Help me cut $200 out of our grocery budget! - Page 2

[schreiberwriter]

You can eat out if kids eat free. There are several restaurants in your community that offer it, you just have to look. IHOP, Denny's, etc. may have days/times.

Some ways I have cut our grocery budget: plan meals ahead and shop for them. Only buy what's on the list (easier said than done).

Shop at Aldi's for basics, diary, paper products, meat. I stock up on frozen veggies from Trader Joe's.

Buy a whole chicken and see if you can get 2 or 3 meals out of it. Soup, casserole, tacos are ways I stretch a whole chicken. Cheaper than chicken breast.

Homemade pizza is a tasty treat that's cheaper than ordering in (but maybe not cheaper than frozen cardboard pizza)

I spend $400-500/month for a family of 4 with kids who are 4 and 1. We eat healthy for the most part.

[RiverSky]

I, too, think it'd be way more useful if you posted a list of the stuff you do buy and the things you do eat to make up that $800, so we can give more specific suggestions.

This is a neat site for $5 dinner ideas:

http://www.5dollardinners.com/

She explains much about couponing and how she spends only about $60 a week on groceries, too. Even if you have 30 $5 dinners a month, that is just $150, leaving you plenty for lunches, breakfasts and snacks, and you should be able to cut way more than $200 from your budget.

Meal planning is definitely the way to go to lower your budget.

Couponing is a huge one, too. I know people who save $500-600 a month on their food bills every month.

[mattemma04]

I have made meat more of a side than a main part of a meal.Just enough in meals for taste.A variety of beans useds as a spread or in stews.Soft tacos with ground turkey or beans. I get a lot of stuff at Aldi's.I even found a good brand of frozen veggie/fruit at Deals dollar store that are close to $3 per bag at other stores,so I stock up on those when I can.

We don't eat out anymore either.If we do it is at buffet style place like the Golden Corral.Ds likes pizza and I usually get a pizza card through his school so the school gets money too.

I also make *milks* out of oats,almonds,or rice when in a pinch and no cow milk.I can also make a pot of yogurt instead of buying some when cow milk is on sale.

Never buying out of season produce will save a lot.

[CookiePie]

Do you have a stocked pantry? Try to make meals revolve around what you already have. Stretch meats out buy making extra mashed potatoes & saving some of the meat for another meal. Have oatmeal for breakfast, homemade soups for lunch & stretch what you have for dinner. Adding beans, rice, potaotes are easy healthy ways to stretch your food without spending too much. Make your own where you can, yogurt, bread, snacks, hummus, re-fried beans. The bulk bins are your friend!

[sbrinton]

You all have great ideas!

So a little more about us. We buy organic milk, free range meats and wild fish. These are things we will not change, although we actually go through very little milk and only eat animal protein a few nights a week.

I do meal plan, usually a month at a time. I think to go from $800 to $600 a month, I need - and it is possible - to cut approximately $100 out of convenience foods, including dining out and packaged food. I think I can cut maybe $20 out of other household expenses by not buying fancy cleaning products, using rags instead of paper towels, etc. So the other $80, or $20 a week, needs to come out of the grocery budget. That doesn't seem too hard?

Other changes I could reasonably make:
Cook beans instead of buying canned
Make our own bread
Make our own ice cream or popsicles
Make our own snacks (muffins, oatmeal cookies) instead of buying for the kids
Plan 5 miles per week instead of 6, because we usually end up doing something with family or friends and wasting a little food
Try making pancakes for dinner more often
Go to the farmers market down the street instead of just trader joes for produce - Trader Joes has good prices, but not the best on produce

Any other ideas? Keep em coming...