Stupid indeed. Spending that much money per month means you're buying the wrong kind of foods.

Here in socal, arguably one of the more expensive places to live in the 'States, I go on "food runs" at the local grocery store once a month to stock up on basic necessities for feeding a household of three. It usually comes out to no less than $150 total (and this is filling up at least one cart, sometimes more than one). This mainly consists of drinks (juice, soda, milk, coffee), ramen noodles, oatmeal (Malt-o-Meal is made of win), sandwich fixings, and TV dinners. Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

So they're doing something very wrong if they're spending that much money (and Canadian money no less, which is worth more than American money right now isn't it?)

$900 a month? That's 30 bucks a day! What the hell are these people eating?

pyrion: Stupid indeed. Spending that much money per month means you're buying the wrong kind of foods.

Here in socal, arguably one of the more expensive places to live in the 'States, I go on "food runs" at the local grocery store once a month to stock up on basic necessities for feeding a household of three. It usually comes out to no less than $150 total (and this is filling up at least one cart, sometimes more than one). This mainly consists of drinks (juice, soda, milk, coffee), ramen noodles, oatmeal (Malt-o-Meal is made of win), sandwich fixings, and TV dinners. Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

So they're doing something very wrong if they're spending that much money (and Canadian money no less, which is worth more than American money right now isn't it?)

You only spend 150 bucks once a month on food? You must be single and kidless.

The economy's in a downturn, so I'm exclusively eating dry cat food. I find the salmon-seafood mix to be the tastiest. And, it's totally worth the extra $0.10 per sack.

Poutine must be really expensive these days.

pyrion: Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

I stand corrected. You must be lying or self deluded.

There is no way in hell that a family of 3 could live on 150 a month in food. Unless all you eat is nutrition less crap like ramen and tv dinners. Oh, wait...

/you must really love your kids

I could take my family of 3 to a moderately priced restaurant every day for a month and that's about what it would cost.

pyrion: Stupid indeed. Spending that much money per month means you're buying the wrong kind of foods.

Here in socal, arguably one of the more expensive places to live in the 'States, I go on "food runs" at the local grocery store once a month to stock up on basic necessities for feeding a household of three. It usually comes out to no less than $150 total (and this is filling up at least one cart, sometimes more than one). This mainly consists of drinks (juice, soda, milk, coffee), ramen noodles, oatmeal (Malt-o-Meal is made of win), sandwich fixings, and TV dinners. Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

So they're doing something very wrong if they're spending that much money (and Canadian money no less, which is worth more than American money right now isn't it?)

I have a household of one in SF and a single weeks groceries cost me about $150. Which is funny, because you list drinks and TV dinners while I buy mainly fresh produce and economy meats like tri-tip or the supervalue chicken packs and a 12pk of beer. It's sad that fresh meat and produce is more expensive than prepared food. But, I'd rather pay more and eat well than pay less and eat ... uhh ... whatever it is they put in that stuff inside the microwave safe plastic tray.

MorrisBird: The economy's in a downturn, so I'm exclusively eating dry cat food. I find the salmon-seafood mix to be the tastiest. And, it's totally worth the extra $0.10 per sack.

We should exchange recipes.

pyrion: Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

$150? A month? I'm going out on a limb here and call you a liar.

nekom
I could take my family of 3 to a moderately priced restaurant every day for a month and that's about what it would cost.

Sure, if you don't tip and eat only one meal a day.

WTF are they buying???

My wife feeds a family of four for around 500 a month.

oxbowjourneyman: pyrion: Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

I stand corrected. You must be lying or self deluded.

There is no way in hell that a family of 3 could live on 150 a month in food. Unless all you eat is nutrition less crap like ramen and tv dinners. Oh, wait...

/you must really love your kids

No kids (thankfully).

In truth, I'm the one that eats most of it (my attitude is "if you want your favorite foods, YOU go out and buy them). My mom and her mom (the other two living in the house) still dine out from time to time, but I don't keep track of those expenses. When my mom buys groceries, it's usually no more than about $50 once a week cuz she can't carry huge loads. Usually it's just making up for stuff I "missed."

So what, $150 once a month and then another $200 or so on top of that? That's still nowhere near the $700+ they say they spend.

oxbowjourneyman: There is no way in hell that a family of 3 could live on 150 a month in food.

His wife does the grocery shopping. (I wonder how she's supplementing her grocery allowance?)

nemisonic: pyrion: Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

$150? A month? I'm going out on a limb here and call you a liar.

Not lying. It's what I'm spending. The household as a whole spends more on food than that, granted, but I don't factor that in cuz it's not costing me anything.

