I've always budgeted a flat rate for all household expenses (including food-groceries/eat out, cleaning products, toiletries, meds-scrip co pays/otc, basic clothing, haircuts, gas/parking/small car items-fluids, wiper blades...,hardware-lightbulbs, filters, yard stuff-weed whacker cord, sprays, hot tub chemicals...entertainment...), basically anything that is out of pocket vs. being billed for (if I order something online w/a credit card I immediately deduct it from my monthly budget). I have to say that it became easier to stick to the budget when the kids stopped constantly outgrowing stuff.
currently it's at $1200 total for a family of 3.5 adults (dd goes to college but she visits and I buy her stuff).
that said-last month I started tracking every penny to see where it was going. this month I took it a step further and started breaking it down to see what was specifically 'groceries' and how it cost out (down to categories of meat/produce/dairy/convenience foods/dry goods...). I'm currently at about $418.50 for just groceries for the month-but I suspect that's low b/c i'm making a concerted effort to stop taking advantage of sales and use what we already have on hand. i'm meal planning around what I've already got (which includes a very well stocked freezer).
one thing I've done the last few months that has made a HUGE difference in our grocery bill is to pretty much limit our household to one major grocery shopping day per month. at the beginning of the month one day is dedicated to powering through a trip to Walmart, Costco and trader joes. I keep a running list during the prior month of what i'm running low on/out of and then think if there's anything in particular that I want to cook (so if it weren't currently 11 degrees with a wind-chill factor of below zero here I might think bbq and add bbq fixins). with the exception of dairy and produce we haven't found a need to shop for anything much else during the rest of the month (and it keeps me out of the grocery store where i'm tempted to stock up on something just b/c it's on sale).
currently it's at $1200 total for a family of 3.5 adults (dd goes to college but she visits and I buy her stuff).
that said-last month I started tracking every penny to see where it was going. this month I took it a step further and started breaking it down to see what was specifically 'groceries' and how it cost out (down to categories of meat/produce/dairy/convenience foods/dry goods...). I'm currently at about $418.50 for just groceries for the month-but I suspect that's low b/c i'm making a concerted effort to stop taking advantage of sales and use what we already have on hand. i'm meal planning around what I've already got (which includes a very well stocked freezer).
one thing I've done the last few months that has made a HUGE difference in our grocery bill is to pretty much limit our household to one major grocery shopping day per month. at the beginning of the month one day is dedicated to powering through a trip to Walmart, Costco and trader joes. I keep a running list during the prior month of what i'm running low on/out of and then think if there's anything in particular that I want to cook (so if it weren't currently 11 degrees with a wind-chill factor of below zero here I might think bbq and add bbq fixins). with the exception of dairy and produce we haven't found a need to shop for anything much else during the rest of the month (and it keeps me out of the grocery store where i'm tempted to stock up on something just b/c it's on sale).