I had been fed up with it for a while. Those expensive groceries. Despite news reports that inflation was definitely improving, I didn’t notice this in the supermarket. Every time I was disappointed when ordering or paying. What a lot of money went through it.
The expensive month of December had started with Sinterklaas presents and new hats and mittens for the whole family, because of course we had lost them all last year. Plus thick coats – because children can’t fit into the same winter coat for two years. Unfortunately.
The first step in cutting back was to remove the unnecessary junk: no more cheese boards, which was also better for our health, so a Cruijffian advantage with a disadvantage. No more expensive drinks, and I bought coffee from an always coffee discount website. I took it for granted that there was three months’ worth of coffee in the hall cupboard.
We participated in all the 1+1 promotions, but I was now completely fed up with all the harping. Of course I checked the bonus every week, but it seemed like all the normal bonus offers had dried up and there were fewer and fewer products with discounts. Shampoo was therefore replaced by a cheaper brand.
Cost-cutting trick
Sitting at the kitchen table, I thought about what else we could do to cut costs. I had already applied my own tips from this list. We hardly went out to eat and we no longer had food delivered at home. My latest cost-cutting trick? Fill my basket and then go through it again critically and then take everything out of the basket that was not strictly necessary. That trick didn’t help anymore either.
Together with my husband we did a little research on the internet. “Green beans from the freezer,” he muttered. “Seasonal vegetables,” I mumbled back. Potatoes, spinach from the freezer instead of fresh. Freeze anything left. Cooking double meals. Yes, some scraping here and there could still be done.
During dinner, my husband and I gave the kids one head’s up. “Guys, I’m tired of those expensive groceries. The brakes are on. Even if we could manage it all, I’m still fed up. Then I’d rather have that money end up in my account and not at the supermarket. Bank.”
Less avocados, more avocados
The children looked at me blankly. “That means eating fewer avocados in the near future and more avocados, soup and leftovers.” The reaction was not at all what I expected. “Hooray!!”, came the chorus. I looked at my children in surprise. “Potatoes really are the tastiest, aren’t they?”, said Olle (9). “And I always find leftovers so much fun, snacking on different things from all those containers,” added Puk (11).
Hubby and I looked at each other gratefully. Because no matter how meager, as long as our children still described the cuts as ‘pleasant’, we were in a privileged position. And we realized that all too well.
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2023-12-06 07:35:12
#Ive #expensive #groceries
