Now that my girlfriend and I are settled into our new place, we've increased our efforts to save as much money as possible. We've started planning out our meals for a few weeks in advance and build the menu around great deals we find.
I don't so much look at how much we're saving with coupons, I look more at what we're paying per person per meal. When you're buying based on a great deal on, oh, chicken for example, I look at it as you're not technically saving any money because you weren't going to purchase that much chicken at regular price in the first place. Sure, getting it at 50% off is a bargain, but I think coupon value is a bad way to look at how much you "save".
I'd rather calculate what the actual meal costs. For example we made grilled chicken sandwiches with veggies and salad last night that cost us only about $2.50 per person. Healthy, filling, tasty, and best of all, CHEAP.
I've built a spreadsheet that I use to record when where and how much we pay for food. As my data pool builds I'm looking to use some advanced aspects of Excel and Access to analyze price patterns, etc.
Am I the only person this nerdy?
Too much for me.. I'm doing just good enough to keep take of my daily caloric intake.
Nope, it would likely be terrifying since we do 95% of our shopping at Whole Foods.
But we do it differently in our house. The wife buys the groceries/booze, I pay the utilities and cell phone.
Maybe I would if it was just me and your girlfriend eating, but I have a wife, two kids, and a dog that has to have special prescription dog food. I'd rather just purchase as wisely as I can and not focus on the smaller details.
I don't track food costs, but I do use a Google calendar to plan out meals for a few weeks based on what we have in the freezer/pantry. I factor in how many meals we can get out of an item, for instance we can get 3 dinner sized meals for the two of us out of a 3 lb roast, served with rice, gravy and a side salad. W\hen the meat goes on sale I buy, prep, freeze and put it on the calendar. We don't have to have it for three consecutive nights, but I do put it down for three nights in the same week. Not a problem though, because we could easily eat roast every night if we could afford it. 
Sitting down to do this is fairly satisfying, as I take inventory of the food items in the pantry and then puzzle out what we need to make a meal, keep things interesting with different meals, and use coupons where I can to stretch the budget. I am not one of those coupon ladies that has three ring binders full of coupons, but I do use coupons for the items I was already going to buy for the planned meals whenever I can. 
I'd have a stroke if I paid enough attention in life to track my every meal cost... even in a "time is money sense", you could probably work an extra hour everyday to cover the amount of time it would take to keep track of what you are suggesting and come out even.
I do, but then again I'm an accountant, and the resort I work for pays me to do it. It helps make sure food isn't walking out the door.
z31maniac wrote:
Nope, it would likely be terrifying since we do 95% of our shopping at Whole Foods.
Ha ha ha. Whole paycheck. One of them is opening soon near us......
I just notice I spend about $25-$30 a week at Aldis. 
My wife started tracking EVERYTHING when I retired. If I've been out she'll ask what I spent as soon as I walk in. She records it all in various categories, so if I want to know what I spent on one of the cars, or heating ,or whatever , she's got it there by month. My financial adviser asked me to figure out the gap between my pension income and my current expenses. I got off the phone and told my wife what he wanted . I called him back 10 minutes later and gave him the details by month for the last year ! I wouldn't put all that effort into it, but the info does come in handy sometimes, and it does point out some of the less necessary crap I spend money on.
I should ask her what I spent on car magazines last year........uh,maybe not.
Cool. The Astro in on a spreadsheet somewhere in Michigan. 
In reply to Anti-stance:
Yep, I'm always pleasantly surprised that no matter what I put in the cart, no matter how much, I never top $40. Unless of course I buy one of the featured items like this week's sweet sweet folding shopping cart.
I keep a budget and record how much I spend on food each day but nothing like what you are saying.
In reply to bastomatic:
Once you go Aldi, you don't go back. I swear its gonna be a crap ton of money then... $28.92.
In reply to Anti-stance:
Just don't do like me every damn week and forget a quarter.
Datsun310Guy wrote:
z31maniac wrote:
Nope, it would likely be terrifying since we do 95% of our shopping at Whole Foods.
Ha ha ha. Whole paycheck. One of them is opening soon near us......
They quality of their meat/produce destroys everything else including the "nice" grocery stores. The stores/bathrooms are always clean, people behind the counter are friendly and knowledgeable about what they are selling.
z31maniac wrote:
Datsun310Guy wrote:
z31maniac wrote:
Nope, it would likely be terrifying since we do 95% of our shopping at Whole Foods.
Ha ha ha. Whole paycheck. One of them is opening soon near us......
They quality of their meat/produce destroys everything else including the "nice" grocery stores. The stores/bathrooms are always clean, people behind the counter are friendly and knowledgeable about what they are selling.
I should add the wife will be going as she lives for that specialty stuff. Trader Joes is popular with her too.
bastomatic wrote:
In reply to Anti-stance:
Just don't do like me every damn week and forget a quarter.
I keep a quarter in the center console.
