A year ago, my son told me he was spending more money than we thought he should on groceries. So my wife and I decided to keep track of how much we spend on eat

A year ago, my son told me he was spending more money than we thought he should on groceries. So my wife and I decided to keep track of how much we spend on eating. This includes the very rare times we eat at restaurants, which might include a burger joint if we're stuck on the road somewhere, and high end restaurants for birthdays and anniversary. I do all the cooking. I rarely use anything from a box or a can. That is, I make my own pasta and tomato sauce and pizza dough and sourdough bread, for example. I also use higher end recipes, not sloppy joe dinners, including steaks and chicken and I more often buy spices like parsley and oregano fresh and chop them myself and not dried in a jar. The numbers came in, interestingly enough, at $187 each week on average every time. This is for my wife and myself alone plus (cause my wife said so) about $15 a week for our two dogs cause, you know, they're family, too. For reasons I am not positive about, our weekly expenditure for the last three months has risen to $209 a week. It had appeared to me that items cost more than in the past but I was unsure till I ran the numbers just a couple of days ago. Have grocery prices gone up? In any case, cooking well designed meals takes an effort. Once you find recipes you like and get used to making them, it's easier, but it will still take one to two hours for every meal without rushing. I work out of my house and two major grocery stores down the street so that makes things easier. EDIT: I should add that I am in the Midwest USA.