How Often Do You Shop?

[Lil]

I go once a month to the butcher for all of our meat and then I go weekly or every other week to Aldi's and another grocery store for everything else. I'm pretty good about staying within our budget but only because I follow the list.

Love Aldi's. I'm eating a bowl of their Greek yogurt as I type this. In fact, theirs is the only one Jabber and I like. I buy a LOT of staples at Aldi. Canned and frozen veggies, instant potatoes and rice, pasta, pasta sauce, peanut butter, crackers, ketchup, even Almond Milk. Really, most of their products. The only thing iffy is some of their produce. It's usually right at the tip top of ripeness, so you need to use it quickly when you buy it. You do find some amazing prices on it though. I got a 10 lb bag of potatoes for $1.99 the other day and a 99 cent box of Blackberries - those are like $4 in other stores!

We keep a white board in our laundry room. As I run out of grocery/kitchen items, I write it down on the white board. I do take a list with me before going to the grocery store. I write down the items on the white board and other items I need for a recipe, for example. If I'm really rushing, I take a photo of the white board before leaving the house.

We do the same thing, only a black board and chalk in the kitchen...right down to taking a photo to go shopping. I think planning ahead and making lists is really key.

As for what we spend...we're trying to cut down. We realized on January 5th or so, when I pointed out we'd already spent over $100 eating out, that had to end.

According to our Mint app...in January we spent $368 on groceries (which includes little things like toothpaste and shampoo too), $189 on restaurants and $34 on fast food. In the last 10 days we've spent $284 on groceries - which I KNOW has a lot of things like laundry detergent and bathroom items on it but I still don't know what's going on there!!! - $92 on restaurants and $21 on fast food.

I feel our food budget is too high but to figure it out, I need to find a way to separate out the non-food "grocery" items like toothpaste. It's just Jabber and I and I would like to get us down to $300 in groceries (everything included) and $150 total eating out, monthly.

Thanks to Jabber's hunting prowess this past fall, we won't be needing to buy meat for a good long while. We have plenty of venison to use in place of beef. Bonus! It's healthier too!

 

[RN0441]

Aldi's has really good ice cream cones and ice cream sandwiches too! Not healthy but a nice treat and I love their Oatmeal bread. I think it's in a package with a blue label. Their cheeses are great too! Have not tried their yogurt. Also like their coffee pods. Very good and reasonable.

 

[GoingNorth]

I don't drink coffee except in frou-frou drinks from places like Starbuck's very occasionally. I am, however, really concerned about coffee pods as the bulk of them aren't bio-degradable, and millions upon millions of the go into landfills and waterways every year. A few coffee companies have started making biodegradable pods, but I don't know if any of the "gourmet" coffee companies have picked up on it, yet.

Oh, I don't do bottled water, either. I use polycarbonate filter bottles for my drinking water, both at home and when travelling.

 

[Nomad]

Coffee pods are nutso expensive. We bought the hard plastic kcups and the tiny white filters. Then watch for the regular coffee on sale in the large containers. My husband figured it out and we are saving about $90 a month on coffee (maybe a little more). I drink about three or four cups a day and he drinks about two. It is relatively easy to find the Folgers coffee on sale either at the grocery store or Target. There is the large plastic container and I think it makes 180 cups and you can sometimes get it for $6 and change if I remember correctly. Not sure...but it is significantly cheaper than the kcups. Sure, I miss the kcups, but this is a noticeably difference in price. I did buy some kcups when I had a little get together at my house...but generally speaking, I don't buy them anymore.

 

[GoingNorth]

Nomad, I didn't realize they'd come out with re-usable kcups. That's even better! As a non-coffee drinker, I never gave the whole thing much thought until I spent 6 weeks with friends who had a Keurig. I was astonished by how many of the little pods piled up.

I have since heard that Keurig's new machines have a sensor in them that prevents the use of non-Keurig pods. I don't know ifthat is true or not. Theirs was an older machine. My experience with-coffee machines goes back to the days of being the one female computer specialist and hence having to make coffee, and then dealing with whatever struck husband's fancy and was his responsibility to operate.

