groceries

Our money expert, Caroline Cakebread, recently wrote a post on the $21 a week for groceries challenge. I was skeptical — like many of our readers — afterall, I usually spend $20 in one day — how would it be possible to make one twenty last a whole week? I decided to put the challenge to the test.

I spend about as much on food each month as I do in rent (give or take a few dinners out and impromptu pizza deliveries.) The hefty food bill isn’t just the result of an appetite gone wild, but may also reflect pricier times.

I think it was Wallis Simpson who said you can never be too rich or too thin — the thing is, being on a debt diet has actually helped my husband and I shed some unwanted pounds. Indeed, our frugal habits haven’t just been good for our finances — they’ve helped us lose our baby weight (after nearly two years). Here are just a few frugal practices that have made a difference on the scale for both of us.

Unlike some of my friends, I’m not a regular Costco shopper. I find the sheer size of the place overwhelming — you can’t quickly stop in on the way home from work to pick up milk. You also have to buy a membership, at $55. The other major drawback to Costco for me is that every time I go in, I’m hit by an inexplicable urge to buy large quantities of things I don’t really need — like a massive box of meatballs that won’t fit in my freezer or a huge store-sized package of Swedish berries.

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