How do you do your grocery shopping?

[PrincessFiona]

We've been looking for ways to cut our grocery bill....with very, very limited success I'm afraid. We've tried doing a "big shop" once a month and then just dropping into the grocery store for milk/bread when we need it, doing a medium-sized shop every two weeks and finally...of just shopping when we run out of things. The 'shop when you run out' seems to be the most expensive option.

How do you guys cut corners in your grocery budget?

kris

[migirl]

Well, we only have the two of us (for now) so it might be easier for us than if we had a houseful of kids, but I do the shopping once a week. Before I go, I make up a menu of meals for the week, and figure out what ingredients I'll need for each meal. If I can, I try to 'recycle' things from one meal to the next; or, if I know I need ... fresh broccoli, for example ... since the packages that it comes in are too big for us to eat in one meal, I'll figure out a way to incorporate it into another meal so it doesn't go to waste. Then I stay strictly to my list, unless I see nonperishables (cereals, soups) or freezables (meats) that are on sale that I can stock up on even if we won't eat them that particular week.

Other than that, I clip coupons, take advantage of store specials whenever I can, buy store brand most of the time... This system works pretty well for us, and we don't have exorbitant grocery bills. On average, I probably spend about $40-$50 per week on the two of us.

[Cumberland]

I get budget living magazine ( it as only $1 for a year subscription- now that is a deal!) and there was an article this month on the world's most thrifty family- their last name is Economides believe it or not, and they gave pointers on their grocery shopping. They run a website http://www.homeeconomiser.com/

Maybe it might give some good tips.

[Vishenka69]

I only buy stuff that is on special that week and plan a menu around those items. But we figured out that even if we don't budget grocery shopping, it's still much cheaper than ordering in or going out. In our store family size packages are at least half price per pound than smaller ones but we just don't eat that much.

I do about the same thing as Jane. And I keep a running tally of Costco items and go there about once a month.
Now I have to work my new best friend, Trader Joe, into that routine.

[SueC]

I menu plan and sometimes I shop online. There is a $20 fee to have it delivered but if you don't actually set foot in the store, you don't buy all the crap that wasn't on your list. I try to make trips to costco very infrequent, but stuff like soap, trash bags, meat, and dairy really are cheaper there. They get you when you buy all the processed treats that you are peddling.

[DCJenn]

I go to Trader Joes about once a month to stock up on staples- frozen things (pizzas, veggies, burritos, fish, etc) and then shop weekly at Safeway for fruits and veggies- unless I go to the Farmer's markets on Saturdays.

I also like to shop at Whole Foods but it's a total budget buster for us. There's way too many tempting things that we really don't need.

We don't buy junk food, and rarely if ever buy desserts. I do buy popcorn kernals and we have an air popper that gets quite a workout some weeks! Occasionally I'll buy a bag of pretzels but they end up going stale before we finish them. I do try to buy organic whenever possible, but it's expensive. I figure it's my way of making up for driving a car.

We have a spare fridge so I'll buy sale stuff, especially frozen stuff and keep it in the basement. I also try to give Nikolai whatever we're having which cuts down on that expensive baby food stuff. (which he hates)

I cook in every night but one each week. That alone saves a ton of money.

Jenn

[Sheherezade]

I was just thinking about starting a thread like this today!! We spend so much more on groceries now than we did when DH was in med school. I can't figure out if it is because we know have 2 kids or because we don't have to scrimp as much. (In med school on my post-doc salary, we were seriously poor!)

We shop once a week after menu planning. I plan out what I buy for most meals during the week and then buy extra fruit/veggies and snack stuff. In med school, we spent no more than 70-100 a week on all food sources (groceries, restaurants, etc.). Now we are lucky to get out of the grocery store for $150/wk and that's with a planned restaurant dinner once a week. We do shop in an "upscale" market and farmers market, but the costs are similar to the average grocery store. We buy mostly "fresh" food - not a lot of packaged stuff. I'd like to blame the costs on that, but I don't think the healthy stuff is always more expensive. Sometimes the organics are higher in cost. Here are some things we buy now that we didn't before: a variety of juices, kid snack items, more yogurts and cheeses, lunchbox stuff, deli meats, occassional treats, household upkeep items for a much larger house. Still, should that be close to 100 more a week? We don't go to Costco often - maybe 4 times a year. We limit that to paper goods and some really good deals. Costco was always a budget drain.

I had a Japanese friend in Boston. One day we were having this very discussion, commiserating on how much more groceries cost with kids. Then she told me she was spending a total of $40/wk (!!) on everything. She was horrified. I was impressed with her, but mystified. I don't know where the money goes.

I know the first thing to be kicked once school starts will be those wonderful clorox wipes and swiffers. Rags and brooms and mops to the rescue, just like in the before times.

[Amiens]

We have gotten out of our routine due to moving and being gone just about every other week since mid June. I have noticed that because of this our grocery bill has doubled and tripled. Also because I haven't had a menu plan, we have been eating out more.

We like to plan our general breakfast and lunches for the month- just general ideas. For example I will buy cereal, and we have to eat all of the cereal before we go out and buy more. I have a rotating list of ideas for lunches that I know the kids will eat. Same goes for healthy snacks. Generally once we are out of a particular snack item we won't buy more until the next month.

As for dinner- I was planning those out a month in advance, only because I found it easy at the time to do a one time shopping, however I notice we consume a lot of fresh produce. Now that we have smaller fridge, I will be cutting back to 2 weeks at time.

