Groceries in September

Two products I bought last week that I really like and that squirrel cracks me up. 

I always tell myself I'll keep track of how much I spend on food and I almost never do. I have discovered that if I'm going to track spending on anything, I have to do it in September or in February. Those are the only months where I'm any good at it. Everything else involves a holiday, a birthday, or a move -- in my experience anyway. 

Our groceries and basic household items are all wrapped together. It just makes SENSE to me and I asked someone with a large platform once about "paper towels", "dishwasher detergent", even "dog treats", and she's like "nope!"  and I'm all confused. Like, diapers or pull-ups? Where that does go in the budget if you buy them at Walmart? Are people not buying these things at the grocery store? If anything, buying a Truly Free box every two months cuts down on these weekly expenses for sure, because I'm not buying cleaning products. So I've tried to add up and then subtract what's random in each grocery shopping order or trip, compared to just food. That way, I can get an exact cost on just food. 

FUN FACT: I meal plan every week. Last week, I had my plan ready, was getting ready to order from Walmart, and Scott tells me he's "going carnivore". He was totally planning on cooking for himself but I was like "where is the point in that?" so I revamped some things last minute. He does make occasional stops at the store himself but I don't track that because I don't have control over it, you know? We do not even come close to tracking every dollar (I know several out there who track every penny), so solid, evidence-based estimates are good enough for me when it comes to food shopping. 

Mostly I just want to prove that I'm spending less on food than I think I'm spending and also that I'm using what I'm buying (the reason for the meal-planning). We're still in the stage of life where it's a capital E-Emergency if we run out of milk or bananas with a three year-old, so I usually end up at the store twice a week, no matter my best laid plans. 

9/2 Walmart $150

9/4 Kroger $43 (they have things I can't find at Walmart so sometimes I go in to fill the gaps)

9/8 Walmart $121

No date Walmart $86

9/9 Kroger $8 (this was for lettuce and something else I needed for dinner that night)

9/14 Commissary $171-30 (household expenses: see below) = $141 (I don't remember if this includes tipping. Probably not.)

I know that benedryl has red 40. It's really just to have on hand for bee stings. And I tried a travel size of micellar water. I don't know how I feel about it. I watched an Instagram dermatologist talk about how Dove is actually great for your skin and a perfectly find soap option. I have reactions (super itchy) from most mainstream body washes, so I always end up using the kids' so I'm going back to Dove for now. I used to use it all the time. 

9/17 Walmart $99

9/22 Aldi $41 (fruit and snacks for the week...Aldi is the place to go for that. This included a treat for a friend and a bag of candy)

9/26 Walmart $229- $29 (household expenses..see below) = $200 (this was the "i'm going carnivore" meal-plan)

The shaving cream and play-doh is for school purposes. Sutton's starting to learn letters this week. 

So even if I added back in general household products and needs, it safe to say that I spent less than $1,000 on groceries for a family of four in September. I know my kids are little-ish but our fruit and cracker expenses are insane. Sutton is a picky eater so we permanently stay stocked up on her staples. Wells will eat anything but as soon as she has something he has to have it too so we go through the same things very quickly every week. I don't "stock up" on certain items because I know as soon as I buy extra, they will decide they're not eating any of it. 

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Alright now you can try this in October!

Grocery haul.

I used to really enjoy grocery shopping. And then I didn't even mind it. And, even taking along Wells, it's not a hardship. It's just time intensive when I have to take Wells along and I prefer to grocery shop during the day because I'm generally in for the night by 7pm.

I've gone back and forth over the years...

Commissaries.

Fred Meyer.

Safeway/Carr's.

Aldi.

Trader Joe's.

Walmart.

Super Target.

This is completely dependent on where we live and what our situation is with stores/set-up/lifestyle.

For example, I liked shopping at Fred Meyer when we lived in Palmer, Alaska because it was closer than the commissary (a 40 minute drive).

In Missouri, I liked Walmart, so I would go back and forth between there and the commissary on base.

