Friday, January 27, 2006

Grocery costs

You'd think that in California, the salad bowl of the country, that groceries wouldn't cost so dang much. As of this morning, we're at $557 and Golf has yet to go to Chinatown this afternoon to shop for groceries for the upcoming Chinese New Year. I use coupons when I can, I always buy sale items and generic store brands, I make my own babyfood and yogurt and I don't buy processed food. The only thing splurged on is coffee and we go through a lot. I think that's what is busting us. So next month I'm going to keep a seperate tab of how much we spend on that and see what we can do about it. I might have to get yucky cheap coffee, we'll see. There's also no discount grocery stores in the city we live in like PaknSave, SmartnFinal or FoodMax. Golf just now said there's one in a nearby town, so next time we go on a big grocery run, we might have to make an extra drive there to see if we can save some money. We've got to get a handle on this grocery budget!!!!

4 comments:

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

is that total for the month so far for you guys? do you buy a lot of organic foods? i should add up our monthly total. i'm sure it's close to yours. it's frustrating, huh? ya try to eat healthy and you are, in a way, punished for it.
i really would've thought calif. would have lower prices. it seems that's where most of our produce comes from.
hope you guys can curb the coffee kick a bit. it might save you more than you think. :)

Amy T said...

Yes, that's the total so far this month, and no organic food either! I buy it sometimes, but it really is cost prohibitive since there is no disposible income to spend on that luxury. :(

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

one of these days i'll get around to posting a list on my blog of foods that are better to buy organic and ones that it doesn't matter so much. that really helps me out when i do want to buy some things organic.

Mel said...

Well a couple of things to consider off the top of my head - all three of you eat probably three meals a day at home. Whereas if Daryll and I tallied up how much we spent on groceries as well as eating lunch out practically every day, we probably spend more than you! :)
Also, it's not that the only thing you have to pay for is the fruit and vegetables from the farmers earth to your table, you're also paying for all of the overhead such as the gas and electricity (which is currenty sky high) to get that produce to you. I think we live in an expensive area to do business in, and we pay for it.

Ah the coffee habit. Here's one for ya: coffee dehydrates you and increases fine lines on your face. ;)