How much money do you eat a day?

135

Replies

  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited April 2015
    mokaiba wrote: »
    xLyric wrote: »
    I just got back from the store with my week's worth of food and was wondering if the $60 was a lot, so I thought I'd ask around and maybe see what other people had to say. If I round up to account for some lunches I already had at home, I'm eating roughly $9 a day. That seems like a lot for me, but it's mainly because I'm a student and don't make very much money. Obviously any replies will similarly be high/low depending on your own circumstances, but I guess I'm just curious now that I'm paying more attention to what I'm spending my money on.

    - $10 chicken breast = 250g average each ~ 9 days worth (I use 3.5 of them a month ~ $35, so $105 for three months)
    - $12 Chia seed bag = 14g each day ~ lasts three months
    - $14 flaxseed bag = 13g each day ~ lasts three months
    - $12 five dozen egg = 7 eggs each day ~ 8.5 days worth (I use 3.5 of them a month ~ $42, so $126 for three months)
    - $6 five lbs baby carrot = 226g per day ~ (1lb=453g) 10 days worth (I use 3 a month ~ $18, so $54 or three months)
    - $48 protein powder 32g = 32g per day ~ 32 days ($144 for three months)

    == $455 per three months
    so, around $151 per month
    which is around, $38 per week (close to $5.50 per day).
    :)

    How big is your flax seed bag? I can get a pound of ground flax seed for around $4 at Meijer-you may be able to find a better deal someplace else, maybe Amazon? Same with chia seeds-I pay around $8 for these.

    eta: if you're in the states check out Amazon-you can get Bobs Red Mill Chia seeds 4-pack for $37.39. That's for 4 pounds and free shipping :) Also some really good prices on flax seed there too.

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I - 1 adult - spend around 2500 NOK a month for groceries, including non-food, and some meals out of the house (cheap family restaurant-type places, maybe 2-3 times a month). That's around $71/week or $10/day. I eat mostly cheap stuff like jasmine rice, potatoes, crispbread, oatmeal, milk, carrots, frozen peas, apples, tuna, cheap cuts of meat, but quite a lot of meat, and some more expensive fruits, cheeses, nut butters etc. Try to avoid "health food" and "organic" stuff unless nothing else is available or the price is the same.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    family of 5 - if i had to guess, i would guess $150-200 a week (some weeks more, some less), but thats not counting me and hubby eating lunch out pretty frequently.
  • JenD1066
    JenD1066 Posts: 298 Member
    For just myself - about $18 including beverages.
  • castelluzzo99
    castelluzzo99 Posts: 313 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    I've never eaten money before.

    Someone just had to say that!

    My brother lived on about $20 a week at one point. Not a lot of variety and not very healthy, but poor student makes frugal easier.

    Our family of 5 eats for just over $500 a month. The more people you feed, the lower your cost per person is, because you can justify (and afford) big bulk purchases like 25 lb of oats and rice and beans, and bulk is cheaper. That works out to roughly $35 a day, or $7 per person. And we buy most produce organic. And GF foods for 3 of our family. So I'm sure if we weren't concerned about organic and non-GMO, we could get it under $5 per person per day.
  • alysme
    alysme Posts: 81 Member
    We spend about £45 for two of us plus a meal out each week and a few odds and sods for lunch. I try to take salad for lunch at work, but sometimes I'm either lazy or hungry.
    Our cupboards are well stocked with basics, herbs, spices etc.
  • sclause
    sclause Posts: 86 Member
    I live off about 180 a month for just me soo 45 a week? I don't eat any beef or pork and rarely eat chicken or fish as a personal preference. I try to buy organic when I can and drink almond milk, and I go through a lot of produce. I drink a cup of organic coffee daily and usually make it into a coffee protein shake.
  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
    Aldi Rocks

    Yes... yes it does!
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    Going to be hard to compare with different countries.

    I have no idea how much I spend a day. Since I buy food twice a week and it's normally 50-150 I think but not all of its food.

    During the week for lunch I spend $5. When I have pizza it's like $19 but that's 2 meals worth.

  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    I can easily spend under $2 in a day's meals by eating a frittata, soup, and something like rice and beans.

    My family (2 adults, one hungry child!) spends around $70/week.
  • c23prince
    c23prince Posts: 84
    10 to 15 depending on the day
  • SteveMFP123
    SteveMFP123 Posts: 298 Member
    Rough estimates:

    Breakfast £1.50
    Lunch £1
    Dinner £3.50
    Snacks £1
    Drinks £1

    So about £8/day
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    I eat roughly ZERO dollars a day for most of the year.

    No, seriously, Mother Nature is mostly what I need
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
    I eat roughly ZERO dollars a day for most of the year.

    No, seriously, Mother Nature is mostly what I need

    Wow, that's awesome! I wouldn't have guessed that you were a gardener.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    I eat roughly ZERO dollars a day for most of the year.

    No, seriously, Mother Nature is mostly what I need

    Gardening is great. But even that costs money. You have to plant from seeds, pay for fertilizer or plant food, water, and heck, you need access to the land to grow stuff on in the first place, so property ownership or community garden fees or whatnot.

    No such thing as a free lunch.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Too hard to say, as I have a teenager.
  • tephanies1234
    tephanies1234 Posts: 299 Member
    $100 CAD for 2 people for food only items. This includes stocking up on sale items and keeping the pantry full at all times. A good portion of the food does not get completely consumed each week and carries over. We could spend less if we needed to no doubt. We also choose to eat out once a week at an extra cost.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    segacs wrote: »
    I eat roughly ZERO dollars a day for most of the year.

