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.

Dude, why don't you just talk to your wife about this? Because as someone who shops at Whole Foods, TJ's Safeway and Giant, I can tell you Giant is no cheaper than the others. Safeway has good deals with the store card, but otherwise it's no cheaper either. In fact, I find Giant to be more expensive, and to be the store where the high-priced supplements get rung up but don't make it into the bag.

If you have time at work to make a spreadsheet for your wife, and to post on DCUM about her, maybe you could do some meal planning and couponing too.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I've tried. I sat down at work and created an extensive Excel spreadsheet with all of our transaction and showed exactly how much per month is going out to whole foods. She takes it as an affront to her ability to be a homemaker when I challenge how much we spend on groceries and dining out.

Honestly, she SHOULD take it as an affront to her ability to be a homemaker. It doesn't sound like she's very good at it, if she MUST spend $1600 a month on food for two adults and a toddler.

Meal planning. Seriously. And set a budget limit, since it sounds like you're not made of money.

I don't think it's the store that's the problem. Like PPs have noted, it's important to plan meals before going to the store. I find that's the best way to keep grocery bills down. It also cuts down on extra trips to the store to pick up one missing ingredient where you end up buying $30 of other unneeded items.

It also sounds like you are eating out a lot. I plan/cook meals that will leaves leftovers for lunch, and we plan to eat one dinner out a week. We are also a family of 3. We spend about $150/week on groceries and maybe $200/month on dining out in an average month. Even if she wants to shop at Whole Foods/Trader Joe's she can save money by buying what is on special that week.

What an idiot you are, OP.

I did an Excel spreadsheet for my data-loving husband, comparing monthly grocery expenditure at Giant and Whole Foods, in an effort to convince him that Whole Foods was NOT more expensive...

I spend $700/month for a family of 4 (9 and 4 year old children) at WF. I buy as least processed and packaged foods as possible and cook nearly everything from scratch. Grains, spices, etc in bulk in the bins. I buy some organic produce (the ones at risk for highest levels of pesticides) as well as organic dairy and eggs.

Shopping for the same things at Giant would be more expensive.

So now we both shop at Whole Foods, like normal people!!!

This is what puzzles me too. I find that at whole foods, if I get comparable products at Safeway or Giant, it is more or less the same. Organic produce is expensive, where it is from whole foods or giant (unless it is on sale). I don't think the conventional produce at whole foods is any more expensive than anywhere else. The 365 whole foods brand for things like butter, olive oil, etc. is the same as the giant or safeway brand. The bulk bins are great. The thing that can really rack your bill up at whole foods is getting a lot of specialty items (exotic fruits, specialty brands of butter, nice wine) and prepared foods.

Op here. I've tried. I sat down at work and created an extensive Excel spreadsheet with all of our transaction and showed exactly how much per month is going out to whole foods. She takes it as an affront to her ability to be a homemaker when I challenge how much we spend on groceries and dining out.

Anonymous wrote:
Plan meals. All of them. You don't have to stick to a schedule, but plan 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 dinners and approximately 10 snacks per week. Write down the ingredients for those things. Purchase those ingredients. If you decide on Monday that you'd rather have spaghetti than tacos, that's fine. Have tacos another night.

Make shopping lists and then follow them. So when in the produce section, if you see that your list has apples, celery, broccoli, red peppers and kale on it, don't linger in the tropical fruit section. If you're in the meat department to get a steak, don't also get shrimp. It's not that hard.

This exactly. I plan all meals ahead of time and buy exactly what we need - what we have when depends on (1) what I feel like cooking/eating, and (2) what produce/meat needs to be eaten first. I do two weeks of meal planning at a time, so a lot of what I buy goes into the freezer for week 2 meals. I also have the ingredients for a couple of standards on-hand at all times for the nights I just don't feel like cooking or am too busy. Frozen cheese tortellini + pesto, scrambled eggs, quesadillas, etc.

Also, and I really can't stress this enough, be part of the SOLUTION. HELP your wife plan meals, including things are easy to throw together on nights when you are too busy or exhausted to cook. Give input. HELP her grocery shop. HELP her cook - better yet, give yourself one night per week where you are completely in charge of dinner. My husband doesn't complain about our grocery bill, but you can bet my first suggestion if he did would be that he have some input.

OP -- best way to settle this is to the shopping yourself one week, at the stores of your choice. See if you save money or not. It all depends on what she's buying, and how much you're wasting (if anything). Whole Foods is actually cheaper for some things (organic milk, eggs, etc).

Anyway, you'll get a sense of where you can save if you do it yourself, and then you'll be on stronger ground to argue.

They have organic meat at Costco....you can buy bulk and freeze

What an idiot you are, OP.

I did an Excel spreadsheet for my data-loving husband, comparing monthly grocery expenditure at Giant and Whole Foods, in an effort to convince him that Whole Foods was NOT more expensive...

I spend $700/month for a family of 4 (9 and 4 year old children) at WF. I buy as least processed and packaged foods as possible and cook nearly everything from scratch. Grains, spices, etc in bulk in the bins. I buy some organic produce (the ones at risk for highest levels of pesticides) as well as organic dairy and eggs.

Shopping for the same things at Giant would be more expensive.

So now we both shop at Whole Foods, like normal people!!!

13:26 deciding to be constructive.

I used to overspend at the grocery store too - and this was at Giant and Safeway, not WF or TJs. Here is how I kicked the habit.

Plan meals. All of them. You don't have to stick to a schedule, but plan 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 dinners and approximately 10 snacks per week. Write down the ingredients for those things. Purchase those ingredients. If you decide on Monday that you'd rather have spaghetti than tacos, that's fine. Have tacos another night.

Make shopping lists and then follow them. So when in the produce section, if you see that your list has apples, celery, broccoli, red peppers and kale on it, don't linger in the tropical fruit section. If you're in the meat department to get a steak, don't also get shrimp. It's not that hard.

It sounds to me like she maybe has other issues than just buying expensive food. Do things go bad in your refrigerator too?

I agree, that's crazy. We used to shop at WF and eat out/get take out but now that we're paying for daycare and have other expenses, it's (mostly) organic produce from Safeway, organic meat from Costco (and lots of meatless meals), and buying seasonally. I still feel like our grocery bill is high.

I think you need to approach this cooperatively though - telling her she needs to stop shopping at WF and cook for you instead of getting take out is not going to get you far. Identify what your spending issues are (i.e. we need to save x dollars a month more) and discuss food as a big place you could cut. Is she doing all the cooking and shopping? Why? Can you take those over for a couple of weeks to demonstrate the feasibiliy of your new plan (and savings)?

The checkout guys at Trader Joes are cuter than at Giant or Safeway. She's checking out those cashiers, gets a tickle in her toody when they smile at her.

Solution: get a job at Trader Joes and become a cashier so you can tell your wife how hot she is

We do grocery shopping at Giant and Whole Foods each week. Whole Foods does make sense for some things, any chicken, seafood or beef I think is better quality. Some cheeses. Certain produce is better at Whole Foods, including sweet potatoes IMO.

But you are right, Giant has a lot of great organic products and you can take advantage of the Giant card etc. to save.

Frozen fruits are a great to save. They have organic at Giant, and you shouldn't be buying fresh berries etc. anyway this time of year, they are imported from far away and lose more nutrients than the organic kind that is frozen.

You could grocery shop?