Need suggestions for lowering my grocery bill

[JBinKC]

I can see your problem your job makes it difficult to plan meals given the uncertainty of being home. In your case I would buy much less freeze all perishables and limit any stockpile to nonperishables and perhaps come to accept that your job has some higher costs associated with it. Hopefully you are appropriately compensated for the inconveniences.


Personally, I think it is extremely easy to feed one on $150/month if you can shop sales or even better able to procure free food, eliminate food waste which means accepts eating the same thing for awhile (if you do not freeze leftover portions) and are a resourceful cook.

[tripods68]

I spent years eating Ramen noodles, 69 cents from Taco Bell, and peanut butter and jelly as a college student. I also used to make my own pizza. Pretty cheap stuff for less than 100 bucks a month.

[bzbee]

We budget and spend about $200 a month on groceries. This includes all the toiletries and paper products.

https://youtu.be/jS9_osSSH-w

[freepricecompare]

Choose veg. or fruit

Don't over spend on frozen vegitables or fruits. It is beneficial neither for your wallet nor for your health. Try seasonal vegitables and fruits instead of buying them frozen from wallmart. It costs you more and taste you less.

Don't let the supermarket to store grocery or anything green for you, do it yourself. Eg. Buy green peas in bulk and store them in your freezer for the whole year.

[NormanR]

Meal planning has seriously cut down our grocery bills. It means that you only buy what you need so don't end up wasting food that isn't used. Also sticking to a grocery list and not impulse buying in stores can really help too!

[Outdoorsygal]

Shopping at Grocery Outlet really helps us.

Otherwise I am too lazy to save any money on shopping. Hate to plan anything and hate to shop. We mainly buy staples and eat pretty healthy and cheap though.
Perfect place for that, they have a ton of organic and a ton of junk food.

[msomnipotent]

I decided to learn to cook what I like to eat in restaurants. Now I like my cooking better than a lot of restaurant meals and they are a lot cheaper to make. I'm still working on my fried chicken recipe, though. It is good, but not cracka-lackin good.

I also plan my weekly meals around the sale papers instead of planning first and then seeing what is on sale. On the rare occasion that I have coupons and there is a sale, I buy as much as I can if it won't rot before I use it. I have several cookbooks and like to use allrecipes.com. Their recipes can be hit or miss, but at least I get a few ideas.

If I have leftover fruits, I dump them in the blender with some yogurt and juice and make smoothies. I have started buying a large container of plain yogurt and just adding fresh fruit and a little honey. It tastes better and it a lot cheaper in the long run. If I have leftover vegetables, I will make a shepherd's pie, a curry, or a meat loaf (or something), and freeze it. I can't stand wasting food.

[Outdoorsygal]

I decided to learn to cook what I like to eat in restaurants. Now I like my cooking better than a lot of restaurant meals and they are a lot cheaper to make. I'm still working on my fried chicken recipe, though. It is good, but not cracka-lackin good.

I also plan my weekly meals around the sale papers instead of planning first and then seeing what is on sale. On the rare occasion that I have coupons and there is a sale, I buy as much as I can if it won't rot before I use it. I have several cookbooks and like to use allrecipes.com. Their recipes can be hit or miss, but at least I get a few ideas.

If I have leftover fruits, I dump them in the blender with some yogurt and juice and make smoothies. I have started buying a large container of plain yogurt and just adding fresh fruit and a little honey. It tastes better and it a lot cheaper in the long run. If I have leftover vegetables, I will make a shepherd's pie, a curry, or a meat loaf (or something), and freeze it. I can't stand wasting food.

We used to get vegetables from a small family owned thrift store. Originally for our chickens but realized when the produce man trimmed the fruit and vegetables, about 30-50% o these organic vegetables were viable if I could cut them off. So I did and started juicing. Placing them all into a champion juicer. It really helped my health. And these organic vegetables were free, can't beat that.

We moved away since then so do not stop by in the back and pick up the bag they leave out. Summers the fruit and veges weren't viable but more spoiled as California can be very hot in summers. But our chickens loved them.