Groceries; My Biggest Splurge And How I’m Dealing
Posted by michelle on Mar 27, 2012 in Saving Money | 50 comments
While at a friend’s house recently, I was completely shocked at how many gadgets they owned. Knowing what my friends do for a living, I wondered how they could afford all their toys. Jeff and I don’t own any toys! Taking mental notice and calculating the prices of these gizmos had me thinking my friends might be secret spies, drug dealers, or worse–extreme couponers!
Easily, I could stick my own frugal, little nose up in the air at my splurging friends, but I know better. We are nowhere near perfect. We may not have the newest gadgets, or an iAnything, but we do have other things that we spend entirely too much money on. Since we did what every financially responsible couple should do and began tracking our spending, it became quite clear where we were overspending. What we discovered was truly embarrassing. Our grocery bill this past December was $1800. That’s not a typo. There really is supposed to be a 1 before the 8 for those of you who are in utter disbelief. How in the world could a family of five, who isn’t rich, think it’s alright to spend that kind of money on something so disposable? Well, it’s possibly because we were thinking of groceries as such; disposable. Every week, without fail, we would hurry home with our loot, shove it into our fridge and pantry while simultaneously tossing the foods we’d bought only a week earlier. Some of the foods had started to mold, some had become overly ripe, soggy, or slightly browned with oxidation, but most were just things we decided were “never going to be eaten.”
Now I’ve lost you. Come back! I promise we’re not as stupid as this post makes us sound. This just goes to show that almost everyone has spending issues in at least one area of their lives. For example, I’ve got some friends that enjoy going to movies and insist on seeing every.single.one at the theater, some people we know live at the mall, and some claim to be so broke they can’t afford anything but Ramen noodles for the next year yet drive a brand-spanking-new luxury car and always have french tip nails. For us, it’s groceries. Since tracking our spending, we have begun to tackle this beast of a bill head-on by beginning to plan our meals around store sales and use coupons when possible to save even more. Our efforts have already paid off big time…and we’re just getting started! Since we started budgeting halfway through January, our bill was still high but much better at $1200, but our total groceries cost in February was down to $600. The meal planning, budgeting, and coupon clipping takes me about an hour per week and is something I can do either when the baby is napping or while drinking my coffee on a weekend day while Jeff plays with the kids. I have to say that I’m surprised by how much we’re saving, but to some–we’re still spending a load on groceries. To some, I might even be considered a food snob because although I am debt-dieting, I flat-out refuse to eat like crap. Unfortunately, shelling out for fresh produce can cost a lot more than eating a box of mac-n-cheese for dinner. My family’s health is worth more to me than getting out of debt a little quicker. So, how do I get around my food snobbery? I’ll tell you everything I’ve learned so far.
1. Buy frozen. Frozen produce may not seem as appetizing to you as their fresh counterparts, but they have much longer shelf freezer lives, making an on-sale stock-up much easier on the pocket book. The manufacturers of frozen foods are very picky about what goes into each bag and these items are frozen at the peak of their freshness. Want blueberries in February? No problem! How about peaches in November? Sounds good to me! The frozen fruits and veggies have the same nutritional value as they do when fresh, as long as you don’t cook out the nutrients during preparation. The same is true for fresh foods. Generally speaking, you should heat your fruits and vegetables as little as possible. We prefer to let our frozen fruits thaw in the fridge before snacking and to saute or steam our vegetables. This ensures optimal taste without letting the good vitamins leach out into our pan or to get poured down the drain along with the boiled water.
2. Combine coupons and store sales. Checking out your grocery store’s weekly ad before your trip, you can easily map out a meal plan for the week. Put your coupons (yes, I really do have a big, dorky binder that keeps me organized!) in your lap and you can grab the coupons you will need as well so you can set them aside for the trip. A lot of stores will combine one manufacturer coupon with one store coupon per item. When this happens at the same time there’s a sale on said product, I have been known to hug a shopper-by or two.
