Can Two People Eat on $67 a Week?

1. Ashley
   March 13th, 2009 at 1:56 am

   I can eat on half that (since it's for one and not two) a week and eat well. You just have to be watch for sales (day-old bread, etc) and be happy with leftovers! Then again, California has a higher cost of living, so food might be more expensive...

   Also the title and the description have two different dollar amounts.

2. Oomi
   March 13th, 2009 at 2:13 am

   My family (4) lives off about that much in a week.

3. DrPollo
   March 13th, 2009 at 3:02 am

   I live in central London, which I guess is not cheaper than California, and my meals cost an average of 3$. The menu last week included fish risotto, chicken and olives cous cous, and good bolognese pasta (with wine). I just try to make pasta or rice the main part of the meal and reduce the meat intake. If you cook for three or four and freeze the other rations it is much easier.

4. Karachite
   March 13th, 2009 at 3:36 am

   I live in Karachi, Pakistan, and here one can eat three meals a day for 39 days in 5778 Rupees($72).

5. Cori
   March 13th, 2009 at 3:44 am

   Wow. When I lived alone and was going to school, I lived on probably >$15/week. Though, I really only ate 1 meal a day, and I'm not good at the balanced diet thing. I lived on boxes of mac and cheese (You can get 3 boxes for $5, and a box takes me 2 or 3 days to eat), tomato soup, rice, bread, and frozen chicken patties. Even their limited budget seems gluttonous to me. Then again, they probably don't quickly end up with nutrient deficiencies when they forget to take their multivitamin. xD

6. ph1ght
   March 13th, 2009 at 3:52 am

   It is almost luxurious for me and my wife to live on 72 bucks for a week.

7. Edward
   March 13th, 2009 at 5:56 am

   Once again, the LA Times show just how out of touch they are.

   Since we are giving tips, when I had to worry about how much I spent on food, I bought a bread maker and bulk ingredients. Excellent, fresh bread for $0.25 per pound.

8. Miss Cellania
   March 13th, 2009 at 6:12 am

   I feed a family of three, and I spend about $200 a month on groceries. And I'm not even trying to pinch pennies on food, any more than I always have. Since we are all female, I don't buy much meat. No soda pop. But we seem to eat well.

9. B. D.
   March 13th, 2009 at 6:30 am

   Okay... my wife is a couponer and we budget $25 a week for the two of us and we make it just fine. That's right, $25 a week. How someone could struggle with spending nearly three times that is beyond me.

10. B.Moore
    March 13th, 2009 at 7:11 am

    They find it a challenge because they are so used to dining out and drinking. The challenge for me would be to eat for 700$ a month O_O How is that possible ? (I mean, what do they drink, only champagne?)

    When I was a student, I was eating for 10$ a week, 15 when I wanted to add a few beer cans in my shopping cart.

    "But by then, I was looking forward to ending our experiment and returning to our regular life."

    Yeah well then just go back to it and don't brag about how much you're able to spend a month. I find it a bit disrespectful, when so many people in this world can't even it 3 meals a day. (too bad we can't leave a comment directly on their story)

11. Nick @ Cheap Eats Challenge
    March 13th, 2009 at 7:20 am

    I am so excited that people are trying to live on less. The economic times are a great catalyst. Two of my friends and I are trying to live on $100 for the month. Check out our tips and troubles on the blog - cheapeatschallenge.com.

12. zazie
    March 13th, 2009 at 7:30 am

    We lived on 30-40 $ a week for a long time and ate well.

13. theturbolemming
    March 13th, 2009 at 7:35 am

    Remember that couple that ate on $1 a day for a month?

14. Aaron
    March 13th, 2009 at 7:51 am

    Add me to the growing chorus of the unimpressed. My fiancee and I eat on around $25/week. $67 a week would be a luxury. If we cut back and visit the farmer's market we can live on $10/week...

15. Wok
    March 13th, 2009 at 8:08 am

    @ Edward

    You think the LA Times is bad? The NY times ran a piece around Christmas that went something like

    How WILL you entertain 7 of your friends with just 200 DOLLARS?!

    Meanwhile the rest of the world was celebrating with their 4 dollar doritos bag and 14 dollar vodka.

