As most of you know, our main financial problem is that we spend too much money on food. When I first started blogging back in 2011, we were spending over $1,000 on food each month JUST for the two of us.
It’s a number I still don’t even understand and I feel ashamed whenever I mention it. We have been doing better over the years, but nothing to be proud of.
Some of our problems related to food include:
- We go to restaurants too many times each week.
- Too much of our food is wasted and has to be thrown away.
- We get lazy and tend to make the same meals over and over again.
That’s why one of our main goals for 2015 is to make more delicious meals at home.
We would like our average food budget for 2 each month to be somewhere around $500 per month. We want this monthly average food budget to include going out to eat and grocery spending, and I believe this is a number we should easily be able to achieve.
Since this is just a food budget for 2, $500 a month should be a reasonable number! I know there are many people out there who spend just a few hundred dollars each month for their growing families, and that is just amazing.
Below are the different actions we plan on taking in order to finally cut our food spending each month and have a lower food budget for 2 people:
More of our meals will be prepped ahead of time.
At one point, we were doing well with prepping our meals ahead of time. We would cook our chicken, vegetables, and a few other items a few days ahead so that we could eat a healthy meal easily.
Then, we fell off the wagon…
I am going to start doing this again. I would like to prep around four or five easy meals at a time so that we can have quick meals and snacks. This way we will be less likely to go out to eat because we will have something at home already cooked.
I will create a better meal plan to fit our monthly food budget.
Sometimes I’m great when it comes to meal planning, but other times I am quite bad. My plan to overcome this problem is that I will just pay to have meal plans sent directly to me. I never understood this before, so I always skipped meal planning subscriptions. However, at $5 a month with a lot of the legwork already completed, it is a GREAT idea.
The meal planning subscription I recently joined is $5 Meal Plans. I am an affiliate as well and will be doing a full review once I get a better feel of it.
So far I can already tell that it’s a great program. It’s only $5 a month (the first four weeks are free too) and you get meal plans sent straight to you along with the exact shopping list you need in order to create the meals. Each meal costs around $2 per person or less. This allows you to save time because you won’t have to meal plan anymore, and it will save you money as well! If you are interested in joining for free, click here.
We will buy less processed food.
I am guilty of trying to save time by buying pre-made or easy-to-cook meals. This includes frozen appetizers, packaged meals, and more. These are expensive and super unhealthy.
My plan is to cook more meals from scratch so that I can stop spending money on processed food. This leads to the next action we plan on taking…
I will stop being lazy so that we can have a more realistic average food budget for 2.
Sometimes I find a great recipe on Pinterest, only to read the recipe and find that there are 20 steps. This then throws my whole meal plan off because I get lazy and decide to not make the meal anymore.
My plan is to stop being lazy. I need to stop being intimidated by recipes that have more than just a few steps. Am I the only one who gets scared by long recipes? 🙂
I will keep track of our food spending.
I would like to start keeping track of the exact amount of money we spend on food and post it here on Making Sense of Cents each month.
I feel that doing this will make me actually pay attention to my goal since I will have to share how good or how horrible I did each month. This will make me pay attention to our average food budget more closely.
Also, it will feel more like a contest with myself and hopefully I can improve each and every month by publishing the exact amount of money we are spending on food.
What is your average food budget each month? Are you trying to lower it?
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NZ Muse says
Ours is similar but has increased a little recently and seems to be holding steady at that level (why? We want to eat better quality food; the most convenient supermarkets to our current place are a bit more expensive; inflation).
With those intimidating recipes, any way you can just do cut down versions, so they are more inspiration rather than to the letter? That’s how I tackle food anyway 🙂
Michelle S. says
Haha I am not very creative, so I feel like if I change the recipe that it won’t taste good :/
Michelle says
I spend around $250 a month and I eat really well. I tend to cook the majority of my food and very rarely eat out. When I do, it’s a FANTASTIC meal. Like, a meal where I take pictures for Instagram and Facebook and post them. I’m not anti Chipotle..I just am pro eating awesome food. Just give yourself cash for food out each week so that you can grab stuff when you feel like it, once the money’s gone then that’s it for the week. That’s a huge amount of money to use towards: retirement/new home/ and your new snowboard that you will need when we go snowboarding 🙂
Michelle S. says
Great idea Michelle!
Laura @ No More Spending says
Our goal food budget is £200 to £220 per month, but I’ve gone over so many times this year, even with meal planning etc.
