Friday, February 1, 2008

What the world eats

This morning I did the grocery shopping, the bill came to $281.78, this is for food for two weeks, no vegetables, and no meat included. I buy veggies at about $50-70 per week and meat at about $100 per month from the markets and the butchers not the supermarket. We also buy more milk throughout the week, usually we use 2.5 litres per day.

This afternoon I got an email titled Food for Thought, showing how much an average family in various different countries in the world spends on food per week, and what they actually got. I cant post the info from the email here, but I managed to find a site that has the same info on it here , some of the links are a bit dodgy, if anyone finds it or knows of it anywhere else please let me know.

Lets just say it gave me food for thought.

For your viewing pleasure here is a photograph of what I came home with this morning for basic comparison. I will do fruit and veg tomorrow, so will get another photo to add more balance.






Interesting...

I estimate that we spend approximately $250 - $300 per week on food for a family of five aged 44, 40, 12, 9, 6, depending on circumstances, if we entertain its closer to $300, if it is just the five of us around the $250.

I am really curious to know how much you spend and what you get for it and how many you feed.

6 comments:

Miss Milo said...

Wow. That's a bit of an eye-opener, to say the least! Just goes to show that all the prepackaged stuff really does make our grocery bills soar.

We spend about $150 a week (including fruit and veg) for our breakfasts, dinner and my lunches, and then Miles spends extra on top of that for his treats and lunches. I'm always trying to cut down.

Thanks for the interesting post!
xoxo

Jenny said...

I will check that link out Joc, I am always interested in seeing what others spend. We have a family of five, two adults and kids, aged 11, 8 and 7 so very close to your kids. I spend $220 per week, including fruit/vegies/meat. If we entertain I have to buy more, if I am dieting, I will go into town and spend probably another $40 a week on lettuce, sprouts etc. I buy no lunches out, nor do my kids, no tuckshop, and dh takes left overs. We use 15 litres of milk a week, four loaves of bread and half to a dozen bread rolls. I have one take away meal a week, with the girls, either thai or kfc, my kids have pizza maybe once a fortnight. As a family we have take away rarely. I only buy mince pork, chicken breasts, lamb steaks, for the family and if we are having something special I will buy smoked chicken, or eye fillet, I won't scrimp on meat. Our food bill has just gone up steadily in the last few years. My budget used to be $150 per week......

WifeMomChocoholic said...

Oh, forgot to say we're a family of four -- kids 5 and 10.

WifeMomChocoholic said...

I'm not sure exactly what I spend, but I'd guess $200 a week, which includes cleaning and paper products. I'd probably spend a LOT more except that I plan my week's meals around what meat/poultry is on sale, and never buy cereal that isn't on sale.

Miss Beck said...

For all three of us, I'm lucky to spend $100/week but most of my stuff is fresh fruit and veg. I rarely buy packaged things except cereals and we make up our own sauces etc.

I noticed a massive difference in our shopping bill when I started my challenge years ago. I was living with mum and dad and going on the nutritionalists advice, I took over the shopping for a while. Mum and dad used to buy alot of prepackaged foods from packet pastas to 'instant meals'. Our grocery bill dropped in a big way when we went back to basics like cereal and fruit for breakfast, salad sandwiches for lunch and stirfrys for dinner or simply grilled meat with fresh veg.

It is much easier for me being a mum of one I imagine. He really isn't at that age wheere he wants what he sees on tv or what his friends have. He just eats little bowls of mashed veg and whatever meat we have that evening. You on the other hand have big growing kids! So ask me this in another 5 yrs time. LOL

Craft and Scrap said...

Hi stranger! This is an interesting post! I always wonder too what others spend! We are a family of 7 - 2 adults and then 12, 11, 5, 4 and 2.5, and we spend $1200 a month on everything (which includes fruit and vege, meat, cleaning etc and groceries). And for that, our meals are not that lavish. I reckon I could easily spend another $200 a month. But! The budget is what it is. :)