I’m back with our monthly grocery spending round up posts! I took the summer off from strict tracking because we were traveling some and our schedule was nonexistent. We still ate most meals at home when we were here, but the data would have been too skewed to really use as a comparison. When we hopped back into homeschool and a bit of routine in August, I began tracking again and here we are.
I know it’s beating a dead horse at this point, but goodness we spend a lot of groceries. The fun part of tracking is being able to look back at all my months of grocery spending. And while it’s not a perfect comparison, this August I spent roughly $400 MORE than last August. Dang.
Some points I’m proud of though… we rarely eat out (if we aren’t traveling). Truly, maybe dinner out once a month? And a lunch here and there. So while groceries are pricy, I know eating out more would be even more expensive, as it’s hard to get a dinner for four of us for less than $80ish at this point.
Also, we do eat well. See all our meals here. I know I could make things less expensive by changing the types of food we eat, but food is important to me and fun for me, so we choose to make a priority item in our spending.
Still, it’s a bit crazy to see how it adds up!
| Whole Foods | $448.11 |
| Publix | $149.91 |
| Costco | $637.05 |
| Food Lion | $41.32 |
| Butcher Box | $241.33 |
| TOTAL | $1,517.72 |
Changes to be made in September: nothing too wild. We will have a week of travel so that will probably lessen it over all. I’d like to do some bulk cooking one day though and stock the freezer with a couple meals and soups. I think organizing my pantry will help, too, so I can clearly see items in need of use.
Have you been tracking your grocery spending? Notice anything, good or bad, about prices or your habits lately?
sherry says
So interesting to see what is spent where. Will be looking close to you restocking the freezer so that I can follow along.
Ashley says
I am so happy you share these. My family (2 adults, a 4 year old, and 2 year old) spends a lot on groceries too. We also mostly cook at home and eat well. I follow a mom who cooks every meal and spends $400/month for a family of 2 adults and 4 teenagers. They eat a little differently, but still fairly healthy and I always feel like I’m not doing a good enough job finding deals, but I don’t know that everywhere has those sort of deals. I appreciate an honest look at a family budget of people who eat more similarly to my family. It also gives me a window into what it might look like as my boys get older.
Joanna says
Thank you for sharing because then I feel less bad aboutbmy totals! Lol I feel the same, we eat our lunches/dinners primarily at home and eat out a few times a month. And yes the eating out totals would be much higher. I do a once a month Costco haul and at least two times at Harris Teeter/Publix to get everything else. Food is important to me too so I don’t know what the answer is on not spending a lot?? We are good about not wasting food/letting it expire, shop sales so I’ve let go a little bit of the guilt.
Brittany Dixon says
And thank you for sharing because it makes me feel better that I’m not alone in this! I feel like I also do really well about not having food waste and shopping produce sales and it still adds up a bit. I’m not sure if there is an answer, either, so I just keep doing my best to do what I can.
Amber says
I like reading your reviews because we are similar in how we eat/family size and the spending sometimes just feels overwhelming. It’s helpful to know it is somewhat normal although I am sad this is what “normal” looks like now.
Liz says
I enjoy and appreciate these posts, and the tracking you do to be able to make them. We have a strict monthly budget, but lately I cannot seem to stick to it, no matter what. I have to remind my husband that food costs so much more than it used to! Plus our kids are older and eat so much more than they did when they were little, too. I’m still intrigued by butcher box, one thing I’ve never really done is track how much we spend on meat. I would love to get a deep freezer and be able to really stock up when there are good sales, or even get half a cow or something. Anyway, keep sharing please, it’s helpful to see how others are doing with this inflation!
Brittany Dixon says
The deep freezer was such a game changer for me! We got it when we did a cow share and it’s so nice to have the space, like you said, to stock up on deals when they come along. My kids are eating so much now, too. It’s crazy!