Then and Now: Grocery Shopping
When I think back to grocery shopping in 2001, I realise just how much has changed.
Prices have changed.
Supermarkets have changed.
The way we shop has changed.
Our family has changed too.
But some of the most important lessons I learned all those years ago are still the lessons that protect our grocery budget today.
Back in 2001, my grocery budget was $200 a month for everything, including the baby's medicines.
That did not just cover food.
It needed to cover groceries, toiletries, cleaning products and all the other little household necessities that found their way onto the shopping list, including the baby's medicines.
There was no room for impulse buying.
There was no extra money tucked away for another trip to the supermarket.
I shopped once a month. Wayne came with me, and with the three kids in one trolley, I pushed the other and calculated the cost of EVERYTHING that went into that trolley. If something had gone up from the month before, I had to put it back and find a cheaper alternative. I learned a lot about substitutions during those shopping trips.
If something ran out before the next shopping day, we went without it.
There simply was not any money to run out and buy more.
That may sound like an awful way to live.
Strangely enough, it was amazing.
It forced me to stop shopping by habit and start thinking carefully about what our family actually needed.
It taught me skills I still use every day.
Shopping Once a Month Changed Everything
When you know you are not going back to the supermarket for several weeks, you shop very differently.
I couldn't wander the aisles and throw things into the trolley because they looked good.
I had to think about every meal we would eat.
I had to know how much milk, flour, rice, pasta, meat, fruit and vegetables we were likely to use.
I had to think about breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and baking.
I had to make sure we had enough toilet paper, washing powder and other necessities to last the month.
That meant planning.
Lots of planning.
I wrote detailed meal plans.
I made careful shopping lists.
And once I arrived at the supermarket, I stuck to the list.
There was not any spare money for forgotten items or tempting extras.
That discipline became one of the most useful habits I have ever learned.
Even now, when our circumstances are different, fewer supermarket trips still save us money.
Every trip to the supermarket brings opportunities to spend.
There are specials at the ends of aisles, tempting displays near the checkout and clever marketing designed to convince us that we need something we had not even thought about before walking through the doors.
The fewer times we shop, the fewer chances we have to make unplanned purchases.
Fewer trips also save fuel, time and energy.
I Learned to Cook with Ingredients
One of the biggest lessons I learned was to buy ingredients rather than rely on convenience foods.
Ingredients gave me options.
A packet of convenience food usually made one thing.
A bag of flour could become bread, pancakes, scones, biscuits, pastry, pizza bases, cakes or a thickener for sauces and gravies.
Eggs could become breakfast, lunch, dinner, baking or a quick emergency meal.
Rice could be a side dish, fried rice, rice salad, rice pudding or the base of a filling casserole.
A bag of dried beans could become soup, chilli, patties, salads or taco filling.
When money was tight, ingredients stretched much further than ready-made foods.
They also made it easier to adjust our meals according to what we had.
If one ingredient ran out, I could often substitute something else.
Cooking from scratch gave me flexibility.
It also taught me not to panic when the pantry looked a little bare.
A few basic ingredients can still make a surprising number of meals.
That lesson is just as valuable in 2026 as it was in 2001.
Convenience food may save a little time, but it often costs more and gives us fewer options.
An ingredients-based pantry gives us choices.
And when prices rise, choices matter.
I Started Tracking Prices
Long before I had heard the term Price Book, I started tracking the prices of the things we bought regularly.
I needed to know what a good price looked like.
I needed to know whether a special was really a bargain.
I needed to recognise when a price had crept up and when it was worth buying an extra one or two for the pantry.
At first, it was simply information I jotted down on my shopping list. Then that shopping list became a shopping list book. Every month I'd make the shopping list, and put down the price I paid the month before. As I walked the supermarket I'd adjust the price of each item as it went into the trolley. I knew to the cent how much the groceries were going to cost when we went through the checkout.
Over time, it became more organised. I broke it down into seasonal lists - summer and winter - because we ate more beetroot and pineapple and salad in summer and more soups, casseroles and hot puddings in winter.
Eventually, it became the Price Book I still talk about today.
The Price Book remains one of the most useful tools in a Cheapskater’s shopping toolkit.
Supermarket catalogues tell us what a product costs this week.
A Price Book tells us whether that price is actually good.
It helps us compare brands, sizes and unit prices.
