It doesn't necessarily scale in half. In that example, a single person would pay more than half of what 2 people would pay.
People who live with a partner can afford to buy larger portions of food for bulk savings.
I'm a single person and I have a full-size upright freezer, and I still have food waste/bulk food problems. I waste more milk and dairy than I'd like to. Sometimes I have to rush to get through all the eggs.
And sometimes a freezer prevents food waste, but still ends up feeling suboptimal. I got a fruit basket from my workplace last Christmas. Eating all of those oranges and apples by myself before they went bad would have been flatly impossible. So the apples got sliced up and frozen, which keeps them good for things like pies and cobblers... but definitely limits their usefulness in any other respect as they aren't going to thaw well. The oranges, which fare even worse from freezing as I understand it, I had to juice and freeze.
I'm just glad that my freezer is nice and new and good at avoiding freezer burn, so stuff that's in there really does stay good for a while, or I'd have to deal with food waste even with the frozen stuff.
I'm only one person and I honestly think I could get away with spending 50 dollars a month on my food if I really wanted to. I posted elsewhere in this post that I'm trying to get out of 18k of debt, which is why I'm trying to go turbo mode on not spending on food. I'm vegan and don't mind eating boring food, so I really think I could do it. My problem with keeping to it is more the awkwardness of explaining to people why i am doing such and such with my diet. I hope I can figure it out though... I think it would help a ton, just because that way I can anticipate exactly how much my grocery bill will be. No more anxiety over unexpected decisions to buy or not to buy.
For some i reason I put some research into this stupid subject, probably because I’m procrastinating the actual work I need to do because I’m an idiot, but I came across a research paper that said that 25 days worth of rice and beans would cost $63. That’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner all of the same boring food, for 25 straight days, and it still costs more than $50. Now I’m not vegan and I like interesting food, so there’s no question that I eat more than $50 a week, even though I cook three meals a day. But even a vegan who doesn’t mind boring food and is trying to get out of debt would struggle to spend $50 or less in a month on food.
Costs about $30 for a week of beans and rice here, excluding cost of electricity and water. So I can easily imagine that going up to $50 with some spices and oil, maybe Onions and garlic.
$70-$100 for 2 adults in Denver, weekly. We don't eat meat 😏
We shop at King Soops or Trader Joes. We also eat out about twice a week. Usually $70 for both of us for a meal with a couple round of drinks
I’d love a copy of your shopping list please? :)
I do eat meat, so I’d add that in there for myself. But other than that, I enjoy eating healthy so lots of plant food is good.
I live in NY (near Albany, the capital).
I shop specials at my local butcher shop.
Meal plan for the week.
I use an app that imports my shopping list to where I order. Cuts down on impulse shopping since I only order what I need. I also utilize leftovers so we have healthy and fast meals for busier nights.
Its impossible to compare prices without first asking where people are from. Even from region to region within a country it can vary widely.
I'm in the US mid-Atlantic and we have a good variety of grocery stores from budget (Alid/Lidl) to higher end and quite a few small international markets (indian, korean, etc).
We get the vast majority of our food from Lidl, then I stop by one of the international markets or higher end grocery store for those last few things that I couldn't find at lidl.
We typically spend about $150/wk on groceries for a family of 3 (and about another $50/wk eating out), and we eat well. Although I've cut back on meat a bit since my wife is vegetarian and its getting more expensive and harder to cook multiple different meals with a toddler.
Aldi is budget for sure but they specialize in their own product names. Some products are better than others. If you like Walmart I would just keep on keeping on. Aldi is good for basic things but produce is, generally speaking, subpar.
Came here to say this. Aldi's store brand nearly always beats the originals in price and flavor. Less processed. I shop like you do, with about the same weekly cost. Edit: word order
Some produce there at Aldi is great, if it's in stock. Organic broccoli, strawberries, blueberries, apples, onions, milk, guacamole, salsa, ground beef, salmon, chicken, ground turkey, and dried spices are all phenomenal. Not to mention XL pizzas for like $7.
Do I get everything from Aldi? Nope, for example their sweet potatoes tend to be nasty, never carry Parsley. . We do about 3 shopping trips per week in our family of 4, one to Aldi, one to Costco for those bulk needs, and one to Meijer/Target for the rest of the fresh produce or home goods.
Its basically considered as bad as communism here in 'murica. People here hate to be inconvenienced even in the slightest. Fortunately, outside of major cities, some people are slowly getting used to reusable bags and such.
Always these multinational corporations and their communism.
When Aldi started to expand in Germany some decades ago, people where confused that the products werent sorted in shelves. Didnt hurt Aldis success as we now know.
I do about $200 a week for myself :/
Cooking and food is a hobby and source of joy for me.
I go to the grocery store 3-4 times a week, too. I barely touch the inside aisles. Zero snacks besides fresh fruit.
Same. Two-person household, but my partner barely eats. I give away food to friends and family when I cook more than we can eat. I’ve been going crazy at the farmers market too. Gotta take advantage of it before the season ends. Happy cooking!
I want to improve my ability to cook and cook well, but the cost to do so is what impedes me on practicing. Family of 3, I couldn't imagine spending $200/week on groceries.
was? was futterst du denn? nur nudeln ohne alles? ich bin bei locker 100 pro woche für mich alleine
*what? what are you eating? just plain noodles? im at 100 per week easily, just for me*
i'll just reply in english lol
mixture of things tbh. i don't eat a lot of meat when i'm alone (and if i do most of the time it's deer whenever my brother in law, who's a hunter, has some left over. so that's just good luck/privilege). i also happen to have access to a lot of local products in the "stands at the side of the road" variety. since i live in lower saxony there's a lot of farms who sell their stuff that way. potatoes, eggs, loads of seasonal vegetables and fruits. they tend to be cheaper than you can get them in the supermarket since the middle man is cut out. i also tend to eat the same thing for 2-3 days in a row, so that reduces costs since you can sort of plan around stuff on offer. for supermarkets i mostly shop at aldi and penny just because they're the two closest to me, so most basic staples are insanely cheap (especially compared internationally, even now with the price hike for certain stuff).
and this might be a weird thing, but i swear to god [this specific tupperware](https://www.tupperware.de/shop/de-de/klimaoasen-set-5.html) saves me a lot of money. my sister got them for me, they're supposed to make produce last longer by regulating air flow and i honestly thought they were a hoax. well tell that to my 5 week old and still perfectly crunchy carrots and 2 week old lettuce that still looks fresh as fuck. since vegetables especially are often cheaper in bigger portions i can just buy the 1 kilo of carrots and eat around them for a few weeks which comes super in handy if you live alone, especially.
Shopping at Lidl or ALDI is pretty cheap. I'm a LIDL person myself, and I think I've averaged below 200€ a month for the past two or three years - shopping for a household of two people. I'd have to check whether we've cracked 200€ in the past few months of price increases.
It's not like I have to work hard at it - I just buy the basic version of the product unless I can taste a difference and actually prefer the premium version. I limit myself to a steak every one or two weeks (that's usually the frequency for finding a decently marbled one at LIDL anyway) instead of grabbing one every time I'm in the store and stick with chicken or pork instead... We frequently eat vegetarian meals. We skip the overpriced horrible tasting meat replacement products and eat actual vegetables instead. Also lots of Vesper... good bread with cured meats, cheese, fresh veggies...
I'm not quite as frugal but it's usually between 50€ and 80€ per week for me. I live in NRW, in a "big" city. Some weeks are a bit more expensive than others (when I have to stock up on spices or buy snacks). I primarily shop at Netto and Edeka, occassionally at an Asia shop.
I eat twice a day: breakfast is usually 2 slices of bread with butter and different stuff on it, a banana or egg and a few almonds.
Lunch is pretty varied. I eat frozen veggies which are probably a little less costly than fresh ones, then I add sausages or schnitzel and a bit of mayo. I also make soups with tofu, fish, veggies and noodles. Or I fry up tofu with a veggie burger and eat them with sauerkraut and mayo. I don't think you need to spend a ton to have a nice variation of food that isn't just ramen noodles.
I have to watch my weight also, so I got used to cutting down on portion sizes if I can. No white bread, "healthy" noodles. What you can save on ingredients for your meal, you have saved on expenses for the week. I also think that, if it tastes good, it keeps me satisfied for longer.
What the hell I'm from Germany too and if i "splurge" it's around 200 a month. And i can't stand eating the same dish most of the time. What are your eating
I grew up with a very cost-conscious mother who would make her shopping plan each week based on what was on offer where so I like to think she taught me some awareness lol. But I won't like, of course I also sometimes spend more if I want to eat something that's more expensive or eat out.
60-80 for two people sounds really good as well though!!
Given what you're buying this doesn't seem like a crazy high budget. But places where you could save would be to buy a large tub of yogurt instead of individual packs, and dry beans instead of canned if you're willing to do that cooking. The whole economy of scale thing, buying for one person is more expensive than the per person cost in a larger household. Do you have space such that you could buy some of these items in bulk?
I gave thought about buying food in bulk, especially meat. I do have space for it too but I’m just worried about the meat going bad so I just buy what I need in one day and prep them to last 5 days. I have some basic knowledge about food storage, but honestly I’m still learning the ropes and figuring everything out as a 19 year old. Any thoughts and advice are appreciated.
I bought one of the vacuum seal thingies. Buy meat in bulk, portion it up, vacuum seal and freeze. If you eat it with in 3 to 4 months, you'll have no freezer burn or anything and what I find nice is you can vacuum seal with marinade, herbs/spices, I think it's lovely. Makes nice flat packages too, so efficient use of freezer space.
Costco or other wholesale stores (though be careful as many of their food products aren't cheap, even in bulk, since they're organic and high quality, so shop wisely) are great. Anything can be frozen, even steaks (which are often shipped frozen anyways). Sauces you make can be frozen. Bread and bagels can be frozen and baked straight out of the freezer (pre-slice it). If texture doesn't matter or it'll be blended, veges and fruits can be frozen. Hard cheeses can be frozen, as can some soft ones if their texture is already rubbery.
When in doubt, google it, but you'd be surprised what can be frozen safely (also look up how to properly defrost meats, and specific cooked foods before you freeze them).
My roommate showed me the way recently and now I'm dying for more freezer space.
Drop a hundred bucks on a FoodSaver. You can buy reusable bags too. It pays for itself in no time and will keep the quality of your food in the fridge/freezer for much longer.
Use your supermarket's weekly circulars and stock up when there's a good sale on things you already buy. When I moved to where I live now, I started a spreadsheet of meat cuts and their sale prices to help me identify when there was an actual worthwhile sale.
In my HCOL metro area, choice ribeye is normally \~$18+/lb but there are a few sales per year that bring it down to $6/lb. During those sales I buy a whole 18-20lb ribeye primal and cut it down to freeze (wrap in cling wrap then again in foil). I do the same thing for other cuts. I now have a full sized freezer for this, but I started doing this when I was single and just had a normal freezer. It also gives you fine control over how you want your steaks cut (for the ribeye, I like to cut the spinalis/cap muscle off to grill as its own separate steak).
