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[56K WARN] Shopping for a large family at Costco
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:27 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Ever wonder what shopping for a family of seven looks like in the back of a 2006 Chevy Suburban?
This is floor to ceiling, seat back to tailgate. $659 worth of grocery shopping for my family. Just thought I'd share this with those of you that are thinking of ever getting married or having kids.
PS This stuff will last my household about two weeks.
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:28 pm
by neophyte
WOW you got me beat. I buy about a 1/3 of that from Sam's every month. It lasts a month. Just the same, I feel your pain.
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:43 pm
by alvinphp
I eat out 5-6 days a week. I live in a place where there are tons of great places to eat. Not good for my pocket book though.
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:29 pm
by seodevhead
I'm with Alvin... I eat out on average twice a day. But I still eat a lot of food at home, just cause I'm hungry all the time. Now you got me hungry for cinnamon toast crunch.
Question... do you lads over in the UK have the same cereal as us here in the states? Like, do you all have cheerios and raisin bran, fruity pebbles, smacks, honeycomb, special K, rice krispies, count chocula, etc? Or do you have british cereals? Perhaps you don't even use the term cereal?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:23 am
by Kieran Huggins
@seo: It's just a bit different in the UK.. they have Leftennent Crunch, Fortunate Charms, Archduke VonChocula and AmalgamO's (all 3 cereals combined).
@everah: you sure go through a lot of coffee... 5 monkeys you say? And what is that on the right? Worlds largest BBQ sauce?
I live next door to a grocery store, and across the street from a great Pho place - I live a life of difficult decisions! I try to shop every other day and freeze as little as possible, encourages me to eat "fresher" and it gets me out of the house.
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:59 am
by Luke
looks about like my mom's van used to look after shopping at costco / winco. I was 1 of 4 monkeys.
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:15 am
by Chris Corbyn
Kieran Huggins wrote:@seo: It's just a bit different in the UK.. they have Leftennent Crunch, Fortunate Charms, Archduke VonChocula and AmalgamO's (all 3 cereals combined).
@everah: you sure go through a lot of coffee... 5 monkeys you say? And what is that on the right? Worlds largest BBQ sauce?
I live next door to a grocery store, and across the street from a great Pho place - I live a life of difficult decisions! I try to shop every other day and freeze as little as possible, encourages me to eat "fresher" and it gets me out of the house.
I reckon we get the same big-brand cereals yeah, although I think you guys eat a lot more (genuinely, no offence) junk food (sweetened cereals) than we do. We'll have the same Kelloggs Cornflakes, Bran Flakes, Shredded Wheat, Weetabix etc though. I like this cereal called Country Crisp with little bits of freeze dried fruit in it but usually I just eat weetabix with milk and no sugar. We do have a fair amount of sweetened cereals (Coco-pops, Frosties..).
Anyone remember Lucky Charms?
~Everah, dude, wtf? Did you have to drive all that home and leave your family stood in the car park before you could squeeze them in there?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 8:40 am
by Luke
d11wtq wrote:I reckon we get the same big-brand cereals yeah, although I think you guys eat a lot more (genuinely, no offence) junk food (sweetened cereals) than we do.
It's pretty ridiculous how much crap us Americans eat. I'd really like to start trying to be more healthy. I eat like 2 bowls of cereal a day sometimes (because it's so easy to make and I'm A) lazy and B) always in a rush
d11wtq wrote:Anyone remember Lucky Charms?

I have a box at my house

Has anybody tried those new Eggo Waffles cereal? It's pretty good. It's like a combination of Waffle Crisp and Honey Comb. By the way I tasted Honey Comb the other day and it's gross now. They changed it.

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:19 am
by onion2k
$659 of stuff only lasts 2 weeks? Plus presumably there's fresh food, milk, etc on top of that? assuming that would only be $20 a week that makes it up to $700 every fortnight. Between 7 people ... $100 ... two weeks ... $50/week each, or $7/day. That's insane. I spend less than that and I'm single buying things in quantities of 1. How come you're spending so much when you're buying in bulk?
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:02 am
by RobertGonzalez
onion2k wrote:$659 of stuff only lasts 2 weeks? Plus presumably there's fresh food, milk, etc on top of that? assuming that would only be $20 a week that makes it up to $700 every fortnight. Between 7 people ... $100 ... two weeks ... $50/week each, or $7/day. That's insane. I spend less than that and I'm single buying things in quantities of 1. How come you're spending so much when you're buying in bulk?
For the record, this was a bit of an odd trip to Costco in that we hadn't been there for almost three weeks. Usually when we go it costs between $350 and $450 and lasts about two weeks (not including things like bathroom tissue and paper towels). We actually only bought three packs of meat on this trip, which is odd. We also did not buy any fruits or veggies and no milk or eggs because it was a Saturday evening and all the good stuff was gone. So I ended up going to the grocery store a little while later for the fresh stuff. We also bought three videos for the kids for a grand added total of $40.
Seriously though, my wife and I homeschool our kids. That means that the wife and kids, six people, are in the house almost all day long. Consumption rates are a lot higher in my house just for that reason. Things that most people at work or school take for granted are used up at home in my house, so it makes things go a lot quicker.
@kiernan: Dish soap, not BBQ sauce (though I still have two bottles of Cattleman's sauce left from the last trip since the weather has not been the best BBQing weather lately).
@d11: That is why we have a Suburban now. We used to have a van, and trips like this would literally put groceries on the wife and kids in order to get home.
@onion: Buying in bulk is the only way to get by. When you look at the cost of things that would suit one two people, I get them for 6 to 8 people for about twice the cost. Not bad in overall cost. But still, when it means having to supply the needs of 7 people, 6 of whom spend a predominant amount of time inside the house, it gets expensive. And it is not even on frivolous stuff either, like frozen foods and what not. We do buy some of that stuff, but not nearly as much as we could to make it easier to survive during the day.
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:12 am
by seodevhead
Everah.. it must be like a scene from The Grapes of Wrath at your house. I could only imagine

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:27 am
by RobertGonzalez
I can't say for certain why, but that amused me greatly.
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:44 am
by daedalus__
I was thinking about having kids until I read this thread.