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

[starving_student]

Avoid grocery store

Avoid grocery store!!!!

Sounds silly but true.
I found that all grocery store (Safeway, Fryes and Albertson) are overpriced on almost everything. I actually get better deal at Trader Joes, Sunflower, Wild Oat and a local organic grocery store. I go to many places (4-5 everyweek) and bought where that specific item is cheaper (you just start to memorize these things). It doesn't take me much time as I know exactly what I am looking for in every place. The organic food store is at a walkable distance and the other three can be made in a circle. (thus only cost sliglthy more in gas). Beside food is much better quality....

Some deals
Organic pasta at traders Joes are 99¢ a bag
organic cereal box TJ 2,25$
Whole wheat organic flour 58¢ pound at Wildoat
organic tomato basil pasta sauce for 1,89$ TJ
pint of organic cherry tomato 1,69$TJ
etc...
Good luck

[Thrifty Ray]

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

Good point starving student...to dovetail, stick to a list and try to hit the store(s) only once every week or bi-week....Keep in mind that every store visit increases the opportunity to IMPULSE SHOP....which is what the stores are banking on!

[contrary1]

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

another thought on reducing the bills ......... Check out any ethnic markets in your area. We're lucky to have huge asian and mexican markets nearby. Both of these offer great prices on things I normally use anyway, but are much cheaper than my grocery stores.
Rice and tortillas are 2 items I can think of off the top of my head.

[baselle]

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

First of all, if its a consistent 130$/week, that's good in itself. You're regular - not $130 one week, $200 the next, 50$ the next because you're freaking at the end of the month. Sounds like you're close and you need a tweaking.

Instead of trying to go to 100$ right away, make a game out of it and try to get to 120$ - 125$ next week, then drop it 10$ when you get good at 120$. Take the $120 you have as $120, not as a debit card. When its done, you're done.

Also, a grocery store has a route that they want you to through - expensive stuff first, basics hidden at the end or in the middle. Try to reverse the flow - get your basics first. When you have your list for the week, list those at the top. If the grocery has a loss leader that you can swap for something on your list, great, go for it. Otherwise, stick with your list.

[DivaJen]

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

A good book I use is Not Just Beans...which has alot of simple, homemade meals that use basic and frugal ingredients.

Here are some sample recipes from the author, Tawra Kellam.

[Fern]

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

One tip of mine.............I don't ever go back to a store for something I forgot. I just pretend I'm my grandmother, stuck in the middle of North Dakota..........she would just make do. That's my best advice, make do with what you have. No going back, put the forgotten things on your next list.....and make do.

Ha! That's what i often do, either substituting or doing without some ingredient, and i've been told more than once that stuff i cook doesn't come out "quite right" because of it!

[stngymama]

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

this might be fun for comparing cost per serving of various cuts of meat:

http://www.cheapcooking.com/costperserving.htm

I just used it to compare two sale items at the local Safeway Quite a surprise!

[funnyvalentine]

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

Yes, the ethnic markets around me(middle eastern, Korean, Italian) are great for all kinds of interesting things and staples too. Rice, which comes in huge bags, is really cheap.

I also buy any veggies that are marked down (ready to be thrown out,lol) judiciously clean and trim them and freeze them for soup and stir fries.

another thought on reducing the bills ......... Check out any ethnic markets in your area. We're lucky to have huge asian and mexican markets nearby. Both of these offer great prices on things I normally use anyway, but are much cheaper than my grocery stores.
Rice and tortillas are 2 items I can think of off the top of my head.

[stngymama]

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

One tip of mine.............I don't ever go back to a store for something I forgot.........

Me too. The clincher was making stir fry Oyster Beef without the Oyster Sauce. No one noticed

What's that old saying "..Use it up, ?????,.....do without"?

[Duchesse]

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

I'm glad I saw this post. I thought I was doing something wrong.

I live in NYC and spend $175.00 per month to feed myself and my 14yo son who by the way drinks 1/2 gal of milk a day. My goal is to feed myself and my son for $150.00 month. How do I do it (lol)?

I shop sales at 4 local supermarkets. I receive the circulars every week. I pore over them with a fine tooth comb. Most times I shop at all of them depending what loss leaders are available. Also I know one is good for bread and turkey bacon .89 cents per loaf and .99 cent for a 12oz package respectively.I always go shopping alone. I have a freezer so I shop bulk. Always make a list and try to stick to it (sometimes I go over board),and make sure you're not hungry, tired, or irritable when you shop.

