Living to eat vs. Eating to live

A few weeks ago, my friend Tonya brought me an article from the paper in which five families were challenged to reduce their grocery bills for a week.  Naturally, I read the article with interest and was surprised and disappointed to find out that I pretty much already DO everything those families did to spend less on food.  Some of the ideas were good, but simple:

1.  Stick to a meal plan.  I've been doing this religiously for many months now.

2.  Price shop.  I can tell you the price of a gallon of milk at no less than FOUR local grocery stores.  I know where to buy canned goods (Winco!) where to buy vegetables (Fred Meyer) where to buy chicken (Costco) and where to buy deli meat (Wal-Mart). 

3.  Use coupons.  Last week I saved $32 at Fred Meyer with coupons I cut out of the Sunday paper.  THIRTY TWO DOLLARS.

4. Stick to a list when you grocery shop.  Done.

5.  One of the suggestions cracked me up and explained once and for all the root of our grocery budgeting trouble.  One mom said, "I buy whole chickens for .99 cents a pound and then roast them.  A four dollar chicken is usually good for TWO dinners and TWO lunches!"

HA.  HA.  TRIPLE HA.  I regularly bake chickens, usually every week or so and I always buy the biggest chickens available.  I go for at least six pounds if I can find them.  Then I roast them and between me, Dave, Carol and the two kids, I'm lucky if there's enough meat left on the carcass to make a few cups of diluted chicken broth. 

Our problem is that we EAT A LOT OF FOOD.

At this point, I've all but given up on doing anything further to reduce our spending because I never EVER throw away food.  The fact is we just happen to EAT almost $800 worth of food every month. 

The only two things I could limit in order to further reduce our budget are things I'm UNWILLING to sacrifice: entertaining and booze.  We LOVE to have friends over for dinner and I estimate it adds over a hundred bucks a month to our grocery bills (not so much because the food itself costs that much but because it spurs UNPLANNED meals and extra shopping trips.  My friends are all good about bringing side dishes or dessert, too).  SO EFFING WHAT.  It's totally worth it.  And you can pry my Wyder's Dry Pear Cider from COLD DEAD HAND.  Dave feels the same about his three buck Chuck [wine].  Some things are not worth sacrificing.

So there we are.  I am hard pressed to find a solution to this particular area of our over-spending.  Eat less, you might suggest?  A great idea, but let's be honest, it's probably never going to happen.  Food is far too important to us.  I love to cook; Dave loves to eat.  [Okay, so I love to eat too.] 

Because of all this, I'm taking a vow to stop bitching about our food spending.  I will continue to employ all my money-saving strategies, but otherwise, I'm officially letting it go...

Comments

[HeatherK]

Agreed! Our food budget is usually around $100ish a week, plus a few extra side trips. If I really wanted to slash it, I could probably do $80, but why. Our budget can handle it. Why work so hard if you can't truly enjoy your life and if for you guys that means entertaining and enjoying tasty steaks, etc. then why change?

[megan]

Buy 1/2 a beef. You can pick how you want it cut, wrapped and packaged. You know where you meat came from and what it ate. You end up with everything from ground beef, various cuts of steak, stew meat, soup bones, roasts, heck you can even have pepperoni and jerky made! My college roommates parents are wheat farmers and every year they get a few cattle for family and friends who want organic, grain and grass fed beef. Average cost is $800-$1000 depending on weight and you won't have to buy beef for at least a year. And the taste will spoil you, its that freaking awesome What beef is suppose to taste like!

[Procrastamom]

I have tried and tried to reduce our $1000/month food consumption, but I also do everything on that list and just have to accept that the five of us eat a lot. Heck, we have a teenager and two tweens who eat us out of house and home! Like you, I love to cook, so I'm not really willing to bend on buying lesser quality cuts of meat and ingredients.

