Grocery Budget: $60 Average Continues

As I wrote in my last grocery budget post, we've started shopping at Aldi to save some major money on our grocery bill each week. By now, we've decided this isn't some short-term experiment or novelty that we'll grow out of when the next fad hits. We're pretty much sure we're switching stores for good.

Here's our latest receipt.

If you look closely, you'll notice that we have DOUBLE a lot of items. That's because this $70 total is a good portion of groceries for two, yes, TWO weeks combined with what we still have left at home. We'll have to go back to get some items like bananas, fresh fruits + veggies, and bread next week, but I don't see that being over $25-$30.

You'll also notice we have a bag charge. I have no idea how we forgot to bring our bags. Live and learn, I guess. Also, you guys have helped me settle on the classic canvas bags versus the mesh totes. You're right that the durability and washability trump pretty colors!

// THE DOLLARS AND CENTS

Basically, we've been averaging out around $60 a week if you count the added canned goods + few items (tofu, Earth Balance, whole wheat flour) we use otherwise. This is at least $30 less than we had been averaging per week when we were shopping at Wegmans. And if I'm being totally honest, we were seeing $100-$110/week for a while.

. . . so, for us, we're talking a monthly savings of up to $200!


I owe our saving $$$ to:

• Less selection, but all the necessities are covered.
• Lower cost in general of all the foods b/c they are store brand.
• Less temptation, so I can stay on task.
• Fewer aisles, so shopping is fast and efficient.
• Less expensive toddler convenience foods -- big help in our house.
• Motivation from seeing a lower price tag = invaluable.
• Fewer ingredients mean simpler meal planning (see meals below).
• Continuing to make most meals at home, from scratch.

I guess I've been most surprised and impressed by the quality of the food. Traditionally, I thought of Aldi as a store with expired foods or ones that were discarded. I think there's some perception that discount equals this sort of thing, but all our food from Aldi has been fresh, tasty, and all well within date limits.

This past week, we had to stock up on quite a few items. Our cart was so full, I was absolutely convinced our total was going to be outrageous. We had even snuck into the cart some "extras," like steel-cut oats, a frozen stir-fry mix, and several 85% dark chocolate bars.

As always, I feel it's important to mention a.) That this post isn't sponsored in any way -- I have no affiliation with Aldi, b.) Our toiletries and house items go in a different "household" budget and c.) Our weekend fund is around $50, which we mostly use to go to a movie ($20) and then out to eat or buy special foods to make some weekend meals.


// WHAT WE'RE EATING FOR DINNER

Another concern of mine was that we'd be eating boring, bland dinners. That just hasn't been the case. My produce selection, yes, is a bit leaner than I'm used to, but we just sent in our paperwork for our CSA share (which is around $24/week, if I remember correctly). So, that should soon be covered, though with some local offerings popping up in our store -- I wonder how produce selection changes seasonally at Aldi.

Otherwise, I'm finding some great staples to cook with and learning to love others. Combined with a solid spice collection (which, I have discovered I'll be able to stock up again on a lot of them at Aldi), we've made anything from basic pizzas to more complicated Indian dishes.

Cheese + Bean Quesadillas

Tortilla Shells, Shredded Cheese, Canned Black Beans, Organic Salsa, Greek Yogurt, Avocado

Slow Cooker Soup -- following these handy tips!

Vegetable Broth, Zucchini, Onion, Canned Tomatoes, Canned Beans

Veggie Pizza

Tomato Sauce, Shredded Cheese, Roasted Onion, Green Pepper + Mushrooms, Homemade Crust

Spinach + Avocado Pesto Pasta

Spinach, Garlic, Parmesan, Avocado, Pasta Shells (from this post) -- Salsa and Egg, too.

