You’re looking to set your food budget and aren’t sure exactly where to start.
Let me say that there was once a time (prior to having a budget at all) when my food spending was unintentionally the third highest on my list of monthly expenses.
First was daycare costs, then my house, and then food. Food wasn’t far behind my housing costs.
That said, I do not know your particular situation and everyone’s is different. Your income, current set expenses, expectations for what you eat, your family’s expectations… These are all things that will play a part in your monthly budget.
However, the purpose of this article is analyzing what you are currently doing and where you can go from here.
Let’s get started!
Looking Into Your Current Food Spending
Do you know how much you spend on eating in a month? How about in a day? Do you know what you spent yesterday? Did you take into consideration all of the small expenses like a smoothie or bagel or snack machines at work?
Look at how many times you’re going out to eat or stopping at gas stations for snacks.
Creating a budget is never to punish you. It’s a tool for planning for the future and not being hit by surprises. It’s your choice what you want the budget to be.
You are currently looking your past spending habits so that you can know a place to start. If you find that the budget is higher than you think it should be, lower it and know that you will need to make some changes.
Typically my articles regarding money are written about saving money and ways to stick to a budget. However, know that this is your food budget and it’s your choice how many times you’d like to go out to eat or where you are buying your groceries.
Looking at an entire month from the past will help you plan for the future. If you have the time, look at two or more months and take the average of those months.
I do not break my budget up into going out to eat/groceries/snacks. I keep it altogether and I believe I am successful due to the fact we only go out to eat once a week. Your food budget may need to be broken down once you see how much you have spent in the previous month.
Also, if you feel as though you need to keep your eating out in check, I would definitely break that into it’s own category and not combine.
What Is Your Food Budget Percentage
First, make sure you captured everything from the previous month (or multiple months if you want to take an average).
Now take that number and add in 10% because I know personally that I would have missed some things.
Utilizing your total income you have coming in, figure out what your percentage of food spending is going out.
I will say that I’ve read other articles where advisors suggest that you have 15% or less of your take home pay going towards food.
Again, this is your budget. Is your percentage higher than 15%? No matter what the percentage is, know that you have the power to keep it at that percentage or make it lower.
My personal food budget for a family of four is at 11% of my total take home pay.
Look at your housing percentage and other percentages from your budget and make sure that the percentage that you choose comfortably fits.
Meal Planning
My meal planning changed when I started using eMeals.
I have the app on my phone. I pick meal recipes I want to make for the week.
The app is tied to Kroger where I place weekly pickup orders. The ingredients for each meal are sent directly to my Kroger cart. I delete the items I already have at home or add items (like milk) that I need but weren’t in any of the meals I chose.
However, eMeals does have a fee and there other free websites you can go to in order to find amazing recipes like Allrecipes. The downside is that it’s not as simple adding items directly to your cart. It’s a manual process.
I don’t mind paying for eMeals as it saves me a ton of time and money.
On Saturday or Sunday each week, I begin planning out what the meals will be for each day. I know we take sandwiches to school/work most days and some days we eat leftovers. I know that my husband picks up fast food every Wednesday night. We go out to dinner (almost) every Friday night.
The rest of the week is up to me to come up with meals we will make at home. Some nights, I plan for grilled cheese night or breakfast for dinner. It’s not necessarily what we are going to eat – it’s the fact that I have made a plan and I don’t have to last minute figure it out.
If your meal planning consists of five days of eating at restaurants and two days eating at home, so be it. It’s the planning that matters.
It’s difficult to stick to the budget you have made if you do not spend a little bit of time planning for each meal.
Buying In Bulk To Cut Down Your Food Budget
I used to go to Sam’s Club once every other month to get some staples that I want to have in bulk.
Recently, I’ve found that Amazon tends to have better deals for the items I buy regularly. Currently on Amazon’s Subscribe and Save, I have U by Kotex female products (I have two teenage girls) and Fresh Step Cat Litter.
I like that the heavy cat litter comes in right when I need it without me thinking about it and I don’t have to carry it out of a store because it’s super heavy.
I buy paper towels, toilet paper, and garbage bags all in bulk. However, it doesn’t matter where you buy these items from. The idea is to knock some of the easier items out and not have to worry about adding them to your weekly shopping list.
Buying in bulk is almost always a cost savings.
Make sure you are checking the per unit (or ounce) price to make sure you are getting the best deal. Having a list of the items you purchase often, and buying them in bulk, can save quite a bit.
I will say that I used to buy food items in bulk and have since stopped that. Our eating habits seem to magically change immediately after I buy in bulk. Once I buy a lot of something, nobody in the house wants to eat that particular item. I’m then having to eat something I never wanted in the first place or throwing food out.
To sum this up, buying in bulk can save not only cash, but also time.
Tracking Your Food Budget Moving Forward
Now that you have created your monthly budget for food, make sure you are holding yourself accountable.
Keep track of what you spend every single day on meals, snacks, and going out to eat. Keep your receipts and enter them into a spreadsheet or enter it into a budgeting app as the spend happens.
Personally, I enter it into the notes section of my phone the moment it happens. I can’t stand receipts.
The important thing is to keep track of how you did the first month after creating the budget. You may need to adjust your originally number after you have a better handle on tracking your spending.
I will say some months I’ve gone outside of the budget due to stocking up on some items. When that happens, I don’t immediately call it quits or adjust my budget. I plan to have the next month be lower in spending. That will wash out the month that I went over a bit.
This is all about being aware and planning instead of reacting.
Final Thoughts
Congratulations to you on creating a food spending budget!
Let me say once more that a budget is not meant to keep you in chains. A budget will allow you to better plan for the future and emergency situations.
Keep in mind that planning meals for the week will not only help you stick to the budget. It will also give you peace of mind knowing that this part of your life is taken care of.
Some months you’ll spend more and some months you’ll spend less. Try to keep up with how much you are spending at least weekly so you can pivot and make changes quickly.
Do not wait until the end of the month to enter a bunch of receipts. Basically, you were living freely for thirty days and who knows if you’ve gone over the budget or not.
Best of luck to you with your food budget!
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