<p>My use $8lbs meat from the grocery store for my weekly steak dinner. I probably eat $29lbs meat on Christmas and New Year.</p>
<p>My older son eats about 5000 calories a day - mostly in protein, fruits, and vegetables. He’s back at college, so my expenses have gone down a bit 
Younger S eats about $50 a week in raspberries alone - it’s an indulgence, but he’s growing and it’s his favorite fruit. Fresh fruits, nuts, and organic meats are really expensive…a bottle of good quality balsamic vinegar from Modena can easily cost $30 for a tiny bottle, but once you’ve had it, cheap balsamic tastes terrible. It’s amazing what vinegar, truffle oil, various flavoring pastes, etc. can cost.</p>
<p>Right, but one needn’t be such a princess that one’s foods need to come only from Whole Foods. I like Whole Foods myself, too, but I’m not spending that kind of money on meat unless it’s Thanksgiving. No reason you can’t buy chicken breasts on sale at a normal grocery store and use those as the basis for everyday dinners. No reason someone can’t drink water with their meals. And, of course, the taste difference between organic and non-organic produce is pretty much in someone’s mind. </p>
<p>If you (generic you, not Gourmetmom specifically) want to spend that kind of money on everyday dinners, be my guest, but then no one wants to hear you complain that you’re “barely getting by” or that you don’t have money to save for college or retirement. You’re making a deliberate choice to put being a princess about food above your child’s college fund. </p>
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We have meals like this at our house sometimes, but we also have meals that aren’t all that different from this that cost much, much less. We eat a lot of chicken, and that reduces the meat cost by a lot more than half. We also eat pasta, which is much cheaper, even if it’s fancy pasta and fancy pre-made sauce. I think that in order to spend $575 per week on groceries, you’d have to make choices that aren’t really necessary, such as buying only organic produce, or only gourmet ingredients, or not bothering about looking for stuff that’s on sale. Of course, sale shopping may be somewhat more difficult if you live in Manhattan, and are really busy.</p>
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<p>Gourmetmom,
Wow- $30/lb steak and$12 for wine? I’d spend half of that on the steak and twice that for wine. You cook, I’ll bring the wine!</p>
<p>I can easily see a family of 4 spending $575/month on groceries. When my son was home, our family of 3 would try to limit our weekly grocery bill to just under $200. It didn’t include packaged foods or expensive cuts of meat (just ground turkey and chicken for us). I’m looking at our local grocery store ads and if a family would buy the more expensive cuts of meat (which are now on sale) – salmon fillets at $15.99/lb, a flank steak at $10.00/lb, New York Cut steak $7.99/lb, etc. Add some veggies, bread, milk, juice, and a few bottles of good wines and the bill can easily go to $575/month to feed 4. We can’t afford to eat like that, but a family with a higher income can. </p>
<p>It is hard to feel like someone is “getting by” if the raspberries et al are normal fare. I think we should bring back Home Ec which taught generations of middle school kids how to prepare a dinner for $2 a person (or whatever the inflation adjusted amount would be.)</p>
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<p>And u spend like this for dinner EVERY evening and never have partial ingredients nor leftover food/bev/icecream? </p>
<p>The hypothetical family in the WSJ video also spends another $200/wk on eating out. That means $775/wk (= $110/day) spent on food/dining.</p>
<p>The $200 per weak eating out is pretty easy to reach, especially if it includes some lunches. For a family of four, $100 is easy to drop in even a mid-range restaurant without wine, especially in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Wow on those prices. Thats why they call whole foods whole paycheck. I get a large container of beautiful raspberries at costco for $3.99 or $4.99. Their steaks are pretty nice too, though I dont eat red meat all that much.</p>
<p>And I agree Hunt-- if I spent $200 I’d be weak ;)</p>
<p>Gourmetmom: I am so impressed you are cooking dinner every night. That is the real luxury for a family imho. Buying the best ingredients one can afford makes sense to me if that much unpaid labor goes into cooking. I, too, wondered at the wine. Maybe you drink so little, you don’t want to open an expensive bottle every night? I’ve gotten too hoity toity for second day wine in my old age. Or you get a very good case deal, and very good advice on a decent house wine, from a local shop? We do that, too. I want to eat at your house, too!!</p>
<p>$30/lb for meat?</p>
<p>At those levels, I’d just have fish and other seafood. Granted, I’m in the Midwest, but you can get organic chicken and grass-fed beef here at $6/lb (yes, ground beef, but you can do a lot with ground beef). Snow crab legs at $6-8/lb. Fish for $4-8/lb.</p>
