For Budget Grocery Shoppers only....in the DC area
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Anonymous
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I am trying to get a handle on decent prices for food.
Here is a list of items I am seeing. Do these seem like good prices to budget shoppers? Do you see better prices at Costco, Walmart, Aldi, Giant on sale with coupon, etc? Lidl: (Note -- I had no idea Lidl now has a "loyalty card/app" thingy, I have to sign up for it I guess.) 2 baguettes on sale........ $1/each bagged arugula............. $0.45/oz bagged spinach..............$0.31/oz bagged baby spinach......$0.45/oz bagged collard greens.....$0.22/oz org maple syrup.............$0.45/oz butter...........................$3.18/lb oatmilk.........................$0.07/oz pears............................$1.98/lb mango (1).....................$0.99 lemon (1)......................$0.62 gallon 2% milk...............$2.56 Whole Foods (with Amazon Prime Discount): maple syrup, org....................$0.67/oz sale vanilla oatmilk:................$0.04/oz regular oatmilk:.....................$0.08/oz org greek yogurt....................$0.16/oz bulk granola, org....................$5.99/lb bulk rolled oats, conventional...$1.59/lb organic oats...........................$3.36/lb eggs.....................................$3.49/dozen ground beef.......................... $3.49/lb pork sausage.........................$5.99/lb butter...................................$4.49/lb |
Anonymous
This is a weird list. I don't buy greens by the oz, they're usually priced per lb. And if you want to be a budget shopper, you may need to dial back the granola and assorted oat milks. But just from your list - ground beef and pork sausage are quite high, lemon seems high, and milk seems very cheap - I'm also confused by the things you get organic vs. not. |
Anonymous
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You should buy your oatmeal at Lidl. Or Aldi. Or even bulk at Mom's.
Agree that this is a strange list. You can probably do better at Lidl with the organic dairy products, too. |
Anonymous
Bagged greens aren't usually sold by the pound because they are 12 oz or 10 oz. I use ounce to compare prices but I can multiply by 16 if that makes it easier? Lidl: bagged arugula............. $0.45/oz.... $7.20/lb bagged spinach..............$0.31/oz.... $4.96/lb bagged baby spinach......$0.45/oz.... $7.20/lb bagged collard greens.....$0.22/oz.... $3.52/lb |
Anonymous
Do you keep a price book? That's what I am looking for -- people in DC who actually keep records of what they pay per ounce or pound for food who have data to compare with. |
Anonymous
| Like, do you know how much Mom's is selling bulk oats for right now? Is it cheaper than $1.59/lb? |
Anonymous
Yeah, arugula and baby spinach are way too expensive here. A big 1lb "box" of organic baby spinach at Safeway is $5.99 not on sale. Cheaper on sale, cheaper not organic, you get the idea. But for me, it's better to get greens that keep better, and they're usually cheaper too: collard greens, kale, romaine hearts, cabbage. |
Anonymous
Ground beef should start with a 2. We stock up on chicken at .99/lb but will buy it under $1.49. Pork sausage more like $2.49/lb. Pork shoulder at $1.49/lb (used to see it below a dollar occasionally, but times have changed). Mangos - only in season for money and price and taste reasons. If you care about organic get butter, milk, eggs at Costco. Butter we stock up on sale and freeze. I don't buy many of the things you've listed (oat milk, baguettes, multiples of maple syrup) so I can't help you there. The other thing is, once you've figured out where prices should be, figure out what store is doing well for most of your staples and just shop there. We use the Safeway loyalty card and get about $15 off every other month just from racking up points, in addition to the sales and the "personalized pricing" - they even lower prices on the produce that we buy for us. |
Anonymous
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Are you doing a class assignment, or are you new to budget shopping?
Most budget shoppers shop by "I have X to spend" and they get whatever they can within their limit. I'd love to get limes but if they're normally 2 for 50 cents and this week it's 2 for a dollar, I don't get limes. I might not even be thinking about eggplant but if they look good and are priced reasonably (whatever that means nowadays), I might figure out something to do with them. I don't have time, energy, or mental space to do a lot of computing and comparing. This $50 is going to get whatever it gets. |
Anonymous
I gotcha! I am not new to grocery shopping on a budget. I am recently trying to pay attention to local store prices by doing the data gathering, and computing. I need a new sense of what is a best (or better) price, basically! Some food items we do buy over and over because we eat them daily/weekly -- bagged (prewashed, etc) greens, rolled oatmeal with real maple syrup (my husband the maple syrup snob). I'll pay more for real maple syrup although I know brown sugar or "fake" syrup is cheaper. But I want to find the cheapest source of maple syrup, hence the price check at different stores. Yes of course, it is cheaper to buy greens frozen (sometimes) or to buy them in a bunch and unwashed but I know that what I will cook and eat with no waste is the prewashed, bagged or clamshell kind. So that is why I looked for those prices. We do eat french baguettes and 2 for $1 seemed like a good price for a decent produce. Wondering is a place like Costco bakery might have regularly, for cheaper? |
Anonymous
I guess "Budget shoppers" was a bad title for this thread. I'm looking for people who track grocery store prices by the unit price, here in the DC area, basically. |
Anonymous
| I don't keep price books. In the face of inflation, I am converting my consumption. I've eliminated meat, and I buy everything that I regularly consume in bulk -- butter, rice, dry beans, bread, etc. Otherwise, I buy produce in season and there are few things that repeat enough to keep track of price variation week to week. |
Anonymous
| Are you going for budget or fancy? Because if I were budget shopping I wouldn’t be buying most of these things, I’d be more worried about stretching that dollar. |
Anonymous
Thank you! |
Anonymous
Cheapest of that particular type of food. Cheapest maple syrup, cheapest rolled oats, cheapest bagged greens... |