CouponMom.com

[MrsK]

DrK is eating me out of house and home! As a single gal, I'd spend $35 monthly on groceries and ate ceral for dinner most nights. Now I spend more than $100 on groceries weekly and wear an apron nearly every evening. In FL, I was a big fan of couponmom.com for grocery savings at Publix. I don't think its been as effective for Giant Eagle in OH. I just heard about thegrocerygame.com -- which has a subscription fee so I'm wary. Can anyone recommend some good grocery savings websites? Tips?

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Re: CouponMom.com

I completely agree, I don't think CouponMom is as good in OH. Plus, several of the stores don't take printed coupons (hello, Zagara's!!!) which is very annoying.

And I feel your pain on the food bills. We're at $450 a month, for just DF and I. I guess at 6'8'' you're entitled to eat a lot but it's expensive!! However, I am proud that I've drawn the line at complaining and begrudging him food. I figure if he's entitled to anything, it's food.

[madeintaiwan]

Re: CouponMom.com

$450 a month for 2 people? Really? No offense, but I almost fell out of my chair. We spend $500 to $600 a month and we're a family of 5 and I feel like that is A LOT and am constantly trying to find ways to cut back. I get organic fruit and veggies delivered to the house weekly and occasionally buy organic local meat. I cook 95% of our meals. E takes a breakfast and lunch to work. J takes a sack lunch because school lunch is gross. Hello, "grade X, only for school lunch program and prisons?" We eat a ton of produce and produce is freakin' expensive out here. When my mum visited from CA for 3 weeks she COULD NOT stop complaining about how much groceries cost out here. I pay almost a $1 more for the same container of Almond Breeze than my cousin pays for in CA. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about our grocery budget if 2 people are living on almost as much as 5.

[migirl]

Re: CouponMom.com

$450 a month for 2 people does sound like a lot, we probably spend that much for our family of 4. :huh:

Anyway, I do a lot of menu planning and making extras/leftovers stretch over a few meals. I don't really use websites, I clip coupons and buy mostly store brand items to save money when shopping. Sorry, that's probably not much help.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Re: CouponMom.com

I would say that our groceries are on the high end because DF eats so much. Frankly, I doubt our bills would go up much adding a few small mouths. In terms of produce, I once calculated that DF eats almost $5 of produce per meal. His lunch consists of a sandwich, a banana, an apple, a green or red pepper (eaten like an apple), a yogurt, carrots, and if we have any leftovers, sometimes leftover veggies (and that's after breakfast and a 10 AM snack). It's worse when we're marathon training. On a non-workout day, he needs 4000 calories, on a workout day, multiply by 2. It's a nightmare!!!! We can't run errands for more than 2 hours without serious provisioning in the way of granola bars, fruit, and spare sandwiches.

We buy all meat on sale and have a chest freezer to save extras. We make large meals and always eat leftovers. We eat nothing packaged from the center aisles of the grocery store except cereal and we eat in or brown bag every meal.

Now, keep in mind that we lose some redundancies because we're shopping in both Cleveland and Boston but I only spend about $30 for myself for those two weeks in Boston.

I shudder to think what will happen when we have kids given that they're all likely to have his appetite.

[MrsK]

Re: CouponMom.com

Same here! It's got to be at least $450 monthly. DrK played rugby for 6 years and he's more than twice my size. He's built like a tank -- 6'1", 250+ lbs, his neck measures 20" and he wears a size 48-50 sports jacket. And he still eats like a professional footballer. I buy everything on sale, generics, store brands, use coupons and discounts, plan meals around store specials, try to stretch every meal into at least 2 (though there are rarely leftovers), cook or freeze everything before it spoils, stock-pile non-perishables, freeze meats, etc. He'll eat an entire chicken in one sitting and will still be hungery. There are two of us. I'll buy $120 worth of groceries on Monday and by Thursday, the cupboards are already sparce.

