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The Average Grocery Bill for a Family of Four (and How to Save on Yours)

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average grocery bill

Do you ever read those outrageous headlines that read, “How I Feed My Family of Seven on $75 a Month” or something similar? They always manage to make me feel like I’m missing something. The grocery bill for my family (of four) would never come close to being that small for one month. Therefore, it got me thinking.

What is the average grocery bill for a family of four?  

The Food and Nutrition Service of the US Department of Agriculture provides guidelines based on “a nutritious diet where all meals and snacks are prepared at home.” The guidelines are based on four levels of spending: thrifty, low-cost, moderate, and liberal. Furthermore, they are divided by age and gender.

According to the FNS, a four-person family made of one female age 35, one male age 37, one boy aged five, and one girl aged eight would have an average monthly grocery bill between $612 and $1,707. By comparison, the break-down between plans is $612 on the thrifty plan, $792 for the low-cost plan, $989 under the moderate plan, and $1,207 under the liberal plan.  

Admittedly, $1,000 on a moderate budget for a family of four eating solely at home seems high to me.

However, if you factor in organic food and the cost of living in highly populated cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and NYC, this seems more reasonable.

Three tips to decrease your grocery bill

Each year, the cost of food rises. Typically with the cost of inflation, but often more due to the state of the economy and other factors such as natural disasters and other weather-related incidents. However, when trying to cut expenses in our budgets, groceries are one of the first places we look.

If you find yourself on the high end of the averages listed, here are three tips to help offset some of the rising costs and/or bring down your grocery bill.

1. Meal Plan

Meal planning is one of the best things you can do to eliminate food waste and to spend your grocery dollars with intention. Try planning one week at a time, including multiple meals with the same type of protein, which allows you to buy the most expensive item on your meal plan in bulk.



2. Use Money Saving Apps

Couponing has gone digital. Specifically, Ibotta, Fetch Rewards, and Checkout51 are a few of my favorite money-saving apps. Sit down with the meal plan you created above and add any items on your list directly through the app. Scan your receipt after you shop and instantly save. After you’ve accumulated so much in savings, you can transfer it in the form of PayPal or gift cards. It takes some time to get used to, but I’ve found them to be worthwhile.

3. Shop Your Pantry

Before you sit down to meal plan, take a look around your refrigerator, your freezer, and your pantry. I guarantee you have enough for one meal. You may have to get creative and hodgepodge a few items together, but you’ll be surprised how much you already have on hand. Not only is it a great way to reduce your grocery bill, but also be a good steward of the environment.

 

How much is your average grocery bill in your family? Let us know in the comments below.

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Meal Planning For A Family On A Budget

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Meal Planning For A Family On A Budget
Meal planning is the holy grail of the kitchen. The most organized of moms have weekly meal plans prepped somewhere between chaperoning their kids to a myriad of extracurricular activities. You can’t help but wonder how they do it? How do they meal plan for a family on a budget.

But every time you try to pull a meal plan together, it seems more expensive than when you wing it. You’re on a budget, so you need to stick to a reasonable cost per meal, and you’d like some leftovers for lunches. You know there has to be a better way.

Five Tips to Help You Meal Plan For A Family On A Budget

1. Start By Cleaning Out Your Fridge

Before you start your meal plan for the week, open up your fridge, freezer, and pantry. Notice what leftovers you have and plan a meal based on those items. You’ll probably find you have all or most of the ingredients you need for an entire meal. 

This process kills three birds with one stone. One, it allows you to clean out your fridge. Two, you’re less wasteful of the food you’ve purchased. And three, you can save on your weekly grocery shopping. It’s a win-win-win.

2. Rotating Menu of Quick Meals

Make a list of 4 or 5 meals that your family likes and that can be made super quick. For example, every member of my family will eat pizza, anytime, anywhere. As such, there are always 4 or 5 frozen pizzas in our freezer. Other quick and easy dinners include spaghetti and meatballs, grilled cheese and tomato soup, chicken alfredo, and cheeseburger casserole.

Once you have your list complete, always make sure you have the ingredients for these meals on hand. The best practice is to buy them in bulk when they go on sale. Rotate one or two of these meals into your meal plan for the week for an easy, budget-friendly option you know your family will eat.

3. Change Your Life Chicken

The first time I read about Change Your Life Chicken from Kendra Scott of The Lazy Genius – I didn’t think I’d like it. But it seemed so simple that I decided I’d give it a shot. And guess what? I not only liked it, but I loved it.  It’s now a staple on the rotating meal plan in my house.

It’s inexpensive because it uses chicken thighs, it’s easy to make, super simple to clean up, and uses up any leftover vegetables in the fridge. Another good thing about it is the ability to change it up based on what your family likes, or to add variety from what you had last week.

Check out the recipe here and incorporate a version of Change Your Life Chicken into your meal plan once a week. It’ll change your life!

4. Breakfast for Dinner

Who doesn’t love pancakes and bacon for dinner? Breakfast for dinner is a great budget-friendly meal to incorporate into your meal plan once a week. It’s also a good meal for your kids to help out with. They can mix the pancake batter, or whisk the eggs for omelets.

I typically make breakfast for dinner on Sunday nights. We always nap after church so don’t like to eat a heavy meal in the evening.  Breakfast for dinner is is a fun, light meal to whip up together as a family and close out the weekend with.

