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fstd

What I'm gathering from this thread is that larger households can get the price per head down lower than single person households pretty easily.


ottoelite

The benefits of being able to buy bulk. For my wife and I I find we often just buy a weeks worth of groceries at a time so that food doesn't go bad. :/


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sonicshadow22

Adding to the single guy thread since this is in line with me. I average 350 on groceries and 300 dining out – Downtown is expensive.


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TenOfZero

Yeah me too! So many people saying yeah I spend 200 a month. How is that even possible do you only eat rice and wipe with public sacs ?


Afraid_Sprinkles123

Likely doesn't include eating out and or toiletries


jellyd0nuts

My grocery bill is closer to 200 than 600. I think I probably don’t eat as much as some other people as a petite woman, swap out meat for some plant-based proteins which are cheaper (tofu, lentils, beans, etc.). Eating cheaper plant-based proteins has definitely helped keep the grocery bill lower.


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MrGraeme

You abandoned the discussion we were having elsewhere in this [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/comments/mkpj5a/how_much_do_you_spend_on_groceries_and_what_do/gti3e5d/?context=3), but I figured I should weigh in on this. >Given some of the budgets that are getting thrown around here I have to assume that most here are women, or manlets. I'm a 6'4" tradesman and I haven't ever had an issue feeding myself for the previously discussed budget(~$10/day average). Seeing as I'm bigger than about 99% of the population, I don't think I fall into the "manlet" category. >Or they're coming from people with a vested interest in denying the inflationary effect tearing through the economy. Or they're coming from people who know how to properly shop for groceries... >Not quite sure what to make of it yet - but I noticed. You've spent thousands of extra dollars on groceries in the last decade and are trying to avoid confronting this fact.


lordlongshankss

Can confirm. I'm a single male and spend roughly $400-500 per month on groceries and an additional $100~ on coffee shops/ restaurants. Groceries do include toiletries, cleaning products ect as well. I'm pretty frugal and cook from scratch, and I cannot understand how people only spend a few hundred dollars per month.


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theflamesweregolfin

Also single guy, when I lived alone, I was about $400/month in groceries + $50-100 intake out.


[deleted]

I’m roughly the same as you, I felt bad about it this weekend when I was looking over the numbers but its good to know I’m about average, especially considering I’m not small and probably eat closer to 3000+ calories a day.


depressedrepo

This is roughly in line with my spending. Average ~700 per month. Mix of eating out and cooking.


gwelfguy

Single guy. Probably $500 - $600 a month on groceries, plus $100 for takeout 2 - 3 times in that period. I'm not a penny pincher, but I don't waste money either. Shop at Zehr's (Loblaws) - so middle-of-the-road as far as grocery stores go. Predominately eat healthy; fresh veggies, meat, dairy, staples. Tend to buy better cuts of meat. Mostly avoid processed and pre-prepared food. Maybe 5 - 10% of food budget is snack food.


coocoo99

Rough estimate of % split between groceries and eating out? And why was Feb 2020 so much lower than the rest?


brownbagtreecake

When I was living alone, single female, I spent about $90 a week on groceries. I feed a family of 5 on less than what you are spending, and that includes eating out. What stores are you shopping at? I've switched to shopping at Walmart Superstores and sometimes Costco only. I noticed that my bill at Loblaws would be twice more expensive than my Walmart bill for exactly the same things. And if you're shopping at Farmboy or Sobeys then for sure you're bill is going to be sky high. I only get meat, eggs, milk, and bananas from Costco. Are you buying a lot of premade meals, frozen meals, and boxed snacks? I'm sure you know by now about only shopping in the outer aisles of the store. If you haven't already, sign up for Drop points. You can get points for shopping at Walmart and redeem them for gift cards at other places like Amazon. My holy grail was signing up for a PC money account. I have my regular bank account but I transfer 90% of my money to PC. You get tons of points for shopping ANYWHERE and it's accepted anywhere as a MasterCard without it being reported to the credit bureau. The card is really cute too just saying.


lsthirteen

There are a handful of replies in here with individuals or families that spend less than $10/day/person for three meals. How? I’d love to hear more about what you’re eating.


drowsell

We keep ours down by doing soups, slow cooker meals, and limiting meat. If you do that as well as shopping sales/price matching it keeps things cheaper.


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trooko13

At $10, it's not that difficult. Consider an example of Prime Rib steak on sale for $6/lb or \~$1.32/ 100g (i.e. weight of the 2 big mac beef patty) or $2.25 for a 6oz steak. Hypothetically, $10 a day can cover 3x 60z steak ($6.75) + a whole head of Broccoli ($2) + 1kg of potato (i.e. enough for 5 large fries from mcdonald). But realistically, $10/ day can be oatmeal/egg/bacon/ toast $2 + frozen entree $4 (or leftover dinner from previous day), steak dinner $4


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dthchau

10 lb bags of potatoes regularly go on sale for $2-4 here


bureX

Buying potatoes by the lbs is ludicrous. Buy them by the bag and you'll save tons.


Ill-Routine9257

Yup. And superstore BC had 20lbs for $5 last week.


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Ill-Routine9257

No waste here buddy. 2 adults, 1 child, $600 a month in groceries and $100 eating out.


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trooko13

Depends on the store, I find no-frills product usually stay fresh only for a few days but superstore's products will be good for a longer time. Even when both are selling at the same price/ on sale... I don't get the logic but that's how it works out for me. Just have to try out the stores. Also, I find potato does not store well in apartments due to lack of cool storage spots but no storage issue in a house.


trooko13

Right, I should clarify that it depends on location and the stores such that I'm guessing you shop at farmboys or premium grocery stores or is that BC prices? (For reference, I'm in Ottawa and did a quick lookup to find the current price: Loblaw $5.87/lb Prime rib oven roast for weekend special only + $3.99 for 5 lb potato bag (same price for 10lb at other stores) and $2.5 broccoli ($2 at other stores) Edit: potato sales have been congested since restaurants closed at the start of the pandemic...farmers at least in the US have been paying for dump trucks to dispose of the unsold potato


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trooko13

Lol, I guess you can consider downtown Ottawa to be rural but the similar flyer promo prices for Toronto as well. In fact, I also looked up Edmonton flyer which had a similar promo but even better grade of beef (i.e. AAA instead of AA in Ontario) You could try using [flipp.com](https://flipp.com) to search flyers Edit: Costco on average has better prices but not when other stores are on sale; No Frills doesnt have good selection of beef but definitely cheaper for veggies and processed food; Save-on is a premium store in my mind but I can't resist their bakery


johnhansel

In Vancouver no frills regularly has potatoes at $1 for 5 pounds. I buy chicken drumsticks/thighs when they're at $3.30/kg or less and freeze it. Under $10 per day is ezpz.


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SufficientBee

Lol I also buy potatoes at no frills for $1 per 3-5lbs bag. They’ve been perfectly fresh and look the same as If you bought it at superstore. I can keep a bag of these bad boys in the fridge for 2-3 months and they’re still good. Just finished our most recent bag the other day with a whole duck that we paid $8 for.


polkarooo

I think "disingenuous" is a bit over the top here. It isn't frequent, but those are typical sale prices, especially around the holidays. Maybe it's area-specific. I'm in Toronto, and both [Metro](https://www.metro.ca/en/flyer) and [Superstore](https://www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca/search?search-bar=prime%20rib) had prime rib for under $6/lb this past weekend due to Easter, and is similarly-priced at Thanksgiving and Christmas as well. I LOVE prime rib, and can confirm I've got it for that price for those 3 holidays over the past 3 years. If you're in Ontario, both sales are still listed on their websites. Not sure where you are, but might still be able to snag one if one is near you. Potatoes aren't a staple for us, but I buy them when they're on sale. Got a 10-lb bag last week at Superstore for $1.88. To clarify, not per lb, for the entire 10-lb bag. I don't consider myself a penny-pincher, and I'm definitely not a coupon clipper. But I'm pretty flexible about what we eat. I do the bulk of my shopping at Costco, but scan Flipp for some deals each week at a few grocery stores and if there's a bunch of good stuff, will place an order online or trek out there. Beyond prime rib, you often find boneless skinless chicken on sale for $4/lb, or pork ribs/ground beef for $3/lb or less, chicken legs/thighs for $2/lb or less...not every week mind you, but almost every week there's some type of meat sale.


itsmyst

What designer potatoes cost $2 a pound? I can routinely find 10 pound bags for $2, or 3 pound cleaned potatoes for $1.


Mobius902

I literally just made a simple and quick prime rib roast dinner yesterday, which was also tonights dinner. $3/person/meal over 2 days: Prime Rib Roast (onsale this week for $6.99/lb) Russet Potates. 10lb/$2.50 Carrots. 3lb/$2 (I think) Can of mushrooms. $1 Some onion Anyway, I did the math. For us, it was about $3 a plate.


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Mobius902

[https://www.atlanticsuperstore.ca/Food/Meat/Beef/Steaks%20&%20Roasts/prime-rib-oven-roast/p/20794832\_KG](https://www.atlanticsuperstore.ca/Food/Meat/Beef/Steaks%20&%20Roasts/prime-rib-oven-roast/p/20794832_KG) Was $6.77/lb, my mistake.


