Find out how much Canadian spend on grocery each month.
About three months ago, I posted an article on Average Monthly Grocery Bill. I was hoping people would comment on that article, sharing how much they spend on grocery with me and the readers. Sadly, people in Canada don’t like to share their thoughts, I suppose. 
I know a lot of people come to my site for this info, but are unwilling to share.
So, I decided to find this information on my own, and certainly I found it. So should I share it here??? 
The data include average annual household expenses for all provinces & territories in Canada: Yukon (YT), British Columbia (BC), Alberta (AB), Saskatchewan (SK), Manitoba (MB), Northwest Territories (NWT), Nunavut (NU), Ontario (ON), Québec (QC), Nova Scotia (NS), Prince Edward Island (PEI), New Brunswick (NB), Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).
The average annual food expesne for family in Canada ranges $6000 to $7000 (monthly $500 to $600). 
The statistics does not indicate how many people in each household, but my guess would be for a family of 2.5 persons. According to StatCan, the average number of persons per private household in year 2006, 2007, and 2008 is 2.5 persons. So, you can calculate the expense for families of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, so on. My monthly grocery bill for me alone (I’m single still) is around $200; however, I include personal care and some health care as part of my grocery expesnes. So I guess I’m doing alright.
Example for the average Canadian:
$7305 ÷ 12months ÷ 2.5 persons = $244 per month per person
Note:
See how much Canadian pay for the government (tax) in relation to food/shelter!!!!
National Average Annual Household Expenses Year 2007
| NL | PEI | NS | NB | QC | ON | NU | |
| Total expenditures | 55,007 | 55,574 | 59,987 | 58,205 | 57,308 | 76,654 | 73,747 |
| Total current consumption | 40,332 | 40,922 | 44,145 | 42,285 | 41,100 | 53,938 | 54,400 |
| Food | 6,463 | 6,629 | 6,640 | 6,602 | 7,321 | 7,383 | 14,057 |
| Shelter | 8,985 | 10,137 | 10,815 | 10,031 | 10,167 | 16,341 | 11,547 |
| Household operation | 2,968 | 3,097 | 3,304 | 2,945 | 2,601 | 3,666 | 3,445 |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 1,719 | 1,424 | 1,784 | 1,567 | 1,543 | 2,136 | 2,082 |
| Clothing | 2,588 | 2,112 | 2,412 | 2,312 | 2,368 | 3,420 | 3,345 |
| Transportation | 8,392 | 8,039 | 8,820 | 9,137 | 7,542 | 9,600 | 5,456 |
| Health care | 1,582 | 1,994 | 1,868 | 1,817 | 2,067 | 1,721 | 874 |
| Personal care | 1,008 | 1,027 | 1,048 | 1,000 | 1,089 | 1,239 | 1,123 |
| Recreation | 3,305 | 3,019 | 3,329 | 3,215 | 3,055 | 4,133 | 6,855 |
| Reading materials & printed matter | 179 | 250 | 249 | 234 | 245 | 281 | 201 |
| Education | 579 | 797 | 1,055 | 1,005 | 633 | 1,220 | N/A |
| Tobacco & alcoholic beverages | 1,636 | 1,474 | 1,628 | 1,426 | 1,354 | 1,459 | 3,506 |
| Games of chance (net amount) | 247 | 195 | 253 | 191 | 178 | 283 | 465 |
| Miscellaneous | 681 | 727 | 939 | 804 | 936 | 1,055 | 1,144 |
| Personal income taxes | 10,466 | 9,504 | 10,585 | 10,610 | 11,739 | 16,403 | 13,312 |
| Personal insurance payments and pension contributions | 3,171 | 3,694 | 3,550 | 3,811 | 3,595 | 4,177 | 4,742 |
| Gifts of money and contributions | 1,038 | 1,454 | 1,708 | 1,499 | 874 | 2,137 | 1,293 |
| MB | SK | AB | BC | YT | NWT | Canada | |
| Total expenditures | 63,303 | 63,944 | 85,912 | 72,621 | 76,997 | 89,075 | 69,946 |
| Total current consumption | 44,701 | 46,089 | 59,288 | 53,394 | 53,929 | 63,369 | 49,766 |
