$320USD/mo. for healthy, organic food for one person. It could be less, maybe 75% of that. I've been considering making changes, but I like what I like.
I'm going grocery shopping today, in a couple of hours, as it happens. I shop once per week.
It's about the cheese - for example Boar's Head is $12/lb (baby swiss) to $14/lb (imported Swiss or Grueyere) and that's worth eating ramen to subsidize. :) We can't be eating any of that basic cheese oh no no no...
BH cheeses != meats. They don't own the cheese factories, they partner with established cheesemakers in a partner network.[1] (no comment on meats, I don't eat them)
[1] one of them was in the news recently for a recall so it's not all roses in the cheese world either :(
This isn't that far away from mine for two people: ~$600-$700 per month in a HCOL area and doing most of the cooking myself as well. I have found that sizing up a recipe for more people is only a marginal increase in cost. So, cooking for two is not just double that of cooking for one, but less.
Oh yeah. I made a YT video recently about money-saving tips, and one of the things I do is look at restaurants that have family-sized meals that they offer to-go. This works really well for pasta and rice, but I can get six meals for the cost of a few dollars each, package up five of them, and then I have five really yummy lunches for my in office days when I go in.
They are. Luckily I cook nearly all of my own meals, or the bills would be way, way worse.
My grocery bill is well more than double what it was before 2020. Both ruling parties here refuse to address the corporate greed in any meaningful way, so each individual has to make the best choices they can for themselves.
They are very high yes, partly because they have climbed 25~50% in recent years. I cook most of our food for 3.5 people, shopping at the least expensive store in the area, making a wide range of things but mostly mid to lower cost ingredients. Eat out about once a week, never high priced places. Typically spend around 800/mo.
A bit expensive, but I'm both autistic and rather picky. I'm paying for my mental health there, not just food
Generally I'll spend $15 on breakfast, $3 on a waterbottle at work, $20 for lunch, and sometimes I'll buy those discounted meals made with offcuts and leftovers from Sobey's. Around $10 - $15.
On my days off I eat whatever I have available in my pantry when I remember to eat.
You said you didn't want to carry around a water bottle, what about a cup/mug, there's surely a waterfountain at your workplace and saving 3$ a day is like ≈90$ a month (though if you spend a thou a month on food, 90 might not be significant ;) )
Eh, I haven't tried it in a while. I'll leave a waterbottle at work and try it out tomorrow. Your right that it will save some, and the tap water here isn't that bad.
Somehow I got it in my head that I have to carry it back and forth all the time. Not sure how that came to be.
Well, habits work in misterious ways, sometimes you'll desperately be trying to get one into your life and fail whatever you try, and sometimes you get savagely jumped by one and can't get rid of it
Tried it out the last couple days. Works great. The tap water here is apparently almost as good as my preferred bottled water brand. Looks like I'm saving $3 a day, thanks
I pay extra so I don't have to do that. Carrying a waterbottle and a lunchbox was a significant contributor to my negative mental health as a teenager, and my life is way more pleasant without them.
In a similar vein, eating food that I don't want to eat is very stressful for me, and I generally can't know what I want to eat more than a couple of hours in advance. So eating food I prepared myself is usually rather disappointing.
Third, food waste. I never eat the same meal more than once a week if I can help it. That means that, when I buy a tomato, I end up only using a single slice and letting the rest rot in the fridge because there really aren't all that many things I like that have tomatoes. The same goes for most ingredients. If I don't use it within 4 hours, I may as well toss it, cause im never going to eat it.
I've tested out various ways of eating, and eating out often is cheaper compared to constantly re-buying ingredients for meals I'm not going to eat.
About 10-12k NOK (so about 1000€) for a family of four.
Could probably reduce, but it's important for us that the kids have access to healthy food that they like.
Take-out not included, which we do once or twice a month. Probably around 100-120 € there.
Tobacco for me is probably another 200 €. I should probably quit snusing.....
I spend about $200/month just for myself. I cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Take lunch with me to work everyday. I eat very very plain food (ie rice and chicken every day). With grocery prices up, I cut out a lot from my diet to keep around $200/month. No beef, no fresh fish, no fruits, no yogurt/kefir.
Meat: chicken, turkey, tuna fish, eggs and egg whites
Veggies: kale, collard green, frozen veggies, tomatoes
Carbs: rice, pasta, sweet potato, canned beans, peanut butter, granola bars, cereal
Fruit: I admit I bought a bag of apples recently
Dairy: milk, mozzarella cheese
I go to the gym regularly and drink 1-2 protein shakes per day.
