Tips for curbing spending on food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the Aldi hate on here. The one I go to is super popular and has fresh stuff. I’ve shopped there for years initially because they had the easiest to maneuver surface parking lot vs those awful parking garages at all the other stores. I’ve never had a problem with quality, ever.

If y’all want to throw money away, ok. Seems like a stupid way to go.

The two near me are messy and look dirty, their produce goes off quickly. Their berries will not last more than a few days before becoming moldy. Unreliable stocks. Sometimes they have stuff, sometimes they don't, so it's hard to plan a reliable shop around Aldis.

I value quality and Aldi isn't quality. It's a great option when you have to watch every penny. I don't have to watch every penny. Food retailing is so sensitive to pricing that the gap between Whole Foods or Wegmans and Aldis isn't that big, so it's a waste of time and money for me to bother with Aldis. If Aldis was really that great and cheap, all other supermarkets would go bankrupt. But they aren't and that tells you something.

Agreed. Maybe some Aldis are just better than others? Ours is more similar to this PP's. I'm not saving money if the produce goes bad in a couple days and I have to toss it.

Unfortunately we don't have one that close to us anymore but I grew up with Wegmans and still think it's the best balance between quality-selection-prices. It's not the cheapest but for most things we buy the prices are competitive with (or better than) other stores. And I can get everything I need in a single shopping trip, which is really valuable to me now that I have kids.

Maybe we just have a good one, but Aldi produce going bad quickly is not an issue for my family at all.

I went to Aldi last Thursday, 2/15 and all of the produce I bought is still good. I have no idea what people are babbling about that their food isn't good quality and goes rotten. Can you buy some strawberries that seem to go back in 2-3 days, sure, but I've had that happen at Wegmans, WF, Safeway and HT. This is not an Aldi problem. People are just snobs for some reason and are uptight about shopping there, except in my neighborhood where I see plenty of people I know there on a regular basis. NBD.

This thread was asking for tips on curbing spending on food and one of the obvious ones for me would be to shop at a less expensive grocery store, like Aldi. But it seems that people come up with every counter argument to not take the obvious advice, so keep spending I guess.

This is essentially it. Produce sometimes goes bad wherever you get it from. And all grocery stores have return policies. I’ve talked to friends who complain about the shopping cart quarter, bagging your own groceries, needing your own bags, the produce stacked in their original boxes, less selection, etc. if you want to spend 2x the Aldi price for milk, great.

No, “this [people being snobs]” is not the reason many people avoid Aldi.

I already have to go to a health food supermarket to get many of the items that I use regularly. And then I still also go to a regular supermarket to get other some other items I like (gasp, Doritos). I don’t want to add a third supermarket, especially given that they have limited selection and the lines are often long (at least at the Rockville store).

I consider myself very frugal, but it’s still not worth it for me.

Same. And honestly, someone who is spending that much at Whole Foods on produce and grains every week, like the OP, is simply not going to find a comparable selection at Aldi. It would mean changing WHAT they buy altogether, not just switching to buying those items at a different grocery store. If they really want to same $$, I would cut down on the takeout first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how you can possibly be spending that much! We eat out or get take out at least twice a week, often more and I feel bad that we spend about $1k a month doing so. How on earth do you get to $40k a year?!

People are forgetting that OP is including all her vacation F&B spending in the $40k, which is three weeks of dining out for the family. When she breaks down the weekly spending, it's suddenly a lot more realistic.

Because OP's weekly spending for groceries isn't particularly extravagant and includes the nanny's food at a generous $100 a week, telling her to go to Aldi to shave a few bucks off her spending is meaningless when it does nothing for the big food expenditures - her vacations and takeaways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how you can possibly be spending that much! We eat out or get take out at least twice a week, often more and I feel bad that we spend about $1k a month doing so. How on earth do you get to $40k a year?!

People are forgetting that OP is including all her vacation F&B spending in the $40k, which is three weeks of dining out for the family. When she breaks down the weekly spending, it's suddenly a lot more realistic.

Because OP's weekly spending for groceries isn't particularly extravagant and includes the nanny's food at a generous $100 a week, telling her to go to Aldi to shave a few bucks off her spending is meaningless when it does nothing for the big food expenditures - her vacations and takeaways.

