"I'm feeling quite third-world..." Topic

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Unbelievable, the amount of packaged bought in the West.

I spent $57 USD on groceries for us this week. That includes a big bag of cat food ($12) that will last a couple of weeks, and a new bucket of cat litter ($10 with a coupon) which will last about the same. So $35 USD a week for human food puts us on the same level as… Bhutan?

Allen

Food's just going up…period, just like gasoline. Still, there's no shame in buying generic brands here in the West.

After beer and ice cream, what did you get next?

It's not so much a matter of generic vs. name brands. There is rarely an difference of quality there for staples, and store brands are frequently produced by the same outfits that supply the name brands. Oh, for breadmaking, I could spend four times as much for King Arthur flour as for store brand, but the missus is going to add a lot of things to it (wheat germ, Maltex, even grits!) so it makes little difference.

But for us, it's simply been a matter of shifting more drastically to raw food rather than packaged. We had been going that way more and more over the years, but once the missus got serious about controlling her diabetes with diet--and I started doing the shopping and cooking--things in packages came into the house much less frequently.

As I've said before, a thirty mile trip to the nearest Hispanic supermarket (the Vallarta chain) can result in huge savings over the ordinary supermarkets. And I can fill up a shopping cart (they have the *big* shopping carts, too) with fresh fruits and vegetables for $25 USD to $30, and that will last us two weeks, often. And their specials on meat, fish, and cheese are astonishing, too, but we've been cutting down.

The only thing I'm missing: if only we were closer to LA (not that I really want to be) and could get Arab bread (pita) at an Arab market for a dollar a bag as a "staff of life", instead of three or four dollars as an "exotic" specialty!

Allen

No beer or ice cream, John. There are still both Dos Equis and Negra Modelo in the second fridge, and I finished the last of the vanilla ice cream with a fresh nectarine tart yesterday. Won't get more until next week, if then.

Allen

Allen, that puts you in the same category as Mrs Gungnir, who spends €30.00 EUR on our groceries weekly, but usually saves some of that.

Not spending money of alcohol, tobacco or softdrinks helps, but she's also a very smart shopper.

We are able to buy at restaurant wholesellers, so sometimes we can profit from "big bag" frozen stuff specials.

This meal cost her less than a Euro each:

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Stir fried veggies, white rice and salmon wrapped in kimcheed Korean seaweed. Not shown is the accompanying soy sauce.

I had a friend who worked in advertising for a super market chain in the UK. He warned me off value brands as he said they were packed out with the worst beep.

Your shopping is a lot cheaper than mine in Bangladesh. Tinned stuff is really expensive and often close to date expiration (bought that way to be cheap.) Although we live in a country where fruit and veg is grown it gets to markets bruised and isn't fresh. People don't hesitate to bulk out foods with cancer causing agents if they are cheap. So you can't touch the local stuff.

My costs went way down when my son left for college. I still buy ice cream and other treats but infreqently preprepared foods.

So $35.00 USD USD a week for human food puts us on the same level as… Bhutan?

Feeding 2 on $35 USD is not quite the same as feeding 13 on $5.03.

There does seem to a strong correlation between cost per head and packaged goods and liquids, esp 1st place Germany's classification of large amounts of alcohol as food.

It's quite striking, the diets dominated by large sacks of grain and the colourful, overflowing tables of packaged goods. Thankfully there are also a few tables with lots of fresh meats and vegetables.

I'm really jealous of the families in Sicily and Cairo, foodwise.

I guess food-wise, we look closer to the family in Kuwait. Nice link, Allen. I've passed it on to my wife.

I have no idea what we spend on food, but it's probably a lot. I figure we both work so hard, it's important to buy the best food we can afford. We don't dine out anymore as we frequently do that for work. We still buy a lot of processed foods – mostly cereals and breads, coffee, cheese, milk, yogurt, canned beans, pasta, tortillas, etc. The wife spends a lot of money on cheese. I spend a lot of money on fresh produce, especially tomatoes, avocados, peppers, peaches, etc. I also indulge in fresh sausages at the local market.

Still, our per meal average is probably around $2-3 a meal. My brother-in-law and his wife, they spend a fortune on food. Neither one cooks so almost everything is processed or from a restaurant. They complain about spending so much on food for the family but insist on buying it from somewhere else. I explained that they did not need to go to the greasy spoon to get an omelet for $7, but could cook one for less than $1 USD at home. I even taught them how to do it, several times. I just don't get it.

Ah, stay thirsty my friend.

My wife has gotten serious about dieting and has been bringing large quantities of fresh veggies home. They are expensive and I've discovered, in most cases, I much prefer canned to fresh or frozen, especially if prepared "gourmet style," ie, barely cooked. This are leading to real disputes about food.
Salads should be fresh stuff but everything else should be dead. The complete lack of "evil white stuff" (bread, potatoes and rice) has also increased our costs. My missus informs me that a good diet will help with my diabetes and blood pressure but that is why medication was invented. End of rant!

Shagnasty,

About a year ago, I was told to either lower my BP by diet or go on meds. Since BP meds elevate my eye pressures ( not good for glaucoma) I chose to reduce my salt intake to a target of 1500mg per day. I don't always make that target, but I've been consistant enough to drop my BP by 10-15 points and avoid meds. Those fresh veggies have almost no salt. One serving of canned veggies will blow the salt limit by itself. YMMV.

david

Yep, even the "low sodium" stuff. We will occasionally use canned beans rather than take the time to soak and cook dried ones, but they get very well rinsed.

We like pizza at our house,and I cant remember the last time that we had one that was commercially made. My wife is expert at whipping the dough up in our bread machine and panning it. The one compromise,though,is we do use a canned sauce and cheese from the store. Our pizza tonight had veggies from the garden! Also,if it doesnt rain tommorrow,I'm going out to dig the first of our potatoes,and we'll have new potatoes for supper.