Comments on: Do you have weird food (spending) habits?

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:20:24 +0000

Embarrassed to say I probably spend more on food (groceries & restaurant) than I do on rent each month. It's tough for me to keep my food spending low when I'm eating with my husband, because while I'm happy to eat something plain or vaguely gross when I'm by myself, there's just something about sharing a meal with someone I love that makes me want to cook an actual nice meal.

And because he's from a country famous for the quality of its food, a nice meal means a big meal with good quality ingredients. And because of where I live, good-quality ingredients are damned expensive! Reining in the food budget is my biggest budget problem right now.

By: mona

mona — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:59:31 +0000

We are a family of 5 and our food budget is $200 a month. We eat very well. I cook all the food from scratch, make my own bread, cereals, etc. We can make three meals out of one whole chicken. I am surprised that you think $200 for one person is low. That’s crazy.

By: jack + jill

jack + jill — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:14:36 +0000

Our food budget(dining out and grocery shopping) is way more than $200 and we don’t even have dinner most weekdays. We’re hoping to eventually cut down our budget to about $200-$300 but that means pretty much eating home or bringing lunch to work everyday, which is not always possible.

By: Cami

Cami — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:47:27 +0000

I try to keep hubby and I’s grocery bill under $200 for the month and it is HARD. We make a list of items and go once a week, aiming to only spend about $35-50 each trip. I always take lunch to work, usually toss in some fruit, nuts, leftovers… I try to eat as healthy as possible for the least cost possible, and it’s very difficult/frustrating because “healthy” items/versions of products are twice the cost… ugh.

By: PartialExponent

PartialExponent — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:10:40 +0000

Ha, sounds a lot like what I usually eat! Except I am a sucker for fine dining so it usually ends up being MUCH higher than $200. On the bright side, I will definitely make a more concerted effort to cook from scratch more after I move next month and have a better kitchen at my disposal.

I’m curious though, how does your weekday food cost “no money”? Surely Trader Joe’s isn’t giving away “noodles w/ chicken soup, canned soups, frozen chicken breasts, frozen veggies” for free?

Squally Reach – that’s a great idea, but you do have to anticipate getting tired of eating the same thing over and over! I made a huge pot of chili this past weekend, and now I find myself looking for excuses to eat out, just to avoid looking the 85% pot I have left…

By: Squally Reach

Squally Reach — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:20:32 +0000

I highly recommend this strategy: On the weekend, make a giant pot of soup or stew (from scratch!). There are plenty of great recipes for soups that don’t call for expensive ingredients… chili, chicken soup, potato leek, carrot soup, etc. Let the soup cool and the portion it into strong freezer bags or reusable tupperware. Throughout the following weeks if you don’t have time to make a proper meal, you can just defrost one of the soups, saving both time and money.

By: Ricky

Ricky — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:12:23 +0000

Its tour body! You only have one. You shouldn’t be having so much junk and processed foods. That’s why there’s so much obesity, and health problems. Plus all those chemicals in processed foods. Can we say cancer?

By: Abigail

Abigail — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:32:43 +0000

I’m shooting for $200 for my and my husband’s food each month. That’s not including a once-a-week small splurge for takeout or dine-in.

But it’s harder for us to be frugal because he has certain foods he can’t eat because he has dentures (inherited calcium deficiency plus years of steroids for eczema & asthma) and I am something of a picky eater.

A lot of it seems to be about doing research. We’re going to start looking up crockpot recipes on the web. You can make everything from soups to baked potatoes to a whole pot roast in those things! And whenever we see an offer for a free recipe book, I sign up. Merck was giving away a Light & Easy recipes book that should help open up my husband’s cooking repetoire.

I think the big thing is to also have backups. You have noodles. I have PBJ/frozen pizza; my husband has hot dogs/frozen pizza. So if we can’t bring ourselves to bother with cooking, we have plausible reasons not to eat out, either.

By: Money Maus

Money Maus — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:07:15 +0000

I give myself a $300 food budget each month, split evenly between groceries and restaurants – however I come under every time! (Maybe I need to re-evaluated that soon.) If I could dine out all the time, I would! But I don’t, I am learning to cook and it’s fun – and it’s definitely cheaper!

But it’s whatever works for everyone individually. We all have different eating habits!

By: Midwest Chick

Midwest Chick — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:42:40 +0000

I try to limit my food spending to $125 each month. $200 would be great if I had the money, but I do just fine with what I have. I do limit my meat purchases to achieve this goal each month.

By: Revanche

Revanche — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:14:17 +0000

Heh, I do the ketchup on my eggs whenever they’re scrambled. They just don’t seem right without it. I used to do a lot of chicken and rice, with some ketchup. If I throw salads in at least one meal a day, as my lunches are usually cobbled together as well, I feel like I’m doing pretty well.

By: R.A.

R.A. — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:40:09 +0000

That’s funny that she thought $200 a month for one person was low. My husband and I don’t spend $200 a month on groceries for the two of us. Even adding on the money we spend to eat out wouldn’t put us over $200!

By: SP

SP — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:38:22 +0000

Eww, ketchup on your eggs? My mom does that and it grosses me out!

Interesting way to keep your food budget low!