sales in the store circular. It8217s rare that I buy anything that isn8217t on sale. I buy a ton of fresh produce. We eat a lot of meat but I am working hard to get more vegetarian meals into our diet. I recently let my warehouse club membership expire because I can (mostly) get the same good prices at the regular grocery store, although I have to pay more attention and wait for the sale to come around. I use a breadmaker every week (have not bought any store bread since June 2008 only hot dog rolls, although I really should try them with dough from the breadmaker) (When I run out of yeast, I will go with a friend who has a warehouse club membership because the yeast there is WAY cheaper than the little packets in the grocery store. The flour, too.) I use a credit card (have never carried a balance) and every so often I can redeem the 8220points8221 for a grocery store gift card. My monthly bill is about 380 and that includes all toiletries, cleaning supplies, medicines, soaps etc. Does not include cat food, I count that separately. Don8217t dismiss the infant. I assume food includes formula or infant food and those things are really expensive. We had twins and couldn8217t wait to get them off formula we were going through a large tin a week ( 25 8211 30 a tin). If 8220food8221 also includes non-food baby items 8211 wipes, diapers etc. then that baby is using their fair share of that 770. 770 doesn8217t seem unreasonable, though it definitely depends on where you live and the priority you attach to food and thus the types of food you buy. A lot of this sounds like people who are overweight saying 8220I really don8217t eat all that much.8221 It8217s very possible to spend way less than 770 a month on food for two adults and two preschool children, if you want to or need to. I can make six meals on one chicken, if I want to8211 12 breast for stir fry, the other 12 for fried rice, 1 leg and 1 thigh for enchiladas, etc etc etc, ending with tortilla soup from the carcass. May I suggest that Trent try a month with a lower food budget and see what happens I spend about 800 a month to feed 11-12 people, most of whom eat like adults. That averages to less than 300mo for the 8216average8217 family of 4, and I feel pretty good about that. I think one commenter, above, probably said it right that Trent is probably managing a 8216liberal8217 meal plan at a 8216moderate8217 price point. If I had to go cheaper with my food budget, I could. I think 600 would be doable. But when it comes down to it, I8217m not willing to sacrifice THAT much. And fortunately, because of frugal choices in other areas, I don8217t HAVE to. The really cool thing to realize about frugality is that is about HAVING choices. Being frugal in some areas often frees up the budget in areas where you are less willing to compromise. The trick is to make choices that work within your own budget. I have a hunch that Trent is doing just fine at that. Mary, mom to many author FAMILY FEASTS FOR 75 A WEEK Several people here have said that it depends on where you live. Since I8217m retired and could therefore live anywhere, I8217d like to know where the absolute cheapest place is I don8217t think 700 a month is that outrageous. Most of the stuff we buy rarely if ever have coupons. We try to eat from the local food shed when we can. It8217s worth it for us to spend more for quality food. When a teen age boy can taste the difference in the eggs from the organic pasture raised chickens then I know we are on to something. We choose not to spend money on new cars, lots of 8220toys,8221 or cable tv, for example. It8217s all where people decide to prioritize their spending. Food budget definitely depends on where you are in the country (mid-West suburban in a temperate climate has so far been cheapest for me) as well as how you shop and what you are willing to sacrifice. My husband and I buy generics whenever possible. We recently increased our budget from 50 a week to 60 a week since I8217m pregnant. This includes pet food and litters for 2 cats as well as paper products. We eat well, with plenty of meat, but are not into 8220fancy8221 meals, since my husband usually cooks at least half the time. We eat tacos, casserole, hamburgers, chicken stir fry, spaghetti, or 8220breakfast for dinner8221. He eats lunch out twice per month, and we usually eat dinner out together twice per month. I figure the cost of cooking those extra meals at home would be marginal if it were necesssary. He also buys 3-4 2-liters of diet soda a week. Milk in our area costs 2 a gallon and we can usually find hamburger for 1 a pound on the clearance rack and we cut up the larger packages, repackage, and freeze them ourselves. Why are we doing all this since right now we make 80,000 a year We recently paid off his student