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grocery budget for family of 4

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Sep 18, 2010
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Oakville

grocery budget for family of 4

I am trying to come up with a monthly budget for groceries.
There are 2 adults and 2 boys ages 14 and 12.

How much do you spend on groceries?
What do you feel would be a reasonable amount?

We have no dietary restrictions.
319 replies
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Jan 31, 2006
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For me I can say $70 per week is reasonable. Depends on how you spoil your kids (I mean do u allow them to buy junk foods like chips and pop)
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Sep 18, 2010
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Oakville
Are you saying 280 a month? That would seem impossible.
No, I don't buy chips. I do buy pop but that's mostly for me. But I am going to cut that out.
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AANJ wrote: Are you saying 280 a month? That would seem impossible.
No, I don't buy chips. I do buy pop but that's mostly for me. But I am going to cut that out.
Forget to ask you are you an asian? white? black or what? We are asian, we eat rice and bread, cook meat and veggie (pork, beef, chicken), buy big stuff in costco or whenever there is a sale (can goods, cereal, milk,etc...) then most we spend is $70 to $80 per weeks sometimes $100 a week. It depends on your eating habit and what you usually eat.
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Sep 24, 2005
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AANJ wrote: I am trying to come up with a monthly budget for groceries.
There are 2 adults and 2 boys ages 14 and 12.

How much do you spend on groceries?
What do you feel would be a reasonable amount?

We have no dietary restrictions.
2 boys aged 14 and 12?
you should have an unlimited budget. :)

i don't think it's easy to recommend, without knowing your normal eating habits, but i think you will be spending at bare minimum $500-600, if the boys are going through meat like they should be at that age.
“Children see magic because they look for it.”
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Mar 24, 2008
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Depending on what you eat, $100-150/person per month would seem fair.
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Jul 19, 2007
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$700/month for 3 people and everything bought is very budget wise.

$70/week....lol, even birds eat more.
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Mar 24, 2008
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KingKuba wrote: $700/month for 3 people and everything bought is very budget wise.

$70/week....lol, even birds eat more.
Depends what you eat, I guess. If you are a vegetarian, for example, $70/week would be an overkill.
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Dec 25, 2005
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The answer is: it depends how much you want to spend.

Be prepared to be bombarded with a series of responses from people who are spending next to nothing on food per week. I generally spend between $80 and $130 per week for myself; you can extrapolate from that. The more healthily you eat, and the higher the quality of the food you consume, the more you'll spend. I try to buy organic, where I can reasonably find it, for animal products or higher pesticide content or GMO foods. I also try to buy "cleaner" alternatives where possible (e.g. Alaskan salmon over Atlantic salmon). It's not always possible, but I do what I can.

My diet is composed mainly of vegetables, proteins (e.g. Australian lamb, organic chicken, Alaskan salmon, etc.), and fats, with some fruit. I fully recognize that this approach might not be feasible for larger families on a budget, and you may need to include lower cost options.

I really don't consume any potatoes, grains or legumes, which I realize would result in a significantly cheaper grocery bill. You can get your caloric requirements from bread, rice or beans a heck of a lot more cost effectively than from high quality poteins, fruits and vegetables. I also don't buy anything "out of a box", which can be more or less expensive, depending.

I'm not suggesting you replicate my approach. You may not even agree with it. I'm just presenting an alternative to the posts I know are coming, that will suggest that anyone spending over $70 per week is out of their right mind.

Edit: I should probably mention that I'm not a "light" eater. I'm pretty young and quite tall, so I probably eat more than your average adult.
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Nov 19, 2002
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Family of 5, kids are 11, 8, 5.

We eat out maybe 3 times a month. Shop at Costco and NoFrills predominantly - very few prepared foods, but a fair amount of seafood and meat. Expense report says we range from $550-800 per month. Average for 2012 was $660.

This could be SUCH a huge range depending on the kinds of foods you like (the all lobster diet?) and how much effort you're willing to put in. I cook a lot.
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Sep 18, 2010
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Oakville
cgtlky wrote: Forget to ask you are you an asian? white? black or what? We are asian, we eat rice and bread, cook meat and veggie (pork, beef, chicken), buy big stuff in costco or whenever there is a sale (can goods, cereal, milk,etc...) then most we spend is $70 to $80 per weeks sometimes $100 a week. It depends on your eating habit and what you usually eat.
We are white.
We do shop at Costco but we usually spend 1200 a month. So, I am trying to really scale back.
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Sep 18, 2010
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Oakville
Nukey wrote: The answer is: it depends how much you want to spend.