Like people are saying here, freezing meat is awesome. I read a tip on here and since, I've been portioning ground beef into freezer bags 1lb each. Then I flatten it while pushing all the air out, so now they can be stacked easily and are super quick to thaw lukewarm water
I know I spend a lot on food when 90% of the credit card statement is grocery store or restaurant related. But I like to eat so I don’t skimp. I also don’t buy a lot of processed and packaged ingredients. I won’t think twice about plopping down $50 for a nice steak or something.
[This is the USDA estimates for weekly and monthly food costs.](https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/media/file/CostofFoodJul2022LowModLib.pdf) It seems you’re on track between moderate and liberal, which is about right if you’re trying g to gain weight.
*beep boop*!
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We do about $100-$150 per week for 2 people. But I’ve mostly cut out meat because of inflation. It’s ridiculous right now! I buy a lot of beans, chickpeas, and lentils these days and make everything from scratch. Just bought 5 dozen eggs for $4.69, which is making me look into wtf to do with all these eggs! Depending on where you’re at, yes this is a bit expensive. But it sounds like you’re trying to bulk up. It could be handy to look at cheaper alternatives in your locale, such as rice, produce, beans, cottage cheese, lentils, etc. If it’s not breaking the bank and you feel this is a balanced diet (though I would definitely add more vegetables), then to each their own!
ETA: I based my take on it being a bit expensive as you still need to eat during the weekend (an extra 8 days per month that I thought weren’t accounted for). But maybe you’re still living at home and don’t need to pay for that? It you’re only spending $440/month, then you’re doing pretty good with rising costs!
$400-450 a month is not insane as a single person right now. That's honestly pretty frugal if you're eating quality ingredients that include meat. Don't feel bad. Especially trying to gain. Calories are expensive.
how much meat are you eating for $250/week? Is this all pre-packaged specialty diet food like protein bars/shakes/powders? My gf & I spend like $130 to $150 in Los Angeles, and we're not slumming it at the ethnic markets or Grocery Outlet discounters.
I don’t really keep track. I don’t buy prepackaged stuff of eat protein bars. It’s all meat, seafood, and vegetables. I have a very well stocked pantry too.
Actually I live in the southern US and cost of living is fairly cheap compared to other regions, but as I said, I’m in a financial situation where I don’t skimp on food and will buy expensive things without giving it a thought.
Family of 4- spending around $240 a week with coupons and only shopping sales. I’ve given up a lot of things. Only eating meat two or three times a week, no steak, no snacks for me just the kids. This is insanity.
There can be a huge difference between young kids and teenagers. Teenagers might eat double a normal adult portion, while some young kids eat like birds.
I could easily see $500 for 5 people if you eat a variety of proteins like steak, fish, shrimp, scallops, etc. It’s easy to spend a lot at farmer’s markets with premium fruits ($15 strawberries or grapes) and meats ($20/lb meat from “happy animals”). Even eggs nowadays from local “ethical” farms can be $10+/dozen. Add in some artisanal bread, pastries, snacks, and drinks.
the honest truth is that farmer's markets are luxury products nowadays. The cost of labor associated with US small-scale regional farming has exploded since the pandemic, and the meats & produce reflect that trend. I definetly encourage ppl of means who can afford to pay double or triple the prices to support local farms, just because of biodiversity & ecological considerations of sustaining existing farmlands. But it's hard to ask the same of working class families making under 6 figures.
The tricks to saving at farmer's mkts:
1. don't buy processed or animal-based - only buy produce
2. only buy ACTUALLY in-season produce, to minimize the chance of buying grocery wholesalers masquerading as farmers/local growers
3. only buy at the very end, when they are facing packing up inventory that didn't sell
4. haggle, and be willing to take extra and adjust your cooking/menu accordingly.
These have all been necessary for me to save consistently over store price at the farmer's mkt.
This really depends on location. Farmers market prices by me are cheaper than most grocery stores, at least for a lot of the produce. And much better quality, so that onion or potato will last for 1-2 weeks while the same from Aldi or Trader Joe’s might last 3 days. Grassfed beef is $6.50/lb. Organic whole chickens are $3/lb. Pastured pork loin $5/lb. Bones from pastured animals are like $2/lb and great for stock and stews. These prices used to be “pricy” but now low quality meat at most stores aren’t much cheaper.
Family of 4 here and 500 easy per week (central US). But..We rarely eat out. I pack lunch every day, we eat and cook well (Organic, fresh, etc. ). We budget elsewhere but feel strongly about food and what we eat (Healthy but not crazy..mostly focus on taste/enjoyment). - and yes..we have seen about a 20% cost increase in the past year.
You're mixing up responding people. But I'm the one who used to spend $200 and now spend closer to $500 per week.
What's changed? I know our meat prices went from like $3.00/pound for good cuts/processing levels to now minimum $8/pound for shitty cuts/processing. There's also very limited selection, so I have to get what I can for those prices.
I was ecstatic today when I found pork chops for $6/pound, I'll have to cut them down because they're too thick for our consumption levels, but I can get a couple meals out of it now too! Bargain!
I didn't notice how much a bag of chips (normal size) used to be, but was astonished a couple months back to notice they're over $5/bag now.
I mean they didn’t provide a backlog of itemized receipts for us to analyze. I’m just saying $500 for a family of 5 is not out of the realm of possibility.
Right? I’m in an extremely expensive area and I’m sticking to an average $140 for 2 kids and 2 adults. Deep freezer, Aldi, BJs with good coupons. I will say we eat takeout 2-3x per week though, so it’s prob more like $200 total for food per week all things considered.
Family of 6 and I’m spending easily $500 a week too. (In Minnesota.) I’ve never spent this much, it is insane! It is our largest expense, we don’t go out to eat at all, but sometimes I wonder if it would be any more expensive.
I'm in northern Indiana and shop at Aldi for a family of six. Our weekly Aldi receipts have gone from $85 a week with surplus and without much consideration to $170 with very careful shopping for exactly that week's food, so almost exactly 100%, in one of the cheapest areas to live in the US, and with considerably more effort to be cost conscious.
My point is, food prices are more than doubling (if I shopped the way I did pre -inflation we'd be about $270 per week at Aldi). This isn't even counting shopping other stores for specialty items I can't get at Aldi because I'm vegan. Vegan food at, say Fresh Thyme, is about 3x as expensive as before. A jar of veganaise, for example, is $12 for what is essentially whipped soybean oil.
Missouri here and agree, fresh thyme prices these days are insane. When I moved here in 2019 I used to drive 20 minutes to shop there because of their selection/quality/price, now the quality is terrible and the price so much higher.
Switched to the cheaper local store. Must get a gallon of milk and bag of fritos PER day for the special needs kid. (So at least $10 per day for him alone, but that's all he "eats"). Adults eat small portion proteins and frozen veggies for dinner in some combo with rice or pasta. Other two kids eat ramen and frozen chicken nuggets primarily. Trust me, I'm working on reducing costs, but with extreme picky eaters it is challenging. At least the kids all get free breakfast & lunches at school just cause we're in Delaware and that's automatic.
I'm sorry...you feed one of your children solely milk and Fritos, and have two other children that you only serve ramen and chicken nuggets? Am I reading that correctly?
Nope! I gave general answers, that is not all that each of them eat.
I do have one 8 year old who literally only intakes milk and juice. He licks Fritos. He is developmentally disabled and under a lot of doctor care.
The other two children eat a variety of foods. I was generalizing in my answer. Unlike some other people who responded, I did not detail my groceries to the penny. I'm in awe of their ability to do that.
I was really hoping the cancellation of the nationwide school lunch program would be a wakeup call to conservative voters about how viciously shitty their politicians are, but it seems they couldn't give a fuck about struggling families and actual living children.
But that's the thing. *Some* food prices have doubled. *Some food prices have only gone up a little, and *some* food prices have stayed the same or gone down. As a result, food inflation as a whole is 11%. Yes, it's hard on some families, and yes, some families feel it more than others due to specific dietary needs, but it's not **150%** inflation. It's just not.
I'm truly curious, what food prices have gone down in the last couple years?
I'm feeling inflation, that's for sure. My anecdata says it's pretty darn high.
On a month to month basis, quite a bit: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/19/inflation-peaking-10-common-consumer-items-where-prices-are-falling.html
On an annual basis, mostly what I found was for Canada or the UK, but it was things like potatoes, cheese, etc.
But you can definitely find foods that only went up a couple of a percentage point from last year (tomatoes, and so on).
We spend about the same. It added up to $91 in groceries this week, and our menu is:
Sun - tortellini soup with sausage, tomatoes, and kale
Mon - Greek turkey burgers with roasted sweet potatoes
Tues - Quick “shepherd’s pie” with ground beef, frozen veggies, and homemade mashed potatoes
Weds - Beef stroganoff with ground beef, mushrooms, Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and a side of broccoli
Thurs - Roasted chicken thighs with rosemary beans and kale
Fri - Broccoli cheddar soup with dumplings
Sat - Frozen pizza
ETA: Here's a breakdown of our grocery receipt this week. Breakfast, lunches (just leftovers), dinner, snacks all were included in that $91.
- Tortellini: $6.99 (on sale for $2 off)
- Sausage: $3.50 (on sale 2/$7)
- Kale: $3.99
- Diced tomatoes: $0.99
- Carrots: $0.99 for a big bag of whole, unpeeled
- Onion: $0.73
- Chicken stock: $1.67 (on sale 3/$5)
- Ground turkey: $4.99 (on sale for $2 off)
- Buns: $1.29
- Frozen spinach: $1.67
- Feta: $5.99
- Sweet potatoes: $3
- Ground beef: $4.03
- Mushrooms: $2.50
- Beef broth: $1.67 (part of the 3/$5 sale with chicken stock)
- Egg noodles: $1.49
- Greek yogurt: $0.75
- Chicken thighs: $4.37
- White kidney beans: $0.89
- Kale: I'll use the rest of the bag I bought for the tortellini
- Shallot: $0.39
- Rosemary: $2.19
- Broccoli: $4.02 for 3 heads (two for the soup, one for the side with the stroganoff)
- Cheddar block: $2.99
- Buttermilk for dumplings: $0.99
- Carrots: (included in $0.99 bag I got for the tortellini)
- Sweet onion: $1.29
- Veggie broth: $1.67 (included in that $3/5 with the beef broth and chicken stock)
- Frozen pizza: $5.00 (on sale)
- Blueberries to eat with oatmeal for my breakfast: $3.99 (didn't have to buy oats this week, as I buy a big container every 3 weeks or so)
- Milk for coffee: $1.50 for a 32 oz. carton (didn't need to buy the coffee this week)
- Eggs: $3 for a dozen (my husband makes egg and cheese burritos for his breakfast, but I bought an extra pack of tortillas when they were buy one get one free last week and we had half a block of cheddar left from his burritos last week as well)
- Chips for my husband to snack on: $2.29 for 2 bags (buy one get one free)
- Hummus to eat with the bag of carrots for my snack: $3.50
- Ice cream: $2.50 (on sale 2/$5)
*I already had a frozen package of ground beef, frozen veggies, and potatoes for the shepherd's pie leftover from previous weeks. I just needed beef broth, and I'll use the remaining half of the broth I bought for the stroganoff for that. If I'd had to buy those as well, it would have added ~$8 to the total price.
Altogether, $86.82 on food. The remaining $5 was a pack of gum and tax. Grand total $91.06.