Kind of embarrassing that I live on such a restricted boring diet, but at least I cook for myself, stay within budget, and stay away from processed foods/ snacks.
Rice, beans, pasta, peanut butter, oatmeal, and then whatever fruit and vegetables are cheap.
With the social life included, there's more expenses. Did dinner out last week for $60 (a nice local Thai place). Ordered a pizza with a friend who was feeling down and watched Star Trek together for like $30.
Other non-rice meals with my partner can also be more expensive. We air-fried up some potatoes and vegan "meat" last night and it was good.
There's an app called "too good to go" that lets you get cheap food near the end of day. It's stuff the restaurant or grocery was going to have to throw out. Sometimes you get like four slices of pizza for $4, or a platter of Korean food for $6. Seems good and not enshittified yet.
It helps that I'm not a picky or demanding eater. I make a cup of rice in my rice cooker, get some canned beans, and throw in a random assortment of spices and/or condiments. Not afraid to try some weird combinations.
Where is your protein? Peanut butter and beans are mediocre to okay for protein.
Edit: numbers dont lie
Protein per 100 kcals , v egetarian Sources, food, Protein::
Seitan (wheat protein)
20–24 g
Tempeh
17–19 g
Tofu (firm)
11–13 g
Lentils (cooked)
8–9 g
Black beans / chickpeas (cooked)
6–7 g
Edamame
10–11 g
Greek yogurt, nonfat
15–17 g
Cottage cheese, low-fat
12–14 g
Quinoa (cooked)
3–4 g
Peanuts / peanut butter
3–4 g
Almonds
3–4 g
TF would you have them eating for protein? Hummus? Gruel? Peanut butter and beans are some of the best proteins on earth pound for pound. I say this as a meat eater.
White fish / tuna
23–34 g
Protein powder
13–20 g
Chicken breast
14–15 g
90/10 ground beef
8–9 g
Peanut butter
3–4 g
(Edit) Vegetarian options here:
Protein per 100 kcals , v egetarian Sources, food, Protein-
Seitan (wheat protein)
20–24 g
Tempeh
17–19 g
Tofu (firm)
11–13 g
Lentils (cooked)
8–9 g
Black beans / chickpeas (cooked)
6–7 g
Edamame
10–11 g
Greek yogurt, nonfat
15–17 g
Cottage cheese, low-fat
12–14 g
Quinoa (cooked)
3–4 g
Peanuts / peanut butter
3–4 g
Almonds
3–4 g
I think plant proteins are lacking in something. I'm sympathetic to vegitarianism, but their brains shrink like 7% or something after a number of years it's been reported.
I'll save the nonsense response you would've gotten from the person who says "something like 7%" without a source.
The credible studies say that simply cutting meat can cause some deficiencies like iron and b12 that you have to be mindful of. If not, there are negative reproductions on things like cognitive ability.
People who can't fathom vegetarianism read that and think "vegetarians brains shrink" instead of "vegetarians know this and adjust their diet to maximize the missing stuff (or take supplements)"
Lentils are a complete protein, along with quinoa (one can be allergic to the coating on raw quinoa, wash thoroughly and test your compatibility carefully. I'm allergic.). Pea protein is great, my fave fake meat is pea protein based rather than soy. Rice balances out beans (black beans if possible) to make a complete protein, it's no accident that combo is standard in many latino dishes. Obviously tofu, it's just more work to prepare especially if it's only 1 or 2 ppl.
Slow cookers are great, most veggie dishes are ~4 hrs since no need for meat safety, you can make a billion things and Tupperware it for 6-8 meals. Celery works great as a natural salt, stands the heat and gives a dish some character (mince it). Half a jalapeno minced up brings nice fire to veggie dishes, goes well with chopped green onions which is also friendly to many dishes.
Protein per 100 kcals , v egetarian Sources, food, Protein-
Seitan (wheat protein)
20–24 g
Tempeh
17–19 g
Tofu (firm)
11–13 g
Lentils (cooked)
8–9 g
Black beans / chickpeas (cooked)
6–7 g
Edamame
10–11 g
Greek yogurt, nonfat
15–17 g
Cottage cheese, low-fat
12–14 g
Quinoa (cooked)
3–4 g
Peanuts / peanut butter
3–4 g
Almonds
3–4 g
About 40 to 50 a week, so about 220 ish for one person
I could shrink it down to 20 a week if I just eat chicken, rice, and bok choy, but I've been trying to challenge myself to meal prep a different meal every week
5 person household, all adults now, mostly physically active. Probably 4k a month all-in.
