What do you include in your "grocery" budget?

[justann]

With grocery prices going up, what is reasonable for a family of basically 4 adults? How do you begin to set an amount? Dh is diabetic so a lot of cheap meals are not doable.

[cintinative]

I'm not sure I can answer your question but here are some clarifying questions for others:

1. Do you want to include HBA with the grocery budget?
2. Do you include occasional home purchases like light bulbs, water softener salt, and furnace filters in your grocery budget (weird, but I do)?
3. Do you include cost of diabetes supplies in your grocery budget?

[motherofmolly]

each family is going to be different based on what you eat. i would track what you are spending and what for. then decide where you can trim if needed. we are a family of 4 (2 small kids) and for everything including dog food and anything purchased at walmart (clothes, cleaners etc) we are right around $400-$450 in groceries. i dont buy alot of extra stuff or packaged meals (except pizza) due to really picky small eaters.

[hollydjohnson]

We are a family of 3 with a baby on the way. Our budget is $500 per month but I include groceries, all HBA items including shampoo, toothpaste, razors, all cleaning products, detergent, lightbulbs, diapers, formula, wipes, everything. Basically anything that we consume is included. I am very often under budget.

[justann]

thank you for the replies and suggestions. I am going to try to keep track of what I spend for several weeks. I am going to start with 100.00 a week to include household, hba, dog food. I need chicken and meat, we are getting low as we have been eating out of the freezer. I hope I can get this under 100.00 but seems like a reasonable starting point.

[Sally C]

I live in the midwest and there are three adults in our family. I budget $10.00 per day for groceries, thus $70.00 per week. That being said, however, I do keep a supply of food in my cabinets and freezer that I'm able to get at low sale prices. I typically don't pay more than $2.50 per pound for meat because when (for example) chicken breast is on sale for $1.49 per pounds, I'll grab $20.00 worth. I'll pick up and store extra of loss leaders whenever I can.

Dinners usually consist of a small meat main dish, a grain, a fruit, a vegetable and a salad. Because I serve 5 different things, servings are small.

Many weeks I'll spend under $50.00 on food because all I need is produce and dairy. I'll save out the $20.00+ that I didn't spend and keep it for an exceptional deal.

I'm willing to spend an hour or two in the kitchen every single day so I can make most food from scratch (much cheaper); we typically do not eat in restaurants or get take out.

I don't calculate non-foods in my grocery budget.

I hope this helps you as you refine your grocery budget numbers,

Respectfully,

Sally

[ScrappyDoo]

I include everything I would buy at a "grocery" type store (even if it isn't food) and any food type things I buy from stores like Wags/CVS/etc.

I also include any eating out we do.

How about you guys?

[JulieDB]

I buy other things at the grocery store such as cleaning supplies, magazines and sometimes books. But then I also buy a lot of these things at other stores besides grocery. I don't include meals out into this.

[amylynne01]

Food, drink, diapers, cleaning stuff, paper products, and HBA. Eating out has its own category.

[Shannonlyn214]

booze...for cooking of course :)