whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Dec 16, 2013 11:53:11 GMT -5
So we've talked about it about a million and five times, and no offense!! I don't need to know how much you spending on food, but I am curious - what do you consider reasonable?
Family of 5 with 3 small kids, I try to buy organic meat (we only eat beef and chicken, I get beef from a local farm), I try to buy organic produce but won't pay $10 for a pound of strawberries either. We are in New England, so farmers markets last about 5 minutes during summer months. I hardly ever buy "junk" food. A bag of pretzels or chips here and there, nothing regular. I buy stuff in bulk in BJ too.
Our food budget is CRAZY and it bothers me and I want to bring it down, but I don't want to set a goal that is not realistic either. I think I completely lost any sense of reality on what makes sense.
Also, I include eating out in the food budget as well. Our eating out is pretty low class - Ruby Tuesday with the kids or Chinese take out or Pizza. and yes, my DH makes pizza at home with the kids also. But I loooove eating out, so that has to stay in some way.
I did tried coupons, but it mostly helped me with non-food items, which doesn't not help my "food" budget.
So........what should I aim for? What should I do??
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chen35
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Post by chen35 on Dec 16, 2013 11:58:26 GMT -5
I hope you get some good replies. Our food budget is out of control. We have 4 kids every other weekend, and occasionally during the week for dinner. Otherwise it's just the two of us. We routinely spend over $400 a month, and that doesn't include eating out (another few hundred a month). It does include household goods, however. I basically feel like it's a huge mess that I'm not willing to tackle right now. New Years resolution, perhaps?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 11:58:41 GMT -5
It doesn't sound like there is much to cut from since you don't buy much junk food. How about growing some of the stuff, like tomatoes, herbs, etc? Is that a possibility? Personally, I wouldn't worry about how much you are spending on food as long as you can afford it. There is nothing wrong with spending a little more to eat better IMO.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 12:02:26 GMT -5
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Dec 16, 2013 12:02:46 GMT -5
It doesn't sound like there is much to cut from since you don't buy much junk food. How about growing some of the stuff, like tomatoes, herbs, etc? Is that a possibility? Personally, I wouldn't worry about how much you are spending on food as long as you can afford it. There is nothing wrong with spending a little more to eat better IMO. I agree. I'm in New England too. Over the summer we have a fairly large garden. I make batches of pesto and freeze it in various serving sizes to last until the next spring. We take extra tomatoes and make salsa and tomato sauce that we can to use over the winter. Beyond that I just try to shop sales and not focus on an exact number.
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HoneyBBQ
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Post by HoneyBBQ on Dec 16, 2013 12:04:39 GMT -5
I would guess around $1000+ is reasonable. Although I'm guessing my price point would be higher than the average YMer.
We spend probably close to that for 3 dogs, 1 kid, and the 2 adults. We buy mostly organic, and are regular alcohol consumers. I cook a lot and don't eat out too much. And we don't eat a lot of meat, though so that saves us some, too.
How much are you spending?
Agree with what bunnysmom said- I buy organic not only for our health reasons but also to "vote" with my money.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Dec 16, 2013 12:07:09 GMT -5
I'm starting to accept a lot of my food budget is out of my control. I can want it to be whatever I please but that doesn't mean prices at the supermarket are going to accomdate it. I can refuse to buy some things at the prices they are, like bacon, but after awhile unless I want to go completely off grid my budget is going to have to adjust to the market.
Things I do to keep it in check is I inventory the kitchen before we grovery shop. I can't believe how many times I buy duplicates thinking I have none. I have enough ketchup to last thru the zombie holocaust thanks to not paying attention. Not paying attention adds up over time.
I also pick my battles. I'm a horrible YMer in that I don't eat a 100% organic anti-everything free range diet at all times. I choose what is important to me and cut corners on the rest. I've also been working on eating more seasonally to keep prices in check. I don't need strawberries in the winter when they're over $4/lb. I can eat apples which usually have 1-2 varities on sale every week since they're in season.
