Average Grocery Bill for Family of 4
Everyone’s grocery bill is different depending entirely on what they consume and what their lifestyle is. Maybe you prefer convenience items and ready to cook meals or you are more inclined towards homemade food. These decisions have a big impact on your budget. Well if you are a family of four this article will be extremely helpful to you as we are going to give you some tips on how much your grocery bill should be if you are a family of 4. Managing groceries within a budget is always a big deal.
Let’s look into how much American family normally spends on their food. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, American’s spend 11% to 16% each year on food. These percentages include both food at home and dining out as well.
Calculate your budget from USDA report
Most people are unaware but every month USDA publishes a report on the cost of food. Well despite you think this sounds boring but if you are up to making a valuable budget then this report is going to be quite helpful to you.
The report provides you with four eating plans and it’s easy to read one also. The one page chart gives you Thrifty Plan, Low-Cost Plan, Moderate Plan and Liberal Plan. You can choose your plan according to your budget. The report also provides footnotes that offer further details on what each plan is and how it’s going to work. Each plan reflects the cost of home food healthy diets. The plan further provides detailing of weekly food cost on individuals according to the age and gender groups.
Average Grocery Bill for a Family of 4
If you are family of 4 than the most probable distribution of grocery budget would be;
Most likely parents would fall in the 19 to 50 age range. Kids might be the age of 2 and 6. Now calculate the weekly groceries spending. According to the USDA report the family of four would spend the following amount on food:
Liberal Eat Plan: $282.90
Moderate Eat Plan: $230.90
Low Eat Plan: $190
Thrifty Eat Plan: $144
According to the data USDA provides, the average spending of the family of four is between $144 to $282.90. However this is only the average calculation for the U.S as a whole. It may differ according to your area; some of the grocery prices might be higher or lower. It is most likely that some families have some special dietary plan according to which their groceries average might be higher. These calculations just provide a mere idea to you of how much it would possibly cost. And if you are a smart spender your monthly spending might be entirely different or even better from this budget.
Figure out what you’re spending on
If you are not calculating your groceries, you should start practicing.
The super easy way of doing it, is go through the receipt you receive from the grocery store to get an idea how much each item costs. If you are a credit card holder visit your cardholder website. Many credit card companies provide full information about your spending and also categories them based on the retailers you purchased.
It will give you a rough estimate on how much you spent on groceries. But keep in mind these reports aren’t accurate. For instance it might be possible your cardholder places your pricey shopping from the supermarket under the grocery’s category and not for medicine that you actually picked up. If you require accuracy then download your last few months spending and do some calculations on your own. Taking notes from your grocery store receipts and restaurant bills is another way of doing it. Whichever plan you are going to pursue, make it according to the number of family members you have.
How much do you spend on groceries?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 43% of the American Food expenses are because of eating out or away from home. If you are looking to slash your food budget you might start eating at home. It will make a huge difference to your budget. It is one of the incredible ways to stay on budget that helps you save more for other essentials of life.
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