Great Grocery Experiment, Round 2

Big, huge box of chips. Drinking pop out of a 2-liter. For breakfast. What is this?

It's the Great Grocery Experiment/Challenge, Round 2, of course.

You may recall this experiment from some months back. Basically, every time we went to the grocery store, there were things that the boys wanted to buy that I just couldn't buy. Oh sure, we buy fun items, but they're not always the name brand and I don't buy all the items the boys would like.

After hearing comments such as, "When I have kids, I'm never going to buy store brand food."

"I'm going to let my kids buy whatever they want," I decided to begin the Great Grocery Challenge.

The idea was simple:
I normally spend $150 at the grocery store a week.
That breaks down to $30 a week.
Or $15 for three and a half days, and three and a half days sounded like an appropriate length for an experiment.

Each boy received $15 and was instructed to buy enough food for themselves for 3.5 days. No food was off limits, but they could not go over $15. They were encouraged to price match (Wal-Mart matches any competitor's ad price), bring their own grocery bags (which saves three cents a bag), compare brands, prices, ounces, etc.

I would provide free salt and pepper and water. Butter was provided for a small fee. So, if any of the boys bought a loaf of bread or eggs, and knew they would need butter, they knew they should save a few cents.

No trading or sharing allowed, no second trips to the store, no complaining, no backing out. Once you committed, you were in.

Oh, and one more thing: I would not let them starve, but I would let them feel hunger.

The idea was not to see who could spend the least, but to figure out a way to eat, well, for 3.5 days. Buying a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly makes the days survivable, but ultimately, we're not talking survival. $5.00 is survivable, $15 should be comfortable.

As expected, the boys embraced the experiment with their usual enthusiasm. Three carts, three boys, dispersed throughout the store, darting throughout the aisles.

I noticed no one was in the produce area.

There was a lot of price figuring, a lot of calculating and writing, and eventually, we all ended up at the checkout area.

Jack, the youngest, purchased a $10 box of 36 bags of assorted chips. $10!! He also had a dozen eggs, one half gallon of milk, and a 2-liter of Dr. Thunder.

Gable, 11, had three boxes of Hot Pockets, two boxes of Pop-Tarts, one bottle of Gatorade, one small bottle of chocolate milk, one bottle of Fuze, one can of Arizona, a six-pack of Dr. Thunder, one cup of noodle soup, and two cans of tuna.

Jonah had a box of 100 popsicles, a 2-liter of Mountain Lightning, a 2-liter of Grape Ade, a loaf of white bread, a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, one pound of bacon, and three cups of noodle soup.

The hardest part for me? Seeing so much convenience, junk food and not saying a word! Knowing that the first day, they would eat like kings, and by the third day, they may feel awful, and worse, grumpy and hungry.

So, as we come to the end of day three, I am curious to see how this whole experiment wraps up.

One thing is for certain though: Little man with the case of potato chips is showing no signs of hunger, no signs of weakness.

How do you make a lesson out of that?

The Great Grocery Experiment

Over the past thirteen years, grocery shopping has gone through many phases and many challenges.

Shopping with an infant proved to be very stressful. Just as I finished my sprint through the grocery store, I would be faced with a wailing, hungry child. The prospect of feeding a tiny child in the grocery store was daunting, especially coupled with the fact that this hungry babe would soon be a very poopy babe and that would require a diaper change and probably, a clothing change. So, more often than not, I left my grocery cart and returned at a later time to pick up my goods.

As I gained more children and more experience, there were new challenges associated with the grocery store. I learned to starve my toddler before shopping so that the entire time in the store could be spent with little finger foods to pacify them. I learned to carry a baby, breastfeed, talk to a toddler, pick out food, and pull a shopping cart simeotaneously.

