# How long do you work to feed yourself for a day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 15, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142 "2012-11-15T23:26:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/1 "2012-11-15T23:26:08Z")
I divided my daily cost of food by my pay rate and it turns out that to feed myself (just me, not the wife and kids) I need to work 13 minutes, 38 seconds. How long do you need to work to feed yourself for a day? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/2 "2012-11-15T23:34:32Z")
Really depends on what I eat. The last two nights dinners were both in the $125-150 range, but that’s not average. Not sure what average is. Now I guess I’ll have to do the math to figure out how much I make in hourly terms. Should I divide my annual income by 2080 or by the number of hours I actually work? ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/3 "2012-11-15T23:36:12Z")
Roughly 24 minutes, but that’s average over the whole month. I have Sundays as double pay, so I suppose its around 30 minutes normally but closer to 15 minutes on Sundays. Depends a bit on how fast I do my rounds, too. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/4 "2012-11-15T23:41:44Z")
Keeping it per the OP (gross pay and not take-home), about 30 or 40 minutes. Take-home (strictest – after all deductions, retirement, and the amount that goes automatically to savings), an hour. Interesting question! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/5 "2012-11-15T23:50:10Z")
I just used gross pay. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/6 "2012-11-16T00:07:40Z")
Depends on what I eat for the day, but 15-30 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/7 "2012-11-16T00:13:24Z")
Hard to estimate my food expense. Should I include wine? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/8 "2012-11-16T00:31:21Z")
About 12 minutes, assuming a cheap dinner and the high end of my sliding fee schedule. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/9 "2012-11-16T00:57:08Z")
25 minutes based on gross pay and not including my bonus. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/10 "2012-11-16T02:22:09Z")
Interesting. This really should be a poll! About 20-30 minutes. Based on after tax pay. I am really curious if people with high incomes have the same ratio as people with lower incomes. Obviously it will saturate at both ends of the scale, but it would be quite interesting if it were linear in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/11 "2012-11-16T02:34:43Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > Interesting. This really should be a poll! > > About 20-30 minutes. Based on after tax pay. > > I am really curious if people with high incomes have the same ratio as people with lower incomes. Obviously it will saturate at both ends of the scale, but it would be quite interesting if it were linear in the middle. I doubt it personally. I’ve known a few families with multiple high income earning professionals and they only eat slightly better than middle class families (both meals at home and meals in restaurants) despite earning 5-15x+ more money. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/12 "2012-11-16T03:28:58Z")
For the typical eat at home day, it’s between 10 and 15 minutes. But tonight the wife and I went out and splurged and I ate an hour’s gross pay. That’s rare though, I could have gotten a better meal for half the price, but my wife wanted to go to the expensive place. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/13 "2012-11-16T04:23:30Z")
Assuming one third of our weekly food budget goes to feed me, I make it about 23 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/14 "2012-11-16T17:51:45Z")
Based upon gross pay, about 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/15 "2012-11-16T18:08:28Z")
Bashing around on the calculator gives me about 15 minutes, based on gross pay and a pulled-out-of-my-ass estimate of food costs for just me. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/16 "2012-11-16T18:15:36Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Assuming one third of our weekly food budget goes to feed me, I make it about 23 minutes. 23 minutes sounds about right to me. Why are people basing it on gross pay? Are you inviting the IRS out to lunch every day? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/17 "2012-11-16T20:22:18Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Why are people basing it on gross pay? Just following the lead of the OP. Their premise. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/18 "2012-11-17T13:58:15Z")
All three meals? About four hours. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/19 "2012-11-17T14:05:31Z")
Between 20 and 25 minutes. I work two jobs at two different pay rates, so it depends which job / day I’m working. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142/20 "2012-11-17T19:50:56Z")
Guesstimate 45 minutes. I spend freely on food though, it is kind of what I want. Can’t just make mashed potatoes, no, they gotta have goat cheese and heavy whipping cream. Or wine. Let’s go out for sushi (like, 10 minutes from this posting). It is always something 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-work-to-feed-yourself-for-a-day/641142.md?page=2)