Ok, I have a grocery question...

[Katiebug_1976]

Mabye I just seriously have spring fever, but it just seems that I can't get my mind to focus on anything lately! I sat down this morning and tried to make a grocery list, and it was REALLY HARD! I just couldn't focus. Usually I make out a menu for the week, then compile a list of what is needed. Anyway, I'm just going to be totally honest, and hope that some of you will share your thoughts with me. We are a family of 7 and try to usually spend $100-120 per week (however there are some weeks, usually 1-2 every 2 months that we only have $60-$80)on groceries. When I have the full $120, I try to only spend $100 and put $20 aside for stocking up when things go on sale. If I may ask, what do you spend on groceries, and what do you buy/eat? I'm not trying to be nosy, just trying to get a new perspective on the grocery thing, and mabye some new ideas. Grocery shopping used to be one of my favorite things to do, but anymore it seems to be such a struggle to make the $$$ stretch far enough, thus taking the fun out of it.

[Christy B]

Good gracious, we are a family of four and spend more than that. And I do try to be careful! Granted, we have three cats who eat us out of the house and home, and poop away a huge carton of litter every week.

 

I find that the fewer processed foods I buy (with the exception of staples like rice, beans, etc) the less I spend, and the healthier we eat.

 

Sorry, I can't help you -- you're already doing WAY better than I am. And I even gave up my beloved diet sodas to try to cut back on the bills.

[HRAAB]

There are 6 living at home currently, although one dd is gone much of time due to school/work. I rarely spend over $120. a week. However, we have a huge garden and orchard, I preserve everything I can get my hands on. I do buy in bulk things such as dried beans, brown rice, lentils, oats. A couple times a year we buy organic beef - we're not big meat eaters though. So my weekly expenditures are mostly for whatever fresh produce I need when not growing in my backyard and dairy products plus household items. I never buy pre-made, pre-packaged anything, snack foods, etc. I make my own bread although I don't grind my own wheat - yet. Make my own peanut/almond butter. It works for us.

 

Janet

[daisychics]

We buy lots of ground turkey 4 pack for $12.00 at costco. We use it for meatloaf, taco nights, chili, hamburgers, spaghetti (I saute it in garlic and onion and then add tomato sauce), and omelette (for dinners). We've been trying to cut our grocery bill down to $400/month-- so far for March, we're good -- but we still have two more weeks. The ground turkey helps us through those rough days when we want to go out to eat. :D Not an expert, still learning to cut costs.

 

:bigear:

[MamaT]

There are 7 of us that I have to buy/cook for. Only my youngest two eat small - the rest are big eaters. Having said that, our grocery bill weekly is over double what you are spending. I am not frivolous with the spending either. I also make menus and buy only what I need. I think if you are only spending $120 weekly you are doing GREAT.

[sadiegirl]

We are terrible grocery shoppers when it comes to a budget! I hate to buy processed foods and packaged items but I also find our fresh fruits and vegetables don't last as well as they used to! Plus they are expensive!

My husband and oldest son hunt and so we have venison tenderloins, roast, ground and breakfast cuts that help with the meat.

But, I think our biggest problem is planning as my husband and I don't like to plan our meals in advance. We tend to decide that day and so he may go by the store every day if I don't have an ingredient and the store is right by his office.

Sounds like you are doing great on budget compared to the four of us! Have you thought about buying at SAM's? May not add excitement to the shopping experience but it might help with your cost?!?

I love dishes that allow for good leftovers as that always stretches a dollar so maybe look for soup recipes and casseroles that will carry over to a next day meal.

[Jennifer in MI]

I agree that you are doing GREAT!!! You really should pat yourself on the back! Does your total include toiletries? Do you use coupons to get that total?

 

I have a family of 6 and we have been spending around $100/week. But, I spend about an hour a week going through the sales circular and planning my meals around what's on sale and what to stock up on. But, my total does not include toiletries or laundry soap or stuff like that. I recently started using CVS bucks to get most of my toiletries for free. I also make my own laundry soap.

 

I love sharing tips with everyone here on how to decrease my monthly expenses.

[Katiebug_1976]

We are terrible grocery shoppers when it comes to a budget! I hate to buy processed foods and packaged items but I also find our fresh fruits and vegetables don't last as well as they used to! Plus they are expensive!

My husband and oldest son hunt and so we have venison tenderloins, roast, ground and breakfast cuts that help with the meat.