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Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Dec 16, 2013 12:12:57 GMT -5
We just have one kid that's not home for breakfast/lunch three days a week. And we go out for at least two meals on the weekends. I spend about $100/week on food for home and we spend another $50-$60 on dinners out. So we are at about $700/month just for the three of us with all our food and that's without any special efforts to buy organic produce or special dietary restrictions. With what you've described for five people I would say $300/week probably sounds closer to what you would spend. That's around $3/person/meal which isn't bad at all.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 12:15:11 GMT -5
You need to separate your grocery budget and your eating out budget. Chances are your big leak is the eatting out and since you aren't willing to give that up there isn't much you can do about your "food" budget. If that isn't all of the leak, I found mine in wasted food. When you throw out half of what you bought the food budget can be way higher than it needs to be.
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NancysSummerSip
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Dec 16, 2013 12:20:33 GMT -5
If it helps, I'm going to ask the question: do you buy seasonal AND organic, or just organic and whatever you want to eat at that time? I'd like to eat berries year-round, but they are not in season year round in the United States; in the winter months, they come from South and Central America. That's not a horrible thing, just an expensive option. Also consider portion size. You have three young kids, and they will eat a lot; They're growing, and you have to take that into consideration. This is the chart: www.visualnews.com/2012/06/06/the-bountiful-year-a-visual-guide-to-seasonal-produce/
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 12:20:53 GMT -5
My food budget is actually my household budget. I end up picking up food, pet food, cleaning supplies and even health & beauty supplies when I shop. I spend @ $600 month on all of it, but I don't care about organics or name brands.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 12:31:08 GMT -5
IMO, $150/month/person should be plenty.
(fwiw, I personally, don't spend that much, but I don't do organic either)
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sarcasticgirl
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Post by sarcasticgirl on Dec 16, 2013 12:33:10 GMT -5
Our food budget (me and DH- no kids) is about $600 a month in Chicago We could totally get this down without an issue... but we splurge a bit where food is concerned. We also waste food. DH rarely eats leftovers and often lets things go to waste claiming "I forgot it was in there!" Nevermind that I put it front and center for him to see, and mention it once a damn day But I digress... I cook most nights, from scratch. there isn't much in the way of junk food coming in to the house. To get your budget down... only buy fresh produce when it is in season. If you want something out of season, buy frozen. Also foods like soups and stews can generally be made at a low cost and go pretty far. Throw in breakfast for dinner- breakfast tends to be a cheaper meal.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Dec 16, 2013 12:34:41 GMT -5
We spend about $500 or so a month on food, for a family of 5. That's food, not going out to eat, and no household products.
We don't eat much beef. We have red meat once or twice a week and then we eat chicken breasts and turkey.
We don't do organic, but we don't eat too much processed food, either. One meal a week comes from a box. We also have whole wheat everything. I've been able to switch my kids to foods like cottage cheese, a bagel with peanut butter, or greek yogurt in the mornings, so they just don't have carbs.
We also try to have in season fruits and veggies. I also will buy extra at farmer's markets and freeze them for winter consumption. In my neck of the woods, we have lots of u-pick-it fruit places. The strawberry season has been BAD for the past few years, but I was still able to pick 6 quarts of berries to freeze this last summer. (I also made strawberry jam).
I usually freeze peas and green beans.
We don't do much alcohol and we don't go out to eat much. Literally, we just do not have the time. We'll grab subs and a pizza once a month.
We have 2700/month, total to work with to pay our bills. Our mortgage is 800 of that. We can't spend 1K on food and eating out.
ETA: We also shop at costco for our chicken and turkey, and things like spaghetti noodles.
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Regis
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Post by Regis on Dec 16, 2013 12:37:30 GMT -5
When we had a family of five BC (before college), we'd make it out of the grocery store for around $160 per week. That did not include eating out (which we don't do often) but it did include three teenagers (two boys who played sports and were hungry all the time).
