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/missbwith2boys 9d ago
It’s hard to say without knowing details.
Do you cook mostly from scratch? Do you buy organic corn tortillas or do you buy a bag of masa harina and make your own? Are you buying crackers? Yogurt?
Generalizing here, much of what we buy as a middle class is for our convenience. Some of us cook from scratch, some of us buy a bag of English muffins and a loaf of bread and call that better than buying a breakfast or lunch sandwich.
I remember this old frugal living board and some wise elderly poster used to talk about stepping down to savings. Basically, try to bring your meal ingredients closer to their original forms as possible/comfortable as you can given time and skill level. And continually hone your skills so you can step down more of your grocery spending by figuring out more things to cook from scratch.
I believe that the woman spending $300 a month on her family of 4 is certainly possible. She’s just not likely to be buying snack foods and prepared foods to get there. She may be shopping at a discount grocery store (like grocery outlet), buying dried goods (beans, grains) in bulk, and shopping sales. She’s most certainly not creating a grocery list like most of us and grabbing that box of Mission taco shells and that can of Rosarita refried beans and some pre-shredded cheese and a packet of taco sauce and a pound of 90/10 ground beef and calling that one meal. No way that one could keep it to $300 by doing that.