Cost of Groceries for a Family

Every. Single. Time. I get home from the grocery store, I shake my head in disbelief of how much I spent on food.

(Photo by: Bill and Vicky T, Creative Commons 2.0)

I try to rationalize that we have no other food costs:
- I eat out only once a month for a Girls' Night Out
- My husband very rarely has lunch out for work
- We eat all the food, having very little food waste.

But, still. I drop a lot of money a month on groceries/food (this includes face lotion, shampoo, detergents, etc).

This got me thinking: is my expectation about the cost of groceries (food) accurate? Should I be shaking my head in disbelief?

In case you're wondering the same thing, here's the official breakdown from the August report by the USDA about how much family of 4 (with children ages 6-11) spent on food in July of 2014:

Per month: $650.50 - $1293.20

It does cost a lot of money to feed a family, but I'm well inside the normal range so I am going to try to stop shaking my head.

(Tip: don't read blogs about families who spend less than $400 a month to feed a family! They'll make you feel really bad about yourself and cause you to go look at reports by the USDA.)