3. Quit being a huge brat about your products. I’m a total snob about food, I admit it, but even someone like me can overcome my brand-snobbery if the price is right at Aldi. I had no idea until recently that brand name foods weren’t any better tasting than the off-brand products. I didn’t know because I had never tried!
4. Leave the kiddos at home. Kids are horrible at budgeting. ;) When my kids come to the grocery store with me, I’m often stressed out, in a hurry, holding a crying baby (sometimes dragging a whining 7-year-old), saying “no” a million times, and ready to get the heck out of there. I stop caring about money, and start caring only about my sanity. $5 for a box of cookies? Why not. $4.50 on a box of cereal no one in our family will even eat? Only if it has a free toy…or the possibility of an entry into a contest to win a chance to get a free toy and my kids are all about it! Also, quite regrettably, my little sugar boogers are some of the sneakiest pirates I’ve ever met. Have you ever made it all the way home from the store to find packages of food that you don’t even remember buying? If not, you must not have children, because they’re all cocoa puff smuggling pirates. (I love my precious pirates to pieces, honest.)
5. Google loves you. I use Google on a daily basis, but on a weekly basis for finding coupons. If there is something on my list that costs a bit more than I want to spend, I will seek out the expertise that only a search engine can provide. Often times, the manufacturer’s website will offer coupons, some can be found for sale on eBay, and some can be obtained by writing a nice note to the manufacturers. Tell them you love their products or that you tell all your friends about it. You don’t even have to ask for coupons! I personally don’t like begging for things, so I don’t ever ask. An eloquently worded note of appreciation for the company’s quality or taste assurance should land you some pretty sweet coupons for your efforts.
6. Grow your own. We have an adorable little garden in our backyard that we start back up annually. We grow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, blueberries, basil, and more. Obviously, living in the Midwest, not owning large enough property for a greenhouse, and not having the greenest opposable digits, we can’t grow much more than that successfully, but every little bit helps. Most of our garden last year flowered from seeds alone. A pack of seeds costs pennies compared to what you will pay at the store. Also, my kids love gardening! They couldn’t wait to help out this year.
Final thoughts
Although some would say that our $600 grocery bill is still too high for our advice to be taken seriously, let me point out a few more things. First of all, when I talk about our “grocery bill,” I’m talking about everything we eat that month. We don’t go out to eat at all, we include the money that we spend on our and our children’s lunches, and we pack snacks and meals when we go out. We never buy concession stand food (much to my 11-year-old’s chagrin) or theme park faire or even ice cream from the ice cream man. We are extremely dedicated to saving money at this point, so I hope my little tips can be helpful to my fellow frugal health nuts. If you plan accordingly, you can splurge without guilt, but even when spending a lot of money you can save some with coupons by answers.com.
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Leaving the kids at home is the most important for me. As soon as I enter the grocery store with them, all I hear is I want this or that. My three year old feels the need to push her own cart in the store and my two year old doesn’t want to sit in the cart. I’ll get so frustrated I just start throwing stuff in there so I can get out of the grocery store ASAP.
Katie, I can imagine with kids that close in age!
$1800…holy smokes, that is a lot of money for food. Can I come over for dinner sometime?? lol.
That is awesome you’ve been able to cut it down so much. I would say what helped us the most was getting on a meal plan and buying store-brand products (you have to shop at a grocery store that has a good store-brand though).
Jason, you would be welcome over anytime! (For a byob potluck…)
LOL. Done!
Great Post!
Groceries are our downfall as well yet not as high a bill as yours. We decided to start “The Grocery Game Challenge” at my website for us so we could post what we buy at the grocery store. We thought this would help us curb our spending habits and it has.
We have since picked up and encouraged our fans to do the same and it’s been very motivating to see the end goal= End of year total of groceries.
Like you we stepped out from the box and started to use coupons and combine them with sales and stockpile health and beauty and laundry products. We’ve been able to cut our grocey budget thus far and hope to make this a lifestyle change.
