Monthly Grocery Budget.

[MeepBeep]

You're doing it all wrong, westerners are too willing to be fleeced and robbed when they go shopping. Find out where immigrants live and shop.

The availability of such stores is very regional in many areas and sometimes simply not worth the cost of the drive or your time, in other areas it can be a great option... Even locally it's hard to justify spending the extra time and gas money driving to multiple stores... I live in an area where there are several independent stores that cater to the local Mexican population and you most certainly can save a bundle on some things like fresh produce and select meats like chicken and pork, but on the flip side they generally are higher priced on most packaged items...

Anything that is advertised is not worth buying. Golden rule.

I beg to differ, even with the discounts found in lower priced stores, you rarely can beat many of the weekly loss leader advertisements put out by bigger stores...

On the subject of driving around we are also Amazon Prime and Amazon Mom members and get several items like toilet paper, paper towels, soaps, diapers, baby wipes and several other things delivered on subscription from Amazon, their prices on those items is as low as local stores and they ship to my front door for free...

 

[donrae]

$172.63 at Wally's today.

I live in Southern Oregon, where there really aren't a lot of immigrants. We're about the least ethnically diverse area there is. The small local Mexican population shops at Wal-Mart or Grocery Outlet. There are probably some ethnic stores down in Medford, but again factoring gas and time, it's not worth it to me.

I'm remembering how much I like having a menu

. it makes thing such a no-brainer, and I have to remember the menu doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. We eat pretty simple foods, and that's all that needs to be on there. But this way I only have to think about what's for dinner once a week, not every day. Frees up more time to dream about my spring chick order

 

[lazy gardener]

Budget buster for me today: First ever trip to Trader Joe's. I was actually checking to see if they had fertile chicken eggs. (NO!) But came away with $15.50 of groceries. I was really quite impressed with them!

 

[GodofPecking]

WooHoo !!!!!

I went to a chicken market / swap thingy. It was brilliant. There was about a dozen or probably more little FRUIT TREES growing in paper cups, I give the lady all the coins in my pocket, maybe I can get a half dozen or so, but she says I can have them all, but I'm not greedy so I have a lot, yes, but only ones I DON'T HAVE at home. They probably worked out at $1 U.S. each. Get them at the chain stores for like $40 +

and that's $40 each.

These ones are better than the chain store ones because they have paper pots which you put right into the hole AND the hole is not so hard to dig because not so big, AND did I mention they were $1 ? did I ? WOO HOOO !!!!! It's way overdue for me to put in many many more fruit trees. Small ones this year are a lot better than big ones in a decade's time or when ever I 'get around to it'.

Plus, strawberry plants from a different seller, for $2 and $4, and some had strawberries on them, that's how big they are, they were BIG and I commented that they looked 'amazonian' I shared the edibles with my friends there who agreed they taste great. Can't wait to plant them in the ground. $2 ~!~!~! a fraction of what the shops cost.

You should organize a swap right in your neighborhood. Work out a way to make it free too. They are too awesome.

 

[Outpost JWB]

Good deal on the trees! I have pear, apple, mulberry, raspberry, and blueberry planted. Haven't got much out of them yet, but some are still small.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

I am gonna have to try planning out our meals in advance normal i just firgure it out around said meal time. I cook from home three meals a day, adding a newborn with a toddler made things alittle more challanging. Should be interesting will see if i stick to the menu or not. It probably be epic to plan out snacks for us as well but i have a feeling a certian two year old would just tell me thats not the snack she wants that day.

 

[DuckLady]

I just put a beef barley veggie soup on the crockpot using stuff I had on hand. It should last all week. Supper tonight and then lunches all week.Nothing like a hot cup of soup for lunch when it's -4 out like it is this morning.
Quote:
I agree with you on the Mexican grocery stores, like Fiesta Market. Not only do they have good prices on produce, but the variety!!!! My aunt and I used to go to one to get tamale makings. We ended up with the most awesome variety of fresh fruits and veggies and the tortillas hot off the press. Yeah we could have made them for next to nothing, but why? LOL

Quote: Absolutely shop the loss leaders in the ads. And go look at the discontinued item rack in back and also when they reset the aisles. They get rid of tons of stuff at steep discounts. I retired from a major grocery store and saw this often.

Quote: Before we do a Costco run, I look at the paper towels, TP, etc. on Costco.com and I order those online. The prices are about the same as in the warehouse and they deliver for free, freeing space in the rig for our 2 hour drive to the city. We never just go to the city to grocery shop. We carefully plan the day to include doctor appointments, errands and other stuff we need to take care of. It means a full day, leaving about 6 am and getting home between 6 and 7 in the evening. Planning and lists are vital as is a mapped route.

 

[donrae]

I am gonna have to try planning out our meals in advance normal i just firgure it out around said meal time. I cook from home three meals a day, adding a newborn with a toddler made things alittle more challanging. Should be interesting will see if i stick to the menu or not. It probably be epic to plan out snacks for us as well but i have a feeling a certian two year old would just tell me thats not the snack she wants that day.

If you've never done menu planning, I'd advise just doing dinner to start with. Do that for a few weeks, then start adding in lunches or breakfast and work up from there. Things like snacks or dessert I don't plan so much, I just have certain things on hand for the week. I'm definitely remembering how much I love having a plan, though. No thought involved, simply check the menu in the am and see what I need to thaw out. Sometimes it's good not to think!

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Lol i am so trying it!! It would be one less thing to worry about, i am still recovering and its a challange to get everything i need done along with trying to come up with on the spur of the momwnt what to eat when i am not feeling hungry.

 

[DuckLady]

You can put it on a calendar that you tack to the fridge. This is what the one I just planned out looks like.