But, I think our biggest problem is planning as my husband and I don't like to plan our meals in advance. We tend to decide that day and so he may go by the store every day if I don't have an ingredient and the store is right by his office.

Sounds like you are doing great on budget compared to the four of us! Have you thought about buying at SAM's? May not add excitement to the shopping experience but it might help with your cost?!?

I love dishes that allow for good leftovers as that always stretches a dollar so maybe look for soup recipes and casseroles that will carry over to a next day meal.

We used to shop at Sam's all the time, and loved it. However, now the nearest Sam's is 80 miles away so I don't know if I could justify the membership cost, cost of gas etc. for the savings I would get. But I keep thinking about it.

 

I am going to do the garden thing again this year, also. Last year we grew TONS of tomatoes and tried to make our own ketchup (DO NOT TRY THIS!!!!!). It was quite an expensive DISASTER! We ended up selling the rest of our excess tomatoes at the end of our road, and the farmer's market. This year, I am going to try to grow things we can eat fresh, and mabye try canning something other than tomato products (HA!HA!).

 

I do bake most of our bread, as well. And we try not to buy pre packaged or processed foods.

 

Thank you all for your thoughts, I'm starting to fell like mabye I'm not doing so bad. I guess after so long of trying to cut back and get out of debt etc. I just am not sure if I've cut all I can.

[Katiebug_1976]

I agree that you are doing GREAT!!! You really should pat yourself on the back! Does your total include toiletries? Do you use coupons to get that total?

 

I have a family of 6 and we have been spending around $100/week. But, I spend about an hour a week going through the sales circular and planning my meals around what's on sale and what to stock up on. But, my total does not include toiletries or laundry soap or stuff like that. I recently started using CVS bucks to get most of my toiletries for free. I also make my own laundry soap.

 

I love sharing tips with everyone here on how to decrease my monthly expenses.

 

Jennifer,

I have been making our laundry soap for the last year and a half. I also started selling it last summer at the farmer's market. Yes, toiletries and household things are included in our grocery budget. I started looking through the coupons about a year ago, but rarely found any for the things we normally buy. Most are for name brand foods, and I usually buy generic, or the Aldi brand. We have a Walgreens, but I rarely get in there to shop their sales or use their coupons. I have heard that CVS has better coupons than Walgreens. I wish we had one nearby.

[Tap]

I haven't tried it, but e-mealz sounds like it may give you a bit of a break.

 

http://e-mealz.com/

[Joanna H]

I think you are doing great! Our local grocery store marks down prices on things like meat, bread, eggs and milk in the mornings on certain days. If you can find out when your local store does that, you could save some money that way. You can freeze the meat if you are not ready to cook it. Or you could make some breakfast dishes to freeze.

 

We try to do the once a month cooking and when it is executed correctly (no eating out or extras) it does save us money. We have six children, the older two being boys who eat lots of food!!!

[Rosie_0801]

Make my own peanut/almond butter. It works for us.

Janet

 

How? Can you use a food processor or do you have some kind of funky gadget?

 

Rosie

[HRAAB]

How? Can you use a food processor or do you have some kind of funky gadget?

 

Rosie

 

I have a Vita Mix, and I LOVE it. Homemade peanut butter is so good, but it did take quite some time to get my kids weaned off Jif I'm ashamed to admit.

 

Janet

[Prairie~Phlox]

I coupon and do buy a few processed items. My goal right now for a family of 5 is $350.00 Now we do buy meat from my parents about once a year, I have been keeping track of savings since Jan. This month, I decided to do a detailed list. This is exactly what I've purchased this month

Some of the "junk" that I buy is only for rolling the ECB's (like the Slimquick) and other things were free, like the Seapak Shrimp, not something I would normally buy. Things with prices, were Sam's Club Items. Pillsbury stuff was all free, some of this stuff I donate to our church's daycare.

5 papers (for the coupons)

1 Edy’s ice cream

1 Meijer ice cream

1 gum

2 Secret

1 Fusion

1 Carnation

1 vitamin

2 CVS .99 nuts

1 Act (small one)

1 Slimquick

7 Gillette Bodywash

9 Seapak shrimp

10 Grands

4 Healthy Goodness lunch meat

7 doz. Eggs

12 cans of DelMonte tomatoes (no salt)

14 gallons milk

Lettuce (large bag of Romaine, 6 heads)

10 Pillsbury pie crust (3 went to Monica)

25 Old Orchard Juice

10# of sugar

Swiss cheese $8.12

Tomato Sauce $2.68 for a #10 can

Butter four pounds was $6.12 I couldn't believe it.

