One piece of chicken, one piece of broccoli, one corn tortilla, and one other thing! (Satire Headline?)
In January 2026 the U.S. Agriculture Secretary made headlines by suggesting the meal above as an affordable family option. If you grocery-shop on this planet, you probably rolled your eyes so hard that you saw last week’s receipt. I get asked a lot, though: what should clients actually be spending on groceries? So, let’s talk turkey — or chicken, broccoli, and whatever that mysterious “one other thing” is.
If the “one other thing” is gum, budget impact: negligible. If it’s a second piece of broccoli, we need to have a serious conversation about generosity and portion control.
Why does food cost matter (and why I care more than I should)
After housing, food is usually your biggest monthly expense. When I work with clients, I start by reminding them that people eat differently — there’s no single “right” grocery number. The modern “average” family might be a childless dual-income couple, a single parent, or multiple adults with kids. That variety matters when you’re budgeting.
The USDA publishes a monthly food-cost chart that breaks down weekly costs by age and sex and offers three shopping tiers: low-cost (think Aldi), medium-cost (Kroger-ish), and liberal-cost (Whole Foods vibes). That’s the tool I use to get granular without guessing.
A real example (so you can stop imagining broccoli-only dinners)
Say a household has:
- Male, 35 — Weekly: $71.80 / $90 / $110.10
- Female, 32 — Weekly: $62.10 / $76 / $96.90
- Two-year-old — Weekly: $39.10 / $46.80 / $56.90
- Male, 15 — Weekly: $72.80 / $91.00 / $106.90
Add those up and this family’s monthly grocery spend for cooking at home lands roughly between $1,066 and $1,607 — which, yes, is a wide range but also normal from a budgeting perspective.
Cue either laughter or a relieved sigh from clients. The sigh-ers are usually coupon-savvy, deal-hunting, rarely eat out people who just wanted reassurance. The laughers? Uber Eats knows them by name; they have Whole Foods tote bags with their initials; and if they fall inside the food spending guidelines from earlier, it’s because they’re not counting restaurants as food.
The drive-through truth bomb
I’m about to ruin your next fast-food run: the average fast-food meal costs about $10.78 per person. That same family of four drops $43.12 on one meal. That’s 3–4% of their entire monthly food budget for a single outing — and the restaurant’s cost to make that meal is often much lower.
I’m not saying never eat out. I’m saying: be intentional. Try one night a week where you plan to spend $40–$60 on dinner. That simple rule nudges your family’s total food budget to roughly $1,250–$1,800 a month for a family of four — and keeps the drive-through from quietly eating your budget.
Make room for what matters
When we finish a budgeting session, the goal is clarity: you should know where your money goes so you can make choices that feel good. If dining out is part of your family’s identity — the thing that makes memories — take that money from a “Family Experience” category, not from the “oops” pile.
I still picture my dad at the Ponderosa buffet, intimidating the meat carver and announcing we didn’t need hamburgers because he’d already paid for the buffet. Those are the moments that stick. Going out to eat shouldn’t be a budget punishment — it should be a planned treat. And yes, we all deserve two pieces of broccoli sometimes.
Check out the USDA Food Plan Data:
https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/cnpp-costfood-3levels-jan2026.pdf