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Have you had a major change in your grocery budget?

geekette

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I think you're mistaken. How could they control that? If you came in during regular hours, are you saying they'd turn you away? Seems like it'd be pretty difficult to restrict like that without checking your ID for your birthdate. :shrug:

There is a difference between "Senior Only Hours" and "Senior Hours Only."

Dave
Yeah, I think there must be a misunderstanding.
 

SmithOp

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I also don't understand "dinner" at 4 pm, either, so not sure who this early bird target demographic is, but I won't be fitting the profile. There must be some, tho.

We eat breakfast between 9-10am then one other meal 4-5pm, we do take advantage of early bird senior dinners. If we get hungry later we might have an apple or cheese and crackers with a glass of wine but don’t like to eat a large meal before going to bed by 10pm. I’m up by 6am every day, just coffee early in the morning.

We haven’t been to Costco since early March, except for gas, and I’m getting new tires put on next week. I may endure the long line to get in while the tires are installed. We are spending about 20% more at grocery stores.


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geekette

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We eat breakfast between 9-10am then one other meal 4-5pm, we do take advantage of early bird senior dinners. If we get hungry later we might have an apple or cheese and crackers with a glass of wine but don’t like to eat a large meal before going to bed by 10pm. I’m up by 6am every day, just coffee early in the morning.

We haven’t been to Costco since early March, except for gas, and I’m getting new tires put on next week. I may endure the long line to get in while the tires are installed. We are spending about 20% more at grocery stores.


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Ah, two meals a day. You wait a while for that first one, so, yeah, I'd be pretty hungry by 4!

Agree, I don't want heavy meal late.
 

geekette

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We were at $100 to $150 for two adults here on Oahu but we did eat out often also. Before the restrictions we didn’t have much food stored. We have since bulked up our food stash but we don’t have a lot of room. We now have enough for us to last a couple weeks. So our grocery bill went up to $180 to $200 a week. I expect us to stay around $170 and then we will have a night or two where we will have takeout or go out when things open back up.
That seems downright affordable for Hawaii!!
 

geekette

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Our grocery bills are much higher than in the chart. The factors that come to mind are 1) Stocking up more 2) Buying more expensive cuts and types of meat and vegetables, e.g. organic / wild / prime vs. regular. 3) Now we mail order more and mail order is more expensive than going to stores to shop. What has surprised me is that eating at home everyday has not saved us money which I thought it would. In the past we ate lunch out everyday and dinner out once or twice a week.
I will hazard a guess that what you are consuming is not what you are spending.

for example, you get a big order from Place X, so you just spent that. But, you aren't going to eat that entire order this week, some of it you will store. In addition to the items from Place X you might enjoy this week, you may add a few steaks or sides from previous orders in previous weeks. Maybe have some ice cream that came in yet a third or 4th order, maybe this week, maybe not.

I think if you priced out the cost of what you are consuming, you would find savings. Frankly, a big pain in the butt (how much did this 1/4 cup of sugar or 8 strawberries actually cost??), however, I would guess that your savings are in the consuming and not in the buying. It's easy in restaurants - this item is this cost and you don't have to care how much individual ingredients cost, nor if the entire ingredient were used in that meal or if it stretched across the entire night of servings they prepared (I dunno, could be a bunch of parsley garnish or massive tub of flour).

Not sure I expressed that well.... so, short it to, unless you are perfectly buying and consuming only those buys in that time period, you won't see it. Counting how many times I use 1 tsp of salt just isn't something I would do, I know the container lasts many many months, and I'm not sure how many.
 

slip

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That seems downright affordable for Hawaii!!

We also try not to buy anything that isn’t on sale. But we have been surprised.:)
 

VacationForever

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I will hazard a guess that what you are consuming is not what you are spending.

for example, you get a big order from Place X, so you just spent that. But, you aren't going to eat that entire order this week, some of it you will store. In addition to the items from Place X you might enjoy this week, you may add a few steaks or sides from previous orders in previous weeks. Maybe have some ice cream that came in yet a third or 4th order, maybe this week, maybe not.

I think if you priced out the cost of what you are consuming, you would find savings. Frankly, a big pain in the butt (how much did this 1/4 cup of sugar or 8 strawberries actually cost??), however, I would guess that your savings are in the consuming and not in the buying. It's easy in restaurants - this item is this cost and you don't have to care how much individual ingredients cost, nor if the entire ingredient were used in that meal or if it stretched across the entire night of servings they prepared (I dunno, could be a bunch of parsley garnish or massive tub of flour).

Not sure I expressed that well.... so, short it to, unless you are perfectly buying and consuming only those buys in that time period, you won't see it. Counting how many times I use 1 tsp of salt just isn't something I would do, I know the container lasts many many months, and I'm not sure how many.
We are definitely stocking up more than before, similar to being worried about an upcoming famine. Each week I tell myself that I had stocked up enough for the following 4 weeks and then I order again that week for something else. I just got on Imperfect Foods and my first order this week was $200 and I thought I could give myself a break for a couple of weeks. This week came around I find myself ordering from them again for another $200. We also get direct farm produce box for another $45 per week. In addition, I am also spending another couple of hundred dollars a week at Walmart, Amazon and Costco for other grocery items. I find myself storing non-perishables in a corner of a guest bedroom which I had not done before. It tells me that I am stocking up much more than before, like a squirrel burying nuts for the winter.
 

elaine

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What do you consider full price for chicken? Where do you get the discounted chicken?
$2/pound for a family of 4. We pay upwards of $5 now, and with 1 non-meat eater, chicken at least 3X/week.
 

geekette

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We are definitely stocking up more than before, similar to being worried about an upcoming famine. Each week I tell myself that I had stocked up enough for the following 4 weeks and then I order again that week for something else. I just got on Imperfect Foods and my first order this week was $200 and I thought I could give myself a break for a couple of weeks. This week came around I find myself ordering from them again for another $200. We also get direct farm produce box for another $45 per week. In addition, I am also spending another couple of hundred dollars a week at Walmart, Amazon and Costco for other grocery items. I find myself storing non-perishables in a corner of a guest bedroom which I had not done before. It tells me that I am stocking up much more than before, like a squirrel burying nuts for the winter.
I think that's fine. From some stuff I've read, it's a normal reaction to abnormal circumstances. Food is a necessity yet the outside world has many unknowns, so, laying in for more future unknown of unknown duration sounds like exerting control where you still have control. Shopping, online or in person, is one of the few things that people can do while so many things are currently no-go. I think it's good you are buying something useful, like food and other home supplies that do run out, vs frivolous "just have to buy something" behavior. Sounds to me like you were already "a preparer", so this isn't actually massively different from your norm, but, there is more home cooking now vs being served elsewhere, so, a bit more makes sense. In some ways, you are test driving the different food services available to you, and that's not a bad thing, either, as we may be in this distancing mode for a while, you might as well shake em out now. You'll be the clever one that knows exactly where to get the out of season delicacy.

If you were channelling a different direction, say, suddenly collecting pricey whatnots that you never had any interest in before, spending well past what you can afford, or suddenly get addicted to online gambling, well, that might be a different issue that would need to be addressed. You are aware of what you're doing and not spending yourself into poverty. If you fill up that extra room, well, then, maybe there's a problem. But, honestly, there is a big ole pandemic going on, so, as problems go, stacking cans of corn and jars of peanut butter in a spare room is not a problem in my book, especially if it gives you some measure of comfort or serenity. You have control over your food, and your environment, and darned little else.
 

mav

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Our grocery bill is going down, helping job security by ordering take away
 
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