Personal Finance

My spouse and I have 2 kids and we want to budget for a good lifestyle that includes good food - how much should we budget?

Maurie Backman

Published: February 11, 2025 11:18 am

In life, we have expenses we need to pay for, and we have expenses we choose to pay for.

Food is a definite need, and there’s no getting around that. But within the context of food, it’s possible to spend more or less money on a monthly  basis. It’s a matter of the type of food you enjoy eating, the variety, and whether you mostly cook at home versus pay to have your food prepared elsewhere.

In this Reddit post, a couple with two young children is wondering how much they should reasonably be spending on food each month. They admit that they dine out often and are potentially looking to scale back, but they’re not sure what they should be spending.

Because food is a daily expense, I think it’s perfectly fine to prioritize it. But I also think there are ways to get your hands on quality food without necessarily spending a small fortune.

It’s a matter of making choices

Like the poster here, food is a big priority in my household, too. We prefer to keep some of our larger expenses, like our cars and house, on the lower side so that there’s room in our budget to stock our fridge with quality items and dine out on a somewhat regular basis.

That said, we like to limit dining out and ordering in to a couple of meals per week max. And a big reason is that restaurant food is just so much more expensive than cooking.

Granted, my spouse and I both work full-time and have limited hours to cook. During very busy weeks, we’ll often fall back on restaurant food a bit more, sometime ordering in four or five meals if we just don’t have the time to spend in the kitchen.

But for the most part, we try to strike a balance that has us spending more money on quality items at the supermarket, but doing a fair amount of our food prep ourselves. We also find that this approach lends to healthier eating.

This is something I’d tell the poster above to consider doing as well. They do say that the meals they tend to order outside the house are healthy in nature, which is good, because a lot of times, restaurant food ends up being the opposite.

But what I’d suggest they do is consider replacing one or two restaurant or takeout meals a week with home-cooked alternatives and seeing what it does for their budget. Making this change could free up more money for this poster’s savings or investment portfolio.

Make sure you’re meeting your savings goals

I can clearly relate to spending a nice amount of money on food. But I also make a point to try to not let my desire for good meals get in the way of my savings goals. And this Reddit poster, and anyone else in a similar boat, should do the same.

What I do is automatically contribute to my long-term savings at the start of the month before I begin spending my paycheck. This makes me feel more comfortable with the idea of sometimes handing over $100 or more for a single restaurant meal.

What you can do if you enjoy good food is establish a monthly savings goal, either on your own or with the help of a financial advisor, and then put that goal on autopilot. That way, if you find that you’re then spending a big chunk of your paycheck on food, it won’t mess with your long-term financial goals.

You may also want to consult a financial advisor for help in setting up a household budget that prioritizes food. They can help you make smart choices in other spending categories so you’re able to spend your money in a way that’s most meaningful for you.