Comments on: New Government Guidelines for the Average Cost of Food at Home

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:21:38 +0000

Wow – we’re almost in the low-cost plan and that’s with shopping at Whole Paycheck, er, I mean Whole Foods. I e-mail my grocery list to our nearest WF and my husband picks up the groceries on his weekly trip to our largest nearby city.

We grow our own beef, some of our veges, our own eggs and our own milk and some cheese. As noted in other comments, we don’t eat much processed foods.

One thing this table leaves out is how much families spend on eating out. Because there are no healthy food restaurants nearby we eat at home. The city folks eat out more, I believe. We did when we lived in the city. Fast food prices are still low, but its been years since I’ve eaten FF.

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:04:13 +0000

These don’t reflect Washington DC metro area prices at all! Or maybe as someone said above, it’s all processed food. We don’t eat any processed food and we spend a lot more than this. I recently commented to the store manager that my grocery bill was really high and I didn’t even buy any meat and she told me it’s because fruits and vegetables are now selling better than meat so, they started to raise the prices on those items.

By: Sky

Sky — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:55:21 +0000

Prices in South Carolina have skyrocketed. Especially fresh fruits and veggies. I only buy hormone and antibiotic free meat, eggs and dairy and it is double the cost, but worth it to be healthier.

By: Vicky

Vicky — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:12:05 +0000

EVERYTHING has gone up here… I try really hard to stick to a budget while still eating non or minimally processed foods (so coupons are out!), I make all our food, can our garden’s produce and make my own breads/pastries. It still is a challenge!! Eggs went up so much, plus the premium cost for buying organic or at least cage free, we got our own!!!!

By: Willow

Willow — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:19:45 +0000

According the guidelines, we are in the ‘thrifty plan’ although we certainly don’t feel like we’re scrimping along on any part of our diet. We don’t buy many processed foods and purchase almost all of our fruits and veggies from the local farmers market (it’s open 50 weeks a year because we live in SoCal). My husband does most of the shopping and he says that some things have gone up and some down, so the overall cost has been about the same. Changing to local organic cage free eggs, we’re paying three or four times the price for eggs, but that is a choice we’re making to match our values.

By: Jo

Jo — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:52:44 +0000

Government guidelines are worthless to me because I have never trusted the government to tell the truth about much of anything.

By: goldfish

goldfish — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:40:23 +0000

The prices here have gone up. Some things have gone sky high. I noticed a 6 pack of plain Hershey chocolate bars are $3.50. Last summer they were $2.50. We buy them to make s’mores with as a campfire treat. I think I’ll skip it this year.

By: Ginny Lee

Ginny Lee — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:25:41 +0000

Same here. Grocery prices keep going up even from week to week. Things cost way more than they did a year ago. I too think the weekly guideline estimates are high.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:23:37 +0000

I would guess that the government is basing these guidelines on mostly processed food. I am seeing prices like brand name cake mixes for $1 each and brand name soups for less than $1. I don’t buy processed food and prices for non processed foods keep going up. We’re paying big for trying to eat healthy. Sticking to your principles is costly too. For example I paid $3 a dozen for eggs last week. Eggs from caged hens were less than half that price.