Living in a small town...ups and downs

I guess I just have too much time on my hands today.  After going shopping today at the local Safeway (one of only two grocery stores in town...the other being Walmart) I unloaded my groceries and just stood there looking at them in awe.  In the mix were a few junk items...some pop (for John he's addicted) and some snacks (for the grandkids and I admit...I eat them too with them bad Donna bad) but the rest was fruit, milk, dairy stuff, a little meat (two packages actually...some sirloin on sale for 3.99lb and a couple packages of italian sausages), one frozen selection (meatballs which Connor loves) and I think that was about it.




The awe I was experiencing was due to what I had just paid for this meager haul of groceries. $162+change and that was with $47+change in savings.  I'm not sure if the rest of you are experiencing pricing and costs like us.  We do have a Grocery Outlet in Moses Lake that I shop at but I do that when I have a trip to Moses Lake scheduled as I have to factor in the gas costs.

When we lived in the country I used to shop via mail and used a grocery co-op (Azure Standard) buying much of my food in bulk. I am on the verge of returning to that method of shopping. With John's retirement looming continuing to pay for groceries at this rate will break our meager bank. On average I feed about 7 people (4 adults and 3 children) 5 days a week and 3 people the remaining 2 days of the week (us and Connor as Jess works weekends). I rarely have leftovers anymore as most meals are prepared using just a couple of pieces of meat (like 2-3 chicken breasts split between us or 2 large chops serving all of us). I buy meats on sale and only on sale. I use coupons from Safeway as best I can through the Just for U program. We don't eat out a lot and we don't eat a lot of fast food. I buy my breads at the Franz bakery outlet in Moses Lake as that's the best buy on bread. I buy what I can in bulk from the WalMart bulk section (like pickles and condiments).

Just wondering if the rest of Washington is experiencing the same things as we are...if so, I'm sorry. This is just terrible...really.

  WOW. I just went last night and bought 6 bags worth of stuff, no sirloin, but just about the same items so to speak, and I thought paying $70 was a lot. OMG, I would be shopping somewhere else if possible.

See if you can find a Community Supported Agriculture setup in your area. Usually fairly cheap and worth it!

We spend over $160 for our family of 4 every week! The price of food is ridiculous!

My wife and I have long shopped at WinCo with great luck. Prices are good, certainly better than Safeway. I know they're not everywhere but If there is one within 30 minutes I'd say it's worth the drive. We have a chest freezer and large pantry. When the nearest Winco was in Puyallup, we live in West Olympia, we would go shopping about every three months and only spend about $600 on essentials and supplement with local produce and dairy. That being said we were probably able to get out grocery bills down *near* $200/month, reality would probably be closer to $250-$275. The catch is that we don't eat out. Ever. Maybe once in a blue moon. Literally. So that's where we actualize our savings.

Eating healthy tends to be far more expensive than going with processed foods. Our monthly food bills have been astronomical recently... we're working on fixing that. My wife has a wheat allergy, which makes most processed foods prohibitively expensive. We eat out maybe once or twice a month; most of our meals are cooked with whole / fresh foods from scratch. We do buy a lot of stuff organic, so that bumps the price up a bit.

But really, food has become very expensive lately, across the board.

We shop at WinCo primarily. WalMart super stores has better prices than local grocery stores but the meat sucks. WinCo has decent meat. Costco has the best meat in my opinion. So sometimes we mix it up WinCo and CostCo for meat, and a hotdog lunch

Grocery stores are a rip off. They rely on the fact ppl won't want to travel. When I go to a grocery store for the deli and get behind someone paying $180 for 3 bags of food I so want to talk to them about alternatives.

I feed a family of 4 and budget $375 for food fir every 2 weeks. I would have to increase that by another $200 if we shopped at local grocery stores such as Albertsons or Safeway.

I was talking with an econ major friend of mine a few months ago about the price of food going up and what we can do as individuals to side step the huge global trends going on. A lot of factors, like the trends of global currencies going down in value together, a complicated CPI situation that makes it harder to gauge what is really going on, developments in massive farming vs. small scale farming and the environmental impact of the cost of maintaining our population levels are all coming together to make it impossible to find a simple solution to the problem.

There was one observation to be dealt with, and that's the fact that the prices are an effect of decades of economic changes that we won't be undoing, and thus those high prices are here to stay. One of the ideas we came up with was to "farm it ourselves". For most of us that means to join a food coop or CSA like bronze mentioned early. Also, if you can do this to hobbies or other activities, you can make your life even more achievable. Things like skipping cable and watching tv at the bar with friends, or going to the swap meets to buy used equipment instead of new tanks help manage your costs better.