Parm cheese brick, $10.94 (this will probably last me at least half a year if not more)

Fresh pineapple $2.88

5 Michelina's dinners

4 cans veggies (Delmonte)

1 English Muffins

4 pkgs. Brats

bag of chicken wings (5.99 sale from 7.99 reg.)

Huggies Wipes .99 for a baby shower

4 Cottonelle

3 cans Pringles

2 5# bags of unbleached flour

fresh apples

cantaloupe

10# bag of potatoes

2 Powerade (qt. container)

1 Gillette Shampoo

Split Chicken breast, just got 1 package for dinner

Cheerios -Free from a Kroger coupon that Lori gave me (she gave me a small stack)

1 pkg. Hotdogs-also coupon that she gave me, they were .50 after the coupon.

bleach, I ran out of.

3 Tyson Anytizers

Motts (1- 6 pack)

3 zone bars

2 Palmolive

1 Crest

5 vitamin water

Pkg. chicken

2 cantaloupe

1 Hawaiin Roll

24 pack of water

cucumber

Chix Leg quarters

2 ziploc bags

celery

apples

2 No Yolks noodles

1 cont. Cottage cheese

5 boxes of cereal

2 rolls of sausage

Ricotta Cheese

8 Welch’s Aqua Water

2 Land of Lakes spreadable butter

3 boxes FiberOne bars

3 box Chexbars

6 Powerade (20oz. 8 packs)

4 Bagelfuls

1 box mixed donuts

3 Lysol TBC

2 Lysol BR cleaners

3 24 pack bottled water

2 small boxes wheat thins

2 Dry Ideas

1 Irish Spring Bodywash

1 Purex laundry detergent

1 Gillette Shampoo

1 Suave Clarifying shampoo

1 Colgate Max

2 Powerade

2 Nature Valley gran. bars

1 10# bag of Chick leg quarters

3 Seyfert chips (didn't really need these, but at .99 a good deal)

1 leaf lettuce

1 cucumber

4 avacados

1 pkg. Oreos

1 ice cream

$15.53

8 # Mozz cheese ($8.82)

1 pineapple ($2.88)

4 pkgs. Tortillas ($3.83)

1 loaf bread

2 hamburger buns

1 hot dog bun

 

 

and so far I've spent: $255.08 saved based in store receipts: $475.60

 

[Jen in PA]

I think it sounds like you are doing a good job. I feed a family of four (although my stepson is here some weekends as well) on $75 - $100 a week.... but what I actually try to do is shop for a 10 day period each trip. That means that we have a pretty well-stocked pantry of items that fit into our regular routine. When I see a great deal I try to stock up. This week I ended up buying another corned beef because they had several left after St. Patrick's day, and we enjoyed it so much that it seemed like a worthwhile indulgence to grab a second one. I also lucked into good deals on split chicken breast and flounder, although I could skip buying meat/fish for a couple of weeks if I didn't like the prices. The only "splurges" on our receipt from shopping yesterday are 2 loaves of white bread from the in-store bakery (DH just has not adapted to eating my homemade ww, but the loaves are just 99 cents apiece so I can't complain too much), and some cold cuts, also for dh. I don't even think these are so bad as splurges go, since it costs much less than if he ate lunch out.

 

Today I baked quickbread and muffins for the week, tomorrow I will bake ww bread, and Monday I will make a giant pot of beans (lunch for me for the week), and yogurt. I do find that we save a lot on the things that I make on my own, since I am pretty particular about what we eat and just cannot afford to buy most of the prepared foods that I would deem acceptable.

[Katiebug_1976]

I coupon and do buy a few processed items. My goal right now for a family of 5 is $350.00 Now we do buy meat from my parents about once a year, I have been keeping track of savings since Jan. This month, I decided to do a detailed list. This is exactly what I've purchased this month

Some of the "junk" that I buy is only for rolling the ECB's (like the Slimquick) and other things were free, like the Seapak Shrimp, not something I would normally buy. Things with prices, were Sam's Club Items. Pillsbury stuff was all free, some of this stuff I donate to our church's daycare.