We now have a deep freeze, which I am loving because we also have a Food Saver- vacuum sealer. One thing I did this past week- we bought Peaches at Cost-co, well because of all the traveling we have only eaten about 1/3 of them. So I peeled, sliced them up, added the sugar necessary from my favorite peach cobbler recipe, vacuum sealed them, and froze them for a later date. I have noticed that our wastefulness of food has gone down. If I know we will be going out of town and afraid that leftovers will go bad- then I package them and freeze them. This will come in handy I think in December when the baby is born.

Other things I do- I will plan a couple of meals around what is on sale at the grocery store. I don't buy pre-packaged goods, I try to make most things myself- salsa, cinnamon rolls (have an awesome recipe that is quick), etc. I try to incorporate ingredients that I am buying in other meals. I also try to buy generic brand, as a recent study (Consumer Reports) was done that 9 times out of 10 the generic brand is just as good if not better than the name brand. Plus some stores will refund your money if you don't like the generic brand. Unless it's something where I have tried both and I know I prefer the name over the generic, then I will buy the store/generic brand. I used to laugh and tease Matt who was big on generic brands about saving pennies, but then I realized all those pennies really do add up at the end of the day. I also use my "club saver card" (Albertson's, Safeway, etc.) and that seems to help.

I had a friend in Denver who worked for a food wholesaler, and said if possible (obviously you have to live close to one) buy groceries at the Wal-mart Supercenter as they always have the cheaper prices on groceries than the other competitors. From what I understood Wal-mart has a very low mark-up (10%), whereas Albertsons, Safeway etc. mark-up about 25% I think that is what she said. I know Wal-mart has been a source of debate here, so I am not trying to start anything.

Coupons supposedly help- I don't get the paper and haven't gotten into searching the internet for coupons.

At one point- you will really get a glimpse at my penny pinching ways- I had an excel spreadsheet that had the prices of things that we commonly buy, so when things went on sale I would know if I was truely getting a deal.

HTH,
Crystal

I know Wal-mart has been a source of debate here, so I am not trying to start anything.

C'mon, we don't want to have to move this to the debate forum.


I use the calculator on my cell phone so that I can do a quick in-store comparison, especially on diapers.

[Rapunzel]

I plan out the meals for a two week period and buy accordingly. My kids, although scrawny, are eating machines! We easily eat through about $150 worth of food in a week. Of course, something I noticed is that when we moved from Texas to Boston our food bill went up considerably because food just costs a lot more here than in TX! The exact same pre-packaged products I find in TX while shopping with my mom on trips will cost about 50-100% more in Boston! Meat and dairy are much more expensive here than TX as are many produce items. It's ridiculous.

Anyway, in Boston, at least it's costing us about $600/month to feed six people. The biweekly menu planning seems to work well for us.

I only go to Costco once a month now. And, when there I limit my purchases to paper products really (ie paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates, plastic forks, etc). I don't buy food in bulk from the warehouse stores anymore. If I want to buy something in bulk (like, say, peanut butter) I wait for a really good sale at the local grocery store now. I save so much more money that way because I really don't think the warehouse stores are good money deals with most food items.

We did the online grocery delivery service for a few weeks after I had the baby (it's called PeaPod out here) and it worked out pretty well. We actually spent less than we normally do that way. My only gripe is that they don't carry many of the more esoteric grocery items I buy.

I anticipate as my herd of children grows into a herd of gargantuan teenagers my foodbill will skyrocket. That's not a pretty picture! :!

I would love to have a huge deep-freeze! I think that's going to be something we have to buy in the next couple of years....

Jennifer

[Amiens]

I would love to have a huge deep-freeze! I think that's going to be something we have to buy in the next couple of years....

Jennifer

We lucked out big time on the deep freeze- my parents bought a new one, and gave us the old one that is still working fine-- the seal might need to be replaced, but the compressor, everything was just serviced. Don't understand the logic of the purchase, but I am not going to complain on a gift. Plus it's neat-o to have something from my childhood- yes it's the exact same deep freeze I grew up with as a kid. Now if you want to know if it's energy efficient- that's another matter, given I don't think energy efficiency was an issue 27 years ago.

Crystal

[HeartRN]

I'm embarassed to even post, but here it goes....I have no menu plan, and I generally make no lists....but my mental list is usually pretty clear (as far as necessities, etc). We just went to the Wal-Mart Supercenter today (*ugh*) and as much as I hate the place and battling the people, the prices are definitely MUCH better. Although I swore I wouldn't go back after a few bad visits (basics not on the shelf, etc etc), I did, and it seems they've cleaned up their act a little.

I don't really go to the store regularly....I go when I am off of work, have a reasonable amount of energy, a child that isn't too cranky (because she has to go with me), and mainly when we're pretty low or out of the basics....oh, and I REFUSED to go until the heat wave broke! Needless to say, with working 3-4 12 hour shifts a week and toting a toddler, we eat out quite a bit, but it's almost always carry-out. I don't really remember the last time the three of us went out and had a sit down meal (practically impossible with an almost two year old, anyhow!)

Oh--forgot to mention that I really don't cook (save for the crock pot in the winter, if this even counts). We eat a lot of raw fruits/veggies, and I find myself picking up frozen veggies/low-fat-semi healthy meals frequently, too. I concentrate on stuff we can carry with us, because so much of our time is spent away from the house. I love taking a little bag of mixed nuts and yogurt with me to work for breakfast...pretty good for you, and relatively cheap.

[PrincessFiona]

Thanks Marla....I don't make a 'formal' list either usually and I've been really humbled by all of these ultra-organized posts!

I need to get some of y'all to come out her and get me organized.

kris