In the past 8 months $660 is the high and $514 is the lowest monthly spend I’ve had on eating. I eat out all my meals except breakfast.
Interested in everyone’s answers because from what I can see, most of my friend’s spend looks like mine, but 50%+ of them don’t track their expenses at all so we can’t compare numbers.
If you’re in college or feeding a family or something, please include so you don’t have skew things too much.
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$660 is pretty low to eat out all of the time - does that include $25 stipend, and is it NYC?
Sorry don't track but my food expense is well over $1000 (make most meals at home, buy lunches 3 days/week, go to nice restaurants on weekends)
Single dude with no dependents. $75/week on pretty regular staple groceries like eggs, meat, cheese, milk, etc. Then probably an easy $100/week to that in just randomly eating out each week. Somtimes it's jack n' the crack on the way home, others it's treating myself to a nice dinner with friends.
So all told, I'd say $700/month for the time being. Granted, I'm not sitting around budgeting or meal planning and I don't exactly bargain shop either. And with inflation doing what it's doing, who knows how high that monthly spend will ramp to.
Where do you live? You're definitely not in a major city at those prices.
My grocery bill is ~$80-$120 a week if I cook all of my meals. So call it $450 a month if I eat every meal in...
If I eat meals out, I'm easily looking at $1,800 a month (2 x $30 meals x 30 days) if I skip breakfast. A cheap meal is $12-18. A more filling meal is $30. A filling meal delivered is $45. It adds up fast.
I’m planning to spend less than 100 a month on food. Will skip breakfast, not eat out and office provides lunch/dinner so will eat there. On weekends I’ll eat only one meal and have it be as cheap as possible. I don’t know how to cook so not planning on eating in.
When you don’t work at FT Partners and can’t afford to eat :/
I know... I should've been a banker. Still not too late to be a post-MBA associate though!
I'm not a scientist but that doesn't sound healthy.
I’m trying to do what they call “fasting.” Apparently it’s supposed to be good for you.
$3-4k depending on how much I eat out
$3 - $4k per month as a single person?
Care to show that breakdown for us...?
Lol This is annual.
In 2019 when I was doing Ironman training and MMA training at the same time, I spent about $100 per day to burn 5,000 calories or more per day. I usually made 2-4 meals per day and also would hit a wall and order delivery at times. Delivery was necessary as I could barely move at the end of the day.
This includes food, supplements, and Gatorade/gels, which all add up.
I'm pretty frugal and try to keep it around 300 a month.
I do a butcher share that is 160 then do one or two grocery trips around that. I make my lunch three days a week minimum and I do not have delivery apps on my phone. Meal prep is like any other habit and something that I've learned to enjoy. Interested in what Jacked Ape spends.
My number doesn't include what I'd spend on dates or with friends which ranges...
what's a butcher share?
This is the one I do in Boston:
https://waldenlocalmeat.com/share-2/
Maybe like $100 max a month. I don't eat often. I fast until the evening and then obviously use Seamless for dinner afterwards so only time I'm ever spending is the occasional weekend meal where I'll cook something. Do I get hungry? Yes, but it's the sacrifice I have to make so I'm not still working a job when I'm 40. Have to suffer a bit in life at the beginning so later on the success feels euphoric.
I live with my wife and it’s hard to split hairs on how much I would spend if I was single, but we spend about $450 a month on groceries that takes care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 6 days a week. We go out to eat one day a week (sometimes that’s inclusive of just visiting family), so maybe another $300 on top of that per month. So all in ~$750-800 for the two of us.
Live in Southern CA (Irvine)
I think I spend over $1000 on food, plenty of great food out there, especially healthy foods, which usually cost more.
Probably too much.. gonna include food+drink here averaging ~$1200-1500/mo on restaurants/bars plus ~$200/mo groceries. In NYC and generally going out 2+ nights a weekend. Cheap rent though. Very curious to hear others, as OP said often tough to compare
More than I should which is why I GOT FAT
A lot lol, 1-1.5k a month (food and drinks). Though I make it up on cheap rent (1200 per month in a T1 city, includes utilities and internet)
I try to avoid eating out except for once a week or so when I go out with my girl. I go the butcher like once per month and get meat for the whole month, which comes out to like $200 per month. Other stuff like protein powder, yogurt, eggs, milk, etc. I probably spend like $100 per month. So that’s about ~$300 per month on groceries and then ~$400 per month on restaurants and drinks.
How did you go about finding a butcher? I've been meaning to find a good one where I live.
If you can get to Essex Market in Lower East Side, I'd highly recommend Luis Meat Market, the guy and his family know their stuff and the prices are insanely cheap for NYC ($7 per lb for lamb, ~$15 per lb for high-quality steak, $5 per lb for ribs, pork and poultry).
If you’re not in the city, or just want to find something, I recommend going on Yelp to look at photos, and then calling to ask for prices/selection.
I cap mine at $800. I go back and forth between NY and SF but am mainly in SF. I eat out once a week and mainly make all my meals at home. Kinda into the fitness diet regime so I usually do meal preps that are relatively cheap. A realistic average of my spending over the past 3 months is around $600 p/m.
$1200 - $2200
Everyone should try some form of fasting. It apparently makes your stem cells regenerate faster, repairing damage around the body.
In NYC, about $1800/mo for a couple. Lots of eating out, usually ~300/week on restaurants/bars, 600/mo on groceries/delivery/office lunches. Her office has lunch/breakfast catered every day so I end up spending more.
Personally, I've noticed my spending fluctuates quite a bit, especially with the temptation of dining out. As a college student, I'm always on the lookout for tasty yet budget-friendly options.
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