• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Food Budgets Around the World

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,145
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Not sure where to put this, but I found it so interesting.

Hungry Planet (ABCNews.com)

They've assembled a weeks' worth of groceries for "typical" families in many different countries. The visual gives additional impact to the differences. And if you mouseover the bottom of the pictures, you'll get text that explains the family, plus the monetary value of the groceries they live on.

I'm still rather blown away that the family of four in the US spends $350 a week on food. Good grief. We have five and spent only $125 a month or so, including all the cleaning supplies and plasticwrap/foil and things.
 

Geoff

Lallygag Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
5,584
MBTI Type
INXP
Wow, yes. The Uk one was $100 a week cheaper, but I don't see a great deal of difference in food delivery or style (although it probably depends a whole lot on whether the families chosen were typical for things like "organic" or "home cooked" vs prepared meals).

Edit : Jennifer, you mean $125 a week, right?
 

cafe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
9,827
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Weird. We are a family of six and spend no more than $250/week including cleaning/paper goods at today's prices, which are higher than 2005's. We could spend less than $250/week pretty easily. Much less than $200/week, though, and we start to feel a little pinch.

That's if we don't eat out, though, and most families eat out at least once a week, I'm guessing, and that can add up quick.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,145
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Edit : Jennifer, you mean $125 a week, right?

DOH!!!!

yes. Week. (so about $500 a month)

...although we could go back to that cardboard diet... lotsa fiber.


That's if we don't eat out, though, and most families eat out at least once a week, I'm guessing, and that can add up quick.

I'm sure that is part of it. Snacks out of the vending machine, a sandwich and soda for lunch, fast food 1-2X a week, pizza for dinner 1/week, etc. It all adds up QUICK.
 

scantilyclad

almost nekkid
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
Messages
2,106
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
We spend about $80 a week on groceries, and we eat out once a week, and that is usually about 20 dollars, so i'd say we spend... 400 a month on food, wow that is really too much for a family of 3, considering one is a 6 month old baby!
 

Wolf

only bites when provoked
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
2,127
MBTI Type
INTJ
I spend ~$45-90 a week on eating out (90 is if I go for sushi in that week and had an otherwise-high week, my usual is no more than $50), and ~$40-80 a month on groceries (haven't done a major grocery shopping in over two months (wait...it's been over four...time is flying on me); my last trip was $18.67 for ingredients for soup, whipped cream, and strawberries, which is about two meals worth and is more expensive than eating out), which is seriously exaggerated because I have no clue how long what I have will last and I keep dividing the last shopping trip out. The contrast in costs between selecting sensible choices eating out and going to the grocery store is pretty striking because it's very nearly identical in price, and grocery shopping often loses. With my family here (total of 4), dinner was $28 with tip on Saturday, then mom found some ambition to get groceries and cook, which cost 38 for groceries for the meal (plus a bottle of sauce I had in my cupboard). She finally accepted that I was right - it's about the same to eat out around here, and often better, especially for just one person. I keep considering trying to uber-economize on food or go vegetarian (which means I'd need to make my own food) to see how it stacks up to my current food costs.

My last few months of effort to reduce fixed expenses has finally shown dramatic effects, with account balances many times higher this month (plus 80% less on credit cards, and including a large purchase of a washer and dryer) than they were before the effort began (even higher than expected, especially since it appears I have grossly over-estimated certain costs). The costs have already been more than paid for in utility expense reductions alone (at this point SDGE has enough over-pay from the level-pay-plan on the old place to pay the normal monthly here for four months). Petrol consumption has also been reduced considerably because I now walk to places that once took an 8-10-mile round-trip (stupid suburbs). As such, the only easily-reduced thing I have left is food.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,145
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
My personal budget (living alone) right now for groceries is $50/week.... and i have to put eating out into that (along with living supplies).

It's not necessarily easy, I do a lot of bargain shopping, but it's not hard either -- I haven't been eating poorly and might even get more red meat than I used to. Many of the meals I make, I have leftovers for the next 2-3 meals. If I needed to do a $10 week, I suppose I could.

I buy a lot less diet soda than I used to.

It always just seems to be a trade-off between what you can scrape by with and enjoying your food a bit.
 

