I grew up in a decidedly lower-class family (at least as concerns income) and my parents would have been able to afford $130 a year. Of course the kind of financial discipline that lets you save money while on unemployment benefits/working a low-income job makes it quite unlikely to spend it all on a single meal.
I'm fairly certain that a middle-class family would be able to afford a $130 meal if they really wanted, it's just that they don't feel like they are getting more enjoyment than 4 $30 meals would provide, and that's OK. Don't pretend that middle-class people have no money to spend, when in reality they just have none left over after spending it on all kinds of things.
Almost all middle class families can afford a $130 meal once or twice a year. It's really just about what else they're giving up. Think about how many "middle class" families own Harley motorcycles - and those things are inflated money sinks, similar to a boat, ATV+trailer, RV, lifted truck, or dirtbag travel habit. Most "middle class" families can afford one toy. On that scale, $130 even once a month is quite affordable.
The lower middle class can afford decent food, just some of them don’t want to eat within their means or aren’t cost conscious.
Actually I think innumeracy is a big problem for a lot of people with low incomes. I have a relative who I suspect is innumerate and it’s both fascinating and sad when you get insight into their budgeting/estimation abilities.
$2100/mo to feed 3 people is ridiculous. You can feed 3 people on $750/mo.
$700/mo/person is $7.65 per meal, which is quite reasonable. $250/mo/person is about $2.70 per meal, which is not.
"In 2005, sociologists William Thompson and Joseph Hickey estimate an income range of roughly $35,000 to $75,000 for the lower middle class and $100,000 or more for the upper middle class."[0]
In 2018 dollars, that's $44,800 to $96,000 for lower middle class and $128,000 for upper middle class.
Unless someone is starving, spending more on food as income rises is discretionary. A proper food budget is stable, it should not change as someone earns more money.
As someone who ate well on minimum wage, you’re not going to convince me low-income families can’t afford food in America if they’re properly budgeting.
We almost never eat out (we like to cook). I have two kids. Our monthly isn't $1000, but it will easily shoot well over $500 if we don't keep meal-plan-discipline. I totally believe a typical middle class family comes close to $1000/mo on food and food-related expenses.
My point is a family of 4 can easily spend $50 at the grocery store for 12 meals in a day without being exorbitant.
And that’s assuming the two working adults are brown-bagging it at lunch every day and not eating out lunch with team members at least a couple times a week.
So $70/day gives you room to eat out as a family maybe once a week, not daily. (No way a family with a 2 and 4 year old are doing that, but that’s kinda besides the point)
Of course there are people who claim they eat like a king for $5/day. And I don’t doubt it’s possible, but I doubt it’s common for a middle class family of 4 living in the city who are probably paying Amazon to deliver their groceries.
There's a difference between a family that wouldn't consider spending $130 each on a meal for two because they'd rather spend that money on a weekend break for two or a meal for five and a family that couldn't afford to spend $260 on a leisure pursuit though
How much of the middle class can afford to routinely eat at restaurant prices, especially now that many people are stuck at home with their families, thus changing the opportunity cost of cooking?
An extra $0.50 per meal (less than what you are saying and not just for a topping) equates to an extra $500/year per person. Either you did not grow up as low income as you think you did or your family made sacrifices to keep maple syrup on the table. I knew many families that could not afford a new Xbox for their kids. You are literally saying that an Xbox per person per year is not a large amount of money for a low income family. I don't think we'll agree on that.
You can be above the poverty line and still be poor. Based on the document you posted, you qualify for reduced-priced meals if your family of four lives on $44,955 per year or $865 per week.
If I understand the article correctly, more than half of public school students come from families poorer than that. Wow.
Yup. Food has never in history been cheaper as a proportion of total income. Especially if one person stays home to cook all meals, you can feed a family of four with amazing food for $200 a month.
Yes, you need to move out of Manhattan, and give up non-essentials, but a single person on full-time minimum wage can easily feed and house a family of four. Now if that person actually makes an _average_ wage, they can also afford a car, vacations, and college for the kids (they will get good financial aid at that income level).
It's not the finances, it's the societal expectation.
I ate plenty well as a grad student on $120 a month. If that’s $127/person that’s plenty for just food. If that’s $127 for a family of 3 that’d be rough.
Food @ $1000?! Maybe if you eat out every day...Most American families would laugh at this. If you cook at home and plan properly, you can easily feed a family on far less.
I am currently poor (for an American). I do not really buy cheap food. Good quality food is my single biggest expense. It keeps me out of the ER (where I am supposed to practically live, given my medical condition). I do this even though I routinely run short on funds at the end of the month and this sometimes means fasting for a day or so or simply being short-rationed the last week. Going hungry part of the time harms my health less than eating crap all of the time.
People are people first and foremost and their current economic/social class is not the only determiner of their lifestyle choices.
> "Lots of families in our study cooked almost every night, in part because it was the cheapest option. But when their cupboards ran bare, they ate ramen and hot dogs, not a pan of roast chicken and vegetables, as food gurus recommend. Mothers said that if they had more money, they'd buy fresh fruit for their kids, but this was just an occasional splurge, not an everyday reality. Even the more financially stable middle-class mothers in our study talked about making trade-offs between the foods they wanted to buy for their families and the foods they felt they could afford."
Chicken, veggies and potatoes, as well as the grill, all cost money. The grill especially. That's a large initial investment - yes, you can buy a cheap grill, but then you have to buy the propane, and the food that comes off it going to be much harder to get palatable.
My mother said her 1958 cookbook she got as a wedding gift suggested that 'budget conscious' (meaning poor) housewives could consider cheaper types of meat like salmon.
My ex's family if I can tell were immediately descended from impoverished sharecroppers. Grandma picked tobacco when she was a little girl. Her family when they had money ate badly cooked steak a couple of times a week. Definitely a class thing. My family being pretty much solidly middle class and from California that sort of thing just wasn't.
People of all income groups in the US seem to have problems living within their means.
My co-worker and I were talking about how much we spend on groceries per week, and it turns out they spend about twice as much as we do (and we could cut some corners). I'm sure my mother spent half of what we spend.
She buys the big container of store brand oatmeal, we buy "better oats". My co-worker buys the cups of individually portioned servings.
My mother buys the store brand chocolate milk, we buy fairlife, my co-worker buys individual fairlifes.
$8 bottles of salad dressing, more expansive cuts of meat, $15 bags of frozen shrimp, it all adds up. And this is just groceries.
I am struggling to understand how not having enough money for food is possible in a first world country. You can feed yourself for about $1 a day per person with careful budgeting, or $30/month.
That is the equivalent of 3 hours of work at minimum wage in the UK, and if that is an amount an individual is unable to spare, then that person clearly qualifies for governmental assistance, especially one with three dependent children.
EDIT: See below comment for satisfying the calorie requirements on $1 a day, or consider that you can get 1 kg of rice for £0.45 which contains 3,650 calories.
I'm fairly certain that a middle-class family would be able to afford a $130 meal if they really wanted, it's just that they don't feel like they are getting more enjoyment than 4 $30 meals would provide, and that's OK. Don't pretend that middle-class people have no money to spend, when in reality they just have none left over after spending it on all kinds of things.
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