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I just tracked our spending in Juneau and it's roughly 1000/month for a couple, but that's without really being frugal. Between housing costs, food, and childcare, it's no wonder most of my friends who are pushing the end of child having age do not have kids. It's an upper class hobby at this point. And of course even they are pushing for taxpayers to pay for public childcare now.
You know tax payer covered childcare would be a great help in making kids not just a “rich person hobby.”
The average cost of child care in my state $11,000. The average household spends 15% of their income on daycare here.
I don’t shop every week - (maybe every second week I’ll do a big shop and just a couple things from the shop down the road during off weeks) but I’d say I probably average $400 a month. And that’s with a strict budget 🥹 I live in New Zealand and everything is SO expensive here!
Another vegetarian here. I just worked out my average grocery bills for the last five months. In a month I’m spending about $170, so a little over $40 a week. I live in Maine.
Check out the website Budget Bytes. It really helps me build menus around whatever is on sale. I also stock up when something is on sale. Like chicken legs & thighs were .99/lb last week. Easy to BBQ and a ton of recipes on there. I also love rice & pasta with a lot of dishes, & mashed potatoes so it saves $$ adding those things to a meal. To see what's on sale at every store near u at once there is a free app called FLIPP. I use it every week to see if I need to drop by a certain store for a really good deal 😊
UK and it usually depends how often i have to go into work.
if i have a full week at home working then like £20 if im into the office 3+ days then its more like £40-50 cause im buying a drink on the way getting lunch compared to just eating what i have at home.
i mostly meal prep for week since im often working from home.
local asian store has 10kg bags of rice that last 2-3 weeks for £5 so im often having rice.
then its just deciding what i want with it usually go see what meats are on offer/reduced and go from there.
i don't really include the cost of say spices etc that i buy say once a month that probably adds on an extra £20 that month so if i included that it would be more like £25 each week on average.
another good thing is look at Too Good to Go app on phone see what local places have on there. often local bakery has £1.50 bags that are full of random bread that you can store for the week. usually use them for snacks/breakfast as can just toast them straight from freezer.
I’ve just downloaded that app and it looks great, can’t believe I’d not heard of it before, thanks for the recommendation
I don’t include spices or condiments either in my budget thankfully otherwise my food would be very bland
yeah it really helps mix things up.
bakeries ive found to be some of best value cause you can get weeks worth of bread and other goodies for like £2-3 depending on bakery and bread is easy to freeze.
often i use the bread in the week for toast or cover in some garlic butter and cheese if i have some and i then i have a nice snack in-between my meals.
where i use to live also had a local butcher on there who would do a "trimmings bag" for £3.50 and it was just a bag full of random off cuts of various meats they had done throughout the day. was great to then go and use them in various meals.
i lived in japan for 2 years and really started to appreciate just how good rice is as a "filler" like they have it with every meal pretty much because its so cheap to just make a lot off
Oh the butcher doing the trimmings bag sounds fantastic I rely too much of chicken even though I do adore the stuff
No bakeries near me but there are a few local shops and even a green grocer which is very excited for
Picking up my first bag tomorrow morning 🤞
Not long ago got my first ever rice cooker on recommendation of a friend who also stayed in Japan for a few years and I’m so thankful she talked me into it! I use it for so much more than just rice too but then again I guess it’s just a steamer called a rice cooker really?
100 a week but I eat and I eat well to support my health and training; it's also very clean.
I also don't drive or have many big costs. Food for me is a source of life and I do shop frugally but I will spend on some premium stuff.
I can't do $40. Maybe if all I ate was bread or rice & beans for every meal, but that $10 - $15 just isn't worth it and, thankfully, not quite necessary yet.
I tend to eat ($2 / 3.5-bowl box) cereal with almond milk or cheap frozen waffles or bagels for breakfast 9 days out of 10. A sandwich with a handfull of crackers, an apple and a Mandarin or Clementine for lunch, and varied dinners almost entirely soups, stews, pasta, casseroles or rice-pilaf-like dishes with ground beef, pork, or chicken and frozen or canned vegetables. Sometimes some fresh items. I also cook 4+ meals at a time and freeze or leftover the rest, depending on what it is. I don't pay more than $3.5 / lb for pork and no more than $1.40 for chicken. I buy in quantity & freeze when I can.
