grocery bill, OMG!!

[Chickenmaven]

People need to know that they can eat well and save money. They MUST cook, however.
We (hey, wait - I) actually cook. No Hamburger Helper or mini microwave burgers. Chips are a rare luxury. I am not saying that my bill is low - it's not. We eat alot of steak & seafood. Nice things. But I figure that I can put a really lovely dinner for 4 on the table for $10. Grilled salmon, rice, peas and a salad. We couldn't buy 4 Happy Meals for that.
I have a friend who feeds her kids pizza rolls and microwave biscuit sandwiches and stuff. I cannot believe what she spends. She claims it's because she doesn't have time to cook. All that $$$$ - AND SHE IS NOT SAVING TIME! I can start a pan of rice, throw salmon under the broiler, nuke the frozen peas and make a salad and dinner is ready in 20-30 minutes.
I have packed my hubby's lunch every day for 10 years. I call it "paying for vacation." I don't mind making a turkey sandwich & throwing it in his lunch box with a diet coke and a yogurt. If he ate Mickey D's or Subway or whatever, he'd spend $6 a day. The lunch I make takes me 5 minutes and saves $4 a day. Do the math, it's over $1,000 a year. I spend that $1,000 in Mexico or Florida or someplace. Someone else could use that $1,000 to pay off a credit card.

 

[Alaska animal lover]

Chickenmaven, I have a friend like that too. She is a sahm with a 6yo boy and two year old twins. She spends $250 a week in groceries. I asked her what she spends it on, and she said they eat a lot of bakery items.

Cakes, cookies, things like that.

She says they are good for packing in lunches. Well, for $250 a week, they must eat a ton of that junk.

I love her to pieces, I just wish I could slap some sense into her!

 

[bargain]

Key West I can help you! Since you are in Georgia, first look for every opportunity to double the coupons you get - at places that double - like Kroger and Publix. Our local publix will even accept a competitors coupon - so when Family Dollar had a $5 off $30 in the ad, Publix takes it.

Use the theory look high and look lowat grocery store. The more expensive items are at eye level. The mfg reps buy the spots according to eye level.

Stockpile your necessities - when publix is bogo and you have 2 coupons, they allow you to use them. Buy a double paper on sunday, it's worth 50 more cents to get those coupons.

Join CVS club. There are many times - they have free things after their reward bucks. I have not bought shampoo or deoderant or lotion or makeup and paid more than the tax on it, thanks to the cvs rewards, riteaid rebates and walgreens rebates programs.

Start cooking. An 8 pound bag of potatoes can be stretched into many meals - our pigg wig had it for $1.88 this week.....Find your local farmers market. Get fresh local veggies in season....Grow a bag yard or container garden. Get off the soft drink train. Think recycle. We gave up on paper napkins, except for our small socials. We use napkins. It's really cheaper and better for the environment. If you are buying water bottles,,,,think about using your own tap water.

Stay away from warehouse clubs - you often buy more than you need.

Have a meatless meal at least twice a month. Look at the AJC paper - you can see it on line and in their food section they have like 3 to 4 meals to come from the same meat.

Find a dent can store or a salvage store, I've bought wonderful flour - high quality for just 80 cents to 1.00 for a large bag. I've bought cat food that retails for $16 for $3. The savings mount up in these places. You can also find some luxury items there - we love hummus and need tahini to make it - takini retails for $7 every where. I pickup the only can there for just $1.50 . Just check for expiration dates. Last trip - spent $18 for what I would have spent well over $80 at the grocery store.

You can do this. If you need more help pm me. We went from spending about $80 a week to $25 a week but it took a lot of diligence and also some gardening. Also get the family involved in finding deals and saving. Maybe target some of those savings toward a vacation or paying down debt but also some fun - a family night out. Good luck. Happy savings and let me know if I can help you. I'm just thrilled when people call me thrifty .....

 

[key west chick]

Well, I think I can do it!! I just went to the grocery store on Monday and only spent $50. I started looking at unit prices and stuff. Do you know that the light canned tuna is $2 cheaper than the chunk white?! I thing it has more favor too! I bought a roast that was on sale and cooked it in my crock pot. I got a bag of carrots instead of those cute little tiny ones. I'll need to go again tomorrow or Friday for milk and stuff but if I can keep my total to $400 a month or less, I'll be good!! Thanks everyone!! I also printed some casserole recipes and asked DS if they sounded like something he would eat. His response,"Just cook it and I'll eat it"!! I love my kid!! Thanks Nancy for letting me know about competitors coupons, I do go to Publix some. When garden season comes around, I do buy from the little old man up the street. He sells some great veggies. I don't have any room for a garden. Too much shade.

 

[donnap1967]

A lot of it depends on where you live too. I know in NJ groceries have gone up like crazy. It's honestly much cheaper to get a pizza out than to cook your own meal. We do not eat like kings by any means and I buy just what's on sale...no snack foods...and I spend well over $600 a month for my family. There are five of us but my two older daughters don't eat home too much now that they have jobs. I would say I spend around $200 a week including dog and cat food and cleaning supplies.

Food is WAY expensive these days.

 

[sundance]

We have a store in Murfreesboro called Grocery outlet, some of the stuff is close to expiration, but Arnolds Oatmeal bread there is only $1.39, so I usually buy 4 or 5 loaves, double wrap and freeze. Sugar, Flour, cornmeal, cereal, almost anything not in a can or jar can be frozen, so I stock up, double wrap, date and put in freezer.One of the stores near us also runs their canned veggies at 4/1.00 so I buy by the case and stock, It's only going up in price and if I find something we EAT on sale I stock up. we like salmon patties but at the price of salmon, I found that tuna works just as good. marrie

 

[Wifezilla]

People need to know that they can eat well and save money. They MUST cook, however.

 

[toletiquesbysam]

My kids Beg me to take them out to eat, but it's not happening!! That will be something like a Major Occasion before I do that. It makes me sick to spend $50 for one meal going out for 5 people. Even fast food, we're at $30 for us. That's just crazy!! This economy has finally made people realize that they need to cut back and food is one area that most people can cut back, it takes a bit of work but in the end, it's the easiest thing to do!!

 

[ChickenToes]

People complain about having to cook, but at my house we eat like kings. Homemade bread, homemade pasta with homemade sauces...I usually buy the cheaper, tougher cuts of meat, so we often have roasts that you can make several meals with. I'll take a roast beef sandwich on homemade bread over takeout from McDonald's any day.

 

[Wifezilla]

One chicken (bought at 72¢/lb) fed me and hubby both for 3 meals. We had the breasts and wings with salad one night, the thighs/legs with cauliflower the next, and then I made soup from the bones. The whole bird was less than $5. Add all the other ingredients and you are looking at another $3. That is $1.33 per meal per person.