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How much do you/should you spend on food (US)?
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Packerjohn wrote: »$600-700 per month for my bf and me including toilettries. I live in an expensive area (Southern California) and buy only free range or grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, wild caught shrimp, and organic fruits and veggies on the dirty dozen list. I do buy some things in bulk which saves money. I'm not sure if this is a lot or not. I do use coupons when possible. I just calculated that what I spend is 8% of my take home pay. My mortgage is 45% of my income and the biggest expense. I dont eat out much, maybe twice a month.
The grass fed beef I buy is $10/1 lb ground beef.
$4/half gallon milk.
$4/lb strawberries.
$8/lb chicken.
$5/package of 7 slices turkey bacon.
$5/dozen eggs.
$4/lb honeycrisp apples.
To be intellectually honest though you are choosing to pay 2-4X the cost for free range, organics, etc.
I realize that. It is important to me to buy humanely raised food and sustainable food though.1 -
$600-700 per month for my bf and me including toilettries. I live in an expensive area (Southern California) and buy only free range or grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, wild caught shrimp, and organic fruits and veggies on the dirty dozen list. I do buy some things in bulk which saves money. I'm not sure if this is a lot or not. I do use coupons when possible. I just calculated that what I spend is 8% of my take home pay. My mortgage is 45% of my income and the biggest expense. I dont eat out much, maybe twice a month.
The grass fed beef I buy is $10/1 lb ground beef.
$4/half gallon milk.
$4/lb strawberries.
$8/lb chicken.
$5/package of 7 slices turkey bacon.
$5/dozen eggs.
$4/lb honeycrisp apples.
See yeah I am definitely doing something wrong then. Your take home is similar to mine but I'm spending twice the amount on food while not buying organic free range grass fed pasture raised type foods. That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
Also damn on that mortgage, thought mine was expensive but yours is like another 1k more. So-Cal I suppose.
I spend about 15% on food, about 30% on mortgage, 10% on other house stuff, 30% on child care...so not a lot left for additional savings or other costs clothes/entertainment/bill's etc. Cutting food down to 8% would be nice.0 -
My family of four spends about 150 a week. Out of our total income it's about 10%1
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I'd say between $150-$200 per week.0
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »$600-700 per month for my bf and me including toilettries. I live in an expensive area (Southern California) and buy only free range or grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, wild caught shrimp, and organic fruits and veggies on the dirty dozen list. I do buy some things in bulk which saves money. I'm not sure if this is a lot or not. I do use coupons when possible. I just calculated that what I spend is 8% of my take home pay. My mortgage is 45% of my income and the biggest expense. I dont eat out much, maybe twice a month.
The grass fed beef I buy is $10/1 lb ground beef.
$4/half gallon milk.
$4/lb strawberries.
$8/lb chicken.
$5/package of 7 slices turkey bacon.
$5/dozen eggs.
$4/lb honeycrisp apples.
See yeah I am definitely doing something wrong then. Your take home is similar to mine but I'm spending twice the amount on food while not buying organic free range grass fed pasture raised type foods. That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
Also damn on that mortgage, thought mine was expensive but yours is like another 1k more. So-Cal I suppose.
I spend about 15% on food, about 30% on mortgage, 10% on other house stuff, 30% on child care...so not a lot left for additional savings or other costs clothes/entertainment/bill's etc. Cutting food down to 8% would be nice.
The price of where you live.
Living in SE Wisconsin tapping into two major metros and taking full advantage of the poor policies of Illinois my budget breakdown is 5% food, 15% mortgage (making double payments), 10% child care...
...and in addition to Wal-Mart, Costco, Aldi's, we have Woodman's:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhN9_leIXQLQThPM0MxQzlxRU0/view
Smart Chicagoans hold a periodic pilgrimage to Woodman's to purchase staples and avoid the prohibitive Chicago taxes.0 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »$600-700 per month for my bf and me including toilettries. I live in an expensive area (Southern California) and buy only free range or grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, wild caught shrimp, and organic fruits and veggies on the dirty dozen list. I do buy some things in bulk which saves money. I'm not sure if this is a lot or not. I do use coupons when possible. I just calculated that what I spend is 8% of my take home pay. My mortgage is 45% of my income and the biggest expense. I dont eat out much, maybe twice a month.
