What's your cost for food?

[Rancher]

Last year my wife and I had a discussion with members of a group at our church. The question came up about how poor people can afford good food. Although my wife and I can afford almost any food we please, we are economical with our food purchases (and other things) while getting nutritious meals. During the discussion I mentioned that I believe that a couple can live on less than $20 per day with very nutricious food, even if they have to buy all of their food. I mentioned that we have been doing it for under $12 per day for years. To prove it we offered to eat every mean in a local McDonalds restaurant for a month and keep a record of our actual costs.

We were laughed at but we agreed to do it.

For actually 2 months we ate all three meals per day at McDonalds. Our total cost for 60 days came to $309 for the two of us. We ordered what we chose from the menu including Senior Coffee (cost 39 cents ea) every day. At the end of two months we felt great, and as a bonus my wife lost 8 pounds.

I don't recommend that any one eat all of their meals at McDonalds. We only did it as an experiment in that situation. However, we know that we are able to purchase nutritious food in our local supermarkets for less money than many believe, while preparing nutritious meals.

Also, as a result of our experiment, we now sometimes, perhaps two or three times per month, eat out at McDonalds by choice. (I learned that McDonalds has the best coffee of any restaurant in town.)

[MadTripper]

Interesting. *Have you ever seen that movie SuperSize Me? *

I just read an article from a local paper this week about the costs of groceries. *The article claimed overall cost has gone up 4% per year, eggs have gone up 35% in the last year and milk has gone up $1.00 per gallon over the same period.

It is interesting and disheartening to see these rises in costs. *We have a family of five and it would probably make me ill to add up the costs of groceries. *We try to keep the bill under $100.00 every two weeks and it is very difficult to meet that goal. *

Of course its no surprise that salaries do not go up 4% per year. *If they did, it still wouldn't help because of gasoline and so on increasing in price as well.

So, I suppose most people who visit this site have a plan to keep those increases from affecting them as much as the majority of people in our country. *Our home is new so we don't have our whole system in place however we do have a plan. *Our chickens aren't producing yet and our garden and orchard are still just a plan in my head however by this time next year, we will be harvesting both meat and vegetables. *Our fruits will have to wait a while longer but it will come as well.

Here is a link to the article I read for those interested:

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18897144&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id =590572&rfi=8


Tripper

[Shamrock1121]

I budget $50 per week for food (2 adults - 3 meals a day with only occasional meal out).

What strains the budget these days is the price of meat :o, so we eat less of it and enjoy vegetarian meals several times a week. I save enough out of the food budget to purchase locally grown grass-fed beef, free-range chickens, and bison. I get half a hog from a cousin when he has them available. I also have a well-stocked food storage on this budgeted amount.

Eggs are also getting a bit pricey and I keep powdered whole eggs on hand to use in baking. I compare per-egg prices for fresh eggs and powdered eggs, and use mostly powdered eggs when they are cheapest, and keep several cans of powdered whole eggs in storage. I used to barter a dozen eggs for a loaf of homemade bread, but alas they've given up their chickens because feed is so expensive.

I use a whey-based milk substitute (Morning Moo's) that is a fraction of the cost of store-bought milk - and have used one brand or another for 26 years. I purchase it once a year (and keep 2-years in storage) from my budgeted food dollars.

I make homemade kefir and I use it instead of buttermilk. When I drain the whey from the curd, I can use it instead of plain yogurt, cream cheese, or sour cream.

I also mill most of the flour I use and bake all our breads. I never purchase expensive commercial cereal, and use whole grains instead. I can mill my own farina from wheat and rice. Whole oat groats are milled into steel-cut oats or flakes using a flaker mill. I also make my own multi-grain cereal for cooked breakfast cereal, or to add to breads. I can purchase 25# of wheat for close to the same price as a box of commercial cereal. I can make a loaf of whole wheat or multi-grain bread for 25-50 cents a loaf. I also mill my own cornmeal.

I'm a firm believer in whole foods - they are usually cheapest to purchase, easy to fix, and you get more nutritional bang for your buck. Whole foods are Nature's original "fast" foods, as far as I'm concerned - not McDonald's..... I dehydrate and freeze a lot of the fresh produce from the garden to use during the winter. I also grow greens in a cold frame until it gets too cold, and now I have an Aero Garden so I can grow greens, tomatoes, and herbs all winter.

I also cook as much as possible in my Solar Ovens to reduce the cost of cooking/baking.

-Karen

[EvanMac]

I don't get it... How did you eat at Mcd's for three meals a day for 60 days at that price? Here is my math:

$309 divided by 60 days = $5.15 per day

$5.15 divided by 2 people = $2.58 per person per day

$2.58 divided by 3 meals = $.86 per meal ???

Ok, so maybe just coffee for breakfast?

$2.58 - $.39 = $2.19 ...

$2.19 divided by 2 meals = $1.09 per meal :o

So I guess you only ate off the dollar menu? That is a very small amount of food and very few choices! Sounds like a starvation diet to me! No wonder she lost 8 pounds!