Randy and I pride ourselves on spending
relatively little money at the grocery store. However, I wasn't sure
how we compared with the average person. We rarely use coupons or
get our groceries at different stores to maximize all the sales or
play the drugstore game or any of the other tricks that people use to
save money.
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| Another store? Think again! |
Our reasons are simple: we shop with a
toddler and each subsequent store we go to exponentially increases
the odds of a Fukushima-esque meltdown; most of the main grocery
store chains are 15+ miles away, so making trips on separate days to
minimize a Toddler Apocalypse would result in cancelling out any
savings with increased gas costs; I am not focused enough to play the
drugstore game (although I know it works wonders for some people and
at some point, I might try it); and finally, most coupons are for
processed foods that we simply don't eat.
So where does that leave us?
According to the government estimates
for how much it costs to feed a family (as of December 2011),
found here, 'thrifty' plan to feed a family our size costs $461.27/month.
Their “low-cost” estimate is $587.90/month.
Their website doesn't clarify any
variance by region or whether these are simply food costs, or if this
is the entire grocery cost. Since most people combine food/health &
beauty/household cleaning expenses into one budget item anyway, I
figured we'd do the same thing.
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| Bonus: really long receipts! |
Our total grocery bill for February
(including all the non-edibles) was approximately $450.00. We did
eat out a couple of times, which is fairly rare, and that added about
$45.00. Still, we came in just under $500 for the month, which falls between low-cost and thrifty. And we did it
without the up-front effort of couponing or searching out sales.
That isn't to say we don't have tricks
or time investments of our own. Here's what we do to save money:
Shop once a month
We live 20 miles
or so from WinCo (which has the best over-all prices and therefore is
our best bet for a main grocery store) and Costco (for diapers and a
couple of other things). The distance means it doesn't make as much
sense to drive there on a weekly basis. Also, I only get paid once a
month. If we do all the shopping at once, it's a lot easier to
budget.
Scour the bulk section
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| Bulk dry goods in our pantry |
WinCo has the best
bulk section I've ever seen in a chain grocery store. We get as many
of the things we use regularly in bulk as possible. Oatmeal, dried
fruit, pasta, any non-all-purpose flours, spices, grains, etc. We
don't eat cold cereal much, but they have that, too. Some savings
are more impressive than others, but the bonus is that the healthier
the product, the more significant the savings over buying it
pre-packaged/brand-name, since marketers know people will pay more
for whole wheat pasta, etc. and often double the prices of their
whole-grain options.
Stock up on fruits/veggies
One of the
questions people ask when they find out we only shop once a month is
“how do you have fresh fruits and veggies, then?” The answer has
two parts. One is that by the end of the month, we don't; we rely on
canned/frozen fruit and frozen veggies for the end of the month.
However, we also shop smart for the produce we buy.
*We get the
makings for a huge salad, focusing mostly on dark green veggies
(kale, spinach, mustard greens) because they tend to last a bit
longer, and a few other things to add texture (carrots, radishes,
celery, etc.). We make all of this into a salad that we store in a
giant tupperware container and eat salad with dinner every night for
a week or so – until it runs out or gets funky.
*We buy some
veggies that will hold for a week or so – zucchini or other
squashes, etc. - to use when the salad runs out.
*We buy a lot of
the veggies with the longest fridge life – if it's in good
condition when you buy it, broccoli will last for two weeks or more,
as will brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.
The principles are
the same for fruit – I make sure to always get a large amount of
apples, since they last the longest, plus I like them. Other fruits
depend on what's on sale and what looks good, usually bananas
(although I think they're horrifically foul, Zoey loves them) and
grapes. Again, we eat the shortest shelf-life fruits first (and if
they start to get a little past their prime, figure out how to cook
with them or dehydrate them) and then move on to the apples. At the
end of the month, we eat canned fruit.
We also buy a
Costco-sized bag of frozen berries each month; Zoey has them for
breakfast and Randy uses them in protein shakes after he works out.
This has the
benefit of helping us eat more healthily for most of the month, at
least. We have to eat the vegetables in a timely manner or they go
to waste. Since we don't have enough cash to waste food, we have a
healthy portion of veggies with each dinner and fruit at lunch.
Repackage/re-purpose meat
We buy whatever
meat is cheapest, and make it work. There's no meal-planning (too
much effort, and we find that it makes us buy specific ingredients
rather than what's cheapest); we figure it out based on what we have
on hand. Usually, this means buying family packs and repackaging
them into single-meal servings.
