Weekly Food Budget

I've made for myself a budget of 20 to 40 bucks a week. I live with my boyfriend. To be fair, we already have a lot of our staple foods. Rice, potatoes, pasta, tomato sauce,onions and garlic, herbs and spices, eggs. My plan is just to buy veggies, fruits, and small amounts of meat to be able to arrange it into nice meals. I'd say, buy the basics in bulk, and then cut down drastically your bills by just buying fresh stuff on discount.

 

The budget I have per week is about $100 and sometimes more. I like to eat a lot and go out frequently with friends. I have started to coupon but I am certainly no pro yet.

 

When I first moved out and money was tight, I used to buy two weeks worth of groceries for about $100, so I was spending around $200 per month on them. But that has slowly crept up over the years, and my grocery budget goes through the roof if I start trying out new recipes on a whim - I can drop $30 easily on ingredients for one recipe when I get in some "mood" to try out something new I came across online.

I should also note that I was living near Youngstown, Ohio at the time, which is a relatively low income area so the prices around there are much lower than what you would see in more affluent locations. When I eventually moved to a nicer suburb of Cleveland, the cost of everything was much higher, including groceries, so it was basically impossible for me to spend anything less than $150 every two weeks, usually more.

I would say start by pairing down your shopping list to the absolute bare minimum of what would get you through a week. What would you be fine eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner most of the time? Toast with Peanut butter & jelly and a cup of coffee in the mornings? You're talking less than $1 a day for breakfast right there. Or maybe do some scrambled/fried eggs in place of the peanut butter & jelly, equally inexpensive. If you like Oatmeal, even cheaper. Fresh fruits can be expensive so perhaps stick to stuff like Bananas or some oranges when they are on sale.

For lunch, I've been known to just stick with Lean Pockets or Lean Cuisine meals when they are on sale for dirt cheap prices. They may be processed but at least I know I am getting a variety of vegetables and lean proteins, and they are portion controlled. It's still a much cheaper and healthier option than fast food. You could also make your own frozen lunches too on the weekends to have for the week, like a batch of chili and/or some pasta dishes.

I've mentioned this on other threads, but for dinner I could get buy on a large pack of ground beef and a big bag of frozen fries to make burgers and fries throughout the week in my oven. But you could also look for inexpensive pork roasts on sale, and slow cook them to make shredded pork for stews and fajitas and such for several days. Keep an eye out for meats that are on sale and need to be sold immediately. I've bought 2lb packs of ground turkey for only $1.60 and large pork roasts for only $1.90 because they were starting to grey a bit and needed to be sold and cooked ASAP. There is no sense in paying full price for meat then letting it sit in your freezer for months when you can pay dirt cheap prices for the meat that needs to be sold immeditately and just cook it that day. My friends also do this with items such as milk too (I don't buy milk often).

 

$28-$35 per week or $4-$5 per day is already enough for me to buy what I need to eat. I try to eat meals as balanced as they can be while keeping my budget low. My shopping list consists of these items: fruits (bananas and oranges), wheat bread, peanut butter, chicken breasts, vegetables (spinach and celery), seasonings, low fat milk, eggs, and water. I live alone and I cook alone so I don't have to worry about what other people want to eat. I have been keeping up with this budget plan for more than a year and will probably continue this plan since I haven't encountered any major problems yet. In fact, it was better than my college years when I used to eat junk foods and drink pop regularly and had constipation as the result.

 

I believe it is quite important to try and understand your monthly budget on food and learn to take the step required to plan it efficiently. I think it can be really useful if one understands how much money that they can actually spend on food. I usually spend around 40 dollars per week. I think it is quite okay.

 

I don't really have a steady food budget, but on the average, I spend 15$ for my meal. It's pretty cheap as compared to majority. I don't eat out a lot. I usually eat at home and get myself a very nutritious small meal. I'm currently losing my weight, so I need to cut down my food intake. Nevertheless, I still spend the same amount of money. Just that I have to change the foods that I buy. Whatever it's, it has to be healthy.

 

I don't spend much on food. At most it will be $20 in one week, no more. The reasons:

Living on a farm has many benefits. I don't have to buy milk, eggs, vegetables and sometimes, meat. Whatever else I must buy therefore doesn't cost much and since I live alone, I spend even less. Know how hard it is to eat when you are alone? Food doesn't taste all that great, trust me.

