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You might want to check out this post on r/povertyfinance . I realize that it is US prices, and Canadian groceries are nowhere near this cheap, but it is a good simple baseline shopping list and outline of menu options for some more "affordable" meals.
I'd throw in some rice, dried beans, oatmeal and bananas for some more frugal meals.
I'd also recommend you check out r/Cheap_Meals and r/budgetfood for more frugal options.
Edited to add: also check out r/povertyrecipes
I'm the same. I just go to soup kitchen and shelters. its free food.
ps im poor. i lied on that.
Just read your recent posts
8k dual income after tax?
Your a squid buddy save it for the people actually in need
where did you see that?
https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/s/1H75LJouYY
Edit: If you make $200K and are living paycheck to paycheck, something definitely isn’t right.
"yeah me too. i make 200k and i live paycheck to paycheck. i have to pick up bottles in the evenings so i can save money"
its a joke as the original poster was talking about they made 150k+ and was living paycheque to paycheque and was just flexing on people. I do not make 200k as you can see from my second comment, i pick up bottles to save money.
Families/more mouths to feed, allergies to common ingredients, access to kitchen facilities, ability to store food/buy more in bulk, and knowledge of how to cook/access to that knowledge are all examples of potential barriers for people to reduce their food budget, and instead they may reduce their budget in other ways such as skipping meals. Social safety nets are just so weak for poverty.
Ability to buy in bulk. That is the one luxury I don’t have. My brother constantly tells me to go to Costco. I have to remind him I have one small fridge with a tiny freezer. He is the one with two large fridges and a deep freezer stuffed to the max. The worst part is he is a family of two. Why the hell do two people need two large fridges and a massive deep freezer? I have no freaking clue.
For the exact reason you mentioned
I live alone, I have 2 upright freezers, the fridge freezer and all are full. I'm looking to get a new fridge so my old one will be used as a spare, only plugged in when needed. I always have my son and his girl over for dinners, and when I cook, I get into modes and cook in bulk so I can portion it out and freeze it for meals when I don't feel like cooking. Some months my grocery bills are next to zero apart from perishables. I stock up when things are on sale by. I find it cheaper this way myself. Most all my meals are not carb laden, I don't do a lot of pasta at all, not much bread and potatoes and rice just here and there.
The electricity bill for that isn't even worth buying in bulk.
most poor people in Canada still have access to the internet through a cell phone. if not, you can go to a library and go on a computer there and learn how to cook any meal you want. plenty of youtube videos and websites that tell you how to cook on a budget.
it's hilarious that in 2024 you're claiming that poor people in Canada don't have access to knowledge about how to cook for cheap.
in terms of access to kitchen facilities... all you need is a hotplate and a pan. You can order a hot plate from amazon for $36. a frying pan and pot is also pretty cheap, especially if you buy a used one. that's all you really need to cook most things.
you're just making really bad excuses. allergies... come on. sure, some people have allergies, but not to the point where they can't find cheap meals to make.
a lot of food you buy in bulk doesn't even need to be refrigerated... if you buy a big bag of rice, or pasta, or anything like that, you don't need to store it in a fridge.
My friend lived in a hotel and was only allowed to cook with a microwave.
You have to be pretty literate to function on the internet, access knowledge, read recipes. We know there is a steep literacy divide in Canada, and we also know that there are systemic issues perpetuating it. Not everyone has stable housing or legal housing, which means access to kitchen facilities can be sporadic. Allergies are becoming more common in the last 20 years, and a lot of cheap foods (legumes, meat alternatives) are the most common culprits.
Choosing to ignore the reasons people may not be able to achieve peak low grocery budgets doesn't make them any less legitimate, it just makes you uninformed.
jesus christ...
so what you're saying is that poor people without access to a basic kitchen can't afford to eat at restaurants / fast food for 3 meals a day, every day?
most people in Canada can't afford to eat out every meal.
