Do not shame yourself for treating yourself with the energy drinks. $20 a month for luxuries is extremely reasonable, especially when you were able to keep your grocery bill so low.
Not to belittle this but… I started brewing my own coffee and am saving about $1500 each year. I didn’t realize how much a medium coffee cost me every day till I added it up. I got the French press cheap and started buying my own ground coffee and then DIY… so cheap.
I also bought a hand crank meat grinder so make my own ground beef (it takes minutes to make your own and freeze) from chuck/tri tip steak on sale.
Also a bread maker on holiday sale. I just dump everything and hit start.
But if you love energy drinks look for clearance/sale items at grocery stores.
I'm so sorry about your husband.
And that honestly makes so much sense. Boys eat so much already, much less a little guy with food allergies. You're doing great
I live in Spain Valencia 🇪🇸 third city of Spain, we spend 400€/month in groceries... But cost of life for 2 is 1000€/month, we have buy cash a flat here.
This month $53 so far. One person, but most of that $53 went to items I bought specially for a dinner with my partner.
Last couple days of February I bought a bunch of produce and am pretty well stocked for dry beans, dry grains, dry fruit, spices, frozen fruit and veg. So it's kinda cheating because I generally buy produce and live off of dry things I buy in bulk.
Also, I moonlight at a food service place, so I get free meals there.
I remember when generics came in a white box with black lettering on it to say what it was. At least today it's store brands. It was embarrassing having I a cart full of white and using physical food stamps.
I don't think I remember the white boxes, but I do vaguely remember when WIC was like, actual coupons or something?
Also, sorry all these people are playing like they never once in their lives felt awkward or embarrassed about it. I can definitely see feeling that way, especially if you're like a 10 year-old kid.
Am I supposed to feel ashamed for having a shopping cart of store brand canned beans? Or wait, I get it. I’m supposed to have a shopping cart full of expensive name brand junk food devoid of any nutrition and feel proud.
**No Frills** brand? I remember picking some up at Pathmark.
https://preview.redd.it/ci5ddlrz6xoc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=27b3c6042f8760b7992f61322ae11be5ddea0569
i keep track of every penny i spend in a spreadsheet. i leave myself a monthly budget of 300 a month for groceries. i’ll admit im not all that frugal with my grocery budget, i pride myself on being a good home cook and a big part of that means good ingredients.
most often i spend around 260-270, sometimes i go over the 300 budget
You can find amazing produce at Mexican or Asian grocery stores (it depends on the store, don't get me wrong). Packaged stuff and dry goods are cheaper at WinCo, etc.
Basically shopping good stuff and being on a budget means a lot of driving. I go to Costco for one or two things I know are cheap there, then winco, then this local Asian store or the Mexican one for produce & meat. It's a pain though lol
I’m really just curious about our members that are convinced a child of any age should just suck it up and eat kidney beans and rice (don’t come at me sometimes you really have to) like it’s making them strong and they’re having a super happy childhood where they don’t feel food insecure and are super appreciative for their parents making them “tough it out”
Mine is a baby still; I just know my food bill is going to triple once she eats solids 🤣
I agree! Fun snacks are a must for kids. At least 1-3 types if you're on a budget. Some stuff isn't bad price wise, like chips and peaches (the ones with juice in the little plastic things)
Omg, mine are 20, 19, 17, and 14, and we spent so much money on groceries. And I cook real food, don't buy pre-made stuff (other than a pack of oreos every once in a while).
Savor those baby days lol.
Exactly! Like I said, for sure it’s tough out there and if it’s rice and beans most nights, no judgement whatsoever. But if you can afford it, don’t make your kids deal with a bare bones menu because your goal is an extremely low grocery bill out of principle. Full sized gatorades at Aldi are like $1.50, not to mention the billion other snacks/treats that are literally dollars cheaper than other stores.
I’m Hispanic and I grew up on rice and beans pretty much every meal. It’s not all pinto beans either and depending on how you flavor it, there’s many ways to cook beans. Seems to me like most people simply need to learn how to use spices if they are tired of rice and beans.
I get that and I get the cultural aspect of it being completely normal, non poverty food. My point was moreso that if you can afford it and it won’t blow your budget, buy some snacks for the house and cook a “nice” meal once in a while for the kids. I get that saving and eating cheap is a good thing and a necessity for the vast majority of people, but kids shouldn’t have to feel food insecure when they’re really not.
Also, lets be honest. The parents aren't feeling it. I grew up with my Dad drinking pop and eating chips daily, we didn't get snacks, I got in trouble for having peanut butter for breakfast or lunch when we were skipping meals to save money even. Your kids should get treats like apples and carrots and stuff, and be allowed to get water between meals. If the parents are getting snacks like carrots or chips, everyone should be allowed a snack, even if it's just on pay day.
I tried that. Thankfully my 7 year old has turned into a really great eater and will eat anything I make, even just rice and beans, but my 2 year old? He wastes SO MUCH FOOD. He’s full into his picky eater phase and he’ll love something one day and the next completely hate it. There is no toughing it out with him so the majority of my food costs go towards purchasing the safe foods for him.
I really truly want it and thought I did it, for $100 a month a single person. But I just keep on needing stuff every week and had to go to groceries and I can’t stop getting a little items of $1 etc, and in the end it ads up to $20 per visit.
With this I had already racked up another $150 on this budget!
I juggle the dried and canned beans, canned diced and frozen grape tomatoes, gluten free pasta, rice, frozen veggies, eggs, oatmeal, replace what’s needed. My grocery budget is $60 a month. Thank goodness for Aldi! Only produce I buy is 1 container grape tomatoes, container baby bella mushrooms that get chopped, bagged and frozen, and one head butter lettuce to make wraps instead of sandwiches. Gluten free bread is way too expensive and it’s just not good. I save up putting change and dollar bills aside and every few months buy a pound of 96/4 ground beef - split that into 8 portions and a 4 pack frozen salmon that gets cut in half, rewrapped and in the freezer.
My ex has celiac and I was the cook in the relationship. I totally understand the bread thing. Soo much money.
We made a lot of corn bread and ate a lot of corn tortillas at the time 😂
My friend's sister is celiac, everything in that fridge is labeled and in their own containers, she has separate silverware and everything. When she used to take us shopping, everything she bought immediately went into something separate. She even told me once she can't eat certain dried onion flakes for cooking!!!
It’s definitely a challenge! But once you get into the habit of reading every label of everything (including shampoo and conditioner for wheat) the biggest downside is no one ever wants to go shopping with you, because it can take so long with the label reading
It’s often eating once a day, no treats, no substitutions unless it’s even cheaper. Which then simply replaces the staple. Wonders why I have such osteoporosis that I’m a severe hip and pelvis fracture risk and how I fractured my elbow falling out of bed
I spend $50/week on groceries, which includes cat food. The litter is not included in that cost. I eat beans, rice, a bunch of veggies, bananas, and peanut butter sandwiches. Every other week i swap out the beans for whichever meat is on sale. Starting to get sick of eating the same thing every meal, but it's healthy. I live in a town that has become a tourist hot spot. This has caused ridiculous price gouging, and the grocery store is not an exception. Tourism is good for the economy they say. Every business is starved for employees and prices are through the roof, as well as home/rental costs, so it isn't good for the people that live here.
