It's Called 'Survival' For A Reason.

 The current cost-of-living crisis is (finally) hitting the upper middle and upper elite classes. For some, this might be the first time they have had to economize. To say they are inexperienced would be an oxymoron. You just don't wake up one day and say "Oh goodie. I'm going to be frugal today." Most of them, not all of them, of course, don't know what the heck they are doing. I'm seeing formerly upper middle class folks announce, once they go over their new budgets, that they can only spend between $25 to $30 a week on groceries. That, my people, is a huge decline, in my opinion, from what they were used to. The biggest fault, is seeing them try to maintain their old form of lifestyle on a $30 allotment. Ain't gonna happen. But if you want a good laugh, I implore you to seek out these wanna-bees and watch when a light bulb goes off in their heads when they realize they can no longer parlay filet mignon and must now stretch their beef intake with boiled lentils. Classic.

Case in point, this particular woman, who touts being a homemaker for thirty-three years. She started her initial week of economizing under her new $25 weekly food shopping budget determined to make her own yogurt, as a means of saving money. First up, she bought a gallon of organic milk. At her fave grocery store, however, upon seeing that the expiration date of said milk was the next day, she opted for 2 half-gallons of organic milk, that had a longer lasting expiration date. (Note to self: if you're making yogurt, it's OK to use near-to-expiration dated milk or even sour milk for that matter. But I digress.)

The cost of a gallon of organic milk at her local grocer was $6.49. But because she bought two half-gallons instead @$4.29 ea., the cost of her re-calculated gallon came to $8.58. Throw in another $1.99 to buy a smallish vanilla flavored yogurt, as a starter and her total starting out to 'save' money was $10.57. She made her 'budget' yogurt in her InstaPot and ran the electricity for 8 hours. After which, she did NOT make yogurt. Why? You can't make yogurt with a vanilla starter. That item contains sugar and sugar doesn't ferment as well as a plain yogurt would have. So, we have a fail.

So, what did she do?

Rather than face the fact that her attempt at saving money was a fail she threw in the rest of the vanilla flavored yogurt (the first attempt, she only used 2 tablespoons as the recipe directed) and ran the InstaPot for another 6 to 8 hours. Ka-ching! And voila! She had yogurt, which she fed to her 3 hungry teenagers, along with her home made granola. (Don't even get me started on her home-made, money-saving, 'granola')

So, for a total of $10.57 PLUS the cost of at least 14 hours of electricity to run the Insta-Pot, this clueless woman made a half-gallon (64 ounces) of organic, plain yogurt. Note to self: the money she spent to make this homemade yogurt cost her 42.2% of her weekly budget. Hope hubby likes yogurt for dinner when he gets home tonight after a long day of working and commuting.

Meanwhile, at the same store, this inexperienced woman, could have bought a 32 ounce of organic, plain yogurt for $4.99 (two 32 oz tubs equals 64 ounces, which is a half-gallon, at a cost of $9.98. I can't calculate in the cost of electricity because I don't know her rate. But 8 hours on InstaPot cooking time will cost ya!).

Or, as I suggested to this woman (who immediately pooh-poohed me, after all, WTF would I know? Right? I've only been frugal since the 1970s.) She could have gone to Aldi (which I know there is one by her residence) and purchased plain, whole milk yogurt, 32 ounce for only $2.85 (double that for a half-gallon and the total price is $5.70.) That's only 2% of her total weekly budget! BIG DIFFERENCE. Note to self: when you are on an extreme budget, as this woman is, $25 a week means NO ORGANIC FOR YOU! The milk today is already milked from non-treated cows and does NOT contain any rBST. Aldi's milk ( dairy products) come with The Farmers Pledge that all is good and healthy inside their products.

These economic times folks, as most of us already know are dangerous, scary and for some desperate. It's already been proven that you can't save any food shopping money at Walmart (they upped their products due to the tariffs) or Target (some people insist Target sells fair-priced foods. I disagree.). You have to shop for food at low cost markets (NOT the Dollar Store, as they sell mostly crap). We are most fortunate that the German food market, Aldi, has graced our American shores and are selling to us Americans, a plethora of top quality foods at super low prices. Aldi has a unique selling method which keeps their products priced very low. In my opinion, now, the best way to keep your grocery prices down is to shop at Aldi. In addition, rummage through your local grocery store flyers and balance your food shopping with loss-leader supplementing. I've been shopping at Aldi and thank the good Lord above, my family and I haven't had to suffer food denigration for the last 10-17 years. Aldi got us through the 2008 collapse and Aldi is certainly getting us through to this day.

Don't believe me? Dave Ramsey (international financial genius) just recently endorsed Aldi! Dave gave his own daughter, Rachel and a co-worker, George, a challenge. He gave each of them $100 and told them to shop exclusively at Aldi and feed their families for a week. Ramsey's daughter has 2 kids and a husband. The co-worker lives alone (but has a girlfriend). Both came out well under $100 and they bought whatever they wanted. 

You can see the challenge: (click here or view below)

Aldi is currently opening up 225 more stores in 2025 (click here for the info) throughout America. If you need to locate an Aldi store near you, click here to get to their website. Always remember to read the ingredients. be on the lookout for seed oils, high fructose corn syrup and food dyes. Aldi is good but sometimes you will find a toxic, carcinogen ingredient but I don't blame Aldi. They do their best to bring us good quality, organic and healthy foods. It's the sign of the times. Just be alert.

The other thing I would suggest is, from now on, when you go food shopping, bring a calculator with you. Most cell phones have the app already loaded. Saving money today requires simple math (addition, subtraction and division). Look at the unit pricing also. Sometimes buying a smaller package saves you more money than buying the larger size. BTW: a gallon of Aldi regular whole milk is $2.78.

Good luck. Happy shopping. I only wish my readers the best. Try to find proven savers (like me) who have enough experience to help you save grocery money. And please don't ask me who this moronic yogurt lady was. I'd like to forget her. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make the animal drink. 

FYI: last night, hubby and I had two Aldi products for dinner: I roasted Brussel Sprouts ($2.29) with olive oil and garlic (Aldi has superior olive oil imported directly from Sicily) and BBQed chicken ($1.79 a pound!) I made a healthy dinner for the two of us for under $10 bucks!! With leftovers for lunch the next day!

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