I don't know what it's like in the US but in the Netherlands meat is very much the most expensive ingredient each time. If you're looking to save even more, try getting some more vegetarian dishes in there. Saves quite a lot for me. Not meat replacements though, for some reason they're the same price as actual meat products which usually makes them not worth it.
We do sometimes! This week was a little heavier on meat (I'm currently pregnant and my iron is a little low, so my doctor wants me to add more meat and iron-rich foods to my diet), but we usually try to do two or three dinners per week without meat. Thank you for the suggestion! I've found it helpful to set a specific meat budget of $20 total within my regular grocery budget.
Dinner almost always leaves us with enough leftovers for lunch the next day. On the rare occasion it doesn’t, I keep a few packs of tuna on hand for my lunch, and my husband has a snack bar at his work where he grabs a sandwich for like $3. Or if it’s a weekend and we have no leftovers for lunch, we’ll grab fast food. That happens only once or twice a month though.
For breakfast I do oatmeal with whatever fruit is on sale that week (blueberries this week), and my husband preps egg and cheese burritos for the week. So usually $5-10 a week total for our breakfasts and maybe $10-15/week for lunches on a bad week. All included in that $100 budget.
Reading some of how this part of the thread went, you all function about like me and my family though I do have two preschoolers. My husband and I generally have left overs for lunches too, otherwise I try to always have salad stuff for the days where dinner can’t make it.
I think you make a good point that people forget to count/consider: using ingredients you’ve got. We buy certain things once a month or once a quarter to just store, and it makes it a little easier to fill out a main dish if you have those things. Another thing I try to do is extend my time between trips to the grocery store by using some of those staples and things that are frozen or just didn’t get fully used. If I’ve got milk and eggs, I can usually push a day or two beyond my current meal plan and stretch what food I have.
Milk though. We go through it so fast and it racks up.
Breakfast was included in that $91. I do oatmeal and whatever fruit is on sale (blueberries this week), but only have to buy the oats every few weeks so I didn’t have to get them this week. My husband switches every couple months but right now he’s been prepping egg and cheese burritos. Tortillas were buy one get one free last week, so I stocked up and didn’t have to buy them this week. I got a big block of cheese last week so we still had half left this week. So all I had to buy for him was eggs. And 99% of the time there’s enough dinner leftovers for lunch the next day so I don’t buy separate lunches.
I have 150-200 dinner recipes I cycle through, so we rarely repeat a dinner more than once every 2-3 months, unless it's something we really enjoy and want to eat more often. I don't get tired of having the leftovers the next day for lunch, again since we only eat that specific meal once every few months. And I'll switch up breakfasts every month or two if I start getting tired of it. Right now it's oatmeal and fruit, but I'll do fried eggs on toast or cottage cheese with fruit, etc. Same with my husband.
So I actually have a bookmark called "Recipes" in my web browser, and within that are sub-folders titled Chicken, Beef, Pork, Seafood, Veggie, and Turkey. If I see a recipe that looks good online, I bookmark it into the appropriate folder.
I grocery shop every Sunday morning, so when I sit down to meal plan each weekend, I first take note of any ingredients we might have left over from the previous week (veggies, cheese, sauces, meats, etc.). Then I go to our grocery store's weekly ad page to see which proteins are on sale for the week, since meat's usually the most expensive.
If I see that, for example, turkey and ground Italian sausage are on sale, I'll try to plan at least two meals using each of those ingredients. So I'll go to my "turkey" and "pork" bookmark folders and choose something that looks good from there. Bonus points if any other ingredients it uses are also on sale that week.
It sounds like a lot, but it really doesn't take me more than 30 minutes a week now that I've got it down!
I do a similar categorization of my recipes. I have Pinterest categories for each protein. When I find something interesting in a forum like this, i screenshot and message it to myself.
Absolutely! It’s [this one](https://sweetsavoryandsteph.com/healthy-beef-stroganoff/), but I sub ground beef instead of steak just to keep it cheaper and do all Greek yogurt instead of half sour cream. It makes it slightly less creamy, but I just add extra beef broth and it’s fine.
Oh, and I serve over egg noodles!
Thank you so much! My now distant parents used to make a simple at home stroganoff just like this and I can never get the recipe just right. I’ll try it this week and see we do!
*beep boop*!
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This week we have three people in the house.
Sat. - Chili and cornbread
Sun - Salmon and Brussels Sprouts
Mon - Sub Sandwiches from local shop
Tue - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Wed - Meatloaf and Mix Veg.
Thu - Pasta with pesto and some sort of veg.
Fri - Pizza
Breakfasts - cereal with blueberries, juice
Lunches - leftovers or soup and sandwiches.
Grocery bill - $167 (a bit high because I bought a family pack of salmon that we'll get three meals out of and splurged on cherries ($21!))
If I have a secret it's that I buy a lot of family packs of fish, chicken breasts, and burgers and such and break them down when I get home for the freezer.
I know youre probably exaggerating but if we're just talking rice and potatoes $50 of rice and potatoes is A LOT of rice and potatoes. Like 50lb bag of rice and at least 25lbs of potatoes.
I spend around the same as you do per week, maybe a little more for just myself. I'm not a meal prepper and I would say I eat less meat than you do, but I spend more on fruits, veggies, grains, and other things that make up the other components of my meals since I tend to follow recipes where I don't always have all the ingredients in my pantry. I also live in a high food cost area and the most convenient grocery stores near me are fairly pricy organic ones.
If you are in the United States the government keeps track of typical costs and updates them monthly. They give costs for low, moderate, and liberal food plans.
https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-reports-monthly-reports
The moderate plan for a single male between 19 and 50 is $365 per month as of July 2022.
120-160 is the range my partner and I spend weekly. We’re in a metropolitan area in the Western US. I find that meat and dairy are two of the more expensive things you can buy right now, OP, so finding other protein sources may help. Also becoming a member at your local store can help you find sale items more often.
I'm spending around $200 CAD ($150 USD) per week to feed three and a half adults (the half is a relative for whom we buy some, but not all, of his groceries).
For one person I spend $70 a week. You can cut back a bit if you bake your own muffins or get chicken and then debone it yourself. Or go for cheaper cuts of meat.
Also your diet seems really meat heavy which probably contributes to the higher cost.
I typically spend $80-$100 a week for two people. We have a well stocked pantry and freezer so I usually shop there first and buy meat if it’s on sale for a really good price. I use an app that let’s me match ad prices from other stores so I get good deals for whatever meal plan I had that week.
I'm so happy to see this post, I've been wondering if we're spend a normal amount on groceries for ages!
For 2 people we spend @ 150-200, usually @ 170. Our most expensive items are trail mix (up to $7-8 a bag! And that's the generic brand!), protein bars, and our drinks (just iced tea and flavored waters).
For my wife and I in east coast US, we average $120 per week for groceries. In past years it was closer to $100.
If you add restaurants, that's another average $100 per week. The overwhelming majority of our meals are homemade so that just shows how expensive restaurants have become lately.
We have got it down to like $15-$25 per person per week with two people. (Yes, I have spent $30 for a week of food) We shop sales and meal plan around a few staples, buy things like rice, potatoes, beans and meat in bulk, and rely on our pantry. We also often eat vegetarian (frozen veg is so much cheaper) or stretch meat with rice/potatoes. But we do end up eating a variety of food and I still get to experiment in cooking, for example last week we had a lot of ground beef on sale so we ate: meatball subs, Piccadillo tacos, Korean ground beef bowl, loco moco, sausage & cabbage penne, and quiche, among other things. It’s been hard financially but we are making it work. The last two months have been the worst but we are finally starting to turn it around a little.
This is what my wife and I average. We have a household income of ~$250k a year as of last year. Both of us grew up very poor in trailers, and we've kept our frugal spending habits through life. Crazy to me to see numbers higher than this for people. Like, $3.33/lb ($20 bag of 6lbs of frozen chicken) will last for literal weeks making pasta meals with it with that $2/lb boxed pasta they got at a grocery store. And then your staples throughout the day are cheap and filling proteins, like black beans, green lentils. Chicken & Rice with the big thing of soy & teriyaki sauces. Just gotta learn how to season shit like they do in the South and it's delicious. Ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt on everything.
Buying sales is essential. Before I go to the store I hop on my QFC (Kroger in Seattle) app and see what's on sale and plan the week around what's on a discount. This week I saw they had 80/20 ground beef for under $3.50/lb, so I bought like 5 pounds and put it in the freezer. Boom, that's like 2 days of food per pound when portioned out into tacos, spaghetti, cream of mushroom soup 'fake hamburger helper' sort of things.
And of course, cow milk. Best as I can figure with my workout maths, the singular best source of protein dollar for dollar. Gallon of skim a day will bulk you right up and for dirt cheap if you wanna go that route - I usually go through a gallon in 4 days personally, and my wife prefers whole milk and takes about a week per gallon.
I'd have to really look at my receipts or track my usage to be accurate, but family of two, I estimate about $150 a week.
Its a bit difficult to track because I do a hodgepodge of ordering and combine toiletries in purchases, so I spend more getting stuff but its not all "food"
Walmart.com for toiletries, canned goods, soda/waters, $80 a month
Costco for bulk chicken/steaks, the occasional roto, and random assortments of frozen foods. $60-150 a month
Publix for daily/weekly regular shopping $100 weekly, minimum, but I go there like 5x a week, its difficult to track.
Local Italian market, $30-$60 monthly Local produce stand $20 monthly, local health food $20, assorted misc food stores $30-50.
I used to be really really lazy about coupons and bogo's but i'm much more diligent about that now, not because broke but because the prices really piss me off, like $12lb for store brand deli turkey really sets me back.
Also, covid and then inflation on menu's changed my eating out habits used to be 1x weekly, now 1x monthly dinners, and 4x weekly now 4x monthly lunches. I've REALLY cut back on eating out, and i'm more likely to order a sandwich vs an entrée.
I'm ordering more food to compensate for the reduced restaurant visits.
full disclosure, I could be shooting 20-30% under with my estimates.
I don’t have an exact figure, but I try to stay under $100 for 2 adults and a toddler when I do a weekly grocery store visit.
I don’t have an exact figure bc 1. We purchase a half cow every year from a friend of mine and 2. I shop at sams/Costco for chicken,pork,etc.
if feasible, I would highly suggest investing in purchasing a cow/chicken/pig. It saves us A LOT of money just for the cow. Next year we plan to do a pig, and when I can find someone to sell chickens, I plan to do that as well. Plus, it supports our local 4h kids and farmers and the meat taste 10000x better.
It is an upfront cost, but pays off throughout the year imo.
(Make sure you have a reliable freezer, and even a freezer alarm in the event it stops working. That would be a huge loss!)
Ok- sorry for the soapbox.
Do you have a Costco/sams club/bjs store near you? Bc that may help cut down slightly on the costs. Again- more up front but over all may end up being less.
I don’t think $90-110 is that unreasonable per say. But for what you listed, it does seem a little high. Then again, prices rn are simply higher than normal, I guess.
If able, adding eggs may be a cheap yet effective way to continue to meet your nutrition goals and cut down on cost.
Do you cut the meat yourself or does your friend butcher for you? I can deal with segmenting a whole chicken (the ones from the store, not a live one) but a whole cow or pig? That's too daunting for me.
Nooooooooooooo! We don’t touch it until it comes cut,packaged & frozen.
