4 ms·

Who here is living with $700 a month on food? Article states that's some kind of average. I think I spend $110 for 2 days right now... Just myself and wife no k

Who here is living with $700 a month on food? Article states that's some kind of average. I think I spend $110 for 2 days right now... Just myself and wife no kids in California.

paddim8 3y ago
If you spend that much on food and don't understand how people spend less, you are simply bad with money. Holy shit. I spend $150 a month on food in Sweden, and there's no way food is 5-10x more expensive where you live.
gedy 3y ago
That's doable if you don't eat out or have food delivered. $1600/month is a lot of money on food imho
epiccoleman 3y ago
According to YNAB we averaged a bit under $1500 for our family of five (one of those is a breastfed baby, so not substantially adding to grocery costs, except of course for diapers).
tekla 3y ago
What the hell are you eating, sushi every meal? Thats an absolutely obscene food budget for a single person
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- qwerpy 3y ago
  I was reminded of another recent HN post (Suppose I wanted to kill a lot of pilots) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37209309 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37209309 after I read that comment. Whatever he's doing, do the exact opposite. I have a family of 4 and I can feed the entire family for one meal for $10. For example, pasta ($2), sauce ($3), and a protein ($5). Rice ($1), protein ($5), and a veggie ($4). For breakfast, milk ($1) and cereal ($1). On the other hand I took the family out to sushi yesterday which cost $100 and was admittedly more delicious than a home-cooked pasta meal.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    And I know families that absolutely refuse to buy cereal because they feel it’s an overpriced rip-off. The main thing I’ve found with food prices is how processed you buy - the simpler the ingredients you use, likely the cheaper overall you’ll be. This isn’t always the case (I’m pretty sure I can buy sauce for less than buying the component parts) but you can easily hit $20-30 a day per person and still feel you’re “cooking at home”.
    - RetroTechie 3y ago
      ^^^ This. Buy ingredients. Not ready-to-eat, highly processed foods. Where possible, buy from local producers (directly from farmer, bakery on the corner) rather than big box store. Like dried beans: soak overnight, cook, add some veggies & spices, enjoy. Tastier & cheaper than canned food.
      - bombcar 3y ago
        One thing people get surprised by is that “local” is often more expensive. But that’s local at retail. If you keep digging, you can find things like CSA (community supported agriculture) and get to personally know farmers, and then you can get the price for some things down (roadside stands around here in season beat Walmart handily). But for things like meat, you’ll never get small farm steak for cheaper than Walmart or Aldi - because the cows aren’t shoved in intensive dense cages. But the price will beat similar quality meats. The other key is learning to cook what is “in season” (see https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/ https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/ for general advice) - there’s a short period locally where strawberries become almost free. Get in tune with the seasons and eat the appropriate foods and your bills drop precipitously. Sure, you won’t eat strawberries in winter because you’re not having them shipped from Brazil, but you’ll also get a varied table. The other main thing I would say is get used to eating ugly foods. A local farmer can give you “factory seconds” - plants that are perfectly fine but LOOK bad - for cheap. Also keep an eye on waste - buying fifty pounds of potatoes for cheap from Costco is NOT a deal if half of them end up going to seed; getting a feel for how much you will actually use and not throw away brings the costs down further. Otherwise you’re throwing money directly in the trash (or compost pile, if you’re cooking at home you should be composting because soon you’ll be wanting to grow your own, even if it’s just herbs).
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
beej71 3y ago
There's a good, inexpensive grocery store where I live (a WinCo in central OR). We probably spend $400/mo each. And we buy a lot in bulk. Interestingly, a Safeway 5 miles from there seems to have prices that run about 180% of those at WinCo, and it has plenty of customers. I worry sometimes that WinCo will find out. :)
- pstuart 3y ago
  WinCo is a bulk foods paradise.
- Spastche 3y ago
  Safeway is not safe for your wallet
  - beej71 3y ago
    "Unsafeway".
iamthepieman 3y ago
Family of 7 + 1 (sister living with us). We spend close to 2k a month on food. That's with buying bulk at Costco, buying cows and pigs from local farmers and living in a rural area. If I go to the store to buy dinner prep food without a plan I'll spend 60 on one meal. There will be leftovers for sure, maybe two meals worth. Maybe not.
unsupp0rted 3y ago
You average $18 per meal?
refurb 3y ago
I spend about $500-$600 per month for a family of 4 in the Bay Area. And it's very healthy - fresh veggies and fruit are cheap at Asian groceries stores if you buy in season. Buy in bulk, cook large portions so you have multiple meals with less work. For $20 you can cook enough food for 8 individual meals. And that $500-$600 per month is not really trying to squeeze every dollar. We could knock off another $100-150 if we absolutely had to by replacing some of the more expensive items with cheaper, but still healthy options.

