Are people like me able to do grocery budgets?

[MSSANDRA]

It might not be quite as bad as you think. You mentioned your pets and for most of us,that is a different line item than groceries. Look at what you really spend for just food. Does this include all food you eat. Many peoples budgets do not include 3-4 meals of eating out every week. Still, that is very high. Don't cut out healthy foods, even if they cost more. We always say we are saving on doctor bills but spending more on healthy foods. Buying on sale and freezing and buying produce in season is very helpful. If the chicken breast is on sale one week, buy a ton and freeze in portions you need for later. Plan leftovers so they will not go bad. If you have fish on Monday and have leftovers, have fish tacos for dinner Tuesday. Leftover roast become b-b-q beef sandwiches, and leftover grilled chicken gets added to a salad to make another dinner. Cook from scratch as much as possible, cheaper and healthier.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

My hubby used to hunt and get elk, which I loved since we processed it all ourselves in our garage straight into our freezer, so when he quit hunting, we talked about getting grassfed beef - I suppose it was me who didn't follow through with that since I didn't want our freezer (which we do have in the garage!) to be completely full of just that, but may be time to toss that around again. Good idea.
And we do love the coop, but it's hard for me to go in there and not get a green juice at $6 or their wonderful soups or deli items!! I really save more by not going in there. If I could stick to my list (another problem highlighted!) it would be great. Rosauers is right by my work and some things can be cheaper there, but more often, I pay more for items I should be getting elsewhere when I'm in a hurry.
I have a "Eat This, Then That" cookbook that I tried to cook out of but I never seemed to have a big enough portion leftover to cook that 2nd meal, which just means I need to tweak my recipe.
This will be hard until it becomes a habit but will feel so good to keep track of my grocery cost every month (minus pet costs which I was including) and see if/what we can save. Great ideas appreciate them so much!

goofyisinphilly - glad you love it here! We do too! It's truly a great place

 

[aliceindisneyland]

It sounds like your family is on the go a lot, so just eating at home as opposed to drive thru/restaurant is saving you a lot already!
$1200 does sound high though, even if you're buying whatever you want at the store.
Could you make a two week meal plan trying to use up all of the stuff in your pantry/fridge/freezer? Make it a game - like try to get through June 1 without buying anything but, say, bananas.
Whenever I do a pantry/fridge/freezer cleanout, I'm amazed that nobody dies without milk, lettuce, tortillas...the things I think are "essential".

ETA: the things you are throwing out like broccoli, hummus, sandwich meat, etc. can be frozen! Next time you're at Costco grab a huge pack of quart or gallon freezer bags. At the dollar store buy a bin that will fit in your freezer to contain all of your odds and ends so they don't get lost, and a Sharpie if you don't have one. Frozen broccoli = roasted broccoli side dish, or in a stir fry, or au gratin.... Frozen hummus has just a little texture change IMO but I'll still eat it, and it works great as a sandwich spread! I freeze the no-nitrate sandwich turkey in portions that feed us for a lunch and separate the portions with pieces of parchment paper so they don't get stuck together; it will thaw out in about 30 min.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

It sounds like your family is on the go a lot, so just eating at home aposed to drive thru/restaurant is saving you a lot already!
$1200 does sound high though, even if you're buying whatever you want at the store.
Could you make a two week meal plan trying to use up all of the stuff in your pantry/fridge/freezer? Make it a game - like try to get through June 1 without buying anything but, say, bananas.
Whenever I do a pantry/fridge/freezer cleanout, I'm amazed that nobody dies without milk, lettuce, tortillas...the things I think are "essential".

We are - my girls are all in sports in the Fall and Spring, so that's when my planning is not super. I know I've been lazy with planning so already feeling good about making this week's meal plan. It's been awhile since we've done a pantry/freezer clean out and made my meal plan around that with a planned one trip to store for fresh things (on sale through flyer!) and milk. I'm making a short-term goal to do a good job of things until mid June when we go to Oregon on a budget trip.

 

[tinkerone]

It's been awhile since we've done a pantry/freezer clean out and made my meal plan around that with a planned one trip to store for fresh things (on sale through flyer!) and milk. I'm making a short-term goal to do a good job of things until mid June when we go to Oregon on a budget trip.

that would be my suggestion. I do this one week every month, its incredible what is actually in my fridge/pantry that I forget about. in that week its all about simple. breakfast for dinner--eggs and bacon, panckaes and sausage, waffles and ham. we will have pasta with a tomato sauce (throw in any veggies that are looking limp in the fridge like broccoli), pasta in olive oil and parmasan cheese, macaroni and cheese. basically that week is what we have on hand and the meals tend to be cheap, quick and easy.
if you can go a week just buying basics you will save a lot of money and it will help prevent food being tossed out.

