OT: How much do you spend a week on food per person?

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Having a friendly discussion with my friends who think im crazy saying this. I spend about $25-$30 total M-F during the work week on food for myself.

my mornings: built bars
Lunch: MOSTLY chicken marsala/francese
Dinner: MOSTLY chicken and veggies or just veggies and pasta

i buy it all pre-made at maywood market in maywood (bergen county) where a piece of chicken runs about $2.

Disclosure: not married and live by myself so not talking about feeding a family, although i imagine i could just X 4 for a family of 4. Anyway how much do you spend during the work week? (i also recognize the fact both some of you as well as I go out on business dinners as well sometimes but thats different as its a business expense).

 

[tom1944]

Do you eat fruit and things like eggs and yogurt

 

[robcac26]

I spend around $40 a week on average on groceries. I haven't bothered to figure out what it comes out to M-F vs. on weekends. I am also single with no kids.

 

[bac2therac]

I cook everything myself, make my own coffee, breakfast. lunches, dinner and eat a lot of fruit. On average I guess $60-75 but I like to keep the pantry and fridge stocked and lots of varieties of things so I am always buying things that will not eat until sometime in the future depending on the sales at Shop Rites

 

[JMORC2003]

We're a family of five (3 boys) and average about $2200 on groceries a month. The struggle is real.

EDIT: that also includes laundry deterg, cleaning supplies and paper goods (lots of paper towels and tissues, napkins) which can certainly add up. I lump them together in my budgeting.

 

[dollarbill]

A weekly trip to Aldis will do wonders for your fiscal and physical health. $$$$

 

[jordkap]

My wife and I spend about $80-120 a week for the 2 of us. We also don’t shop at fancy schmancy places that frequently.

Normally, we make enough food for dinner to have the leftovers for lunch the next day. (If we eat something like steak or salmon that don’t reheat well, we buy inexpensive salad mixes and grill chicken to add to it)

 

[RUSK97]

This is sad: I have no idea. And it’s not even that I don’t do the shopping because I do 40% of the shopping and 70% of the cooking.

 

[Scarlet4Shore]

Single, no kids. I'd say on average $40-50/week. Some weeks more, some less. I too take for lunch whatever was left over from dinner the night before. I don't drink coffee.

 

[theRU]

$100, keto ain't cheap and well....whole foods

 

[JMORC2003]

This is sad: I have no idea. And it’s not even that I don’t do the shopping because I do 40% of the shopping and 70% of the cooking.

I didn't either until we started planning an addition on our house so I needed to get a real handle on our finances. I tracked line by line every trip to whole foods, shoprite, trader joes, i was floored. it was actually easier at the start of covid when we were more hunkered down. There were 4 trips each month, $500-600 each. the flip side is that we rarely eat out, and rarely get takeover, perhaps a pizza and some fried calamari once a month. and since i've been working from home i don't even get coffee out. EDIT: that number is a bit inflated by buying more in stock. Not stockpiling, but just when this thing initially set in, concerns about supply, or getting sick and not being able to go to the store influenced my shopping a bit. I was keep 4 jars or sauce on hand rather than 2.

 

[yesrutgers01]

I didn't either until we started planning an addition on our house so I needed to get a real handle on our finances. I tracked line by line every trip to whole foods, shoprite, trader joes, i was floored. it was actually easier at the start of covid when we were more hunkered down. There were 4 trips each month, $500-600 each. the flip side is that we rarely eat out, and rarely do takeover, perhaps a pizza and some fried calamari once a month. and since i've been working from home i don't even get coffee out.

$2000- $2400 do you mind if I ask how big your family is?
With us, I would have to say when all 4 were home- maybe 1200-1500 per month but that was including our oldest that was eating a whole chicken himself by 5th grade.
For the two of us, I think we do a $150-200 trip to the store every 3 weeks. And right before summer, we do an $800 restaurant depot run for meats.

