Mainly shop at Trader Joe's, need to spend less on groceries

[SundayCrepes]

I need to figure out how to cut back more on our groceries. I've been reading the suggestions in other threads on saving grocery money and don't see how to use most of those suggestions. I mainly shop at Trader Joe's, so coupons and sales don't apply. What little I can't get at Trader Joe's, I get at another store--either Sunflower or Safeway--and the types of foods I buy there don't come with coupons. (If the produce is cheaper at the other stores, I'll buy it there.)  We are vegetarians, so no meat. I only use one or two cans of beans most weeks so it seems silly to do the dry bean thing. I was spending $200 a week on groceries, but am cutting back to $145 a week (for a family of 4.) I put aside an additional $5 a week to save for bulk purchases (like big bags of grated parmesan cheese from Costco. I buy several at a time then freeze them so I don't have to go there very often.) We get our eggs from our chickens.

We live in Arizona and the farmer's markets suck. They're expensive with little variety. I will plant a garden soon but will mainly have tomatoes, eggplant, basil, cilantro, parsley, peppers. We'll get a reasonable crop until it gets too hot. 

I develop a menu for the week then shop based on it. This has helped me a lot. I don't have to run to the store every day. (Well, I hit up the local convenience store several times a week for more reasonably priced bananas. Thank goodness they sell bananas. It saves me from going to a regular grocery store.) I mainly buy ingredient foods. Very rarely do I buy pre-packaged food. I don't like my homemade bread, so I buy sandwich bread. 

We spend a LOT of our budget on fresh fruit. For breakfast the kids and I eat smoothies made from frozen mango chunks. I think the nutrients in fruit are just too important so won't cut back on that. I wish I served more vegetables, but I don't.

Here's what I've done so far: I don't buy my husband beer any more. I stopped buying organic (except for some dairy products and root crops.) I only buy a couple frozen meals a week (to have on hand if I need to feed kids FAST.)  I am trying to do a better job of keeping our 2 year old out of the fridge. She goes in there and will take a bite out of an apple then cast it aside somewhere in the house. (We can give the apple corpse to the chickens, but it's still a waste of fruit.) I only let my son pick out one "special" food each shopping trip. (Usually he chooses applesauce in squeeze bags. No more yogurt, fun cereal, freeze-dried fruit, etc.) We have cut back on our daily serving of sugar.

Here's my dinner menu for last week. I serve fresh fruit with every dinner:

Tortalita soup (beans, corn, cheese, and spices in a tomato base. We freeze leftovers.)

Mashed potatoes and gravy and eggs

Artichoke, spinach, and feta stuffed pastas (bag costs $3.50) with fresh tomato

Fried rice with corn, edame, broccoli, eggs, morning star veggie buffalo wings, and cashews

Curried (bean) soup with quinoa

Basil and Red Pepper sauce over pasta.

The more I look at it, the more I see that fruit is a HUGE expense. I just can't see cutting back on fruit. Can anyone come up with suggestions that I haven't seen in other threads that just don't apply to us.

I hope this all makes sense and I've given enough appropriate info. to give you frugal folks hints on how I can cut back more.

Thanks.

[BetsyS]

I have to shop at a couple of different stores to stay within my budget.  If you aren't able/willing to do that, then I do think you'll pay a little more.  If that's okay with you, because of your needs (some people have more limited time/transportation/what-have-you), then that's fine.  But, to get it rock-bottom, you have to shop around a little.  I have things I don't mind buying at Aldi's, for instance, so I buy them there.  Saltines, black olives, yellow mustard, marischino cherries (lol), even frozen fish sometimes. 

The next place where I find I can cut is to change WHAT I cook.  Compared to shopping willy-nilly, yes, making a menu, then shopping for it saves money.  However, you can find more savings by focusing on buying the best deals, then cooking from that.  Also, from substituting cheaper meals for more expensive ones. 

I know that you said you only use a can or two of beans a week, but what if you increased that?  What if 4 of your meals were bean based every week instead of 1?  Bean based meals are going to be cheaper than dairy ones, for the most part.  Dried beans freeze well, and they are significantly cheaper than canned.  I can buy garbanzo beans at $1.29/lb, which is the eqivalent of 4 cans.  So, yes, cheaper.  Plus no BPA, and dried have a nice texture. 

[SundayCrepes]

Thanks for the ideas.

I failed to state the reason I shop at Trader Joe's is they are cheaper than anywhere else AND they have a type of food that's hard to get anywhere else except at the local Food Co-op, Whole Foods or Sunflower (all of which are more expensive.) For example, I don't know where else I could get unfiltered peach juice, and especially not for $3.69 a 64 ounce bottle. I don't buy a lot of morningstar products, but when I do, they're $1 to $2 cheaper at Trader Joe's than a normal grocery store. And sandwich bread...Less than $3 for really good multi-grain, 6g of fiber bread.