Geoff

Lallygag Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
5,584
MBTI Type
INXP
My personal budget (living alone) right now for groceries is $50/week.... and i have to put eating out into that (along with living supplies).

It's not necessarily easy, I do a lot of bargain shopping, but it's not hard either -- I haven't been eating poorly and might even get more red meat than I used to. Many of the meals I make, I have leftovers for the next 2-3 meals. If I needed to do a $10 week, I suppose I could.

I buy a lot less diet soda than I used to.

It always just seems to be a trade-off between what you can scrape by with and enjoying your food a bit.

Live on your own? The crockpot/slow cooker is your friend! Bulk veggies, chopped tomatoes, some spices, potatoes and a little red meat go a long way.

Make up some kind of meat stew in enough for 3 portions.

Day 1 : it's great with just some bread or a baked potato

Day 2 : Take half the left overs and add some indian spices (maybe mexican?) and some boiled rice, and have a curry/chilli out of it.

Day 3 : Freeze the last bit a week, or just eat it if you aren't bored.

This is a great way of feeding yourself, and slow cooked stews on the go all day give remarkably good flavours for the low hassle and low cost involved. Also, a curry done this way (you only need a few indian spices if you already have a tomatoe/vegetable/meat stew) just gets better and better with sitting a day or so.

Hope I'm not teaching you how cheap it was for your grandmother to suck eggs!
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,145
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Live on your own? The crockpot/slow cooker is your friend! Bulk veggies, chopped tomatoes, some spices, potatoes and a little red meat go a long way. Make up some kind of meat stew in enough for 3 portions.

yes, very cool -- this was my experiment this past weekend.

I got a discounted peppercorn pork roast for $4-5, then cut up peppers and onions and mushrooms and added cream of mushroom soup to it.

Along with the white rice I made, I have enough for 4-5 meals altogether. Not bad... and I love that stuff. :)

Just a matter of getting some variety in there.

Hope I'm not teaching you how cheap it was for your grandmother to suck eggs!

No, she always ate them with the shell on.

;)

I'll have to attempt curry at some point. Never made it before.
 

Geoff

Lallygag Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
5,584
MBTI Type
INXP
That's where the curry comes in, in terms of variety.

Buy a sachet of "curry spices", toast them in a dry pan and stir them in. Also maybe stir in a tablespoon of mango chutney. You'd be amazed how you suddenly get this exotic, slightly fiery, sweet curry out of what was just a stew before.

Damn, I'm a hungry brit, now.
 

Athenian200

Protocol Droid
Joined
Jul 1, 2007
Messages
8,828
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
My personal budget (living alone) right now for groceries is $50/week.... and i have to put eating out into that (along with living supplies).

It's not necessarily easy, I do a lot of bargain shopping, but it's not hard either -- I haven't been eating poorly and might even get more red meat than I used to. Many of the meals I make, I have leftovers for the next 2-3 meals. If I needed to do a $10 week, I suppose I could.

I buy a lot less diet soda than I used to.

It always just seems to be a trade-off between what you can scrape by with and enjoying your food a bit.

So, you buy all the food you need with that, along with light bulbs, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, lotion, laundry detergent, paper towels, Kleenex, air freshener, dish soap, wood cleaner, glass cleaner, tile cleaner, carpet stain cleaner, toothpaste, mouthwash, and a toothbrush? You could easily spend $50 on all those things alone. I can't see how you do that, even if you just buy the cheapest brand of each regardless of quality.

I'm really sad for you that you can't afford much diet soda any more. :(

And it's honestly hard to imagine anyone spending that little on food, even without that. You must be starving.
 

Geoff

Lallygag Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
5,584
MBTI Type
INXP
So, you buy all the food you need with that, along with light bulbs, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, lotion, laundry detergent, paper towels, Kleenex, air freshener, dish soap, wood cleaner, glass cleaner, tile cleaner, carpet stain cleaner, toothpaste, mouthwash, and a toothbrush? You could easily spend $50 on all those things alone. I can't see how you do that, even if you just buy the cheapest brand of each regardless of quality.

I'm really sad for you that you can't afford much diet soda any more. :(

And it's honestly hard to imagine anyone spending that little on food, even without that. You must be starving.

