Is spending $10,000 on food in 1 year too much?

I'm really frugal and really don't expect others to skim as much. The jump between my $11/day average and the OPs $30/day seems like a lot, but if I wanted a higher quality protein, like a serving of fresh salmon, that could just about double my daily amount. If I didn't only drink tea and water, I could be up another few dollars per day. If I used sport gels/training food (I don't), that could be another few dollars. $30 per day is definitely not extravagant. I could spend that much cooking every meal at home and never ordering out or going to a restaurant if I insisted on higher quality (organic, more expensive meats, nicer cheeses, olive bar stuff for snacks, etc) fresh food that what I actually buy.

That's a lot of money if you're making all your own meals, but not a lot if you're eating out nearly once per day.

I would actually say that $11k a year is pretty reasonable. Unless you are a pro runner and every day is wake up, train, eat lunch at home, go to the gym, eat dinner at home and go to bed, you are going to end up having to eat out a few times a week. You can shop the specials at the grocery store and eat pasta, rice, etc. instead of cooking meat and that will save you a good bit if you have a meat heavy diet. But you still need protein and meat and fish are not cheap. Also, we are not farm animals. Eating rice and beans every night is a terrible way to live. If you have the money to be able to afford to eat well, then go for it.

Agreed. A thing of green grapes is like $16. Strawberries are $7 for a pint. Oranges are like $1.50 a piece. I spent $300 at the grocery store just last night for my family and it will be gone in 2 days. All basic healthy things and no snacks other than raisins and raw pumpkin seeds.

I always here the BroJos say letsrun has a high income audience. You guys are broke b!tches

methinks $10k is a bit steep for a yearly food budget.

i live off of legumes, rice, quinoa, veggies, fruits, nuts & seeds, and not much else. liquids are water, coffee, brewed tea, and the occasional cider or wine.

tend to cook everything from scratch. i have no reason to purchase energy bars and the like. i eat out maybe 1-2 per month.

i spend maybe $3k-$3.5k per year on food & bev.

That's college poor kid budget in this economy. Can't eat healthy on 125 a week. We spend 250 per person per week. That includes some poor meal planning and too many 8$ smoothies though.

Totally agree.

I spend $5k a month on food. Soooo I’m going to say $10k a year is not too much. But I also work in finance in NYC, so lots of restaurants and socializing.

Do you wipe? Have a bidet? My god. ;) Amazing.

I'm always going crazy about how much we spend on paper products. How much do you spend on paper towels? I can't believe how much we drop on those. I recently bought some washable Swedish paper towels to try to cut down on cost.

I don't keep track, but I spend roughly $250/week on food eaten at home for two people, a runner and a cyclist. We rarely eat at restaurants so this is close to our total food cost. We live in one of the less expensive areas of California. We don't eat anything I'd consider extravagantly expensive, but we don't really cut corners either.

Good topic. I eat the same three meals every day, the only exception being work or family events (about 1 or less per month) where there is an implicit social requirement to share a meal with others. I do this because I do not like deviating from my daily routine and I also hate spending money (especially if I know am getting ripped off)

Here is what I eat each day. I am open to suggestions/criticisms. These numbers are based on my most recent grocery bills from Kroger in South Carolina.

Breakfast:

5 Eggs: $0.61, 350cal

1.5 Cups Oatmeal: $0.43, 450cal

1 Banana: $0.18, 110cal

1/7th container of greek yogurt: $0.67, 71cal

1/7th container of cottage cheese: $0.63, 94cal

Lunch:

1.5 Cups Oatmeal: $0.43, 450cal

1 Banana: $0.18, 110cal

1 Egg: $0.12, 70cal

Dinner:

1-2 Chicken Drumsticks: $0.71, 476cal

5/7th lb potatos: $0.53, 256cal

2/7th lb carrots: $0.36, 53cal

1 Avocado: $0.99, 120cal

Spices:

1/36th container of salt: $0.02

1/14th container of cinnamon: $0.25

1/84th container of garlic: $0.06

TOTAL: $6.17 PER DAY = $2,252 PER YEAR. 2610 CALORIES/DAY

I run 6 days a week at about 40 miles per week.

I’m not sure exactly what I spend but it’s a considerable amount. I eat close to 300g of high quality protein a day. Usually 3 scoops of whey, wild caught salmon, organic ground turkey meat, sardines, and grass fed steak for the main protein sources. I drink at least 1 kombucha or poppi soda a day. I have size on for my Intra workout which is $1.50 a serving. For carbs I have quinoa, brown rice, brown rice pasta, and mostly frozen organic fruits from Costco. This is a great value though for fruit! Saves a lot that way. I eat out very seldom. I spend like $800 a month between food and supplements but might be less at times. Love to eat healthy. Costco and traders joes! Don’t know how people shop at Whole Foods all the time or use the delivery apps. I’m at least getting good value for everything that I need to look and feel my best.

$1000 a month for a family of three, is not above average in the U.S. Even if you each eat just two meals per day that would average ...

31 days x 2 meals x 3 people = 186

Or,

$5.38 per meal.

For 3 meals a day, it would be $3.58.

I don't think anyone should criticize you, and I don't want to. More power to you if you can pull this off.

I do have a question though: I love oatmeal, but I have it boiled in milk and water, a big pat of butter in the middle, 3 tbsp brown sugar, and milk over the top to cool it down. It's skim milk, but still!

Do you really eat the oatmeal with only water and no sweeteners? Twice a day?

I started adding the butter in 10th grade, because the oats and water, and brown sugar had no fat to help absorb the Vitamins A, D, and E, I was taking. I added the skim milk for the same reason, and to add more protein to the whey protein I was taking.

I’m spending well over $5000 on groceries and well over $5000 on takeout / lunch out / restaurants. Medium high cost of living area. Dining out is so pricey now. expensive groceries: veggies, fruit, vegetarian protein, occasional chips and ice cream.

Just plain oats with water, 1 banana, and an egg or greek yogurt. I also add cinnamon, salt, and garlic, but no sweeteners

I spent about that much in a MCOL city in 2022 (so probably $11000 now). I was running 80 mpw and working from 9 to 6:30 so I didn't have much time to cook for myself - I occasionally 'batched' food for a few days but that was it. I did the vast majority of my mileage in afternoon / evening runs beginning around 7 so I'd probably only be done at 8:15. And then after I showered I'd only be fully done with my run at like 8:30. I will say that I was fortunate enough that it was far north enough that it didn't get dark until about 9:30.

I'd occasionally shakeout in the morning and then eat a decent breakfast (probably $5 total), eat a lunch averaging $12 (between $10 and $15) from a food truck or local place, and then either cook something myself or pick up chipotle or similar. But I almost never had time to cook for myself - I'd prepare something on the weekend for a few days but that was basically it.