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Miss Tequila
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Post by Miss Tequila on Dec 16, 2013 12:43:03 GMT -5
Our weekly grocery bill (not including alcohol and food only as all other items are bought at Target) runs between $150 and $200. In addition, we normally get pizza on Fridays and we buy lunch several days a week. I have no clue if that is reasonable or not (family of 4) but I can't seem to get it any lower.
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milee
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Post by milee on Dec 16, 2013 12:43:32 GMT -5
Some ideas for decreasing the amount spent without changing the quality:
1) At least one night per week should be a "bean" night. Not only are dried beans incredibly nutritious (very high nutrient density compared to calories), they're dirt cheap in the bulk bins - even the organic ones. Combine them with a grain and you have a complete protein. Our favorites are black beans and rice, red beans and rice, Lablabi (Tunisian chickpea stew), black bean tostadas, huevos rancheros with beans and any soup made with navy or great northern beans.
2) Spend a few minutes each week planning meals around what's on sale. Even Whole Paycheck has sales each week. Make a couple of meals a week from what's on sale and use the sales to stock up on what you know you regularly use.
3) Shop from a list. Might not apply to you, but most people I know who sometimes buy stuff like chips and pretzels do it on impulse. It's much less usual to see someone put "chips" on a shopping list because it's junk and you know it. Make your list and only buy the stuff on the list. You'll end up with less junk and your groceries will cost less.
4) Do breakfast for dinner once a week. Even the healthy breakfast foods - like eggs - are usually less expensive than steak or chicken. Do omelettes and let everybody pick their fillings or huevos rancheros. Both are good, filling and (if done right) healthy. Add in a side of whatever fruit or veggie is in season and it's a complete meal.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Dec 16, 2013 13:02:40 GMT -5
When we had a family of five BC (before college), we'd make it out of the grocery store for around $160 per week. That did not include eating out (which we don't do often) but it did include three teenagers (two boys who played sports and were hungry all the time). Sounds just like my house! When I had 5 full size eaters we were spending ~$200 a week on food, but that probably included some household items. That did not include eating out. Eating out with 5 people gets VERY expensive, especially once the kids order off the adult menu. With DD moved out and boys in college, we are probably around $70 a week. We do not do organic, but tried to stay away from processed foods as much as possible
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Dec 16, 2013 13:22:29 GMT -5
We've found that overall our food bill went down when we started buying 1/2 a pig, 1/4 cow and chickens from the butcher.
It can be expensive in the immediate but overall the price per lb is much cheaper. 1/2 a pig (after paying the farmer and the butcher) usually runs me around $130-150 total. I end up with around 80 lbs of meat so I'm paying approximately $2 per lb (usually a little less). Much better than the usual grocery store prices for meat.
By doing this (twice a year for the pig, once a year for the cow and a two or three times for the chickens) I'm able to get through the year without having to buy meat from the grocery store. That lowers my weekly bill. Even if I were to factor the price I pay for my meat out for the year and assign a dollar amount to that week's grocery bill I'd still be ahead buying from the butcher.
We eat "clean" for the most part- nothing processed. I try to shop seasonally to keep the price down. I'll buy extra zucchinis from the farmers market, dice them up and freeze them for use during the winter. That helps too. We spend around $100-$120 a week for the 3 of us. That's 7 sit down breakfasts a week, 6 or 7 sit down dinners and DH, weekend lunches and DH brings lunch from home every day. I usually eat one of my proteins (special diet) and veggies from home for lunch.
We buy no junk food, no chips, ice cream, cookies, soda, etc. We eat mostly organic.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Dec 16, 2013 13:26:05 GMT -5
DH and I are scratch cooks. We eat out maybe three-four times a month (sometimes once or twice more). Our grocery budget does not cover household items or alcohol.