    No, seriously, Mother Nature is mostly what I need

    Gardening is great. But even that costs money. You have to plant from seeds, pay for fertilizer or plant food, water, and heck, you need access to the land to grow stuff on in the first place, so property ownership or community garden fees or whatnot.

    No such thing as a free lunch.

    That's basically what I was going to say. Even his time could be assigned a dollar value.

    So even if he stole seeds and planted them on public property like a forest like a marijuana farm it still wouldn't be free.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    edited April 2015
    segacs wrote: »
    I eat roughly ZERO dollars a day for most of the year.

    No, seriously, Mother Nature is mostly what I need

    Gardening is great. But even that costs money. You have to plant from seeds, pay for fertilizer or plant food, water, and heck, you need access to the land to grow stuff on in the first place, so property ownership or community garden fees or whatnot.

    No such thing as a free lunch.

    Yer doin' it wrong.

    I pay zero for seeds. Zero for fertilizer. Zero for water. The land I had long before gardening. Already a sunk cost.

    Time would be the only valid argument, but I guarantee you I spend less time gardening than you do shopping in your grocery store.

  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    segacs wrote: »
    I eat roughly ZERO dollars a day for most of the year.

    No, seriously, Mother Nature is mostly what I need

    Gardening is great. But even that costs money. You have to plant from seeds, pay for fertilizer or plant food, water, and heck, you need access to the land to grow stuff on in the first place, so property ownership or community garden fees or whatnot.

    No such thing as a free lunch.

    Yer doin' it wrong.

    I pay zero for seeds. Zero for fertilizer. Zero for water. The land I had long before gardening. Already a sunk cost.

    Time would be the only valid argument, but I guarantee you I spend less time gardening than you do shopping in your grocery store.
    Your diary doesn't show home grown foods, unless you grew a Kroger and a Five Guys.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    edited April 2015
    segacs wrote: »
    I eat roughly ZERO dollars a day for most of the year.

    No, seriously, Mother Nature is mostly what I need

    Gardening is great. But even that costs money. You have to plant from seeds, pay for fertilizer or plant food, water, and heck, you need access to the land to grow stuff on in the first place, so property ownership or community garden fees or whatnot.

    No such thing as a free lunch.

    Yer doin' it wrong.

    I pay zero for seeds. Zero for fertilizer. Zero for water. The land I had long before gardening. Already a sunk cost.

    Time would be the only valid argument, but I guarantee you I spend less time gardening than you do shopping in your grocery store.
    Your diary doesn't show home grown foods, unless you grew a Kroger and a Five Guys.

    I grow those every winter after I've just, y'know, thrown away all that juicy produce, right?



  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I spend about $100 per week for one person, with about $35 of that going to a cafeteria I eat at nearly every day.
  • lindaloo1213
    lindaloo1213 Posts: 283 Member
    edited April 2015
    $80-$110 a week for a family of 4. We get takeout maybe 1x A week for dinner for around $15-$30 depending on what it is. We take leftovers from dinner for lunch or make sandwiches And yogurt.
  • MelissaAnn1983
    MelissaAnn1983 Posts: 149 Member
    Not sure what I can spend now yet. I have just jumped back on the bandwagon. When I was on it I was spending anywhere from $40-$80 a week and that was with me buying for 2 weeks at a time. I would also have to always replace my fruit and veggies because they went bad before I could eat them all. But now we have an agreement in the house with dinners. The 3 of us cooks dinner for 2 nights a week and buys the food. The other night we take turns going out to eat. I probably spend about $20 on 2 dinners. So right now I take care of my own breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I have noticed that groceries have went up lately. I also live outside of Atlanta so things really are not that cheap. I have a friend who has her own chickens so I get a fresh dozen for $3.50. I could probably actually live off $30 a week for snacks, breakfast, and lunch.
  • FrogDog47
    FrogDog47 Posts: 2 Member
    My congratulations and envy to all of you.

    2 adults ~ $525 per week. We're TRYING to get it down to $400 per week.

    This is everything, we track it all in Quicken.
    Groceries
    Restaurants
    Take out & Delivery (grubhub)
    Bars & Alcohol

    We've both re-joined MFP so we're expecting Alcohol and Takeout to drop.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    FrogDog47 wrote: »
    My congratulations and envy to all of you.

    2 adults ~ $525 per week. We're TRYING to get it down to $400 per week.

    This is everything, we track it all in Quicken.
    Groceries
    Restaurants
    Take out & Delivery (grubhub)
    Bars & Alcohol
    Dollar bills

    We've both re-joined MFP so we're expecting Alcohol and Takeout to drop.

    FIFY
    :p
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Since we grow/raise/hunt a good deal of our food, it's really difficult to calculate food expenses. The food is seemingly "free" until you start figuring in the cost of things like guns, ammo, fertilizers, equipment, gas, seeds, canning jars, feed, fencing, etc.
  • skbrodie
    skbrodie Posts: 81 Member
    About $100 a week for my boyfriend and I, including non-food items.
  • joshuapowell1989
    joshuapowell1989 Posts: 163 Member
    I spend about £50 a week for two of us. Still finding our feet and trying new things. So not always 1 strict weeks food sometimes get bits for the second week also.
  • MelissaAnn1983
    MelissaAnn1983 Posts: 149 Member
    FrogDog47 wrote: »
    My congratulations and envy to all of you.

    2 adults ~ $525 per week. We're TRYING to get it down to $400 per week.

    This is everything, we track it all in Quicken.
    Groceries
    Restaurants
    Take out & Delivery (grubhub)
    Bars & Alcohol

    We've both re-joined MFP so we're expecting Alcohol and Takeout to drop.

    I didn't count what I eat out. If I did it would be a lot. I probably easily spend $100 a week on eating out right now. But that is stopping today. I will spend no more than 20 a week.