Chana Masala w/ Roasted Cauliflower

We had spices, but Cauliflower, Chickpeas, Tomatoes, Onion, Garlic, Bell Pepper

Basic Veggie Burgers

Whatever veggies are on hand, Beans, Oats, Seasonings, Toast

// RELATED POSTS:

Shopping at Aldi: Our New Secret Weapon
Shop For TWO Weeks, Save Money
Ongoing Grocery Saga + YOUR Tips
10 Favorite (Cheap!) Grocery Staples
How Low can we Go?
$60 Sweet Spot
Eating Well Need Not Cost a Fortune
Grocery Bills: Progress
Grocery Bills: Even More Progress
Grocery Bills: What's Up Now?
Slashing Grocery Bills: We're Going Strong
Grocery Bills: Major Fail!
How to Store Bulk Foods
Cooking and Baking on a Budget: How To
How to Bake It Vegan: Common Substitutions

// WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Some of you said you'd been meaning to try Aldi.

Did you check it out this weekend? I'd love to hear your experiences!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Grocery Budget: The Dollars and Cents

I recently shared with you guys my favorite, cheap winter grocery staples for this year. What I haven't talked about in quite a while is our actual food budget. Of course, there's good reason for it: We hadn't been able to stick to one until recently.

Sigh.

When it was just the two of us, hitting around $50-$60 a week was so relatively easy. We cook most of our meals from scratch and we're vegetarian, but don't eat a lot of packaged extras. And then came Ada. She breastfed for over a year with bits of food mixed in here and there, and after those first 365 days -- her appetite increased (that tends to happen with kids -- they grow!).

Obviously, adding another mouth to feed is going to cost some money, but with a picky palate, we fell into some bad habits with buying Ada separate foods to match her moods and relied on some convenience snacks to get by. Add to that the great cloth diaper disaster of 2013, and our weekly bills were creeping higher and higher.

As much as I try to gloss over it, we also spent the bulk of the last year dealing with various medical procedures and (too much) stress to do detailed meal plans all the time. I'd say we were spending around $100 each week up to higher totals, depending. I had gotten into a great rhythm and loved doing our Vegetarian Freezer Month experiment in October, but then we fell into this funk.


Now that things are looking up for us again, we're doing a reset on our financial handles. We're looking into buying a different house, we have tried living with one car and it's not working (so, we need car #2), we'd like to put Ada in a couple mornings of preschool in the fall, etc. Basically, we need to find room in the budget for all this stuff, along with savings and emergency funds.

It's possible, but it'll take some finagling. Food is one of those variable costs that we can play around with, as most of our budget is fixed with the mortgage, both our student loans, car payments, utilities bills, and so on. Entertainment is also taking a cut, not that it was significant to begin with, but -- and as I've done in the past -- also a shift. I'll share more once we get it all ironed out.

// MY NOT-SO SECRET WEAPON

Not surprisingly, I was motivated to visit Aldi after the explosion of sponsored posts recently splashed across blogs and websites I frequent. We have three stores in the area, all around equal distance from our house, but the last time I had shopped there was over 5 years ago, and I wasn't too impressed.

I had been toying with going again, but didn't feel too optimistic. The lines are long. You have to bag everything yourself. You have to pay cash or debit. Little selection. Yeah. Food, at least back then, was definitely hit or MISS. Etc. But I also wasn't looking at it in the same way.

So . . .


Thing is, I'm glad for the social media boom because the last three weeks, we've done the bulk of our shopping at Aldi, visiting Wegmans only to pick up the occasional block of tofu, a single tub of Earth Balance, or bag of whole wheat flour. And with our CSA kicking in during the spring -- I could see us shopping exclusively there.

Here's why:


Basically, our groceries cost us $100 for the last two weeks (not including that $10 package of toilet paper, which goes in our household budget and I stocked up on chocolate to share with my mom)! I would have included our first receipt, but I can't find it -- that trip was also just over $50.

Granted we have some staples in the house already (beans, oats, yeast, to name a few), but without temptation to get all sorts of other things, I am able to stay on task with my shopping and will likely not increase an insane amount to stock up on the staples. The prices and unit prices are clearly marked. They have most of the basics, and you guys know I enjoy making great meals with few, extremely un-exotic ingredients.

I got a nice loaf of sliced bread for just over a dollar that doesn't have tons of added ingredients. The dairy is incredibly less expensive: 3 cups of cheese for the price that 2 is at our usual store. Greek yogurt that is a steal. Yet, they also have some amazing stuff like super dark chocolate that is to die for.

