Are people like me able to do grocery budgets?

[mermaidwannabe]

I read these grocery budget threads with interest and jealousy as well. We spend $1200/month for a family of 5 (2 of which are teen girls, the other close behind), we have a dog, cat, rabbit and fish, and we live in Bozeman, where the coupons are pretty scarce and groceries are pretty highly priced. We also eat things like turkey burger, fish, lots of fruit and veggies, dried mango, avocados, you get the idea...not cheap stuff. We do have a Costco where we spend lots of moolah - not sure if our Costco trips are a good thing or bad. I work until 3 when my kids get off school and then it's ferrying them to sports so it's usually making meals around 5 ish so know I should be doing more crock pot meals in mornings but I find that hard when it gets closer to summer since then I want to grill or maybe by then I'm tired of the crock pot.

My big question is to do a budget, do we need to quit eating some of those things? Or do you all eat those too but plan and stretch meals better than I do? I do get the shopping the weekly grocery flyers to get what's on sale that week. We MUST start shaving some moolah off of our monthly bills so looking into cable, phone, etc. but thought groceries would be an easy spot until I started trying to figure out what budget to start with and whether I change what we eat.

Anyone have any advice? Thank you!!

 

[danygirl]

Saving on groceries is a multi step thing

1. Keep an eye on prices and stick up when they are lowest. But enough to last until the next sale.

2. Plan your meals, minimize waste, utilize leftovers.

3. Utilize coupons combined with lowest prices to save more. Use online sources to match coupons to sales to save more

Once you start buying at lowest prices it will kill you to pay mire

 

[Marionnette]

I read these grocery budget threads with interest and jealousy as well. We spend $1200/month for a family of 5 (2 of which are teen girls, the other close behind), we have a dog, cat, rabbit and fish, and we live in Bozeman, where the coupons are pretty scarce and groceries are pretty highly priced. We also eat things like turkey burger, fish, lots of fruit and veggies, dried mango, avocados, you get the idea...not cheap stuff. We do have a Costco where we spend lots of moolah - not sure if our Costco trips are a good thing or bad. I work until 3 when my kids get off school and then it's ferrying them to sports so it's usually making meals around 5 ish so know I should be doing more crock pot meals in mornings but I find that hard when it gets closer to summer since then I want to grill or maybe by then I'm tired of the crock pot.

My big question is to do a budget, do we need to quit eating some of those things? Or do you all eat those too but plan and stretch meals better than I do? I do get the shopping the weekly grocery flyers to get what's on sale that week. We MUST start shaving some moolah off of our monthly bills so looking into cable, phone, etc. but thought groceries would be an easy spot until I started trying to figure out what budget to start with and whether I change what we eat.

Anyone have any advice? Thank you!!

Doing a budget simply means that you set a limit on your spend in a specific category and then you stick with it. It doesn't mean that you eliminate everything that is important to you in order to cut costs to the barest minimum. If you're currently spending $300/week on healthy foods, try to cut back to $275 and see if it works for you. That alone would save you $100/month.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Doing a budget simply means that you set a limit on your spend in a specific category and then you stick with it. It doesn't mean that you eliminate everything that is important to you in order to cut costs to the barest minimum. If you're currently spending $300/week on healthy foods, try to cut back to $275 and see if it works for you. That alone would save you $100/month.

This. We have a weekly grocery budget, and we are able to stick to it now. When we started, DH took a list, cash and a calculator (on his phone). He added up the price of every single thing he put in the cart; if it wasn't on the list, he kept it separate--you know, those things you find as you go through the store that sneak in and blow the budget. When he got near the end of the list (and his money), he went through the extra stuff and started putting things back.

This was a few years ago when he had a job loss and drastic change in income, and it was necessary for a month or two. He still shops with a list and a budget, but he has no problem sticking to it now, even with some extras. He often shops at Kroger, and they wend us coupons for things he buys frequently, which helps. We never use coupons for things we wouldn't normally buy.

