After we moved, we discovered that our grocery bill had jumped $15-20 a week, an amount that adds up very quickly since we, like many people, eat every week.
Despite two growing appetites, we were pretty sure we weren't eating that much more, and I watched carefully to see that no frozen dinners were leaping into the cart. After a few months of calculations, we finally realized the cause: I didn't have an Aldi's close enough to shop at any more.
With that kind of money out of pocket, DOB was even willing to take on part of the shopping excursion himself. So he found an Aldi's close to work and now plans to go there at least every other week.
To prepare himself mentally for this exercise, he read up on the Evil Empire. Apparently they're even worse than Wal-mart. They actually pay employees high wages in an attempt to bribe them out of joining unions! Can you imagine? They strong-arm the oppressed, like Kellogg's! And they make obscene profits of 3%, twice the standard in the industry!
Furthermore, since they're privately owned, they don't tell anyone what they're doing with all that money!
I know I, for one, would rather spend more on my groceries in order to support greater inefficiency in the grocery industry and public inquiry into the private spending habits of reclusive German tycoons. But DOB is not convinced.
5 comments:
I had a book once called "Feed Your Family on $50/month." It turned out to be not so helpful, since the author's great grocery bill depended heavily on the fact that she had an Aldi's to shop at.
-- SJ
I love Aldi's. Yay for non-union evil empires!
Even with Aldi's $50 a month is impressive. We're doing well to keep it to that in a week. Maybe I should get the book.
Of course, if they're more than a few years old you have to factor in inflation, which also makes a difference. And a lot of money-saving grocery approaches don't seem to allow for as much protein as we need.
It is several years old. She came out with a new edition which priced the bill by the week, and came out a bit higher than $50 a month. (Of course, it could have been $50 a *week* originally... I'm fuzzy on details like that.)
She shopped at different stores depending on prices, watched sales, and bought in bulk. We don't buy in bulk yet, and I can't plan my... or Darren's, rather... shopping piecemeal to catch sales. (Some people can, but I can't.) And I consider a few extra dollars worth saving the hassle of driving to two or three different stores.
At least she didn't proclaim the virtues of clipping coupons. I absolutely can't make that work. I never find coupons for anything we need that isn't already cheaper if I buy generic.
As you might gather, our grocery bill is higher than it could be, but pretty consistent, and we're not really willing to do much else to cut it. :)
-- SJ
This was a very funny post to me because I can relate and because I just had a conversation with my sister trying to defend Wal-Mart, despite many downsides to it, because of the free market.
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