food budget (San Diego: sale, co-op, how much)

[mattuhimself]

Hi,
I'm from Germany and I will move to San Diego this summer. I'm 21 years old and I will try to live a simple, but healthy lifestyle. So, I was just wondering how much money I will have to spend for food per month.


Thank you kindly,
Mattu

[kettlepot]

If you eat most of your meals at home, and buy your food at the discount supermarkets, rather than the regular supermarkets, I believe you could do fine on $150/month for food, perhaps even less.

This of course does not include fast food meals, or purchasing any alcohol at the supermarket - even beer.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by kettlepot

If you eat most of your meals at home, and buy your food at the discount supermarkets, rather than the regular supermarkets, I believe you could do fine on $150/month for food, perhaps even less.

This of course does not include fast food meals, or purchasing any alcohol at the supermarket - even beer.

I too think $150 would do it, but I don't think it would be any less. Of course a lot depends on how much meat one consumes. If a person eats very little meat and lots of produce, during the summer months anyway the food bill should be pretty low. Of course stay away from all pre-cooked and fast frozen dinners..

Nita

[mattuhimself]

Thank you. That sounds great. I planned with $250 - $300...

[Oerdin]

Originally Posted by mattuhimself

Hi,
I'm from Germany and I will move to San Diego this summer. I'm 21 years old and I will try to live a simple, but healthy lifestyle. So, I was just wondering how much money I will have to spend for food per month.


Thank you kindly,
Mattu

It depends on exactly what you mean by "healthy" and if you are willing to cook for yourself or if you are the type of person who just has to go to a restaurant all the time. Honestly, I think you will be shocked how cheap basic food stuffs are in the US compared to the EU and you can even buy agribusiness (GM) fruits and vegetable pretty cheaply but you do have to pay more for the traditionally grown stuff. That said there are several great local farmers markets in San Diego but they tend to be more expensive then the GM/agribusiness stuff by about 20%. About four years ago, when I still was living with room mates, we signed up for a community supported agriculture co-op (CSA) where a local farmer grew all of our fruits and veggies and delivered what was in season right to our door in a box each week. It was always the freshest possible, always 100% organic, the selections included a A LOT of stuff I'd never bought before (this meant we all ended up trying to cook new recipes which was nice), and they delivered far more fruits and veggies then four people could eat in a week for just $700 a year. Think about that, weekly deliveries of 100% organic and locally grown produce in more quantities & verities then four people can eat for an entire year for just $175 per year per person. That's the most expensive option and we're still talking only $3.37 per week per person to have it delivered right to your door.

If you're going to a university then all of them have gym memberships for free so you can work out and there are lots of health minded people here who also want to stay in shape so that's nice. Lastly, the weather is good so year round you can always go jogging at public parks and you'll see many other people doing the same though about half the year the water at the beach is to cold to go swimming in.

edit: Oh, I forgot that fishing at the public piers is always completely free. It sounds odd to mention it but when I was in college one of my room mates was a die hard fisherman who just liked fishing and drinking beer while doing it because he found it relaxing. Anyway he would often catch more fish then we knew what to do with so even when we were broke there was plenty of fish available free. My favorite time was lobster season when we'd all go with him and then enjoy free lobster dinners for a day or two afterwords. There are some advantages to living at the beach.

[mattuhimself]

thank you

[luvSD]

When I lived by myself I could feed myself on $20 per day. This means no eating out at restaurants. Bring your own lunch from home (most often left overs from yesterday's dinner). No going to Starbucks for latte, no happy hour beer nights. I ate a lot of beans and rice, pasta, vegetables, and meat that is on sale for the week. I avoided processed foods (which are convenient, but pricey for what you get), and very rarely ate desserts or snacks like chips.

I guess most people might think this was pretty dismal, but it wasn't so bad. The hardest part is peer pressure: when friends go out for dinner and invite you, it's hard to say "No thanks" (again). Similarly, if everyone is going to Starbucks for a break, it is hard to go but not buy anything.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by luvSD

When I lived by myself I could feed myself on $20 per day.

$20 per day? That's $600 per month! Who couldn't feed themselves on that? I could practically eat every meal at a fast food joint or buy it prepared at the restaurant, and have money left over for beer or lattes.

[esmith143]

I will guess that he meant $20 per week.

[Jamby]

How much would you spend if everything that is consumed is of the highest quality Organic available, and only high quality grass-fed meats, vegetables and fruits are consumed? (no cheap grains, no fastfood, Paleo diet style). I am talking 2 pounds of high quality grassfed and certified organic meat plus some certified organic/biodynamic vegetables and fruits, daily. How much will this amount to in dollars per month. Anyone can tell me where the best sources for the highest quality foods are? Farmers Markets? And where? I know there is Whole Foods Market, but it is rather expensive and I found the quality to be pretty low compared to my home country where I ate almost only biodynamically/locally grown foods. Whole Foods Market seems to get their supply from very unsustainable organic industrial farms, like Cal Organic (they sell carrots and most vegetables, and are by the way, not really following organic principles), Rosie Chicken (who Michael Pollan has proven to be as bad as feed lot chicken, since they are fed most of their diet in SOY, which is no way natural for a chicken and which increases toxins in the meats, but the FDA allows it as long as its organic soy, oh well), and other numerous sources of huge farms which work with COMPLETELY depleted soils. I am really looking for a organically certified AND grassfed source of beef/lamb/goat, so if anyone could point me towards that I would be grateful. It can be over the internet, but they have to be able to ship UNfrozen and in smaller quantities than 1/2 of a cow. CSA's? (community supported agriculture) any recommendations here? Like where you get a box with seasonal vegetable/fruit once a week from a local farm? Again please tell me what my options are as I find it hard to believe that there are so little sources of healthy food in such a big city. For example I haven't been able to find an organically certified butcher who carries only grassfed meats (other than whole foods market who I don't really like, don't really trust, and are expensive).