16. Grace
    March 13th, 2009 at 8:10 am

    I have to second the question of how it is they were eating for $700 a month! Man, that's a lot of food for two people. I guess they ate out for every meal? If so, that's just irresponsible. They probably had a mortgage they couldn't afford too. No wonder we're in the mess we're in now.

    My household of two eats for less than $30 a week no problem.

17. xadrian
    March 13th, 2009 at 8:44 am

    I heard an All Things Considered show last night about a fairly well off family cutting back on food, making their own pizzas, not eating out, etc. The part that got me was the "postponed planned trips to Portugal." Alliteration aside, I'm lucky if I can swing a $10 haircut or a $25 office copay to get antibiotics and these people are "cutting back" by postponing their Europe vacation?

    Who are these people and can we stop hearing about them?

18. GabbaGabba
    March 13th, 2009 at 9:14 am

    My family of 6 eats on less than that a week. How the hell is that a challenge? The article would have been more interesting if it was "Can Two People Eat Out for Every Single Meal on $67 a Week?"

19. secret asian man
    March 13th, 2009 at 9:24 am

    The Stuff White People Like crowd have suddenly discovered frugality - and they think they're the first to have ever been cheap.

    My people have been doing it for millennia, out of necessity, not trendiness.

20. Kev
    March 13th, 2009 at 9:47 am

    Yeah, that seems a little high for me too. My wife and I eat at about $60 Canadian a week. That's about $48 US at the current exchange rate.

    And we eat VERY well, all fresh foods and good variety.

    One tactic is to pick a couple of your favourite things that you like to splurge on at a restaurant (for us it was Pad Thai and sushi). first learn how to make it yourself, then learn how to make it BETTER than your favourite restaurant. Do you know how easy it is to make sushi and Pad Thai? Very easy, and the ingredients cost pennies.

    Another tactic is to be ready to spend a bit at first; creating great meals cheap requires a well-stocked kitchen. What we do is spread it over time, every week we'll pick up a bottle of spice or something.

    And when you see deeply discounted frozen meals, like lasagna or pizza, buy a whole bunch. They're way overpriced at regular price, but it's always good to have a few on hand for those nights when you just don't feel like cooking. So when they're on sale, grab 'em.

21. LisaL
    March 13th, 2009 at 9:57 am

    Wow.... everyone is so frugal.
    Not gonna say what my DH and I spend every week on groceries.... but it's a good bit. No idea how it comes up to as much as it does though.. *shrugs*

    Anyways... I'm not impressed by articles like that. I find it hilarious how the ppl struggle so much when as the comments here show, people do it all the time and don't think twice about it.

22. Kev
    March 13th, 2009 at 10:25 am

    You know what saves me the most money and time?

    Cooking for six.

    There's only two of us, but I always cook for six. More efficient use of ingredients, plus that's two lunches for each of us packed for work. And the food my wife and I pull out in the lunchrooms at our respective offices is way better than the garbage that our coworkers happily pay $8 for every day

    It is so easy to cook for six and dish it right into the tupperware as I serve it onto dinner plates, that I can't imagine going to the trouble to prepare lunches any other way; plus I save all that money that my coworkers blow on burgers.

23. skidworth
    March 13th, 2009 at 10:25 am

    "This dollar amount is about what a family of two in California will get in food stamps"

    wow, is kalifornia getting ready to put their entire poulation on food stamps? or just certain "factions"?

24. skidworth
    March 13th, 2009 at 10:28 am

    "The Stuff White People Like crowd have suddenly discovered frugality - and they think they’re the first to have ever been cheap.

    My people have been doing it for millennia, out of necessity, not trendiness."

    right on, brother! i'm a white person who likes stuff that white people like and i represent the rural southern male who knows how to survive by raising livestock, gardening and hunting. frugality is our nature!

25. rin
    March 13th, 2009 at 10:39 am

    My husband and I eat for about that...we aim for a $60 groc. bill and that allows us to eat out once with our limit of $5/person.

26. cv
    March 13th, 2009 at 10:48 am

    For those of you wondering how you can get to $700/month, it's easy to do here in California. Two people at a white tablecloth restaurant (appetizer, entree, dessert, coffee, one bottle of wine for the couple) can easily rack up a $150 check with tax/tip.