Join Costco for starters. Don't go out to dinner so much. There are just two of us at home and we don't even come close to that kind of food spending. We also cook our meals - don't buy "ready-to-eat" nonsense. Someone in yer fambly just ain't paying attention here.

MorrisBird: oxbowjourneyman: There is no way in hell that a family of 3 could live on 150 a month in food.

His wife does the grocery shopping. (I wonder how she's supplementing her grocery allowance?)

No, his Mommy does!!!!!!11!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

nemisonic: pyrion: Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

$150? A month? I'm going out on a limb here and call you a liar.

Ramen is cheap

pyrion: nemisonic: pyrion: Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

$150? A month? I'm going out on a limb here and call you a liar.

Not lying. It's what I'm spending. The household as a whole spends more on food than that, granted, but I don't factor that in cuz it's not costing me anything.

No, you're a liar. "enough to feed a household of three for a month" is not the same as "It's what I'm spending. The household as a whole spends more on food than that"

We spend $150-$180 per week on groceries. Sometimes $200 if we're having a BBQ or something and buy a lot of ribs.

I'm heading for the grocery store in a couple hours so I'm really getting a kick out of this thread.

For the longest time, I was able to get away with less than $80/week for a family of 3, so that was $320/mo. This was at least six dinners for 3 per week, breakfasts for 2 most days, lunches for 2 most days, plus some snacks. I'm pretty sure we could have gone lower, but my husband is a big traditional American/meat and potatoes guy.

In a TF discussion a few months ago, I figured out a budget for two people who only had like $30 for about 30 days; it was a lot of rice, some oatmeal, cheap bread, some cheese, egg and a little bit of other stuff. Not a lot of variety, but it was at least two meals every day for both.

At this point, we've been nudging substantially higher than $80/week; every time I lug the cart out to the husband's car, I let him know: "This is $160" or "This is $140" -- he apparently didn't realize how much money I was contributing every week toward the household. Biggest jumps I've noticed: mostly prepared foods (you try cooking totally from scratch every day after working 8 hours and not getting home until almost 6; rice a roni and instant potatoes save my ass) and some of the "better quality" items, like fullgrain bread, etc., seem to be more expensive than they were a year ago.

married with a 2-year old and we buy mostly unprocessed foods, no preprepared foods, and no alcohol and our grocery bill is easily $600-800/mo. Add in eating out and it's probably closer to $1200 total.

pyrion: In truth, I'm the one that eats most of it (my attitude is "if you want your favorite foods, YOU go out and buy them). My mom and her mom (the other two living in the house) still dine out from time to time, but I don't keep track of those expenses. When my mom buys groceries, it's usually no more than about $50 once a week cuz she can't carry huge loads. Usually it's just making up for stuff I "missed."

Son, you have no perspective.

I live in Nova Scotia and would say we easily spend $700/month on food for a family of two - that's going out maybe twice a month to eat. My last grocery order came to just shy of $300, and that's without anything particularly fancy - no steaks, no chicken, no boxed meals. Do this every two weeks, throw in snacks and you've got yourself $700.

And no, we're not piggies - Shiat's expensive here.

You all forget that incorporated into the grocery bill are household products such as toilet paper, towels, cleaning products, etc. All of these are very expensive. We have 3 adults in my household, and we spend about $700/mth. Let me tell you, we aren't eating steak and lobster every night either. Usually it's 2 chicken dishes, a pasta dish, perhaps a chop meat dish, and then something quick like a frozen dinner for 2.

We dont' buy cold cuts for lunch, and often take a frozen pizza or soup. My wife gets those pasta cup things for lunch a lot. We never eat breakfast at home, so we don't spend money on that.

My wife and I go to 3 different stores to buy everything we want, depending on the sales and prices, and we still do about $175/week. Any family of 2 or more that thinks $600+/mth is insane is either starving, or has no idea where their money is going.

I bet I don't even spend $200 between two people per month on groceries.

Then again, I pick and process my own foods, which makes the whole deal cheaper.

No kids (thankfully).

In truth, I'm the one that eats most of it (my attitude is "if you want your favorite foods, YOU go out and buy them). My mom and her mom (the other two living in the house) still dine out from time to time, but I don't keep track of those expenses. When my mom buys groceries, it's usually no more than about $50 once a week cuz she can't carry huge loads. Usually it's just making up for stuff I "missed."

So what, $150 once a month and then another $200 or so on top of that? That's still nowhere near the $700+ they say they spend.

So what you're saying is, if you were a lawmaker, you would be the kind who would write up a $3 Billion spending bill to Iraq, but also include an extra $4 Billion to arms research, and an undetermined extra amount of billions for purchasing prepared military products at your local Applebees.