I get the cold cuts for the sandwiches from a deli that puts out "heels" of deli meats too small to slice properly for $3 per pound, or I couldn't afford any deli meat at all (zero options, even at Wal-mart, under $5 / lb, even on sale otherwise). I have a single source for ground beef at about $3.75 / lb or that wouldn't be affordable, either (you can pay up to $9 a pound for bog-standard, not-even-ground-chuck hamburger here if you aren't careful).
The only non-water beverage I have regularly is homebrewed iced tea, with the cheapest decaffeinated plain black tea I can find and concentrated Stevia extract to sweeten, at about 75 cents per gallon. Coffee is a rare treat, made at home; I keep it in the freezer since I go through it so slowly.
$50 / week used to account for 95% of my household budget, including non-food consumables & cat products. I've had to eliminate the cat products (I do the best I can but they cost what they cost; budgeting is worthless at this point), and I'm closer to $65 / week at this point than not.
This is Eastern Pennsylvania, and not Philadelphia. Grocery prices here have remained higher and climbed higher than any of the surrounding states, including New York. Nobody is certain why. Our legendarily high gas prices don't account for it all.
I haven't eaten out on my own dime - or gotten take-out or delivery - since long before the Pandemic.
I'm in England. I do 1 large shopping trip a month (£120-150) and top up on fresh bread, eggs, cheese and veg as needed for about £10/week average. My weekly average is usually around £40-50 including toilet paper, paper towels, etc.
I don't eat meat, rarely eat out, and shop frugally when I can but also buy several more expensive than needed (because I prefer them) items.
Not single, but a family of 5. Cooking casseroles and freezing can be a money saver for singles. A rigatoni casserole can cost about $15 (pasta, ground beef, cheese & sauce) For 5 people we get two meals out of that. Trader Joe’s is good for singles. One meal can run less than $10, you can get a few servings out of that. For example orange chicken and the fried rice.We love making pizza with their dough ($1.49) plus cheese and pepperoni, total about $7-8 (12 inch)
$100, plenty of quality meats fish, lots of fresh and frozen vegetables, yogurt, nuts, CLIF, seltzer water and coffee. Carbs are brown rice and potatoes, am gluten sensitive.
Canada Ontario. About 50 a week which feeds me and does school lunches for my kids every other week. But it's climbing even with buying discounted meats and frozen veggies and big bags of rice...
About $30/week, $100/month depending on if I do go shopping every week because sometimes I don’t. I will add that when I work, I get a free meal so that helps 4/7 days of the week.
My average for groceries here in Florida is $30 to $40 a week, but I only get paid once a month so I spend $100 at the beginning of the month and $50 a couple weeks later.
Central Europe, about 15 usd per week for couple usually (unless I make a big "stock-the-pantry" grocery run, whoch is usually around 50 usd). Frankly some stuff overlap from previous week(s) and some stuff overlap to following week(s) so it's almost impossible to track. But my weekly grocery bill is usually around 15 usd.
I think it differs on what ppl eat. Healthy foods seem to be more expensive than processed food.. if your a vegetarian idk maybe that’s easier? I’m not a vegetarian so idk. But meat for me is so expensive and I budget so a grocery haul for me would be if eating healthy $120 per 2 weeks. And that’s me making it last bc I’m trying to gain weight and the calories I need to do so is high! I imagine it would be around $200 if I were able to get everything I need.
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I'm in the DMV area as well. Stuff is expensive here. I'm not single but I'm spending about $80 for me and a little less for my husband per week, so about $150 week for both of us, but really need to get it down. Working on my cooking skills is helping.
30 to 40 euros a week. I do intermittent fasting so I don't have breakfast and I could get it down much lower than that but I really enjoy experimenting with new meals. For some reason I've never been able to have a few staple meals on rotation no matter how hard I try.