loans in less than 3 years (40,000) and plan to live on just his income when the baby comes in August. Is it for everyone No. Does it take sacrifices Yes. Do we eat healthy, filling foods Absolutely. No vegetable garden yet, since we live in an apartment, but definitely looking forward to that when we get our own home (we have 30,000 in liquid savings for a down payment, vehicles, medical expenses, emergency fund). And yes, we usually stick pretty close to the budget (we were 7 under last week and 10 over this week, but that included enough toilet paper and paper towels for 3 months). We do buy brand names when on sale and when the quality is better (I can8217t do generic toilet tissue, I use Charmin ultra strong and can usually find a really good sale). I would love for those who are feeding a family of four for 400-500mo to give us a food plan, I8217d love to see what they are buying and how much they are spending for it. We are a family of 4 and I8217ll tell you, I8217m not sure what we were spending, but I8217m sure it was 700-800mo. I was making some things from scratch some times, but my goal now is to make pretty much everything I can from scratch (mayo, mustard, the works). I8217d love to get our food budget down to 400mo. Wow8230 this is quite a discussion We live in an expensive area for food-the equivalent of a gallon of milk is almost 8, which I think it pretty high. Meat and veggies are bad, too. Unfortunately, the things I8217m trying to feed my family more of (fruits, veggies, good meats, fresher anything) are the things that never go on sale and NEVER have coupons available. Coupons just seem to be for junk. No farmer8217s markets closer than an hour8217s drive away - and if you factor in the 30 min. drive to get to a grocery store with good produce, it just drives the prices up even more. I used to think I did pretty well on grocery spending8230 until I really started tracking every purchase. Those quick stops for milk and bread really add up I8217m learning to keep costs down by planning meals and shopping less frequently, but I still throw out too much gone-bad produce (I buy vegetables with the best intentions, but nobody here likes them, even cooked really nicely) and too many leftovers. As for Trent, he8217s always saying that being frugal means you have money to spend on what8217s really important to you, and for him, food is clearly it. I don8217t think this 8220revelation8221 undermines his message. He8217s doing what he loves, enjoying his life without going into debt to do it. We live in Nebraska, a family of four (soon to be five). We spend 800 a month. We eat mostly produce based pastas. I cook every night, we rarely eat out. We do buy organic milk. We don8217t usually buy processed foods. My husband and I are very frugal, so when we moved, he disputed my monthly budget amount for groceries. We spent the next month saving every food related reciept (groceries, fast food, etc). If you do ittoo and are honest with yourself, you will notice how those small midweek trips add up. So I think the average is right on. I won8217t feel guilty for buying healthy food for my family, knowing that we eat and not let go to waste. However, I wonder if the national average is based on grocery bills that are full of cheap processed foods. I have a husband who works construction (big eater), a mom, an infant on formula, and myself. All of our groceries plus Enfamil formula plus diapers and other toiletries runs about 350month here in Minneapolis. We don8217t eat out often, and we all bring lunch to work. I have mixed feelings about the 8220average8221 figure reported in the post If you are feeding your family of four on 770 a month while buying local, organic, hormone-free food, Trent, you are doing very well. I would wager that the average moderate family of 4 is not spending the 771 on items that are as healthy. I have been on both sides of the fence on the issue of how much to spend on food. I have a family of 4. We have a 7 year old and a 3 year old. I used to spend 300 a month using Aldi, Walmart, and Kroger to get the maximum amount of savings possible. But I have changed my priorities recently. I have started going to a coop in town that sells local, organic, and healthful food. I have also joined a CSA and try to go to a farmers market as well. I don8217t buy much junk food and we make our own bread and pretty much every meal is from scratch. Our bill is a little closer to 600 per month now8211and we live in an area of the country where food is not terribly expensive. Organic food in the U. S. is not subsidized. That8217s why it8217s so expensive compared to non-organic items. So for all of the people who have criticized you bc they eat on a smaller budget, their food might cost close to the same as yours to produce