I'm right at the low-cost level for a single male age 19-50. Feels about right, I think I am very conscious of my grocery spending. How some of you end up below the thrifty level on a healthy diet I don't understand, although I'm sure it's partially reflected by the fact I pay NYC grocery prices.
I've been to NYC, lived in Montreal, and now live in a small town. In NYC, if you're shopping at chains, you'll be paying a HUGE premium. Try smaller ethnic grocery stores... in Montreal, I found that smaller places in Chinatown had really interesting vegetable options for super cheap, Mexican places have tortillas and beans and spices, and middle-eastern places tend to have interesting spices and staples... You kinda have to look outside the box.
For example, today's menu:
- Breakfast (for my husband, my daughter, me): a parfait of oatmeal (bought in bulk; we use about 1/2 cup each, so 0.12$), frozen blueberries (bought in 2kg bags; breakfast portion works out to 1.25$) and yogurt (1$, either bought in bulk at Costco when I'm lazy or made at home when I'm feeling it). Total cost for 2: 3.25$
- Lunch: For me: greek salad: tomatoes (about 1$ worth, Costco), 1/2 cucumber (0.50$, Costco), and feta cheese (the good stuff, because I'm spoiled: 2$). Made with homemade vinaigrette (lemon juice, dijon olive oil. I make it in bulk ever few weeks. Maybe 0.20$ for the ingredients?) My busband isn't a fan of the salad, so he had spinach salad (1/6 of the bag of spinach, 0.50$), vinaigrette, and eggs on toast (homemade bread and store-bought eggs, roughly 0.75$, and I'm estimating high). My daughter isn't home, but add an egg and a bit of pan-fried spinach and toast and she's happy. Another 0.50$, max, if she's there. Total cost: 4.85$
- Dinner (my husband, myself, and our child) pork and green bean stir-fry on rice. The green beans are from the garden, but would cost roughly 1$ at the grocery store. The pork loin was bought on sale and sliced into stir-fry slices and frozen (3$). Rice, and fixings for the stir-fry sauce... maybe another dollar? Max? Note that we get another meal for 3 out of that stir-fry. Total cost: 5$
Total bill for the day: 13.10$, with leftovers for another meal later this week.
If you assume that that represents our everyday food budget, we're hitting 390$/month. Add an extra 110$ for "extras": coffee, tea, fruity teas (they're decaf and make great iced teas that replace juice and are much healthier...), milk (for the kid, and for my morning latte: 2 gallons/week. 6.50$/gallon, because we're in Quebec. Enough said.), drinks (wine, beer, cocktail ingredients, etc)... You're still not hitting the thrifty budget. Add another kid, and we would, though.
In all honesty, though, this is a big food day. Thee greek salad is a once-a-week luxury. Usually, I'll have a salad with some hard-boiled eggs and tomatoes (and avocado, if I'm feeling luxurious). Or leftovers from dinner. Or soups and fresh bread. The parfait happens maybe once or twice a week... usually, we'll have toast and fruit (blueberries... both my daughter and I are big fans, and in bulk and frozen they're quite affordable), or oatmeal and fruit (dirt cheap, especially if your fruit is apples and cinnamon). Also if you make oatmeal from scratch it's so much cheaper, takes 5 minutes, and you can control the amount of sugar that goes into it.
For dinners: we have a lot of omelettes (with chives and cheese) and salads. Chickpea and peach curry from A Girl Called Jack is one of our standard meals, and tastes GREAT for dirt cheap. Chilli and cornbread, soups, tacos, etc... all cheaper or as cheap as that stir-fry, and you can make them pretty healthy.
(Of course, for us, the 2$ dinners are balanced out by 10$ dinners: salmon, roast duck, steak, etc. We're not deprived. We just balance out the money over multiple meals).
Hope that helps clarify things! :)