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As training ramps up, so does my grocery bill...

missyschorpionmissyschorpion
in General Training Discussions

As Jan and I prep for our first full Ironman, I seem to be noticing many changes.  Some expected- fatigue, mojo swings (on top of the world after a long run, to I am never riding a bike on roads like this again..)  and need for MUCH more sleep.  All these experiences are something I expected from previous seasons of training. However, one thing I was never expecting was just how much money we would start spending on food! And no, I'm not talking eating out at gourmet restaurants, I just mean the groceries. Packing lunch for work the next day, feels like packing for a week long camping trip. 

Any ideas/ suggestions from other ENers?  Are we just overdoing it and eating too much??  I am contemplating joining Costco or some other type of grocery mega-store.  As we are just a family of 2 I wasn't expecting these types of grocery bill changes until we decided to invite Baby Schorpion into the family. image  All thoughts are welcome and appreciated!

Comments

  • MattAaronsonMattAaronson
    Honestly I don't think you should notice a difference in the overall bill, although maybe the sorts of foods differ (a little). I think $/calorie can be low enough that even if you increase calories, you won't see $ move too much, and frankly I think sometime people overestimate the number of calories they actually need because of not managing hunger properly. Now if you have skewed your shopping to be higher QUALITY, that is a different story...the bill will certainly go up if you are consuming less calorically-dense foods like fruits and vegetables. But the extra cost of 1600 calories of pasta (one box) is really quite negligible. Another exeption for me is gels and "sport foods" including Gatorade. That is expensive and when I ramp up training I eat a lot of it. I buy all that stuff on line and in fact just got >$100 worth from Amazon this week!!
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    x2 what Matt said..my daily food is the same, I eat more of the workout calories and those things just plain cost money!! image
  • missyschorpionmissyschorpion
    @Mat and @ Patrick, thanks for the suggestions! I have found Amazon to be super helpful when it comes to finding deals on other things, so I will have to start looking for gels/ sports nutrition there as well. As far as day-to-day Jan and I have always maintained a healthy diet of fresh fruits, veggies, and lean protein. I think what has changed most is the number of small snacks we have throughout the day- apples, oranges, veggies, etc. We are following the advice of the core diet and trying to eat something small every 3 hours.

    Perhaps with this winter being so brutal the price of the fresher grocery items has also gone up? Have you had any luck getting fresh produce and lean meats at the discount/ mega-grocery stores?

    Thanks again for the help! image
  • Steve WestSteve West
    @Melissa - I get all my gel (Gu and PowerGel) at National Running Center for $1 each. Minimum order of 24.
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