Need to cut down the grocery bill!!

[kacee]

Howdy,
I am currently spending 400 a month for groceries for a family of 3. We have been so wasteful. Each week I throw out spoiled and uneaten food. I just opened my MIL Christmas present - a food saver. I plan on using that to help with the bill also.
So.. Do you think that 300 is a more resonable amount?

What do you spend???

[AnnW]

I swear it's $100 every time I walk in the darn store! LOL I do buy my meat in bulk and then repackage it into family sizes, I think that helps. I also immediately throw leftovers into a freezer ziplock bag cause if I put it in my fridge it will go to waste (we aren't great about eating leftover right away). I am open to ideas too, I don't think I do a very good job of budgeting our groceries..my family doesn't eat casseroles and prefers to grill, so we have alot of steaks, pork tender and chicken..it adds up.

[Melody]

I try really hard to get the kids to eat more fruits and it just gets thrown out. I try to eat it too but I end up forgetting it's there in the bottom of the fridge.
I used to do the big grocery orders a couple times a month but I find that is when it all goes to waste. Now I go a few times a week. It's not the greatest if your pushed for time, but a lot less gets thrown out. Dh and ds aren't all that crazy on meats so I don't serve so much anymore either.
I know some people do up a meal plan on the calendar for each month and stick to it. They include the leftovers to make something with leftover ham, beef, etc.

[KarlaB]

I am bad with this, too! If I don't have someting in mind to make I find myself tempted to eat out or order pizza! The meal plan calender sounds like a good idea. I don't know if I would be good at sticking to it though, but maybe it would help me think ahead. I found myself in a cooking rut and wanted to try something new once a week - that lasted for two weeks. :( My kids love fruit, so that usually doesn't go to waste. And, if I go into the store hungry I come out with TONS that wasn't even on the list. And, I am definitely an impulse shopper. Dh always says they have those displays on the endcaps just for me - I will try new things or be sucked in easily if it looks good! LOL! :) We spend an avg of $70 a week, which doesn't include extra trips back for more milk, bread, etc. My dad gives us meat every year, so we don't have to buy any groundbeef/steak/roasts unless we run out early.

[Linda/NE]

I get to the point anymore where I HATE to go to the grocery store!! We spend around $350-400/mo on food/household necessities--this includes over the counter medicine. Of course we get most of our meat from the farm.
We throw out a lot of stuff too, but most of it goes to the pets so that saves on dog food. I get a big bulk of groceries at the beginning of the month (except for perishable things that won't last a whole month) I always take a list. The more times I go in the store, the more un needed things I get.

[AnnW]

Originally posted by Melody
I try really hard to get the kids to eat more fruits and it just gets thrown out. I try to eat it too but I end up forgetting it's there in the bottom of the fridge.


Mel, we did that too until I bought a really pretty fruit bowl and put it on my kitchen island filled with fruit and now we are all really good about going in a grabbing a peice of fruit now.

[kacee]

Annw - What a wonderful idea. I have a colindar that I use for banana's, but my other fruit I keep in the fridge. You can tell I am used to hot summers.
BTW, I am in Central Texas. Yeap, Deep in the heart of Texas!! They are predicting more storms and rain for tonight. Hope it ends soon. I was hoping to get to my flower beds.

[kacee]

How do you do the quote thing? I tried it once and ended up with the whole message.

[Sheryl]

I think that I've been staying at $200 - $300 on groceries per month. I've chosen to go to a cash only store as much as I can. It is a small scale warehouse store. Everything is on pallets and you bag your own groceries at the check out. I tend to spend less when I have to pay cash. I have been trying to use our bread maker and baking cookies from scratch when possible. I also substitute ground turkey for ground beef whenever I can too. Our kids love pasta. We also go through a lot of soup as a meal or in a casserole.

[AnnW]

Originally posted by kacee
How do you do the quote thing? I tried it once and ended up with the whole message.

Kacee, when you hit the "quote" button, the whole post will come up...at the beginning and end is [QUOTE]..it just delete all the stuff in between the two quotes that I don't want.


I was going to plant some pots but I am worried that we will have one more chill. I am meeting with my yard guy next week to decide on what flowering plants to put in. Our azaleas are already starting to bloom!!!

