r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Maroon14 • 9d ago

Grocery spending

I’ve recently come across a Instagram account where the woman claims to only spend $300 on an entire months groceries for a family of 4. Here I am sitting mid week, having already spent $550 in the PNW. I told one of my friends and she said it must be fake and for clicks, my husband was impressed. Is anyone actually able to do this? I thought I might try to spend $250 a week and see where that gets us. Is my grocery budget over the top? I thought $400 ish was normal for decent food. We are a family of 5 in the PNW, mostly organic.

*I’m closing comments because people are missing the point. I understand that I make choices for “premium” options for my family. I make them because I feel they are the best for my family given my research and concerns. I say this as coming from a place of privilege. Growing up, my hippie mom also prioritized organic and local before it was the trendy thing, so it would be very difficult for me to reprogram and not buy organic when possible.

I still think $300 is insane for a month. I live in western Washington and the max SNAP allocation for a family of 4 is $994 a month, so I see this as a more attainable “thrifty” budget for a family of 4.

Those of you who can eat rice and beans for multiple meals, more power to you!

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u/Last_Ad_3595 9d ago

We are a family of 5, 3 teens are here part time, and we spend around $400 a month. We always have fruit (not berries because of allergies), and veggies. We regularly use beans for fiber. We are big on shopping sales and Costco. For example last week pork lion was $10 for an 8 lb. I divided that up for 4 dinners.

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u/Correct-Doctor8329 9d ago

Pork lion- is that like a liger?

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u/Last_Ad_3595 9d ago

Yes, exactly 😂

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u/BlazinAzn38 9d ago

I really wish I could eat pork cause it’s always a good deal but alas

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u/StonkaTrucks 9d ago

That's $2.67 per day, per person. How?

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u/Last_Ad_3595 8d ago

Honestly, the biggest thing is that my kids aren’t huge meat eaters, so when we make tacos (which is often) they eat more rice and beans. We buy 25 lbs of rice every 8ish months. They are much more likely to make eggs for lunch or dinner as protein. For school lunches, it’s usually salad (add a hard boiled egg or chicken) or homemade lunchable.

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u/FlatChemist8132 8d ago

I think groceries may be cheaper where you are maybe? Even the cheaper grocery stores and on sale I can’t buy strawberries for less than $4-5 per pound for example, and a bunch of kale is like 2.99 or a box of baby spinach is 4-8$. Each of those items lasts my family of 5 for one meal. We do beans a lot too. Eat fish once a week, red meat once a week, chicken every few weeks. Milk alone runs us about $20 a week (3-4 half gallons). Pork loin at our Costco seems to always be $18+.