Lets cut our monthly grocery bill - Page 3

[rabbithorns]

I accepted this challenge and just bought a week's worth of food for $85.50 for 2 adults and 1 teen.

I bought the following foods for the following week's menu:

3# boneless skinless chicken breast
2# block cheese
1# ground beef
1 can refried beans
2 gallons milk
1 dozen eggs
1# margarine
1 package hamburger buns
4 loaves various sourdough and multgrains breads (bakery)
1 package tortillas
1# pasta
1# oatmeal
potatoes
1# coffee
(already had tea in the house)
(already had rice in the house)
Veggies for side dishes, sandwiches and salads
fruit for breakfast and snacks
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 frozen pizzas
1 package brownie mix (5 dozen mini-muffins)
1 package german chocolate cake mix (5 dozen cookies)

BREAKFASTS:
oatmeal and fruit OR eggs and toast and fruit

LUNCHES:
grilled cheese/ veggie sandwiches with cheese or refried bean spread
OR leftovers from dinner the night before

DINNERS:
spaghetti and salad
3 meals of chicken, rice OR bread, veggies
refried bean burritos
hamburgers, potatoes
pizza

At this rate that's $12.21 per day or $366 for 30 days. No extra food hanging out on my shelves waiting to be used someday. For about $10 more I could really pig out and buy extra stuff like mac and cheese packages and some more convenience foods in case of unexpected company or something like that.

[obiandelismom]

On the muffins, I recently discovered a raisin/bran muffin that you can mix up and keep in the refrigerator, and cook as you want them. I bake about 12 a day, but only have to mix the batter (which is, for me, the hard part of cooking) once a week. Theoretically you can keep the batter for 6 weeks, but ours has never lasted that long! You can get at least 6 dozen out of a batch and they are really yummy. LMK if anyone wants a recipe!

[lisalou]

Alton Brown did a show on making your own granola bars and energy bars, etc. FoodTV website carries his recipes so you could also use those as a basis for making your own. I should do this dh loves to take granola bars with his lunch.

I wish I could get a handle on how much is the lowest you could go based on eating habits. Like -

I'm not a vegetarian, I like meatless meals but dh doesn't think that's going to happen for him. So I can do meatless dinners when dh isn't going to be home but that's about it.

I prefer local ingredients and organic when possible. I'll take local over organic flown in from New Zealand anyday and I have nothing against New Zealand, just the energy consumption needed to get it here.

And I like to cook.

So my grocery bill, I think, is automatically going to be bigger than a vegan's or someone who doesn't or can't worry about buying organic. But does this mean that $300/month is a goal worth shooting for or have I automatically set myself up to be spending at a minimum $400/month? kwim?

[captain crunchy]

We are nearly vegan, so I can't say. Vegan food can be really expensive if you want to get fancy and elaborate, which we don't so it is pretty cheap...

We buy mostly organic too, which is why our bill is not as low as it could be...

...but if you guys eat meat and you care about it being hormone/pesticide/antibiotic free...you're going to pay a pretty penny for that unless you can find a local farmer or something... organic meat is $$$ from my understanding, but if you are going to eat meat, it is the best for you...they pump those animals full of so much stuff....but I digress...

[lisalou]

I'm blessed or causing you nightmares in that we are near lots of good farms who raise grass fed beef, sheep and pastured chickens and pigs. And the prices compete with regular supermarket stuff.

I was a vegetarian for several years on purely philosophical grounds mainly having to do with factory farming practices. I missed meat. The organic, grass-fed movement let me go back. Julia Child is my food role model. So while I completely respect your position, it's certainly not easy to be a vegan, I doubt I'll stop eating meat. If it makes you feel any better I do feel the large amount of people I've met who are squeamish about eating meat on the bone or facing where their food comes from should be forced to be vegetarians and not allowed to eat meat.

[celrae]

Originally Posted by lisalou

So my grocery bill, I think, is automatically going to be bigger than a vegan's or someone who doesn't or can't worry about buying organic. But does this mean that $300/month is a goal worth shooting for or have I automatically set myself up to be spending at a minimum $400/month? kwim?

I completely understand your point. I have changed some of our spending and eating habits however, I still think there is room for improvement. The changes need to be slow for me and I need to not feel like it is a competition. Last night my dh got out the bread machine and made bread with the girls after their bath. This was a perfect opportunity for him to spend quality time with the kids and feed our family for less. Today I packed a lunch/snack for the girls so they could eat after I went to the gym this was healthy and money saving.

I love the idea of trying to make one new snack a week and not buying a prepackage one at the store.

[Amys1st]

So far we have been paying cash for groceries and buying essentials needed. But we already were stocked pretty well and I have kept a full freezer full of meals lately. We are also going out of town for a few days so no need to stock up on groceries this week other than fruit, milk etc.