That includes some booze, not much eating out and is paid by all of us so average 800 / month per person, but not evenly spread, kids are more frugal and do meal prep for lunches and husband and I spend more, and feed all of us once a day at least. Not much junk food, buy ingredients not premade things and I do have a garden.
Yeah it's crazy, when I was a teenager we had the lowest cost grocery markets in the US, corn was often 5 cents an ear on sale, maybe 20 cents regular price, watermelon you could buy on the roadside for $1, those are about 1.50 and 7.00 now and that's pretty representative of the overall increase.
I'm counting everything that is consumed here, by humans (so including entertaining but not pets). Our total housing cost with electricity & insurance and taxes is really high here too (and is another thing that used to be cheap) , but again that housing is holding 5 people right now.
I eat less than 1kg* per day, try to only buy food so it's overall 2€ per kg of a meal, so it's 62€ per month, with a monthly treat that's 70.
Edit: Thinking about it, less than 1kg of food per day was perhaps too low, considering that realistically wouldn't even be half of my recommended energy intake. Maybe the extremely high soda intake I used to have was just to balance that out? Anyway, since I switched to other drinks a month ago I probably eat way more.
January was $1262 in AUD. I eat a fairly meat based diet with ribs, pork belly, eggs, butter, and good coffee. I would consider it reasonable for myself, my partner, and my cat. That also includes other household things like cling wrap, dish liquid, and so on, so actual food cost is probably more like $1000-1100. In USD that is $697-767, so well under $200 per week. Also my meat is top grade Australian beef, widely considered some of the best in the world, and the butter is grass fed cow butter. I work 20-25 hours per week and can support my partner and myself on my pay and my partner's disability payment.
I pretty much only eat cereal for breakfast, a small frozen meal and fruit cup for lunch, and only rarely eat dinner so I think I spend around $100 a month on food.
currently i dont have to worry so its up to ~300€ (including takeouts)
But its probably more like 150€-200€ (including takeouts)
in case i worry i can probably get to 60€-80€ by mainly eating noodles or something (no takeouts)
That said: i share my finances so this is mainly just guessing how much i need
Also i get free food at work currently and dont have an expensive taste
usually about $550/month including coffee and soda. I'm one person. I have tried to set a budget but I am really not good at it. I also don't really believe in the idea of eating less healthy to save money. It seems short-sighted.
On average between 400 and 450 euros. I live alone, do home cooking (mostly), vegetarian or vegan and I rarely look at prices when I shop groceries. Only if the final amount is surprisingly high I look at the receipt and will adjust my decisions next time.
Is that per month or per week? Unless you work in a restaurant, have your own (large-ish) garden, or have chickens or something, I'm not sure how anyone in the West lives on $35 a month without living on ramen, rice and beans.
Wait - that's a monthly cost? Are you in the US? $35/month is definitely not possible in any US state unless you're supplementing with another food source. Even if all you eat is a box of pasta and can of sauce a day I'd be shocked if you could stay at $35 and definitely that's nutritionally questionable.
It's a lot of pork, beans, rice, frozen veggies, unsweetened Coconut not-milk. I buy some store brand junk food too I'll admit. The sausage and cheese addiction inflates costs too. Fresh fruit usually I just get banana, kiwi, and watermelon sometimes if it's on sale. I buy some frozen fruit but it's much less than veggie. I don't need the calories.
I help my roomie out who is on AISH he's autistic enough to qualify but before he moved in it was a lot of bulk barn dry pasta, rice, beans and then no name brand pasta sauce cans supplemented with food bank :( I only charge him $450 for rent so he can eat better now.
I don't have a food-only budget, but our "supermarket + food" spending for 2 humans and 2 cats last year was ~280 euros per month. That includes takeout/delivery but not restaurants, cleaning materials, catfood (but not the vet), alcohol, snacks.
If you don't mind me asking would you consider your diet good? I'm asking because that's pretty frugal. I achieve that (edit: actually with current conversion rates it's a decent bit more) per person for a large family with meal planning etc but it's obviously easier to cook healthy and cheap for a heap of people.
About £600 a month for two adults and one medium sized dog. Some shared stuff that my (adult) kids also use like cooking oil, milk, washing powder etc. also use. They buy their own meals and snacks to cook themselves.
Thats cooking from scratch majority of the time, gluten free, which costs more.
Honestly, fair. Some people are insufferable when it comes to these topics.
At the same time, it is a rather important topic and I encourage everyone to analyse how much they spend on groceries and why. It is the biggest expense most if us have any control over, after all, and it's easy to pay too much for stuff you don't even enjoy simply because it has become a ritual. Ignoring the randos, people have to decide themselves if what they spend on groceries is worth it to them, but they actually need to stop and think about it.