If it's a "normal" month (not parties, holidays) we (DH, me and 11yo DD) eat very well for around $125 a week. That does include some stockup items on occassion.
We do not eat a lot of red meat (maybe once or twice a week), bring in leftovers for lunch, and will usually have meatless dinners twice a week. We have a lot of beans and greens type meals, barley, legumes etc.
We had friends from out of town stay with us the weekend before Thanksgiving. In addition, my in-laws stayed with us for the week of Thanksgiving. We cooked dinner for them and SIL's family three nights (8 people), SIL took 3 nights. My grocery spending for the month of November was over $800. Yikes!
There are a few things I try to buy organic (celery, strawberries, grapes, carrots) because we eat a lot of them. Some, like strawberries, I only buy in season.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Dec 16, 2013 14:12:28 GMT -5
I spend $800 to a $1000 a month, easy.
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on Dec 16, 2013 14:13:33 GMT -5
We pretty much employ many of the cost-saving strategies listed here too: buy grass fed/naturally raised meats in bulk, do our own "finish butchering" and packaging and put it in the freezer for the coming months; almost-all scratch cooking including preparing and storing basic recipe ingredients in bulk, like stock, coconut and almond milk, yogurt, pasta, bread, crackers, bread crumbs, ketchup, mustard, mayo, salsa, granola, ice cream, popsicles; make other large planned purchases and can or freeze for use during the year (trips to the u-pick farm for tomatoes, berries, pickling vegetables, jam ingredients); we grow as much as we can in a community garden plot during the year for fresh veges, and can/freeze what we can't use (or give it to the local food bank); we have a small culinary herb garden in pots at our back doorstep (and we freeze or dry the overflow for later - or give it away); purchase and eat seasonally; snatch up "found food" from other gardeners and do something with it (last week someone pulled the last of the zucchini from their plot and gave me some - I made zucchini bread and put it in the freezer); buy beans, rice, other grains and nuts in bulk.
We HATE to waste food and we'll go out of our way to find recipes and preservation methods for less familiar ingredients - I want to cry when I see fruit falling off a tree and rotting on the ground, and the homeowner is ignoring their bounty.
This all takes periods of concentrated time and energy, but then at other times we can just "sit back" and make good quality homemade meals from the ingredients we have worked to put together and preserve. For example, this week I have enough fresh produce from the garden and enough other ingredients on hand that I will not need to hit the grocery store at all . I thought I was going to need to go out for fresh fruit, but Saturday we got a Harry and David box of pears from our bank, and yesterday a friend brought me a dozen mandarins .
When I need to buy fruits and vegetables at the store, I pay attention to the Dirty Dozen list published by the Environmental Working Group. The "dirtiest" (most chemically contaminated) stuff I buy organic, the rest I buy conventional - this does save a little bit of money.
In terms of a monthly budget - ha! Sometimes I'm spending a LOT and some weeks I buy nothing or almost nothing. But if I average it out over the year, we're spending probably $500-600 per month for the two of us (that's including the seeds and seedlings for the community garden plot). This does NOT include household cleaning supplies - have MCS so I make my own (including laundry soap), nor does it include paper goods, hygiene/grooming supplies or pet food - just human food.
And of course family gatherings and holiday meals can drive that number up.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 14:15:36 GMT -5
2 people, $800.. It usually splits about $500 groceries and $300 eating out. We could cut it $200 fairly easy by shopping more sales and eating more chicken.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 14:49:59 GMT -5
For a family of 5, I would think anything under $1,300 a month is reasonable. We are a family of 3 and spend about $130 a week on groceries, plus another $50 on eating out once a week, and DH usually eats out lunch once a week. My grocery bill has been artificiall low the last couple of months, as I try to eat what is in the freezer in preperation for our move.