In Colorado, I hated grocery shopping so much that I usually just went to the commissary on the weekends and it'd be like a half-day project because it was 30 minutes away. Sometimes I would go to Safeway because it was close to work.

I've tried Aldi in both Missouri and in Pittsburgh and I'm always slightly disappointed.

And Trader Joe's is good for some things I like: produce and bread, for example. I'm just always wholly disappointed in their snacks. I don't get the TJ's obsession in this way. So I can't do a full week's worth of grocery shopping there.

Super Target is always a good option if you need a collection of random things (bath products, gifts, clothes, diapers, etc), but they're not as grocery-heavy as they proport themselves to be.

And Walmart: The Walmart in Alaska was fiiiiiiine. The Walmart at Ft. Leonard-Wood was fiiiiiiiine. The Walmarts in Colorado were the trashiest Walmarts I'd ever encountered. The Walmart in Laramie was the only option and it was the best kept-up Walmart I'd ever been to; it had to be because it was the only store in town.

And so when I found a Walmart a few miles from our house in Pittsburgh, I thought that'd be a good option. It was a really big store, everything you would need, etc. Especially since we were buying formula and that was the best place to get it each week along with all the groceries.

And then I noticed how trashy this Walmart can be. For example, one night I went in to grab formula after dark. I had to do some double takes: I'm shocked I didn't step on a used needle in the parking lot. The quality of people who hang out in a Walmart parking lot or lobby or just in general after 6pm is not the quality of people I generally seek out. Especially when they urinate on the produce because they're drunk (true story). 

I'd reconciled this in my mind by just doing the grocery pick-up, so I didn't actually have to go in. Then they started messing up my order and that just became so inconvenient (I needed those limes and all) and it was a waste of money.

So I decided it *might* be worth my time every two weeks or so to drive to the commissary here.

There IS a commissary in Pittsburgh because there's a reserve base near the airport. "Base" meaning that there's some buildings off of the highway.

It's a small store but it has 90% of what I would normally buy in the regular grocery store. Not everything is cheaper but the meat and cheese and frozen food is a bargain. They don't have a ton of produce because they don't get that much turnover, but I can always go to Giant Eagle for produce (they're waaaaaay too expensive to do all the shopping there).

The reason I'd avoided it so far was just because it's 30 minutes down the highway and, if you go at the wrong time of day, that turns into 90 minutes one way because of the traffic. So I have to plan it out moreso than if I were just heading to Walmart.

Anyway, I went last week at 9:30am and that was a good time, traffic-wise.

I always find peoples' grocery shopping hauls to be fascinating, so here's what I got:

I won't go through it all but a few things to note:

I prefer to have some quick frozen food on hand.

Pizzas (we like CPK), sweet potato fries, and potstickers (Wells loves them).

Chicken. It's a quarter of the price, compared to Walmart.

Same with cheese.

And the milk I buy for Wells is a full dollar cheaper there. 

Yogurts are only 80 cents, compared to $1.50 at other stores. 

I got all the ingredients to make a triple batch of tortilla soup to freeze (winter is coming and all). Then I realized I forgot the cream cheese. 

Coffee isn't that much cheaper there but we needed it, so whatever.

They had a different variety of pouches for babies so I got a bunch, and some baby snacks. I *try* not to give him these things every day but they're lifesavers if we're out somewhere.

And salads. I used to buy salad mixes that I loved in Colorado and I stocked up here last week.

I didn't get a lot of produce because I hadn't really meal-planned and didn't want it to go to waste. 

I've noticed that now I've become that person who makes a vegetable with every meal since I'm trying to train a toddler to eat, which 2013 Kristin wouldn't have believed. 

So I stocked up on broccoli because we eat it like 3 times a week because you can add it to anything easily. 

Where do you do most of your grocery shopping? 

In a perfect world, I would go to Costco once a month too, but that's a lot of work. It's like every 3 months that I go there to buy salmon for Scott and potstickers/won-tons/etc to keep in the freezer.