| Food | 6,518 | 6,073 | 7,491 | 7,745 | 7,078 | 9,096 | 7,305 |
| Shelter | 10,852 | 10,711 | 14,955 | 15,056 | 14,058 | 18,249 | 13,643 |
| Household operation | 3,063 | 3,161 | 3,768 | 3,357 | 3,831 | 4,110 | 3,287 |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 1,715 | 1,873 | 2,608 | 2,036 | 2,707 | 2,466 | 1,964 |
| Clothing | 2,482 | 2,434 | 3,548 | 2,818 | 2,915 | 3,844 | 2,948 |
| Transportation | 9,651 | 10,412 | 12,678 | 9,896 | 10,775 | 11,439 | 9,395 |
| Health care | 1,786 | 1,738 | 2,259 | 2,177 | 1,603 | 1,306 | 1,932 |
| Personal care | 1,102 | 1,082 | 1,288 | 1,135 | 1,193 | 1,351 | 1,167 |
| Recreation | 3,607 | 4,387 | 5,387 | 4,577 | 4,860 | 6,132 | 3,976 |
| Reading materials & printed matter | 267 | 218 | 291 | 233 | 415 | 312 | 260 |
| Education | 869 | 804 | 1,176 | 1,215 | 739 | 503 | 1,017 |
| Tobacco & alcoholic beverages | 1,441 | 1,615 | 2,124 | 1,624 | 2,236 | 2,792 | 1,536 |
| Games of chance (net amount) | 311 | 286 | 340 | 223 | 308 | 653 | 251 |
| Miscellaneous | 1,037 | 1,293 | 1,374 | 1,303 | 1,212 | 1,116 | 1,081 |
| Personal income taxes | 12,411 | 12,215 | 19,766 | 13,297 | 16,437 | 17,751 | 14,447 |
| Personal insurance payments and pension contributions | 4,003 | 3,923 | 4,331 | 3,850 | 4,961 | 6,228 | 3,946 |
| Gifts of money and contributions | 2,188 | 1,716 | 2,527 | 2,080 | 1,670 | 1,727 | 1,788 |
Reference: Statistics Canada
Terrific social study on food habits, too. So many of us are going organic. Shouldn’t that tell the government and food producers something? I do have one comment which has helped me and many I know: clarifying the grocery bill to just food we eat gives a more realistic picture. A separate fund for household items , hygiene, restaurants,and pet food also clarifies where the money is really going. It’s easier to make changes that way.
As a retired couple Southern Ontario, we spend about $550 a month on food. Balanced with other categories, all separate, like vacations, we manage to live a comfortable existence, but we are strict about keeping our totals to what we budgeted, and when it’s gone, we wait for the next pay before buying more. Maybe older age brings patience.
My husband and I are retired and spend more on food than you guys, but that’s a personal choice, which we offset by vacationing at home in Toronto and other savings. However when we were poorer, and had kids to feed as well, we saved on food costs by making everything from scratch, including baked goods, picking fruit to get some for free, growing our own vegetables in the back yard. We got deals on chicken legs or stew meat and put more veggies in everything, using a slow cooker for soups and stews, Meatloaf and chili and spaghetti filled up our kids. Leftovers were used,and bagged lunches. Now we have more resources, and eat less, but are getting old. So we eat healthier leaner food, less meat but of better quality, more fish and eggs, few deli meats, few sweets, more fruit, and a wider more imaginative range of cooking styles. We eat out at least once a week, all healthy food. We don’t drink alcohol, or order desserts, and we go out for lunch instead of dinner, all of which saves a lot of the cost of eating out. Good luck to everybody out there. Its a great idea to save the bills and see what we’re really spending and where.
I live in ont. Canada i have 5 ppl in my house i have 250$ a week in food and pet food 1 dog blacklad x and a cat one child on a gl free ..
