Grocery Shopping questions... - Page 2

[gabbyraja]

[QUOTE=mamaheids;15925544]

Originally Posted by vermontgirl

It sounds like most people have great food budgets! I know people that spend 200 dollars a WEEK on food. It is mostly packaged things. QUOTE]

Um that would be us. We are currently gluten-free, dairy-free and mostly soy-free. I also just found out I am allergic to eggs. Which is kind of a bummer, because they are such a good, cheap (for us, mostly free!)protein source. (My sister-in-law has chickens.) Anyway, the past year our grocery spending was so so so high because I just didn't have the energy to do our crazy diet inexpensively. (We had a heck of a time with elimination diets and trying to figure out DD2's intolerances.) Or to shop around. And on top of that I splurged on really good chocolate and gf treats to make myself feel better about being so restricted. Whole Foods got many of our Whole Paychecks! Our coop is opening another location on our side of town, so that will help, their prices and sales are always great on many of the same products I buy at Whole Foods.
I need to cut our spending literally in half. We go out way too much too. Even Noodles and Co ends up being $25 for our family. Meal planning really is the way to go. We also purchased a freezer so we can stock up on meat. I had some good resolve last November and December in that area and I think that we actually cut $365 a month from our food spending. So I know it can be done. I just really really need to sit down, plan it out, and stick to it.
Has anyone else been able to cut way back on food spending for an allergy-friendly diet?

That's us, too. Granted, there are 7 of us, and we are also a food allergy family. But we receive WIC (can't use any of the milk, or the crap PB they will pay for, but love the fresh produce and juice) and still spend over $800 a month on groceries. I have to buy all natural meat (chicken without added broth, $10 a bag, $4/lb for ground beef, etc), Silk almond milk ($4/half gallon), Enjoy Life chocolate chips ($5/bag), Back to Nature graham crackers ($4+/box), and so on. There are VERY few things in a package (like the choc chips and graham crackers) that I can have, so I allow myself to buy them for when I'm starving, cant have one more banana, and just need to grab something because the baby isn't letting me cook.

Anyway, it gets excessive. I buy generic AND on sale whenever possible, we NEVER eat out, I make my own anything I can (like brown sugar with blackstrap molasses and cane sugar, canning peach nectar, jam and tomato sauce when the produce was cheap over the summer, but mostly because of allergies, not just finances), and I still can't do better. But, we don't have a WF or anything here. We have 2 small HFSs and 2 grocery stores that have a few of the above products.

I do try to save up for meat in the fall in our freezer, but we just couldn't swing it this year. I'm hoping there will still be someone willing to butcher in Jan when we will have the money again. That will cut probably $200 a month from our food budget. DH doesn't feel he has eaten anything if he doesn't have meat at every meal. Not every dinner, every MEAL, and not just protein, MEAT. I've tried and tried, but he just feels very unsatisfied. I understand, since I go without so so much when I'm nursing, so I don't push it.

[MrsJewelsRae]

We are a family of 5, we also have food sensitivities, dh and I, 3 kids- including an 8 year old with a voracious appetite! We spend about $100 a week on groceries and toiletries. I menu plan and usually skip packaged stuff, cook from scratch, etc. I monitor the fliers every week, but usually stick to the smaller grocery store that is closest to me, it's saves me gas $, they are usually cheapest, and I spend less time there due to it's smaller size- which makes it less hectic with 3 kids always in tow and they don't have so many fluff products that end up somehow in my cart at places like Walmart. We spend a lot on dairy and alternative milks- ds and dh drink cow's milk, dd drinks almond, toddler ds still nurses and drinks goat's and I usually go for soy!! We buy 1/4 cow from our next door neighbour (we live on a farm), we raise our own chickens and turkeys now as well as our own eggs. I have a huge garden and can everything I am able to - apple sauce, juice, apple syrup, grape juice, jams, salsa, pasta sauce, pears, peaches, and freeze other things- pies, beans, peas, corn, broccoli, squash, etc.

I should also mention we entertain a LOT, at least once a week, so I do a lot of baking, and depending on the size of the crowd my bill will fluctuate some.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

We are a family of 7 soon to be 8 we live in a high cost living area. I buy my food wholesale as I run 2 large food coops. I purchase my produce through a wholesale supplier. We make all our meals here and dh works 2 almost full time jobs and we pack all his meals and snacks. I've done regular grocery store shopping in the past with serious couponing and I have compared, tweeked you name it. Buying wholesale allows me to spend the same amount or less on totally organic food. Our meat is local and we save money by raising what we can and butchering ourselves or for beef we bought live and butchered ourselves.

