What % of your net income do you spend on groceries?

[Quiver0f10]

I have been looking at different budge forms and was surprised to see the % suggested verses what we actually spend. I am curious what others spend.

[Lawana]

About 20%. Dh is a huge meat eater so we buy lots of meat. $$$

[Mrs Mungo]

I think around 15% for all food (eating out, etc). But, I only have 3 kids.

[Mandylubug]

18%.

[mamatohaleybug]

About 20%.

[Quiver0f10]

We are at 24%. I thought that was high but I guess for our family size that is normal. I'd love to cut that down some though.

[AimeeM]

Food only?

I was shocked when I just plugged it into a calculator. Only about 10%.

 

ETA: DH says he thinks it's more like 15%

[Um_2_4]

18% of our net, but only 11% of his gross (pre taxes and deductions, we max out retirement plans and have dental/health deductions).

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Two charts to chew on.  We don't spend nearly as much as the rest of the world, and we don't spend nearly as much as did our grandparents (based on %). Edit - spelling  :blush: 

 

 

Source

 

Source

[Dory]

Around 10% depending on the month and the time of year. In the summer I have been known to get down to 6% but that is because we have a garden. I've learned to be inventive with the veggies I can grow easily up here so that I can stretch the grocery bill.

[Amira]

It's less than 10% right now, but I rarely shop at the US-style grocery stores here. We've had so many different salaries and food prices and situations that our monthly percentage has ranged from 5% to over 20%. The highest percentage years were hardest since we were in a high COL city on a very small budget. Nearly half our budget went to housing there, and we were lucky to have low-income housing.

[Element]

21% of our net income; annual income is <200% FPL.

 

(Edited. My earlier percentage was figured on gross income instead of net.)

[Jackie]

Our food budget is currently about 6% of our net income.

[KRG]

Grocery and household goods is 20%.  I am working on cutting that down.

[rebbyribs]

About 4%.  My kids are still young and don't eat all that much yet.  I imagine it'll be quite a bit higher when we have 5 or more teenagers.  

[Susan in TN]

We are at about 15% on food/household items, though it will fluctuate between 15 and 20%.

[Deb in NZ]

My average weekly grocery bill is about 1.5-2 days pay.  

 

I can't give you a % as our family income isn't regular as I am a relief (substitute) teacher & dh gets odd jobs occasionally as he finishes our home renovations.

[Miss Peregrine]

About 12%

[Jerico]

Around 15%.

[Truscifi]

11% including paper goods.

[AHASRADA]

I'd say a bit over 25%. We spend slightly more on groceries than on rent.

[SeaConquest]

20-25%

[LucyStoner]

Just over 1/4 right now but we are in a temporary and intentional period of much reduced income. We have savings to cushion this choice (made so my husband can be in school FT) and that savings does pay some of our expenses. That is out of our "take home" though, and doesn't include what goes to savings and my medical insurance and optional deductions before his pay is deposited in our account.  I don't have the figures in front of me to figure out our true net income, which is higher than our take home.  

 

We spend almost as much on food as we do on housing right now.  We spend almost four times as much on food as we do on our next largest monthly expense.  

[LucyStoner]

Two charts to chew on. We don't spend nearly as much as the rest of the world, and we don't spend nearly as much as did our grandparents (based on %). Edit - spelling :blush:

 

 

Source

 

Source

This is exactly why all the threads on how to get the food budget cheaper bother me. We spend less than ever before on food.

[Quiver0f10]

We spend more on food than rent too.

I'd say a bit over 25%. We spend slightly more on groceries than on rent.

 

 

[KungFuPanda]

Less than 10%. There are just the four of us, and even though we have teens, they're just not eating machines like most of their peers.

[QueenCat]

Approximately 14% but that includes food, toiletries, paper products, cleaning products and dog food. It does not include eating out. It is really hard for people to compare though, as our tax rates are different, as well as the percentages we save pre-tax for things like retirement, and deductions for insurances.

[BlsdMama]

We spend more on food than rent too.

 

Ours is about equal.  It was right around 22-24%, but moving back to the Midwest, I'd say it's at 20% of net, after paying insurance, health savings, etc.  Looking forward to raising meat again.

[Element]

That spending percentage graphic is totally depressing me, btw. I can't imagine spending less on healthcare than food, but I'm glad so many have the opportunity.

[Kalmia]

About 20%. We eat a lot of organic and pastured products. 

[Incognito]

Ball park estimate, 15%.

 

[Audrey]

This is exactly why all the threads on how to get the food budget cheaper bother me. We spend less than ever before on food.

 

They tend to bother me, too, but I think that the grocery budget is one of those things that people feel like they have a chance at controlling.  I think that is true in principle, but I don't think it is usually true that reducing groceries will make that big an impact on the overall budget and/or lack of money.  I just makes you feel like you're doing something.  The bottom line impact tends to be largely negligible for most, which in turn frustrates them because they then turn back to the "anecdotes" they read on threads like this and think "well so-and-so spends *insert ridiculously low $$ here* on groceries, why isn't it working for me?"  And, that is usually because so-and-so is just a bragging bs artist and not an actual representative of reality.