3 Friday Things.

1. We're back from our first block leave vacation in 5 years and we jumped right into the chores and whatnot that needed to be done. Mostly weeding the garden and I have the torn-up hands to prove it.

2. I started thinking about how I can make grocery shopping and meal prep easier on myself and I decided to try Wal-Mart's online ordering. Sure, I usually go to the commissary because it's cheaper but I also usually buy random things that look good while I'm perusing the aisles. I put the order in on Wednesday night and picked up Thursday morning. They were pretty busy so it did take 20 minutes or so of waiting, but totally worth it. I think I'll be doing this often. It's completely free and, if you meal-prep anyway, you already have your list made out. It's just one more step to put everything into an online shopping cart. It was oddly refreshing to know exactly how much money I spent before I even got to the store.

3. We drove to San Diego last Thursday and back this past Tuesday.  I'll happily recap in traditional (insufferable) blogger fashion next week, but this was the route we took.

For me (us), it's a weekend of playing catch-up and then, next week, I've really got to start making progress in my classroom. Only two full weeks of summer vacation left!

Convenience vs. Cost

Ordered from macys.com on Sunday, delivered to my door on Thursday.  Totally worth $10 in shipping.

How do you feel about it?  I was always a lowest cost no matter what kinda person, but lately I've come to realize that fifty extra cents is not going to make a difference.  It will if it applies to everything all the time, but if I need milk and I'm at Safeway and it's 60 cents more than it is at the commissary and I won't be at the commissary for another couple of days…I'm just going to buy the milk.

A year ago, I would've waited and bought it at the commissary.  A year ago, my day to day driving radius was about 5 miles.  

In the last few months, I've learned that time is money.  Now, we concentrate on consolidating and making the most of our trips.  Wal-mart is in one part of town (the one we go to anyway), the commissary is on base so I usually don't make special trips there, and the stores we like to shop at are on the other end of town.  Colorado Springs is ridiculously spread out.  We only live 20 minutes from the nearest part of town and 30 minutes from the base, but that time really adds up.  

For this reason, we've really taken advantage of online shopping since we've been here.  Amazon Prime Pantry is my favorite way to stock up on necessities just because the prices are the same as they are at the stores around here and shipping is $5 a box.  It's a big box and fits lots of stuff.  And if it means I don't have to remember to stop for paper towels, I'll gladly wait a couple of days for the order.  With the remodel and dogs, we go through a lot of paper towels.

There's two malls in Colorado Springs and neither are anything write home about.  There's some outlets about an hour north of here and they look to be pretty fantastic from the highway.  I haven't had a chance to actually stop.  I haven't really had time.  However, I do have a computer and a credit card, so I've ordered from Bath and Body Works and J.Crew Outlet and Macy's in the last few weeks.  It's worth it to pay $5-10 in shipping, opposed to driving somewhere and browsing and maybe buying.  Scott and I agree on this.  Plus, there's almost always an online coupon I can use: Buy 2, Get One Free at BBW, 30% off at J.Crew.  I was ready to pay full price at macys.com the other day, and a "20% off!" promotion popped right up.  So, definitely worth paying a few dollars in shipping.

I've also taken to stopping at Safeway if I need something instead of going to Wal-Mart.  Why?  Well, the milieu and and overall aesthetics of Safeway are slightly more pleasing than that of Wal-Mart.  Actually, the milieu of a gas station would win in a contest against Wal-Mart.  Yesterday, I probably spent ten extra dollars by going to Safeway instead of Wal-Mart but, after school on a Thursday, that's a price I'm willing to pay.  SuperTarget is also a good option for groceries if I'm in that part of town because their prices are the same as Wal-Mart and better than Safeway.  What I'm trying to say is that I'm avoiding Wal-Mart at all costs from here on out.  Because their prices aren't that good and if we're not going there for low prices, what are we going there for?  Exactly.

What do you think?  Convenience or cost?