I've been disheartened by how much I'm spending at the grocery store over the last six months or so! It seems like I walk through the doors at Meijer and "poof" all my money is in their till.
There are several contributors to my increasing expenditures:
***a daughter with a healthy appetite (which, praise the Lord for that!)
***shopping only at Meijer
***using mPerks rewards (if you spend a certain $$$ amount his month you'll get $ towards your next shopping trip)
***trying to eat as healthily as possible
***eating every single meal at home (it is very rare that we eat out, even fast food)
***trying new recipes which require new ingredients
***more expensive healthy convenience foods (especially snacks for my daughter)
Obviously, some of these items can't or won't be changed. My daughter's appetite? I think that will only get larger! Eating healthily? Nope, I don't want to change that! But shopping only at Meijer? I can change that!
I want to only spend $50 a week on groceries. That might not seem like enough to some people but to others it might seem extravagant. I'll post my menu and receipt totals each week. I'm only going to account for groceries only, not toiletries and other household expenditures. Also, it is canning season and I'm not going to account for grocery items that I'll buy so I can put my produce up. I am, in a way, making groceries, but they're for the future not that week. I'm going to shop as much as I can at Aldi and then hit up Meijer for the remainder of my shopping list.
My game plan is to:
***eat from the food I have in the pantry as much as possible (which is a short-term solution, I realize)
***eat at least two meat-free meals each week
***make more of our snack items and yogurt
So! Think I can do it? Stay tuned!
3 comments:
I think you would pass out if I told you what I spend to feed this herd each week. Then again, ain't nothing cheap up here! I just thank God for SAMs and the commissary. I once saw a blog about a family that did $1 meals once a week to see sorta what living in a third world was like. All 4 had to be served a meal that totaled $1. It was tough!
The cost of food is crazy up here! When I read $50 a week, I was skeptical, but then realized you live where there are Aldi's and coupons and deals. I wish you well with it, and I'm looking forward to seeing your results.
When our children were little, about 20 years ago, we were spending $55 a week and still struggling to make ends meet. This was for food, toiletries, cleaners. We went for financial counseling, and they were shocked at how little we spent on groceries! The Lord always provided, but those were some tough years!
This makes me glad we don't live in a high-cost area. :) Although groceries keep climbing in price!
Susan, we don't have a lot of grocery stores in our area so actually there is very little competition. Mostly it is Walmart and Meijer competing. Otherwise there are a few smaller grocery stores/chains, but their prices are not usually any better than Meijer. I don't use coupons that often either. It is an interesting area to live in. Other parts of our state have Kroger and double coupon days, but there aren't any stores like that around here. It's all Meijer. :)
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