Freedom in the Hills of New Hampshire

Lasse and I have d one a pretty good job paring down our food budget. When I look at how much we used to spend to feed the two of us when I was working, I’m amazed: it’s nearly twice what we spend now. Clearly, we ate out at a lot more and I bought a lot more crap at work.

But we’re still looking for ways to trim it further and stock up on the staple items we buy frequently. We decided it was time to join a Warehouse Club.

In New Hampshire, there are three Clubs to choose from: Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s. We being as we are, we went to each one to see what products they had, how far they were from the house, how much membership was and that sort of thing. We also made a list of the products we use most frequently and wrote down their price per lb or quart and then compared it to where we usually do our grocery shopping, Stop and Shop. Lasse then typed the list up in excel and analyzed it. See, there are some benefits to being married to someone who loves statistics.

The end result?

BJ’s was clearly the best wholesale club for us. Not only is it right down the street, it also has a wide selection of HFCS-free items. We won’t buy things that have HFCS in it, so places like Sam’s Club who would have otherwise been very competitive got booted entirely off the list. Costco also would have done quite well, if it hadn’t been located within spitting distance of the Massachussetts boarder. It’s so close to MA and so filled with Massholes that you can tell when Costco executives were looking at sites they found this one and thought, “Aha! Perfect! It’s so close to Massachussetts, our customers won’t have any problem driving up here, especially since they can do their shopping tax free! And should any Granite Staters want to shop here, they can too!” I swear, 9/10 cars in the parking lot were from MA. It took me forever to get out of there because they kept cutting me off.

It was also quite surprising to see what exactly we were paying out the ass for at Stop and Shop. Things like onions, potatos, and butter are just slightly cheaper at BJs while pure vanilla extract, King Arthur’s Flour, and cheeses are ridiculously chceaper. I can’t believe we’ve been paying $17.99/lb for parmesean reggiano at Shop and stop while it’s $12.99/lb at BJs. I really wish we’d joined sooner! Some items, however, are cheapest at Stop and Shop. Lemons, for example, I will only buy at one Stop and Shop due to a wonderful quirk in their self-check out system. Beans are also cheapest there: $1.00/lb for most types, while lentils and split green peas are $0.79. You can’t find them anywhere cheaper.

We are thoroughly enjoying our ability to buy large quantities of things all at once. This is especially true since we’ve decided to up our paranoia level and start stockpiling some food items we use regularly. Yes, there was quite a bit of discussion involved here. On the one hand, we don’t want to look like we had a great time at a tin foil hat making party. On the other hand, with the amount of money the government is pumping into the economy, there are only two things that could happen:

The beginnings of our stockpile

1) Our government will borrow the money from abroad, thus increasing the number of dollars in circulation, thus causing massive inflation and food prices to increase, thus causing the government to institute price controls thus causing food shortages and rationing.

and/or

2) Our government will print all the money, thus increasing the number of dollars in circulation, which will cause massive inflation, which will cause food costs to go up, which will cause the government to institute price controls thus causing food shortages and rationing. Ta-Da!

Don’t believe me? Think back to the 1970s energy crisis when they imposed price controls and we had gas rationing.

Since it looks pretty likely that the dollar is going to lose value and food prices are going to go up, I think it would be very handy for us to at least have a month or two of food supplies hanging around. If hyperinflation does occur, we’ll be prepared. If it doesn’t, we won’t have to do much shopping for a few months. It’s really a win-win situation.