Average Grocery Bill for a Family of 6

How much should you spend on groceries? That's one of the near popular questions asked on this blog and I'thousand going to break it all downwards for yous today.

If you're anything like our family your grocery upkeep is the side by side biggest monthly expense neighbouring a mortgage or rent payment.

What I find interesting is that more Canadians are taking their grocery budget seriously and want to know all of the means they can save coin to lower their food costs.

How much of your upkeep should y'all spend on groceries?

Related: How To Get-go Saving Money On Groceries In Canada?

Let's go find out how y'all tin can narrow information technology downwardly to a number that fits your budget.

Determining your grocery budget

First and foremost, a budget is determined past income and so if you're searching for a inexpensive grocery listing online it's not going to help you lot.

Some people can afford to spend more on food than others and so I'm going to explain what you need to practise in guild to discover your ideal grocery budget number.

Ideally, you'll want to stop comparing your eating habits to others and your monthly expenses because it will only drive you crazy.

Every person and family is different which means there'southward more to creating a grocery budget than picking a number out of a hat.

Not merely that but the toll of groceries per person per calendar month will differ based on eating habits and health regime.

If I told yous that $125 per person a month was the magic number that doesn't mean you must apply information technology.

That'south not how a upkeep works.

Then, how do I figure out my monthly food budget?

Keep reading and you'll accept it figured out past the end of this post.

Detailed Food Spending Beyond Canada

According to Stats Canada, Food expenditures have actually stayed pretty even across the board including eating out a restaurants.

For Ontario alone in 2017 the boilerplate expenditures per household on nutrient came in at $8,713 with restaurant meals at a massive $2,586.

The boilerplate price per person spent on groceries each month ranges from $180 to $250 depending on where you live.

Related:

Y'all'll find the costs will go up if you lot live in the larger cities like Toronto but drop slightly in provinces across Canada such as Nova Scotia.

	Canada (map)
	Average expenditure per household
Food expenditures, summary-level categories	2015	2016	2017
	Dollars
Food expenditures 6	8,629	viii,784	8,527
Food purchased from stores	six,126	6,176	5,934
Bakery products	574	578	563
Cereal grains and cereal products	341	347	321
Fruit, fruit preparations and nuts	755	781	731
Vegetables and vegetable preparations	710	718	702
Dairy products and eggs	903	888	839
Meat	1,194	one,163	1,109
Fish and seafood	213	203	219
Non-alcoholic beverages and other food products	1,437	1,499	i,451
Food purchased from restaurants	2,502	2,608	2,593
Eatery meals	2,222	ii,303	ii,272
Eating place snacks and beverages	281	305	321

Source: Table  11-10-0125-01   Detailed nutrient spending, Canada, regions and provinces

Food Prices And Your Grocery Upkeep

A grocery budget is also affected past nutrient prices, which can vary depending upon your location and fourth dimension of twelvemonth as prices tend to fluctuate.

For example, because the conditions is inhospitable to farming and the location remote, food volition always cost more than in the Yukon than information technology volition in Ontario.

Through need or preference, some people will have special dietary needs to fulfill their food upkeep.

If yous need to buy special ingredients due to an allergy or affliction, or if you choose to eat only organic foods, you lot can expect to pay a premium for shopping to accommodate those requirements.

Ways To Lower Your Supermarket Neb

Grocery budgets are also affected past how much fourth dimension and try a person is willing to invest in nutrient preparation and meal planning.

When I'grand not earning a pay-cheque we spend less money on food out of necessity.

Related: Repast Planning For The Budget

Nosotros achieve that goal because I spend a lot of time preserving, cooking from scratch, and foraging for wild nutrient .

When I am earning a pay-check we tend to spend more on food, both because nosotros can and because I accept less fourth dimension to invest in the labour intensive processes of canning, baking, and cooking.

Related: Top Ten Ways To Cut Your Grocery Budget

How many people are you lot feeding?

The number of people you are cooking for volition also significantly affect the amount of your grocery budget.

The usual rule of thumb is that the cost per portion for a dish is inversely proportional to the number of servings beingness prepared.

Regardless of whether you're cooking a pocket-size quantity or a huge batch, you still have to buy all the ingredients required to make a recipe.

Related: Food Shopping On A Budget

It'south usually non possible to purchase a teaspoon of cinnamon or four tablespoons of butter, so y'all terminate upwardly buying a whole container of cinnamon and a whole pound of butter fifty-fifty though it's more than you actually crave for that particular dish.

