Food budget

[wagon]

hi guys, I want to get an idea of how much you guys budget for food on a monthly basis and what you spend on. I have 4 meals a day, comprised of the following,

breakfast around 7am ($4)
-a few slices of bread
-juice
-yogurt
-some fruit like an apple or a banana
-coffee

lunch around 12 ($6)
-subway sammich or mexican fastfood like chipotle

dinner around 5pm ($7)
-subway sammich (wheat bread+meat+green, no cheese or excessive condiments), chinese, etc.
-protein shake

snack around 9 ($3)
-homemade sammich, dumplings, ramen

So i spend on average $20 a day, $600 a month at least on food, sans the occasional eatouts. What do you guys eat and how do save on food while not denying your body the nutrition it needs? (I go to gym and run everyday, thus the 4 meals)

[Stilzkin]

600 a month on food for one person?

You're spending way too much, cutting on eating out on luch and dinner might save you some. Really don't know how you're spending so much, my whole family must spend around 800 a month on food.

[zoobernut]

My wife and I together spend less than $600 a month on food and we eat very healthy and do most of our shopping at Trader Joes. Stop eating out twice a day.

Make food at home it saves you so much money. I always eat breakfast and dinner at home and try to keep my lunches down to the $3-4 area or max $7 if we go out to lunch at work.

[Yuri-G]

breakfast - fast food - $3-4 on average
lunch - fast food - $5-6 on average
dinner - leftovers or frozen food - $3 on average

so that's about $12/day, $360/month. yeah, I eat out way too much. used to cook for myself, I need to get back into the habit.

[KrimzonCaitsith]

Also matters where you live. My parents live in Seattle and the food there is more expensive than where I live (San Antonio, TX). Down here I usually go through about $350-400 a month. I think its high because I eat really healthy! Fresh produce, meats, and healthy snacks cost more than the mass produced crap like junk food and frozen foods. Also some people just need more food. If you are an athlete you will obviously eat more. I swim about 3000m or run 6mi 5/7 days a week so I am usually really hungry.

[Jefe]

Buy @ Sam's or Costco and cook your shit. Lol @ buying expensive 'healthy snacks,' if you want that shit get a dehydrator and make em yourself.

[Intense]

Breakfast: Carnation instant breakfast shake $1.75 (they come in packs of 4 at $7)

Lunch: Leftovers from previous day or I skip it Free!

Snack: Protein shake or banana or sliced fruit about $2

Dinner: Chicken or Tilapia and steamed veggies about $5

$9 bucks a day equals $231. But I left out that I treat myself to pizza 2ish times a month so add $40 to that to equal $271

[SubzeroDiabolos]

Breakfast: Muffin - 1$
Lunch: Aero/Oh henry - 1.25$
Dinner: Kraft dinner/Grilled cheeze/Hot dogs - 3$

155$

I'm so healthy.

[Daydreamer]

While I was in between jobs I started to eat vegetarian for like a week just because it saved money. The first few days I used the flour and eggs I already had and made homemade pasta. One portion of that is pennies. I had some good parm and heavy cream and butter already in my fridge, so I made homemade alfredo sauce. For one person this probably cost like a dollar. So, dinner for a few days = 1$ a night

I got tired of all the pasta and swapped over to Asian food for a while. A giant bag of rice is 5$ and will last one person a while. I started to saute pablano peppers and yellow onions until nice and brown (low and slow heat, learn to caramelize the right way!), adding the peppers near the end to keep some of their crunch. It was probably still around 1$ a person. And you can mix up the veg depending on your tastes.

Also, keep a nice supply of FRESH spices. They work really well for powerful seasonings to help keep meals cheaper. Go to a nice spice market (not a supermarket) that has a good supply of spices and spend the money once on them. Buy spices whole when you can and get a coffee grinder to grind them yourself. Toast them before you grind them. The flavor fresh whole spices can impart is amazing, and they will last, whole, in a dark storage area for 6 months to a year. They are perfectly fine to eat after that but their flavor really goes down. We have some cinnamon sticks at work that no one has ever used that smell like nothing, meanwhile the pack I just bought for myself has a punch in the face of both flavor and smell.

Hope this helps some.

[Diamicles]

My wife and I eat pretty healthy, and can very comfortably spend between $450-600/month at the grocery store (that might include pet supplies/food, soap/shampoo/toothopaste/deo or w/e else we need)

A decent part ($50-60/wk) of that bill goes to deli meat and cheese, fresh veggies and fruit, and fresh cuts of meat from the butchers or fresh seafood.

We always cook at home, maybe eat out once or twice a month.

[Manako]

making food instead of eating out is a big way to save money. Spending $10 a day at subway (or whereever) is a lot, you could buy enough lunchmeat to last a week with that. Another thing that is expensive is soda, we don't buy it, instead have juice + seltzer if we want something like that. I also buy large chunks of inexpensive meat, like whole chicken or london broil, which I then cook in a slow-cooker.