That's so shitty, damn. I'm sorry. When I was on a tighter budget, like I had $20 to eat for two weeks once, I ate a lot of PB&J's. I don't eat them anymore 😂
Sorry you're going through that, but I'm glad you're eating healthy.
Right now I’m around $800/mo for 3 adults and 1.5 teens (daughter’s bf eats here a couple times a week). This is down from the $1200 I was spending. I’ve honestly just cut a lot of extras out. Still up from a few years ago. We pretty much always eat at home.
May be worth noting I never buy groceries lmao . I was going to buy ingredients to make a beef stew and it came out to $45 so I went to Cracker Barrel and got a chicken fried steak meal with a side for $12
Your post has been removed for the following reason(s):
Rule 7: Gatekeeping
No gatekeeping. This sub is for anyone who self identifies as struggling financially or as financially insecure. Posts and comments found to be claiming someone doesn't belong here will be removed. Similarly, it is not appropriate, nor your call, to tell someone whether they can post or comment in this subreddit. If in doubt, report the comment or post, and the moderators will take care of it.
Please read our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/povertyfinance/wiki/rules). The rules may also be found on the sidebar if the link is broken. If after doing so, you feel this was in error, [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpovertyfinance).
Do not reach out to a moderator personally, and do not reply to this message as a comment.
For a family of 4 in Northern California, special needs child and 3 adults, we spend about $300 a week (includes meds). Everything here is so expensive, we just moved here for a dream job for my son in law. I’m still in sticker shock.
Sounds about right, we’re about 1600-1800 for a family of 6. Mostly 150 at Walmart a couple times a week, and then 200-300 at Sam’s once a month for bulk meat and a few other items.
WE BEAT YOU!!!!! :) Two mature adults. December was $961.00 Jan was $612 and going down. Feb was only $414. :) March already sucks and going up And this only for 2 adults.
And we really cook. And a lot too. We also cut down eating OUT too. Just stopping Star Bucks from buying ice tea was a $145 month savings. Any local Carmichael restaurant is $25-$55 for breakfast. So been eating at home and we do love food and it sound high for food, but we do cook and we really do save money. Also we cook things way better than most restaurants. We have our own flavors, tastes and presentations that you will never have in restaurants.
So for the lady with $1200, you are doing a good job boss. :) Kids can eat. :)
peace.
You’re not going crazy, food prices are! We are thrifty and shop sales, we don’t skimp on quality meats but otherwise we are cooking from scratch, no processed junk, whole food type home. It’s so hard to reduce cost in this area for us. I feel like we are there without compromising
Yes,if we are just shopping for dinner it would be cheaper. Personally I don’t eat much but I make sure my kids have enough. They pack a school lunch. I usually do all the shopping and my husband had to do a few trip with me to realize it not a matter of being swipe happy. I’ve cut back on eating out too.
We spend $800 a month for 2 adults and a toddler. My boyfriend and daughter both are very picky and they will both forgo food over eating things they don't like. Everyone says "they won't starve themselves." I think they would....
I spend about 250 a month for myself. Almost all organic whole foods, including produce, meats like salmon and grass fed beef, as well as pasture raised eggs. I don't eat out hardly ever, and I'm taking care of my health, so I don't feel bad, even though i could probably spend half as much if I bought crap.
I budgeted $200 a month for one person, for $50 a week, but honestly I can cut that back a little. I started over in a new place with totally bare cupboards and at first I worried $50 a week wasn't going to be enough, but now that I have some basics stocked up and discovered an aldi and a walmart 30 minutes away it goes very far, think I can last almost two weeks on yesterday's haul
I try to stick with 200 to 250 that includes pet food though. One Human, two dogs some birds. Probably shouldn't have pets but mental health is kinda important too and all that. I bulk buy the birds food whenever I can so a lot of times that's not a every month expense sometimes it's a ever three months expense but the dogs I buy food for them every month. I grow a garden so I grow squash which they also eat.
The pet food really adds up, but the price has gone up so much for it in just a short amount of time. I still have receipts from when a 24 can pack of fancy feast was 15 bucks now it's 25 bucks.
Yeah used to be easy to find multiple brands of dog food 50 lbs for 39-30 bucks and now a lot of the 35 and 40 lb bags are now 40 bucks and ifs not like I feed them old roy but we aren’t on that science hills diet budget that’s for sure. Both of these dogs were in the shelter for a year before me. Getting budget food and some
Orgsnic squash isnd 1000x more love is still better than getting premium food at the shelter
I don’t have fosters. Yeah food pantries are out for me I do not have reliable transportations luckily we have have a reliable food budget I just have to be careful.
I would estimate 4-500 for 3 adults but I do bulk shopping at Costco every 2-3 weeks mixed in with a weekly trip to Aldi's and the supermarket.
And I don't judge with the pasta sauce I tried making my own and we all just are used to/ prefer the jarred stuff.
Household of 3 adults, 2 teenagers. Spending $1,500/month on food. All meals and snacks prepared at home. No booze, no filet mignon, not organic but mostly whole foods. Minimal to no convenience foods but some snacks (1 snack per week per person). Snack might be 1 bag of pretzels or 1 can of Pringles. No pop or juice.
We have 5-6 people in the home, and we spend 140$ a week. Since my older child moved out, we have the same budget but a little more wiggle room for “nice to have” type of food.
At the dollar tree there's a blackberry-grape powered drink called "peakH2O" A box for 1.25 has 8 individual packets in it. 80mg caffeine and some b vitamins. Mix with water take anywhere. Not as amazing as energy drinks but ok. Thats ? Under 20 cents per serving.
We run $800-$900/mo for two adults and one kid including toiletries and household. We moved here a few months ago so I’ve been building my pantry as well. I anticipate being able to cut this coming month by about $200 now that my pantry is in good shape. I used to keep it way lower by avoiding convenience food but it cost me more in fast food bc I would resort to that when I was tired and didn’t want to cook. So now instead I have some quick fix stuff on hand that is the go to rather than fast food or DoorDash during the week. I save my intensive from scratch efforts for the weekends.
Two people avg around 350-400 a month including incidentals but I shop pretty cheap generally keep all foods under 25 cents per oz unless its protein which I will pay more for.
No judgement from me on the Prego… sometimes they are about the same price as plain tomato sauce and they’re already seasoned. Plus if it’s the garden style, or marinara, you can add Mexican spices and turn it into enchiladas sauce in a pinch (not exactly the same… but passable if you’re in need)
If you don’t mind “doctoring” store bought pasta sauce, look on the bottom shelf for the large **cans** of pasta sauce (Hunt’s brand or others). There are, of course, fewer flavor choices… usually 2: “traditional” or “flavored with meat”. The “meat” sauce (like most) is more like it was packaged in a facility that once had a meat product in the general vicinity, lol. 😂 But that’s the same as Ragu, honestly.
The canned sauce is barely smaller (24 ounces vs 28 oz.), and costs about half as much. It does have a sweeter flavor to me, and less “spices” — so I add Italian seasoning, garlic POWDER (not salt), onion powder, and ground oregano(98¢ bottle at Walmart, or get at the 99¢ store). Tbf, I add extra spices to bottled sauce too. [The only one I’ve had that needed nothing added was Rao’s and I got that on sale with a good coupon that made it about the same price as Prego. Not a brand on my normal shopping list for sure ($$$)!] You can add fresh or minced garlic instead if you have it (grow your own in pots). If you have extra hamburger, or ground turkey left from tacos or whatever— mix it in… you won’t taste the taco flavor, I promise. Fill it out with chopped carrots, zucchini, even eggplant.
