When Marisol and Trey Ackerman sat down in January to look at their 2025 credit-card statements, the number that jumped out wasn’t their mortgage payment or their car insurance. It was food.
The Ackermans — Marisol (a pediatric nurse), Trey (a software engineer), and their two kids, ages 6 and 9 — spent $1,142 a month on groceries in 2025. They live in a comfortable Decatur bungalow and shop mostly at the DeKalb International Farmers Market and the local Publix.
That number was up 23 percent from 2024 and up 41 percent from 2023. They decided to do something about it.
What they did
For six months, the Ackermans ran what they call “the experiment.” They weren’t extreme. No all-coupon lifestyle. No homesteading. Just a series of small, repeatable changes:
1. They switched to Costco for the staples
The single biggest change. They bought a Costco membership ($65/year) and moved all their shelf-stable staples — rice, beans, pasta, canned tomatoes, oats, frozen vegetables, chicken breast in bulk — to Costco. They kept Publix for fresh produce, dairy, and occasional splurges.
“The Costco move alone saved us about $300 a month.”
— Marisol Ackerman
2. They planned meals — but only for weeknights
Sunday afternoon, they planned five weeknight dinners. The plan used overlapping ingredients (chicken on Monday and Wednesday, ground beef on Tuesday and Thursday). Weekends were free-form.
3. They stopped buying “snack” groceries for the kids
The biggest single line-item cut. The Ackermans realized they were spending about $180 a month on individually packaged kids’ snacks. They swapped to buying a small weekly assortment in bulk and portioning into reusable containers. Cost: about $40 a month.
4. They shopped the international grocery
The DeKalb International Farmers Market has produce and pantry staples at roughly half the price of Publix for many items. The Ackermans made it their weekly Saturday stop.
5. They bought a chest freezer
A $280 chest freezer, paid back in about three months via bulk meat and produce purchases.
The results
After six months:
- Grocery bill: $675/month — down 41 percent from the start of the year.
- Food waste: down about 60 percent — meal planning + smaller fresh-produce runs.
- Eating out: roughly unchanged — about $240 a month.
They didn’t count time in their calculation. But Marisol estimates the planning takes about 90 minutes a week of mostly passive work — Sunday afternoon while watching a game.
What didn’t work
- They tried a meatless-Monday thing that lasted three weeks. The kids rebelled.
- They tried a community-supported-agriculture share and got a CSA box full of vegetables they didn’t know how to cook. They canceled after two months.
- They tried a strict no-Impulse-buy rule at Publix. It worked, but the friction eventually wore them down and they abandoned it.
The takeaway
The Ackermans aren’t food influencers. They’re a working family with two young kids who did the math and made some specific, sustainable changes. None of what they did was extreme.
The number that surprised me most wasn’t the 41 percent — it was that the family reports they’re eating better than they were before. More variety, more fresh produce, fewer processed snacks.
The savings were real. The side effect was healthier kids.
Aisha Bell covers business and the economy for WACN 21. Reach her at abell@wacn21.com.
