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5.01.2023

The Money Pie Deconstructed: Groceries

Every year I do a recap of my spending, and I have broken the items into nine categories: Dining Out, Entertainment, Groceries, Health, Home, Misc., Shopping, Transportation and Travel. Last year I broke down my transportation category and went into more detail about where I spend my money in this category, how I get to work, how hard it is to park sometimes and what's in my trunk. 

Now its time to talk about groceries. Before I start, I have a confession to make. I like reading posts and watching YouTube videos about how people spend their money, and specifically how they spend their grocery money and/or how they save money on groceries. Some of my favorites are Frugal Fit Mom, Mary's Nest and FlavCity

I am not a doomsday prepper, but I definitely could last for a few months on the stores that I have in my house. Much of this is due to the fact that I have a good supply of camping food, which lasts for a long time, is lightweight and can be eaten by just adding water. I also have amassed a good supply of staples over the years, such as rice, dried beans and canned tomatoes. 

I am not an extreme couponer; however, I do like to sit down with the ads each week and compare prices at my local stores. I prefer to do this on paper as it is nice to be able to compare the different places side by side, but a lot of stores have apps and I will sometimes browse them instead, which is nice because you can make a list of things to buy right on the app. However, using the apps does sometimes mean toggling back and forth or making notes about which store has better deals. I usually base my weekly shopping trip on whichever store has the better deals. If one store has one of my staples at a great price, I may just shop at that one store for the week, or if the deals are split, I may go to two. 

I make a list in Google Keep and to be honest, a lot of weeks I just duplicate the list from last week and change a few things. There are a few staples I often buy so my list looks very similar each week. This app is also good if you are sharing shopping duties as you can add a collaborator and they can also add or cross off things from the list.

I generally shop at Safeway for most basics, and a local store called Farmer Joes for produce. Farmer Joes is a combination of expensive specialty items, bulk items and produce; if you want a head of lettuce, their prices and quality can't be beat, but if you are looking for a gallon of milk, you will pay out the nose for it. This makes it worth my while to go to both stores, plus they are only a block apart so it does not take too much extra time. 

I have a two tiered method of shopping: (1) fresh items that I use each week, such as milk, eggs, vegetables and fruit and (2) longer term items, such as dry goods like beans, rice or oatmeal, canned goods and meat, which I will buy in bulk and freeze. For the fresh items, sometimes you just have to pay a little more, but I try to buy what is in season and work around that rather than having a specific dish in mind and buying specific items for that dish. I am happy to eat oranges instead of apples, or use oat milk over almond milk if one is cheaper or fresher than the other. For longer term items, I try to get them when they are on sale and I store them until I need them. For example, last week Lucky's had pork chops for $0.99 per pound, so I bought ten pounds and froze them in two packs for later. Again, I don't really need specific items so will buy whatever is cheap at the moment. 

The "pantry"

I do not plan meals per se, but will see what is on sale and will then loosely plan around that. If pork chops are what I bought, that week's lunches will be pork chops and I will add whatever veggie I bought along with rice or quinoa from the long term section. I usually cook enough for one week's worth of lunches and prep them all at once. For dinners, I will normally go to the freezer where I have stored my prior deals in convenient serving sized packs, and I will take something out in the morning and then cook it at night with some other veggies etc. 

I guess I will be having pork butt soon!

I do not mind eating the same meal several times a week, and a lot of my meals consist of meat/tofu and a veggie with sometimes rice or potato. Other standbys are beans, lentils or some sort of Indian or Thai inspired "stew" (usually beans or tofu) over rice. If I am feeling lazy, an old standby is miso soup and if I am feeling frisky, I may add chicken or pork or rice noodles to it and call it ramen. 

Weekly meal prep

Lunches for the week

Let's talk about the costs, my favorite part! I love hearing what others spend on their grocery bills and why its higher or lower. I know a few of you chimed in on my purging post and I am amazed at what a range there is of how much people spend! Over the last six years, my average grocery bill per month has been about $320. This is inflated by the amount I spent in 2020; without this outlier, the average would be about $290. For the first quarter of 2023, the average is about $200, but my goal for this year is to shop more from my pantry and use up some of the items I already have rather than buying more, so I expect my grocery costs to be lower this year. 

Fun facts: in 2022, I went to Costco 17 times; my average spend per trip was $115. My three top purchased items by count at Costco were blueberries, strawberries and cucumbers and by dollar amount were coffee, strawberries and blueberries (yay fruit!). The price of two pounds of strawberries ranged from $6.99 to $10.79 throughout the year. The average cost was $7.97. 

