I hope you do not mind me answering this question..
in a week.. I spend 2,000 pesos for meat like chicken and pork..
another 2,000 pesos for vegetable and fruits
and another 2,000 pesos for groceries ... mostly ingredients for cooking like stock cubes tomato sauce including pasta, canned goods and etc.
sometimes these last us for more than a week.. depending if we have visitors or workers.. currently we have 3 carpenters.. I cook them lunch.. twice a week we have a gardener
and there is an expense called others... about 2,000 pesos.. i make some desserts (agar-agar, cream de fruita, leche flan) and workers merienda (food between meals) this last about a month..
we are 5 people in the family, including our son and yaya (helper)
I always try to track our expenses by having a record book of all our daily expenses. This is the only way to be aware of expenses. You'll be surprise of the total expense in a week including every single thing.. I keep all the receipts too. I am fully aware that trust is being earned and I never wanted to have an issue about money. Budgeting is not very easy.. if you doubt your wife/gf/partner.. Try to do it..

 

Shopping at the Public market can be fun it you are not interested in mingling with foreigners as there are few there. I purchase fish there everyday or so for the cats, paying as low at 20P per kilo, for sardine type fish. I am not sure I would eat the fish myself, but they look and smell good. . I have purchased pork there a few times and always like it.. Unlike the Bacong Fish Market, the Dumaguete public fish market has all the prices posted. There is no "skin tax" as I can tell. It is actually a fun experience if you enjoy mingling with Filipinos, most are very friendly and say "hi" when I am there. Try it for an adventure if nothing else.

 

For food we spend 200$ or 10,000 pesos more or less per month( we are 2 persons), husband baked our own bread,makes lots of jams when there's cheap fruits. Vegetables and fruits is cheaper in valencia so we save at least 400pesos per month compared to the city price.

If its just for the wifey, my budget is 3,000 pesos. Filipinos are not picky on food, we like vegetables,chicken,cheap small fish and rice. Once, i had a lunch at the filipino street cafeteria near Silliman Medical Hospital, i paid 50pesos for; eggplant omelette,bamboo veg with coconut,small fried milkfish,rice and free 3 little salt less dried fish. The best filipino lunch i ever had in dumaguete, all dish were over cooked but very tasty.

 

I guess for 5 people thats pretty good + visitors+workers.. Although if someone ever told me there was an expense called "Others" wether it be on a receipt, an oral report from my gf, or whatever, I am going to be pretty d*mn skeptical... ..

And to answer your question about budgeting, I am the only one that does it, because when I wasnt, I was bleeding money like crazy. Or maybe like my friendly neighbor suggested, "Maybe your wallet has a hole in it" ... Well newsflash.. I checked it and that wasnt the case. I used trackeverycoin - do a google search if interested (didnt want to post the link if its not allowed feel free to delete this sentence) its free, easy, quick and it works for me. I track everything from the 10piso per person per ride trikes to fuel for the moto and you will be amazed and how quick it adds up and the stuff you don't calculate in.