I deliberately keep to simple foods – long recipes can be expensive and time consuming, so I avoid them.
Good luck with your goal.
Michelle S. says
Thanks Laura!
G says
prepare food by yourself is always the best choice because you know what exactly there is inside the dish, plus this program seems good…however tend to choose local and seasonal are more healty(for you and also for your wallet:P)
Michelle S. says
Thanks G!
Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank says
I don’t actually monitor our food spending, but I and my wife just assure that we have enough and never waste food. When it comes to dining out, come what may but we don’t spend more than a lot compared to what we may have if we dine in at home. I know the advantage in knowing how much we spend on food. I may try to do so.
Michelle S. says
Do you have an estimate on what you spend? 🙂
MyMoneyDesign says
I’ve tried cutting down our food budget with my wife, but its difficult. She buys a lot of healthy items like fresh fruits and vegetables, and those all add up. I’m sure you could probably squeeze a little more out of our budget, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t able to get it much lower.
Michelle S. says
Yeah, I’m hoping we can get it lower than what we are currently at 🙂
Gina Horkey says
We’re preparing to buy our second partial cow soon; this is a great way to save money on beef and it’s so nice to have it in our deep freezer, rather than having to buy it all of the time at the store. My sister does this with pork and chickens too:-). I don’t have our food budget set in stone, but we’re working up a plan for discretionary spending after the first of the year (i.e. groceries, gas, toiletries, dining out, entertainment, etc). With recently making the move to full-time freelancing, it’s a must!
Michelle S. says
That’s awesome! We ave been thinking about doing this as well. How much is that?
Mrs. Frugalwoods says
Sounds like an awesome plan! We spend around $330/month for the two of us on all food-related expenses. We don’t eat out at all, which helps a ton and we do a lot of really simple meals that Mr. FW often cooks in advance. A few things that help us keep our costs low: we rarely eat meat or dairy, we eat $0.10 oats for breakfast every day, and we buy in bulk at Costco. We also don’t waste much food, which is a big help–we’ve eaten some odd meal combinations in the name of using stuff up :).
Our grocery bill used to be super high too and it took us a few months to get it down to where it is now. I found that reviewing each receipt really helped us to identify areas of waste. And, the best part is that we actually eat more produce now–since we stopped buying pre-packaged things, we have a lot more room in our budget for fruits and veggies. Good luck! I’m rooting for you :)!
Michelle S. says
Wow awesome job! We eat oatmeal everyday and I love how cheap and easy it is. It’s usually snacks, lunch and dinner that kill us since we tend to eat 5 to 6 meals a day. It’s all about how lazy we are though – we need to be better with a more thorough meal plan.
[email protected] says
We used to try to spend $500 on 4 of us but it has grown to more like $600 per month over time. This is partially because my kids are getting older and eating more but also because it was really difficult to come in under $500 month after month. Food spending is definitely one of our problem areas so I have to keep a close eye on it!
Michelle S. says
I think you have a good food budget!
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life says
Food spending is a continual problem area for me too. It’s SO easy to just fall into the habit of grab and go- especially in NYC, i.e. foodie paradise!
Michelle S. says
Yes, it is hard!
Kathy says
We don’t really obsess over how much we spend on food. We have a general idea of what we’d like to spend but if we go over because we need to buy more meat one month, then that doesn’t freak us out. I know many PF bloggers really feel this is a huge area to concentrate on but the only thing on your list I’d try to fix myself is the wasted food thrown away. We have that problem with fresh produce. It seems to go bad so quickly but I really don’t want to shop for it more than once a week. We usually don’t have many leftovers since we just cook enough for the two of us and that gets eaten at the meal for which it was cooked.
Michelle S. says
Our food spending is out of control, so that’s why I obsess over it. I just constantly think about how all of that money could be saved! 🙂
Travis @enemyofdebt says
When we finished paying off our credit card debt, the first budget bucket that got increased was our grocery budget. We do meal planning, and I wanted to have the ability to make a few more “special” meals during the week. I love food, and I love cooking….my theory is, if we have great food at home, and have a plan for what we’re making, we’re less likely to go out to eat and would end up actually saving money in the long run.
Michelle S. says
Yes, I love good food at home as well 🙂
cherie says
Kudos for the efforts! Baby steps 🙂
I am a single mom with two teens and one tween, plus their father eats with us at least one dinner and several breakfasts/week. So without extra guests we get by on about 800/month which does NOT include eating out. But with that amount i have an extensive pantry stocked and a freezer bursting as well. I can do with much less if I dip into the resources without refilling right away, which I do a couple times a year to make sure things get used up.
