Photo: ciao_yvon
$160. That's how much a week's worth of groceries cost me this week. One week's worth of food for my family of 4 (well, 5…my bro-in-law is living with us).
Let me back up a bit. A few months ago, I watched the movie Food Inc., and quite honestly, it immediately changed the way I think about food, specifically where the meat I purchase for my family is sourced and how it is raised. Being a middle class family, I feel like I am in the position to make better choices about the food I feed my family, and I was willing to pay a little extra to do so.
That was about six months ago, and really, it had been going pretty well. I ended up shopping a lot a Whole Foods, which is thankfully right down the street, and it seemed like my grocery budget went up about 10-15 dollars a week, something we could absorb pretty well.
I did start making different choices, namely:
- Reducing the overall amount of meat we buy. It's expensive to buy meat at Whole Foods, so I tried to get at least one or two veg meals in a week.
- Red meat in particular is really expensive, so I cut back on that a LOT. I noticed we mostly cooked it in ground form, so I used whatever was on sale (ground turkey, chicken, pork, or sometimes beef).
- Buy local or organic produce. We started shopping at a local produce store, and I tried to pick items that were either organic or local (or both).
- Shop at different stores if I need to. If I have the time, I'll go the produce store, Walmart/Target/Fred Meyer and Whole Foods, or some combination of the three.
This week though, things did not go as planned. I went back to one of the normal menu planning tools I had used in the past: the Grocery Bag feature in Everyday Food Magazine. Basically they give you 5 healthy, balanced recipes and the shopping list that goes along with it. The idea is that everything that you need for that week will fit in a grocery bag.
While the grocery bag part has never really panned out for me, I have enjoyed these recipes in the past. The food is usually good, generally includes a lot of vegetables and it's a complete plan, so I don't have to really think. Just grab the list and go.
That didn't work out so well this week. I spent $80 in general stuff at walmart, basically, everything for the week, plus laundry detergent, excluding produce and meat. I figured I was in good shape to spend about $20 on meat/produce. $100 a week is what we normally spend, so I try to stay in that range.
On to Whole Foods, where the meat cost me $40. GASP. That was for 1.6 lbs of skirt steak, 2 bone-in chicken breasts and 8 bone-in thighs. Sigh.
The rest of the produce I needed was $40. $7 alone for like 6-7 sweet potatoes. Which, btw, apparently wasn't even enough. I have to go buy more this week.
I left the store depressed and dejected. I don't know how an average family could afford to eat this way all the time. The food is high quality, but I just can't afford enough of it to feed my family (and the live-ins!) every week.
I have to say though, that my grocery bill has only reached this high point a few times since I stopped shopping solely at my local WinCo. So, I'll keep trying to find ways to make healthy, local (and sometimes organic) choices when I'm shopping. It's really hard though - I already feel like I'm doing more than you could expect an average person to do: planning ahead of time, trying to take into account weekly sales, shopping at several stores. It's taking a lot of time (and money!) to figure this all out.
Last night, I wasn't even home to eat the $20 skirt steak we bought this week. I heard it was delicious - thankfully!