The grass fed beef I buy is $10/1 lb ground beef.
$4/half gallon milk.
$4/lb strawberries.
$8/lb chicken.
$5/package of 7 slices turkey bacon.
$5/dozen eggs.
$4/lb honeycrisp apples.
See yeah I am definitely doing something wrong then. Your take home is similar to mine but I'm spending twice the amount on food while not buying organic free range grass fed pasture raised type foods. That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
Also damn on that mortgage, thought mine was expensive but yours is like another 1k more. So-Cal I suppose.
I spend about 15% on food, about 30% on mortgage, 10% on other house stuff, 30% on child care...so not a lot left for additional savings or other costs clothes/entertainment/bill's etc. Cutting food down to 8% would be nice.
Yeah, cost of living sucks here. It is insane. LOL. I mean I feel like my grocery bill is pretty high. I guess I save some money by getting deals here and there but the main things that add up are the produce, dairy, and meat, for sure. I buy canned and dry goods, and TP and stuff from Costco or Winco to save money. Sometimes I get stuff on sale. I get my shrimp at Trader Joe's, $10/lb. I do like to eat shrimp and buy boneless, skinless chicken which is pretty pricy. I have been buying more organic ground turkey instead of beef, which is cheaper and healthier. My takehome pay is only about 60% of my income. So much tax here in Cali too. How much do you spend?0 -
Hi, @Aaron_k123.That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
I too found that a significant portion of my spending swings was for non-food consumables. At the time I was unemployed, and reasoned that I could put off buying aluminum foil or light bulbs for a couple of weeks but not necessary food, so I created three different budget line items:
Household sundries (everything needed to keep me, my clothes, and my home clean and functioning)
Groceries (fresh food needed for this week's meals)
Pantry/Freezer (dry, jarred, canned, frozen, meat)
It was eye-opening. I can say that I spend less by separating them out, but that was due in large part to reducing food waste and buying significantly more on sale (so better timing of purchases). It also enabled me to alter the timing on my purchases at a time when my money was very tight.
I now use the zero-based allocation budgeting app called YNAB (You Need a Budget) and would not hesitate to recommend the app to anyone. They offer a free 34-day trial (without the need to use your credit card to access the free trial).1 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »$600-700 per month for my bf and me including toilettries. I live in an expensive area (Southern California) and buy only free range or grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, wild caught shrimp, and organic fruits and veggies on the dirty dozen list. I do buy some things in bulk which saves money. I'm not sure if this is a lot or not. I do use coupons when possible. I just calculated that what I spend is 8% of my take home pay. My mortgage is 45% of my income and the biggest expense. I dont eat out much, maybe twice a month.
The grass fed beef I buy is $10/1 lb ground beef.
$4/half gallon milk.
$4/lb strawberries.
$8/lb chicken.
$5/package of 7 slices turkey bacon.
$5/dozen eggs.
$4/lb honeycrisp apples.
See yeah I am definitely doing something wrong then. Your take home is similar to mine but I'm spending twice the amount on food while not buying organic free range grass fed pasture raised type foods. That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
Also damn on that mortgage, thought mine was expensive but yours is like another 1k more. So-Cal I suppose.
I spend about 15% on food, about 30% on mortgage, 10% on other house stuff, 30% on child care...so not a lot left for additional savings or other costs clothes/entertainment/bill's etc. Cutting food down to 8% would be nice.
