My Grocery Game

Since moving to Indiana, we've (I've) been spending a lot more on groceries a month. I've tried to figure out where my problem lies: more entertaining, more organic food, random trips to Trader Joe's, more farmers markets to support (yummmm...fresh produce!). I think I've narrowed it down to those causes.

Patrick and I have been rearranging our budget to fit more money in our grocery budget, specifically. Here is our current breakdown:
$320 in grocery budget = $80/week in groceries

We did a little online wandering and found that a family of two spends anywhere from $150/month to $600/month on groceries. I'm guessing that includes any and all situations (those who entertain a lot, those who don't spend much time at home, those who don't eat...). I've been wondering if I'm spending too much or getting too much food. I know we eat what I buy. Also, I'm very conscience of using coupons and catching great "stock up" deals, so I'm not sure where I've gone wrong :)

Today, instead of buying my groceries at Martin's (one of our grocery stores, that I LOVE...), I headed to ::sigh:: Wal-Mart. I noticed the other week that they had really good deals on organic products that we consume regularly. I took the plunge and bought all of my weekly food there.

However, while I was walking the unfamiliar aisles, I took notes of a few random items that we buy a couple of times a month. It was then that I decided to do my grocery game experiment. After I was done shopping, I came home put everything away and got ready for the next store. I decided to compare three grocery stores in town: Wal-Mart, Martin's and Giant Eagle.

I spent about 30 minutes walking through Martin's, writing down prices for the 15 items I wrote down at Wal-mart. I took note of a few things I bought and how the prices compared at Wal-mart. Since Martin's is my store of choice, I knew where everything was pretty well and also know about how much everything would cost. Then, I drove to Giant Eagle and wrote down prices from there. I was disappointed to see that they did not have as much "generic" products as the other two stores. Also, a few of my weekly purchases were noticeably more expensive.

So I just finished making an excel spread sheet with all the products and their prices according the store and then totalled. From my "research", I found that I would save $6.04 on those 15 items by shopping at Wal-mart. Even more impressive, I could save at least $150 a year by getting those essential items at Wal-mart, rather than Martins. (The savings compared to Giant Eagle were even more!)

After considering this I decided that I will be sure to be more mindful of coupons, fliers and other deals Wal-mart or Martin's is having. One thing I did find out was that meat products were cheaper at Martin's, plus I like their meat better. Since, Martin's is on my way home from Wal-mart, I may stop and get my meat (and any other special deals they are having) on days I shop at Wal-mart. I am not, however, opposed to shopping at Martin's entirely on days that they have tons of things on sale that I buy.

I'm going to try this for a few months and see if it helps. I'll keep you updated.