    OK, let's say you're not into the fine dining thing and you just eat at taquerias and noodle shops, two people having $5 lunches on workdays would still total $220.

    Heck, if both people had a $4.50 espresso bar drink every day, that's $270 right here.

    Do your math, guys.

27. Gail Pink
    March 13th, 2009 at 11:05 am

    I spend $25 a week for groceries for single woman in NYC - no problem!

28. dlfiuenigueriguyre
    March 13th, 2009 at 11:29 am

    Pfft! $72 a week is a fortune! I get $14 a month in food assistance from the DHS in Michigan. Now THAT is a challenge...Two poeple should easily be able to eat well on $72 a week..

29. mishelley
    March 13th, 2009 at 11:39 am

    I feed a family of 4, and one of them is a teenage boy on about 80$ a week (that's if I throw in some junk food).
    That's $20 per person/wk.
    These guys are spending $36 per person/wk and want warm fuzzies?
    I don't even try that hard to be "frugal" or "economical", I've seen women in my neighborhood feed their bigger families for less than me.
    Let us know when they've done something really challenging or have something insightful say.

30. captison
    March 13th, 2009 at 11:52 am

    $72/week?! My roommate and I got desperate for money and started budgeting for $40/week which includes $10 ($5 each) for eating out -- basically, coffee with friends 4 nights a week. That was the lowest we could go and keep us budgeted but still eating healthy aka not Ramen every night. Seriously, what the heck were they eating? $175/week = lots of alcohol, filet mignon, and caviar?

31. Johnny Cat
    March 13th, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    I just want to add:

    Five Dolla Footlongs!

32. naysway2002
    March 13th, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    wow that seems like alot of money to me, I can shop and feed my family of 5 well for under that ammount. All I have to say is coupons are wonderful things!

33. c0ldfish
    March 13th, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    i do this

    all the time...

    welcome to poor

34. kyoko
    March 13th, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    $1 McDouble x3 (meals) x7 (days) + $0 (drink, water) = $21

    easy.

35. ted
    March 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Just don`t eat out so much.

    I hate these condescending "we tried to live like poor people" articles.

36. Non
    March 13th, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    Ppshh... hardly a challenge if you're like me and can only be bothered to eat something when your stomach says "feed me now or suffer cramping!" (so about once a day...when/if I finally cave in.) My typical day consists of decaf Coffee/tea throughout the day, and a meal in the evening.
    I know its not healthy blah blah... still, its effectively cheap and I'm thin. I work at a computer most of the day, so I don't NEED a lot of calories. Its a hassle anyway.

37. Cee
    March 13th, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    LOL, of course it's a struggle for them. Look at the ridiculous amount of money they spent on food the month before.

    My fiance and I spend less than $72 a week on food and we're by no means frugal. It isn't exactly a challenge. It's almost $300/mo in groceries, which should be more than enough for 2 people imo.

    I'm going to have to agree with Ted =p

38. Ross
    March 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pm

    Ramen noodles on sale = $0.10
    $0.10x3 meals = $0.30 day
    $0.30 day x 7 days = $2.10 week!

    Anyone that has attended college should know this!

39. nihil
    March 13th, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    I'm trying to crunch the numbers but math was never my strong subject (dyscalculia, I get the process just f up everything trying to work it out.)

    So, (feel free to correct) IF

    $700/30 (month) would be $23.33 a day which is $11.67 per person per day

    $72/7(days) is $10.29 a day which would be $5.15 a day per person
    $10.29 x 30 (month) would be $308.70 per month on the new budget

    Seriously though, $700 a month, boo freakin hoo! Go buy some cabbage it's on sale this week for 24 CENTS a pound at my grocery. I made a week's worth of borscht for two for under $15 (probably cheaper I can't remember exactly) BEFORE the sale.

40. jessleigh
    March 13th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    I am a high school teacher in NC with an unemployed spouse (very bad job market here) living in a small town and we have existed on way less than that for almost two years now. Before that, we were in college and living off of student loan money, and I actually had MORE to spend on groceries than I do now, with a good job. Here in NC, teachers make less than fast food workers; however, cost of living is less. I get by because I use lots of coupons, shop at Bottom Dollar, which is a local discount grocery chain (owned by Food Lion), where I bag my own groceries (no baggers=cheaper prices), and I also shop at a local fruit and veggies stand. I also use Angel Food Ministries, who have a $30 food box each month. With all of this, I probably spend $150max a month on groceries.