 

[CarolynK]

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.

I totally agree!! We are also members, and the rule is that something ON SALE at the local grocery store is (almost) always cheaper than Costco. You have to know prices (I use the Grocery IQ app because there is no way I can remember all the prices) to play the game, and it IS a game.

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.

That's impressive!! I hate throwing food away. I find that composting works for some, but not all of it.

I make my own bread, either in our bread machine - or, my latest accomplishment, No-Knead Bread (SO good!!), so for years we've bought the Costco 50-pound bag of bread flour and partition it off into 1-gallon ziploc bags.

BTW, there are other ways to cut spending: we eliminated landline phone service in favor of Ooma (and kept our home phone number)...from $45 a month to $3 month. It all adds up.

 

[Carina]

...or, my latest accomplishment, No-Knead Bread (SO good!!)

Can you share the recipie please?

 

[CarolynK]

Can you share the recipie please?

Sure! Ok, so I have read about this recipe for a while, and while this is the original article link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

...there are lots of other opinions about the recipe...here is another link for info:
http://www.simplysogood.com/2010/03/crusty-bread.html

So, after you've read those articles, here's my method...I have a scale, so I measure 14.8 ounces of "bleached" (because this is what I buy from Costco in 50 lb. bags and it works just fine) bread flour into a large bowl. Add 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt and mix. Microwave 1-1/2 cups of water to lukewarm (I do measure the temp to ~ 100 degrees but easy to approximate) and add 1/4 teaspoon of yeast (Costco's Red Star) to water just to moisten (don't have to proof!). Then, add to flour/salt mixture and stir w/spatula or spoon until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temp for 12 hours (have done it for as little as 7 hours with same results). Follow the rest of the recipe, and it produces an amazing loaf of dense bread with a very crunchy crust!

 

[sksjasams]

My best tips in agreement with some other PPs:

1) Take the time to make a menu for the week and a good grocery list. Look in your cupboards/freezer/fridge to make sure you actually need something before adding it to the list.
2) Then stick to the list! Really stick to it.
3) Then stay out of the stores for the rest of the week! Those little stops mid-week are what really kill a budget. It is almost impossible to get out of the store with only the one item you need. So, I try very hard to stick to the rule that if its not on the list, we do without it until next week.
4) Avoid Costco if that is your weakness. Aside from milk, I find their prices are not that great, and it is so tempting to start throwing extra items in the cart.
5) Try to limit food waste by adjusting your recipe portions to the amount you and your family will eat in one meal or two. If there is just a little leftover, then have a night where maybe one or two people eat the leftovers and the others have something inexpensive/on-hand like soup or mac and cheese.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

We are a family of 6 (4 adults, 1 teen and a 3 year old), dog, cats, bird, fish and other family members and friends come over often. 3 of the adults are living in other areas (college and work) so we are truly 3 in the house, but my grocery budget has to cover those others. When we are all together, I load up baskets and boxes to send to the kids and on the road with DH.

If you watch what you are getting at the membership stores, you can keep to the budget. I use SamsClub and Gordon Food Supply. For me, my shopping habits were about filling the pantry every pay day.

We used to have biweekly pay so pretty much I was buying all the month's groceries one pay day and the added in produce and dairy on the alternate. Now we have weekly pay. I have also learned that we don't have to always have spaghetti sauce (tomatoes and tomato sauce yes) in the house. We had a list from long ago that had the minimum number of cans you need--that was a lot of our cost and we didn't ever empty the cabinets.

Now I buy the staples in bulk. Meats divide and go in the freezer. I joined Amazon Subscribe and Save for pet food, laundry soap and diapers w/ wipes. It took some number crunching because I was going to the big brand names versus store...Surprise! These items saved us money, but others would not have.

DD16 is starting a more vegetarian lifestyle. That's expensive! But we aren't purchasing meat at $3.50 per pound. We are able to splurge on expensive fish and produce, as well as some of the pre-chopped items. Onions were just wasting away so now I buy diced frozen. More expensive, but it's working out for our new lifestyle and budge.

This weekend I went to the grocery. Spent $150 on cans, rice, produce (including a watermelon for $6), dairy, bread, frozen lasagna, candy, Clif bars ($1 ea)....Half of the cans were sent to another family member's home (lack of pay) and our cupboards are full for this week and beyond. We don't have many grab and snack foods, but there are some.