[AnnW]

oh how funny when I did the brackets [ ] around the word quote it made it all separate! LOL
Kacee...I don't know how to explain it...I just delete the stuff I don't want in between the words quote

[Lynda/WA]

I was really great about keeping down grocery costs but have sluffed off. First off I made up a spread sheet in Excel that compared costs. I tried to compare at the smallest value for, example per ounce. That way I could compare the big can in one store versus a small can someplace else. After awhile of doing that I reached the point where I knew my stock up price, my if I've run out buy just one price, and my don't buy price. For example - to me .25 - .33 cents is a stock up price on tuna. .50 is a price I would buy a couple only if running low - just enough to tide me over to the next stuck up sale. .75 was the werehouse price - I didn't buy that .79 is the regular grocery price. I quickly gave up tracking prices on some items. Fresh fruits and veggies fluctuaded to much. Some items where used so infrequently that it wasn't worth the effort. By the end I only tracked items we usually used. I reached the point where I could guess when an item was going to go on sale based on previous sales.

I also realized that the big werehouses are only a good deal on some items. Usually you are better off buying bulk on sale at the local grocery store. Some items like batteries are better at Costco/Sam's. For me it works best to stick with one grocery store and stock up on it's sales (I use Safeway). When I was in CA my friends kept insisting that Food 4 Less was sooo much cheaper. It was a place you bagged yourself. At that time I was shopping at various stores depending who had what on sale. I went ahead and compared total food bills as if I had bought the items at different stores. The difference was only pennies when compare large lists! What they did was have nearly all items a cent or two cheaper but then they would have a couple items that were much more. Averaged out in the end. I decided I was better off with a store that sent out routine fliers so I could plan to shop the sales.

I tend to buy bath/ beauty/ on sale at Wal-Mart. When DH's Degree deoderant hits 1.50 I buy half a dozen or more.

It also seems like the sales coincide with the coupons. Make sure to use them. Sometimes it makes more sense to buy the smaller size if you have multiple coupons. For example DH uses Keri lotion. When it has a 1$ coupon I buy as many of the small ones as I have coupons for. The cost per once it less for all of them since this product routinely has coupons. Make sense? Also this week my store has a coupon to take 10$ off of a 50$ bill.

Most people find it cheaper to do all shopping at one time. I find it cheaper to do little bits frequently because of the purchase limits on sale items. I only buy those couple of items that are on sale though. Right now the biggy for me is .99 campbell's soup with a limit of 4. Normally nearly 3.00. everytime I enter the store, I get another 4. I have about 30 in the cupboard right now. DD and I eat those for lunch alot. When canned veggies were on sale at .25 each, I bought a boxfull of each veggie.

Since I always have so much on hand I write the month/year and purchase price on the can. That way I can rotate. the purchase price is just for fun to keep me motivated. It's fun pulling out a can of raviolli and seeing .64 (.89 sale less .25 coupon) and that's the standard. I had one can of tuna that had .04 on it. My SIL pulled it out and said *you miss marked this one!* it was fun telling her nope that's what I payed!

I buy burger (80%) when it hits .99 - 1.39 a pound (regular is about 1.99) and repackage some in vacuum seal bags (about 1 1/2 pounds) and some in quart freezer bags. The reason I do both is because the vacuum bags are more expensive but keep things fresh for longer. I use the ziplocks first from the freezer. Same with with pork chops and chicken. Especially chicken - if you leave it in the origional bag it wants to freezer burn so quickly. In the food saver bag it will keep for ages. I generally only use the bags for meat. I did use them for fresh fruits as well though.

I plan meals around what is on sale and what is in storage. That cuts down on buying items not on sale. To use up the leftovers I try and plan a meal that will use them. For example day one may have roasted chicken and soup rice (rice made with cream of whatever soup) and a veggie. The next day chicken, rice, and veggie will go into a soup. Or we may have a pork roast one day and enchiladas the next. I've read that you can keep a *veggie* bowl in the freezer and toss the leftover veggies all together. Use them in a veggie soup then. I've never really gotten into that idea.

For the vacuum sealer. I've got the attachments to use with both sized mason jars. I use mason jars for items like nuts and choc. chips. I have extra canisters and use those in the fridge. I'll buy a block of cheese and shred the entire thing. Put it on a vacuum canister. Doesn't go bad!

[MK]

In my state the DWS (Department of Workforce Services)estimates a food allowance of $400/month(when families apply for assistance such as food stamps) for a family of four, and that's just food, not including toiletries and other non-food items. I try to budget between $300 to $400 for groceries each month, INCLUDING toiletries and other non-food items. If I have a "fat" budget during a specific pay period, I might take the family out to dinner once or twice, but that money I spent eating out is taken from the "grocery budget". We also waste quite a few leftovers, a lot of it is because there is only one or two servings left--not enough to feed everyone at dinner. Also because I have completed food safety courses (since I work in a grocery store), and I am so leery about using leftovers now. For instance, did you know that if you reheat the entire pot of leftover stew and don't use it all up on that reheat, you must throw it out. You can't heat it up a second time without risking food poisoning. I do freeze a lot of stuff, especially leftover spaghetti, leftover cooked hamburger, and stocks from pot roast, and large quantities of leftover stew. Then I can use it again safely another time in an entirely different meal, without feeling pressured to "hurry up and use it".