We are a family of 3 (ages 5, 29, 30) living in Southern Saskatchewan 15-20 minutes (20 km) from a small city (it has Walmart, Sobeys, Superstore, Coop, Safeway and a few health food stores). Our grocery budget is $500 a month which includes everything but personal hygiene products. With these products we would spend approximately $650 a month. I do not use many coupons and don’t sale shop on a regular basis. If it’s a good deal and it’s a regular item in my list I will stock up when it’s on sale. I try to not buy lots of meat unless it’s on sale. We also, unlike many frugal shoppers, eat meat every day. We eat a moderate amount of unprocessed foods and I don’t throw out a ton of food, however I don’t make many meals that create left overs as we aren’t a huge fan.
Since we live out of town we try not to ‘go to town’ more than once a week (outside of church on Sundays and church related meetings-usually 1 additional night a week), I have a half day off every week and try to book all town related appointments and grocery trips around this day off. If I’m really trying to save on gas money I’ll grab groceries after church (but don’t really like to make this a habit). Unless we travel to see family we can get by on 2 tanks of gas a month ($175-200).
We live on $3,400 (take home) a month with a mortgage payment of $560. We live in a unique community where the cost of living is lower than average but we also live in a mobile home that was $91,000 brand new 4 years ago. I work almost full time and until our son was in school 1/2 days I paid $400-$50 a month for ‘daycare’ (private home). Now I pay $250-300 a month to a mom in the community who will pick him up from school at lunch and keep him till 5pm 4 days a week. To help save on monthly bills we got rid of the home phone (which we hardly ever used) and we each have a cell phone, but my husband’s is covered by his job. We don’t subscribe to cable etc but do have high speed internet.
I have tried to use coupons but find that the products I buy aren’t the products that have coupons-most coupons are for personal care items and I buy these through an online store which sell better products at less than grocery store prices (per ‘serving’ or use). I pay attention to a product’s general price and know that Walmart has the cheapest paper products as I call them (toilet paper, kleenex etc). I know that superstore has the cheapest pop (yes we drink pop
). and I know that when it’s on sale Co-op’s meat can often work out to $5 a meal (give or take depending on the type and cut of meat).
Hope this helps other ‘West’ or ‘Prairie’ people out there
Hi there,
I was wondering if the people posting here include “dining out” in their monthly costs? I’ve been trying to come to grips with what we should be spending. We are a family of four – 2 adults, 2 teens; we eat well, fresh, mostly organic, whole foods, a large amount gluten free. I’ve calculated that our monthly grocery costs are $300/ppn ($1200 family/month) and dining out is $220/ppn ($900 family month) for a whopping $500+/month/per person or about $2000+ a month for our family, including dining out. This does not include alcohol, most toiletries, nor pet food.
We are a family of 5 doing the same type thing as you. We eat good meat from a local butcher and try to buy most veggies and fruit organic. I make my own sourdough spelt bread because it doesn’t bother my gluten sensitive household. I find no matter how I try to switch it up I still spend $1200 a month on groceries. For the quality of our food I feel like this is a great amount. We only eat out 2times a year but I,m sure that will change as my kids get older and aren’t sugh hassle to take out.
Thank you for your info. I am writing an article on how much Canadians spend on grocery bills. I spend about on average about $100 and more on vitamins and supplements. Luckily, my parents and my husband contribute to the expenses because they are supporting me at this time.
A family of 2 adults living in Thunder Bay, Ontario. We spend $900-$1000/month on food. Being up north everything is much, much more expensive including basics, gas, heating, hydro and property tax.
Thunder bay is up north? not sure what that means for those of us living in the prarie provences. But sure
In Ontario, Thunder Bay IS considered “up north” since from Toronto its approximately a 20 hour drive, North bound. In relation to the Country as a whole, you’re right though. Thunder Bay is located further south than the most Southern Border of all the Prairie Provinces.