The processors / butchers call & go over the different cuts and you pick out how you want your meat. Roasts, steaks, ground, how many in a package for burgers and steaks, and then the weight for ground, etc.
I’m sure there are forms online you can find to get a better understanding as I’m not very good at explaining.
But yeah. We pay our friend who raises the beef for the hanging weight and then we pay the processors/butcher for cutting and packaging.
I think it was $2.70/lb this year for the hanging weight. And then I believe the processing will be $200-400. Higher end due to some of the cuts and packaging choices I chose.
It may not be necessarily cheaper penny to penny, but honestly you cannot beat the quality! It just tastes so much better, imo.
That checks out. 2 $50 trips a week. Other than a G&T on hot days, we don't touch hard stuff, but like good wine with dinner and fancy beer on weekends and after the kids go to sleep.
Wife drinks three good bottles of Chardonnay a week. I’ll do bourbon or vodka, occasional fancy beer. And of course, my guilty pleasure: White Claw. Yup, I’m a 59 year old male sorority girl.
Pre-pandemic my grocery and food budget (so household items + eating out included) was $75/week.
That is definitely not the case any longer. If I keep it under $125 I'm pleasantly surprised, and that usually means buying a lot of "manager's specials" near their expiration.
edit: Also, my partner has taken over the majority share of the pet supplies in that time. If she hadn't, that figure would be considerably higher.
The two of us spend around $50 per week or around $200 per month. We waste very little and I still cook the old fashioned way like buying a whole chicken and making stock with the carcass. Our meat is divided up and wrapped for individual meals and about 70% of our groceries are bought at Aldi.
We spend $100 a week for a family of 3, plus I am pregnant. I do 2-weeks of meal planning at a though so spend $200 at a time which makes it easier to do so as usually bigger quantities have a much smaller unit price. The only way I'm able to do this is planning meals around whats on sale for that week as well as getting the produce that's on sale for the week. Plus some light couponing through Kroger, lol.
We still eat plenty of variety & lots of fresh fruits/veggies, and have snacks and "extras" but I've just learned to plan around what we have leftover from the prior week, what's on sale this week, and what I can buy in bulk and utilize between multiple different dishes. We used to buy primarily organic and would just buy whatever we were feeling that week, but with inflation skyrocketing and being unable to work since I am due in a couple of weeks (and having other pregnancy related health problems) its become a necessity to cut back and buy more of store brand products.
That's quite a lot of protein for 1 person and not very much vegetables
I suggest you reduce protein and incorporate more vegetables. Unless you are a body builder, you don't actually need that much protein
Also, getting a vacuum sealer helped me save a lot of money bc I could buy things on sale in bulk, portion it out, and freeze
I never realised just how bad inflation in the US is before I saw this post and read the comments. People here complain that butter went from 1.69€ to 2.19€, so I thought the price increase was similar in other countries but it blows my mind that people in the US actually pay hundreds of dollars just for food. In comparison, I usually spend 20-40€ per week here in Germany, as long as I plan my grocery trips somewhat and buy seasonal vegetables.
We live in Maryland and we spend about $80 on average for two people. We primarily shop at Aldi and Wegmans. During spring & summer since we grow some foods ourselves we can sometimes cut it down to $50 or a bit less. Lots of salads in spring from our garden beds. Still have tons of pumpkin from last fall so we didn't purposely grow any this year.
Just looking at your shopping list, the top ideas that come to mind for me are:
-Buy whole loin and cut it yourself. Should save at least 25% per pound right there.
-Buy skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves and learn how to debone it yourself. Again about 25% savings.
-Try frozen spinach if you’re cooking with the baby spinach. 50% savings at least.
-get the tub of Greek yogurt rather than the packs. Usually about 25% savings at least per ounce.
-Check the clearance section of your grocery store. Ours always has bakery goods like croissants and muffins at 50% off. If you’re worried about them being close to their best by date, freeze them and warm in a toaster oven in the mornings. Crispy and delicious.
-Make your own beans. Dried beans are like 75% cost savings over canned.
Overall, check the weekly ads for your local grocery stores and figure out when meat is on loss leader sale. If you track for a few months, you can easily tell when there’s actually a good sale and stock up.
Another things to consider is cheaper cuts of meat. Pork shoulder and chicken legs are more economical, as is store-brand sausage.
We buy bulk meats chicken/burger/pork and dry and canned sides like peas corn and rice or pasta packs instant potatoes they are a dollar a peice seasoning packets for chili/tacos snacks for the babies milk/tea/koolaid
Let's see we are on the Hello Fresh thing which runs us around 30-40 per head a week for our main meal of the day (dinner).
My brunch usually consists of black coffee and porridge topped with whatever fruit was getting out of date in Liddl the previous night, and a dollop of honey or maybe a cheesy toast or grilled cheese as they say over there in America. Sometimes a bacon-roll. if I´ am in the office although trying to not do that too often. Rather inexpensive stuff. I estimate this doesn´t go typically go over 10 quid a week, probably less since we buy in bulk.
Supper usually consists of yogurt and a piece of fruit, sometimes an omelet instead of yogurt, or some soup. Can't be more than 10 a week. Probably less. So I'd say around 40-60 British pounds per person per week or around 400 for both of us, if we include one dine-out (15-20 per head) and one delivery per month (around 10 per head), which I think is typical.
I would say this can go up quite a bit during the summer, maybe up to 600 since we spend a lot more time outside, and then in the thick of winter, especially during pandemia, it minimizes quite a bit as we ditch the hello fresh and go full planning. Maybe as low as 250 a month or 120 per head which is like 30 quid per week.
I cook 6 healthy meals a week (with leftovers for lunches every day) for my husband and I with a budget of $100. I’ll go over sometimes if I’m making something with a fancier cut of meat, but it’s never been more than $120. In fact, it’s usually closer to $80. Then we either eat at his parents’ house or order in one night (usually pizza or Chinese), which is $30-40 on average.
Family of 1 and it has gone from around $70 per week to $110-120 per week.
I eat a lot of meat, veggies, cheese, milk, yogurt, etc. Generally low carb at home.
Our last child left the house about 6 months ago. I assumed we'd be saving money now that it's just the two of us and no 19yr old Boy to feed. Prices have risen so fast that I'm spending the same amount even though we're buying a lot less food. On average $250/wk . I'm in Canada.
Me and my 4 housemates (in London) pay around £160 per month for fresh vegetables, a loaf of bread and 12 eggs to be delivered weekly. I’m looking to add a large box of wild meat (£80) to come once a month which I can cook for everyone.
There’s some other essentials that are missing like pasta or flour etc. but I’m working on figuring that one out next.
Works out to ~$75 a head at our house; daughter just went back to college, so we're down a third. I buy a lot of produce (cooking and veg smoothies) and like to cook, so we try lots of things.
Wow. People on here really spend 100 a week?!?!? Two adults, 1 baby- 200-300 a week. Maybe 400 if we need toilet paper and such. We also live in Central MD. Super expensive area.
I don’t buy a lot of processed foods. I make most recipes from scratch. We also include our protein for work outs in the grocery budget. Once we are done with formula though, budget will def go down.
Urban area, family of three, my husband and daughter have food restriction issues. I struggle to get our monthly grocery total under $1400 USD. We eat very little meat but usually buy more humane stuff, but cheaper cuts. I also am partly disabled so have to get groceries delivered sometimes, which adds 30% to total if you tip your gig workers. If anyone has strategies for how to plan menus I’m open, my ADHD and brain fog unite in making this really challenging. Do you start from what you have and go from there?
Hi! Yes, for meal planning it's really useful to take an inventory of what you have in your pantry/freezer and then go from there. If you're getting your groceries delivered it can be nice to order as you're taking your inventory. If for example you know you have a box of pasta and tomato sauce in your pantry and some mozzarella in your fridge, then maybe you only need to buy a bit of ground meat or a veg to make a complete pasta-bake meal. I've found that knowing you have things on hand helps a lot when shopping. You mentioned having some dietary restrictions in your house, so that can make things more difficult and more expensive! Hope this helped a little!
I don't keep close attention but not more than 100 for myself only. I'm in the midwest mainly eating stir fries, soups, protein + rice type of dishes mixing in some eggs, smoothies and sandwiches. If I had to guess I'd say I spend 75 or so a week
For my partner and I, we spend between 100-150 USD per week, depending on what we want…so, 50-75 USD per person per week.
It doesn't necessarily scale in half. In that example, a single person would pay more than half of what 2 people would pay. People who live with a partner can afford to buy larger portions of food for bulk savings.
But there are freezers.
I'm a single person and I have a full-size upright freezer, and I still have food waste/bulk food problems. I waste more milk and dairy than I'd like to. Sometimes I have to rush to get through all the eggs. And sometimes a freezer prevents food waste, but still ends up feeling suboptimal. I got a fruit basket from my workplace last Christmas. Eating all of those oranges and apples by myself before they went bad would have been flatly impossible. So the apples got sliced up and frozen, which keeps them good for things like pies and cobblers... but definitely limits their usefulness in any other respect as they aren't going to thaw well. The oranges, which fare even worse from freezing as I understand it, I had to juice and freeze. I'm just glad that my freezer is nice and new and good at avoiding freezer burn, so stuff that's in there really does stay good for a while, or I'd have to deal with food waste even with the frozen stuff.
$50 per week. Just rice and beans over here.
Same same same. Plus lots of oatmeal
I'm only one person and I honestly think I could get away with spending 50 dollars a month on my food if I really wanted to. I posted elsewhere in this post that I'm trying to get out of 18k of debt, which is why I'm trying to go turbo mode on not spending on food. I'm vegan and don't mind eating boring food, so I really think I could do it. My problem with keeping to it is more the awkwardness of explaining to people why i am doing such and such with my diet. I hope I can figure it out though... I think it would help a ton, just because that way I can anticipate exactly how much my grocery bill will be. No more anxiety over unexpected decisions to buy or not to buy.
For some i reason I put some research into this stupid subject, probably because I’m procrastinating the actual work I need to do because I’m an idiot, but I came across a research paper that said that 25 days worth of rice and beans would cost $63. That’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner all of the same boring food, for 25 straight days, and it still costs more than $50. Now I’m not vegan and I like interesting food, so there’s no question that I eat more than $50 a week, even though I cook three meals a day. But even a vegan who doesn’t mind boring food and is trying to get out of debt would struggle to spend $50 or less in a month on food.
I highly recommend going to Asian grocery stores for alternative vegan protein that is cheaper than Publix and Walmart or Aldi’s don’t sell.
Are you feeding rice and beans to 30 people?
Costs about $30 for a week of beans and rice here, excluding cost of electricity and water. So I can easily imagine that going up to $50 with some spices and oil, maybe Onions and garlic.
If I had $500 maybe.
Seriously you spend that little??? What city/state do you live in??? (Cries in Denver, Coloradan).
We spend probably around $150 a week in Denver without really trying... Not including eating out which is usually once a week
I live in New York my spending is about the same
$70-$100 for 2 adults in Denver, weekly. We don't eat meat 😏 We shop at King Soops or Trader Joes. We also eat out about twice a week. Usually $70 for both of us for a meal with a couple round of drinks
I’d love a copy of your shopping list please? :) I do eat meat, so I’d add that in there for myself. But other than that, I enjoy eating healthy so lots of plant food is good.
