Cost of food

Caviat here.....Washington has a cost of living of almost 30 percent higher than other parts of America.
I read this on the Internet and it is evidenced but my watching a lot of food hauls on u tube all over America from South Carolina to Ohio and upstate NY.    I especially like “April Holly Smith” that covers two stores ads and then shows what she purchases.

The cost  of our foods in Seattle area is greatly predicated on what store you buy it from.  Not looking at the alternative  stores of Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, PCC etc, even the chain stores vary greatly in prices of the exact same things.  You can’t , however blame it on labor costs because the workers belong to the same labor union.   It pays to know prices and take advantage of the lower prices when you can .

The whole premise of groceries on the cheap  is to carry a stock and not pay top dollar for your food.   It has,  I think to do with quality, we still want good quality— just not  at the highest price.  The exact same thing, in the exact same box and brand can be as much as two dollars cheaper  at another store.
It just seems silly to waste your money paying full price.  I don’t believe in driving across town for a quarter savings, but planning trips and buying in an educated bulk when something is a good price saves a lot of time and money.

About  five  years ago, I bought a bag of salt for five dollars.  Years ago, we had been buying dill pickles in a gallon jar.  It was glass.  I put the salt in a gallon jar .  We are still using the salt.  My children will probably still be using themsalt after I am gone and maybe even our grandchildren. lol Salt doesn’t go bad and the difference in the cost was remarkable.  Another thing that doesn’t go bad is soda.  A bag of soda is far cheaper than the equivalent buying in the small boxes. Soda and salt are both good cleaning agents.  We also buy vinegar at Costco for a little more than two dollars a gallon.  I wash veggies and clean with it.  Vinegar is a good disinfectant that is safe.  We wash veggies with it . A chemistry professor says that most pesticides are water solvable, wash your produce.   Buying non perishables in bulk saves money and time becaise you never have to remember to buy them again for a long time.  Less things in your cart means less money and less time shopping.

Take a list of the things that you buy on a regular basis.  We all have a list of 7-10 meals  we make for dinner.  Most of our dinners are Tex mex or Italian.    They use the same basics.  Find the RBP on those ingredients.

For us..
Diced tomatoes.  We have paid as low as .39 and as high as .58.  I don’t want to pay more than the .58, so that is my “buy” or “target” price.  If they are not at or below that price, I do not buy them .
Winco has no BPA in their canned goods.

Pasta sauce .  A dollar  is good in glass, .88 in cans.

Canned veggies .50
Frozen veggies 1.00 a POUND.

Chili canned , less than a dollar.

Cream soup.  Less than a dollar.  We recently got them for .41.  The time to buy is at thanksgiving and Christmas.

Pinto beans are .67 a pound at the dollar tree,   They are non gmo and grown in USA.   Cheaper at  Costco , but we can’t justify 25 pounds.

Oatmeal at Costco is cheapest in a ten pound box.

Flour at Costco.
Yeast in a jar, at Costco or Winco.

I have seen Jimmy Dean sausage as low as two dollars with a coupon and as high has 6.00.
Cheese can be 6.00 a pound or two dollars a pound. Cheese is cheese  no matter what shape it is in. pay attention to the per pound price.  I carry a small calculator in my coupon book,  phones these days have a great calculator on them. Do the math.  Some signs tell per ounce price .

Bacon and frozen vegetables can come in 12 ounce and 16  ounce packaging.   To level the price playing field, take  the 12 ounce price and times it by 1.25.  You can then compare price per pound.

On bacon, the closer to three dollars I can get it the better.