Sometimes when I hear how much money people spend on groceries, I’m in awe. Who the fuck is spending 500$ on groceries per person per month? HOW the fuck are they doing it?
Some fresh vegetables (usually onions, broccoli, peppers): $10
Flour: $10 (may last more than a month)
yeast: $5
Seasonings: $5 (also lasts more than a month)
Cheese: $5
Tomato sauce: $5
Pasta: $5
I got laid off a while ago so I’m trying to make my dollars go farther. When I had a well paying job, I’d also buy more stuff, but nothing too crazy. I miss hummus the most, I think. I never buy soda.
The other day I was with someone and we decided to order food like old times, and it was like $40 for two of us. I was like, fuck, that’s a third of my whole month’s budget right there. But I don’t want to live like a monk all the time.
Seperate from groceries, ordering out has gotten crazy fucking expensive. Literally doubling in cost in just the past 5 years or so. Insane shit. I haven’t bought even fast food for myself in probably 2 years at this point.
My monthly food bill is around 150$ since I’ve gotten slightly more financially stable - no more surviving on ramen and cereal! I can buy good bread, fruit, corn, frozen chicken, and cheese. Life is good.
Soda was always a non-negotiable purchase, since I’m an addict, but buying on sale helps. It’s not like it goes bad quickly, after all.
I’m not defending it nor am I saying it’s typical, but it’s not that hard to spend $500 per person per month on groceries.
It’s definitely doable (and then some) for folks living in high cost of living places. I recently went on a quick weekend trip to such a place. I knew I didn’t have the type of money to dine out, but I figured I could suffice on a few staples from the grocery store. I visited several different stores, and the prices were all about the same (i.e. insane). The little pint (or half pint?) Ben and Jerry’s was $10 - 12. A container of romaine lettuce was $8. A package of Oscar Meyer sliced deli meat was $15. These prices are easily 3 - 4 times what they typically cost where I live.
Also, a lot of people shop at the kinds of stores where you can find everything from apples to Apple watches. And when people do their “grocery” shopping, they’re buying bulk paper towels, a case of wine, a new Switch game for the kids, cosmetics, cat litter, clothes, 30 pack of batteries, a couple azaleas, and a partridge in a pear tree and then calling that their grocery bill. So, it’s not exactly a fair label nor an accurate assumption that the grocery bill is just groceries (i.e. food).
And honestly, if you mean HOW as in how can they afford it: $500 x 4 = $2,000 or $24,000. A lot of money, sure, but median household income (in the USA) is like $80,000 and I’m guessing that $500 a month per person is above median expenditure (especially if we’re excluding the folks that like to include the partridge in their grocery bill), so most people spending that much on food would be earning way more than median income.
There’s a difference between having enough to eat and having enough healthy food to live well. I’m sure you could survive on like on &100 per person per month if you wanted to eat ramen and canned meat. But throwing in fresh fruits and veggies runs that number up.
500$ per person is a lot. Like, I don’t consider myself to be living the life of an involuntary ascetic anymore, but it’s over triple what I spend for myself. And I legit waste some food.
In my defense, it’s so fucking easy to buy a bunch of bananas and say “I’ll have a few tomorrow”, but tomorrow you have one, and the day after that you don’t feel in the mood for bananas, and before you know it the bastards have gone mushy
Soda is really expensive. Ben & Jerry’s is pricey. Gatorade is expensive. Brand name cereal is expensive. Etc… they aren’t buying fresh fruit, rice, refried beans, you know, things that are still pretty reasonably priced but don’t taste as good.
I can probably give some explanation. We as a household of 3 mainly cooks at home. We get fruits and veggies from costco and farmers markets mainly. The monthly grocery bills are close to 500$ with everything added up. We do try to eat as healthy as possible and cooks majority of the days.
A days cooking almost looks like this
Dinner: steel cut oats with yogurt or something similar
Some snacks during the day and in the evening
Coffee(homemade to reduce cost)
Almost everything adds up. Asparagus is almost 5$ a bunch. Spinach adds up to 4$. Milk is close to 7$. At the end of month when we tallied up, it was close to 500$. I dont think we are actually eating that much or even buying a lot of junk. Post covid has been a ride
Sometimes when I hear how much money people spend on groceries, I’m in awe. Who the fuck is spending 500$ on groceries per person per month? HOW the fuck are they doing it?
My monthly food bill is typically around $120.
I got laid off a while ago so I’m trying to make my dollars go farther. When I had a well paying job, I’d also buy more stuff, but nothing too crazy. I miss hummus the most, I think. I never buy soda.
The other day I was with someone and we decided to order food like old times, and it was like $40 for two of us. I was like, fuck, that’s a third of my whole month’s budget right there. But I don’t want to live like a monk all the time.
