The Cost of Food

I started writing this blog in early March, 2009. My son David gave me the idea. I told him I wanted to write an article about saving money by shopping at the 99cent store, and show people ways they could eat by shopping there for less than $15 a week. He said, "Why don't you start a blog?" And so I did. My first few blogs were about the 99cent store, so I decided to revisit that topic 2 years later and see if things had changed.

This came to my attention because my friend Linda sent me an article about how manufacturers have hidden the rising cost of food by changing the packaging. I will write more extensively about this another time, but just look at some of your recent purchases at the supermarket and if you have similar old items, compare the size of the package. Cereal, peanut butter, snack food, crackers and yogurt are just some of the items where the package has shrunk, yet the price has either stayed the same or gone up. So let's talk about the 99cent store.

I went there the other day when a quart of milk at the local supermarket went from $1.49-$1.69. A quart of milk at the 99cent store is 99cents! That's a big difference. It's about a 60% savings. I recently went to the 99cent store and purchased the following items: 4 pack of Western Bagels, 8 ounce container of cottage cheese, 8 ounce container of Land O Lakes margarine, bag of 3 pieces of fresh ginger (can be frozen), 2 large zucchini, 1 quart milk, 1 box Fiber cereal (same cereal at Trader Joes is $2.69), bag of 6 oranges, bag of Dole spring mix lettuce (more than $2.50 in supermarket), and Vitamin One water (normally $1.69). All that for about $10.

Many people say they like a certain brand of cereal or peanut butter, but so many food items are co packed today that you might buy a generic brand of peanut butter and be eating Skippy. Really. Try this experiment. Take a $20 bill and shop the grocery section only at the 99cent store. Then go to your regular supermarket, buy comparable items, and see how much it cost. You will be amazed. With a few trips to the 99cent store every month you'll have so much more money in your food budget to spend guilt free at specialty stores or farmer's markets. I hope you give it a try.