Day 5 of the $29 SNAP food stamp challenge brought us to Costco, which I was fully convinced wouldn't be possible (Me: "Isn't every item there $10???? Â That means we'll be able to get like 3 items!!")...but we made it work, and could've done even better if certain items hadn't been sold out at the end of the day.
It's hard to get variety when everything is sold in bulk, so we decided to stick with the basics and do as best as we could. Â For $6.89, we were able to get 20 lbs. of russet potatoes, the best deal of all the places we have visited, and that was more affordable than the 20 lb. bag of white rice for $9.99 (although that would've been something for next week's budget!). Â We also couldn't pass up the $4.69 bag of 10 lbs. of organic carrots! Â Given that we'd need additional flavor for all of those potatoes and carrots, the natural next direction was onions...the smallest, cheapest bag was $3.79, a great price, but a bigger bite of the budget than we would've preferred! Â
Animal protein can be procured relatively inexpensively per pound at Costco, but only in bulk sizes...so we went with the only non-monster-size item: Â the ever-present $4.99 roasted chicken! Â The meat would provide great sustenance and the bones could be boiled with carrots and onions to make soup/stock. Â Something we didn't anticipate that forced us over our budget? Â Unlike everything else we've bought so for, this was the first item that was taxed, which hit us with an additional $.44 we weren't anticipating! Â So that chicken was actually $5.43...still a bargain, though!
We were torn on where else to spend our limited budget, and decided to spend $5.99 for 5 quarts of canola oil...after all, we'd need to cook all those potatoes with something!! Â And with our remaining budget, we couldn't pass up the 3 lb. bags of bananas for only $1.39!! Â After all, they'd make great breakfasts, be delicious mashed up with some steamed carrots, etc.!
Where else could we have spent our money in the store? Â Well, we wanted to buy the 2 dozen eggs for $3.99, but they were sold out. Â If we'd gone that route, we would've passed up the canola oil and bananas, and instead gotten the eggs and 2 gallons of fat-free milk for $3.99 (whole milk was $5.79 for the same amount, still a bargain, but too rich for our budget!). Â There were other fruits and veggies we considered, but all were in giant quantities that would've taken out too much of a bite of our budget. Â One item I would've gotten here with another week's budget would've been a huge block of parmesan cheese for $5.99...it would've lasted a while as a flavor-adder and felt like a luxury!
For our $29, we got: Â 1 whole roasted chicken, 20 lbs. potatoes, 10 lbs. organic carrots, 10 lbs. yellow onions, 6 lbs. bananas, and 5 quarts canola oil.
Another consideration at Costco: Â A yearly membership costs a lofty $55, which is a precious chunk of money to cough up if you're on a very fixed budget. Â One option is to share the cost with a friend (which I've done in leaner years), which makes it a more affordable $27.50/person...and if more people get in on the action by shopping together and using the one card, even though that's not Costco-sanctioned, it could still make it much more affordable for a family.
Buying in bulk here would be great for a monthly budget overall...although to shop here with a weekly budget, it'd be easier to buy certain items at other stores in smaller quantities in order to afford more variety.
So far, we've bought just shy of $150 of food, all of which went to A Women's Place Shelter.  I imagine they are now swimming in bags of white rice and russet potatoes, and wonder what kind of crazies we are! It's definitely been very educational for both of us, has gotten us to have a lot of discussions about budgets and the economics of it all, not to mention feel more than a little guilty about how much food goes to waste in our kitchen in the average year.  I imagine this might remind us to be more careful with what we can afford, because such waste is criminal when there are people making do on so very little.
