Grocery shopping

[ohchaucer 1443]

How does everyone do it?  We used to do the whole list, big shop on a weekend for the whole week. But now with two kids, we literally go to the store 5 times a week.  I'm afraid to even look at how much we actually spend are versus what we have in our "budget."  We also go to three stores in rotation - whole foods for meat and veggie stuff, Trader Joes for frozen stuff and beer, and Stop and Shop for diapers, paper towels, etc. 

Is this just because I'm a bad person who can't plan or does everyone shop like that now?   I've been working more from home and tend to go morning or mid-day and I've started to recognize the same shoppers over and over.  

I may just start doing instacart or amazon and say the hell with trips.  It's like a part time job.

[gecko 1104]

Empty nesting now....Trader Joe's every Sunday morning.  Some occasional HEB trips for HEB-only items.  Our grocery bill is small...maybe $250/month.  The restaurant bil....that's another story.

[CooterBrown 17875]

Curbside Pickup at HEB is great. I shop online while on a conference call at work and pick it up on my way home.

[midtown 3341]

23 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

we literally go to the store 5 times a week.

Este...I do a combination of dropping into my Walmart neighborhood market or I do a big Walmart online order and pick up at the big walmart.  The only time I got to HEB anymore is if I need specialty produce or a protein.

[C-Man 26992]

Now that Central Market opened a location a half-mile from my house, it gets the majority of my attention. The kids want a couple things from Trader Joe's so I still need to stop in there from time to time to get the frozen orange chicken for them and wine/beer and a few other things for me. I've basically stopped going to Whole Foods altogether, though they did a total remodel on the Lomo Alto spot. It looks good. I hit up Tom Thumb for wine and stuff like Coke Zero that you can't get at CM or TJ.

I tend to buy 2-4 days of protein options as well as assorted vegetables though I'm constantly going back to fill-in things for recipes that I've decided I need. I bet I'm in a grocery store anywhere from 3-5 times per week.

[SydneyCarton 47809]

Pretty similar to C-man and the OP. Have a rotation of stores depending on the item and situation: Costco, Kroger, HEB, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods if the wife wants to do the shopping. I'll go ahead and say it, the new HEB that opened in the Heights is sub-par. But yeah, we're probably going to the store 2-3 times a week, depending on which store and for what items. 

[Okie State 3775]

Once a week on the weekends. The multiple trips just for a 'few things' will absolutely kill any kind of budget you have. Our spending has decreased significantly since we started paying closer attention.

[RPM 26185]

I live alone and eat out 90% of the time. I normally grab just enough to get me thru the weekend. Stock up on canned stuff about twice a year.

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

How does everyone do it?  We used to do the whole list, big shop on a weekend for the whole week. But now with two kids, we literally go to the store 5 times a week.  I'm afraid to even look at how much we actually spend are versus what we have in our "budget."  We also go to three stores in rotation - whole foods for meat and veggie stuff, Trader Joes for frozen stuff and beer, and Stop and Shop for diapers, paper towels, etc.  Is this just because I'm a bad person who can't plan or does everyone shop like that now?   I've been working more from home and tend to go morning or mid-day and I've started to recognize the same shoppers over and over.  

I may just start doing instacart or amazon and say the hell with trips.  It's like a part time job.

 

 

 

I actually have been collecting our grocery budget and info now for over 18 months.

 

We are a family of 4. Two daughters both teenagers and athletes so they eat a lot. We typically eat at home 4 nights per week. Plus maybe 5 lunches and 6 breakfasts.

 

I am including other crap from HEB in this total also - including hair products, toothpaste, soap, charcoal, aluminum foil etc. The kids like HEB prepackaged salads for lunch so we always buy a bunch of those. We try to eat fresh foods but not organic other than dairy.

 

Typically we spend 1300-1400/month on all of the above.

 

We do one big shopping trip for s-w and then a smaller trip for ad hoc stuff on Thursday usually. We also occasionally go in when the girls have a sleepover on Friday or sat and buy junk foood for that.

 

I would say we go 3 times a week on average but our Sunday trip usually costs about $250

 

[Zepol87 9163]

Grocery bill is fine, alcohol bill is nuts though

[Anastasis 23375]

Wife does all the staple shopping once or twice a week.  I do targeted meal shopping as needed when I plan on cooking. 