We eat meat but have veggie based meals/meatless meals at least twice a week based on we like them more than anything. Meatless in our house could mean homemade pizza with whatever is left in the fridge for toppings. Or a pasta meal with a bunch of different veggies or a ricotta based meal like lasagna etc. It could also be a veggie omelet. Of tofu something. We are not vegans by any stretch of the imagination.

Another thing- meat could be a topping on the pizza- such as a small chicken breast cooked and sliced up, a small bit of sausage or pepperoni. Even grd beef could be there. But we only use one serving.

I read the pps menu and list I though wow they eat a lot! Then dh looking over my shoulder said- they don't, they have a teenager!! But great job on feeding two and a growing teen.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by lisalou

So my grocery bill, I think, is automatically going to be bigger than a vegan's or someone who doesn't or can't worry about buying organic. But does this mean that $300/month is a goal worth shooting for or have I automatically set myself up to be spending at a minimum $400/month? kwim?

I also like to cook and so does dh so we can eat pretty well.

But, this is the reason I set up this thread. Its not necessarily a challenge but a want/need for me to cut my grocery spending. I am spending average about $400 a month (give or take a few dollars every month). I want to get it down to $350 since this is the most controllable thing in my monthly expenses. For me its baby steps, if I can do $350 for several months, I would try for $300 to see if it works. That dosen't mean it would though. One thing I would like to do eventually is get an organic veggie/fruit box delivered and right now its not as feasable with my grocery budget so we want to see where we can spend less to splurge for this.

Some things we have already done
- we make our own stocks with either a soup base or chicken pieces etc.
-cut back paper products by 75%. We use cloth rags, cloth napkins, soon to use cloth diapers, soap foam (in a soap sprayer with a little soap and water and shake up every few days) We go thru a roll of recycled paper towels every week or more and we still use tp.
-buy fruit and veggies on sale only. It makes for interesting snacking and meals.
-cut back of the amount of detergent used. This was from another mama here. She had a very dirty load and only a tablespoon left of detergent. The clothes came out just like they always did. Now it lasts for months plus we use vinagar in the rinse which also helps. The clothes are much softer.

[KimberMama]

We eat a plant-based diet (vegan + honey) and there is no way I could feed our family for $200-300 a month. Today is the 10th and I have spent $100 already just on fresh fruits and vegetables. That's mostly organic, but not all.

There are things I buy that I don't absolutely have to. I buy organic OJ at 3.50 a half gallon. I can make it from unsprayed oranges for about the same price, sometimes less when I can get the oranges in bulk (but it all depends on how juicy the oranges are), but I sometimes buy it because I don't always have time to juice oranges. We could go without orange juice and not make smoothies.

I occasionally buy a loaf of organic bread (2.39) and some canned beans for convenience, but I usually make both at home. Even so, I must buy dried beans, wheat berries, yeast, etc. I buy vinegar often, as we don't use oil on our salads. We buy rice, tofu, soymilk, canned olives, vegetable broth, oatmeal, cereal (they eat it about twice a week), raw nuts (pricey), popcorn (kernels for popping), gluten, whole wheat pasta, etc. It all adds up, especially since I buy almost everything organic.

Quality is also important to me; I can get bananas for .33 a pound at Costco, but the bananas are either very green or already spotted, and the green ones don't always ripen properly. Bananas at a grocery store are .59 a pound most of the time, but they are much better quality.

I think it also depends where you live. Groceries seem to be rather pricey in Southern California.

Snacks really get me. I prefer that half of their snacks be fresh fruit. At a minimum of .50 a serving this gets expensive. Muffins are cheaper, btu fruit is healthier. Other than that I pop popcorn, and buy raisins and baby carrots. They also eat fresh bread for snacks.

Our diet is plant-based, but for DH and I it is not grain-based. We eat at least 50% raw foods daily. We eat beans daily (almost always made from dried) and only one grain/startchy vegetable serving per day. My morning smoothie made with juice, fresh and frozen fruit, and flax seed is going to be a lot more expensive than a bowl of bulk oatmeal. It also has a much higher nutrient profile.

What I do to save:

Buy what I can at Trader Joes. They have some organics for less than the HFS, and are our cheapest source for raw nuts.

Stick to cheaper legumes. Organic pinto beans are cheaper than most other varieties of beans. I bought a package of Anazasi beans because DH asked for them, but told him I wouldn't do it again, because they were $3 a pound vs. 1.19 a pound for pintos.

