Cost of Groceries and Restaurants, including alcohol and vacations

[Z3Dreamer]

In 2013 to 2015, DW and I were doing one of those diet programs where they shipped you some food. Also I retired a few years ago, but DW retired in early 2017. So our daily cost of food and alcohol has changed as follows:

• $33.74 per day in 2013 - $16.87 per person
• $33.77 per day in 2014
• $35.71 per day in 2015
• $32.18 per day in 2016
• $30.52 per day, so far in 2017

This is for 2 people and includes meals at restaurants, on vacation, and guests.

I think the reason for the declines is that we are no longer doing the diet program and with us being at home, we do more of our cooking and have more time to shop.

 

[W2R]

That is terrific! I am sure that the decline in food expenses is for the reasons you cite, both of which sound quite logical.

So far this year my food costs have averaged $15.38/day (for one person, both groceries and restaurants, including tax and tip at restaurants). I don't drink alcoholic beverages at all, which helps, but we eat lunch out every day. This is down from previous years too. In my case, I think the decline is because I have started getting more grocery items online.

 

[Live And Learn]

another great reason to retire!

 

[ivinsfan]

OP your number still seems a little high around 11K a year, does it include alcohol?

Just wondering as well feel as though we eat pretty well and come in at about half of that,. Of course we are very rural with little eating out options so that would make a difference.

 

[Chuckanut]

One of the reasons I retired was to improve my health and a big part of that is preparing my own meals and eating better.

When I do eat out I like to eat foods I would not prepare at home because of the level of difficulty, or the need for specialized ingredients or special kitchen gear, or some combination of these.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Ours works out to about 19/person/day. We eat out 2x's a week.

 

[Meadbh]

When I was ocumenting everything in detail (years 1-3 of ER) I found that I spent about $300 per month on “groceries”. But that included non-food items. I spent $100 or less on “entertainment”, which included restaurant meals, concerts, etc. I spent a variable, but small, amount in “household”, which would include repairs, linens, kitchen gadgets, etc.

I suppose that a forensic audit of the total cost of eating at home would have to include electricity for cooking, the kitchen gear that I bought (like the chef’s knife, the spoonula, the pizza tray and the food processor), the Indian and Lebanese cooking classes with friends, and the cookery course in Italy! I wonder if you can depreciate those?

Like Chuckanut, I prefer to eat out only when it’s something I can’t make at home. The problem is that the list of things I can’t make at home is getting shorter as my culinary skills improve. I don’t do a lot of Thai recipes, for example, because I can’t justify hunting for small quantities of all the exotic ingredients. These days, my main reason for eating out is social.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

OP your number still seems a little high around 11K a year, does it include alcohol?

Just wondering as well feel as though we eat pretty well and come in at about half of that,. Of course we are very rural with little eating out options so that would make a difference.

It includes about $4 to $5 a day of alcohol or $2 to $2.50 per day per person.

 

[kgtest]

One of the reasons I retired was to improve my health and a big part of that is preparing my own meals and eating better.

When I do eat out I like to eat foods I would not prepare at home because of the level of difficulty, or the need for specialized ingredients or special kitchen gear, or some combination of these.

Hibachi! Was entertained and fed all at the same time. DW even had a couple top shelf mixers, filet minon, ny strip and shrimp all came in under $57 thanks to a birthday reward with the restaurant. We found out our Chef had been doing this for "at least a decade". I pay for that kind of experience a couple times a year.

 

[Sunset]

I find OP's numbers high

Our is so far this year extrapolated for the entire year = $6,240
restaurants, take-out, groceries, booze, and groceries includes non-food like foil wrap, windex, etc.

That is $17.10 per day for two or $8.55 per person/day

The error factor in my calculation is the 15 days we spent in Europe are not in this number.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Wow... I'm spending a little over $5/day/person, feeding a family of 3 (total of groceries and eating out, though we don't eat out often). To be honest our diet is supplemented a bit my meat which I get ~free via hunting.

 

[Music Lover]

I spend about $300 a month on groceries and household stuff , and maybe $200 on eating out/alcohol. Alcohol is expensive in Canada due to built in taxes...$24 - $28 for a dozen beer, $34 - $40 for a 1.16 liter (40 oz) bottle of hard stuff....so just 2 drinks a day will cost $120 - $150 a month.

Only counting food, I'm at around $300 a month or $10 per day.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Alcohol is expensive in Canada due to built in taxes...$24 - $28 for a dozen beer, $34 - $40 for a 1.16 liter (40 oz) bottle of hard stuff..

