Saving Money at the Food Store

[Dulcee]

Hi All,
So in just two short days DBF and I are heading on our big move down to North Carolina so I can start grad school and DBF will hopefully kick off his career in law enforcement.

For now we will be surviving on my living stipend and what ever DBF finds to fill the time (no police or fire departments are hiring until January, despite the fact that he is well into the application process with a few). He's going to look into target, kohls, home depot ect...

So for now the budget runs tight and I'm looking for what you all do to save money on food. I really enjoy cooking so we'll be eating in exclusively until DBF finds steady work and I'm also a big meal planner due to my mom.

I was hoping for some more tips or suggestions on how to save or even how you keep track of your expenses at food stores or how you modify your diets to make it fit your budgets.

[jmj18]

Just wanted to wish you luck in your move!!!

[dnickels]

Buying generic brands is probably one of the easiest ways.

Another good one is to eat less meat and more veggies/grains. You don't have to go vegetarian or anything but for the cost of two steaks I can make enough pasta with broccoli to feed myself for a week. Not only is it cheaper but it's healthier. Throw in some bean-based meals or some peanut butter sandwiches if you're concerned about getting enough protein.

If you buy organic produce you might consider switching to the regular stuff and just making sure to wash it off. The difference between regular and organic isn't nearly as large as marketing would lead us to believe and our parents/grandparents ate food with far harsher chemicals than anything that's used on produce today.

I'd also check out the web, I'm sure there are whole websites devoted to low cost meals you can prepare.

[BrerGnat]

Make stuff that goes far on little money.

Spaghetti with meat sauce. Make the sauce from scratch. Use ground beef or turkey.

Make tacos. Cheap and healthy if you use ground turkey and whole grain shells and lots of veggies.

Eat lots of salads. One grilled chicken breast or steak can easily be shared by two people when you make it an entree salad. Just use lots of veggies. I like doing a BBQ chicken salad with beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, romaine lettuce, and ranch dressing. Very filling.

Buy what is on sale and plan your menu around that.

Shop for groceries at Target or Wal Mart. These are great places to stock up on basics for your pantry, cereals, dry foods like pasta, etc.

Instead of boxed cereal, eat oatmeal which is healthier and cheaper per serving.

Buy in bulk whenever possible.

Make a list and STICK to it. Only buy NEEDS, not WANTS.

[Mickey'sGirl]

My sister tells me I should teach a course called "Shopping on a budget".

Read the flyers to find out what's on sale, then build your menus around it ... and build menus and stick to them. List out each part of your meal including salads and sauces.

Do not buy prepared or pre-packaged foods, they are expensive and generally not good for you. (We do buy dry pasta and cereal though)

Up the veggies and down the meaties. ONLY buy meat if it is on sale.

Eat something and drink a lot of water before shopping so that you are not hungry. If you have a sweet tooth, put a candy in your mouth while you shop. This will curb your impulse purchases.

Make two meals at a time. This helps with portion control and with your time!

Good luck with your move!

[ILoveLegos]

Eat left overs.

[magicofdisney]

One of the reasons I find us not sticking to our food budgets is boredom. We get tired of the same 'ole, same 'ole. I found out about this website that provides a menu based on the sales at your local grocer. It costs $5 a month and provides new menu plans each week. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my to-do list. It's called e-mealz.

[Tiggerlovr9000]

having breakfast for supper saves a lot of money and tastes great....jello and pudding are very inexpensive treats. I love bananas in jello..

[magicalmom]

You can also save by buying in bulk, if you have enough room in your freezer. There's a good book called "Once a Month Cooking" by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg, which you might be able to find at the library - cooking this way takes advantage of bulk savings.

We used to do Friday movie night - dinner was vegetable soup and popcorn; it was fun!

If you want to do crockpot cookery, or use a bread machine, etc. check at Goodwill or other thrift stores for the appliances - around here there are lots available, in very good shape.

Oh - keeping track of expenses in the store: a lot of cellphones have a calculator app, and you can also score decent little calculators at the dollar store.

