MetaChat - Dear singletons - what's your monthly food budget?

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16 April 2008

Dear singletons - what's your monthly food budget? Almost posted this to AskMe, but since it's chatfilter might as well go whole hog with it!→[More:]A friend and I were talking about how much we spend on food a month, which I brought up because I'm trying to budget more carefully each month.

Anyway, turns out she spends like 3 times more than what I do, despite making about 2/3 of my income. We determined it's because she lives in a neighborhood with a lot of great dining and hates cooking/buying groceries so she goes out a lot more.

So how much do you spend, or what percent of your total budget does it take up? Including groceries, eating out, drinks, etc. I'm most interested in numbers for single folks, so if you're in a family unit how much does it break down per person? I think buying in bulk, etc, makes a big impact too though so maybe the better question is how much would you spend if you were only eating for you. I understand that the dollar exchange, where you live, etc, are all factors. I'm not actually planning on basing my own spending on yours, just curious...all the budget information out there tends to be based on a family of four which is almost useless to me.

For the record, I was spending less than 10% of my net monthly income on food, which I have bumped up slightly since my friends are sick of me saying I'm going to eat dinner at home every night.

post by: SassHat at: 14:22 | 10 comments

My budget for when I was single was pretty much the same as our budget now that we're living together, because I hate to cook and I ate out all the time before MuddDude became my live-in chef. Our budget now is about $400 a month, which is just about 10% of our net income. When I was living alone, it was closer to 15% of my solo income.

posted by muddgirl 16 April | 15:08

I buy a lot of bulk stuff and make the basics from there. Rice, dried beans, soy protein, veg stock, like that. I also have a pressure cooker that really cuts down on the prep time of dried beans, otherwise it's a lot more work. Veg and fruit I can buy really cheap, so I'm usually spending about $30 a week (or less) for all meals. Total/month is about $250, unless I'm buying more things like crackers or antipasto or expensive pasta/cheese/fish/stuff from the Italian/Japanese specialty stores, then it's about $350 CAD.

Eating out - it's pretty rare I do that so when I do, I'll spend as much as I need to as I figure that I may as well enjoy myself. Depending on where I am and the company, it's usually $20-50 on food and drink.
General alcohol consumption is about $30-50/month, or less. Er. Unless I go out with friends, then it's more, and there's usually a $15 taxi ride at the end. Er... also it's more if I decide that a nice bottle of single malt is necessary. But I don't do that very often either, so I don't count that as being part of the general expenditures (same as eating out).

posted by Zack_Replica 16 April | 15:12

I figure about 75 bucks a week including booze and eating out. I don't eat out much since I'm antisocial. I do tend to splurge on good quality food. I don't eat a lot of meat, but I spend extra on gourmet items. If I want wehani rice, I'll get it. Luckily I make enough that it's not really an issue.

posted by eekacat 16 April | 15:22

I'm almost exactly like Zack_Replica. I separate my "grocery" budget and my "eating out" budget, so I have 2 food budgets. I really try to minimize eating out unless it's a treat and worth it, because it's so horrifically expensive just to use it as a convenience.

So for me, $250 a month on food does it, pretty much. I also do a lot of pantry cooking and don't use all that much meat, so that saves money. Lots of cans and boxes - beans, rice, pasta, broth, tomatoes. Then I supplement all that with fresh veggies and a few staple things like yogurt for breakfast, granola bars for snacks, and some frozen-meal lunches for when I don't have it together to pack leftovers up the night before.

posted by Miko 16 April | 15:24

We spend around $500 a month at the supermarket and and maybe another $250 eating out. The $500 is both food non-food stuff for three adults and two cats. But my wife gets free lunch and dinner at work and I get free dinner three days a week and since my son works at a sandwich shop he get free food too.

posted by octothorpe 16 April | 15:32

When I was single (nine years ago) it was about $100-$125 per week including eating out. I ate out a lot - during the week both breakfast and lunch were bought. I didn't eat dinner except for a bowl of cereal or bag of popcorn if the hunger pangs were too fierce. I lost a lot of weight; it was great. Wish I could go back to that.

Oddly enough, the mister and I don't spend a lot more now; maybe $100 more per month.

posted by deborah 16 April | 17:18

The three of us spend around $100 - $125 per week. Not including eating out but including one or two bottles of wine.

posted by danf 16 April | 17:40

Booze, takeout and eating out. Probably about $220.00 a week.

posted by seanyboy 16 April | 18:00

Don't drink, don't eat out much - I cook and eat alone almost every night and generally it's a chicken breast/pork chop & veggies/salad kind of thing. I have a cheap sandwich at lunch a couple time a week but generally take last night's leftovers for lunch - cooking budget is between US $50 and $75 a week and lunch is about $20 a week.

posted by disclaimer 16 April | 20:56

Not an eater-out for fitness and financial reasons. I prepare all of my own meals to the greatest extent possible. If it's a desperate situation (r.g, I don't get a chance to hit a grocery store before work in the morning), I might run out and grab something convenient, but that usually means a run to the Trader Joe's prefab section.

The cornerstones of my diet are tea, chicken breast, raw fruit and veggies, cold cuts, and protein powder. If I classify protein powder as "food," that stuff runs me $80/month for my particular brand. If not, the rest costs me about $60/week. That includes a little leg room for occasional indulgences like fresh loaves of bread from La Brea Bakery and certain luxury items from TJ's/Whole Foods.

posted by mykescipark 17 April | 04:27

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