As you probably know, I’m all about saving money at the grocery store and beyond. But, when it comes to cheese, I spare no expense! Of course, packaged cheeses are much less expensive, but they never taste as good as those beautiful hunks of Brie and Parmigiano-Reggiano. You can only imagine how delicious they must taste. There’s no doubt that a piece of “fancy” cheese costs more, but its rich, bold flavor enhances everything you use it on. Am I right?
When it comes to “splurging” at the grocery store, what items do you typically spend more money on?
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In terms of spending $ in general, I splurge on grocery shopping rather than new clothes, going out to expensive restaurants, etc. I buy organic milk, meats, and produce, and shell out the extra bucks on all-natural products rather than cheaper preservative-laden ones. I spend approximately $150 per week on food for my husband and myself… I know that sounds like a lot, but wholesome, nutritious food is so worth it to me! I’d rather “scrimp” on items I don’t feed to my body.
Oh Laura..I was so happy to read your post above. Oftentimes I think that I spend way too much on food given that its just me, my husband and 2yr old daughter as I spend roughly that amount (give or take $20) per week as well. Between the farmer’s market and the grocery store, my weekly bill is easily over $120 week. We value food and the sustainability of it too much to buy cheap, mass produced items. Don’t get me wrong: we have junk food in the house such as pretzels, cereal bars, etc. but for the most part, our pantry is well stocked with staples and our perishables are organic meats and dairy along with as much as I can get from the farmer’s market (eggs, olive oil, produce, cheese, nuts, et al).
I need good coffee and chocolate. I drink my coffee black–no milk or sugar or stevia–so it needs to really be good and not bitter. And chocolate I just eat up every night and you can taste the superiority of different brands. I also make it a point to only by milk/yogurt/ice cream/cheese with milk made from cows not treated with growth hormones
cheese for sure!!! mmm i love cheese. also gelato! that wf gelato is damn good but expensiveeee
I find myself splurging on milk! I know, weird…lol. But, I haven’t used cow’s milk in years so I have always used soy and now I use Almond milk. The almond milk is a bit more expensive than soy and MUCH more expensive than dairy, but its worth the extra cost to me!
I think that more flavourful, strong cheeses are more worth the money; you just need a little bit, and by doing that you can save calories, too! Win-win, right?
Wei-Wei
I splurge on real cheese! I try not to buy more than one or two wedges in a pay period though, since it does add up!
I also spend more money when I know something is obviously of better quality. Barilla Plus pasta is $2, versus the $1 whole wheat pasta I used to get, but I know that the Barilla is more nutritious and the husband far prefers the flavor over the regular whole wheat!
I also buy organic/all natural when the price isn’t much more. I buy organic carrots because they’re only 12 cents more than their conventional counterparts. I also buy ground bison instead of ground beef because I know exactly where our bison comes from, even though it is a little less than a $1 per pound more expensive than the mass-produced ground beef.
I also buy more greek yogurt these days. I can get a big tub of regular store brand yogurt for less than $2, and sometimes I do go to that in a bind, but I’ve been purchasing the tub of plain greek yogurt (at half the volume and twice the price!) more often recently.
The husband is picky about his coffee, so I don’t expect him to scrimp on the quality there!
We scrimp on milk, though. We used to buy the organic (which tasted so much better!) but the husband would drink it all in just a few days! And we only have half-gallons of organic here (same price as a full gallon of regular).
To be honest, there isn’t a lot I WOULDN’T pay more for. I just balance it with the fact that I don’t buy much pre-packaged or processed food.
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I splurge on produce (big time!), nuts, and chocolate.
I splurge on local and organic produce! I also buy PB made at a local company for $5-$7 per jar at the farmers’ market. It’s worth it to me. I spend more money on food than I do on clothes or other random things.
I agree cheese is worth the splurge because a good cheese tends to have more flavor, and with more flavor a little goes a long way saving you the extra calories.
Thanks for helping out, exceptional information.