Worked for prime: these were my taxes and expenses

1. We buy our meat in bulk. Quarter of a beef, half a pig, a whole deer (when I get one lol). We buy from a local farm and have it butchered locally. To be fair here, I did not include that in my numbers, but it probably averages out to about 200 a month. So we might be around 6-700 in a month when you figure that in.

2. We stay out of the big box stores as much as possible. We have a few small mom and pop grocery stores nearby, and they're typically cheaper than Wally world

3. Fruits and veggies are bought from a local farmers market. Cost about $60 a week and we throw some out because we don't eat it fast enough.

4. We eat very little junk food around here. That alone saves us some money.

It is possible, rather easy when you live in an area such as ours. But I realize not everyone has that ability.

But, for the OP, I haven't ran OTR since 2011, I know prices have gone up substantially since then. When I first started doing the OTR thing, I ate a lot of fast food, because it was conveniently at every truck stop I frequented. And yes, I probably spent $100 a week there easily. After gaining 60 pounds in just over a year, (went from 165 to 230) I started making some changes. Started bringing stuff from home and making food in the truck, drinking water instead of soda. That brought my food bill down quite a bit

 

Yeah that's not realistic for most people. I agree $800 a month for one person is high and sounds like a fast food diet. We don't buy junk food or drink colas either. We buy local produce in season but that's a ways off. I spend $120 a week for groceries in my truck and I never eat fast food on the road.

 

Lot of bulk buying for the most part. Hunting helps too, a deer gets you around 40-60 pounds depending on how scrawny or fat the critter is. Boar can get you around 120+ (my personal record is 180) elk is around 200+ ect. And only take a couple weekends a year unless your really unlucky. Wild birds, rabbits, fish ect can also suppliment that. Bear is hit or miss but can be around 120+ pounds for a black one....but can either be really good or really bad depending on what it was chowing down on. Though even the bad ones stew up real good if you spice it right.

Fresh breads from bulk flour instead of store bought, home gardens and more can add a lot too with minimal labor and tine especially if you pickle or can a lot. And with hydroponics stuff becomeing so common its not hard to have a small bay inside that provides a near constant steam of fresh spices and herbs year round for pennys on the dollar to what store bought costs.

Cheaper meats like pork or the frozen section stuff are cheap alternitives to the expensive "fresh case" stuff. Also canned meats and such can be found easily, for example a can of chicken used in a pot pie will taste pretty much the same as fresh and cost 1/4th as much.

And if you know where to look you can occasionally win bulk bids on freeze dried stuff or just outright buy them. For example i won a case of 6 #10 cans of ground beef, each can gets you around 15 pounds of beef. Paid $230 for around 90 pounds worth of 90% lean beef. Another example is i bought a 24 pack case of #10 freeze dried sliced potatos for $500 with each can having around 30 pounds of potatos in it when rehydrated. Which sounds like a lot of cash till you do the math on what fresh stuff costs vs the freeze dried which tastes exactly the same when cooked.

Also a home freeze drier can be great if you buy a ton of meat or veggys on sale and can keep stuff like strawberrys, fruits, fresh veggys ect fresh for years. Though it has a high upfront cost. But the tradeoff is you can buy say all the markdown chicken, then cook and freeze dry it. Then just use it in recipes as normal after you rehydrate or slightly tweek them to account for the precooked ingredients. Or even raw if you say do berrys or veggys for example.

 

You've either got the most amazing wife on the planet or you drive about 100 miles a week. Or both. I would love to do all that stuff but I don't have the time or energy or a wife that has any interest in gardening or thinking harder than driving to Kroger. God bless her for being amazing in every other way.

I had an awesome garden until my neighbor sold the lot next to me and a house got built on it but I couldn't keep it up and truck too. In those days I worked nights.

 

Lol im single and did 140k last year. I just like to browse freeze dried sellers on my 34 and snag good deals. Then i pick them up when im home for my bi monthly 48 hour off weekend and take a selection in the truck with me to eat, you can cook a good meal in the nuke in the time it takes to take a shower with freeze dried. Just nuke 2-3 cups of water to boiling add to freeze dried food go shower then pop the whole thing in the nuke with spices or additives for 5 mins and you get a good dinner.

For the meat i take off a full week 3 times a year. One weekend a year to hunt, then pay a guy i know to process my kill when i get one which goes into a huge chest freezer i have at a friends place. Since im 1 dude it takes a couple years to go through a full kills worth of meat so even if i strike out one year i usually still got plenty. And if i strike out on a big one i can usually still get other game to suppliment. Then i freeze dry a bit to take with me in the truck every time im homr.

Also since i mostly do precooked meat and raw fruits and veggys. The freeze dryer only takes around 30 mins to prep then you ignore it for 24-48 hours and boom 20 pounds of food you transfer into air sealed mylar bags over the course of 10 mins then refill with new food to be freeze dried then go waffle off to do whatever. Usually end up yeeting a couple home cooked meals in it every time im home too for free meals layer

The rest is literally just smart shopping and going for cheaper items or good deals which takes zero extra time over normal shopping.

As for the garden thats the one thing i cant do as much anymore. Used to have a big hydroponics thing when i did post office work that took 5 mins a day to care for....but i stay out 6 to 8 weeks at a time now so it tends to dry up and just die while im gone.

 

That's great and all but agree with Scott here. The vast majority of people get their groceries at the store. They don't have time or the inclination to hunt, fish or whatever. You ain't getting out of the grocery store for under $250 a week, on the cheap side, for a family of 4. So $800 a month for groceries, while that's a little high for one guy, it aint squat for the vast majority of people out here.

 

Hay you only asked how lol, never once said it was practical for everyone. Save the freeze drying stuff, if you can use an oven and one of those airlocs you can use a freeze dryer if you can afford the upfront 3k price for it anyway.

Also the canned stuff and bread making stuff. I get my chicken tuna flour and spam from the store same as anyone. Just sub it in instead of fresh. Just avoid the whole chicken in a can....you only make THAT mistake once.



Mine had the beak head and feathers in it....

 

So what are you complaining about ?