Cost of Foods according to the USDA
Have you ever looked at the USDA cost of foods. I was looking at it yesterday since sewingcreation15 and I started talking about it. I probably haven't looked at it in at least a year. I once again was shocked. We have a family of 4 at home. My oldest daughter does not live at home any longer. Hubby is 47, I am 43 soon to be 44, my son is 19 and youngest daughter is 16. We spend about $400 a month on our groceries. That is all of our food, paper goods, and hygiene. I do not count medicine or anything for the dog in that budget.
According to the USDA we should be spending $1425.70 a month if we went by the Liberal Plan. This is there highest plan. This has to be for billionaires. That is over a thousand dollars more then I spend a month and that is just for food. What are these people eating every night? Filet mignon and lobster tails. According to the USDA my son should be spending by himself on this plan $365.60. That is almost what I spend for all of us. This is for food you are eating at your house, that you cook for yourself. Not take-out or restaurants.
Let's look at the Moderate Plan. For my family they are saying we could eat well, not the best, but well. $1148.90 per month. Almost 3 times what I spent in April. People, I live in NY. Food is not cheap here. I see some of the prices that others get and I am always jealous: milk for 99¢, eggs for 49¢ a dozen. Cost of living is high and so is food, but almost $1200 is crazy.
Low Cost Plan, that's got to be reasonable right? I mean it says low cost. That has to be my family. NOPE! The USDA says my family should be spending $930.80 a month. According to them Hubby and I should be spending $489.50. Just the 2 of us. That is more then we spend for all 4 of us.
Last chance USDA. The Thrifty Plan. I am definitely thrifty. I shop sales, I use coupons, I cook from scratch. I am the definition of thrifty. NOPE! They say we should be spending $708.70 for their cheapest plan. That is the lowest they go. They have no other plans. Not super thrifty or thrifty to the extreme.
I often look at my grocery budget and try to find ways to cut it down. Do I really need to spend $400 a month on food? That is $100 a month for each of us. We eat very well. We have meat almost every day of the week. We eat steaks and seafood. I buy cookies and ice cream and chips. My pantry and freezers have all of these items. I even buy soda. So I often question could I do better? How low can I go? I do not want to deprive my family from anything. I want us to eat well but still have treats.
So, if you are single can you do it too? I do buy large quantities for certain foods: 20 pounds of rice, 10 pounds of dry beans. That might take a single person a long time to eat. So I will tell you about my oldest daughter. Her grocery budget is $125 a month. She does not eat red meat. She does eat poultry and seafood. She includes food, paper products, and hygiene. She works full time and does side hustle jobs. She cooks most of her own food. Rarely does she eat out. She brings food with her to work always. Yet she spends $125 a month. The Liberal Plan says she should spend $324.50 down to the Thrifty Plan at $163.20. She has no problem spending less then what the USDA thinks she should.
So which plan are you on? Do you even spend as much as any of the plans? Did you think that the USDA is crazy with their plan prices like I do? I would love to know what you spend and how many people are in your family.
That’s crazy. My husband and I spend about 45.00 a week and we eat well.
ReplyDelete$45 a week is amazing. I don't know where the USDA gets their numbers from. I understand prices are different in different parts of the country but their numbers are crazy.
DeleteI don't trust those numbers at all. They seem ridiculously inflated. Is this because the USDA also oversees the government food assistance programs? The higher the #'s, the more people who qualify? (I am not saying this is true, just thinking out loud.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. How can you call a plan thrifty and low cost when neither one is.
DeleteYou already know what I spend a month on food/toiletries-$400. At least that is my target. USDA March chart says I "should" be spending $676.20 per mo. for the Thrifty(cheapest)Plan for our age/family. I assume that would be eating a whole lot of basic cheap in cost foods.
ReplyDeleteMy first inclination is to say, "When has anything the government said/done ever been accurate?!". lolz
We eat well and often here on $400 and that $400 of spending includes TP, household cleaners, laundry needs, HBAs, OTC meds, etc. Dog products and Rxs not included.
Most folks have NO CLUE what they spend on food per year because THEY DON'T KEEP TRACK OF THEIR SPENDING! Period.
i try to talk to people I work with about their budgets and they look at me crazy. They have no clue what they spend. I did convert one of the young ladies. I showed her what she had spent one month on take-out, eating out and coffees. She spent over $600. She now keeps a budget and is paying off some debt.
DeleteI was hoping that you were going to go into this subject as I think it is good to compare what we are all spending.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that governments should put the surveys in thrifty women or men and also get some advice from us too.
In the USA farmers are heavily subsidised by the government to produce food which keeps the affordability of food manageable there in most cases versus here in Australia where farmers receive no government subsidies making food far more expensive to purchase here compared to the States. Our wages here are also higher than in the USA as well.
The average grocery spend per family of 2 up to 50 in our family according to ASIC is $956 per month in 2016 so I will add 20% to that for today's prices bringing that to $1147.20 per month.
