Did you know that when the government calculates the rate of inflation commodities like food and gasoline aren’t included? According to this site inflation rates for 2011 were 3%. My food and gasoline went up a lot higher than that.
Take the lowly graham cracker for example. When I first wrote the Grocery Shrink ebook, I was able to buy a 16 oz box at Aldi for $.99 ($.06 per oz). Now the box only holds 14.4 oz and costs $1.49 ($.10 per oz). The price of graham crackers has gone up 60% since then. Thankfully graham crackers aren’t essential and I can choose to not buy them…but nearly all foods have risen in price in a similar fashion. By shopping the Grocery Shrink way–we don’t feel these prices as keenly as someone else might, but I’m starting to feel it more and more. Sale prices are still dropping, but store limits (you can only buy 2 at that price) are squeezing my ability to maximize the dollar like I used to.
I’m still working with a $50 per person per month food budget. Since I have a large family that gives me $400 to play with for the month. Sticking to that budget is getting a lot harder to do. And I’ve been thinking about it…a lot. Some of my children are very young. While my 6 year old out eats me on a regular basis my 4 year old and 9 month old don’t.
I think some new budget recommendation are in order, at least until food prices come back in line with inflation. And yes, they can. Food prices fluctuate madly while inflation prices rise more steadily. So until further notice, my budget recommendations are:
$100 per male adult (or child age 12 and over) per month
$75 per female adult (or child age 12 and over) per month
$50 per child (age 11 to age 2) per month
$30 per child (age conception to 2) per month (Even if a child is still in the womb or breastfeeding, mom needs to up her nutrition during this time–and may need to take advantage of more convenience items.)
For my family, our new grocery budget would be $480/month. We can’t afford that right now, so I’m still going with my $400 budget, but as soon as our circumstances change, I’ll be asking for that raise :). If you can afford to take your raise now….go for it!
I am trying to get below double that amount here in the DC Metro area. Anyone in my area able to feed your family in my area within these recommendations? Thanks for any info!
Allison, I’ve been to DC metro and the food prices are pretty much the same there as here in Kansas City. I recently heard a study read on the radio that said Kansas City had was in the top 3 of highest food prices. That shocked me since I always considered us low. But it also shocked me as I traveled last year to find the food prices in the places I visited (Alexandria, VA; Virginia Beach; and New Orleans) to be about the same as here.
I have also noticed these sharp price increases and just shake my head when I hear a newscaster say inflation is ?%, it seems way high to me and I lived through the 70s, another time when inflation was out of control.
Sure makes things tricky for us homemakers on budgets!
Thank you for posting these new recommendations. I have been struggling to feed our family within our budget, and we eat frugal meals and make just about everything from scratch. I can’t seem to bring it lower than $300 a month for our family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children ages 1.5 and a 1 month who is breastfeeding). I am challenging myself to stay under $275 this month, which will be hard but doable I think with lots and lots of planning. That is only $40 off from your new recommendation, so it makes me feel a lot better! It is so disheartening when I notice grocery prices going up everywhere, almost out of control. Comforting to know I am not the only one struggling!
so our family of 8 needs to Shrink! we are at$600 a month w 5 kids, 1 baby plus mom and dad. according to the shrink we should be at $480:-)?
I should have also written in the article that it is totally fine to spend MORE than this recommended amount. This is the lowest amount I feel is possibel and still have a wide range of healthy foods. I So Vicki, if you don’t want to shrink down–it’s fine with me. And Rachel don’t feel badly if you are spending more and your family budet is okay. I tend to push the limits as low as I can go, because I have so many dreams! If I squeeze the necessary budgets smaller I can use those extra dollars for things that matter to our family over the long haul–but I won’t do it unless I feel I can do it without compromising our health and happiness.
Right now the money we might have spent on food is going to pay tuition at a fantastic Christian school, and to repair and decorate our new dream house.
I only buy about 30% of my food organic and we don’t have serious allergies (just one of us is allergic to cherries and another bananas.) But I do have a special planning and shopping method that makes our grocery budget feel easy.
