groceries - back on track

So, sorry about the blow-off yesterday, but sometimes, life gets in the way.

I wanted to comment on groceries. I find the cost of consumable foodgoods and sundry items for daily living, such as dish soap, toilet paper, etc., constantly on the rise.

However, our household generally manages to keep our layout for these goods fairly constant. We check the store flyers, look for sales (it is surprising how many items can be on sale in the stores without advertising, so I normally go down every aisle and check out every corner, even if only picking up a few items), and buy items in bulk. We do whatever we can to keep our costs down.

That all being said, our weekly grocery bill for a family of three (two adults, man and woman, and a teenage boy) is usually between fifty and one-hundred dollars a week. I think that is pretty good. We are not on starvation diets, and we do eat meat and poultry, but not in every meal. 

We do not normally buy organic as it is extremely expensive. To be honest, I find some of the items that are organic, free-range, whatever, at times suspect to be qualified as such. Many people buy these types of goods not just thinking they are eating better (they may be), but also that their impact on the planet is reduced. That last bit is usually a lark. Many of these organic/free-range type foodgoods travel great distances by truck, plane, train, ship, and the like. The global impact on resources that these foods have is fairly significant. So, please do not kid yourself that you are helping the planet.

If you want to buy organic/free-range, firstly buy local. In the second place, find out what they are really doing. Many more "substances" are used in the natural food producing process that are quite shocking at times than people realise. Not all producers use these dubiously acceptable aids, but more do than you think.

Anyway, back on track. We do not normally go organic/free-range. It depends. Sometimes there is a deal, sometimes I buy directly from local farmers. It depends. However, not always all that cheap. Over the spring and summer last year we were buying produce from a young couple just down the road. It was plentiful, cheap, and unadulterated with chemical garbage. Unfortunately it was a bad growing year (they had to put in quite an effort to save as much as possible), they just had a newborn (that is not unfortunate), they had other projects and businesses on the go. That and several other factors all conspired against their efforts of true organic and natural farming and providing it locally. They stepped back from the project. I do hope they will restart it as we ate well for cheap.

Back on track again. So, we normally spend 50-100 bones a week. Several times a year we do larger runs for larger, normally bulk, purchases. These can add up. Yet, we have not had to go out and buy toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, dryer sheets, soap, toothpaste, kitchen-bath-floor-window cleaner, etc., for over a year. Well, you get it. Basically, many items for personal and general hygiene and keeping a clean house are stockpiled. These are easy items to buy in bulk for long-term use, if you have the space to store them. Sadly, many people live in apartments, condos, etc, that preclude the opportunity.

These purchases can be quite hefty at the outset. But if you can take the sting, the cost has been paid, not needed to be made again for some time, and if you break it out over the consumption period, these items are so very economical. This is a practice I learnt growing up from my parents.

Bulk buying also works well for items that have a long shelf-life too. Canned goods, pasta, rice, sauces, seasonings (spices last way longer than most of you will come across in reading expert opinions, especially if they are items like whole spices such as peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, cumin, caraway, and the like). So, this is something we do as well. We will buy some canned goods when they are on sale. Various beans, soups, chilies, pasta concoctions. Other than the beans, most of the ready to go canned meal goods are used for days when when time is extremely short, power outages, camping. And if they still are before the "best before" date, they are handy for food drives. 

(Just so you know, if you do not know already, most, if not all, food banks cannot or will not accept anything that is past its "expiry". Our local food bank gets a lot of stuff past its date and they put it in the "lobby" and inform clients that they cannot give it to them, but nothing can stop them from helping themselves. Again, if you do not know, these dates are "best before", they do not spoil immediately after that date. Many foodstuffs are still good for some time, but they have a liability issue to contend with. That is their work around. At least in the past.)