900 a month

Divide by 3 as in 3 meals per day

= 300

Divide that by 30 as in days of the month. Yes I know one monthis less and about 1/2 are more.

= 10

Divide that by 2 as it stated 2 people

= $5 per meal.

There are probably areas that can be cut back

Bulk buying of meat.
Not eating out.
Buying no name products that really don't matter i.e tinned tomotoes or milk.
Bulk buying of frozen beggies.

pyrion

I live on the east coast of Canada. We don't buy juice or TV dinners. Well, maybe once a month we'll get juice. I buy produce, pasta, milk, and meats. I even make about half my own bread, and only buy dairy products (besides milk) about once a month. I shop sales and stock up on two-for-ones and good deals. I have even started borrowing my parents' freezer for the meat I buy in bulk (at majorly cheap rates) from farmers. I cook from scratch every night, and lunches are leftovers.

I still can't feed my family on less than $300 a month.

I'm calling bullshiat on you.

I have a wife and 3 kids and we spend at least 200 a week. That does not include dining out.

Faps_in_the_kitchen
My wife feeds a family of four for around 500 a month.


If you take your wife out to dinner even just 3 or 4 times a month you are easily up over the 700 mark.

friendinpa: Sure, if you don't tip and eat only one meal a day.



Approves

BigG: pyrion: nemisonic: pyrion: Again, enough to feed a household of three for a month.

$150? A month? I'm going out on a limb here and call you a liar.

Not lying. It's what I'm spending. The household as a whole spends more on food than that, granted, but I don't factor that in cuz it's not costing me anything.

No, you're a liar. "enough to feed a household of three for a month" is not the same as "It's what I'm spending. The household as a whole spends more on food than that"

It's stretching the truth as opposed to outright lying. I don't keep track of how much my mom spends on groceries cuz it's none of my damn business. My $50 a week estimation on what my mom spends on groceries is flat-out guessing. But what actually costs ME money only comes out to $150 a month, and that'd be a ton of food if I were just feeding myself. A good half of that are the drinks, basic foodstuffs are the rest, and if we want anything more intricate than that, mom either buys it at the grocery store on her time, or we go out to eat. But unless I'm the one spending the money, I don't keep track of how much is spent, again, cuz it's none of my damn business.

I'm the grocery shopper and chef in our house (yeah Publix!)and spend about $$225 every two weeks for the two of us. We usually go out every Friday and drop $50 on dinner for two - no drinks. $900 a month for two people? They aren't even trying to watch what they spend.

We have a family of four here living in a moderately priced area (less than SoCal) and we spend roughly $175/week. We shop regularly, buy only fresh food, take advantage of specials and cook almost every night.

If there are people out there spending $150/month, you will pay for that eventually when the health bills, created from abusing yourself, come due.

As an aside, the amount we spend is just about exactly twice what we used to spend in 2000, even though we buy pretty much all the same things. As far as food costs go, they have doubled in the last eight years and yes, we do keep excellent records, thank you for asking.

I buy the groceries for me and my husband and it comes to between 40-60€ a week. We eat well--no tv dinners (they're not that easy to find here anyway) and not a lot of junk food. The trick is to find things that are filling and easy to cook when you've been working all day.

That, and I'd like to thank the at80eighty mart for selling peanut butter at such reasonable prices.

st.theresa: rice a roni and instant potatoes save my ass

Ugh. Evil woman.

st.theresa: I'm heading for the grocery store in a couple hours so I'm really getting a kick out of this thread.

For the longest time, I was able to get away with less than $80/week for a family of 3, so that was $320/mo. This was at least six dinners for 3 per week, breakfasts for 2 most days, lunches for 2 most days, plus some snacks. I'm pretty sure we could have gone lower, but my husband is a big traditional American/meat and potatoes guy.

In a TF discussion a few months ago, I figured out a budget for two people who only had like $30 for about 30 days; it was a lot of rice, some oatmeal, cheap bread, some cheese, egg and a little bit of other stuff. Not a lot of variety, but it was at least two meals every day for both.

At this point, we've been nudging substantially higher than $80/week; every time I lug the cart out to the husband's car, I let him know: "This is $160" or "This is $140" -- he apparently didn't realize how much money I was contributing every week toward the household. Biggest jumps I've noticed: mostly prepared foods (you try cooking totally from scratch every day after working 8 hours and not getting home until almost 6; rice a roni and instant potatoes save my ass) and some of the "better quality" items, like fullgrain bread, etc., seem to be more expensive than they were a year ago.

I might have a little tip for you.
I find the most time consuming thing about cooking is the cutting up. So once a week after buying vegies I spend 1/2 cutting them up with the help of my food processor and putting them into containers and then when I cook no cutting up, just put the amount in I want and done.

pyrion: I don't keep track of how much my mom spends on groceries cuz it's none of my damn business.

