Have you been wondering what I learned in my month of tracking my grocery purchases? I have! I am finally taking a moment to review the information and my shopping habits for the month past. November was a fairly typical month for our family even with Thanksgiving. We had a small gathering of just Great-Grandma plus everyone in this crazy house* for Thanksgiving and we didn’t really go overboard with the food.
What I thought: We buy more pre-packaged food than I think.
What I found: Interestingly enough we don’t buy that much pre-packaged food. But when we do it gets eaten twice as fast as the made from scratch equivalent. Even in review I’m not certain why that happens? I also noticed that if I am shopping shortly after a meal or after giving the boys a snack we are much less likely to come away with impulse purchases. The old “don’t shop when hungry” adage.
What I thought: Our grocery bill hasn’t changed much in the last six months because it’s perpetually a crazy number to feed this family.
What I found: That’s not quite true. In fact many of my regular purchases have crept up a few cents there and a few cents here. I knew food prices had gone up for much of what I don’t buy but I hadn’t really internalized how much they’ve got up for what I DO buy. Additionally we’ve moved to much more brand specific purchasing than in previous years (read:poor college graduates). The brand specific purchases eat away at our budget quickly because we usually don’t look at the price.
Some other random things I made note of:
Coupon clippers I don’t get it. I read through the coupons every week and can only come up with maybe 3 that are actually for food. Most of my cart is raw or unprocessed items which don’t seem to have coupons available. I can however watch for the good coupons for some of our household items and our pet supplies. But even then I am not really clear on how to save any significant amount especially since there is no double coupon day around here.
Our main store for groceries is the best on average price. There is no point to shopping at the other options because their prices are higher on the whole. So cherry-picking the ads is the way to go. I snagged unbleached flour for $1.48 for 5 pounds but did my main shopping at the other store.
The local stores don’t carry enough for you to really “stock up” on a good sale. For instance the above good price on flour I was only able to buy 50 pounds which given that it’s baking season will only really last a month or possibly two. (I average about 5 to 7 pounds of flour a week at the moment – it’s the biscuits and the cinnamon rolls 
) I’m looking at finding a co-op for bulk orders.
*This crazy house includes: a Grandpa, a Grandma, a Daddy, a Mama, Jr., Lil’B and at the moment an Auntie too. (The boys say we need to also count the 3 dogs, 2 cats, 3 toads and our lovely lady praying mantis who is still with us.)
Our food bill has gone up by about $50 a week since February. That’s after having bought a side of beef, too. We shop mostly at Walmart now, as they have the overall cheapest prices.
I have noticed that our prices have always been higher that Denver, where Dad lived. I was always shocked by that. Small town living for you, I guess–lack of competition?
I have never understood the coupon thing. While there are some, say the Proctor and Gamble coupon books, that I will use, I hardly ever see a coupon for FOOD that we will actually eat.
Hey, one coupon clipper here. Kmart just had a double coupon week. Yes, coupons are rarely for food, but abundant for cleaners, cosmetics, dental care, gifts of chocolates, items for donating, etc. Coupons coupled with a sale gives me at least $10 savings/week for deodorant, etc. You are completely right that your spending and eating habits determine the usefulness of coupons.
I also like to scan the comparison tables (there are a couple websites for our town) or read the store flyers on Tuesdays when the stores change their prices. Walgreens has rebates where you often profit from purchases made there.
Our bill has dropped since I started couponing a year and a half ago. It’s dropped another $25 this last month with a concerted effort to plan menus around the grocery (especially meat)sales. This is the only time of year that WalMart stocks big 25# bags of flour btw.
I too have noticed that most coupons are for non-food items. That would be okay, considering how much of our “grocery” bill is for other stuff like toiletries and pet supplies, but often those are the things I’m the pickiest about when it comes to brands, and it seems the week the coupon is for never coincides with the week I run out of deodorant. I would save money in the long run if I just bought those things when they were on sale rather than when I needed them, but I honestly don’t even think about soap and shampoo until I’m out of them. I’ve also noticed that most food coupons I find are for the more expensive brands, when I’m more likely to just buy the store brand. More often than not, the store brand is cheaper than the name brand, even with the coupon.
We gave up on coupons except for brand-names that we can’t live without. Most coupons entice you to buy items you either otherwise wouldn’t buy or are still overpriced even with the coupon. Unless you can find double coupon days (we don’t have any here). We do most of our shopping at a ALDI. I shop at a newly built store (cleaner and more spacious than the old stores) on weekday mornings to avoid the crowds. My only gripe is sometimes their portions are smaller so you end up with a lot of extra packaging. For example: breakfast cerals – Malt o’Meal makes the ALDI-brand ceral. ALDI’s sells it a little cheaper than the Mo’M bulk bags at Wal-Mart but you have to deal with extra bags and cardboard. Such a hassle and a waste.