this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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[–] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

Usually around $300/month:

  • $50/month on bagels, my favorite food that I eat way too much of
  • $120/month on other food at home like salads, homemade fried rice, and chicken nuggets
  • $30/month on snacks like pretzels (it's an addiction sadly)
  • $100/month on going out to eat
[–] ptc075@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

$500/mo. Single person, SE USA. I eat 2 meals per day and a snack. Cook all of it except for one treat meal per week.

I should add, that price might be a tad high, as my grocery bill includes things for the household like laundry detergent.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 hours ago

I don't have a food-only budget, but our "supermarket + food" spending for 2 humans and 2 cats last year was ~280 euros per month. That includes takeout/delivery but not restaurants, cleaning materials, catfood (but not the vet), alcohol, snacks.

[–] Tudsamfa@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

70€ (83$) food, 30€ (35$) drink. (Caffeine addiction)

I eat less than 1kg* per day, try to only buy food so it's overall 2€ per kg of a meal, so it's 62€ per month, with a monthly treat that's 70.

Edit: Thinking about it, less than 1kg of food per day was perhaps too low, considering that realistically wouldn't even be half of my recommended energy intake. Maybe the extremely high soda intake I used to have was just to balance that out? Anyway, since I switched to other drinks a month ago I probably eat way more.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It's very impressive that your food in average is 4€/kg. Do you eat meat?

[–] Tudsamfa@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

Not regularly. It's a twice a month thing at best.

[–] SW42@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I guess about 1000 € for two adults and a small kid

[–] dai@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

We're around $1000.00 AUD for two adults and two 20kg dogs. 

Really want to reduce as much as possible however the current pricing in the supermarket is rubbish. 

[–] Chippys_mittens@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Probably around 500 bucks but I get a good amount of stuff for my girl too. In the US

[–] Level9831@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago

I spend about $200/month just for myself. I cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Take lunch with me to work everyday. I eat very very plain food (ie rice and chicken every day). With grocery prices up, I cut out a lot from my diet to keep around $200/month. No beef, no fresh fish, no fruits, no yogurt/kefir.

Meat: chicken, turkey, tuna fish, eggs and egg whites Veggies: kale, collard green, frozen veggies, tomatoes Carbs: rice, pasta, sweet potato, canned beans, peanut butter, granola bars, cereal Fruit: I admit I bought a bag of apples recently Dairy: milk, mozzarella cheese

I go to the gym regularly and drink 1-2 protein shakes per day.

Kind of embarrassing that I live on such a restricted boring diet, but at least I cook for myself, stay within budget, and stay away from processed foods/ snacks.

[–] Baguette@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 16 hours ago

About 40 to 50 a week, so about 220 ish for one person

I could shrink it down to 20 a week if I just eat chicken, rice, and bok choy, but I've been trying to challenge myself to meal prep a different meal every week

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 points 17 hours ago

I get $298/month to spend on food and I am usually out of money a week before the end of the month.

[–] SethranKada@lemmy.ca 10 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

$40 (CAD) / Day

A bit expensive, but I'm both autistic and rather picky. I'm paying for my mental health there, not just food

Generally I'll spend $15 on breakfast, $3 on a waterbottle at work, $20 for lunch, and sometimes I'll buy those discounted meals made with offcuts and leftovers from Sobey's. Around $10 - $15.

On my days off I eat whatever I have available in my pantry when I remember to eat.

[–] homes@piefed.world 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

why don't you prepare more of your food? it allows you maximum control and saves tons of money. plus, it's a lot easier than it might first appear.

[–] SethranKada@lemmy.ca 5 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I pay extra so I don't have to do that. Carrying a waterbottle and a lunchbox was a significant contributor to my negative mental health as a teenager, and my life is way more pleasant without them.

In a similar vein, eating food that I don't want to eat is very stressful for me, and I generally can't know what I want to eat more than a couple of hours in advance. So eating food I prepared myself is usually rather disappointing.

Third, food waste. I never eat the same meal more than once a week if I can help it. That means that, when I buy a tomato, I end up only using a single slice and letting the rest rot in the fridge because there really aren't all that many things I like that have tomatoes. The same goes for most ingredients. If I don't use it within 4 hours, I may as well toss it, cause im never going to eat it.

I've tested out various ways of eating, and eating out often is cheaper compared to constantly re-buying ingredients for meals I'm not going to eat.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Single person and I do almost all of my own cooking. I average $500 - $600 a month.

[–] wjs018@piefed.social 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

This isn't that far away from mine for two people: ~$600-$700 per month in a HCOL area and doing most of the cooking myself as well. I have found that sizing up a recipe for more people is only a marginal increase in cost. So, cooking for two is not just double that of cooking for one, but less.

