How much do families spend on groceries?
Well, I can only speak for one family, and that's mine. We're two adults and one 6-year-old daughter. Over the last three months of 2008, we spent an average of $451 per month on groceries. Here that info, plus a little more, in a more-spiffy package:
Curious souls might be interested in a few definitions here:
Food - Groceries: Pretty straightforward. This is how I categorize all unprepared food purchased from outlets such as Wal-Mart, Target, Sam's, our corner store, and so on.
Food - Dining: Restaurant and prepared meals, including workday lunches.
Household: Most household consumables, really. For us, this contains things like cosmetics, hygiene products, paper towels, cleaning supplies, and so on.
Utilities: All monthly utility items, including water/trash, electric, natural gas, cell phone, telephone, basic cable and internet, and such.
(My previous posts on this topic can be found here and here. Interesting that as my income has increased substantially over the last several years, so has our food spending.)
Luscious Consumer Data
According to the 2007 Consumer Expenditure Survey (PDF), American households matching our characteristics (2 adults; 1 child between 6 and 17) spent an average of $336 per month on "Food away from home." They spent roughly $426/month on "Food at home."
Just some more stats to chew on, Google Searchers!
Labels: Spending
