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Comment by adrian_b | Hacker News Reader

It is easy to spend EUR 400 for the monthly food, or even much more, if you buy industrially-processed food and various kinds of food that are tasty, but which are expensive and unnecessary.

Nevertheless, not only in Romania, but probably in most countries of the European Union, a human can spend for food only between EUR 100 and EUR 150 per month, while still eating very healthy food, with the condition of cooking at home and buying only raw ingredients. Even the industrially-made bread is at least 3 to 4 times more expensive than the bread made at home. For other kinds of food, the price ratio between buying and making at home is even greater.

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So at most 5 euros per day you say? maybe only if you eat lentils or something idk.

2 eggs = .8 euro

250ml milk = .8 euro

300g chicken breast = 2 euro

1 large tomato = .8 euro

150g cheap cold cuts = 1 euro

I'm already at 5.4 euro and that's not even 2000 calories, add butter, olive oil, other vegetables, bread and you easily reach 8-9 euro per day and I bet Romania is at least 20% cheaper than most EU countries

So please englighten us, give me a menu that's 2k calories, has some animal protein in it and costs less than 5 euros

Buy frozen vegetables, salmon (20€/kg), bio eggs and milk at 1.25 to 2€/L. Add some bread from the baker, whole grain noodles, oats for breakfast and maybe get cheese every once in a while. Vegetable oil, nut oil and whole nuts complete what you need. Spices are bought in bunch and mixed up at home. For some greens you can have mint and herbs on any windowsill for <2€.

I don't eat out, never eat processed food, cook all myself and have a hard time (germany) hitting 150€ a month, so 5€ a day is totally doable. Don't get me wrong, it's hard to know what you can buy, but Stiftung Warentest is your friend and a book about medical nutrition at university level will make sure you don't buy from advertisement.

Is food in your country/area that expensive? I live in an expensive city in the middle of Europe and get most of those things for half the price in a normal supermarket. If I optimize for sales and seasons, I even get cheaper prices, while still have a divers healthy diet. Even more so if I buy in bulk and prepare in advance. But to be fair, it would demand more time and knowledge, which is not for everyone.

We are family of 2 adults and 1 child. We spend very easily 400 (and more) per month. We don't buy any processed food. We cook at home. 90% of time. Some weekends we go out for a single lunch or dinner. We live in Czech republic. We rarely buy "bio" (or "organic" depending on where you live) food.

150/mo? Even if I buy from my neighbors (who grow only for themselves but have overage) I cannot do that. Growing myself, yes. I live in a tiny village in portugal.

I spend way more than 100/week in food for two people. To spend less than a quarter of that I would have to scale down or remove fruit, vegetables, meat or fish from the menu. Probably would have to eat pasta and rice with some sauces all the time which isn't healthy at all. And I'm in Portugal, not the most expensive place in Europe by a long shot.

> a human can spend for food only between EUR 100 and EUR 150 per month

Try that in Croatia, you'll soon be dead or at least severely malnourished.

Good luck doing that in Portugal, 100 € will be food for one week.

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