5 papers (for the coupons)

1 Edy’s ice cream

1 Meijer ice cream

1 gum

2 Secret

1 Fusion

1 Carnation

1 vitamin

2 CVS .99 nuts

1 Act (small one)

1 Slimquick

7 Gillette Bodywash

9 Seapak shrimp

10 Grands

4 Healthy Goodness lunch meat

7 doz. Eggs

12 cans of DelMonte tomatoes (no salt)

14 gallons milk

Lettuce (large bag of Romaine, 6 heads)

10 Pillsbury pie crust (3 went to Monica)

25 Old Orchard Juice

10# of sugar

Swiss cheese $8.12

Tomato Sauce $2.68 for a #10 can

Butter four pounds was $6.12 I couldn't believe it.

Parm cheese brick, $10.94 (this will probably last me at least half a year if not more)

Fresh pineapple $2.88

5 Michelina's dinners

4 cans veggies (Delmonte)

1 English Muffins

4 pkgs. Brats

bag of chicken wings (5.99 sale from 7.99 reg.)

Huggies Wipes .99 for a baby shower

4 Cottonelle

3 cans Pringles

2 5# bags of unbleached flour

fresh apples

cantaloupe

10# bag of potatoes

2 Powerade (qt. container)

1 Gillette Shampoo

Split Chicken breast, just got 1 package for dinner

Cheerios -Free from a Kroger coupon that Lori gave me (she gave me a small stack)

1 pkg. Hotdogs-also coupon that she gave me, they were .50 after the coupon.

bleach, I ran out of.

3 Tyson Anytizers

Motts (1- 6 pack)

3 zone bars

2 Palmolive

1 Crest

5 vitamin water

Pkg. chicken

2 cantaloupe

1 Hawaiin Roll

24 pack of water

cucumber

Chix Leg quarters

2 ziploc bags

celery

apples

2 No Yolks noodles

1 cont. Cottage cheese

5 boxes of cereal

2 rolls of sausage

Ricotta Cheese

8 Welch’s Aqua Water

2 Land of Lakes spreadable butter

3 boxes FiberOne bars

3 box Chexbars

6 Powerade (20oz. 8 packs)

4 Bagelfuls

1 box mixed donuts

3 Lysol TBC

2 Lysol BR cleaners

3 24 pack bottled water

2 small boxes wheat thins

2 Dry Ideas

1 Irish Spring Bodywash

1 Purex laundry detergent

1 Gillette Shampoo

1 Suave Clarifying shampoo

1 Colgate Max

2 Powerade

2 Nature Valley gran. bars

1 10# bag of Chick leg quarters

3 Seyfert chips (didn't really need these, but at .99 a good deal)

1 leaf lettuce

1 cucumber

4 avacados

1 pkg. Oreos

1 ice cream

$15.53

8 # Mozz cheese ($8.82)

1 pineapple ($2.88)

4 pkgs. Tortillas ($3.83)

1 loaf bread

2 hamburger buns

1 hot dog bun

 

 

 

 

and so far I've spent: $255.08 saved based in store receipts: $475.60

 

 

 

14 gallons of milk? Is this what you use regularly? I've had a friend tell me that we don't use enough milk, and I'm just curious. I buy 2 gallons of milk per week and when it's gone, it's gone.

[Ottakee]

You might see if http://www.grocerygame.com is available in your area. I can give you a number for referal if you are interested.

 

It costs $10 every 8 weeks for 1 store but they have a free 4 week trial. You get coupons from the Sunday paper (maybe worth buying 2 or 3 papers or getting extras from friends/neighbors). They help you match your coupons to the sale items for best savings.

 

I find that Walgreens is great for health and beauty stuff. This is esp. true if you are not name brand loyal. For example, I bought $2/8 Pantene stuff--1 conditioner and 1 shampoo. Then I had a coupon for $1 off each bottle. Then a coupon for a free styling product when you bought 2 of the other things (worth $4.99 that I would have NEVER paid for but enjoy having). Now I am up to $15 worth of panteen stuff for $6 BUT they have a $3 rebate so it cost me $3 for these nice large bottles of shampoo, conditioner and a styling product. Last week toilet paper was 1/2 off and then if you bought $25 worth you got a $10 off coupon for any purchase in the next 2 week. Toothpaste (colgate) was 25 cents with a sale and coupon.

 

For the grocery store, I bought $240 worth of stuff but paid only $108 this week. This did include milk, yogurt, cheese, bread, fresh veggies and fruit, etc. I can get name brand boxes of ceral for $1 by using the coupons when the cereal is on sale.

 

It might be worth checking out to see if a store in your area has this. Sometimes the more expensive stores have better sales to get you in the door and if you watch what you are doing you can actually get BETTER stuff CHEAPER there.