Wow, that's ridiculous! Is homebrewing big in Canada? No way I would pay that much. Right now I make some myself and buy the rest, but if that was the going price I'd be 100% DIY.

 

[sengsational]

^There are lots of "brew it yourself" shops in Canada. The customer can do as little as adding the yeast and picking up the product. This is for both wine and beer. My nephew owns such a store.

I'm not quite energetic enough at the moment to see what my food per day cost is. First off, my accounting is not going to be able to get very accurate, as my dining out will include the beer, if I have one, and I don't think that really should count as food. Also, when on vacation, all the food goes into the travel category. Getting an accurate food cost per day would involved too much w*rk.

 

[Music Lover]

Wow, that's ridiculous! Is homebrewing big in Canada? No way I would pay that much. Right now I make some myself and buy the rest, but if that was the going price I'd be 100% DIY.

Yes, it's fairly popular. Several of my friends home brew...most of them make wine but some make beer as well. I'm too "picky" so I just suck it up and pay what it costs.

That being said, the quality has gone up in recent years and I might consider giving it a try if I can find a home brewed beer that I really like.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Interesting. How do you calculate this? Restaurants is easy, but Groceries include house cleaners and other no food stuffs as well as food. Then there is the fuel to cook them, well OK we can omit that, but in our case it is electric and if we eat out we do not have that extra expense.

 

[dtbach]

I never thought to calculate food costs as I have to eat and I'm not really into coupon clipping. If I was to guess, it would probably be around $30/day for the 2 of us (then goes up a lot when the kids come home)

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I spend $5 per person a day on average for food at home plus wine. We have many stores near us with overstocks and close out prices, so I get quite a bit of our groceries at 50 - 75% off and stockpile loss leaders and really good overstock deals. We have a big pantry and chest freezer.

We used to go out to eat twice a week but we've been doing that less lately in favor of events like comedy shows, plays and museum visits. I have some Netflix for live events kinds of subscriptions so we tend to use that more for going out these days instead of dining out, plus we just bought the $9.95 for Movie Passes so that will also take the place of some dining out nights.

I make most of my own cleaning supplies from grocery items like vinegar and baking soda. I just bought a case of glycerin bar soap directly from the warehouse today at almost half the price of the local store price per bar. Items like toilet paper I usually get for free with store rewards or product reviews. I have 400 rolls of free toilet paper in the entryway to put away today.

 

[MikeWillRetire]

This year, we spent $20.75 per person, per day. That includes groceries, eating out, paper products, cleaning products, and personal hygiene products. It does not include alcohol or other medicines...

 

[Scuba]

Like others, I don't have a super accurate accounting as our grocery costs include some non-food items, food when traveling goes into the travel category, and entertainment includes both eating out and concerts/theater/movies. Very roughly we are spending about $60/day for 2 people or $30/day per person. We eat out often, almost always order wine or cocktails with dinner, and we buy a lot of fresh fish, fresh herbs, shellfish, and filet mignon to cook at home. We love food & wine so we don't try very hard to manage this cost. Guess we are "blowing that dough" compared to many.

 

[Bamaman]

We eat at church on Wednesdays, and seldom eat out more than once more per week. We eat well, but food is not high on our spending list.

I married an ex Krystal waitress and eating there remains a great to her. She grew up very poor without a television, phone, or car. Her mother fed a family of 7 on one chicken--3 meals.

 

[Aerides]

I haven't done the math, and our diet is heavily slanted toward proteins/meat, vs. carbs/fillers.

that said, since retirement, I definitely spend more time shopping based on sales, especially things like weekend deal cuts, and things like "oh hey fresh chicken breast is 2.99 on tuesdays at fresh market", or "oooh ribeye is on sale this week" and so on.

We probably eat a bit better than before, when working it was very easy some days to be just... ugh I've had a bad day let's order chinese......... (that hardly ever happens now).

But we don't skimp on quality, we just are cognizant of the ways to still get it, but with the extra time for research and planning it all helps bring it down a bit.

 

[Winemaker]

Our wine costs are about $10/ 2 bottles/day. Food costs are about $ 20.00 max/day including DW's cost for gluten free items, she was diagnosed celiac in 1983. Those costs much better now, we can buy items at local grocery stores easily. In the 1980's and 90's we had to order her bread from Washington State and 3 loaves of frozen bread were $50+ to get free shipping. Nowadays, I can blow $50 on grape juice to make 30 bottles of white wine.

 

[jim584672]

I'm about $7.00 a day 2016/2017.

 

[aja8888]

I usually get for free with store rewards or product reviews. I have 400 rolls of free toilet paper in the entryway to put away today.

That should last a while.