Updated September 2026: This guide was originally published in 2012 and has been rebuilt with current Canadian food-cost data, practical household examples, and the budgeting method we use at Canadian Budget Binder.
How much should your grocery budget be?
There is no single dollar amount that works for every Canadian household. A realistic grocery budget depends on how many people you feed, their ages, where you live, dietary needs, how often you cook at home, what you count as ‘groceries,’ and what your household can actually afford.
The best place to start is not with somebody else’s number. Start with your own spending.
Quick answer: Track two or three months of food purchases, separate groceries from takeout and non-food items, calculate your monthly average, and then adjust that amount to create a realistic target. Once you have a monthly target, multiply it by 12 and divide by 52 to get a weekly grocery target that works even in months with five grocery-shopping weeks.
What Does the Average Canadian Household Spend on Groceries?
The latest detailed Statistics Canada Survey of Household Spending reports that Canadian households spent an average of $8,659 on food purchased from stores in 2023. That works out to about $722 per month.
Canadian households spent an average of $12,046 on food in total that year, including $3,351 on food purchased from restaurants.
Those figures are useful benchmarks, but they are not a recommended grocery budget. They combine many different household sizes, ages, incomes, regions, and shopping habits. Your own household may reasonably spend much less or much more.
Food prices have also continued to change since those household-spending figures were collected. Statistics Canada reported that grocery prices were 2.8% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, and grocery prices were 29% higher than in August 2021.
That helps explain why an older grocery budget may no longer work even if your shopping habits have not changed very much.
Why There Is No Magic Grocery Budget Number
I said this when I first wrote this article years ago, and it is still true today: comparing your grocery bill with somebody else’s can drive you crazy.
A family of four is not automatically comparable with another family of four. One household may include two teenagers, while another may include two young children. One family may manage food allergies, diabetes, celiac disease, or another dietary need. Another may have access to a garden, freezer, bulk buying, family meals, or food supplied through work.
Canada’s Food Price Report 2026 demonstrates this clearly. Its examples of predicted annual food expenditure vary even among households with the same number of people.
| Example household | Predicted annual food spending | Approx. monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Specific 2-person household example | $8,319.24 | $693.27 |
| Specific 3-person household example | $9,985.87 | $832.16 |
| Specific 4-person household example | $16,521.88 | $1,376.82 |
| Different 4-person household example | $17,571.79 | $1,464.32 |
Important: These are examples from Canada’s Food Price Report 2026. They are predicted food expenditures for specific household compositions, not a rule telling Canadians what they should spend.
The useful lesson is that household composition matters. Even the two four-person examples differ by more than $1,000 a year.
What Should Count in a Grocery Budget?
Before comparing numbers, decide what your grocery category actually includes.
For the clearest picture, I suggest separating:
- Food purchased for home — meat, dairy, produce, pantry food, frozen food, snacks, beverages and similar groceries.
- Household and personal-care items — cleaners, paper products, shampoo, toothpaste, pet supplies and similar non-food purchases.
- Restaurants and takeout — keep these separate so they do not hide what you truly spend on groceries.
- Stockpiling — if you regularly buy extra when prices are low, track that separately or build a small stock-up amount into your grocery plan.
You can organize your budget differently if that works better for your family. The important part is being consistent. If one person says they spend $700 on groceries but includes toiletries and takeout, while another person reports food only, the two numbers are not comparable.
Related: Should You Include Toiletries in Your Grocery Budget?
How to Calculate Your Grocery Budget
1. Look Back at Two or Three Months
Use grocery receipts, bank statements, credit-card statements, or your budgeting records. Add up what you actually spent on food purchased for home.
Do not choose your target yet. First find your baseline.
2. Remove Spending That Does Not Belong
Subtract takeout, restaurant meals, toiletries, household cleaners, pet products, and other purchases if you want a food-only grocery budget.
This step alone often explains why somebody thinks their grocery bill is much higher than expected.
3. Calculate Your Monthly Average
Add the grocery totals for the months you tracked and divide by the number of months.
For example, if you spent $860, $940, and $900:
($860 + $940 + $900) ÷ 3 = $900 average monthly grocery spending.