That said, it’s less to feed four per person than it is to feed two I think – taking advantage of several economies of scale, so don’t compare yourself with those feeding a family on much less
I personally feel planning is the ultimate key – while I think a service is great if it gets you moving in that direction, personal planning is the best use of food dollars simply because a) there are no fails [which are fine for adults – you’ll eat them and remove it from your rotation – but for kids, well, they just won’t and will pilfer the pantry later LOL] and b) you can make better use of the sales going on in your neck of the woods.
cherie says
I just wanted to add that this amount includes mostly organic/unprocessed/scratch cooking and baking – it could go much lower if necessary. I shop at pricier stores because they’re more likely to have the choices I seek at reasonable prices [a cheaper store here has organics at a far higher price than a ‘fancier’ shop has their organics – not sure why] and I live in a high cost of living area – nyc suburb.
Just to give you a more reasonable comparison!
Michelle S. says
Yes, planning is something that we definitely need to work on 🙂 Thanks!
Amy says
I tried to keep us – family of 3 – to a monthly grocery budget of $300, but I’ve gone over every month since I started tracking. When my husband and I put together our budget structure for 2015, we included $400 per month for groceries, which should be doable.
Michelle S. says
Good luck Amy! 🙂
sara says
I love seeing what others spend on food a month and how where you live impacts food prices. We budget $750 a month for a family of 4 in NY and its very rare that I am under that budget. This includes all cleaning, toiletries and paper products but does not include dining out. To be honest we don’t really eat out and if we do its usually when running errands so I pick up fast food out of my “allowance” budget. I can’t wait to see how you do monthly and hope you share some new recipes that you like.
Michelle S. says
Thanks Sara! Hopefully I don’t do too badly 😛
Stephanie says
We probably still eat out too much, but I’m great at keeping grocery costs low. If I eat out once a week, I spend no more than $50 on groceries for the month.
I love the idea of those meal planning sites, I just wish they’d be more customizable. I eat vegan, but I also hate tofu, so all those sites are out for me. Oh well! Hopefully it’s successful for you, good luck!
Michelle S. says
Aww that stinks! Hopefully there will be a better meal planning site for you one day 🙂
Michelle S. says
Aww that stinks! Hopefully there will be a better meal planning site for you one day 🙂
Hilary says
We’re really bad about not buying enough when we do our “weekly” shopping trip so we end up making 3-5 trips per week. Spending a minimum of $30 each time. That adds up quick! I might check out the $5 Meal Plan site! Thanks!
Michelle S. says
Yes, you should! It’s free for the first month 🙂
Newlyweds on a Budget says
I’m always impressed by people who have very low strict food budgets. Even when I was trying really hard, it was always very hard for me to make my $300 budget. It was usually like $350 a month for 2 people. We eat a lot better now, very little processed food, organic fruits and veggies and meats, etc and we tend to come in around $400-500 (closer to $500) a month for 2 people. This does NOT include eating out or any household supplies (cleaning, etc). We eat out occasionally, but I would say if you include that, we are probably around $700 a month for our total food, groceries and dining out
Michelle S. says
Yeah, I would one day like to have a lower budget than $500, but we like food so much so I don’t know if that’s possible.
Melanie @ Dear Debt says
Food is definitely my problem area! I love going out to eat and buying nice things at the store. My goal in 2015 is also to lower those costs! We can do it!
Michelle S. says
Good luck Melanie! 🙂
Sarah says
We spend way too much on food, too! For our family of four (which is really just two of us since our kids are two and under), we also were spending well over $1000. Now, we’re aiming for $500 but I haven’t kept super-close track…which I need to start doing.
I’m excited to read your review of the $5 meal plans! It’s so hard for me to come up with stuff…
Michelle S. says
Yes, I’m thinking this meal planning thing will work. I’ll do a review soon!
Holly says
Ours started at $250 per month for husband & wife 5 years ago. Today it’s at $300 per month mostly due to inflation. We may spend up to $100 in addition to that eating out. So roughly $400 per month at the most. Many months we come in under budget. I attribute this to shopping more at ALDI, using coupons and not throwing food out. Sometimes I just clean out the cupboards. I make meals and freeze leftovers. Or I’ll make something on Sunday and we eat it throughout the week. I also bake my own bread which I think saves money over buying store-bought bread.
Michelle S. says
Wow great job Holly!
