How much should we spend on groceries?

[mcg]

I would love to have $268 to spend each week on groceries. Sigh. Thankful for places like Aldi and this channel that help me feed my family for way less than that!

[audreyrobles]

They're acting like people have tons of money to spend on groceries. The price of groceries has gone up, but my teacher's salary is still the same.

[pek]

We're basically in a new depression. Soups are the best budget meals, just throw in what ever is on special and leftovers. Chicken drumsticks are often really cheap and kids love them so that's a bonus.

[lisahernandez]

Its 2 adults and a 15 year old in our house. i have maybe $100 a month to spend and cant get food stamps. I couldnt make it without this channel. Thank you!

[pandapoof]

I still couldn't believe the budget for my household of 3. The recommendation per week is what we spend in a month.

[miraino]

$300 a week. I’d be eating stake every night

[livinwiththeedges]

I have always found those numbers crazy high! No way can I afford or even would have the slightest need to spend as much as it says for my family of 8. We spend less than 1/2 and still live like royalty.

[Blessedgal_]

They're funny! Cost of living constantly going up and my pay staying the same. Sadly my state has been hit pretty hard. They can shove their budget plan. 😁🤣🤣🤣

[randaray]

Can you imagine a grocery budget like that???

[alishajennings]

They call it thrifty but that seems like a lot to me. I spend around $150 to $180 a week for my family of 8, 2 adults and 6 young kids ages 9 down to 1.5.

[loniivanovskis]

They have to base those recommendations for people in San Francisco or Boston (where I live) or NYC, too. I am very thrifty for my family of four adults and I am never under $200 if you figure in the bulk meat I buy. And, I have a car and can access Walmart and Aldi. Many people are lucky if they have any grocery store within bus or walking distance.

[labsareperfect]

I would love to see you use that $268 thrifty budget to see what a week of eating at your house would look like versus your standard budget or a low budget!

[angiesmith]

That's because you live in the eastern US where groceries are cheap, and those charts are based on nationwide averages for grocery prices. Where I live, it's hard to get by on even the "low" budget category - the "thrifty" one isn't possible for us. And I have lived in a couple of places that are even more expensive than my current location. So yes, you can definitely do a lot more with that amount of money in your area. 😊

[rebornfurnituredesigns]

I’m so glad I’m not alone in thinking the k cups and other brand coffee pods just don’t taste the same anymore. We ditched them too and went back to making a pot every morning.

[chantals]

Wow I have a family of 5 (pregnant with my 4th) and we don’t spend that a week! Yikes. We also live up in the mountains so groceries are a tad higher but with help from WIC I spend roughly 100-150 a week.

[AWordofHope]

I wish I had $268 a week for food. I try not to spend $200/month for 2 of us. Eating a lot of rice, beans, cabbage.

[penelopegrier]

Family of 7 here. We can only spend up to $100 a week. Sometimes, like today, I had to spend $20 of that for gas.

[kristyb]

I’m spending about $800 per month for our family of 3, me hubby and 16 year old son. Just under what the USDA recommended for a low cost meal plan. I cannot even believe how expensive groceries are anymore. Definitely appreciated Mindy’s pantry shopping video yesterday because that’s our meal plan this week, if we don’t have it in the fridge, freezer or pantry already we aren’t buying it

[mljs]

You really have to look at the gory details of the report. It’s 125 pages. 😳It goes thru the gyrations to meet caloric (2000/day) and nutritional needs. Then breaks out what’s being purchased. This is for a family of 4 with no teenagers. Like 16# proteins; 14# grains; 41# milk & cheese; 26# fruit; 35# vegetables. I’ve never had a family of 4 but that seems like a lot of food. 😮

[pajamamama]

For my family of 5 on the thrifty plan it came out to $1200 a month!!! And yes, it's the government's extreme budget.