[owlsaway]

I'm a 20-something college student currently trying to strike a balance between eating out, cooking, and pre-cooked meals. My grocery costs have ranged between 300CAD and 500CAD, with the 500CAD occurring when I get lazy and eat out far more often than I feel I should.

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.