but Uncle Sam is subsidizing it (mostly to farmers working for big corporations,) and the independent organic farmer relies on only his customers to foot the bill. So, a person8217s grocery costs might not all come out of hisher individual pocket, but society is paying for it just the same. Also, Americans spend an average of less than 10 of their money on food. In Europe and Japan, it8217s about 16-17. They don8217t eat stuff laden with corn syrup. They are more healthy overall and have less medical expenses, too. It8217s good to be frugal8230but not at the expense of one8217s health. Andy Baker says: Perhaps those of you who are feeding a family of seven on 600 (see 15 Salve Regina 5:01 pm September 1st, 2008) a month have a stay-at-home mom or dad who has time to cook the majority of meal from scratch and comparision shop. I8217d like to see more responses from young families of four with two full-time jobs and two kids under the age of five. More information on jobs and age of children would be very helpful. All of these messages have been interesting to read. I am a single parent of 3 kids. My 2 adult kids (18 amp 22) live with me, as does my 2-week old grandson. My youngest child (12) is here to visit for the summer. I bring home (after taxes amp insurance) less than 18,000 a year, and my daughter gets WIC and 200 in food stamps from the state per month 8211 and we make it on that. Our food budget right now is the 200 from my daughter8217s food stamps and I try to supplement our food budget whenever I can by doing cleaning amp painting jobs on the side. We do not have credit card debt, an expensive car (10 year old minivan) or a lot of luxury bills. Just the basics. Wow, I just did a search on frugal shopping because I8217m struggling with my 300month budget, and found this. I8217m absolutely sure that is all that gets spent on food (in answer to a couple old posts asking how people keep track.) My husband tracks every penny spent and where it goes, and I never use more than 150 at the grocery store (I go twice a month) and we don8217t eat out AT ALL. The food I bring home every other week is the only food we eat. My husband may grab a coke or candy bar at work IF he has change8230probably amounts to about 5 a year. Ri muito. PLUS8230my budget(which is for 2 adults, one 2-yr. old and one infant-I nurse so I eat more)8230that budget also has to cover all household items, hygene stuff etc, about 70month in prescriptions (asthma and eczema), 15month in dog food, cat food and litter, and any gifts for birthdays or extras. So basically, my 300month budget covers EVERYthing that is not bills or gas for cars. For food itself, I probably spend about 200month. (Which breaks down to just over a dollar per person, per meal.) Oh, and I stay at home, cloth-diaper my infant, and cook everything, we have oatmeal for breakfast every day, weekends we get eggs or pancakes. Lunches are whatever is left over from dinner, and my toddler doesn8217t eat packaged snacky foods (like crackers cookies juice etc.) We usually snack on leftovers. Basically I buy a little meat, lot of grains (lentils, barley, beans), lot of potatoes, try to throw in some fresh veggies, and some milk, cheese, baking ingredients, and pbampj. I don8217t buy soda or candy or any packaged foods. I do garden, but as we live in high desert, it only produces some tomatoes (which are cheap anyway) and a few spices and some squash. Doesn8217t make a dent in my shopping. Well let8217s think. We have three kids 2 4 and 10. I buy luvs diapers and only use pull ups at night. Two boxes of diapers and one large pkg of pullups and wipes is about 75 a month. 10 toilet paper 10 paper towel 10 laundry detergent 5 dish soap and my monthly groceries are over 100 and I haven8217t even bought food yet. We drink approx 4 gallons of milk a week. A bag of green apples might cost 3 on sale strawberries2.50 and grapes. Now add in lettuce carrots potatoe corn and zuchinni. Oh and bananas. And that8217 just fruit and veggies. I spend 800 easily. Plus 50 a week in gas. Plus eating out clothes shoes and medical expenses averaging 1250 a month. I know because we charge eveything and pay it off every month to get bonus points. I8217m sure we could eat much much cheaperbut I value fresh veggies and fruit and outside of july and august here they cost a pretty penny. I spend about 450.00 a month for a family of four(three adults, one twelve year old boy). This also includes cat food for four cats, and two dogs, all paper products. (We do use microfiber cloths a lot. Also includes dishwashing products and detergents. We eat well, and have a varied and healthy diet. I only shop sales, and use coupons where I can. When I can8217t, I buy generic. I also rebate, when available. We always have a freezer full, and our pantry is over-flowing, most of the time. We don8217t drink alcohol or eat out. What we fix at home is always better. We shop several stores within about a seven mile radius. We do have a small garden. I understand if people have allergies or medical conditions and can8217t eat certain foods. I do belong to programs where I get discounts on pet foods.