How to set a grocery budget?

Sooooo there is no perfect answer to this one. I studied so many blogs/videos/instagram accounts and none of them really worked for us all together. So I will say this to you- Jordan Page is my favvvvvv US blogger who talks all about budgets and she is insanely awesome. Her go-to is to say this: $100/usd/person/per month is enough for a budget to a min of $300. Yes a baby is included in that. You are still buying diapers, formula, creams etc. I wanted to stick to this plan but I'll be honest CANADIAN prices on groceries are much more expensive. I'll do the conversion for you to Canadian.

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here are 5 people in my family. That's $500 USD. Which works out to about $640 CAD to spend monthly on groceries. There is no way on Gods green earth that works for us. I actually did a poll in my Instagram stories and I would say on average you guys are spending easily $200/per week for a family of 4. That's $50 a person/week. Equaling $800/month for a family of four. $1,000 a month for a family of 5 etc. I'll be honest that would be hard for us. I could absolutely do $250 a week (family of 5) for a while but then it would feel impossible.

My grocery spend was around $1500/month two years ago easily. Side note: my alcohol budget and eating out is completely separate. This number for me only includes food/necessities. Since meal planning, learning to stretch meals farther and actually shopping SALES it is around that $1200/month average. I'm sure I could have done better but COVID hit and I def spent a little more each month to stock up on freezer goodies back when the pandemic hit to avoid going out once a week. I would feel like superwoman if I could get it down to $1,000 a month average over 6 months but reality is...I sometimes get tired and need a break from life too. Or perhaps I need those chips or chocolate right meow. So that being said, grace my friends. If you can make it a fun learning experience I think you'll make this work for life.

Main point here?

Pick a number for you that is manageable at first. Keep in mind if you are eating all organic or have food allergies you will absolutely spend more. DON"T KILL yourself by failing at an unrealistic goal. I think starting to harsh may actually deflate your motivation if you don't hit that number. So start slower and learn. Give yourself some grace. I was upset at myself when I started doing this and wasn't reaching my goals. I think that may be a personality thing though...

What you need to do first:

1.Go through your credit card statements and figure out what you spent on groceries over the last 6 months to get your average monthly spend. It'll be rough I'm sure because not everything you buy at Costco or Walmart are actually groceries for example. But just add it together and get a starting point.

2.Once you know your average spend, I would honestly set a goal to save even $200 your first month. That's only buying $50 less per week. That's totally doable because you'll also be shopping sales, stretching meals and probably have a full pantry from overbuying for the holidays... :)

3. I'll be doing a weekly check in on Sundays in my Instagram stories over @littlesandspice. So feel free to check in there for those who want/need the accountability.

4.Lets try and make this fun! I'm sure there are so many other things buttttt start here. I'll be sharing my "How to save money grocery shopping" blog in the next few days! We start Jan 1!

All the best,

Sarah