[Tick-Tock]

When you get there, visit all the major grocery stores to compare prices, then plan your shopping to buy where stuff is cheapest (without spending all your savings on extra gas, of course!). For example, I'm equidistant between a Safeway and SuperTarget. SuperTarget sells some of the same brands 30, 40, or even 50% less than Safeway. But we like Safeway's produce department better. Some things are about the same. So every couple of weeks instead of going to Safeway, I go to SuperTarget and stock up on the stuff that is cheaper there. Plus, when you know what prices generally are, you know when a sale is a great deal and you can jump on it.

[Georgesgirl1]

I don't know if there is an Aldi near where you are moving, but it is much cheaper than a traditional grocery store. They don't have many brand names you will recognize, but I haven't bought anything there that we haven't liked.

Also, if any churches near you take orders for Angel Food Ministries, you could look into that. Every month they have a different menu, but it is usually $29-32 for about a weeks worth of food. Again, it isn't brand names, but I never buy brand names anyway. For the month of August the menu was 1.5 lbs of steaks, 1.5 lbs of chicken nuggets, 2 lbs ground beef, 1 lb breaded fish nuggets, 1.5 lbs prok chops, 1 lbs frozen broccoli, 1 lb. carrots, 1 lb frozen corn, 1 lb frozen cauliflower florets, 1 lb pasta, 26 oz. pasta sauce, 1 dozen eggs, and 32 oz. shelf stable milk all for $29! There is no way I could buy that much food anywhere else for that kind of price.
These two strategies alone have saved us tons of money since I was laid off!!!

[MNNHFLTX]

I am a member of The Grocery Game website, which combines local store sales with coupons to maximize savings. It requires some preparation and clipping of coupons before going to the grocery store, but you can save a lot of money, especially if you're willing to stockpile certain goods when they are on sale. Most trips to the store I save about 40%, give or take a percentage point.

[DisneyDog]

I was also going to mention Aldi. I shop there every week and save a ton of money doing so. Now, when I go into a traditional supermarket, I am appalled by the prices. The Acme near my house is usually around $.50/pound for bananas. The Aldi has the same brand (Dole) of bananas for $.39/BUNCH. Not per pound. They have pretty much everything there that you could want...but I do end up going to Walmart afterwards for a few select items. Generally, I spend about $80/week for our family of 3 and 2 pets. I think I make out pretty well.

[Dulcee]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. Especially Aldi!


Turns out we have one right around the corner and I just got back from shopping there. For staple items it saved me a bundle and what I had figured on spending about 100$ on came in at 50$.

[PirateLover]

Aldi is great alternative for many items but we won't buy meat there. My husband has been working as a butcher at Wegman's for almost 4 years now and is kind of picky when it comes to his meat. He examined their meats and shook his head. The rule with meat is you should always buy the best you can afford, so that's the one thing we splurge on. We do look for sales and many super markets have club packs that you can freeze for later use.

Also watch your coupons. I used to fall into the trap of I have a coupon so I'm gonna get it! Many coupons don't really save you money because you have to get two or three to get the $1 off, but if you bought two or three of the generic it ends up being cheaper anyway.

[AvaNellMouse]

Trader Joes has great food and it is super cheap! I know that I get more for much less when I shop there.

Good luck on your new adventure!

[DisneyDog]

The owner of Trader Joes, who recently passed away, was the brother of the owner of Aldi.

I don't buy a lot of meat at Aldi, but I do find their ground beef to be a good deal. We don't eat a lot of meat, and it's not my priority unless we have company. I would rather splurge on cleaning products. I used to buy cleaning products at the dollar store and generic dishwasher detergent. I find I get much better results with the name brands. I used to buy the cheapest laundry detergent I could find for me high efficiency washer. One day Tide was on sale and I realized what I was missing. Now I buy it no matter what the price because my clothes look and feel better. The generic dishwasher detergent left streaks on my dishes even though it was "guaranteed" not to. No more. I cheap out on everything but cleaning products. It doesn't make any sense to cheap out on something that ruins other products that you have spent a lot of money on (clothes, dishes, furniture...)