We cook dinner at home on weekdays, and we tend to go out on weekends. We pack weekday lunches for two of us (my partner's work provides his lunch), and we make easy hot breakfasts on weekdays: eggs, toast, oatmeal, fresh fruit, cereal, et cetera.
We meal-plan very casually — on the drive home from our daughter's piano lesson, for example — and we order ingredients needed for those planned meals. Breakfast and lunch staples are on repeat and easy to add to our cart via our personal AmazonFresh browser.
Given that, here's what our orders looked like this past spring.
In March, we ordered groceries five times for a grand total of $301.08, plus $29 on (optional) tips. In April, we ordered groceries fives times for a total of $470.41, plus $38 in tips. And in May, we spent $407.92, plus $39 in tips. That averages out to $391.14 per month in groceries and about $35 monthly in tips.
As you can see, ordering groceries by delivery saves us money, especially on impulse buys and time. According to estimates made by the USDA, I'm on track with this idea. In June, the USDA estimated that "thrifty" families of two (with adults in my age bracket) spent $386.40 on food at home, "moderate" spenders bought $612.90 worth of groceries, and "liberal" spenders spent $766.60 on food for home. In the same categories, families of four would spend $646.80, $1,062 and $1,288.20, respectively.
While the USDA doesn't offer specific estimates on families of three, you can see that our average of $391.14 puts us closest to the spending of a "thrifty" family of two. If you add in our Prime membership dues (about $10 per month) and our tips ($35), we're at $436.14 per month, still below the "moderate budget" for the family of two.
We didn't start this journey in order to save money, but that's been a happy secondary result of the lifestyle change. First and foremost, we love that it frees up so much of our time to do other things.
I'm pretty sure Benjamin Franklin would understand.