I wasn’t forgetting that, I hadn’t read it. However my $1k a month average for a family of four (not five like OP) invoices at least 3 weeks of vacation a year too. We must just spend much less per meal. On vacation we also try to eat out only once per day, and very rarely 3 times. That means staying in vacation rentals and making breakfast or staying at hotels where breakfast is included. Having dinner or lunch at the rental with a kitchen. That said I don’t feel that we scrimp AT ALL! It seems we are in fact extravagant so I can’t imagine how her cost is so high. So they order expensive cocktails with every meal? Appetizers and desserts? Lobster and steak every week?

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 5 and we spend about $150 a week on groceries. We shop mostly at Aldi’s or Lidl.

We cook throughout the week and always finish our leftovers. We eat take out once a week and budget $75 for that. We spend about $75 a week on fancy lattes and the occasional beer or fast food when we’re out and about on the weekends.

So about $300 a week for a total of $1200 a week.

You all have some insane expenses!

[Anonymous]

I buy meat on sale: for example, I bought two huge packages of chicken thighs and chicken drumsticks that were on sale for 99 cents a pound last weekend. The thighs fed me and my husband for lunch through the week, and the drummies will do the same next week (he WFH, I WOH but always bring a lunch).

I’ve started swapping/supplementing fresh vegetables with frozen. Still organic.

More for health and religious reasons, but my husband and I have all but quit drinking, save for special occasions out (we had a couple of drinks for his birthday celebration out last weekend, and will probably get a drink or two when we go out on “date night” at the beach in April, but won’t drink between these occasions.) This has been a HUGE cost savings.

We’ve stopped eating breakfast for Lent, but with the cost and time savings (and associated weight loss) might just keep that up.

Generally just focusing on sales for produce etc. Rarely buy processed foods outside of bread, pasta, and rice.

Pretty much completely stopped eating out or getting takeout (again, save for special occasions).

It’s a much humbler kitchen than it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Another Aldi fan. We also shop at Giant and Trader Joes. We get variety that way without having to get takeout all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the Aldi hate on here. The one I go to is super popular and has fresh stuff. I’ve shopped there for years initially because they had the easiest to maneuver surface parking lot vs those awful parking garages at all the other stores. I’ve never had a problem with quality, ever.

If y’all want to throw money away, ok. Seems like a stupid way to go.

The two near me are messy and look dirty, their produce goes off quickly. Their berries will not last more than a few days before becoming moldy. Unreliable stocks. Sometimes they have stuff, sometimes they don't, so it's hard to plan a reliable shop around Aldis.

I value quality and Aldi isn't quality. It's a great option when you have to watch every penny. I don't have to watch every penny. Food retailing is so sensitive to pricing that the gap between Whole Foods or Wegmans and Aldis isn't that big, so it's a waste of time and money for me to bother with Aldis. If Aldis was really that great and cheap, all other supermarkets would go bankrupt. But they aren't and that tells you something.

Agreed. Maybe some Aldis are just better than others? Ours is more similar to this PP's. I'm not saving money if the produce goes bad in a couple days and I have to toss it.

Unfortunately we don't have one that close to us anymore but I grew up with Wegmans and still think it's the best balance between quality-selection-prices. It's not the cheapest but for most things we buy the prices are competitive with (or better than) other stores. And I can get everything I need in a single shopping trip, which is really valuable to me now that I have kids.

Maybe we just have a good one, but Aldi produce going bad quickly is not an issue for my family at all.

I went to Aldi last Thursday, 2/15 and all of the produce I bought is still good. I have no idea what people are babbling about that their food isn't good quality and goes rotten. Can you buy some strawberries that seem to go back in 2-3 days, sure, but I've had that happen at Wegmans, WF, Safeway and HT. This is not an Aldi problem. People are just snobs for some reason and are uptight about shopping there, except in my neighborhood where I see plenty of people I know there on a regular basis. NBD.

This thread was asking for tips on curbing spending on food and one of the obvious ones for me would be to shop at a less expensive grocery store, like Aldi. But it seems that people come up with every counter argument to not take the obvious advice, so keep spending I guess.

This is essentially it. Produce sometimes goes bad wherever you get it from. And all grocery stores have return policies. I’ve talked to friends who complain about the shopping cart quarter, bagging your own groceries, needing your own bags, the produce stacked in their original boxes, less selection, etc. if you want to spend 2x the Aldi price for milk, great.

No, “this [people being snobs]” is not the reason many people avoid Aldi.

I already have to go to a health food supermarket to get many of the items that I use regularly. And then I still also go to a regular supermarket to get other some other items I like (gasp, Doritos). I don’t want to add a third supermarket, especially given that they have limited selection and the lines are often long (at least at the Rockville store).