We spend in our 2 adult household $345 per month including our gardening budget, food, paper goods and hygiene and another $15 per month for cat food. Comparing that to USDA where even on the super thrifty grocery expense category which says $382.00 USD converted to AUD$ of $477.50 per month.
Like yourself our grocery spend is way under the recommended grocery expenditure in both cases.
There are a few ways we keep our grocery costs so low which are -
- We grow all our own vegetables, berries and herbs and buy very few because of this.
- All our meals are cooked from scratch and preserve garden produce by blanching and freezing and dry our homegrown herbs.
- When shopping we purchase all of our basic staples in large quantities which is far cheaper and we have a few wholesale places for groceries online we deal with as well also far cheaper than the supermarkets.
- We compare prices and buy what we can when we find 25 - 50% off specials and clearances.
There is so many ways to save money on groceries if you put your mind to it. Like yourself we eat very well and don't go without and we do buy some convenience foods such as chocolate, crackers, soft drinks and a few others.
Sewingcreations15
The USA does subsidize our farmers. Some of them barely survive. I was reading that the government makes the farmers destroy crops sometimes if they over produce. Breaks my heart.
DeleteYou should give classes on how to reduce your grocery bill. You would save a lot of people a lot of money.
Thank you for your encouragement :).
DeleteYes I have read that too that farmers have to destroy crops if they over produce in the US as well. They have what is known as a quota system where each farm is given a certain quantity of what they can produce of each crop to go into the marketplace. This stops certain products flooding the market and prices dropping due to an oversupply of any produce.
I live in a country farming area here, and there are farmers destroying their crops as well as their major market is the major supermarkets. The supermarkets demand a certain shape, size and weight and if their crop is not to their standard I have heard of farmers just plowing their crops into the ground or killing it with weed killer. I hate to say it a lot of people won't eat vegetables unless they are perfect looking as that is what they always see in the shops (market conditioning). As most gardeners know a slightly bent carrot tastes exactly the same as a perfect looking one :).
We have received whole boxes of produce free here in this way through friends and farmers.
Any excess should be given to the poor or to charities as there are so many people going without food and living in such poverty in the world. Latest statistics here in Australia is that 1 in 5 families parents are going without meals to feed their children or those without children are simply going without some meals due to affordability issues. That is truly shameful statistics in a supposedly developed country and I hope this attitude of waste by governments and major supermarkets changes for the better.
Sewingcreations15.
You should see some of the funny looking veggies I grow, 2 and 3 legged carrots, weird shaped squash and ugly tomatoes. They all tasted wonderful and that is all that matters. That is wonderful that you get free food that way. I would happily take it for free. I don't understand why they don't give it away. They could always give it to a pig or chicken farm. Animals don't care what it look like. Such a waste in so many ways.
DeleteI also live in a high COL area. I budget $400/month for the two of us. How well we do with this budget depends on how often my Hubs is home as he travels extensively for a living. Our budget would likely be less if not for some of the pre-packaged food items Hubs takes with him to keep away-from-home his costs lower.
ReplyDeleteI buy convenience foods too. My son sometimes runs from work to school. He grabs the tuna packets. It is cheaper to buy a larger can but if he doesn't think to make it before he leaves for work he will just grab something. In the long run it saves us money. Hubby just treated himself to a box of cookies at BJs. They have smaller packs inside. He keeps them in his desk drawer. There are 24 packs for $7.99. His job has a vending machine with the same packs of cookies for a $1 a pack. Would it be cheaper to make the cookies at home? Yes, but this way he has them in his desk if he forgets to bring them.
DeleteI think the numbers seem high, but you have to understand they have to factor in people who live in "food deserts" without transportation to and from larger markets and don't have the options to cherry pick stores, so they get to pay the jacked up prices in the convenience stores near them. They also don't have the space for long term food storage, or the option of growing their own, or the time saving appliances to cook form scratch.
ReplyDeleteIt is very easy for all of us to assume everyone's circumstances are similar to whatever our own situation is, because our own is the only one we truly understand. But in reality everyone's normal is different. If you don't believe me ask some of the kids who have only one meal a day and it is the one the school serves. I volunteer quarterly to pack weekend food packs that are given out on Friday afternoons so kids have shelf stable foods to eat over the weekend.
I volunteer for the PTA and my church. I know there are plenty of kids and adults that go hungry everyday. That is one of the reasons that wasted food pisses me off. The government makes all these rules and regulations and kids aren't getting food that is then going in the garbage. The politicians never go to bed hungry. I have seen first hand seniors that have to pick their medications or food. Seniors that will use junk mail for toilet paper because they can't afford it. There is no reason for Americans to be hungry. We have plenty of food, the politicians are not getting the food to the people that need it.
DeleteI thought the high prices might be because of places like Alaska and Hawaii, harder to get the food to.
