I dunno. Even when I was making minimum wage, groceries never seemed like a significant part of my budget. I never understood people trying to save 10c to get, like, the cheapest mustard possible. Compared to the big expenses (rent) food was really a small percentage of a budget, especially if you avoid stocking up on meat or alcohol.
I remember being much more frustrated by friends trying to drag me out to eat at restaurants or throwing away food. Like, one sit down meal was worth three days of groceries!
On a really tight budget, the kind of food makes a difference. I used to be living on about 150 USD food budget a month in college (non-us). You can bet I used to eat _a lot_ of rice.
Living on your own vs. having a family (even just a spouse) makes a huge difference here. Feeding just-yourself vs. feeding yourself-plus-others can make the difference between "Groceries are at the bottom of my expense list" and "groceries are my second-biggest monthly expense".
I remember being much more frustrated by friends trying to drag me out to eat at restaurants or throwing away food. Like, one sit down meal was worth three days of groceries!
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