Percentages of food spending by category

[shelivesthedream]

Based on a representative (but not complete) set of food receipts for the past two months, this is how our food spending (two adults) breaks down by category:

Staples (anything that comes in a tin or packet that does not go off - e.g. pasta, tinned beans, oats, flour): 11.52%
Meat: 24.19%
Fish (includes tinned fish): 8.35%
Vegetables (not beans): 11.04%
Fruit: 5.68%
Dairy (butter, milk and cheese): 26.59%
Prepared food (e.g. pesto, sheets of puff pastry): 6.49%
Eggs: 1.85%
Extras (anything special, e.g. olives): 3.83%
Herbs and spices: 0.46%

There were three things that really shocked me here.

1. Meat. Wow! We do not eat a lot of meat, maybe twice a week max, and mostly in the form of a delicious bacony garnish. And yet we spend a quarter of our food budget on it! Meat is EXPENSIVE. We eat fish about the same amount as meat, but buy a lot of tinned fish. Unfortunately I haven't found a meaty equivalent that we like (corned beef? ew).
2. We spend so little on fruit and vegetables! Granted, we don't get our five-a-day but I feel like we eat a fair bit. I am actually trying to buy more on the basis that if it's available, we'll eat it, but I was worried about spending too much money - but I'd happily spend twice as much (percentage-wise...) than we do.
3. Dairy. Wow again! We have been eating quite a lot of cheese lately as it's been a busy time for both of us and homemade bread with cheese makes a quick and delicious meal, but it certainly doesn't constitute a full quarter of our diet!

And one thing I am pleased about: Only 6.49% on prepared food! I sometimes feel guilty when I open a jar of pesto but this makes me feel that we're not eating too much prepared food. (It helps that I can't eat garlic or onions which are in EVERYTHING so home cooking is a necessity for my health in more ways than one!)

Anyone else care to share?

[Zikoris]

We did this in March and found it pretty interesting. Our breakdown as two vegans:

Produce: 29%
"Dairy": 17% (not real dairy)
Baking: 15%
"Meat"/Tofu: 14% (not real meat)
Nuts: 8%
Grains: 6%
Non-food: 5% (toilet paper and cleaning stuff)
Condiments: 4%
Canned: 2%

We're going to do it again next March and see how it's changed since then. I would imagine the dairy category will be a lot lower because we bought a ridiculous amount of almond yogurt last March.

[ozzage]

I did this for two months a couple of years go, to see where all the grocery money went. My wife is vegetarian so we buy little meat, but do buy fish and things like Quorn ("fake" meat)

Vegetables: 15%
Dairy: 14%
Protein: 13% (this includes fish)
Fruit: 11%
Baked goods: 9%
Drinks: 7%
Pasta/grains/rice: 5%
Breakfast cereals: 5%
Tinned staples: 4%
Jars/sauces (processed): 2%
Toiletries/consumables: 5%

The rest thrown in makes up to 100%

I realised that our fruit/veg takes a bit chunk, but we're OK with that. We were buying a mix of cheap super-market veggies and an organic box.

Dairy was also a surprise for us. We eat too much cheese and yoghurt but aren't really willing to reduce it.

It was an interesting but nothing came out of it that we actually wanted to change.

[Goldielocks]

We did this in March and found it pretty interesting. Our breakdown as two vegans:

Produce: 29%
"Dairy": 17% (not real dairy)
Baking: 15%
"Meat"/Tofu: 14% (not real meat)
Nuts: 8%
Grains: 6%
Non-food: 5% (toilet paper and cleaning stuff)
Condiments: 4%
Canned: 2%

We're going to do it again next March and see how it's changed since then. I would imagine the dairy category will be a lot lower because we bought a ridiculous amount of almond yogurt last March.

Huh, Zikoris -- When I did a break down (a few years ago, but under MMM spending limits), I found that produce was also 30% for us.  Milk / yogurt and bread were very high too.   AND we ate a fair amount of meat, but the kids were smaller so milk / yogurt/ bread & baked goods was up.   

I think it is Canadian pricing?   

This definitely triggered my creating a mental list of "allowed fruit / veg" to buy.. no more free for all in the produce aisle.... I started to make bread / eat more rice... I made our own yogurt and banned single serves.

[1967mama]

I am keeping my first ever spreadsheet this month. Unfortunately, it already doesn't look good :-/ I can't even BELIEVE how heavy it is on dairy...ugh!

I liked the comment about it being a "free for all" in the produce department, goldielocks! That is totally the same as me ... "ooh, papaya!  yum, pineapple!  ahhh, raspberries (in December)"  ::face punch::

Keeping the spreadsheet has REALLY opened my eyes to the ridiculous spending I'm doing at the grocery store. I have always thought that was a hidden exploding volcano of wastefulness and now I am proving it to myself!

Make my own bread and yogurt? YES! Eat apples, bananas and oranges in the winter? YES! Eat oatmeal instead of cereal? YES! This is such a hidden money drain in my household!

[aneel]

After seeing the shock on my husband's face last month when I told him what our average monthly grocery cost was, I decided to track this month.  This also helps us prep for January when we plan to see how low we can go in all categories of spending - ie live like we're using our e-fund.