How cheap do your meals average at?

I'm trying to push down the average cost of a meal. One other plus besides having heavier pockets is that your diet tends to become healthier when you're not forking out for shite frozen meals. I have cerial or porridge for breakfast: You get whopping bags of house brand oats for under a pound that last a couple of weeks. Cerial for £2 lasts about one week, but is worth it for a change.

For dinner I go for bread with cheese and/or ham. Salami too as a luxury. Small French sticks for about 30p which are good for 2 days, £2 block of cheese can last a week, depending on other uses, and the ham depends on what you go for. You can get the better stuff for £2, again lasting a week.

For tea I still rely on packaged food a little because I'm only just getting into cooking for myself, though cheap pasta or potato based meals are one easy option. As I'm more and more acquainted with the kitchen I should be eating better and more varied food, for less.

Generally I'm learning to begrudge paying over a pound for a single meal, which in perspective is not bad since I'm used to living on frozen pizzas and curries and shit, which could be £2 a pop, sometimes more. On and no more fast food or take-aways thanks.

Around 10 USD (five pounds+-) a meal, but thats when I eat outside, when I cook (or someone cooks for me) it's cheaper, I eat mainly fast food, and I'm a fat fuck who must eat near the point of throwing up, so It's never cheap.

Breakfast - about 3-4 dollars
Lunch - about 3-7 (depends on what the cafe has on the grill...otherwise, I just get a slice of pizza and a banana)
Dinner - Varies...Subway runs me about $7, but I can eat microwave slop and Cup O'Noodles for a meal for around $2. If I go out, I rarely get anything over $10 (normally a burger or one of those cheap Fridays entrees) unless it's sushi (which I do maybe once or twice a month)

Then average a pair of $2 energy drinks in there somewhere everyday and some snacks.

Breakfast is usually just a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit; so that's maybe $1 since I always buy my cereal when it's 5/$10 or at Costco.

Lunch is pretty cheap since it's a sandwich with some meat and a slice of cheese. Right now my girlfriend and I get by on $2.50 for bread for a week, $6 for meat for the week, and $2 for cheese for the week. Then maybe $2.50 worth of pretzels or something. So that works out to around $13 for both of us for the week.

Dinner I like to make food that creates a lot of leftovers, and the cost of me cooking something for myself can go from $3-$5 depending on how many ingredients, what kind of dinner, and how cheap I was able to nab the meat/veggies for.

Getting by on less than $10/day isn't that difficult for me.

Originally Posted by Kolba

I'm trying to push down the average cost of a meal. One other plus besides having heavier pockets is that your diet tends to become healthier when you're not forking out for shite frozen meals.

That's horse shit. Eating healthy here costs me an arm and a leg. Especially if you're looking for sale items, buying frozen food or that otherwise loaded with preservatives is hella cheap. Whereas buying greens or even fruits and veggies in general gets you basically no bang for your buck, calorie-wise, but they're absolutely essential.

But here are a few tips anyway. Stick with your fatty meats and eggs for protein. Those are things you'll eat later in the day, and trust me when I say eggs especially are a miracle food nurtititon-wise. Definitely go with the big bag of steel-cut oats, that's a great breakfast food. I would still try to get some greens, like broccoli or spinach, because they'll help fill you up and they're just incredibly good for you. If I had to, I could live on that stuff day in, day out.

I eat small meals in between days so that should roughly be about $2.

I work at a food based restaurant so I eat for free there, that usually covers my lunch and sometimes dinner. if you are asking for a price then around $10.

I eat many small meals and sometimes large meals but that's rare with my job.

I don't eat breakfast. My lunch is either a home made sandwich or a meal outside school. If me and my friends feel like it, we can walk to a small shop. A rice meal with a drink would be about al little more than a dollar. Closer to school, some meals would be around $2. If end up needing to eat dinner at school I usually just don't eat. The prices are not really exact since currency here is peso.

Breakfast: I buy 10oz orange juice bottles in bulk at Sams Club and take those to work, then eat whatever snack food I've got around (trail mix, rice cakes, etc). Probably spend around $1 total.

Lunch: There is no cheap food downtown, and the length of my commute on the train makes it impractical to bring my lunch. Thus, lunch runs me $6-$8.