I'm in the greater Chicago area (I live in the suburbs and commute downtown for work), and the "food desert" problem is real. Take, for example, a single mother who works full time, lives in an inner-city area that has more affordable housing, relies on public transportation, and the nearest real full-fledged grocery store is miles away. What she may have available in the neighborhood is a corner "quick shop" 7-11 type store that sells the staples (milk, bread, a few canned goods, pop, cookies and donuts, along with grab-and-go foods, candy, liquor, and cigarettes -- little-to-no fresh produce or meats, other than pre-packaged cold cuts, and all at an inflated "convenience store" price point. Gardening is limited in the inner-city, with poor soil and those who rent may be prohibited from doing so. Shopping the sales and stocking up are problematic, even if done on the weekend -- particularly if you have to carry everything home on a bus or train. It's a real issue in many of the metropolitan areas.
DeleteMy sister lives in NYC. My oldest lived there for 6 months. She now lives in Baltimore. She does not have a car. She relies on friends with a car, buses and her feet. I understand that people make choices for convenience. I do too sometimes. I just can't see a family of four spending over $1400 a month on groceries. I would love to hear from those people. Learn where they are and what they are eating.
DeleteSeveral years ago I did research about how they got those figures. Representatives create a grocery list of food based on the government food pyramid for each age group. It is assumed that all food is cooked at home and bought without a sale or coupons. The grocery list is called a market basket. The cost of the foods in the market basket is taken from each state including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean islands. The costs are then averaged together to get the final amount. The market basket data is gathered every five years. To update it they use the rate of inflation and do new calculations.
ReplyDeleteFood costs way more in the outer states than in the inner 48 states because of shipping costs and distance traveled. Food is trucked from the farm to the processing center where its packaged and trucked to a shipping port. The food is then loaded onto a ship for the long journey to an outer state. More perishable foods go by airplane. Once the food arrives it is unloaded from the ship or plane and trucked to a distribution point to begin a journey by truck or airplane to small towns and villages. When you consider all those shipping costs figured into the market basket averages then the costs are going to be much higher.
For example; I have grand kids living in a small village in Alaska. A gallon of milk sells for between $6 and $12 depending on time of year and weather conditions. A single small bell pepper sells for $5 if any are available. Fresh eggs are 50 cents each. Many other fresh foods we take for granted are not even available where they live. The people in the village use a lot of dehydrated food. I believe the same higher costs are in the other outer states.
I did think places like Alaska and Hawaii were part of the reason for such high costs. Thank you for explaining it.
DeleteThanks Na Na for explaining that and it makes sense now the higher grocery government recommendations as I don't live in the United States.
DeleteWe have similar areas or food deserts here in Australia where there are small country towns who's prices are extortionate due to high freight costs and only 1 small country convenience store to buy from or cities where most live in high rise apartments and can grow little food.
Also we have to take into consideration seasonal prices and the fact that a lot of farmers recently have lost crops around the world to heat, droughts, floods, pests and so forth. We are currently facing shortages on wheat and most recently butter due to fewer dairy farms here and other products around the world.
Most countries also don't produce a lot of their own food and rely heavily on imported goods which increases the cost of food with one coming to mind is the UK and also Australia as lets face it we are one big island :). IMHO all countries need to keep their manufacturing and food production in their countries and not take them to overseas countries and not privatise essential services of power, water etc to ensure food and essential services security.
Sewingcreations15.
Great topic! I'm so glad you started the conversations.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to reply to the comments from anonymous and Anne but the reply buttons didn't work for me. I agree with Anne not everyone has access to several stores for cherry picking food or taking advantage of sales. The one store you might find in a desert has much higher prices due to theft and deliberate damages to building or property.
I was told that most farms are very willing to donate food left in the fields. Its known as a "second harvest" but the reason it doesn't is because there are not enough volunteer workers to go harvest it or a means to transport it for distribution to food banks. Plowing it under to become compost is their only alternative. That could be prevented if they simply planted less. Think of it this way, we can only buy what is there for us to buy. If all carrots are mis-shaped no one would hesitate buying them. Or, if mis-shaped carrots are selling for one fourth the cost of the pretty carrots people will buy those first. Just look at how fast discounted produce disappears off the shelves. Apparently someone doesn't care if there are bad spots or its not pretty.
My personal opinion is that telling us people won't buy bruised fruit or ugly produce is a bunch of hooey forced on us by the top once percent.
I agree. I am happy to buy misshaped fruit and veggies. I just cut around the bad spots. If the government wanted to they could get it to work. Get unemployed people to go to the fields (being paid of course) so now they are working even temporally. Ship the food where it needs to go, supporting out trucking industry. Even if they give to to public schools for the kids to take home. Someone would be happy to take it.
DeleteSome farmers are barely making end meet. They cannot afford to do this but the government absolutely could. They just don't want to bother doing it. It is easier for them to give out money. I know several underemployed people that want to work more, if they were given the option too.