A friend posted recently on Facebook that they were shocked at how food prices are rising at the grocery store. Mike then mentioned that both Chipotle and McDonalds, two national fast food restaurant chains, had failed to make their projected 3rd quarter earning figures due to rising food costs.
I have to tell you that our make-it-mostly-from scratch, vegetarian household has not yet felt the rise in prices - we're still squarely on, or under, budget. In fact, as is usually the case, I was well under budget this last week at just about $75.00 for a week's worth of groceries.
A couple of disclaimers - we do not include non-food items in our Grocery budget. Paper goods and cleaning supplies are allocated to either Home Items or Home Maintenance, depending, and beauty products like shampoo, makeup and shaving supplies are allocated to our Personal Care account. I will say, however, that I almost exclusively buy all of these non-food items in bulk when they are advertised as loss leader items by a particular supermarket, and can't remember the last time we've run out of anything, or had to buy it at full price. We also allocate all alcoholic beverage purchases to Entertainment.
Here's a breakdown of last week's menu, and the corresponding shopping list to give an idea of how we're achieving this:
Menu
Daily morning coffee, flavored with coconut milk. We also keep a pitcher of coffee chilled in the refrigerator to make late morning iced coffees. And in the summer, we make sun tea and keep in on hand and chilled as well.
Breakfast:
- Cereal or soy yogurt, topped with fruit, nuts and flaxseed
- Soy based smoothies
- Steel cut oatmeal topped with fruit, cinnamon, nuts and flaxseed
Lunch:
- Leftovers from dinner
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit and a home baked treat (when we're at school generally, and packing our lunches)
- Tortillas with vegetarian refried beans, cheese and salsa (my at-home lunch staple)
Dinner:
- Spicy black bean veggie burgers, roasted sweet potato fries, Mexican Caesar salad
- Terriyaki rice with vegetables, tofu and toasted sesame seeds, kale salad
- Vegetable fajitas, black beans, Mexican Caesar salad
- Eggplant Parmesan, spaghetti noodles, Caesar salad, garlic bread
- White bean soup with rosemary and pasta, kale salad, garlic bread
(We had the fajita leftovers repackaged as quesadillas on day six, and enjoyed the soup again for dinner on day seven - it made a ton!)
Desserts:
Banana bread made with some ripening bananas
Blueberry muffins made with some ripening blueberries
Trader Joe Cranberry/Pistachio biscotti
Shopping List
From Sprouts Farmers Market
Golden flax seeds
Great northern beans
Roasted salted pepitas
Coconut milk
Soy yogurt
Vegetable bouillon cubes
Vine ripened tomatoes
Flat leaf Italian parsley
Jonagold apples
Eggplant
Red & green bell peppers
Red onions
Red seedless grapes
Romaine Lettuce
Kale
Rome Apples
Yellow onions
Total of $21.21
From Trader Joe's
Graham crackers
Dark Roast Coffee Beans (Which I then grind fresh at the store before leaving)
Bananas
Black beans
Cranberry-pistachio biscotti
Baby carrots
Trail mix
Frozen berries
Mini tomatoes
Trader Joe's Toasted O's cereal
Total of $26.56
From Ralphs Supermarket
Butter (on sale for $2.50 a pound)
Morningstar Spicy Black Bean veggie burgers
Diet Coke (on sale at three 12-packs for $11)
Total of 23.28
From Albertsons Supermarket
Two loafs of bread (on sale at $1.98 a loaf)
Two raw carrots
One stalk of celery
Total of $4.33
Grand Total of $75.38
I'm generally able to stock up on one or more sale items each week, and plan my menu around items on sale, plus items I already have on hand. I spend about 15 minutes perusing the weekly grocery circulars for sales, 5 minutes eyeballing my pantry, spice cabinet, freezer and refrigerator to remind myself of what I already have, about 30 minutes planning out my menu from my hugh assortment of cookbooks, and then about 90 minutes shopping for my items at the four places above, all located within just a mile or two of my home.
Other tips - buy nuts, beans and spices from less expensive bulk bins, available at stores like Sprouts and Henry's Farmers Markets. Frequent the mark down tables for bread about to expire, and simply pop it in your freezer until you need it. Buy marked down items, particularly staples, in six month quantities. As an example - I scored on .49 cent per pound pasta some weeks back, and now have enough on hand to last for months. I did the same with pasta sauce, and rice, and now have the foundation for some wonderful dinners in the future for very little cost.