I hear what you say about changing WHAT we eat. That's why I've recently added more potatoes to the menu. I guess this is something I should focus on more. I just don't know how to do it. Awhile back I started using weight watchers cookbooks because the food has less fat and is really yummy. I like beans, but not enough to want them several times a week (though the curried bean soup I have is so good and it doesn't taste like beans.)

Besides using more beans, can anyone suggest types of meals that are still healthy but cost less?

BTW, I understand Trader Joe's bean can are BPA free.

[CameronsMama]

Well, I could pick apart what you've posted to come with a few small things (like if you always have a lot of fresh fruit around, do you really need peach juice anyway? Or so what if you don't love beans they're cheap- eat more of them, don't buy preshredded cheese- it's usually cheaper to buy a big ol' block and shred it yourself, most beans freeze pretty well- you could cook up a pound of dried beans then freeze them in can size portions to use when you want...that kind of thing) but honestly I have to say that the menu you posted seems fairly reasonable to me. Other than small things to chip away at your spending dollar by dollar, I don't have too much to offer. I'm not sure what the cost of living is like where you are, but it's possible you just might not be able to go too much lower on the grocery spending.

I save money buy shopping sales, using coupons for the few things I buy that I can find coupons for, shopping at different stores depending on what's cheap where...all of which seem to not be options for you right now. One thing to consider (and you may have already looked into this, it may be different where you are) our Trader Joe's is cheaper per package than other stores around here, but the packages are often significantly smaller so the food actually costs more per ounce or per pound. I know a lot of people do quite well shopping at Costco, if you have the room to buy more in bulk you might save money that way?

I'm sorry I don't have more to offer. It sounds like you're on the right track, though. As you said, definitely think about what you eat, and if there are changes that could be made there. It gets tedious, but all those dollar by dollar chipping strategies do add up slowly. And I would encourage you to think about where you shop, too. Even though TJ's might be generally the cheaper option, it can't hurt to check sales ads and prices per ounce or pound, just to make sure you are getting the best deal on the things you buy.

Good luck!

[beansmama]

Your problem is where you shop.

Although, safeway is SUPER expensive as well. Do you not have any "ugly" stores around - food for less? winco? anything?

We shop at Trader Joe's as well, but mostly only for frozen stuff - veggies and fruit. We're big frozen mango chunk fans too :D Trader Joes is infamous for individually packed...everything. Cucumbers, leaves of lettuce - haha, alright, not really...but *really*.

If you actually want to cut your budget you need to shop elsewhere. Not farmers markets, not "pretty" stores....somewhere, anywhere, else. Keep the frozen stuff - I haven't found a better spot to get GOOD frozen fruits and veggies at lower prices, but everything else - especially FRESH things - need to be bought elsewhere.

It basically boils down to this - If you aren't able to shop anywhere else, you can't lower your grocery budget. It's not like you can buy other brands at TJ's...so yeah.

[SundayCrepes]

Thanks for the thoughts.

Yeah, Safeway is expensive. I just buy fresh produce that's on sale there. (It's on the way home from Trader Joe's.) Oh yeah, their stuffed pasta ($3.49 for a meal's worth,) and garden burgers (Target stopped selling them and we can't stand Trader Joe's brand.) 

I guess one option would be to price compare some of the things I buy at TJ to Fry's (they're a bit cheaper than Safeway.)

I'm looking at my grocery list from last week. I used a lot of stock supplies I already had. I just don't know what I'd buy at Fry's instead of TJ. I think I'm resigning myself to the fact that I may have to stop buying organic milk. That would save me about $36 a month.

Frozen mango (for smoothies and snacks)

milk

bananas (one bunch, we'll buy more through the week.)

peach juice (for our morning smoothies.)

Cereal--Trader Joe's O's (don't like most major brand cereals)

mushrooms

frozen broccoli

whole wheat pasta

pesto (Keep it in the fridge for a quick lunch or dinner option with leftover pasta)

string cheese package

1 can black beans

1 can red beans

earth balance butter substitute

almond butter (WAY cheaper than anywhere else)

blueberry jelly spread

multi-grain bread

jack cheese for soup (TJ is cheapest)

quinoa

potatoes

1 red pepper

basil (so cheap here)

frozen corn

buffalo wings for fried rice (morning star. pretty cheap here)

It didn't help that I sent my husband to the store for 1 bag of frozen strawberries when he HAD to have crepes. He bought the large $9 bag. UGHHHH.

At other stores I bought

1 zucchini

cilantro (much cheaper than trader joe's)

garden burgers

veggie broth (almost $6 a jar, but it makes our food taste so good.)

flour (for crepes. we were out.)