As far as keeping costs down, have you considered buying a cow or 1/2 a cow directly from the owner or local butcher and freezing it. That is really common around me.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Dec 16, 2013 14:52:42 GMT -5
I really have not sat down and calculated out exactly how much the 2 of us pay for food. My best guess is somewhere around $400/mo just for groceries, maybe a little less. We probably go out to eat once each week, the rest of the time I cook. So total, probably around $600 or so a month. This includes a Costco run of around $100 every other week or so.
We eat fairly well, and always have beef, chicken, lamb, pork and seafood in rotation. Each meal usually provides enough leftovers for either lunch or another dinner, if I mix it up with something else. For instance, last night I did a little pork loin roast and about 1/3 of it is leftover. That 1/3 is enough to do a pork stir fry later this week. I have shrimp for tonight (just got back from Costco) but haven't decided what I want to do with them yet. A lot depends upon whether I feel up to hitting the grocery store later on today or will wait until tomorrow.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 14:56:03 GMT -5
For myself and two young adult males I have been on a mission to keep grocery shopping costs down to about $400 a month. Living in a "vacation" area makes this extra challenging because food and gas here are more expensive than other LCOL areas. One of the most helpful things I started doing was looking back on how we ate when I was a child and much of today's processed foods didn't really exist. Going to my grandparents to stay for a weekend brought popcorn for snacking. G'ma also made pudding and jello rather than serve ice cream which is more expensive. I also have a ZERO waste policy. Nothing in our house goes into the trash unless it is 100% bad. To stop the waste I only buy the fruits and veggies that we will eat in the next week or so. If something needs to be used, and I go through the fridge each day to check, then I put that item in the front and make dinner around whatever it is. Anything too sketchy for humans I give to the chickens or place in the compost pile. I also stopped grocery shopping as much. This forces you to use up all of those stragglers in the cupboards. While I am not sure exactly why I have 20 boxes of pudding, we are now eating a lot of it for snacks until the pile is gone. Same for cans of soup and other things purchased over the last couple years as back-up items in the pantry. I always tell my kids that no one will ever starve in my house, but the meals might be interesting. For cookies and other types of snacks (and bread) we now make our own. I can make a large batch of healthier cookies and breads for much less than I can purchase them at the store. I have discovered that food is similar to other aspects of life in that you either spend more time on preparation or you spend more money to have less preparation needed. I also second the idea of buying things in season. I like to use bell peppers but those dang things are expensive here - except in the summer when they are in season. I purchase them during their season when they go on sale. I spend some time cleaning and chopping them up and then put them in the freezer in a zip bag. I love using my $0.50 peppers in the middle of winter when they are $2 each at the grocery store.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 14:56:29 GMT -5
Milee, is Whole Paycheck your nickname for Whole Foods or is there actually a grocery store with that name? I think menu planning is the key. If I just go to the grocery store to buy some "food," I way overspend.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 14:58:55 GMT -5
For a number, 3 women, a dog and a cat, all household items is ~$700/month. I'd be happy shaving $100 off that and I think it is doable. So I'm with whoever said $150/person/month and another $150 for other household necessities.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 15:00:28 GMT -5
Lena - are you unhappy with the amount you're spending or do you just think you should be spending less? I spend anywhere from $150-$200 a week for myself and 2 teen boys, more when DD is home from college. that doesn't include the grass fed beef that I purchase from a farm in MT (and that has gone up significantly in price so I have actually purchased some ground beef at Wegman's for use in tacos). I buy junk (I'm amazed at the number of people for whom a potato chip never crosses their threshold) but it's rationed out (when it's gone, it's gone until the next time I buy it, which is not every shopping trip). I sometimes feel like I spend too much but I'm a picky eater and have no desire to buy things just because they're cheap if I don't want to eat them.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Dec 16, 2013 15:02:05 GMT -5
Milee, is Whole Paycheck your nickname for Whole Foods or is there actually a grocery store with that name?
Whole Paycheck is the common nickname for Whole Foods, it's been used for years.
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