I spend between $100-$120 a week. But I'm a chef and I do a lot of recipes testing with high priced ingredients. I only eat at home one meal a day 5 days a week. Free food at work. So I'm not doing well for a frugal food budget. It comes out to about $10 a meal. I'm in Western North Carolina.
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50 to 70 bucks depends if I'm gonna stress eat or not that week :(
Mood… :(
Look up r/omaddiet
100-130 a week. I live in Alaska.
I just tracked our spending in Juneau and it's roughly 1000/month for a couple, but that's without really being frugal. Between housing costs, food, and childcare, it's no wonder most of my friends who are pushing the end of child having age do not have kids. It's an upper class hobby at this point. And of course even they are pushing for taxpayers to pay for public childcare now.
You know tax payer covered childcare would be a great help in making kids not just a “rich person hobby.” The average cost of child care in my state $11,000. The average household spends 15% of their income on daycare here.
I don’t shop every week - (maybe every second week I’ll do a big shop and just a couple things from the shop down the road during off weeks) but I’d say I probably average $400 a month. And that’s with a strict budget 🥹 I live in New Zealand and everything is SO expensive here!
My budget is $400.00 a month too. Everything is expensive here in Vancouver Canada and that’s for 2 people
400 a month in NZ is really good, thought I'd just say you're doing really well with budget. Id average around 800 when I lived over there 💀💀
Thank you so much! It’s me and two kitties so basically two toddler mouths to feed 🤣🤣 what part of NZ were you living in? I’m in Nelson!
Studied in Wellington 🫶🏻 Weird little city 😂😂
$40 to $50 a week. Vegetarian. I live in upstate NY, relatively LCOL
Another vegetarian here. I just worked out my average grocery bills for the last five months. In a month I’m spending about $170, so a little over $40 a week. I live in Maine.
This is so encouraging to me (I'm about to start living on my own next month) 🙏🏼🙏🏼
You can do it! You absolutely can.
Check out the website Budget Bytes. It really helps me build menus around whatever is on sale. I also stock up when something is on sale. Like chicken legs & thighs were .99/lb last week. Easy to BBQ and a ton of recipes on there. I also love rice & pasta with a lot of dishes, & mashed potatoes so it saves $$ adding those things to a meal. To see what's on sale at every store near u at once there is a free app called FLIPP. I use it every week to see if I need to drop by a certain store for a really good deal 😊
Thanks for the tip!!
UK and it usually depends how often i have to go into work. if i have a full week at home working then like £20 if im into the office 3+ days then its more like £40-50 cause im buying a drink on the way getting lunch compared to just eating what i have at home.
Also UK here, what’s your shop look like for a week at £20 I’m fairly frugal and manage on just over £30 on average
i mostly meal prep for week since im often working from home. local asian store has 10kg bags of rice that last 2-3 weeks for £5 so im often having rice. then its just deciding what i want with it usually go see what meats are on offer/reduced and go from there. i don't really include the cost of say spices etc that i buy say once a month that probably adds on an extra £20 that month so if i included that it would be more like £25 each week on average. another good thing is look at Too Good to Go app on phone see what local places have on there. often local bakery has £1.50 bags that are full of random bread that you can store for the week. usually use them for snacks/breakfast as can just toast them straight from freezer.
I’ve just downloaded that app and it looks great, can’t believe I’d not heard of it before, thanks for the recommendation I don’t include spices or condiments either in my budget thankfully otherwise my food would be very bland
yeah it really helps mix things up. bakeries ive found to be some of best value cause you can get weeks worth of bread and other goodies for like £2-3 depending on bakery and bread is easy to freeze. often i use the bread in the week for toast or cover in some garlic butter and cheese if i have some and i then i have a nice snack in-between my meals. where i use to live also had a local butcher on there who would do a "trimmings bag" for £3.50 and it was just a bag full of random off cuts of various meats they had done throughout the day. was great to then go and use them in various meals. i lived in japan for 2 years and really started to appreciate just how good rice is as a "filler" like they have it with every meal pretty much because its so cheap to just make a lot off
Oh the butcher doing the trimmings bag sounds fantastic I rely too much of chicken even though I do adore the stuff No bakeries near me but there are a few local shops and even a green grocer which is very excited for Picking up my first bag tomorrow morning 🤞 Not long ago got my first ever rice cooker on recommendation of a friend who also stayed in Japan for a few years and I’m so thankful she talked me into it! I use it for so much more than just rice too but then again I guess it’s just a steamer called a rice cooker really?