<p>This thread just makes me appreciate Wegmans so much more. Their prices are excellent.</p>
<p>We spend over $200 per week on groceries/toiletries/cleaning products for four people. However, we almost never eat out and three of us pack our lunch every day and one eats breakfast, a massive afternoon snack, dinner and a massive evening snack (i.e. meal) every day. So there is a lot of food being consumed. We splurge on vegetables and baked goods, though. Wegmans has an excellent bakery and between the fresh rolls, bagels and donuts that we enjoy on the weekends, I can easily spend $25 per week on baked goods. But I’m not complaining. It IS a choice and I’m happy with it. For many years it wouldn’t have been possible, and it doesn’t come out of our college spending!</p>
<p>@MLM, I think the calculation was $575 per week, not month. </p>
<p>It doesn’t really make sense to talk about meals like @GourmetMom’s menu in this context, because we’re talking (supposedly) about basic costs for a family and what people can and can’t afford. I agree that we shouldn’t pretend that every family must eat a “subsistence diet” or be pointed at as an example of reckless indulgence – but we also don’t need to pretend that dropping $75 on tenderloin for a meal for 4 is de rigueur either. (By the way, GourmetMom, I suggest going with individual steaks from Whole Foods instead – they tend to be more like $18/lb. I just saved you $30!)</p>
<p>Food is one of the areas where it’s very possible to spend a lot more than you think you are, but it’s also very possible to be careful about how much you’re spending and have no noticeable drop in quality or quantity of food. I think that’s why people whose lifestyles don’t seem very different can have radically different grocery bills. But the good news is that most of us could cut back in this area if we put our minds to it!</p>
<p>I think this discussion suggests that many of us decide to spend more on some things, and to economize on other things–but there is a powerful gravitational force that makes you think that you need to spend amounts on everything that match our income level. That’s what really gets you.</p>
<p>I thought people would be interested in a variety of lifestyles…I’m not grousing about paying tuition, btw, as I said before, we are full pay at private schools pre-K through college plus pretty generous with annual funds at every school our kids attend/attended. I took exception to a comment a while back that said anyone spending $500 a week on food must be buying a lot of prepackaged and convenience foods…not at all true for me. </p>
<p>If it were a choice between eating gourmet everyday and educating my children, of course education would come first and I could cut way, way back. One of my favorite side dishes is escarole and beans, and I’m planning a swiss chard and chickpea salad for tonight - both cheap to make. I love to cook and I place a high value on food and family…we eat together almost every night and my kids have come to appreciate good and healthy food. </p>
<p>I spend $3.99 and sometimes $2.99 at my local market for a half pint of raspberries…I buy four at a time, which my son can eat in one sitting. Those with (still growing) male children perhaps understand better how much actual food can be consumed…it’s a lot! </p>
<p>Haha on the comment about the $12 wine - I didn’t want to sound completely spoiled, so I lowballed that. I usually spend about $15-$25 on a bottle, and more for special occasions or for champagne. But you can bring the wine anyway and save me some money :)</p>
<p>^I think you are giving your family a loving and wonderful gift.</p>
<p>@dustypig - Thanks for pointing that out! I made an error. I meant to write $575/week (not month). It would be easy to reach that amount (spending $575/week) w/a family of 4 if you have the money to pay for the quality of food you would like to purchase. Our limit was $200/week for a family of 3. I just couldn’t afford to go over that (on a regular basis). </p>
<p>"Haha on the comment about the $12 wine "</p>
<p>The NH Liquor Outlet has a special on a Kendall-Jackson…cost $10.99. </p>
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<p>Oh, that was me! I didn’t say prepackaged and convenience foods – I said “prepared foods.” I was thinking of that lovely long counter at Whole Foods with the salads, side dishes and pre-grilled chicken breasts and salmon steaks and everything. Every time I go there on the way home from work, around the 6 p.m. mark, I see lots of people in work clothes standing there ordering what is clearly dinner for that night.</p>
<p>I am a from-scratch cook myself but yes, it does take time. And yes, you can easily drop hundreds of bucks a week on fresh ingredients if you feel like it! That’s why I said that spending on food can vary widely between families whose lifestyles aren’t very different. </p>