what percentage do you budget for food?

[biggins]

Wondering what everyone allots for food and eating out? My husband eats lunch out every day. How do I budget it that? Out of HIS entertainment money?

We're a family of two adults & one teen boy in VA. What's considered the norm for food expenses in our area?

[My3sons]

IMO, eating out for lunch is considered to be personal entertainment money(allowance), not grocery budget.

We budget about $100-$150 weekly for groceries, that includes 3 packed lunches every weekday.
Entertainment is $30 a week for our family of 5, this would be eating out as a family(3 young kids)
Personal allowance is $20 a week - me and hubby. If he wants to buy lunch or tobacco it comes out of this budget.

Oops, I gave the wrong percentages above, so I just changed it to a dollar amount.

[ELLE-TN]

Normal food expenses in your area would depend on what part of VA you are in. If you are up around DC it would be more expensive than if you were down around Gate City/Bristol area.

I don't really know how people decide what % to budget for food. I just picked a dollar ammount that I thought I could work with and try to stick to it. We don't eat out much but if we do it definitely comes from the food budget. We do not budget for entertainment or personal allowance because our income does not allow for it.

[biggins]

This one is really stumping me since I don't bring crap home unless it's free. I just buy what needs to be bought & have never felt good food was an area to cut back on..........until now when I need to really cut corners.

I pulled up something from social services & there were 4 categories. The lowest bracket is about what we spend, the highest..........oy, I can't imagine anyone spending that much unless it included eating out!

Think I'll just go by what the food pyramid says we *should* be eating & allot ourselves enough money to eat that way.

I like the idea of an allowance for my husband & $20 is exactly the figure I was thinking of.

[gem7]

I encourage DH to take his lunch every day. I know he eats out on payday which is every Friday. I think that is plenty considering he will spend between $6-$12 on one meal only for himself once a week. After that I think it is fair to take lunch to work. I eat at home every day for lunch, except on special occasions. We will eat out as a couple twice a month for a "date" night. And then we will take the kids out to eat maybe once a week. So, it all adds up to a lot.

[puakinikini]

We are a family of 6. We used to eat out a lot, but starting 2 years ago made a conscious decision to change that. Now we eat out 1 time a month. I budget $60 for that meal (50 + 10tip). We try to use a coupon or eat early for the special or do a kids eat free deal.

My DH eats out about 2 times a week and then takes lunch the other 3 days. I am lucky that I get to eat at the cafeteria at my work for free. The food is boring and not always healthy...but free is free. I do budget DH's lunches at $14 week ($7 each) - if I didn't he would spend more.

Good luck!