Give me your grocery $-saving tips

[spotty_dog]

Alison, hopefully it will be a fun new hobby.

[alison]

Remember in kindergarten how the class would all plant marigold seeds, place the pots along a window sill, and watch them germinate? Mine would never grow, and my mom mentioned to me yesterday how the teacher simply grew a few too, and would replace kids' whose seeds didn't take--including mine! . Definitely no green thumbs here!

[MrsK]

I hate gardening. Live plants and fish don't do well by me. Thank goodness my husband and babies speak up when they are hungry.

Another grocery tip: don't shop for "ethnic" foods if your ethnic group has only 200 members in a community of 350,000. I just went waaaay over-budget for passover groceries and I didn't buy any meat. Not even a chicken.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

I hate gardening. Live plants and fish don't do well by me. Thank goodness my husband and babies speak up when they are hungry.

[Michele]

Yep, most likely too warm and the lettuce will be bitter.

They are small plants. Maybe I'll get some growth before they bolt. I could bring them inside but my house runs about 80F. I think today was almost 90F outside.

[DCJenn]

www.bustameal.com

That's my meal-planning tool- and I build into it knowing that there are dates when I will say "Eff it, we're eating out." It's nice because I plan it all based on what we have and/or what's in season and then I send it to my phone and cross everything off the list as I shop. I rarely buy impulse items these days!

I suck at gardening- the weather here doesn't help, either.

I don't coupon unless it's an in-store thing.

We order from Greenling.com (a local online organic grocer that delivers), we shop at the Farmer's Market and we fill in from the grocery store. I also buy wine and beer in bulk. We have way too many parties and neighbors stopping by to not keep stuff in stock.

J

[labmouse]

interesting thread.. i have been tracking my expenditure using excel =) 2 of us DH and I spend around $150-200 on groceries per month. I guess that is pretty decent eh. Ok.. my tips.
1) alternate your carbs (sometimes pasta, sometimes potato, sometimes rice depending on which is cheaper) Rice is always cheap.
2) buy in bulk and cook in bulk. Meats can be frozen. I buy the buy one free one from winn-dixie. So, usually 2 trays of chicken breast usually cost us $9-10 and will last us for one week. Cook big meals that you can freeze or keep for the next day. That way you also save cooking time and electricity.
3) Stir fry with mixed vegetables (carrots, broccoli and celery are usually cheap)
4) buy fruits and vegetable from farmer's market. I usually try to buy fruits that last or those that you can freeze before they go bad. Berries and banana are always good. Apples and oranges can last 1-2 weeks.
5) Don't cook with recipes. (i know this sounds odd) but say if you ran out of celery in your stir fry, you can always replace with asparagus or cabbage or any other thing that goes well with it. No rules. Or you can cook some eggs and shred them up in your stir fry. Get creative.
6) No soda no chips (those are expensive and has zero nutritional value). Eat pretzels, nuts and raisins.. They might be a little expensive, but you usually don eat as much. Just a handful is enough to satisfy cravings.
7) buy alternatives. For example if white onions are cheaper than yellow ones, take the white ones.

[Lala]

I will preface this by saying that I spend WAAAY too much on groceries. Being a vegetarian who hates the texture of frozen vegetables, I spend a lot of money on fruits and veggies. However, the last month or so I have been on a bit of a diet, and I'm finding that that can go hand in hand with saving money on groceries. Not only am I not buying ice cream or cookies, but I am eating smaller portions, meaning the food I buy lasts longer. It's really obvious, but it works! Now, I'm sure the savings that this amounts to is pretty insignificant, but I like that I have the double benefit of losing weight and saving money at the same time!

[Michele]

Any one use vitacost? My neighbor just told me about it. She buys all of her Annie's organic stuff and a lot of her kids snacks from there. Looking at the prices it's cheaper than Target and Publix. And shipping is free on orders over $49. Since I guess I'm looking into prepackaged foods now , I better look for the best deals! No idea if my kids will actually eat the stuff....

[BonBon]

I've never heard of it. I buy larabars on Amazon's subscribe and save (free shipping and an extra 15% off) so compare that, too.

[Thirteen]

Our new thing we're trying this month: taking our grocery budget/eating out $$ in cash, and only using the cash. "When it's gone, it's gone."
So far, it is proving to be super awesome!