Has your grocery bill increased because of covid-19?

[Deleted]

I find myself making multiple visits to the grocery store, buying more stuff than I actually "need" in preparation for staying at home.  I'm not talking about hoarding or even panic buying per se, but overbuying.  I have a carton-and-a-half of eggs whereas I usually only have a dozen.  I have a 35-can case and 2 twelve packs of diet coke.  I drink a lot of them.  I have two frozen pizzas, not one.

I'm not prepping for the Apocalypse, but for simply staying home for 2-3 weeks.  I am not worried about shortages although I'm less sure that prices aren't going to dramatically rise.  Still, I'm not stocking up because of that.  But running to Walmart because I'm out of beer defeats the purpose of social isolation.  And I am in the more vulnerable group at age 66. 

So as I tally up what I've been spending, it is a lot.  It should even out as I consume all this stuff.  I've been very careful not to buy stuff that I won't eat.  I've even been careful to use coupons and shop sales.  (Obviously, I'm not talking about toilet paper, but I was stocked up on that already.)  

But spending this much on food has cut into my fun money.  So I wondered if anyone else is feeling a similar pinch.

[oped]

We are seriously stocked. Not crazy prepper but mostly we would be good although I’d miss fresh veggies if we had to go a month... just realized no garlic though... have to send husband for acetaminophen tomorrow (thanks debt) so I’ll have him get that.

We won’t be going out to eat though. Or to movies... it will even out.

[Tennesseer]

I look at the buying of food this way: I bought more non-perishable food than perishable.  If things get worse I'll be fine.  If this goes away quickly, I won't have to buy non-perishable food for a while. 

So my food bill did go up on the short term but will go down on the long term.

[Tennesseer]

Mar 14, 2020 20:01:12 GMT -5 oped said:

We are seriously stocked. Not crazy prepper but mostly we would be good although I’d miss fresh veggies if we had to go a month... just realized no garlic though... have to send husband for acetaminophen tomorrow (thanks debt) so I’ll have him get that.

We won’t be going out to eat though. Or to movies... it will even out.

Garlic was tops on my list to purchase. A must.

[Deleted]

Yes, I've spent more for the stock up on groceries and especially over-the-counter meds (we never buy those!) but it will even out because we're not going to be able to eat out.  Which sort of sucks for the restaurants, mostly mom & pop, that we usually frequent and their employees.  I'm headed out at dawn tomorrow to a little local grocery for turnips for our St. Patrick's day corned beef, and whatever I can score in the way of crackers, etc. because all the mainstream sources are empty.  As a high-risk, senior person who's supposed to stay home per our local directives, this is challenging.  I'm so grateful that DH finally got on board with the risk issue.  We ate a tin of herring and crackers tonight for a very satisfying dinner.  

[Gardening Grandma]

What Tenn said. I spent more than usual on non perishables and things I could freeze. But I can go the rest of the month buying only fresh produce

[laterbloomer]

We spent about $150 more than normal. We got an extra box of coffee pods and more meat. And a couple of cabbages, I usually get one at a time. We would be comfortable not going to the store for about a month. Like you, we will even out over the month.

[Deleted]

Mar 14, 2020 20:06:37 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I look at the buying of food this way: I bought more non-perishable food than perishable.  If things get worse I'll be fine.  If this goes away quickly, I won't have to buy non-perishable food for a while. 

So my food bill did go up on the short term but will go down on the long term.

Yup, and we do this every year in anticipation of hurricane season so my purchases are, hopefully, just early prep.  I bought bottled water last month when an 8' main break sent us into boil water notice so I was ahead of the curve for my usual summer stock-up.  

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Not by much. I keep my pantry and freezer pretty well stocked already. A lot of non perishable items like TP we buy in bulk.

I did inventory and we are good between what I have and what I bought. Dinner might get weird but we could go 30 days if we had to.

I spent about $50 more to get extra meat to toss in the freezer but that's it.