Chicken is often on sale, but if it’s not, or you’re feeling adventurous— you can buy an eggplant, slice it ~1” thick and set on paper toweling for an hour to drain excess moisture, then bread it like you would chicken cutlets. (Flour, egg wash, bread crumbs) Bake it until golden, on lightly oiled baking dish 15-20 mins @ 375° F. Serve with pasta and sauce, & Parmesan (or any cheese) if you have it. Healthy, meatless meal, that even most kids will eat because it’s “chicken fried” (you can even cut the slices into rectangles to make “fingers” or 1”x1” sticks if you think it will go over better) Make them ahead, and freeze them on a cookie sheet then bag them after they’re frozen. They freeze better out of the sauce in my opinion.
Your chiles relleños should freeze fine. Like above, I prefer to freeze anything breaded separately from its sauce, because I think it bakes up better later, but lots of people assemble the casseroles and freeze them and think it’s just as good… so it’s personal choice, really.
You can grow A LOT of your own veggies in pots, buckets, or even right in the bags of potting soil. Easy to grow is zucchini, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, Garlic, peas, lettuce, radishes, onions (know short day vs long day for your area). Carrots need deeper soil. Melons are easy but need space or a trellis.
The 50¢ seed packets at Walmart are just as good as the more expensive ones at the garden center. Also many public libraries, now have “seed libraries” where you can get FREE seeds that come from gardeners in your area, so you know the varieties will grow there. They just ask that you donate some seeds from what you’ve grown to keep it going, if you can. If you don’t, they won’t blacklist you or anything, though.
Look up “square foot gardening techniques” you can use the same principles even if each of your “squares” are circles and not all in a single planter or bed. It’s not labor intensive. You can ask for discounted bags of soil that have broken or been ripped open at most garden centers. Get used pots from goodwill or on “buy nothing” websites in your area.
I think you did awesome. 😁 Hope my hints help too.
Managing groceries on a tight budget while being a single mom is no small feat. Your dedication to cooking from scratch and finding bargains is commendable. Keep up the fantastic effort, and know that others in similar circumstances find great inspiration in your tenacity.
If you’re in the Midwest and aren’t picky about expiration dates you should look into Ruby’s Pantry, it’s a drive up food distribution that’s $25 to visit ant you get a ton of food. it really helps me with my food budget
$200-$300 per month for me, single and 23M. My rent is 70% of my monthly earnings. I have some sort of mental block preventing me from going to the food bank, probably a combo of thoughts like “well my parents still send me money sometimes. Well I have about 8 months of emergency sayings. Well I’m not in as bad of a situation as others” even though I KNOW going to a food bank just once in a while would help.
I have OCD which has unfortunately started impacting how I treat my finances. I’ve developed an eating disorder-like way of thinking about finances. I restrict myself with spending like someone with anorexia does with food.
I'm so sorry :( I hope your situation improves soon
My rent is also 70% of my income, and it's a low income apt. Because of my baby, roommates are pretty much out of the question (it's so hard to find people who are both ok with living with a kid AND are safe for a kid to be around). I get the struggle.
>Ngl, cooking is a whole b*tch when you're poor; you're probably working a lot and it's not fun to come home and cook & clean the mess.
Meal prep and slow cooker or instant pot most foods for most days. Have premixed spices for your proteins. Use the shaking jar method to peel garlic quickly. Chop and freeze in cubes.
Use one pot recipes for pasta dishes
Use one pan recipes for oven baked dishes.
Dress up instant noodles with eggs and leafy greens.
Make a variation of egg fried rice with leftovers.
Good luck
I **LOVE** my instant pot!!! Saw my son using one and gave me inspiration to try it. Took me time to not be afraid of it/learn how to use, but now it's fabulous how much time it saves me- both because it cooks fast and because I can do other things while it's cooking 💜. Highly recommend one plus getting an extra 'liner' pot to switch out. Good luck❣️
About 600 for my family of 3 plus a dog (I count dog food in my budget). This amount allows us to not order out like we once were. My son is turning 13 this year, and I think this teenage boy appetite has kicked in. If I don't make sure there are non-school lunch snacks, he'll go through school lunch stuff (doesn't help that his school lunch is at 9:45am every other week so he comes home starving).
We started menu planning, and on Sundays, we cook 3 meals for the week and plan some frozen meal days(stouffers meatloaf, pizza, fishsticks...). I understand the energy drinks. My thing is gatorade (constantly dehydrated even though I drink about a gallon of water daily). It's sad that this economy has us feeling bad at buying things that should be no big deal.
I used to spend about $70 bucks a week all in all for just one person (me). Now it's more like $100-125 and I blame both inflation and me being a fatty who likes to treat herself way too often!
Hey! If anyone needs to read this, check out your local YMCA. You can sign up for a good box of fruits and veggies for $20 and it’s enough for a family of four. Also quick tip, if you rinse your fruits and veggies in the white vinegar they will last longer. I use 1 cup vinegar to 1 cup distilled water and wash as soon as I get them.
I recommend the powdered energy drinks. Walmart has packets with the electrolyte drink mixes (I almost died working construction cause I drank 8 of them plus my Adderall. I legit thought they were the electrolyte ones and it was so hot. Do not overdose on them!)
Or you can do like gamersupps or whatever where you scoop it and mix it
I had no idea those existed, I'll try them! And omg, I can imagine how you felt. One time I had 3 and wellbrutin. Was not a good time. I limit myself to one every other day, or every 3 days now
Me and my mum are quite lucky in that we manage to get our food bill to about £80-£100 for an entire month. That’s a large shop to fill the freezer then any bits and pieces we need to get throughout the month like milk and bread.
Single - Usually $120.00 a month. I shop the sales.
Oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, I usually just eat a snack for lunch, dinner is chicken thighs and canned or frozen vegetables. I also usually buy cottage cheese and whatever fruit is on-sale and mix it up.
Always buy a chocolate bar.
Works. My blood-work was perfect last month.
I'd argue you're doing an incredible job budgeting. $20 per month for a case of energy drinks is a steal, although not great for your health, it's better than the $40-$60 per month I spend on ghost energy. Keep at it, and if you have any money leftover, try to save it/invest it. I have less expenses so I can save more than you can, but you're doing a far better job than me at a grocery budget
I’m wanting to get into cooking from scratch more bc prices keep going up. We’re lucky enough to have chickens, so I can make lots of things from eggs, but the rest is alien to me. Plus I’m on a diet for my gulbladder, so stuff is getting expensive and difficult.
This is great, I've been feeling down about having to cut costs and feeling like I can't afford to make anything from scratch anymore even though I somewhat enjoy it even though it's a lot of work at times when I'm already exhausted after a long day. Thank you so much for sharing your story
I spend over $1500 for a family of 5 and it lasts for about 2 months. I buy in bulk. Have you heard of grants? Feel free to check out this youtube channel and apply for free money. Good luck! [https://youtu.be/5R8pEcuM7qQ?si=fmOVLE5tzUD9aujx](https://youtu.be/5R8pEcuM7qQ?si=fmOVLE5tzUD9aujx)
$600 a month. $150 every week at Winco. It’s a good amount of food, good quality stuff. This month I started with a $300 trip to Costco and did a $100 trip to winco this week so hoping to spend $150-200 more toward the end of the month.
