how much do you spend on food?

just wondering what people are spending on food by the week or month?

I make all my meals at home and it's only me and my toddler. I spend about 190 per week. I know this is high but I'm not doing anything extravagent.

I'm too lazy to try to figure it out, but I wish I had been recording how much I spent on food since I went on my diet/exercise regimen 6 or so months ago.  I often buy large quantities of foods I most often eat (nonfat cheese, beans, lean meats like 93% hamburger and turkey, whole wheat pasta and flour, fish, nuts, etc.) and store them on a shelf or in the freezer, and I eat them in a haphazard way with no particular method to how I combine them for meals.

To me $190 seems high, too; but I don't know how  much baby food and drink costs these days.  I also think that often "diet" food is more expensive than "regular" food.  Examples:  the low calorie bread, nonfat cheese, low fat peanut butter, lean ground-beef, whole grain pasta, etc. all cost more than "regular."

I try to only spend $40 a week for food.  Very strict budget that sometimes doesn't even allow for that much.  I only buy food for myself and my kittens.

How can you do it? And how does it impact your diet and meals? I really respect that! I just think fruit and vegs cost a bit and so does meat/chicken fish.

I spend between $35-60 each week.  $60 is when I need things like cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.

As far as food goes, I buy broccoli, frozen veggies sometimes and frozen fruits like blueberries, one black of tofu, shredded cheese (fat free generic brand), cheap whole wheat bread, cheap English muffins, Morningstar breakfast sausage patties, Morningstar veggie burgers, sometimes veggie dogs, frozen minestrone soup (enough for 3-4 meals), and weight watchers meals.  I don't have the money to do a lot of cooking and those frozen meals at only $2 a pop are really cheap and easy.  I really love cooking, but when I was cooking every day for at least one meal, I was spending $100+.  I also buy water bottles.

I shop at Food 4 Less and Von's.  I clip coupons and use as many as I can on my regular items, though I don't use a coupon for a product I wouldn't normally buy unless it looks just really incredible.

Being poor is hard.. I go to eat somewhere inexpensive (Pick up Stix or Rubio's.. I spend less than $10 for a meal that lasts me 2 meals since I take the leftovers home), and that's my big treat.

My husband, who works in finance, meticulously tracks all our expenses.  He says, off the top of his head just now, that we (just the two of us, no kids) spend about 300 euros a month on food.  That's about $500, but things cost more here, and we sometimes splurge on 'American' items that cost a bundle.

We tend to buy lots of fresh fruit and veggies, cheese, and chicken. 

I shop early in the morning, you can get some good deals on meat at that time.
Fruits and veggies from the fruit market.
A loaf of bread cost me about $1.00 to make myself, last three to four days.
I don't eat out, unless you call eating at work eating out.  Food on shift is half price.
Every week
$ 3.00 yogurt
$ 4.00 Soy milk
$10.00 for fruits and veggies
$10.00 for proteins
$ 2.00 whole grain flour, bulk store
$ 1.00 oatmeal, bulk store
$3.00 quinoa, bulk store

When needed and on sale.  Honey, Peanut butter, butter, mustards, teas.
I have some food intolances, so some foods are off limits, saves a lot of money.

When my kids were younger, I would make their baby food.  Had a great blender for that.  With the boogers, I had the magic bullet, even better to make fresh baby food with. 

i budget $300 a month for myself, but if i take my daughter out to feed her or just buy my lunch out, it goes under this budget item. i spend about half of that at a regular grocery store, about 25% at a health food store, and about 25% at the farmers market (mostly for meat) which is quite pricey.

About $800 a month more or less for the two of us eating a vegetarian diet. We eat very well ... good coffee beans, artisan cheeses, lots of fresh produce, DeCecco pastas, fresh herbs, good oils (olive and other).  We belong to Costco which helps keep costs down on paper products, cleaning supplies, San Pellegrino and nice wines.  I like to cook, so I make almost every meal at home, and since we don't have the expense of eating out very often, I like having the best, freshest ingredients I can find.

$75 to $100 for two adults.  I basically shop the periphary of the store; produce, meat, and dairy, just darting into the isles for a few items like coffee, cereal and dried goods like pasta, rice and beans.   Coupons are little use to me since I mostly buy ingredients.  Those things don't often go on sale.   We love to cook from scratch and eat well.   We do most of our shopping at a little family owned grocer that makes there money on turning over a lot of product for less.  It saves us a lot of money, but there are things that we have to go to larger chains to get since this grocer sticks to product that moves fast. 

For me and my husband we average around $100 a week, and that is including other items like bathroom products, etc. We also have 2 cats. Sometimes we eat out too... but usually not more then once a week and that isn't included.