My advice to you would be to buy non-perishables in bulk and if you can, start your own garden so that you will save some money on vegetables.

 

there are so many ways to save on food budget. One is by growing what you will eat. Even if you do not have a farm, you can always grow some of it just in your backyard. Of course, you have to consider your own diet and the type of food you prefer to eat. Some people are ok with soup, some are ok with healthy sandwiches (as meal) or some prefer to just much on salads. I have some friends who will do anything to "super-extend" his food. I mean, he makes his own sausages, burger patties, meatloaf. Sometimes, he "re-cycled" left over food as well (i mean, cook again in different way) like left over chicken are shredded and makes a good pizza toppins..

 

I don't have a strict food budget, but I don't spend anywhere near $100. I'd say maybe $20 max. I try not to splurge too much, but I don't like setting a specific amount. That doesn't mean I don't try to save money though!

Tips:

• Buying whole chicken is pretty cheap. Plus you can make broth with the leftover bones. (Broth is really healthy and makes flavorful meals).
• Grow what you can. Herbs are especially easy to grow and can get expensive if you buy those little bottles. Just grow it in summer then dry it and save, or bring them inside and have fresh herbs all winter.
• If you use ground burger, try mixing in other things. Beans are especially good. Dried beans are cheap and you can do a 50-50 ratio without noticing it too much - other than a slight crunch.
• Homemade granola - it's cheap and pretty filling. Oats + honey + brown sugar + a bit of oil then bake at 250 for 25 min while stiring every 5 minutes. Then you can add any extras or eat it like that.
• Don't buy any prepackaged foods - make your own. Canned soups are also bad! Do a big batch and put it in jars.
• Freezer meals make wonderful alternatives on lazy days - no more ordering pizza! I like to many multiples of any meal and freeze the extra.
• Speaking of pizza, make your own completely from scratch. I spend less than $10 for three giant cookie sheet size pizzas plus some bread sticks.
• Learn to make your own bread, and buy yeast in bulk! Yeast in the freezer lasts for years. Homemade bread is much more filling and tastes better, all while being way cheaper. A loaf costs me about $0.30.
• Offer/eat more smaller meals during the day - you'll be less likely to overfill yourself at dinner. It's a dieting tip, but it can help save on food costs since you eat less.
• Pasta is a cheap staple food. $1 for a box goes a long way, and it can be prepared a ton of different ways.
• Watch your fliers for deals. Don't get the flier? Look online or use one of the many apps that will do it for you.
• Walmart isn't actually the cheapest! Aldi's beats their sales on practically anything - especially vegetables and fruit. Once again, just watch the fliers and you'll get better deals.
• Coupons and rebate apps are your friend.
• Stock up on items you know you'll use while it's on sale. I always buy a bunch of strawberries and bananas and freeze them. I got 10 pounds of pollock last time it was on sale. Sales rotate about every 2 months, so get yourself enough to last.
• Don't buy bottled drinks! Either drink water or buy the flavoring to add to the water.
• No snack machines either! If you like those tiny convenient packages, get a big bag of whatever it is and a pack of zip lock bags and make your own little bags.
• Just stay out of the junk food isle in general. None of it is filling. If you want junk food, make it yourself. Some of it is not very easy to make (like slim jims and ruffles chips...) but it will save you a lot of money.

 

Just have to say, learning to make bread can be a bit... mentally exhausting. We're not all skilled at kneading. I would slave at it and give it my all, trying dozens of techniques after reading food science and bread science and bread blogs and bread tips and I still would not get a good stretchy dough. However, too dense can be forgiven for pizza in many cases.

And where I live, I can buy a loaf of whole wheat sliced bread for around 50 cents. It's European size toast, not American size, but it cuts down on the effort and on the price of the oven, so I'll take that any day.

A good tip would be estimating the cost any meal would be and seeing whether it is worth to make it from scratch or to buy it. In many cases, from scratch is better. But bread for sandwiches just isn't for me, as is ice cream, for example.

 

I am currently trying my best to cut back on the amount that I am spending, and I actually think I'm doing alright at it, to tell you the truth. I find that if you bulk buy things like pasta, rice and noodles, that can go with almost anything to make a meal, I will always have things in the house that I can cook when I need to. I also think that it is a good idea to buy frozen vegetables, as it is much cheaper than buying them fresh, and you will never have any of them going to waste. I used to buy lots of things, with good intentions of cooking all of them, but always found that I just didn't have the time to be able to do it. But buying frozen, if I don't want to cook a certain thing one evening, I know that it's still going to be there in the days, weeks and months later for me to use up in my own time.