 

[nalajms]

Look into buying dry goods online. I've found some stuff much cheaper on Amazon compared to Costco. Look at the food you buy at Costco, do you finish it all? We were throwing away 30% of the food because it was just too much to finish before it went bad.

And you need to look at the weekly circulars. Fruit onsale at the grocery store is cheaper than Costco. And stock up on non-perishables when they are cheap.
It takes time to shop around. Good luck

 

[fairy8i8]

For fruits and veggies, buy what is in season. You can tell because it is what is on sale. It takes time to get used to, but it adds a nice variety. Depending on pricing, you can say you won't spend over a certain amount per pound on fruit. Had a friend do this at Aldi, and she restricted it to anything under $1/pound. Sometimes she got avocados, but out of season when they were more expensive she didn't. Your limit might be more for your area, but the principle is the same.

 

[marmalade]

I found this website that not only gives you what they buy and what it costs, but how they use the food purchased each week for all their meals.

http://www.grocerybudget101.com/content.php/8-50-Weekly-Menus

 

[pigletto]

I think so much of it for me is being aware of what I am buying. Once you want to start getting the budget lower and really looking at it, it gains momentum. It can be overwhelming to change everything at once, but one area at a time builds to larger savings over time. For example you start paying attention and decide to try a few store brands instead of name brands. Then awhile later you start paying attention to the sales flyers and planning your meals around those rather than what you feel like at the moment. Then you might decide you are wasting/throwing out too much of certain things and start buying less of them or making sure to use them up. Before you know it, you are spending 200 less per month without too much effort. So rather than overwhelm yourself, I would focus on one thing that feels doable, like making a menu for the week from what you have onhand and things on sale, and go from there. Good Luck! Doing this has cut our budget by almost $300 a month!

 

[kymom99]

One thing anyone can do is make the most out of your left overs. Back when the money was flowing more freely, my husband would die before he would eat left overs. And I used to buy frozen Lean Cuisine type things for lunch. We threw out a lot of left over food back then. Now we use just about every bit. My husband will take leftovers for lunch most days, along with the occasional sandwich. I think we have saved a bit of money that way, without really having to try that hard. It is all food we like, so why not eat it?

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Yes, I currently buy based on what I want to make for dinner instead of what's on sale, so I'm going to go through the inserts and try this. And I just talked to my DH about letting me just do all the shopping this month. He is very sweet to do some of the shopping for me by going to Costco regularly, but he tends to buy stuff that we sometimes don't like and therefore don't finish or he buys things that I can definitely get cheaper at the store, like apples right now.
We do throw food away, which just makes me sick since that is throwing money away. I need to get better at eating up leftovers before starting new meals. Will check out that grocerybudget101 site too thank you for that. We truly do not get many coupons here, and I did try the grocery game, but we only had one store that was part of it. Maybe it's changed.
It's sickening how often we go to the store, and it's always $65 to $100, so it definitely adds up.
Excited to try this, thank you!!

 

[barkley]

I read these grocery budget threads with interest and jealousy as well. We spend $1200/month for a family of 5 (2 of which are teen girls, the other close behind), we have a dog, cat, rabbit and fish, and we live in Bozeman, where the coupons are pretty scarce and groceries are pretty highly priced. We also eat things like turkey burger, fish, lots of fruit and veggies, dried mango, avocados, you get the idea...not cheap stuff. We do have a Costco where we spend lots of moolah - not sure if our Costco trips are a good thing or bad. I work until 3 when my kids get off school and then it's ferrying them to sports so it's usually making meals around 5 ish so know I should be doing more crock pot meals in mornings but I find that hard when it gets closer to summer since then I want to grill or maybe by then I'm tired of the crock pot.

My big question is to do a budget, do we need to quit eating some of those things? Or do you all eat those too but plan and stretch meals better than I do? I do get the shopping the weekly grocery flyers to get what's on sale that week. We MUST start shaving some moolah off of our monthly bills so looking into cable, phone, etc. but thought groceries would be an easy spot until I started trying to figure out what budget to start with and whether I change what we eat.

