New Government Guidelines for the Average Cost of Food at Home

The new government guidelines for the average cost of food at home were released in December of 2009. There are the usual four levels of spending… thrifty, low-cost, moderate, and liberal… and each level represents a nutritious diet of home-prepared meals and snacks.

The previous guidelines, released in November of 2008, showed an approximate three to five percent increase in prices since May 2008. I was surprised that the increase was so small because certainly the prices in our local grocery stores had increased far more than five percent during that seven-month period.

The newest guidelines seem even less realistic to me. According to the government, the price of food has actually DECREASED over the last thirteen months. I haven’t found that to be true in this area… prices have increased substantially for almost everything I buy (mostly fresh fruits, fresh or frozen vegetables, grains, and other whole foods… dairy, eggs). Comparing the actual dollar amounts, though… except for the thrifty plan, I still think the guideline weekly estimates are high.

How about the prices in your area? Are you actually paying less for groceries now than you were thirteen months ago?

For one child,
age:		 Food costs for one week
Prices from December 2009
Thrifty plan Low-cost plan Moderate cost plan Liberal plan
1 year 19.80 26.30 30.20 36.40
2-3 years 21.50 26.90 32.70 39.70
4-5 years 22.20 28.10 34.80 42.40
6-8 years 28.30 38.30 47.30 55.70
9-11 years 32.50 42.60 55.00 64.20
For one male,
age:		 Food costs for one week
Prices from December 2009
Thrifty plan Low-cost plan Moderate cost plan Liberal plan
12-13 years 34.60 48.70 60.70 71.50
14-18 years 35.60 50.10 62.90 71.90
19-50 years 38.40 49.50 62.10 76.10
51-70 years 35.10 46.80 57.50 69.70
71+ years 35.30 46.30 57.70 71.00
For one female,
age:		 Food costs for one week
Prices from December 2009
Thrifty plan Low-cost plan Moderate cost plan Liberal plan
12-13 years 34.80 42.20 50.90 61.70
14-18 years 34.30 42.50 51.50 63.20
19-50 years 34.10 43.00 53.10 68.00
51-70 years 33.70 41.90 52.10 62.10
71+ years

33.30 41.50 51.70 62.30

All of these weekly food costs have already been adjusted for a family of four people. For smaller or larger families, make the following adjustments:

  • For a family of one, add 20 percent to the appropriate age cost figure.
  • For a family of two, add 10 percent to the total of the two appropriate age cost figures.
  • For a family of three, add 5 percent to the total of the three appropriate age cost figures.
  • For a family of four, add the four appropriate age cost figures… no adjustment is needed.
  • For a family of five or six, subtract 5 percent from the total of the five or six appropriate age cost figures.
  • For a family of seven or more, subtract 10 percent from the total of the seven or more appropriate age cost figures.

Written by Shirley | Filed Under Frugality & Nutrition series, Simple Living, Voluntary Simplicity

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Comments

Comment by Suzanne:

I would guess that the government is basing these guidelines on mostly processed food. I am seeing prices like brand name cake mixes for $1 each and brand name soups for less than $1. I don’t buy processed food and prices for non processed foods keep going up. We’re paying big for trying to eat healthy. Sticking to your principles is costly too. For example I paid $3 a dozen for eggs last week. Eggs from caged hens were less than half that price.

Comment by Ginny Lee:

Same here. Grocery prices keep going up even from week to week. Things cost way more than they did a year ago. I too think the weekly guideline estimates are high.

Comment by goldfish:

The prices here have gone up. Some things have gone sky high. I noticed a 6 pack of plain Hershey chocolate bars are $3.50. Last summer they were $2.50. We buy them to make s’mores with as a campfire treat. I think I’ll skip it this year.

Comment by Jo:

Government guidelines are worthless to me because I have never trusted the government to tell the truth about much of anything.

Comment by Willow:

According the guidelines, we are in the ‘thrifty plan’ although we certainly don’t feel like we’re scrimping along on any part of our diet. We don’t buy many processed foods and purchase almost all of our fruits and veggies from the local farmers market (it’s open 50 weeks a year because we live in SoCal). My husband does most of the shopping and he says that some things have gone up and some down, so the overall cost has been about the same. Changing to local organic cage free eggs, we’re paying three or four times the price for eggs, but that is a choice we’re making to match our values.

Comment by Vicky:

EVERYTHING has gone up here… I try really hard to stick to a budget while still eating non or minimally processed foods (so coupons are out!), I make all our food, can our garden’s produce and make my own breads/pastries. It still is a challenge!! Eggs went up so much, plus the premium cost for buying organic or at least cage free, we got our own!!!!

Comment by Sky:

Prices in South Carolina have skyrocketed. Especially fresh fruits and veggies. I only buy hormone and antibiotic free meat, eggs and dairy and it is double the cost, but worth it to be healthier.

Comment by Sylvia:

These don’t reflect Washington DC metro area prices at all! Or maybe as someone said above, it’s all processed food. We don’t eat any processed food and we spend a lot more than this. I recently commented to the store manager that my grocery bill was really high and I didn’t even buy any meat and she told me it’s because fruits and vegetables are now selling better than meat so, they started to raise the prices on those items.

Comment by Lauren:

Wow – we’re almost in the low-cost plan and that’s with shopping at Whole Paycheck, er, I mean Whole Foods. I e-mail my grocery list to our nearest WF and my husband picks up the groceries on his weekly trip to our largest nearby city.

We grow our own beef, some of our veges, our own eggs and our own milk and some cheese. As noted in other comments, we don’t eat much processed foods.

One thing this table leaves out is how much families spend on eating out. Because there are no healthy food restaurants nearby we eat at home. The city folks eat out more, I believe. We did when we lived in the city. Fast food prices are still low, but its been years since I’ve eaten FF.

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