[Azul]

I think this is the best approach to take. Our grocery spending is not as bare-bones as it could be, and I'm okay with that. I do all the things you mentioned too, and our spending hovers around $500-ish per month for a family of three, not counting take-out. I've decided that if we ever HAVE to reduce our our spending, we will change our tastes to accommodate. Until then, I'm grateful we can afford what we like.

And hey- since you're actually using what you buy, at least it's not money wasted.

[E]

You know, our food budget stays around $1000 a month, and if some people saw that they would die! But we eat, and we eat a lot. Also, one of my children has sensory issues and only eats certain foods (mostly chicken nuggets and certain frozen pizzas,) so we spend a lot on those things. But I see our food as a quality of life thing, and it's worth it to me.
(Still, I'd love for it all to be cheaper!)

[ellen]

One thing we do- eat less meat. Buy good chicken/hamburger when you can, esp. in bulk. Freeze it, ration it, do more pasta and beans, stirfries, and bread/cheese/greens meals. It makes a huge difference and I'm convinced it's better for all of us. My husband was recently laid off and we're doing groceries for way under $100 a week.

[1hot&tiredmama]

We spend about $200/week on groceries for a family of 6. I do all those things you mentioned also. I am a big penny pincher/coupon clipper but we still spend a ton on food. I don't care though. Some things I will NOT sacrifice. I always buy organic milk/dairy products and organic meat. We buy a side of beef in the fall, but mostly so we know where it came from -- not to really save money although it is cheaper.

We have a group of friends that do what we call "four o'clock club" which is basically just cocktails and heavy hors d'oeuvres. Everyone brings something, but you can still spend a pretty penny buying wine and making something special to eat. It's so fun though -- I'd NEVER give it up!

[Karen]

Oh wow, I wish I had even half of the food budget you have. Not to make anyone offended or anything. Ours has officailly hit $80 for 2 weeks. The extra cost of food and gas has taken so much out of our once $200 and something for 2 week budget. This is for a family of 5. It is nearing immpossible.

[Kelly from My Small Cents]

Hey, if you have the money... one way to think about it is that entertaining and food are your main hobbies or activites. It's not like you're blowing tons of money on going clubbing- so you like to host dinner parties? I'm in the same situation: I could pay less for my groceries, but there are some good quality things that I like to buy and I can afford it and so I'm not going to stop. I don't have any expensive hobbies but I like to entertain.

[G-mom]

I usually run $150-$200 every 7-10 days for 2 people. I also supplement daughters groceries with BOGO on cereal and stuff the kids will eat before/after school.
I cook cheap, BUT I have to make enough for daughter to "shop" my freezer. LOL Snapbeans/ham, chicken soup etc.
No matter what you do if you have pets (4) or kids, habits or keep your house clean those things alone will run $60-70 Before food.

[Jamie]

I hate to break it to Dave, but two buck chuck (it's gone up to THREE?) is WELL WORTH sacrificing for the Glenlivit. A would agree wholeheartedly. ;)

I DO feel better after reading the comments here, though. Apparently, we're not as outrageous on our food spending as I once thought. We hover around $1K a month, too...special GF diet foods included. ;)

Promise me that you'll enlarge and frame that picture of Alex. PINKY SWEAR IT.

[Katelynsmama]

For a family of three we spend approximately $500.00 a month on groceries. I put myself through college and I remember budgeting and scrimping. My husband and I were just discussing the other day how it's nice to get to eat what we want (steak, shrimp, veggies) instead of only what we could afford (ramen and koolaid) and for us our diet is much better. Besides we figured it up my first year out of college what we were spending at the bar and entertaining at home is much cheaper. You also have to take into account when comparing to other people where they live and what resources they have. I say good for you. Enjoy life.

[Julie]

I'm with you on entertaining and booze. Food and good company are meant to be enjoyed.

I do try to buy the smallest packages of meat possible (or stand in line at the counter), because Kyle cooks and serves the entire package - and of course then we eat it all at once.