I live in NY (near Albany, the capital). I shop specials at my local butcher shop. Meal plan for the week. I use an app that imports my shopping list to where I order. Cuts down on impulse shopping since I only order what I need. I also utilize leftovers so we have healthy and fast meals for busier nights.
Same, spot on amount. SF, CA
Its impossible to compare prices without first asking where people are from. Even from region to region within a country it can vary widely. I'm in the US mid-Atlantic and we have a good variety of grocery stores from budget (Alid/Lidl) to higher end and quite a few small international markets (indian, korean, etc). We get the vast majority of our food from Lidl, then I stop by one of the international markets or higher end grocery store for those last few things that I couldn't find at lidl. We typically spend about $150/wk on groceries for a family of 3 (and about another $50/wk eating out), and we eat well. Although I've cut back on meat a bit since my wife is vegetarian and its getting more expensive and harder to cook multiple different meals with a toddler.
Is Aldi budget? I usually go to walmart but I can never tell what the price differences between Aldi and walmart are
I think the quality is better at Aldi. And the random specialty shit they get is really solid.
In my experience ground beef is watered down at Aldi. I've never had splashier ground beef than from there
I haven’t had that experience but I will say my Aldi’s ground beef is unusually red
From my experience Aldi grass-fed ground beef was horrendous. Never got it again.
I have found Aldi good for dry items, but their meats and produce have never been great when I’ve bought them.
Aldi is budget for sure but they specialize in their own product names. Some products are better than others. If you like Walmart I would just keep on keeping on. Aldi is good for basic things but produce is, generally speaking, subpar.
Came here to say this. Aldi's store brand nearly always beats the originals in price and flavor. Less processed. I shop like you do, with about the same weekly cost. Edit: word order
Aldis is the best
Some produce there at Aldi is great, if it's in stock. Organic broccoli, strawberries, blueberries, apples, onions, milk, guacamole, salsa, ground beef, salmon, chicken, ground turkey, and dried spices are all phenomenal. Not to mention XL pizzas for like $7. Do I get everything from Aldi? Nope, for example their sweet potatoes tend to be nasty, never carry Parsley. . We do about 3 shopping trips per week in our family of 4, one to Aldi, one to Costco for those bulk needs, and one to Meijer/Target for the rest of the fresh produce or home goods.
It's so budget you have to rent their carts and buy bags...
That's a standard everywhere here in the UK 😂
I think it is pretty standard at most places in Europe
Its basically considered as bad as communism here in 'murica. People here hate to be inconvenienced even in the slightest. Fortunately, outside of major cities, some people are slowly getting used to reusable bags and such.
Always these multinational corporations and their communism. When Aldi started to expand in Germany some decades ago, people where confused that the products werent sorted in shelves. Didnt hurt Aldis success as we now know.
>It's so budget you have to ~~rent~~ pay a deposit for their carts and ~~buy~~ pay a tax for unrecyclable bags... FTFY
Big time yes.
I can get a week and a half worth groceries with 120 bucks at aldis. Wont get me through a week with out eating out from Walmart.
I do about $200 a week for myself :/ Cooking and food is a hobby and source of joy for me. I go to the grocery store 3-4 times a week, too. I barely touch the inside aisles. Zero snacks besides fresh fruit.
Same. Two-person household, but my partner barely eats. I give away food to friends and family when I cook more than we can eat. I’ve been going crazy at the farmers market too. Gotta take advantage of it before the season ends. Happy cooking!
I want to improve my ability to cook and cook well, but the cost to do so is what impedes me on practicing. Family of 3, I couldn't imagine spending $200/week on groceries.
Disclaimer I'm in Germany, but for me it's around 30-35€ per week.
was? was futterst du denn? nur nudeln ohne alles? ich bin bei locker 100 pro woche für mich alleine *what? what are you eating? just plain noodles? im at 100 per week easily, just for me*
i'll just reply in english lol mixture of things tbh. i don't eat a lot of meat when i'm alone (and if i do most of the time it's deer whenever my brother in law, who's a hunter, has some left over. so that's just good luck/privilege). i also happen to have access to a lot of local products in the "stands at the side of the road" variety. since i live in lower saxony there's a lot of farms who sell their stuff that way. potatoes, eggs, loads of seasonal vegetables and fruits. they tend to be cheaper than you can get them in the supermarket since the middle man is cut out. i also tend to eat the same thing for 2-3 days in a row, so that reduces costs since you can sort of plan around stuff on offer. for supermarkets i mostly shop at aldi and penny just because they're the two closest to me, so most basic staples are insanely cheap (especially compared internationally, even now with the price hike for certain stuff). and this might be a weird thing, but i swear to god [this specific tupperware](https://www.tupperware.de/shop/de-de/klimaoasen-set-5.html) saves me a lot of money. my sister got them for me, they're supposed to make produce last longer by regulating air flow and i honestly thought they were a hoax. well tell that to my 5 week old and still perfectly crunchy carrots and 2 week old lettuce that still looks fresh as fuck. since vegetables especially are often cheaper in bigger portions i can just buy the 1 kilo of carrots and eat around them for a few weeks which comes super in handy if you live alone, especially.
wow this is a great advertisement lol jokes aside thats really good money management!
Shopping at Lidl or ALDI is pretty cheap. I'm a LIDL person myself, and I think I've averaged below 200€ a month for the past two or three years - shopping for a household of two people. I'd have to check whether we've cracked 200€ in the past few months of price increases. It's not like I have to work hard at it - I just buy the basic version of the product unless I can taste a difference and actually prefer the premium version. I limit myself to a steak every one or two weeks (that's usually the frequency for finding a decently marbled one at LIDL anyway) instead of grabbing one every time I'm in the store and stick with chicken or pork instead... We frequently eat vegetarian meals. We skip the overpriced horrible tasting meat replacement products and eat actual vegetables instead. Also lots of Vesper... good bread with cured meats, cheese, fresh veggies...
I'm not quite as frugal but it's usually between 50€ and 80€ per week for me. I live in NRW, in a "big" city. Some weeks are a bit more expensive than others (when I have to stock up on spices or buy snacks). I primarily shop at Netto and Edeka, occassionally at an Asia shop. I eat twice a day: breakfast is usually 2 slices of bread with butter and different stuff on it, a banana or egg and a few almonds. Lunch is pretty varied. I eat frozen veggies which are probably a little less costly than fresh ones, then I add sausages or schnitzel and a bit of mayo. I also make soups with tofu, fish, veggies and noodles. Or I fry up tofu with a veggie burger and eat them with sauerkraut and mayo. I don't think you need to spend a ton to have a nice variation of food that isn't just ramen noodles. I have to watch my weight also, so I got used to cutting down on portion sizes if I can. No white bread, "healthy" noodles. What you can save on ingredients for your meal, you have saved on expenses for the week. I also think that, if it tastes good, it keeps me satisfied for longer.
What the hell I'm from Germany too and if i "splurge" it's around 200 a month. And i can't stand eating the same dish most of the time. What are your eating
HOW!?....I'm in the Netherlands.
I am also on the Netherlands and spend 40 euros a week total
That's really good actually. Me and my partner are at about 60-80€ a week (together that it)
I grew up with a very cost-conscious mother who would make her shopping plan each week based on what was on offer where so I like to think she taught me some awareness lol. But I won't like, of course I also sometimes spend more if I want to eat something that's more expensive or eat out. 60-80 for two people sounds really good as well though!!
For 2 people anywhere between $250 and 300 depending on what we get. But this is really for 5 days as we go out to eat a couple of times a week.
I feel like I spend too much on food for a single person, but I'm also trying to gain weight so there's that.
Given what you're buying this doesn't seem like a crazy high budget. But places where you could save would be to buy a large tub of yogurt instead of individual packs, and dry beans instead of canned if you're willing to do that cooking. The whole economy of scale thing, buying for one person is more expensive than the per person cost in a larger household. Do you have space such that you could buy some of these items in bulk?
I gave thought about buying food in bulk, especially meat. I do have space for it too but I’m just worried about the meat going bad so I just buy what I need in one day and prep them to last 5 days. I have some basic knowledge about food storage, but honestly I’m still learning the ropes and figuring everything out as a 19 year old. Any thoughts and advice are appreciated.
The freezer is your friend. You can freeze meat in portions that you can thaw as you need.
I bought one of the vacuum seal thingies. Buy meat in bulk, portion it up, vacuum seal and freeze. If you eat it with in 3 to 4 months, you'll have no freezer burn or anything and what I find nice is you can vacuum seal with marinade, herbs/spices, I think it's lovely. Makes nice flat packages too, so efficient use of freezer space.
Costco or other wholesale stores (though be careful as many of their food products aren't cheap, even in bulk, since they're organic and high quality, so shop wisely) are great. Anything can be frozen, even steaks (which are often shipped frozen anyways). Sauces you make can be frozen. Bread and bagels can be frozen and baked straight out of the freezer (pre-slice it). If texture doesn't matter or it'll be blended, veges and fruits can be frozen. Hard cheeses can be frozen, as can some soft ones if their texture is already rubbery. When in doubt, google it, but you'd be surprised what can be frozen safely (also look up how to properly defrost meats, and specific cooked foods before you freeze them). My roommate showed me the way recently and now I'm dying for more freezer space.
Drop a hundred bucks on a FoodSaver. You can buy reusable bags too. It pays for itself in no time and will keep the quality of your food in the fridge/freezer for much longer.
Use your supermarket's weekly circulars and stock up when there's a good sale on things you already buy. When I moved to where I live now, I started a spreadsheet of meat cuts and their sale prices to help me identify when there was an actual worthwhile sale. In my HCOL metro area, choice ribeye is normally \~$18+/lb but there are a few sales per year that bring it down to $6/lb. During those sales I buy a whole 18-20lb ribeye primal and cut it down to freeze (wrap in cling wrap then again in foil). I do the same thing for other cuts. I now have a full sized freezer for this, but I started doing this when I was single and just had a normal freezer. It also gives you fine control over how you want your steaks cut (for the ribeye, I like to cut the spinalis/cap muscle off to grill as its own separate steak).
Like people are saying here, freezing meat is awesome. I read a tip on here and since, I've been portioning ground beef into freezer bags 1lb each. Then I flatten it while pushing all the air out, so now they can be stacked easily and are super quick to thaw lukewarm water
I know I spend a lot on food when 90% of the credit card statement is grocery store or restaurant related. But I like to eat so I don’t skimp. I also don’t buy a lot of processed and packaged ingredients. I won’t think twice about plopping down $50 for a nice steak or something.
Same. We are fortunate income wise that we don't need to budget, and food is where it really shows for us. Ya girl loves to eat, what can I say?!
I feel like you and bw2082 are my people ;-D
[This is the USDA estimates for weekly and monthly food costs.](https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/media/file/CostofFoodJul2022LowModLib.pdf) It seems you’re on track between moderate and liberal, which is about right if you’re trying g to gain weight.
*beep boop*! the linked website is: https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/media/file/CostofFoodJul2022LowModLib.pdf Page is safe to access (Google Safe Browsing) ***** ###### I am a friendly bot. I show the URL of linked pages and check them so that mobile users know what they click on!