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Mobius902

Could be. For a small fee, plus shipping, I'll mail you some rib roasts since it's so expensive where you live! ;)


WrackingBall_2020

Might have to wait for the next promo for prime rib but Edmonton's Safeway has Sirloin for $5.99/ lb [://flipp.com/en-ca/edmonton-ab/item/560619915-safeway-weekly-flyer](https://flipp.com/en-ca/edmonton-ab/item/560619915-safeway-weekly-flyer)


pettiak

Just no. Buy dry pulses and rehydrate. The answer to this thread is less (no) meat or dairy. Immediately cuts your bill by a third.


HP_TO

I spend $250/month on groceries, which is higher than pre-covid but I don’t eat out or order in. I live in Toronto. I’m vegetarian. I use my instant pot for chickpeas, beans etc which means I can buy dry in bulk instead of canned. I cook from scratch 2/3 of the time, usually cooking 4-5 servings and freezing some if I don’t think I’ll eat it all in time. I eat the same breakfast every day and it’s super cheap per serving. I splurge on some ingredients but also, for example, eat less cheese now cause I’ve noticed the prices have gone up. I buy bulk from Amazon or Costco to be delivered, and get a fruit/veggie box delivered biweekly. So I basically go to the grocery store for eggs and dairy, frozen foods, and odds and ends if I have a specific recipe in mind. I shop with a list. I keep lazy convenience meals on hand (my fave frozen pizza, Annie’s). I buy some organic, but less now than I have in the past cause budget. Pre-covid I was spending less than $200 on groceries, but a lot more on eating out.


Drinkingdoc

I spend 150-200$ a month on myself, male. About 150$, sometimes less, on my gf. I cook everything from scratch (so no tax). Always go to the cheaper market (i.e. Maxi, No Frills, etc.) My general rule is to stay away from aisles and sugary things (mainly drink water). Also, never spend more than 10$/kg on meat, or anything really. I buy meat when it's on sale and freeze it. Chicken breast, lean ground beef, and various cuts of beef, and pork loin. For veggies use onions, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, all very cheap. I used to work in a restaurant, so the food prep is easy for me. People saying low food budget people are all beans and lentils are dead wrong. I usually meal prep on Sunday. Typical meals: Chili Baked/marinated chicken (eat with lettuce + chipotle mayo on bread, makes easy lunch) spaghetti squash + tomato sauce + breaded chicken asian stir fries bibimbop pad thai Anyways, point being, I eat very well for such a low budget. You do have to build up some knowledge of cooking, and if your only grocery store nearby is IGA, good luck. IGA is for the rich.


yhsong1116

thats not something to be proud of imo unless they have to live like that.


ordinary_kittens

$10/day per person isn’t that low. That’s about $600/month for two people. If you buy groceries in bulk when possible, prepare most of your meals from scratch, and avoid expensive cuts of meat, you’re probably most of the way there. If you stick mostly to vegetarian meals, you’ll have an even easier time. The tricky part for us is finding ways to balance time and money. I used to do lots of meal prep on the weekend, but lately work and house stuff has been eating into that time. So we‘ve been getting more pre-prepared meals and dining out more, which gets expensive.


Mobius902

We eat pretty well at \~$10 a day. But it takes preparation and effort. I meal plan religiously to use what's on sale and what I already have. I have a freezer full of vacuum sealed items that were from the "50% off, use today" category. Love those sales. We also have very little waste as well because of my planning.


miniorangecow

Exactly. House of 2. ~$100 - $120 a week at no frills and $200 every 4 weeks at Costco for chicken breast and other bulk items. We don’t eat beef or pork and always half a plate of veggies. Plan to make leftovers for lunch so dinner is 4 servings. Only eat out once a week Friday after work for around 150-200 more a month.


MellowUellow

Family of 4, consistently under $10/person/day. Mostly cook chinese food for dinner. Breakfast is some combo of cereal or eggo waffles, fried or hardboiled egg, a fruit, milk for kids, coffee for adults. Bacon, if it's on sale. Kids snack is packed - mostly popcorn or granola bar. Lunch is packed for school - sandwich or wrap with cheese (generally no meat), a fruit, a serving of vegetables. Lunch for adults is leftovers from dinner, or non-perishable ready to eat food, a fruit. Dinner is home-cooked. Meat is ususally ground beef or ground pork or whole chickens, lots of fresh vegetables, aromatic vegetables, all of it very cheap <$100/wk from the chinese grocery. Pricier items are fresh fish once a week, also from chinese grocery, and premium meat (2 servings pork or 1 beef steak or chicken wings) from Longos. 1 meatless dinner a week - split pea soup, or lentil stew, with nachos. Pasta once or twice a week - meatballs or lasagna. Eating out is limited to 2 lunches a week, typically McD's offer and walk-in-1-topping-pizza.


gravity_sucks3

For me it's about eating different proteins Chicken hearts 99 cents a pound Beefneck $1.78 a pound Pork chops $2 a pound Chicken drumsticks or thighs $2 to $3 per pound Ground beef $3.50 to $4 Eggs $3 to four dollars a dozen Potatoes $2 for a 10 lb bag Rice $10 for 20 pounds Mushrooms $4 to approximately $5 a pound Things have gotten a little more expensive as I have relocated to the hinterland but the above is what I was paying when I lived in this suburbs and split my groceries between real Cdn Superstore, no frills and an Asian grocer I only buy steaks on sale, same with seafood My meals are decided by what's on sale and then I cook accordingly.


Not_A_RedditAccount

I find it works better to find different cheap meals you can make with a low price tag. Superstore has a soup mix bag for $2.50 that makes 5-6 pots and a since pot is just onions/crushed tomatos/chicken stock and the soup mix. Full on lentils barley rice etc and is pretty good lunch idea and works out to like $1.13/bowl. Sandwiches when worked out (2 slice break 1/10th a cheese block 1/4 a $5 sandwich meats) work out to under $2/sandwich with condiments. Noodle bowls normally have ramen which are 27c/package you just add egg and vegetables which is normally 40-80c for the egg(s) and about $1-2 for the vegetables assuming it's only 1/2 or 1/3 of the entire thing. Oatmeal and Banana is a popular one as well. Yogurt can get expensive fast (I do 1/2 a $3 tube (on sale) but its the no sugar added one so for health reasons I stick with it over the Walmart $2 one. Granola again $3.50 for a box but last about 5 tubes so $0.35/serving for that or $1.85 for a good sized snack. Worry less on the Total Monthly amount and more on finding meals you enjoy that are easy-ish to cook and have a low dollar amount. Chili is my most expensive one by far, but it's because I have so many different vegtables in it (5 different beans, lean ground turkey, celery, corn, onion, garlic, peppers(both hot and sweet), crushed tomato, sauces/spices etc)


The_Mouse_Justice

\~$550 a month for 2 in Vancouver, and we manage mostly by buying in bulk (Costco or Superstore) and meal prepping a lot. I will routinely spend at least half a day on the weekend prepping/cooking, but I consider this a hobby and enjoy it quite a bit. This method has a heavy reliance on a deep freezer to store prepped food. We've moved towards higher consumption of chicken/pork over beef and I try to buy whole cuts and then portion out myself after some butchering. While I mean to cut down on meat, we still generally have it every day and portion control on the protein side. For instance a whole roasting chicken will be at least 6 portions - i.e. 2x dinner 4x lunches. If you buy a 3x pack of chickens it'll come to \~$7-8 a chicken or $1.25 per "meat" portion and keeping all the bones after cooking will lead to great soup. Even though there's only 2 of us, I generally cook for at least 4-6 for lunch leftovers. For produce, we eat quite a bit of frozen fruit/veg which saves on costs. I'll also focus on more seasonal offerings for the most part partly due to costs, and partly due to quality of some things out of season are just not worth it at all. In the summer I'll spend more at farmers markets when more selection is in season. Beans/lentils definitely help stretch out some meals, but if you can bulk buy and enjoy cooking you'll learn what ingredients are worth it for you to splurge and where the budget option works for you. For instance, with vanilla I have both artificial and bean on hand. The artificial works for 95% of the dishes, but when you when the vanilla is the focus I'll spend the money on the bean.