Shannon @ Financially Blonde says
Eating out was the biggest drag on our food budget. When we cut that and challenged ourselves to a tight grocery budget, we dramatically cut our food costs last year. For us, the biggest thing was setting a challenge. We challenged ourselves to $400 a month and it became a game for us, and now we typically come in under this. It takes time, meal planning energy and lots of meals in, but it works. Good luck!!
Michelle S. says
Wow great job Shannon!
Kayla @ Shoeaholicnomore says
I spend only $120/month on food and that feeds me for every meal (except eating out) and it also feeds my dad lunch several days/week. I think $500 is very reasonable, in fact it could be lower. Maybe as you get the hang of it you can go even more “extreme” 🙂
Michelle S. says
Yes, I could probably be more extreme 🙂
Chonce says
Sounds like you have a great plan to cut back on food spending and if you stick to your guns, I know you’ll make it work. We spend about $300/month on groceries for my family of 3 and it’s pretty tough to do some times. But tracking my food spending and buying less processed foods and more fresh foods and ingredients definitely helps.
Michelle S. says
Wow great job with your food budget!
Mary says
I moved from Rural Upstate NY to the D.C area this year and kept my grocery budget at $100 dollars a month for one person. I still eat a lot of fruits and veggies and eat meat about 3 times a week. However, my social (restaurant/drinking) budget line went from $25 to $60 a month, but that is because there are just so many groupon/food deals down here and my foodie heart just wants to try them 🙂 Once the money is spent though I’m done for the month.
Michelle S. says
Sounds like you have a great budget Mary. Good job!
Danica Pelzel says
Great post, Michelle! I spend about $200/month on myself, but I used to spend a lot more. Check out some of the tips that helped me to save on groceries (http://busybeewellness.com/2014/05/04/healthy-eating-on-a-budget/). Good luck!
Michelle S. says
Thanks Danica!
Marti says
I know I need to make the grocery budget a priority. I don’t know that we spend too much, but I know I could do better just by shopping more loss leaders and basing my menu around them rather than choosing a menu first. Changes for us in 2015 is that I just found out I have celiac disease along with a couple of other issues and that will be challenging both in cooking and in shopping.
Michelle S. says
I hope you have a successful food budget year Marti 🙂
Michelle S. says
Yes, I love my crockpot! Those are always our best meals 🙂
LeisureFreak Tommy says
We have a $500 a month budget for groceries for 2 but that also includes other things we get at the grocery store like cleaning supplies and personal care products which makes staying on budget tough. It does take a lot of planning ahead and the time to prepare meals. We end up trying it all from Costco to coupons and store sales. I sure miss our summer garden.
Michelle S. says
Yes, we definitely want to have a garden so that we can have super fresh vegetables and save a little money as well. Hopefully we can start that with our next home.
Michelle S. says
Thanks Kassandra!
Michelle S. says
I believe the $5 Meal Plan company I mentioned in this post have a gluten free option that may be able to help you out 🙂
Wes’s family is all gluten free so I understand how expensive it is. It can definitely be hard!
Kasia says
My husband and I spend around $500-600 per month at the grocery store and that includes food, nappies, cleaning products, toiletries, etc. The majority of our meals are home cooked as we both enjoying cooking and we eat lots of fruit and vegetables every day. Processed meals or junk food rarely make it in our trolley unless it’s a block of chocolate or a packet of Tim Tams (choc biscuits). I’m happy with that amount, we limit our eating out to about once a week but that doesn’t form part of our food budget but comes from our budgeted discretionary spending.
Michelle S. says
Sounds like you are exactly where we want to be at!
Michelle S. says
We should keep each other motivated and on track! 🙂
Mark @ BareBudgetGuy says
We subscribed to meal plans for about a year which was incredibly helpful for us. No impulse grocery shopping, just stick to the list! Including eating out, our food budget for 5 is usually around $800.
Michelle S. says
Glad to hear that a subscription service worked for you. I’m excited for it!
Jason @ Phroogal says
The hardest part for me to cook at home was the prepping part. I felt it took way too long to do and therefore wasn’t motivated to start doing it. But, like all things planning helped. I have a very small food budget.
Michelle S. says
Yes, same here. I need to stop being lazy!
Leslie Beslie says
I would start looking at cookbooks (take some out from the library) and avoid fancy-looking recipes on Pinterest. Start small. You don’t need every meal to be Instagramable.
