Moms Chime in with Suggestions
MOM – I used a feature on my CC app that shows a detailed breakdown of our expenditure. To my shock, we, family of four, are spending nearly $3k a month on food. This includes groceries & dining out. This feels like a huge number to me. We are two adults and two elementary aged children. We only buy organic, fresh food and avoid almost everything in a box, ie processed. -We have to make exceptions when dining out. With that in mind, does anyone have any tips? Also, curious if this feels high or normal to other families with same size and same food standards? I used to have these standards but have let them fall as the price of food has increased. Now it’s a lot of Grocery Outlet and Safeway.
C – That seems high to me. We have the same family size and spend about $1,000-$1,200 a month on food, but we really don’t eat out at all (maybe once every other month, or a lunch here or there). Our meals are mostly cooked through Hungry Root delivery service, which is about $200 a week for us, and the service meets most of your criteria– fresh, we’re mostly plant-based with some fish and chicken, not a lot of processed stuff. A decent variety but there’s definitely some repetition. We supplement with a trip or two a month to the grocery store for eggs, milk, rice, beans, supplemental veggies, etc.
MOM – Thanks for sharing your tips! Seems like we are overspending for sure. I’m going to see if we can bring down our costs in the next 30 days.
V – How many times a week do you eat out? That may be your culprit, because 3k sounds pretty high.
Honestly, too many! Mostly for lunch or food in between meals – usually to regulate our kids who are suddenly starving. But, I’m going to try to curb this and see how much it cuts our food costs. We pretty much eat every dinner together as a family at home – and I bring leftovers to work the next day. But even coffees/bagels/ burritos during the day are adding up with the prices of things, I guess.
A – $3,000 seems really expensive I’m a mom of 3 girls so I’m a household of 4 my oldest is turning 15 and I spend roughly $800 a month but I also do get WIC for my 3yr old and my 22 month old so that helps out a lot
C – Yep. Food costs are through the roof. The only way to really bring it down is to stop eating out IMO.
W– That does seem like a shockingly high number, and I’m sure there are lots of opportunities for you to bring that number way down! I starting listening to financial podcasts, like Choose FI, a few years ago and that was life-changing for me in terms of the way I viewed money/spending and financial optimization.
E – I used to be a huge consumer, and I am now extremely selective and intentional with my spending, it has become a mindset and a lifestyle that has served me well.
B – For me, the place I could find the most improvement is not eating out as much as we used to do, but we seem to always be out and about and on the go go go. I do try to hit up Grocery Outlet once a week, they have some great organic brands there and you just never know what you’re going to find. Trader Joe’s also has a lot of organic options, so I probably do the bulk of my shopping there now, and then fill in what I can’t find that either of those places at the more expensive grocery stores.
Q– I try to only shop for one or two meals at a time instead of stocking up on a bunch of stuff for the whole week. If I’m intentional with my meal planning, I save a lot more money that way and a lot less food goes to waste. 
MOM – Ooh, thanks for the podcast tip. I’ll check out Choose FI. I really like Ramit Sethi, fyi, for financial tips. He has been quite helpful! We’re really pretty good with our spending, don’t have any debt, put money away but the obvious issue is with our food costs. Seeing all these replies has confirmed what I was thinking – it’s a good wake up call for me. I appreciate your response. Thank you.
P – That seems high. Have you divided what is the eating out vs at home grocery trips.
We find we have too much waste and our bill is higher. Smaller grocery trips with a meal plan helps.
MOM – So thanks for the reminder I have NOT been meal planning/ shopping for that list lately.
N – Every meal out for a family of three feels like it hits near $100 after tip. Prices just keep climbing.
J – Easily. A nice meal would be more like $200.
T – 3K sounds really high, it has to be the eating out
M – I think it depends on what your food needs are. I find I spend a lot on making lunches for everyone. We also have gluten intolerant and diabetics. Eating out is really expensive but sometimes it’s part of self-care in my world.
MOM – Yep, we pack our kids really good ($$$) food for their lunches but sometimes it gets wasted, which is so frustrating. And then we find wrappers of processed junk that we don’t buy that they are somehow getting from school. So frustrating that they’re filling up someone else’s cheez-its or whatever and the cut up organic apples & PB are getting tossed out. sigh! It’s a struggle. And also, yes, on particularly stressful commuting days, my self-care is stopping for a coffee drink from my favorite little coffee shop (but the mocha is $9!!! now). That’s just crazy! But, this thread is showing me where I can make some necessary changes and still keep my occasional going out as a self-care when needed. Thanks for your reply.
Editor – Copycat Starbucks Mocha Recipe. AI calculates: You can make approximately 6 Starbucks mochas for $9 using a copycat recipe, as the cost of ingredients for each mocha is around $1.45.
S – I started meal planning using recipes from email lists I subscribe to and it makes budgeting food super easy. The plans come with grocery lists prep lists and full recipes. We only eat out about once a week, pack lunches for work, make coffee at home etc. We are a family of 5 and we spend about $1200 a week. I guess if you add the 2 subscriptions I have for meal planning its about $1215 (?) a month.
W – Family of three, RARELY eat out. 1500 a month or so is average… try to stay under 1200.