Ok. I live in ontario all my life and am from kapuskasing. I don’t think anybody considers thunderbay up north. From toronto half of the drive is west bound… your close to the states border! On the same note… i live in Ottawa now and the difference in prices for grocery is quite small. Northern ontario is not nunavut
We are a family of 4 2 adults 1 10 year old and a 2 year old we live in Ontario and eat ALL Organic and use only green products – we spend $250 a week / $1000 on food and household items (like bathroom tissue, diapers, toothpaste)I cook everything from scratch and we always have fresh fruits and veg!! It can be done if you know how to cook and budget… I’m surprised at the “$244 per person” per month because no doubt it was for conventional food… People think Organic living is expensive – our family just proves that wrong LOL
you don’t think $1000 a month is expensive? You must have quite the family income if that isnt expensive to you.
Isn’t $1000/month for 4 people the EXACT same as
$250/month per person……?
how are you surprised at it being expensive if you spend $250/person/month for organic….if anything you spend $6 more per person in your family than the average.
I just started calculating our monthly grocery bills – mostly organic, mostly “foodie” items–not caviar or truffles but sundried tomatoes in a jar from Italy, jaggery from India, etc. For September the grocery expense for two people (including things like toilet paper and dish soap) was just under $1000. A good chunk of it was from Whole Foods.
I’m somewhat surprised by the per person costs here… I’m wondering if the $250/month/person is for premium/ organic/ prepared products. My husband and I eat well on about $170/month/per person (this includes household supplies). We prepare everything from scratch – including pesto and chutney – and buy lots of veg/ grains/ fruit (organic apples and berries)… but we eat very little meat. Also, we have a small garden and grow most of our own veggies, herbs, etc. in the summertime. The garden is easy to maintain + produces a constant supply of fresh veg… enough to give some away. It is absolutely possible to have good meals on less than $250 pp/month, but it does take some planning and time….
Hello
We live in Ontario and we spend for just the 2 of us $900-$1,000 each month. I pack lunch for both of us and only buy organic products. Wild fish, soy products etc. I really wonder what people are buying spending less than $600 a month for 2 people. I don’t think cutting back on healthy food is a good idea. You’ll pay for it in the long run with health problems if you don’t eat well. It’s not worth it.
My husband and I live in northern Manitoba and we spend $520 per month on groceries, take out, cleaning supplies and personal care products. We live quite well on this as I use coupons and do most of my cooking from scratch and freeze leftovers for lunches. We are moving back to Alberta in June and I expect the costs to drop as we pay very high prices here in the north.
[...] That one is still a work in progress. The food cost may fluctuate because it’s based on an overall house budget survey and I’m pretty sure one person doesn’t eat as much as two or more people. Odds and Ends [...]
We are a family of 2 in our late 30s living in Ontario. For 2011, our average monthly grocery cost was $341.22, and for 2010, our average monthly grocery cost was $318.66. (We track/ record all of our grocery expenses religiously). We eat a fair bit of pasta, veggies, cheese, fruit, dairy and grain bread, but only have meat 1-2 times per week. We also don’t buy prepared items for the most part (except for cereals), though we do occasionally indulge in more expensive specialty cheeses and local gourmet cheeses. My husband is an avid coupon-clipper, which likely reduces our spending by 20-25%. We also eat out about once a month — usually spending $120-$150 when we do.
Awesome to read! was stressing about the budget and thinking I am overspending and trying to figure out how to reduce this bill that I believed to be too high…we are a family of 5 (kids 16, 14, 11) and a dog. My grocery bill includes all toiletries, cleaning supplies and dog food….$1250/month and that is trying to keep it down! Any suggestions to reduce it would be great…tried searching out coupons and such and getting frustrated…already sale shop and price match…
The fact you want to reduce your costs, is a major step in the right direction.
Leave your kids and husband home, if possible, when grocery shopping.
A portion of meat is the size of the palm of your hand, not the hand itself
When I make a beef or pork stew, I use 1-2 steaks, and the rest is vegetables and doughboys.