If you set a goal, you will have to make some changes in your lifestyle. But it's not all about giving up your indulgences and cooking in crock-pots. Find what is important and what you aren't too crazy about. From there, you'll be able to reach your dream. I splurge on some convenience, but that is worth my money and time. To make up for the splurge, I have to get rid of other items.

 

[manateesmom]

We do use Costco, but we freeze a lot of stuff. Our most budget-friendly Costco trips, we try to stick to milk, eggs, cheese, and meat, sometimes flour, sugar, cooking oil, pantry staples. Fruit & veggies not necessarily cost-effective, and go to waste. Anything in a box there is more expensive than it needs to be (cereal is MORE expensive at Costco, not counting what you could save by doing store-brand instead of name-brand).

I have several recipe books of the "dinner's in the freezer" variety, which are specifically geared toward Costco-type shopping in bulk and storing in a deep freeze. One thing we'll do is prepare marinades and freeze meets with the marinade, then as they thaw they also marinate and get flavor. Sometimes I (and more often DH) are stumped by what to do with plain chicken in fridge, and will order out instead - easier to see how to grill some marinated chicken.

Our weakness is being too tired after work to put together a meal, so putting away things in freezer bags seems to help (especially to get DH to cook something). For example, we'll get a ton of ground beef and pork and make meatballs, then freeze meal-sized amounts with tomato sauce and spaghetti all right there in the bag together. Makes it a "no-brainer" for DH to make meals.

Similarly, I have a pasta roller, and once a month or so, I'll make a huge amount of ravioli to put away in the freezer. It can be cooked from frozen. On the topic of buying veggies in season, utilizing them in raviolis is a good way to buy a bunch and store for later. One thing I'll do is buy cabbage and potatoes near St. Patrick's day, when they're on sale, and make a huge batch of Colcannon (mashed potatoes and cabbage, or kale), then take the leftovers and add some cheese (white Tillamook cheddar is good), and make pierogies. We'll also do home-made pot-stickers from scratch. If you can master pasta dough, you have a lot of options to stock up on freezer supplies. You can have a regular weekend afternoon or weekday evening to fill pasta, it's a good "production line" activity with the family.

We find that making pizzas at home is also very cost-effective, and you can add healthy toppings and cut way down or leave off the cheese. It's pretty easy to make a decent pizza crust from scratch (seriously, 5-10 minutes). We grow our own basil, oregano, thyme and sage, and can just tear off some leaves for seasoning. Or make a batch of pesto and freeze small amounts in an ice cube tray to use as pizza sauce (great for veggie pizzas). You can use BBQ sauce, alfredo sauce, and pesto easily as pizza sauces, or do something like caramelized onions and bacon and cheese and skip sauce entirely. One trick if I'm using jarred pasta sauces is to use less than a full jar and save the extra for pizza sauce.

Another thing I like to do when buying in bulk is to really portion out the meat. I don't need to eat a whole chicken breast. We're a family of 3, with a 4yo. So, I'll get the big package of chicken breasts at Costco, which come pre-packaged in twos, and divide that up into bags with one and a half chicken breasts or maybe 2, depending on what we'll use it for. Often slicing up the chicken breast and adding marinade lets me "cheat" on how many breasts I'm portioning out for each meal, and we don't notice any "missing" chicken. Same thing with other meats - you may be able to get away with buying less if you slice it up and apportion slightly less meat per meal.

Similarly, Costco sells very thick pork chops. I can butterfly those and just separate each one into 2 for a reasonable meal portion. A $17 package of pork chops would yield me 18 portions, then, typically.

I don't do much couponing, but do a lot of freezing, and try to eat through what's in the freezer and pantry before doing another Costco trip. Good luck.

 

[SEA333]

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!!

We are also a family of five.

I haven't read through all of the responses, so I may duplicate some things, but with 3 kids (ages 14, 10, and 8) and all are athletes, it is hard to stay on track for a budget, but I do only try to spend between $100-150/week on groceries. One thing that I noticed is when I have a plan at the store - meaning I know exactly what I am going to buy and what meals I am going to make, I do better. I tend to see a good sale and "stock up" on that item just because it's a good price, or I will buy a ton of fresh fruit/veggies, then it goes bad in the fridge because I didn't really have a good meal plan for the week and never got around to making it. So, if I keep it in my head that I am ONLY buying enough food for one week and have my meals mapped out, I can stay within budget. I buy only enough fresh produce to last a few days so it won't go bad - DD and I have a running grocery store date after tumbling class on Thursdays where she gets raspberries from the salad/fruit bar (her favorite treat!) and I get food for the weekend. Then on Sunday, DH and I usually go back to the store for whatever he wants for the week and fresh produce for MTW. I also make a Target run on Thursday or Friday during my lunch break, where I get the boxed, canned and frozen food that always seems to be better priced at Target than the regular grocery store.