If you have a really good freezer, one that can keep things frozen for a couple of days if you suffer a power outage, bulk or sale buying works for items you can freeze for later use. This is really where one can clean up! We will buy various cuts of meat and poultry on sale, usually because it actually is near end of shelf life. If you either cook it right that day or throw it in the freezer when you get home, you can get a really terrific deal. Often way below current market for the protein. The funny thing though, we have been eating less and less meat over the last several months. Poultry is hit and miss; it has gone through the roof, which is total baloney, so our consumption of that has even decreased, but not as much as beef, pork, and lamb. Yet, as a result, we can really wait out the deals; we still love our steaks now and again and we are definitely not walking away from broth fondue with little titbits of meat and poultry (we actually also have several vegetables and even potato for the broth fondue, so a pretty rounded meal).

The other times we make bigger buys is before a few holidays/long weekends. In particular: Christmas/New Years, Canada Day, and Thanksgiving. We will buy some more luxurious products for those times, especially the first one mentioned. We have more elaborate meals at those times and will even splurge if the deals are not forthcoming. Plus, there are treats we may not have at other times of the year. At Christmas, I like to have nuts in the shell, shortbread; the wife likes eggnog. The boy: he likes the seasonal soft drinks, pretzels, Linzer torte, and ginger cookies. So, we try to go out of our way to get the really good stuff. For Christmas and Thanksgiving, they both love pumpkin pie. Me? I go for pecan pie, if I can find it; it can be hard to locate at times so far from the Deep South.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, it used to be a big deal with us. We would always make a big smash and invite many friends or, for a while, we would go to to a friend's cottage up by Lac Sainte Marie and bring "all the fixin's" and again, make a big smash for a bunch of people. It was very similar for Canada Day and between Christmas and New Years too. However, Thanksgiving was the biggie. This year, it is just the three of us. A first in a very, very long time.

So, speaking of Thanksgiving again, this was the ultimate point of my ramblings. As I said, it is only the three of us this time round. Yet, I still managed to drop 600 clams for groceries this week. Then, I dropped about another 100 today. The wife put down 80 earlier this week and then some more today. How is this possible? Well, let me tell you.

Excluding the weekend's indulgences, we stockpiled on various items including deals. I bought a whack of Patak's curry sauces, they were on sale. I bought dumplings with various fillings, not on sale, but a good price and we have a batch most weeks. Some various chocolates and such at really good prices. The wife picked up a bunch of raviolis and real Italian pasta. These are, along with many items, (long term) staples in our house. Plus I picked up our regular grocery bill; it will most likely last two weeks or more this time round. Then there were the adult beverages: a crate of wine that will go for some time and a special bottle of Wiser's 15 year old Canadian Whisky which just came out (I will most likely not crack it for some weeks or even months).

The indulgences? The boy did not want turkey this year. Okay, fine. He wanted roast beef. I bought a prime rib roast: 30 samolians. Actually a very good deal, in this day and age. For Thanksgiving, and Christmas, I also normally do a ham in addition to the gobbler. So, I bought a ham, that will give us a lot cold cuts for various lunches, a pea soup with ham, other dinners and more. I still got a turkey though: 15 smackers, very good deal. We will cook it up at some point when the cold really settles in. Then it will be the basis for a bunch of lunches, a soup, and probably at least another dinner. (Hot turkey sandwiches perhaps?)

More indulgences. Today, many baked goods, various fresh, real breads, some pies: pecan and pumpkin. We now actually have two pumpkin pies for this weekend, but I do not eat pumpkin pie. The boy and the wife do, so a pie for everybody. I also bought some items for future pies the wife wants to make, sale items of course. Then we bough a bunch of sodas on sale too, these will last for months.

So, even though we dropped a bomb this week, it will all carry us for some time to come. The roast will most likely give us a supper of hot beef sandwiches, if not two. So, really we spend more than 50-100 bucks a week. Maybe closer 100-150ish, but this also includes consumable items that are not food. I can be certain that we are spending far less than many people on weekly expenditures. And wasting much less. I learnt from my parents to not waste, the wife is the same way. We know far too many people that are frivolous with their purchases and how they use (or do not use) them. Bang for the buck baby! That is what it is all about.

There is a saying: "To make money, you have to spend money." Well, I say: "To save money, you need to spend money." I know it is not always easy, but if you can pull it off financially and you have the personal resources at home for storage, it is a good way to make your dollars stretch and fill your gut, and keep your house clean and tidy, at the same time. blbbl