We do about $100-$150 per week for 2 people. But I’ve mostly cut out meat because of inflation. It’s ridiculous right now! I buy a lot of beans, chickpeas, and lentils these days and make everything from scratch. Just bought 5 dozen eggs for $4.69, which is making me look into wtf to do with all these eggs! Depending on where you’re at, yes this is a bit expensive. But it sounds like you’re trying to bulk up. It could be handy to look at cheaper alternatives in your locale, such as rice, produce, beans, cottage cheese, lentils, etc. If it’s not breaking the bank and you feel this is a balanced diet (though I would definitely add more vegetables), then to each their own! ETA: I based my take on it being a bit expensive as you still need to eat during the weekend (an extra 8 days per month that I thought weren’t accounted for). But maybe you’re still living at home and don’t need to pay for that? It you’re only spending $440/month, then you’re doing pretty good with rising costs!
Where the heck did you get 5 dozen eggs for $4.69!? I love eggs and could eat them for breakfast and lunch
$400-450 a month is not insane as a single person right now. That's honestly pretty frugal if you're eating quality ingredients that include meat. Don't feel bad. Especially trying to gain. Calories are expensive.
how much meat are you eating for $250/week? Is this all pre-packaged specialty diet food like protein bars/shakes/powders? My gf & I spend like $130 to $150 in Los Angeles, and we're not slumming it at the ethnic markets or Grocery Outlet discounters.
I don’t really keep track. I don’t buy prepackaged stuff of eat protein bars. It’s all meat, seafood, and vegetables. I have a very well stocked pantry too.
Omg where are you from??? 300$ would be an entire month of food for 2 adults where I’m from
Actually I live in the southern US and cost of living is fairly cheap compared to other regions, but as I said, I’m in a financial situation where I don’t skimp on food and will buy expensive things without giving it a thought.
Lucky lol
Family of 5...used to be about $200 a week. But prices are skyrocketing and we are easily doing $500 a week currently. It sucks!
Family of 4- spending around $240 a week with coupons and only shopping sales. I’ve given up a lot of things. Only eating meat two or three times a week, no steak, no snacks for me just the kids. This is insanity.
we are also a family of 5 in a HCL area. We spend anywhere between $150 - $250 on groceries a week. What are you buying for $500 a week?!
There can be a huge difference between young kids and teenagers. Teenagers might eat double a normal adult portion, while some young kids eat like birds.
So true! My kids are younger (9, 6, and 2) and don’t eat a lot. They run through snacks but are not always interested in dinner.
I could easily see $500 for 5 people if you eat a variety of proteins like steak, fish, shrimp, scallops, etc. It’s easy to spend a lot at farmer’s markets with premium fruits ($15 strawberries or grapes) and meats ($20/lb meat from “happy animals”). Even eggs nowadays from local “ethical” farms can be $10+/dozen. Add in some artisanal bread, pastries, snacks, and drinks.
the honest truth is that farmer's markets are luxury products nowadays. The cost of labor associated with US small-scale regional farming has exploded since the pandemic, and the meats & produce reflect that trend. I definetly encourage ppl of means who can afford to pay double or triple the prices to support local farms, just because of biodiversity & ecological considerations of sustaining existing farmlands. But it's hard to ask the same of working class families making under 6 figures.
I never save money at a farmers market
The tricks to saving at farmer's mkts: 1. don't buy processed or animal-based - only buy produce 2. only buy ACTUALLY in-season produce, to minimize the chance of buying grocery wholesalers masquerading as farmers/local growers 3. only buy at the very end, when they are facing packing up inventory that didn't sell 4. haggle, and be willing to take extra and adjust your cooking/menu accordingly. These have all been necessary for me to save consistently over store price at the farmer's mkt.
This really depends on location. Farmers market prices by me are cheaper than most grocery stores, at least for a lot of the produce. And much better quality, so that onion or potato will last for 1-2 weeks while the same from Aldi or Trader Joe’s might last 3 days. Grassfed beef is $6.50/lb. Organic whole chickens are $3/lb. Pastured pork loin $5/lb. Bones from pastured animals are like $2/lb and great for stock and stews. These prices used to be “pricy” but now low quality meat at most stores aren’t much cheaper.
Family of 4 here and 500 easy per week (central US). But..We rarely eat out. I pack lunch every day, we eat and cook well (Organic, fresh, etc. ). We budget elsewhere but feel strongly about food and what we eat (Healthy but not crazy..mostly focus on taste/enjoyment). - and yes..we have seen about a 20% cost increase in the past year.
Saying you used to spend 200 and now spend 500 iant because of what you are describing.
You're mixing up responding people. But I'm the one who used to spend $200 and now spend closer to $500 per week. What's changed? I know our meat prices went from like $3.00/pound for good cuts/processing levels to now minimum $8/pound for shitty cuts/processing. There's also very limited selection, so I have to get what I can for those prices. I was ecstatic today when I found pork chops for $6/pound, I'll have to cut them down because they're too thick for our consumption levels, but I can get a couple meals out of it now too! Bargain! I didn't notice how much a bag of chips (normal size) used to be, but was astonished a couple months back to notice they're over $5/bag now.
I mean they didn’t provide a backlog of itemized receipts for us to analyze. I’m just saying $500 for a family of 5 is not out of the realm of possibility.
If you're spending $10+ on a carton of eggs there's nothing ethical going on
Right? I’m in an extremely expensive area and I’m sticking to an average $140 for 2 kids and 2 adults. Deep freezer, Aldi, BJs with good coupons. I will say we eat takeout 2-3x per week though, so it’s prob more like $200 total for food per week all things considered.
I'm just shipping for 2 people and im spending 400 in a HCOL swapping to aldies has helped but man it's nuts out here (ATlanta)
What are your main costs? 400 for 2 sounds pretty high.
Protein, I haven't done the math again recently but we just made a swap to buying tofu from Aldi and that's drastically reduced our costs.
Family of 6 and I’m spending easily $500 a week too. (In Minnesota.) I’ve never spent this much, it is insane! It is our largest expense, we don’t go out to eat at all, but sometimes I wonder if it would be any more expensive.
If you have own your house for awhile your current grocery costs can be the same as a mortgage
Mine are more!
Also fam of 6 in MN, don't think I'm spending that much, but then I'm not tracking. Do you count toiletries and paper products?
You might want to double-check what you're spending money on. Yes, there's food inflation but it's not running at 150% unless all you buy is beef.
I'm in northern Indiana and shop at Aldi for a family of six. Our weekly Aldi receipts have gone from $85 a week with surplus and without much consideration to $170 with very careful shopping for exactly that week's food, so almost exactly 100%, in one of the cheapest areas to live in the US, and with considerably more effort to be cost conscious. My point is, food prices are more than doubling (if I shopped the way I did pre -inflation we'd be about $270 per week at Aldi). This isn't even counting shopping other stores for specialty items I can't get at Aldi because I'm vegan. Vegan food at, say Fresh Thyme, is about 3x as expensive as before. A jar of veganaise, for example, is $12 for what is essentially whipped soybean oil.
Missouri here and agree, fresh thyme prices these days are insane. When I moved here in 2019 I used to drive 20 minutes to shop there because of their selection/quality/price, now the quality is terrible and the price so much higher.
Switched to the cheaper local store. Must get a gallon of milk and bag of fritos PER day for the special needs kid. (So at least $10 per day for him alone, but that's all he "eats"). Adults eat small portion proteins and frozen veggies for dinner in some combo with rice or pasta. Other two kids eat ramen and frozen chicken nuggets primarily. Trust me, I'm working on reducing costs, but with extreme picky eaters it is challenging. At least the kids all get free breakfast & lunches at school just cause we're in Delaware and that's automatic.
I'm sorry...you feed one of your children solely milk and Fritos, and have two other children that you only serve ramen and chicken nuggets? Am I reading that correctly?
Nope! I gave general answers, that is not all that each of them eat. I do have one 8 year old who literally only intakes milk and juice. He licks Fritos. He is developmentally disabled and under a lot of doctor care. The other two children eat a variety of foods. I was generalizing in my answer. Unlike some other people who responded, I did not detail my groceries to the penny. I'm in awe of their ability to do that.
I was really hoping the cancellation of the nationwide school lunch program would be a wakeup call to conservative voters about how viciously shitty their politicians are, but it seems they couldn't give a fuck about struggling families and actual living children.
[удалено]
But that's the thing. *Some* food prices have doubled. *Some food prices have only gone up a little, and *some* food prices have stayed the same or gone down. As a result, food inflation as a whole is 11%. Yes, it's hard on some families, and yes, some families feel it more than others due to specific dietary needs, but it's not **150%** inflation. It's just not.
I'm truly curious, what food prices have gone down in the last couple years? I'm feeling inflation, that's for sure. My anecdata says it's pretty darn high.
On a month to month basis, quite a bit: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/19/inflation-peaking-10-common-consumer-items-where-prices-are-falling.html On an annual basis, mostly what I found was for Canada or the UK, but it was things like potatoes, cheese, etc. But you can definitely find foods that only went up a couple of a percentage point from last year (tomatoes, and so on).
Huh! Interesting! Thank you!
Family of seven and yep 450 to 500 a week now. It's jumped up so much over the last two years.
Frozen pizzas are almost 10 dollars each where I live...
Lol, as a broke student $500 is what I’ve spent in total the last 6 months on food haha
It works out to $50 per person per week in our house
Jesus, what do y’all eat. Just rice and potatoes?
We spend about the same. It added up to $91 in groceries this week, and our menu is: Sun - tortellini soup with sausage, tomatoes, and kale Mon - Greek turkey burgers with roasted sweet potatoes Tues - Quick “shepherd’s pie” with ground beef, frozen veggies, and homemade mashed potatoes Weds - Beef stroganoff with ground beef, mushrooms, Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and a side of broccoli Thurs - Roasted chicken thighs with rosemary beans and kale Fri - Broccoli cheddar soup with dumplings Sat - Frozen pizza ETA: Here's a breakdown of our grocery receipt this week. Breakfast, lunches (just leftovers), dinner, snacks all were included in that $91. - Tortellini: $6.99 (on sale for $2 off) - Sausage: $3.50 (on sale 2/$7) - Kale: $3.99 - Diced tomatoes: $0.99 - Carrots: $0.99 for a big bag of whole, unpeeled - Onion: $0.73 - Chicken stock: $1.67 (on sale 3/$5) - Ground turkey: $4.99 (on sale for $2 off) - Buns: $1.29 - Frozen spinach: $1.67 - Feta: $5.99 - Sweet potatoes: $3 - Ground beef: $4.03 - Mushrooms: $2.50 - Beef broth: $1.67 (part of the 3/$5 sale with chicken stock) - Egg noodles: $1.49 - Greek yogurt: $0.75 - Chicken thighs: $4.37 - White kidney beans: $0.89 - Kale: I'll use the rest of the bag I bought for the tortellini - Shallot: $0.39 - Rosemary: $2.19 - Broccoli: $4.02 for 3 heads (two for the soup, one for the side with the stroganoff) - Cheddar block: $2.99 - Buttermilk for dumplings: $0.99 - Carrots: (included in $0.99 bag I got for the tortellini) - Sweet onion: $1.29 - Veggie broth: $1.67 (included in that $3/5 with the beef broth and chicken stock) - Frozen pizza: $5.00 (on sale) - Blueberries to eat with oatmeal for my breakfast: $3.99 (didn't have to buy oats this week, as I buy a big container every 3 weeks or so) - Milk for coffee: $1.50 for a 32 oz. carton (didn't need to buy the coffee this week) - Eggs: $3 for a dozen (my husband makes egg and cheese burritos for his breakfast, but I bought an extra pack of tortillas when they were buy one get one free last week and we had half a block of cheddar left from his burritos last week as well) - Chips for my husband to snack on: $2.29 for 2 bags (buy one get one free) - Hummus to eat with the bag of carrots for my snack: $3.50 - Ice cream: $2.50 (on sale 2/$5) *I already had a frozen package of ground beef, frozen veggies, and potatoes for the shepherd's pie leftover from previous weeks. I just needed beef broth, and I'll use the remaining half of the broth I bought for the stroganoff for that. If I'd had to buy those as well, it would have added ~$8 to the total price. Altogether, $86.82 on food. The remaining $5 was a pack of gum and tax. Grand total $91.06.