You seem to be making up an argument that no one else is talking about.
Guess you have never met anyone with lactose intolerance and/or IBS. Between the 2 the list of foods I can’t eat keeps growing. I wish I could eat whatever, but I can’t.
*gives actual good advice
-4 downvotes. Reddit in a nutshell
You really think you can eat 2-3 meals a day for $25/week? Where do you live? 1982?!
Reading this I was thinking the same thing. Unless food prices where I live are drastically more expensive than the rest of Canada, $25 a week is not even close to enough for 2-3 meals per day unless you are eating ramen for all those meals. Even Kraft dinner now is like $3-4 a freaking box so that is too much for that budget too.
I mean for staples like bread, milk and eggs your at least $10, you can get boxes of pasta for $2-$3, same for a can a sauce, that would pretty much be $25 right there, and that’s no meat, fruits, veg etc.
Where I live, a carton of eggs is about $12, a loaf of bread about 6$, and a 2L carton of milk is also $6. So that is $25 right there just for those three things.
Oh it definitely could be, I was basing it on the cheap no name bread which is like $2, milk is around $5 and Walmart usually has a dozen eggs for around $4
For sure.. the prices I listed are like the regular prices at say metro and Safeway in my area. I only shop sales, save coupons, buy things right before they go bad etc. so I never pay full price. But we have a real lack of options here in northern Ontario. You can’t just drive 45 minutes away to a different town and go somewhere else. The closest big city is Winnipeg and it’s an 8 hour drive away. Also, our public transit is absolutely horrid here. So people who don’t drive are pretty limited in where they shop unless they want to take 4 different buses and lug groceries around for 3 hours.
Can you order groceries in on Amazon for a better price? Sourdough bread is pretty easy and can be made for cheap if you can get flour for a decent price.
We don’t have same day delivery on Amazon here like big cities because we are in the middle of nowhere and so far from the distribution centres. I just ordered a bed frame on Amazon a little while ago, with prime, and it took 4 days. I’ve ordered many things.. the fastest anything has come is 2 days. So technically yes I could I guess! But it’s not as convenient as it is in big cities where you can get things delivered within hours.
Where do you live? You need to shop around more or travel much further to get cheaper groceries if they're the prices you're facing.
Northern Ontario. So it’s kinda hard as we are in the middle of nowhere lol nowhere to shop around, and the nearest larger city is Winnipeg which is an 8 hour drive. 🤷🏻♀️ I personally don’t pay those prices as I only shop sales, and am willing to use coupons and look around. But yeah, those are the regular prices at the normal grocery stores.
Right? Last time I was able to get that cheap for that long I was basically squatting in a house eating baguettes and I can’t believe It’s not butter. Because they were both 90c each and then I’d buy a stick of Genoa salami at the end of the week with my savings
Canned lentils, beans, soup is $2.99 or less 1.29 on sale
Most people arent super good with grocery shopping on a tight budget. Theres a thing about povertyfinance. You either work a crappy job that drains all hour energy. Or you work so many hours you can’t think straight. When that happens its so easy to succumb to take out. Or even just haphazardly shopping without thinking about sales or prices.
It's also that food is the one pleasure that can be indulged in because it's also a necessity. No money to go to a bar or movies, but spending $20 for pizza can make you happy and also keep you alive.
This!!! Is a thing nobody seems to get and once they do they don’t know what to do about it
You really need to channel your inner power to only buy meat & vegetables/fruit thats on sale. Then channel more of your inner strength to cook and eat that diligently all week.
I only eat once a day because I have IBS and pre-cancer polyps.
If I ate more, I'd be shitting all day.
I have IBS and lactose intolerant. Finding affordable foods that don’t bother me can be hard sometimes.
Get the polyps removed. If you've had a colposcopy already they should've removed them.
They did. Doesn't change my habits. I've been self medicating this "condition" for years until anti- diarrhea pills stopped working and my wife made me go get a colonoscopy.