41. NicoNicoNico
    March 13th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    Food stamps are $175 a month. For two people, that comes out to $87 a week. According to my friend who's on them, it's very easy to keep within that as long as you buy fresh. No processed foods (which we're not supposed to have, anyway) and you're good.

42. Saskplanner
    March 13th, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    I don't see how this is an issue. If you don't eat out I can't see it's a big deal. We're averaging about $100 a week now and we don't budget at all and pretty much buy whatever we want. Cutting back to 80 would be immaterial.

43. Jeep
    March 13th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    No, but two can eat for 69.

    thankyouverymuch....

44. Stcy
    March 13th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    This article is completely ridiculous.

    I live in a very pricy suburb of NYC. We spend about $600 a month on groceries for a family of three. I like to eat well and am not a bargain shopper at all. I could halve it easily if I bought less expensive produce, dairy and meats.

45. DOJ
    March 13th, 2009 at 9:33 pm

    I think the moral of this article is, in these tough economic times, we should cut taxes and only give out $50 a week in foodstamps.

46. karol
    March 15th, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    I agree with most of the people here. I remember kicking myself in the butt when I used $30 for meals in a week. These people are too rich.

47. Denara
    March 15th, 2009 at 10:21 pm

    I'd be willing to wager that 75% of the people bragging about what they live on probably have only done it for one or two weeks living on food they wouldn't want to eat for more than a few days. Yes, ramen is 12/$1. "I can totally live on less than $2 a week!"

    ...Doesn't mean I actually will except that one week where my rent, taxes, insurance, and car registration came due. Of course, since I did that random time I can wave that over everyone's heads for years. How about sharing what you've learned saving to make some other people's lives easier?

    Not all of us live in places with affordable options for fresh, healthy food... or places where 1 bedroom apartments are less than $1500/month. I can use all the tips I can get!

48. Whitney
    July 21st, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    My husband and I just celebrated our first month. I moved to VA with him after the wedding. I am job-hunting, so we are living off what he makes in the Navy. we have $797 in rent, about $120 in utilities, $100 in car/apartment insurance (my car is paid thank god for graduation gifts). He has $10,000 of debt he is paying off, I have about $8000 in student loans... and thats just for the one year of college (i'm 19.)
    Our groceries come out to about $100-150 for two weeks. We shop at the commissary which saves us money. I splurge more on meat, I like to get fresh fish, especially tuna and that adds up. I save money by using powdered milk in recipes. I don't buy boxed macaroni and cheese, I make my own in bulk. It's hard cooking for two, so I cook the same as I did when I still lived with my parents and we freeze the leftovers, and he brings some to work. We don't eat out very much, and then weekends we have a friend who stays the whole weekend so the budget is a little bigger. I also factored the dog/ferret food into the budget. If I wrote out the menus in advance I could save more, but somethings change on a day to day basis. I'm tired of hearing people who spend $700 a month for junk, but at the same time, if you have money to spend, you don't realize how much you've spent till you look back or need it... and anywhere that can get away with driving prices up will. We went to busch gardens last weekend (military so got in free)... and we spent $40 eating there for two people. Our friend with us spent $16 on a turkey sandwich, $3 something on a drink.....
    My relatives in cali say it's hell to grocery shop cheap.

49. virginia
    August 25th, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    Yes I think they can if you're creative. You dont need to eat meat every day and you can dice it up and make some real great dishes. Having extra money is alway good of course. http://sites.google.com/site/makemoneysellingnothingonebay/

    Make money selling NOTHING on ebay

50. Robin
    August 29th, 2009 at 1:17 am

    I live in one of the New England states, and food here is expensive. Although there are only two people in my family, I still have a difficult time spending less than $100.00 a week on food. I try to eat really, really healthy, so I buy lots of fresh veggies and fruit, whole grains, greek yogurt, chicken, and salmon. If someone can explain to me how to eat cheaper but still purchase fresh veggies and fruit, etc., I'd sure appreciate it. I can't continue to spend this much on food per week...I'm unemployed at the moment and definitely need to stretch my food bill.

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