Cheers,
Mr.CBB
Good idea, Mr. CBB! I will stop by later and check it out
Ok.. no denying that this is one of the most astronomical grocery bills I have ever heard of. I think meal/menu planning is the best way to keep a grocery bill down. I think frozen is good, but it’s more expensive, so if you can just freeze stuff yourself you’d save some money. Also, not going when you’re hungry, batch cooking, the like.
Daisy, are you thinking buying when in season then freezing yourself? That’s a good idea! I’m in MO and frozen in a LOT cheaper than fresh unless it’s peak season and there’s a huge abundance.
Wow $1800 is a lot. I’m running into the same problem with overspending on my groceries, and I’ll definitely be taking some of these tips to heart, time to reduce that bill!
I think frozen (and canned, although there are sometimes “sodium issues” I guess…) is very underrated. Way to give yourself a 4-figure a month raise in just a few months though. I can’t believe how much December was! You didn’t buy $1200 in iTunes gift cards at the grocery store by any chance did you?
Nick, we just hosted a bunch of get-togethers and fed our guests the very best, which is generous but stupid since I’m the only one who really even cares if the bacon doesn’t have nitrates or if the strawberries are organic. See, our oldest son’s birthday is in December, we always host Christmas breakfast and have a big spread of apparently very expensive food, and had friends over for dinner and drinks several times. That’s all. Pretty stupid, I know, but it was definitely a wake-up call!
Ok, my mouth fell open when I read $1800! I thought it was a typo until you said there realy is a 1 in front of that 8
The grocery bill has been my nemesis for sure! One of my goals this year is to really get it under control. We always cook at home so we save money on going out. I wish we could garden but we live in an apartment. Maybe I could do a windowsill garden, but I’m not sure if those really work or not.
I can relate to food going bad. I used to be pretty bad about that. I’d never manage to get through a loaf of bread or finish veggies before the go bad. Now I’m getting a lot better though. It’s mostly just been a matter of looking in the fridge before going to the grocery store. If there’s already veggies in the drawer, I make a point of using it that day. Switching to store brands has saved me a lot of money too. The other thing I do is focus on buying what’s a good deal at the grocery store that week. That may conflict with meal planning, but you can end up getting things much cheaper that way. Grocery stores love to put some stuff on sale, while overcharging for other things.
Anyways, good luck further reducing that grocery budget. It sounds like you’ve made awesome progress already.
I like the idea about leaving kids at home. It’s amazing home many of the expensive items they can find in a store!
Once kids reach a certain age of comprehension, though, it’s easy to bring them along and make them your ally. We had a session on cost per serving and cost per unit, which are two measurements our local supermarket uses. Once I focused my kids on the goal and finding cheaper products, we had a great time at the store.
I love this idea, Joe!! My boys are very competitive with each other, so this might actually be kind of brilliant.
God I saw some truth for us in that post!! My hubby and I shop and work together to throw out all the old food we’ve wasted as we stock the new items in our fridge, and I don’t even think about it! We need to get a better handle on what to buy and what to bypass.
Oh my! I never would have thought of extreme couponers as being worse than drug dealers (lol). Anyway, your monthly grocery bill is quite high, but I commend you for how much you’ve managed to pull it downward so far. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if food budgeting is an issue for most families. I love your food shopping strategies, and know that if you keep at this rate, your food budget will be significantly lower. And, no this post does not make you sound stupid. Not in the least!
Thanks, Anthony! I was really worried about admitting how high our bill was and what people would think. Thank you for your encouraging words! I can’t wait to have an update for everyone. We’ve been doing so well this month and are only getting better and better. (The drug dealer thing was definitely a joke, btw!)
In addition to leaving the child at home, I also have to leave the husband at home! He’ll start straying from the grocery list!
I am a family of one, and I spend at least $400/month on groceries, if that makes you feel any better! I consider it not only food money but health care, since the better I eat, the healthier I am!