[Ripley]

I'm at about 35%, down from 45-50% (which is where I was until mid-2013, when I retired).

 

I worked outside of the home and was on the road 3-4 days per week. I had zero need, desire or energy to shop smartly. I did all of my shopping at the boutique grocery store five minutes from my home. We ate out regularly, too.

 

I'm happy to have it at 35%. I still don't shop too smartly because it's not a priority - I have no mortgage or credit/student/car loans. We continue to enjoy social dining and high quality food at home. I was able to eliminate other expenses so I'd be free to indulge in this area of our budget - even on a fixed income. My percentage fell when I retired due to two factors: having time to switch to a chain grocery store (and warehouse for bulk items) and no longer eating out 100% while on work trips (my per diem was laughable). It may go down a bit more still - we added a vegetable garden this year, and the kids are asking for chickens.

 

 

 

 

[Camelfeet]

Maybe 7%, not including eating out.  

[Deee]

The problem with a percentage figure is that its affected by the denominator, ie your total income. While income varies greatly, the need to eat a filling, nutritious diet doesn't vary that much. So its quite possible for me, say, to spend $200 or 14% of our weekly income on food and for this to be a comfortable amount, but for it to be small proportion of someone else's weekly income (not unusual in a dual income, middle class Aussie family), or a whole lot of another's. while the ability of some people to rake in the money seems quite fantastic, there is only so much food you can and should eat. Just because you can't get your percentage figure down as low as someone else's doesn't mean you aren't a creative or frugal housekeeper. It may mean that food has a different priority in your life or that you a have a smaller disposable income, or that you live in a higher COL area or whatever.

D

[Joyofsixreboot]

I would bet about 20-25%%.  We don't eat out and my dh and oldest 3 take lunches and my younger 4 and I eat here so that covers all our food.  If people count what they spend eating out I believe their percentage would be higher.  I tend to buy quality which ups the cost too.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

This is exactly why all the threads on how to get the food budget cheaper bother me. We spend less than ever before on food.

 

I've found statistics rarely move discussions, because it's too easy to assume one's own situation is typical, and therefore the graph must be off, plus there's a general trend to misinterpret stats, which someone dubbed innumeracy.  We, as the superpower, also tend not to compare ourselves globally, so it's less-than-comprehensible to grasp just how different any given situation/priorities/thinking might be on another continent.

[Lisbeth]

Our % is dropping every year with increases in income. But it is skewed another way...I have a child with multiple food allergies. We spend on specialty food that costs a bunch more. At the same time I am cooking more from scratch, which is cheaper than processed food. At the same time my husband and son have selective eating issues, and brand matters (it isn't just picky eating...it is SPD.) My dh is prediabetic, so this year he cut out most soda drinking, and he was drinking tons before. Etc. Those ups and downs in our food expense needs make our % food expenditure now hard to compare to a "normal" family. ;)

 

As Mormons we don't buy alcohol. We also participate in food storage (one year's worth, rotating), and Church-related bulk-buying, and canning. We get things from Church canneries that we used to visit and can ourselves.

 

That said, we spend less than 10% on food.

[Aspasia]

Ours is about 15-20%. If I had as many kids as op, 25% wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I used to be really focused on cutting our grocery budget, but I'm just not anymore. Like those charts show, we hardly spend anything on food. And aside from housing, what else is more deserving of our resources than our food budget? I'd rather cut out other things. That being said, in our earlier, leaner years, I was a grocery budgeting maniac! I recognize that it has to happen sometimes.

[DawnM]

Roughly 10%, but that includes toiletries and paper goods.

[Soror]

I'm too lazy to look it up right now and my memory isn't working the best but on a week to week basis we are about at 20%, dh has weeks though where he makes substantially more and a couple of bonuses so it skews the yearly percentage down.

[Carrie12345]

16-18%

[Night Elf]

For my family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teenagers), it's about 20%.

[Punks in Ontario]

For our family of 6 including 2 teens, we're at 17% with another 1.4% for restaurant meals. 

[Stratford]

About 15% right now.

[AlmiraGulch]

I just figured it to about 25%, give or take a %.  That includes pet supplies, household goods, and restaurants (we eat out quite a bit).

 

It's much higher than what I'd like it to be.  Certainly more than my mortgage.

[Halcyon]

We spend about 10% of our income on groceries. Sometimes 8%. If you include pet food and household goods, probably 15%.

[Moxie]

What good is it to know the percentage?? If I say I spend 3% that doesn't tell you if I'm a great couponer or if I make a million dollars a year.

[Aelwydd]

What good is it to know the percentage?? If I say I spend 3% that doesn't tell you if I'm a great couponer or if I make a million dollars a year.

Exactly.

[Quiver0f10]

I was curious because I was looking at some budgeting tools online and each has listed % for the various categories. We are tweaking our 2014 budget so knowing what % to budget there maters to us. Or rather what % is reasonable helps in deciding.

What good is it to know the percentage?? If I say I spend 3% that doesn't tell you if I'm a great couponer or if I make a million dollars a year.