What is your grocery shopping schedule/method like? Do you often buy the same things over and over or are you more exciting than me? What is your favorite "go to" meal? If you have not already answered this, how much do you spend on groceries? 

27 comments:

  1. I never get tired of hearing what other people are eating!

    I'm always happy when I find a good deal on something, but I don't track our grocery spending in any way. The answer for this stage of life with two teenagers at home is I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.

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    1. That makes sense, although I am in the camp of even though it sucks, I would rather know. The other day I ate an entire bag of chocolates that I had bought and I put it in the food tracker, even though I knew it would be over a thousand calories and would put me way over my budget for the day. However, sometimes the dollar amount of the Costco receipt really shocks me when I go to the checkout counter! Like how the heck did I spend over $300 on 12 bags of snacks and a few veggies!? :)

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  2. We spend about $90-100/week on groceries which I think is on the low end for a family of 4. I did a detailed post about our groceries spending last year. We save money by buying as much as Aldi as we can. We do not generally stock up on things that are on sale, though, aside from buying a 3 lb package of ground beef which I then portion out into one pound packages and vacuum seal. We are more of a "just in time" kind of family. But we do not have a ton of storage space and our freezer is kind of small since we have a side-by-side freezer (like you do, I think?). I eat the same things over and over and over. I eat oatmeal with cinnamon and a sliced banana nearly every day and then I mostly eat salads for lunches. We meal plan and I usually make 3 different meals and then we get by on our leftovers + easy meals like cereal or soup for Phil and eggs over easy with toast for me. My favorite go to meal is usually a soup, chili or curry!

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    1. I am also a soup, chili or curry person. They are easy to make, last for a long time as leftovers and are often pretty cheap too, depending on what you put in them! I think that eating the same or similar things a lot can also keep down food costs, so maybe that is another reason you do not spend too much each month. The other thing that I rarely purchase is alcohol, so that probably keeps my cost lower than some. I know when going out to dinner, whether or not you drink really changes the level of the tab!

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  3. I am riveted by posts about how people do basic things like grocery shop and laundry. We honestly go to one grocery store once a week and to Costco about once a month, but we spend about $700-800 a month on groceries and I have no idea how we do that because there are only two of us. Ha!

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    1. Ha! That does seem like a lot for two people, but I am sure it is Costco who is to blame! I went a lot in 2022, but this year I have only been once because I found it WAY too easy to just lob things into the basket and before I know it that is easily a $300+ grocery shopping trip. One thing I am trying to do is to be more mindful about eating what I have because the other thing I have trouble with is going into the store for "just one thing" and coming out another $300 poorer and with all kinds of things I probably don't need! However, I do like trying new foods sometimes so I like doing that, but I am trying to cut that down a little bit. I always have a list, but I also like to go down each aisle and see if anything looks fun or is a good price! We do only live once. 

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  4. I love posts like this. There is SUCH a wide range. I am always amazed that some people manage to keep their grocery spending so low. I would estimate that we spend about $200 per week at the grocery store, and that is just for the three of us. This is all on me. I am not a frugal buyer. I buy the expensive meat and convenience foods and lots of expensive protein bars for my husband. I know if we needed to rejigger our finances, our grocery budget would be one place we could really cut back on. We go to Costco as infrequently as possible because I hate going there lol.

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    1. I love Costco. If given the choice to go shoe shopping or grocery shopping, I would choose the food! I really enjoy thinking about what I am going to make with the food, or looking forward to eating it! I definitely save money by not buying higher end, organic, etc. However, luckily a lot of the better quality items, like grass fed meat or butter for example, have come down in price a little, or are at least more comparable in price to the lower end cousins. I definitely do not mind buying Foster Farms or whatever hamburger is on sale (although Costco's meat is pretty good!) rather than getting the highest quality cuts. Protein bars are another beast though, and I try to save by buying in bulk as much as possible. I can't believe the single bar prices at places like Whole Foods; some are over $2 or $3 a bar!

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  5. I love learning about others groceries habits too! here in Jakarta we do big shopping 1-2 a week, one mainly vegetables and protein (me), the other fruits (husband) and what's missing. I also order dry staples online as sometimes I don't find them in our near by store. we consume a lot of vegetables, fruits, eggs, tofu. when I don't know what I want to eat, I'll make fried rice with tofu for me, and with eggs for the family. also, we also have frozen dumplings, hash browns, chicken nuggets for when I really don't want to cook. our dinners are usually few vegetable dishes and a protein, with rice. we spend 1000 per month for a family of 4. I think it's on the expensive side due to the consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits.