 

It does require you go clip coupons and then spend about 15 minutes on the site getting the sale lists, etc. I figure it takes me an extra 15-20 minutes in the store a week but for $120 of savings for under 1 hour of time a week I can do it.

 

I then plan my menus based on what was on sale and what I have stocked up in the pantry and freezer. This is much cheaper than planning menus and going out and buying the stuff you need (which might not be on sale that week). For fruits and veggies, we tend to eat what is on sale that week----bananas and grapes one week, apples and strawberries another, etc.

[Liz CA]

How? Can you use a food processor or do you have some kind of funky gadget?

 

Rosie

 

Yup, I make almond butter as well.

 

All you need is the almonds/peanuts

palm oil or coconut oil (I use coconut)

a little salt

some honey

 

and a basic food processor.

Refrigerate this kind!

[Prairie~Phlox]

14 gallons of milk? Is this what you use regularly? I've had a friend tell me that we don't use enough milk, and I'm just curious. I buy 2 gallons of milk per week and when it's gone, it's gone.

 

 

I don't use the GG, but I use Couponmom.com cause it's free.

 

Ok, let's see, we were at 10 gallons of milk for the past three weeks and I just bought four today, so that should last us til next week. We are just big milk drinkers and we did have homemade biscuits and gravy earlier in the month (takes about half a gallon of milk) I've been able to get milk on sale for about $2.00 a gallon. I do not limit milk really, the kids can drink what they want, dh doesn't like it when it runs out. I can justify the cost since I'm saving so much on other stuff. I don't really take milk cost into consideration.

[HRAAB]

Yup, I make almond butter as well.

 

All you need is the almonds/peanuts

palm oil or coconut oil (I use coconut)

a little salt

some honey

 

and a basic food processor.

Refrigerate this kind!

 

I don't add any extra oil to my peanut butter. Does the oil make it better? more spreadable? We like our the way it is, but maybe I could improve it.

 

Janet

[Peri]

You are doing a really good job at keeping the spending down. I have a really hard time getting it under 100. I have started clipping coupons and keeping a really close eye on sales and such and have noticed a really big difference in savings but still I have not been able to get it under 100 a week. What I do is see if I can skip grocery shopping for like a week or two. I've been able to do it for like the last two months or so and my grocery bill was between 300 and 400. I've been able to do it cause the kids have just not been into drinking milk lately ... go figure. But if they do start drinking lots of milk again then I would probably only go out to supplement by buying milk, coffee cream, and coffee. I buy lots of what ever I can get a good deal on. I mainly will buy lots of an item onsale if it is a nonperishable like frozen veggies, oatmeal, and stuff like that.

[Ria]

We are a family of 8, but the twins are at college. Our food budget is $800 per month, though I often come in around $700.

 

Ria

[The Governess]

I think you're doing great!

 

We have a family of four and usually spend between $125 and $150 a week on groceries, not including toiletries. But I've switched to buying organic meat and dairy recently, and we go through an organic co-op for most of our produce now, and that's increased my grocery bill (it used to be between $100 and $125 per week). We also have people over a lot, at least once or twice a week, and at least once a month we have overnight guests. So that always adds up, too.

[Nestof3]

How? Can you use a food processor or do you have some kind of funky gadget?

 

Rosie

 

Our juicer will do this as well -- Champion.

[Peri]

We used to shop at Sam's all the time, and loved it. However, now the nearest Sam's is 80 miles away so I don't know if I could justify the membership cost, cost of gas etc. for the savings I would get. But I keep thinking about it.

 

I am going to do the garden thing again this year, also. Last year we grew TONS of tomatoes and tried to make our own ketchup (DO NOT TRY THIS!!!!!). It was quite an expensive DISASTER! We ended up selling the rest of our excess tomatoes at the end of our road, and the farmer's market. This year, I am going to try to grow things we can eat fresh, and mabye try canning something other than tomato products (HA!HA!).

 

I do bake most of our bread, as well. And we try not to buy pre packaged or processed foods.

 

Thank you all for your thoughts, I'm starting to fell like mabye I'm not doing so bad. I guess after so long of trying to cut back and get out of debt etc. I just am not sure if I've cut all I can.

 

You can freeze your tomatoes with very little preperation. You just wash them and put them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer. You just take them out one bag at a time to use them. The skins come right off when they defrost. You can use them for soups or pasta sauce or anything like that. Sadly, the only thing you can't use them for is salads :sad: ... unless its one of those warm salads. I would always do this when we would go to farms and buy tomatoes by the case.