[Deleted]

I've spent a ridiculous amount of money at the grocery store since moving here just over a month ago. But, I arrived without anything other than some spices, so there's been a ton of things I needed/wanted.

I'm used to shopping for at least a couple of weeks at a time and don't like to shop, so it's hard to go just for a few things every day or two like it appears my neighbors do.

I went this morning and spent $100 on food and bought another bag of dog food. At this point I am mostly hunkering down and could pretty easily do so for probably 6-8 weeks without worrying about food or any other supplies.

Thankfully, the only two things I noticed missing at the local store today was TP and canned tuna. Sorry, there are way too many other options to stock up on tuna...  lol 

They said last night that N. Italy has been on lock down for about 4 weeks and it's still going on. I think they have a tighter control on the population and can see the US being on some sort of lock down for longer. 

[pooks]

We started early, so I had a higher grocery bill 3-4 weeks ago.  Recently buying has gone back down to normal, as we wait for them to close schools, before we call it quits on shopping.  We aren't nearly as prepared as other people.  We have saved a good bit of money overall, because we stopped eating out.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

We pretty much just got back from vacation when all of this hit.  As we had eaten down the house in the month or so before we left we needed everything.  So I have done 3 x $150 shopping trips to the grocery store and a big $300 trip to Costco to replace meat and canned staples (tomatoes, beans, stock, etc).  

Since we got home, we have been eating in much more than usual.  So what we aren’t spending eating out, I am spending part of it for groceries.  The past 2 weeks, we have eaten out once.  Normally, that might be 3-4x.  

[Deleted]

I looked to see what we had in the kitchen yesterday. We have enough frozen meat for at 8 dinners, but those dinners will result in leftovers IF the kids aren’t here. If they spend part of the 2 weeks that school is closed over here, what we have now won’t go as far. 

We have canned goods, but not really a good stock of frozen vegetables. The only fresh produce we have is onions and white potatoes. This coming Tuesday is time for my regular grocery shopping, but idek what I should buy yet. 

So far, I haven’t spent any extra at the grocery store, because I haven’t been food shopping. That could change Tuesday once I come up with a plan, and IF the stores near me have received new stock, since I keep hearing that the shelves at many of them are bare or close to it.

I’m good on household and cleaning supplies, just from my normal shopping habits. Except, I have no Lysol. DBF tried to find some yesterday, but none of the stores he went to had any. 

[Ava]

I suck at planning meals and I'm the contrary to a prepper.
But given the circumstances I'm going to the store tomorrow early am in hopes to find it stocked. I will get toilet paper, if available, cat food and all the food I can think of for two weeks.

It's starting to get real for me. Cafeteria at work is only serving pre-made salads, and I'm pretty sure my work will close at some point during the next two weeks.

[Deleted]

Mar 14, 2020 22:26:09 GMT -5 Ava said:

I suck at planning meals and I'm the contrary to a prepper.
But given the circumstances I'm going to the store tomorrow early am in hopes to find it stocked. I will get toilet paper, if available, cat food and all the food I can think of for two weeks.

It's starting to get real for me. Cafeteria at work is only serving pre-made salads, and I'm pretty sure my work will close at some point during the next two weeks.

The last recommendation from the CDC was to have 6 weeks worth of food on hand. The day I heard the mayor of NY talking about the National Guard having to deliver food to people I decided I wanted to choose what I will potentially eat and not take any chances, just in case the SHTF.

I built up the pantry by buying a few of each item I normally buy. Like most Americans, I eat 10-20 different things every month in random rotation. When I shop I buy all the ingredients for those meals and then cook them when the urge hits.

I think this is going to be hard for people who never cook at home. Imagine places like NY where they don't even have a lot of regular grocery stores available. 

[lurkyloo]

I‘ve overbought a few things, and paid through the nose for meat.  Not really upset about it, since mostly I overpaid for a chicken yesterday but safeway giant and wegmans have been sold out and it was the second to last at harris teeter.

