Food Stamp Challenge Day 12: Was I Addicted to Food Shopping?

It has occurred to me this week that I’m saving money on more than just food.

Generally I keep the previous month’s food receipts in a folder by the checkbook so I can keep an eye on what we’re spending, and also to compare prices with other possible places to buy something (i.e. “this gorgonzola is so much cheaper at X”)  Looking through last month’s receipts, I was struck not by the amount we spend, but by the number of receipts.

During the month of August we visited a grocery store no fewer than 12 times.  Really?   Twelve trips to the store, when the nearest good grocery is a twelve-mile round trip drive?  (gratuitous mathematics: 12 miles times 22 miles/gallon times $3.57/gallon = $1.94 just to get to the store, if we make a special trip….yikes)

During this month, by doing a little bit of planning, we’ve been to a grocery store only twice: once on the 31st and once yesterday. Granted, our nearest Whole Foods is quite a ways away, but we’ve managed to combine those trips with other stuff we needed to do in Denver. If I lived within walking or biking distance of a Whole Foods Market, given the ease of staying within our budget there so far, I wouldn’t hesitate to shop there rather than drive or bus miles away to go to a “cheaper” store.

But it feels vaguely like I’m not getting my “fix.”  I love to shop for food.  Look at food.  Even if I don’t buy it, looking at the aisles of produce and the pretty fillets in the fish cooler…it’s my own peculiar kind of retail therapy. But it’s an expensive habit!

Category: Energy Saving, Food, Money Saving, Whole Foods Challenge