Dinner: I try to cook on Sunday night, then heat up leftovers or frozen food (like chicken nuggets) during the week. Total cost is probably $3-$4 a meal. I usually eat out for dinner once or twice a week (Friday almost always), so that brings the cost up some.

i used to spend quite a bit on food, but nowadays, i don't.
breakfast: poptarts. delicious. what, 3 bucks a box? lol. that or cereal found about the house...
lunch: no such thing as cheap food where i work, BUT i get a delicous discount of 30 percent (ORGANIC FOODZ!!). usually about 4 bucks.
dinner: I forget to eat this most of the time, but when i do, i cook something delicous. sadly, a lot of the stuff isn't cheap :| especially those vegetarian stuff...so maybe like 5 bucks?
oh the joy of living at home but my parents refuse to buy me my vegetarian stuff, so i have to spend my own money on that =|

Lessee.....

In the mornings, before class I generally stop by McDonald's to get a bagel sandwich and iced vanilla coffee, so that totals to about $5.49
In the afternoons, after class, I generally stop by corridor coffee and get a frozen blended mocha, and that generally costs me about $3.28
In the evenings, I eat whatever is in my mother's kitchen, so that's free. ^-^

I usually always have breakfast from home. For lunch, anywhere from $2-5 is typical for a sandwich or a single meal from a fast food place. I've always had dinner at home, but even if I do end up eating out, the price doesn't usually pass $10.

I don't eat breakfast. Lunch costs about 3 dollars. I usually go to MCD, BK, or taco bell, and order from the 1 dollar value meal. I do the same thing for dinner..or if I get bored with them, then I buy some cheap Chinese food for 5 dollars. I'll probably die early =P

Breakfast - Usually a type of cereal bar, $3 a box for 10 of them, $.30 a day on average. Sometimes I'll eat some cereal with milk.

Lunch - Depends. Most of the times I'd eat leftovers if I'm at home which would probably be $2ish but if I'm on campus, I'll buy lunch at $5 - $7.

Dinner - Sometimes expensive. I might go out with some friends and eat at a restuaurant so that'll throw my average off. But if I'm by myself and I cook, Probably around $3 - $4 a meal (A pound of chicken $2, some vegetables $.50 to $1.50, rice $.50). If I eat out by myself, it's usually $10.

Eating out near my house is expensive and I usually do so since I live by myself. But I cook from time to time to try to keep it cheap and healthy. My food budget should be around $10 a day but I probably average $10-$15 from day to day.

Jesus Christ the average conception of what constitutes healthy eating in this thread is depressing

"I just eat porridge everyday that means I'm healthy". Who the FUCK eats porridge, is this 1640? You need to supplement that with some hardtack and salted beef!

"Eggs: Nature's Balm To The Arteries"

But yeah, probably around $3/meal average, weighted heavily toward dinner

US$10? Damn, that's an expensive dinner, even for a solo meal. I used to be an advocate of porridge, low GI and soluble fibre and all, but any non-kids cereal (esp. muesli, God!) does me fine now. Sure it's a cold brekky, but that's what a mug of hot chocolate right after is for. Lunch is more often than not a lazy baked beans and eggs on toast, perhaps some fruit if I've got any. Afternoon tea is something random from soup to muesli bars to rice crackers (the tasty ones, not the crap 'low-fat' varieties), or else another bowl of cereal if I'm hitting the gym. Dinner is a bunch of veges (Broccoli>Spinach>Frozen Mix), about 150g of chicken, beef or pork fillet/mince/whatever's on special, and a hearty bowl of rice cooked in chicken broth (fcking awesome).

So that's about NZ$8-10 err, US$5 or less? Outside eating means dinner costs about $10 over here and quite filling if the right dish (more veges, less meat) is chosen. Of course, I throw money away quite easily for little luxury items like roasted almonds and random bakery muffins and such which cost the nearly the same as my daily budget! Heh.

I eat twice a day, five dollars a meal on average. It's a pretty unhealthy but delicious combo. 10 dollars a day is also a great way to keep down on food costs.

Seriously, some of you kids don't eat ANYTHING. I need to EAT when I'm hungry. That's why I gave up on eating at home. I'm not going to eat at home unless I get a satisfying meal, and living off of porridge and Cup o' Noodles is probably just as unhealthy ANYWAY and and completely non-fulfilling.

Originally Posted by CLOudkiller

I work at a food based restaurant

Really? 'Cuz I work at a hardware-based restaurant and they don't give us shit to eat, just hammers and discount lumber.

Originally Posted by Hachifusa

I need to EAT when I'm hungry. That's why I gave up on eating at home.

Does your place have a kitchen?

lunch is usually around $4-6cdn

dinner can be $5-25 depending on the occasion