 

[RUevolution36]

$150/week in groceries for wife and myself. Usually good for all meals and snacks, except 2. We dine out 2x a week. That can go anywhere between an extra $80 to $150 depending on where we want to eat. Groceries are organic for meat and dairy 100% of the time, and fruits and vegetables if possible, but we're not completely inflexible on that.

 

[ClassOf02]

I didn't either until we started planning an addition on our house so I needed to get a real handle on our finances. I tracked line by line every trip to whole foods, shoprite, trader joes, i was floored. it was actually easier at the start of covid when we were more hunkered down. There were 4 trips each month, $500-600 each. the flip side is that we rarely eat out, and rarely do takeover, perhaps a pizza and some fried calamari once a month. and since i've been working from home i don't even get coffee out.

While I know we don’t spend that much, I’m in the same boat. I just don’t know what we pay. And I’ve been thinking about going line by line through the Amex statements, but that seems pretty intimidating. I should though.

 

[RUevolution36]

I didn't either until we started planning an addition on our house so I needed to get a real handle on our finances. I tracked line by line every trip to whole foods, shoprite, trader joes, i was floored. it was actually easier at the start of covid when we were more hunkered down. There were 4 trips each month, $500-600 each. the flip side is that we rarely eat out, and rarely do takeover, perhaps a pizza and some fried calamari once a month. and since i've been working from home i don't even get coffee out.

😳

How many people are you feeding?

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Do you eat fruit and things like eggs and yogurt

I do buy some watermelon and rasberries here and there.
Rarely eat eggs except saturday mornings when me and the guys go to colonial diner in lyndhurst after hoops and i get a 3 egg omelette

 

[Jm0513]

Way too frigin' much. Lol
I buy tons of organic produce weekly. The last year I've spent more since my daughter is home for 3 meals a day.
We go out or order in 1 x a week.
Until I cut out Starbucks I was spending $42 a week on coffee alone.
Not to sound like a snob, but I only buy the best of the best. It's food and nourishing my body and I don't want to eat crap. I'd rather spend the $ and know it's doing us good.

Maywood market is a great place. Try the Maywood Pancake house if you get the chance @kyk1827

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Way too frigin' much. Lol
I buy tons of organic produce weekly. The last year I've spent more since my daughter is home for 3 meals a day.
We go out or order in 1 x a week.
Until I cut out Starbucks I was spending $42 a week on coffee alone.

Maywood market is a great place. Try the Maywood Pancake house if you get the chance @kyk1827

Love maywood pancake house, great spot. Love stopping in at the maywood inn and get served by americas best bartender, woody. Now called twin door tavern but I refuse to call it that.

 

[RUBlackout]

Family of 4 (2 young girls)

I spend roughly around $200-225/wk on Groceries but that also includes items like Paper Towels, TP, etc on occasion. Outside of that, I budget around $280wk for dining/ordering out. We prob order out for for 4-5meals at some point during the week and one of those would be a typical meal outside the house but during Covid that stopped.

 

[RUSK97]

Way too frigin' much. Lol
I buy tons of organic produce weekly. The last year I've spent more since my daughter is home for 3 meals a day.
We go out or order in 1 x a week.
Until I cut out Starbucks I was spending $42 a week on coffee alone.
Not to sound like a snob, but I only buy the best of the best. It's food and nourishing my body and I don't want to eat crap. I'd rather spend the $ and know it's doing us good.

Maywood market is a great place. Try the Maywood Pancake house if you get the chance @kyk1827

I say this in the most respectful way possible, but you eat like a rabbit. Even if 90% organic, it should still be cheaper than a carnivore’s diet.

 

[RUevolution36]

I say this in the most respectful way possible, but you eat like a rabbit. Even if 90% organic, it should still be cheaper than a carnivore’s diet.

Organic chicken is like $5/lb. 1 lb is enough for 4 servings in my house = $1.25/serving. 1 small carton of organic raspberries is like $5. That's a snack for one person.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

Family of 5 (3 kids all in sports) - around 250/ week. We try not to eat out.