If yous're preparing a larger batch, you'll use a larger pct of those purchased ingredients, but y'all'll notwithstanding have paid the same cost to buy them.

How much are yous willing or able to spend?

At that place's also the issue of comfort level.

Some people are comfy with spending a larger amount on groceries than others.

I have a friend who regularly spends around $grand.00/calendar month to feed her family of iv and she's fine with that.

Another friend with a comparable income is uncomfortable when her grocery budget exceeds $400.00/calendar month.

Related: Should You Include Toiletries in your grocery budget?

Although I'm inclined to favour the lesser expenditure, it'southward not my identify to gauge either budget.

Both of my friends have divers what works for them.

How to approximate your grocery upkeep

So…With all of those variables how do yous judge how much coin you lot should spend in the grocery upkeep each week?

• First you lot look at what you tin afford and you shop within that limit.

• Side by side you await at what your shopping has provided you.

• Lastly, are you getting plenty to eat?  Are you eating a healthful diet?

If the answer to the above questions are yes, y'all've probably approaching enough money for food.

Have I Budgeted As well Much For Food?

Now, look at what goes into your garbage tin can and recycling bin every bit this will be a big indicator as to whether you lot demand to evaluate your shopping habits.

• Is there a lot of waste in your kitchen?
• Is your food spoiling before y'all use it up?
• Do you find yourself discarding a lot of packaging?

If and so, chances are you lot're spending too much on food.

Related: Getting Back On Track With Food Budgeting

How do you lot make up one's mind on what is an appropriate corporeality to upkeep?

Well, you prepare a benchmark, try it on for size, and so arrange it after you've worked with it for a couple of months.

Grocery Upkeep For ane

In most of Canada, a unmarried developed with normal dietary requirements can eat well for about $50.00/week or $200 to $25o a month. (This amount is for food only, non household items or personal items.)

If y'all are buying for one person and can afford to spend that much on food, that corporeality would be a skilful identify to start.

If you're ownership for more i person, endeavour starting with a monthly grocery upkeep that is roughly 10%-15% of your month'southward take-home pay.

If, over time, you find that y'all tin swallow well without spending the full corporeality you've allotted, cutting back your grocery budget and put your savings toward something else.

Have I budgeted as well footling for food?

If y'all discover that you are stretching to get in to the finish of the month while staying within your grocery upkeep, expect first to what you're buying and how yous're using it.

Are there ways you can use your food dollars more efficiently?

Address these two challenges below get-go.

• Are yous "shopping" your fridge, freezer and pantry first when planning your meals?

or

• Are yous heading direct to the grocery store?

If you tin can't make your grocery budget work by adjusting your habits, then adjust your upkeep up – a little at a time – until you lot discover the number that works for you lot.

Just remember:

The more efficiently y'all manage your grocery budget, the more coin you'll have to direct towards the other goals in your life.

Related: How to Calculate your Monthly Grocery Costs

Editors Notation:

My family budget is $410 for 2019 a calendar month for 2 people and a four yr sometime child.

We also have a $25 stockpile upkeep each month for those sales that are too good to decline.

No matter if you take aGrocery Budget for 1, Grocery Budget for 2, Grocery Upkeep for a family of 3, Grocery Budget for a family of four or more you demand a food budget in lodge to save money.

Read how one fan went from spending $1100 a month on Groceries to only $600 a calendar month by reducing their grocery upkeep and making changes to the way they think about spending money.

Pop Grocery Shopping Posts

Bank check out my Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide with over 300 Grocery Weblog posts for understanding how to grocery shop in Canada!!

Also check out my Costless Money Saving downloadable Tools Page where you lot can get all sort of lists that yous tin can print such as a pantry list, freezer inventory list, furnace filter alter chart, over-time tracking chart, Net Worth Calculator, Shopping List, Garage Sale Route List and then much more and it's all Gratuitous!!!

One final thing to aid you with your grocery budget is knowing near The Scanning Code of Practise (SCOP) educate yourself and larn how y'all can save money at the cash!!

Contribution Post By: Aunt B'southward family jokes that she started writing considering she just doesn't know when to be serenity! In truth, her blogs grew out of a long illness and helped her to keep in touch with the world around her.  She's interested in everything, and shares her interests at Aunt B on a Upkeep.

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• Bank check out my the Ultimate Grocery Guide and the new Costless Recipe Index
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Source: https://canadianbudgetbinder.com/2012/06/20/how-much-should-my-grocery-budget-be/

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