Thursday, July 24, 2008

Grocery Money

Trying to feed a family of 6 now on a limited budget has it's challenges sometimes. I try to cut back on extra spending on food and we don't eat out much at all, but then it seems like sometimes we go over too. I can't decide if we are just spending too much, or if our budget for food is just not feasible for a family this size and if I need to increase it.

Which gets me wondering what do most people spend for food a month? Would you mind telling me. I set up a poll on the side for anonymous answers. But I'd really like to see the average. I had a friend who had food stamps and I asked her what the government saw as the amount of money a family of 5 would spend on food, and it was quite a bit more than what we have budgeted. She felt like they could eat for less than what they give you, but that had me thinking maybe I'm just being unrealistic in our budget, but then the tightwad part of me thinks it's completely possible too if I had a little more self control sometimes! :)

So are you willing to share? How much do you spend for groceries a month on your family.

6 comments:

spemberly.blogspot.com said...

One thing you left off of your survey is how many people are in their family. That could make a difference if you're trying to compare. But I am with you on always feeling like I should just cut back somewhere. The prices have gotten outrageous lately and I can't believe sometimes how much I come out spending when I thought I would hardly be spending anything!

Shalae said...

Thats something I thought of too Kimberly, but I couldn't figure out how to have it show the size either.

Anonymous said...

I chose $400-$500, but I think I do really well and don't consider it too much. We do eat out though, about once a week with the kids and sometimes an extra night out for us if we have a date night. But this amount also includes my cleaning supplies and such. And I do have 2 older teenagers -- so for our family of 5, 4 of them are basically adults.

I thought you might like this link:
http://www.everybodygoto.com/2007/10/12/what-people-eat-around-the-world/

Shalae said...

That was a great link Brandie! I can't imagine spending that amount of food that some of then did on a week. Definitely makes me feel better. Thanks for your imput too! I know when my kids get older they'll start consuming more, and I also didn't ask how much people ate out as well. Is it part of your "grocery budget" or is it a separate budget?

Robert and Heather in Hawaii said...

I've been thinking about it- and I thought you could do a new pole based on how much you spend on one person. That way it would take into consideration families with more people. So instead of saying total per month, say per person per month. So we spend X amount of dollars per month divided by 2 (since there are only 2 of us)- just a thought.... :)

Launa said...

I think grocery prices are crazy too! We have a family of 6 (soon to be 7!) and I spend about 600-800 monthly. Now that's on everything, including cleaning supplies, toiletries, paper products, etc. That's all my shopping for the month. I know there is somewhere I can cut back......but it's hard to tell where when a gallon of milk is almost $5.00! Anyway I'm trying this new site called Emeals.com they make a weekly grocery list for you based on what's on sale at your local store. My list for last week for a family of 6 was $79.00. That is only dinners for a week, not counting all the rest of the stuff. But I think it will save me some money....and some sanity! :D