(large coupons) We also utilize any leftovers. I would love to have a budget or 770.00 a month. I would use the leftover money to add to our savings for said twelve year old8217s college account. We spend anywhere from 450-600 on food per month for two of us in the upper Mid-west. I have celiac disease so the coupon packs that come with the Sunday paper are largely useless to us. I have to be careful with meat - a local grocer was selling chicken breasts for 1.99lb last weekend, but the meat was treated with chicken broth - a common feature of cheap meat and a big no-no for someone with celiac disease (the 8220natural flavor8221 is often barley malt, which doesn8217t have to be labeled as it isn8217t one of the big 8 allergens). This means I end up spending more for either brand names like Jennie-O that will label all gluten or for organic meats. It also means that it is even more difficult for me to eat at others8217 houses or restaurants. All labels must be read at all times. Sale items are often off-limits and as a grad student I don8217t always have time to hit several stores to stock up on loss leaders. Special certified gluten-free flours are considerably more expensive than standard wheat-barley all-purpose flour. GF pasta is two to four times more expensive than standard wheat pasta. We don8217t fuss about organic butter and cheese, but we find that usually the organic milk keeps longer in our fridge, which is important because we don8217t go through it quickly. We cook almost all of our food at home (since restaurant meals are like Russian roulette for me) and we cook from scratch as much as possible, so we spend a lot on things like cooking oils, vinegars, spices and herbs. We buy GF grains (rice, quinoa), nuts and legumes in bulk which save money overall but up the grocery tab for the month in which they were bought. It doesn8217t help that my husband has a hollow leg and will often eat half or more of a meal that was intended for four servings - he has a freakish metabolism and has yet to break 150 lbs at 5821798243. We also like to have people over for dinner and tend to cook big dinners - much cheaper and safer than dining out, but that adds to the monthly bill as well. Given all this, I8217m totally okay with spending a lot on our food. Now that I know how to treat my disease, I don8217t get sick anymore. I8217m not dosing myself up with all kinds of pharmaceuticals to get through each day. I8217m not spending money on doctor co-pays only to be told 8220I have no idea what is wrong with you8221. Totally worth the expense. Hi all. We have really struggled the past couple years with job layoffs. After literally having no food in our house and getting down on our knees begging God for food, we finally applied for food assistance. The first month we got 280 and I fed our family of four better than I ever had before Food had always been last on my list. I paid all bills first and then bought food with what was left over which was usually not much. My poor active husband pretty much starved. I shopped at Save-A-Lot, Gordon Foods and Walmart and was able to make lots of casseroles and pasta dishes. A bag of frozen chicken breasts is usually 10 at GFS for 15 breasts. I strongly believe in healthy eating so I tried to cook as healthy as I could with canned foods. Then, unfortunately we lost some more income (believe me, we are desperately trying to figure out our situation. we live in a very rural area and there is not much opportunity) anyway, we lost some more income and our food benefits were increased to 475 per month Wow, we eat like kings And always have money left over We shop mostly at Super Wal-Mart and we are able to get all kinds of amazing produce we eat a lot of fresh spinach, peppers, strawberries, blueberries, asparagus, tomatoes, etc. and have more food than we8217ve ever had We spend between 300 8211 400 per month. I can8217t imagine spending 770 They must be able to eat pretty much everything they could ever want I already feel like I have that on 400 per month. But, maybe that8217s because we were used to eating nothing and pretty much starving ourselves. The only reason I sought assistance was because I realized that while I could get by on very little, it was not healthy to do that to my kids. We are trying everything we can to climb out of our hole and not have to use government assistance anymore I can8217t wait until that8217s our reality and we have