Having said all that we spend about 300.00 per week. I placed my produce order buying full cases of what was on sale this week and it was just over 300.00 my kids will be complaining about the lack of fresh fruits and veggies before our next order. Next week I will place one of the orders for the food coop and expect that to be in the same price range. That order will be sale items for the month that I am low on, 50# rice, 25# of 2 or 3 types of beans etc.

We milk our own cows and raise pork and chickens but only for eggs. We work hard and need a full breakfast of eggs and meat with lots of veggies (usually in scrambled eggs) just to make into lunch.

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by vermontgirl

It sounds like most people have great food budgets! I know people that spend 200 dollars a WEEK on food. It is mostly packaged things.

We spend $800 per month, so about $200 per week, and almost none of it is packaged things.

I did a survery on MDC and discovered that my basics and animal products cost about double what many in on MDC are paying for the same. My organic butter costs $10.00 per pound, and non-organic (which I won't buy) costs more than some moms on MDC pay for organic. And on...

As another poster said, it's highly regional!

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by Hedgehog Mtn

We are a family of 7 soon to be 8 we live in a high cost living area. I buy my food wholesale as I run 2 large food coops. I purchase my produce through a wholesale supplier. We make all our meals here and dh works 2 almost full time jobs and we pack all his meals and snacks. I've done regular grocery store shopping in the past with serious couponing and I have compared, tweeked you name it. Buying wholesale allows me to spend the same amount or less on totally organic food. Our meat is local and we save money by raising what we can and butchering ourselves or for beef we bought live and butchered ourselves.

Having said all that we spend about 300.00 per week. I placed my produce order buying full cases of what was on sale this week and it was just over 300.00 my kids will be complaining about the lack of fresh fruits and veggies before our next order. Next week I will place one of the orders for the food coop and expect that to be in the same price range. That order will be sale items for the month that I am low on, 50# rice, 25# of 2 or 3 types of beans etc.

We milk our own cows and raise pork and chickens but only for eggs. We work hard and need a full breakfast of eggs and meat with lots of veggies (usually in scrambled eggs) just to make into lunch.

Wow mama, this sounds awesome. Good for you!

[raelize]

Originally Posted by sanguine_speed

We spend $800 per month, so about $200 per week, and almost none of it is packaged things.

I did a survery on MDC and discovered that my basics and animal products cost about double what many in on MDC are paying for the same. My organic butter costs $10.00 per pound, and non-organic (which I won't buy) costs more than some moms on MDC pay for organic. And on...

As another poster said, it's highly regional!

this is us too. we do buy pretzels because as we are gf we need to have a gf food that we can keep in the car for when we are out and need a snack. i can always keep it in the trunk and not worry that it has gone bad.
otherwise, i make my own bread, rolls, etc, even cookies. but it is really high cost of living here and not much i can do about needing to buy special flours for gf foods.
i am going to try the pantry principle for a while, but i don't think it is going to make that much of a difference.

[*green*faery*]

We spend $600-$700 a month on food. It always seems so much higher then anyone on here! We eat mainly organic vegetarian, but have scaled back on organic to save $ (yes, we use to spend almost $1000/mo). We are in the Cal Bay Area, high cost of living, but still!

This includes all food and toiletries from the market, and all food for 2 adults, 2 kids, and some small snacks and meals for kids I babysit. We don't eat out, my dh brings lunch everyday We buy in bulk, cook most food from scratch and have a garden. We do buy some snack food like crackers or pretzles, and we drink coffee. We shop at Trader Joe's (with a 10% discount), local HFS and sometimes farmers market.

I would really love to figure out how to spend less, but feel stuck! It took me so long to get it down this low One month we managed to spend only $500, but by the end of the month we were out off all the basics (flour, beans, nuts,etc) and I had to make up for it the next month!

[treeoflife3]

Right now its just me and kiddo who barely eats and I'm still spending a heck of a lot more than some of you with bigger families. Ugh, I knew my inability to grocery shop was bad but now it's DISMAL.

[naviline]

We spend a crazy amount of $$ on food too in the Bay Area / SC mountains... close to $1000! Family of 4, with a teenager that seems to have a hole in his leg... We eat WAPF which means a lot of healthy animal products. Finding good, humanely raised animals (pastured chickens/hogs, grass-fed cattle, wild sustainable seafood etc) is VERY pricey and we usually can't find our food in stores, so we do a lot of buying clubs, etc. Everything else is in bulk, we're a member of a CSA for veggies and eggs, shop farmer's markets, make our own stock, bread, cheese, mayo, kombucha etc. Absolutely nothing processed and eat out VERY rarely. It's expensive, but worth it to us in terms of health and happiness.

