Can you show me a typical food budget for one person?

I spend around 140 USD for food per month.

I mostly eat frozen food that is slowly killing me. Freezer pizzas, Tater Tots, Corn dogs, and so on.

I love salads and fruit but I can’t really afford them.

Where? Cost of living varies considerably by location. Some places have cheap produce, some don’t. Some have higher markups or taxes than others. I pay twice as much in Seattle as I did in NH.

@jerv Red Deer Canada, or your home town.

Approx. $600 a month easy. $20 a day x 30 days.

@talljasperman I assume you want to stretch it as far as you can? Let me work on that for a bit. And what cooking implements are available to you?

@Adirondackwannabe A microwave , and a fridge, the stove top burners smoke up when I use them, the oven works but smokes up the apartment and triggers the smoke detector.

@talljasperman It’s possible there is stuff stuck on the burners and in the oven. They might just need a good cleaning.

@anniereborn I spilled milk in the burners. I will clean.

For myself I probably spend around $150 a month on groceries.

I gotta wonder what @Dan_Lyons is buying though. The only time I even spend that kind of money on food in a day is when I go out to eat (and even then it’s often not that much).

I eat well. Steaks, bbq chicken, eggs, bread, cheese, milk, fruit, veggies, oatmeal…I manage to maintain 185 to 190 pounds and exercise every day.

@Dan_Lyons Thank you that is exactly what I was looking for in an answer… a list of foods that you eat. I eat lots of chicken, pop and milk and I eat out every doctors appointment.

I am of the firm belief that eating quality foods is not only good for you, but one of life’s greatest pleasures.

I’d probably be spending $350–400/month on food for just me. I don’t buy pre-packaged meals, soda (rarely), frozen pizzas/snacks/etc. I buy a lot of chicken, ground beef, oatmeal, shrimp and steak on occasion, pasta, skim milk for cooking, almond milk for everything else, eggs, stuff to bring to work for lunches (ingredients for chicken tacos, homemade egg white delights, etc.), Greek yogurt, baby spinach, fruit, some canned or frozen vegetables…

I also buy protein powder, which costs me about $30/month along with PB2 ($10/mo) and unsweetened cocoa powder for my daily protein shake.

I don’t typically cook dinner on weekends, so eating out would be an additional expense, depending on where I went.

I want to date @Dan_Lyons haha

I am single and spend probably about $100—$125 a week myself. I buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies, melons, blackberries, asparagus, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, etc. Chicken breasts, shrimp, avocados, french bread, spinach dip, tuna fish, veggie chips, lots of nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, yogurts, peanut butter. I make some great soups and salads, and cheese…oh CHEESE!
Creme cheese, Havarti with caraway seeds, Swiss, extra sharp cheddar.

Gotta have my cheese, and OLIVES, tons of olives, black, green, stuffed, greek. I could live on bread, cheese and olives. Also a lot of dried fruits, craisins, apricots, etc.
I also am a mexican food addict and get take out mexican and chinese on a pretty regular basis. Pizza occasionally.

Around 70.00 a week. I try to choose food/meals that I can eat on for two or 3 days like a pot of spaghetti, a pan of lasagna, or I bake 2 or 3 chicken breasts at a time (or grill them) and just heat them up. I can buy a big can of green beans and that will go with several meals too.
For breakfast I will eat peanut butter toast on the weekdays, or oatmeal.
You just have to make meal plans and shop according to the menu you have planned each week.

@Coloma I gave you a great answer!

@Dan_Lyons My cheese, your olives…ooh baby. lol

You brought a smile to my face and I believe I may be blushing just a tad.

It’s also worth noting that food costs vary a bit by your level of cooking skill. Prepared food is generally more expensive, but ingredients can lead to disaster if you are a bad cook. If you can do Indian food, simple lentils and rice can make enough different dishes just by pulling different things off the spice rack; and considering the cost of lentils and rice, you could feed two people for a week for $5. (Been there, done that.) On the other hand, if your kitchen skills are limited to reading the box and following the directions, you may easily spend that per meal, driving your food costs up 10–20x just for basic sustenance.

I won’t list all the stuff I eat since my wife is a decent cook with a wide range; I’ll go months without eating the same dinner twice unless I ask for an encore. About the only constants are Pepsi ($9–10 for a 36-pack at Costco… or $6.50 for a 12-pack at the supermarket unless you find a good sale) and snacking cheese (maybe Pepperjack, maybe Cambozola, maybe something else). And, of course, having a wife drives my food costs up a bit.

@Coloma If you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, you must try their Bacon Cheddar!

@jerv Oooh..I order a salami cheddar from a cheese factory here in CA. it is to die for.
Trader Joes sweet chili sauce is amazing over creme cheese too, and, I know it sounds weird but…it is great on cottage cheese too, dipped with their whole grain chips. mmmm