What do groceries cost per month? For a single person it’s around € 300, for a couple without children around € 500, for a single-parent family around € 550, and for a family with children around € 750. These are indicative amounts, loosely based on sample budgets from the Nibud (the Dutch national budget institute) and statistics from the CBS (Statistics Netherlands) - indicative, 2025. Your own figure depends heavily on how often you eat at home, what you eat and where you live.
Average groceries per household type
As a rough guide, per month:
- Single person: around € 300
- Couple without children: around € 500
- Single-parent family: around € 550
- Family with children: around € 750
Keep in mind: these are ballpark figures for comparison, not norms. A couple doesn’t spend exactly twice as much as a single person - cooking for two is often cheaper per head. And children count by age: a teenager simply eats more than a toddler.
What explains the differences?
The biggest differences between households come less from the number of mouths and more from the way you shop:
- Eating at home or out. Every takeaway, delivery or restaurant meal doesn’t show up in your groceries, but it does take a big bite out of your total food spending. Cook more yourself and your grocery bill goes up while your total food costs usually go down.
- What you eat. Lots of meat, fish and ready meals cost more than a menu built around legumes, seasonal vegetables and home cooking. Special diets - gluten-free, high-protein - add up too.
- Where you shop. A discounter is structurally cheaper than a full-service supermarket or the speciality shop on the corner. The town you live in matters as well.
- Waste. What you throw away, you still paid for. On average a sizeable share of the food we buy ends up in the bin.
Is deviating from the average a problem?
No. An average is a reference point, not a target. Above it? That can be a deliberate choice - organic, fresh, or simply what you enjoy. But it’s a good moment to see where the money goes. Below it? Fine, as long as you eat enough and varied.
Groceries are a variable expense: unlike your rent or insurance, you can adjust them week by week. That’s exactly why it’s the category where small habits add up fastest.
Five ways to save on groceries
Without eating less well or less healthily:
- Plan a weekly menu. Decide in advance what you’ll eat that week. You shop with purpose, waste less and stop staring into a fridge full of unconnected ingredients.
- Shop with a list. And stick to it. Impulse buys are the silent leak in every grocery budget.
- Choose store brands more often. The store brand often comes from the same factory as the name brand, for a lot less money. Try it and judge for yourself.
- Use your pantry first. Check your cupboard and freezer before you head out. That saves buying doubles and stops things going past their date.
- Watch the offers - with judgement. A discount on something you’d buy anyway is a win. A discount that tempts you into something new is just spending.
Compare your own groceries
The grocery calculator automatically compares your grocery spending with the average for your household type. And with the VasteLast calculator you can lay out all your spending - from fixed costs to variable ones like groceries. Free, no account and no ads.