[madeintaiwan]

Re: CouponMom.com

I guess I now know why some of the childless people who are considering whether or not they should have kids in medical school or residency freak out. If I was spending $450 a month on feeding two people, I too would wonder how on earth I was going feed a family. We're not living on mac and cheese here. The other night we had mahi, steak, and organic veggies. DH either takes left overs for lunch or he gets 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a soda, a propel, a yogurt, a fruit, a granola bar, and he always has a bag of trail mix in his lunch bag. He has one of those Costco version of slim fast for breakfast. Honestly, he often doesn't have time to eat "lunch" at lunch time and when he does have time to eat he usually has to down it in between cases. He lost 15 pounds when he did his 4 week ortho away rotation at Utah. When he's home he eats non stop. Oh and the beer. And the wine. That's probably $30 to $50 a month. [I need to take my bottleshop heap of bottles to the recycling center] J takes a peanut butter and honey sandwich, organic chocolate milk, pringles, a granola bar, a yogurt, and a sweet treat. And my daughter eats ALL. DAY. LONG. [JennP can attest to this] We spend $105 a month on organic produce that is delivered to our door weekly. There is still produce that I have to buy aside from the delivery. I only buy lean beef. I wish I could buy more fish, but in land fish freaks me out and Costco stopped carrying Mahi. So I only buy when it's looking good and I'm feeling brave. I don't regularly clip coupons but I do price compare and buy certain things only at certain stores. I plan out our meals and go to the grocery store every 2 to 3 days. We always have left overs. The $600 a month includes baby wipes and toiletries. We cloth diaper and that saves at least $40 extra a month. I dunno, no tips. Smaller portions? Americans are notorious for eating huge portions. :huh:

[MrsK]

Re: CouponMom.com

I dunno, no tips. Smaller portions? Americans are notorious for eating huge portions. :huh:

Agreed, but I think that Tulips would agree with me that our men would totally flip out if they didn't just die of starvation. DrK should probably cut down on his portion sizes -- but I think he would be sneaking fast food and snacks if I just served less at meals. DrK and Tulips's DF are both big guys and former athletes who are accustomed to eating enormous portions.

Oh, and, Tulips -- I know what you mean about the kids inheriting their appetites. I've had nightmares where I serve a meal and DrK and our imaginery sons have cleaned every plate before our fictional daughers and I even sit down. When I first moved to OH, I met a wife of a former prof. rugby player. She said that they had 6yo twin boys who were eating nearly as much as her husband.

[madeintaiwan]

Re: CouponMom.com

I get the whole athlete thing. DH is in the college football hall of fame. He currently plays basketball at least 3 times a week and lifts weights at least 4 days a week before rounding. And he's been swimming too to train for some trolley run that the department is paying for and the guys are competing to beat each other in. :huh:

[MrsK]

Re: CouponMom.com

Well, gosh. I don't know how you manage to stretch your grocery budget so well. It seems like we are all doing everything that's been suggested. . . My hats off to you!

[MDPhDWife]

Re: CouponMom.com

I don't use any grocery websites since I'm so bad about coupons. I do shop at Wal-Mart as much as I hate it because it is the cheapest and they price match. I make the grocery list based on what is on sale and I take the ad's with me to Wal-Mart so I ensure I'm getting the best deal possible. I feed our family of four on about $400 a month. We eat out about twice a week.

[KCwife]

Re: CouponMom.com

You guys make me embarrased about what we spend a month on food. I am not a saver when it comes to food. I probably spend a $100+ a month on our organic milk alone... because I only like the ultrapasterized stuff.

[Sheherezade]

Re: CouponMom.com

I think food in Ohio is more expensive. That's my excuse. I know that I"ve never stressed as much about the grocery bills as I have in the last few years - and DH is on an attending salary now! It's just unreasonable to spend so much at the grocery store. :huh:

That said, my DH is notorious for eating only at dinner. He works through lunch and has coffee for "breakfast" before the 7 am ORs start. Our chowhound is the almost teen boy. He had 4 meatballs tonight - and he can't keep his 26 inch waist jeans up. :huh: It doesn't seem fair that he is soooo skinny and so hungry. Maybe he has tapeworms?

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Re: CouponMom.com

where are you getting organic produce delivered for that amount? produce is 90% of our bill!!! I'm so jealous. It's cheaper in the summer during the farm share and we get half our produce for $20

[RELLA]

Re: CouponMom.com

Hi

I do all my shopping at Super Wal-Mart. I shop for two weeks worth of groceries at a time for me and my two children. I plan my menus ahead of time and then make of list of each and every single thing I need from the store. Once I get there, I DO NOT stray off the list. It saves me a lot of money and time. I hate going to the grocery store. This way, I only go twice a month, have tons of great home-cooked healthy meals and save a lot of money. I only spend about 300$ a month on groceries (including toiletries) for the three of us! Hope this helps. I know some people dont' like wal-mart, but it's worth the savings. I live in Tampa and Publix is double what Wal-Mart costs.