What does the government want you to spend to eat each month??? - Page 3

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by Thystle

Did you mean per week or per month? The math can't be right for per month.

ah, thanks. yeah, that amount was per week! I wasn't paying attention

It's $700 something for a month at the thrifty level, and that I actually could see working out.

[CarsonBookworm]

$420.60 for the Thrifty Plan.....and we're eating on less than $150 a month these days for the three of us.

[rainbowmoon]

Originally Posted by CarsonBookworm

$420.60 for the Thrifty Plan.....and we're eating on less than $150 a month these days for the three of us.

I am baffled this is even possible! (not being snarky here just completely amazed!) what do you eat? do you drink milk? my kids easily drink $50 a month in milk alone.

[CarsonBookworm]

DD and I are lactose intolerant and DH uses evaporated milk reconstituted to cook. Its a lot of monotony....same old same old. We all eat oatmeal and a small bowl of canned fruit for breakfast. DH makes his lunches for the week on Sunday (Brown rice with pepper, paprika and other spices mixed with cubed chicken) and puts them in the fridge, takes one container with him for lunch each workday. We drink water and herbal tea only. DD and I eat Steamed Baby Carrots or whatever veggie is on sale, Brown rice and 1/4 of a chicken breast each day for lunch. Dinner we eat a lot of soups, stews and casseroles for dinner. We follow a very strict meal plan. Nothing fancy.

I'd be glad to explain the price breakdown for our monthly shopping list, but give me some time to write it up.

[kirstenb]

Our thrifty would be $420.60 and the luxury would be $813.40. I'd say we probably spend around $420 if you count the meals we eat out plus the other products we buy at the grocery store.

[TiredX2]

I didn't even have to add! My family was one of the "examples."

Thrifty is $606 and liberal is $1186.

Closer to thrifty even with our eating out budget added in.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

$245.40 for myself and DS on the thrifty plan. I would say that is about right. We occasionally go over that for groceries, but it is rare.

[llamalluv]

Based on the figures for a 30 year old man and his slightly younger (hotter) wife:

Thrifty: $330.80

Liberal: $647


Our actual expenses are $50/week.

Oh, I just saw the numbers for a household of 2 adults:

Thrifty: $363.90

Liberal: $711.70

Those numbers are even more insane.

[llamalluv]

Another thing to keep in mind:

1The Food Plans represent a nutritious diet at four different cost levels. The nutritional bases of the Food Plans are the 1997-2005 Dietary
Reference Intakes, 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and 2005 MyPyramid food intake recommendations. In addition to cost,
differences among plans are in specific foods and quantities of foods. Another basis of the Food Plans is that all meals and snacks are
prepared at home.

For specific foods and quantities of foods in the Food Plans, see Thrifty Food Plan, 2006 (2007) FOUND HERE and The Low-Cost,
Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans, 2007 (2007) FOUND HERE.

All four Food Plans are based on 2001-02 data and updated to current dollars by using the Consumer Price Index for specific food items.
2All costs are rounded to nearest 10 cents.
3The costs given are for individuals in 4-person families. For individuals in other size families, the following adjustments are suggested:
1-person—add 20 percent; 2-person—add 10 percent; 3-person—add 5 percent; 4-person—no adjustment; 5- or 6-person—subtract
5 percent; 7- (or more) person—subtract 10 percent.

To calculate overall household food costs, (1) adjust food costs for each person in household and then (2) sum these adjusted food c

[Mama Dragon]

This is with stbx added in (2 adults, 4 kids)
Thrifty about $800/Liberal about $1500
We spend about 800 just on food and eat pretty well (not as much lean meat or produce as I'd like but not terrible).

[amyamanda]

Isn't it nice to have some official validation that most of us are really quite thrifty in comparison to most people? For my family, the thrifty plan comes to $811/mo and the liberal plan comes to $1583. I can't imagine spending that upper number. I probably spend between $800-1000/month on groceries AND supplies, and that includes almost all organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, mostly cane-sugar-free, locally raised meat, etc.

I do scrimp and plan and buy in bulk and stock up on sales and ration the "good stuff," so I do think in that way my food buying is very thrifty. But like i said, I'm buying mostly organic, including local free-range meat, and with our food restrictions we can't utilize a lot of standard (cheaper) food anyway. Just compare the cost of white cane sugar to natural sweeteners like the maple syrup we use, you know? So in that way, some people would think I have somewhat of a luxury diet (we go through about 15 gallons of organic maple syrup a year).

Anyway, I thought my spending was extravagant in some ways, but these numbers make me feel pretty good about it! If we were not eating organic and had no food restrictions I think I could easily halve my food budget.