Use manufacturers coupons, store coupons, and consider store brands. Go shopping on double coupon days. Get rain checks for unavailable items. Cut back or cut out convenience prepackaged foods. Carry items in your hands or take a basket, not a cart if you have plans for a small amount.

One other thing, I don't know if you have less fortunate members of your family but I do ( they buy $500.00 name brand coats and designer handbags!). They are eligible for some of the free food given out by the USDA. I've been lucky enough to know a few who don't use the powdered milk so they give it to me, along with pasta, mashed potato flakes, and sometimes peanut butter.

Incidentally, this saves me money so that if I wanted to I could invest in their coat or designer handbag company.

[AmberW]

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

OK, I have to say again, Don't forget the beans!!!!!! They are soooooo cheap. Just eat them a few times a week and it makes SUCH a difference. We have bean tacos for lunch most days. The recipe is on www.helpmybudget.com under "Eat on 35 cents per person" I know the book "not just beans" was mentioned, which is great b/c you need to eat something cheap besides beans, but I don't think you can get cheaper than beans. Plus, they are so so so so healthy. I think they are super tastey also, but that's me. Of course, I use the recipe mentioned above. If someone had just told me in the past "eat dried beans" I would not have ANY idea what to do to a dried bean to make it edible.
Meatless meals really help the budget. I also make tofu tacos (and i don't normally like tofu). I saute onions and mushrooms with garlic salt and then add hard tofu chunks towards the end. I fry corn tortillas in just a little oil to soften them and there you go ! Just add a side of beans!

[boefixepa]

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

Okay, I do it differently, but here's what my mom did trying to feed five kids.....cooking from the basics! Don't fall into the trap of the processed food game. If you are a sahm it's easy enough to bake your own bread, cakes, biscuts meals etc. It's much cheeper to buy the things to cook with than it is to buy the easy stuff. I'm not sure what you are buying, but if you are buying soda...why? Water's free and healthier and if the kids complain, koolaid is pretty cheep. I can find great deals for meat at the local buther that processes game meat. It's fresher than anything I can get at the store and generally cheeper. My mom mixed powdered milk and store milk with a drop of vinalla extract. Not the best tasting, but if you grow up on it, you don't know the difference and when you are trying to but milk into five growing kids it wasn't uncommon to go through two gallons of milk a day. That's expensive.

Are your children picky? Are you making different meals for different kids? Have you tried letting them fast if they don't like what you are fixing for dinner? I became much less picky after that. Are portions what they should be? With todays society it's easy to overfeed. It's hard, but adult meals, (those over 30) should only be eating a fist size meal of about 1500 calories a day if you do not do a physical job. If you have growing kids this may be harder, but find inexpensive things to fill them up.

I'm not a snacker, never have been, so I don't even go down the chip, cookie, cracker isle. Snacks to me are a waste, since I don't even think about them it's not a hardship to me. It depends on how you were raised I guess.

A monthly fast (skipping two meals) and donating the saved money to a homeless shelter is a great way to teach kids that physical hunger does not mean I have to find food. People all over the world live with hunger and teaching a kid that there are other ways to deal with hunger will serve them well over their life. Be grateful for what you have...there is always the risk it can be taken from you.

I guess as a parent you just have to weigh the pros and cons of every thing you buy. Could you make it for less, is it a need or a want? Would cooking lessons help? Just keep experimenting and finding ways to change.

For years we lived in Wyoming and my father hunted for game meet. For a few hundred dollars and alot of fun we would get some antelope and deer and if we were lucky an elk. Butchering them was a yearly family even and we had all the meet a family of seven could eat for a year. When mom had to buy 'cow meat' as we called it....we all thought it tasted funny.

Good luck and keep trying.

boefixepa

[PRICEPLUS]

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

Go big time on the rice and beans or lentils. Cut out soda and drink only water. This can be jazzed up with a little lemon.

Buy generic items. Meat or chicken should be chopped up and spread in with what you are serving. You'd be surprised how a little ingenuity can make the meat/chicken go further. Look for day old bread and freeze it.

Buy what is in season and stock up on sales of canned or frozen goods when on sale.

Try the wonders of crock pot cooking.