Typically we go shopping once a week, plus the farmers market and spend $50 on groceries and $20 at the market, spread between two people, so about $35 a week per person. That of course is if we don't eat out, which we do and know full well that its a loss.

I'm not on a budget anymore, so I do splurge occaisionally. I try not to snack in the evenings, but I admit that I do! I try to eat less calories and less starchy stuff, but I'm not really mindful of dieting.

Typical daily meal for me:
Breakfast:
coffee + almond milk
Smoothie (frozen fruit, banana, protien powder, juice, yogurt)

Lunch:
Sandwich (hearty bread, lunchmeat, cheese, lettuce, mustard) or
Salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cheese, nuts, dressing) or
Soup (broth, veggie, cream/coconut milk)

Snack:
Lara bar or handful of nuts.

Dinner:
Meat + Veggie + starch (meat can be chicken, beef, pork, fish, whatever is on sale)
Pasta with either tomato sauce and sausage OR garlic sauce with shrimp
curry or stir-fry.

Snack:
homeade popcorn, dove chocolate, homeade ice cream.

[Kwijiboe]

You spend 13$ a day on sandwiches from subway, can almost make your own sandwiches for a week with that amount. If you're eating at subway, might as well add on the filler ingredients (cheeses, etc). You're already overpaying for a sandwich. Eating at subway is not healthy. Although they offer the option of turning your sandwich into a salad (no bread).

Get a big carton of quaker oats from sam's club for 10$ and you'll have breakfast for months. You don't necessarily need to eat this everyday, but it lasts forever. 4$ everyday for breakfast is wayyy too much.

Replace your 8pm snack with your protein shake and fruit/veggies.

Go sam's club, spend 85$-100$ on two weeks of food and you're saving at least 300$. Well.. that's if you have a membership, if not, add that to the cost.

[Xno Kappa]

That's crazy, $600 a month for one person!? Me and my wife spend around $300-$400 a month for just the both of us and we eat rather healthy.

We tend to buy plenty of frozen meats due to the fact they'll last you about a year at a fraction of the cost. Deli cuts, cheese and bread will last us about a week at about $30~ for lunch and a sack of rice will go forever for about the same, $20 ~ $30. The most expensive thing we spend our food money on besides eating out is probably milk and protein shakes.

[Kumbai]

Eating at subway is eating away your money lol... stuff like that should be a treat, especially if you're on a budget.

I spend about £25 a week on food... eating twice a day (mainly cause eating before midday makes me chunder like there is no tomorrow).

Buying stuff and making your own meals is the way to go, if you're trying to cut down costs. If you aren't a natural cook, then look at some recipes for food you enjoy and try and work out cheap ways to make them. You'd be suprised at what you'll be able to do after a few tries.

If you are able to freeze food, then that's a great way to have meals ready whenever. I spend about 2hrs cooking up 4-5 things for the next few weeks every fortnight. It's a good way to save money :3

[Denchi]

You spend 13$ a day on sandwiches from subway, can almost make your own sandwiches for a week with that amount. If you're eating at subway, might as well add on the filler ingredients (cheeses, etc). You're already overpaying for a sandwich. Eating at subway is not healthy. Although they offer the option of turning your sandwich into a salad (no bread).

Get a big carton of quaker oats from sam's club for 10$ and you'll have breakfast for months. You don't necessarily need to eat this everyday, but it lasts forever. 4$ everyday for breakfast is wayyy too much.

Replace your 8pm snack with your protein shake and fruit/veggies.

Go sam's club, spend 85$-100$ on two weeks of food and you're saving at least 300$. Well.. that's if you have a membership, if not, add that to the cost.

If I still lived in Tempe I'd just eat Filliberto's everyday. Could probably have 3 full meals for like $5. Then promptly die.

[Rhyis.]

I spend like 200 bucks a month on food. Maybe. Eat more pasta. Cheapest shit in the world.

[Kwijiboe]

If I still lived in Tempe I'd just eat Filliberto's everyday. Could probably have 3 full meals for like $5. Then promptly die.

Lol Fili B's. I used to go there, but I found a place I like better called Riva's. Pretty much same menu, better quality. LOVE IT. ROLLED TACOS WITH CHEESE AND GUACAMOLE, OMG HEAVEN.

[Osede]

My breakfast usually cost less than a dollar, with bread, cheese and butter

Lunch, made salad, or pasta, or left over food from dinner. Which like....2 dollar?

Dinner, cook myself (total of 3~4person in home). Usually will cost like 10dollar divided by 4.

My grocery for everyweek usually cost about 40usd, which usually include the food for more than one person and close to two person. Therefore, if I only need to grocery for myself, usually I won't spend more than 30usd per week.

[wagon]

Thanks guys for your inputs. It seems like buying and cooking meat and veg at home is the way to go. Where do you do your shopping, any good place and brand recommendations?

[Tyche]

Wife, two kids, and myself eat about 400 a month in food, including restaurant outings.