I was happy to read in the Globe and Mail recently that food costs, originally predicted to be on the rise for 2012, fell 4.8% in the month of December. I’m no financial expert by any means, but I understand this is due to the inflation rate dropping, which seems to be a good thing for the price of food.
Lately, I’ve been really curious about my family’s actual food costs over the course of a month, so I’ve started tracking exactly what I spend each week. I try to keep within a budget, but must admit that I’m not too stringent about it. I also purchase a lot of food for my work, and I know that skews my numbers a little.
Financial experts state that we should be spending approximately $50 a week per eating adult in the home, and half of that for each child. For me, this would equate to $200 a week, because although I live with two children, they definitely eat the equivalent of adult portions for most of their weekly meals.
A few of the moms at Savvy Mom HQ have decided to start tracking their costs to see how much they’re spending each week. I’m curious; do you know what you spend? Do you set a budget and force yourself to stick to it? What are your secrets for keeping your food costs down? Let’s discuss!
Comments
My budget is $50 a week as well, but that’s a little easier for me as a vegetarian. Generally when my bf and I go shopping together for the week we spend about $80, then we need to grab a few fresh ingredients throughout the week which brings us up to about $100.
Becoming a vegetarian has seriously cut down my grocery costs, other than that I always make meals that I can get AT LEAST 2 meals out of, usually more like 3 or 4 (chili, quinoa mixes, etc)
my concern is though that if, like me, you eat strictly organic this price per person is s too low!
I honestly don’t even think $50 per adult is enough for a week these days. We are a family of 4, our youngest is only 9 months so he is just starting out with foods, but our toddler loves food. we usually spend $100-$150 per visit to the grocery store.. and that is normally twice a week.. which maybe a few run ins for milk and fresh produce. however that also includes household items like papertowel, garbage bags etc. I really want to try and cut down but we just love good food lol
I’ve done tracked my food costs for a few years now and was shocked that my grocery bill is between $1200-$1400 a month for my family of five. I do buy mostly organic, so that might help explain things. As for cost-cutting strategies, we’re trying more vegetarian meals and soups. Thanks for the thought-provoking post!
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