Anyone have any advice? Thank you!!

decent coupons are almost non existent here as well (and no one offers doubling). we tend to start cooking everything on the grill as well come summers.

as far as savings on groceries-you have western family products available in stores in Montana, so any canned goods you might use you may be able to take advantage of case sales (our stores have them once or twice a year). I've found with several of the veggies that I can't easily find/afford fresh that their quality is superior to brand names (and MUCH less expensive). with turkey burgers and dried fruit it does seem like Costco has the best price but we tend to overbuy at Costco so we now only go every other month with a list to adhere to. I also get some items MUCH less expensively from walmart on-line vs. my somewhat local walmart store. I can shop for groceries (and pet food/laundry detergent/toiletries) on-line and for the most part get free shipping with a $50 order (so it's every couple of months as well).

produce is CRAZY expensive, but it seems like Costco charges more as compared to our local store's sale items. we end up buying some items that will keep from Costco (price/quality of cherry tomatos can't be beat) but we watch the local sales and eat around what's a good value (lousy gardening conditions here but we do hit some farms and get stuff to can late summer).

as for meal planning-crock pot stuff isn't nesc. appealing to us in the summer either BUT that doesn't mean it can't be used to make a portion of the meal so meal prep. is faster when you get homes. if you bbq then the crock pot can be used to make bbq beans so all you have to do is toss the turkey burgars on the grill (we end up pre slicing burgar stuff and putting it in containers to use over a few days), we've done bbq beef or pork in the slow cooker as well. then it's just buns and a salad (for quick salads we always have containers of fixins in the fridge-beets, bell pepper, sliced mushrooms...that way it's just topping the greens and adding dressing). with some items we bbq it works out well for us to prep the night before to make cooking easier. we will have dry rubbed chicken or beef, put it on the platter it goes to the bbq on which is covered with saran wrap and left in the fridge the night before. it only takes a little time in the evening but it's time we don't always have when it comes to making dinner. we ended up getting one of the vacuum sealers from Costco so we batch up meat by meal sizes so I know at a glance if I have on hand enough of an item to plan on it for dinner. I also figure it's just as time consuming to make 5 batches of some items as 1 so if I'm making something like lasagna or enchiladas one weekend i'll make up several and freeze them (dollar store aluminum pans take up less space in the freezer and are a bit more shallow but sufficient for a family of 5's dinner so don't end up with waste).

we've got a monthly budget but I also look at it quarterly and yealy-b/c if there's a slamming good sale on something I can stock up on I may spend way over budget one month but that brings down the rest of the monthly budgets for 6 months to a year (I buy my paper towels once a year at a case sale for about 25% of the best sale I can find so we end up with several cases in the garage but it saves us in the long run).

 

[mermaidwannabe]

decent coupons are almost non existent here as well (and no one offers doubling). we tend to start cooking everything on the grill as well come summers.

as far as savings on groceries-you have western family products available in stores in Montana, so any canned goods you might use you may be able to take advantage of case sales (our stores have them once or twice a year). I've found with several of the veggies that I can't easily find/afford fresh that their quality is superior to brand names (and MUCH less expensive). with turkey burgers and dried fruit it does seem like Costco has the best price but we tend to overbuy at Costco so we now only go every other month with a list to adhere to. I also get some items MUCH less expensively from walmart on-line vs. my somewhat local walmart store. I can shop for groceries (and pet food/laundry detergent/toiletries) on-line and for the most part get free shipping with a $50 order (so it's every couple of months as well).

produce is CRAZY expensive, but it seems like Costco charges more as compared to our local store's sale items. we end up buying some items that will keep from Costco (price/quality of cherry tomatos can't be beat) but we watch the local sales and eat around what's a good value (lousy gardening conditions here but we do hit some farms and get stuff to can late summer).

