Food Budget

[HungLikeJesus]

There's a wide range in freezer efficiency, but it probably costs between $150 and $200 per year in electricity for a typical 16 to 20 cubic foot chest freezer.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

There's a wide range in freezer efficiency, but it probably costs between $150 and $200 per year in electricity for a typical 16 to 20 cubic foot chest freezer.

plus the initial cost of the second freezer...

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

There's a wide range in freezer efficiency, but it probably costs between $150 and $200 per year in electricity for a typical 16 to 20 cubic foot chest freezer.

a 20 CF freezer is fucking enormous. Those figures are also for older freezers. A new energy star 22cf freezer uses about 500kwh per year. We pay .05 per kwh that's $25 a year.

We actually have a 14CF freezer and it uses something like 375kwh /yr we keep it full (more efficient) and in the basement where the temp is between 50f-70f all year.

[xoxoxoBruce]

5 cents is cheap, too.

[monster]

Originally Posted by classicman

plus the initial cost of the second freezer...

which is also barely significant, given how long they last.

- - - -


Seems to me like a whole lot of people* got a whole lot of excuses for spending too much on food. Which is fine, your money, your choice. My point was merely that it's possible to eat well on a grocery bill of that size. Maybe not everywhere and maybe not when you have special dietary needs, but your average family in an average cookie-cutter neighborhood in average suburb can do it, so I see no reason to disbelieve that that is the average a family spends on food.

(*not necessarily posters here and no individual is targeted by this comment, I have no idea who shops in bulk and who owns a chest freezer and I'm assuming those pointing out the downsides of this approach are more about playing devil's advocate than defending their personal habits mmmmkay)

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're proof it can be done. The question of the 13.1% being average, I'm not so sure. I'm not even convinced $50,302 is the average income, I'd have to look that one up. Or maybe it's average for the sample group?