1 can whipped cream (for crepes)

fruit on sale

After reading all the responses, I'm thinking that I'm at nickel and dime level. Except for organic milk. That was my last cling to the world of organics. I HATE that I have to feed my kids commercially produced foods. However, the alternative is we put them in school/daycare and I go back to work. So, I guess I'll just suck it up on the milk.

I'll now cling to the fact that I buy organic root crops. 

[SundayCrepes]

BTW, the shredded parmesan I get  is about $9 for 2 pounds. I just don't think buying a chunk would be any cheaper.

[Tjej]

You can't do it right now, but you can buy your fruits seasonally and freeze large quantities, so you have them stocked up.  And a nickel and time thing, but I never put juice in my smooties. 

That's the best thing I can think of to find significant savings.

Tjej

[crunchy_mommy]

Hmm...

I'd start with coming up with a few very cheap, very quick options as alternatives to frozen dinners etc.

Also consider completely cutting out milk & cheese (or cutting back on them)...

Alternate almond butter with something cheaper such as PB

Try making your own bean burgers rather than buying veggie burgers

Cut out the juice (perhaps replace with homemade nut milk?)

Find another store for fresh fruits & veggies... I like the 'ugly store' term the pp used, that's quite accurate for what you have to look for. Drab building with a plain, red white & blue sign and slightly dirty floors = cheap food!

Look for cheaper fruit/veggies... Around here, frozen mango is expensive, but frozen strawberries are relatively cheap. Apples & bananas tend to be the cheapest fruit options for us, and peas are way cheaper than edamame (I'm sure this will vary a lot based on your part of the country!)

Try growing your own herbs, fresh stuff is expensive!

Make your own tortillas (just corn flour & water) and use that in place of bread... for that matter, make your own bread

Look for & stock up at a local discount store -- one that's not a grocery store but still sells food -- the kind where they sell expired/damaged packages of food and other merchandise... I get things like GF pasta for less than $1, spices for $0.88/jar, etc. Don't know if stores like this exist around where you are, but if you can find them, you can save a ton!

We have our cheap staples & then kind of supplement with whatever foods are cheap/in season each week. Actually we don't grocery shop every week... more like every 2-3 weeks. We live off the fresh stuff for the first ~week and then switch over to pantry/frozen stuff the second week or two. We plan our menus based on what's on sale and what needs to be used up, rather than what we might ideally choose. We buy more than half of our groceries (mostly fresh or frozen fruit/veggies and beans) at the 'ugly store' and the rest at Trader Joe's, occasionally (once every ~2 months) ordering special items online or getting them from somewhere like Whole Foods.

[Peony]

I use a lot of frozen fruit for breakfast as well. Smoothies used to be our thing, for sake of time I've moved on to fruit mixed in with plain yogurt and granola. I would second the pricing out other fruit, I know how pricy the difference can be. For a while I was doing bags of  frozen mixed berries. 2 years ago I stumbled across peaches, they aren't my fav in yogurt but so much cheaper so we deal. In the fall there is a deal where I can buy a case for $20.00 from some people that truck them in for a fundraiser, (we are in the SW as well, limited, local produce I understand!) I spend about about $100.00 on peaches, cut them up, freeze them, and they last a good portion of the year. That has decreased our food bill because buying frozen fruit used to be a weekly thing.

[BetsyS]

I hear you on the nickle and dime thing as wel.

And, you know, I don't know about where you live, but grocery prices have really risen lately here.  I've had to increase my grocery budget because of that (and my kids are getting bigger and eating more, too).  Just increasing my budget though has given me a lot of piece of mind, and I'm much more relaxed right now and not obsessing like 3 weeks ago.

[annethcz]

I understand where you're coming from with the fruit, but I think that for families who don't eat a lot of sweets, it's easy for kids to overindulge on fruits.  Even as a toddler, my DS1 would eat 3- 4- 5 apples a day.  Now that he's 11, I truly do have to limit his fruit intake to keep our budget in check.  This morning I had to stop him when he was about to eat his 4th apple of the morning.  Yes, he's a growing boy, but he didn't truly NEED that 4th apple.  When I offered him some veggies or sausage instead, he suddenly decided that he was content with just 3 apples for breakfast.  It wasn't that he was hungry in general, it was that he wanted an apple. 

Also, recycle those apples that the toddler took one bite out of by cutting up the rest of the apple and serving it for a snack.  No one will know the difference.  I promise that your kids will enjoy the apple much more than the chickens will.  While it's nice to give our chickens our leftovers, it's not terribly cost-effective.

How many times/day do you offer fruit?  Do you believe that your family would be content/happy with nutrient-dense veggies instead?

For the short time that I made smoothies for breakfast I found that it increased our budget tremendously.  It was much more cost efficient to just eat fruit and a protein for breakfast than to have a smoothie, and it filled us up as much (or more) as the smoothie did. 