as for meal planning-crock pot stuff isn't nesc. appealing to us in the summer either BUT that doesn't mean it can't be used to make a portion of the meal so meal prep. is faster when you get homes. if you bbq then the crock pot can be used to make bbq beans so all you have to do is toss the turkey burgars on the grill (we end up pre slicing burgar stuff and putting it in containers to use over a few days), we've done bbq beef or pork in the slow cooker as well. then it's just buns and a salad (for quick salads we always have containers of fixins in the fridge-beets, bell pepper, sliced mushrooms...that way it's just topping the greens and adding dressing). with some items we bbq it works out well for us to prep the night before to make cooking easier. we will have dry rubbed chicken or beef, put it on the platter it goes to the bbq on which is covered with saran wrap and left in the fridge the night before. it only takes a little time in the evening but it's time we don't always have when it comes to making dinner. we ended up getting one of the vacuum sealers from Costco so we batch up meat by meal sizes so I know at a glance if I have on hand enough of an item to plan on it for dinner. I also figure it's just as time consuming to make 5 batches of some items as 1 so if I'm making something like lasagna or enchiladas one weekend i'll make up several and freeze them (dollar store aluminum pans take up less space in the freezer and are a bit more shallow but sufficient for a family of 5's dinner so don't end up with waste).

we've got a monthly budget but I also look at it quarterly and yealy-b/c if there's a slamming good sale on something I can stock up on I may spend way over budget one month but that brings down the rest of the monthly budgets for 6 months to a year (I buy my paper towels once a year at a case sale for about 25% of the best sale I can find so we end up with several cases in the garage but it saves us in the long run).

I do buy Western Family when it's cheaper, but I've never bought at those case sales. Not much storage space in our house, but we go through beans at a good rate. I really think I can save some just by not buying at Costco so that will be a good first step. I've never made side dishes in the crock pot like baked beans so will dig out my crock pot cookbook I've barely looked at. That's a great idea getting $1 aluminum pans. I am bad about putting leftovers in the freezer (and prob why some gets thrown away), but whole meals would be great to put in. I honestly have never thought about buying groceries online!! I have bought things like coconut flour and coconut oil from Amazon, but never thought about walmart.com. Usually buy laundry detg from Costco, and now I'm wondering if that's the best bang for my buck. So used to buying from there that I don't know what a good price is.

I didn't realize how many ways I can start slowly cutting things down so doesn't look quite as daunting.

 

[disneymom3]

If you are on Pinterest, you can search for crockpot meals and find lots of variety. Have you considered making your own bread? It kills me to spend $2 or more for a loaf of bread when I can make it for pennies at home. It's really not as hard as it seems. Just a little time consuming due to the rising process.

I need to get my grocery budget under control too, so I know how you feel. Lots of good suggestions here that will help me get started.

 

[barkley]

I do buy Western Family when it's cheaper, but I've never bought at those case sales. Not much storage space in our house, but we go through beans at a good rate. I really think I can save some just by not buying at Costco so that will be a good first step. I've never made side dishes in the crock pot like baked beans so will dig out my crock pot cookbook I've barely looked at. That's a great idea getting $1 aluminum pans. I am bad about putting leftovers in the freezer (and prob why some gets thrown away), but whole meals would be great to put in. I honestly have never thought about buying groceries online!! I have bought things like coconut flour and coconut oil from Amazon, but never thought about walmart.com. Usually buy laundry detg from Costco, and now I'm wondering if that's the best bang for my buck. So used to buying from there that I don't know what a good price is.