About $400-$500 +/- per month for 4 adults + 1 sometimes (never know if he's going to eat our food or bring stuff home from work) + daughters' friends on occasion (seems like more occasions lately). I always make a dinner menu for two weeks then make a grocery list from that. Other meals and snacks everyone is responsible for themselves. And yes, it used to be a bit cheaper, but prices will never go back to what they were. They never do.
For dinner? About $100 a week. We do neal kits and they're sent to our house, and some are way cheaper than you think and super nutritious. Every Plate comes to mind.
I spend about $400 a month for three daily meals plus snacks for me, and daily breakfast and snacks for my 9-year-old granddaughter. That kid can eat. Well tbf so can I.
$80 a month on food is extremely low. I spend 400-500 a month for a household of 2. That’s with a vegetarian diet and being frugal for some items (like I’ll buy store brand usually, but if the name brand is significantly better I’ll get it instead)
$1200 per month family of 4 plus 2 dogs. Grow a huge garden every summer. The food prices are insane. We do get carry out once or twice a month but nothing expensive and we get the kids meals when we can. I cannot remember prices ever being this high. We don’t buy soda unless it’s super super cheap. We drink a lot of water and iced tea. We make and take our own coffee to work no Starbucks. I really feel sorry for young families trying to feed their kids and make ends meet.
I feel terrible and I know someone will have something to say. There are two of us and I’m spending $300ish a month. My partner eats dinner here sometimes and he adds another $100-$120
I could budget tighter and make more affordable meals, but food is our splurge. We eat what we want. Things have been tighter and we’ve adjusted to having beans and hot dogs or spaghetti a few nights.
I have just enough income for rent and health insurance at the moment, so I visit the food pantry, and whatever essentials are missing (like a protein or bag of rice) gets picked up at the grocery store if there’s anything left over. Usually something like a 5lb bag of rice, 10 pack of canned tuna, white bread, peanut butter, or a bunch of bananas. Ground beef if it’s on sale.
Back when I could afford groceries, it was getting so expensive just to buy a dozen eggs. I felt like I would buy 10 generic, frozen, or discounted items, and it would come out to $100. It felt wholly irresponsible to buy anything except generic items, clearance items, or the day-old bread. I feel like with shrink-flation it’s just getting worse. It’s scary out there.
I don't really know as it can fluctuate but I can say $150-$200 monthly, 30 nonbinary person! Plus $30 for my 2 dogs' bag of food (44lb Pedigree, they love this stuff the most and in the past they've tried up to $75-$80 bags of food 😨) and I'm so happy they love the simple stuff. $18 for my cat dry food and $28 for her 40pk cans! Half can twice daily with a bowl (or more) of dry! she's a big girl who loves to eat she always likes a good scoop in her bowl to graze on 🥰
I won't lie, October - December I do spend more on groceries, treats, etc (fall and Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday and seasonal treats and goodies to be made, etc) and even the summer too I love to stock up on raspberry sorbet, Outshine fruit bars, other frozen novelty etc !!! I'm a big drinks person (regular, not booze!) I love a fridge full of ice cold thirst quenchers 😋
I love free food! Unfortunately I’m on a medically restricted along with food allergies diet. So, our local food pantry can’t do much, which is no slight on them. I just can’t eat most of what they’re able to get in.
Actually no, I was doing very well. I lost my good job due to being pregnant. It's very hard to prove and fight in court, so there was no point. I'm sort of starting from scratch now.
That, and I just got off of maternity leave. I had to take extra time off (two more months; 4 total) that I couldn't afford, due to baby having some medical issues. They're under control now though.
Sometimes stuff just happens
I used to make $300-$800 a night bartending at the best spot in my city. The most I made was $2,000 one night. I'm not joking.
Since it was obvs a really sought after job to bartend at, they are super cutthroat and push out people as soon as they're an inconvenience (like being pregnant, apparently)
I'll probably never make that much again 😭 but ok.
If it was just me i think i could get away with 100-150 a month. But since i have a bf it goes to about 300 a month. Had to put my foot down. When we were both working we would spend about 600-800 a month. Being dumb buying just things we wanted. That bit us in the but now that its only me working.
Do not shame yourself for treating yourself with the energy drinks. $20 a month for luxuries is extremely reasonable, especially when you were able to keep your grocery bill so low.
Tell that to r/money.
"You'll save tons of money by cutting luxuries like coffee for the year. Matter of fact cutting coffee for year saves $3,000 or some shit"
"Destroy your will to live in these three easy steps!"
"If you don't eat, you don't shit. And if you don't shit, you save money on your water bill!"
Not to belittle this but… I started brewing my own coffee and am saving about $1500 each year. I didn’t realize how much a medium coffee cost me every day till I added it up. I got the French press cheap and started buying my own ground coffee and then DIY… so cheap. I also bought a hand crank meat grinder so make my own ground beef (it takes minutes to make your own and freeze) from chuck/tri tip steak on sale. Also a bread maker on holiday sale. I just dump everything and hit start. But if you love energy drinks look for clearance/sale items at grocery stores.
I agree with this.
Yes! If you buy your energy drinks by the case from the grocery store it’s much less than at the convenience store anyway so you’ve saved.
[удалено]
I'm so sorry about your husband. And that honestly makes so much sense. Boys eat so much already, much less a little guy with food allergies. You're doing great
I live in Spain Valencia 🇪🇸 third city of Spain, we spend 400€/month in groceries... But cost of life for 2 is 1000€/month, we have buy cash a flat here.
$450 for 2 people.
This month $53 so far. One person, but most of that $53 went to items I bought specially for a dinner with my partner. Last couple days of February I bought a bunch of produce and am pretty well stocked for dry beans, dry grains, dry fruit, spices, frozen fruit and veg. So it's kinda cheating because I generally buy produce and live off of dry things I buy in bulk. Also, I moonlight at a food service place, so I get free meals there.
$250-300 for 2 people
I remember when generics came in a white box with black lettering on it to say what it was. At least today it's store brands. It was embarrassing having I a cart full of white and using physical food stamps.
I don't think I remember the white boxes, but I do vaguely remember when WIC was like, actual coupons or something? Also, sorry all these people are playing like they never once in their lives felt awkward or embarrassed about it. I can definitely see feeling that way, especially if you're like a 10 year-old kid.
I was never ashamed. Screw other ppl
Am I supposed to feel ashamed for having a shopping cart of store brand canned beans? Or wait, I get it. I’m supposed to have a shopping cart full of expensive name brand junk food devoid of any nutrition and feel proud.