When making chili, use 1 lb of hamburg, and double up on beans. Use kidney and some other type.Starting from dried is cheaper, but even using canned is fine.
Pasta meals can be tasty and cheap. Use tuna, bacon,pepperoni slices, hamburg as a seasoning.Have the spices in the sauce give it a full flavour.
Use chicken carcasses for soup. A bit time consuming picking meat off the bones, but well worth it.
Using cheaper substitutes, or improvising when you don’t have a certain ingredient for a recipe is also important.
A family of 5 should be able to eat very well on $500 month.
This is a really great website to get an idea of where other people come in on a monthly basis with their groceries. I felt that for a family of 2 we were really overspending in this area however, after reading all the posts, I realize we aren’t doing that bad. We have budgeted $600 per month for groceries and this usually includes getting take out or going out to a restaurant once or twice a month. Thanks everyone for the information!
I have recently been required to keep track of my spending, and was suprised to find that my wife and i spend around $600 a month on food and incidentals. i now realize this is average in ab. Just wonder how some people make it with large families, and the wages where they are.. I think its amazing when families can have groceries in the 400/ month range. I Know we could do better with some planing, coupon cutting, but it depends on how important it is to you as to how hard you will try. How even a single person on min wage could aford to live is beyond me without roomates, feel sorry for young people couples.
we live in Alberta as well, a family of 2 we spend $650 on food/tioletries/pets, we are trying to budget and use more coupons to bring this down to $550 a month,
From Nova Scotia here. We raised 4 children, a dog and 2 cats and our groceries would hover around the $100 week range.We shopped specials, reduced meats, bread, and produce.A friend of mine would shop and never look at prices. If she liked it, she bought it.She was brand loyal too. She also complained about groceries being high priced.If you want to lower your grocery bill, you need to use common sense. Stop buying boxes of cereal. Instead start making, from scratch cooked porridge, pancakes,eggs.Lunches can be simple sandwiches.For supper, start making stews, cooking roasts, using leftovers for casseroles and soups. Meat should not be the main focus of the meal. Portion control is important. Start using smaller plates, offer bread (buy a bread maker, and yeast in a jar) and salads at meals. A simple cake is cheap to make for dessert. Add a lemon sauce (cheap to make) Yumm.Pizza is cheap to make. Buy blocks of cheese on sale, and grate them yourself.Start freezing leftover bits of veggies in a tub. When tub is full, make a soup. Make stock from bones.Make google your friend. there are so many recipes out there to make your own “master recipes” from puddings,cakes,dip mixes,cookies.All you need to do then is add egg and water/milk.Just like a box mix.Taco seasoning mix and homemade salsa is very easy and cheap to make.Get the family involved and have some fun. Dried beans and lentils are inexpensive and very versatile.Dilute whole milk when cooking.
We are a family of 3 (2 adults and 1 teen). We are averging weekly cost between $100 to $150) and it includes lunches and dinners. I have decided in January of this year, that I was going to keep track of our expenses on almosteverything. I started to make a weekly menu and expanded to a monthly menu in February and I modify it accordingly. It took some getting use to for everyone. We are taking advantage of sales and coupons and stock-up on items that are on sale with a long expiry date when it’s at least 50%+. I also make big batches of meals for leftovers, and freeze them for a later date. So far it has been working well. I suggested to my husband and daughter to start shopping at Value Village for clothes and it tuned out that their first shopping trip there was a success. Daughter found 2 lululemon items, brand new jeans, pjs and hubby found some nice shirt and nice pants. They came back with 28 items for under $65. They had a lot of fun. They also signed up for superclub membership car(which is FREE) and next time they go, they will be able to save 25% on their entire purchase). I’ve been on medical leave and just underwent two major surgeries since January 2012 and will need to undergo a heart procedure in March. So any money we can save….we are trying to do it. So far for the month is February it would have cost us over $1,400 but we only spent just over $759. We are so proud and it will simply get better with time. It’s so teaching my teenage daughter to be money aware.
I have a blended family with 6 kids (5,7,8,10,11 & 13) + 2 adults in Stoney Creek, ON. Every other weekend we have no kids.