R – I heard something in the news recently about grocery bills costing a family of four an average of $1,200 a month now (across the nation). That said, we’re at about $800 for groceries and $400 for eating out for a family of four, but we price compare when we shop and go to 3-4 different stores to get everything within our budget. Not eating out is the biggest difference maker. Only getting select staples (bread, toilet paper, tortillas, meat, almond flour, cheese, coconut milk) at Costco is another. Shopping at Grocery Outlet is fantastic for affordable organics (yogurt, healthier snacks, veggies) and Trader Joe’s for certain other staples (lactose-free milk).
O – I tell my husband that if I didn’t work, I could save us so much money on food because I’d have time to go to multiple grocery stores but since I do work, I often only have time to go to New Leaf – where I’m certainly overpaying for things! But, if I resign, we’d lose my whole paycheck so there’s that. Ugh. But, I think Costco/Grocery Outlet/TJs needs to become a part of my weekend routine.
W – We are about $2400 for a family of 4 – also organic (especially meat and dairy), and rarely go out. It includes all items from the grocery store like some cleaning supplies and supplements. I am trying to do more bean and lentil dishes to lower our costs because it’s not cheap, even though we cook most ourselves. Even our own bread. I wish I had advice…
MOM – I do like the tip about doing more bean/lentil dishes. Good protein but less costly than meat.
N – It depends how you shop… We we’re definitely spending that much or more as a family of four shopping at New Leaf & Staff of Life , farmers markets for our groceries and supplies for our home like cleaning supplies, paper towels, vitamins, toiletries and eating out weekly … when we looked into our spending ….we were spending $200+ a month at Verve and Cat & Cloud for coffee and snacks…it adds up so fast. Since adding two more little ones to the family we have to budget more. Now we do a big monthly shop at Costco for what we can (I had to make some compromises) and then we do weekly shops around town for produce, meat, dairy , specialty items etc. Everything is so expensive especially if you’re buying local and organic. We still eat out but not as often. We now make most of our coffees at home and only go a few times a month as a treat. With that said, you could definitely cut the bill in half if you made some compromises and were strategic about where you shop, and stopped eating out for the most part. Sending hugs, the struggle is real.
A – You sound a lot like us! It’s so tricky because going into my favorite coffee shop about 2x a week for a drink is part of my self-care. I work and commute so I like to reward myself. And sometimes my kids are falling apart after sports or school so we stop to buy food rather than wait to eat at home because they’re on the verge. We usually do multiple big shopping hauls at New Leaf a month – but the prices are getting out of hand. I like the idea of doing Costco 1x a month. I appreciate your comment! Thank you. I’m hopeful that we can cut back now that we’re at least aware of how much we’re overspending.
O – Seems high for sure. We are a family of 4 and maybe eat out once or twice a month. $1000 or $1500 a month on food is doable in our household. $1500 a month is on the generous end.
Y – That seems a bit high, as we are also a family of 4, including 2 adults and 2 elementary school children and we spend around $1000 to $1200 per month on groceries. It’s divided between 2x at Costco and 3-4 trips to Trader Joe’s. We also eat mainly organic and very few processed or packaged foods that being said we do not eat out at all and if so 1 to 2x per month. I try to stretch our food with basics like rice or pasta 4x per week, pita pizza night 1x per week and lots of cooked vegetables with chicken, turkey or tofu every night for dinner. We don’t usually have extra sweets like ice cream or cookies and get those on occasion as special treats. I also take advantage of my kids FREE Breakfast and lunch at school which definitely helps. I still pack them a lunch with lots of snacks and they usually have extra after-school to munch on while they wait for dinner. Leftovers also never go to waste and are finished the following day. Good luck, I’m sure you can cut costs somewhere in your budget!
MOM – Amazing! I’m inspired. Thank you. We need to buy/eat fewer sugary treats. Good for you guys for limiting that. Good for health and the pocketbook.
R – Sounds about right to me if you’re not eating processed foods and everything is organic.
V – We’re at around $2k between groceries and eating out. Family of 2 + a toddler. We also buy organic and nothing in a box. Meat is so expensive! We don’t eat out as a family much. Mostly just the toddler and myself PS: have you considered buying half a cow?
E – Start using the grocery store apps to shop for what you need to get your spending under control.
Z – We are a family of 3, I have 2 hungry athletic teenagers. I only eat organic, pasture raised etc. On average I am spending about $1,200 sometimes less. A game changer for me was getting a regenerative pasture raised meat box delivery. We don’t eat out. Occasionally I get the boys a burrito, but even that is rare now.
T – We’re a family of 4, one is a toddler , I only make 1-2 trips to Costco and try to stay under 300 each time plus fresh veggies about 100 biweekly and we rarely eat out like maybe once a month so like under 1000 for us
W – Normal to me including eating out.
M– If you shop organic: Aptos Farmers Market and I believe also Weds market downtown, go to Pinnacles Farmstand for cheapest organic veggies in town, all organic, and half price of New Leaf. New leaf has really increased in price since expanding, rather try Staff of Life which is much cheaper. Cook mainly soups and stews, which stretches your meat and you can buy the cheaper stewing cuts. Add the cheap cuts like chicken feet and gizzards.We never ever eat out except maybe a burrito at Taqueria sporadically.