4. Decide Whether the Average Is Realistic
Now ask what was happening during those months.
- Did you host family or guests?
- Was there a large Costco or bulk-shopping trip?
- Did you fill the freezer?
- Was food wasted?
- Did your family eat out more or less than usual?
- Did a dietary or medical need change?
- Did you buy groceries for a holiday or celebration?
Your grocery budget should reflect normal life while leaving enough flexibility for the things you know happen in your household.
5. Set a Target You Can Actually Live With
If your average is $900 and the household is eating well with little waste, slashing the budget to $500 because somebody online says they do it may set you up to fail.
You might start at $900, or make a modest adjustment such as $850 or $875 while testing a few savings strategies.
A budget should guide your spending. It should not punish you.
6. Convert the Monthly Number to a Weekly Target
Do not simply divide a monthly grocery budget by four. There are 52 weeks in a year, and some months contain five grocery-shopping weeks.
Use this formula:
Monthly grocery budget × 12 ÷ 52 = weekly grocery target.
If your grocery budget is $900 per month:
$900 × 12 = $10,800 per year
$10,800 ÷ 52 = about $208 per week
This makes the weekly target much more useful throughout the year.
Free Grocery Budget Calculator
Want to work out your own number? Use the free CBB Grocery Budget Calculator to calculate a monthly and weekly grocery target, track five weeks of spending and review what worked at the end of the month.
Grocery Budget for One Person
A single person should not automatically use a fixed national number. Your age, appetite, location, cooking habits, transportation, dietary requirements, and access to larger package sizes all matter.
Start with your own two- or three-month average. If you are shopping for one, pay particular attention to food waste and package size. The lowest unit price is not a saving if half the food is thrown away.
Freezing portions, planning several meals around the same ingredients, and comparing unit prices can make a large difference.
Grocery Budget for a Couple
Two adults may benefit from larger package sizes more easily than a single shopper, but there still is no standard amount that every couple should use.
Look at what both people eat, work lunches, special diets, snacks, beverages, entertaining, and how often meals are cooked at home.
The two-person example in Canada’s Food Price Report above is useful for context, but your actual spending history is the better starting point for your budget.
Grocery Budget for a Family of Three, Four or Five
As a household grows, do not simply multiply a single-person grocery number by the number of people.
Children of different ages have different food needs. Teenagers can change a grocery bill dramatically. Babies may require formula or specialized foods. School lunches, sports, work schedules, allergies, preferences, and convenience foods can all affect the total.
For families of three, four, five or more, I recommend building the budget from your actual household spending and then using Canadian benchmarks only as a reasonableness check.
This is also why I do not publish a table saying a family of three ‘should’ spend one exact amount and a family of four ‘should’ spend another. That would make budgeting look much more precise than real life actually is.
Our CBB Grocery Budget Is a Target, Not a Spending Goal
Canadian Budget Binder has tracked groceries for years, and our own numbers show why a grocery budget must change over time.
In 2012, our monthly grocery budget was about $190. In 2026, our household budget is $1,250 per month. Inflation is part of that increase, but our family circumstances and what we buy have changed too.
That $1,250 is a planning amount. It does not mean we try to spend every dollar.
For example, in July 2026 we spent $776.29 against our $1,250 grocery budget. Other months have been much higher, especially when we stock up or have visitors.
You can see our real numbers in the July 2026 CBB household budget report.
The lesson is simple: budgeted and spent are two different numbers. A budget gives you room to plan. Your actual spending tells you what happened.
What Can Push a Grocery Budget Higher?
- Living in a higher-cost or remote community
- Food allergies or medically required diets
- Teenagers or additional household members
- Buying more convenience or prepared food
- Hosting family and friends
- Stocking a freezer or pantry
- Shopping without a meal plan
- Food waste
- Buying products because they are on sale rather than because you need them
- Including household goods and toiletries in the same category
None of these automatically means you are doing something wrong. They simply help explain the number.
How to Lower a Grocery Budget Without Setting an Unrealistic Target
If you want to reduce grocery spending, work on the habits that create the total rather than choosing an aggressive number first.
These are the strategies we use most often:
- Shop the pantry, fridge and freezer first. Plan meals around food you already own.
