grocery bill, OMG!!

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
WOW.....that is one of the coolest ideas I have seen in a long time!!!! I can see my kids LOVING that!!! Not sure exactly how much we spend, but I know it isn't that much to feed me and 3 kids. Including the paper stuff, cleaning supplies, etc. And groceries here are HIGH because we have no large chain groceries. I agree with everyone saying start cooking more and opening less.

Good luck!!!

 

[xfilesnumber1fan]

Quote:

Once a DAY? For that many people? WOW That must be a lot of money. I know with just the three of us eating out it's sometimes reaches over 20 bucks!

Not always all of us only me and my husband when we are at work..We work together construction,so we are on job sites..Weekends are Us and the 2 older kids and little ones spend it with grand-pa and atleast once a week all of us..We figured one time it was like $400 a month in just eating out!

 

[key west chick]

I've been looking at some of my reciepts and see some of the problems. 2 bottles of $20 a piece wine. A $20 swifer wet-jet, an $8 weapons magazine for the boy, and lots of valentine chocolates. I also stocked up on vitamines this month. Wow, I just never realized. It's a wake up call thats for sure. I usually just glance at the charges, make sure they all look like mine. I never added just the grocery bill. I guess the money I save on next months groceries I can buy more eggs to incubate right?

Oh well, just a thought.

 

[justusnak]

$600.00 !!!!!!!

HOLY MOLY!! With just DH and I here now...I honestly spend MAYBE $150 a month...and thats INCLUDEING cleaning supplies, and papers. (TP,Napkins) Of course...my feed bill for the animals..is a bit higher....but maybe at the MOST $200/month. Are you buying lots of precooked, heat and go items? Pizza rolls, frozen pizza, that sort of things? Pop tarts, expencive cereals? Canned items like Chef Boyardee pasta's in a can? Premade....ready to serve type meals are pricey. You can look online for coupons.
http://www.grocerycouponsusa.com/?gclid=CK62h-Dt8pgCFRENDQod2Sm51A

There are lots of places online to help you get the coupons you want and use.
Good luck on getting THAT grocery bill down.

 

[australorpchick]

Something that helped us cut back on our groceries was writing out a weekly menu. It cut out on eating out because we forgot to take anything out to thaw. We bought only what we need to make those specific meals (also milk, bread, etc). It also cut down on the "What's for dinner" questions. Usually one week every two months, we try to clean out the freezer and pantry and use whatever we have in there. It's helped us reduce the amount of food we tossed out, because we forgot it was there for several months.

 

[cluckychick]

4 here, DH and I and two growing boys.

Angel Food- $80.00 a month, even though we don't eat some of the food, like the frozen veges. I swap that out to either my mom and dad or MIL for something they have or I feed to the chooks.

HillBillyhousewife.com has alot of recipes for the angel food that I have found to be very helpful and they are planned by what you get in your packages.

I save by coupons you can get these online and print them, also some thrift stores have them if you ask, up by the cash register

I also price override alot if not 3/4 of my food at wal-mart. We have 3 grocery ads that come in the mail every week at my mom and dads and most of my food is purchased by overriding.
Mom and I devote Wednesdays to shopping, she doesn't drive outside city limits so I take her shopping. We hit the goodwill store because it's senior discount day and then we go to the everythings a dollar store and then walmart. I spend maybe $150.00 a month on a good month.

I understand alot of ppl don't like wal-mart but the other grocery stores are way out of our way and would require gas to get there

Plus their located in a larger city and my mom doesn't like the traffic. My mom use to drive in large cities but ever since her and I got ran over in a hit and run she won't drive outside our small town even though the hit and run happend in our small town, odd I know

 

[mmtillman]

I save $ by fixing alot of soups, casseroles, a pot of beans every other week, chilie, spagettie, roast.
NEVER fix anything from a box or buy processed food anymore.

None of the frozen bags of stuff....If I want chicken...I buy a chicken and thaw it out and cook it. Rice , potatoes, I make from scratch, too. SAVES me a TON of money.
I too, realized awhile back, that for just my hubby and I , I was spending 400-500. a month, WAY toooo much !!!

So we cut down. Cut back on the junk food, make one cake a week now for our sweets with coffee.

And when we do buy grocerys ....I get it at the new discount grocery store we recently had open near us!

That saves me more money then everything put together!!!!!

They have cereral for a 1.25 a box!!! just a crumpled box is all that is wrong with it ...cans are slightly dented sometimes ...expiration date might be past on some items, but still.... they are perfectly good.

We love to compare the price of stuff

we get at the discount store compared to WAL Mart . It is almost half price!!! Cans of veggies , name brand, are usually 39-49 cents a can!!!

Day old bread a .99 a loaf....name brands too!! I could go on and on how we save $$ now, compared to say 5 years ago!!!
Anyway...there is hope!! You can cut your bill in half like we did !!! And we also eat out only 2 x a month rather then every weekend.
With the economy like it is

I think it is a blessing in a way....forced us all to tighten our belts and we are saving more now then before this crisis started!!

 

[luvmychicknkids]

I have a HUGE problem with the "dent and bent" discount type groceries.

We have one right by us and we were doing quite a bit of shopping there. I got tired of having to throw things out......I found mouse holes in packages, bugs inside food, things that were so stale you just couldn't eat it. Stuff that smells and looks "off". I actually got to the point I was afraid to shop there.

 

[mmtillman]

OH you are totally right about some of that stuff at the Discount places.

..Like a box of RiceARonie hubby bought there once , ....had bugs....

But, that is the type of stuff I totally avoid there.

...I only buy cans that are not badly dented, make sure cereral box is ok... usually only get stuff in cans and jars there and ...Some dry pet foods, charcol etc

And since I dont buy the ' processed box stuff' I can usually come home without any problems.

Would never buy any meat, milk, eggs, produce, or likewise there...just the ''safe'' stuff...LOL!

This discount store we have here is exceptionally nice, too.
Brand new building, clean , caring staff etc.....

....Have seen some I wouldnt take my animals in to buy food!!

I have noticed we had extra $$ at the end of the month

and I guess that is where we are saving it from!

 

[toletiquesbysam]

I have found the best way to save money on groceries is to go alone to the grocery store and make a list of what meals you will be cooking and the co-insiding ingredients you need and stick to the list!!! I plan my meals about 10 days at a time and spend about $100 a trip. Sometimes more if I have to buy essentials like detergent/toliet paper/tampons/etc. But mostly it's $100 or less. I shop at the same store and I know the layout and I plan my list according to how the store is laid out and since I know the store, I also know the prices so I can estimate how much I will spend before I even get there! If somethings on sale and I know it's a bargain, I'll stock up and buy more. But I really think, if you take your kids with you when you go even your DH/DW/SO you spend more automatically!!

Edited to add we are a family of 5. 2 adults and 3 teens.