I recognize that it takes a little effort to stay organized in this fashion, but I'm going to guess we're easily saving between $50 - $75 each week in the process, which means more money to travel with. (It always comes back to travel with us.). We always have delicious, nutritious food on hand, which prevents us from impulsively going out to dinner, picking up takeout or ordering in. I really enjoy the creative process of cooking and baking, finding it very satisfying, and if there ever is a night when I'm too tired to cook, or we've just had too busy of a day, there are almost always dinner leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer we can quickly heat up. And, perhaps the biggest bonus - we're remaining healthy and slim . . . no mean fit as we navigate through our 50's.
I've been doing this for a little over a year now, and I'm sure there are lots and lots of creative things others have discovered that I haven't as of yet, so please feel free to share some of your secrets . . . I'd really enjoy hearing about them.
Meat, veggies and fruit are the big rises in our food budget. We eat meat about three times a week. Fruit and veggies have shot through the roof with transportation costs to the midwest. Our groceries have increased about $10. per week this year for the two of us. We have moved from $360 to $400 a month.
ReplyDeleteWe have an envelope for eating out---but finally used the money to fix the lawn mower- LOL.
We don't have real competition for grocery here. One store, the commissary and Walmart within 40 miles. It is interesting to see how competition keeps prices in check.
Our gas bill has sure dropped though....$3.29 a gallon yesterday!!! Whooo Hooo! More $$ for driving to see the kids!
I appreciate the different perspective Janette. I winced when I say how little you are paying for gas though . . . here in California we're at least 50 cents a gallon higher. We're now calculating gas costs into every driving decision to make sure it's worth it. And we're riding our bikes around town a whole lot more as well, but I consider that a positive reaction to the rising gas prices here.
DeleteEverything is going up here. there is no doubt. That said, even at higher prices we can get any kind of produce fresh year around. We definiitely ea rmore meat and fish and seafood than you are. I keep my grocery bill down because I am a coupon loss leader queen (yes, you can get coupons for real food), and from maily cooking from scratch. We also have high competition between stores, making things not as bad as it might be. I alternate between waffles and oatmeal and eggs for breakfast on the weekdays and we generally have a protien, salad and vegetables for dinner along with some starch. I dont plan for lunch. I do plan snacks because I need toe at six time aday.
ReplyDeleteI think cooking from scratch really is the key to keeping control of the Grocery budget. Convenience foods are what killed our food budget in the beginning. Once I got that under control we were fine. Moving to vegetarianism did end up pushing costs down as well, but that was never the intention, just the unintended side effect.
DeleteOur mid afternoon snacks are generally trail mix (a blend of almonds, dried blueberries, raisins and cranberries), cheese and crackers, or vegetables and hummus.
could it be that the rise in the cost of meat may account the rising cost of food? we eat meat almost every day but I do try to keep the amount down to a bare minimum by adding beans etc. It is just a thought.
ReplyDeleteb
http://www.retireinstyleblog.com
Although I'm not following meat prices the way I used to, I am still following chicken breast prices because we make up a rice and chicken breast mixture for our dog, and they appear identical to 2011 - $0.99 lb for skinned, bone in chicken breasts and $1.99 lb for skinned, boneless chicken breasts. I'm not seeing price increases in anything we buy regularly, particularly sale pricing, so I'm apparently not purchasing whatever it is that is spiking in price.
DeleteGas price increases here in S. California I can definitely speak too, but not food
I'm thinking that I would be able to save money on food when I retire too, especially if it is just the two of us. Right now we are a family of 5..3 adults and 2 teenagers all with healthy appetites. I've been buying in bulk, and generally making most meals from scratch, but I can't seem to get lower than $200 a week.
ReplyDeleteDoes that figure include your non-food items? Otherwise, that's about $50 more a week than what I used to spend when we had teens at home. The go-to snacks I kept on hand for them included microwave popcorn, granola bars, popsicles and apples, though I'll be the first to admit that neither of them EVER ate the apples! We also didn't keep soda on hand, other than in liter bottles for when they had friends over, which I'm sure saved a lot of money. Like you, dinners were generally from scratch, and leftovers were always available.
DeleteWe did order pizza almost every Friday during our "raising teen" years, which did not come from my Grocery budget - about $20 each time. I think my weekly total during those years, including Friday night pizza, was about $140.
If I didn't make and stick to my weekly menu though, all bets were off.
Yes, I used to spend less than that but prices are a lot higher. I don't include cleaning products in that price, I separate that into household items. We have a lot of fruit and granola bars too, but the staples i.e. bread eggs cheese milk all are a lot higher.
DeleteSharon, I just caught that you said you have five in your household currently, which is one more than we had, and three more than we have now.
DeleteCurrently we are eating our pantry and refrigerator empty in preparation for our upcoming two week trip. I jokingly told my husband tonight that we should do this from time to time, even if we're not leaving on vacation, because it's a good way to use up food that would otherwise probably go stale and get tossed. He's been remarkably accommodating as each day's meals have gotten progressively more creative!