Part 2 will be coming soon

August has turned out to be a busier month than expected. Stay tuned...

Part 1: Grocery Shopping

At my previous residence in New Mexico, I never had any trouble figuring out where to grocery shop. There was a Smiths in my town, or there was a Wal-Mart in the nearest adjacent town 20 miles away. In LA, on the other hand, there are countless grocery stores, farmer’s markets, family owned ethnic shops, and multi-purpose mega-complexes that, when all is said and done, sell essentially the same things at wildly varying prices, sizes, and quality. I have found that by spreading out my grocery trips across many different types of markets I can save as much as 50% on my monthly grocery bill.

Vons / Ralphs / Albertsons

Ralphs, Vons, and Albertsons are your generic chain grocery stores with weekly specials that require a free membership card. It really doesn’t matter which one of these stores you go to, as they have basically the same deals on alternating weeks. Personally, I go to Ralphs because it is owned by the same company that owns Smiths and (more importantly) because it is a walkable distance from my apartment. There are three categories of food items that I generally buy at Ralphs:

1) Basic perishables – milk, bread, spinach, whatever fruit is on sale, etc.

2) Weekly specials – these can vary from week to week, but usually I try and get something in the meat category, some sort of snack, and cereal

3) Anything interesting from the clearance bin (the bin is usually hidden in some non-obvious place in the store, like next to the bathroom).

I usually end up going to Ralphs more than any other place to grocery shop because it is closest and because the stuff I buy from Ralphs usually spoils the fastest. On the other hand, a large part of my diet comes from food I buy at other places.

Trader Joes / Whole Foods / Bristol Farms

Unlike the generic chain grocery stores, which are all basically the same, there is a separate line of generic hippy/organic grocery stores, which differ significantly in their prices. At Trader Joes you can find a very nice selection of high quality frozen goods and alcohol for very cheap, as well as an assortment of other groceries at slightly higher prices. They also give out free samples, which is a big bonus for those of you that spend an hour shopping as I do. Whole Foods caters to people with special dietary needs (“I only eat organic foods that are primary colors”) and have a large selection of expensive health and beauty products that were not tested on animals. Everything at Bristol Farms costs about twice as much as the same product anywhere else, but they do make great cakes! In short, I visit my favorite hippy store (Trader Joes) about twice a month and buy the following:

1) Frozen foods (orange chicken, edamame, etc)

2) Alcohol (Lambic, two buck chuck, etc)

3) Desserts (cake, licorice, chocolate bars)

Costco / Food-4-Less / Smart-and-Final

Since I buy food only for myself (rather than for a large village) I generally try and avoid stores that only sell bulk food, especially if they require membership fees. However, every month or two it is nice to stock up on non-perishable items that I consume in large quantities, such as:

1) Grains (rice, pasta, and macaroni and cheese)

2) Non-food items (toilet paper, paper towels, and trash bags)

3) Bulk canned goods (tuna, corn, etc.)

While Costco is my bulk-food store of choice, I refuse to pay $50 for a membership, and therefore only go when I can find a friend with a membership card and a spare seat in their car. Food-4-Less and Smart-and-Final tend not to have as good or as cheap a selection as Costco, but they have no membership fees (or so I have been told… I have never actually been to either of these stores).

99 Cent Store / Dollar Store

The 99 Cent Store is my favorite place to grocery shop, and I try to shop here on about every third supermarket trip. While I would not necessarily trust their produce or meat products, almost everything else in the store is a bargain, as long as you don’t mind eating generic brand foods. There are many categories of food and food-related products that I buy here on a regular basis:

1) Non-bulk canned goods (vegetables, sauces, chili, fruit, etc)

2) Instant meals (Asian noodles with included spice packets, Bumble-Bee tuna/crackers combo meals, etc)

3) Snacks (pumpkin seeds, peanuts, fig bars, and beef jerky)

4) Kitchen accessories – these stores have basically every kitchen accessory imaginable including pots, pans, bowls, and cutting boards, but most of these major accessories are very low quality. Smaller accessories such as pizza cutters, kitchen timers, corn on the cob holders, hot pads, and measuring cups are usually just as nice as the ones you get at Ralphs.

5) Special edition items – major companies often overproduce specialty items when they are first introduced (for example, the M&M dark chocolate candies), and all the excess ends up at bargain stores at way below the market price.

6) Spices – they have a very good selection of Mexican spices and garlic

The Dollar Store (and all of the other off-shoot and copy-cat stores) are basically the same as the 99 Cent Store, except that they tend to focus their attention on things like useless toys from China rather than food products. But if the dollar store near you sells food, then by all means check it out!

Farmer’s Markets

If you are lucky enough to live in a place that has a weekly farmer’s market at a time that you can reasonably escape work to go visit, then go there to get your fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers. You will find the best prices and the best tasting and least genetically engineered food at farmer’s markets than you can find anywhere else. I try to go to a farmer’s market a couple of times a month, but due to the inconvenient hours of most of the markets around me, I do not end up making it anywhere near that frequently.

Part 1 Summary – Grocery Shopping

1) Visit Ralphs every week for perishables, clearance items, and weekly specials.

2) Visit Trader Joes every few weeks for frozen foods and alcohol.

3) Visit Costco every month or two for paper products and bulk food.

4) Visit the 99 Cent Store every week or two for kitchen accessories, most non-perishables, spices, and special edition items.

5) Visit a nearby farmer’s market for produce whenever you can.

Hopefully by following these guidelines, you can eat well and save money doing it! Stay tuned for part 2 of this series Living in Los Angeles on a grad student salary… Eating Out

Overview

Surviving any city on a graduate student’s salary (~$13/hour) can be a daunting task. Surviving Los Angeles on a graduate student’s salary is nearly impossible without carefully budgeting your money, or (as I prefer to do) strategic shopping. While Los Angeles may be one of the most expensive cities in the United States, it is also one of the most diverse, and as such provides countless options for essentially every purchase at a wide range of prices and quality. By choosing the appropriate restaurants, grocery stores, shops, websites, and the like, you can learn to live in comfort with relatively low cost.