More frustratingly, Dad is supposed to drive up for his bday next week and I have no real idea of whether he’s going to follow through.  So I’m sort of hedging my bets there and will need to make another trip Tuesday since I didn’t want to buy crab cakes that no one else will eat.

Thanks to whoever mentioned small local butcher shops!  I guess the panic buyers haven’t gotten around to cleaning ours out yet.

Anyway, probably spent $50-75 extra.  Some things were sold out so I spent less than usual on those   

[Deleted]

Mine is about the same, I keep enough inventory to make it three weeks as a rule of thumb.

I hit Aldi last night like I do every week, it appeared a tornado had went through the store, all produce was gone and several other things I usually get. I ended up doubling up on non-perishables and a crap ton of lobster Mac and cheese, it was barely touched by the horde that went through before me. My bill was about the same as usual.

I was at my reorder point for toilet paper so I did put in an order for Home Depot to deliver some bath tissues rolls that won’t fit my holder but I’ll make it work.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I’m still waiting to hear if the kids are coming home yet. I want them to, but both live off-campus and friends are staying... I’ve encouraged both to stock their freezers these past couple of weeks but I doubt either has enough for a long haul. YDS sounds better prepared than ODS who is actually more rigid of the two about what he eats. DH gave ODS a large box of shelf stable foods today after the game. I have some to ship to YDS but worry he’ll come home or we’ll go on lockdown before he’d receive it. I worry the same if I ordered online and shipped. It is what it is.

I am about as stocked as I could possibly be. I made 2 HUGE runs for meat and frozen veggies at the beginning of the week. If it’s just DH and me and the dog, we’re good for a while. If the guys come home, they’re going to just have to accept smaller portions of meat since we don’t know how long we’d be quarantined. I’d also have to rein in their “boredom” eating to make sure our food lasts. It’s the unknown duration that concerns me.

So, I “fronted” a fair amount of money, but it will even out when I can’t shop during quarantine.

I hit a grocery store tonight to get jam and the meat and bread shelves were stripped clean. In case it ends up being the 4 of us, I ended up spending another $200 on junk food because we’ll definitely need candy, cookies, pretzels, etc. but I don’t normally keep much junk in the house so that was extra $ I wouldn’t normally spend.

[buystoys]

I haven't spent a whole lot more than usual, but I keep a fairly stocked pantry all the time.  We're going grocery shopping tomorrow and we'll pick up some canned fruit as a replacement for fresh fruit.  We usually go twice a week just for produce, so that will suck if we're staying at home. 

[oped]

We have garlic and acetaminophen! I really hope that was the last trip... still no toilet paper but we have 23 rolls so should be good... caught son blowing his nose with one and was like... tissues I can get...

[TheOtherMe]

I usually shop for a week at a time.

I have been sort of stocking up on non-perishables.  Things got more real for me last night so I'm picking up a big order of mostly non-perishables in the morning.  

It will carry me for about 3 weeks.  I can't think farther out than that right now.

I'm not a prepper, but I have toilet paper on auto ship from Amazon.  Right now I have a case and a half.  Next shipment due in 2 months.  We will see.

I did order from Chewy yesterday and had an email overnight that they are behind.  Instead of shipping in 1-2 days, they plan to ship in 3-5 days.  I hope they can do this.  I'm set for another couple of weeks.  I also set up auto ship with them.

[saveinla]

I went to the store to get matches, since my stove is not lighting up as it should. 

It was crazy there - lot of aisles empty including the frozen veggies. Only the ice cream section was full - probably because it's raining here and it's supposed to rain for the next week and half.


Thankfully we had come back from vacation middle of feb and stocked up on everything.

[Blonde Granny]

Yes, I've over spent on the YNAB grocery line item, but so be it. It's just me and since I don't mind eating weird things and combinations I could likely go a couple of months or more (inc. TP).

Since some of my purchases were in the semi-foolish category, I'm making plans in my head to redo part of the garage and become more organized for the future.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

At this point, if we need another grocery run  it will be for things like milk/dairy and veggies and fruit.  