Read up on what constitutes a portion/serving of something. You'd be surprised how much more Americans eat than we need to. Eat less and you'll be healthier in the long run.

Switch to white vinegar and baking soda for your household cleaning needs.
You can save money there.

Read through the various tips on this site and use the links provided fopr other info to cut the grocery bill!

Good luck you can do it!

[funnyvalentine]

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

The portion thing is a no brainer, really. Most of us eat too much, and the related health problems cost us even more.......

Read up on what constitutes a portion/serving of something. You'd be surprised how much more Americans eat than we need to. Eat less and you'll be healthier in the long run.

)

[mom-from-missouri]

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

I have 3 children and myself, and we spend around $200 a month on groceries--and that includes me making their lunches for school everyday.
Are you buying convience foods or making from scratch? For example, a box of mashed potoes costs around $2.49. I can get a 20 lb bag of potatoes for $1.99, less if it is on sale. Equally true for rice. Beans also are a cheap protien food. Every meal doesn't need meat-some foods are meats-beans, peanut butters, cheese, eggs--high protien foods.
What kind of cereal are you buying??? The sugery stuff that is high dollar?? We eat a lot of oatmeal. I buy it in the large bags and only keep out what we use-they rest I store in the deepfreeze to keep out bugs and such. I grow what we can. This year, I spent around $7 on pepper plants for the garden (thats 42 plants). Green peppers, yellow and red, and a few hot ones. When they rippen, I will wash, blanche, dice and quick freeze on a waxpaper covered cookie sheet-then move to freezer bags or jars. That will be a years worth of peppers for pizzas, stews, soups, chilis..... I do this with as many foods as possible. I also dry foods-mainly fruits. If you don't have room for a garden, plant what you can in pots. Grow your own herbs inside your kitchen window. Every little bit helps. You can also find great savings during the summer at the farmer markets. Call your local extension office to locate one near you. We love watermelon and corn on the cob during the summer. Due to the demand, both of those can be high dollar foods-I grow them, and can sell the excess. Know a farmer?? Ask him about buyind meat directly from him-many times a farmer may be butchering, but have an extra 1/2 or 1/4 of a hog or cow that they will sell. Some farmers may even "lease" you space on their land for a garden. I did that 2 years before I had a place of my own--basically, he charged me $25 for the ENTIRE summer--I just had the end 12 feet of their garden--he even plowed, disced and tilled it. We just knew that the last 12 feet, 'from the blue marker on down" were mine. I probably spent around $50 that summer to pay him and buy my seeds and plants, but got back several hundred dollars of food--not to mention the free eggs his wife kept giving me when their chickens were over laying.
Buy in bulk when items are on sale and you can combine with coupons. But, when you do this, look at the expiration dates-if you can't use it, you are throwing out money. For example, last week I got 10 bottles of salad dressing. They were on sale for .99. normally they are $1.59. I had 10 coupons saved up for .75 off. So, for around $2.50 I got a years worth of Kraft salad dressings. I won't buy it again for a year.
If you don't garden/can, you can buy some foods cheaper in the large institutional size cans. Corn for example. In my store, 1 gallon cans of corn are cheaper than buying 4 little ones. I use what I want when I open it, then freeze the rest. Works great for soups too.
Also, plan your meals so that you use up your leftovers. If you have chicken one night, th next night you may want to stir fry and add your diced up leftover chicken to it. If you change the leftover, people aren't burned out on it and are more inclined to eat it. Buy generic when you can-normally its cheaper, and remember that for most foods, they are produced and packaged by the same companies that make the brand name stuff. It still passes the same FDA inspections--although sometimes it may be a grade 2 instead of grade 1, but then again, you are not paying grade 1 prices.
are you using paper products that are included in your grocery budget?? If so, quit using paperplates and cups. Is it necessary to use brand name TP?? I mean, considering what it is used for.....
Shop the dollar stores. I can get Little Debbie products at our Dollar General for $1 a package--the same package at our grocery store is $3.49. Bake when you can. I bake once a month--muffins and cupcakes, and freeze them in a large bag. Every night when I make the girls lunch the next day, I get out and rebag them individually for their lunch. (In my baggies that I wash and reuse--I can make 2 boxes of baggies last a year). Look at what you are buying. Are you getting a bunch of snack foods?? If so, you are spending money on sugar to help you gain weight and damage your teeth....
Good luck!