The Average Cost of Food in the US (opens in new tab)

The legend is also excessively confusing. Why not “10 least expensive states” and “10 most expensive,” rather than “Top 10 least expensive.”

Vermont's groceries aren't dirt-cheap, but they're cheaper than, say, Seattle.

Downtown Burlington's only grocery store is a natural-foods co-op, so maybe that skews the price data? Most of the mainstream, less-expensive grocery stores "in Burlington" are actually in South Burlington, which is a different city.

I live in Portland, Oregon, which has high COL and high food costs, and just checked my actuals (not estimates). Total spend for the last 2 months was $1263 for my wife and I. That’s $315.75 per month per person, and we buy a lot of organic food and produce. However due to Covid that was only including 1 restaurant meal both months, the rest was prepared at home. I think you are spending far too much on food, probably because of restaurants. Do you have something like Mint where you can see your spending by category and dig into this?

We are budget conscious but this is what our spending naturally settles into just going to to the store and getting the ingredients we need for the meals and snacks we want. Meat several times a week, lots of fruit and vegetables, some pasta and wraps and breads. We don't feel deprived or unhealthy, and it fits well within our means.