// WHY I'M HAPPY

I have absolutely no affiliation with Aldi and have had no contact with the store in any form. Still, I wanted to share my piece because I'm a real person who tries to eat well on a real (tight) budget and have been really impressed. Enough to finish off our month's shopping there this Saturday, when I'll likely need to stock up on some staples. I'll continue shopping there if the price at the checkout continues to be so good (and the food continues to be so fresh/tasty).

For once, I like making a simple, no-real-brainpower-required shift that's enabled us to lean out the budget. It meant simply switching stores and writing out our meal plans again and getting smarter about using my ingredients before they spoil (which I'll get to in another post -- soon). But as I've learned in the past, we'll still need to keep on our toes.


*** Oh, and I also like that I HAVE to bring my own bags. 

I can't as conveniently forget them -- though we did have to buy a plastic one on our first trip. But I'm looking to upgrade since mine have a lot of holes and broken handles -- do you guys like classic canvas bags or these pretty mesh totes? They're around the same price, and I see the merits of each (like canvas being sturdy, but mesh being really portable).

// RELATED POSTS:

Shop For TWO Weeks, Save Money
Ongoing Grocery Saga + YOUR Tips
10 Favorite (Cheap!) Grocery Staples
How Low can we Go?
$60 Sweet Spot
Eating Well Need Not Cost a Fortune
Grocery Bills: Progress
Grocery Bills: Even More Progress
Grocery Bills: What's Up Now?
Slashing Grocery Bills: We're Going Strong
Grocery Bills: Major Fail!
How to Store Bulk Foods
Cooking and Baking on a Budget: How To
How to Bake It Vegan: Common Substitutions

// WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Do you shop at discount grocery stores? 

I know Trader Joe's is related to this store -- quite literally -- but we don't have those anywhere near here for me to compare. (Are the prices good? Is it considered a discount store like Aldi?) There are obviously some positives and negatives, which I could cover in another post. But when the bottom line is in the mix, I have to go with what makes cents for us.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Fab Finds: Unexpected Places

We did some shopping this weekend at The Christmas Tree Shops. Though we had been there before -- we hadn't delved into the food section much. Admittedly, I was more than apprehensive about buying food at a discount chain that carries everything from curtains to kitchen islands to diapers.

Here's some of our loot:

1 glass bread pan ($3.99)
3 springform pans ($3.99)
1 jar fancy peanut butter ($2.99)
2 bottles fancy mouthwash ($3.98)
1 gigantic bottle of pure vanilla ($1.99)
BRM brown rice flour ($2.69)
BRM bulgar wheat ($2.99)
BRM Scottish oats ($2.99)
BRM oat flour ($2.69)
BRM golden flax meal ($4.49)

TOTAL: $32.79

It may not seem outrageously impressive, but a set of 3 springform pans alone can cost between $10 and $25. A glass bread pan: $10 to $15. I've been eying the Kiss My Face mouth wash at Wegmans, but at around $8 per 16 ounces, buying full-price feels like more than a splurge. The peanut butter is at least a dollar and a half off (and perfect for cooking). And I don't know about you, but vanilla extract adds up after a while -- the bottle I bought is legit, too!

All that Bob's Redd Mill stuff can be found online for similar prices. I know that. But the shelves were stocked to the brims with it. Plus, no waiting for shipping! I'm still thrilled even just reviewing how we made out.

I feel another series on savings coming on . . .


After receiving our annual escrow statement, we found out we've got a hefty shortage to pay (not quite as bad as last year's horrifying fiasco -- but close!). Tax time is also going to be . . . fun. (We almost always have to pay in.) The microscope is coming out, and we're scrutinizing our spending on food, entertainment, and basically everything else.

Sigh . . .

We're everyday people. Dealing with a t.i.g.h.t. budget and not a lot of time to ourselves. We live in a modest house in a not-so fancy ZIP code. We drive not-new cars and still don't have a dishwasher. Our vacations take us camping, not cruising. Someone is always getting sick, something is always breaking, and more student loan bills (etc.) are constantly collecting in our mailbox.

Regardless, we're committed to living a fabulous, full life.

Do you have any questions about trimming the fat on your budget? Any less-is-more experiments you'd like to see us take on? Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...