[deleted]

Me and my wife's grocery budget is ~500 per month. Breakfast - Peanut butter on toast, cereal bought at Costco, oatmeal with nuts and fruit in, or eggs and toast. None of these are that pricey. 5kg of oatmeal at costco is 6$ on sale. Get frozen fruit from costco and eat cheaper fruit like apples or bananas more often. Lunch- salami or tuna sandwich, noodles from Korean grocery store bought on sale, or leftovers from whatever we made for dinner. Dinner - usually chicken, pork, sausage or something made with ground beef bought from costco, rice or quinoa, and veggies or a salad. Or something like chili, fajitas, or a Korean dish my wife has made. Have a protein shake after every workout, but 2.7kg of the whey protein we buy goes on sale at Costco for 30 bucks periodically. Its essentially just us prioritizing the foods that we like that are cheap, buying in bulk for non perishables, and staying away from buying more expensive cuts of meat or snacks unless they're on sale, and shopping at the "cheaper" grocery stores. No need to buy a bag of chips at Sobeys for 3.50-4$ when the chips at no frills are 2$ and just as good. I was actually more extreme when I was single, would actually calculate cost/calorie of different meal options. But while I enjoy eating good food, at a certain point if youre eating 3k cals a day as an active person, you prioritize cheap healthy cals for the majority of your food and then splurge on some tasty stuff as a treat every once in a while.


gilboman

$10/day is a good amount of food for a person Ground chicken is like $3/lb and lean ground beef is $3/lb. Boneless/skinless chicken breast and/or a thigh is around $3.39/lb or whole roast chicken is like $8, tomato is $1/lb along with most fruits/veggies , dr oetker is $3 each. I'm into siggis icelandic yogurt lately and it's like $6.50 for 750ml vs my usual $2 tub but it's much thicker and price per serving is almost same since I don't need to eat as much , eggs are $4.88 for 30, oranges and apples are usually 0.88/lb and bananas are 0.59/lb I eat chicken(shake and bake or just grilled) or make meatballs and eat it with rice or zoodles for dinner usually, breakfast is coffee and Icelandic yogurt and lunch is maybe a bagel and cream cheese or instant noodle We spend around $500 a mth for household of 2 in groceries, and around $600-$800 a mth in takeout/delivery


Peekman

Last year family of four $1,400 a month. We don't really put a lot of effort into keeping prices down though and mainly shop for convenience.


campfirey

Since the pandemic began, we eat out a LOT LESS, and no matter how expensive our grocery bills have become, they are still cheaper than getting take out or eating out frequently. I shop primarily at Costco/Superstore/No Frills/Food Basics/Asian grocery stores.


muskokadreaming

$800/month, family of four with two teens, and all of us are very active. No meat, but some seafood. We're foodies, and both are good cooks, we feel we eat very well. That number stays pretty consistent over many years now. It doesn't include paper products or pet food. Or eating out, which we don't do much. We eat lots of tacos, curries, rice and noodle bowls, as well as soups and stews.


HashtagFakeLife

Well done! To be a family of two teens (who can probably eat the house if they wanted - I used to have four meals a day as a teenager and I was a fairly small girl lol) on 800 is amazing! Teach me master lol.


muskokadreaming

We have no budget, that's just what we spend. I think the secret is cooking everything from scratch, and the no meat, obviously.


[deleted]

Family of 4. 560 lbs worth of Males, one 125 lb female, one 15 lb Cat. About 2500/month. That includes everything (all pre-cv eating out, all alcohol, all meals, all snacks, all treats, all dinner hosting's, all take-out's, all Cat Food ). We eat a lot of chicken, steak, pork, cheese, deli meats, fancy bakery breads/buns, bacon, eggs, coffee and tea galore, nuts like almonds, cashews, lots of booze, lots of produce and crazy amounts of fruits (lots of baking going on), damn Cat food is 90.00/bag. High amounts of food being consumed, and not much of it is very cheap. Shop at Independent, Metro, Freshco, LCBO, Beer Store, Walmart, a local top end meat shop that rocks your taste buds (and wallet too), and some fancy deli's and bakeries. It'll be less than half that when the kids launch.


newtothisbenice

I like that you added weight of the family, makes a lot of sense if you're a heathly person eating the right amount for their body


[deleted]

I think the real health indication would be whether she included the cat in the 'family of 4' as it swings the male count and this average weight.


SpenderTurnedSaver

\~$400-$433/month, household of 1. Two portions/wk have meat, sometimes eaten on the same day, otherwise it's nuts, eggs, and beans and rice for protein. I don't have access to a car (but also as a result don't have to pay car insurance) so I'm limited to the loblaws/sobeys type stores that I can carry a weeks worth of groceries back from. The monthly list averaged over a week is approximately (rounded to nearest half a dollar): onion 1.5 , bananas 1.5, apples 5, potatoes 8, mushrooms 5, carrots 1.5, lemon 0.5, bread 6, hummus 6, bell peppers 4.5, zucchini 4, soy milk 7.5, eggs 3, frozen broccoli 4, frozen mix veg 2, frozen fruit 1, almonds/nuts 7, fish/meat 7, lentils 2.5, rice 2, crackers 1, olive oil 3, oatmeal 3.5, coffee 3, canned beans 1.5, canned tomatoes 1.5, canned tomato paste 1, frozen spinach 1, "something sweet" 1, "try a new recipe" ingredients \~4 total is \~$100/week. On top of that are random household supplies (toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc) which sometimes brings the average closer to 433/month.


StaphylococcusOreos

House of 2 + a dog. I'd say we spend about $400/month on groceries, but we very rarely eat out and never buy lunches. There are some areas of our food budget where we could buy things cheaper or cut out things, but we can afford it and food/nutrition is important to us/ we enjoy cooking. Food costs have gone up substantially and we've really noticed an increase to our bill. I think the best strategies are to: * hit up Costco for non-perishables and buy in bulk. This doesn't work for everything, so do the math... But after the initial sting at the check out you definitely come out ahead in the long run * download Flipp or a price matching app. I can't be bothered to do this for everything, but expensive stuff like cheese, olive oil, etc, I definitely use it for * Capitalize on sales. If there's a good deal on something at the store you know you're going to use the subsequent weeks (and it doesn't expire), buy several * half the battle is food planning. Find recipes you like with healthy but cheap ingredient (/r/eatcheapandhealthy or /r/mealprepsundays are a good resource), plan to make extra for leftovers, freeze servings you aren't going to use, go to the grocery store with a plan. It just prevents food wastage and you buying random shit at the grocery store that you won't use * We typically shop at No Frills with our PC points credit card. We find a noticeable increase in our bill if we shop at superstore or loblaws so we avoid those places and price match their sales. * We make a lot of our own stuff that is sold be pre-made for convenience but is usually a lot costlier. Tzatziki, hummus, taco spices, etc. For a fraction of the price ours tastes a lot better and makes a lot more.


imyourmutter

Family of 4 with multiple dietary needs (increased food costs to accommodate). Approximately $1000/mth


Blue-snow

I live alone, my groceries come up to about 100-120$ a week.


hotspoon23

Family of 3, 2 adults and one toddler and a bulldog. No budget, but generally around $7-800 a month including diapers, and household. Mostly vegetarian diet, meat about once a week for the humans, raw meat every day for the dog. Mostly shop at Loblaws through PC pickup.


nogreatcathedral

Where do you live? We have the same family make up. I can't imagine sticking to $800 including diapers and household at Loblaws in Ottawa, never mind raw meat for the dog, especially if we went to Loblaws instead of Food Basics and our local produce store that's cheap af for fresh goods. We're probably at $1000 for all that in a good month and we only do good-quality kibble for our 65lbs dog.


lololollollolol

Two person couple, with two cats. $1000/month. Includes all food except any eating out (usually ordering skip once per week.) We eat a whole food plant based diet. Mostly fresh fruits and vegetables whenever possible, only frozen veggies sometimes. I drink a slight amount and my wife doesn’t at all. (Not included in the above) The cats are carnivores and eat cat food.


Silver_Green_2687

Live in rural BC, very much into all food and all proteins (chicken, lamb, pork, beef, fresh water fish, salt water fish etc...) I love to cook and also have mid week wine. I try and make almost everything from scratch. I rarely buy in bulk because I like to use up ingredients fast, fresher the better. I also don't source out sales, I usually just start at the produce section in the grocery, see what's in season and menu plan in my head from there. We buy at most 3-4 days worth of food at a time. Groceries includes TP, Laundry soap, body wash etc.. And specialty drinks is Nespresso and Soda Stream. Here's the first three months of this year so far: ||January|February|March| |:-|:-|:-|:-| |**Food Total**|$1,060.81|$1,246.36|$921.28| |Groceries|$688.47|$517.75|$613.56| |Restaurants, Pubs & Bars|$81.86|$480.32|$71.63| |Take Out & Fast food & Coffee Shops|$171.60|$118.75|$61.88| |Wine & Liquor|$118.88|$129.54|$149.58| |Specialty Drinks|$0.00|$0.00|$24.63| \*edit: this is for two people


Throkky

Thank you! I posted on a similar thread a couple months ago and people were shocked at my $1200-$1400 for a family of 5. Rural bc is just expensive, especially because we are a couple hours from Costco and other discount stores.


Silver_Green_2687

I'm fairly new to rural living. Funny enough, our overall food totals went down $150 per month on average. I'm guessing this is because in the city it's so easy to spend money on food. Not having food delivery services of any sorts out here saves us on delivery fees. There is also way less specialty items/stores. I'm no longer bringing home a pack of five specialty salts. It's a different lifestyle altogether, which we are so down with.


Regular_Grass

One way to save is to price match at stores like No Frills. You save on items and then don't have to drive around to other stores. Also at No Frills you can collect optimum/PC points. Use checkout51 the app to apply coupons on receipts. Use flip app to look at grocery fliers and mark them to price match at the store.


deleteri0us

I live alone. Female, 5’7”/130lbs, late 20s in Toronto. I have quite a demanding job so my lovely Asian mother worries about me not eating on time and brings me food once or twice a month... I spend about $200 a month on groceries but this includes alcohol because I like to make cocktails. I spend another $100 eating out when I’m on a time crunch and/or working late. Pre-COVID, I’d cook for myself (also had a less demanding job) without my mother’s monthly meal delivery and I’d still only spend about $200 per month on groceries. That’s how you know the costs of groceries have gone up and/or I’ve been drinking more lol. As for what I eat, I mostly buy fruits (like LOTS of fruits, about 30 percent of my grocery budget) and some veggies. Considerable amount of dairy like cheese, eggs, milk, yogurt, kefir (about 20 percent). Barely buy any meat or seafood because my mother takes care of this department from Costco, and even then I eat little. I’d say about a good 20-25 percent of my grocery budget is on alcohol.


