As empty nesters we spend about $100 for food per week. Key is shopping Trader Joe's and Aldi plus doing mostly vegetarian meals. We have omelettes at least one night a week, a pasta night, a rice and tofu night, a soup night, one fish night...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less well off people, like me, know that the things to buy are:

Beans - dried in a bag; soak overnight before using
Rice - also dry; boil as needed; rice cooker helps
Potatoes - dry in a bag; easy to microwave

Seasonal fresh vegetables or canned vegis

Meat only in a family pack - usually $2.99/lb
for chicken in the family pack.

Bread - generic and from the bread shelf, not from the bakery section

Spices from CostCo in the jumbo packages

The bread from the bread section is not bread. It’s something else cosplaying a bread.

Agree. I only eat bread that I bake. I bake a loaf of whole wheat and barley bread 2-3 times a week. Plus I make our own Brioche hamburger buns too, and English muffins.

Does your husband only like thinly-sliced deli meats for sandwiches to take on the boat when entertaining friends, also?

We don't eat deli meat, whatever that is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less well off people, like me, know that the things to buy are:

Beans - dried in a bag; soak overnight before using
Rice - also dry; boil as needed; rice cooker helps
Potatoes - dry in a bag; easy to microwave

Seasonal fresh vegetables or canned vegis

Meat only in a family pack - usually $2.99/lb
for chicken in the family pack.

Bread - generic and from the bread shelf, not from the bakery section

Spices from CostCo in the jumbo packages

The bread from the bread section is not bread. It’s something else cosplaying a bread.

Agree. I only eat bread that I bake. I bake a loaf of whole wheat and barley bread 2-3 times a week. Plus I make our own Brioche hamburger buns too, and English muffins.

Does your husband only like thinly-sliced deli meats for sandwiches to take on the boat when entertaining friends, also?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less well off people, like me, know that the things to buy are:

Beans - dried in a bag; soak overnight before using
Rice - also dry; boil as needed; rice cooker helps
Potatoes - dry in a bag; easy to microwave

Seasonal fresh vegetables or canned vegis

Meat only in a family pack - usually $2.99/lb
for chicken in the family pack.

Bread - generic and from the bread shelf, not from the bakery section

Spices from CostCo in the jumbo packages

The bread from the bread section is not bread. It’s something else cosplaying a bread.

Agree. I only eat bread that I bake. I bake a loaf of whole wheat and barley bread 2-3 times a week. Plus I make our own Brioche hamburger buns too, and English muffins.

What's the big deal? We spend about $400 a week for 2 adults and 2 teens.

Anonymous wrote:Less well off people, like me, know that the things to buy are:

Beans - dried in a bag; soak overnight before using
Rice - also dry; boil as needed; rice cooker helps
Potatoes - dry in a bag; easy to microwave

Seasonal fresh vegetables or canned vegis

Meat only in a family pack - usually $2.99/lb
for chicken in the family pack.

Bread - generic and from the bread shelf, not from the bakery section

Spices from CostCo in the jumbo packages

The bread from the bread section is not bread. It’s something else cosplaying a bread.

Less well off people, like me, know that the things to buy are:

Beans - dried in a bag; soak overnight before using
Rice - also dry; boil as needed; rice cooker helps
Potatoes - dry in a bag; easy to microwave

Seasonal fresh vegetables or canned vegis

Meat only in a family pack - usually $2.99/lb
for chicken in the family pack.

Bread - generic and from the bread shelf, not from the bakery section

Spices from CostCo in the jumbo packages

I do t for a second believe the cost. But seriously, shop at Aldi’s.

Anonymous wrote:Bottled water? Whose refrigerator doesn't have a filter and a water dispenser?

Mine doesn’t. Those fancy refrigerators break faster

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop buying bottles of water. Expensive, unnecessary, and terrible for the environment.

Make your own dal (lentils are cheap!) and buy fresh garlic.

+1
Or buy a huge thing of garlic at the ethnic grocery. I have getting all my seasonings there in bulk. They last a very long time (but not too long! You still want to use them up)

But people buying a "small" this or that or pre-made foods and then complaining about the cost are ridiculous. You need to plan, and eat through things. Does it get boring to eat the same thing a lot? Can be? But that's life.

You can use your freezer to keep from eating the same thing every day.

Part of the Boy Scout (now scouting America) merit badge is to make several meals and price them out. I feel like this would be a useful exercise for many people to do for like a week. I’ve done it a couple times when making food for donation or where I will be reimbursed and it is a little shocking how expensive some things are compared to others. Like a turkey sandwich with sides is a huge ripoff. Whereas chili is surprisingly cheap for the nutritional value.

Bottled water is cheap at Trader Joe's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t with the cost of food anymore. What am I doing wrong? $100 got me: 1 24 pack of water (I still have half the case), 2 artichokes, 4 tomatoes, box of spring salad, pound of chicken breast, 3 cans of sardines, rosemary bread loaf, small jar of garlic, jar of olives, 2 jarred zoups brand soups, 2 packs of premade lentil dal, 2 bell peppers. After 2 days of cooking I’m basically empty again. This fed 2 people.

I would really like to see the breakdown on how this go to $100. Are you buying expensive imported stuff and organic?

Not OP, but I pay pretty close attention to food prices and this could hit $100.

You are buying the wrong things. Things like premade dal are extremely expensive compared to buying lentils and making it yourself. Spring mix is expensive and doesn't last as long as a package of romaine hearts. Artichokes are amazing, but very expensive -- I tend to buy them only on sale. Chicken breast is cheaper if you buy the big package of lots of breasts, and those are smaller and more appropriate of a size anyway. Making your own soup can be extremely inexpensive compared to the Zoups you are buying -- and you say you are cooking so you have at least some cooking skills, and soup is easy (I made a potato cheese soup today because I had potatoes I needed to use, and onions as well, so I basically did a potato leek but onions instead of the leeks because onions were what I had, and making soup is always easy for me because I keep that Better than Bouillon stuff around).

Start paying attention to prices and sales and find things you like that are less expensive. Pork is inexpensive (making a pork roast can give you many options throughout the week and costs very little), as are chicken sausages like those made by Aidells, but there are lots of brands. Pay attention to sales; once you do that you learn that certain things go on sale really often and that also gives you some knowledge about what stuff actually costs (for example my DH eats Chobani fruited yogurt and it is 1.89 per yogurt but goes on sale once every few weeks for 10 for $10, so I buy them then). I often plan food around the weekly circular at my grocery store.

One more thing that has really helped me is ordering for pickup. It keeps me from expensive impulse buys; a few of those can damn near double your weekly food cost.

And you need a Brita. Stop buying water -- all of that single-use plastic is an even better reason than the money you are wasting on it.

Finally, I'll tell you what I keep trying to remind myself of -- the cheapest food you have is the stuff that is already sitting in your pantry/freezer/fridge that needs to be used up.

Anonymous wrote:Bottled water? Whose refrigerator doesn't have a filter and a water dispenser?

NP. Lots of people. I have 2 fridges and neither one has a water dispenser. I have a Brita pitcher.