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Realistic Grocery Budget

December 11th, 2006 at 02:25 pm

So I've been reading about the grocery budget on the net, and I must say, most people do not provide enough information for me to get an accurate view of how much the average budget should be.

For example, most people ignore the location factor. Where you live and where you shop clearly affect your grocery budget. Living in Tokyo is extremely expensive.

Second, I often see things like $105 per person, and I get confused. Is that $105 for 1 person per week, or month? Is that the average mean?

Is it even accurate for us to simply divide the total amount of money spent on grocery by the number of people within the household?

I mean, isn't the additional person an increment to the grocery budget in a value less than the first person, and therefore implying a curved mathematical function?

Okay....confused yet? I sure am. But, let me illustrate my point with an example. Take me for example, when I lived alone I needed to spend a base cost of at least 40 dollars (US) a week on groceries. I would cook most, if not all, of the meals for the week from scratch.

However, ever since my girl and I started living together, I would buy groceries for the two of us. Of course I would spend more money, but most definitely not 80 dollars (US) a week. I would spend between 60-70 dollars. Which means, the additonal person (my girl) actually caused an increase in my grocery budget by about 50% ($40 + $20 = $60).

Hence, my point, is it okay for me to simply divide my new grocery average by 2 and say my new personal average is $35 a week? This would mean that having my girlfriend around is actually helping me save money? Or is there a logical error here?

How can I accurately find out just how much I can live on in terms of food? How can I compare my budget value to those of others? How can I know where I stand? How do I measure up? How can I trim my budget even more?

Some questions for me to think about over the cold winter break. At least I know I won't be bored.

Cheers mate.

Posted in Budget System | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Realistic Grocery Budget”

  1. Tara Dawn Says:
    December 11th, 2006 at 02:43 pm 1165848181
    1165848181

    Really it depends on you. I had no idea of how much to budget until I tracked my spending at the grocery store for a month... then I thought of ways I could cut down expenses and worked with that figure. There's no perfect equation to figure out your exact amount. As you said, it depends on location, but also how much you eat, if you eat health food, if you have special dietary needs, etc. Everyone is different!

  2. Tara Dawn Says:
    December 11th, 2006 at 02:44 pm 1165848242
    1165848242

    Really it depends on you. I had no idea of how much to budget until I tracked my spending at the grocery store for a month... then I thought of ways I could cut down expenses and worked with that figure. There's no perfect equation to figure out your exact amount. As you said, it depends on location, but also how much you eat, if you eat health food, if you have special dietary needs, etc. Everyone is different!

  3. homebody Says:
    December 11th, 2006 at 05:13 pm 1165857223
    1165857223

    Like Tara Dawn said.... twice, ha ha. DH and I are finally "home alone" after 28 years and I am not sure what to expect grocery budget wise. I am shooting for $300.00 a month, but don't know if this is realistic because we do eat very well and are shooting for 5 fruits/veges a day (fresh mostly).

    I think if you plan your menus, eat your leftovers and look for alternatives to higher priced items and buy in season fruits and veges, you can't do much better than that. Good luck!

  4. fern Says:
    December 11th, 2006 at 05:16 pm 1165857406
    1165857406

    well for what it's worth i'm a single person and i usually spend at least $200 a month on food; it would be somewhat less except that i try to buy organic a lot altho i don't eat much meat.

  5. Tsedey Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 03:17 am 1237173479
    1237173479

    Here is a small tip: I've learned to use my receipt as my grocery list. I don't always buy the same things so I make sure I give up something of the same price on my list if I need to get something else. That is to keep the total around $50 a week. I live in San Francisco, Ca and shop at the same place all the time. I'm a vegetarian so $50 goes a long way. Another thing I've learned is to freeze things. It saves your veggies from going bad before you have time to cook them. Once in a while I buy myself a good bottle of wine if I spend less than what's on my last receiptSmile Good luck and eat well!

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