View Full Version : $20 for groceries
TXmom
10-19-2001, 04:26 PM
OK, you've got $20 to buy groceries for yourself and 2 kids - say preschoolers. Could you do it? What would you buy? No coupons or Sam's Club, etc.
angie r
10-19-2001, 04:43 PM
Hamburger helper 3 @ .99 = 2.97
ground beef 4#'s @ 1.19 = 4.76
canned veggies 7 @ .29 = 2.03
canned fruit 5 @ .59 = 2.95
bread 2 @ .33 = .66
sliced cheese @ .99 = .99
package of lunchmeat @ 1.49 1.49
spaghetti noodles @ .99 .99
spaghetti sauce @ 1.50 = 1.50
mac & cheese 3 @ .29 .87
tuna @ .59 = .59
19.80
3 nights of hamburger helper (different kinds) each with 1# ground beef, 2 nights spaghetti w/sauce & 1# ground beef, 1 night mac and cheese w/tuna. All dinners with a can of veggies and some fruit, slice of bread. Lunches of grilled cheese, deli sandwiches and leftovers from dinner.
LOL Oh yeah, you may want some breakfast?? LOL Now you need milk, eggs and cereal, another $5 at least.
Cathy
10-19-2001, 04:55 PM
Good ideas Angie, but canned vegetables would definitely be replaced by frozen if I wanted anyone to eat it. And I think I want to shop where you do. My veggies, bread, mac/cheesa, and tuna are way more expensive than that--unless it's a major sale. I also require crunchy peanut butter for lunches--I'd be happy to pass on the lunch meat and cheese.
Donna, I used to do this exercise with my dds. I'd give them an imaginary $5 and the supermarket ad, and challenge them to plan a meal that was balanced and would be enough for the 4 of us. It was fun and they had some good ideas. They were too young to get much of a money lesson out of it, I think. But it made math more fun.
TXmom
10-19-2001, 05:09 PM
OK, let me tell you why I'm asking. Dh went to the grocery store last weekend and spent over $200 on paper plates, Halloween candy and Pizza Pockets! So I went today to get some real food. I didn't get any junk, so I was really please with the amount of food I could get for $50. This remined me of a story I heard once about a Mom who said she robbed a convenience store because she only had $20 to feed herself and her kids for a week. I've always thought I could do it. I was thinking stuff like bread, bananas, peanut butter, etc.
I want to shop at Angie's store too!
We can get Hamburger Helper on sale for .99 but usually it's $1.47 I think. I buy ground turkey and it's only .75 a pound which is cheaper than her gound beef. All of her other prices were a lot cheaper too. But then again I do live in Alaska and as I always say- EVERYTHING is expensive in Alaska. Our milk is close to $4.00 a gallon (unless you go to Costco and it's only $3)
arianna
10-20-2001, 07:24 AM
MM! JAK Our milk is close to $4 a gallon too. Ironic since my town is the milk capital of the island.....A dozen eggs, stateside raised $1.29, island raised $1.49. Go figure. Mine don't cost a dime. lol ßß!
MaryL
10-20-2001, 08:20 AM
Wow, TXmom...good challenge!
AngieR....awesome!
Me???? I'd really have to put thought into this! I'm the type who watches for sales...but I pretty much have a menu for the week in my mind and buy what I need for the week. I don't stockpile very well.
angie r
10-20-2001, 09:29 AM
These are the prices we pay at a bag it yourself grocery store called Aldi. Milk is always 1.99 here at a major grocery but is on sale alot, right now it is 3 gallons for $5. We can get ground turkey for .69/pound but wanted to be realistic if you preferred beef instead. I didn't think about peanut butter, my kids love both turkey/cheese and pb&j. I thought the turkey/cheese would be good for them. I do feel like my menu is way too "pasta" inclusive!
Txmom - I know just what you mean about spending hundreds on "garbage" and $50 on what you need to eat. I am a terrible impulse shopper at the grocery so Brichard always goes now. Since he is eating so healthy he doesn't pick up any "bad stuff" and he sticks to what we need and doesn't buy "just because it is on sale."
Cathy - The frozen veggies may be cheaper? Some I like frozen (lima beans) and some I like canned (corn). Crunchy peanut butter - yuck! LOL
JAK/arianna - $4 for milk! yikes!
MaryL - Thank you!
Milk here is $2.19 and up. Eggs, $.89 and up.
One of the great mysteries of my marriage is that dh can go to the grocery store and buy the exact same thing I do, even get name brands not store brands, plus some extras and STILL spend less than I do...never been able to figure it out!! LOL
Wow!!!! I'd like to shop in your grocery stores. .29 for a can of vegatables more like a $1 a can here. Milk is $4 a gallon, ground beef is around $3. a lb, bread was on sale last week, a really big sale is .80 a loaf. Don't know what size of spagetti sauce you are taking about but a jar here is $3.00.
