How much are you spending on groceries? (yet again)

Every so often we bring up the cost of groceries here on EnviroMom (and another post here with more excellent comments), so now with the recession in full swing and people losing jobs by the thousands, it seems like a good time to revisit the subject. I'll start off saying that the other day I caught a snippet of Oprah, and she had a woman on there who is a coupon wizard. She was filmed grocery shopping and demonstrated how she can cut her shopping budget by 70 percent by watching for sales and using coupons. Her bill came to $127, but she only paid $37 after her coupons were scanned. One example: she picked up a bag of carrots that was on sale for $0.49, and she had a coupon for $0.50 cents off, so it essentially was a free bag of carrots. (She literally tossed the bag in her cart.) A bottle of shampoo cost $0.88, but with a coupon that the store doubled, the shampoo ended up costing her nothing.

My immediate reaction was horror, and over the past few days I've had several internal conversations trying to figure out why. I won't bore you with the play-by-play mundanities of these mental discussions, but let's just say the voices in my head are in conflict. In a nutshell:

On the one side: We all know that food is widely viewed as a commodity in this country. Most people buy loads of processed crap -- it's cheap and it tastes good (to them). It's also fueling the obesity epidemic and the rise of health care costs. Even 'fresh' food has been industrialized -- that chicken the coupon queen put in her cart for $2.00 was raised in a factory, and I'm guessing those token carrots have zero taste due to genetically modified, disease-fighting seeds, heavy pesticide use and long storage and transport to market (settle down). Showing Oprah's legion of fans how they can buy industrialized food products for pennies only encourages people to continue to think of food as a cheap commodity.

On the other side: That's the way it is. Oprah has no obligation to enlighten her viewers to the evils of processed, industrialized food. And grocery stores are primarily made up of this stuff. There's a recession, and people are struggling to pay bills, so why not look for ways to save? And heck, if I found an awesome sweater for 70% off, you can bet I'd be all over it. So what's the difference? I know there's a difference -- what is it?

Make the voices in my head stop! I'm not a coupon user, mostly because I never remember to use them so I seldom seek them out. Also, I hardly ever see coupons for stuff that I buy. Sure I'll scan the sales circulars and see if anything pops out, but I tend to go to the grocery store when it's convenient for me, not when something is on sale. (Hmm. I detect a tone of privilege here.) Now, if my husband were to lose his job (knock on wood) I would probably feel very different about all of this. I'm curious whether any of you saw the video and your thoughts?

I am, however, shopping for food with an eye toward saving money, but I'm not giving up my personal values of buying organic, local and in-season food (mostly) and supporting our locally-owned grocery stores. (Note to self: It's important to remember that these are your personal values and you shouldn't judge others who don't share them. The beauty of living in this country is that you can educate and discuss these values in hopes that others, and the government, might change their thinking. Now, continue...) Probably the biggest change I've made is not buying as much meat. Once a week I buy and roast a whole, organic chicken, which gives us enough meat for two meals, plus I make chicken stock with the carcass for soup. Back in December I purchased 1/8 of a pasture-raised, hormone-free cow from a local farm, which ended up costing $2.40 a pound. A screaming deal. We eat the beef two or three times a month. There's definitely been an increase of bean-eating around here -- soaking and cooking beans saves a bundle. Veggies mostly consist of potatoes, yams, carrots and broccoli, because that's what the kids will eat and we end up wasting very little. I've also cut back on beer and wine (wah).

Where we do spend a bundle is in the weekly staples like two gallons of organic milk ($5.75 each -- hooray for Alpenrose organic, Portlanders!), a jar of peanut butter ($5.50) and three loaves of bread ($4.50-$5.25 EACH). I'd love to figure out how to cut back on sandwich bread by changing our breakfast and lunch habits (not by buying cheaper bread). I would guess that we used to spend $175-$200 a week on groceries, and now are closer to $150 a week (maybe a little less some weeks). We're also eating out a whole lot less, which would make our grocery bill higher, but I think cutting back on meat and being more thoughtful about produce has helped tremendously.

Lordy this is a rambling post. Damn the voices! Okay, so bottom line: are you spending less on food due to the economy, and how are you doing it? Coupons? Sales? Changing the way you eat? Do you find yourself buying more conventional produce to save money over organic? And have you cut back on any 'extravagance' foods, like alcohol or my beloved Greek olives (which I sadly have cut back on)?

And if you're wondering what 1/8 of a cow looks like (partially eaten):

It doesn't take up much room in my ginormous upright freezer. I received about 14 one-pound packages of ground beef (which is too much in my opinion, but makes for some very tasty chili) and about 8 packages of steaks and roasts. Three 2-3 pound roasts, and five packages of steaks (2 steaks per package). I think it was around 30-some pounds of meat. I found out about this cow through a friend who heard about it on a sustainability message board. I'll bet you can find sources in your area by doing a little Internet searching.

The end.