Sometime this week I MUST get into Costco pharmacy in order to get my prescriptions turned over.  If I fight that crowd, I might pick up some perishables there.  

[Tennesseer]

Mar 15, 2020 10:55:39 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I usually shop for a week at a time.

I have been sort of stocking up on non-perishables.  Things got more real for me last night so I'm picking up a big order of mostly non-perishables in the morning.  

It will carry me for about 3 weeks.  I can't think farther out than that right now.

I'm not a prepper, but I have toilet paper on auto ship from Amazon.  Right now I have a case and a half.  Next shipment due in 2 months.  We will see.

I did order from Chewy yesterday and had an email overnight that they are behind.  Instead of shipping in 1-2 days, they plan to ship in 3-5 days.  I hope they can do this.  I'm set for another couple of weeks.  I also set up auto ship with them.

Thanks for the highlighted info.

[Lizard Queen]

Things just got real in my household.  My DH just spent $339 at Meijer, and is headed to Aldi for a few more things.   We normally go every day or so-living so close to several grocery stores (spending < $100 at most on bigger trips), and we also eat take-out at least once a week, usually twice.   Kids being home all day will eat more.  We are also at the beginning of remodeling our kitchen, so pantry items were on the lower end for us.  I'm feeling better about being prepared to hunker down now.  I've never, ever had to.  Even with blizzards, I'd only be stuck inside for one day at most.

[Tennesseer]

Mar 15, 2020 11:33:16 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Things just got real in my household.  My DH just spent $339 at Meijer, and is headed to Aldi for a few more things.   We normally go every day or so-living so close to several grocery stores (spending < $100 at most on bigger trips), and we also eat take-out at least once a week, usually twice.   Kids being home all day will eat more.  We are also at the beginning of remodeling our kitchen, so pantry items were on the lower end for us.  I'm feeling better about being prepared to hunker down now.  I've never, ever had to.  Even with blizzards, I'd only be stuck inside for one day at most.

Just a thought which your post triggered.

I wonder if it is a good idea to make large purchases at one store and then travel to another store with those purchased goods still inside the vehicle while the driver goes inside the second store.

Some thieves may be watching who comes out of stores with carts full of stuff and then trail them with the idea of breaking into their vehicles when they enter the second store or even following them home and holding them up.

Best to travel with two people in the vehicle and if they need to go to a second store only one goes inside while the second person remains in the vehicle.

[wvugurl26]

I don't think our bill is really any higher. I try not to run out of staples. I do better at meal planning with a stocked pantry. I've bought a few things since Thursday but I'm probably still at $100. There's only 2 of us though and we've been better about meal planning in the past few months so there's more food on hand.

[Lizard Queen]

Mar 15, 2020 11:40:09 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Mar 15, 2020 11:33:16 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Things just got real in my household.  My DH just spent $339 at Meijer, and is headed to Aldi for a few more things.   We normally go every day or so-living so close to several grocery stores (spending < $100 at most on bigger trips), and we also eat take-out at least once a week, usually twice.   Kids being home all day will eat more.  We are also at the beginning of remodeling our kitchen, so pantry items were on the lower end for us.  I'm feeling better about being prepared to hunker down now.  I've never, ever had to.  Even with blizzards, I'd only be stuck inside for one day at most.

Just a thought which your post triggered.

I wonder if it is a good idea to make large purchases at one store and then travel to another store with those purchased goods still inside the vehicle while the driver goes inside the second store.

Some thieves may be watching who comes out of stores with carts full of stuff and then trail them with the idea of breaking into their vehicles when they enter the second store or even following them home and holding them up.

Best to travel with two people in the vehicle and if they need to go to a second store only one goes inside while the second person remains in the vehicle.

Maybe for others, but he put it in his trunk, and this is a really safe area anyway.

[Deleted]

A woman in front of me spent $1200 on groceries at Winn Dixie today.  She said she had 4 boys who will be home for the next 3 weeks so she can't afford to run out of food.  She also said that everything was more expensive because what is left is mostly organic.