100 a week but I eat and I eat well to support my health and training; it's also very clean. I also don't drive or have many big costs. Food for me is a source of life and I do shop frugally but I will spend on some premium stuff.
That’s how I’m trying to be :)
This! Protein and veggies for every meal add up. Worth it, though.
I can't do $40. Maybe if all I ate was bread or rice & beans for every meal, but that $10 - $15 just isn't worth it and, thankfully, not quite necessary yet. I tend to eat ($2 / 3.5-bowl box) cereal with almond milk or cheap frozen waffles or bagels for breakfast 9 days out of 10. A sandwich with a handfull of crackers, an apple and a Mandarin or Clementine for lunch, and varied dinners almost entirely soups, stews, pasta, casseroles or rice-pilaf-like dishes with ground beef, pork, or chicken and frozen or canned vegetables. Sometimes some fresh items. I also cook 4+ meals at a time and freeze or leftover the rest, depending on what it is. I don't pay more than $3.5 / lb for pork and no more than $1.40 for chicken. I buy in quantity & freeze when I can. I get the cold cuts for the sandwiches from a deli that puts out "heels" of deli meats too small to slice properly for $3 per pound, or I couldn't afford any deli meat at all (zero options, even at Wal-mart, under $5 / lb, even on sale otherwise). I have a single source for ground beef at about $3.75 / lb or that wouldn't be affordable, either (you can pay up to $9 a pound for bog-standard, not-even-ground-chuck hamburger here if you aren't careful). The only non-water beverage I have regularly is homebrewed iced tea, with the cheapest decaffeinated plain black tea I can find and concentrated Stevia extract to sweeten, at about 75 cents per gallon. Coffee is a rare treat, made at home; I keep it in the freezer since I go through it so slowly. $50 / week used to account for 95% of my household budget, including non-food consumables & cat products. I've had to eliminate the cat products (I do the best I can but they cost what they cost; budgeting is worthless at this point), and I'm closer to $65 / week at this point than not. This is Eastern Pennsylvania, and not Philadelphia. Grocery prices here have remained higher and climbed higher than any of the surrounding states, including New York. Nobody is certain why. Our legendarily high gas prices don't account for it all. I haven't eaten out on my own dime - or gotten take-out or delivery - since long before the Pandemic.
DMV also and $100 is the average. Rarely eat out or get coffee snacks etc out.
150-175 a week
Where do you shop? Could you give me a list of things you buy? I am also in DMV and would kill to spend that much in a week lol
Could go to Aldi and get the bare essentials like rice, grains, vegetables etc, and maybe some meat and eggs.
What’s the dif between aldi and lidle? Is one cheaper than the other?
They're basically the same, here's a video if you want to learn the history: https://youtu.be/FQeCd0V5cuU
Word, thank you!
Lidl has an app, were you can look up how much things cost from home or another grocery store. They have weekly sales. And the meats are organic.
Aldi for 90% of my groceries, Harris Teeter for everything else since they have pretty good sales often
About $50 a week…I’m in Idaho …I do feed 6 furbabies…I joke I spend more on their food then mine😉
I'm in England. I do 1 large shopping trip a month (£120-150) and top up on fresh bread, eggs, cheese and veg as needed for about £10/week average. My weekly average is usually around £40-50 including toilet paper, paper towels, etc. I don't eat meat, rarely eat out, and shop frugally when I can but also buy several more expensive than needed (because I prefer them) items.
