We have cut our grocery budget into half

[stretchmark]

Hi, Just felt like celebrating a bit.

I never thought I'd make it a week on 60$, NEVER!

We were up to 800 a month when I was preggo, (I had blood sugar problems and we ate lots of meat).

Anyhow as a family of 4 we have been hanging out at 500-600 a month.

This has only been one week but if I did it once I can do it again.
We're cutting back all over the place to pay off CCs and this was exciting to do.

Cheers to frugality!

[Jennisee]

Congratulations! How did you accomplish it?

[stretchmark]

Well, I quit buying jar baby food (we only bought a few a week to offset when I wasn't prepared).
I am cooking every night making mostly beans and grains, all from bulk sources.
We get cheese to put on stuff but no sour cream or anything like that.

Mostly we are having super healthy meals all from scratch, things like barley split pea soup with bread, or bean and rice burritos. We have meat only once a week now and it costs like 4.00 for whatever it is. I am also cooking lots of Indian dishes like dahl and rice, such a complete meal and lentils are cheapo. You can put all sorts of veggies in the dahl and the consistency is great for even the 11 month old.
We are also getting half priced breads that are a day old and buying the other stuff that is on sale. I never thought planning a meal around what is on sale would work for us but usually stores will put things that go well together on sale, like pasta and sauce etc. I buy enough to last until the next sale.

I remember a thread back a ways where someone was spending only 25$ a week on food, oh my! I thought I was stuck in the high hundreds range but I guess not. That's what CC debt will motivate me to do I suppose.

BTW, we only shop at the organic store and still managed to do this. I find they usually have more bulk stuff anyways.

That's it.

[scrapadoozer]

Wow, what a great job! I am impressed! The food you are making sounds very yummy, too!

[Delight]

Congrats! I have been working on cutting my grocery bill down too. One big thing is that I've cut out organics on items that don't matter as much. I still try hard to do organic fruits and veggies.

Also, we've been vegetarian for about 6 months now and I love the cheaper meals! I never knew I liked beans so much!

Also, you can play a game with yourself at the grocery store. Go in with cash and a goal. Whatever cash you have left after you've paid...walk straight to the ATM and deposit that in your savings account. Save it up and spend it on something fun! It's such a rush when you "beat the budget"!

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Something that works well for us is shopping every day. We just get what we need or are in the mood for.

[Ruthla]