 

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Allow me to make your life easier then
1) Your dough needs more water.
2) You might need a warmer dough.

It's actually not all that hard unless you're trying to follow a recipe to the T. I don't even follow a recipe anymore, I just throw it together. 1 Tbsp yeast, 1 Tbsp sugar, however much flour I want, and water until it feels nice and soft. The more water you use, the stickier it will be, but it leads to a fluffier loaf. Less water leads to a denser loaf, but the dough won't be as sticky.

I actually never once looked up a guide nor did anyone in my family ever even make mention that bread could be homemade. I just figured it out on my own. At the start, I always did it with my Bosch mixer. However, recently I have taken to kneading it a bit by hand. My technique is to push into it with the palms of my hands. Actually, I only use one hand since I have a bad wrist. I just push into with the palm, spin it a bit, and repeat - all very quickly.
To add more water is pretty easy. Get a warm cup of water and put it beside your work area. If your dough is too tough, dip your hand into the water then shove your fingers into the dough. Kneed it a bit then repeat until it's slightly sticky, but soft and fluffy. A lot of guides say to work it until it's not sticky, but I find that if I leave it a bit sticky it gives it more fluff. It won't be very stretchy at this stage. It is a bit, but not a whole lot. That comes after the rise.
Also, if you use instant (not RapidRise) yeast and proof it first (put in warm water + sugar => let stand for 10 min) it makes it fluffier.
Another tip: Heat your oven to 250 degrees then turn it off and let your dough rise in the off oven. The higher temperatures give it a better rise and a fluffier loaf. In general the warmer the loaf is, the stretchier the dough will be. Be careful not to make things too hot though, or you'll kill the yeast.
Also, longer rises = a fluffier loaf. Just don't go over 3-4 hours or it gets pretty nasty. 1 or 2 is adequate.

Overall though, bread really isn't that hard. Time consuming, but not hard. My first loaf came out a bit dense, but most of it is really just waiting for the loaf to rise. It just sounds like you were following a recipe too close and didn't get enough water. Also, those "30 min bread" recipes don't make a great loaf. You want the loaf to rise well over 1 or 2 hours. Those make the best loafs.

Oh and a note: My $0.30 cost on bread was including the oven. Flour + yeast are dirt cheap when bought in bulk. Maybe I'll make a guide sometime.

 

I spend at least $200 every week on groceries not including clothes and other accessories, my family consisted of me and my 3 very young girls, I'm a single father, so I need to find ways of saving money, I recently bought a membership at Costco, I'm not sure if that's available in your country, it's great for people with big families, I'm not sure if it would be of any help to you, although I'm a member, you still need to be careful when you shop at Costco. If you're a single person it's a good idea to save up coupons, It can really cut back on your expenses.

 

I probably spend a couple hundred bucks on food each week, somehow. It doesn't matter if I'm eating out or buying groceries and preparing foods from home. I always wind up spending most of my money on food compared to other expenses, at least. I don't worry too much about my food budget, though, because I don't spend that much in other categories like entertainment or whatever.

 

Money is tight for me right now so I have to stick to a budget. I make a meal plan, then work out what I need to buy that week. I take a list and never deviate from it. I also visit a few different grocery stores as each of them has cheaper prices on different things.

 

I can live off $15 a week if I buy correctly and plan my meals. I am vegetarian so that cuts things down, but if I have the basics, pasta, potatoes and noodles I can whip up nearly anything. I buy frozen vegetables, so there is no waste and my money goes on mushrooms, apple juice and eggs. When I was really strapped, I could live on $10 a week, I had soup, noodles, pasta and vegetables, hummus on toast as snacks and peanut butter on toast for breakfast.

 

It's a family habit not to do our grocery every week. We do our shopping every two weeks instead and endeavor not to spend beyond $100 throughout the month. This sounds shocking, but perhaps if I tell you it's considerably cheaper where I'm from it won't be so surprising anymore. We don't really spend that much since we make it a point to buy in bulk. For computation's sake, we spend around $25 on a weekly basis for grocery shopping alone.