I would say just food maybe 800-1000 swiss francs. And then 400 for other necessities like toilet paper, trash bags etc.
Tbf that went down in the last 2-3 months since I stopped eating dinner for 5-7 days a week. No, not to save money, I am intermittent fasting so I only eat breakfast and lunch. More lunch though. So I guess most money now goes towards dinner for my partner. So we spend maybe 600-800 now.
We are at about $800 monthly for 5 and snacks for the 5 babies that my wife watches. I'm not including eating out because that's about $300 for Friday date nights with the wife, special treats, and occasional eating out on the road.
Cooking and packing these days extra meals would only change the grocery bill by about $30-50..
Well, the difference is not that big. Actually, I'd probably save money in the Netherlands since I spend about €100 per month buying lunches at work and I'd probably take my lunch from home if I'd live there again.
Probably around $200-250 depending on the month. I spend $20-40 per grocery run, and shop twice a week most weeks. It was higher when I first moved because I was buying the bulk staples that I just keep stocked (rice, vanilla, salt, etc, gave all of it to my old room mate when we moved), but it's gone down since. I think I spent about $400 the first month, $300 the second, and it's probably gonna go down again in the next couple months.
I used to spend $80/mo, but that's when eggs were $1.29 for 18, spam was $2 a can, and milk was $1.50/gallon.
sigh That wasn't even "Back in my day" that was like 6 years ago. Fuck these prices.
About 400€ sometimes for special occassions i go obove it but not much. Highest is about 500€ i spend on food in a month and that was due to a BBQ party.
100€ each week is my set limit for groceries
For me and my partner
I try to keep it under 200 USD. Single person so it's a bit easier. Buy meat and non perishable food in bulk when I can. Things like milk get bought sooner.
A lot got a family $150-$200 . Unless I go stock up on the basics at Costco then I can get it down a bit but I live in probably one of the most expensive areas of the country
Currently it's about 160€ per month. One person in Germany. Potatoes and air fryers are a godsend
I could live off french fries and chicken wings for the rest of my life and convince myself it's healthy because I cook them without fat.
Air fryers are the heckin' best. I don't even notice a huge difference in how my tater tots taste.
$320USD/mo. for healthy, organic food for one person. It could be less, maybe 75% of that. I've been considering making changes, but I like what I like.
I'm going grocery shopping today, in a couple of hours, as it happens. I shop once per week.
It's about the cheese - for example Boar's Head is $12/lb (baby swiss) to $14/lb (imported Swiss or Grueyere) and that's worth eating ramen to subsidize. :) We can't be eating any of that basic cheese oh no no no...
I can’t believe that anyone would be buying Boar's Head products after reading about their systemically filthy processing plants https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/09/repeat-creepy-meat-problems-at-boars-head-plants-draw-congressional-scrutiny/
BH cheeses != meats. They don't own the cheese factories, they partner with established cheesemakers in a partner network.[1] (no comment on meats, I don't eat them)
[1] one of them was in the news recently for a recall so it's not all roses in the cheese world either :(
Single person and I do almost all of my own cooking. I average $500 - $600 a month.
This isn't that far away from mine for two people: ~$600-$700 per month in a HCOL area and doing most of the cooking myself as well. I have found that sizing up a recipe for more people is only a marginal increase in cost. So, cooking for two is not just double that of cooking for one, but less.
Oh yeah. I made a YT video recently about money-saving tips, and one of the things I do is look at restaurants that have family-sized meals that they offer to-go. This works really well for pasta and rice, but I can get six meals for the cost of a few dollars each, package up five of them, and then I have five really yummy lunches for my in office days when I go in.
Jeez, are groceries really that expensive in the US? For me in germany I can get groceries for 2-3 month with this money.
They are. Luckily I cook nearly all of my own meals, or the bills would be way, way worse.
My grocery bill is well more than double what it was before 2020. Both ruling parties here refuse to address the corporate greed in any meaningful way, so each individual has to make the best choices they can for themselves.
They are very high yes, partly because they have climbed 25~50% in recent years. I cook most of our food for 3.5 people, shopping at the least expensive store in the area, making a wide range of things but mostly mid to lower cost ingredients. Eat out about once a week, never high priced places. Typically spend around 800/mo.
$40 (CAD) / Day
A bit expensive, but I'm both autistic and rather picky. I'm paying for my mental health there, not just food
Generally I'll spend $15 on breakfast, $3 on a waterbottle at work, $20 for lunch, and sometimes I'll buy those discounted meals made with offcuts and leftovers from Sobey's. Around $10 - $15.
On my days off I eat whatever I have available in my pantry when I remember to eat.
