I just can't get our food bill down...

[Amorphous02]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

We eat out once a month, unless Dh is really unreasonable and splurges on TacoBell/McDonald..
1)The staple in most homes is bread or pasta. This generally comes to $0.58 to $1.59 an lb.. If you switch to rice, you will see that the cheapest rice works out to be $0.43/lb.
"When you buy a 20lb bag of rice, you use it!" said a thrifty mom.Its true.
2)Eggs are way better than most fast foods.
3)Buy beans, lentils green peas in bulk and soak them over night for soups, chilli.
Make your own bread and save more.
Please remember that fruit and cereals work out to be cheaper because they save time and fuel.
All this aside,
for a good analysis, you are the best judge.. You must sit down with your reciepts and discern the spending patter.
Then collect coupons.
But the most important thing that works for me is that I know that its a war, not one battle..
I fight retail stores and DH every day to bring the total down. I spend $70-$80.00 , including cleaning agents for three members, one cat and 2 newspapers.

[Saving in So Cal]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

A few months ago, I was at $75 a week for 3 (DD is a toddler), not including sundries and paper goods. Now, I am about $75 for everying, with food accounting for about $50. I use most of the methods listed here, but primarily rely on couponing and modest stockpiling to keep on budget.

The only things I buy at Walmart, super or otherwise, are water and sundries for which I don't have a coupon. In my experience, they are the cheapest on these things. On food items, they tend to only be a cent or two cheaper and I can almost always do better buying loss leaders or buying at a store that doubles coupons.

Other changes I've made include reducing the amount of store bought snack foods I buy and using more store brands. I also started baking bread in the breadmaker I got for Christmas and using my crockpot more.

Of course, we're far from perfect and grocery store spending doesn't tell the whole food story. My husband still does fastfood for lunch and I drink soda, which is a waste from both a monetary and health standpoint. We'll tackle these things, too -- one step at a time.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

-- one step at a time.

Just wanted to highlight that line

[getforfree]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

I fight retail stores and DH every day to bring the total down.

I do the same thing. Recently Dh was complaining that I haven't bought any cookies for long time, so on Sunday we were in Biglots, they had 14-16oz packages for 50c each, so I told him to grub as much as he can, because I will not buy any for long time. Plus I had 20% off coupon, so each pack cost me about 40c. Not bad.

[funnyvalentine]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

Hi all,
I am a buzzagent for buzzagent.com, and a couple of months ago we started "buzzing" BJ's warehouse. I hadn't been there in some time, but I have found that their prices on water are the cheapest around (actually, my contractor clued me in on that....)


The only things I buy at Walmart, super or otherwise, are water and sundries for which I don't have a coupon. In my experience, they are the cheapest on these things. On food items, they tend to only be a cent or two cheaper and I can almost always do better buying loss leaders or buying at a store that doubles coupons.

[RevGen]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

I've been able to bring down our monthly food budget from $800 to $300 over the past year (family of 6 - 2 of which are teenage boys!).

I've done the following:

• I subscribe to a coupon service with a sales/deals forum
• Weekly I order the hard to get coupons from the service
• Weekly I get ~8 Sunday papers for the coupons
• I make out my grocery list based on where the sales are that match the coupons
• For the non-perishables, I stock up when they're on sale (incl pull ups)
• I shop in stores that double and triple coupons. I've found that Walmart and Target are not as cost effective as they'd like us to think. You can get really good deals, but they are few in between

Good luck!!!

[Amorphous02]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

THANK YOU REVGEN.
May I request the name of the coupon service that you subscribe to?

[RevGen]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

I posted the link but it was removed - I'll PM you with the info...

HAPPY SHOPPING & SAVING!!!

[Amorphous02]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

Thank you so much RevGen! Saw the PM.

[greedy4chips]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

Feed your family on $10 a day should be a recipe book. I think we could do it with 3 kids, but it would be tough. That means no expensive meals or very small portions of those expensive meals like steak, seafood, etc.

For giggles I will keep track of our food bill for 1 month (Sept). It will be hard because we stock up on everything from spaghetti sauce (prego $1.33 per jar sale), chicken breasts ($1.33/lb sale), cereal (8 boxes for $10 minus manufacturer coupons), hamburger ($1.88/lb we freeze in 1 lb packages).

Every week is what I call stock up sales since there is something you can buy a ton of that fits your meal menu.

[RevGen]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

We do it with 4 kids and it used to be so tough! Now, it's become a habit. This was Friday's dinner:

Chicken Francese over Rice
Biscuits with Butter
Carrots

1 bag of Perdue Perfect Portions (1 1/2 lbs of seasoned chicken breast)
$8.99 - 50% off - $2 coupon = $2.50

1 Box of Cambell's Souper Bakes
$3.19 - $0.75 c/o (tripled) = $0.94

1 Pack Pillsbury Perfect Portions Biscuits
$3.19 - $0.75 c/o tripled = $0.94

1 Bag Mann's Baby Carrots
$1.99 - $0.55 c/o tripled = $0.34

5 Slammers Drinks
$1.50 - $0.50 c/o tripled = $0.00

"My Gourmet Dinner " for 6 = $4.72

[mom-from-missouri]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

It also helps to buy from sources other than your grocery store. I use our local Amish bulk store, Aldi's, the day old bread store and Dollar General (At Dollar General, Little Debbie items, campbells soup and cereal are way cheaper than the local grocery store-same brands). Also, the local butcher runs specials once a month that are cheaper than the grocery store, and several local farmers sell produce, dressed chicken, pork and beef cheaper than the stores.

[cicy33]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

For our family of 3, (dd is 1yr), we usually spend about $80 per week. One thing that helped a bit was buying milk at the gas station. We are constantly filling up the tank, so once a week we buy 2 gallons of 1% for $1.99 each instead of paying $3.89 each at the grocery store- that's practically half-price! Soon, dd will be drinking whole milk- not sure how much that costs, but it's probably cheaper at the gas station too.

There is absolutely no reason to feed your baby whole milk. 2% and 1% is just as healthy. Matter of fact when I was preg with my daughter I was drinking about 3 gal a week WHOLE milk myself. love milk! Doctor asked me what I was eating cuz I was gaining weight, told him I wasn't eating much just drinking milk. He said that with the additions of the vitamin A & D in milk the lower ones are just as healthy. and to stop drinking whole milk. Very fattening. The difference was there is less heavy cream in the 1 and 2% milk.

[mom-from-missouri]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

There is absolutely no reason to feed your baby whole milk. 2% and 1% is just as healthy.

Babies do need whole milk, just not the mommies!!! Babies need the extra fat that the whole milk offers for proper brain development. (one reason breast milk is so good, it is high in fat). When your dr told you that, he was refering to you, not the baby, (at least not a born baby). I used to years ago work for WIC. They have not changed their opinion on this since.

[cicy33]

Re: I just can't get our food bill down...

I have never heard that fat is good for the brain, if so I stand corrected. but since many babies are allergic or sensitive to milk what do you give the child then?