I just did a comparison of grocery expenses between Jan-May 2011 and Sep-Jan 2012. During the first period (167 days)we spent $4,750 or an average of $853/mo ($28.44/day). In the 2nd period (149 days) we spent $6,511 ($1,170/mo or $38.99/day). The later numbers represent a 27% increase over the previous period. Not sure why the increase, although I have heard on the radio a number of times that the price of food has increased the past year (might account for 10%). I shop at CostCo, Fortinos, Sobey’s, Real Canadian, Longos etc. We aren’t loyal, but we do like Costco meats.
The last several months we also did more entertaining at home with many out of town guests. We eat very healthy (lots of fruits & veggies) but not a lot of organic foods.
thanx so much for all dis info iv been searching for awhile as me and my family (2ad+4ch) r moving to Canada next month and i wanted to know what to expect foodwise and compared to Ireland (where we live now) it doesnt seem too bad x
We are a family of 2 (living in downtown TO) and our bill per week ranges from $75 to $100. The groceries cover breakfast, lunch and dinners. We eat out once a week (dinner) and that costs anywhere from $25 to $50. We plan our weekly menue around sale items at the grocery store and this has cut down on cost and waste. Our meals are well balanced with milk, meats and lots of fruits and veggies.
We are a family of 3. 2 adults with a 6 month old baby living in BC. We spend $900-1100 on groceries in the winter and maybe a few 100 less in the summer when the farmers markets are open. Choosing to eat gluten free and organic produce seems to cost more than the processed genetically modified crap that i used to buy. I’d like to know where you shop that will cost you $250 a month as a single person. Thats what i spent every 2 weeks or so when i was single. Then again that was city life. Hmmm i think its time to start growing my own food…. lol!!
We are a fam of 5, 2 adults, 13, 10 and 7 yr olds, in southern BC averaging $150 per week (including all toiletries), almost everything is homemade, and probably %25 of our grocery purchases claim to be “organic” (yeah prove that), but I digress… We eat very well but it takes effort. For $1100 per month I am sure my food would almost prepare itself, it should at that price
iam a new commer who will live in missisuaga canada,
i have a family of four,2 adults and two kids 8,6 years,how much i need per month to start a new life,including rental cost,food ,car,and all necessary toiletries.
try being a family of 3 celiacs… paying an average of 243% more for breads & baking supplies ( premade bread costs about $7 …it costs about $5 a loaf to make …on an income of $36,000!! ( Before taxes!) & they wonder why consumers can’t float the economy anymore! lol!
Great website!
We are family of 2(both adults no kids)living in Alberta.We spend around $250 per month on groceries.I usually buy most of our groceries when they are on sale and I always try to save on food as much as I can.We both have full time jobs so cook only on weekends and freeze all the leftovers.lot of my friends think its not a good idea to freeze food but, I really find it very effective to save money on groceries.I always buy veggies when they are cheap and wash,cut and freeze them so taht i have them handy for fried rice or stir fry.Will love to hear advice from you guys.
What grocery stores do you go to for such a low grocery bill? I would love to know. Thank you.
I would just like to say what a great site. We are a family of four (two children 11/9) living in England at present my husband has been offered a transfer with his current employer. I am trying to work out if we can afford to live with the salary that he has been offered. So this has been really useful to see what it would roughly cost each month for food.
Dont forget the amount of taxes that will be taken! depending on his salary and if you will be working here more than 6 months get ready for a serious take home cut. Lets just say gov took 50,000 in taxes last year from my husbands income. The more money you make the more they take.
We are a family of 7 – 2 adults, 5 kids (4, 7, 10, 12, 14)living in Ontario. We spend on average $1800 per month on all food, toiletries, household supplies (laundry detergent) and alcohol (12-18 beer per month). This also includes take-out coffee (Tims)several times per week asmy husband is on the road all day as part of his job, and pizza at least once a week ($26 each time) as we are in constant motion with kids active in sports, clubs and after-school jobs.