Who here is living with $700 a month on food? Article states that's some kind of average. I think I spend $110 for 2 days right now... Just myself and wife no kids in California.

paddim8 3y ago

If you spend that much on food and don't understand how people spend less, you are simply bad with money. Holy shit. I spend $150 a month on food in Sweden, and there's no way food is 5-10x more expensive where you live.

gedy 3y ago

That's doable if you don't eat out or have food delivered. $1600/month is a lot of money on food imho

epiccoleman 3y ago

According to YNAB we averaged a bit under $1500 for our family of five (one of those is a breastfed baby, so not substantially adding to grocery costs, except of course for diapers).

tekla 3y ago

What the hell are you eating, sushi every meal? Thats an absolutely obscene food budget for a single person

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
qwerpy 3y ago
I was reminded of another recent HN post (Suppose I wanted to kill a lot of pilots) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37209309 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37209309 after I read that comment. Whatever he's doing, do the exact opposite. I have a family of 4 and I can feed the entire family for one meal for $10. For example, pasta ($2), sauce ($3), and a protein ($5). Rice ($1), protein ($5), and a veggie ($4). For breakfast, milk ($1) and cereal ($1). On the other hand I took the family out to sushi yesterday which cost $100 and was admittedly more delicious than a home-cooked pasta meal.
- bombcar 3y ago
  And I know families that absolutely refuse to buy cereal because they feel it’s an overpriced rip-off. The main thing I’ve found with food prices is how processed you buy - the simpler the ingredients you use, likely the cheaper overall you’ll be. This isn’t always the case (I’m pretty sure I can buy sauce for less than buying the component parts) but you can easily hit $20-30 a day per person and still feel you’re “cooking at home”.
  - RetroTechie 3y ago
    ^^^ This. Buy ingredients. Not ready-to-eat, highly processed foods. Where possible, buy from local producers (directly from farmer, bakery on the corner) rather than big box store. Like dried beans: soak overnight, cook, add some veggies & spices, enjoy. Tastier & cheaper than canned food.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      One thing people get surprised by is that “local” is often more expensive. But that’s local at retail. If you keep digging, you can find things like CSA (community supported agriculture) and get to personally know farmers, and then you can get the price for some things down (roadside stands around here in season beat Walmart handily). But for things like meat, you’ll never get small farm steak for cheaper than Walmart or Aldi - because the cows aren’t shoved in intensive dense cages. But the price will beat similar quality meats. The other key is learning to cook what is “in season” (see https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/ https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/ for general advice) - there’s a short period locally where strawberries become almost free. Get in tune with the seasons and eat the appropriate foods and your bills drop precipitously. Sure, you won’t eat strawberries in winter because you’re not having them shipped from Brazil, but you’ll also get a varied table. The other main thing I would say is get used to eating ugly foods. A local farmer can give you “factory seconds” - plants that are perfectly fine but LOOK bad - for cheap. Also keep an eye on waste - buying fifty pounds of potatoes for cheap from Costco is NOT a deal if half of them end up going to seed; getting a feel for how much you will actually use and not throw away brings the costs down further. Otherwise you’re throwing money directly in the trash (or compost pile, if you’re cooking at home you should be composting because soon you’ll be wanting to grow your own, even if it’s just herbs).

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

beej71 3y ago

There's a good, inexpensive grocery store where I live (a WinCo in central OR). We probably spend $400/mo each. And we buy a lot in bulk. Interestingly, a Safeway 5 miles from there seems to have prices that run about 180% of those at WinCo, and it has plenty of customers. I worry sometimes that WinCo will find out. :)

pstuart 3y ago
WinCo is a bulk foods paradise.
Spastche 3y ago
Safeway is not safe for your wallet
- beej71 3y ago
  "Unsafeway".

iamthepieman 3y ago

Family of 7 + 1 (sister living with us). We spend close to 2k a month on food. That's with buying bulk at Costco, buying cows and pigs from local farmers and living in a rural area. If I go to the store to buy dinner prep food without a plan I'll spend 60 on one meal. There will be leftovers for sure, maybe two meals worth. Maybe not.

unsupp0rted 3y ago

You average $18 per meal?

refurb 3y ago

I spend about $500-$600 per month for a family of 4 in the Bay Area. And it's very healthy - fresh veggies and fruit are cheap at Asian groceries stores if you buy in season. Buy in bulk, cook large portions so you have multiple meals with less work. For $20 you can cook enough food for 8 individual meals. And that $500-$600 per month is not really trying to squeeze every dollar. We could knock off another $100-150 if we absolutely had to by replacing some of the more expensive items with cheaper, but still healthy options.