Wondering how to spend on groceries and where to cut expenses? Here’s my real-life frugal family of 4 grocery budget!
In A Nutshell:
To lower your grocery budget for a family of 4, it’s important to know how much you currently spend. You can compare that cost to predictions on a Grocery Budget Calculator. There are many factors like dietary restrictions, location, and ages of children in your home that can affect your grocery budget. To decrease your grocery budget there are a variety of options available. If you are a beginner, start by learning to shop sales, cook from scratch, and keep a well-stocked pantry to save the most money right away.
As a stay-at-home-mom on a single income, I’ve learned to keep our grocery budget low. It’s taken quite a bit of time to transition from a dual-income to a single-income but I feel like I’ve found a comfortable routine for us in terms of grocery shopping and meal preparation. We are currently a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 toddlers) with no allergy restrictions or special diets. We do not buy organic foods because of cost and mostly stick to generic brands. Our current grocery budget for our family of 4 is $400. Here’s a breakdown of how I keep our grocery expenses low and how you can too!
How Much Should Your Grocery Budget Be For a Family of 4?
As inflation continues, it’s hard to know how much to spend on groceries for your family. Dave Ramsey used to say you should spend about 10% of your monthly income on groceries. However, Dave Ramsey now endorses the USDA Food Plans: Monthly Cost of Food Reports. These Food Plans are broad estimates of expenditures.
To find the average amount of money a family of 4 like yours spends on their grocery budget, check out the USDA-endorsed Grocery Budget Calculator. This calculator will let you customize the age ranges and number of meals eaten at home for your family. Here’s the result for my family of 2 adults and 2 toddlers who eat all meals at home. Keep in mind the Grocery Budget Calculator does not account for any special allergy or diet restrictions.
How Do Dietary Restrictions Affect A Grocery Budget?
Dietary restrictions like low cholesterol, low sodium, or allergies and intolerances can cause a family to spend more on groceries. For example, if you have a child with a gluten allergy you will need to pay for name-brand gluten-free products instead of the cheaper generic brand breads and pastas. Families with special dietary considerations will need to increase their grocery budget to accommodate these important differences.
What Other Factors Increase a Grocery Budget?
- Location: Some states have higher-priced foods in some or all categories
- Number of Family Members: More people equals more expenses
- Age of Family Members: A toddler will eat less than a teenager
- Number of Meals at Home: If you are a stay-at-home-mom with kids, you’ll spend more on groceries than if you ate lunch at work or school.
- *Diet Choices: Organic, Non-GMO, Vegan, etc. will all be higher priced
*If you’re unsure about how to handle dietary choices for your family on a limited income, check out my post A Dietitian’s Best Advice for Eating Healthy on a Budget.
Ways To Save Money On Groceries
- Compare Grocery Prices: Learn to compare prices across brands and package sizes to get the best deal.
- Cut out Unnecessary Expenses: Eliminate junk foods, extra “little treats”, and foods that can’t be finished before expiration.
- Simplify Recipes: Cut down on fresh herbs and special ingredients. Learn to substitute with ingredients on hand.
- Shop for Sales: Watch weekly ads for nearby stores. Buy extra sale items while they are cheap to avoid paying full price later.
- Clip Coupons: Watch for coupons in newspapers and ads
- Meal Plan: Plan meals to buy only what you need.
- Cook From Scratch: Almost all homemade meals are cheaper than processed foods.
- Cash-Back Apps: Check for additional money-back on apps like Fetch or Ibotta
- Keep A Well-Stocked Pantry: Keep a well-stocked pantry with core ingredients that you can use to make multiple meals.
My $400 Grocery Budget For a Family of 4
As I mentioned above, my grocery budget is about half the USDA expected expenditure for my family of 4. As a “retired” dietitian I continue to keep appropriate nutrition as a priority. I use the USDA’s MyPlate as an easy guide to ensure my family gets all the major food groups regularly.
Thankfully my family of 4 does not have any allergies or other dietary restrictions that raise our grocery budget and we live in the Midwest where food is reasonably priced. I have used all of these tricks above to get my grocery spending down. However, it has taken time to learn this skill.
Top 3 Ways to Cut Down A Grocery Budget for a Family of 4
All the ways to save money on groceries above help, but they can take a while to learn. If you’re new to lowering your grocery budget for your family of 4, try to start with these 3. These will save you the most money fastest!
1. Shopping For Sales:
Learning to shop for sales can be a huge money savings. The downside is that it does take a little extra time and attention to read ads and make stops at multiple stores to get the best deals at each. Make sure to stock up on extra grocery items that are a really good price so you don’t have to pay full price later!
2. Cooking From Scratch
Making meals homemade means less eating out and pre-packaged dinners that cost more than homemade meals. Cooking from scratch can be more time-consuming and is a learning curve if you’re not used to it. If you are new to making homemade meals, try to recreate some of your favorite pre-packaged meals with ingredients from your cupboards! The more you learn, the more you save! This year I’ve started making all my own breads and doughs as well which has saved us even more!
3. Keep A Well-Stocked Pantry
The more versatile ingredients you have on hand, the more meals you’ll be able to make without going to the grocery store. A well-stocked pantry takes time to create but you can build it slowly by buying extra canned goods, condiments, and pastas when they go on sale. To decide what items you will need to stock, look at the recipes you regularly use and see what ingredients they have in common.
The list of regularly used ingredients is your Pantry Inventory System. Once you have a list of grocery items, you can decide how many of each you need to have on hand. Then, on shopping days, you can compare what you have to what you are supposed to have in your pantry and create a shopping list from that. To see an example, check out my Free Pantry Inventory Tracker here!
I hope this helps you decrease your family of 4 grocery budget! Remember, it does take time to learn all this so give yourself grace if you’re just starting!
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