This year I plan to visit the supermarket only 12 times – once a month.
I’m aware, and since each visit takes about an hour, door to door, that means I would only spend 12 hours shopping at the supermarket for the whole year (which consists of 8760 hours).
So, that’s how and why I started my Supermarket Challenge.
Supermarkets are designed to rob you of your money. Walk into one to get a loaf of bread and 2 liters of milk and you’ll get half a dozen other things that you “forgot” you needed, or were on special, so cheap you’d pass them up, or looked so delicious they’d be great for a “treat”, etc., etc.
That’s why staples like bread and milk aren’t near the door where anyone could just grab them and run, but are strategically placed in the far corners of the supermarket, so you have to walk past all those tempting treats, specials, and treats to get them.
That’s why wide aisles of fresh fruits and vegetables always greet you at the entrance. They’re designed to lull you into relaxation, to put aside your worries and cares, and to think of nothing else but… emptying your wallet. Yes, the ways of marketers are many, varied, and extremely insidious.
Earlier this year, I thought it was too insidious for a mere mortal like me. The only way to counter their extraordinary deals is to not visit them so often. I was already going to the supermarket once every two weeks, so I thought that with a little planning, it wouldn’t be hard to stretch it out to a month. And it wasn’t hard at all. And I discovered many more benefits than I could have ever imagined.
First, the rules.
Exceptions: fresh milk, fruits, vegetables, and coffee can be bought between visits – just not in the supermarket and provided they don’t cost more than in the supermarket. Fortunately, all of these things can be bought elsewhere for less – milk from a dairy is cheaper, or at least no more expensive, than supermarket brands. Grocery stores, farmers’ markets, or the Tamahere market are great sources of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh coffee is best bought straight from the roaster (I, a caffeine addict, find it incredibly flavorful and delicious).
Thanks to our vegetable garden, freezer, jams made in the summer, homemade Easiyo yogurt, and four resident chickens, almost the only foods we buy between supermarket visits are milk, coffee, and bananas.
Once a month, we treat ourselves to some delicious delicacies from the Tamahere market, including a specialty bread that immediately disappears among the legion of visitors who always join us on this Saturday, along with smoked fish, gourmet cheese, a few vegetables we don’t grow ourselves, delicious Kumara Indian food, and so on.
Tip: Only prepare meals for which you already have the ingredients. It’s deadly quick to run to the supermarket for just one or two ingredients (see above for pitfalls of falling into the clutches of the supermarket).
I like to get my cooking inspiration from my cookbooks, but if a recipe calls for all sorts of ingredients that I don’t have, then if I can’t substitute something I do have, I find another recipe using the food I do have. Then I write down in my permanent shopping list what I need to buy next month for that yummy dish (and make a separate note about the dish so I can remember what ingredients I wanted for it!)
We are, by the way, a family of two, but we have extended family who often come over (i.e. eat). We share our homegrown vegetables, eggs – any surplus – with our extended family and neighbors. I met a mother of three at the supermarket who said she also shops once a month, and others with larger households assure me that more hungry mouths are no barrier to shopping once a month.
Saving money: I didn’t start the competition to save money, but surprisingly, I did. I now find that “grocery” money is stretched to other things – restaurants out, treats at Tamahere Market, other household purchases, window cleaner (yay!). It seems that without these unintentional extra purchases (even “special” ones) during the supposedly quick milk and bread runs, I’m actually saving money.
I would say it also has something to do with planning. In the UK, according to the Waste Reduction and Action Program (WRAP), a third of the food we buy is thrown away. A study by the Australia Institute shows that Australians throw away approximately $5.2 billion worth of food each year, or about $616 per year per household. This includes $1.1 billion of fruit and vegetables.
It is thought that Kiwis do about the same, and often unnecessary purchases are made during a quick trip to the supermarket. The ones where you think: “Oh, I think we’re also out of apples, lettuce and tomatoes”, but when you get home you see that the stocks are now overstocked and wasting is inevitable.
Check out the Australian Foodwise campaign for more information, as well as many tips on how to eat healthy.
Certainly, eating seasonal food is at the top of my list. The main advantage is that things are naturally cheaper when they are in season and in abundance. It also diversifies our diet. I like asparagus season, but I would like asparagus less if I got bored of eating it all year round. The first tomatoes of the season are great! I can do without fresh ones the rest of the year at home or imported prices of $13/kg! Canned or my own bottled pulp is fine for those times, or we just eat different meals.