When I first moved out of Myrtleford and into Albury, My first food shop was an experience which held so much joy and excitement – and it continued on in this path for about, oh, I don’t know… 20 minutes.
It’s a well known fact that to survive, you must eat. Yes?
So why are groceries so freaking expensive now???
I remember going in and spending $100.00 on food and that fed me for a whole month. Even when Daniel and I moved in together it stayed the same. But over the last two or so years, I have realised that even with shopping super carefully, and only buying things on special we could easily knock over $100.00 for a two week feed. (Before we get the whole, “hey, you’re bigger now and you eat more” speech, this is factored in.)
Daniel is definitely the grocery shopper in our house hold. I just go along for the trolley ride company. He is the one who figures out where the best specials are, which is cheapest, and what is the best value. We also go to places like Aldi and SPC to get the items which are cheaper still. But our shopping still comes to a total which generally makes me feel bad for buying an extra loaf of bread to freeze.
We buy things like packet pastas ($1.00 each), and onepans ($3.99 which feeds us for two meals), and have become masters at bulking our meals up so they stretch further (Hey, what do you mean you found rubber in your food? It’s not rubber, it’s food extender!!!).
Our meat is bought on Market Day usually so we may spend about $40.00 but that is enough meat to do us for the month, usually. And if there is a way I ca be stingy with it, you best betcha-bottom-dollah that I will be the stingiest bitch out there.
The majority of our shopping is homebrand and we don’t discriminate against any of the cheaper brands – we will try every one at least once.
We switched to Coles branded milk because it’s effectively $1.00 per Lt; We went from Maggi noodles and Kraft peanut butter to the dramatically cheaper versions; We forewent our fresh veggies in favour of the frozen Multi-Buy packs; and our WonderBread is now Coles Smart-Buy.
If I was green-thumb inclined, I would be setting me up an olde-style veggie patch in the back yard like the type my Nanny would have had. I would keep chickens for eggs because I go through them they are lollies. But I’m lazy a plant killer of some renown so I know this is not a go… and I doubt the neighbours would appreciate my chooks’ clucking.
I will admit I am a bad one for “Ooooh, we don’t need that but it’s on special and we might use it later!” and I am also a sucker for the buys that are of the impulsive nature – hence why Daniel is the shopping Master in our little kingdom.
Do you have any suggestions for how I could drop our shopping-bill?
What do you do to keep your total down? Or are you a person who spares no expense since the food is something you know you should enjoy?
What is your favorite recipe for when you’re on a budget?
Ramblings of a Ringless Wife 