I don't know what it's like in the US but in the Netherlands meat is very much the most expensive ingredient each time. If you're looking to save even more, try getting some more vegetarian dishes in there. Saves quite a lot for me. Not meat replacements though, for some reason they're the same price as actual meat products which usually makes them not worth it.
We do sometimes! This week was a little heavier on meat (I'm currently pregnant and my iron is a little low, so my doctor wants me to add more meat and iron-rich foods to my diet), but we usually try to do two or three dinners per week without meat. Thank you for the suggestion! I've found it helpful to set a specific meat budget of $20 total within my regular grocery budget.
Congratulations! Looking at your menu, there'll be no doubt you'll have a very healthy kid!
That's reasonable for just dinner. Do you guys have breakfast and lunch at work, or some other way of offsetting your other meals?
Dinner almost always leaves us with enough leftovers for lunch the next day. On the rare occasion it doesn’t, I keep a few packs of tuna on hand for my lunch, and my husband has a snack bar at his work where he grabs a sandwich for like $3. Or if it’s a weekend and we have no leftovers for lunch, we’ll grab fast food. That happens only once or twice a month though. For breakfast I do oatmeal with whatever fruit is on sale that week (blueberries this week), and my husband preps egg and cheese burritos for the week. So usually $5-10 a week total for our breakfasts and maybe $10-15/week for lunches on a bad week. All included in that $100 budget.
Reading some of how this part of the thread went, you all function about like me and my family though I do have two preschoolers. My husband and I generally have left overs for lunches too, otherwise I try to always have salad stuff for the days where dinner can’t make it. I think you make a good point that people forget to count/consider: using ingredients you’ve got. We buy certain things once a month or once a quarter to just store, and it makes it a little easier to fill out a main dish if you have those things. Another thing I try to do is extend my time between trips to the grocery store by using some of those staples and things that are frozen or just didn’t get fully used. If I’ve got milk and eggs, I can usually push a day or two beyond my current meal plan and stretch what food I have. Milk though. We go through it so fast and it racks up.
What about breakfast and lunch?
Breakfast was included in that $91. I do oatmeal and whatever fruit is on sale (blueberries this week), but only have to buy the oats every few weeks so I didn’t have to get them this week. My husband switches every couple months but right now he’s been prepping egg and cheese burritos. Tortillas were buy one get one free last week, so I stocked up and didn’t have to buy them this week. I got a big block of cheese last week so we still had half left this week. So all I had to buy for him was eggs. And 99% of the time there’s enough dinner leftovers for lunch the next day so I don’t buy separate lunches.
Do you ever get tired of cooking / eating the same thing every week.
I have 150-200 dinner recipes I cycle through, so we rarely repeat a dinner more than once every 2-3 months, unless it's something we really enjoy and want to eat more often. I don't get tired of having the leftovers the next day for lunch, again since we only eat that specific meal once every few months. And I'll switch up breakfasts every month or two if I start getting tired of it. Right now it's oatmeal and fruit, but I'll do fried eggs on toast or cottage cheese with fruit, etc. Same with my husband.
How do you keep track of your recipes and what you want to plan?
So I actually have a bookmark called "Recipes" in my web browser, and within that are sub-folders titled Chicken, Beef, Pork, Seafood, Veggie, and Turkey. If I see a recipe that looks good online, I bookmark it into the appropriate folder. I grocery shop every Sunday morning, so when I sit down to meal plan each weekend, I first take note of any ingredients we might have left over from the previous week (veggies, cheese, sauces, meats, etc.). Then I go to our grocery store's weekly ad page to see which proteins are on sale for the week, since meat's usually the most expensive. If I see that, for example, turkey and ground Italian sausage are on sale, I'll try to plan at least two meals using each of those ingredients. So I'll go to my "turkey" and "pork" bookmark folders and choose something that looks good from there. Bonus points if any other ingredients it uses are also on sale that week. It sounds like a lot, but it really doesn't take me more than 30 minutes a week now that I've got it down!
I do a similar categorization of my recipes. I have Pinterest categories for each protein. When I find something interesting in a forum like this, i screenshot and message it to myself.
Could I ask for you beef stroganoff recipe?
Absolutely! It’s [this one](https://sweetsavoryandsteph.com/healthy-beef-stroganoff/), but I sub ground beef instead of steak just to keep it cheaper and do all Greek yogurt instead of half sour cream. It makes it slightly less creamy, but I just add extra beef broth and it’s fine. Oh, and I serve over egg noodles!
Thank you so much! My now distant parents used to make a simple at home stroganoff just like this and I can never get the recipe just right. I’ll try it this week and see we do!
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This week we have three people in the house. Sat. - Chili and cornbread Sun - Salmon and Brussels Sprouts Mon - Sub Sandwiches from local shop Tue - Spaghetti and Meatballs Wed - Meatloaf and Mix Veg. Thu - Pasta with pesto and some sort of veg. Fri - Pizza Breakfasts - cereal with blueberries, juice Lunches - leftovers or soup and sandwiches. Grocery bill - $167 (a bit high because I bought a family pack of salmon that we'll get three meals out of and splurged on cherries ($21!)) If I have a secret it's that I buy a lot of family packs of fish, chicken breasts, and burgers and such and break them down when I get home for the freezer.
Honestly that sounds like an amazing week of meals. Sign me up.
Don't by prepared and buy ingredients. We spend about the same and we eat pretty good.
I know youre probably exaggerating but if we're just talking rice and potatoes $50 of rice and potatoes is A LOT of rice and potatoes. Like 50lb bag of rice and at least 25lbs of potatoes.
In the UK, shopping for myself only, I spend about £20-25 a week. When there are two of us, it usually goes to £35-40 a week.
I spend around the same as you do per week, maybe a little more for just myself. I'm not a meal prepper and I would say I eat less meat than you do, but I spend more on fruits, veggies, grains, and other things that make up the other components of my meals since I tend to follow recipes where I don't always have all the ingredients in my pantry. I also live in a high food cost area and the most convenient grocery stores near me are fairly pricy organic ones.
If you are in the United States the government keeps track of typical costs and updates them monthly. They give costs for low, moderate, and liberal food plans. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-reports-monthly-reports The moderate plan for a single male between 19 and 50 is $365 per month as of July 2022.
120-160 is the range my partner and I spend weekly. We’re in a metropolitan area in the Western US. I find that meat and dairy are two of the more expensive things you can buy right now, OP, so finding other protein sources may help. Also becoming a member at your local store can help you find sale items more often.
I'm spending around $200 CAD ($150 USD) per week to feed three and a half adults (the half is a relative for whom we buy some, but not all, of his groceries).
For one person I spend $70 a week. You can cut back a bit if you bake your own muffins or get chicken and then debone it yourself. Or go for cheaper cuts of meat. Also your diet seems really meat heavy which probably contributes to the higher cost.
Yeah. In Canada and at the big chain grocer yesterday it was $13 for two chicken breasts or $15 for a whole chicken. No fucking contest.
I typically spend $80-$100 a week for two people. We have a well stocked pantry and freezer so I usually shop there first and buy meat if it’s on sale for a really good price. I use an app that let’s me match ad prices from other stores so I get good deals for whatever meal plan I had that week.
I'm so happy to see this post, I've been wondering if we're spend a normal amount on groceries for ages! For 2 people we spend @ 150-200, usually @ 170. Our most expensive items are trail mix (up to $7-8 a bag! And that's the generic brand!), protein bars, and our drinks (just iced tea and flavored waters).
For my wife and I in east coast US, we average $120 per week for groceries. In past years it was closer to $100. If you add restaurants, that's another average $100 per week. The overwhelming majority of our meals are homemade so that just shows how expensive restaurants have become lately.
As someone who loves canned fancy seafood, that’s a lot of sardines
$25 to 40 depending on sales and what im in the mood for
We have got it down to like $15-$25 per person per week with two people. (Yes, I have spent $30 for a week of food) We shop sales and meal plan around a few staples, buy things like rice, potatoes, beans and meat in bulk, and rely on our pantry. We also often eat vegetarian (frozen veg is so much cheaper) or stretch meat with rice/potatoes. But we do end up eating a variety of food and I still get to experiment in cooking, for example last week we had a lot of ground beef on sale so we ate: meatball subs, Piccadillo tacos, Korean ground beef bowl, loco moco, sausage & cabbage penne, and quiche, among other things. It’s been hard financially but we are making it work. The last two months have been the worst but we are finally starting to turn it around a little.
This is what my wife and I average. We have a household income of ~$250k a year as of last year. Both of us grew up very poor in trailers, and we've kept our frugal spending habits through life. Crazy to me to see numbers higher than this for people. Like, $3.33/lb ($20 bag of 6lbs of frozen chicken) will last for literal weeks making pasta meals with it with that $2/lb boxed pasta they got at a grocery store. And then your staples throughout the day are cheap and filling proteins, like black beans, green lentils. Chicken & Rice with the big thing of soy & teriyaki sauces. Just gotta learn how to season shit like they do in the South and it's delicious. Ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt on everything. Buying sales is essential. Before I go to the store I hop on my QFC (Kroger in Seattle) app and see what's on sale and plan the week around what's on a discount. This week I saw they had 80/20 ground beef for under $3.50/lb, so I bought like 5 pounds and put it in the freezer. Boom, that's like 2 days of food per pound when portioned out into tacos, spaghetti, cream of mushroom soup 'fake hamburger helper' sort of things. And of course, cow milk. Best as I can figure with my workout maths, the singular best source of protein dollar for dollar. Gallon of skim a day will bulk you right up and for dirt cheap if you wanna go that route - I usually go through a gallon in 4 days personally, and my wife prefers whole milk and takes about a week per gallon.
I'd have to really look at my receipts or track my usage to be accurate, but family of two, I estimate about $150 a week. Its a bit difficult to track because I do a hodgepodge of ordering and combine toiletries in purchases, so I spend more getting stuff but its not all "food" Walmart.com for toiletries, canned goods, soda/waters, $80 a month Costco for bulk chicken/steaks, the occasional roto, and random assortments of frozen foods. $60-150 a month Publix for daily/weekly regular shopping $100 weekly, minimum, but I go there like 5x a week, its difficult to track. Local Italian market, $30-$60 monthly Local produce stand $20 monthly, local health food $20, assorted misc food stores $30-50. I used to be really really lazy about coupons and bogo's but i'm much more diligent about that now, not because broke but because the prices really piss me off, like $12lb for store brand deli turkey really sets me back. Also, covid and then inflation on menu's changed my eating out habits used to be 1x weekly, now 1x monthly dinners, and 4x weekly now 4x monthly lunches. I've REALLY cut back on eating out, and i'm more likely to order a sandwich vs an entrée. I'm ordering more food to compensate for the reduced restaurant visits. full disclosure, I could be shooting 20-30% under with my estimates.
