Lets start this series with groceries.
Mention eggs to a USA citizen right now and you are more than likely going to get into a fight. Why? MAGA lies and everyone else trying to hold them accountable (pay attention to the last sentence in this article). Why is this relevant? Because unemployment is still rampant in the USA and food prices are still astronomically high. So please keep that in mind while reading this.
While speaking to people outside of the USA, most of them have two generalized stereotypes of food in the average USA family. You either eat super healthy and fresh or super processed and quick. And while that isn’t wrong, it grinds me the wrong way because it mostly used to be a choice.
For this post, I built a 6 day meal plan. 3 meals a day. For 2 people. No snacks, protein shakes, side dishes, or desserts. The 7th day of the week would be used for leftovers. Using the Samsung Food App (I love this thing) I created a simple meal plan and grocery list. No crazy expensive dinners. No organic considerations. Just what would be seen as an “average” meal living in our previous economy.
The total? ~$544. For 7 days of meals. That would be the grocery budget for 1 week for 2 people.
Now lets head to the other end of the spectrum. Microwave meals for lunch, breakfast sandwiches, frozen family meals, children’s vitamins (to try and compensate for the lack of nutrition), and 12 packs of ramen.
The total? ~$122. (I am using the Samsung App to create a grocery list at Kroger for both of these btw). Again, just two people for this.
Putting it all together that would mean $2,177 a month for healthy and fresh and $488 a month for cheap and quick. Remember, this is without coffee, tea, snacks, desserts, candy, etc. Just 3 meals a day. It averages to $1,333.
Now take the two salaries from our Income post and add these in.
The Average USA Salary (monthly net pay) $3,919 – $1,333 = $2,586 remaining
The Average Software Engineer Salary (monthly net pay) $6,710 – $1,333 = $5,377 remaining
So what does that mean for your Apartment budget?
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