It shows us how often the products we use go on sale.
And it helps us avoid buying something simply because a bright sign says “special”.
Prices may be very different in 2026, but the purpose of the Price Book has not changed.
It gives us the information we need to spend wisely.
I Learned to Grow Some of Our Food
That tight grocery budget also encouraged me to learn how to grow some of what we ate. I grew up with a mother who had a large veggie garden. She not only grew a lot of our food, she preserved it too. It was either bottled or frozen for the future.
I did not begin with a large garden or expert knowledge. I called Mum often for advice on how to grow something or how to start seeds or when to plant out seedlings.
I started small.
A few herbs.
Some tomatoes.
Vegetables we used often - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage. Lots of parsley, garlic chives, spring onions and basil.
There were successes, failures and plenty of lessons along the way.
But every little harvest helped.
Today, our small suburban garden provides around half of our fresh produce needs.
That did not happen overnight.
It grew gradually, one garden bed, one season and one new skill at a time.
Growing food doesn't need to mean turning your entire backyard into a farm.
A pot of herbs, a tub of lettuce or a few tomato plants can still reduce waste, improve meals and save money.
More importantly, growing even a little food builds confidence.
It reminds us that the supermarket is not our only source of food.
The Pantry Was Built Gradually
In 2001, I was not building a pantry by rushing out and buying months of groceries in one trip.
There was no money to do that.
The pantry grew slowly.
When something we used regularly was at a genuinely good price, I bought an extra one if the budget allowed.
Sometimes it was only one extra tin.
One extra packet of pasta.
One extra bag of flour.
One extra bottle of detergent.
Some months we didn't use everything, but I always bought what was on the list, and added the extra to the pantry.
Those small additions accumulated.
Over time, they created a pantry that helped us cope with tight weeks, unexpected expenses and rising prices.
That is still the best way to build a pantry.
Slowly.
Carefully.
With foods and household supplies your family genuinely uses.
A useful pantry is not a collection of random bargains.
It is a working supply of ingredients and essentials that support your meal plan and household.
Grocery Shopping in 2026
Grocery shopping in 2026 looks very different from grocery shopping in 2001.
Prices are higher.
There are more convenience foods, delivery services and online shopping options.
Supermarkets are filled with products designed to save time, tempt us and encourage us to spend.
We can compare prices online, order groceries from the lounge room and have them delivered to the door.
Those conveniences can be helpful.
But they don't replace the basic skills that keep a grocery budget under control.
We still need to:
What 2001 Taught Me
That $200 monthly grocery budget taught me far more than how to make food stretch.
It taught me to be resourceful.
It taught me to plan ahead.
It taught me that going without something for a few days was not a disaster.
It taught me that ingredients are more useful than convenience foods.
It taught me that small gardens can make a real difference.
It taught me that knowing prices gives us power.
And it taught me that a well-planned pantry provides both savings and peace of mind.
At the time, I was simply trying to feed my family and stay within a very tight budget.
I did not realise I was learning skills I would still be using 25 years later.
Then and Now
In 2001, I shopped once a month because there was no money for extra trips.
In 2026, I still believe fewer shopping trips help protect the grocery budget, hence my once-a-year shopping plan.
In 2001, I tracked prices because every cent mattered.
In 2026, the Price Book remains essential because every dollar matters.
In 2001, I learned to cook from scratch because ingredients gave me more options.
In 2026, cooking from scratch still gives us flexibility and control over costs, and yes, it still gives me options.
In 2001, I started growing food because the grocery budget needed help.
In 2026, our suburban garden supplies on average around half our fresh produce, often with enough to preserve for the future. It gives me free exercise and I've grown to love pottering in the garden.
In 2001, I built the pantry one extra item at a time.
In 2026, I still believe a strong pantry is built gradually, thoughtfully and according to what the household actually uses.
So much has changed in 25 years.
And yet, when it comes to grocery shopping, the quiet habits that worked then still work now.
Plan carefully.
Shop less often.
Know your prices.
Buy ingredients.
Cook what you have.
Grow what you can.
Build the pantry slowly.
Those habits may not feel dramatic, but they have served our family for 25 years.
And I believe they will continue to serve us well for many years to come.
Live well. Spend less. Stress less.
Prices have changed.
Supermarkets have changed.
The way we shop has changed.
