I have only started tracking recently so i don't have a full month of real data, but I estimate it to be $20-30 a day, so 600-900.
I simultaneously started buying groceries weekly/eating more home cooked meals/bringing lunch to work, and tracking where my money has been going. So far I've been spending around $105 per week on groceries.
I generally am not having a hard time not eating out, could probably manage once a week, but there are times when due to social obligations I feel like i have to eat out, like a going away lunch, or someone wants to hang out on the weekend. I've even not eaten food I prepared because of this. A few times i didn't have enough time to prepare breakfast or lunch in the morning so I had to eat out then, and also my poor sleeping habits have caused me to get coffee during the day a few times. Overall I've spent about 70 per week on eating out even though I'm getting groceries.
So I'm still spending around 680 a month on food. this seems like a lot, never thought before i paid attention to this that even with making an effort to avoid eating out that i'd be spending this much on food. I think I might be able to trim groceries down by 15-20 a week by buying fewer disposable utensils, plates and cups, and fewer frozen pizzas. Don't know why I buy those, they are 12$ each, may as well get takeout which is faster, and more convenient. I've seen people here mention that they spend around 200-3-- a month on food and am just wondering how you do that. Do you just live in a cheaper city (I live in NY). It might be my market too, I go to a sort of fancy one called Union Market, because they deliver and it's either that place of Fresh Direct, because I don't have a car. I suspect they are not the cheapest grocery store around.
I'm in the process of perfecting my weekly shopping list, buying less of what's leftover and thrown out at the end of each week, and buying more of what i run out of so i'll be in stock all week. In the past I've spent ~200 per visit, but most of that would go to waste. Since I started paying attention, i started with weekly receipts of 136, 124, 106, and 101.
So far: need to get three bottles of juice, one box of wheat waffles, 2 packets of smoked or roasted turkey slices, two things of greek yogurt, a small ass bottle of milk, a box of six granola bars, 2-3 containers of cooked food from the market's deli (this is where a lot of the money has been going to waste, this stuff goes bad fast but i've been trying out differnt things until i find stuff that I like that will also keep for at least 3-5 days in the fridge). I basically gave up and do not even buy fruit anymore because it always goes bad. I might stop buying salad for the same reason. Once I have my money habits in order i will try to improve eating habits. (eating from home is already not a bad start).
EDIT: Here is my last grocery list:
11.99 Frozen Pizza 11.99 (x2)
4.49 Box of Granola Bars
3.99 Box of Frozen Waffles
2.69 Carton of Milk
3.00 Chicken Cutlet (1 fillet of chicken breast, this is cooked, from the deli)
5.99 Disposable (reusable) Cups
6.99 Packet of roasted turkey slices. has ~8 slices, makes 3 sandwiches.
1.99 Greek Yogurt (x2)
7.99 Disposable (reusable) Plates
7.99 Cindy's Greek Feta Cheese Salad Dressing
5.99 Pineapple Juice
4.49 White Grape Juice
6.49 Fresh Squeezed OJ (1quart)
6.79 Chicken Fingers, from deli. 9.99/lb
5.03 1/2lb Cajun Jambalaya (rice with shrimp, pork and vegies in it), from deli
Total 99.88
(With Tax: 101.72, Plus $3 tip for delivery guy: ~$105 Grand total)
(I just realized the cashier did NOT charge me for the bread)
Here are the #'s if I ditch... (total, amt. saved)
Disposable Utensils/Dinnerware: (85.90, 13.98)
Frozen Pizzas: (75.90, 23.98)
Deli Foods: (85.06, 14.82)
All of the above (47.10, 52.78)
Wow. Well it's a little exaggerated because I probably have to add some money in to make up for the meals the pizzas and deli foods would have provided. I have to make up about 3.5 dinners worth of food. I think I can get chicken breasts and breadcrumbs, and make chicken cutlets that will last me 2-3 meals. What are some other options?
This is great. It looks like I'll easily meet and beat my goal of $70/week. 60-65/week seems probable. Just have to put more effort into cooking 1 or 2x a week now. If I wanted to cook & clean more, and only bought necessities (no juice or granola) I could easily chop this to <30$/week. Makes me realize how much money i've been throwing down the drain the past couple of years, and that the majority of what a lot of people spend is on unnecessary items.
Other things I've done that weren't mentioned above:
Don't buy bottled water anymore, i cleaned out my brita and installed clean filters (still have a pack of replacement filters i bought bulk from costco when i first moved in)
Also don't buy gatorade and iced tea from the corner store every night. Just relying on the juice I'm getting at the market now, though that is still $17 a week. In comparison I was spending about 40-60 a week on bottled water and soft drinks before.
Stopped buying coffee, started taking advantage of the free coffee @work.
One month ago I was easily spending over 1,200 a month on food, drinks, eating out, and coffee, maybe even more.