I think the idea to reevaluate WHAT you're eating is an important one.  For me, when I want to cut my grocery budget I think about what is most important to me, and then cut from the areas that aren't as important. 

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by annethcz 

I think the idea to reevaluate WHAT you're eating is an important one.  For me, when I want to cut my grocery budget I think about what is most important to me, and then cut from the areas that aren't as important. 

This has been a really helpful thread in me figuring out what is important to us. Fruit is just on top of the list for us. We all like it and it is so healthy. I'm just not a snack on veggies kind of person (wish I was,) though I don't think veggie snacks would be any cheaper than fruit.

The chickens get the fruit that sort of disappeared and no one wants to eat it. The other night we had TWO sliced pears (rather than one,) because my little one had gone through the bag and taken random bites. Fortunately I found those right away and could salvage them.

[Momsteader]

Do you have Bountiful Baskets where you are in AZ? www.bountifulbaskets.org  It's really fabulous! You get $35-50 retail in produce for $15. It's a huge amount. We eat lots of fruit/veggies for three and our basket lasts us more than a week (we only get it every 2 weeks here). You don't get to pick, but it's all great stuff, and depending on your location you can get a similar box, but organic for $25.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by CrunchyClark 

Do you have Bountiful Baskets where you are in AZ? www.bountifulbaskets.org  It's really fabulous! You get $35-50 retail in produce for $15. It's a huge amount. We eat lots of fruit/veggies for three and our basket lasts us more than a week (we only get it every 2 weeks here). You don't get to pick, but it's all great stuff, and depending on your location you can get a similar box, but organic for $25.

Looks like we do have them. They don't list what the foods they have right now are. When I've looked at these type of things before we wouldn't eat half the stuff that came in the basket so it seemed a waste. I will watch this one, though.

[Momsteader]

They don't always list what they put in the week before, but this isn't like some of them. This one is 100% fresh fruit/veg.  No junk! Nothing we wouldn't eat, and I cannot imagine a regular fruit/veg loving family having much go to waste.

It varies a little site to site, but pretty much the same.  Last week we got a cantalope, 8 braeburn apples, 6 bananas, 1 lb strawberries, 8 Forelle Pears, 2 organic mangoes, 1/2 lb Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchokes--raw or stirfry), huge green cabbage, 3 nice sized yellow squash, bunch spinach, about 2 lbs sweet potatoes (they were great!), 1 lb carrots, and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head!

Week before was: 2 heads cauliflower, 1 head broccoli, 2 lg packages of organic celery, 1 lb spinach, 2 tomatoes, 1 red bell pepper, 3 lbs cuties clementines, 3 lbs bosc pears, 1 lb strawberries, 1 cantaloupe, 3 apples, 4 bananas, and then a few more clementines/pears.  N

[fruitfulmomma]

http://sprouts.com/home.php  - This is where I do most of my shopping. There are some locations in Arizona, check and see if one is near you. They are low price, especially if you shop the sales. Flyers are online and come out every Wednesday.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by CrunchyClark 

They don't always list what they put in the week before, but this isn't like some of them. This one is 100% fresh fruit/veg.  No junk! Nothing we wouldn't eat, and I cannot imagine a regular fruit/veg loving family having much go to waste.

It varies a little site to site, but pretty much the same.  Last week we got a cantalope, 8 braeburn apples, 6 bananas, 1 lb strawberries, 8 Forelle Pears, 2 organic mangoes, 1/2 lb Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchokes--raw or stirfry), huge green cabbage, 3 nice sized yellow squash, bunch spinach, about 2 lbs sweet potatoes (they were great!), 1 lb carrots, and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head!

Week before was: 2 heads cauliflower, 1 head broccoli, 2 lg packages of organic celery, 1 lb spinach, 2 tomatoes, 1 red bell pepper, 3 lbs cuties clementines, 3 lbs bosc pears, 1 lb strawberries, 1 cantaloupe, 3 apples, 4 bananas, and then a few more clementines/pears.  N

That list sounds like something we could definitely use. I'll check them out. Thanks.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by fruitfulmomma 

http://sprouts.com/home.php  - This is where I do most of my shopping. There are some locations in Arizona, check and see if one is near you. They are low price, especially if you shop the sales. Flyers are online and come out every Wednesday.

The nearest Sprouts is WAY far away from us. I'd eat up all my savings in gas. Thanks, though.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by CrunchyClark 

Do you have Bountiful Baskets where you are in AZ? www.bountifulbaskets.org  It's really fabulous! You get $35-50 retail in produce for $15. It's a huge amount. We eat lots of fruit/veggies for three and our basket lasts us more than a week (we only get it every 2 weeks here). You don't get to pick, but it's all great stuff, and depending on your location you can get a similar box, but organic for $25.

I've been reading this more and am going to try it. Thanks for the suggestion!!!