Americans spend $151 on food per week on average. How do you compare? (frozen, healthy)
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We spend 80-90/week (2), down from where we used to live. But, no beef, pork--only chicken(organic) and salmon. It's cheaper and healthier. Rest vegie, non-processed as much as possible. Even vegies in these parts are high. I do get some packaged foods, cookies, morning star vegie stuff. Walmarts is cheaper and they're close, too. I'd like to shop at Fry's only their not on this coast.
Well, spend per week or month - I can't average.
We raise our own chickens so we have eggs and chicken (canned and frozen) - and they eat mostly garden/kitchen scraps except in the winter. We raise our own grassfed cattle and trade calves for winter hay, so once a year we butcher a steer that keeps us all year in steaks, roasts, and burger. We buy flour or grain in bulk every 6 months and bake our own bread/rolls/pizza dough, and buy incidentals like coffee, balsalmic vinegar, cornstarch, then too. We buy a pig once a year from the FFA and have it butchered, make sausages, etc, and dehydrate, smoke, can or freeze it; that runs us about $1.04 a lb. I get free backfat from the butcher and render it down for lard, for cooking and soaps. We trade eggs for produce or raise our own.
I guess we spend about $5000 a year, if you count the grain for the chickens. If you count the costs of new canning lids, the electricity to freeze/can/dehydrate/bake, or the work effort involved, it's probably a little more. We get the maple chips for meat smoking from our woodcutting for the woodstove, so those are 'free'. But we eat really, really well... last night we had 12 oz. tbones in a honey-balsamic vinegar-garlic marinade, fresh baked potatoes, and fresh green beans, with homemade bread & fresh butter, and pudding.
I spend an average of $70/week to feed myself, my husband, and my cat. It's definitely only an average though. Some weeks I spend only $35 or $40...and then ground chuck goes on sale for $2.99/pound and I buy a few pounds and freeze them in one-pound sections to use for meals in the following weeks.
That is for food only; doesn't include toilet paper or cleaning supplies, kitty litter, etc. etc.
My mother spends around £300 a week for a family of four. I think the food here is more expensive. Similar prices to Canada.
The prices are constantly going up in the UK and when I say constantly they go up every bloody week! Its like 70p for a bag of crisps. Yes a bag of frigging crisps.
A decent steak once a week is $50 a month. Gatorade at 10 bottles a week is $40 a month. 55+ buffet once a week is about $32 a month. A once a month Eat N Park pie of the month is $9. I am at $131 for 8 meals, 6 deserts, and some beverage. A slab of ribs is $23 about once a month. I am probably at a much higher number than the rest of you posters. Just a pound of cherries, 2 oranges, and a cantaloupe is $10. Maybe $500 a month for my large family of one.
The dog comes in at about $2 a day. He likes cesars meals.
DH & I spend about $400 a month on groceries- this includes detergents, hygiene products, cat food, and other miscellany such as trash bags etc though. We rarely eat out- possibly once a month but it's not a given.
I make DH buy any alcoholic products separate from the grocery store budget (I do the grocery shopping, he does the liquor purchases!) but we don't drink all that much so it's no great expense.
P.S. Apart from Cat Food, I don't buy any meat products (I'm vegetarian)- I do however sometimes buy soy substitutes, and always buy plain tofu!
P.P.S. I try to avoid processed foods like the plague and try to make as much from scratch as I possibly can (with the exception of soy meat substitutes that I sometimes buy)- I think this alone brings down my overall food budget!
I now have a spreadsheet with all my grocery items on it. So far this month we have spent $145.00 on groceries for the 2 of us. This does not include beer or food for our dog. She is on a special diet and I have to make her food every day & her Greek Yogurt costs $30.00 a month.
We eat very well and for the exception of bread I make everything from scratch. There aren't any coupons for what I get because we do not eat any processed foods, ect. Those coupons for the Steamfresh veggies cannot be beat. Pork Butt on sale for $1.59 lb. to make pulled pork sandwiches, Rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club, $5.99 for a 3+ lb. chicken makes 2 meals for the 2 of us (4 dinners). I make my own spaghetti sauce, 6 lb. can of tomatoes at Sam's for $2.98, freeze and lasts 6 wks. I am extremely fortunate where our local supermarket grinds their chop meat every day & does not keep any ground Sirloin, Chuck or Round for the next business day. They freeze it and sell it the next day for .99 lb. I stock up on that and always have some in the freezer.
It really is easy to eat cheaply and healthy, it just takes a little bit of work and planning.
Interesting posts. We spend about $65/week for two at the grocery store. Mostly vegetarians with some poultry/beef/pork. Eat eggs, whole grains (barley, quinoa, lentils, beans). I shop specials, a few coupons, and we drink mostly water with a bit of beer/wine on certain nights, coffee for breakfast, sometimes herbal tea at night. Very, very little processed/packaged food.
We eat lightly but adequately. I cook from scratch and we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at home most days. Snacks might be a handful of cherries or some walnuts and raisins. Dessert is often a frozen banana--tastes like banana ice cream.
We eat out maybe one night for dinner weekly--am not including that amount as it varies depending on where we eat--usually $30-$50 with wine.
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