It's plenty. I just looked at my mint. I've averaged $678/month on groceries for my 3 person family over the last year. One of those 3 people is a toddler so I'm obviously saving some money there. We eat out occasionally (so not part of this budget item) but rarely more than once a week. And I'm not in a position where I have to scrimp. My wife and I had lobster last night.

2.70 doesn't sound like much if by "meal" you think of "dinner" but it's a ton if you're eating eggs or cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch.

An assumption in the article was that both parents were too busy with work to cook reliably.

I agree it's plenty for most households. Just may not be for the households this author is talking about. It's a good illustration of how a higher paid job may not net that much more: you lose a lot of the income in extra taxes + extra lifestyle expenses to support the job.

The only people I know that spend in the 700 / person are eating out 3-4 times a week at 20+/plate restaurants. Doesn't sound middle class to me.

I find it interesting that 500CAD (~400USD) is completely unreasonable to me (I frequently get frustrated with myself for spending this much when I know I could get it down lower if I stop eating out), whereas your 'reasonable' ceiling is much, much higher.

This isn't even taking into account the cost savings of cooking for multiple people, vs. cooking for one person, too! Per person costs will definitely change depending on context.

Are you eating out literally every meal? Because otherwise that's not bad at all. I eat on about $5/day and I'm not even trying to be frugal about it.

I live in NYC. Try eating less than $3/meal for a month here. Groceries cost more here. I eat at home for most meals, too.

Breakfast will be your cheapest meal, eggs $3/dozen. Yogurt 99c each or get a larger container to save more money. Oatmeal, bananas. Bacon will be pricey, but let's splurge $6. Avocado, toast is relatively cheap.

Lunch, chicken breast, thighs whatever. You can get them for $5-6/lb and even less at Chinatown. That'll go for lunch/dinner. Toss in salad, rice, etc. Canned veggies like chickpeas and beans are just a buck each at Whole Foods. Ground beef is pretty cheap. Veggies like kale, broccoli are a bit more expensive, but again, only a few bucks and you can use it for multiple meals.

Grocery might cost more, but definitely possible to churn out meals at $3 price points. Of course there's the upfront cost of having basic things like salt, pepper, oil, spices, butter, etc.