Lately, my weekly grocery budget has been on my mind. I realized that when I moved from Berkeley to Austin I was forced to increase my budget because there were not as many cheap fresh food options, and again when I moved further east (now I am in Florida), I have had to increase my budget.
I mentioned to one of my coworkers that I spend at the most about $30 on groceries for the week (not including eating out, which I don't do every week). He was very surprised that I could live on such a small budget, but I tend to eat a lot of cheap things (rice, beans, pasta) and make most food from scratch and from my garden (I made pesto last night with my own basil, yum!), so I also mostly buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
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This is an interesting take on the cost of a weeks worth of groceries for families around the world. I was surprised by the small amounts many of them need, and also shocked by the huge amounts of food many people buy (how many 2-liter bottles of coke can you drink in a week?). But mostly it was very interesting to compare the different types of foods that are purchased. The commentary says that in Ecuador they eat guinea pig, and ice cream sundaes were invented in America (so it's a societal pressure that is making me love ice cream...I'm ok with that). Further, the percentage of the purchase (space wise at least) that consists of beverages if pretty ridiculous; beer, soda, tequila. The poorer families did not make beverage purchases.
I can't speak to the authenticity of the stories associated with each picture (they got the pictures from many different sources but seem to be able to comment about details of the individuals in the pictures), but it still made me think about what I'm buying and how much I'm spending.
Also, the website (http://likes.com/chrisnhr/what-a-week-of-groceries-looks-like-around-the-world?) has lots of ads and things that are pretty annoying, so just ignore that.
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