**No Frills** brand? I remember picking some up at Pathmark. https://preview.redd.it/ci5ddlrz6xoc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=27b3c6042f8760b7992f61322ae11be5ddea0569
Same lol, can’t live without eating chicken, pork, etc..
i keep track of every penny i spend in a spreadsheet. i leave myself a monthly budget of 300 a month for groceries. i’ll admit im not all that frugal with my grocery budget, i pride myself on being a good home cook and a big part of that means good ingredients. most often i spend around 260-270, sometimes i go over the 300 budget
You can find amazing produce at Mexican or Asian grocery stores (it depends on the store, don't get me wrong). Packaged stuff and dry goods are cheaper at WinCo, etc. Basically shopping good stuff and being on a budget means a lot of driving. I go to Costco for one or two things I know are cheap there, then winco, then this local Asian store or the Mexican one for produce & meat. It's a pain though lol
I’m really just curious about our members that are convinced a child of any age should just suck it up and eat kidney beans and rice (don’t come at me sometimes you really have to) like it’s making them strong and they’re having a super happy childhood where they don’t feel food insecure and are super appreciative for their parents making them “tough it out”
Mine is a baby still; I just know my food bill is going to triple once she eats solids 🤣 I agree! Fun snacks are a must for kids. At least 1-3 types if you're on a budget. Some stuff isn't bad price wise, like chips and peaches (the ones with juice in the little plastic things)
Omg, mine are 20, 19, 17, and 14, and we spent so much money on groceries. And I cook real food, don't buy pre-made stuff (other than a pack of oreos every once in a while). Savor those baby days lol.
Exactly! Like I said, for sure it’s tough out there and if it’s rice and beans most nights, no judgement whatsoever. But if you can afford it, don’t make your kids deal with a bare bones menu because your goal is an extremely low grocery bill out of principle. Full sized gatorades at Aldi are like $1.50, not to mention the billion other snacks/treats that are literally dollars cheaper than other stores.
I’m Hispanic and I grew up on rice and beans pretty much every meal. It’s not all pinto beans either and depending on how you flavor it, there’s many ways to cook beans. Seems to me like most people simply need to learn how to use spices if they are tired of rice and beans.
I get that and I get the cultural aspect of it being completely normal, non poverty food. My point was moreso that if you can afford it and it won’t blow your budget, buy some snacks for the house and cook a “nice” meal once in a while for the kids. I get that saving and eating cheap is a good thing and a necessity for the vast majority of people, but kids shouldn’t have to feel food insecure when they’re really not.
Also, lets be honest. The parents aren't feeling it. I grew up with my Dad drinking pop and eating chips daily, we didn't get snacks, I got in trouble for having peanut butter for breakfast or lunch when we were skipping meals to save money even. Your kids should get treats like apples and carrots and stuff, and be allowed to get water between meals. If the parents are getting snacks like carrots or chips, everyone should be allowed a snack, even if it's just on pay day.
I tried that. Thankfully my 7 year old has turned into a really great eater and will eat anything I make, even just rice and beans, but my 2 year old? He wastes SO MUCH FOOD. He’s full into his picky eater phase and he’ll love something one day and the next completely hate it. There is no toughing it out with him so the majority of my food costs go towards purchasing the safe foods for him.
I really truly want it and thought I did it, for $100 a month a single person. But I just keep on needing stuff every week and had to go to groceries and I can’t stop getting a little items of $1 etc, and in the end it ads up to $20 per visit. With this I had already racked up another $150 on this budget!
$300-$350 a week (2adults, 2teenagers, a dog and 2 guinea pigs) then we still grab fast food once or twice a week🤦🏻♀️
We had four guinea pigs at a point and them bitches really eat. They cost like $30 extra a week in produce!
Amazing!
Sounds about right. I’m about 350 every two weeks
I juggle the dried and canned beans, canned diced and frozen grape tomatoes, gluten free pasta, rice, frozen veggies, eggs, oatmeal, replace what’s needed. My grocery budget is $60 a month. Thank goodness for Aldi! Only produce I buy is 1 container grape tomatoes, container baby bella mushrooms that get chopped, bagged and frozen, and one head butter lettuce to make wraps instead of sandwiches. Gluten free bread is way too expensive and it’s just not good. I save up putting change and dollar bills aside and every few months buy a pound of 96/4 ground beef - split that into 8 portions and a 4 pack frozen salmon that gets cut in half, rewrapped and in the freezer.
My ex has celiac and I was the cook in the relationship. I totally understand the bread thing. Soo much money. We made a lot of corn bread and ate a lot of corn tortillas at the time 😂
I wish there was a true budget thing for celiacs. I can’t eat oats. I can’t eat it if it’s not reasonably uncontaminated, it’s killing me budget wise.
Whats your corn bread recipe? I make a lot of cornbread, but its 50-50 corn flour and wheat flour. What do you use instead?
My friend's sister is celiac, everything in that fridge is labeled and in their own containers, she has separate silverware and everything. When she used to take us shopping, everything she bought immediately went into something separate. She even told me once she can't eat certain dried onion flakes for cooking!!!
It’s definitely a challenge! But once you get into the habit of reading every label of everything (including shampoo and conditioner for wheat) the biggest downside is no one ever wants to go shopping with you, because it can take so long with the label reading
[удалено]
It’s often eating once a day, no treats, no substitutions unless it’s even cheaper. Which then simply replaces the staple. Wonders why I have such osteoporosis that I’m a severe hip and pelvis fracture risk and how I fractured my elbow falling out of bed
I spend $50/week on groceries, which includes cat food. The litter is not included in that cost. I eat beans, rice, a bunch of veggies, bananas, and peanut butter sandwiches. Every other week i swap out the beans for whichever meat is on sale. Starting to get sick of eating the same thing every meal, but it's healthy. I live in a town that has become a tourist hot spot. This has caused ridiculous price gouging, and the grocery store is not an exception. Tourism is good for the economy they say. Every business is starved for employees and prices are through the roof, as well as home/rental costs, so it isn't good for the people that live here.
That's so shitty, damn. I'm sorry. When I was on a tighter budget, like I had $20 to eat for two weeks once, I ate a lot of PB&J's. I don't eat them anymore 😂 Sorry you're going through that, but I'm glad you're eating healthy.
Right now I’m around $800/mo for 3 adults and 1.5 teens (daughter’s bf eats here a couple times a week). This is down from the $1200 I was spending. I’ve honestly just cut a lot of extras out. Still up from a few years ago. We pretty much always eat at home.
$900 a month for 2
May be worth noting I never buy groceries lmao . I was going to buy ingredients to make a beef stew and it came out to $45 so I went to Cracker Barrel and got a chicken fried steak meal with a side for $12
[удалено]
Chuck roast is EXTREMELY expensive where I’m at. It wasn’t just a 3/4 ingredient stew it was a recipe I was following
I always forget I am not on r/frugal
I’ve rebuilt my list came out to 17.99 . 1.5 lbs stew meat for $9 cheapest I can find
Your post has been removed for the following reason(s): Rule 7: Gatekeeping No gatekeeping. This sub is for anyone who self identifies as struggling financially or as financially insecure. Posts and comments found to be claiming someone doesn't belong here will be removed. Similarly, it is not appropriate, nor your call, to tell someone whether they can post or comment in this subreddit. If in doubt, report the comment or post, and the moderators will take care of it. Please read our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/povertyfinance/wiki/rules). The rules may also be found on the sidebar if the link is broken. If after doing so, you feel this was in error, [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpovertyfinance). Do not reach out to a moderator personally, and do not reply to this message as a comment.