No way Angela! I’ve been trying to shrink my budget BIG time, Im just not sure WHERE to shrink it. If you need to do a series on shrinking let me know! I would LOOOOOVVVEE to help you out. 😉 We could use $100 a month for other things. (After re-reading I saw that I could add another $30 for expected baby #7, putting us at $510)
Does this amount include toiletries ie. shampoo, bandaids,toothpaste etc. If not how much extra a month do you budget for that? I’m in Western Canada and I find our grocery prices are probably twice what the your would be. We have very little competition so that makes our prices higher then eastern Canada as well. I would be hard pressed to find a 16 oz box of store brand graham crackers for less then $2.
Hi Tanya, That budget amount just includes food. We have a $20 hygeine budget to cover things like diapers (if I feel like I can’t do cloth), shampoo, kleenex and other paper products, bandaids, deodrant, hairspray, etc. For a family of 8 that is inadequate, so I have a few little tricks so I don’t have to buy as many of these types of items.
I’ll admit Aldi is a special store. Without it Graham crackers are a lot higher. But it does help that America encourages a ton of competition and that we also have generic brands. They package up name brand items in a different package and charge less for it.
I used to shop for almost everything at Aldi… I miss it. I’ve had to triple our food budget because we’ve switched to organics due to my health problems. I’m feeling better physically, but i get sticker shock every time I check out! We’re starting seeds indoors right now to grow as much organic food as possible this spring!!! We can’t afford NOT to garden 🙂
Oh, I just started keeping track of the money I’m spending on food for my tiny family. This week it was about $50 per person…but I’m not even sure we’ll eat all of that food…We also have a lot of food in the freezer and cupboards that we’ll have to eat up…but I’m really curious to know exactly what we spend on food. I make all of my meals at home…no processed anything…and that’s been about the only way I’ve been able to keep costs “low” right now.. Love and hugs from the ocean shores of CAlifornia, Heather 🙂
For once I actually feel like Im doing something right! My family grocery budget is $200 a month because that is just all there is for us. It is tight but with a 3yr old, 7mo old and 2 adults I make it happen and sometimes we even get the extra things like ice cream 🙂 We live in SW Missouri, so our prices are a little cheaper than big city but nothing to brag about. Setting the budget as low as you can sometimes means that you do without certain items and stock up on others. Homemade meals and coupons is what keeps us going 🙂
Jeannie, You are doing awesome! And thanks for sharing your story for letting us know what’s possible.
Angela, I am the only one in my household, and I tend to cook in bulk then freeze the food, or just eat one meal over and over until I’m sick of it, LOL. Do I get extra as a single person household, or do I get the $75.00 per mo for food? THANKS for your blog, I love it.
Sue, your cooking method is perfect! It is harder to make the food budget stretch as far as a single person. But singles also tend to have more money per person since there are no dependents. So if you can afford a bigger budget go for it. I don’t have much experience shopping for 1.
Angela,
Thanks for the continued inspiration to lower our food budget so we can spend those dollars on getting out of debt, buying our dream homes or helping others as the Lord leads. I just figured out our ‘new’ guideline budget and with hubby and two teenage boys, a grade school boy plus this mama, we should be aiming for around 425 a month. While I admit to spending more than that (closer to 650), our food budget does include food for pets (we have many), we entertain at least once a week (for about 15), and in general it also includes our personal products (deo, shampoo, TP, etc) so maybe I’m not doing too badly after all : ) In fact, thanks to stockpiling, freezer cooking, ‘from scratch’ cooking and finding a few steals here and there, I only spent $100 TOTAL on groceries/necessities this month for things like milk, eggs, butter and a few fresh fruits. Go me! Thanks for the encouragement and new ideas!
Blessings,
Kristy
PS> No Aldi here in southern NM, and with gas prices what they are, I’d lose any savings by driving to OK City and back. I’ve considered it though. If they ever place one closer than 500 miles from me, I’ll be going once a quarter and stocking up. I’ve even written them a letter asking them to put one closer to me. LOL!