5. Purchase Budget Meal Plans

If you’re not a creative cook and struggle to pull meal ideas together, consider buying one. Meal plans for sale are are crafted with intention. They pull together similar ingredients so are often budget-friendly and the cost is typically minimal because they’re prepared by seasoned experts.

Some of my favorite meal plans are $5 dinners, MyFreezEasy, and Momables. If you’re interested in taking an online course, I highly recommend Erin Chase’s Grocery Budget Makeover.  I personally took this class and was able to immediately apply some of the concepts to my budget. (contains affiliate links)

Do you have any tips for planning your meals on a budget? Share them in the comments below.

Read More:

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My Favorite Resources to Use When Cooking For My Family

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My Favorite Resources to Use When Cooking For My Family

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Between working full time and taking care of a family cooking can be a chore. These five resources help me simplify when cooking for my family.When you work full time and are pressed for time after work, preparing and cooking dinner can be a chore. I actually don’t mind cooking but during the week it simply comes down to something I have to do.

While it is tempting to eat fried eggs and toast every night to avoid meal planning, when you want to eat healthy this isn’t realistic. To prepare healthy meals for my family, it starts with proper meal planning. Not only does this ensure we eat well it’s a huge help to our budget. I have a few go-to resources that make my life a little more manageable and I will share them with you:

Host a Big Cook. This isn’t something I’ve done in a while but it is definitely meal prep at its finest. I borrowed the Big Cook cookbook from my local library but have considered ordering it so I can continue to share it with those in my life because I rave about it so much. Though this is initially a lot of work, you end up with many pre-planned/pre-prepped meals you simply need to grab from your freezer and usually throw in your crock-pot day of. This is something I want to do again soon.

Pinterest. Like everything, Pinterest is a great resource. I have found many inspiring recipes from browsing on Pinterest. I like being able to organize my pins based on different things; you could have Vegetarian/Chicken/Beef organized boards or more simply breakfast/lunch/dinner ideas. It’s a nice way to start organized digitally.

EmilyBites.com. This is one of my favorite websites for recipes. It’s well laid out with great visuals. I don’t love most recipe websites because I find they’re usually quite overwhelming, but Emily Bites is focused on good tasting, healthy-versions of family favorites. I’ve never made something I didn’t love. She offers ‘’extra’’ information too for each recipe like Weight Watchers points values if you follow a particular diet.

Skinnytaste.com. Another great website that is well laid out. The thing about this website is that I really like, is that she includes entire weekly meal plans you can follow along with, but if you’d rather she also has it organized by individual recipes. If you’re someone who is super organized she also offers a meal planning book you can follow along with. Finally, her pictures are great too.

The hardest part of cooking for my family, is planning what to cook for my family. By using a few of these resources taking care of the planning is much easier, even a picky three year old!

What are your favorite meal planning tools?

Go Green and Save Money

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Go GreenMany folks mistakenly believe that going green around the home means having to buy expensive products and make costly conversions of electronics, appliances, etc.  However, there are many small things that you can do at home that really add up to a savings for you as well as for the environment. For starters, there are a few easy ways to be green and save money at the same time….

1) Charge It

And I don’t mean with a credit card. Cell phones, remote controls, hand held gaming systems, cordless phones, etc. all have their own chargers that eliminate the need for repeated battery replacements. After an initial investment, chargers pay for themselves while saving an infinite number of batteries. There is even a handy-dandy new contraption that will charge multiple items all at once (like your phone, iPod and Nintendo DS) on the same power pad. If you’d rather not buy a new charger, you can settle for rechargeable batteries instead that can be reused again and again. When it is time to get rid of old batteries, make sure to dispose of them properly and do not throw them in the trash as they contain toxic materials that are harmful to the environment. Usually, hardware stores, home improvement stores and even some libraries have receptacles for old batteries.

2) Take a Coffee (Filter) Break

Another small but meaningful change is switching to a reusable coffee filter. Many electric coffee makers come with their own permanent filters that replace the paper kind. You will save paper (and trees) and…you guessed it, you will also save money. Don’t forget to unplug your coffee maker when it is not being used because otherwise, it will still use energy, called “phantom electricity.”

3) A Light Bulb Moment

Switching to CFL bulbs is costlier at first than traditional bulbs, but they last considerably longer, which is better for your electric bill and the planet. Watch as your electric bill goes down after changing to CFL’s and you will also find yourself buying bulbs much less frequently.

4) Bottle Programs

Another way to save money while being green is to collect your bottles and cans and return them to a redemption facility or at the grocery store. If your state has a bottle bill, you will earn money back (up to 15 cents) on every bottle or can that you turn in. In my state, I can return my bottles and cans for a credit that I can use toward my grocery bill.

5) Plan Your Meals

When you plan your meals ahead of time and create a shopping list, you will actually spend less at the grocery store than if you buy on impulse or without a carefully thought-out plan. Menu planning will also cut down on the number of trips you have to make to the store each week, saving you money on gas while releasing less pollution into the atmosphere.

Making green lifestyle changes can be done in baby steps or big steps, depending on what works with you and your family. No change is too small, however, as when we all pitch in, it can really make a difference. You might be surprised how easy and affordable it can be.

Do you have any other environmentally and budget friendly tips to share?