I think Jennifer would be doing something seriously wrong if that was the shopping list every week!
 

alicia91

New member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Messages
671
We are a family of 5 and spend about $175 a week. That includes paper product, hygiene and cleaning products. Even with that budget I have to look for sales and watch what I buy. I can easily go up to $200 without much effort. A few months ago I seriously started taking a closer look at what I was buying because I felt that we had a lot of wasted food (produce was going bad in the fridge, stuff in the pantry we never ate, etc.).
 

scantilyclad

almost nekkid
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
Messages
2,106
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
So, you buy all the food you need with that, along with light bulbs, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, lotion, laundry detergent, paper towels, Kleenex, air freshener, dish soap, wood cleaner, glass cleaner, tile cleaner, carpet stain cleaner, toothpaste, mouthwash, and a toothbrush? You could easily spend $50 on all those things alone. I can't see how you do that, even if you just buy the cheapest brand of each regardless of quality.

You must be doing a lot of cleaning, wiping, showering, laundry, blowing your nose, and oral hygiene to be buying all that stuff every week! :)

We usually buy that kind of stuff once a month, unless we run out of something, and then we buy those items as they are needed.
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
My personal budget (living alone) right now for groceries is $50/week.... and i have to put eating out into that (along with living supplies).
Hey neat, that's almost exactly what I spend, though I don't keep to a budget, I only track what I spend (average over last 4 months = 134/month groceries, 60/month on eating out)....I spend a bit more on food than I need to though, because I'd rather spend a bit extra to eat well rather than spending it in other areas.

I've seen your link before, somewhere, quite a while ago, but it's still just as fascinating. It's amazing how little families in poor countries spend on food, but I guess they don't have much money to begin with...I was kinda shocked at $341/week, too...I grew up in a family of 6 and it wasn't anywhere near that....I think it was around 200 if I recall (my mom discussed it with me once).
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
So, you buy all the food you need with that, along with light bulbs, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, lotion, laundry detergent, paper towels, Kleenex, air freshener, dish soap, wood cleaner, glass cleaner, tile cleaner, carpet stain cleaner, toothpaste, mouthwash, and a toothbrush? You could easily spend $50 on all those things alone. I can't see how you do that, even if you just buy the cheapest brand of each regardless of quality.

I'm really sad for you that you can't afford much diet soda any more. :(

And it's honestly hard to imagine anyone spending that little on food, even without that. You must be starving.
Ath, it's actually really easy if you know how to shop and have simple tastes. I think I eat better than most students, although I eat significantly less fast food.

Most of that "household" stuff you mentioned, you don't use very fast...I spend maybe an average of 10/month on everything you said, if even that.
 

prplchknz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
34,397
MBTI Type
yupp
my last grocery bill was $130. I only go about once every two weeks or more, I hate shopping I feel like I'm being judged for what I buy. I haven't really been to the store since the end of April so when I go back I'm going on a big shopping trip this weekend with my mom. I don't eat out that often maybe once a week if that and it's usually some where cheap. So I don't think I spend a lot of money on food, but I'm really bad at budgeting, I actually had to go look at my bank statement to figure out how much I spent on food.

hopefully the person I end up marrying will be good with money.

of course I can make one of those frozen meals easily last me two meals.
 

Lateralus

New member
Joined
May 18, 2007
Messages
6,262
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
3w4
I'm glad I live in a country with economic and political stability.

I spend about $50/week.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,145
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Most of that "household" stuff you mentioned, you don't use very fast...I spend maybe an average of 10/month on everything you said, if even that.

Exactly. It was a large expenditure up front, but long-term? Meh. It all takes a long time to get through, and hopefully runs out all at different times so you never have to pony up dough for a lot of it at once.

(For reference, when I moved in in March, I bought a 4-pack of toilet paper and a 3-pack of paper towels. I'm still either on roll 1-2 of the paper towels, might be roll 1, and on roll 2 of the toilet paper. I usually have two box of kleenex out and did go through one of them, but that's been the fastest...)

So those things aren't issues, at least for single people, once the start-up cost is paid. However, I do know that buying for a family of 4-5, you go through the paper products faster. (Maybe 8-packs of toilet paper every few weeks? Paper towels the same? I'm not sure.)
 

scantilyclad

almost nekkid
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
Messages
2,106
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
i could go through a 4 pack of toilet paper in a few days!
 
Top