This is great Angela.We are a family of 10, Hubby,me,16 yo boy,14 yo boy,13 yo girl,11 yo boy, 9 yo girl,7 yo boy(he eats as much as the 16 yo at times),5 yo girl and 2 yo boy(eats more like a 1 yo so he and the 7 yo balance out), my budget is $750 so I am not far off the mark.That extra 50 usually goes to building my pantry.Unfortunately we live in a very hot,dry part of the country so I do not have very good success with a garden or I could knock down my food budget.
Wow!! This is amazing. I have to admit my husband and I have been tossing this whole budget and spending thing aroung in the air. But I am making a commitment to it and I want to do my best with what I have. I do have a hard time with a price book so I think I am going to plan 14 revolving meals so when I grocery shop I can get the prices of a small number of things down then I might mix it up a little.
Oh my…we are just a married couple with no children and we spend nearly as much as a family of 4 on groceries. My husband eats us out of house and home, so while I try to stay on budget and cook every meal at home with leftovers for lunches, I struggle to keep our grocery budget under $300. I grow a huge garden and preserve everything, which really helps cut down the bills. Our summer budget is much smaller since we have fresh veggies coming out our ears and a little fruit (more as the bushes and trees mature). Any suggestions for a husband who has the appetite of a teenage boy (besides moving to a farm and raising our own chickens and cows?!!)?
Hi Angela,
I have appreciated your tips and ideas for saving money. We are a family of six. I have a 14, 12, 10, and 6 year old. Three of those are boys. They are always hungry. So far we have stayed at 400 dollars a month. That is by couponing and stocking up when meats and so forth are on sale. We have a save-a lot and this seems to have the lowest prices and our food lion runs specials and by using coupons combined with these specials helps us out a lot. I also shop at Sam’s club every six weeks. My husband and I work in a ministry so our income is low. So I started last month to spend 350 dollars. I did good. I hope I can continue this. I just need the strength and will power to keep making everything from scratch. I love your website. I can’t wait to see updates on your home improvements.
Oops, Angela, first time commenting here. I’m also a Tanya grin, from Skokie, IL. One thing I beg to differ on and that’s about that singles tend to have more money to spend on “stuff”/ food since they have no dependents. This post is in regard to your feedback to Tanya in Canada smiles. When I moved back to the States, for a personal reason, and was on my own while my grandparents were in Phoenix, AZ, an d just working like fifteen hours a week, I “budgeted” ( wasn’t sure how to go about it) about thirty dollars a week for food. And yes when I needed it that included hygiene stuff. My situation, at that time, was not “totally single”, since I had everything else taken care of by these grandparents, my father’s parents. Nevertheless, not having been dependent on them, and not wanting to take advantage of them, it was a challenge to “determine” just how much to spend on food.
This food budget, 30 a week, and yes a little bit more when I caved in, stayed with me after my grandmother died and I had to move to a rented apartment. Let’s say my grandmother’s advice or feedback, when asked but Grama, how did You decided if x y and z was too expensive, and get… welll… I know what you mean…… I just know that I’ve bought it for less in the past, wasn’t detailed or too helpful grin. It was also interesting when recently, within the past month, out of curiosity, I typed in something online and found out that 31.00 something is the food stamp budget for a single person either for 2011 or this year. I worked about 30 hrs shelving books at a public library, even though I was only “officially” approved for 28 hours. With the teeny teeeny salary raise, due to cost of living etc… that I’ve gotten, with the four extra hours per paycheck, my “extra” ‘money was about 100.00, left over after bills were paid. When the budget crisis hit the city in which this library is in, I was told that no more “unapproved hours”. Apparently those four extra hours, two per week, which I had been working for about eight, nine years, were because the City of X had the “funds”. Yes there was work to cover those hours and these weren’t, if I recall, “extra” hours, as in extra…. In other words, I was working 30 hrs. a week but only 28 were being considered for vacation time, etc… see? The two extra per week could be cut off at any time.