Doctor said they'll come back and I'll need them removed on a regular basis so I didn't see a point to changing from OMAD and I still get IBS issues albeit less severe.
Just curious. Are there any particular foods that you have to avoid?
My mom was diagnosed with IBS and I had alot of the same problems as her. But I notice it can swing between diarrhea and constipation. Until I became vegetarian I always just had constipation and would get cramps so bad it was like being stabbed with a knife. Pain would be so bad you couldn't do anything else until it went away.
Doctor wants me on a low fodmas diet. Said I'd rather shit myself to death than give up onions and garlic lol.
I find beef can hit me hard as well as mushrooms.
Anecdotally I found my best to be when I was on keto. Never felt better gut health. I keep trying to convince my wife to go back to it. Keto is hard solo.
I take an align probiotic and metamuscil. I've found it helps quite a bit. At my worst I was up to like 7 shits a day. With just these I'm down to 1, sometimes 2 if I eat badly that day.
I also probably don't drink near enough water.
I think 2 shits a day is healthy. Better out than in.
The worst is when I go on vacation and can't shit for days. Happens everytime I travel for some reason.
I can't help you there lol. Mine has always been constantly coming out.
When I went in for my colonoscopy, the nurse chuckled asking me how my last two days were. I shocked her when I said the prep wasn't any different than a normal bad poop day for me.
I eat one meal a day because I'm disabled on top of being poor. I'm not able to cook enough and wash dishes enough to be able to feed myself at all on some days, one actual cooked meal is a win. Even before I was this sick, when my budget was about 250/month for two young adults (18-25) I skipped breakfast and lunch so that my ex, who was the only one able to earn money, could have the food. Because if I was tired and hungry, I would just tidy up slower, but if he was tired and hungry, he'd get fired for doing a bad job at work. And then neither of us would get to eat.
Keep in mind what some people call grocery budget will differ from what others call grocery budget. I had 250/month to feed two young adults, get food and litter for two cats, all toilet paper, paper towel, shampoo, laundry soap, dish soap, and any bus tickets I needed to use to get there and back.
We lived extremely cheaply. Once a month we each got 3 chicken nuggets as a treat with our potatoes, or a hot dog split among us to mix into a Kraft dinner. The rest of the month was mostly vegetarian unless someone took us out to eat for some reason. Rice, potatoes, Kraft dinner, dollar packs of pierogies, etc. He could do the dollar cans of tuna, but I can't eat that. Even then that would need to become 2-4 meals to fit the budget.
A lot of judgement in that there post
You're making a lot of assumptions about the price of food and what is affordable for people. Most folks don't have cheap options outside of major cities etc. Not to mention different nutritional requirements and food allergies.
I agree. What if they have no car and the closest store is Loblaws.
Maybe a lot of Canadians don't know how to cook properly stuff like beans, soups, organ meats. Canadians do have access to food. They have no idea what it was like in Ukraine in 1990s. When your salary covers only your apartment utilities. And all the stores are completely empty. And there are no food banks, no charities, no one has food. And yet you still find solutions. Your grandma brews alcohol at home, and then you walk many km with her to a village. You ask some villagers to exchange some organs meats for alcohol. Then you pick mushrooms in the forest. And it's not a one time event, this goes on for many years.
I grew up during those times. We never had food issues while living in the village. I cannot imagine how people in cities survived.
These problems existed in Canada before, we just did a much better job and supporting our citizens. Still does not take away from the fact that things are much more expensive, like people don't live like pilgrims anymore here.