Most shopping at Aldi - except for meats unless I get made in USA meat. Try to get meat at Sams or local Kroger.

Still feel like it’s too much and we eat the same stuff all the time - but it’s all fresh made.

What kills the budget is the supplemental- need another gallon of milk and get more stuff to fill in gaps and it’s an easy $80 extra (usually from Kroger cause it’s closer).

The difference in cost feeding your family at Aldi vs your typical chain is outrageous.

Best part of the pandemic and working from home was less wear and tear on the car and less gas - vs massive increase in the food budget.

 

[gef21]

4 of us ( 2 boys). We eat a huge variety of food, with tons of fruits and vegetables. Mornings are pretty consistent (oatmeal or eggs and green smoothies). We also make all of our own bread. But we make a lot of different things for lunches and dinners. Generally we spend 100-150 a week at the supermarket and 50-100 a week at costco for fruit (frozen and fresh organic).

In the summer costs go way down because we have a massive garden with vegetables and fruits.

 

[newell138]

This is sad: I have no idea. And it’s not even that I don’t do the shopping because I do 40% of the shopping and 70% of the cooking.

i'm kind of in the same boat. I do most of the shopping because I actually enjoy grocery shopping in an odd way and do about 1/2 of the cooking. Some weeks we don't even go to the grocery store because we have been trying those meal kits like Hello Fresh and the like which are pretty good.

 

[WhiteBus]

Having a friendly discussion with my friends who think im crazy saying this. I spend about $25-$30 total M-F during the work week on food for myself.

my mornings: built bars
Lunch: MOSTLY chicken marsala/francese
Dinner: MOSTLY chicken and veggies or just veggies and pasta

i buy it all pre-made at maywood market in maywood (bergen county) where a piece of chicken runs about $2.

Disclosure: not married and live by myself so not talking about feeding a family, although i imagine i could just X 4 for a family of 4. Anyway how much do you spend during the work week? (i also recognize the fact both some of you as well as I go out on business dinners as well sometimes but thats different as its a business expense).

First a question about Built Bars. How do like them? And how do they taste. The are an advertiser on the Dan Patrick Show. Live reads, and Dan raves about them. He was right about Traeger grills so he might be right about this.

 

[sherrane]

We're a family of five (3 boys) and average about $2200 on groceries a month. The struggle is real.

Hopefully your boys are teenagers. You will nearly double that in a few years if your oldest has yet to enter his teenage years.

 

[sherrane]

We spend about $275 per week at the grocery store for my wife, daughter, dog, cat, and I. This includes paper products and cleaning products. M-F for myself is probably around $30 -- 40. Breakfast is a bowl of Cherios, blueberries, and 2% milk (probably about $7 for the week). Lunch is a sandwich (probably about $10 for the week). Dinner likely twice as expensive as breakfast and lunch.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

First a question about Built Bars. How do like them? And how do they taste. The are an advertiser on the Dan Patrick Show. Live reads, and Dan raves about them. He was right about Traeger grills so he might be right about this.

I heard about them by listening to a podcast as well. They really are as good as advertised haha. My favorite is the banana nut bar actually eating one as I drive to work right now

 

[WhiteBus]

A normal week I spend about $40. If I bbq than maybe twice that. I usually cook for the week and bring my lunch to work. I gave up all the fast food chains not to save money but the quality of food has dropped so much most of that stuff is garbage.

 

[RUInsanity]

~$350 per week and rising (4 of us / 2 Boys). Usually includes one shopping trip to Shoprite every week and a trip to Costco ever other week.......mostly cook our own meals, make our own coffee and eat out/order in once a week on average. Costs have been rising as my kids plow through food - especially on days they have sports/practices.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Organic chicken is like $5/lb. 1 lb is enough for 4 servings in my house = $1.25/serving. 1 small carton of organic raspberries is like $5. That's a snack for one person.

Good food is expensive. Griggstown, Brick, Terhune, all worth the price, but it is a good amount. Do you ever get the roasted chickens for pick-up at Griggs? Perfect dinner for our family of 3.