- Use a meal plan. It does not have to be fancy. A basic plan reduces last-minute purchases and takeout.
- Compare unit prices. Read our Canadian guide to unit pricing.
- Know your regular prices. A grocery price book helps you decide whether a sale is actually good.
- Use markdowns carefully. A discount only saves money if your household will use the food.
- Watch food waste. Throwing away food is throwing away part of the grocery budget.
- Review the number every few months. If prices or family needs change, your budget may need to change too.
For a real-life example of how one CBB reader changed her grocery spending over time, read How I Reduced Our Grocery Budget From $1,100 to $600 in 6 Months. The dollar amounts are historical, but the tracking and budgeting process is still useful.
For more ideas, visit the Ultimate Canadian Grocery Shopping Guide.
How Do I Know if My Grocery Budget Is Too High?
A higher grocery budget is not automatically a problem if it is affordable and reflects your priorities.
However, review the category if you regularly throw away food, buy duplicates because you do not know what is at home, stockpile products that expire, or repeatedly purchase food that nobody eats.
If those problems are happening, reduce waste first. Then see whether the budget naturally comes down.
How Do I Know if My Grocery Budget Is Too Low?
If you repeatedly run out of food, cannot buy enough nutritious food, or exceed the target despite reasonable shopping habits, the target may simply be unrealistic.
Increase it gradually and track what happens.
If household income is so tight that there is not enough money for adequate food, that is not a personal budgeting failure. Cutting an already inadequate grocery budget is not always the answer. Look at benefits, community programs, tax credits, and other supports that may be available to your household.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average monthly grocery bill in Canada?
Statistics Canada reports that the average Canadian household spent $8,659 on food purchased from stores in 2023, which is about $722 per month. It is a historical household average, not a recommended 2026 grocery budget.
How much should one person spend on groceries?
There is no single amount that suits every person. Track two or three months of your food spending, remove non-food purchases, calculate the average, and adjust it based on your needs and circumstances.
How much should a family of four spend on groceries in Canada?
There is no universal family-of-four number. Canada’s Food Price Report 2026 includes different four-person household examples with predicted food spending of about $1,377 and $1,464 per month. The difference illustrates why ages and household composition matter. Use those figures as context, not as a required budget.
Should I budget weekly or monthly for groceries?
Either can work. I prefer setting a monthly budget and converting it to a weekly guide using monthly budget × 12 ÷ 52. That accounts for all 52 weeks instead of assuming every month has exactly four weeks.
Should toiletries be included in the grocery budget?
You can include them, but separate categories make it easier to understand what food actually costs. Whatever method you choose, use it consistently.
Should I increase my grocery budget when food prices rise?
Not automatically. First review your real spending and shopping habits. If you are repeatedly over budget even after reducing waste and shopping carefully, your target may need to increase.
Build a Grocery Budget That Fits Your Household
Your grocery budget does not need to match mine, your neighbour’s, or a number you saw on social media.
Start with reality. Track what you spend, understand what is included, look for waste, set a reasonable target, and adjust it as your family and food prices change.
The goal is not to win a contest for the smallest grocery bill.
The goal is to feed your household, understand where your money is going, and create a grocery budget you can actually maintain.
This article originally included a contribution from Aunt B on a Budget. It has been substantially updated and expanded by Mr. CBB for Canadian Budget Binder.
Great post! My budget is $100/week for groceries including cleaning, laundry and baby items. I can make it work most weeks 🙂 I also always shop the pantry before heading to the grocery store to see what I can make without having to buy stuff and to make sure I haven’t put something on my list that’s already in my cupboard. I find that having an actual budget and posting in Mr CBB’s Grocery Game Challenge has really helped my to spend less on groceries 🙂
Hi Jen,
That’s smart to look in your pantry to see what you already have. We had to start doing that as well because we simply had too much food in the house. There’s nothing worse than working hard to save money on food for it to spoil. I can see from your Grocery Game Challenge Posts how well you are doing compared to when you first started. It’s amazing how simply posting your shop will keep your budget in check. The ultimate goal is to take control of the entire budget which you started to do in the past couple months. You should be proud of your accomplishments to date Jen. Cheers darlin.. keep up the good work! Mr.CBB
I go to insane lengths to use everything I have without going to the grocery store, though that has more to do with me being lazy and not wanting to leave the house. When I live on my own my cupboards are bare before I go shopping again. I get quite creative too.
