A Mammon Sense Experiment: Eating The Freezer
This month, Mr. Sense and I are setting our sights on our most frugal grocery month since we got married. We’re not buying meat or bread for the month of April, and instead will transform the contents of our freezers into delicious meals we actually eat. While we’re looking forward to the savings, the real impetus for this is our desire to open our freezer drawer without stuff tumbling out.
Since getting our new (used) fridge on Craigslist, we’ve had to adjust to a different layout, because this fridge has one of those large freezer drawers instead of the side-by-side style of the old one. The space is about the same, but the big drawer makes it harder to see all the contents. And when it gets full, opening the drawer also involves retrieving the stuff that inevitably slides backwards into the space behind the drawer.
In addition to the freezer drawer in the kitchen, we have a small chest freezer in our basement- a Father’s Day gift Mr. Sense received a couple years ago. It’s similarly packed to the brim. Last year, we took home about a quarter of a cow in various cuts, and we still have a fair amount of meat from that. I typically don’t buy meat when it’s not on sale, but I stock up when I see a good deal. Boy Sense loves salmon, and our wonderful Aldi often puts my favorite red discount stickers on the larger filets. (Those red stickers get me all fired up like a bull at a fight, but in a happy way).
Aldi offers deep discounts in the bread aisle sometimes: there are frequently loaves of bread that are regularly priced around $2.99 with $2 off stickers a day or two before the “best by” dates, and I pick those up to freeze. Mr. Sense makes much of the bread for our household, so some of these frozen loaves have been sitting in the freezer for a while (even though I only buy the varieties we actually like).
We’ve been easily staying under our grocery budget of $525 each month, even with two hungry teenagers, so I don’t think this is a bad strategy. But this month, we’re going to try something different and not purchase any of these items just because they’re on sale. In fact, we plan to avoid buying any meat or bread at all. I also reorganized our dry pantry earlier this week and took inventory of all the pasta, rice, flour, and canned goods we have on hand. (So, so many boxes of mac and cheese- I think this is what Mr. Sense makes whenever I’m not going to be home for dinner). So we don’t need to buy any of that stuff either. Instead, we’ll try out the time honored technique of making a list and buying exactly and only what’s on it.
I’ll report back after the end of the month, but here are my hypotheses for the experiment:
Our total grocery spending for April will fall under $250. I think this would be pretty impressive for a family of four, especially considering that our teenage son eats enough that he should really count as two typical adults.
80% of purchases will be produce and dairy. The remainder will be mostly snacky stuff for the kids and minor ingredients to fill out recipes.
We won’t finish off the stuff in the freezers, but we will be able to close the freezer drawer without getting frustrated.
Mr. Sense will be dying to buy chicken next month (because our freezer seems to be disproportionately heavy in beef and pork).
We’re only a week in, but I’m excited to tell you how it turns out!