As for the weekly cost question, we probably spend $200-$250 on groceries and then another $100-150 on take out (~2 meals a week). Something like that. We don't really track it.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Food prices, like gas prices, are going up.

 

[krup]

People's decision making can go a long way towards impacting how much they spend at the supermarket.

• After you shop for a while you recognize that many things go on sale in a pattern (every other week, one week a month, etc.). The people mentioning they shop in more than one place have it right, and there is almost no excuse for ever paying full price for non-perishable items.
  
  
• Buying things premade can come at a ridiculous cost (I am not talking about things like rotisserie chickens that most places have cheap). I use the following example from Wegmans. Simple chicken breasts are 1.99 a pound. If you are so lazy you can't even buy a marinade separately and dump it over the chicken the night before you want to cook it, Wegmans has vacuum packed chicken breasts in the marinade for 4.99 a pound. Finally, you can get already grilled chicken breast at the prepared food area for 7.99 a pound (with the added bonus that you are paying 7.99 for the sides you get like a vegetable)!!

 

[Jm0513]

I say this in the most respectful way possible, but you eat like a rabbit. Even if 90% organic, it should still be cheaper than a carnivore’s diet.

You're right! Here's footage of me after I place a Whole Foods order. I wish I was a hunter. An Elk would last us months.

 

[yesrutgers01]

~$350 per week and rising (4 of us / 2 Boys). Usually includes one shopping trip to Shoprite every week and a trip to Costco ever other week.......mostly cook our own meals, make our own coffee and eat out/order in once a week on average. Costs have been rising as my kids plow through food - especially on days they have sports/practices.

I can't understand this type of cost at all. Even during months our oldest was home for a couple of months trying to pack on good weight - 6-8k calories a day and another teenage boy...We didn't spend even close to that. How is it even possible? Same with someone else that is spending 2k+ per month? WTH are you guys buying?

 

[RUBlackout]

I can't understand this type of cost at all. Even during months our oldest was home for a couple of months trying to pack on good weight - 6-8k calories a day and another teenage boy...We didn't spend even close to that. How is it even possible? Same with someone else that is spending 2k+ per month? WTH are you guys buying?

I feel like I have the same budget but it really is more heavily weighted towards ordering out/Dining out. Again this includes other household items besides just food all in the same budget.

I dont get it either but we def dont coupon shop

 

[koleszar]

It's a good question but I really have no idea. We don’t pay for eggs, chicken, bacon or pork products but we do have to pay to feed and butcher them. Which organic feed is expensive. However, we do make money off selling them. Which pays for a lot of that and maybe a small profit sometimes. I guess I really never thought about it. Since I always figured, if we don't go out to eat or order I'm saving money anyway so why not buy whatever the hell I want.

 

[Doteman]

I really have no idea but I would guess it's about $150/week for me, my wife and 2 year old daughter. That doesn't include eating out/alcohol/coffee. We probably eat out once a week and alcohol/craft beer isn't cheap.

 

[Jm0513]

Blackberries are nuts! 6oz for 5$. We go thru 1 a day with our smoothies. There's about 12 berries in each. Lol
This is maybe 2 smoothies(with leftover pineapple+a few berries) and cheese to make nachos (this package has 1.5 cups) I'm already at $21 bucks and don't have half the ingredients. 🤦‍♀️

 

[koleszar]

Blackberries are nuts! 6oz for 5$. We go thru 1 a day with our smoothies. There's about 12 berries in each. Lol
This is maybe 2 smoothies(with leftover pineapple+a few berries) and cheese to make nachos (this package has 1.5 cups) I'm already at $21 bucks and don't have half the ingredients. 🤦‍♀️

You ever see the price for fresh figs. Maddone! 4 for like $3.99. I have a Fig tree that's 15', it gives us 100 to 200 Black Mission Figs. Every year our Eyetalian friends come over at harvest time and we have several. I really need to start charging these people