Buy Price Series: Part 1

I spend about $40 per week on all grocery, household and healthcare purchases. Although I use many strategies to meet this goal, one important strategy that I use to spend less on these items is to know my “buy price.”

Whenever possible, I try not to buy something unless it’s at or below my buy price. When I find an item at or below my buy price, I often buy more than one of the product. This helps me get through to the next time I can find that product at my buy price.

Knowing my buy price helps me identify whether or not a “sale price” is actually a good deal. Quite often, a sale price is not any better than the everyday price! (This is one of those advertising gimmicks!) I try to use Aldi as a base line for many of my buy prices, especially for produce and pantry items.

It’s important to realize three things as you look at my buy prices:

1. They are my buy prices! I live in a very rural part of Central Wisconsin. We have grocery stores 45 minutes to the north, 30 minutes to the west, and 25 minutes to the south. All I have in town is Kwik Trip and Dollar General. All of this certainly plays a role in identifying my buy prices!
2. Your buy prices will be different! You might be one of those fortunate people who has four grocery stores in town, plus Walmart, Target, and three drugstores. (Can I admit that I’m slightly jealous of all your choices?!) Some of your buy prices might be lower and some might be higher.
3. Buy prices are constantly evolving. My buy prices are different now than they were one year ago, when we lived in St. Louis. And I’m sure they’ll be different one year from now. It’s very important to be flexible. And please don’t think I’m telling you not to eat ground beef for six months if it never hits your buy price – by all means, fit it in the budget! J I recommend keeping track of what you pay for products for a few months to get a general idea of the buy prices for your area. I use Excel files now to keep everything organized in a “Price Book.” That may be too much for you – I am a bit geeky when it comes to organization! J Use what works best for you!

Fresh Food Products

::Meat

• Ground beef, chicken breasts & pork: 2.00/lb. or less.
• Whole chickens, drumsticks or thighs: 1.00/lb. or less (I use this kind of chicken to make my own chicken broth!
• Other nicer cuts of meat: That’s my husband’s area! (Trust me, I never get the “right” kind!)
• Lunch meat: I don’t currently have a “buy price.” I am honestly working to get fresh, deli lunch meat into our budget (for my husband’s sake!).

::Fresh Produce: I buy quite a bit of our fresh produce at Aldi. Here's a glimpse at a few of my prices.

• Onions: .99 for 3 lbs. Aldi runs this deal quite often. I usually spend an evening crying over my onions and get them all diced up at once. Then I freeze them in freezer bags and pull them out as needed. Funny thing is, Aldi onions do not lose their strength – they are wicked strong, even after months in the freezer!
• Carrots: .49-.99/lb.
• Potatoes: I never pay more than 0.38/lb. for baking potatoes, since Kwik Trip sells them at this price every day. I try to pay less for Russet potatoes (usually in 5 and 10 lb. bags).
• Bananas: Again, I never pay more than 0.38/lb, since Kwik Trip also sells them at this price every day. I buy marked down bananas to slice and freeze them for muffins and smoothies.

::Bread

• Regular bread: 1.50-2.00 for bakery fresh wheat bread for my husband.
• Gluten free bread: I eat Udi’s, so I’ve been known to pay way too much for it. J Recently, people have been giving me bread, so that’s nice!
• Regular hot dog and hamburger buns: 0.79 (Aldi’s everyday price). We also check the bakery reduction rack at Walmart whenever we go for other kinds of bread.

::Frozen Items

• Vegetables: 0.50 – 1.00.
• Pizza: 2.50-3.00 (Tombstone – my husband prefers that. And we almost never buy it.)
• Potatoes/French fries: 1.50-2.00 for Ore Ida. Less for hash browns.

::Dairy Items

• Milk: 2.00-2.50 (whole gallon – Aldi) or under 2.00 for half gallon. We don’t drink much milk, so I don’t worry about the cost. Half the time, I get it for free with the cereal deals at Copps!
• Eggs: 0.99/dozen (Although, I might have to increase this. Egg prices have been exceptionally high since the recalls.)
• Shredded cheese: 1.00-1.50/8 oz. (I almost never pay more than 0.20/oz.)
• Block cheese: 1.00-1.50
• Yogurt: 0.40-0.45/cup (Yoplait)
• Sour cream: 0.89 (16 oz. – Aldi)
• Cream cheese: 0.89 (Aldi)
• Butter: 2.00-2.49/lb. (Kwik Trip, every day)
• Margarine: 0.59 

Stay tuned for my buy prices for pantry items, snacks, and drinks, coming next Monday.