Yeah, cost of living sucks here. It is insane. LOL. I mean I feel like my grocery bill is pretty high. I guess I save some money by getting deals here and there but the main things that add up are the produce, dairy, and meat, for sure. I buy canned and dry goods, and TP and stuff from Costco or Winco to save money. Sometimes I get stuff on sale. I get my shrimp at Trader Joe's, $10/lb. I do like to eat shrimp and buy boneless, skinless chicken which is pretty pricy. I have been buying more organic ground turkey instead of beef, which is cheaper and healthier. My takehome pay is only about 60% of my income. So much tax here in Cali too. How much do you spend?
Well heck I guess I have nothing to hide with my expenses so to be fully open I have a family of four (myself, my wife and my two 1.5 y/o twin daughters. Expenses are about $1300/mo in food, $2350/mo in mortgage, $1000/mo in prop tax, insurance, utility, $250/mo phone/internet and $2500/mo in child-care. The remaining gets typically taken up by expenses related to car plus various sundries and travel. We are pretty frugal when it comes to material things or entertainment. Home expenses and child-care are pretty fixed so really the only flexibility I have there is food. Without taking a hard look at that food costs are just going to grow as our kids grow. I recognize with some effort I could probably lower our food costs by a lot, just a question of whether I want to put effort into that or not.
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PloddingTurtle wrote: »Hi, @Aaron_k123.That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
I too found that a significant portion of my spending swings was for non-food consumables. At the time I was unemployed, and reasoned that I could put off buying aluminum foil or light bulbs for a couple of weeks but not necessary food, so I created three different budget line items:
Household sundries (everything needed to keep me, my clothes, and my home clean and functioning)
Groceries (fresh food needed for this week's meals)
Pantry/Freezer (dry, jarred, canned, frozen, meat)
It was eye-opening. I can say that I spend less by separating them out, but that was due in large part to reducing food waste and buying significantly more on sale (so better timing of purchases). It also enabled me to alter the timing on my purchases at a time when my money was very tight.
I now use the zero-based allocation budgeting app called YNAB (You Need a Budget) and would not hesitate to recommend the app to anyone. They offer a free 34-day trial (without the need to use your credit card to access the free trial).
Well although that is true I'm not including any sundries in my food expenses, I just mean non-grocery purchased foods which is probably where I can focus if I want to save money on food costs.0 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »$600-700 per month for my bf and me including toilettries. I live in an expensive area (Southern California) and buy only free range or grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, wild caught shrimp, and organic fruits and veggies on the dirty dozen list. I do buy some things in bulk which saves money. I'm not sure if this is a lot or not. I do use coupons when possible. I just calculated that what I spend is 8% of my take home pay. My mortgage is 45% of my income and the biggest expense. I dont eat out much, maybe twice a month.
The grass fed beef I buy is $10/1 lb ground beef.
$4/half gallon milk.
$4/lb strawberries.
$8/lb chicken.
$5/package of 7 slices turkey bacon.
$5/dozen eggs.
$4/lb honeycrisp apples.
See yeah I am definitely doing something wrong then. Your take home is similar to mine but I'm spending twice the amount on food while not buying organic free range grass fed pasture raised type foods. That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
Also damn on that mortgage, thought mine was expensive but yours is like another 1k more. So-Cal I suppose.
I spend about 15% on food, about 30% on mortgage, 10% on other house stuff, 30% on child care...so not a lot left for additional savings or other costs clothes/entertainment/bill's etc. Cutting food down to 8% would be nice.
The price of where you live.
Living in SE Wisconsin tapping into two major metros and taking full advantage of the poor policies of Illinois my budget breakdown is 5% food, 15% mortgage (making double payments), 10% child care...
...and in addition to Wal-Mart, Costco, Aldi's, we have Woodman's:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhN9_leIXQLQThPM0MxQzlxRU0/view
Smart Chicagoans hold a periodic pilgrimage to Woodman's to purchase staples and avoid the prohibitive Chicago taxes.
Biggest cost difference between where I live on the west coast and where you live in the midwest is probably housing costs. Not exaggerating to say the cost of a house is probably 5 times as much for what you get.