Michelle S. says
Thanks Leslie! Nope, definitely don’t need meals to be picture worthy. I’ve never taken pictures of food and I don’t think that will happen any time soon. Baby steps! 🙂
Elroy says
We spend about $500 in groceries and another $250 or so eating out each month. But, we’re a family of four…
At one point, when it just the two of use, we had our cost down to about $2.00/meal/person, which is pretty darn good (and that included eating out!). But, we’re no longer at the point in our lives where we strive to eat as “frugally” as possible, even though my wife continually lets me know “pop [soda] is a total waste of money.” I need a DP10 now….
Michelle S. says
Wow $2 a person sounds amazing!
Jessica says
I think we spend approximately $400 per month on groceries and eating out. I tend to cook most nights, but we also buy a more convenience food than we should. And I also admit to going a bit crazy on specialty items like good cheese and fancy seasonings.
I think you have a good plan to lower your food budget. Having a plan and doing as much prep work as possible works really well for me. Both of those things help to combat the laziness I often feel in the evenings.
Michelle S. says
Thanks Jessica!
sarah says
My family of 7 food budget us between 600-640 each month. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot but it works well for us. I’ve had to learn some creative ways to fit food into small budget like cooking with an unusual ingredient like yucca or plantains (which r pretty cheap). Good for you to try cutting down your food budget, good luck. I wish I could trim mine more but this is the lowest I think we will get.
Michelle S. says
Your food budget sounds great. Good job Sarah!
Fig @ Figuring Money Out says
Food spending always tends to creep up for me because I eat out way too much. I like spending time with friends and family and they always want to go out somewhere to eat. It’s something I definitely plan to get a better handle on in the new year!
Michelle S. says
Good luck! 🙂
Michelle S. says
Thanks! 🙂
Michelle S. says
Wow you are amazing!
diane @smartmoneysimplelife says
Food… it’s a complex topic. There’s always a bit of a juggle between spending as little as possible and getting nutritional value for money. I lean toward spending a bit more and buying quality ingredients as anything else just seems to be false economy – ongoing good health means a lot less spent on doctors, dentists and various medications.
So, buy quality ingredients at the best price you can, cook from scratch and, most importantly, stay away from temptation! Stay out of the supermarket and make sure you either have a quick meal or two in the freezer or one you can put together in next to no time from pantry staples.
At the very least, stick to ingredients you know (and like) and figure out different ways to put them together, that way you’re assured of liking the end result. For example, Bolognese sauce: spaghetti bolognese, lasagne, pasta bake, add taco seasoning for tacos or burritos or serve over rice… Same basic sauce served different ways. Food for thought, huh?!
Good luck with the menu plans.
Michelle S. says
Thanks Diane!
J says
We used to waste so much as well! But now, the two of us spend around $300 a month on food. We plan our dinners for the week before we shop, shop the flyers, and always check to see what’s in the fridge before we do any shopping. We also use our slow cooker a lot – it’s a life saver! Makes a lot of inexpensive, easy, and delicious meals! 🙂 Good luck!
Michelle S. says
Thanks! Yes, I love using our slow cooker. We’ve used it every day this week already.
Michelle S. says
Thanks! We are doing well so far thankfully 🙂
KK @ Student Debt Survivor says
We are spending WAY too much money on groceries and food. It’s an area we’re actively trying to address, since we’re spending $100 (on avg. ) a week for two people at the grocery store and still eating out 2-3 times a week. Not only will eating at home be cheaper, but also healthier.
Michelle S. says
Hopefully we can keep each other motivated!
Barrie says
I take out cash for groceries for each pay period. When that money is gone, no more purchasing food! LOL. We’ve saved a lot of money this way.
Lydia @ Thrifty Frugal Mom says
I LOVE this! We are a family of 5 (2 adults, a 6 yr. old, 3 yr. old and 1 yr. old) and we have a $200/mo. grocery budget (includes toiletries and household things too). It takes a bit of work, but it can be done! Part of what helps us do so well is the fact that we use coupons and also I stockpile some. For instance, if I see that I can get a 12 pk. of toilet paper for $5 by combining a coupon and sale, I’ll go ahead and buy at least 2. This will get us through till the next sale and will save us at least $8. By doing this regularly on all sorts of different items, I can save a ton!
I love your commitment to making more of your own food. I think you’ll be surprised at how much that will save you. Oh, and tracking your spending here on your blog will be a great motivator! At least it is for me. 🙂 I’m anxious to see how it goes for you- you can do this!
Now I’m going to go see if I can find your update on how the first month went. 🙂