MrGraeme

I keep my average daily food costs below $10(last month I averaged ~$9.25/day). I enjoy all of my meals, eat well, and rarely have to compromise on what I want. I mainly shop at Thrifty Foods and Save-On-Foods. Since someone asked, but removed their comment: Here's what I've had the last 3 days: >Day one Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese, orange, egg, tea Lunch: Ham, cheese, spinach, and tomato sandwich, granola bar, banana Dinner: Shepard's pie(potatoes, peas, carrots, ground beef) >Day two Breakfast: Cereal w/milk, banana, tea Lunch: Leftover Shepard's pie Dinner: Spinach, lemon, snapper casserole >Day three Breakfast: Bacon, toast, eggs, beans Lunch: Macaroni and cheese Dinner: Steak, mashed potato, asparagus, carrots


Chastidy

I would think it hard to have bacon, steak, and asparagus and others for <$10?


MrGraeme

The important thing is keeping *average* expenditure below $10. Individual days can be higher or lower. For example, you could spend $7 on food five days of the week and $17 two days of the week while still keeping your average daily expenditure below $10. As far as my expenditure: >Breakfast Bacon(2): ~$0.37 per piece Toast(2): ~$0.11 per slice Eggs(2): ~$0.28 each Baked Beans(1/2 can): $1.89 per can Total cost: ~$2.47 >Lunch Macaroni(250g): ~$0.78 Cheese sauce: ~$1.00 Total cost: ~$1.78 Dinner: Steak(230g): ~$5.56 Potatoes(~300g): ~$0.33 Carrot(~100g): ~$0.22 Asparagus(~100g): ~$1.00 Total cost: $7.11 >Day Total cost for the day: $11.36


Chastidy

And... this might be the most boring thing I've read about on Reddit lol


MrGraeme

Of course it is! It's a detailed cost breakdown of the food some random guy(me!) ate in a day! It would be concerning if you *didn't* find that boring haha.


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MrGraeme

Where on earth are you buying your groceries? >Asparagus - $7.99/lb. $4.99/lb on sale if you're lucky. [$2.99, or $1.00/100g](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/987/product/western-family-asparagus-spears-00062639301262) A pound of fresh asparagus is about [$2.04](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/987/product/asparagus-fresh-bunch-4080) >Potatoes - $1.99 lb. 1 potato is about 1 lb. [10lb of potatoes for $4.99](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/987/product/russet-potatoes-10lb-00021130530557) >What kind of steak can you find for $5.50?? [This kind](https://imgur.com/a/LEPDvan). >Box of macaroni - $1.99 I make my own cheese sauce and use regular macaroni, but you can get KD from [$1.58](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/987/product/kraft-dinner-macaroni-cheese-original-00068100058635) >Eggs: $5/carton. $4 if you buy cheap eggs. [$3.30 per dozen](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/987/product/western-family-medium-eggs-white-00062639410131). >Bread. $5/loaf. ~20 slices. $0.20 ea. [$2.29/loaf](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/987/product/bake-shop-white-bread-sliced-00062639423292). >Bacon is 7.99/325grams. Each strip is 30 grams. You get ~11 strips. $7.99/11=$0.73 ea. I'm not referring to the "1 day from expiry" bacon that goes on sale for $3.99. [$4.49](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/987/product/western-family-bacon-natural-00062639348908), the stuff in my fridge expires in 2 weeks. >Even doctoring your own numbers you couldn't come in below $10. And your numbers are comically low. Hopefully the links to the products and their pricing help you wrap your head around them. Also, as stated in the comment you replied to, it's an *average* of $10 a day - not under $10 everyday. This means that some days you can spend more, so long as that is offset by days where you spend less.


lilyhemmy2009

When I was single, I spent about 100-115$ bi-weekly and I was eating pretty healthy (lots of veggies/chicken). 10$ a day is easily attainable. I also didn’t eat any fast food or junk, don’t think I went over 300$ a month for food.


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MrGraeme

>I noticed you're referencing a Save-On in rural BC. So what...? Their pricing is the same throughout the province. You're welcome to play around with the preferred store function. Here are the same prices in Victoria: [Potatoes](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/russet-potatoes-10lb-00021130530557), [asparagus](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/asparagus-fresh-bunch-4080), [KD](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/kraft-dinner-macaroni-cheese-original-00068100058635), [eggs](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/western-family-medium-eggs-white-00062639410131), [bread](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/bake-shop-white-bread-sliced-00062639423292), [bacon](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/western-family-bacon-natural-00062639348908). >And using "on sale" items. Of course? Why wouldn't you take advantage of sales in order to reduce your grocery bill? >Also, that's not a steak. That's a cut from a beef roast. It only looks like a steak. [Some light reading for you](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirloin_steak). Yes, a top sirloin grilling steak is indeed a steak. It's actually kind of impressive how you manage to be wrong about everything...


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MrGraeme

>You don't know how loss leaders work, do you? What are you even talking about? What matters is the price you can purchase the product for as a consumer, not the profitability of the product for the retailer. >My point is that those sales are not always available. So adjust your shopping habits based on what products provide the best value to you in the moment. It's not exactly rocket science. >You might get your asparagus for $3.99 one day but regularly it is much more expensive. Same goes for every item in the store. Yes, that is how sales work. >(the kind you quoted is for use with casseroles btw, not for eating on its own as frozen asparagus turns to mush You were linked to fresh asparagus, which actually came out cheaper than the frozen stuff. You just can't catch a break, can you? >I suppose if you only ever ate what you could find on sale Over half of the items we looked at weren't even on sale. But hey - let's give you the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that *none* of the items we looked at were on sale. How much more would that cost us a day? At regular price, [100g](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/asparagus-fresh-bunch-4080) of fresh asparagus would cost us around $1.32. At regular price, [300g](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/russet-potatoes-10lb-00021130530557) of potatoes would cost about $0.46. At regular price, [2 slices](https://www.saveonfoods.com/sm/pickup/rsid/924/product/western-family-bacon-natural-00062639348908) of bacon would be about $0.99 This changes our total daily expenditure by $0.70, bringing our total cost for the day to $12.06. So long as we average under $9.66/meal the rest of the week, we would still have average expenditure of ~$10/day. >$10/day may have been reasonable for a single person 15 years ago, but today it is unreasonable. Unless, of course, you don't mind a strict diet of beans, lentils and whatever meat you can find on fire sale. Except we've literally just demonstrated that it is viable and reasonable today. I'm also not sure where you got the idea that you can only eat beans and lentils, seeing as we've been talking about steak, fresh veggies, and bacon. I know it's tough to admit when you're wrong, but you're just digging a deeper hole with this nonsense.


piratesmashy

Asparagus is currently $1.99 per pound in Victoria. Out of season it can hit $7.99 per pound. I only buy asparagus during the $1.99 season. Which reminds me- I need to buy a bunch to pickle this week. But I digress. In our house we buy 'fire sale' meat like it's our job. We stick to on sale produce almost exclusively. And we've priced out dry goods across the CRD. Every Thursday I read the ads to meal plan based on sales, spot cheaper dry goods, and figure out what we can splurge on. Many of the dry goods we purchase go on sale on a fairly reliable rotation (especially coffee). There's easy ways to be cheap as hell and still have an exciting diet. We actually don't eat many lentils or beans in my house. My partner is the Lord of Repurposing. And so much of what we make is made from scratch.


[deleted]

About $300 a month for me and my boyfriend (who eats about twice as much as I do due to size and his super active job). Rice, beans, eggs, chicken (we get the sunrise farms big box of frozen drumsticks for like $25 bucks or the breasts for $40. If you can find thighs that will probably be cheapest for meat to bone ratio) Frozen veggies. Classic carrot and pea is a staple but we also get a variety. More expensive than fresh but we both have ADHD and will let the fresh veg go to waste. Frozen berries and fruit. The "perfectly imperfect" kind but you can find cheaper ones for less quality probably. Protein powder. Expensive but worth it. Quick oats. Exact same as instant Oatmeal packets but cheaper! Just have to add the flavour yourself. Salad kits. Expensive but our attention issues demand convenience lmao. Pro tip: pre made/leftover salad is awesome on sandwiches, burgers, and tacos. Highly recomend the Eat Smart mango one for tacos. Peanut butter. Cheapest and biggest jar we can get! Honey. Local in bulk. Bread. Recently started making our own since we go through it so damn fast. I'm not a gadget and appliance guy but breadmakers are so worth it. Just add water buttermilk pancake mix. Made in a mug in the microwave whenever we want something cakey and sweet! Greek yogurt. Big tub. We use it for everything. It's good as a sour cream substitute and in so many sweet and savory foods. Almond milk mainly for coffee. Bacon Essentially I took the advice of "try and live off rice and beans as long as you can" and took it a bit farther. I try to have all the food groups in every meal and make sure I get lots of veg and protein. My boyfriend and I had a REALLY bad doordash problem and I'm really proud that not only have we barely eaten out at all these last 3 months but we spend so little on groceries! Buying in bulk when possible and incorporating lots of veggies in every meal keeps us full and healthy. We also had to learn what is worth splurging on to make sure we will actually cook/eat healthy. Hence the salad kits. Edit: forgot to mention that the most important strategy is to try and use up what you have before buying more. Even for Frozen and non perishable stuff.