[next2naus 436]

Me, Mrs nest2naus and the toddler n2ns

I do the shopping as I work from home and I like to do it. I do two trips a week. I could probably get all the non perishable shit in one trip a week however we go through a lot of fresh fruit for the twins and other wasted baby foods (sometimes its a buffet of what they don't want to eat). I hit up the blue collar Shop-Rite for the basics and alternate with the Stop-n-Shop for some shit that the other store doesn't have. I get tactical with Trader Joes to change it up and saem goes with Uncle Giuseppe's, which is great for Italian, meats, fish, and really everything else except for baby stuff and cleaning supplies. 

I've been in the burbs for less than a year and overall I prefered the smaller grocery stores of NYC. I have discovered some good meat markets so thats nice. 

[jimmyjazz 45513]

I'm at HEB at least once a day, often twice, at least when it's open.  I hit Randall's a couple of times a week.  If I don't do the shopping my wife destroys our budget.  I can usually cook a great meal that feeds 6 for ~ $12.  A protein, one or two veggies, and maybe some kind of bread.  I am borderline obsessive about it. 

Randall's for most meat, almost all our cheese, and sometimes prepackaged salad kits.  HEB for everything else, especially produce.  Beer comes from Spec's unless one of the grocery stores has it on sale.

[Mr.Hovis 68]

Go to HEB(Circle C/Dripping Springs) at least 3 times a week, family of 3 and 1 dog. Wife hates going and I kinda like it, especially the beer and wine section. Spend about $100.00 each trip. 

[thrillhammer 683]

I go once a week, every friday during lunch. very rarely do i need to go back, and very rarely do i shop anywhere other than heb.  i keep a running grocery list during the week, go through coupons and recipes on thursday so i have a rough idea of the menu for the coming week and include all those ingredients on the list.  

[gsoda3 3234]

we're at about $1,000 / month right now in groceries.  3x a week combo of heb, costco, whole foods.  probably another $500 / month in eating out.  i haven't been diligent about this, but i feel like there's probably fat we can trim from those #s.

[Okie State 3775]

we're at about $1,000 / month right now in groceries.  3x a week combo of heb, costco, whole foods.  probably another $500 / month in eating out.  i haven't been diligent about this, but i feel like there's probably fat we can trim from those #s.

We've been able to trim ours from around $2K/month to a budget of $1200. That's typically around $800 in groceries and $400 in going out. We've cut back quite a bit on going out which adds up very quickly.

[jimmyjazz 45513]

If one is moderately skilled in the kitchen it should be possible to get close to restaurant quality food for about 1/3 the cost.  Some things just aren't worth the effort, but I'd rather have the family hanging around the kitchen most nights, actually communicating, maybe getting the kids to help, and then take some of that savings and  go drop $100 or so on a restaurant we all like a few times a month.

[mycox 582]

HEB around 8:30pm on Tuesday when all of the single people hit it up and less crowded - produce and meat.
Whole Foods 6:30 on Thursday (won't buy much because of the prices) if I want a beer at the bar and creep on the ladies who just finished yoga.

[Anastasis 23375]

22 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

If one is moderately skilled in the kitchen it should be possible to get close to restaurant quality food for about 1/3 the cost.  Some things just aren't worth the effort, but I'd rather have the family hanging around the kitchen most nights, actually communicating, maybe getting the kids to help, and then take some of that savings and  go drop $100 or so on a restaurant we all like a few times a month.

This.  Taught my son to check and clean mussels earlier in the week and we had a blast.  I think we were out $15 on the meal, excluding the wine. Made some home made pasta a few weeks back and destroyed the kitchen. Time, rather than skill I think is the key requirement. I work from home, so a quick jaunt to HEB to pick up some fresh seafood for dinner and to get things rolling while the wife takes the kids to practice is easy.  But that's not the case for a lot of people stuck in a commute.  

If mint is to be trusted, we average about 1k per month on groceries for a family of 5, and another $500 on eating out. 

41 minutes ago, Okie State said:

We've cut back quite a bit on going out which adds up very quickly.

Yeah, this is the killer. Couple drinks and eats for 5 and it adds up quick. 

