Is 400$ a month a lot to spend on food in USA?

Just found my review of the money spent while I spent my summer in USA in 2008.

I noticed I had spent about 1200 dollars on food during the summer. Seems as I was spending a lot, even too much, considering the low prices there. Probably wanted to try different products which I had never tried and before and that is why I spent so much.

Round here I can manage with around 150-200 euros in a month living alone while the prices are much higher.

So I wondered is 400$ a month a lot to spend on food in USA?

reply to post by Cabin


You mean $400 a week right? Lol. Money doesn't buy much any more...
it's all an arm and leg a now.

No but seriously, I think $400 sounds good unless you're eating out - then it will be a lot more. (That's for a single person though.)

Yes, it's quite a bit of money. However, it only takes a few meals out at restaurants to skew those numbers. Eat at home, most restaurants suck at cooking anyway.

Sounds about right, $13 a day...

reply to post by Cabin


Not really.
We probably spend around that much in a month for my family. If not more.

What every body else said. Also, how many were you feeding and what stores were you buying food in? That can have a huge affect on how much you end up spending.

Dang, after reading the other responses, I think I must be living in a different country.

In my own opinion, $400 is a lot to spend per month per person.

My normal cost per month for food usually runs under $100 If you want to be an idiot and go out to a restaurant to eat every day, you can push it up to $400 But actually buying food and cooking it myself, is usually under a $1 a meal on average.

In general, other families around here seem to have the same cooking and eating habits as me. I have went on shopping runs with other people and I was not too surprised by their buying habits. But then again, we have grown up together, and our habits have kind of normalized with everyone else’s in the valley.

Well I spend £140-£180 over a 2 week period on food/consumables. That's me, my partner, little girl and baby boy. And I cant make ends meet half the time!

$400 to me sounds wonderful!
I have a family to feed and my monthly grocery bill could be easily a car payment - maybe even a house payment.
The price of food is insane!

reply to post by Cabin


$400.00 a month is about what my family of four spends a month on our food costs here in the mid west. Give or give $50.00 to $100.00 more, just depends on how much milk, bread, soda we go through. so that's about right.

Originally posted by SimonXGrim
reply to post by Cabin

 

$400.00 a month is about what my family of four spends a month on our food costs here in the mid west. Give or give $50.00 to $100.00 more, just depends on how much milk, bread, soda we go through. so that's about right.

His figure was $400 to feed one person for a month, not a family of four.
So to feed 4 people that would be about $1600 a month.

We rarely if ever eat out..and our monthly food cost is around 400 - 600 USD/month on groceries. It's very expensive. Most of our budget goes into food for a family of 4. Food and gas. After the bills are paid + food + gas..we barely have enough for any extras. We have a retirement saving through my husbands work..and that's it. We don't have enough to save anything extra

between going out to eat and cooking at home we eat out 2-3 times a week. I would say 250 per person per month.

800-1000 for the summer i would say is about right for middle class Americans.

However buying a lot of organic fruit and veggies is very costly and coupled with more expensive restaurants could sky rocket the budget easily keep that in mind. 400 a month is easily achievable.

reply to post by Mr Tranny


It gets cheaper per person, the more people you add, though. And $100 per person is just not going to cut it.

What do you cook from scratch, or are you not counting stuff you grew or gathered from the farm?

I think that just breakfast, if you buy name brand precooked stuff, it's going to be around $60 at least. Unless maybe you skip meals? A single box of cereal is like $5 and then you add in coffee, sausage, pancakes, milk, juice, fruits...

it adds up quick.

400$ converts to about 3200 ZAR (South African currency) That Is possible here,for a family of 4,if you want to basically live on bread,butter,eggs,maize meal+sheba, and potatoes.Food is very very expensive here,no make that HEALTHY/organic foods.If dog+catfood had to be included,no can do.Just not possible-not if you want to give your children a variety of food that includes fish,meat,veggies,dairy products,fruits,pasta with proper homemade sauce,100% fruit juice as opposed to the synthetic rubbish,etc.

reply to post by Cabin



I spend $400 a week, but I have three kids and buy organic.

Originally posted by Mr Tranny
Dang, after reading the other responses, I think I must be living in a different country.

In my own opinion, $400 is a lot to spend per month per person.

My normal cost per month for food usually runs under $100 If you want to be an idiot and go out to a restaurant to eat every day, you can push it up to $400 But actually buying food and cooking it myself, is usually under a $1 a meal on average.

In general, other families around here seem to have the same cooking and eating habits as me. I have went on shopping runs with other people and I was not too surprised by their buying habits. But then again, we have grown up together, and our habits have kind of normalized with everyone else’s in the valley.

edit on 3-4-2013 by Mr Tranny because: (no reason given)

What do you eat that only costs 100 dollars a month?
Also, if you are a farmer, that is cheating.

We have a family of three and a dog ... We spend $200 a week.
We could live somewhat cheaper .. but I have special diet needs
So I can't buy the 'cheap' spaghetti and bread and raman type foods for me.
Our bill would be a bit less if I could substitute those 'cheap' foods in ...

But anyways .. a family of 3 and a dog .... $200 a week.

Originally posted by Bleeeeep
What do you cook from scratch, or are you not counting stuff you grew or gathered from the farm?

I know the reference figure he gave was strictly store bought food so I tried to take that into account in my figure by not using cost figures that I would normally expect if I have my own food coming in, or food from neighbors.

I am figuring it as though I am buying everything from the store for the month. I have to once in a while, so I know what the normal monthly cost would be if I subsisted strictly off of store bought goods.

My normal shopping list to load me out for a month with everything I would need would be.

Bulk frozen hamburgers. Around $2 a pound.
Frozen Sausage patties. Around $2.50 a pound.
Bacon.
Spaghetti.
Pasta.
Just add water pancake mix.
Eggs.
Potatoes.
Beans. Chili, baked, Canned, and dry.
Oranges.
Canned peaches.
Frozen French fries.
Frozen ready to cook pies.
Orange juice.

Add the other normal stuff like salt, pepper, syrup and butter.

On the average total, the meat makes up the majority of the cost. I usually buy over 20 pounds of meat a month. That usually ads up to about 50 dollars worth. I am a heavy meat eater.

The rest of the stuff makes up the remainder in no particular amount, depending on my buying habits that month.

Edit………
Forgot to add popcorn. I buy popcorn in 25 pound sacks down at the local rural king. A sack will last me all year.

reply to post by Cabin
I usually spend around $250-300 per month on groceries, $400 if I buy enough good steaks for 3-4 meals. I'm sure I would pay more if I didn't take advantage of coupons and sales though.