Ha! I hear ya mate. I was the same way and so was Mrs. CBB. I would only shop enough food for the week and that’s about it. I bought no convenience foods when I lived in the UK. It gets much more complicated when you get married or even more so when you have kids. Thanks for your post and for dropping in. Nice to hear from you. Mr.CBB
Very well thought out budget advice!
Where I live in NS, a report came out stating that one adult could purchase a weekly “nutritious food basket” for $45/week. That was considered the bare minimum to eat healthy, and it doesn’t include personal care, paper goods, cleaning supplies, pet food, etc. This must not include any convenience foods either! Interestingly, when my spouse and I do meal planning, buy the bare minimum and cook from scratch, it runs us about $90/week (for food alone).
Hi, Thanks for your comment! Mrs.CBB and I spend $190 a month (well that’s our goal) for our grocery budget which includes health and beauty. We eat very healthy although we just started meal planning. SOme factors that influence price is
1-where you live
2-how much you eat
3-allegies, diet restrictions
4-what you eat
5-do you use coupons or shop reduced meats, cheese,bread and other products?
6-Do you barter for products with others ie: You have an abundance of raspberries and your mate has blueberries so you trade… or make a deal
7-If you email companies they often send you product coupons or free products for paper, health and beauty and cleaning supplies ( again all depends on where you live)…
8- Cooking from scratch which we do and continue to do as much as we can. We like to experiment.
9–Do you have a garden? We grow vegetables and some fruits which helps the budget
Those are just some of the ways. I think you will like a guest post I am posting today.
Thanks for dropping in!
Mr.CBB
Wow! I can’t imagine how someone can feed a family of 4 on 100/month. Holy crap!!! What are they eating?? I have a budget of 344/month for JUST ME and I always go over! I am particular about what I buy, but according to what I make, I should be spending a lot less on groceries. I’ve yet to reconcile this problem.
We spend $190 on the 2 of us but we don’t eat alot of meat but we do eat alot of vegetables, grains and fruits. This budget includes our health and beauty and laundry. Another perspective to look at is how much people are eating. Most people feed themselves far more than they should be when all we really need is a small portion. Others might have dietary restrictions or like in your case you are particular with what you purchase (maybe organic) which can drive the costs. There are reasons how and why people can eat for so little but the misconception that it’s because one is using coupons to buy cheap crap to eat is so far off the mark. For anyone who does use coupons and buys processed boxed foods as their meals it may be that any food is better than no food at all. Cheers and thanks for stopping in! Mr.CBB 🙂 Enjoy your weekend.
I wrote this post for Mr. CBB a while back, and prices have certainly risen since then but, in fact, my household income has decreased by 60%. There’s only me now (I’m widowed) and my monthly grocery budget including toiletries and household supplies is $150.00. I don’t eat junk food or most of the things coupons are available for and I have to admit it’s sometimes tough to make my money stretch to the end of the month. In answer to your question about what I eat: I eat a mostly vegetarian diet these days because meat is too expensive to be other than a trea,t but I am fortunate enough to be the recipient of venison and fish gifts from my hunting and fishing friends. Those gifts go a long way towards stretching my budget. I eat legumes, and eggs and whole grains for most of my proteins, and I forage for fruit and vegetables to supplement my diet pretty much year round.
Hi Aunt B,
Times certainly have changed. I was doing some research for The Grocery Game Challenge 2017 and it seems food prices have dropped over the last 12 months. I look forward to reading the 2017 Consumer Price Index to see where we are starting off for the year. Thanks for sharing your menu plan. When do you start foraging again? I’d love to do a guest post on that topic one day if you’re interested.
I spend 22K a year on groceries – but I run a full time daycare… it is one of my biggest expenses after Savings (yes I consider that an expense – something I budget for and is necessary) and my mortgage and my extra payments… I think If I did not have a daycare my grocery budget would be different , but I think buying organic is important (and FYI I make my own bread and cook from scratch most of the time)
This is a cool site. My first time here!
