How Much Should My Grocery Budget Be?

It’s one of the most often asked questions in the budgeting world. “How much should I be spending on groceries?” When people start budgeting and hacking away at unnecessary expenses, they seem to have a preconceived notion in their mind that they absolutely have to get their grocery budget down to a set number for their family size. I’m here to tell you, it’s just not so! You heard me. There is NO one set number to need to get your grocery budget to. And here’s why.

Grocery Budget Depends on Location

Where you live determines what you will pay for groceries. States like Hawaii, California, New York and New Jersey all have higher cost of living, and as a result, higher grocery costs. While PA may not be within the top 10, it’s certainly a state with a higher cost of living than other states like Texas, Tennessee and Louisanna. But this doesn’t apply only from state to state. Grocery costs can also within a region. Grocery stores local to me run different sales than stores in the next town an hour away, and their retail prices can will be different too.

It Depends on Your Diet

If you eat all organic, unprocessed foods, you can expect to pay a little more than someone who’s buying processed foods. If you’re on a gluten free diet, or have egg allergies, you may be paying a little more for your food. In our family, we don’t use regular milk. The boys drink lactose free milk, while Lady Bug drinks soy milk. For me, this means I’m spending roughly $35 per month on 5.5 gallons of milk. If they were able to digest regular milk, I’d be spending under $20 month.

Depends on What’s Included

I include household and personal care items in with our grocery budget {although this month I have started breaking it down into different categories}. Since I include items besides just food in our grocery budget, it makes it difficult for me to compare my budget for my family of 5 to someone who has a $400 budget for a family of 6 and they include only strictly groceries. The playing field isn’t even.

But it’s not just groceries vs. household. What about lunches? Some people budget lunches as a separate line item in their budget rather than buying items to pack for lunch. For our family, our $500 per month budget includes all meals eaten at home as well as packed lunches for Hubs, Bookworm and Monkey. Occasionally Hubs will eat out for lunch, but that money comes from our Fun money category for the month. For the last 3 years, I have packed the boys’ lunches every single day of school. Buying certain lunch box friendly items may raise my grocery budget slightly, but it also saves in the long run by not buying school lunches.

Do You Cook From Scratch

Cooking from scratch can save a lot of money. If you prefer to make things from scratch, your grocery budget will be less than someone who prefers the ease of convenience foods. Making things from scratch doesn’t have to stop at recipes though. Simple things like making your own chicken broth and vanilla yogurt are simple, wonderful ways to make the most out of your grocery budget.

Other Factors

Do you garden? Buy a lot of fresh produce when it’s in season and preserve it somehow? Have a stockpile? If you do, your grocery budget will be different than people who don’t have access, space, or the resources for this.

If you do garden, are you able to garden year-round? Most years, I’m not able to garden from the beginning of late October through the end of March. It’s simply too cold for anything but the crows to thrive outside. But some people in Washington and Oregon are able to have shard, lettuces, and carrots growing in their gardens in January. Then there’s places like California and Florida. A few years back Hubs and I were in Florida for spring break in March, and there were fresh strawberries. That doesn’t happen until June for us up in the north! By the way, I’m completely jealous of you folks that can have winter gardens.

All that being said, if you want a good starting point for your grocery budget, the USDA publishes estimates on the cost of food every month. According to their estimates, our family should be spending $606.80 a month under the thrifty plan. While we do spend less than that a month, some of our dietary restrictions make it hard to reduce our bill any lower. If we wanted to get “liberal” with our grocery prices, their estimates suggest we should be spending nearly $1,198 a month on food. For reference, that’s very close to what we were spending each month before we started to get our budget under control.

The heart of the matter is this: please don’t get caught up comparing your grocery budget to someone else. Everyone is different depending on situation, location, and dietary needs. It’s okay to wonder for an estimate, but don’t dwell on it and let yourself get frustrated over it in the end. You’re comparing apples to zucchini. As long as the end result is a reasonable grocery budget that sufficiently feeds your family, you’re going in the right direction.