We must buy specifically labelled nut-free snack-foods for packed lunches as per our school-board policy, so the cost of these prepackaged foods adds up. Having multiple children in school really increases the food costs over simple home lunches, as we’ve found.
I’m curious as to how others on the go with older kids (i.e. not just single or couples at home) who juggle programming and multiple “tastes” in food. Stews are lovely … but I can’t even imagine trying to throw it all together as I prepare 5 lunches in the morning or juggle after-school activities, jobs, homework & bed-times at night.
family of 4(8yrs & 6yrs.) in Montreal. We buy very few processed foods and make much of our food from scratch. We buy alot of organic fruit and veggies, we shop at costco for half of our household goods. we are still around 1000$ to 1150$ a month for food/goods. we still struggle with this!
We are a family of 3 in Montreal. Two adults and one 2 year old. I buy at the cheapest supermarket and there is no way I can get down on the budget of 600$/month. That does not include diaper and personal/house supplies. Our eating out on weekends is around 30$-40$/week. I thought we were overspending but I see now it’s getting hard for every family to keep the budget on. Thank you for this article.
I’d like to add that I find that buying every 10 days instead of 7 (weekly) helps a lot!
Hey we live in Alberta. We are a family of 5, kids 8, 2 and 9mnths. All in all, diapers,formula, personal care, dog food (1dog) we spend from $600-$800 per month.
What is the average monthly food expense for a single adult renting at 541 dollars a month? This is info for a health plan called “Compassionate Care” in California. Thanks!
My husband gives me heck if I spend more than 300 dollars a month for food for our family if 3. Thank you for the stats. Now I know I’m not crazy and it is near impossible to feed 3 people on 300 dollars a month unless we want to eat kraft dinner every day.
For four of us in downtown Toronto if I fight tooth and nail I can get our grocery bill down to $1200 a month. Our fruits and veg are mostly organic, I buy few saturated fats, few prepared foods, and we eat quality meat or fish maybe three times a week. Add about $200 of take out to that so I don’t have to spend every moment of my life cooking, and there’s an average month – roughly $1400.
I hear you, Shannon. I always pore over these sites wondering if we’re doing something wrong, too!
We are a family of 3 with two dogs and our grocery bill for the month used to exceed $1200 for which we’ve budgeted. We’ve now tapered it down to around $ 600 which is $ 400 for groceries and a $ 200 miscellaneous fund for meals out, etc. We just never paid attention to what we were spending, I guess. It’s really not that hard to do.
We have a family of 6, 2 adults and 4 kids ages 9, 12, 13, and 17. Our food budget has always been a area of tension between me and my husband, he cannot seem to understand why it costs so much. I try to buy in bulk and keep meals simple, but we still end up spending alot.
Usually around 1200 a month, and that includes toiletries and pet supplies too.
I keep wondering if I’m doing something wrong and what everyone else out there is doing.
Thanks for posting. It’s interesting to see how we measure up. We are a family of 2 adults, 4 kids age 1 -15, a dog and a cat. We spend between 800 and 1000 a month on food, diapers & pet stuff. I think we are doing ok but would still like to see it go down
)
Thanks for the stats, been looking for awhile for info. I thought we spent way too much but compared to the stats and comments we’re not doing too bad. 2 adults and 2 kids (3 & 1), $670 per months on groceries plus $25 per month to eat out (Nova Scotia).
Adding my two cents: just discovered that my family of four is spending close to $900 a month on food (this doesn’t include eating out or the $1000 a year spent on delivered organic vegetables). Wanted to see if this was as outrageous as it seemed, but I guess not!
Thanks for your info, my husband and I have 2 little ones and have just be re-evaluating our bills, it is definitely shocking to see we are spending over 1000 a month on groceries…need to cut back!!
Wow I wonder what the high spenders are spending their money on. We spend about $800 per month on groceries including about $180 per week in the supermarket and about $100 per month on costco. Additionally we spend about $400 per month for weekend eating out at Wendy’s and the like.
