Comments on: Ask me anything #5 – New York City!

By: midtown creep

midtown creep — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:20:49 +0000

the trick to shopping for food in manhattan is to get a free ride to NJ and shop there – much much cheaper!

By: Sonyia

Sonyia — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:17:10 +0000

I live in Manhattan and am a recent transplant from Metro Detroit. I’ve been tracking food expenses there for over a year – ever since I knew we’d be moving here. You can pay about the same amount for groceries here as anywhere else. Prices are high right now but they are high everywhere. Try using your local greenmarkets for fresh produce and use freshdirect.com for cold/freezer staples and use http://www.amazon.com for dry goods and canned staples.

By: Steward

Steward — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:01:56 +0000

My wife and I spent about $160 on food in San Diego, which I tend to think is pretty good. We eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables (thank God for California sun) which are generally pretty inexpensive. Another important thing are staples – like rice, beans, etc. My guess what makes food in new york 45% more expensive is access to fresh fruits/vegetables and meats – not everyday items like Ritz crackers. I could be wrong, but I don’t think Ritz crackers change that much in price between major cities, but I guess I could be wrong.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:38:27 +0000

Hi Kim:

My family and I have just moved to Manhattan (Soho) from Atlanta (Midtown). I’m feeding 4 (husband, me, 6 yr old son, 3 yr old son).

I didn’t pay attention (at all) last month as we were moving, we ate out a ton and I still spent $1200 on groceries (that doesn’t include what we spent eating out)! Luckily my we were able to expense all the eating out – I shudder to think if we’d been footing that bill! I typically spend about $600 in Atlanta. I’m not a coupon clipper though I watch for BOGO sales at Publix, and I do buy primary whole grains and organic. My grass fed organic beef and pork source is my sister’s farm, so I certainly couldn’t do it on $600 if I was buying my meat at Whole Foods.

I did buy FAR FAR more convenience foods than I normally would and as smartypantsmoney mentioned I got really sucked into the gourmet thing. And oh, it was good!

I also had to restock a kitchen and I bought exclusively organic staples (Whole Foods). What I have noticed is the “regular” food is about 75% more expensive than Atlanta, but that organic is only slightly more than what I’d pay in Atlanta. Makes it far easier to justify buying organic – and there is so much more variety!

If you have the time the Union Square Farmer’s Market is definitely worth it! It runs Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat (with Wednesday being the “big” day) 8am – 6pm.

You can also check out: http://www.cenyc.org/ for other green food sources.

I’m hoping to keep my food costs under $1000, but I’m not sure if that is doable – meat is VERY expensive – and my kids and husband are big meat eaters. I see a lot of chicken in our future

By: smartypantsmoney

smartypantsmoney — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:57:17 +0000

I live in NYC and I find that if I am not careful, I end up spending a lot of money on grocery. I think one of the reasons is that since everything is so accessible, I can just walk on over to a grocery on my way home from the metro station if I want to, which I tended to do a lot. Also once you are in a grocery store, there are so many different options available to you. If you are not too careful, you end up buying a lot of “gourmet” type food. I do not include eating out in my grocery budget, but if you do, then your bill just sky rockets. Apart from eating out in a restaurant, take outs are so ubiquitous that it is horribly easy to feel lazy and just order a take out instead of toiling over small, cramped kitchen. Lunches are expensive too. If you buy lunch everyday, you easily can spend $50 on lunches alone a week.

I have noticed that if you menu plan and go grocery shopping with a list, it is quite possible to spend significantly less on food. I think it’s more of a life style choice. For me, some weeks I will diligently stick to menu planning and shopping with a list. Some weeks I am so stressed out, I will just order take out almost every day of the week. I plan to get better at it though. My goal is to be the best menu planner and the list shopper that I can possibly be.
I hope this is helpful.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:59:12 +0000

Hi!
I’m not in NYC, but about 25 miles north of it. I spend, on average, $75 a week on groceries for a family of 4. I an a hyper coupon shopper and stockpiler, and use a service, The Grocery Game, to help me maximize my food dollars. (let me know if you want more info on that!)

That being said, NYC is horrendously expensive, I think that it is reasonable to say that 25% of your income will go to food, unless you are super conservative. Good luck!