Median home price in Chicago is $196k, in Seattle it is $777k.
Compared to that differences in food cost is pretty insubstantial honestly. Its just that I can't do anything about home cost, but I can about food so that is the focus at the moment.0 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »$600-700 per month for my bf and me including toilettries. I live in an expensive area (Southern California) and buy only free range or grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, wild caught shrimp, and organic fruits and veggies on the dirty dozen list. I do buy some things in bulk which saves money. I'm not sure if this is a lot or not. I do use coupons when possible. I just calculated that what I spend is 8% of my take home pay. My mortgage is 45% of my income and the biggest expense. I dont eat out much, maybe twice a month.
The grass fed beef I buy is $10/1 lb ground beef.
$4/half gallon milk.
$4/lb strawberries.
$8/lb chicken.
$5/package of 7 slices turkey bacon.
$5/dozen eggs.
$4/lb honeycrisp apples.
See yeah I am definitely doing something wrong then. Your take home is similar to mine but I'm spending twice the amount on food while not buying organic free range grass fed pasture raised type foods. That said looks like less than half of my food costs are from groceries so that is probably what I should address if I want to bring cost down.
Also damn on that mortgage, thought mine was expensive but yours is like another 1k more. So-Cal I suppose.
I spend about 15% on food, about 30% on mortgage, 10% on other house stuff, 30% on child care...so not a lot left for additional savings or other costs clothes/entertainment/bill's etc. Cutting food down to 8% would be nice.
The price of where you live.
Living in SE Wisconsin tapping into two major metros and taking full advantage of the poor policies of Illinois my budget breakdown is 5% food, 15% mortgage (making double payments), 10% child care...
...and in addition to Wal-Mart, Costco, Aldi's, we have Woodman's:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhN9_leIXQLQThPM0MxQzlxRU0/view
Smart Chicagoans hold a periodic pilgrimage to Woodman's to purchase staples and avoid the prohibitive Chicago taxes.
We live downstate IL mid-size community. We don't have the child care, but the food and mortgage % are similar. Our house sits on a golf course about $300k, same house in S. Cali or Seattle would be 4-5X as much.
One of our sons lives in Madison so we hit up the Woodmans there, great store. Also hit the one just north of Pleasant Prairie when we take our trip to the outlet mall there to stock up.0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »We live downstate IL mid-size community....same house in S. Cali or Seattle would be 4-5X as much.
Yeah not even an exaggeration....pretty spot on. Median price per square foot for houses:
Seattle: $506
Los Angeles: $635
Illinois: $141
Illinois x 4 = Seattle
Illinois x 5 = So Cal.
Your house would probably be ~1.2 million in Seattle. Food prices probably a little higher in Seattle as well but not nearly to that degree.0 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »We live downstate IL mid-size community....same house in S. Cali or Seattle would be 4-5X as much.
Yeah not even an exaggeration....pretty spot on. Median price per square foot for houses:
Seattle: $506
Los Angeles: $635
Illinois: $141
Illinois x 4 = Seattle
Illinois x 5 = So Cal.
Your house would probably be ~1.2 million in Seattle. Food prices probably a little higher in Seattle as well but not nearly to that degree.
Acutely aware after family moved from St. Louis to Mission Viejo in the mid 1970s and living as a single sailor in San Diego in 1996. Food, gas, basics in general were about double the price largely due to taxes associated with the product. Economics in motion - supply and demand.0 -
@ aaron_K123 we must live very close to each other, lol. My rent in Seattle is more than twice what I've ever paid before (in other states). I have no yard, no storage, no garage, no place for company to sit, no dinner table, no fun places to walk to, a fridge that barely holds anything, traffic noise that keeps me up at night, routine break-ins and a property manager that tells us to quit using the door so much rather than replacing it when it imploded. All things I had and took for granted before I moved here. I've done very well at work and earn 170% what I earned just 5 years ago, yet I still live in the nicest place I can afford.