You said you didn't want to carry around a water bottle, what about a cup/mug, there's surely a waterfountain at your workplace and saving 3$ a day is like ≈90$ a month (though if you spend a thou a month on food, 90 might not be significant ;) )
Eh, I haven't tried it in a while. I'll leave a waterbottle at work and try it out tomorrow. Your right that it will save some, and the tap water here isn't that bad.
Somehow I got it in my head that I have to carry it back and forth all the time. Not sure how that came to be.
Well, habits work in misterious ways, sometimes you'll desperately be trying to get one into your life and fail whatever you try, and sometimes you get savagely jumped by one and can't get rid of it
How's that cuppa going ?
Tried it out the last couple days. Works great. The tap water here is apparently almost as good as my preferred bottled water brand. Looks like I'm saving $3 a day, thanks
:D
why don't you prepare more of your food? it allows you maximum control and saves tons of money. plus, it's a lot easier than it might first appear.
I pay extra so I don't have to do that. Carrying a waterbottle and a lunchbox was a significant contributor to my negative mental health as a teenager, and my life is way more pleasant without them.
In a similar vein, eating food that I don't want to eat is very stressful for me, and I generally can't know what I want to eat more than a couple of hours in advance. So eating food I prepared myself is usually rather disappointing.
Third, food waste. I never eat the same meal more than once a week if I can help it. That means that, when I buy a tomato, I end up only using a single slice and letting the rest rot in the fridge because there really aren't all that many things I like that have tomatoes. The same goes for most ingredients. If I don't use it within 4 hours, I may as well toss it, cause im never going to eat it.
I've tested out various ways of eating, and eating out often is cheaper compared to constantly re-buying ingredients for meals I'm not going to eat.
You should be very grateful that you have the resources to accommodate your tastes when most other people would just have to deal with it.
I am, definitely.
Food alone? Varies, but around 1000-2000 EUR equivalent. Sometimes more, such as during holidays.
Family of 6, Norway.
I'll tag on you comment as it's the same country:
About 10-12k NOK (so about 1000€) for a family of four.
Could probably reduce, but it's important for us that the kids have access to healthy food that they like.
Take-out not included, which we do once or twice a month. Probably around 100-120 € there.
Tobacco for me is probably another 200 €. I should probably quit snusing.....
I spend about $200/month just for myself. I cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Take lunch with me to work everyday. I eat very very plain food (ie rice and chicken every day). With grocery prices up, I cut out a lot from my diet to keep around $200/month. No beef, no fresh fish, no fruits, no yogurt/kefir.
Meat: chicken, turkey, tuna fish, eggs and egg whites Veggies: kale, collard green, frozen veggies, tomatoes Carbs: rice, pasta, sweet potato, canned beans, peanut butter, granola bars, cereal Fruit: I admit I bought a bag of apples recently Dairy: milk, mozzarella cheese
I go to the gym regularly and drink 1-2 protein shakes per day.
Kind of embarrassing that I live on such a restricted boring diet, but at least I cook for myself, stay within budget, and stay away from processed foods/ snacks.
Good for you ! But the fact that buying a bag of apples is a "frivolous"(that's not the word but you get what i mean) thing is simply outrageous -_-
Don't be embarrassed.
People like you and lifestyles like yours are what stop businesses from charging even more money.
Left to my own devices it'd be about $100/month.
Rice, beans, pasta, peanut butter, oatmeal, and then whatever fruit and vegetables are cheap.
With the social life included, there's more expenses. Did dinner out last week for $60 (a nice local Thai place). Ordered a pizza with a friend who was feeling down and watched Star Trek together for like $30.
Other non-rice meals with my partner can also be more expensive. We air-fried up some potatoes and vegan "meat" last night and it was good.
There's an app called "too good to go" that lets you get cheap food near the end of day. It's stuff the restaurant or grocery was going to have to throw out. Sometimes you get like four slices of pizza for $4, or a platter of Korean food for $6. Seems good and not enshittified yet.
I'm in NYC, for context.
Would you share some of the dishes you're doing? Spending less on groceries would be nice.
It helps that I'm not a picky or demanding eater. I make a cup of rice in my rice cooker, get some canned beans, and throw in a random assortment of spices and/or condiments. Not afraid to try some weird combinations.
Where is your protein? Peanut butter and beans are mediocre to okay for protein.
