Overspending on groceries is easily justifiable because food is necessary to sustain life. However, a healthy diet doesn’t need to be expensive. And preparing delicious meals can be done on a tight budget if you know what to look for.
What is the Average Grocery Cost Per Month in the United States?
The average monthly grocery bill of a family of three in the US is $910.08. This assumes that the household comprises two adults (one male and one female) and one child and that the family follows the July 2024 Official USDA Moderate Food Plan.
Monthly Average Food Cost Per Person
The US Department of Agriculture has created three food plans that Americans can follow: the Low-cost Plan, the Moderate-cost Plan, and the Liberal Plan.
These plans take into consideration the age and gender of a person to calculate the average food cost. Here are some of the average food costs listed in the July 2024 USDA Food Plans:
Monthly Food Cost for Males (19-50 Years)
| Low-cost Plan | Moderate-cost Plan | Liberal Plan |
| $302.90 | $379.80 | $467.70 |
Monthly Food Cost for Females (19-50 Years)
| Low-cost Plan | Moderate-cost Plan | Liberal Plan |
| $262.70 | $321.10 | $409.00 |
Monthly Food Cost for Children (4-5 Years)
| Low-cost Plan | Moderate-cost Plan | Liberal Plan |
| $170.40 | $209.90 | $253.60 |
Are You Overspending on Groceries?
You’re probably wondering how anyone could consistently stick to the liberal plan budget, let alone follow the low-cost plan. And while the USDA has probably made a few mistakes in its estimates, these plans are viable.
If you’re still struggling to follow these food plans, then here are five things you can do to tighten up your budget:
1. Create a Separate Budget for Food Deliveries and Restaurant Dining
These may be food purchases, but they are not for sustenance. These expenses are for entertainment, socialization, and convenience, which are important, but they should not be given the same priority as your groceries.
2. Create a Price Book for Groceries
You’ve probably gotten some amazing deals on online purchases, especially with Buy Now, Pay Later. And that’s all thanks to how easy it is to compare prices when shopping online.
The good news is that you can apply this to your grocery shopping as well! The bad news is that you have to do it manually by creating your own Price Book. A price book is just that, a list of prices for items from different stores.
Keep your price book updated so that you always get the best deals for your groceries.
3. Buy Raw Ingredients in Bulk
For expensive grocery items, you’re mostly paying for the labor that went into their creation and also their storage and delivery costs. You can cut costs by purchasing raw ingredients as opposed to finished products. Also, you can purchase in bulk as opposed to buying the amount that you need that week.
This does require you to do extra work and prepare extra storage. This also means that high-earners might be better off paying for the labor and convenience.
4. Consider Using a Grocery Pickup Service
Most stores are ingeniously designed to encourage impulse buying. Just think of how many times you’ve been tempted by that chocolate bar at the checkout line. Avoid the temptation by never setting foot inside the store in the first place.
5. Never Shop on an Empty Stomach
This seems like an obvious tip, but it bears repeating due to how much you can overspend on food when you’re hungry. Schedule your grocery shopping after a nice meal to prevent the regret that comes after a hunger-induced shopping frenzy.
Budgeting for Holidays and Special Occasions
Spikes in expenditure caused by the holiday season are the main causes of budgets being thrown out of the window.
You can create a Holiday Spending Budget Category to prevent this from happening. This allows you to assess your holiday spending in previous years to adjust your budget accordingly.
If tracking your expenses sounds too tedious, there are tools you can use to download to help ease the burden. The Cushion App, for example, can even stream your due dates to your Google Calendar (which updates in real-time!).