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    1. I think fresh veggies and fruits are worth paying for if you have to, although buying in season sometimes helps. However, that is something that we are very lucky to have in California; usually the produce is local so it is not super expensive and we have a lot of choices. I noticed when living in the Midwest that their selection was not as broad and was more expensive (and their idea of a salad was pretty basic), so I am glad that we have a lot of options! Do you have a lot of options, and/or is a lot imported and if so, is it really expensive?

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  6. I love your pantry!! I definitely do not have any cute storage jars like that. Very interesting post. Our grocery spending is kind of sporadic and disorganized, because we don't have exactly a set grocery shopping schedule. We also eat out quite a bit, yet, I feel like we still spend plenty at the grocery store.... so that's always perplexing. HA. An average grocery trip used to be around 100-150 for us, but in this last year with the food prices up etc it's not uncommon for the bill to be pushing $200 or more! But, I don't necessarily go EVERY week... sometimes it's weekly, sometimes it's every 2 weeks, or somewhere in between.... supplemented with a random gas station run for a gallon of milk or eggs if needed ;) We tried Costco years ago and I shut that down. I was like, no. I just didn't want another store to have to go to, I didn't want to deal with the "bulk" sizes, or having to try to figure out if this enormous $25 pack of tuna was actually a good deal or not. lol. It also seems always crowded and the whole thing was just a turnoff to me! But I know people love it, so I occasionally feel little pangs of regret that maybe I'm missing something amazing, but I just don't care enough. :)

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    1. Costco is definitely a conundrum! I think it completely makes sense for some things but not for others. For example, they have a three pound bag of Kirkland tortilla chips that used to be three dollars and I am pretty sure are made by Mission. If you are going to buy two one pound bags at Safeway anyway and pay five dollars, the Kirkland ones are a steal. However, then you start to wonder...do I really need THREE pounds of chips? Am I eating them just because I have them? Or there are other things like protein bars, where there are 20 of them for $20, which is usually cheaper than anywhere else, but there are three different flavors and it's inevitable that there is one that you like less so it ends up being in the snack drawer for three years until you finally either eat it begrudgingly or throw it away. But I still love going there. You can't beat the price of eggs -- right now, $11 for 5 dozen, and I have seen some stores where one dozen is still about $7!! 

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  7. Woo! My average grocery bill is about $2000 more than yours per month. I go to Superstore weekly, and Costco every 2-3 weeks, and then occasionally supplement with the more expensive Co-Op. Frankly, other than shopping at lower-cost Superstore and Costco, I don't really try to shop frugally. I am very price-inelastic for most items, particularly produce. I'm pretty fortunate and privileged that I don't have to really think about it. If cauliflower is $2.99 or $9.99 per head, I'm still going to buy the same amount. I have two teens and I make all my meals from scratch, and I want us to have delicious produce, whatever the cost. So that means that at a bare minimum I'd spend $2000 per month on groceries, but usually it's more like $2500. I do buy fruit more seasonally - more berries this time of year, more apples and pears in fall - but I'll always buy lots of spinach and peppers. I buy the same things generally week after week because my weekly meal plans are pretty similar. Tuesdays are stir-fry, for example. Maybe different kinds of stir-fry, but stir-fry nonetheless. I've written about my weekly plans and most-used recipes on my blog if you're interested!

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    1. We all have areas where we are inelastic for sure! I am willing to save on groceries, only to spend it on travel. I definitely would would have a hard time spending $10 on a head of cauliflower though! That hurts my brain just thinking about it. However, I have taken friends out for a once in a lifetime 18 course tasting menu at a fancy restaurant, which was expensive but priceless. You are basically creating experiences at home which will be remembered forever; you can't put a price on that!

      I will definitely go back through your archives and check out your plans and recipes!

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  8. Wow, you are amazingly organized. And I am truly impressed at how little you spend on food. We have a lot of specific dietary needs around here that make it expensive. Certain brands of milk that tummies can tolerate, etc. I get so damned tired of trying to figure out what to cook, I commented on another blog today that I wish we could just skip dinner most nights and go to bed or something. I think if someday it is just me, it will be snacky dinners most evenings, and I will look back on these days of full meals with a combination of wistfulness and relief to be done with them.

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    1. Do you have five "go to" meals that you know work for everyone? That way you can just do the same five every week and you don't have to think about it so much? I often do the same thing over and over and of course that cuts down on cost, time and thinking about it too much! That is my saving grace. I was talking to a coworker today and she said that she doesn't like to eat the same thing more than once, so she was amazed (grossed out?) that I always do repeats.