Capitalism sure fucked things up for Ukraine
I have 30 years experience home cooking. I alway buy food on sale by checking app such as flipp. My monthly groc is $800 for two adult and one toddler. Idk what my wife doing. Need help
Why $800? Where do you live?? I have kids, and there is no way we spend $800. For dry food, I buy rice, buckwheat, oatmeal, split peas, lentils, chickpeas, beans. Peanuts, flax seeds, dried fruit. That's under $150 per month for all of us. And that already covers a lot of calories. Then I buy chicken liver, mussels, scallops, eggs for protein. Also, frozen spinach and frozen berries for vitamins. Plus, cucumbers and tomatoes for salad. Also milk for calcium. Plus olive oil for cooking. I grow herbs on my windowsill. If we don't order any prepared foods, it's about $400 a month for all of us... your budget is double...
That’s a just enough for decent eating. People who have 200$ budget do not eat nearly healthy. Yes you will not die, but you will compromise your health. Two of us for 800$ a month
I eat extremely well on your budget. I'm not criticizing you, just saying that is my budget and it allows me to eat very healthy, with variety and gluten free.
Disagree. Husband and I cook our meals at home and they are healthy and balanced. Lots of veggies, protein, and whole grains. Our grocery bill is $300 month, or $150 each. We could make that cheaper but we do enjoy some unhealthy snacks on the weekend, which does raise the cost somewhat.
So you guys eat, breakfast lunch and dinner (healthy as you say) for 5$ a day? How? Honestly how? If you both ate an apple a day for a month your looking at like 20-40$ there. A lb of the cheapest meat is 3.49$ on sale for ground beef, if you ate a lb of meat for the whole day for both (which is not enough) your looking at 104$ a month. I'm sorry but there is zero chance you are eating healthy with protein for 5$ a day per person
I do not know where you live, but in Toronto the prices are skyrocketing
I’d LOVE to see your grocery list.
How can 2 people full grown adults eat off 5$ a day and claim they are eating healthy
Exactly why we will never see a grocery list.
We at 1200 for 3.
Are you not buying handsoap, shampoo, tampons, pet food, coffee, dairy, road salt, lightbulbs, toilet paper, a treat to take part in a family gathering or work event, ziploc bags for your prepared lunches, etc.? Sure you can do it, but maybe you work from home or do not drink anything but water, or have no friends, or no pets, or no period, and never wash your hands or clean your house or have a front stoop or driveway. People's grocery bills often include food, house, pet, cleaning, yard, personal care and hygiene. Also a lot of Canada is rural as fuck and does not have food banks.
It sounds like the poster has never had to make the hard choice between a carton of eggs and a box of tampons with their last $7.
I also have a similar food budget and i do manage.
It takes creativity and following the motto that if it is not on the best sale, it does not exist.
Essentially 1 cent per gram is the price ceiling, preferably half a cent a gram or less.
Also shop the clearance sections and a budget of say $2 a meal as a ceiling is helpful to contextualize how one should stretch their dollars. You have to know your prices to know if something is a good deal.
There are also apps like flashfood and toogoodtogo, i have not used them but have heard success stories.
Toogoodtogo is awesome! I spent 15 bucks and got 15 sandwiches at 7/11 on Sunday. Been eating them for breakfast and lunches all week.
You guys gotta get in on flipp too if you haven’t already !! There’s also lots of meal plan groups on Facebook that show you how you can eat for $50 a week and such!
Is Flipp the Reebee app? I can manage to stretch my meals out really good. My mom taught me at an early age to bargain hunt and scan for discount tags while shopping.
Yes precisely! I didn’t realize they had two versions of the app. What a lovely lady for doing that! I had no idea about any of this until I moved out and was shocked. I thought I’d never be able to eat foods I enjoy again. 😂
Canadian tire has a good sale on TP and Paper towels til tonight I believe! I got some this morning. It takes practice and to let go of any ick you may have about clearance and discount stuff. She made sure to haul ass to all clearance sections in all stores cause why pay full price!
Awesome thanks for that I’ll have to check it out! I didnt have the “ick” personally I was just happy to eat, but I see it in my friends faces when I tell them to look into it! I literally don’t buy anything unless it’s on sale anymore. I’ve even come to a point that it needs to be on sale for under $2 😂
Thrifting can be a big Ick for people too. Why would I spend 40 bucks on a hoodie when I can get a good one for 10 bucks?! Its clothes! Its not like the person is still inside them when you buy!