Now the “extra” money, working only those”strictly” 28 hours approved, get me abouat 70.00 “extra” ‘money. And it’s with those 70.00 that I , most of the time, after a bit of pondering, etc… out of choice, use to stock up on sales, or splurge on a book, or save up for something. So yes, in a way I can agree that I have “extra” money to spend on but it’s not really a whole lot. Hope this is okay.
Hi Tanya Taff, I’m so happy you took the time to write. What I meant by single people usually have more money–is when you compare someone making the exact same salary but taking care of a wife and children to someone just caring for themselves. Of course if you have a low income to begin with you won’t have a lot of extra funds, but imagine if you had a child also to care for with your library salary?
I’m so glad you are being so frugal with your money. I loved working at the library to help pay for college. So many books…so little time :).
Glad to see the higher recommendations. I will say, though, that I spend more feeding my 14 year old son than I do my husband. LOL Those growing boys need a LOT of food to keep them going while they are in the big growth spurts. So if anyone has boys who are approaching the teenage years, you might start thinking now how to add a few dollars to the grocery budget for a little while to try to keep up with them.
Lori asked about how to fill up a hungry husband. This is something I’ve been working on with my husband and teenagers. When I serve a meal, they would love to have half a plate of the main entree with a little bit of whatever side items I fix–or really, they wouldn’t mind if I didn’t even fix sides, probably–sort of that “meat and potatoes” mentality. What I have to do is fix a smaller amount of the main dish or serve the main dish out of the kitchen and then offer a variety of vegetables, fruits, bread, pasta, rice, etc. to go with it. I put these on the table for them to eat until they are full. If I had the roast or whatever main dish we were eating on the table, they would reach for that to fill themselves, but with the roast in the kitchen, everyone has a good serving and I have a bit left over to use for lunch the next day. I am making a point to put some fresh fruit or vegetables out on the table at every single meal. They will eat them if I remember to offer them. I’ve started baking from scratch more, which can be very economical and filling. They love fresh bread and muffins. I do inexpensive snacks, such as popcorn (not microwave) and we get those big bags of store brand pretzels for a dollar. That solves the “salty-crunchy” cravings. And I have them drink a lot of water. They would love a freezer full of pizzas and burritos, but that can get really expensive.
Angela, with your new food recommendations, do you also have new recommendations for meats and fruits and veggies? Before you were encouraging us not to buy meat above $2/lb and not to buy fruits and veggies above $1/lb. With the rising prices for foods it is becoming more and more difficult to find foods at these prices. Let me know what you think?
Amanda, I can still buy chicken for $.69-$2.00 a lb, pork is still available for $2 a lb or less. Beef I’m allowing myself up to $3 a lb, but can often get it for $2.50. I’m also still sticking to $1 for fruits and veggies, but will buy things like strawberries in winter when they are on sale for $1.50 or less. Hopefully the prices will get better this summer :).
Wow! That is all I can say 🙂 I spend about $400 with our family of 7, soon to be 8. However, that does not buy the kind of food we would like to be eating. We have gluten sensitivities in our house so it is hard when we can’t supplement with bread and pasta. I was wondering about how you figured out the cost per person. My kids eat as much, or more, than my husband and I. Did you come to your price based on your experience with your kids or did you research on a child’s “needs”? Thanks so much!
Chris, these recommendations are from my own experience. It doesn’t buy all the food I wished I could eat either, but it provides reasonably healthy amounts for us. I have 6 kiddoes, several eat more than I do, a few eat less. This is just a recommendation though, feel free to set your budget anywhere you like.
Wow… I’m humbled and embarrassed… I spend $150 or so a week for my family of 3. (Me, my husband and our 16 year old daughter). Lots and lots of work to do here.. as dh is having to look at going on disability. I’m in Richmond, VA and typically shop at Kroger.