Why won't my wife shop at Giant or Safeway like a normal person?

[Anonymous]

Because the idiots on this page have taught her that more expensive equals better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have spending issues and for a family of 3 (2yr old kid) we spend over $1,200 at Trader Joes and Whole Foods. She refuses to shop at regular grocery stores. I bet it would cut our bill by $250-300 if she just went to Giant.

My wife does the same, at first I wasn't for it, but now I'm sort of a convert. Compare a cooked chicken from TJ to one from Giant. It's night and day in terms of taste and quality. We still shop at Giants for some things like soap, TP, etc., but buy very little of anything that is eaten, except Ritz crackers..lol.

Oh, btw, I don't complain about WF or TJ, now http://www.balduccis.com/ is the one I have a Problem with! Thank god she has scaled back shoping there.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have spending issues and for a family of 3 (2yr old kid) we spend over $1,200 at Trader Joes and Whole Foods. She refuses to shop at regular grocery stores. I bet it would cut our bill by $250-300 if she just went to Giant.

My wife does the same, at first I wasn't for it, but now I'm sort of a convert. Compare a cooked chicken from TJ to one from Giant. It's night and day in terms of taste and quality. We still shop at Giants for some things like soap, TP, etc., but buy very little of anything that is eaten, except Ritz crackers..lol.

Oh, btw, I don't complain about WF or TJ, now http://www.balduccis.com/ is the one I have a Problem with! Thank god she has scaled back shoping there.....

To add to the above, it's the Only place we buy cold cuts......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about a compromise like Wegmans or Harris Teeter? They both have the prepared food, if that is what she likes at WF, and Wegmans has a lot of organic. Harris Teeter is cheaper than Safeway or Giant if you don't shop sale items and Wegmans is cheaper overall.

Due to your restaurant and store selections, I'm guessing you live in the middle of DC, so Wegmans would also make her plan ahead and bulk shop, which can save $.

I agree with this. I shop at Harris Teeter almost exclusively, with some TJs thrown in for frozen/interesting food items (I really dislike the quality of TJs produce). Harris Teeter has decent organic produce that is reasonably priced, plus it feels nicer than Giant and Safeway - at least the ones in Arlington. Plus, they have some really good sales. I cannot imagine spending $300/week for 3 people plus extra to eat out. I think by shopping a little more carefully you could literally halve your grocery bill and keep the eating out budget if that makes you happy.

[Anonymous]

Imagine my surprise when I realized many things at our Safeway and Giant (Bethesda) were just as expensive as Whole Foods!

[Anonymous]

I think after you micro-manage your wife about her food shopping because, it seems, she is wholly responsible for food buying and meal planning due to being a SAHP, you should ask her for her in-depth views on your career. After all, you make the money, and if this degree of spending makes you concerned, you could surely be doing better financially. Perhaps if you show her a video of you at work all day, or some of the documents you've produced, she could review your work and let you know where you could improve, and hopefully get promoted or at least a raise. Of course, I'm kidding here. Just wanted to point out how another adult might feel when feeling micro-managed. Please find a way to work this out cooperatively, not just by telling your wife where she can and cannot shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you end up throwing out a lot of food? That's a lot of money to spend on 3,even if she shops in WF.

Yes. I just threw away a bunch of strawberrys yesterday. We have meat from WF in the freezer that had been there for a week and had freezer burn so I threw it out. She bought ground beef for chili a few nights ago andit turned out to be a late evening so we didn't use it and just ordered takeout. Beef thrown away...

[Anonymous]

There is an argument to be made for buying from suppliers whose mission you support. I feel this way about things like coffee and chocolate and some local (and not so local ahemCabot) dairies. Everyone has preferred brands for things.

I think that it's a reasonable ask to require non-perishables like canned beans and tomatoes and staples where the brand is not important to come from a cheaper store. You can get the same Horizon organic milk at Giant AND Safeway that you get at Whole Foods. As for TJ, personally I find them to be highly overrated, but I don't use a ton of pre-fab food, so I'm not really their target audience.

[Anonymous]

Here's what we do: We buy most of our staple items at Target, and then we fill in with produce and meat from Whole Foods, Trader Joe's. If we run out of basics, then DH runs over to Giant to pick them up during the week.

So our monthly shopping looks something like:

One trip to Target
A trip to WF or TJs on every weekend
Fill ins to Giant as needed.

I think we spend about $1000/month for two adults and two teenagers.

[Anonymous]

Wegman's is the cheapest.

[Anonymous]

OP here. When we talk about finances she talks about cutting Netlfix. Ok, well that's 10 a month it's minuscule but she doesn't want to cut big things like vacations or spending on food, or $3k we just spent on a new sofa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. When we talk about finances she talks about cutting Netlfix. Ok, well that's 10 a month it's minuscule but she doesn't want to cut big things like vacations or spending on food, or $3k we just spent on a new sofa.

She sounds barely financially literate. Does she know how much money is coming in and how much things actually cost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My wife does the same, at first I wasn't for it, but now I'm sort of a convert. Compare a cooked chicken from TJ to one from Giant. It's night and day in terms of taste and quality. We still shop at Giants for some things like soap, TP, etc., but buy very little of anything that is eaten, except Ritz crackers..lol.

You mean buying a pre-cooked chicken from each, or buying raw chicken and cooking it?

We don't buy the cooked stuff, but I haven't noticed any difference in TJ (or WF) vs Giant when it comes to raw chicken. Actually Giant has Purdue chicken, as well as organic chicken, and then their store-brand chicken. There's plenty to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. When we talk about finances she talks about cutting Netlfix. Ok, well that's 10 a month it's minuscule but she doesn't want to cut big things like vacations or spending on food, or $3k we just spent on a new sofa.

What about her going back to work? I think some SAHMs don't always realize that if that's their "job", they need to stop relying on eating out, buying prepared food, etc. You may find it cheaper overall to get a decent nanny and have DW back at work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:one word: Produce

Oh, please. Anyone who believes that produce at TJ or WF is superior in any way is a fool, and probably believes every marketing word ever projected.

Safeway's potatoes and raspberries are always 1 day away from being rotten at their Tenleytown location, often the bottom or middle of the potato bag has 3 or 4 rotten ones. With the raspberries they put the rotten ones on the bottom layer. It's like they just aren't kept at the right temperature somewhere in transit and they are spoiled.

Safeway's plastic bags are made with thinnest crappiest material known to man and are useless.

That said, the cashiers are some the warmest helpful employees I've ever had the pleasure of doing business with.