No for real! I’ve gotten some of my most “expensive brand” clothing from a thrift store for so cheap. Nothing a good strip and wash can’t fix!
It sounds like we have similar shopping habits. Clearance sections can make such a difference, if you're not attached to eating certain foods. I got 2.5kg of cheese (and not the no-name processed cheese - stuff like Oka and smoked cheddar) plus a dozen eggs for 20$ when I found a ton of clearance cheese. You have to know where to look for sales, as sometimes they're not in a designated clearance area, and might have subtly marked down price tags rather than big bright stickers.
If you're quick on the draw with FF and TGTG, and know when they're likely to post certain items, you can get some great deals - a full large box of Timbits for 5$, or 5 lbs of mushrooms for 5$. One place would post dramatically marked down items an hour before close - lots of bread, sandwiches, etc for 1$ or less.
Another place to look into is liquidation centres. I've found tomato sauce that normally goes for 2-3$ for 1$, 4 fruit/jello cups for 50¢-1$, name brand candy/chocolate for 1$/100g or less.
The biggest cost for many of these is time, though. Grocery shopping is my hobby - I typically go shopping at several locations a week to check for clearance items, so I'm pretty well-versed on where the good deals are. Many/most people don't have the luxury of figuring out those patterns, and the best deals are often in-store markdowns that apps like Flipp don't catch.
Well done!
I am not able to go out that often but i agree that clearance deals can also be on the shelf in the normal spot.
Well I have a family of 4 so $50 a month is out of the question.
Hell, even in 2009 when there was only 3 of us and the kids were younger I was spending $200-$250 a month,so now that they're older and we have another person it makes sense our food expenses would be higher then that today.
In 2009 I ate one meal a day. The kids had 3 and for dinner they would eat 1st and I would eat whatever was left over as my own meal.
I've been eating one meal a day since that time because money has been tight for us forever, and I no longer get hungry- just dizzy. I may have the odd snack to stop the dizzy; but still only eat one proper meal a day because money has never been abundant in our home.
Some people eat one meal a day so that others can eat a better diet. Its a sacrifice done in love.
There are many variations as to why some grocery bills will be higher. Just because you can do, doesn’t mean everyone can
Family of 3, we spend 1200 a month for breakfast dinner lunch. We could cut to about 300 if junk food reduced. However it's depends where you shop/live.
I am a male in the 20s, I work out 5 days a week and I am able to spend $200 a month on groceries. I focus alot on whole food and meal prep, I have 200-300g of chicken per meal and for carb I have 1 slices of bread per meal and fruits before gym
Do you eat one or two meals a day? If you’re eating that much chicken twice a day then around 160-170 of your monthly budget is just chicken.
You can buy a tray of chicken breast for $22 with 6-7 breasts in it. Thighs and drumsticks are even cheaper. You need to learn to shop around. Chicken and pork are the cheapest proteins and so versatile.
I eat 2 meals a day, I get 2 boxes of chicken breast from Walmart for $22 (this comes out to 2kg worth of chicken breast)
Definitely possible to live on $300 for groceries per month if you know how to assemble things. I would also suggest a supplementation budget of $100 if possible. But yes, there are many meat sales to be had. Dal, rice and beans, hard veg keeps forever, and fresh herbs and spices add a lot of depth. But the caveat is that to become a truly honourable chef one must take a considerable time investment into mind. That’s the price you pay. Cooking and cleaning can be a physically exhausting thing at times. But if you do the hard work somehow cooking will reward you with a depth of knowledge and the ability to get by better than people spending significantly more!
I eat 1-2 meals per day, but snack on cheap things throughout. I buy things like nuts, granola bars, and packaged fruit and veggies from Costco. Sure it costs a little more upfront, but it’s easy and lasts a while.