Our family has changed too.
But some of the most important lessons I learned all those years ago are still the lessons that protect our grocery budget today.
Back in 2001, my grocery budget was $200 a month for everything, including the baby's medicines.
That did not just cover food.
It needed to cover groceries, toiletries, cleaning products and all the other little household necessities that found their way onto the shopping list, including the baby's medicines.
There was no room for impulse buying.
There was no extra money tucked away for another trip to the supermarket.
I shopped once a month. Wayne came with me, and with the three kids in one trolley, I pushed the other and calculated the cost of EVERYTHING that went into that trolley. If something had gone up from the month before, I had to put it back and find a cheaper alternative. I learned a lot about substitutions during those shopping trips.
If something ran out before the next shopping day, we went without it.
There simply was not any money to run out and buy more.
That may sound like an awful way to live.
Strangely enough, it was amazing.
It forced me to stop shopping by habit and start thinking carefully about what our family actually needed.
It taught me skills I still use every day.
Shopping Once a Month Changed Everything
When you know you are not going back to the supermarket for several weeks, you shop very differently.
I couldn't wander the aisles and throw things into the trolley because they looked good.
I had to think about every meal we would eat.
I had to know how much milk, flour, rice, pasta, meat, fruit and vegetables we were likely to use.
I had to think about breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and baking.
I had to make sure we had enough toilet paper, washing powder and other necessities to last the month.
That meant planning.
Lots of planning.
I wrote detailed meal plans.
I made careful shopping lists.
And once I arrived at the supermarket, I stuck to the list.
There was not any spare money for forgotten items or tempting extras.
That discipline became one of the most useful habits I have ever learned.
Even now, when our circumstances are different, fewer supermarket trips still save us money.
Every trip to the supermarket brings opportunities to spend.
There are specials at the ends of aisles, tempting displays near the checkout and clever marketing designed to convince us that we need something we had not even thought about before walking through the doors.
The fewer times we shop, the fewer chances we have to make unplanned purchases.
Fewer trips also save fuel, time and energy.
I Learned to Cook with Ingredients
One of the biggest lessons I learned was to buy ingredients rather than rely on convenience foods.
Ingredients gave me options.
A packet of convenience food usually made one thing.
A bag of flour could become bread, pancakes, scones, biscuits, pastry, pizza bases, cakes or a thickener for sauces and gravies.
Eggs could become breakfast, lunch, dinner, baking or a quick emergency meal.
Rice could be a side dish, fried rice, rice salad, rice pudding or the base of a filling casserole.
A bag of dried beans could become soup, chilli, patties, salads or taco filling.
When money was tight, ingredients stretched much further than ready-made foods.
They also made it easier to adjust our meals according to what we had.
If one ingredient ran out, I could often substitute something else.
Cooking from scratch gave me flexibility.
It also taught me not to panic when the pantry looked a little bare.
A few basic ingredients can still make a surprising number of meals.
That lesson is just as valuable in 2026 as it was in 2001.
Convenience food may save a little time, but it often costs more and gives us fewer options.
An ingredients-based pantry gives us choices.
And when prices rise, choices matter.
I Started Tracking Prices
Long before I had heard the term Price Book, I started tracking the prices of the things we bought regularly.
I needed to know what a good price looked like.
I needed to know whether a special was really a bargain.
I needed to recognise when a price had crept up and when it was worth buying an extra one or two for the pantry.
At first, it was simply information I jotted down on my shopping list. Then that shopping list became a shopping list book. Every month I'd make the shopping list, and put down the price I paid the month before. As I walked the supermarket I'd adjust the price of each item as it went into the trolley. I knew to the cent how much the groceries were going to cost when we went through the checkout.
Over time, it became more organised. I broke it down into seasonal lists - summer and winter - because we ate more beetroot and pineapple and salad in summer and more soups, casseroles and hot puddings in winter.
Eventually, it became the Price Book I still talk about today.
The Price Book remains one of the most useful tools in a Cheapskater’s shopping toolkit.
Supermarket catalogues tell us what a product costs this week.
A Price Book tells us whether that price is actually good.
It helps us compare brands, sizes and unit prices.
It shows us how often the products we use go on sale.
And it helps us avoid buying something simply because a bright sign says “special”.
Prices may be very different in 2026, but the purpose of the Price Book has not changed.