[elfenix 34168]

2-3x HEB on the way back from gym, which is tuesday/thursday evening and sunday noonish. i'm on the chicken taco diet so most of the  weekday trips are to get more pico/bananas/the occasional avocado.

on sunday the HEB parking lot is absolutely packed and the last couple weeks i've found someone about to put groceries in their car only to wait for gotdamn ever because they're repacking half their shit into their cooler bags for the 5 minute drive home, or they've got their keys in one hand and phone in the other so they're just being slow about it.  i'd drive off if there weren't cars orbiting looking for spaces. 

occasionally drop into sprouts (which is a pain since the LA fitness finally opened up, lot is always full) or walmart. 

last two times i've gone to whole foods i've walked out with nothing because the vegetable selection blows.  y u no have poblanos?

Edited April 3, 2019 by elfenix

[Brisketexan 104465]

I'm the cook, so I hit HEB for anything that isn't a staple, or part of the kids' school lunch plan (my wife plans those).  So, IF I'm going to be home in time to cook dinner (not as often as I'd like), I often swing by HEB to pick up the specific fresh stuff I need.

BUT...I learned this a few years ago when I took off a couple of days before Xmas.  The time to go to HEB is around 10:00 on a weekday.  That's when ALL the attractive neighborhood moms who are done with their morning coffee and yoga routine go shopping.  It was me, store staff, and 100 attractive women shopping that day.  Tuesday HEB trips at 10:00 a.m. remain a life goal.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Therapy days for our son, we hit the Aldi that is around the corner from his speech therapist; fresh fruit and veggies from Farm Patch (local vendor who is combination farmer's market/small specialty grocer), meat from a Palestinian butcher shop that is the last thing you'd expect in Bryan, TX, and then various remaining items from HEB (when they're open). Heavily subsidized by goodies from our garden, fresh eggs from our chickens, and whatever we can trade for from our various farmer friends.

[Henry Hill 3156]

There’s no HEB in my neck of the woods so I use Kroger’s instacart app for nearly all of my groceries. There are typically deals in place with partners that will result in free delivery so I spend at most 5-10 minutes ordering on the app and freeing up a good hour of my day each week.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Henry Hill

[Hate 20102]

HEB Curbside once a week and couple of really quick stops at HEB or Kroger (whichever is more convenient) for the one off stuff we forgot or for the dinner "audible" we called because we weren't really in the mood for what we had planned.

[Anastasis 23375]

29 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

BUT...I learned this a few years ago when I took off a couple of days before Xmas.  The time to go to HEB is around 10:00 on a weekday.  That's when ALL the attractive neighborhood moms who are done with their morning coffee and yoga routine go shopping.  It was me, store staff, and 100 attractive women shopping that day.  Tuesday HEB trips at 10:00 a.m. remain a life goal.

Listen to this man, he is pre-med. 

[jimmyjazz 45513]

If you have yellow fever, later Saturday and Sunday evenings are your go-to shopping hours.

[RexWilson 1341]

Shipt was a game changer for our family of 4. Both the wife and I hate going grocery shopping. Shipt does have about a 5-10% markup on items but not having to go to HEB is well worth it for us.

Overall it has reduced our grocery bill because I am a bad impulse buyer. We place an order for delivery at the same time each week so we often get the same shopper. She got used to the things we ordered and got to the point didn't even need to text us with questions.

We still go to Costco about twice a month. HEB maybe once every two months and only for items we forgot to order or something on sale like brisket or ribs bc I prefer to select those myself.

[HenryJames 65868]

Reading this thread you’d think HEB was open regularly.

[Gil Bang 25865]

Unless I'm throwing something on the smoker, GF does 90% of the shopping.  We usually do Costco together though and that's at least weekly (I also buy gas there). 

Edited April 3, 2019 by Gil Bang

[jimmyjazz 45513]

HEB has really closed the gap on CostCo when it comes to prices.  I don't go there nearly as often as I used to.

[4th&Five 41457]

3x a week at Circle C HEB. Usually around $50 for family of 4. Costco 2x a month for school lunch supplies, meat, etc..

[EE2B 1561]

We use curbside pickup at Target and SuperOne. My wife will go to Albertsons for vegetables and fruit. It’s sucks only having 3-4 options for groceries with none of them being HEB or Whole Foods.

[Zepol87 9163]

Is the curbside pickup more expensive?

[EE2B 1561]

No, it can just be a pain in the ass when they miss something. Otherwise, there is no extra charge. In our experience, Target seems to be the worst about fucking up the order.

