27.89 a week...bump

So far this month, we have averaged 27.89 a week on groceries.   That’s what can happen when you are on a replentish based grocery shopping mantra instead of a panic grocery shopping mantra.  Instead of buying your groceries one week at a time or one day at a time and looking at a barren refrigerator and cupboards, you replentish  what you have used from a basic, calculated ingredient supply.

It is based on the same premise of a stockbroker.  You wouldn’t trust a stockbroker that bought stocks  when they were at their highest, and sold them when they were at their lowest .  Replenish grocery shopping buys your stable items when they are at their lowest, and eats them when they are at their highest,   You buy produce that is in season.  It just makes sense.

Our grocery bill has been less than thirty dollars a week, until this week.  I was waiting for months now for a case lot sale.   It never happened.  But, this week beans and tomatoes were .50 a can at Fred Meyers.  It was a little blurb on the ad.  Certainly not front and center.  I knew we needed to look for diced tomatoes because the designated shelf space for tomatoes was showing white.  LOL

I stocked diced tomatoes and some canned beans,  I make dried beans, but it is a good thing to have some canned in case the power goes out.  That happened this week, but it was back on by morning,
I bought black and garbanzo beans because those dry beans are expensive and hard to find,

Tomorrow, bacon and Yoplait is in sale cheap at the Kroger stores.  I will take advantage of that too.
That’s how we eat on less than four dollars a day and eat well.

It is not necessarily what you buy as much as it is when and where you buy it.  Prices can be as much as a two dollar spread on the same exact item.  It has nothing to do with labor costs, both stores employees belong  to the same labor union.  It pays to know your prices on the things you buy on a regular basis.   I am not worried about that can of cranberry sauce I buy once a year, but I am worried about that can of diced tomatoes that I probably use four of per week.

Stocking basic food enough for a month to six weeks just makes sense. Your life expectancy is impacted by whether or not you have food in the house.  Food anxiety is a real thing and it isn’t good.

Unless you are in an area like NY city where space is at a premium, you should be able on a regular food budget to stock a pantry.  If we can do it on four dollars a day, anyone with a regular paycheck or snap money can too.   Rice. Beans, flour, tomatoes, pasta, pasta sauce, canned or frozen vegetables, some canned fish or chicken.  It is enough to get you by if you need to.   Don't depend on someone else to bail you out in an emergency.  They might not be able to bail themselves out.