I simultaneously started buying groceries weekly/eating more home cooked meals/bringing lunch to work, and tracking where my money has been going. So far I've been spending around $105 per week on groceries.
I generally am not having a hard time not eating out, could probably manage once a week, but there are times when due to social obligations I feel like i have to eat out, like a going away lunch, or someone wants to hang out on the weekend. I've even not eaten food I prepared because of this. A few times i didn't have enough time to prepare breakfast or lunch in the morning so I had to eat out then, and also my poor sleeping habits have caused me to get coffee during the day a few times. Overall I've spent about 70 per week on eating out even though I'm getting groceries.
So I'm still spending around 680 a month on food. this seems like a lot, never thought before i paid attention to this that even with making an effort to avoid eating out that i'd be spending this much on food. I think I might be able to trim groceries down by 15-20 a week by buying fewer disposable utensils, plates and cups, and fewer frozen pizzas. Don't know why I buy those, they are 12$ each, may as well get takeout which is faster, and more convenient. I've seen people here mention that they spend around 200-3-- a month on food and am just wondering how you do that. Do you just live in a cheaper city (I live in NY). It might be my market too, I go to a sort of fancy one called Union Market, because they deliver and it's either that place of Fresh Direct, because I don't have a car. I suspect they are not the cheapest grocery store around.
I'm in the process of perfecting my weekly shopping list, buying less of what's leftover and thrown out at the end of each week, and buying more of what i run out of so i'll be in stock all week. In the past I've spent ~200 per visit, but most of that would go to waste. Since I started paying attention, i started with weekly receipts of 136, 124, 106, and 101.
So far: need to get three bottles of juice, one box of wheat waffles, 2 packets of smoked or roasted turkey slices, two things of greek yogurt, a small ass bottle of milk, a box of six granola bars, 2-3 containers of cooked food from the market's deli (this is where a lot of the money has been going to waste, this stuff goes bad fast but i've been trying out differnt things until i find stuff that I like that will also keep for at least 3-5 days in the fridge). I basically gave up and do not even buy fruit anymore because it always goes bad. I might stop buying salad for the same reason. Once I have my money habits in order i will try to improve eating habits. (eating from home is already not a bad start).
EDIT: Here is my last grocery list:
11.99 Frozen Pizza 11.99 (x2)
4.49 Box of Granola Bars
3.99 Box of Frozen Waffles
2.69 Carton of Milk
3.00 Chicken Cutlet (1 fillet of chicken breast, this is cooked, from the deli)
5.99 Disposable (reusable) Cups
6.99 Packet of roasted turkey slices. has ~8 slices, makes 3 sandwiches.
1.99 Greek Yogurt (x2)
7.99 Disposable (reusable) Plates
7.99 Cindy's Greek Feta Cheese Salad Dressing
5.99 Pineapple Juice
4.49 White Grape Juice
6.49 Fresh Squeezed OJ (1quart)
6.79 Chicken Fingers, from deli. 9.99/lb
5.03 1/2lb Cajun Jambalaya (rice with shrimp, pork and vegies in it), from deli
Total 99.88
(With Tax: 101.72, Plus $3 tip for delivery guy: ~$105 Grand total)
(I just realized the cashier did NOT charge me for the bread)
Here are the #'s if I ditch... (total, amt. saved)
Disposable Utensils/Dinnerware: (85.90, 13.98)
Frozen Pizzas: (75.90, 23.98)
Deli Foods: (85.06, 14.82)
All of the above (47.10, 52.78)
Wow. Well it's a little exaggerated because I probably have to add some money in to make up for the meals the pizzas and deli foods would have provided. I have to make up about 3.5 dinners worth of food. I think I can get chicken breasts and breadcrumbs, and make chicken cutlets that will last me 2-3 meals. What are some other options?
This is great. It looks like I'll easily meet and beat my goal of $70/week. 60-65/week seems probable. Just have to put more effort into cooking 1 or 2x a week now. If I wanted to cook & clean more, and only bought necessities (no juice or granola) I could easily chop this to <30$/week. Makes me realize how much money i've been throwing down the drain the past couple of years, and that the majority of what a lot of people spend is on unnecessary items.
Other things I've done that weren't mentioned above:
Don't buy bottled water anymore, i cleaned out my brita and installed clean filters (still have a pack of replacement filters i bought bulk from costco when i first moved in)
Also don't buy gatorade and iced tea from the corner store every night. Just relying on the juice I'm getting at the market now, though that is still $17 a week. In comparison I was spending about 40-60 a week on bottled water and soft drinks before.
Stopped buying coffee, started taking advantage of the free coffee @work.
One month ago I was easily spending over 1,200 a month on food, drinks, eating out, and coffee, maybe even more.
I gotta keep my inner fat kid happy or he'll throw a tantrum. 
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