What do you spend a week to feed yourself?
 

While eating a $32 steak out thye other night, coupled withmy dropping off a few cses of canned vegeatables for the local food pantry, got me to thinking.

Especilly for you single guys out there....what could you cut your food budget to to have a reasonably healthy, nourishing, enjoyable menu? Not talking Ramaan noodles and Kratft Mac and Cheese college diet, but doing your own prep, etc?

Sometimes when I go out with a date for a nice dinner, I routinely drop $100-150 but that may include wine. For some families that is more thn their entire week's food budget.

So what could you pare it down to nd what would some of your menu items be?

I'm sure I could squeek by, eating reasonable well for ~50/wk, my typical is probably 100-125 with beer/wine and then another 60-100 eating out, barring a date.
Back with TEB, I was spending 350-500/wk for us to eat out.

No dates? Probably 50-60....

I spend about a hundred at home, about thirty at cafes, and most weeks don't go out for a restaurant meal. Probably go out for a proper restaurant meal (not cafe) once every three weeks and that is $130 - ish for two people.

Food has really gotten expensive. I think you might be surprised what you spend just on staples, milk, bread, sandwich meat, etc.

I feed two adults, one 12yo, and buy some wine/beer + toiletries for a $1000/mo budget. We rarely eat out.

i think i can eat well for <$100 a week. for my wife and i.

no eating out, no booze.

Back when I was a wild man it was $1000 a month (just for myself) ate out about four or five times a week.

I would have to check my budget but I'm sure it is now a fraction of that.

coupins and eat really cheap, my daughters got it down to a science, lot of free stuff but only if we really need it. 50 bucks a week for the wife and I and less if we really had too..

the chick and I were spendinfg about 140 a week now it is regularly 200 and we keep trying to cut back but inflation is a killer-

Cathy thinks she probably spends $100/week. No budget though, she just buys what she wants. Not much prepared food, and I like steak.
Jim

I like to eat out when the spirit moves me and I don't look at pricing when at the grocery store.

My most excellent lady friend, who lives off the grid and heats with wood, could eat like a queen on 1/10 of my budget. She shops at Grocery Outlet often, buys farm fresh eggs and produce when she can, etc. She can make a gourmet meal out of a fridge that looks empty to you and me.

To answer your question, if I followed her lead, I could eat well on a budget of $50 per week, not counting libations. If I had to choose, I'd cut the food budget but not the libations budget.

One parting note: Whole foods (raw vegetables, non-bleached flour, etc.) are wonderfully delicious and nutritious and surprisingly efficient, financially. With a "family" package of pork chops, a bag of rice and a pile of various vegetables, for example, I can make probably four big meals of Chop Suey for two people.

(It's just me to feed) I've been out of work for a while, so I've been around $40 / week, down from about $60, not including beer / wine. I've scaled back on the booze as well, about a case / month (for visitors mostly)

At home our food budget is roughly $900 a month for 3.

The wife and I spend about $100/wk. Beef, chicken, fish, pasta, soups, salads, including booze.

Since I do 80% of the cookin', I'm thinkin' we're doin' pretty good. Don't eat out much tho'

Karl
88 Targa

single guy, do all my own cooking for dinners. i eat healthy. about $65 a week.

breakfast is usually a greek yogurt or bowl of special k with skim milk.

lunch is generally a healthy choice steamer (while at work) or leftovers from dinner the night before.

dinner is a regular, cooked meal. protein, veggie, and carb

Sounds about right, except I have two kids.

Thinks have changed. Five years ago when I was living large the club's monthly "cover" was $800 and that didn't include anything eaten at home or anywhere else. Now, left to my devices it would be a couple of hundred a week total. With the SO, it's close to $100. She cooks a lot and cooks cheap.

Couple grand a month

Im right at 130 a week not including starbucks of at least 20 a week. I dont eat out that often, and this also includes my supply of jack and coke.
For just me.

Thats on a 3000cal a day diet.








Not including the jack and coke.

Not nearly as much as when I drank;)
Still, mine varies week to week, in office/shop or seeing clients...

To eat costs a lot less than the rest you buy at the store. I eat one egg or oatmeal for breakfast. wife eats nothing. I eat fruit and bars during the day. Night she cooks for her, I eat a little of the side dish and a salad. No meat. She eats meat, but lately it's been so bad that she is starting to realize meat is bad stuff. She bought s $6 roasted chicken that she will get 3 days out of.

I guess we don't spend much on actual food.

NOW! The holidays are coming. Christmas dinner will cost us 500 dollars. It doesn't matter whether 6 or 16 show up, there will be food for 20. Waste.

I spend $50-$100 per week. It's just myself and the g/friend on weekends. I make dinner 6 out of 7 nights however I go to a greasy spoon every weekday morning for breakfast.

Less than $100 a month for two.

? what the hell do you eat ? Cat food?

Being cash poor, with a wife and 3 kids, I can tell you... eating healthy at home is expensive compared to the dollar menu at McDonalds or Taco Bell. We spend $150 a week or so, but the baby just outgrew formula so that should drop a little. If push came to shove though...

1) Farmers markets, roadside stands, and the "local farms (mostly) direct to market" place we have around here for fresh veggies. The high price I've seen in the past few years has been $1.25/lb for fresh green beans, greens, various peas, etc. Shelled acre peas are about twice that, but I've got 2 kids that can shell the peas... We already do this, but the kids get a break and the acre peas are bought shelled.

2) Cheap grocery - Some chicken on sale when it is a really good price, rice, dry beans. We currently will stock up on stuff at Sam's, and a local sausage plant (Nettles) has wholesale price truck sales 2x per year - last time we went we got 4 months worth of meat (all I could fit in my extra freezer) for $400... sausage, steaks, fish, chicken.

3) Some live chickens from a friends neighbor, get some egg production going. Need 3 or 4 laying hens. He's offered 'em to me in the past, but I keep buying 18 eggs from him every two weeks ($2.50).

4) There are 500 acres of woods across the street from me, and it is deer season for another 5 weeks...

5) After that, small game season (squirrels) goes until March. Rabbit is year around. The kids think I'm joking when I mention eating the tree rats, etc. Mebbe they will get a taste of 'em later this year...

To actually stretch the food, soups w/ pasta do a good job of being healthy, filling, and cheap, as well as taking care of left overs (grill or roast chicken today, carcass gets made into stock, leftover chicken and veggies go into the pot). Biscuits from scratch are cheap, grits are cheap and have good protien.

We can scrimp on the vittles but the Internet connection has to stay hot.

About $90. I eat out for lunch or grab something for breakfast and skip lunch. Normally I'll bake a chicken once a week, eat a quarter, then pick it and consume the rest throughout the week with pasta or rice.

My grocery bill can get out of hand though. I can't pass up deals, especially when it's beef. Around labor day, I bought 9 whole, prime grade, rib roasts. That was an expensive week of grocery shopping. I still have 35lbs in the freezer right now.