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[–] bridgeburner@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Jeez, are groceries really that expensive in the US? For me in germany I can get groceries for 2-3 month with this money.

[–] howl2@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

They are very high yes, partly because they have climbed 25~50% in recent years. I cook most of our food for 3.5 people, shopping at the least expensive store in the area, making a wide range of things but mostly mid to lower cost ingredients. Eat out about once a week, never high priced places. Typically spend around 800/mo.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago

They are. Luckily I cook nearly all of my own meals, or the bills would be way, way worse.

My grocery bill is well more than double what it was before 2020. Both ruling parties here refuse to address the corporate greed in any meaningful way, so each individual has to make the best choices they can for themselves.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

Single person, I probably could get by on $150 a month, but I eat out frequently, so I spend about $300 a month. This is in San Diego.

[–] s3rvant@lemmy.ml 6 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I'm paid bi-weekly with $1,200 USD going toward groceries from each paycheck

Granted we're a very large family though inflation these past few years hasn't helped

We live in central NC, USA

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

$320USD/mo. for healthy, organic food for one person. It could be less, maybe 75% of that. I've been considering making changes, but I like what I like.

I'm going grocery shopping today, in a couple of hours, as it happens. I shop once per week.

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[–] Pirasp@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Currently it's about 160€ per month. One person in Germany. Potatoes and air fryers are a godsend

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Potatoes and air fryers are a godsend

I could live off french fries and chicken wings for the rest of my life and convince myself it's healthy because I cook them without fat.

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[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 8 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (2 children)

Food alone? Varies, but around 1000-2000 EUR equivalent. Sometimes more, such as during holidays.

Family of 6, Norway.

[–] Bronzie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago

I'll tag on you comment as it's the same country:

About 10-12k NOK (so about 1000€) for a family of four.
Could probably reduce, but it's important for us that the kids have access to healthy food that they like.
Take-out not included, which we do once or twice a month. Probably around 100-120 € there.
Tobacco for me is probably another 200 €. I should probably quit snusing.....

[–] unsettlinglymoist@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

I visited Trondheim a few months ago with my girlfriend and the alcohol prices made us want to cry. We bought the cheapest bottle of red wine we could find and I think it was $16.

We spend around $400/month on groceries in the US. We eat mostly vegan and most of our meals are made from scratch. And a really good bottle of wine can be purchased for as low as $8 here if you know where to look.

[–] tensor_nightly69@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

This feels like a post made to shame people who spend more than online randos deem "necessary", so I'll just say $80/month for 2 people.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

A lot got a family $150-$200 . Unless I go stock up on the basics at Costco then I can get it down a bit but I live in probably one of the most expensive areas of the country

[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

I never counted but I don't think it's much, eyeballing it I'd say less than 200€. I live alone in Spain and I cook almost every meal.

I could count it and see.

[–] Macaroni_ninja@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

4-500 per month, family of 3, Slovakia

[–] homes@piefed.world 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

for one person, about USD$200/mo. $40-$60/wk depending on sales, etc.

Central Florida.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

If you don't mind me asking would you consider your diet good? I'm asking because that's pretty frugal. I achieve that (edit: actually with current conversion rates it's a decent bit more) per person for a large family with meal planning etc but it's obviously easier to cook healthy and cheap for a heap of people.

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 5 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (15 children)

Left to my own devices it'd be about $100/month.

Rice, beans, pasta, peanut butter, oatmeal, and then whatever fruit and vegetables are cheap.

With the social life included, there's more expenses. Did dinner out last week for $60 (a nice local Thai place). Ordered a pizza with a friend who was feeling down and watched Star Trek together for like $30.

Other non-rice meals with my partner can also be more expensive. We air-fried up some potatoes and vegan "meat" last night and it was good.

There's an app called "too good to go" that lets you get cheap food near the end of day. It's stuff the restaurant or grocery was going to have to throw out. Sometimes you get like four slices of pizza for $4, or a platter of Korean food for $6. Seems good and not enshittified yet.

I'm in NYC, for context.

[–] unsettlinglymoist@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

I live in Denver and Too Good To Go just has donuts, donuts, donuts. Actually there are a handful of restaurants on it, but the app doesn't accommodate dietary restrictions at all which is why I've never tried to get actual food through it. But yeah, dirt cheap piles of donuts anytime I want them.

[–] SqueakySpider@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Would you share some of the dishes you're doing? Spending less on groceries would be nice.

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 1 points 7 minutes ago

It helps that I'm not a picky or demanding eater. I make a cup of rice in my rice cooker, get some canned beans, and throw in a random assortment of spices and/or condiments. Not afraid to try some weird combinations.

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