However, it also
translates into buying more roasts and grinding the meat ourselves,
and buying whole poultry rather than packs of individual parts.
Turkeys are usually available for about $1/lb and are widely
customizable (we made three versions of turkey bratwursts that are
now a go-to easy dinner). Again, this comes with some significant
cost and health savings: ground turkey is $3+/lb. People pay more
partly because it's a healthier option than ground beef.
When things like
steak or better cuts of meat go on sale, we buy one package more than
we will use during the month so we can stock our freezer. This
helps us keep a diverse amount of meat so we don't get bored with our
options and feel more tempted to splurge. Everything will go on sale
at some point – patience is key.
Make as much as possible from
scratch
I am
constantly amazed at the claim that it costs more to eat healthily.
Granted, we don't generally have the highest-quality cuts of meat,
but we don't eat a diet high in fat or sodium, either. The main
reason for this is because we don't buy many processed foods.
Mainly, we avoid processed foods because they're more expensive than
making our own, but the health benefits are nice, too!
This is where most
of our time investment comes in. It takes more time to cook from
scratch than to add a 'flavor packet' to a dish or to put something
frozen in the oven or microwave. However, it usually costs less than
half of the pre-made option, and we know exactly what ingredients are
in each dish.
As much as we can,
we make basic foods in bulk and store them so they're on hand with the
convenience of processed foods. This helps isolate the big time
investments to a couple of days/month and makes avoiding convenience
foods easier – we have our own on hand! Right now, we have a good
frozen supply of: bread, bratwursts, burritos, and stock. We also
have a dozen or so pints of canned beans ready to add to recipes.
The savings aren't always huge, but it adds up, and lets us control
what is in the food.
Use Costco for staples only
Costco can be
deadly on a budget. There are simply so many good things that are a
relatively good deal. However, the vast majority are convenience
foods, and ultimately cost more than buying the ingredients and
making your own version. We make a set list for Costco and don't
let ourselves deviate from it much unless we find something we use
regularly for a discounted price. Some things aren't worth buying in
Costco-sized packages just because they're there and a deal, but some
things are.
Really, there are
few things available at Costco that aren't also available at WinCo
for similar prices. However, some things are worth the extra trip:
*Diapers
*Formula, for the
few months we needed it/will need it is less than half the price as
other stores
*Frozen berries
*Tin foil
*Laundry
detergent
*Storage
containers
*Yeast – worth
it because we bake our own bread and will use it before it expires.
We usually get a
few other things since they have better quality or are in more
conveniently-sized packages for a similar price as WinCo – flour,
rice, and bacon on a regular basis, and occasionally other items if
they're on sale.
Make a list and stick to it
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| Our list - by the end of the month, it's pretty long! |
We keep a white
board on our pantry door so we can quickly write down things we need
before we forget. We keep a running list all month and then organize
it for our shopping trip. If it's not on the list, we don't buy it
unless it's something we overlooked. It helps that our list for the
first areas of the store consists of: fruit, vegetables, meat, bulk
foods. We only put down specifics for these if there is a special
dish we want to make or we are out of something and want to replenish
it. That means by the time we get to the middle aisles with the
tempting pre-packaged food, our cart is usually full with staples and
it's easy to think “Yikes! We might be spending too much –
better put this back!”
Limit pick-up trips
The hardest part is limiting
what we get after the main shopping trip. We keep milk on hand for
Zoey, so we have to go to the store about once a week for a fresh
gallon. It's easy to fall into the trap of “while I'm here”, but
sticking to the items we MUST have (which is usually only milk) on
that follow-up trip helps keep the budget under control. I will say
that when we get a little more wiggle room in the budget, I will
probably add fresh fruit on one of those trips. The increase in
quality over canned fruit is worth the slightly greater cost.
Basically, it
comes down to where people are willing to invest their time and what
their end goal is – we don't have a lot of patience for putting in
effort up front, but enjoy making things ourselves, so we put in the
time and effort to can, brew, bake, etc. after a shopping trip. It
can take an hour or so to get all of the post-shopping work of
re-packaging, sorting, and storing done, but we also only have to do
it once a month. Not only does it save us money and give us greater
control over our food, it leaves us with a feeling of accomplishment.