Def recommend Costco for those who get small sums of cash to spend on groceries every once in a while.
It also depends where you live. Groceries are far more expensive in less populated areas of the country.
Whaatevvverr Mis Freeland, this is just sad.....
I'm Canadian, and with the amount of taxes I pay, I deserve not to skimp and scrape for food while corporations are gouging. In this country, we used to take care of our disabled and seniors, low income people still ate without worry.
I can't stand that we now try to find a way to make due....while we pay out our hard earned taxes to what?!?
Just frustrated here
I'd rather go I to debt and enjoy my life than eat rice and beans every day
I could do $200 a month. But a family of 5 that's $1000. Also, the grocery store is where a lot of us also buy our, dish soap, detergent, pet food, cat litter, toilet paper, paper towel, diapers, baby wipes etc. That cuts into the "grocery bill" quite a lot. It's not always cheaper to buy those products elsewhere, not even at the dollar store and a lot of folks don't have a vehicle to cart home bulk shopping. Let alone the cost of a Costco membership and the ability to drop $1000 at a time there.
This opinion piece sounds like something out of the Mike Harris playbook. This might be ample for a vegetarian mouse, but not for a healthy individual. The elephant in the room, of course, is a balanced diet, which can only be attained with meat consumption. And, as everyone now knows, meat is rapidly becoming an unaffordable luxury for many. Yes, a starvation diet is possible, but at a very steep price for health and well-being.
I could eat more than once a day, but I generally just eat supper and sometimes a bag of chips, several sandwiches or a box of cereal as a late night snack.
I’m really cheap
Plus, I don’t often feel too hungry during the day. I generally skipped breakfast and lunch during high school and college.
I pay my rent by buying groceries, and I spend between $450-600 a month. I also buy my grandpa’s groceries when I get ours.
My man, that's 3 meals.
I don’t always have those snacks. Maybe once or twice a week.
Even then it’d only be two meals at most
Check the serving sizes on the box of cereal. Uou may be eating more than one serving.
Oh, I do. I can eat a box of cereal in one sitting, but I don’t do it often
Ahh, a person just like me.
eating disorders probably, based on all the wieiad tiktok's
An eating disorder is related not to what you eat, but why you eat what you eat. Veganism is not inherently orthorexia, but orthorexia can absolutely present itself as veganism, or any other type of diet. For anorexia and bulemia I believe the diagnostic requirement still includes that it must be with the goal of changing the appearance of your body, yes?
Being worried you'll starve tomorrow if you eat today isn't a goal of changing the appearance of your body. It could be anxiety or PTSD absolutely, but to be an eating disorder, it would need to meet the criteria of such.
I am OMAD (one meal a day) for past 5 years. My monthly groceries budget as a single person hover around $400-450.
??? Are you eating at a restaurant for that one meal everyday???
You won’t get much in a restaurant these days for $13.
No, I cook/eat my own dinners almost everyday. Meat/fish & veggies. I eat out/take-out maximum of 10 times a year? $400-450 Monthly groceries budget for a single person might seem excessive, true. It includes other supplies too though, including household items like bathroom products. I just do Costco hauls 1-2 times a month. Good quality ingredients.
I don’t know anyone that could eat in a restaurant for 13.00 a day. You can’t even do McDonald’s for 13.00 a meal.
I live in rural Saskatchewan.
My son & I are both neurodivergent & we have major food issues surrounding the textures of our food.
He won’t eat any ground meat. He has a few food allergies. Potatoes that aren’t French fries, any type of bean, most legumes, except peanuts, but he can’t take those to school, sandwich meat, cheese…
He eats chicken, pork chops, bacon, & steak. He eats rice (we eat a lot of rice). He eats bananas, watermelon, apples, berries, cucumbers, carrots, peas, corn. He likes yogurt & chocolate chip frozen waffles.