Edit: numbers dont lie
Protein per 100 kcals , v egetarian Sources, food, Protein::
Seitan (wheat protein) 20–24 g Tempeh 17–19 g Tofu (firm) 11–13 g Lentils (cooked) 8–9 g Black beans / chickpeas (cooked) 6–7 g Edamame 10–11 g Greek yogurt, nonfat 15–17 g Cottage cheese, low-fat 12–14 g Quinoa (cooked) 3–4 g Peanuts / peanut butter 3–4 g Almonds 3–4 g
TF would you have them eating for protein? Hummus? Gruel? Peanut butter and beans are some of the best proteins on earth pound for pound. I say this as a meat eater.
Tf is that you wrong, here numbers:
Protein per 100 kcals of Food & Protein-
White fish / tuna 23–34 g Protein powder 13–20 g Chicken breast 14–15 g 90/10 ground beef 8–9 g Peanut butter 3–4 g
(Edit) Vegetarian options here: Protein per 100 kcals , v egetarian Sources, food, Protein-
Seitan (wheat protein) 20–24 g Tempeh 17–19 g Tofu (firm) 11–13 g Lentils (cooked) 8–9 g Black beans / chickpeas (cooked) 6–7 g Edamame 10–11 g Greek yogurt, nonfat 15–17 g Cottage cheese, low-fat 12–14 g Quinoa (cooked) 3–4 g Peanuts / peanut butter 3–4 g Almonds 3–4 g
I think plant proteins are lacking in something. I'm sympathetic to vegitarianism, but their brains shrink like 7% or something after a number of years it's been reported.
I'm gonna need to see some sources on that one. I seriously doubt that any credible studies have shown anything of the sort.
I'll save the nonsense response you would've gotten from the person who says "something like 7%" without a source.
The credible studies say that simply cutting meat can cause some deficiencies like iron and b12 that you have to be mindful of. If not, there are negative reproductions on things like cognitive ability.
People who can't fathom vegetarianism read that and think "vegetarians brains shrink" instead of "vegetarians know this and adjust their diet to maximize the missing stuff (or take supplements)"
Thanks. I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, but I know a lot of them and that didn't sound right at all.
It was reported in the newspapers maybe 15 years back. Believe the study, or no, I don't give a fuck.
Someone else already clarified what you are misremembering. You are spreading misinformation.
It's not misinformation that is was reported, I didn't say anything about it's veracity.
I've been feeling okay on the beans, peanut butter, and sometimes peas.
If you have cheap vegetarian options I'm open to recommendations
Lentils are a complete protein, along with quinoa (one can be allergic to the coating on raw quinoa, wash thoroughly and test your compatibility carefully. I'm allergic.). Pea protein is great, my fave fake meat is pea protein based rather than soy. Rice balances out beans (black beans if possible) to make a complete protein, it's no accident that combo is standard in many latino dishes. Obviously tofu, it's just more work to prepare especially if it's only 1 or 2 ppl.
Slow cookers are great, most veggie dishes are ~4 hrs since no need for meat safety, you can make a billion things and Tupperware it for 6-8 meals. Celery works great as a natural salt, stands the heat and gives a dish some character (mince it). Half a jalapeno minced up brings nice fire to veggie dishes, goes well with chopped green onions which is also friendly to many dishes.
Got you.
Protein per 100 kcals , v egetarian Sources, food, Protein-
Seitan (wheat protein) 20–24 g Tempeh 17–19 g Tofu (firm) 11–13 g Lentils (cooked) 8–9 g Black beans / chickpeas (cooked) 6–7 g Edamame 10–11 g Greek yogurt, nonfat 15–17 g Cottage cheese, low-fat 12–14 g Quinoa (cooked) 3–4 g Peanuts / peanut butter 3–4 g Almonds 3–4 g
I'm paid bi-weekly with $1,200 USD going toward groceries from each paycheck
Granted we're a very large family though inflation these past few years hasn't helped
We live in central NC, USA
No aldi near you?
There is, though we usually do better buying in bulk elsewhere
Single person, I probably could get by on $150 a month, but I eat out frequently, so I spend about $300 a month. This is in San Diego.
Two adults, one small child: About $400 on just groceries in a high CoL area.
Eating out is expensive, maybe another $400 a month.
Can you estimate how much it'd be without eating out?
Like… $450-500? It’s a pretty big difference.
About 40 to 50 a week, so about 220 ish for one person
I could shrink it down to 20 a week if I just eat chicken, rice, and bok choy, but I've been trying to challenge myself to meal prep a different meal every week
Wife and I try to keep it under $250/week, so $1000/month.
That matches my experience
I never counted but I don't think it's much, eyeballing it I'd say less than 200€. I live alone in Spain and I cook almost every meal.
I could count it and see.
5 person household, all adults now, mostly physically active. Probably 4k a month all-in.
