How much should one meal cost?

[RoJoHen]

What would you say should be the average cost of a single meal if you cook it yourself? I don't want to include eating out because obviously that is going to cost a lot more money.

But if you cook at home, with the cost of ingredients, how much should you spend for one meal?

 

[bbailey861]

Are you planning on eating ground beef, or beef tenderloin and shrimp?

 

[Shatnertage]

What's for dinner?

You could buy a pound of pasta for a dollar, some veggies and protein and have at least four servings (hope you like leftovers) for about $10 total.

Or you could buy yourself a steak, which might run around $9-$10 bucks, which wouldn't even be one meal. So it all depends.

 

[RoJoHen]

Obviously it depends. I'm talking averages here, people.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My average meal would cost between $2.50-$5.00 per person.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Obviously it depends. I'm talking averages here, people.

That's impossible to even guess accurately. There will be differences based on what you're having, where you live, and even the time of year.

I can make a "meal" of a package of ramen and a can of peas, and the total cost of that would be under a dollar. Or I can make a real dish with chicken and spinach and such, and while that probably costs about $10, it makes a lot of servings.

$2-5 a meal per person is probably typical.

 

[Pingfah]

I will usually cook up about 10 meals worth of something like curry or meatballs, and freeze it. The whole thing costs £7 - £10 depending on what it is. So that's 70p to £1 a meal, but then when you add in the garlic bread, pasta, rice, naan, salad or whatever I am having with it the cost probably goes up to about £2 - £3 a meal.

I would think last night's meatballs, pasta, garlic bread and green salad probably cost about £2.50 in total.

Tonight's meal is Carribean venison steak, and mashed sweet potatoes however, and that has cost maybe £10 - £12 per portion.

 

[Roger Wilco]

It's really hard to tell, considering it depends on what you have at home already. If you have to buy everything from scratch - including spices and vegetables and milk an all that stuff, it obviously get more expensive than if you just buy the meat or whatever.

 

[RoJoHen]

I feel like people aren't getting what I mean by "average."

Yes, you could eat Ramen noodles every night, but I'm assuming most people don't do that. You could also eat prime rib and shrimp every night, but I'm assuming most people don't do that either. There will be days you eat cheap; there will be days you indulge yourself. Over the course of a month, a year, what would you expect your average plate of food costs, assuming you are eating like a typical, moderately healthy human being?

 

[Tora Ziyal]

RoJoHen, there's no amount one "should" spend, and there's no "typical" human being.

You spend what you can afford. For example, if your rent is eating up (no pun intended ) most of your income, you may be stuck eating a lot of beans and rice or Ramen noodles whether you want to or not.

And you spend according to your values. For example, is it more important to you to eat meat every day or to buy more books and DVD's? Is it more important to you to save money by cooking from scratch or to save time by buying more expensive prepared foods?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I feel like people aren't getting what I mean by "average."

Yes, you could eat Ramen noodles every night, but I'm assuming most people don't do that. You could also eat prime rib and shrimp every night, but I'm assuming most people don't do that either. There will be days you eat cheap; there will be days you indulge yourself. Over the course of a month, a year, what would you expect your average plate of food costs, assuming you are eating like a typical, moderately healthy human being?

Well, you've been given multiple examples and ranges. I don't think you're going to get one specific number. There are just too many variables.

 

[Paradon]

$4-$5 per peron is a good range, I'd say. Then again I don't eat that much and I'm a cheapo... [chuckle] I usually get everything on sale if I could. I actually go to grocery store and stock up on meat that are on sale and keep them in the freezer. If I think I'm going overboard, I usually eat Ramen noodle, beans and cheap hot dogs for about a week or two until the next pay check. So I always have those in case I have nothing to eat. I set limit on how much to buy every month to about 50 dollars and wait to buy on the next pay to buy if I needed something.

 

[Timby]

It's basically impossible to come up with "averages" when there are so many moving parts.

 

[RoJoHen]

Perhaps I am overestimating the amount of importance people place on their diet.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Perhaps I am overestimating the amount of importance people place on their diet.

What the fuck? Way to just ignore everything people told you.

 

[SmoothieX]

Take your weekly grocery bill, divide by the number of people in your household, then divide by 21 assuming you eat 3 meals a day.

Between the two us, I'd say the average grocery bill (not including paper goods, toiletries, etc.) is about $150/wk.

So on average, about $3.60 a meal.

 

[Kelthaz]

Perhaps I am overestimating the amount of importance people place on their diet.

More expensive foods ≠ healthier foods.

You can eat well for a couple of bucks a meal when you factor in leftovers.

 

[sojourner]

I average $50 a week on groceries as a single person. I eat out maybe twice a week if you count lunches. I usually only make one "prepared" meal per day. Feel free to extrapolate from that.

 

[RoJoHen]

I didn't ignore a thing.

A normal, healthy human being should eat X amount of different types of food. Given that, I assumed there would be a way to figure out what a typical meal should cost.

Obviously there is not going to be one solid number, but there should be a pretty accurate range. And yes, there are going to be outliers as well. The person who eats Ramen noodles for every single meal is not typical, nor is the person who goes has a personal chef at his home making every single meal from scratch.

I was honestly not expecting so much resistence to this question.

Perhaps I am overestimating the amount of importance people place on their diet.

More expensive foods ≠ healthier foods.

You can eat well for a couple of bucks a meal when you factor in leftovers.

I am aware of that, and that's exactly what I'm getting at. I realize people can't afford top quality food all the time; I certainly can't. But I do place enough importance on my diet to focus what money I have on the food I eat.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

There was no "resistance," just acknowledgment that everything from income, location, season, and personal preferences affect what people eat, and there is no way to give a "typical" amount because of those factors. Several people estimated around $3-5 a meal, and that's probably as close as you're likely to get here.