A monthly grocery budget your household shares

Plenty keeps one monthly grocery budget for the household. After each shop you scan the receipt or type the total, and the Expenses tab shows what is left this month, how much that allows per day, and where the money went by shop and by category. Everyone in the household sees the same figures.

Written by the Plenty team · Checked on

Download on the App Store
Plenty Expenses screen with money left per day, a month comparison and spending by shop and category
Expenses: left per day, this month against last month, by shop and by category.

How do you record a shopping trip?

  1. In shopping mode, tap Finish Visit when you are done, or use Scan ticket on the Home tab.
  2. Photograph the receipt with the document camera. Text recognition runs on your iPhone and reads the total and the lines.
  3. Plenty matches receipt lines to the items you bought. Check them, then save. No receipt? Type the total instead.
Receipt lines matched to list items in Plenty, each with a price from the receipt
Receipt lines matched to what you bought.

What does the Expenses tab show?

  • What is left of this month's budget and how much that leaves per day.
  • This month compared with last month.
  • Spend by shop and spend by category.
  • Recent trips, each with its total.

What the budget does not do

There is one budget per household, not one per list. Plenty does not send alerts when you go over, and it does not estimate the cost of a list before you shop.

Questions

How much do households spend on groceries per month?

It varies by household, and Plenty publishes no figures of its own. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics reports what households spend on average each week, including on food and non-alcoholic drinks, in its Family spending in the UK bulletin. What your own household spends each month is what the Expenses tab in Plenty shows.

Does everyone in the household see the same budget?

Yes. The budget, the receipts and the recorded trips are shared with everyone in the household.

Sources

  1. Office for National Statistics: Family spending in the UK

Each source was checked on the date above. Apps change; if a fact here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Spotted a mistake? Email support@theplentylist.com.