That includes some booze, not much eating out and is paid by all of us so average 800 / month per person, but not evenly spread, kids are more frugal and do meal prep for lunches and husband and I spend more, and feed all of us once a day at least. Not much junk food, buy ingredients not premade things and I do have a garden.
Woah. That's over double my total monthly living expenses.
Yeah it's crazy, when I was a teenager we had the lowest cost grocery markets in the US, corn was often 5 cents an ear on sale, maybe 20 cents regular price, watermelon you could buy on the roadside for $1, those are about 1.50 and 7.00 now and that's pretty representative of the overall increase.
I'm counting everything that is consumed here, by humans (so including entertaining but not pets). Our total housing cost with electricity & insurance and taxes is really high here too (and is another thing that used to be cheap) , but again that housing is holding 5 people right now.
70€ (83$) food, 30€ (35$) drink. (Caffeine addiction)
I eat less than 1kg* per day, try to only buy food so it's overall 2€ per kg of a meal, so it's 62€ per month, with a monthly treat that's 70.
Edit: Thinking about it, less than 1kg of food per day was perhaps too low, considering that realistically wouldn't even be half of my recommended energy intake. Maybe the extremely high soda intake I used to have was just to balance that out? Anyway, since I switched to other drinks a month ago I probably eat way more.
It's very impressive that your food in average is 4€/kg. Do you eat meat?
Not regularly. It's a twice a month thing at best.
January was $1262 in AUD. I eat a fairly meat based diet with ribs, pork belly, eggs, butter, and good coffee. I would consider it reasonable for myself, my partner, and my cat. That also includes other household things like cling wrap, dish liquid, and so on, so actual food cost is probably more like $1000-1100. In USD that is $697-767, so well under $200 per week. Also my meat is top grade Australian beef, widely considered some of the best in the world, and the butter is grass fed cow butter. I work 20-25 hours per week and can support my partner and myself on my pay and my partner's disability payment.
Just below 900 euro per month
In Denmark
Household of 4
We have estimated about 6000 dkk per month or 200 dkk per day
I pretty much only eat cereal for breakfast, a small frozen meal and fruit cup for lunch, and only rarely eat dinner so I think I spend around $100 a month on food.
$500/mo. Single person, SE USA. I eat 2 meals per day and a snack. Cook all of it except for one treat meal per week.
I should add, that price might be a tad high, as my grocery bill includes things for the household like laundry detergent.
I get $298/month to spend on food and I am usually out of money a week before the end of the month.
currently i dont have to worry so its up to ~300€ (including takeouts)
But its probably more like 150€-200€ (including takeouts)
in case i worry i can probably get to 60€-80€ by mainly eating noodles or something (no takeouts)
That said: i share my finances so this is mainly just guessing how much i need
Also i get free food at work currently and dont have an expensive taste
usually about $550/month including coffee and soda. I'm one person. I have tried to set a budget but I am really not good at it. I also don't really believe in the idea of eating less healthy to save money. It seems short-sighted.
I've now averaged 276€($327)/month as a single. Before it was 624€($740)/month. Northern Europe.
On average between 400 and 450 euros. I live alone, do home cooking (mostly), vegetarian or vegan and I rarely look at prices when I shop groceries. Only if the final amount is surprisingly high I look at the receipt and will adjust my decisions next time.
Is that per month or per week? Unless you work in a restaurant, have your own (large-ish) garden, or have chickens or something, I'm not sure how anyone in the West lives on $35 a month without living on ramen, rice and beans.
Per day? Thats reasonable I guess. If that's per week im questioning where you live for it to be so cheap.
Wait - that's a monthly cost? Are you in the US? $35/month is definitely not possible in any US state unless you're supplementing with another food source. Even if all you eat is a box of pasta and can of sauce a day I'd be shocked if you could stay at $35 and definitely that's nutritionally questionable.
I aim for less than $500. In Canada, so...
It's a lot of pork, beans, rice, frozen veggies, unsweetened Coconut not-milk. I buy some store brand junk food too I'll admit. The sausage and cheese addiction inflates costs too. Fresh fruit usually I just get banana, kiwi, and watermelon sometimes if it's on sale. I buy some frozen fruit but it's much less than veggie. I don't need the calories.
I help my roomie out who is on AISH he's autistic enough to qualify but before he moved in it was a lot of bulk barn dry pasta, rice, beans and then no name brand pasta sauce cans supplemented with food bank :( I only charge him $450 for rent so he can eat better now.
Yeah it's not good.