Another answer was to get paid in non-dollars... that meant buying assets like a house or investments that are valued independent of the dollar. This one isn't bullet proof and is not for everyone, but it gives you some flexibility. Perhaps invest in an aquaponics system and start growing your own veggies is an answer?

The last and most painful answer was to acknowledge our quality of life isn't sustainable. For me that meant a 2 bedroom house is not appropriate for a single guy and doing my part to improve the economy meant getting a couple of roommates. Oh, and eating a lot less has also helped me loose a bit of weight!

All that said, I'm off to try winco in Everett

I've been told about Winco's and what great stores they are. The closest to us in Tri-cities but maybe next time we make that trip we will stop in and check it out. And I will look around to see if there is a food co-op in our area. I'm not aware of one but that doesn't mean there isn't.

Hi cichlid-gal,

I guess when you head this way for the meetings; and LFS explorations; you may want to add grocery shopping to your activities list!

Yes...that is a great idea. Now just as we have learned where many of the fish stores in town, we have to learn where the best grocery stores are in town too.

For staples you really can't beat Wallyworld. Try to plan at least three homemade from scratch meals per week as PBMax suggested and buy items that can be used in many different ways.
Over on the westside here breads, cereals, meats, produce especially tomatoes are through the roof. Try to aviod name brands and get the stores products. Packaged prosessed food portions have shrunk in size and are proven not to be a convenient, healthy alterinative.
I know some things aren't as tasty but it WILL save a bit more. The 2 of us have a buget of $250.00 per month and we manage to meet this buget o.k. Have you shopped in Ellensburg yet. I found it a bit more affordable as they are close to the pass and trucks can deliver more goods at a cheaper cost driving from the distributer here in the Kent valley...

i definitely understand the cost of grocerys going up, my bills sure have been higher feeding only two. that said i just get my groceries next door most of the time. i tend to try and stock up on canned goods whenever on sale, and try to supplement this with random items to complete a meal. for instance mixing up a nice cream of mushroom roast (can of soup + seasoning packet + other goodies) and just snag the roast when its on sale, last one was 1.99 so 6$ for 3 evenings meals. i try to price it all out on a per meal basis. seems to keep me saving more money. anyways GL to ya but you wont catch me in a wallyworld for anything but ammuntion. i choose to avoid that store based on the type of people located within

I hear ya Anthraxx I only go to wallyworld if I'm in the area and yes ammo too!
But for Cichlid gal she only has two store within reach and has to plan trips to shop alternitives.
I have shopped at theses same store she has too. I forgot to mention Wenatchee there is lots of stores there as well...and its a close country drive, hey maybe get that buck in your way on the way home.  

I guess I'm pretty lucky to live in Shelton, where Walmart and Fred Meyers are just across the street from eachother, and Safeway is only a couple miles away. Truth be told, me and my wife cheat and get two Sunday papers each, so we tend to stock up on essentials (99cent 1/2gal milk, bread, meat, etc) when it's on sale, and most of the time it is. We probably spend $300-$400 on food per month, but we tend to eat out more than most people (we both work and hate cooking when we get off at night). Walmart price matches, so even if you don't have an Albertson, Fred Meyers, Safeway, etc etc, you can still get some great deals! Just remember that they don't do the "buy 1 get 1 free" deals from competitors.

Our last shopping experience netted us about 1 1/2 cartfulls for about $150. Most of it was veggies, large meat dinners for thanksgiving, creams/cheeses, lots of milk (4gallons for $8, which usually lasts us a month or two). We hardly buy junk food, with the occasional tub of ice cream every 2-3 months.

You might check out slickdeals. They have threads going just for west coast stores etc. Many items are just plain free after coupons each week etc.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=38

I feel your pain Donna. We have one tiny store where I get emergency or small things. Otherwise thirty plus miles over the hill to Clarkston to pay about what you do. Meat is easy as Bambi is stupid and simple to ambush. Happiness is a full freezer.

Sounds like a plan bassetman! But I dont think Cichlid gal hunts for big game! I remember keeping my freezer full for at least 10+ years! But with License costs up and the gas to get to a good hunt area is just out of reach now. I will not hunt the wetside either. You've got deer the size of cattle compared to these little blacktail rabbits here. It sounds like its sacrifise time for any shopper at the local G.S. anymore.

