Your Grocery Bill

[Homesteadmom]

, I buy a lot of generics and it still runs us....are you ready..........400.00 every 2 weeks. I know I know me dh 5yo boy and 1yo girl 2 dogs 2cats and 18 chickens so where am I going wrong? We dont have a Farmers Market here. I won't have a garden until next year and i make my own salsa and jam. We don't belive in eating out much, maybe once in a blue moon. Milk at the store is sooooo exspensive......I wish I had a cow, except I've never had milk straight from a cow so Im afraid it would be to different...dh says it's yummy. So which one of you frugal experts are ready to come to TX and go to the store with me?

Tx, have you tried doing the ad match? Walmart will match prices for all the items on sale at other stores. That may knock some off your bill. Plus with coupons you just use the ones for items you would buy even if there were not a coupon for it. Do you buy a lot of convience items? Or prepackaged foods? Those really raise a grocery bill. Just a few pointers to try & help you out. Start slow though as it can be a shock to your system to go completely frugal all at once.

 

[TX Honky]

Well went to store Friday and spent 280.00 I did not buy any snack food other than tortilla chips. I focused more on buying ingredients to make sweets and bread. I do cook alot (3 meals a day) but now if they want something sweet on goes the mixer! I always have to buy for 2 weeks so it's gonna run my a little higher than someone buying wek to week. IMO. I bought exra milk to put in the freezer it turned a slight yellow color. I said no to mac n cheese, packaged junk and focused on making everything from scratch. oh yeah and no to the cokes, Im jones'n right now but I've heard theres help out there! So I can't say I didn't try. And although I had a few coupons in my purse I forgot to use them.

 

[poppycat]

TX, don't feel bad! I go every week, and today it was $218, even at the discount grocer. If you only go to the store once every two weeks, you are saving on gas and time.

My friend was giving me a hard time about my grocery bill. Mine is $150-$200 a week, but I buy it all at once. She said she only spent $80 a week. Turns out she spends $80 on Monday but goes to the store for additional items almost every day!

 

[ebonykawai]

We spent $80 for last week's groceries. We have a family of 4: hubby and I, a 12 year old daughter and an 18 year old son. Plus 3 dogs, a cat, and 11 chickens.

We plan our menus weekly and only buy what we need. We always go with a list, and I have a price book that I just updated this past weekend. Generally, we shop at 3 or 4 stores. We always stay under $100/week (usually the higher spending week is when we stock up on something at BJs or Sam's Club). I buy most baking supplies at Aldis because they are cheapest there. We have chickens for our eggs, so no worries there anymore.

Lately I'm shocked at the price of shortening! It is now almost cheaper for me to use butter in my baking than shortening. What the heck?????

 

[eastTNchick]

We are a family of 5 (DH, me, DD13, DD10, and DS6) and average $400 or less per month. This includes HBA and cat food & litter. The feed for the chickens and rabbits is seperate. I used to able to spend about half that per month, but since prices started rising so drastically, I'm really having to fight to keep it under $400 most months.

I hardly EVER buy any prepackaged items, except during school time when I will buy the kids Go-Gurt to take in their lunches. I do buy a lot of store brand items, as well as B1G1 free items.

I make almost all of our breads, and I bake brownies and cookies to keep on hand. I make my own pie crusts, too.

I also bake/cook in batches a lot of times. I truely believe in the cook once eat twice (sometimes 3 times). A lot of times I will make a double batch of something and put the second half in the freezer for a meal at a later date. The "scratch & dent" section or marked down fruits & veggies is my favorite section of the store. You never know what you're gonna find!

I love canning, and I am in the middle of canning apples, tomatoes, pears, & sweet potatoes right now.

I usually plant a good sized garden, but this year I did not get as much planted as I wanted due to our just moving here last fall, still having to get some renovations to be done, and DH working longer than normal hours. But, I already have plans in place for next year.

 

[ebonykawai]

EastTN, same here! We make casseroles and stews for dinner that we take for lunches, too. We learned to use up every bite, lol. And yes, baking is great, it can save SO much. I make wheat bread (shockingly, wheat flour hasn't gone up a penny, but regular and bread flour jumped a lot; weird), Italian bread, rolls, etc. plus cookies and brownies and such. At least I know what's in them!

 

[Homesteadmom]

Well went to store Friday and spent 280.00 I did not buy any snack food other than tortilla chips. I focused more on buying ingredients to make sweets and bread. I do cook alot (3 meals a day) but now if they want something sweet on goes the mixer! I always have to buy for 2 weeks so it's gonna run my a little higher than someone buying wek to week. IMO. I bought exra milk to put in the freezer it turned a slight yellow color. I said no to mac n cheese, packaged junk and focused on making everything from scratch. oh yeah and no to the cokes, Im jones'n right now but I've heard theres help out there! So I can't say I didn't try. And although I had a few coupons in my purse I forgot to use them.

Sounds like you did do better, take your reciept & the coupons bck to the service desk & they should refund you the money. They have done it for me before.
the milk will turn back to it's normal color when you thaw it.

 

[eastTNchick]

EastTN, same here! We make casseroles and stews for dinner that we take for lunches, too. We learned to use up every bite, lol. And yes, baking is great, it can save SO much. I make wheat bread (shockingly, wheat flour hasn't gone up a penny, but regular and bread flour jumped a lot; weird), Italian bread, rolls, etc. plus cookies and brownies and such. At least I know what's in them!

I love knowing what is IN my food and not having to worry about all the additives and preservatives. I can tell a huge difference in the foods I make at home and then on the occasion when we do go out to eat. We all end up with "tummy trouble" and are more grouchy.

I like wheat bread, but my DH does not, so I make a white bread and substitute some wheat flour for the white. I'm hoping that some day I can completely switch to wheat but I doubt it will be any time soon.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Re: wheat - try buying some white wheat berries and grind your own whole wheat. IMO white wheat makes much better tasting flour for people who like white bread.

 

[Homesteadmom]

Re: wheat - try buying some white wheat berries and grind your own whole wheat. IMO white wheat makes much better tasting flour for people who like white bread.

I agree, the white wheat berries are not as harsh in flavor that a lot of people do not like. I make a 1/2 & 1/2 bread that my family loves, but it is more 2/3 1/3 now as I have been slowly getting them to 100% whole wheat bread. In fact dd who is 2 now really won't eat store bought bread very well at all, but she eats mine w/o any problems.