4-500 per month, family of 3, Slovakia
I don't have a food-only budget, but our "supermarket + food" spending for 2 humans and 2 cats last year was ~280 euros per month. That includes takeout/delivery but not restaurants, cleaning materials, catfood (but not the vet), alcohol, snacks.
for one person, about USD$200/mo. $40-$60/wk depending on sales, etc.
Central Florida.
If you don't mind me asking would you consider your diet good? I'm asking because that's pretty frugal. I achieve that (edit: actually with current conversion rates it's a decent bit more) per person for a large family with meal planning etc but it's obviously easier to cook healthy and cheap for a heap of people.
About £600 a month for two adults and one medium sized dog. Some shared stuff that my (adult) kids also use like cooking oil, milk, washing powder etc. also use. They buy their own meals and snacks to cook themselves.
Thats cooking from scratch majority of the time, gluten free, which costs more.
2 people, about €300 spent in grocery stores monthly, with the caveat that both of us get some level of food at work.
This feels like a post made to shame people who spend more than online randos deem "necessary", so I'll just say $80/month for 2 people.
Honestly, fair. Some people are insufferable when it comes to these topics.
At the same time, it is a rather important topic and I encourage everyone to analyse how much they spend on groceries and why. It is the biggest expense most if us have any control over, after all, and it's easy to pay too much for stuff you don't even enjoy simply because it has become a ritual. Ignoring the randos, people have to decide themselves if what they spend on groceries is worth it to them, but they actually need to stop and think about it.
I would say just food maybe 800-1000 swiss francs. And then 400 for other necessities like toilet paper, trash bags etc.
Tbf that went down in the last 2-3 months since I stopped eating dinner for 5-7 days a week. No, not to save money, I am intermittent fasting so I only eat breakfast and lunch. More lunch though. So I guess most money now goes towards dinner for my partner. So we spend maybe 600-800 now.
We are at about $800 monthly for 5 and snacks for the 5 babies that my wife watches. I'm not including eating out because that's about $300 for Friday date nights with the wife, special treats, and occasional eating out on the road.
Cooking and packing these days extra meals would only change the grocery bill by about $30-50..
About €350 per month for two people. This is in Germany, where food is relatively affordable compared to other high-income European countries.
That's wild, one week be 250 for us nearly in Netherlands.
Well, the difference is not that big. Actually, I'd probably save money in the Netherlands since I spend about €100 per month buying lunches at work and I'd probably take my lunch from home if I'd live there again.
Still better. I hate that were such a sale or discount country, feels like we're being ripped off in compare.
Avoiding branded products should get you a long way, it's mostly those that are regularly discounted.
Really doesn't anymore... :(
Probably around $200-250 depending on the month. I spend $20-40 per grocery run, and shop twice a week most weeks. It was higher when I first moved because I was buying the bulk staples that I just keep stocked (rice, vanilla, salt, etc, gave all of it to my old room mate when we moved), but it's gone down since. I think I spent about $400 the first month, $300 the second, and it's probably gonna go down again in the next couple months.
I used to spend $80/mo, but that's when eggs were $1.29 for 18, spam was $2 a can, and milk was $1.50/gallon.
sigh That wasn't even "Back in my day" that was like 6 years ago. Fuck these prices.
Around $200 CAD on groceries, and maybe $50 CAD on takeout (the local pizza place has a combo that feeds me for about 3 days). No more than $300.
I guess about 1000 € for two adults and a small kid
We're around $1000.00 AUD for two adults and two 20kg dogs.
Really want to reduce as much as possible however the current pricing in the supermarket is rubbish.
Around 300-400€ for one person and two cats.
I spend about $70 a week, which is $280 a month.
$300-$350 for 2 people.
i cook farts and it costs $8
Less than $100 just to feed myself.
I haven't eaten at a restaurant in years and most of my meals are cooked by me using the cheapest ingredients I can tolerate.
185 euro a month
Includes any form of eating out and mostly organic groceries.
About 400€ sometimes for special occassions i go obove it but not much. Highest is about 500€ i spend on food in a month and that was due to a BBQ party.
100€ each week is my set limit for groceries For me and my partner
Family of 3 here, and we spend on average £544 a month
Some 80€ for one person. Often less!
Around £100.
The small print: That includes delivery charges and all other household and hygiene supplies that can be bought at a UK supermarket.
Usually around $300/month:
Probably about $600 a month for 2 adults, fancy eating a couple times a month and fast food maybe 4 times a month.
I try to keep it under 200 USD. Single person so it's a bit easier. Buy meat and non perishable food in bulk when I can. Things like milk get bought sooner.
A lot got a family $150-$200 . Unless I go stock up on the basics at Costco then I can get it down a bit but I live in probably one of the most expensive areas of the country