It gives us the information we need to spend wisely.
I Learned to Grow Some of Our Food
That tight grocery budget also encouraged me to learn how to grow some of what we ate. I grew up with a mother who had a large veggie garden. She not only grew a lot of our food, she preserved it too. It was either bottled or frozen for the future.
I did not begin with a large garden or expert knowledge. I called Mum often for advice on how to grow something or how to start seeds or when to plant out seedlings.
I started small.
A few herbs.
Some tomatoes.
Vegetables we used often - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage. Lots of parsley, garlic chives, spring onions and basil.
There were successes, failures and plenty of lessons along the way.
But every little harvest helped.
Today, our small suburban garden provides around half of our fresh produce needs.
That did not happen overnight.
It grew gradually, one garden bed, one season and one new skill at a time.
Growing food doesn't need to mean turning your entire backyard into a farm.
A pot of herbs, a tub of lettuce or a few tomato plants can still reduce waste, improve meals and save money.
More importantly, growing even a little food builds confidence.
It reminds us that the supermarket is not our only source of food.
The Pantry Was Built Gradually
In 2001, I was not building a pantry by rushing out and buying months of groceries in one trip.
There was no money to do that.
The pantry grew slowly.
When something we used regularly was at a genuinely good price, I bought an extra one if the budget allowed.
Sometimes it was only one extra tin.
One extra packet of pasta.
One extra bag of flour.
One extra bottle of detergent.
Some months we didn't use everything, but I always bought what was on the list, and added the extra to the pantry.
Those small additions accumulated.
Over time, they created a pantry that helped us cope with tight weeks, unexpected expenses and rising prices.
That is still the best way to build a pantry.
Slowly.
Carefully.
With foods and household supplies your family genuinely uses.
A useful pantry is not a collection of random bargains.
It is a working supply of ingredients and essentials that support your meal plan and household.
Grocery Shopping in 2026
Grocery shopping in 2026 looks very different from grocery shopping in 2001.
Prices are higher.
There are more convenience foods, delivery services and online shopping options.
Supermarkets are filled with products designed to save time, tempt us and encourage us to spend.
We can compare prices online, order groceries from the lounge room and have them delivered to the door.
Those conveniences can be helpful.
But they don't replace the basic skills that keep a grocery budget under control.
We still need to:
- Plan meals.
- Check what we already have.
- Make a shopping list.
- Know our best prices.
- Buy useful ingredients.
- Cook from scratch.
- Avoid unnecessary supermarket trips.
- Use food before it is wasted.
- Build the pantry gradually.
What 2001 Taught Me
That $200 monthly grocery budget taught me far more than how to make food stretch.
It taught me to be resourceful.
It taught me to plan ahead.
It taught me that going without something for a few days was not a disaster.
It taught me that ingredients are more useful than convenience foods.
It taught me that small gardens can make a real difference.
It taught me that knowing prices gives us power.
And it taught me that a well-planned pantry provides both savings and peace of mind.
At the time, I was simply trying to feed my family and stay within a very tight budget.
I did not realise I was learning skills I would still be using 25 years later.
Then and Now
In 2001, I shopped once a month because there was no money for extra trips.
In 2026, I still believe fewer shopping trips help protect the grocery budget, hence my once-a-year shopping plan.
In 2001, I tracked prices because every cent mattered.
In 2026, the Price Book remains essential because every dollar matters.
In 2001, I learned to cook from scratch because ingredients gave me more options.
In 2026, cooking from scratch still gives us flexibility and control over costs, and yes, it still gives me options.
In 2001, I started growing food because the grocery budget needed help.
In 2026, our suburban garden supplies on average around half our fresh produce, often with enough to preserve for the future. It gives me free exercise and I've grown to love pottering in the garden.
In 2001, I built the pantry one extra item at a time.
In 2026, I still believe a strong pantry is built gradually, thoughtfully and according to what the household actually uses.
So much has changed in 25 years.
And yet, when it comes to grocery shopping, the quiet habits that worked then still work now.
Plan carefully.
Shop less often.
Know your prices.
Buy ingredients.
Cook what you have.
Grow what you can.
Build the pantry slowly.
Those habits may not feel dramatic, but they have served our family for 25 years.
And I believe they will continue to serve us well for many years to come.
Live well. Spend less. Stress less.