We are 2 adults & very active (high calorie needs). We stick to organics and hi-vegetable + quality protein diet. Except for oats, honey/stevia, nuts, & frozen veggies– minimal packaged anything. Have been tracking grocery for years…watched our same diet jump from $400/mo when we live in SE US to $600/mo when we moved to NW US (2003)…since then steady increase to $900/mo for the same foods, despite tighter budgeting and increase consumer demand ???
We’re a family of 3, with one young child (7 years old). We average about $800/month, with peaks >$1000 at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Great information! I’m a manager in a BC hotel and they provide lunch and/or dinner 5 days a week. Being a single male, I don’t have a family to feed either. I always gripe about not making enough money, so I wanted to research how much this benefit is worth. I buy groceries once a month and always on the first tuesday to get the 10% off deal at Safeway. That bill with the milk and fruit that I buy throughout the month probably totals $50 to $75 on actual food. Considering what the average person seems to be spending, I figure this benefit is probably saving me $2,000+ per year.
I was curious how I fare against the average BC couple. There are 2 of us, no kids and we seem to spend around $700. Doesn’t include eating out. When I read about the single guy who spends $600/mo, (but not sure where he lives) I think, we are doing great! But then you can read the opposite, a family spends $600. Regardless, it feels like there is never enough money, and I was hoping to shop a bit more wisely and thus save some of that money for something fun like a vacation!
Thanks for the stats. I am most interested in these responses. I am a single woman and rarely dine out. My monthly food bills are close to $600, mostly due to the higher cost of organic food and vitamins. What’s healthy for my body is hard on the budget, I guess!
I’m a single guy. I don’t eat out at all. Grocery bill is about $600 per month. I used to eat out all the time, 2 – 3 times per day. Food bill exceeded $1400 per month. $600 is a steal.
Great information – thanks. I tried to find the table you used. Is it posted with Stats Canada? Is there a more recent one, where did you find this table? We are a family of 4 and we spend an average of $570 per month, without coupons but try to buy things on sale. This does not include restaurants, which averages once a week about $260 per month. Cheers
How do you manage to spend so little? Please do tell. We have two toddlers and the grocery bill is outrageous.
We (family of two adults) spend less than $400 per mo at the grocery store. This takes careful planning (menu), buying specials, keeping the extras to a minimum. We eat the produce that is “in season”. This means that I do not buy fresh strawberries in November!! We fill up on nutritious foods that are less costly, savour the treats. Almost nothing is pre-packaged: macaroni comes in a 5-pound box, no KD. We also have dinner parties in this budget. Plan, plan, plan.
we are a family of two. no kids. we spend around $500 a month on groceries. we are not including eating out which modestly comes in around $150 and the odds and ends we pick up which comes in around $175 so the total would be $825 a month for the two of us. and this is us on a budget.
I just did a total for my household of two and I was SHOCKED! We are running around $900 a month! This includes groceries and eating out. Crazy!
hi I live in Alberta calgary we are a family of 6 and we spend 1000-1300 a month we do not eat out we have found food has really gone up
we are a family of 6 in b.c. who rarely eat out… we spend between $1300 – 1500/ mo on food! (our food budget does include toiletries etc that we can pick up at costco)
we are a family of 4 and our grocery bill is over 1400 a month. we make multiple trips to the store between grocery days. this is a great resource to get some perspective.
Thank you for this information. I have been looking for this type of info for some time now. We are a family of 4, I make most things from scratch, even the kids granola bars, bread, yogurt, buy almost everything on sale, and i still can’t seem to get my food bill under $700-800 per month!
We are a family of 2 in our mid fifties with 6 grown children all living on their own. I am retired my wife would like to retire in the next few years so last night we went over our bills for the year in order to figure out a monthly budget. I was astounded at what we spent and decided to find out what the average was for other Ontartio families.Your site was very helpful and I’d like to share with you our costs per month which turns out to fit your average.Our monthly average was $4,468. your monthly average was $4,949.a difference of only -$27.