I can’t eat beans (green, brown, red, kidney doesn’t matter, can’t do it) mushrooms, bottoms up yogurt or any yogurt with fruit pieces in it & I have major allergies to shellfish & certain fruits.
So a lot of the saving money ideas here - TooGoodTooGo & there was another one from Loblaws with their discounted food, I can’t use those - they aren’t an option out here.
I use Flipp for the 2 stores in town, but trips out of town have to be saved for medical issues, & than I try to do a pick up order from Walmart - as Superstore & Save On are not cheaper.
The ableist thing to say is that my son & I should just eat foods we are averse to, but I will gag until I throw up & my son just won’t eat… at all, until you give him something he will eat.
So our grocery budget is about 450$-500$ a month - but I have a serious stockpile of dry goods & pantry items as well as a very well stocked freezer.
It can also depend a lot on lifestyle. Someone working long hours doing heavy labor requires considerably more calories than someone who sedentary. When I'm not working I don't eat much but when I'm working construction I eat a lot more
Anyone who gets takeout does not eat once a day. That stuff makes you hungry after a few hours... I had to give it up, and now I eat 2 servings of steel cut oats after I'm up for a few hours eoth some flapjack/eggs and it does me until I go to sleep
What kind of diet is rice and beans? Bud 50 a month there is zero chance (sure if you eat rice and beans, which will make you fat or you will be starving) meat can be pricey if there is no sale. 200$ for a single person makes sense, but for a family? I have two kids in school, so I need to feed them each breakfast, each of them lunch, feed me and my wife and 2 kids supper (snacks, fruits, milk etc), I would say it's family's complaining as it is very expensive to feed a family.
i eat once maybe twice per day. i cook 95% of our food from scratch (two people). the problem for me is allergies/intolerances, and learning disability and depression/autism.
for the allergies, this means i use single ingredient whenever possible. i dont even buy storebought bread anymore. but the problem is, especially since our situation changed and we're housing insecure, that this means a ton of labour. it doesnt sound like it but i end up making at least one loaf every 2-3 days, and that's on top of a lot of other food preparation that i do. this eats into my time in a big way and contributes to fatigue.
for the cognitive stuff... this means that if i let up on cooking etc then i really do stop eating. it gets hard to eat enough to treat my autoimmune disorder properly (eg if i dont eat or end up eating like, just toast all week, then my condition gets worse, or when i used to resort to packaged foods that would really set it off but i dont do that any more). i also have bad memory problems so while i dont let stuff go bad, trying to remember and keep track of food takes up a huge amount of RAM like i have to obsess over it in order to keep things from being wasted
I’m in bc Canada and my family of 3 including me goes through anywhere from 3-500 for basic necessities that’s with cutting back on meats too, which is hard. I eat one meal a day. That’s because I won’t eat bland BS. I save my Canada bucks so I can have one good meal at night instead of 3 shitty ones all day and the leftover money saved on me skipping 2 meals goes to food my wife and son will eat saving me close to 200 bucks
Another factor that drives up my cost me and my son are lactose intolerant so get dairy in us costs on average $1-4$ more than a non LF equivalent
Find a friend with a Costco membership, if possible, because $8 roasted chickens that are properly carved can be made into so many meals! Plus, a soup base from the carcass.
I use the flipp app to find the best deals on meat, and have stores of rice, dried beans, and pasta.
I don't really calculate my grocery budget because I buy dry goods, hygiene products, and cleaners at the same time as groceries. I have an internal price per serving calculator, so I buy according to this.
Half of my weekly grocery budget (outside of rice and beans) are vegetables. I'm diabetic, and have GI problems that require accommodation. We eat a lot of whatever is on sale or in the Good Food Box.
On what planet are grocery’s 100-200 a month? I’ll spend that in less than a week. It’s easily close to 100$ a bag of grocery’s now and that’s buying protein from a wholesaler and only get fruit, veggies, milk,cheese, butter etc
Must be nice. There are people that have food allergies, food triggers that need to be avoided. Alternatives tend to cost more.