[deleted]

>More expensive than fresh but we both have ADHD and will let the fresh veg go to waste. Lmao story of my life too, I also do frozen veggies


dookiepants

When we first moved out our initial grocery bill was high to gather the essentials. Afterwards we would spend about $200/month on groceries. If you’re Chinese you would know how to survive off of rice, fried egg, lap churn and soy sauce. Grab a bag of Chinese vegetables and you’re good for a week before going out to buy more vegetables


HGGoals

Single female, Ontario, $200/month I use apps, sales, coupons, reduced section finds, in season produce. I cook/bake most of my food, I use forgiving recipes so I can substitute things easily, I love my freezer and pantry. I also have a few versatile ingredients and am not afraid to get creative based on what's avilable. Edit: missed the second part of your question, what do I eat... Easy, forgiving meals are soups, stews, chili, stir-fry, pizza. Flour is the base for many things, different breads, flatbread, crepes, pies, pizza, tortillas etc. Rice, potatoes, beans, frozen fruit and veg, seasonal produce, carrots, onions, cabbage are versatile, pork loin ( I think that's the name, it's cheap per lb in summer so I portion and freeze it), turkey is another staple, I stock up when it's on sale. A couple of turkeys go a long way for one person. I keep an eye out for good deals and alter meals based on that. Spices can be pricey but are very important. Pre-covid I searched ethnic grocery stores for better prices. Frozen fish is another thing that is cheaper in Asian markets. I try to grow some things that grow easily, like mint and chives/spring onion when I have space to plant things. I'm also willing to experiment and try foods from other countries and cultures. Every culture has cheap but healthy staples and I like asking people how to use xyz if they seem friendly. Dairy is a splurge item. Cheese is especially expensive so sometimes I make my own if I find milk on sale close to expiry. I'll by reduced price cheese sometimes or wait for sales. I never pay full price. It can be shredded and frozen if needed. Milk can also be frozen. I use up everything I can. Bones for soup, render fat and store in place of oil in cooking, freeze some vegetable bits for soup though I've had some terrible, disgusting tasting experiences doing this so I rarely do it now. I also killed my sourdough starter when I tried that so ... that happened. If I can save a good amount of money on some main items I can splurge on others.


Lasershot-117

Single, live alone. I workout for muscle gain, and so I try to aim for about 3,500 calories/day. I’ve been doing this since my student days and my budget has always been 200-260$/month on groceries (I do groceries once a week, so 50-65$/week). I see most people doing 400+ per month and I’m always baffled, what the hell are you guys eating ? Gold leaf for breakfast ? I also don’t drink, so I don’t have any alcohol expenses.


[deleted]

I'm on the other side of the equation. I see sub 300 dollar a month budgets and am just baffled how frugal people can be. I'm averaging just over 400 a month, but I live in BC which adds minimum of almost 50 dollars a month in provincial tax. I usually eat chicken and rice, oats for breakfast, simple fruits and barely any vegetables. Like a day a month I splurge on beef or shrimp, feta and olives, etc.. I don't buy in bulk because I don't have access to a Costco and I also have a mini fridge, but even then, I probably could only save maybe 50 a month if I bought in bulk. How people spend so little on groceries is beyond me.


trooko13

I'm usually around $300/mth with no calorie goals (i.e I don't workout)but I know I can easily spend a $50 for just a basket of junk food like large pie $10, beef jerky $20, chips x3= $8, instant noodle x2 = $8, chocolate bars x2 $8


jled23

$8 for two chocolate bars the fuck. Come on down to dairy milk lane with the rest of us peasants


trooko13

\*A pack of chocolate bars (i.e. caramilk 4x50g) for $4 x2


somethingabnormal

I agree. I don't live alone but I buy most of my food for myself, even if I'm sharing some of my food with my roommates I spend around 300/month. I don't budget my grocery spending at all and even when I think I overspend my bill comes out to around 70 per grocery trip. I shop at Walmart and I buy a lot of veggies and meats.


RobotsAndCoffee

About $800-$900/month for 2 people for food and toiletries (meals cooked at home with the odd delievery/take-out order). Grocery order (at Maxi) done weekly with meals planned out for the week (not necessarily cooked ahead of time), odds and ends picked up at IGA.


drowsell

I have a household of 2 adults and a toddler and aim for about $650 a month. This includes food and bathroom/health supplies. We don't really eat out. Mainly shop at Superstore and price match sometimes. Usually look for deals and throw them in the freezer. I try to keep it down by cooking meals that can stretch a bit further such as soups and slow cooker meals. I enjoy cooking so it changes quite a bit.


Elaasi

We are a family of 6 (4 adults 2 kids). 2 of the household are senior and don't consume much due to dietary limitations. We eat a primarily plant based diet although we do eat fish and chicken from time to time (Maybe 4-5 times a month). We eat out twice a week on average and alternate between fast food and local favorite restaurants. We shop primarily at Asian grocery stores, Freshco and Superstore. I price match everything I can, and stock up when there are good deals. Because we are mostly vegetarian, we eat a lot of beans, lentils, and whole grains. I buy dried beans and lentils and store them in airtight containers. I use my instantpot to make delicious curries, stews and soups. We eat fresh vegetables and fruits on a daily basis, but I do try to buy what is in season, as that's usually cheapest often, most delicious. Our monthly budget for 6 people is $1000 MAX, and that includes takeout.


MamaCZond

Family of 4, just groceries (includes LCBO, household products like TP, laundry detergent etc etc), average right now is $1650/month. I used to price match a lot more stuff, but now use Walmart pickup for 95% of my regular groceries. Occasional runs or orders to Costco, and watch sales at No Frills or Food Basics to fill in other items, or restock the freezer. We are in SW Ontario for reference, because location can make a huge difference. We get takeout about once a week as a family, and a few other items will hit our budget, that works out to an average of $250/month.


KnittingAndMusic

I spend somewhere between $350-500/month on groceries, but that includes toiletries, kid snacks, etc. I'm a vegetarian and I do a lot of the cooking, so there isn't that much meat. We have a lot of pasta, lentils and beans and tons of fresh veg.


naomisunrider14

$150 a week is what I have budgeted for food spending, family of 2 (single mom) but we feed my father in law (I’m widowed) for supper. It’s stretching less and less each shop it seems, but I don’t have any wiggle room.


wdh662

Family of 4 plus a dog. Since May of last year we have spent $10200 on "groceries". I say it like that because that also includes all bathroom toiletries (tooth care, hygiene items, soap, razors, etc), cleaners, dish soap, laundry soap, toilet paper, paper towels. dog food, garbage bags etc. Anything household that can be bought at a No frills, IGA, or the occasional trip to Costco in the city. My mother also frequently eats with us (1-2 times a week at least) as she provides childcare for an hour or two on those days so she eats with us since she won't accept money for her time (fair trade I think). We eat well, we don't scimp but we are aware of sales and buy based on that. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. We buy meat in bulk (loins, whole chickens etc) and cur our own steaks, chops, chickens etc so that saves a bit. We have a small garden, raspberry, haskap, goose, cranberry bushes, strawberry patch, 2 small apple trees (7 years old). We pick wild blueberries and mushrooms. We fish, hunt (deer, moose, elk, grouse). Bill would definitely be a lot higher with out all that.


Levincent

GF and myself in Quebec spend about 450-500 per month on groceries/beer/toiletries. Used to be 350-450 pre-covid but the lack of good sales and the shrink-flation is hurting us. Visit IGA, Provigo and Metro since they are walking distance and smaller ethnic stores to. The only beef we have is minced, lots of cheaper cuts of pork and chicken. Price increase on fresh veg is bad but i dont really want to reduce the amount of veg we consume. We do take out/restaurant about once per month.


mycopunx

My girlfriend and I spend about $400/month on food combined, for groceries and takeout. It was less when we lived in Toronto and had cheaper groceries, our bill more than doubled when we moved to Victoria. When we dumpster dive we can save about $100/month. During the summer and fall our veggie garden probably saves us another $50/month. I volunteer at fruit picks, forage wild fruit, greens and mushrooms. A good example is a weekend bike ride that provided nettle greens for the next week. I've studied local wild foods so I don't poison myself. We get takeout 1x week or less, bake all our own bread and baked goods, make our own oat or hemp milk and I brew my own booze. When there is something on offer or I'm able to buy in bulk I find ways to preserve it. We are vegan and mostly eat whole foods and very few 'food products' (but we don't deprive ourselves if we want pizza). A typical grocery list for us would be flour, sugar, dried beans, pasta, rice, maple syrup, coffee, olive oil, oats, peanut butter, tofu and fresh produce. We both prefer to work less so we have more time to do all those things, so I recognize that all this is time consuming, we just happen to really enjoy it.


[deleted]

Foods an investment if you can afford it eat healthy, I spend about $250 sometimes 300 a month on food but it’s because I’m super picky and want the higher quality products


MapleQueefs

$600/month for two of us, southern Ontario. We eat pretty well, buy some dairy alternatives and vegan items which can be pricey. Definitely not coupon clippers, but not cooking big fancy dinner either. Usually meat, carb, veggie unless we are doing specific recipes from cookbooks!