Then came the phase when the boys learned that they had some control over what went into the cart and that whatever went in the bags went back to our home and into their mouths. I can't say that we have ever had food-related tantrums in the store, but we definitely have had many discussions relating to what we need and what are luxury items. Granted, there is absolutely nothing wrong with luxury or convenience items. Sometimes one just has to have a pack of Oreos or the occasional can of Spaghetti-O's. I get that. What has been a lifelong lesson for me as well as the boys is the fact that we have a set amount of money alloted to groceries each week. If we buy all convenience foods, we will have no money left for the bulk of the food that we eat. Fun foods disappear within a day or two. After that, what is left?

Enter, the Great Grocery Experiment!

Yesterday morning, the boys and I were going through local ads to get our list together for grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart price matches any local competitor's price as long as you bring in the ad. For example, if Kroger has milk for 88 cents, when we get to the register, we just say, "I'd like to price match this milk for 88 cents." Done. It's quite cool, actually, and it allows us to get all the big deals without going to Kroger, Meijer, and Wal-Mart.

As we were going through the ads, the boy were circling everything that they were interested in: Doritos, Pop Tarts, Lunchables, Pepsi. As we began to narrow the list down, I had an idea and that idea became the basis for the Great Grocery Experiment.

Our grocery budget is $150 per week. There are five in our family, so that is $30 per person per week, or, rounded up, $5.00 a day. I challenged the boys to make out their own menu and feed themselves exclusively on the food that they could buy with $15 for three days. I knew there would be junk food and soda pop, but I was curious to see what would transpire.

Each boy spent time preparing a list and researching prices before we left. They had mixed feelings. Jonah was stoked and definitely did the most research. Gable was apprehensive, afraid that he would run out of food and starve. I assured him that he did not have to do the challenge, but if he did, over the three day period, I would not let him starve, but I would let him feel hungry. Jack was just excited and as any seven year old would be and did little planning or research. (He did, however, ask if he could buy only ramen noodles for three days and spend the rest on a Lego set.)

Although I really wanted (and I mean really wanted) to give them pointers and warnings, I also knew that in order for any of us to gain knowledge as well as enjoy the challenge, I needed to let them be. Be 13, be 10, and be 7...with $15 in their pockets! I wanted them to buy all junk food or all name-brands or all soda pop. I just wanted to have a little fun with it and see what happened.

Gable was definitely the most cautious at the store. He also is the one who spent the least. I think he has $1.50 left.

For his three days worth of food, he chose two instant lunch cups, three bags of Ramen noodles, a box of Cheez-Its, eight cans of Pepsi, one can of Skyline, one box of spaghetti, two cans of tuna, one can of Ravioli, one pizza lunchable, one half gallon of chocolate milk, and one half gallon of orange juice. A 10-year old's dream, a mother who worries a bit too much about healthy eating and healthy teeth's worst nightmare.

Jonah, as expected, is probably going to have the most satisfying meals over the course of three days. He bought pizza rolls, Doritos, a pound of bacon, a dozen eggs, pop, milk, five oranges, a box of macaroni and cheese, a loaf of bread, and two boxes of instant noodles. He's already had offers for trades, but the deal was clear: Whoever accepts the $15 accepts the full challenge rules of eating exclusively what they purchased. Water and salt and pepper are freebies from mom and dad. Also, they are permitted to purchase small quantities of butter or condiments, so they each saved some money for those purchases.



This is where I lost it. Look at this face. Look at his satisfaction. Look at a seven year old with $15 in his pocket...

Seriously, when Jack brought this big box of chips to me, I laughed so hard in the cereal aisle that I snorted. Several times. This stupid box was $10! Do you know how hard it was to let him buy this? But a challenge is a challenge. I did ask him what he planned to eat for breakfast. He said chips. I asked about dinner. He said chips. Lunch? You get the drift. All in all, Jack ended up with 36 bags of chips..., a dozen eggs, milk, Dr. Pepper, and vanilla wafers. And for dinner last night? He put five bags of chips on a plate and drank out of the Dr. Pepper bottle.

I simply cannot stop chuckling at all this.

One thing is for sure...this is going to be a really interesting three day challenge!