Age: 29 Height: 5'9'' Location - Albuquerque, NM I eat out for lunch maybe once a week at Subway and spend $7.50 that day. Otherwise it's micro meals for lunch at about $2 a pop. Breakfast is 2 PBJs on wheat every day. Dinner depends they've opened a Trader Joes literally next door so we've been trying out a little of everything. Salmon, chicken, sushi, tamales, burritos, veggies, etc. Spend maybe $500 a month on groceries for 2 people and then maybe $200 a month eating out mostly on the weekends. So 700/30 = $23 a day not sure if that's a lot or not....
Family of four... Ages 36, 33, 9 and 7, heights 6'2", 5'9", under 4'10" and just at 4'4" (big kiddos) Plano, TX monthly groceries: approx $660 monthly dining out: approx $80 Used to mostly dine out... but no more. Too expensive and unhealthy.
We have 2 kids at 2yrs and 3yrs and our budget for groceries is $525 a month and we NEVER go over. (we only pay cash for groceries, so there's no way to go over). We don't usually eat processed foods or frozen dinners. We buy canned or frozen vegetables, different types of meat, wheat bread, etc. Try to avoid anything with MSG, etc. Eating healthy doesn't mean you have to buy all organic, it just means you don't eat "dinners in a box" or frozen dinners. Unfortunately, we do spend about $150 a month eating out, although we try to keep it to a minimum..so for an average month we spend about $22 a day. My lunches are always leftovers or sandwiches. I only go out to eat lunch with coworkers on paydays - once every 2 weeks. Remember, one of the ways our grandparents kept costs down is that they rarely went out to eat, and when they did, it was a very special occasion. The more wealthy ones went out to eat after church on Sundays but that was it. These days, people eat out a LOT more.
He's also the guy who said he didn't know how a single person could live on "ONLY" $40,000 a year. Must've been throwing away money left and right.
Houston - 5'10" - Single person household I budget $450 for food/entertainment/misc. Misc. can include haircuts, oil changes, or any other expenses that might come up in a given month. I try to limit food, whether it is eating out (for lunch) or buying groceries, to an average of $10 per day. Most days I'll bring a microwave dinner for lunch (~$2.25) so with my drink and anything else I bring I figure it's about $3 on lunch. Dinner I try to eat at home for the most part, but occasionally i'll pick up something like a Subway or Lenny's. I try to only go out for sit-down dinners a couple times a month. So I figure in total I spend about $300 (or a little less) on typical meals, then whatever is leftover of the remaining $150 after misc. expenses goes toward nice dinners, movies, or whatever else I want to do.
Me and the wife spend less than $320 per month on groceries. $320 is what I budget but we always come under.
^^^ This is very similar to me. I can't calculate this individually because I'm married with two kids. Houston, TX Family of four ages: 40, 40, 9, 3 heights: heights: 6', 5'9, 4'8, 3'2 groceries & restaurants We spend... about $500/month on food from grocery store about $100/month on food from Costco about $200/month on restaurants that's $800/31 days in a month... = $25.80/day for a family of four to eat 3 meals
Budget is $495 per month, which includes all meals, groceries, coffee, etc. Usually go for a nice to semi-nice dinner once or twice a week (+$20), the rest of the time I usually eat dinner at home or get cheap fast food (around $7). I go out for lunch every week day and spend probably about $7 on average. For groceries I try to spend about $65 per month. Average comes out to about $16/day on food.
28 (Single) 5'9" Houston, Texas I budget $150 per month for groceries and generally spend around $120. I usually cook for the entire week on Sundays. I buy fresh seasonal greens, frozen veggies, ground turkey lots of chicken, egg whites and turkey bacon. I rely on rice for my carbs, and I snack on almonds and string cheese. On the other hand, I budget $250 for entertainment and eating out. I've been going over that amount the last few months.
that's not too bad!! your split and values are where i'd like us to be but ratioed for just the two of us. i'm not really sure.....but i'll think about mine. about $60 every 2 months at Costco about $50/wk at Kroger about $20/mth at farmer's market and gosh...i don't want to even think about how much we spend on eating out. it's more than i'd like. hubby-every lunch, but usually subway. me-2-3 times a week. dinners together-2-3 times a week.....like i said...not good.
Its hard for me to say as a family what we spend considering my wife runs an in home daycare, so we also feed them. I'll just give you my estimate for myself. Warner Robins, GA 23 5'9" $5 - Cereal, PB&J/Salad, and Burgers/Spaghetti/Tacos/Chicken Eat fairly healthy. Try not to eat out much. If not for my wife, I'd probably spend $20/week on myself to eat.
Well done good sir. My wife and I budget roughly $400/month, which works out to about $7/day for each of us. It's tough, but so is paying down debt. You can make it work, but you have to have a combination of creativity with a willingness to eat a lot of the same thing sometimes.
I've got a friend who cooks for her family of 4 every Sunday. She makes the meals for the entire week on about $80 worth of Groceries. Its all fresh and homemade. Thats only $320 a month. They rarely eat out. They're big Dave Ramsey fans, so they seem to be very smart with their money.
Yeah, I vaguely recall that. I just remember he was a student or something or just working part-time. The whole episode was tragic humor at its finest. After how many thousands into debt should it occur to someone that "hmm, perhaps I don't need chips and a drink with this foot-long."
Age: 28 Height: 5'11 Location: Bogota, Colombia One of the benefits of living here is the price of the food here. For example I just got back from lunch and I had a soup, rice with a fried egg on top, pasta in meat sauce, grilled chicken breast with sauteed mushroom sauce on top, tomato salad, and a slice of pineapple pound cake for the price of ....................... $2.50 USD. The food here is actually very good and also much better for you than the food you get in the states. The reason is that it is void of hardly any additives or preservatives. Its much more natural. Just eating normally here I lost a good 10 - 15 lbs. Normally I spend no more than $10.00 a day here on food. In the mornings protein shake (which I buy from the US) with yogurt. Mid morning, pastel de pollo (like a chicken meat pocket), then I have that great lunch and it fills me up until dinner which I usually cook. Rice with veggies and meat.
500/month on groceries and about 300/month on eating out. I'm single and I eat well/healthy/organic. I also have a 6 pack of abdominals.
Thank you, thank you! Restaurants will really sneak up on you - especially the lunches. Also, when we go to restaurants, we order carefully: don't order $2 soda or tea. Get water (or share one drink w/ spouse) go to a restaurant, not fast food (prices are nearly the same, but servings are larger, so I can have leftovers for lunch the next day). skip the appetizers skip the dessert and coffee eat plenty of free stuff (chips, bread) and then eat only half your food (again, leftovers) eat the stuff that doesn't re-heat well first (a taco doesn't re-heat as well as an enchilada, so eat the taco and save the enchilada) watch for "kids eat free" days Also, if you're gonna eat hot dogs or pizza, you can eat that at Costco for DIRT CHEAP. Also also, Costco sells a darn tasty rotisserie chicken for only $5. It'll feed the whole family, and if there's any meat left over, you can putt that in a chicken-a-la-king or chicken enchilada recipe the following night.
