There’s just no getting away from COVID-19. Unfortunately, it has caused a great loss of life and even more panic. I’d like to say I’m immune to the panic, but our grocery bills are telling another story.
As a cost savings measure, we only go grocery shopping when I get paid, which is the 15th and the last day of the month. The reasoning behind that is, when we go to the store we inevitably end up buying things that we might not need, like snacks and whatnot. Less trips to the store equal less wasteful spending.
We usually go every 2 weeks, but sometimes we run into what we call a 3 weeker. That’s when payday falls on a weekday after the weekend of the 2nd week. Since we only go grocery shopping on the weekend, that means we have to make it through that 3rd week before we can go shopping again. Christy meal plans, so she never has any issues. Since my idea of meal planning is buying tortillas and figuring out what I’m going to put on them 2 hours before dinner, sometimes I have to get a little creative.
Since COVID-19 hit we have changed our shopping habits. As Christy wrote about in Weathering The Pandemic in March, I work from home and she home schools our children, so we don’t really have a need to leave the house, except for groceries. To minimize exposure, 3-4 weeks between grocery trips is the new normal.
These long stretches are making our spending increase. Because we are going so long we want to make sure we have everything we need to make it, so I’m buying extra of everything. Not hording quantities, but if Christy says she needs 2 of something, I buy 4. If she needs 6, I buy 8. Just a little wiggle room to make sure we aren’t shorthanded…and so I have something to put on those tortillas.
2 or so extra of everything really adds up. We are spending about $200 more a month than we usually do. Aside from the extra money, we only have so much room in our refrigerator, deep freezer, and pantry. Christy has to get really creative when she’s putting things away. She’s always been a master at Tetris and that skill is finally translating into real life.
It is kind of fun seeing how far we can stretch our groceries. We’ve gotten pretty low, but so far we haven’t had to resort to eating raisin balls. What is even better than stretching things is restocking and then opening a door and seeing a ridiculous amount of food. I’m looking forward to when all of this is over though and we can get back to our normal shopping habits.
How has COVID-19 affected your shopping habits? Do you find yourself panic shopping and buying a little extra each trip or have you been able to maintain your normal shopping routine?