What's your food budget?

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by GGG

I identify with this. My wife gets mad at me when I don't buy certain produce because for price.

The best is when she buys a bag of 7-8 avocadoes, because it's so much cheaper than buying them individually. Avocadoes. An item that goes from unripe to over-ripe in about 36 hours.

[malcolmk14]

$845 in July for groceries and dining out. Lower than usual.

[Northendzone]

I am waiting for the first person who is an extreme couponer and buys their monthly groceries for $7.

I miss the days of being single when dinner was a bowl of cereal.

[Mazrim]

$800 a month according to RBC for my wife and I, including dining out. It doesn't help that we're sometimes a soup kitchen and feed our friends at a loss, but I'm okay with that part. I know we can definitely bring that down!

[peter12]

Can we also talk about how my wife doesn't really understand unit costs?

[rubecube]

I probably spend about $300/month on just myself and I would say I eat out once or twice a week. I'm a bargain hunter when it comes to meat though. I constantly look for the stuff that's just about to expire and has the markdown stickers on it. Then I just chuck it all in my freezer and pull out as needed.

[annasuave]

A pet hobby of mine is designing menu plans and shopping lists to meet particular nutritional needs and budgets. (Hey, it keeps me off the streets.)

I was recently challenged to put a $100/month plan together for a friend of mine on a very limited budget. I couldn't do it. Even assuming every possible leftover was re-used, there was almost no meat, and she brown-bagged lunch every day. At $150 a month, assuming basic ingredients like rice, flour, salt ketchup etc were already in her pantry, it was do-able but sad and joyless.

Her reality was that she literally only had $100 a month for food, and she couldn't do it either. She often skipped meals, mooched what she could, and played professional dinner guest when possible.

Maybe if you're thriftier and/or more motivated than me or my friend it can be done. As it is, she moved back in with her parents and is getting through life better these days.

I would say that $600 to $800 is typical. $400 is pretty darned thrifty IMHO.

[Street Pharmacist]

I'd so love for someone to meal plan for me. I bet we could cut the budget in half simply by planning

[annasuave]

Originally Posted by peter12

Can we also talk about how my wife doesn't really understand unit costs?

To be fair, a lot of grocery stores deliberately obscure that information. They'll switch up the units of measure (pounds instead of kilos, or sneak in the old "per 100g" trick instead of stating it plainly in kilos.) I see that often on the pricier fruits and meats.

Some stores don't disclose the unit cost if the item is on sale.

Costco does a good job labelling for unit cost. No math needed! It's directly stated in the lower right corner of the price.

Maybe your wife just needs you to invest a few Saturdays of your free time grocery shopping with her to help get the unit cost thing down?

[GGG]

I think you can meat your caloric needs at $100 per month.

The secret is Potatoes. At 50 cents per pound and 77 calories per 100 grams gives you 7 calories per penny. So at 2000 Calories per day it's $2.85 worth of Potatoes. That leaves you with about $14 per month to spend on things other that Potatoes. Now if you can find Potatoes at 30 cents a pound which you can occasionally do and things start look okay because then you are only spending $50 per month on Potatoes and have $50 for other things.

I ate like this for a month to see if I could do it and I was full. I got Carrots Apples and a jar of peanut butter and some bread in addition to the potatoes to spice it up a bit. I also spent on butter

[VladtheImpaler]

$2,500/month - $1,500 for restaurants and about $1,000 for groceries. 2 kids (5 and 2).

[annasuave]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

I'd so love for someone to meal plan for me. I bet we could cut the budget in half simply by planning

I'll do it for ya for free. PM me. How many are there in your family, any allergies or food restrictions? Stuff you don't like? Stuff you love? How much time do you want to spend cooking? What's your budget, and I'll throw something together for you.

Typically, I try to employ "cook once, eat twice" and a plate division of "1/2 veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 starch"

[GGG]

Originally Posted by peter12

Can we also talk about how my wife doesn't really understand unit costs?

Do you cheat and use the little numbers on the tags or do it all in your head.

It's my favourite part of grocery shopping

[annasuave]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

$2,500/month - $1,500 for restaurants and about $1,000 for groceries. 2 kids (5 and 2).

Clearly, if dinner invites are on the table - I wanna come to your house NOT GGG's!

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by annasuave

Clearly, if dinner invites are on the table - I wanna come to your house NOT GGG's!

What? The all potato diet not to your liking? He might spring for some onions and radishes too.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

What? The all potato diet not to your liking? He might spring for some onions and radishes too.

Onions don't have enough calories even though their cheap.

[Sluggo]

Averaging 250 a month including ~a dozen bar beers for the past 3 months.

[Sluggo]

Originally Posted by GGG

Onions don't have enough calories even though their cheap.

But they make a good filler/flavor enhancer for ground beef and other dishes. A 20 dollar family pack of hamburger plus cheap filler including rice/onions/sauce can give me a weeks worth of food.

[Kybosh]

If you cook like an Indian vegetarian, you can make some really delicious and cheap meals. Lentils, chick peas, potatoes and spices are your friend. I can make a huge pot of coconut lentil curry with veggies and stuff for about $15 assuming you have the spices.

[Reaper]

My wife and I spend $800 for groceries and the eight times we eat restaurant food per month. I'd love to say we live large but those 8 times only account for $200 of the budget. We just spend a lot of money on fresh produce and quality meats.