You're insane
Eating one a day doesn't mean eating less. Even if you eat over every two days, you'll eat as much as before globally and feel good after one or two weeks, except for a BIG belly every other day.
if you get a costco membership, you can get those $8 chickens. then get a big bag of rice for like $20 which will last you months. you can eat chicken and rice. plus get stuff like bananas, carrots, potatoes, etc. Pork is still pretty cheap too. if I had to, I could eat pretty well on $5 a day. just make a lot of rice dishes. rice is still super cheap. that's what a lot of the world eats.
I only eat 1, sometimes 2 meals per day, but not out of necessity. I've never been a big breakfast person, and I often work straight through lunch because I tend to hyperfocus on my work.
My family never goes without, though. For the record, the grocery bill is ~$500 per month for a family of 5 with one teenage football player/power lifter (eats roughly 3000 calories per day).
Would you mind sharing with everyone what does a 3000 calorie day look like when the budget is under $3.5? ($500 / 30 (days) / 5 (people)) for the day?
And for the record, only the teenager puts away ~3000 calories a day.
Sure. Breakfast: 3 eggs, 2 slices of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, 3-4 oz mixed berries. Post workout shake: 1.5 cups of ice, 1 cup milk, 1 cup oats, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 scoop protein powder (chocolate). Lunch: 150g chicken breast, 1/2 cup rice, 150g each broccoli and cauliflower. Supper: 300g chicken, 1/2 cup rice, and 150g each broccoli and cauliflower. Closer to 2950 than 3000, but still in the ballpark.
I mean, just a chicken breast is about $3.50, which leaves about $0.05 for everything else for the day.
I mean, sure. If you don't know how to shop. Frozen chicken breast by the case. Frozen veggies. Asian market around the corner with stupidly good prices on rice. Costco, Walmart, and Wholesale Club are your friends.
I do shop at Walmart and Costco. The price of rice isn’t the problem.
Spend 200-230$ a week on groceries, 100$ lunch spending and 150$ weekly eating out with a 200$ once a month fancy restaurant budget.
Groceries are killer expensive, and even though I’m not suffering it definitely puts a dent into my budget.
Preach!
Rice, oatmeal, bulk dried beans, discounted food: fruits, veg, discounted bread. Ethnic market meat. Container planting, garden planting, foraging apple trees in neighborhoods and side of roads where no one picks apples, freezing cheap fruit for winter, drying fruit for later.
Many people are truly lazy and have an excuse for everything. I survive on less and feed 3 people on $250-$300 a month
You just gotta search sales, coupons, promo's, ect o
My only rebuttal is I have clients who don’t drive, our transit is subpar n typically takes an hour to reach first destination and another to return. By the time they shop for sales, going to different grocers for deals/price matching that is several hours of a day, people have multiple jobs, responsibilities etc it isn’t as easy for all. Perhaps your city has more grocery stores in one section of town or better/faster transit options?
honestly, my strategy is, pick 1 or two stores at maximum, buy the no name/selection/copy-cat brands because they are almost the same thing, just for less money. My meals don't vary, coffee 2-3 hours after waking up and a meal or two for the afternoon and evening.
For transport, I use my bicycle, which is a small investment upfront for years of reliable travel, so long as you are in good health, and can find safe routes to wherever you need to be.
I know many cities or suburbs suck when it comes to safe and reliable transport for anyone who chooses not to drive, but when beggars can't be choosers, you have to limit your options. I know this can't work for everyone, but staying focused on whatever is within an approx. 10km/6.2 mile radius is what I find works so long as you're not out in the middle of nowhere.
0 at the moment since I'm broke and haven't eaten in close to two weeks
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PLEASE share your grocery lists and which stores you prefer! I would really love to learn from you and I think it would be a great help to others! <3