How to feed a family of four on $1K a month

[Anonymous]

I feed a family of 3 on around $500/month. $1k would be a luxury lol. Yes we do eat meat, fish and fresh veggies (that are in season). I also love to cook and bake and tend to make most things from scratch with saves quite a bit. I try to make sure I have a recipe for all fresh produce and if I have leftovers I'll make some curry or a pot pie to freeze.

[Anonymous]

Trader Joe’s.
Go 3x a week so the produce doesn’t rot.

Mostly chicken for protein; 1 veggie fat. One day for beef stew meat or burgers).

A lot of prepping (cutting your potatoes for french fries, and not buying anything previously frozen) kind of thing.

Oh and in the summer, grow your own tomatoes/eggplants/cucumbers/peppers/chilies/zucchini.

[Anonymous]

Growing produce is not cheaper than buying it.

[Anonymous]

Store produce does not rot in under a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1k is a decent budget for a family of 4. Why is this news?

It’s not that easy anymore. You’re not eating as well on that budget as you’d expect a middle class family to eat (lots of vegetables, meats, a variety of different foods). I could spend that maybe a year ago and we’d eat well, now it’s closer to $1800 a month.

This is true. I'd say on average a family of four could eat $500 in fish a month, $750 in fresh meat. Average that and you're looking at $600 for just quality meat.

Some families do exist on frozen food and processed meat which is cheaper. Maybe $250 a month.

Do you weigh 350 lbs each?

You eat $5/day per person, just in meat? That's about a whole pound.
Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Growing produce is not cheaper than buying it.

You are 100 percent correct! I grew tomatoes and strawberries for fun and it cost me a ton of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1k is a decent budget for a family of 4. Why is this news?

It’s not that easy anymore. You’re not eating as well on that budget as you’d expect a middle class family to eat (lots of vegetables, meats, a variety of different foods). I could spend that maybe a year ago and we’d eat well, now it’s closer to $1800 a month.

This is true. I'd say on average a family of four could eat $500 in fish a month, $750 in fresh meat. Average that and you're looking at $600 for just quality meat.

Some families do exist on frozen food and processed meat which is cheaper. Maybe $250 a month.

Do you weigh 350 lbs each?

You eat $5/day per person, just in meat? That's about a whole pound.
Gross.

This should go on a diet forum. You know the questions about how much you weigh and how many calories do you eat. Those saying it confirm that it is just genetics what thin people have should ask thin people how many ounces a fish you eat per day, or how many pounds of fish do you eat per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1k is a decent budget for a family of 4. Why is this news?

It’s not that easy anymore. You’re not eating as well on that budget as you’d expect a middle class family to eat (lots of vegetables, meats, a variety of different foods). I could spend that maybe a year ago and we’d eat well, now it’s closer to $1800 a month.

This is true. I'd say on average a family of four could eat $500 in fish a month, $750 in fresh meat. Average that and you're looking at $600 for just quality meat.

Some families do exist on frozen food and processed meat which is cheaper. Maybe $250 a month.

Do you weigh 350 lbs each?

You eat $5/day per person, just in meat? That's about a whole pound.
Gross.

I suppose you just exist on fruit and granola? Underweight? Stable weight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1k is a decent budget for a family of 4. Why is this news?

It’s not that easy anymore. You’re not eating as well on that budget as you’d expect a middle class family to eat (lots of vegetables, meats, a variety of different foods). I could spend that maybe a year ago and we’d eat well, now it’s closer to $1800 a month.

This is true. I'd say on average a family of four could eat $500 in fish a month, $750 in fresh meat. Average that and you're looking at $600 for just quality meat.

Some families do exist on frozen food and processed meat which is cheaper. Maybe $250 a month.

Maybe they could but not sure most do. We don't serve meat at every meal, and cook a lot of things where its not the main attraction. $600 just for "quality" meat would break our budget.

I think $1000/month is very reasonable but it really depends where you shop. We get out of Aldi with $100 lower bill than Giant, for example. Even if we supplement with the farmers market it still winds up lower. We are also not eating steaks and sides of salmon every night though, I get how that would add up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1k is a decent budget for a family of 4. Why is this news?

It’s not that easy anymore. You’re not eating as well on that budget as you’d expect a middle class family to eat (lots of vegetables, meats, a variety of different foods). I could spend that maybe a year ago and we’d eat well, now it’s closer to $1800 a month.

This is true. I'd say on average a family of four could eat $500 in fish a month, $750 in fresh meat. Average that and you're looking at $600 for just quality meat.

Some families do exist on frozen food and processed meat which is cheaper. Maybe $250 a month.

Maybe they could but not sure most do. We don't serve meat at every meal, and cook a lot of things where its not the main attraction. $600 just for "quality" meat would break our budget.

I think $1000/month is very reasonable but it really depends where you shop. We get out of Aldi with $100 lower bill than Giant, for example. Even if we supplement with the farmers market it still winds up lower. We are also not eating steaks and sides of salmon every night though, I get how that would add up.

Steak and salmon makes athletes. Don't complain when your kid doesn't make the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing produce is not cheaper than buying it.

You are 100 percent correct! I grew tomatoes and strawberries for fun and it cost me a ton of money.

Same for me! I grew tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers for fun and learned that every tomato / bell pepper / cucumber I harvested ended up costing about 4 times what it would have at the store. Plus we couldn't go on vacation while growing vegetables because the plants needed to be watered every few days.