It most definitely does make me feel better! Thank you! I agree and think you are what you eat…so I used to be healthy, but now I’m healthy and cheap! Wait…:/
I would really like to start growing some of my own food. Some of my friends do this and it’s cheaper, and everything tastes so much better!
Congrats on being able to reduce your grocery bill so much!
I know the first time we exchanged comments it was about being able to find ways to reduce how much we each spend each month but still eat healthy food. You and I both agree that feeding our family healthy food is one of the best preventions of future health problems.
My husband and I use to spend close to $200 a week. Our pantry, fridge and freezer were always full. Like you we would end up tossing stuff. We were frustrated by the amount we spent but we didn’t really start doing anything about it until this year.
I do remember that, Sicorra. Unfortunately, we have cancer and diabetes in our family, so I’m doing everything I can to eat healthy.
For a family of two (plus one cat), we spend roughly $75 a week on groceries. This includes things like toiletries and house supplies too. It’s not too bad, but I wish we could get it lower. I’ve found that freezing things is your best friend–just don’t forget they’re in there!
Our weekly budget for two (no cat) is also $75 or so, and that also includes toiletries (mainly paper products) and that is with coupons and sales! Any lower just isn’t possible anymore with the way prices have gone up in the last few years.
I think I have spending issues not in one area but in all areas of my life.
I think the questions is how you are dealing with it, right? I always admire people who reduce their grocery bills. We could never manage it because we shop in Whole Foods, and it is damn expensive. Even for vegetables.
I love Whole Foods! Thankfully, there isn’t one very close or I’d be tempted to go there.
Whole Foods is my go to place for bulk purchases (organic whole rolled oats, brown rice, beans, etc.). Luckily I have to drive a bit to get there so I can’t spend as much as I would probably spend if it were closer.
Wow, $1800 is a big grocery bill. I know we’re a little extreme, but the I budget $100 a week for everything I buy (food, personal care items, dog and cat food, post office runs, gifts etc.) But we’re also a family of 2 and don’t have any kids. I respect that you guys putting yourselves out there and being real about your spending. It must be hard to see that number on a page of your budget, let alone sharing with all of your readers. Sounds like you’ve found some good ways to get that number down. I’m a big fan of local grown produce and it’s really expensive, if we didn’t live in the city I’d definitely have a huge garden.
Thank you, Kari! I actually considered not posting what we spent because I was so embarrassed, but then I thought that there are probably a lot of people who would be understanding and feel frustrated by the amount they were spending as well.
$1800 was a huge number, but getting it down to $600 in just 6 weeks is pretty darn amazing! Especially for a family of 5 since I know we spend more like $700 for just the 3 of us. Granted we do eat out quite a bit, but most of that is $1.50 meals from the street vendors and quite honestly is usually cheaper than me cooking at home. Overall I have to give you an A+ for effort and execution!
Thanks for the high marks, Steve! We’re still working on it, too. I’m hoping for it to get lower and lower as I learn more.
I am really bad at buying grocery thanks for your advice. I liked your advice of growing your own vegetables. I would love to do that when I would retire
Wow 1800 a month, I almost died last week when my wife came home with a 180 dollar bill and I looked at the bags and asked what did you buy that cost $180. I think she is stealing from me I am convinced..lol We really need to start clipping coupons and planning our meals for the week. It is just we run out of meal options and seems like we end up eating the same things every week. Yupp we are boring! I need a site that combines the coupon with the meal plan and I am set, unless they already exist…
While $1800 is a lot, I really can’t talk as our grocery bill is routinely between $600 and $800 a month for two of us. But like you, I like good food. We don’t throw out much, and we tend to stock up on the sales when available. I’m not above cleaning out a shelf and leaving the store with 12 boxes of cereal. Plus you seem to have already cut your spending back by 67%, which is pretty good in any area. And it doesn’t sound like you’re suffering for the changes. Thanks for the great post!
Thank you for the encouraging words, Karl! Is it you that wrote about diabetes in the family? We have it as well here. Neither Jeff or I do yet, but we both are likely to get it with one of Jeff’s parents and both of mine having it. That is a big reason we try to eat healthy around here. We have to outsmart our genes!