Hi Denise! Welcome to the page… have a look around and check out Facebook if you are on it as well… I always love feedback so come say HI! Cheers Mr.CBB
This is a really great post! We spend $90 a week on groceries for two of us. This includes food and cleaning supplies. I’m like Jen P. I always check what I have I have in the fridge and pantry first before I make my grocery list. Also, if I go over budget one week, (e.i., I didn’t feel like cooking one night during the week, so I ran to the grocery store and grabbed a frozen pizza which put me over my grocery budget) I always deduct it from the following week. That ensures that everything is evened out by the end of the month.
Hi!
That’s what we will be doing next year when we post our shops in the grocery game. We will take any overage for the month and transfer it to the next month. There’s no point setting a budget for the year if we consistently go over budget and not carry it over. Would love to have you join us, would you consider posting your shop? Cheers Mr.CBB
Good post except you forgot family size in your equation… We are a large family of 6 and there is no way 10% of our income a month would feed us for a month. Mind you, our income is low… So it would only be $320 for us. We’d starve. lol! Unless you’re a vegan eating mostly veggies, beans & grains… This would be a great feat for most I think! I’m also in Ontario, so know the prices here are not cheap. 🙁
I take $125.00 cash to the grocery store every week to feed our family of 4. (I have two teenage children) $115.00 is for food and $10.00 is if I come across a great deal that I can take advantage of! Any money that is left is carried forward to the next week. This budget includes our cleaners and personal needs. I do use coupons for non food items unless and if I can find one for fresh food we use them too. We try not to eat too much processed food although we do buy the odd frozen pizza! I always keep my pantry stocked with the basics and cook from scratch. I do not do menu planning, I buy whats in season and on sale then cook meals based on whats available. You just need to be a little creative! If I have money left at the end of the month, which we often do, I order out as a treat/reward.
Wonderful information! Thanks for sharing and visiting my blog.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Hi There My Friend, This Article on time as Always and so Informative. Thanks for stopping by have a Great Week Ahead.
You as well mate!!
WOW! Wouldn’t I just love to have such a flush grocery budget!
$50/week per person! Yikes!! That’s MORE than DOUBLE what we spend per month.
Even the 10% rule would mean an extra $100 a month in the grocery budget… but I’d have to eliminate both cable and cell phones to cover it. 🙁
Our groceries are $190 per month for two people. Which shakes down as follows:
$47.50 per week (or $23.75 per person)
– 3 of the 4 weeks we shop
– the 4th week we use the funds for stockpile goods
– if there is a 5th week in the month, it’s a NO SHOP week
You both shop pretty much the same as Mrs.CBB and I shop. It all boils down to budget in the end. There is no magic number online even though people think they wil find it. If I did a blog post about A Family of 5 should budget $500 a month I bet I’d get tonnes of hits.. why? because people want the convenience. They want someone just to say.. do this, do that.. and this is how it is done. Perhaps investing a bit of time in one’s overall budget and finances will simply give them that magic number besides… the internet is just a tool.. we have to make our own decisions based on our own personal situations. Cheers Mary!!! 🙂
Times have changed at our house… now that I am Gluten Free, we are shopping a lot more regularly in the US. As such I am now operating a Canadian Budget and a US Reserve. It breaks down as follows:
$190 Canadian per month for two that is saved monthly from hubby’s pay cheque. One tip, the funds being set aside are for next month. I never spend what is not already in the bank account. My mother used cash in a grocery envelope in her purse as her method to stay on budget…I do the same sort of thing except, I use a credit card and get points BUT I post my funds spent every shop and move them out of the grocery category on my spreadsheet and add them to the credit card payment category. It means I always have the funds ready to pay the bill in full as soon as it is issued. 😀
When we are in the US we spend $100-$150 every month to two months. I fund our US grocery budget 4 ways: 1. if there’s money left in the Canadian budget at month end, I move it over to my US reserve, 2. If we are on vacation in the US…that week’s Canadian grocery budget is added to the US reserve since I am not in Canada to spend it anyway, 3. I save every month in a Vacation – Food account and if a vacation I have set “food money” aside for is either postponed or cancelled, those funds are then transferred to my US Grocery Reserve and last but not least… 4. I buy a small amount of US cash each month and these funds held in our US funds account until such time as we need them. When we cross the line, I like to have no less than $100 US cash in my wallet hiding spot. 🙂
I think I need to re-design my GGC posts to reflect this regular south of the border habit of ours. 🙂
I think your mother was smart and so are you how you handle your money. We are similar to you that we use our credit card for points but the money is already there to be spent. Shopping in the USA has helped you cut down on some of the high GF costs which works out great. I think if you need to re-design your already amazing GGC go for it because it’s your chart and you are tracking it, we are just following your wonderful journey!!