I didn't realize how many ways I can start slowly cutting things down so doesn't look quite as daunting.

depending on the item some of the western family cases only hold 12 cans so it doesn't take up too much space. even if you don't want to do full blown crockpot beans from scratch (dry beans) we make up some recipes from canned that the family likes. one of the more popular uses western family black beans-just put the drained cans into the slow cooker with some jarred salsa and (if you like it) extra cilantro. I really like it with the salmon burgers they sell at Costco (we use those without a bun as an entrée, same with their black bean patties-easy to toss on the grill or in the oven and fairly inexpensive). if your family eats ground beef one time saver is to buy a couple of the big packs of ground beef at Costco but instead of freezing it uncooked, use your biggest frying or wok pan to brown it. then drain it and batch it in freezer bags. I can save a whole lot of time when I make tacos, chili, sloppy joes and such by pulling one of these bags out to defrost in the fridge in the morning so all I have to do is throw it into a pan to warm it through and add the necessary additional ingredients (we do some up in the freezer already seasoned with the taco seasoning from Costco-then all we do is warm it to make quick burritos or tacos).

 

[QVCshopper]

I think your problem is Costco. I really like Costco and have a membership myself (but only because it's free through my father in law's business). But, if you really really look at most of the prices, they aren't that cheap. Most of the time, I can get things cheaper on sale and buy only what I need.

Second, Costco is bulk, which encourages wasting. I seldom waste food, and I hate that our society wastes so much. In the past month, I had to throw out 3 strawberries (forget they were there), a quarter of a cheese quesadilla (son didn't finish), a small container of pasta (made too much), and five cookies (burnt them). That's it.

We are a family of five, and I could do a whole month on just what you spend on a week and a half. Stop buying in bulk and stop wasting, and I bet you could cut your budget down to $800 easy.

Also, stop going to the store so much, join the no-buy thread--we only shop on certain days and don't spend anything for a certain amount... I'm trying for 14 no-buy days this month. It's really motivating and saves tons.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

disneymom - I have tried making my own bread and we can't resist eating it once it's out of the oven lol. My waistline can't take it, and my begging kids make it too hard.

barkely - I will try those black beans in the crock pot! Love black beans and love Costco salmon burgers, which I think are a good deal. We do buy the big packs of burger at Costco occasionally but have switched to turket burger which is more costly.

QVCshopper - We do throw things away. Sometimes those big bags of broccoli only get half eaten. I've stopped buying lunch meat from there since that would get wasted and just trying to not eat that very often. Hummus, and things like that end up getting thrown away. Your list was impressive of what you threw away. I think it's just been easier for me to not keep up on what's in the fridge and need to spend a little time looking every day. I've never checked out the no-buy thread but may take a gander. I suppose it's like what I've done with trying to stay out of Target and other stores since it's too tempting to buy.

 

[jsmith]

Okay here's a suggestion-since you live in Montana why not buy a whole grass fed beef? I know we split one with my brother and sister in law ( they live in Casper and my brother gets it from a rancher there) and it saves us a ton of money-and pastured beef is healthier than the factory farmed turkey in your turkey burgers. If you don't have a freeze you can probably rent a meat locker at your local meat processor for a reasonable price-my parents did this for years to store beef or wild game. You will have steaks, roast, ground beef, stew meat and so on. Its a large one time expense but then you have a nice assortment of cuts and can plan meals around it.

 

[SDSorority]

I just did a video on this today.

http://youtu.be/VOSjdzHB_Ro

 

[Misha72683]

For me it's about meal planning. Each week I sit down with the flyers and I not only consider the sales, but the reward programs (I'm Canadian though). If there are good reward offers, I go with them and make my meals around those offers, if there are great sales, I do it that way.

A lot of times an item can be used multiple times. For example, feta is expensive, but if I buy a tub of feta I can use it in 4 different meals in one week and that evens out the costs. Try to combine items as much as possible, which also cuts down on waste (I find this especially helpful for produce).

 

[goofyisinphilly]

Do you go to the Co-Op in Bozeman and buy dry goods in bulk there? My husband and I spend the month of August in Bozeman and that means cooking on the cheap. I make a list for the month and go to Wal-mart for paper products, the Co-Op for fresh stuff, and only hit Rosausers? for speciality stuff. I found Bozeman to be less expensive for many things than Charlotte, NC. We can't wait to get back out there. Counting the days.