This is wonderful writing. We seldom realize excess that we have in our lives; and, excess creates more stress and clutter. I love all your suggestions including growing your own. I think it’s fun!
I’m scared to add up our food costs. I think it’s around $500-$600 for our little family of two.
I’m definitely going to have to try writing to manufacturers! I seem to find that the coupons I get are never the ones I use, so maybe if I start targetting my favourite manufacturers I might start getting more useful coupons
I almost died when I read $1800 for a month of groceries, but once I found out you include all of your food spending (like lunches, dinners out, etc.) in that, I have to admit our bill is much higher than I first thought. Probably $800. Yes, for 2.5 people. Yikes! Now I feel the need to cut my spending on food by quite a bit!
It is all our food, yes, and a lot of toiletries that were getting filed under “groceries” before we started getting smart about budgeting and subtracting those items from our receipt even if bought at the grocery store. Now, we’ve begun buying most toiletries at the dollar store or a discount store, as grocery stores mark up most non food items a ton!
I completely understand. I have a family of 4. This includes 2 boys and a husband. They eat me out of house and home! We spend about $1200.00 a month on groceries. I buy groceries every Friday and it is getting to the point where we have nothing in the house by Wednesday. I can’t tell my children to stop eating. I’m going to try your tips and pray we can get a lower bill next week. Thanks!
Michelle- I know a lot of people are shocked by $1800, but I can totally understand it. You said that that month you hosted a birthday and a holiday party. Parties are a nightmare for food budgets. I really had no idea what we spent having friends & family over for holidays & birthdays. Food, disposable plates/cups/utensils, drinks, etc…can add up to hundreds. Now I don’t feel bad about asking to do potlucks. About 6 months ago, we’ve started budgeting groceries. We are a family of 5 and budget $800 a month for food/household items/eating out. Using cash has helped A LOT. Every payday, we take out $400 cash. Know that when that money is gone I’m done has made me get organized and really plan out our meals. We hardly waste any food nowadays and eat out a lot less. We are also eating healthier because I stopped buying all the extra junk.
Jackie, you’re right– I did get a lot of shocked readers’ comments (more so on other sites my post was featured on, not so much here) with the $1800, but I wanted to write about my past mistakes, so that I could get through them. This is how people learn! Thanks for talking about your own struggles with grocery budgeting and for giving us your tips on how to keep those numbers smaller! $800 is a good amount of money for a family of 5 who eats healthy foods and doesn’t eat out much. We try to hit below $800, but the lowest we can get it is $600…and that’s with hours of planning, coupon-clipping, and hair-pulling! I think $800 is more realistic, but we still try for that $600! TRY is the operative word! Thanks for your comment!
I sort of stumbled upon your site, while looking for stories on Aldi’s. I’m not a young parent, but have 3 ‘kids’ in their 20′s. My grocery bill was pretty much like yours in the past. But this economy caused me to be laid off in 2010, via Reduction in Force, from my teaching position in parochial school of over a decade.
Having been raised in a fairly affluent family and while married was even more affluent, my only spending ‘vice’ was food shopping and cooking. I was very conservative with clothes, etc., I never liked the malls. I was into ‘organic’ before organic became fashionable. My biggest challenge was creating ‘homestyle dishes’ that were healthy and lower calorie. Even with a garden, very expensive.
Well in the past 2 years I’ve been substitute teaching and working at Walgreens part-time, (full-time in the summer). Yes, I’ve 3 BA and am 2 courses short of MSED, which I won’t bother with until I get a full-time position, just makes one more difficult to hire on pay scale. While the house is in process of being short sold, I’ve been trying to exist on about $18k a year. Yes, really! A whole story in itself, but I will not digress.
What I’ve learned in past two years regarding food and cooking:
1. Buy ‘staples’ at best price-Aldi’s in my area. Flour, sugar, olive oil for cooking, often used dried spices, dried cranberries, raisins, etc.
