There's only two of us!
Most of our meat/fish comes from the N plaza butcher. Probably around $12 per dinner. Add in some salad or veggies for a few more bucks. 20 bucks to get some meat and fresh bread for a couple of days of sandwiches or whatever for lunch. The remainder going on household goods like detergents and bog roll.
The two of us probably have 3 dinners a week at home, with my schedule. On top of that, we'll eat out a couple of times, and grab lunches a couple of times while out and about. So, in reality, our weekly grocery bill doesn't include a weeks worth of meals. Hopefully that's cleared up any confusion.
Like I said, no idea about raising kids. Seems pricey, especially once they get to schooling age.
I'm not disputing that it's expensive to live here. It certainly is. I'm trying to spread a bit of light on some of my expenditure.
My main point is that at the salary level for DEFO, you've basically got a choice to make - housing - which will have a large impact on your leftover shekels. This is because you can spend anywhere from 12k to 200k for a two bedroom apartment.
I freely admit that we sacrifice somewhat on accommodation to fund lifestyle. It works for us, because it allows us to save, travel regularly and enjoy what HK has to offer in terms of restaurants etc. If we had a family, that wouldn't be an option; we'd have no option other than blowing more of our cash on housing and the lifestyle balance would swing the other way.