money. Start by planning your meal around an inexpensive 8220base8221: Bread, potatoes, rice, or noodles. Pick one of those first. Then add some meat, veggies, fruit, dairy to round out the meal. Only make enough meat for 1 serving per person (unless you8217re planning to use leftovers for another meal or the freezer). If people are still hungry, point them towards the breadpotatoesricenoodles. Same goes with the milk consumption. Give the kids their 1 cup serving (use a measuring cup to see where 1 cup comes up to on the drinking glasses you use). If they8217re still thirsty, point to the water faucet. I8217m single and spend 50-60 a month on food (and yes, I do eat meat, cheese, dairy, etc). That would translate to 200-240 per month for a family of 4. I cook everything from scratch8211and work full-time. Even when I had kids at home I worked full-time (and at times had additional part-time jobs) and cooked from scratch. As I always say: If you8217ve got time to watch television (or spend hours on the internet), you8217ve got time to bake bread, cook from scratch, make laundry detergent, sew, etc. I find it interesting that people are willing to cut corners on healthy food. Of all the things to spend money on, this should be at the top of the list, and not the place to cheap out. Also, it would be extremely helpful to see where each commenter lives. Here in the Seattle area, the cost of living is pretty high. I have been shocked at my family8217s grocery bill, but haven8217t figured it out without non-food items. Will go and do that out of curiosity Thanks for the thought-provoking post. I found this article while going on my own quest for cutting our food budget. We make a small fortune and our savings is8230well8230 horrid. So I sat down a few weeks ago and started adding everything up. I8217m a stay at home dad with a 5,6 and 10 year old and I cook 100 of the meals here. Food is certainly a highlight of everyone8217s day here. My wife and I are both very healthy. She8217s 5821768243 and 130 and I8217m 6821758243 and 189lbs. The kids are all of equal size. With that said, prior to this month my grocery bill was around 1500.00 in a suburb of Indianapolis. I didn8217t change my menu much and reduced our bill down to around 650.00 a month. How I stopped going daily or every other day to the grocery store. Instead, I do a monthly menu and shop every two weeks for all the items only going back for milk bread and eggs. Why easy, daily shopping always adds a couple of dollars for extra items. Biweekly doesn8217t add anything if you have a list and stick to it. We8217re not eating any boxed meals, I won8217t feed my family that nonsense. We don8217t eat fast food, it8217s too unhealthy. My wife drinks soda, but me and the kids drink milk, juice and primarily water. The trick for us, was making a master menu in excel but paper would work. I listed all of the meals I cook, the ingredients for each meal and how balanced of a meal it was. from here, I8217m able to make my shopping list and not miss anything. Meals with ingredients that won8217t last two weeks I make first or make and freeze. For a month, we8217ve been eating much the same for much less money. The kids don8217t know any difference. My wife notices that we8217re coming up with almost 1k extra a month and is loving it. I found this by typing in 8220average food budget8221 wondering if I8217m still higher than needed, or lower. It appears I8217m doing well but considering I8217m in a state where my milk costs me 1.90 a gallon and my bread is rarely over .65 for 100 whole wheat, I think I can do even better. If I can offer one piece of advice, plan ahead Not just a week, but a month or more. Make a list and stick to it at all costs. Thx for this Trent. Frankly I don8217t know how anyone is making it on the numbers posted in this blog for less than your average. My wife does all the shopping weekly for all three of us in the household plus our large dog. She has a budget of 200week and this is inclusive of personal hygiene products (toilet paper, deoderant etc). We have a nine year-old who is very active. I8217m the only one in the household classified as overweight so I probably eat more. I8217m an accountant by trade and tirelessly watch our dollars and track everything in Quicken meticulously. At 200week or 800month divided by 30-days and then 3 persons - that works out to feeding and keeping clean at roughly 9 per day. Take that number and divide by 3 meals per day and we are eating at approx 3meal. We rarely eat out and generally cook our meals for 3-4 days in advance every week. I8217ve noticed that most of the products in our panty are Great Value (Walmart brand)since brand names have become out of reach. HOW THE HECK ARE PEOPLE EATING FOR LESSPER MEAL OR PER DAY I just don8217t