I'll have to go back through the thread to read everyone's tips...I'm sure there are some good ones! My 14 year old is starting high school football in a few weeks, and he will be practicing 3-5 hours a day plus walking/riding his bike to and from the field, which is a little over a mile away, so I'm sure my grocery bill is going to double. I will need all the tips I can get!

Good luck!

 

[Richard M Nixon]

I've only got to budget for my partner and myself, but I've had good success with meal planning as a form of budgeting. We would spend $300/week on groceries by just showing up at the store and buying whatever, but since I've started planning our weekly meals (not even that detailed, something like "baked chicken on tuesday, steak on wednesday, baked fish friday") I've managed to being out weekly grocery costs to about $220 for the past 8 weeks. Give or take a bit for irregular expenses like a few bottles of wine, extra cleaning supplies, whatever.

She's influenced my shopping habits by bringing me to Whole Foods for all my grocery needs, and while I'm happy with the food, it sure took me some time to adjust to the higher prices. I think we usually hit $50-70 on fruit alone, and old me would have turned around and walked away seeing something like that!

 

[abmitch01]

I am so bad at this, thanks for this thread

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Great suggestions! Putting meals in freezer bags, especially meatballs since my whole fam likes those is a great idea. We used to make our own pizza and just got used to buying it again, and I thought it was fun making our own so that should come back on the menu. I love the example about buying more expensive frozen onions which ended up being cheaper than throwing onions away that didn't get cut and used.
A lot of this is laziness - sometimes I let a bag of potatoes go to waste since it's a lot of work to peel and cut, but I saw that bag yesterday and decided to make potato soup that my family loved. Going through the pantry, I came up with a lot of meal ideas that I only need to supplement with little grocery visits. I did go to the store today to get coconut milk and bananas and that's it, which is a miracle for me. It wasn't efficient, but I'm not done with my weekly list as I'm waiting for my Wed grocery store inserts. Just trying to eat what we have for now. Will feel so good to clean out freezer and pantry instead of going through and throwing food away!
Thank you!

 

[Carina]

It's pretty easy to make a decent pizza crust from scratch (seriously, 5-10 minutes). .

Would you be willing to share your recipe with us?

 

[CF'er]

I would like your recipe for potato soup. I just threw away a 10# bag of potatoes that had gone bad. I think I need to not store them in the plastic bag.

Great thread. I need to start doing some of these things.

 

[of2dbeach]

I learned to can.No more wasted food.You can get books at the library and Walmart sells.everything you need including the Ball book .It gives me.great pride to know I.am.not only saving money,but have food for when we.need it

 

[of2dbeach]

This is how I.save money .I.shop at Bjs.I buy cat and.dog food there and litter.I buy a pork loin and.cut it myself.Both ends.make roasts the rest chops.I get about 5 meals and.it cost around $20.I buy 6# of hamb meat,divide by 6 and.freeze,6# chicken breasts I.freeze 3 to a.bag and they share.I.feed 5 people.3 adults a teen and a pre teen.This lasts me a mo .We always eat leftovers,Friday is.pizza and.we make our.own because we have Celiacs and its fun.Bjs takes coupons.Watch for sales at the grocery storws.CVS,Walgreens etc.match your coupons to Bogo and sales.Should be alot of.sales this weekend .

 

[Soulsearching]

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!!

What works for me is a few simple steps.

1. Use Cash, the same amount every week
2. Use coupons, for me the coupons are usually just soaps, detergent, deodorant, etc.
3. Buy just for the week.
4. Do not buy at Costco, unless you know that is the best buy
5. I have CORN night dinner, Clean Out the Refrigerator Night Use all leftovers in the fridge, get creative with them, do not let them go to waste. Usually, I add eggs to them and they are breakfast for my husband on the weekend.
6. Any leftover cash, goes into a envelope for those dinner guests on the weekend, birthday, etc.
7. Always use your circular sale foods for your shopping list.

Most people over buy and things go to waste and get thrown out.