Also the store I work at has an "ad-match" policy. Besides holding their own ads each week, they actually match all the ads from the competing stores as well. So I don't have to even bother reading the ads or zipping from store to store to get the best buy.

[Amy]

I hate to cook and was going out 4 x's a week out to eat. My dh came up with a plan that we have been able to stick too. We spend approx. $300 a month on food and non-food items.

What we do is buy either a huge roast, turkey, ham or pork loin a week. We make one big meal out of it(with all the fixins); save one leftover meal for later in the week; and use the rest of the meat for a soup of the week. Than I usually make a lasagna, spaghetti or grill a steak to fill the rest of the week. Then I get to go out once a week. This way, I'm only actually cooking 3x's a week and the rest is leftovers.

It helps we are military because we go up to base and use their grocery store. It is MUCH cheaper than even a super wal-mart. :)

[Lynda/WA]

Amy - base store vs. local may vary with where you are at. I separated at Travis AFB in between San Fran and Sacramento. I was absolutely shocked by how much money I SAVED by shopping local! My food bill was probably cut in half! That was when I started keeping my price spreadsheet. One thing I noticed there was that name brand items were cheaper in the commisary but a generic brand at a local store was cheaper than the commisary name brand. At first I thought I was crazy since I had always heard the reverse but I started comparing to my old receipts. I figured it was just a couple of items since I first noticed with meat. I had a bunch in the freezer from the discount bin in the commissary and noticed it was more expensive than the meat I had just bought on sale at the grocery store. Then I asked a friend if I could look at her receipts (she ran a home daycare and kept them) and compared them to my spreadsheet. Sure enough I was saving by going local.
Of course when I actually lived on base there was the convenience. Plus I must admit we started eating and shopping smarter when I became a SAHM. When I was AD, I generally tried to buy everything in one shot. We wound up throwing away more because of spoilage. Plus there were 4 of us in a 1,000 sq foot town house so we didn't have any storage room to buy sale items.
Another thing we discovered wasn't such a deal was the gas. A friend had previously worked at the base gas station. She said they bought the cheapest gas they could then based the price on the average local price. Once DH started working a refineries he discovered what they were buying was the sludge gas from the bottom of the tanks. Another one of the gas station lines doesn the same thing (can't remember but think its Arco).
Another friend refused to buy clothes at the BX. She had worked at one of those. She said they bought irregular name-brand clothes and stripped them of the irregular tags. I'm not sure how reliable she was though. Seems illegal to do that. And I never had a problem. At that time DS was an Oshkosh toddler compliments of the BX. I found some great deals at the BX especially just before I left. They were remodeling the entire building and frequently had stuff 50 - 75% off.
I really miss the BX, gym, and theater. Some great deals there.

[Leigh]

There is just the two of us, but I usually spend about $60 a week. I could probably cut that down if I could cut out on junk food. I probably go through three bags of chips, 1/2 bag of cookies, and 2 boxes of oatmeal pies a week, if not more. LOL! I really try to do the coupon thing, and if a non-perishable item is on sale & I have a coupon for it, I go ahead and get it. I also don't use the coupon if I can get another brand (that is just as good) cheaper. Today I went and bought $160 of food that I am hoping will last for 3 weeks (with a few in between trips for milk and bread), and I saved about $10 in coupons.

[kacee]

Thanks for all the replies. I am not too far off here. I am going to make an effort in this area. I did go shopping on Sat. and only spent 52.00. That is an improvement over the 100. that I normally spend. I am going to try to make a menu. It is hard for me to stick with. What do you do when you get the "I don't want to cook blues??"

To John - I worry about food safety too. When you freeze a meal do you reheat it just once?? This is what I currently do. Perhaps I need to freeze in smaller portions.

[MK]

Originally posted by kacee

To John - I worry about food safety too. When you freeze a meal do you reheat it just once?? This is what I currently do. Perhaps I need to freeze in smaller portions.

I made a reply regarding freezing food, and yes, it should only be reheated once, so divide up large meals into portion sizes that your family will eat in one sitting. One of the problems I have with that is that I run out of room in my freezer, and I end up using up all my storage bowls. So I don't make a habit out of bulk cooking.

As for the "don't want to cook blues", I get them a lot, especially when I have to sleep during the day and work during the wee morning. We end up having "fend for yourself night"-- sandwiches, fresh/canned fruits, veggies w/dip, and/or cereal. Just simple stuff that tastes good and that a child can fix. Popcorn is good too. (it's a member of the breads and cereals group, you know)