see how that is possible. My husband and I first started working on getting a handle on our food budget (really, our finances in general) in 2006. We are two early-thirties, average-sized vegans living in Southern California. Upon calculating our food spending, we were surprised to discover that we were each spending around 600 a month on food, for a household total of 1200 on food a month. I8217m not kidding. For people who wonder how two people can spend this much, it8217s a combination of: over-buying groceries (we were throwing spoiled things out every week) not comparison shoppingpaying attention to costs of foods buying only really high-quality ingredients, often from an expensive health food store eating lunches and dinners out a couple times a week for about 6-12lunch and 30dinner and just generally having no clue what it was 8220normal8221 to spend. Four years later, after much effort and learning, and with zero reduction in the quality of food we eat, we each spend 160month on food, for a combined household total of 320month. This number doesn8217t include the around 100 we spend on staples like dried beans and quinoa at Costco every 3 months, though, so figure that kicks our cost up to around 354month. We made the following lifestyle changes to reduce our spending: carefully organized the fridge and pantry from top to bottom, so we always know what we have at all times, meaning no more buying excess and wasting it pack all lunches at home (we never buy them anymore) bake our own bread every weekend in the breadmaker I bought 3 years ago at a heavy discount switched from canned beans to dried beans (we cook a big batch in the pressure cooker every weekend 8211 so much cheaper) buy bulk oranges and make our own juice (we freeze small amounts in little jars and then move them into the fridge as needed 8211 delicious, cheaper, no added sugars or anything) make a large batch of brown rice every two weeks and freeze 1 cup portions, so they8217re always on hand we cook with the crockpot and in big batches more than we ever did before, so there8217s always food in the house we cancelled our CSA, which was 35week, and began going to the farmer8217s market every Saturday instead, which is much less expensive in our area (I understand the cost of CSAs vs. farmer8217s markets may vary by region) we made a price book and learned where our staples were cheapest, and began to only buy them there we eat out only once a week now at the very most, and only at our favorite restaurant8217s 8220happy hour8221 8211 all their healthy appetizers are 12 price before 6pm on Fridays, so we can share 3 big appetizers (things like salads made from local, organic produce, quesadillas made with caramelized veggies and vegan cheese, etc.) for under 12, and still have leftovers for lunch the next day, bringing the cost of this date-night 8220splurge8221 down to 3personmeal we never order alcohol or soda in a restaurant, and drink only so-called 8220two buck chuck8221 wine from Trader Joe8217s (2bottle) at home we buy organic for things on the 8220dirty dozen8221 list of pesticide-retaining foods (strawberries, apples, etc.) but less expensive conventional produce for the rest I never ever buy cle aning products 8211 we make our own from bulk jugs of vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda, saving money, keeping toxic chemicals out of our home, and helping the environment rather than 3-4 trips to the storeweek, we shop just once a week now, under the theory that every time you walk into a store it8217s out of your pocket we routinely make our own salad dressings and vegan sausages instead of buying them, which is kind of fun and a huge savings we bought a few plastic food storage tupperware bins for a few bucks from Ikea, allowing us to keep all our fresh produce in either the crisper or a bin, and it stays fresh many days longer because of this and most importantly, we put ourselves on a cash only, strict food budget each week, and when the money is gone, it8217s gone, and we eat what we have in the house. I also looked into couponing, but it just isn8217t possible for the way we eat. I always see couponers insist that they buy 8220healthy8221 foods with their coupons, but when they list some of these supposedly healthy foods (sugary juices, chips, cookies, and other snack foods, mac and cheese, frozen dinners, etc.), I have to respectfully disagree. We don8217t personally eat things that aren8217t whole grain (we don8217t even buy non-whole grain pasta, let alone rice, bread, etc.), and eat only unprocessed, fresh, and vegan foods, so coupons generally don8217t apply to any of our items. That said, I can often find veggies and fruits on sale for under 1pound at our local Henry8217s Market, and our farmer8217s market always has 1 bags