Some very helpful hints thanks # CBB
This is the shiz, CBB and it made my day. Tammy and I worked so hard on our grocery budget but were never sure it was tip top. We got is down to $260/month for 2 peeps. So when I saw $235 + $20 for washables and the like, I was completely stoked off! Now where can we cut another $5? Or is it just an American/Canadian thing? Whatever the case, CBB, have a great and tasty Thursday!!!
I freakin enjoy reading your comments mate… makes my day!! Come play the Grocery Game with us and other bloggers!! I’m sure we can whip your budget into shape 😉
Seriously???? My wife and I and our two year old budget is $200 per week and usually go over. That includes all household items, cleaning supplies, and toiletries. We almost never go out to restaurants. Total bill is about 15% of our monthly income. I know being in northern ontario the cost of groceries is higher but WOW
Hi Ben,
Yes it really depends on where you live and many other factors when considering how much a grocery budget should be. Thanks for droppig by mate.
Ben, I’m in total agreement with you. We are also 3 (two tiny females who don’t eat alot) and 1 hungry Swiss man 🙂 – and i spent 300 dollars on the weekend and i’ll have to go back for bread and milk tomorrow.
hi there! great to find this information. i’ve been hunting down how much money people spend on food in canada for a fwe years now because i cannot imagine what people on small incomes eat, given the price of food. i am a grown woman who has been working in a high income bracket for many years, so personally, i know that i have more income than many. i also am fully aware of the methods people use to save on food. however i have also come to the conclusion that most people just aren’t as ‘info’ food as i am (i hate the word foodie but you know what i mean). however. in spite of all of that, i still don’t believe that you can feed a family WELL of 4 in Canada for less than 200 dollars a month. great topic though thanks.
I’m a single guy so, if I really needed to, I could cut my grocery bill down to something like $30/wk. This would mean a LOT of ramen noodles and probably a lot of weight gain by eating such garbage food.
Since I don’t want to do that to myself, or my waistline, I cap myself out at average $100/wk and allow myself to buy a lot of fruits and veggies. I figure the cost now will even out versus heart surgery in 20 years. lol
Funny you should mention being a single guy. Did you read my Ultimate Guide to Grocery Shopping for the Single person I published this past Tuesday? Check it out. http://canadianbudgetbinder.com/2015/04/21/ultimate-grocery-list-single-person/
It’s 2015 and I’m a single female with a cat. It’s just this year I am gaining confidence to cook and eat healthier. I do not like doing grocery shopping for a number of reasons. I live in Toronto and I find that the cost of grocery shopping has increased since I moved out of my parents house. I was never good at cooking and wasted a lot of money on eating out. My parents used to spend $400 per week to feed them and five kids and a cat. I do my grocery shopping online because I used to take a taxi to get home (which costed me the same amount to do online) or I would end up hauling a cart, backpack and four other bags between each arm. It’s costing me over $200 which I have to do a lot of cuts and I have to make it last for a month because I’m unemployed. When I am employed it’s less than $250 and I’m still cutting back. Having a cat does cut into my bill but not by much since I buy to last for a minimum of 2 months. I estimated it cost me $50 for food and litter which is not that much unless I’m unemployed…like now. I am now getting confidence in cooking (yay) and trying to eat healthier. I refuse to eat only pastas and hot dogs. With my new adventures in cooking, my grocery bill, even with healthier items, hasn’t increased that much. I still think it’s costly because it does not include personal and cleaning items.
