How much should an adult budget for groceries every month?

Question

I'm trying to develop a budget, and I was wondering what is an appropriate amount to spend on groceries, including non-food household items like soap and toothpaste.

I shop at Walmart and live outside of Omaha, NE

Answer 1

If you are single and plan your grocery trips and meals very well, use coupons, shop sales, you can probably do less than $150 a month. Find recipes that are inexpensive and be sure not to waste any food. Save leftover dinners for lunches. I fed a family of 6 on a budget of $400 a month for an entire year (including TP, toothpaste and misc). If you eat out, plan those too. Limit yourself to once a week because that is the biggest waste of money.

Answer 2

The general rule of thumb is to track your habits. If you do generic labels or what I call the "good stuff." $60 should cover your groceries, eat outs (salads mckie d's) and if you buy smart covers the toiletries. But you have to be wise on this. Also a helpful hint that I use, buy your toiletries once a month. You get more bang for your buck and you don't spend money and time in a store so often. Make a list, STICK TO IT. Treat yourself once a week with something you enjoy. Maybe a coffee break with a friend. Lunches are cheaper always than dinners at restaurants. If you want more tips email me. It'll help to know what state you are in, when to buy produce etc. OH a good hint..stay on the parameter the outside walls of the store (meat, produce,dairy) and away from the middle (junk food, chips) but you can get these things cheap if you know how to shop, I'll help email me.

Answer 3

I budget $200.00 dollars every month for groceries and household items. Sometimes I have a little left over like maybe $20 dollars which I save as an emergency household fund in case I run out of milk or something. I do my grociery shopping at Wal Mart too and this always gets me threw the month and in Texas where I live there is an 8% sales tax.

Answer 4

I would say about $50-$60 a week for the both of you. You can always find good deals in stores when they mark down things that are going out of date but are still good. Also use coupons they help in saving alot on groceries. If your store has a card you can use to take a certain amount off, or buy one get one free, always use that card. Winn Dixie is agreat store for that, I'm always shopping there and getting great deals, with what I save, I spend about 70 on groceries on 5 people, before I got smart and started using the card and coupons and the marked down intems i was spending about 130-140 a week.

Answer 5

I had a grocery budget of $50 /week as a single young adult living with a room mate. This was adequate for food and household supplies. I also had a budget of $25 a week for entertainment. If I didn't use my entire budget on groceries, I would use what was left for partying.

Answer 6

I budget $125.00 a month for groceries and household items. This covers just about everything and shopping at Wal-Mart is the best place to stretch your food dollars. You won't eat like a king or queen but you can eat good. Look for the specials and if you like meat like I do find out what day they drop the prices on unsold meats. Even beef is still good if you get it either in the freezer or a marinade right after you get it home. Good Luck

Answer 7

As for a reasonable food budget, I like an idea I read about in Money magazine. Since then I budget $200 per adult and $150 per child as a reasonable baseline amount to earmark for food per month.

BUTT ~ for a better number, keep track of your grocery spending for 3 months and then use that number!

Answer 8

It really depends. How I budget groceries is I figure out how much I have to spend and then buy accordingly. There are a lot of factors. If you eat ramen and hotdogs all the time, maybe around $40 a week. Do you use expensive items like vitamins and tooth whitener- add another $20 or so. My weakness- energy drinks, bumps it up. Cigarettes, alcohol? Just easier to figure out what you have to spend, first.

Answer 9

This answer varies from person to person. The best way to budget is to look at your historical spending, judge if you can remove anything from your usual spending and then use that amount. You want to use a realistic number otherwise, you'll just break your budget right away.
CalendarBudget is a good tool to help you track your expenses. I use it all the time and I can go back and see how much I've spent in any category on any month.
Good luck!

Answer 10

Well, we are a family of 3 and every week I spend easily a good $150.- in the grocery store....
I would suggest you keep your receipts each time you go to the store and add them up after a month and then you will know much much you need and might want to budget for you (and your family)