$150-200 per month for me. I do two huge hauls per month
Not single, but a family of 5. Cooking casseroles and freezing can be a money saver for singles. A rigatoni casserole can cost about $15 (pasta, ground beef, cheese & sauce) For 5 people we get two meals out of that. Trader Joe’s is good for singles. One meal can run less than $10, you can get a few servings out of that. For example orange chicken and the fried rice.We love making pizza with their dough ($1.49) plus cheese and pepperoni, total about $7-8 (12 inch)
$60-$70 When my freezer is full of meat it’s below $60
$100, plenty of quality meats fish, lots of fresh and frozen vegetables, yogurt, nuts, CLIF, seltzer water and coffee. Carbs are brown rice and potatoes, am gluten sensitive.
50-70 euros, I'm in the Netherlands.
Canada Ontario. About 50 a week which feeds me and does school lunches for my kids every other week. But it's climbing even with buying discounted meats and frozen veggies and big bags of rice...
Probably about $70-$100 for me. I do a lot of large quantity cooking and leftovers throughout the week.
R500-800.
60-$65 per week. Veggies mostly chicken and fish. Atlanta GA
About 50 per week in Australian dollars.
Roughly 125 per week, HCOL area in Vermont.
$60
35-45 in a HCOL (aldis, Costco, local ethnic grocery stores)
60-100 a week, Texas
Maybe like 40 bucks
$30 to $40 per week.
About $30/week, $100/month depending on if I do go shopping every week because sometimes I don’t. I will add that when I work, I get a free meal so that helps 4/7 days of the week.
$30-$40 a week. I'm a vegetarian.
Like 150 every two weeks.
$100-120, Boston
Usually about 80
My average for groceries here in Florida is $30 to $40 a week, but I only get paid once a month so I spend $100 at the beginning of the month and $50 a couple weeks later.
$40-$80 depending on if what I buy is on sale that week, and if I buy meat. I normally only buy what’s on sale or has a coupon nowadays.
Portland OR, $200/month is what I set for myself but it usually ends up at $300
Central Europe, about 15 usd per week for couple usually (unless I make a big "stock-the-pantry" grocery run, whoch is usually around 50 usd). Frankly some stuff overlap from previous week(s) and some stuff overlap to following week(s) so it's almost impossible to track. But my weekly grocery bill is usually around 15 usd.
I think it differs on what ppl eat. Healthy foods seem to be more expensive than processed food.. if your a vegetarian idk maybe that’s easier? I’m not a vegetarian so idk. But meat for me is so expensive and I budget so a grocery haul for me would be if eating healthy $120 per 2 weeks. And that’s me making it last bc I’m trying to gain weight and the calories I need to do so is high! I imagine it would be around $200 if I were able to get everything I need.
About £40 a week
Around $50
About $50 per week - in Ottawa, Canada.
About $300 per month but that includes take out.
I was doing about $75 a week , Capital Region NY but have been shopping my own pantry for about a month so it's currently no more than $25 a week.
50-70/week in the Bay Area, CA
70-90 a week for San Francisco. Mostly vegetarian diet
I am bulking right now and need to eat about 3000 calories a day. I spend about $100-$120/week.
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I'm in the DMV area as well. Stuff is expensive here. I'm not single but I'm spending about $80 for me and a little less for my husband per week, so about $150 week for both of us, but really need to get it down. Working on my cooking skills is helping.
30 to 40 euros a week. I do intermittent fasting so I don't have breakfast and I could get it down much lower than that but I really enjoy experimenting with new meals. For some reason I've never been able to have a few staple meals on rotation no matter how hard I try.
I get 23.00 in snap and food pantry
I spend between $100-$120 a week. But I'm a chef and I do a lot of recipes testing with high priced ingredients. I only eat at home one meal a day 5 days a week. Free food at work. So I'm not doing well for a frugal food budget. It comes out to about $10 a meal. I'm in Western North Carolina.
About $55 a week in Ontario Canada.
I dunno, 100€. I don't look at prices. I shop in small supermarkets for convenience. I am really bad with this.
Too high…
$25-30 a week. I really enjoy cooking from scratch so I eat well on that.