What you deny yourself now, you will be paying for in medical bills later. One cannot place a price on their health and there is a direct correlation between what we fuel our bodies with and our health. As a Canadian citizen, who has lived long periods of time in other countries, I understand the difference in food prices firsthand. I consider myself a smart food shopper as I have had a long educational career and been a “struggling student” for much of my life. I’d rather get a second job or cut back in other areas than to deprive myself of valuable nutrients and taste. Anyone who clings to a budget so severely strikes me as a controlling person, rigid and inflexible. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! For me, life is far too short for such deprivation and nonsense. I understand not having money, and I understand living on a budget for the sake of other goals in mind, but to be cheap just for the sake of being cheap strikes an ill chord with me!
I guess it depends on what you choose to eat. We eat VERY healthy and also have the liberty of enjoying fresh organic produce in the summer from our relatives. A budget is not meant to dictate what you can and cannot buy it dictates how much one can afford. If they simply can’t afford to spend more there is no where to get the money from. Having a budget is such an integral part of our financial success and in no way, shape or form did we not eat well or continue to. It’s up to the shopper what they purchase and what goes into their bodies at the end of the day. The budget is just a number.
I’ve been noticing that many people who boast low cost groceries forget to reveal in their blog that they live on farms, or have access to free food. It’s a different story when you live in a city and have to purchase most ingredients. We cook from scratch as well, with a family of 6, and with grocery prices rising at a regular pace…sure cut backs need to be made… it should be made clear that many don’t have access to free foods, gardens or transportation to forage for wild food. I know you said prices very according to situations, it most certainly does.
As a ph.d student, I have to cut back. Getting a job is not realistic for me right now, as I have countless hours of reading and research to do. I am Canadian but have lived a huge portion of my life in Japan, and that was a huge eye-opener for me as their food prices are astronomical! (It gave me a whole new appreciation for Canada!) I have also lived in the US and wonder why food & drink are so much cheaper in the States!? I eat mostly fruits and vegetables. I use meat sparingly, as a condiment, as it is used in many Asian countries/ dishes. I have learned to embrace tofu but there is a world of difference between Japanese tofu and what is sold in the markets in North America! ;( I am also learning how to make legumes in a variety of ways! I have read that when we think we are hungry, we are actually just thirsty in many instances, so I hydrate myself with good, life-replenishing water and lots of herbal infusions. (Luckily, I got a massive basket as a gift so I’m set for the next several months!) I get through by telling myself that this is only for a “season” – when I’m finished with my studies and working full time, I plan to eat like a queen…in a healthy way, of course! I can do this for a limited period of time. I would not want to do it for a lifetime!
Good for you Olivia! Getting an education is pricey for everyone but I love your optimistic and positive ways. Too many people look at things negatively instead of finding something that works for the situation that is not long-term in nature.
Any new numbers for 2017? Trying to build a budget for a family of 6 and having trouble finding current info for Alberta. Best numbers I have found suggest $225.66/week in Edmonton for a family of 4 is average. So I am thinking maybe $300.00/week for a family of 6 would be a reasonable place to start. Although my youngest members are not big eaters yet I think that the cost of Diapers and wipes probably make up the difference. Based on our current spending I am thinking that should cover groceries and cleaners and toiletries. Would that be a fair place to start? Thanks 🙂
Hi Laura,
Honestly, I didn’t look at any numbers to build a budget but our own. Too many people are trying to base their budget on current trends but it doesn’t work that way. It’s great to know the average number but build your budget based on your net income and expenses and you should easily come up with a number. You can also look back the last 6 months to see how much you’ve spent on average and add to that. This year for example the wife and I added $35 to our monthly grocery budget because we noticed we were spending more or coming close.
I am a single person and spend about 100 to 125 a month for everything including toilet paper and detergent. I don’t shop every week, because honestly, 1) I’m too busy and 2) the products I need are not on sale every week.
I try to shop my fridge and pantry if the flyers don’t have what I need. My shopping trips sometimes coincide with Airmiles bonus points, which is good.
Sometimes I shop at Sobeys or Metro because they have a good variety, and sometimes I shop at No Frills.
I am trying to eat healthy and have cut out prepared foods more than a year ago. My diet is protein and veggies in season for the most part and I usually cook from scratch, which makes me happy.