Fighting Inflation at Reasors. July 2022

Food prices seem to be going up everytime I go to the store. I read an article recently that stated food prices in Oklahoma were up 9.4% over the last year. That number seems a little lower than what I see at the store, but they probably have more metrics that are more reliable than just my memory alone. Around July of last year I wanted to make a concentrated effort to eat well, but for a lesser dollar amount than we have been previously. As a husband and wife our monthly grocery bill was around $700 a month, which just felt too high to me, this was before inflation really started to take off, too. I don’t mind cooking. I just don't like putting together a meal plan and grocery list so I started to look for other options. There is a site called Budget Bytes that was claiming to feed a family of four for $50 a week. This seemed doubtful, but I gave it a shot. 

The idea behind this company is that they have several monthly meal guides that have full recipes, grocery lists, and even give you tips for how and when to buy in bulk to save more for the long run. I like meat, so I purchased the omnivore four week meal plan. And $12 seemed cheap for something that could end up saving several hundred dollars a month plus, save time in making a weekly meal plan. We never went as tight as they suggest at times, for instance we never bought tomato paste in bulk and froze them in 1 tsp increments; however, we would buy onions and cheese in bulk and freeze what we didn’t use. I will say that most of the meals in the plan are really good and we now use the recipes, but we don’t do the weekly plan anymore, and it is still cheap. I'm just not a big lentil-based meals type of person. 

 We never saw the $50 a month budget they suggested, but we definitely saved money on our grocery bill. Our average monthly spending has gone from $695 to $420 a month. This is a pretty large savings especially considering the inflation. Like I said, the food is good, too! According to my doctor I have gained a few pounds over the last year, so I'm definitely not starving myself for the sake of a lower grocery bill. 

We have been pretty happy with the results so far, and I will probably purchase another meal plan to have access to even more cost efficient recipes. Have you done anything to combat inflation? And if so, what is working?