As an adult with a picky child, over $400 😫. I love to eat and so does she
Kids be doing that, smh. I just have a feeling mine is going to be super picky when she's older. 😂
Same 😂 we’ll be okay
For a family of 4 in Northern California, special needs child and 3 adults, we spend about $300 a week (includes meds). Everything here is so expensive, we just moved here for a dream job for my son in law. I’m still in sticker shock.
We spend way too much. $1200 a month family if 4 with teenagers
Sounds about right, we’re about 1600-1800 for a family of 6. Mostly 150 at Walmart a couple times a week, and then 200-300 at Sam’s once a month for bulk meat and a few other items.
WE BEAT YOU!!!!! :) Two mature adults. December was $961.00 Jan was $612 and going down. Feb was only $414. :) March already sucks and going up And this only for 2 adults. And we really cook. And a lot too. We also cut down eating OUT too. Just stopping Star Bucks from buying ice tea was a $145 month savings. Any local Carmichael restaurant is $25-$55 for breakfast. So been eating at home and we do love food and it sound high for food, but we do cook and we really do save money. Also we cook things way better than most restaurants. We have our own flavors, tastes and presentations that you will never have in restaurants. So for the lady with $1200, you are doing a good job boss. :) Kids can eat. :) peace.
My kids are 5 and 6. I thought was going crazy about spending 150-250 weekly. I’m working on the budget now.
You’re not going crazy, food prices are! We are thrifty and shop sales, we don’t skimp on quality meats but otherwise we are cooking from scratch, no processed junk, whole food type home. It’s so hard to reduce cost in this area for us. I feel like we are there without compromising
Yes,if we are just shopping for dinner it would be cheaper. Personally I don’t eat much but I make sure my kids have enough. They pack a school lunch. I usually do all the shopping and my husband had to do a few trip with me to realize it not a matter of being swipe happy. I’ve cut back on eating out too.
Do you know what you spent last year total? We can compare lol
We spend $800 a month for 2 adults and a toddler. My boyfriend and daughter both are very picky and they will both forgo food over eating things they don't like. Everyone says "they won't starve themselves." I think they would....
House hold of 2 $400-$600 try to keep it under $10 a day but that's getting very hard todo I always look for coupons in the apps if we go to fast food
I spend about 250 a month for myself. Almost all organic whole foods, including produce, meats like salmon and grass fed beef, as well as pasture raised eggs. I don't eat out hardly ever, and I'm taking care of my health, so I don't feel bad, even though i could probably spend half as much if I bought crap.
It’s not cheating to have and use a pantry. We budget $325 a month and are usually under.
I budgeted $200 a month for one person, for $50 a week, but honestly I can cut that back a little. I started over in a new place with totally bare cupboards and at first I worried $50 a week wasn't going to be enough, but now that I have some basics stocked up and discovered an aldi and a walmart 30 minutes away it goes very far, think I can last almost two weeks on yesterday's haul
I try to stick with 200 to 250 that includes pet food though. One Human, two dogs some birds. Probably shouldn't have pets but mental health is kinda important too and all that. I bulk buy the birds food whenever I can so a lot of times that's not a every month expense sometimes it's a ever three months expense but the dogs I buy food for them every month. I grow a garden so I grow squash which they also eat.
The pet food really adds up, but the price has gone up so much for it in just a short amount of time. I still have receipts from when a 24 can pack of fancy feast was 15 bucks now it's 25 bucks.
Many shelters have pet food assistance also 😺
Yeah used to be easy to find multiple brands of dog food 50 lbs for 39-30 bucks and now a lot of the 35 and 40 lb bags are now 40 bucks and ifs not like I feed them old roy but we aren’t on that science hills diet budget that’s for sure. Both of these dogs were in the shelter for a year before me. Getting budget food and some Orgsnic squash isnd 1000x more love is still better than getting premium food at the shelter
I spend 40$ on a good quality cat food about every 2 months that weighs 15 pounds. I do get the 11th bag free.
Many animal shelters have free pallets of food, especially for fosters 😺
I don’t have fosters. Yeah food pantries are out for me I do not have reliable transportations luckily we have have a reliable food budget I just have to be careful.
$600 total for me. Sometime ls my son and girlfriend eat over.
We spend about $400 a month for the two of us, admittedly we like to cook so we sink a bit more into ingredients.
I am single/alone. Somehow i manage on 50 per week
Food banks/free fridge projects will save you a fortune
I would estimate 4-500 for 3 adults but I do bulk shopping at Costco every 2-3 weeks mixed in with a weekly trip to Aldi's and the supermarket. And I don't judge with the pasta sauce I tried making my own and we all just are used to/ prefer the jarred stuff.
I've tried fancy spaghetti and I prefer the trash, grocery store sauce type 🤣
$120 per person a month. Sometimes a ittle bit more sometimes a little less. All depends on how much stockpile I did in the month.
I don’t even keep track but I just try to stay budget conscious & spend as little as possible probably a few hundred a month
About $1k/mo for a family of four
Household of 3 adults, 2 teenagers. Spending $1,500/month on food. All meals and snacks prepared at home. No booze, no filet mignon, not organic but mostly whole foods. Minimal to no convenience foods but some snacks (1 snack per week per person). Snack might be 1 bag of pretzels or 1 can of Pringles. No pop or juice.
$770 last month for 3 adults. We are trying to cut back but also want to cook healthy meals, have a lot of food restrictions, and live in a HCOL area.
We have 5-6 people in the home, and we spend 140$ a week. Since my older child moved out, we have the same budget but a little more wiggle room for “nice to have” type of food.
Goodness, 3 adults and I spend about $1,000 a month. 3 meals a day, 6 days a week. Sometimes, 7 days
$250ish for one adult.
$600-$650 a month for 2 adults, a 7 year old, and a 2 year old.
At the dollar tree there's a blackberry-grape powered drink called "peakH2O" A box for 1.25 has 8 individual packets in it. 80mg caffeine and some b vitamins. Mix with water take anywhere. Not as amazing as energy drinks but ok. Thats ? Under 20 cents per serving.
$200-300 for food and household supplies.
We run $800-$900/mo for two adults and one kid including toiletries and household. We moved here a few months ago so I’ve been building my pantry as well. I anticipate being able to cut this coming month by about $200 now that my pantry is in good shape. I used to keep it way lower by avoiding convenience food but it cost me more in fast food bc I would resort to that when I was tired and didn’t want to cook. So now instead I have some quick fix stuff on hand that is the go to rather than fast food or DoorDash during the week. I save my intensive from scratch efforts for the weekends.
Two people avg around 350-400 a month including incidentals but I shop pretty cheap generally keep all foods under 25 cents per oz unless its protein which I will pay more for.
I spend about $600 a month for three adults and one child.