Seperate from groceries, ordering out has gotten crazy fucking expensive. Literally doubling in cost in just the past 5 years or so. Insane shit. I haven’t bought even fast food for myself in probably 2 years at this point.
My monthly food bill is around 150$ since I’ve gotten slightly more financially stable - no more surviving on ramen and cereal! I can buy good bread, fruit, corn, frozen chicken, and cheese. Life is good.
Soda was always a non-negotiable purchase, since I’m an addict, but buying on sale helps. It’s not like it goes bad quickly, after all.
I’m not defending it nor am I saying it’s typical, but it’s not that hard to spend $500 per person per month on groceries.
It’s definitely doable (and then some) for folks living in high cost of living places. I recently went on a quick weekend trip to such a place. I knew I didn’t have the type of money to dine out, but I figured I could suffice on a few staples from the grocery store. I visited several different stores, and the prices were all about the same (i.e. insane). The little pint (or half pint?) Ben and Jerry’s was $10 - 12. A container of romaine lettuce was $8. A package of Oscar Meyer sliced deli meat was $15. These prices are easily 3 - 4 times what they typically cost where I live.
Also, a lot of people shop at the kinds of stores where you can find everything from apples to Apple watches. And when people do their “grocery” shopping, they’re buying bulk paper towels, a case of wine, a new Switch game for the kids, cosmetics, cat litter, clothes, 30 pack of batteries, a couple azaleas, and a partridge in a pear tree and then calling that their grocery bill. So, it’s not exactly a fair label nor an accurate assumption that the grocery bill is just groceries (i.e. food).
And honestly, if you mean HOW as in how can they afford it: $500 x 4 = $2,000 or $24,000. A lot of money, sure, but median household income (in the USA) is like $80,000 and I’m guessing that $500 a month per person is above median expenditure (especially if we’re excluding the folks that like to include the partridge in their grocery bill), so most people spending that much on food would be earning way more than median income.
There’s a difference between having enough to eat and having enough healthy food to live well. I’m sure you could survive on like on &100 per person per month if you wanted to eat ramen and canned meat. But throwing in fresh fruits and veggies runs that number up.
Yeah, but most Americans aren’t eating healthy either. So it’s more of a worst of both worlds situation.
Indeed.
if i can feed a family of five on twenty dollars a week, theres nothing I cant do
It’s a weird feeling when you don’t know if that’s alot or not
500$ per person is a lot. Like, I don’t consider myself to be living the life of an involuntary ascetic anymore, but it’s over triple what I spend for myself. And I legit waste some food.
In my defense, it’s so fucking easy to buy a bunch of bananas and say “I’ll have a few tomorrow”, but tomorrow you have one, and the day after that you don’t feel in the mood for bananas, and before you know it the bastards have gone mushy
That’s banana bread or banana pancakes time
Per person???
We eat good, always have snacks and get a few bs quick meals whenever we go shopping. $800 for a family of 4 and I feel like that’s too much.
Granted I make a lot of stuff from scratch, but I feel like the snack and quick meals even that out price wise.
Its post covid. These a holes have been price gouging us. Everyone outside of costco is out to get you.
Insane estimates. Just bizarre. Yet supposedly backed by the data.
Listen man dunkaroos ain’t cheap alright
Do they even make dunkaroos anymore?
I remember they made them when I was a kid and then they were discontinued and then they returned, but I thought they got discontinued again.
Anyway, when I was in college I learned you can make a big ass batch of dunkaroo frosting super cheap
https://basicswithbails.com/popular/baking/homemade-dunkaroo-dip-funfetti-cake-batter-dip/
https://callascleaneats.com/viral-dunkaroo-dip-high-protein-low-carb/
Soda is really expensive. Ben & Jerry’s is pricey. Gatorade is expensive. Brand name cereal is expensive. Etc… they aren’t buying fresh fruit, rice, refried beans, you know, things that are still pretty reasonably priced but don’t taste as good.
Man, I buy soda and brand name cereal (store brand tastes like sadness 9/10 times) and still don’t hit anywhere close to that.
I can probably give some explanation. We as a household of 3 mainly cooks at home. We get fruits and veggies from costco and farmers markets mainly. The monthly grocery bills are close to 500$ with everything added up. We do try to eat as healthy as possible and cooks majority of the days. A days cooking almost looks like this
Almost everything adds up. Asparagus is almost 5$ a bunch. Spinach adds up to 4$. Milk is close to 7$. At the end of month when we tallied up, it was close to 500$. I dont think we are actually eating that much or even buying a lot of junk. Post covid has been a ride
I mean, that’s three people though, not 500$ PER person.