How much should I spend on food per month?
It depends on two things: your city, and whether you cook at home or eat out. Home cooking pays for ingredients; eating out pays for labor and rent. Drag the slider to see the gap — in most cities it is roughly 2×.
🧮 Estimate your monthly food budget
Pick a city, drag the “home cooking” slider, and compare cooking vs eating out.
Food / week
$135
cooking + eating out
Food / month
$579
1 people
Per day
$19
breakfast + lunch + dinner
🍳 Cooking vs eating out
Estimated from local grocery prices (New York City meat/eggs/veg/rice/milk); eating out ≈ 90% of typical local meal prices.
Weekly grocery reference (home cooking, one person)
| City | Groceries / day | Groceries / week |
|---|---|---|
| New York City | $18 | $128 |
| London | £14 | £99 |
| Tokyo | ¥1,845 | ¥12,915 |
| Singapore | S$17 | S$120 |
| Shanghai | ¥70 | ¥490 |
| Paris | €16 | €112 |
| Sydney | A$23 | A$158 |
Estimated from local chicken/eggs/rice/vegetables/milk prices for one person cooking at home; eating out typically runs 2–3× this.
How the estimate works
The home-cooking estimate breaks down one person’s daily plate by ingredients: ~150g meat or 1–2 eggs, 200g staples (rice or bread), 300g vegetables, and a glass of milk — priced at local rates. Eating out uses typical local breakfast/lunch/dinner prices.
The gap between the two is what cooking at home saves you each week or month — and routing that gap into savings is the most reliable way ordinary people build savings.
FAQ
- How much should one person spend on food per month?
- For a cooking-at-home diet, food typically runs 10–15% of income. Use the calculator above for a city-specific estimate — in mid-cost cities, cooking at home costs roughly half of eating out.
- Does cooking at home really save 50%?
- In most cities, yes. Restaurant prices bundle labor, rent, and margin — often 2–3× the raw ingredient cost. Weekly meal planning and batch cooking cut waste further.
- How do I set a weekly grocery budget?
- List the protein (meat/eggs/beans), staples (rice/bread), and vegetables each meal needs, then multiply by people and days. The “all home-cooked” row above uses local prices for that.
- What if I keep overspending my food budget?
- Three levers: cook more, shop weekly with a list to avoid impulse buys, and batch-cook with your freezer. SaveSmart Piggy suggests specific meals and recipes within your daily budget.
- How accurate is this calculator?
- It uses typical local grocery and meal prices across 14+ global cities (public data adjusted by a cost index). Treat it as a planning reference — supermarkets and seasons vary.
Turn what you save into savings
SaveSmart Piggy suggests meals within your daily budget — cooked or ordered — so the savings stick.
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