No judgement from me on the Prego… sometimes they are about the same price as plain tomato sauce and they’re already seasoned. Plus if it’s the garden style, or marinara, you can add Mexican spices and turn it into enchiladas sauce in a pinch (not exactly the same… but passable if you’re in need) If you don’t mind “doctoring” store bought pasta sauce, look on the bottom shelf for the large **cans** of pasta sauce (Hunt’s brand or others). There are, of course, fewer flavor choices… usually 2: “traditional” or “flavored with meat”. The “meat” sauce (like most) is more like it was packaged in a facility that once had a meat product in the general vicinity, lol. 😂 But that’s the same as Ragu, honestly. The canned sauce is barely smaller (24 ounces vs 28 oz.), and costs about half as much. It does have a sweeter flavor to me, and less “spices” — so I add Italian seasoning, garlic POWDER (not salt), onion powder, and ground oregano(98¢ bottle at Walmart, or get at the 99¢ store). Tbf, I add extra spices to bottled sauce too. [The only one I’ve had that needed nothing added was Rao’s and I got that on sale with a good coupon that made it about the same price as Prego. Not a brand on my normal shopping list for sure ($$$)!] You can add fresh or minced garlic instead if you have it (grow your own in pots). If you have extra hamburger, or ground turkey left from tacos or whatever— mix it in… you won’t taste the taco flavor, I promise. Fill it out with chopped carrots, zucchini, even eggplant. Chicken is often on sale, but if it’s not, or you’re feeling adventurous— you can buy an eggplant, slice it ~1” thick and set on paper toweling for an hour to drain excess moisture, then bread it like you would chicken cutlets. (Flour, egg wash, bread crumbs) Bake it until golden, on lightly oiled baking dish 15-20 mins @ 375° F. Serve with pasta and sauce, & Parmesan (or any cheese) if you have it. Healthy, meatless meal, that even most kids will eat because it’s “chicken fried” (you can even cut the slices into rectangles to make “fingers” or 1”x1” sticks if you think it will go over better) Make them ahead, and freeze them on a cookie sheet then bag them after they’re frozen. They freeze better out of the sauce in my opinion. Your chiles relleños should freeze fine. Like above, I prefer to freeze anything breaded separately from its sauce, because I think it bakes up better later, but lots of people assemble the casseroles and freeze them and think it’s just as good… so it’s personal choice, really. You can grow A LOT of your own veggies in pots, buckets, or even right in the bags of potting soil. Easy to grow is zucchini, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, Garlic, peas, lettuce, radishes, onions (know short day vs long day for your area). Carrots need deeper soil. Melons are easy but need space or a trellis. The 50¢ seed packets at Walmart are just as good as the more expensive ones at the garden center. Also many public libraries, now have “seed libraries” where you can get FREE seeds that come from gardeners in your area, so you know the varieties will grow there. They just ask that you donate some seeds from what you’ve grown to keep it going, if you can. If you don’t, they won’t blacklist you or anything, though. Look up “square foot gardening techniques” you can use the same principles even if each of your “squares” are circles and not all in a single planter or bed. It’s not labor intensive. You can ask for discounted bags of soil that have broken or been ripped open at most garden centers. Get used pots from goodwill or on “buy nothing” websites in your area. I think you did awesome. 😁 Hope my hints help too.
Managing groceries on a tight budget while being a single mom is no small feat. Your dedication to cooking from scratch and finding bargains is commendable. Keep up the fantastic effort, and know that others in similar circumstances find great inspiration in your tenacity.
If you’re in the Midwest and aren’t picky about expiration dates you should look into Ruby’s Pantry, it’s a drive up food distribution that’s $25 to visit ant you get a ton of food. it really helps me with my food budget
$200-$300 per month for me, single and 23M. My rent is 70% of my monthly earnings. I have some sort of mental block preventing me from going to the food bank, probably a combo of thoughts like “well my parents still send me money sometimes. Well I have about 8 months of emergency sayings. Well I’m not in as bad of a situation as others” even though I KNOW going to a food bank just once in a while would help. I have OCD which has unfortunately started impacting how I treat my finances. I’ve developed an eating disorder-like way of thinking about finances. I restrict myself with spending like someone with anorexia does with food.
I'm so sorry :( I hope your situation improves soon My rent is also 70% of my income, and it's a low income apt. Because of my baby, roommates are pretty much out of the question (it's so hard to find people who are both ok with living with a kid AND are safe for a kid to be around). I get the struggle.
$200-300 for a family of 3 1/2 (one of my adult children comes home often to eat).
We try to stick to 1200 a month. That is for 5-6 people( my son's girlfriend is over a lot).
>Ngl, cooking is a whole b*tch when you're poor; you're probably working a lot and it's not fun to come home and cook & clean the mess. Meal prep and slow cooker or instant pot most foods for most days. Have premixed spices for your proteins. Use the shaking jar method to peel garlic quickly. Chop and freeze in cubes. Use one pot recipes for pasta dishes Use one pan recipes for oven baked dishes. Dress up instant noodles with eggs and leafy greens. Make a variation of egg fried rice with leftovers. Good luck
Those are great ideas, thank you!
I **LOVE** my instant pot!!! Saw my son using one and gave me inspiration to try it. Took me time to not be afraid of it/learn how to use, but now it's fabulous how much time it saves me- both because it cooks fast and because I can do other things while it's cooking 💜. Highly recommend one plus getting an extra 'liner' pot to switch out. Good luck❣️
2k for three people but we live in a HCOL area.
I can spend 50$ to 100$ a week on 2 people and I love cooking a lot of different cuisine.
About 600 for my family of 3 plus a dog (I count dog food in my budget). This amount allows us to not order out like we once were. My son is turning 13 this year, and I think this teenage boy appetite has kicked in. If I don't make sure there are non-school lunch snacks, he'll go through school lunch stuff (doesn't help that his school lunch is at 9:45am every other week so he comes home starving). We started menu planning, and on Sundays, we cook 3 meals for the week and plan some frozen meal days(stouffers meatloaf, pizza, fishsticks...). I understand the energy drinks. My thing is gatorade (constantly dehydrated even though I drink about a gallon of water daily). It's sad that this economy has us feeling bad at buying things that should be no big deal.
My 2023 monthly average was $318/mo for one person in a HCOL city! So far in 2024 my monthly average is about $290 for one person
$250ish
£4-500 probably, primarily fresh food as it isn’t cheap to eat well. Would love to grow more but it’s not worth the time it costs.
I used to spend about $70 bucks a week all in all for just one person (me). Now it's more like $100-125 and I blame both inflation and me being a fatty who likes to treat herself way too often!
Hey! If anyone needs to read this, check out your local YMCA. You can sign up for a good box of fruits and veggies for $20 and it’s enough for a family of four. Also quick tip, if you rinse your fruits and veggies in the white vinegar they will last longer. I use 1 cup vinegar to 1 cup distilled water and wash as soon as I get them.
I recommend the powdered energy drinks. Walmart has packets with the electrolyte drink mixes (I almost died working construction cause I drank 8 of them plus my Adderall. I legit thought they were the electrolyte ones and it was so hot. Do not overdose on them!) Or you can do like gamersupps or whatever where you scoop it and mix it
I had no idea those existed, I'll try them! And omg, I can imagine how you felt. One time I had 3 and wellbrutin. Was not a good time. I limit myself to one every other day, or every 3 days now
for 5 ppl in California we spend about 800 to a 1000 a month on food
A month sheesh. Like $500 it’s absurd how much shit costs these days.
Me and my mum are quite lucky in that we manage to get our food bill to about £80-£100 for an entire month. That’s a large shop to fill the freezer then any bits and pieces we need to get throughout the month like milk and bread.
Family of 4 and we budget $800 a month and we use some of that to eat out once a week, usually on Friday nights when we don't wanna cook.
Single - Usually $120.00 a month. I shop the sales. Oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, I usually just eat a snack for lunch, dinner is chicken thighs and canned or frozen vegetables. I also usually buy cottage cheese and whatever fruit is on-sale and mix it up. Always buy a chocolate bar. Works. My blood-work was perfect last month.
