My monthly food bill is typically around $120.

• A lot of beans or other canned vegetables: $30
• Bread: $5
• Peanut butter, $8
• bananas: $10
• rice: $10
• Other fruit that's on sale: $10
• Some fresh vegetables (usually onions, broccoli, peppers): $10
• Flour: $10 (may last more than a month)
• yeast: $5
• Seasonings: $5 (also lasts more than a month)
• Cheese: $5
• Tomato sauce: $5
• Pasta: $5

I got laid off a while ago so I'm trying to make my dollars go farther. When I had a well paying job, I'd also buy more stuff, but nothing too crazy. I miss hummus the most, I think. I never buy soda.

The other day I was with someone and we decided to order food like old times, and it was like $40 for two of us. I was like, fuck, that's a third of my whole month's budget right there. But I don't want to live like a monk all the time.

I'm not defending it nor am I saying it's typical, but it's not that hard to spend $500 per person per month on groceries.

It's definitely doable (and then some) for folks living in high cost of living places. I recently went on a quick weekend trip to such a place. I knew I didn't have the type of money to dine out, but I figured I could suffice on a few staples from the grocery store. I visited several different stores, and the prices were all about the same (i.e. insane). The little pint (or half pint?) Ben and Jerry's was $10 - 12. A container of romaine lettuce was $8. A package of Oscar Meyer sliced deli meat was $15. These prices are easily 3 - 4 times what they typically cost where I live.

Also, a lot of people shop at the kinds of stores where you can find everything from apples to Apple watches. And when people do their "grocery" shopping, they're buying bulk paper towels, a case of wine, a new Switch game for the kids, cosmetics, cat litter, clothes, 30 pack of batteries, a couple azaleas, and a partridge in a pear tree and then calling that their grocery bill. So, it's not exactly a fair label nor an accurate assumption that the grocery bill is just groceries (i.e. food).

And honestly, if you mean HOW as in how can they afford it: $500 x 4 = $2,000 or $24,000. A lot of money, sure, but median household income (in the USA) is like $80,000 and I'm guessing that $500 a month per person is above median expenditure (especially if we're excluding the folks that like to include the partridge in their grocery bill), so most people spending that much on food would be earning way more than median income.

There's a difference between having enough to eat and having enough healthy food to live well. I'm sure you could survive on like on &100 per person per month if you wanted to eat ramen and canned meat. But throwing in fresh fruits and veggies runs that number up.

Listen man dunkaroos ain't cheap alright

Per person????

We eat good, always have snacks and get a few bs quick meals whenever we go shopping. $800 for a family of 4 and I feel like that's too much.

Granted I make a lot of stuff from scratch, but I feel like the snack and quick meals even that out price wise.

It's a weird feeling when you don't know if that's alot or not

Soda is really expensive. Ben & Jerry's is pricey. Gatorade is expensive. Brand name cereal is expensive. Etc... they aren't buying fresh fruit, rice, refried beans, you know, things that are still pretty reasonably priced but don't taste as good.