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  9. Great post, and I enjoyed the comments. I'm laughing at Birchwood's "I DON'T WANT TO KNOW." That's what I tend to be like, especially when my son is home- he eats SO MUCH. But, I really should track it more carefully. I have big plans for the summer of doing a lot of meal prep, so my son has food he can pull out of the fridge whenever he needs it. Overall I could be doing way better in this area, so it's good for me to read a post like yours- you are amazingly organized.

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    1. I am an analyst so I enjoy tracking, but it is not for everyone! However, I do think it makes sense to me to not buy too many overpriced things just because I want them, when I could easily substitute for something more in season or on sale or just cook that recipe another time.

      I have done a once a month meal prep and it is so nice! I don't know if you would be willing to do that, but it basically entails one day of prepping and you are pretty much good for the month. However, some of the things do require cooking, but everything is already sliced, diced and mixed beforehand. I am also a fan of freezer meals, and your son could just pull it out and nuke it (I usually put mine in mason jars).

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  10. Just because of this post (it made me think), I calculated our grocery budget for April: $674. That is because we were away for 7 days. In May I'll be sure to track it. And report back! :)

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    1. I can't wait to hear your report! How many people are in your family? It would completely make sense if you are four that you would spend at least a few times more than I would, since I am just one! I usually track mine every quarter and then average it out because it definitely ebbs and flows.

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  11. These kind of posts are my favorite and you know how much I love to talk about grocery shopping and costs. I cannot figure out for the life of me how some couples/families spend so little. We're only two people and we usually average around $800... (just groceries. We don't by alcohol and household items are not factored in either).I always blame it partly on the high COL in California. I feel like everything is so expensive.

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    1. I think that the COL is high in CA but also it depends on what you get. If you get blueberries instead of apples, you are definitely going to pay a premium. My brother and his lady buy good cuts of beef, and even though it is from Costco, it is probably at least $8-$10 more per pound than the ground beef I buy. My friend has kids and she buys what they want/like, regardless of season or price. In all of these cases, you are going to have a higher bill, but if you are happy with life, I think it is totally fine!

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  12. Oh fascinating! We plan meals but we don't do a good job of planing based on what we have in the freezer or in dried goods so I feel like we spend a lot on groceries. But, we don't have a lot of time at this stage in life so simple quick wins are important for us, even if it involves more chicken (so expensive!) than I would otherwise buy. Before kids we did a lot more shopping on sale items and checking for coupons and I used to go to a few stores for different items.

    We budget £375 a month for food. January was the most expensive month at £430.

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    1. I think that your monthly expense is not that high based on what others have said. I mean, you are a family of four, right? So that is even way less per person than I spend! I think you are doing just fine! Also I wonder how much is chicken there? I think here for a boneless breast, which is often the most expensive, you can get them for about $2.99/lb frozen or $3.99/lb "fresh" at Costco, but in a normal store, you may pay more like $5.99 or at Whole Foods you may pay $8.99/lb. However, if you are willing to buy chicken with bones and skin, you can sometimes get it for about $0.99/lb, so it is often the cheapest meat around!

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  14. I typically spend about 80ish a week at Kroger. I use Kroger frequently because of the ads / pick up ease. I am a little bummed that they no longer send a paper ad because I prefer them too. But the app is decent and I just write out items on a pad of paper as I'm looking through. We split a quarter of a cow with my inlaws every so often so I do not buy beef at the store and I only buy meat when it is on sale. I prefer to buy my chicken at Costco but it's more expensive and so I have been watching sales and trying to keep it in the freezer. I meal plan but I meal plan based on what I already have. I will sometimes add an item or two to a grocery list but during the school year I tend to meal plan on Friday and do a pick up order on Monday or Tuesday. The summer is a bit more chaotic. But when I do go to Aldi, I always pick up chicken broth, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, beans, and tortilla shells. Otherwise I am shopping the Kroger ad and freezing items. I don't keep track of my costco grocery spending but I have been going there more often. I only buy fruits and veggies on sale and occasionally i'll buy snacks for the kids via subscribe and save deals on Amazon. So i do spend more than the 80 a week that I usually spend at kroger but it's spread out.

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  15. That is very good! We don't have Kroger or Aldi (or Fred Meyer) which I know often have a lot of deals, but I do the same thing with Safeway (or we have a lot of Latino supermarkets that tend to have great deals on certain items - tomatoes, beans, fruit etc.). In fact, last week I went to Safeway to get eggs, but they were strangely expensive so I will get them from Costco instead. However, pork chops were 1.29 a lb and I found half gallons of milk for 1.97! I did not even need either thing, but I bought them, and will use them or freeze them!

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Thanks for commenting! I love to respond to comments, so please check back soon for my reply!