I don't necessarily mean Whole Foods, or alike. Even if you go to a small farmer with few acres of land, and get the meal from him it is, because of the scale, much more expensive than a large farm with one pig per square meter and all being fully automatic.

And yet it would still occupy such a tiny part of our income... That's the point I was trying to make. Yes, you can reduce your grocery bill all to hell - but in the end if you break down your living costs, things like rent, car, etc, all cost vastly more than what you pay for food. If anything start optimizing there, where a dollar saved won't nearly result in as big a loss of quality of life as it would if you took it out of food.

Sure, if you are really broke, then yes, the food budget must go - I've been there myself. It just strikes me as odd when people with perfectly good incomes (even GREAT incomes) insist on eating cheap, crap food.

Also, people have more problems with losses than looking for more profits; and, food is much more "visible" spending than, say, insurance.

I mean, every time I go to a grocery and spend few euros, I "feel" this money. Even if my food budget is still smaller than my health insurance, accountant, rent etc.