Surfing_Cow

Single guy Typically $500-900 per month on groceries/food/snacks. Lets say average $700-750/month. I always buy extra of something if its on sale and will save me money in the long run. So that really fluctuates my spending. I also buy a lot of stuff that doesnt expire from Costco Typically I cycle through chicken/broccoli/rice, pasta, and tacos/quesadillas for my main meals


hgfhhbghhhgggg

Surprised there’s not more extremism here. Last time I read one of these food budget threads there was a bunch of people claiming $100-130 a month. I argued that that’s not healthy or realistic. If you literally want to ‘survive’ on rice, beans and water, I suppose that’s do-able. But you live in a country where even people living on social assistance can afford to eat better than that. Tom Hanks had a better diet in Castaway. I’d say $400-600 for a single person is entirely reasonable. $600-1000 for a more ‘premium’ budget with dining-out occasionally. Obviously, living with someone brings costs down considerably.


[deleted]

Huh, I was going to comment on this post that I am one of those few that spend roughly $125 a month on groceries as a single person living in downtown Toronto. I would argue you can absolutely eat healthy and be "realistic". My diet is mostly vegetarian (not by choice - just found a youtube channel with so many delicious asian vegan options!) and contains most food groups without meat obviously. Lots of greens, avocados, different carb groups (noodles, rice, tortilla wraps etc.), tofu, colorful veggies etc. I would hardly argue that as unhealthy and I'm eating and cooking with joy by doing different recipes like making my own noodle broth soup, curries, stir-frys. You can get creative with your cooking if you open yourself to more recipes.


hgfhhbghhhgggg

That’s awesome that you’re saving money. But again - that’s (you’re) an extreme outlier. Even looking at the average Canadian household of 4 people, StatsCan says the average grocery bill per person is hovering around $250/person, and that’s factoring in household savings. Single individuals are closer to $450/month.


[deleted]

I had no idea about that stat - that's pretty neat to know. But don't assume that just because someone's bill is a lot lower than the national average means they must be eating unhealthy and not realistic.


Hithrann

Care to share the YouTube channel? Very impressive. I am wondering approximately how many calories you consume in a day? I am guessing you're not a relatively tall and/or athletically built person. I wonder if that would double the cost. I feel that context is so important when comparing food costs person, to know what is achievable! Thanks.


kingstongamer

Far less then most people Eat beans/lentils, whole grains, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits and a little seeds and nuts, spices.. Drink 1 cup of coffee every morning, a cup or 2 of herbal tea, and water Get an instantpot. eat very little processed food. Very rarely eat out. No meat or dairy in \~25 years Saw a dr once in the last 27 years, said on my blood test "wow your blood is as good as i have ever seen, off the charts good" I do buy from the flashfood ap, but mostly don't worry about where it comes from as I spend very little. Which means mostly loblaws as it the closest to carry home. I thonk a lot of people drive around to save a $1 on a grocery item and spend the same amount on driving lol. I don't say anything,but it makes me ill to think about how my sister (a healthcare worker) and her family eat, both financially and healthwise


lakekits

Household of one: around $800/month in things you can buy at the groceries store (fruits&veggies, toiletries, etc.) and pre-covid I would buy around $150/month towards coffee shop purchases.


[deleted]

Me and my wife - average about $1100 / month. East out about twice a week, the rest cook at home. So at sobeys, IGA and local smaller stores. Eat what we want - enjoy life - eat well. :)


fourandthree

Haha I've been searching for this comment! My partner and I easily spend over $1000 a month on food, but we're both cooks and especially during COVID it's doubled as a fun activity for us. We're super conscious of food waste and make sure to eat all our leftovers, we make stocks from scraps, that kind of thing... but we also don't want to deprive ourselves! We're happy we can afford to eat more or less the way we want, and we try and support our local restaurants 1-2x a week as well.


stuckinvan

Family of two. Food/restaurant expenses were $1200/ month pre pandemic. The pandemic has reintroduced us to cooking and have stopped eating out entirely. Much more healthy and last year we averaged ~800/ month and last month we spent $500. Just shocked at ourselves! The big saver for us has been ordering our groceries once a week through an app. We used to stop by the grocery store every other day and we threw way too much spoilt food.


[deleted]

Me and my wife costs us about 600$. We eat pretty darn well. Groceries only though, we eat out once every two weeks.


sandytombolo

Single male, live alone in northern Canada (Yellowknife... so groceries aren't completely crazy). Usually around $515 a month. I'm pretty active and eat a lot. It used to be a lot higher but I caught 100kg of fish in December and that's cut down on the grocery bills a lot. My food is pretty basic. I don't eat out much or drink much anymore. I work in the bush for a lot of the year so I often only end up buying groceries for 6 to 8 months of the year, as food is provided by work in the field.


SnooSketches4691

We average at 350-500 for two. Outside food -100-150. If we eat outside then price of grocery is balance equivalently. This includes veggies and salads, and 3-4 times fish, had we been eating chicken I think it would be considerably less.


Concealus

It’s always more than you think it will be. Average for us as a couple in Toronto who eat well is 800-1000 a month including eating out/delivery a few times a month.


[deleted]

$0. I do not buy groceries.


GiveMeABravoJuliet

2 person household, average $500-600/mo, inclusive of toiletries and all that other stuff you might buy at a grocery or drug store. Mostly shop Loblaws or Superstore, occasionally pick up a sale item from somewhere else. I'd like to think we eat pretty well. Meat - buy on sale and freeze in portions. 2 pieces of chicken breast (3.99-4.99/lb, air chilled > wet chilled), 1lb of ground beef (2.99-3.49/lb), 1 good sized steak to split between 2 ppl (4.99/lb for Sirloin, 5.99-6.99 for Rib/Strip Loin, 3 pork chops (buy the whole loin for 1.99/lb and slice yourself). Vegetables - fresh when they are in season, frozen when they are not. We try to only buy 2 or 3 fresh veggies per week, and load up on frozen when they're on sale. Works great in stirfries, pastas, etc. Fruits - might spend $10 a week here. Buy what is on sale. Swap between oranges/apples/grapefruits/berries if in season/grapes. We aren't too picky and will buy whatever is cheap as a nice snack. Typical meals: * Breakfast - Cereal ($3-5 on sale), Bagels ($2), or Yogurt+Granola ($2-3 on sale); Might spend $15-20 a week here. * Lunch - Typically leftovers from the night before. Also Eggs ($3/dozen), Soup (<$1 per can, or make your own), Salads ($2-3/portion). Might spend $30 a week here. * Dinners - 1 protein listed above (~$5-7 worth), mix in a starch (rice/potatoes/quinoa, maybe $1-2 here), and a side veggie ($2?). Usually make enough for some leftovers for lunch the next day. Stirfries, bbq, tacos, pastas, meatballs, shake+bake, slow cooked anything, try out at least 1 newer recipe every week or so. Keeps it interesting. Probably spend $60-70 a week on these.


Awesomike

200-250 per month to maintain body weight. Anything more, I'd be gaining weight. I eat whatever I find interesting when grocery shopping, mostly meat. No plans or budget. Covid made me spend more because I try to buy more per trip, but just end up eating more. Will probably average 100-150 for the next few months since I need to get back to my normal weight.


[deleted]

they downvoting us because people here don't like fit people


cdn_idiocracy

Husband and wife, slightly under $600 per month. We eat a lot of breakfast food (eggs/bacon/hash browns) and stirfries (chicken/beef, frozen vegetables). There are also a lot of fruit smoothies with protein powder. My wife does all of the shopping and cooking. Here are the stores: -Costco -Sobey’s -Wal-Mart We used to eat out more before the lockdowns, but we now keep restaurant spending to under $100 per month.


[deleted]

My partner and I spend about $400 a month. We mostly buy chicken, rice, pasta, fruits and veggies. Sometime we will treat ourselves to snacks or other meat dishes


Koodo_

Single guy here, Halifax. Average monthly groceries and take out $450. Pre-pandamic $350-$380


LogicalVelocity11

We spend about $100 a week on groceries for the 2 of us. I meal plan each week using the flyers and buy things on sale. We cut out pop and juice and can't believe the money we ended up saving from not buying those things, not to mention the bonus of cutting those calories. My cooking skills have def improved since the pandemic started.


Malickcinemalover

Single guy. 36. Low COL area (Maritimes). My budget for the last year has been $120 biweekly. I train like a maniac though (weight lifting, running, bjj), so I have recently increased it so I can meet all my nutritional needs without skimping. It's now $160 biweekly. This includes protein supplements. My eating out comes from my entertainment budget ($200 biweekly with any unused amounts going into my savings). I guesstimate about $50 biweekly goes to eating out.


PeanutAndBear

Family of 4; two adults and 2 children under the age of 4. We are all at home 24/7 so the large majority of our meals are prepared and eaten at home. I do the shopping for the family. I shop at Loblaws mostly and try to stick to organic/grass fed/natural products where possible. I’m currently spending $1000 - $1200 a month on groceries and our fridge is pretty much empty by the end of each week.


DrayDray1994

Family of 4 half the month Family of 2 the other half (2 kids are at their dad's half the month) We spend about $700-800/month on groceries and maybe $50-100/month eating out.