2. Walgreens, not a plug, just an acknowledgment. Eggs, Milk are on sale there in about 2-3 week cycles. Gallon of Dean’s milk, $1.99. Eggs, $.99. Arizona Tea in tall cans, 2@1.00. Gallon jugs, often 2@$4., BUT there’s nearly always a coupon in weekly flier for a $1 off, so 2@$3. Gatorade, a necessity for the athletes, quart for $1. When they have a coupon, it applies to buy-one-get-one twice! If you also have manufacture coupon, can also use two!
3. Cook on weekends, especially for a family! Plan what you want for the week, shop sales on Thurs or Friday, prep on Saturday; cook on Sunday. Better yet, double and freeze if you’ve a freezer. Use a Sharpie to label date and what’s in the container or bag. Most meals will be good for at least 3 months and at 0 degrees, longer. Take them out the night before those nights of school meetings or sports events. No pizza orders necessary.
4. Speaking of pizza and other items. My best ‘toy’ is my bread maker. Yeah, my daughter bought me a primo one a couple Christmas past. Gluten free cycle and all bells and whistles. However my #1 use of it is making pizza dough. One batch makes 4 adult size pizzas, 8 child sized.
I use whole wheat recipe. Traditional toppings of a good pizza sauce, homemade or store bought work well. For myself though, I just use garlic infused olive oil as base, add fresh spinach leaves, some basil, heirloom tomatoes if price is right, and a small sprinkling of parm.
With company, I’ve had ‘build your own pizza!” parties. I go with choices of my homemade sauce or Alfredo or the garlic infused olive oil. Put out choices such as aforementioned spinach, basil, tomatoes, but add broccoli florets, pepperoni, diced crisp bacon, tiny shrimp, grilled chicken, colorful sweet peppers, red onions, and loads of cheeses. ‘Build your heart attack might come into play. LOL!
5. I make my own sandwich bread, again whole grain. I use it for lunches every day, for two days. What’s left over gets cubed for salads, soups, and bread crumbs.
6. Speaking of soups, I make my own. Not only better tasting, but one pot made on a Sunday, can reap lunches and dinners for more than a month, unless you wish the same every day. Having either individual or family serving sizes frozen gives you a lot of flexibility for not only emergencies, but a tasty, nutritious, inexpensive side for dinners that might be a bit short of filling. Soup and salad can make a small serving of meat seem much more satisfying. I usually have the basic chicken soup, just have to boil noodles or rice; split pea, just have to toast the croutons for 3 minutes from freezer; vegetable soup, goes great with a salad or even just bread.
7. Stews and chilis are a staple of winter months. Use bread and salad to round out. With traditional chili I love corn bread. Can even make it as a dumpling to top the chili. With a good beef stew, a hearty bread to dip in the gravy. Chicken stew, Hawaiian sweet rolls are awesome and I always have a few packages of them in freezer, bought with coupons while on sale.
Hope some of these tips are useful!
Kathianne, thank you so much for taking the time to write such informative, engaging comments on my posts! I could write an entire post on these tips…and maybe I should! I would call it “Tips From Kathianne!” Thanks for stopping by. I will look forward to reading more of your very clever ideas!
Look into Amazon MOM! We bought all our diapers and wipes (7th Generation brand) from there. You have to subscribe and set up auto shipping, but they send you a reminder a few days before and you can adjust it. If you run low you can log on and have them ship immediately. The best part? Yes! They ship it to your door and you save up to 25% off the supermarket price. 7th Gen diapers are great, none of that sickly powder smell and they don’t use chlorine in the manufacturing. There’s another brand that had come out since we stopped having to use diapers that is compostable, our neighbor gets them, but they are more expensive.
You can buy all your non-perishables using Amazon Mom. Saves $, saves time @ the store, and you don’t have to lug stuff to the car, and then to your door…
Thanks for the tip, dream! I love all things Amazon, so I’m surprised I’d not heard of this before.