of things like onions, zucchini, squash, bell peppers, etc. that are an amazing deal. We eat lots of meals of simple, cheap things like roasted veggies (veggies roasted on cookie sheets with a little olive oil), chili, vegetable soups, veggie curries over rice, salads with beans and rice to make them more filling, and so on. Dessert in our house means either popcorn popped from kernels we buy in bulk, or a piece of fruit. Once in a blue moon, if we want a cookie or something, I bake a cookie with flour we8217ve bought in bulk and chocolate chips I8217ve gotten on sale. I think the key to managing this area of the budget without compromising quality is to track things carefully and thoughtfully, using a system that works for you, and to challenge yourself to eat the same on less every month, until you hit the level where doing so stops being possible. Then you know your minimum necessary food budget, and you can make an informed choice about how much to spend each week, fortnight, or month. Then develop a system of sticking to your budget that works for you 8211 for us, the key was going to an all-cash food budget, and to manage it in easier to track two-week, rather than month-long, intervals. Finally, I8217m sure that if all I had was 150month to feed a family of four, or whatever people are claiming they do, I could find a way to do it, but not without seriously sacrificing the quality of the food I was buying. Everyone has to do what they have to do to get by, but I don8217t really think anyone can tell anyone else what the 8220right8221 food budget is for their family, and especially not people living in different parts of the country with different food costs, and with different definitions of what 8220healthy8221 food is. I8217m both amazed that Trent is being criticized for his budget and amazed at the low numbers provided by families who are getting by on so little for groceries. Good for you, frugal families I have no idea how you do it Like Donny8217s wife, I have a budget of 200week for groceries and toiletriescleaning supplies. My boyfriend and I eat 400 in groceries and probably spend 100 in eating out per month. Since our goal was to get down to 500month in food costs for the two of us, our current budget makes us feel very thrifty We do, however, feed our friends and family members a couple times a week when they are low on cash or as a way of saying congratulationsthank youetc (we are pretty generous about helping them out with food), and we opt to go out to a 20 dinner and watch NetFlix movie occasionally rather than, say, spend the same amount on a theater movie. I wonder, respectfully, if the individuals with low food budgets are making up for it by spending more heavily in other areas An example besides the movie theater bit would be that we help our friends and family with food, but we do not donate to church or other charitable organizations. I8217m living in Souther California. My wife and I both work full time, I8217m out of town every other week, 7 days on home for 7 days. Our Home consumables FOOD Cleaning supplies Toilet paper and everything else you buy at the store runs about 3,000 a month. The wife doesn8217t seem to think this abnormal, I do. I have been cooking and freezing meals and trying to lead by example. I hope to at least save about a third of this money and put it towards home repairs and vacations. Oh yeah, we are a family of Four our daughters are 5 and 12 years old. READY FOR THIS I SPEND AN AVERAGE OF 100 PER WEEK FOR A FAMILY OF 5. THATS A 20 YEAR OLD GIRL, A 17 YR OD BOY AND A 14 YR OLD GIRL. TODAY MY CHECK WAS 99.42, WITH COUPON SAVINGS OF 78. THATS A SAVINGS OF 44. I ONLY SHOP AT ONE GROCERY STORE. I USE THEIR COUPONS AND ONLY BUY WHAT IS ON SALE THAT WEEK..BOUGHT 9 PORK CHOPS FOR 11. SAVED 8.33 ON THE PACKAGE. TWO PACKAGES (24 ROLLS) OF TOILET PAPER FOR 9.98, 2 1 COUPONS AND A COUPON FOR 2 OFF MY NEXT SHOPPING ORDE THAT MEANS I SPENT 5.98 INSTEAD OF 12. BTW, NONE OF US ARE OVERWEIGHT. I BUY NO SODAS, FRESH FRUIT AND VEGIES ONLY IN SEASON. MY KIDS MAKE THEIR SCHOOL LUNCHES ABOUT 2-3 TIMES A WEEK. THANKS FOR LETTING ME BRAG. ) I created a free calculator that will calculate your monthly spend based on the USDA averages (without requiring the PDF lookups and complicated adjustments based on how many family members). Advertising Disclosure: TheSimpleDollar has an advertising relationship with some of the offers included on this page. However, the rankings and listings of our reviews, tools and all other content are based on objective analysis. For more information and a complete list of our advertising partners, please check out our full Advertising Disclosure. TheSimpleDollar strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. 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