Show Us Your Grocery Receipts, Part Four: Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, and Target
Today’s “show us your grocery receipts” installment comes from Billfolder Aardvark in Southern California, who not only provided a week’s worth of grocery receipts but also gave us a full analysis of the purchases including a bar chart.
Aardvark’s receipts and analysis as follows:
Totals
This week I spent:
$38.13 Trader Joe’s
$18.52 Sprouts
$10.79 Target
—
$67.44 Total
Receipts
This is a little higher than usual. I’ll likely spend another $12-$20 at Sprouts at some point during the week.
Shopping at three stores is standard for me. I usually buy household goods at Target, run by Trader Joe’s every week or two for a larger stock-up and stop at Sprouts after work a couple times in between.
I justify both the frequency and total spending above because cooking, baking, and meal planning is a hobby for me. I get a lot of joy out of preparing food.
Who Will Consume It
Most of this food is just for my hedonistic self! There were two exceptions:
- $13.82 was spent on a shared brunch ($8.54 + $5.28, respectively).
- $13.28 was for items I will share with roommates (paper towels and canola oil). I also will share the milk, though that’s included in the brunch replacement total above and I didn’t want to double-count it.
I spent $40.34 on food for me.
Impulse Buys
I spent $14.96 on candy and gelato.
In my defense, the gelato was on sale ($3.99 vs $5.99 I think?) and will last me a while. I have no defense for the candy, other than I wouldn’t have bought it if I knew I was also buying gelato.
A Final Breakdown of Food Spending
Differences Between Stores
- The equivalent eggs at Trader Joe’s were $3.19 last week (vs $3.99 at Sprouts).
Point: Trader Joe’s.
- While navel oranges were on sale at Sprouts for cheap, blood oranges were $1.48/lb, vs about $1.15 at TJ’s. Navels are sweeter, but don’t look as pretty in a dipping sauce.
Point: Tie, I guess?
- I bought 3 bananas at both Sprouts and Trader Joe’s. The Sprouts bananas cost $0.82 vs. $0.57, and they are smaller bananas (see photo below).
Point: Trader Joe’s
- Tomatoes are always cheaper at Sprouts, though I don’t have any definitive figures
Point: Sprouts
The small Sprouts bananas are on the right:
All the rest of the points go to Trader Joe’s. (I am the proverbial East German judge and Trader Joe’s is my Yugoslavia.)
Why I Buy Cow Milk
- My roommates like it, and I’d rather mooch off theirs (with permission!) and chip in some of my own sometimes than keep a separate soy-based stash.
- I do a lot of baking and prefer to use real dairy in baked goods when possible.
Also of Note
The paper towels were purchased while on a date. (We were near a Target and needed to kill some time.)
Previously: Show Us Your Grocery Receipts, Part Three: International Edition