Exactly. So that means shut up.

I'm going to make the assumption there's a lot of fat people posting in this thread.

Fresh produce and nutritious foods are not expensive. The money you save on buying fresh can be put towards more expensive, but higher quality meat.

Elvis_Bogart: $900 a month? That's 30 bucks a day!

The quote was..."Between groceries and eating out, we were spending between $700 and $900 a month...", so it could be interpreted as "In addition to groceries and eating out."

What the hell are these people eating?

Puppies, kittens, other peoples' children maybe??

/Aisle seat? Window seat? Hell, I'm drivin' the bus!!

Um, what ever happened to "cook a bunch of stuff on the weekend and eat leftovers throughout the week?"

If I make a big pot of stew or chili on the weekend, I can eat that for lunch and dinner through much of the week. Granted I'm just one person. Buy a bigger pot and make bigger quantities and freeze some of it, if more people are involved. You don't have to use expensive cuts of meat, and you can use dried beans purchased in bulk rather than canned.

I knew a couple who would plan out their entire week, they'd cook everything on the weekends and the hubby would bake bread by hand for sammiches. Planning and cooking was part of their relationship and they enjoyed it.

Compared to the rest of the World, all of you above eat like Kings and Queens with riches left over for discretionary spending.

Some people would fall on their hands and knees crying with relief for themselves and their families for the ability to spend what you folks do on wholesome nutritious food.

Be thankful.

I'm impressed by the low snark levels in this thread. I was expecting more or less solid "middle class soccer mommy"-bashing, welfare-bashing, I'm-so-much-smarter-than-everyone-else nerd rage.

$700-900/month for two people does seem high. My GF and I don't really budget our expenses, but we are generally prudent and I don't think we spend anywhere near that, even with eating out. Then again, we don't buy meat or lots of prepared foods, and I know those are pretty expensive.

oxbowjourneyman: That does not include dining out.

Dining out in Lafayette is damn expensive anwyay. It's a shame because the food is so awesome.

"Between groceries and eating out, we were spending between $700 and $900 a month..."

That's funny... my wife doesn't charge me a penny to eat her out...

JonnyG: I live in Nova Scotia and would say we easily spend $700/month on food for a family of two - that's going out maybe twice a month to eat. My last grocery order came to just shy of $300, and that's without anything particularly fancy - no steaks, no chicken, no boxed meals. Do this every two weeks, throw in snacks and you've got yourself $700.

And no, we're not piggies - Shiat's expensive here.

I'm in PEI - where stuff is more expensive - and spend half that for a family of three.

Cook. You'll save money. Buy from your local farmers. They get more money, you spend less. It's a win-win situation.

Even better, eat in season, can for the winter. Mustard beans and pickled beets go a long way in January.

/No, I am not a stay at home mom.
//Can't afford it.

pyrion: Not lying. It's what I'm spending. The household as a whole spends more on food than that, granted, but I don't factor that in cuz it's not costing me anything.

That's nice for you, but it's not in perspective of the article. You are basically feeding only yourself, and feeding yourself shiatty food, at that.

We have a family of four, including a 15 yr old son. Do you know how much a kid that age needs to eat? I'm not going to give him ramen and oatmeal every day. We need fruit and vegetables and meat in this house along with our crap.

I spend about 500 a month on groceries, plus we get a package deal from the butcher every once in a while that's about 200 dollars worth of meat. Grocery shopping also includes toiletries, paper goods, laundry/cleaning stuff.

The people in the article are ridiculous, spending that amount for two people. But I can definitely see spending that much on a family, if you are feeding them right.

pyrion: It's stretching the truth as opposed to outright lying. I don't keep track of how much my mom spends on groceries cuz it's none of my damn business. My $50 a week estimation on what my mom spends on groceries is flat-out guessing. But what actually costs ME money only comes out to $150 a month, and that'd be a ton of food if I were just feeding myself. A good half of that are the drinks, basic foodstuffs are the rest, and if we want anything more intricate than that, mom either buys it at the grocery store on her time, or we go out to eat. But unless I'm the one spending the money, I don't keep track of how much is spent, again, cuz it's none of my damn business.

So your $150/month for 3 people is actually closer to $350/month for 1 person. Interesting.

It's easy to spend that much. Or $30/day on food, especially if you eat out a lot. My wife and I probably spend more than that on food a month. We eat out way too much, though I try to cook at night during the week. But then we are pretty much debt free so our other expenses are pretty low.

For 2 people you could spend $30/day at McDonalds, with 2 breakfasts, lunch, and dinners.