Be prepared to be bombarded with a series of responses from people who are spending next to nothing on food per week. I generally spend between $80 and $130 per week for myself; you can extrapolate from that. The more healthily you eat, and the higher the quality of the food you consume, the more you'll spend. I try to buy organic, where I can reasonably find it, for animal products or higher pesticide content or GMO foods. I also try to buy "cleaner" alternatives where possible (e.g. Alaskan salmon over Atlantic salmon). It's not always possible, but I do what I can.

My diet is composed mainly of vegetables, proteins (e.g. Australian lamb, organic chicken, Alaskan salmon, etc.), and fats, with some fruit. I fully recognize that this approach might not be feasible for larger families on a budget, and you may need to include lower cost options.

I really don't consume any potatoes, grains or legumes, which I realize would result in a significantly cheaper grocery bill. You can get your caloric requirements from bread, rice or beans a heck of a lot more cost effectively than from high quality poteins, fruits and vegetables. I also don't buy anything "out of a box", which can be more or less expensive, depending.

I'm not suggesting you replicate my approach. You may not even agree with it. I'm just presenting an alternative to the posts I know are coming, that will suggest that anyone spending over $70 per week is out of their right mind.

Edit: I should probably mention that I'm not a "light" eater. I'm pretty young and quite tall, so I probably eat more than your average adult.
I don't really do organic but we eat good cuts of meat, lots of milk, cheeses, fresh fruit. I was thinking of trying for 800 a month, but maybe I could do 600. But that would take a ton of work.
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Sep 18, 2010
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Oakville
deep wrote: Family of 5, kids are 11, 8, 5.

We eat out maybe 3 times a month. Shop at Costco and NoFrills predominantly - very few prepared foods, but a fair amount of seafood and meat. Expense report says we range from $550-800 per month. Average for 2012 was $660.

This could be SUCH a huge range depending on the kinds of foods you like (the all lobster diet?) and how much effort you're willing to put in. I cook a lot.
No frills does have EXCELLENT pricing. I like Costco too but I can never leave spending less than 300 or 350 there each visit.

We don't eat out much. We also rarely waste food.
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Aug 14, 2007
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I spend $300/month just for myself, however this includes eating out 3 times per week, and eating meat almost every supper. If I took my lunch to work everyday could probably take of $50 or so.

I like costco with the pricing, but man it seems like everytime I go I spend at least 200, but I guess I go only once every couple of months so I am sure I do save.
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May 2, 2007
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Kingston
AANJ wrote: I don't really do organic but we eat good cuts of meat, lots of milk, cheeses, fresh fruit. I was thinking of trying for 800 a month, but maybe I could do 600. But that would take a ton of work.
Trying to cut your grocery bill in half when you have two teenage sons that will be eating like horses soon? Good luck with that?

You probably could if you bought garbage food like crap dinner. Mr Noddles, and the likes.

If you need to save $600/m I'd take a look at your finances and rethink your budget. Food is probably one of the last places where you want to cheap out on.

From $1200/m to $1000 could be possible. Costco and in bulk, and a lot less ready made foods.
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Mar 24, 2008
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One way to reduce your spending is to drop Costco. You almost always spend more than you need to.
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May 2, 2007
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^ bull

Costco would be a better place to shop in bulk than going to Walmart, Loblaws, etc.
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ksgill wrote: One way to reduce your spending is to drop Costco. You almost always spend more than you need to.
Only if you're an indiscriminate shopper. Of course you can buy a lot of stuff you never really needed in the first place, and you can definitely buy too much of something and waste it, but when you combine their already good pricing with the weekly discounts, stocking up on non-perishables is a no-brainer.

Plus, some of their fresh produce and most of their meats are far higher quality than you can get at similar prices from other retailers. Smart shopping at Costco is great...dumb shoppers will remain dumb.
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May 28, 2012
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Saskatoon
I shop at Costco because the quality of the meat is much better than a lot of other places. I never buy their pre-cooked or pre-made items, and they have a lot of this type of stuff...you can spend $$$$ on it.

There are five of us, including two teenaged boys...I think it's safe to say that I am in my most expensive grocery-buying phase right now. You just have to learn how to buy smarter...don't go for packaged or pre-made meals. I know that I could save a lot of money by cooking more vegetarian meals, but I live with some carnivores who might vehemently object!
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Nov 21, 2007
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Scarborough
I always wonder about this...grocery budget. I have none.

Every week there are over six grocers within 5-8 minutes drive, vying for my dough. Thursday evening, after supper, is a serious scoping session of deals. Will stock on sale items. Basement cold room can rival a variety store.

Diet is vely healthy. Lotsa fruits n veggies! Most as close to the one dollar per pound range. Meats are what's on sale. My NO FRILLS marketing manager seems to know me taste. About 10% is junk. For that I mean soda, hot stuff, burgers, fries, kolbasa, muffin, ice-cream, lazy ready-made stuffs.

My guess? About <$100 wk for 4. Waste of time tracking....(end blog).

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