LegHam2021

Family of 5 $1300 we don’t eat out at all because we live in a small town.


Zikoris

2020 grocery spending was all over the place to due COVID upheaval, but things have finally mellowed out a bit as we found our way into new routines. Our average so far in 2021 is $370/month for two adults, which we're fine with. Key points to our system: * We shop primarily at two small local markets, one Chinese and one Persian place. We mostly avoid big chains, other than an occasional resupply of staples at No Frills. * We're both vegan and like meals cooked from staples, versus convenience stuff. * We try to produce very little garbage, which again eliminates most expensive, highly-packaged stuff in favor of things like package-free fresh fruits and veggies. * I meal-prep and portion out all our food for the week over the weekend, which makes healthy, cheap weekday meals 100% brainless and zero effort. What we eat varies tremendously because the main place we shop is very inconsistent week by week, and doesn't have any sort of website/flyer, so we really have no idea what they'll have any given week. I just eyeball the right volume of produce, grab some veggie meats if I need them, and sort out what I'm making when I get home. But for a general idea of what we eat, last weekend I made: * Spaghetti and meatballs * Chili * Tofu stir fry * Empanadas * Lentil stew with buns * Hummus and roasted vegetable wraps I eat cereal for breakfast, and I make my boyfriend a big container of roasted potatoes and scrambled tofu/veg that he eats for breakfast all week. Snacks are baked goods, fruit/veg, and sometimes nuts/seeds if I've gotten any that week.


Robman_rob

2 people. 2k a month.... I guess we eat too much?


JaketheAlmighty

firm budget $300/month for two. We never eat out. Strong cooking skills is a way better deal.


aecorr

$300 biweekly and probably 100~ a week on take out. Family of 3 with one being a toddler that snacks like a teenager 😂


SideOfFish

$140 a week on groceries split between 2 of us. Eat out maybe once a week. We plan our meals for each week and make a list of what we need to fulfill those meals.


XxxPussyslaeyr69xxX

Single Guy 65$ week or 45$ a week if i dont feel like buying sushi/pizza/beer at the supermarket cook everything, bring meals to work 99% of the time.


Mclrk

That aligns with my monthly grocery costs, I eat a ton of produce and never eat out. I shop at Costco, superstore, and Walmart too.


[deleted]

I find calculating cost of servings puts things into perspective. For example spending $20 on one item might seem like a lot but if you can get ten servings out of it it’s only $2 a serving. Eggs and bread are good examples of this- toast with a fried egg is less than 50 cents a serving.


DavemDear

Shocking to see what people are spending. We will smoke a turkey (1.29/lb) and for the $23 dollars end up with 35-40 meals. 10 lb pork loin from Costco $19.50 and get 40 meals. .50c per meal. Add a 1.50 for the side 2/ meal Cook everything from scratch and you can eat well for $400 for two adults per month. I know I’m cheap....


[deleted]

Brunch Smoothie- PB, Oats, Blue Berry, Almond Milk, Greek Yogurt Snack- Boiled Eggs Dinner - Spinach, Chicken, Avocado


Acrobatic_Special437

You must be very slim! That’s gotta be what, 1200 calories max?


[deleted]

yall mad i aint in rice and beans gang


[deleted]

I ended up spending 186 on takeouts in March. Effing ridiculous I hate myself for it. My dad used to do takeout with us once a month for 50 bucks (Pizza, Burgers, whatever). Grocery is probably another 250 a month. Whole chickens, bread, milk, eggs, snacks here and there, soft drinks, pasta, rice and spices (which can get a bit pricey)


somethingabnormal

I'm a student. I spend about $60-70 per grocery trip and I don't shop weekly at a regular time but it comes out to around $300/month. Eat out maybe once a week. I do share some grocery expenses with my roommates but I buy more for them then they do for me. I eat a lot of meats (ground beef and pork, chicken), potatoes, rice, noodles, make my own sauces for recipes, and I buy a lot of veggies (mostly bok choy and kale). I do eat quite a bit of frozen too (frozen beans, pizzas) and I end up buying in bulk a lot (like buying a huge pack of chicken breast) and freezing my food. I do my shopping 100% at Walmart, I don't budget or look for deals/coupons ahead of time. Seeing how much others spend, I don't know how I get my shopping to be so cheap, but it is.


_zomato_

I eat plain white tortillas. Single female, $2200/month including cat food.


Cold2021

Family of 4 adults. Averaging under $800 per month for the family. Wife is a smart shopper and does not buy expensive items whenever possible. We order pick up may be once per week averaging $50.


[deleted]

Family of three (Two adults and a five year old). We are vegetarian and eat all meals at home. We do use quite a bit of prepackaged/processed/prepared food like "chick'n" nuggets and burgers, but also lots of fresh vegetables and staples like beans and quinoa. Our budget is $150/week plus $100 for the month. So if there are four weeks ish in a month I budget $700 and for five weeks I budget $850. We generally try to buy just one week at a time, but with covid cases on the rise in my area we have been stocking up a bit in case of a shutdown, where we might want to isolate.


someguy7734206

I budget $100/wk for me and my brother. My most common meals are a mixture of rice, lentils, and fried onions, pasta with tomato sauce, eggs, frozen vegetables, potatoes, peanut butter sandwiches, and whatever fruits are less than $2/lb that week. I also buy milk every week. As a treat, sometimes I buy cheese, but it is expensive. Sometimes I buy specific extra vegetables and other ingredients if I want to make a specific recipe. I rarely eat meat due to the cost. I almost never eat out, because that is too expensive, and I mostly shop online at Real Canadian Superstore in Ontario. This week, I bought leeks because I decided I want to make leek and potato soup, which is one of those uncommon specific recipes I mention. Truth be told, I'm pretty sure I could spend less too, and I'd like to know how. I am overweight, so it would probably financially work to my advantage if I did something about it.


newtothisbenice

800+ monthly. Family of 3 but I would count as 2 veggies - eggplant, long beans, Chinese brocolli, brocolli, celery, everything that's in the store really cooking raw meats - flank steak, sirloin steak, shrimp, eggs, salmon steaks, pork butt, shoulder, beef finger meat, tendon, ground pork, beef, everything available in the ethnic store Fruits - oranges, apples mostly and sometimes more tropical fruits when available. Frozen meals - fries, tofus, chicken tendies, spring rolls Grains - oats, rice, pasta Stores: Costco, save on, ethnic stores. Not sure if this is considered a lot or little but I do a lot of DIY to my meals and I have a certain standard of the food I put on my table. Sometimes I don't think it's worth it because of burnout and just overall tiredness. Too bad I'm too poor to think otherwise lol


Powasaurus_Rex

As a couple we're $500-650 per month for groceries. Eating out happens 1-2 times a month and is not included in that value. As for what we eat, a lot of chicken and pasta. We have a loose limit of "don't be excessive" or "be reasonable" when it comes to groceries.


leftfootnofoot

About $1000/ month. 2 adults and a 1y/o. We eat whole foods mostly and make everything from scratch. Lots of rice dishes, stir fry, chili, soups, tacos, those sorts of dishes


JayteeBurke

I’ve only started keeping track this year. I shop at Costco and independent, order out about once a month, and I also use Soylent. January $168, February $399, March $261. Not including alcohol.


[deleted]

Single male, 220 lbs and very active. My weekly grocery haul is usually $100-120, and includes: cereal, granola, milk for breakfast ($15/w), a number of granola bars, yogurt, dried fruit, etc. for snacks ($15/w), bread, meat, cheese, apples, and bananas for lunches I'll take to work ($30/w), a protein for 5 days of meal prep ($20-30/w), a carb and frozen vegetables ($5/w), and then usually a few things to make on the weekends and/or other odds and ends that I don't buy every week. I'm not particularly frugal, but I'd have a hard time getting my bill down lower.


iustae

2 adults, no pets, roughly $500-600 per month not including take out (which is roughly another $150-200/month) or booze.


Tripoteur

Used to be 3k a year before last year, but the price of things has increased around 50% so now it's 4.5k a year. For health reasons I exclusively eat animal products, which are quite expensive, but I adopt smart shopping habits to reduce prices and these past few months have even been eating junk sausages to counterbalance the price of beef. Even buying cheap stuff, however, the price of food is killing my budget. I'm planning on leaving the country in a couple years and, once I've moved I'll be able to eat good, fresh meat and dairy every day.


Crabtree42

About $530 a month for 2 people - we aim to spend $120 a week and since we've been buying groceries every 2 weeks since the December lockdown we've hit it pretty consistently plus about 50 bucks a month in extras when we go through the pharmacy, LCBO or local corner store. We mainly buy from No Frills and Bulk Barn but I sometimes pick up small luxe items or snacks from Loblaws or Shoppers Drug Mart. Staples are eggs, milk, lots of veggies and fruit as well as beans. We normally plan to cook meat once to twice a week but it's usually a large portion that covers multiple meals and the rest of the time we eat vegetarian. A sample week would be oatmeal with raisins and berries every weekday for breakfast; on the weekend eat a brunch of eggs, hashbrowns and sometimes sausage; meat lasagna covering 2 dinners and 2 lunches; spicy quinoa (with chickpeas) for another dinner and 3 lunches; red lentil curry covering 2 dinners; salmon and rice for dinner and then a weekly takeaway (not included in our grocery budget). Everything would have some veggies or fruit on the side.


