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The cost of groceries

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I buy bulk on sale so I can't say what I spend on food each month. I tried to keep track of it, but it was too much work.

There were four of us here until the bum left. It seemed like an endless and worthless debate trying to get my daughter and her bum to please understand that if I am paying all the bills I shouldn't also feed you for free and so the debate was that they consume only three hundred dollars of food each month. Which was OK but they didn't always contribute. I asked around and most people didn't really know how much their food costs them each month. My sister, though, knew what food, drink, and regular household items cost her each month because she puts everything on her credit card. $1000.00 or more for two.

But, what motivated me to post this thread was an internet article about the cost of living in retirement in the most expensive U.S. cities and it is saying that in some cities the cost of a month of groceries is $4000.00. So, I did the Math to see if maybe it meant each year, but that didn't work. I suspect it is a faulty report because I also did the math to compare $4000 a month with the total monthly expenses and that didn't work either.

But, (though it can't be right!) I suppose it means for two people.

Do you know how much eating, drinking, (and cleaning) costs you each month?

25 US Cities Where Your Retirement Nest Egg Won’t Go Far | Retired in America
 

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I don't think it is right if the report included going out in the groceries category, but if it is true that some people spend four thousand dollars a month it has to include going out.....a lot.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
I buy bulk on sale so I can't say what I spend on food each month. I tried to keep track of it, but it was too much work.

There were four of us here until the bum left. It seemed like an endless and worthless debate trying to get my daughter and her bum to please understand that if I am paying all the bills I shouldn't also feed you for free and so the debate was that they consume only three hundred dollars of food each month. Which was OK but they didn't always contribute. I asked around and most people didn't really know how much their food costs them each month. My sister, though, knew what food, drink, and regular household items cost her each month because she puts everything on her credit card. $1000.00 or more for two.

But, what motivated me to post this thread was an internet article about the cost of living in retirement in the most expensive U.S. cities and it is saying that in some cities the cost of a month of groceries is $4000.00. So, I did the Math to see if maybe it meant each year, but that didn't work. I suspect it is a faulty report because I also did the math to compare $4000 a month with the total monthly expenses and that didn't work either.

But, (though it can't be right!) I suppose it means for two people.

Do you know how much eating, drinking, (and cleaning) costs you each month?

25 US Cities Where Your Retirement Nest Egg Won’t Go Far | Retired in America

About $80 a week for myself. I usually only have one full meal and 2 snacks a day. I buy whatever is on sales usually. Two for one etc... Don't use coupons. Stop going out cause it was costing too much. No fast food drive through.

Don't like spending money on Groceries. I remember when Mom would spend maybe at most $100 to feed the 4 of us a week. So $80 for one person seems like a lot to me.

I started eating baked potatoes. I can get enough potatoes for about $3 that will last me two weeks.
 

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
When something I use a lot goes on sale I buy enough to last me more than a month. Maybe, up to half a year. So, that is one reason why I can't calculate a month's worth of groceries.
 

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I suppose in the report "groceries" means everything else.

Rent
Utilities
Healthcare
and
Everything else. (groceries) I think I can hear God saying I should have been an editor. LOL
 

A Vestigial Mote

Well-Known Member
Do you know how much eating, drinking, (and cleaning) costs you each month?
I have a family of 5 and we also do the credit-card thing, because the card we have is tied to the store and we get a percentage back on all purchases. This comes to between $1000 and 1200 that I pay off in its entirety each month. Tacking a liberal $150 onto that for meals out throughout a month, I'd say we end up spending, on average $1200-$1300 per month for food and beverages.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Does it include toilet paper and laundry detergent and such things? And, I suppose that does not include beer and wine.
We don't know. We buy paper products from Costco every few months. We buy products from the farmer's market in season but sometimes from grocery stores off season. And so it goes. Many years ago, we tried to track every dollar we spent in a month and where it went.

The only result was mutual accusations of forgetting to keep track of this and that. So we gave up trying to develop a detailed budget and went to looking at what we took in during the month and what went out. Before I retired, if we wound up with a bit spare after the month ended, we called it great.

Since I've retired, we mostly just track the balance in our savings. I guessed that at a certain rate of spending we'd run out of extra cash when we turned 90 assuming the world was approximately sane which of course is a joke.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
$4000 sounds more like total cost per month without splurging. I think groceries, with a sensible budget would be nearer to $400, maybe somewhat higher. We spend about $600 Canadian a month for 2 of us. The cost of groceries does vary some by city though, but not 10 times as much. I'd say the cost in Kauai, Hawaii isn't even double what we pay here, and that's one of the most expensive places in the US.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
Even for two people, $4,000 a month has to have tons of frivolous spending, tons of eating out, and loads of steak and seafood. And at almost $50,000 a year, I do believe someone (probably the author of the article) either got some numbers very wrong or doesn't know what "grocery" means."
I can't say exactly what my own groceries cost a month, but I do know I give myself 200 a month to work with. I typically don't spend that much, but it gives me some extra room to work with if I do need something extra or want a treat.
Myself, I don't even consider eating out a part of food/grocery money but a part of the "extras" in my budget. It's so expensive, and so unnecessary that I don't know why this isn't something we more commonly see.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
$4000 sounds more like total cost per month without splurging. I think groceries, with a sensible budget would be nearer to $400, maybe somewhat higher. We spend about $600 Canadian a month for 2 of us. The cost of groceries does vary some by city though, but not 10 times as much. I'd say the cost in Kauai, Hawaii isn't even double what we pay here, and that's one of the most expensive places in the US.
I'm not finding that much variance myself, having moved from rural Indiana to urban California. Eating out tends to be way more expensive, and eggs are stupid more expensive here, but everything else is pretty much the same.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
Even for two people, $4,000 a month has to have tons of frivolous spending, tons of eating out, and loads of steak and seafood. And at almost $50,000 a year, I do believe someone (probably the author of the article) either got some numbers very wrong or doesn't know what "grocery" means."
I can't say exactly what my own groceries cost a month, but I do know I give myself 200 a month to work with. I typically don't spend that much, but it gives me some extra room to work with if I do need something extra or want a treat.
Myself, I don't even consider eating out a part of food/grocery money but a part of the "extras" in my budget. It's so expensive, and so unnecessary that I don't know why this isn't something we more commonly see.

The other day I read a report that the average Canadian spends 30% of their food budget on dining out. My spouse and I are going, 'What?" For us it's more like 5%.
 

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
E
Myself, I don't even consider eating out a part of food/grocery money but a part of the "extras" in my budget. It's so expensive, and so unnecessary that I don't know why this isn't something we more commonly see.
Me too, but don't you mean LESS commonly see?
 

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
No, more commonly seen that people view eating out as an extras expense rather than a food expense.
I see. I thought you meant going out to eat should be less common. I think people rack up their charge cards for going out to eat. I don't know anyone who considers going out to eat 'groceries'. I put it under entertainment. :D
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Unless you're eating caviar and Kobe beef I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around $4,000/month. I try to keep my meals to < $1.00 each.

50 kilos of rice, beans or lentils isn't that expensive. It doesn't go bad or take up that much space, so why not buy in bulk and supplement with whatever veggies are on sale?
A good diet isn't that expensive. A fancy -- and questionably healthful -- diet... well, that's another story.
 
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