Food Cost Guide in New York

Rommel, tell me about food in New York.

It's a gastronomic capital of the world. So we have different dishes as I've mentioned, we have Indian cuisine, Italian, of course, Filipino, Chinese. We have the best steaks. So food is overflowing in New York.

We were in a conversation a month ago, we were talking about the food that we have in New York, there's just too much food. There's just too much. I would be attending a meeting with the company where I'm working at, so many foods. And if you go to a pantry, because every floor in the building where I work, we have one or two pantries, there's just too many food being served in there. I didn't know and even in the house, we keep buying food and we can bring food, but there's just too much. You never go hungry.

You can save a lot of money if you're in a work, even in the facilities where I was working before, 5 years, 10 years ago, there's just too much food. People keep bringing food, your supervisor be bringing food. There's just too many food so you'd never get the hungry in New York but if the cost, the real cost, if you would go to a grocery, it's also cheaper compared to other states. And I keep comparing that because we have Costco right. And they keep comparing that to an S&R in the Philippines. It's also almost like an a Costco, kind of grocery store and the prices here just rocketing, it's too much like a $400 cost of grocery for a week and that could be just $100 in Costco.

So if you have a family, what I can give us a tip, if you live in a family or in a group, you need to buy in Costco as a group. But if you're single, you don't really need to do groceries because there's too many food somewhere else in the world, anywhere else. And just for fun if you go to Bloomingdale's, which is very near my area. If you go to Bloomingdale's shop, like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, whatever day it is, there would be food. There would be giving food so there's just too many food in New York.

I don't think you get hungry and if you're living in a family, it would be cheaper because you'd be buying for the whole family you'll be cooking for the whole family. I think that's one of the advantages in living in New York. The food is cheaper compared to the housing I don't have the value but I think Kaye you have that.

When I was in New York, I would say with the inflation rate right now with our cost of food, I can sit down in an average restaurant and pay easily $25 like that in a restaurant. When you have family and kids right in our budget, we are near New York. We're not in New York City, but I work in New York City going back and forth here, so my average with a family - we cook, we buy food in BJs which is also a wholesaler like you said it's a Costco kind of thing.

Our budget here is around $150 Just for food alone, for food groceries. When you add like disposables, like paper towel, toiletry, so you're looking around $200 budget in here per week, you can live off with a family comfortably without buying food outside. Now if you buy food outside with a family right now that can easily be costing you for a family for be like around $100 easily because New York wants people to tip so that's one thing you forget about that.

You pay for taxes, and you're paying for a tip and tip here is average around 15% to 20%. Other places, they will say do you really have to give for tip? Well, yeah, it's a courtesy. It's a courtesy for the service or being served something, you give tip. If it affected your experience in that place, then yes, you give a tip. Take out? Not really because it's the kitchen, you know the kitchen. Delivery? Yes, because you will have to give the tip to the delivery person. So if you will have a have to account not only the food cost itself, but of course added expenses to that the taxes and the tip.

So average you would be spending around $25, we're talking about average food here, average meal. But when you go to more luxury, I can tell you I've eaten in $125 per person, there is some things like that also. So it's a range. It's up to you how you guys can budget. But is it livable on a nurse's salary? Absolutely.

I think it's a tip, you need to look for the menu online if you're going somewhere like in a particular restaurant, you can see the costs. You can see how much their food is so it would be easier, but like what Kaye said, if you're going out on a night out or in a dinner with friends, you need to shell out around $130 on the dinner. But that's an a really fancy restaurant. If you're working it would be eating out like a kiosk somewhere. You can buy food like for $10, $12, or 15 that's pretty decent food, the Starbucks I think we're in $1.75 not $2.2.

I don't know if it's still that way, but I know you can get a big slice of New York Pizza basically on any corner and it's like $3 and it's good and it's very good.