[CanidFL]

The thrifty plan for us is $509 and we spend $400 a month. The liberal plan is $813!!!! That is a lot of food We could definately buy organic on that budget.

[Usually Curious]

Whoooeee!

$1168.10 for thrifty and $2250.20 for liberal plan.

Man, what I wouldn't give to spend that much on groceries!!

We do spend about $1100 on groceries (incl. toiletries, etc.), but boy, what I could do w/$2250!

[Thystle]

Originally Posted by CarsonBookworm

DD and I are lactose intolerant and DH uses evaporated milk reconstituted to cook. Its a lot of monotony....same old same old. We all eat oatmeal and a small bowl of canned fruit for breakfast. DH makes his lunches for the week on Sunday (Brown rice with pepper, paprika and other spices mixed with cubed chicken) and puts them in the fridge, takes one container with him for lunch each workday. We drink water and herbal tea only. DD and I eat Steamed Baby Carrots or whatever veggie is on sale, Brown rice and 1/4 of a chicken breast each day for lunch. Dinner we eat a lot of soups, stews and casseroles for dinner. We follow a very strict meal plan. Nothing fancy.

I'd be glad to explain the price breakdown for our monthly shopping list, but give me some time to write it up.

I would like to see it.

You should start a new thread.

[BananaBreadGirl]

Thrifty plan gives me $364-ish. I usually spend around $100, for two 20-something adults.

I meal plan around what is on sale and stock up on what is on sale. I usually buy sale items I know I will use plus fruit and bread, perhaps one or two other items I can't do without and I'm out of. I have a deep freeze for things I stock up on. Breakfasts are oatmeal with dried fruit, or toast with homemade jelly. Lunches are leftovers or sandwiches, carrots, fruit. We drink water and tea, some milk for me (DH is lactose intolerant) and occassional juice now that I'm pregnant. I try a few meatless meals a week and obviously they include very little cheese or creamy sauces. I had a small garden and was able to have fresh veggies and can a small amount of tomatoes (8 quarts?) and spaghetti sauce (8 pints?) and fruit jam. I have gleaned/been gifted a decent amount of fruit over the year but I still do buy fruit.

While I think we eat decently healthy, sometimes it would be nice to have some more flexibility and convenience (I don't have energy to cook everything from scratch right now!). I'm applying for WIC next week as my income is way under the qualifying amount.

[lmonter]

Thrifty: $616.90
Liberal: $1182.50

But I didn't monkey around with the percentages. I'm too tired for that much math. The thrifty's about right for my area and shopping the sales and only buying organic milk (not local, but at least organic/non-hormone). My boys get super cranky if they don't get much meat, hubby included, so I scare the cashiers come meat sale time.

[Nitenites]

The thrifty plan puts us at $928.70/month. We spend about $550/month. There have been months that I've been able to get us down to $375.

The liberal plan is $1431.90. Holy cow. I could feed us for three months on that!!

[KatWrangler]

We are just a little bit below the thrifty side. I did it for a family of four because the Baby hasn't started solids yet.

So less than the $527 thrifty.

[mnt_mommy]

In the past, I have kept it at 150 for 2 adults and an infant. I agree with CarsonBookworm:
you eat instant oatmeal for breakfast (purchased by the canister, in bulk, when it is on sale twice a year) with sliced bananas (best to get the slightly brown ones from the store, bc King Soopers will sell those for 35 cents a pound)
Lots of herbal tea all day long. We have an electic kettle which is CONSTANTLY on and almost as constantly being refilled. Celestial Seasonings tea can be purchased for 25 cents a box if you buy it on sale, and get your manufacturer's 50 cent coupon doubled.
No meat- we are vegetarian. We do buy tofu and organic black beans.
When I buy cold cereal, it is never for more than 1.50 a box. A lot of that is quinoa-based stuff from an organics co-op.
We buy whatever fruits or vegetables are on sale at the Sunflower. Sunflower is a chain with great sales, but their pricing strategy involves selling everything else for a little too much, all in a Trader Joe's type store environment. So, we go and buy two types of vegetables that are on sale, then leave with our two items.
Avocados were recently on sale for 50 cents each!!! Another good one was a carton of raspberries for a dollar!

[ReadingMama]

Monthly for our family of 4:

Thrifty-$560
Liberal -$1086

We budget $400 a month for groceries and household stuff, including toiletries. We also spend about $150-200 a month going out to eat (or we DID until dh lost his job last spring). So even with that, we line up with the thrifty plan.