Having lived in the country it is hard to fathom costs like this.  We lived on almost 5 acres for 11+ years and in that time we raised chickens (for eggs and meat), turkeys, ducks, rabbits, and cows.  We had a huge garden which supplied our table from spring until fall.  We had a small orchard of about 12 different fruit trees (apples, plums, cherries, pears, peaches, apricots).  We shopped via the bulk co-op and lived quite well.  We had three freezers and shelves of canned goods.  We were self-sustaining to some degree.  Over the years of living in town we have given up many of those things...the garden, the fruit trees, I no longer can foods.  As Tom stated, it is hard to admit (and realize) that we have to rely on the local stores and pay for the foods we eat with such prices.

We did, just this year start up a garden again.  John brought in the last of the carrots the other night and we sat and ate one each (very nice sized they were) and they were like crisp sugar.  I don't think our new little garden will be big enough to generate the haul of produce that we got in the country so canning from the garden will not be an option but maybe we'll buy from the orchards and such when they have their harvest "box" sales and get back into the canning again.  We loved to razor thin slice apples and then freeze dry them and put into the freezer for keeping.  They were like chips without the calories.  We kept them in snack sized bags.  Loved them.

Both John and I were really intrigued by the aquaponics and are going to give that some thought for the summer.  Possibly being able to increase some of our growing space using some of the methods we found is an exciting idea.

Ok...lots of good input here everyone.  Thanks for sharing.

Anthraxx wrote: I choose to avoid that store based on the type of people located within

Oh wow! Don't you like to see where your taX dollars going?  I happen to like Walmart, serves its function. I like how this store knocks out businesses that like to take advantage of  common folk like Albertsons,  Safeway, Hagens, ect. I don't like how Walmart puts local small business out of business though : /

I just started on making goat pens and a chicken coup. Milk is about the same price as gas. I have two kids. A few goats makes perfect sense. Same with chickens both layers and meat birds. I think it is good for the kids to know the connection between the chicken and the nugget.

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:You might check out slickdeals. They have threads going just for west coast stores etc. Many items are just plain free after coupons each week etc.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=38

Thanks for the link Cory...I will check it out

MRTom wrote:I was talking with an econ major friend of mine a few months ago about the price of food going up and what we can do as individuals to side step the huge global trends going on. A lot of factors, like the trends of global currencies going down in value together, a complicated CPI situation that makes it harder to gauge what is really going on, developments in massive farming vs. small scale farming and the environmental impact of the cost of maintaining our population levels are all coming together to make it impossible to find a simple solution to the problem.

There was one observation to be dealt with, and that's the fact that the prices are an effect of decades of economic changes that we won't be undoing, and thus those high prices are here to stay. One of the ideas we came up with was to "farm it ourselves". For most of us that means to join a food coop or CSA like bronze mentioned early. Also, if you can do this to hobbies or other activities, you can make your life even more achievable. Things like skipping cable and watching tv at the bar with friends, or going to the swap meets to buy used equipment instead of new tanks help manage your costs better.

Another answer was to get paid in non-dollars... that meant buying assets like a house or investments that are valued independent of the dollar. This one isn't bullet proof and is not for everyone, but it gives you some flexibility. Perhaps invest in an aquaponics system and start growing your own veggies is an answer?

The last and most painful answer was to acknowledge our quality of life isn't sustainable. For me that meant a 2 bedroom house is not appropriate for a single guy and doing my part to improve the economy meant getting a couple of roommates. Oh, and eating a lot less has also helped me loose a bit of weight!

All that said, I'm off to try winco in Everett

Tom...I just read something to the effect that "corn" is the crux of the problem...the fact that corn is in high demand and farmers are subsidized to grow it for use in fuel manufacture (ethynol I think)...also meat consumption is up so corn is a feed grain. More corn being grown means less wheat, veggies, etc. Kinda makes sense and seems to follow part of where we are seeing the high costs. I'm sure its just one of the factors but it seems it could be part of the issue.

bassetman wrote:I just started on making goat pens and a chicken coup. Milk is about the same price as gas. I have two kids. A few goats makes perfect sense. Same with chickens both layers and meat birds. I think it is good for the kids to know the connection between the chicken and the nugget.

Tom...what out for those goats...they can be great escape artists and they will eat anything within reach (not sure about fish). As for the chickens...they are a great resource. I'm considering an in-town coop. They are allowed so it's a possibility.