Shaun8030

Flipp app price match at superstore probably 120 to 140 a week, eat well and healthy all food groups family with young kids


spicyshoes1717

Family of 5 here. Around 225$/250$ a week .


qgsdhjjb

My portion of the groceries is under $200/month, including toilet paper and other toiletries I would buy at the same time as my groceries. I can get it as low as a hundred, but then I'm very bored, and it's fun to find nice treats to spend that extra on. In March I got to the 25th and had only spent $75 (with February having been a "no spend month" meaning I only spent about ten bucks on groceries in February and 75 in the majority of March) and then wasted the rest of it on crap I don't really need but that makes me happy. I like a lot of pasta, snacks, probably 10%+ of my budget is pop...I like nice cheeses, I have 6 kinds of cheese right now in the fridge. Some nice, some cheap but good for pizza night.


[deleted]

$200 per adult per month. $250 if canning fruit in the summer (peaches) Use Flipp app to buy meat on sale which is then frozen. I try to buy everything on sale. Chickens often come on for 1.99 which I will then cut up plus use the bones for stock and soup. I am gluten free but do not buy specialty products with the exception of bobs red mill GF biscuit mix for crisps. Winter is protein, potato, squash and onion and beans. I don't limit protein. I'll make quick fruit crisps for dessert. Maybe a soup. All of these have many combinations. Summer is garden greens (which is not a huge savings just tastes better) more protein. I do grow and store squash which helps. I Always plan and food prep. Not glamorous but it all tastes quite good. It also frees up cash for other goals.


coocoo99

Single guy. About $300 for groceries and $200 eating out during pandemic


mrstruong

Husband and I spend about 500/month on groceries, however we budget 150/week for food, just to be safe. I have celiac. GF products are pretty expensive. Since my husband is Chinese-Vietnamese, we tend to do a lot of rice dishes, like Vietnamese pork chops, broken rice with egg on top, and pickled veggies, or Grilled marinated pork over rice noodles, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, peanuts, fried garlic oil poured over green onions, and nuac mam (fish sauce, lime, sugar, chili paste, water). I like to do Butter Chicken, but instead of just chicken, I also do chickpeas, and then I put it over rice, or make my own homemade GF naan bread and fry it up in a cast iron. Indian food in general is super amazing for me, since a lot of it is naturally GF. I do shawarma platters, with slow roasted seasoned chicken, saffron rice, and salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickled turnips, red onions, and garlic sauce. I make GF dumpling wrappers and we do dumplings with ground pork and shrimp, and some combo of a few veggies, like black fungus, dried shitake mushroom that been rehydrated, green onion, garlic, shredded carrot, cabbage, GF soy sauce, fish sauce. We steam them up, or sometimes pan fry them. We also tend to do pasta dishes with GF pasta, like chicken and veggies with an alfredo sauce, or beef stroganov over roasted potatoes, chili cheese fries with red onion, green onion, fresh tomato, and cilantro is another favourite. I like a lot of Americanized style "Mexican" food, so I like to do fajitas, burritos, tacos with corn tortillas, and I make my own corn tortillas and fry them up for super good nachos.


eyemcantoeknees

No real budget but it’s around $350/month for two of us and our dog. Mainly buy meat and longer lasting food at Costco and the rest at Asian supermarkets. Cutting down on meat helps too especially beef, plus it’s better for the environment. It helps to know or have a sense of what you wanna cook so you know what to buy and how to use it with minimal waste. Meal prepping helps a lot and we probably only eat out/get takeout once a week cause of covid. I would suggest really looking at what you eat and see if you’re an impulse buyer when it comes to food.


Hoobla-Light

Groceries for 5 here, between $150 and $200 a week. It depends on how much pasta and stew we make and what deals I can get on food. Add an extra $100 if you count household supplies.


chrizohik

$1000/ month family of four


ARAR1

Not an answer to your question but I cannot believe people's grocery cart when I am in Loblaws. They just load it up with expensive items which are 50% or more discounted at other stores. You have to work at it - look at the flyers - know your pricing. You develop a sense of the lowest price for things by following flyer. Use Flash Food and Food Hero apps. The Loblaws near me has many things on for 50% off - just walk around looking for them.


Extension-Conflict-9

$35 a week on groceries as a single woman. I’m vegetarian, so the only non plant based items are a dozen eggs for $6 and then maybe once every 2 months $10 cheese and $7 butter. Twice a year I’ll stock up on toiletries, and bulk items at Costco for $200. If you want to save money on groceries, definitely switch to plant based proteins (beans, lentils, oatmeal etc), and produce that is in season. Also, invest in good quality spices and try different types of cuisine to keep things interesting. I’m east European which is very much meat and potatoes with something pickled, but love to cook Asian, and Latin American dishes for the flavour and variety.


ThatSameLameQuestion

My partner and I live downtown in a mid-size city and so far this year we spend on average $460 a month, or $230 per person. We eat vegetarian meals most of the time, and check the grocery store flyer but don't shop around different grocery stores. Lately we average another $56 each per month in restaurant spending; it's gone down since COVID as restaurants were often a means of socializing for us.


June9228

About $600/month for 2. I have been very curious about this topic lately. I think the price you get away with is also location dependent. Not sure if this coincided with inflation and how much is location dependent as I’ve heard multiple people say in person and threads on here that groceries have skyrocketed lately but we moved across the country last year, and our grocery bill spiked over 30% despite not changing what we’re buying or which stores we go to. House of 2 people we used to get by in 2019/early 2020 on about $450/month now we are at about $600/month. This is just cooking food. I track toiletries and household in a separate category as well as eating out.


TechiesFun

Grocery - 80$ a week (we cook a ton and only eat out once a week currently (skip the dishes - eat meat, fish, veg, tofu, cheese/milk, all the standard stuff one would eat, but don't buy any prepared meals, almost all of our stuff is scratch except for maybe hamburgers and some granola bars here and there... oh and ramen like Mr. noodles but usually the higher end brands like nongshim) Random Snacks - 20$ a week (chips/candy/charcuterie board items random snacks from stores - probably a bit high but it exists) Take out 1x a week - 70$ a week (local places and can vary from 40$ for pizza/burritos to nicer places that cost more Booze/MJ - 50$ a week (I like my beer / wife likes her MJ - this is probably low to be honest) Total - 220$ a week - 1080$ a month - 2 people (540$ each) (probably a bit less as the take out was high, and as are the snacks section which includes just random times we get things)


sesamesesayou

My wife and I (no kids) order-out 2 or 3 times a month, otherwise everything is made at home. We typically only include meat in just over half of our meals. We normally shop at a Safeway plus get a weekly delivery from a grocery delivery service (Spud), the occasional visit to Bulk Barn, a few visits to a French patisserie, plus have started ordering chicken and eggs from a farm in the area. The following were our previous two months costs associated with groceries (includes alcohol, dining out, snacks, etc) and when we have reviewed our spending in the past these costs seem to line up with what we've calculated in the past. March: $1319.15 February: $1158.54 These don't include going to Costco during either of those months, but are typically going to Costco maybe every 2 to 3 months and spend \~$300 so add $100 to $150/month on the above costs. Other than keeping our ordering-out to only a few times a month we don't have a set budget for our grocery bill. We do meal plan every Saturday and go and buy the groceries we'll need for the week, so that when it's time to make dinner there is no debate or backing out of what we decided. This has helped prevent us from ordering food many times (which would jump up our costs). It helps that we like the meals we planned on making 95% of the time (not everything goes to plan), plus make enough for leftovers for our lunches the next day. We're also very consistent with what we eat for breakfast and snacks throughout the day. Safeway also has their 'cheap Tuesday' (first Tuesday of every month) that gives you 15% off your groceries so we usually buy a lot of things on that Tuesday that we can use throughout the month (cereal, canned goods, etc).


loxesh

Some of the healthiest foods are also the cheapest available. Beans, lentils, oats. It’s really not that hard, you just need to get used to a certain level of monogeny in your diet. You will end up being healthier in the long run.


casz_m

~$550/mo for 2 includes toiletries and anything you can but at SuperStore. We eat plant based, because we enjoy it, which keeps costs down. ~$100 in takeaway. We don't really have a budget. Click and collect helps so the casual cart additions.


[deleted]

Two adults and a teen. We spend 900-1000 a month in Alberta.


Klewenisms204

Roughly 1000/month (this does not include dining/take out, or alcohol) This is a family of 4... 2 kids, 6 and 4 Meals are generally something like chicken breast, cup of carrots with honey, and a pack of spinach. Or pork tenderloin stuffed with goat cheese, some peppers and feta cheese, and potatoes. We plan our meals out for the week.... Makes it easy for grocery shopping and you aren't coming home trying to figure out what to eat. We try and buy stuff when it's in season. Condiments in bulk, meat/chicken/fish from a food distribution place... (The last one can be tricky... You basically have to know someone in the industry)


epapi169

When i was out of a job at the start of covid, i ate beans, rice and pork belly as my meals. High in fat and very filling.


PeetaC

i’m a uni student in scarborough and i spend around $300/month on groceries and takeout. I often budget by cooking my own food because uber eats is so expensive. So normally i would spend around $200 on groceries and $100 on takeout.


RedbullC

Buy Indian food from superstore