Brichard
10-20-2001, 10:44 AM
Right now spaghetti is on sale for 20 cents a box. I had a friend who ate nothing but pasta in college. You would go to his apartment and see nothing but spaghetti and tomato sauce.
However now he is an executive with Accenture (formally Anderson consulting) and he eats much better! He lives in Chicago and does lots of travelling with the company at some nice places.
His website is www.arenn@urbanophile.com
He is a unique guy and actually has some resteraunt reviews on his site.
Everybody tells me that frozen veggies are better, but cans are so much easier and cheaper. I grew up with canned vegetables so I guess I dont' know the difference. Of course we always buy broccoli and cauliflower frozen and I also like fresh veggies. I've been buying fresh asparagus and acorn squash. Yum!
Cathy
10-20-2001, 10:54 AM
Fern- Canadian or US dollars? I've found that the prices between here in Central NY and Ontario are comparable on most groceries, with the exchange factored in. But you guys get beaten up on taxes...even though NY is one of the highest taxed states.
Angie- We're a dairy state, and our milk runs about 3.30/gallon. Not sure about cost for frozen veggies, but for taste and sodium content, I like frozen. Crunchy peanut butter and mac/cheese got me through my off campus year at college.
I save the most $$ using a list (with menu), and leaving my youngest dd home. She "hates everything", that is until she's hungry and it's cooked. LOL
LOL...I can think of a couple meals....for 20 bucks....but a whole week....LOL...we have Aldi's here, but its a drive for me....worth it if I am kidless.....they have great and cheap canned veggies...dks like those the best....Milk and ceral are cheaper there too....since dh is a vegan..I do lots of bean and rice, pasta and sauce dishes here too...you would think I would shop cheaper too...but I always end up spending around 100 per trip....sometimes we are just needy...so things like shampoo and soap....detergent I will buy at Aldis or Family Dollar....I like this challeng...I think I can do this....
alwasys marveld at how my mother would feed a family of four on my fathers salary.....he would give her the cash at the beginning of the month and that was that...we would go to the butcher shop....then a supermarket...then the dariy.....we did have a huge freezer....we always had meat and were satisfied....
[QUOTE]Originally posted by angie r
[bread 2 @ .33 = .66
If I can get a loaf of bread for $1.29, it's an amazing sale!!!
Amy
angie r
10-20-2001, 03:51 PM
Originally posted by Amy
[QUOTE]Originally posted by angie r
[bread 2 @ .33 = .66
If I can get a loaf of bread for $1.29, it's an amazing sale!!!
Amy
Wow! Bread is always .33 at Aldi. Do you have a hostess/colonial discount store nearby? We can get bread at the Hostess Shop for about .80
The basic store brand of bread here is $.89
Originally posted by angie r
Wow! Bread is always .33 at Aldi. Do you have a hostess/colonial discount store nearby? We can get bread at the Hostess Shop for about .80
Not at our aldi, but its pretty close. The tomatoes at aldi are packaged at the red gold plant. I seldom buy milk there though. Someplace always is running it for 1.79/Gallon and Wal-mart matches the price. So I take all the flyers there for the stuff we don't get at Aldi.
TXmom
10-21-2001, 01:17 PM
I even saw bread at Tom Thumb last night for 99 cents.
Originally posted by TXmom
I even saw bread at Tom Thumb last night for 99 cents.
That's interesting cause Tom Thumb is Randalls which is AppleTree/Safeway. Our Randalls has bread for 89 cents. LOL
You high priced people up in Big D will pay those big prices!!!! LOL
Linda/NE
10-22-2001, 08:42 AM
I'm amazed at some of the prices!! Milk here runs about $2.87. Bread is about $1.35 for sandwich wheat. Regular loaf isn't quite as much.
When we come down to the wire on money like that (like we have sooo many times before) we eat a lot of grilled cheese, mac and cheese, pancakes, etc. I also do a lot of baking so we don't buy packaged cookies and snacks too often.
We get meat from my folks. Up until now dh has always gotten some beef and pork as part of his wages. Not sure what my folks will charge us for meat from now on. Once we've had homegrown beef, pork, and chicken, it's hard to eat the stuff from the store! :(
Although it's interesting to try and decide what you'd do, it's really no fun to actually have to do it.
Diane
10-22-2001, 09:28 AM
At Rainbow I've gotten bread anywhere between $1.23 to $1.28... Every once in a while K-Mart will have it for as low as .89. Needless to say... when I can get it for that price I get a lot and freeze it.
Diane... :wave:
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