 

[KTMom91]

I do serious grocery shopping every two weeks, with bread/milk/produce runs as needed. I do not send Hubby to the store alone, even with a list. It's way too expensive. When I plan meals, I plan for an extra serving for Hubby to take for lunch the next day. I'm not big on couponing, mainly because I don't use a lot of that stuff.

 

[Copabanana]

We bought the hard plastic kcups and the tiny white filters. Then watch for the regular coffee

Is this hard to figure out? Does the sensor not prohibit reuse of the cups?

 

[RN0441]

We never use the pods but nice to have on hand for company that may drink decaf or want a flavored coffee. We do have a plastic reuseable pod also that does not require a filter.

We recycle everything we possibly can. My husband is obsessed with it. If I throw it in the wrong can he makes it right!

 

[AnnieO]

Copa, I am terrible about budgeting. However, I can tell you I spend about $350 a month on groceries.

That includes my medications, toilet paper and tampons, shampoo and conditioner and soap, plus cat and dog food (and they eat better than we do I swear). Probably $150 goes to non-food items. The other $200 covers me, Bill and Rose on a daily basis. We probably eat out 1 time a week, but that's not included there.

Bill and I have the "Capitan Shopping List" app. I adore it. He adds something to the list, it shows up in mine. And vice versa.

I tend to buy large packages of items and then divvy up - 5 lbs of chicken became 3 meals' worth. 10 lbs of ground beef = 5 meals. Some I freeze, some I can - I do the canning when things are REALLY cheap. I paid $1.88 a pound for 15 pounds of ground beef and browned, drained and canned it plain - tacos, spaghetti, chili, sloppy joes, lasagna... stew beef gets really tender in the canning process... Shredded and chunked chicken, pork loin, tamales.

 

[AnnieO]

Oh, and we have a Keurig, too - no sensor. They also sell the reusable cups that allow you to bypass the sensor.

 

[GoingNorth]

Re: the Keurig with-the sensor. I read a couple of articles about it about a year ago. I am hoping the outcry at that time convinced them not to do it.

I know it was complaints about the pollution issue that convinced Keurig to bring out the reusable pods. My contribution to landfills is t-bags. I just found out that the teabags I use don't biodegrade all that quickly, either due to the types of fiber used in them.

 

[mof]

This is something we were just talking about here at our house. For 27yrs we have never had a food budget, but don't buy I don't think expensive items.

I go to Aldis every week....the rest at local sales store or Wal-Mart. We do have a Costco membership, but this will be the last year...too far, and I don't think it really 's economic.

We have 3 adults and 2 teens in the house, our son who has moved back home does not eat much of our groceries, at all. Teens pack lunches for school.

We are spending probably around 600.00 a month...it's staggering. I do make menus, and I do have an extra freezer...it's crucial! We don't eat red meat but maybe twice a month, so chicken and ground turkey for us.

Our issue, my husband loves eating g out just the two of us. It's pricey....kids are happy art home...but I think that's the money hole, restaurants...even if it's once a week.

 

[Copabanana]

I spend about $350 a month on groceries.

Annie, How many adults and children live with in your household?

Thank you.

 

[Tanya M]

Here's a link to a free app that's for budgeting.

EveryDollar - Dave Ramsey Budget Tool - daveramsey.com

 

[AnnieO]

Annie, How many adults and children live with in your household?

Thank you.

Could have sworn I mentioned but can't find. The budget I mentioned is for 2 adults and a child.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I pick my shopping days as I see fit these days (twice a week on average), especially now that we're empty-nesters, and back in the day when the kids were little I'd have to organize a babysitter (which I totally don't miss) and tried shopping even less, like once a week if I could. I've never been a happy shopper.

 

[GoingNorth]

I order in a lot of my groceries, so that's a monthly or bi-weekly thing. I run out weekly or more for fruit and veggies, etc.

Whether I order in, or go out and shop depends on how my arthritis is doing as of late my shoulders are bad, which can make it hard for me to carry groceries, etc.