This thread has been incredibly interesting and informative. Back when I lived sub-poverty, I spent 9% of my take-home on food and was really proud of how well I ate given the restraints (60% went to medical expenses). When I finally swallowed my pride and went on food stamps, my food budget doubled for nothing and felt like I was living high on the hog. Now I spend 17% on food. I make more money, so this isn't busting my budget, but I feel terrible about it, like I am doing it wrong. It seems like I should be able to eat more indulgently having more income, but still keep it at 9-10%. That personal take is why I asked the questions I did. Looking at national averages and medians is misleading- at least in Seattle the top 20% make 3 times (or more) than the bottom 20% (or close to that, I'd have to dig out my report to get it exact).0 -
As I'm reading this, there's an ad on the page for 3-bedroom townhomes in Vancouver starting at $1,999,800. You know they'll be the size of a shoebox, too. And we have the highest gas prices in North America. I don't know how young families can even survive here anymore.0
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I'm in the ballpark of maybe around 30% give or take. It's a bit higher because I do grab a cup of Starbucks iced coffee every morning and I buy protein products as well. I don't mind paying it though because they are healthy treats that I enjoy and help me to stay on target with my weight loss goals.0
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »We live downstate IL mid-size community....same house in S. Cali or Seattle would be 4-5X as much.
Yeah not even an exaggeration....pretty spot on. Median price per square foot for houses:
Seattle: $506
Los Angeles: $635
Illinois: $141
Illinois x 4 = Seattle
Illinois x 5 = So Cal.
Your house would probably be ~1.2 million in Seattle. Food prices probably a little higher in Seattle as well but not nearly to that degree.
Acutely aware after family moved from St. Louis to Mission Viejo in the mid 1970s and living as a single sailor in San Diego in 1996. Food, gas, basics in general were about double the price largely due to taxes associated with the product. Economics in motion - supply and demand.
I don't want to divert too much from the thread's topic, but housing (in Seattle at least) is NOT economics in motion. It's investors having their fun. The demand for low-income housing is through the roof. Nine percent of children attending public schools do not have a roof over their heads at night. An overwhelming number of adults living without shelter are employed full time. But there are plenty of housing options for the top 20% and plenty of vacant properties too (although a lot of that is zoned for business). I'm sure we'll be like Vancouver, BC soon, with vacant overpriced properties everywhere you look.2 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »We live downstate IL mid-size community....same house in S. Cali or Seattle would be 4-5X as much.
Yeah not even an exaggeration....pretty spot on. Median price per square foot for houses:
Seattle: $506
Los Angeles: $635
Illinois: $141
Illinois x 4 = Seattle
Illinois x 5 = So Cal.
Your house would probably be ~1.2 million in Seattle. Food prices probably a little higher in Seattle as well but not nearly to that degree.
Acutely aware after family moved from St. Louis to Mission Viejo in the mid 1970s and living as a single sailor in San Diego in 1996. Food, gas, basics in general were about double the price largely due to taxes associated with the product. Economics in motion - supply and demand.
I don't want to divert too much from the thread's topic, but housing (in Seattle at least) is NOT economics in motion. It's investors having their fun. The demand for low-income housing is through the roof. Nine percent of children attending public schools do not have a roof over their heads at night. An overwhelming number of adults living without shelter are employed full time. But there are plenty of housing options for the top 20% and plenty of vacant properties too (although a lot of that is zoned for business). I'm sure we'll be like Vancouver, BC soon, with vacant overpriced properties everywhere you look.
High demand, low supply. How is this not economics? Seattle's primary issue is dealing with reality.
You can either rail against a system which you have no control over, or you can change that which you have control over. Get a group of investors together and purchase property offering low-income housing.0 -
For me, we have a family of 6 and spend about $600 a month on food1
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I spend about $100/week for 2. I also can't do dairy products, not a big fan of beef, pork, or shellfish, and I have a small veggie garden and 2 fruit trees.1
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