Are you including everything you buy at the grocery store in your food budget, or just food? (For example, we spent $62 at the grocery store yesterday, but it included conditioner, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a 3-pack of white T-shirts, so only $48 on food.) What about meals out? We generally spend around $50 on groceries for 2 unless we splurge on wine or bulk nuts, but we typically eat out 1-2 times a week on top of it.
Our typical grocery list is:
Heavy on fresh fruit and vegetables that are the lowest-priced that week; frozen when we know we'll cook them anyway
Light on dairy, no meat
Tofu, beans and peanut butter for protein (organic, pasture-raised eggs and frozen veggie burgers are splurges)
Cereal, bread, pasta, rice, tortillas and plain oats that we both like (we only buy foods we both like, which helps a lot)
Versatile condiments (soy sauce, salsa, vinegar, oil, miso, herbs, lemon juice) bought only as needed
Baking aisl products bought in large quantities to save money on volume (no brand names!)
Tea and coffee bought sparingly (no pop or water)
Splurges: nuts, dried fruit, orange juice, nicer crackers, beer and wine
We pass on sweets and anything that is marked up higher than we are used to, and keep the focus on the "outside edges" of the market to avoid expensive, processed stuff.
