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How Much We Spend on Groceries as a Couple in NYC(2026 Breakdown)

How much do vegetarian groceries cost in NYC? Here’s our real 2026 weekly spend in LIC with a detailed price breakdown.

My boyfriend and I have been living in New York City for a few years now, where we both work full-time 9–5 jobs, and cook most meals at home. Recently, every week, we track exactly what we spend on groceries and where we shop.

If you live in NYC and want to get a sense of groceries, here’s what it actually looks like.

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Our Average Weekly Grocery Budget in NYC (as of February, 2026)

• Total weekly spend: $138
• Cost per person: $69
• Cost per day (household): $19.71
• Cost per meal (assuming 2 meals/day at home): $3–4

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H2: Where We Shop in NYC

We rotate between:

• Trader Joe’s
• City Acre’s (not in our weekly rotation, just occasionally)
• Koufuku market (right next to NaiSnow) for niche purchases

Why?

• Trader Joe’s is best for most of our meals. They have a great frozen selection, and their produce is not bad either.
• City Acre’s is insanely expensive, but you can get some good deals if you know where to look for it.
• Koufuku has great Asian groceries – I recommend the Shepherd’s Purse dumplings in the frozen section. Affordable and a delicious snack!
• We rotate between these grocery stores (Target, City Acre’s, or Food Cellar) for a nice variety and each with a different purpose.

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H2: Full Weekly Grocery List + Prices

Recipes we made this week:

• Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers (we 1.5x this recipe and we make this quite often)
• Tomato Egg Stir Fry (we 2x this recipe and we also make this quite often)

Item	Store	Price	Meals Used In
Red Bell Peppers (6)	Trader Joe’s	$12.97	Stuffed Peppers
1 medium onion	Trader Joe’s	$1.09	Stuffed Peppers
4 cartons of cherry or grape tomatoes	Trader Joe’s	$9.96	Stuffed Peppers + Egg Tomato Stir Fry
1 bunch cilantro	Trader Joe’s	$0.99	Stuffed Peppers
1 lime	Trader Joe’s	$0.50	Stuffed Peppers
Mexican Shredded Cheese	Trader Joe’s	$2.49	Stuffed Peppers
Eggs (12 ct)	Trader Joe’s	$3.99	Egg Tomato Stir Fry
1 scallion bunch	Trader Joe’s	$0.99	Egg Tomato Stir Fry

Items we already had in the pantry:

EVOO

Salt and Pepper

Rice

Garlic

Chili powder

Cumin

Black beans (we use black beans instead of pinto in the stuffed peppers recipe)

White pepper

Sesame oil

Rice vinegar

Total groceries purchased at the store: $32.98

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H2: What We Actually Ate That Week

Sunday:

I cook and froze about 4 cups of rice and portioned them out in souper cubes so that we would be set for the next few days.

I used some of the rice for the stuffed peppers recipe, and cooked the stuffed peppers for dinner that day.

Monday:

I took one bell pepper for lunch the next day, and got some other snacks at work.

For dinner, my boyfriend and I had the leftover stuffed peppers.

Tuesday:

I bought lunch today, and we had stuffed pepper dinner again. Luckily, we both love the recipe and flavor so it almost never gets old!

Wednesday:

My boyfriend and I finished up the stuffed peppers for lunch, and we cooked the egg tomato stir fry for dinner. Quick and delicious!

Thursday:

I bought lunch again, and for dinner we had the egg tomato stir fry.

Friday:

We wanted to go out for dinner that night, so we did!

Saturday:

We had a lazy lunch/dinner from whatever we could find in the freezer.

Sunday: Planned out our meals for the next week, and got groceries to get us set up for the recipes we wanted to cook.

This is pretty much a realistic view into our grocery and eating habits. Not including our pantry essentials we always keep in stock, and accounting for all of the lunch/dinners we went out to eat for:

Our average food spend was around $100/week for two people, $50 each.

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Is This Normal for NYC?

For context, we live in a city so we definitely have to take in the rent as part of our budget. Saving on groceries definitely helps us budget for our rent.

There is also the rise of inflation, which increases every year. We take this into account as well, but not as much as other areas of our budget.

We are luckily near the 7 train, which allows us to trek into Main St. Flushing, occasionally. We can get groceries there for a great price! They also have great takeout options that won’t break the bank, and some choices are actually pretty healthy. We get them regularly.

Our Eating Out Frequency

My boyfriend and I don’t eat out most of the time, but we do eat out occasionally with friends because, that’s what you should do if you live in NYC!

Part of the joy of living in the city is the ability to eat out at the 17,619+ restaurants available to us. According to this article, eating out at a different restaurant every day would take 22.7 years to complete!

That’s a lot.

So, on average, we eat out roughly twice per week.

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Conclusion

This is just a realistic view into our grocery and eating habits. We strive to make 2-3 recipes per week, usually “cook once and eat twice or thrice” recipes, and then have 1 or 2 lazy take out nights. We found this system works great for us, and allows us to save a lot on groceries by:

• Intentionally picking groceries where we use the full amount
• Picking high value and nutritious foods
• No leftover policy – we eat what’s in the fridge.
• This makes us guilt-free when ordering takeout or eating out to a restaurant, because we maximize the full potential of our groceries.

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Let me know if you like this content and want to see a recurring series of grocery reporting.

That’s all for now!

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