I consider myself very frugal, but it’s still not worth it for me.

Same. And honestly, someone who is spending that much at Whole Foods on produce and grains every week, like the OP, is simply not going to find a comparable selection at Aldi. It would mean changing WHAT they buy altogether, not just switching to buying those items at a different grocery store. If they really want to same $$, I would cut down on the takeout first.

People who shop at health food supermarkets are not going to be Aldi shoppers. They are also not willing to change anything about the types of produce they buy to save money. Aldi definitely has organic items but the disdain for Aldi is preconditioned.

[Anonymous]

We go to this place that white people hate called Walmart and it is hard to believe how much cheaper it is than other grocery stores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the Aldi hate on here. The one I go to is super popular and has fresh stuff. I’ve shopped there for years initially because they had the easiest to maneuver surface parking lot vs those awful parking garages at all the other stores. I’ve never had a problem with quality, ever.

If y’all want to throw money away, ok. Seems like a stupid way to go.

The two near me are messy and look dirty, their produce goes off quickly. Their berries will not last more than a few days before becoming moldy. Unreliable stocks. Sometimes they have stuff, sometimes they don't, so it's hard to plan a reliable shop around Aldis.

I value quality and Aldi isn't quality. It's a great option when you have to watch every penny. I don't have to watch every penny. Food retailing is so sensitive to pricing that the gap between Whole Foods or Wegmans and Aldis isn't that big, so it's a waste of time and money for me to bother with Aldis. If Aldis was really that great and cheap, all other supermarkets would go bankrupt. But they aren't and that tells you something.

Agreed. Maybe some Aldis are just better than others? Ours is more similar to this PP's. I'm not saving money if the produce goes bad in a couple days and I have to toss it.

Unfortunately we don't have one that close to us anymore but I grew up with Wegmans and still think it's the best balance between quality-selection-prices. It's not the cheapest but for most things we buy the prices are competitive with (or better than) other stores. And I can get everything I need in a single shopping trip, which is really valuable to me now that I have kids.

Maybe we just have a good one, but Aldi produce going bad quickly is not an issue for my family at all.

I went to Aldi last Thursday, 2/15 and all of the produce I bought is still good. I have no idea what people are babbling about that their food isn't good quality and goes rotten. Can you buy some strawberries that seem to go back in 2-3 days, sure, but I've had that happen at Wegmans, WF, Safeway and HT. This is not an Aldi problem. People are just snobs for some reason and are uptight about shopping there, except in my neighborhood where I see plenty of people I know there on a regular basis. NBD.

This thread was asking for tips on curbing spending on food and one of the obvious ones for me would be to shop at a less expensive grocery store, like Aldi. But it seems that people come up with every counter argument to not take the obvious advice, so keep spending I guess.

This is essentially it. Produce sometimes goes bad wherever you get it from. And all grocery stores have return policies. I’ve talked to friends who complain about the shopping cart quarter, bagging your own groceries, needing your own bags, the produce stacked in their original boxes, less selection, etc. if you want to spend 2x the Aldi price for milk, great.

No, “this [people being snobs]” is not the reason many people avoid Aldi.

I already have to go to a health food supermarket to get many of the items that I use regularly. And then I still also go to a regular supermarket to get other some other items I like (gasp, Doritos). I don’t want to add a third supermarket, especially given that they have limited selection and the lines are often long (at least at the Rockville store).

I consider myself very frugal, but it’s still not worth it for me.

Same. And honestly, someone who is spending that much at Whole Foods on produce and grains every week, like the OP, is simply not going to find a comparable selection at Aldi. It would mean changing WHAT they buy altogether, not just switching to buying those items at a different grocery store. If they really want to same $$, I would cut down on the takeout first.

People who shop at health food supermarkets are not going to be Aldi shoppers. They are also not willing to change anything about the types of produce they buy to save money. Aldi definitely has organic items but the disdain for Aldi is preconditioned.

Well, bless your heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We go to this place that white people hate called Walmart and it is hard to believe how much cheaper it is than other grocery stores.

Isn’t Walmart filled with white people? I went to one recently. I was shocked at the price of clothing. I will stick to Target. Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We go to this place that white people hate called Walmart and it is hard to believe how much cheaper it is than other grocery stores.

I laughed. Most Walmarts are in smaller towns where they dominate the local retailing scene. And who shops there? Isn't the stereotype all MAGA?

The big Walmart near me in the suburbs of Baltimore is majority poorer white shoppers although there's plenty of people of all races too. But you shot yourself in the foot with your silliness.

