Have you seen the price of groceries?? They say prices have gone up 10% over the last year. Huh. I don't know what grocery store items they are looking at but... I can tell you right now, some things have gone up waaayyyy more!
And let's not even talk about meat... a package of 3 top sirloin steaks was $70 in Costco the other day. That's over $20 for one steak. ONE steak! OMG! It's a good thing we don't eat beef... or pork... or chicken. We do eat salmon though and that is not cheap either. A serving of salmon is $10... still cheaper than beef.
I was reading a news article the other day that gave some tips on how to save money on groceries... and some of them really resonated for us.
1. Shop the Freezer and Pantry
Yes! Cause... I don't know about you but when the pandemic started, there were soooo many things that were hit and miss in the stores that we did a bit of a stockpile of canned foods and dried legumes. So we are still munching our way through those things. We are also making a real effort to soak, cook and freeze some of the legumes that we use most often - like chickpeas and black beans. It ends up being way cheaper than the canned beans.
As for the freezer... we are digging our way through that too. Checking to see what we have in there and how we can incorporate it into our daily meals. One of the biggest items in there is... shredded parsnips from the garden. We had soooo many parsnips that we just shredded them raw and froze them. But what to do with them? They can be included in soups (like Scotch Broth/pea soup) but what else? Well, we came across recipes for parsnip latkes/fritters/pancakes... so we are going to try that.
Every little bit of extra food helps!
2. Shop the Flyers
I have to admit, during the pandemic, I got out of the habit of checking the flyers. Part of the reason for that is that Superstore (where I do the big shop every week) no longer has a paper flyer. It's all digital. And I don't really shop at the regular grocery stores because I find them to be much more expensive than Superstore. Although... when they have caselot sales... it can get more economical. I know that there are apps out there that gather all the flyers and prices together for you. And... I just did a bit of research and have signed up for the Flipp app. I think I tried this several years ago and wasn't impressed but they've rejigged it so going to give it a try again!
And some stores will price match - if you can find the exact same product at another store. I've never really tried this as I find it to be too much work and it has to be the same brand and size.
3. Pay Attention to the Per Unit Cost
Not all prices are created equal. Sometimes a product will look cheaper than its neighbour but... if you look at the fine print on the shelf label, you'll see that the per unit cost is actually more expensive on the "cheaper" option. I like Superstore for this - they always have the per unit cost on the label and it makes it easier for me to figure out which item is the better deal. Sometimes its $/ml or $/oz or $/gram - check and see. Even small differences add up!
Except when it comes to toilet paper... who really knows which is the better deal!? Double rolls? Sheets per roll? Weight??
4. Buy in Bulk
Which leads me to this next topic... if you can... buy in bulk. We go through a lot of cinnamon, for example. There is absolutely NO way I am going to buy those cute little glass jars of cinnamon at the store? Have you seen those per unit prices???
Now we're getting there... baggie of cinnamon - $1.66/100 grams and the big container - $1.16/100 grams. Guess which one we buy? It is 7% of the cost of the tin of cinnamon... You basically get 15 times the amount of cinnamon in the big container, as opposed to the tin... for the same amount of $$.
5. Track Spending
We already do this. I use GnuCash, an open-source accounting program where we enter all of our expenses. And in the last few years, I've gotten more granular with the Superstore receipts. I no longer say the whole receipt is groceries... I look over it and pull out toilet paper and paper towel (household supplies) and vitamins and supplements (a separate category) so that we can get a really good sense of what "groceries" cost us.
6. Shop No-Name Brands
I can't remember the last time I bought brand name canned goods. I always go for the yellow no-name label at Superstore. Or the Western Family label at Save-on-Foods or the Compliments label at Thrifty Foods. The contents are the same as the brand-name cans and I'm not that much of a foodie that I need to have Hunts tomato paste in my cupboard. Or a can of Unico black beans. Nope... give me the yellow can... or the yellow bag of oatmeal or the yellow tub of honey or yellow bag of raisins.
Here's what a can of 540 ml black beans costs at Superstore... $1.49 for the yellow brand and $1.99 for Unico.
And at Thriftys? Their Compliments brand is $1.99 per can and La Costena is $2.99.
7. Shop the Sales Cycles
Apparently, sales run on a 6 to 8 week cycle. Soooo... if I know that canned tomatoes (the yellow label!) went on sale last week... then I can predict (I hope) that they will go on sale again in 1.5 to 2 months. The idea would be to stock up with enough of those to last us those 6 to 8 weeks. Hmmm... that is a LOT of food. But if we've got the space... then it might make sense.
Conclusion
I am realizing, I could go on for several more points! Things like plan your meals for the week before you go shopping! That way you aren't running to the local grocery store to buy something that you forgot and paying $$$ at a premium for something that is (a) not on sale and (b) more expensive than your regular grocery store.
Reduce food waste by eating leftovers. You can also ignore a LOT of Best Before dates too... use your common sense there but really... oatmeal does NOT go off in a few months!
Over the years, I've learned that the old adage... watch the pennies and the pounds (or dollars) will take care of themselves... is true. A few pennies or nickels per can of black beans might not seem a lot... but put that on every single item and... over time, it does add up. Small steps folks... small steps.
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