How much do you spend on Food & Grog?

[Mdlerth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DawgMan Apparently too much after reading all these answers!! $1200/mo food, $400/mo grog. That is primarily for 2 and an occasional child stray who shows up for a meal. We do like the good stuff and do some entertaining, but apparently I need reign it in!!

Right there with ya, buddy! Same numbers, but with zero plans to reign it in.



Like others said, I don't have the data to break out tp, Vim or dog treats. I do note that a disproportionate fraction of the food expense relates to specific celebratory events. When it comes to feasting for birthdays and holidays I'm a disciple of RobbieB.



Maybe it will decline in December (when I plan to FIRE), but who knows? Four of our five offspring have nominally launched, but they have been known to show up unannounced and hungry, and with Significant Others in tow.

[DawgMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mdlerth Right there with ya, buddy! Same numbers, but with zero plans to reign it in. Like others said, I don't have the data to break out tp, Vim or dog treats. I do note that a disproportionate fraction of the food expense relates to specific celebratory events. When it comes to feasting for birthdays and holidays I'm a disciple of RobbieB. Maybe it will decline in December (when I plan to FIRE), but who knows? Four of our five offspring have nominally launched, but they have been known to show up unannounced and hungry, and with Significant Others in tow.

I am sure reigning it in is just a pipe dream.

i am one kid behind you with 4... 2 married, 1 grand kid on the way. We are also big on celebrating family bdays/events which often lead to big daddy taking everyone out to a nice steak dinner. Throw in the new in-laws and the "grog"/wine tab can grow your bill nicely. Speaking of wine or your favorite spirit, it's very difficult to go backwards once your palette has tasted the good stuff!

Our entertainment budget (restaurants) is supposed to be $1200/mo on avg... need to see if we are really keeping that between the lines!

[John Galt III]

Quote: Originally Posted by John Galt III Around $100 a month on food. Around $90 a month on booze (beer only, usually).

Quote:

Originally Posted by flintnational I like your beer to food ratio.

I noticed that too, ha ha! It looks like I need to spend $10 more on beer. lol.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Understand the concepts, except for food and beverage as personal development? Care to explain?

Well, I could BS my way through a detailed response - all those years in MegaCorp weren't a total waste. Truth is, I just threw that in to see if anyone was paying attention. Gold Star for aja ...

[NYEXPAT]

I always laugh to myself when someone say's they "buy" beer, when we all know you only "rent" it!

[NW-Bound]

As mentioned in an earlier post, our food consumption is always right at what we can and want to eat.

So, there's never any thought of reining or "reigning" it in.

And come to think of it some more, there's also no thought of reining in of any category. The last couple years, we spent less and less, running out of things we think we "must" have.

Spend more? Not on food, as we value our health. Can't eat more!

Buying more expensive food? Even if it is not to our taste, and buy just to throw away? Like caviar? I don't think so. Guess we have a simple palate.

[RobbieB]

I sure wouldn't buy expensive food if I didn't think it was worth it.

[NW-Bound]

Before I debate that something is worth it or not, I have to like it first.

Caviar is out for me. XO cognac on the other hand, I have been drinking it since my late 20s. I don't drink that much, so the price is not a big deal.

[RobbieB]

That goes w/o saying. If you don't like it it's not worth buying.

[Winemaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Understand the concepts, except for food and beverage as personal development? Care to explain?

My booze budget is all for personal development. I cannot perfect my craft by narrowing my choices or always drinking my own. I recently discovered Santa Barbara AVA Sauvignon Blanc that tends to have apricot/peach/nectarine notes rather than the grassy/kiwi/citrus notes of NorCal and NZ. Gotta do my homework!

[RobbieB]

That's true. How do you know how good your stuff is w/o a reference?

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB That goes w/o saying. If you don't like it it's not worth buying.

+1

That said, I can't even imagine anyone not liking genuine caviar!!! Yum.

On the other hand, just in the past couple of years I have decided that I actually do not like BBQ and never have. Therefore after eating it unhappily without protest for 65+ years, lately I started turning it down. Sssshhh, don't tell any of the Texans here about that or they'll string me up.

[wmc1000]

W2R please continue to eat all the caviar you want as it will leave more BBQ for me! I don't live in TX however.

Last year our household groceries/cleaning and household prods. ran $375 / mo. and Grog was $50 / mo.

Dining out was $175 / mo. avg.

[NW-Bound]

I eat fish, but caviar is too fishy for me.

I would rather have pâté or terrine, and these are not expensive. I even learned to make some variations myself. Yep, peasant food but it is so yummy. See photo from the Web.

PS. When going through France, we ate pâté/terrine with French bread nearly everyday. Crossing into Italy, had a hard time finding it. Italians don't eat this.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmc1000 W2R please continue to eat all the caviar you want as it will leave more BBQ for me! I don't live in TX however. Last year our household groceries/cleaning and household prods. ran $375 / mo. and Grog was $50 / mo. Dining out was $175 / mo. avg.

It's a deal! I'll leave all the BBQ for you and others who actually like it.

Good job on keeping the groceries, restaurants, and grog at $600/month total, for a household with more than one person!

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I eat fish, but caviar is too fishy for me.

No such thing! I even like anchovies on pizza, although I think probably that option is not as commonly available these days as it was years ago. Oh well, I'm on a low calorie diet right now so I am unlikely to be eating pizza any time soon.

[NW-Bound]

One can never argue about personal tastes. I remember Haha once said he liked fish oil in liquid form, something I can never do.

Even when taking a capsule of fish oil on an empty stomach, occasionally when I burped, the after-taste was horrible.

Yet, I eat all sorts of sea food.

[Teacher Terry]

If we ever had to cut back we would start with travel and then some of our eating out. Plenty of fat in those items.

[Moemg]

I have a recipe that calls for anchovies to season the pan .I open the anchovies add the required amount and pop the rest in my mouth washing it down with wine . What a treat !

[NW-Bound]

I use anchovies in cooking too. It adds a salty, or rather umami, taste to the dish. It is an ingredient of Worcestershire sauce.

The kind of fishy taste I dislike is different. It is present in nori (seaweed) used to make sushi. It is the reason my wife and I cannot eat sushi, although I can eat raw fish when it is good, such as tuna cooked rare.