[Anonymous]

We stopped ordering food for delivery and started planning our meals. It has made a HUGE difference. I hope we can sustain it.

[Anonymous]

Some things we did recently since our kids are growing faster than our take-home pay: canceled weekly CSA delivery, consolidated everyone to one brand/type of milk, switched from Whole Foods to Harris Teeter delivery (no tip policy for HT delivery, better produce sales, and limits us to less fancy options), quit items that are tricky to order online such as avocados and watermelon, cut back on wine with meals, canceled small roastery coffee delivery subscription in favor of whatever coffee is on sale at HT, and added frozen peas into the vegetable rotation.

[Anonymous]

Cutting takeout is the most obvious savings. No delivery of groceries or meals. Make your own pizza - jar of pizza sauce or can of tomato sauce, flour, yeast, cheese.

Organic food so often is not really organic, so we buy regular food and wash veggies thoroughly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the Aldi hate on here. The one I go to is super popular and has fresh stuff. I’ve shopped there for years initially because they had the easiest to maneuver surface parking lot vs those awful parking garages at all the other stores. I’ve never had a problem with quality, ever.

If y’all want to throw money away, ok. Seems like a stupid way to go.

The two near me are messy and look dirty, their produce goes off quickly. Their berries will not last more than a few days before becoming moldy. Unreliable stocks. Sometimes they have stuff, sometimes they don't, so it's hard to plan a reliable shop around Aldis.

I value quality and Aldi isn't quality. It's a great option when you have to watch every penny. I don't have to watch every penny. Food retailing is so sensitive to pricing that the gap between Whole Foods or Wegmans and Aldis isn't that big, so it's a waste of time and money for me to bother with Aldis. If Aldis was really that great and cheap, all other supermarkets would go bankrupt. But they aren't and that tells you something.

Agreed. Maybe some Aldis are just better than others? Ours is more similar to this PP's. I'm not saving money if the produce goes bad in a couple days and I have to toss it.

Unfortunately we don't have one that close to us anymore but I grew up with Wegmans and still think it's the best balance between quality-selection-prices. It's not the cheapest but for most things we buy the prices are competitive with (or better than) other stores. And I can get everything I need in a single shopping trip, which is really valuable to me now that I have kids.

Maybe we just have a good one, but Aldi produce going bad quickly is not an issue for my family at all.

I went to Aldi last Thursday, 2/15 and all of the produce I bought is still good. I have no idea what people are babbling about that their food isn't good quality and goes rotten. Can you buy some strawberries that seem to go back in 2-3 days, sure, but I've had that happen at Wegmans, WF, Safeway and HT. This is not an Aldi problem. People are just snobs for some reason and are uptight about shopping there, except in my neighborhood where I see plenty of people I know there on a regular basis. NBD.

This thread was asking for tips on curbing spending on food and one of the obvious ones for me would be to shop at a less expensive grocery store, like Aldi. But it seems that people come up with every counter argument to not take the obvious advice, so keep spending I guess.

This is essentially it. Produce sometimes goes bad wherever you get it from. And all grocery stores have return policies. I’ve talked to friends who complain about the shopping cart quarter, bagging your own groceries, needing your own bags, the produce stacked in their original boxes, less selection, etc. if you want to spend 2x the Aldi price for milk, great.

No, “this [people being snobs]” is not the reason many people avoid Aldi.

I already have to go to a health food supermarket to get many of the items that I use regularly. And then I still also go to a regular supermarket to get other some other items I like (gasp, Doritos). I don’t want to add a third supermarket, especially given that they have limited selection and the lines are often long (at least at the Rockville store).

I consider myself very frugal, but it’s still not worth it for me.

Same. And honestly, someone who is spending that much at Whole Foods on produce and grains every week, like the OP, is simply not going to find a comparable selection at Aldi. It would mean changing WHAT they buy altogether, not just switching to buying those items at a different grocery store. If they really want to same $$, I would cut down on the takeout first.

People who shop at health food supermarkets are not going to be Aldi shoppers. They are also not willing to change anything about the types of produce they buy to save money. Aldi definitely has organic items but the disdain for Aldi is preconditioned.

My problem with Aldi is not the lackluster strawberries (that’s common anywhere this time of year!) but that the produce selection in general is limited. I was there a couple weeks ago and they didn’t even have bunches of parsley. I don’t consider that something only snobby health store shoppers would buy, but YMMV. Forget anything like kale or chard.