How Much Should I Spend on Groceries? Use These 5 Simple Questions

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. When you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I earn a commission at no cost to you. See my entire disclosure policy for all the boring details.

I hear people bemoaning the darn grocery budget all the time! It’s so hard to know how much groceries “should” be costing. In fact, one of the most frequently asked questions I get is, “how much do you spend on groceries?” or “What should your grocery bill be?”

In the last couple years that we’ve been paying off our student loan debt with a vengeance, I have had a few different systems for keeping the grocery budget low. Everything from price matching at Walmart  (my walmart stopped price matching) to shopping at Aldi to meal planning monthly.

Basically, I’ve spent the last couple years trying to come up with the perfect grocery budgeting system and strategy and it dawned on me recently…

THERE IS NO ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL PERFECT SYSTEM.

You have to do what works for your family in your current season. 

And that is what I’m going to help you figure out. It’s silly to try to figure out some magic grocery budget number because there is no trick or magic grocery budget number that everyone should strive for. Instead, you need to figure out what your family’s grocery budget should be.

Listen. You can not fail at this. (Well, unless you are buying groceries on a credit card you can’t afford to pay off. In that case, cut up the card and head over to my survival budgeting guide.) 

Otherwise, there is so much freedom in your grocery budget!

Take that in. Sigh a deep breath of relief & let yourself off the hook!

Just because there’s a blog post about someone’s $20 organic grocery budget, it doesn’t mean that has to be your budget too. There’s no grocery budget competition.

Any amount you choose that you can afford and that takes care of your family’s needs is the right amount. And it might change over time. That’s okay too.

SO, WHAT SHOULD YOUR GROCERY BILL BE?

Remember, there’s no right answer to this! But I want to help you figure out a good amount for your unique situation.

To figure out your ideal monthly grocery budget, ask yourself the following questions. (It might help to write down your answers.)

1. ​​What can you afford?​

The most basic rule of personal finance is don’t spend money you don’t have. Food + Shelter should be first in your budgeting priorities.

But, think about what grocery bill you can afford as it relates to your other financial priorities too. A good rule of thumb is not exceeding 10-15% of your take-home pay on food.

We have chosen to be quite frugal in some grocery choices so that we can save more money towards our down-payment goal and so we can get out of student debt faster. But, we also choose to snack on fruits and vegetables (instead of cheaper junk food), eat meat at most dinners, and invite people over for meals a couple times a month. So, our grocery budget reflects the combination of income, financial priorities, and lifestyle priorities.

2. What items are in your grocery budget?

Do you include household items and pet products or are those separate categories? I’ve done this differently over the years.

Currently I have a food budget that includes eating out, having people over, my husband’s diet protein shake powder & snack bars, formula, and baby food. I do diapers and household categories separately because it’s easier for my brain to categorize that way. We use YNAB, so it’s easy to track spending & receipt purchases.

Remember, there’s no wrong way to do this. But what’s included in your grocery budget should determine your overall number.

3. Dietary Needs?

If your husband goes on a diet that requires you to buy twice the amount of meat you usually buy and $50 worth of protein shake powder and specialty protein bars, then your grocery budget should increase. Hypothetically speaking. (JK – that is our real life. haha.) 

4. How much food do your people eat?

When I had 3 kids under 4, our monthly grocery budget was $600. Now that we have 4 kids ages 1-6, and we feed a lot of extra people each week, our monthly grocery budget is $900.

My grocery budget will likely be less than someone who has a few teenagers at home.

If you’re calculating a grocery budget for 2, you will spend less than a family of 8.

5. How much time do you want to spend on grocery shopping and meal planning?

If you want to coupon, spend time meal planning around the ads, price match or go to a few stores for great deals, then you will be able to save more money. But those processes cost you in time. Decide what makes sense for you in your current season.

I used to meal plan around the ads and price match at Walmart. Our Walmart stopped price matching, and I started working + homeschooling. So, we currently use Walmart Pickup for weekly groceries and make a monthly Costco trip.

DO SOME BASIC MATH

When we started going over our budgeted grocery amount a few months in a row, I re-evaluated our grocery budget with a pen and paper and some basic math.

What Should Your Grocery Bill Be? | Figure it Out with This Formula!

I realized that with a baby on formula, and my husband eating healthy snack bars and drinking protein powder, the same grocery budget as we previously had just wasn’t realistic.

When I first wrote this post, $600/month was realistic, including formula, entertaining, etc… Could we spend less? Probably. Could we spend more? For sure. Sometimes, I do.

A couple years (and a couple more kids) later, we spend $900-1000/ month on food. That amount reflects the number of people in our family, the amount we entertain, and the type of food we like to eat.

Don’t base your grocery budget off my grocery budget. Write out your answers to the above questions. Figure out what type of food you buy, how much food costs at your stores, and how much food your people eat.

NOW, KEEP YOUR NUMBER IN MIND AT THE STORE

If I go to the store for a week’s worth of food, I aim to spend under $200. (Because $200 per week x 4 weeks in a month = $800. My overall budget is $900, so that leaves a little wiggle room for the extra store trips or eating out.)

If I’m shopping for 2 weeks at a time, I give myself $300 (ish) knowing I’ll probably need to pick up a few fresh produce items by day 10.

Trial and Error

This process will take some trial and error, but if you start paying close attention, you can figure it out! So, what should your grocery budget be? I would love to hear how you used this process to help you! If you’re comfortable you can even share the number you came up with and how it’s working for you!

Now What?

Once you calculate what your grocery budget should be, your next steps are to figure out how to cut your grocery bill down to that amount AND learn how to track your grocery spending. I have posts on each of those topics, linked below, as well as a Free 5 day meal planning challenge. (Sign up with the button below.)

[thrive_2step id=’9767′][/thrive_2step]

This post is part 1 of a 3-post series to help you simplify & get control of your grocery budget once and for all!

Post #1: What Should Your Grocery Bill Be? | Figure it Out with This Formula

Post #2: How to Cut Your Grocery Bill

Post #3: How to Track Your Grocery Spending | 4 Easy Methods That Work Every Time

grocery bill average