Food for just me comes to about $25 or $30 a week.  This is separate from my other grocery expenses such as pet and cleaning supplies, paper products etc.  I buy very few packaged foods and spend the largest portion of my budget on fresh produce. 

Wow. I spend like $100 CDN a week for myself alone, though my sister sometimes shares some of that so say more like $80 CDN a week.

Still seems like an awful lot. I do splurge on good cheeses and stuff like that occasionally, but I really do want to spend less a week on food. I think $100 is reasonable for every two weeks.

i asked a similar question a few months back, i still basically spend about 50-60 a week on food...the breakdown is as follows 4.00 on yogurt 2.00 on cottage cheese 8.00 on protein 2.50 on dips 3-5.00 on cheese 15-20.00 on veggies 4-5.00 on fruit 4-5.00 on bread products 8-10.00 on soups, beans, and grains In addition to that I spend about 25 on ice cream/frozen yogurt each week...my indulgence. I NEVER eat out, at least I don't ever pay for it so it doesn't have to go into my budget.

It depends a lot on where you live.  Food in Alberta is much more expensive than in Ontario, for example, with the exception of beef.  I attribute this to being farther away from where most produce is grown (though BC really isn't far enough away to warrant the difference, in my opinion).  Overprocessed crap may cost the same but I buy little of that.

My husband and I spend around $400.00 a month.  We shop at Winco.

Right now I'm spending about 150RM (Malaysian Ringgit) a week on food - that works out as US $42 but food is very cheap over here in comparison because the local wages are also low. We could easily spend less if we tried - the average wage here is about 40 RM a day before tax, so obviously most people here are spending way less.

Staples in my house:

- lots of fresh fruit and vegetables

- potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, onion, garlic, ginger

- white-flour pasta, wholewheat pasta, egg noodles, udon noodles, sprouted grain bread

- beans, lentils, chickpeas

- whole milk, yoghurt, icecream, tofu, eggs, lots of different cheeses

- bran cereal, muesli, tea and coffee, fresh herbs and spices, cooking condiments like different soy sauces, vinegars, fish sauce etc

- chicken, beef, lamb and pork, sometimes prawns. Fresh seafood is hard to find here so we usually eat it at restaurants. We eat out a lot because the restaurants here serve simple, healthy and cheap food

- sometimes wine and beer

I once had a very tight budget of NZD$30 (US $20) and I ate pretty well: fresh fruit and vegetables from the market, lots of cheap homemade vegetarian curries and dahls with rice or potatoes; yoghurt and cereal or oatmeal for breakfast; legumes and pasta. That said, despite being able to eat a balanced diet on that amount I did feel very restricted because I could only eat the cheapest food available and sometimes you just want to eat your favourite foods, not the only ones you can afford.

I was saving up for a 5 month overseas trip at the time, so it was worth it in the end. And I learned a lot about how much money you can save when you cook from scratch!

I'm in the UK and spend about £45 ($75) on food (and all the other groceries) for two of us per week.  My tips.

• Make a rough meal plan for the week and always shop with a list
• Look for home-grown veggies and fruit and keep imported ones to a minimum
• Buy 'ingredients' rather than ready made goods.... cook from scratch
• If dry goods you're going to use are on offer e.g. pasta, take advantage
• Learn a few vegetarian recipes and cook those a few times each week.  Things like lentils and beans are dirt-cheap
• Make packed lunches rather than eating out.
• Use any tired old bits of vegetables to make a big soup at the end of the week rather than throwing them out
• Cook only the amount you intend to eat so that you avoid leftovers

I spend on average $50 a week on food for my husband and I....recently things have been tight due to a pay cut at my job....so I've been trying really hard to be frugal and smart about what I buy.

Some ways that I am able to do that are by making 2-3 meals a week that we can eat as leftovers (turkey meatloaf/low fat chicken enchiladas/curries) and other nights when we are sick of leftovers I'll make some chicken (from a frozen bag...it's not as bad as you would think...just have to thaw it out while at work)....it is pretty hard sticking to this budget especially since I love to cook and I love going to the grocery stores....sometimes I leave a little depressed b/c I couldn't buy anything fun! It's silly but true!

I'd say I spend roughly $50/week on food assuming I'm not buying toilet paper, paper towels and all that stuff.  Now that I have a lot of my spices and oils and stuff, I'm only buying the fresh food for the most part.  Veggies, fruit, meats and bread.  With the occasional "oh grab this for x, y, and z recipes.  I try not to buy pre-packaged food as it makes the bill go up and I pack leftovers and fresh fruit/veggies for lunch.  I also keep a stash of frozen veggies in the freezer and freeze my fresh fruit before it goes bad (if I have any left by then) so I can use it in fruit smoothies! :)

I spend around $50 - $75 for two on a normal week, close to $100 or even $125 if i have to get pet food and bedding and household supplies.