[Landomatic 3813]

We’ve switched almost exclusively to Amazon Prime Now delivery through Whole Foods. If you get your order in by like 2:00 I think it is, they’ll have your stuff to you by 6:00.  It’s free delivery if you get it ordered in time and hit a minimum of I think like $30.  Otherwise, it’s something like $5 if you need to rush it or order less than $30.  I usually tip $5 for the delievery and I figure I’ll damn near spend that in gas going to the store a few times a week.  Not to mention fucking with parking.  It’s just really damn convenient and we usually just buy for a couple days at a time so we don’t have much sitting in the refrigerator to go bad, which used to happen a lot when we’d buy (what we thought was) a week’s worth of food.  And allows you to pretty much order what you feel like eating that night.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Landomatic

[Underdog 28437]

Once a week every Sautrday, wife and I work Sunday thru Tuesday, everyother Wed.  I usually shop for lunches for work week, rarely do we cook after work(12hrs), with 1 night during off time for going out, usually plan dinners for just 2 or 3 nights at the most.  I go up and down every aisle whle the wife will. Just go down the aisles that she needs stuff from. 

[52-80 19066]

We grocery shop pretty much every other day, if not every day.  Firstly because our current fridge is small, but mostly because the woman refuses to plan meals because her tastes are fickle (dont tell me you cant relate). 

Bugs the hell out of me.  I want to at least take advantage of online-grocery -- but she's skeptical because "they'll pick out the worst products for delivery". 

Because it's a relatively new service, if the workers gave a tiny fuck at all, rationale says they'll want to pick out the best products to ensure customer uptake and retention.  But I digress. 

Next to my workplace is a grocery store.  Best case scenario is we bulk order all of the less-perishable goods.  Then on daily basis I walk over during working hours to pick up the meats and veg.  Then drive straight home.... none of this driving to the grocery store nonsense

***

Edit: we use a single store - the biggest one available - as shopping is a big enough PITA as it is.  I actually do enjoy strolling through the supermarket, but at my leisure, during freer times, not as part of daily on the way home from work.

Edited April 4, 2019 by 52-80

[irishtexan 11442]

Family of 4. Kids aged 5 and 3. We do two main trips to HEB a week. Once on Monday or Tuesday for the weekday meals and then a trip on Friday or Saturday for weekend stuff. I just can't plan for what I'm going to feel like eating 6 days out. That being said, there's usually another trip to Sprout, which is right around the corner, for stuff we forgot or didn't know we needed or for beer or whatever. We eat almost every meal at home, and only occasionally go get burgers from P Terry's and take them to the park on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. My kids just won't sit still at a restaurant. We need a playscape or something for them, and most restaurants with playscapes have super shitty food.

[nolongerU2horn 747]

Quote

Is the curbside pickup more expensive?

15 hours ago, EE2B said:

No, it can just be a pain in the ass when they miss something. Otherwise, there is no extra charge. In our experience, Target seems to be the worst about fucking up the order.

This is not true at all. There's a 3% markup on every item when you do curbside or delivery, and the online price may not be the same as the pricing in your local store. Plus there's a $4.95 personal shopper fee for all orders. (EDIT: This is for HEB)

Interestingly, the fee for delivery is only $5 compared to the $4.95 for curbside. But you're expected to tip a delivery driver.

Also, HEB is currently offering 4 free curbsides AND 4 free deliveries for new accounts, but I believe they will give existing customer accounts the same deal. I set up a new account and got groceries delivered for the first time yesterday.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by nolongerU2horn

[El Tri 398]

15 minutes ago, nolongerU2horn said:

This is not true at all. There's a 3% markup on every item when you do curbside or delivery, and the online price may not be the same as the pricing in your local store. Plus there's a $4.95 personal shopper fee for all orders. (EDIT: This is for HEB)

Interestingly, the fee for delivery is only $5 compared to the $4.95 for curbside. But you're expected to tip a delivery driver.

Also, HEB is currently offering 4 free curbsides AND 4 free deliveries for new accounts, but I believe they will give existing customer accounts the same deal. I set up a new account and got groceries delivered for the first time yesterday.

 

 

we do big HEB delivery once a week and costo every other week for non-perishables. I haven't really noticed a huge price increase with delivery versus if we go in-store. we both hate grocery shopping so the delivery tip and whatever markup they're doing is completely worth it to us.

family of 5 we spend about $800-$1000 a month and about $500 or so eating out. we used to eat out a lot but we're cutting back on that. funny how much money we have left over at the end of the month when you don't eat out 3-4 times a week

[Llano Estacado 1257]

My wife works flexible hours, so she does a weekday HEB run for staples and meal planning. Costco ~1 month. I stop at the nearby Randall’s if meal planning changes or we need a few things.

