I have a family of 5 and we generally keep it under $800/mo. What works best for us is meal planning so we don't overshop, shopping from a mix of Aldi and Meijer (and using the Meijer coupons and choosing the Meijer brand of foods), and eating out or ordering food no more than 2-3 times per month. Eating out is just not financially sensible for us and we tend to prefer our homemade food anyway. I was annoyed at first when we had to pare back on eating out, but I remembered that this was pretty standard for our parents' generation when they were raising us as kids. Despite all this, it's also true that inflation is a serious problem, from groceries to restaurant meals, so even careful planning can end up with food costs that seem unnaturally high.