[seamama11]

We spend between 150-200 on food a week including the occassional pizza or burritos. We don't eat meat. I buy a few packaged items a week like crackers, pasta, cheese, bread, tortillas. I buy grains, beans, nuts, dried fruit in bulk, and usually make my snacks from scratch. I live in northern california and shop at our local grocery store that mainly sells organic and locally grown food. I really stay away from foods that are not organic, or things that have chemical and other unhealthy things in it. The lactose free milk I buy is a tad over 5 bucks a half gallon. Cheese is expensive as are crackers. Fruit is very expensive. I would love to get under 600 a month, but It isn't possible. We have a nice garden, but don't grow enough food to store.
When I watch what my kids eat, I do not feel that bad about the money I spend.

[kindchen]

Wow, I live in a low COL area and spend about $200/week. We don't eat many packaged foods--the occasional box of Cheerios or canned beans for when I forget to soak beans the night before. We eat very little meat--maybe two meals a month.

I see threads on MDC where people talk about monthly food budgets that are less than I spend a week, and I don't understand how that works. Maybe we just eat way more fresh fruit and veggies? Those are the things we spend lots of $$ on. We cook and eat all meals at home from scratch, except DH's work lunches, and those aren't included in the $200/wk.

[redvlagrl]

Glad to hear there are others who spend more than $150 per week.

[junipermuse]

Originally Posted by kindchen

Wow, I live in a low COL area and spend about $200/week. We don't eat many packaged foods--the occasional box of Cheerios or canned beans for when I forget to soak beans the night before. We eat very little meat--maybe two meals a month.

I see threads on MDC where people talk about monthly food budgets that are less than I spend a week, and I don't understand how that works. Maybe we just eat way more fresh fruit and veggies? Those are the things we spend lots of $$ on. We cook and eat all meals at home from scratch, except DH's work lunches, and those aren't included in the $200/wk.

I do think it's fresh fruit (especially) and fresh veggies (though not as much) that cause a huge hike in the grocery bill. We also spend about 200/week on groceries. We do eat meat, but in much smaller quantities lately (dh and I are both doing Weight Watchers). However we're buying more produce, especially fruit which is low in points, but I need it to not feel deprived when I've had to give up other things. Even with cutting down on the meat we buy I'm still spending so much though. And we buy almost no packaged food. The only exception is about two boxes of Amy's organic frozen mac and cheese, but that's like $6/week. I spend more than that on grapes or tomatoes, or any number of other non-packaged foods.

[ariahsmum]

New to the forum...

We are struggling to eat for under 800/month. We eat mostly organic, grow our own veggies, and buy bulk from a natural food distributer. We live in Vermont.

It is the HUGEST part of our budget, and I cannot figure out how to cut it down. We really can't shop sales or cut coupons. We have to drop this down...

What I want to know, is what do you get for $175 a month for a family? I'm lucky if I can get 5 bags of stuff for that.

I would love love to find ideas on how to eat organic and cut the bills significantly. And yes, I do eat a lot of beans already!

[ariahsmum]

Oh, and OP... I see you live in VT. Please do share how you get your monthly amount to $250? I spend 65 bucks a month on MILK alone!

[Llyra]

We're five people, and spending what i consider to be a lot-- about $900 a month, I think. That includes our CSA bill, too. It doesn't include the very tiny cost of seed for our home gardens and the community garden DH is involved in. And it's not mostly packaged stuff, either-- it's mostly good whole foods, a lot of it purchased locally. I could probably feed us on about $400 a month, if I really worked at it, but I choose not to be as frugal as I could be. My DS is soy-allergic, which means almost all inexpensive packaged foods are out of the question for us-- they all have soybean oil or soy lecithin or soy protein in them. And I have a serious illness that dictates my dietary needs-- I cannot eat a starch-based diet, and it seems like a frugal diet would consist of a lot more starch than I can eat-- most frugal grocery shoppers seem to rely heavily on staples like brown rice and beans, for instance, and I can't eat those more than a few times a month. I have a high need for fats, too, so we spend a lot on olive oil, coconut oil, butter, etc.

We eat mostly vegetables, dairy, meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, and those cost money. Especially when local and organic is a priority, which it is for us.