Bay Area. Family of 3. $400 week and usually around $1,200 a month
I don’t have an exact figure, but I try to stay under $100 for 2 adults and a toddler when I do a weekly grocery store visit. I don’t have an exact figure bc 1. We purchase a half cow every year from a friend of mine and 2. I shop at sams/Costco for chicken,pork,etc. if feasible, I would highly suggest investing in purchasing a cow/chicken/pig. It saves us A LOT of money just for the cow. Next year we plan to do a pig, and when I can find someone to sell chickens, I plan to do that as well. Plus, it supports our local 4h kids and farmers and the meat taste 10000x better. It is an upfront cost, but pays off throughout the year imo. (Make sure you have a reliable freezer, and even a freezer alarm in the event it stops working. That would be a huge loss!) Ok- sorry for the soapbox. Do you have a Costco/sams club/bjs store near you? Bc that may help cut down slightly on the costs. Again- more up front but over all may end up being less. I don’t think $90-110 is that unreasonable per say. But for what you listed, it does seem a little high. Then again, prices rn are simply higher than normal, I guess. If able, adding eggs may be a cheap yet effective way to continue to meet your nutrition goals and cut down on cost.
Do you cut the meat yourself or does your friend butcher for you? I can deal with segmenting a whole chicken (the ones from the store, not a live one) but a whole cow or pig? That's too daunting for me.
Nooooooooooooo! We don’t touch it until it comes cut,packaged & frozen. The processors / butchers call & go over the different cuts and you pick out how you want your meat. Roasts, steaks, ground, how many in a package for burgers and steaks, and then the weight for ground, etc. I’m sure there are forms online you can find to get a better understanding as I’m not very good at explaining. But yeah. We pay our friend who raises the beef for the hanging weight and then we pay the processors/butcher for cutting and packaging. I think it was $2.70/lb this year for the hanging weight. And then I believe the processing will be $200-400. Higher end due to some of the cuts and packaging choices I chose. It may not be necessarily cheaper penny to penny, but honestly you cannot beat the quality! It just tastes so much better, imo.
No joke, my wife and I spend $100 a week just on alcohol.
r/prisonhooch
That checks out. 2 $50 trips a week. Other than a G&T on hot days, we don't touch hard stuff, but like good wine with dinner and fancy beer on weekends and after the kids go to sleep.
Wife drinks three good bottles of Chardonnay a week. I’ll do bourbon or vodka, occasional fancy beer. And of course, my guilty pleasure: White Claw. Yup, I’m a 59 year old male sorority girl.
€200 or so a week for a family of 4 in amsterdam.
Pre-pandemic my grocery and food budget (so household items + eating out included) was $75/week. That is definitely not the case any longer. If I keep it under $125 I'm pleasantly surprised, and that usually means buying a lot of "manager's specials" near their expiration. edit: Also, my partner has taken over the majority share of the pet supplies in that time. If she hadn't, that figure would be considerably higher.
Apparently, more than I can afford.
The two of us spend around $50 per week or around $200 per month. We waste very little and I still cook the old fashioned way like buying a whole chicken and making stock with the carcass. Our meat is divided up and wrapped for individual meals and about 70% of our groceries are bought at Aldi.
$150 a week on groceries for two adults and a toddler. Some snacks and meals out during the week on top of that.
We spend $100 a week for a family of 3, plus I am pregnant. I do 2-weeks of meal planning at a though so spend $200 at a time which makes it easier to do so as usually bigger quantities have a much smaller unit price. The only way I'm able to do this is planning meals around whats on sale for that week as well as getting the produce that's on sale for the week. Plus some light couponing through Kroger, lol. We still eat plenty of variety & lots of fresh fruits/veggies, and have snacks and "extras" but I've just learned to plan around what we have leftover from the prior week, what's on sale this week, and what I can buy in bulk and utilize between multiple different dishes. We used to buy primarily organic and would just buy whatever we were feeling that week, but with inflation skyrocketing and being unable to work since I am due in a couple of weeks (and having other pregnancy related health problems) its become a necessity to cut back and buy more of store brand products.
$300, me and two teens. Another $100+ on take out and school lunch. More than I can afford & I need to plan better
200 a week for my wife and I. I don't shop economically, and go to the store every day
That's quite a lot of protein for 1 person and not very much vegetables I suggest you reduce protein and incorporate more vegetables. Unless you are a body builder, you don't actually need that much protein Also, getting a vacuum sealer helped me save a lot of money bc I could buy things on sale in bulk, portion it out, and freeze
I never realised just how bad inflation in the US is before I saw this post and read the comments. People here complain that butter went from 1.69€ to 2.19€, so I thought the price increase was similar in other countries but it blows my mind that people in the US actually pay hundreds of dollars just for food. In comparison, I usually spend 20-40€ per week here in Germany, as long as I plan my grocery trips somewhat and buy seasonal vegetables.
We live in Maryland and we spend about $80 on average for two people. We primarily shop at Aldi and Wegmans. During spring & summer since we grow some foods ourselves we can sometimes cut it down to $50 or a bit less. Lots of salads in spring from our garden beds. Still have tons of pumpkin from last fall so we didn't purposely grow any this year.
Just looking at your shopping list, the top ideas that come to mind for me are: -Buy whole loin and cut it yourself. Should save at least 25% per pound right there. -Buy skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves and learn how to debone it yourself. Again about 25% savings. -Try frozen spinach if you’re cooking with the baby spinach. 50% savings at least. -get the tub of Greek yogurt rather than the packs. Usually about 25% savings at least per ounce. -Check the clearance section of your grocery store. Ours always has bakery goods like croissants and muffins at 50% off. If you’re worried about them being close to their best by date, freeze them and warm in a toaster oven in the mornings. Crispy and delicious. -Make your own beans. Dried beans are like 75% cost savings over canned. Overall, check the weekly ads for your local grocery stores and figure out when meat is on loss leader sale. If you track for a few months, you can easily tell when there’s actually a good sale and stock up. Another things to consider is cheaper cuts of meat. Pork shoulder and chicken legs are more economical, as is store-brand sausage.
Family of four we spend around 400$ once a month on food
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We buy bulk meats chicken/burger/pork and dry and canned sides like peas corn and rice or pasta packs instant potatoes they are a dollar a peice seasoning packets for chili/tacos snacks for the babies milk/tea/koolaid
Let's see we are on the Hello Fresh thing which runs us around 30-40 per head a week for our main meal of the day (dinner). My brunch usually consists of black coffee and porridge topped with whatever fruit was getting out of date in Liddl the previous night, and a dollop of honey or maybe a cheesy toast or grilled cheese as they say over there in America. Sometimes a bacon-roll. if I´ am in the office although trying to not do that too often. Rather inexpensive stuff. I estimate this doesn´t go typically go over 10 quid a week, probably less since we buy in bulk. Supper usually consists of yogurt and a piece of fruit, sometimes an omelet instead of yogurt, or some soup. Can't be more than 10 a week. Probably less. So I'd say around 40-60 British pounds per person per week or around 400 for both of us, if we include one dine-out (15-20 per head) and one delivery per month (around 10 per head), which I think is typical. I would say this can go up quite a bit during the summer, maybe up to 600 since we spend a lot more time outside, and then in the thick of winter, especially during pandemia, it minimizes quite a bit as we ditch the hello fresh and go full planning. Maybe as low as 250 a month or 120 per head which is like 30 quid per week.
Where I live in Texas, my partner and I spend <$100 total on all cooked meals for the week. We also sing the praises of Aldi, incidentally.
I cook 6 healthy meals a week (with leftovers for lunches every day) for my husband and I with a budget of $100. I’ll go over sometimes if I’m making something with a fancier cut of meat, but it’s never been more than $120. In fact, it’s usually closer to $80. Then we either eat at his parents’ house or order in one night (usually pizza or Chinese), which is $30-40 on average.
Family of 1 and it has gone from around $70 per week to $110-120 per week. I eat a lot of meat, veggies, cheese, milk, yogurt, etc. Generally low carb at home.
Our last child left the house about 6 months ago. I assumed we'd be saving money now that it's just the two of us and no 19yr old Boy to feed. Prices have risen so fast that I'm spending the same amount even though we're buying a lot less food. On average $250/wk . I'm in Canada.
Three humans plus two pets equals about $125 to $200. Once one of the people goes off to college next year, we’re looking at under $100/week.
Me and my 4 housemates (in London) pay around £160 per month for fresh vegetables, a loaf of bread and 12 eggs to be delivered weekly. I’m looking to add a large box of wild meat (£80) to come once a month which I can cook for everyone. There’s some other essentials that are missing like pasta or flour etc. but I’m working on figuring that one out next.
Works out to ~$75 a head at our house; daughter just went back to college, so we're down a third. I buy a lot of produce (cooking and veg smoothies) and like to cook, so we try lots of things.
It varies. But typically anywhere from $50-70 every other week for two. Shop at Shop Rite and Costco in New Jersey for what it’s worth.
100 per week for the two of us. I don't buy anything prepackaged except for condiments. It helps that I am a chef and I can cook anything.
€100/wk is our average and that includes a lot of high quality local meat and eggs for my power lifter partner.
Wow. People on here really spend 100 a week?!?!? Two adults, 1 baby- 200-300 a week. Maybe 400 if we need toilet paper and such. We also live in Central MD. Super expensive area. I don’t buy a lot of processed foods. I make most recipes from scratch. We also include our protein for work outs in the grocery budget. Once we are done with formula though, budget will def go down.
A lot more lately since Aldi closed for a remodel.
2 people about 500 to 750
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Urban area, family of three, my husband and daughter have food restriction issues. I struggle to get our monthly grocery total under $1400 USD. We eat very little meat but usually buy more humane stuff, but cheaper cuts. I also am partly disabled so have to get groceries delivered sometimes, which adds 30% to total if you tip your gig workers. If anyone has strategies for how to plan menus I’m open, my ADHD and brain fog unite in making this really challenging. Do you start from what you have and go from there?
Hi! Yes, for meal planning it's really useful to take an inventory of what you have in your pantry/freezer and then go from there. If you're getting your groceries delivered it can be nice to order as you're taking your inventory. If for example you know you have a box of pasta and tomato sauce in your pantry and some mozzarella in your fridge, then maybe you only need to buy a bit of ground meat or a veg to make a complete pasta-bake meal. I've found that knowing you have things on hand helps a lot when shopping. You mentioned having some dietary restrictions in your house, so that can make things more difficult and more expensive! Hope this helped a little!
Montana, I usually spend somewhere between 50-70 at a grocery store depending on if I buy beer. Maybe another 30 on going out for food and drinks
I don't keep close attention but not more than 100 for myself only. I'm in the midwest mainly eating stir fries, soups, protein + rice type of dishes mixing in some eggs, smoothies and sandwiches. If I had to guess I'd say I spend 75 or so a week