# How Much Do You Budget For Groceries Per Week? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908 "2010-06-04T11:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/41 "2010-06-05T04:23:59Z")
We’re at about $80/week/person. That includes non-edibles, like shampoo and toilet paper, and food for the critters. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/42 "2010-06-05T05:35:19Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > For me and the cat it’s $40 a week for just food, not counting toiletries. I am really astonished at the average per person in this thread! I don’t make a serious effort to eat cheaply- just my unofficial budget- and I live in an expensive city, yet my average comes way under most of you guys. Mine seems to run around $20 per person per week, no matter if there are three of us or seven of us living here. I do think that I gain some economy by buying for more than one person. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/43 "2010-06-05T09:13:14Z")
I spend about $100 every 2 weeks. I buy 2 trays of prime rib from Costco (25 dollars for 4 pieces, 8 pieces total,) then cut those pieces in half and freeze them in individual ziploc bags or saran wrap (16 pieces.) However, I eat lunch at my school cafeteria ($6.50 per meal, buffet style). Every other month, I spend about $20 on coffee, cream, sugar, or rice. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/44 "2010-06-05T09:43:20Z")
We spend about 40 dollars/week in food stuff, for two adults, a dog and two cats. It includes the occasional eat-out and buying bread because I’m feeling too lazy to do it myself these last months and I’m like “wow! I’m wealthy! I could make bread for nothing but look at me! I’m buying it already made!” 😛 We cook all our meals, never eat pre-packaged stuff (save for a bag of chips from time to time), eat vegetarian at 90% and the bulk of what we eat is organic. We have a big produce garden, hens, and I also know which wild herbs you can eat around here. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/45 "2010-06-05T10:04:17Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > That’s not true. We eat cheaply \*because \*we eat healthily: no processed foods, no ready made meals, etc. Unfortunately, here in Troll Country, it doesn’t always work out that way - due to a combination of transportation/isolation issues and agricultural policies. Sometimes it does: I can bake my own healthy bread for less money than the cheapest bread available at the local grocery store or bakery. (If you don’t count the bread machine as a capital expense, that is.) But tonight, for instance, I’m making pizza with homemade wholegrain crust, and sauce I’m cooking from canned tomatoes. I’ll be serving a simple salad with that, with homemade dressing. It would be cheaper to buy a couple of the cheapest frozen pizzas and forget the salad! ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/46 "2010-06-05T12:57:17Z")
I went back and took everything out except food I ate and last fiscal month (15th-14th in our household) cost me, personally, $240, including my share of one meal out. That’s $8/day or $56/week and included pretty much everything I ate. The thing is, though, the grocery bill will never be just the things I eat. Even if you don’t count toiletries, things come up: last month I spend $50 on doughnuts for all the kids taking AP exams in my classes. Next month is my sister’s birthday, and we will take she and her husband out to a semi-nice dinner. In late July, I am going on vacation, and even if I eat mostly out of grocery stores, it’s going to cost more. I suspect that some people’s lives have a lot more of these sorts of expenses than others and that that is responsible for a lot of the discrepancies we see. Here’s what I actually spent, if anyone wants way TMI. I’m on a lowish-carb thing and eat 1500-1800 calories a day Chicken Breasts $50.20 Strawberries $37.40 Cottage Cheese $32.89 Baby Carrots $21.00 Applesauce $6.88 Green Grapes $6.12 Frozen Brocolli Florets $10.78 Drink mix $5.94 Grilled Chicken Sandwich $4.32 Eggs (large) $4.18 Lipton Onion Soup Mix $4.02 Pop Smart Butter $3.68 Pop Smart Kettle Corn $3.68 Sweet & Spicy $3.11 Wheat Bran Org $3.04 Ground Ginger $2.99 Peanut Butter $2.99 Quick Oats $2.72 Ginger Snaps $2.69 Frozen Cauliflower $2.54 Almonds $2.48 Ketchup $2.16 Lemon Pepper $1.59 Green Bananas $1.57 Cake slice $1.50 Doughnuts $1.30 Mustard $0.62 Total: $222.39 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/47 "2010-06-05T13:03:46Z")
I have no idea what the price of strawberries is in your area but $30 would buy a hell of a lot of strawberries here. And $21 for carrots- if I ate that many I could see life on Mars 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/48 "2010-06-05T13:04:51Z")
I am a very boring person. Lunch every day: 300 grams of strawberries, 350 grams baby carrots. They add up. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/49 "2010-06-05T13:12:32Z")
I’ll send you a rabbit for Christmas 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/50 "2010-06-05T15:53:40Z")
2 people–usually $200-$300/week. Sometimes not that much. A cheap trip to the grocery store would probably be around $125 or so. We’re fortunate enough to eat quite well. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/51 "2010-06-05T19:03:26Z")
Around $30-35 a week ($120-150 a month); I live by myself and don’t have any pets or anything. I’m a grad student and I happen to have inexpensive food preferences. I also can’t buy more in one trip to the grocery store than I can carry home by myself, because I don’t have a car. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/52 "2010-06-05T19:17:42Z")
We shop about three times a week, about 45 euro’s a time, so about 170 USD a week for two adults, a toddler and three cats. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/53 "2010-06-05T22:05:21Z")
I figure I spend about $125/month, or $30/wk on food for me. Dinner is usually a sandwich, or some cheese and olives, or I make a big pot of soup or spaghetti sauce and eat that for a week. I spend $170/mo on animal food (the new mare eating a huge amount of the most expensive feed adds up to $80/mo for just her). I spend about $45/wk on gas, and pray it doesn’t go back up to $4/gal. StG ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/54 "2010-06-05T23:07:55Z")
About $100 per week for 2 adults and 2 cats. I am not including dining out in that amount but if you want those numbers too we spend about $100 a month on eating out. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/55 "2010-06-06T03:00:12Z")
I \*budget \*$100 a week, but usually spend way less than that just for myself. I’ve been experimenting with cooking new meals, so sometimes I get more than I need. I shop every Friday. My neighbor and I make a trip every Friday to make sure we won’t starve over the weekend. Most of the time I don’t need that much, but I like to get out of the house. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908/56 "2010-06-06T03:42:00Z")
40 dollars a week for food. I live alone. Now when I was raising two kids it was 150 or more a week. My kids could eat! I go out to lunch once or twice a week so add another 25. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-budget-for-groceries-per-week/541908.md?page=2)