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How much money does your family throw away?
Most households never see the cost of wasted food as a single number. This calculator estimates what uneaten groceries may be costing your family each week, month, and year, using EPA food-waste data as the baseline. Then see the dinner-planning move that usually lowers it. For the broader picture, read our food waste statistics.
Your best guess is fine. This sets the grocery budget the waste estimate is based on.
These are scenario assumptions, not measured household data.
Method
How this food waste calculator works
The calculator estimates how much of your weekly grocery spend may go uneaten, then projects it across a month and a year. It is a planning estimate, not an exact accounting of your kitchen.
We start from the EPA's 2025 estimate that the average consumer loses about $728 per year — roughly $14 per week — to food that is bought but never eaten. We use that as the reference baseline for your household size.
Your personalized estimate multiplies your weekly grocery spend by a waste-rate assumption you choose (5% if you rarely waste food, up to 20% if food regularly expires), then scales the weekly figure by 4.33 for a month and 52 for a year.
These waste rates are scenario assumptions, not measured household data. The goal is to make an invisible cost feel concrete so you can decide whether to change how you plan and shop.
Food waste cost by household size
EPA per-person baseline scaled to common household sizes. These are reference estimates, not personal figures.
| Household size | EPA baseline (weekly) | EPA baseline (annual) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $14 | $728 |
| 2 people | $28 | $1456 |
| 3 people | $42 | $2184 |
| 4 people | $56 | $2912 |
| 5 people | $70 | $3640 |
| 6+ people | $84 | $4368 |
Annual figures are the EPA per-person estimate ($728) multiplied by household size. See our food waste statistics for the full source list.
Turn the number into a plan
A calculator cannot know whether your spinach, chicken, or herbs will get used twice. That is the meal-plan layer. Build a week where ingredients repeat on purpose, leftovers become a second dinner, and one tired night has a planned fallback.
Turn my groceries into a 5-dinner plan