What should our grocery budget actually be?

Set your household and spending level to get a realistic figure. The four tiers correspond to the USDA food plan levels, so this is anchored to published data rather than a guess.

Last reviewed August 30, 2026 · Runs in your browser

Groceries per month

$1,638

2 adults + 2 children · moderate plan

Spending level
Adults
Children
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Split

Adults—
Children—

Tiers correspond to the four USDA food plan levels: Thrifty, Low-cost, Moderate, and Liberal. Larger households are adjusted downward per head, since buying for more people is more efficient.

What this result means

If your actual spending is well above the Liberal tier, the gap is usually convenience food, delivery, or waste rather than the weekly shop itself.

If it is below Thrifty, that is worth knowing too. The Thrifty plan is the basis of federal food assistance and is a genuinely tight budget to sustain.

The per-person cost falls as household size rises, which is why a family of five does not spend two and a half times what a couple spends.

How it works

  1. Start from the monthly per-adult cost for the chosen USDA plan tier.
  2. Multiply by the number of adults.
  3. For children, apply an age factor: 0.62 under 6, 0.78 from 6 to 11, and 0.95 from 12.
  4. Apply a household size adjustment, from 1.2 for a single person down to 0.9 for six or more.
  5. Convert to weekly or yearly if selected.

Assumptions and limits

  • Tier values are approximations of the USDA plan levels and are not updated monthly the way the official reports are.
  • It covers food brought into the home, not restaurant meals or takeaway.
  • Age factors are broad bands rather than per-year figures.
  • It makes no regional adjustment, and grocery prices vary meaningfully by area.
  • It does not account for dietary requirements, which can move the figure substantially.

Sources

Common questions

What are the USDA food plans?

Four reference levels, Thrifty, Low-cost, Moderate, and Liberal, published as monthly cost-of-food reports. The Thrifty plan underpins federal food assistance benefit levels.

Why do children cost less than adults?

They eat less, and the gap narrows with age. By the teens the difference is small, which is why the factor rises to 0.95.

Does this include eating out?

No. It covers groceries only. Restaurant and takeaway spending is a separate line and is often where the real overspend sits.

The decisions behind this number

A number on its own does not tell you what to do. These walk through the decision.

How much does it cost to raise a child?

The figure most often quoted is about $233,600 from birth to age 17, from the USDA, for a middle-income married-couple family with…

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Ready to build the whole system?

Knowing the number is the easy part.

The calculator gives you the figure. This is for the part that has to happen every week afterwards.

Run the family.

Family Command Center

Turn everyday family chaos into a system that actually works.

The problem
Routines, chores, schedules, and responsibilities are hard to keep consistent. Most weeks start with a plan and end improvised.
Best for
Ages 3 to 12
What it covers In development