Derail - Those of you comparing budget numbers I never understood trying to compare those. I just don’t see anyway to ever normalize that. Family size, meal size, leftovers, work/school lunches, Whole Foods produce and protein or Sam’s Club prepackaged.

[El Tri 398]

Just now, Llano Estacado said:

My wife works flexible hours, so she does a weekday HEB run for staples and meal planning. Costco ~1 month. I stop at the nearby Randall’s if meal planning changes or we need a few things.

Derail - Those of you comparing budget numbers I never understood trying to compare those. I just don’t see anyway to ever normalize that. Family size, meal size, leftovers, work/school lunches, Whole Foods produce and protein or Sam’s Club prepackaged.

i think it's interesting to see other families' budgets as a benchmark. we don't shop whole foods or any fancy places like that, so i would expect my budget to be less than a similar sized family who shops there often.

[pops 6972]

Amazon prime for detergent and paper towels and all that kind of shit. I go to Kroger (it's Fred Meyer up here) every day to get shit to cook for dinner. I like going to the store and deciding what I'm going to cook that night depending on what looks good in the produce section and the butcher counter. 

 

[Jerry Callo 8658]

20 hours ago, Gardner Barnes said:

We are a family of 4. Two daughters both teenagers and athletes so they eat a lot. We typically eat at home 4 nights per week. Plus maybe 5 lunches and 6 breakfasts.

I am including other crap from HEB in this total also - including hair products, toothpaste, soap, charcoal, aluminum foil etc. The kids like HEB prepackaged salads for lunch so we always buy a bunch of those. We try to eat fresh foods but not organic other than dairy.

Typically we spend 1300-1400/month on all of the above.

We do one big shopping trip for s-w and then a smaller trip for ad hoc stuff on Thursday usually. We also occasionally go in when the girls have a sleepover on Friday or sat and buy junk food for that.

I would say we go 3 times a week on average but our Sunday trip usually costs about $250

This, almost exactly - down to the two athletic teenage daughters (no pics).

[mycox 582]

32 minutes ago, pops said:

Amazon prime for detergent and paper towels and all that kind of shit.

 

You have to watch out for those prices. They can be high on Amazon Prime.

[Hank Scorpio 17712]

 

[jimmyjazz 45513]

Get off my lawn rant:  I fucking HATE those giant carts HEB employees drag around the store to gather curbside and delivery orders.  Combine them with the explosion of reserved curbside pickup parking so us plebes have to park farther away, and I'm rethinking HEB altogether.  They've added quite a bit of inconvenience to normal old-fashioned shoppers.

(And I'll be damned if I let anyone else pick out my food.)

[Js1 85056]

1 hour ago, nolongerU2horn said:

This is not true at all. There's a 3% markup on every item when you do curbside or delivery, and the online price may not be the same as the pricing in your local store. Plus there's a $4.95 personal shopper fee for all orders. (EDIT: This is for HEB)

Interestingly, the fee for delivery is only $5 compared to the $4.95 for curbside. But you're expected to tip a delivery driver.

Also, HEB is currently offering 4 free curbsides AND 4 free deliveries for new accounts, but I believe they will give existing customer accounts the same deal. I set up a new account and got groceries delivered for the first time yesterday.

 

 

I can spend $10-$15 less doing curbside even with markup (using my free curbsides) solely from inability to impulse buy. 

[Brisketexan 104465]

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Get off my lawn rant:  I fucking HATE those giant carts HEB employees drag around the store to gather curbside and delivery orders.  Combine them with the explosion of reserved curbside pickup parking so us plebes have to park farther away, and I'm rethinking HEB altogether.  They've added quite a bit of inconvenience to normal old-fashioned shoppers.

(And I'll be damned if I let anyone else pick out my food.)

My wife HATES grocery shopping.  She also isn't a cook, so she isn't really selecting produce or meats often.  She buys the basics we burn through -- milk, eggs, cheese, packaged produce (carrots, that sort of thing), etc.  So, the HEB selection isn't a problem for her.  AND, it takes a huge stress source out of her life.  Meaning she's not as bitchy.  Meaning she's not as bitchy TO ME.

That's a few bucks well-spent.