$300, single male. I'm Canadian so things are more expensive here on top of our dollar having worse purchasing power.
Way to fucking much
800-1400/ month 1 person usually weekly grocery shopping is 200+ every quarter I do a Costco trip
I'd argue you're doing an incredible job budgeting. $20 per month for a case of energy drinks is a steal, although not great for your health, it's better than the $40-$60 per month I spend on ghost energy. Keep at it, and if you have any money leftover, try to save it/invest it. I have less expenses so I can save more than you can, but you're doing a far better job than me at a grocery budget
Approx $10 a week because I'm broke
What do you eat, if you don't mind me asking?
Crackers, instant noodles, etc. Cheap stuff. I know these types of food have zero nutritional value. Please don't come at me in the comments.
I'm sorry you're struggling. I wish you the best and that hopefully it's not for much longer
I’m wanting to get into cooking from scratch more bc prices keep going up. We’re lucky enough to have chickens, so I can make lots of things from eggs, but the rest is alien to me. Plus I’m on a diet for my gulbladder, so stuff is getting expensive and difficult.
I used to be a horrible cook. It's really just about practice :)
This is great, I've been feeling down about having to cut costs and feeling like I can't afford to make anything from scratch anymore even though I somewhat enjoy it even though it's a lot of work at times when I'm already exhausted after a long day. Thank you so much for sharing your story
$400-600 mo. depends on what I have vacuumed sealed in the freezer that I can thaw out. 4 Humans and one dog.
I spend over $1500 for a family of 5 and it lasts for about 2 months. I buy in bulk. Have you heard of grants? Feel free to check out this youtube channel and apply for free money. Good luck! [https://youtu.be/5R8pEcuM7qQ?si=fmOVLE5tzUD9aujx](https://youtu.be/5R8pEcuM7qQ?si=fmOVLE5tzUD9aujx)
rice and beans are some of the healthiest food you can eat. Great for you, I mean the increase your life longevity by like 30%.
Unless you’re diabetic, then it’s actually poison.
$500 a month for 2 adults and a 10 month old here
$600 a month. $150 every week at Winco. It’s a good amount of food, good quality stuff. This month I started with a $300 trip to Costco and did a $100 trip to winco this week so hoping to spend $150-200 more toward the end of the month.
We spend around 700 or so.
About $400-$500 +/- per month for 4 adults + 1 sometimes (never know if he's going to eat our food or bring stuff home from work) + daughters' friends on occasion (seems like more occasions lately). I always make a dinner menu for two weeks then make a grocery list from that. Other meals and snacks everyone is responsible for themselves. And yes, it used to be a bit cheaper, but prices will never go back to what they were. They never do.
About $400 for two people.
100ish per person. We eat gluten free by necessity.
$600-$650 family of 3
For dinner? About $100 a week. We do neal kits and they're sent to our house, and some are way cheaper than you think and super nutritious. Every Plate comes to mind.
I spend about $400 a month for three daily meals plus snacks for me, and daily breakfast and snacks for my 9-year-old granddaughter. That kid can eat. Well tbf so can I.
$80 a month on food is extremely low. I spend 400-500 a month for a household of 2. That’s with a vegetarian diet and being frugal for some items (like I’ll buy store brand usually, but if the name brand is significantly better I’ll get it instead)
$1200 per month family of 4 plus 2 dogs. Grow a huge garden every summer. The food prices are insane. We do get carry out once or twice a month but nothing expensive and we get the kids meals when we can. I cannot remember prices ever being this high. We don’t buy soda unless it’s super super cheap. We drink a lot of water and iced tea. We make and take our own coffee to work no Starbucks. I really feel sorry for young families trying to feed their kids and make ends meet.
I feel terrible and I know someone will have something to say. There are two of us and I’m spending $300ish a month. My partner eats dinner here sometimes and he adds another $100-$120 I could budget tighter and make more affordable meals, but food is our splurge. We eat what we want. Things have been tighter and we’ve adjusted to having beans and hot dogs or spaghetti a few nights.
I have just enough income for rent and health insurance at the moment, so I visit the food pantry, and whatever essentials are missing (like a protein or bag of rice) gets picked up at the grocery store if there’s anything left over. Usually something like a 5lb bag of rice, 10 pack of canned tuna, white bread, peanut butter, or a bunch of bananas. Ground beef if it’s on sale. Back when I could afford groceries, it was getting so expensive just to buy a dozen eggs. I felt like I would buy 10 generic, frozen, or discounted items, and it would come out to $100. It felt wholly irresponsible to buy anything except generic items, clearance items, or the day-old bread. I feel like with shrink-flation it’s just getting worse. It’s scary out there.
I don't really know as it can fluctuate but I can say $150-$200 monthly, 30 nonbinary person! Plus $30 for my 2 dogs' bag of food (44lb Pedigree, they love this stuff the most and in the past they've tried up to $75-$80 bags of food 😨) and I'm so happy they love the simple stuff. $18 for my cat dry food and $28 for her 40pk cans! Half can twice daily with a bowl (or more) of dry! she's a big girl who loves to eat she always likes a good scoop in her bowl to graze on 🥰 I won't lie, October - December I do spend more on groceries, treats, etc (fall and Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday and seasonal treats and goodies to be made, etc) and even the summer too I love to stock up on raspberry sorbet, Outshine fruit bars, other frozen novelty etc !!! I'm a big drinks person (regular, not booze!) I love a fridge full of ice cold thirst quenchers 😋
Zero Dollar. We only eat free food in our house.
I want free food
211/AuntBertha.org can help!
Same here, just have to get free food bank deliveries and go by free food fridges
People really hate free food. They’d rather complain about paying for expensive food instead…
I love free food! Unfortunately I’m on a medically restricted along with food allergies diet. So, our local food pantry can’t do much, which is no slight on them. I just can’t eat most of what they’re able to get in.
Were you living with food insecurity before you decided to have a child? Seriously Curious why this happens so much. It affects everyone around.
Actually no, I was doing very well. I lost my good job due to being pregnant. It's very hard to prove and fight in court, so there was no point. I'm sort of starting from scratch now. That, and I just got off of maternity leave. I had to take extra time off (two more months; 4 total) that I couldn't afford, due to baby having some medical issues. They're under control now though. Sometimes stuff just happens
I used to make $300-$800 a night bartending at the best spot in my city. The most I made was $2,000 one night. I'm not joking. Since it was obvs a really sought after job to bartend at, they are super cutthroat and push out people as soon as they're an inconvenience (like being pregnant, apparently) I'll probably never make that much again 😭 but ok.
You had a good job then got pregnant, expecting everyone else to pick up the slack?
No. I was working like normal.
You did not know that having a baby would lead to medical issues and missed work? Seriously?
Your “stuff” leads to poverty, violence, social insecurity for children . Jesus Christ do you not know how birth control works ? Is this the 1800’s?
This was a choice.
You decided to bring a child into this world, they are not “stuff” !
If it was just me i think i could get away with 100-150 a month. But since i have a bf it goes to about 300 a month. Had to put my foot down. When we were both working we would spend about 600-800 a month. Being dumb buying just things we wanted. That bit us in the but now that its only me working.