Stick to the cheapest fruit I can, which usually means buying in season. Right now bananas, apples, and citrus are the cheapest, followed by kiwi. Grapes and melons are way too expensive to buy right now, and they don't even taste that great out of season. For my youngest I buy pineapple canned in pineapple juice. Canned isn't as nutritious as fresh, but it is pretty good and I can get store brand for $1 a can. I also buy unsprayed oranges from the famer's market rather than certified organic from the HFS.

Make bread whenever I can. I use a bread machine and freshly ground grain. I've also started experimenting with sourdough.

I cook at home every night. When it is time to shop again I use the leftover vegetables to make soup or curried vegetables. We are really creative with leftovers; if we have leftover beans I will suggest reaheating them with some spinach rather than making a new pot (DH prefers them the first day they are made). Leftover mashed potatoes became potato soup. Not wasting food is very important to me. If we do get stuck with something just a little too long (like leftover brown rice) I feed it to the dog. But I try really hard not to let that happen.

I stretch out the main shopping. Instead of having a set day to grocery shop I see how long we can go with what we have. Once we are out of fruit and salad greens then it is really time to shop again. This helps balance out the fact that we often have to go in midweek to buy more fruit and tomatoes.

Kimberly

[dharmamama]

Originally Posted by KimberMama

and buy raisins and baby carrots.

Not picking on you, but this jumped out at me. Would it be cheaper to buy bulk carrots and peel and cut them yourself?

Namaste!

[Amys1st]

I also like to stretch out the days as long as possible between shopping trips. I am now craving some beans....

It does suck when food goes to waste. It drives dh crazy when he sees my sil who is the queen of wasting food and anything else throw out whole bowls of fruit or be out and not take home leftovers etc. I try to limit his time around her when its mealtime for that very reason.


Tonight we had risotto with some shrimp we found in the freezer, some leftover stock, and a half dozen amount of shrooms in the fridge. Also used a last bit of wine in the fridge I had been saving for cooking. I love bits n pieces kind of meals- it helps the whole food budget and the waste as well.

[mamaofthree]

Well after I posted, the kids and I had a meeting. We talked about cutting back on snacks, and eating better. They like the idea of muffins and banana bread, and homemade granola bars (especially if they get to help make them). They are big yogurt tube fans. So I think what I will do is buy a tub of yogurt and then put it in serving size containers and they can flavor them as they like... an idea they thought was great.
This should be a great adventure.

H

[rabbithorns]

We do buy natural raised/grass fed meat and it costs the same as regular. I think it depends on where you live and what stores you are willing to shop at.

Then there's portion size. I used to buy one or two pieces of meat (for instance a chicken thigh or breast) per person. Now I buy 1# for three people. So when boneless chicken breast goes on sale, I buy two breast halves per meal. When I cook the chicken, I then slice it and serve the slices. Then we each get about 3 ounces each rather than 8-12 ounces each. An adult only requires 2-4 ounces of complete protien per day.

Saves us a bundle. And forces us to eat better within the meal: more veggies, more bread.

[KimberMama]

Originally Posted by dharmamama

Not picking on you, but this jumped out at me. Would it be cheaper to buy bulk carrots and peel and cut them yourself?

Namaste!

I've actually been working on this. Most of the time we do buy regular carrots, and they cut them with a wavy cutter from Pampered Chef.

[MamaPam]

I was excited to see this thread as I have been brainstorming ways to cut our grocery bill.

Here are some ideas I have come up with so far...
Cook from scratch
Eat more veggies and sides so meat portion of meal is smaller.
Have soup and bread once a week for dinner.
Have meatless meals
Eat breakfast for dinner.
Don't buy snack size portions (a jar of applesauce vs individual sized tubs...sm baggies and tupperware can be used if food needs to be used on the go)
Buy block cheese vs already cubed, shreded etc
Use cloth napkins rags to reduce paper use
Buy mostly in season fruits and veggies
Keep stock of fresh ingredients that need to be used so not to waste them.
Occasionally double and freeze a meal so we have one ready to go if tempted to eat out.

Pam

[babybugmama]

Originally Posted by obiandelismom

On the muffins, I recently discovered a raisin/bran muffin that you can mix up and keep in the refrigerator, and cook as you want them. I bake about 12 a day, but only have to mix the batter (which is, for me, the hard part of cooking) once a week. Theoretically you can keep the batter for 6 weeks, but ours has never lasted that long! You can get at least 6 dozen out of a batch and they are really yummy. LMK if anyone wants a recipe!

I would be interested!

[becca011906]

Originally Posted by babybugmama

I would be interested!

me too!!!

[dharmamama]

I'm interested too!

Btw, I thought of another frugal snack. I got this out of TWG, was vey skeptical, tried it, and found it worked great.

When there is only enough jam/jelly left in the jar to coat the sides, fill the jar with milk and shake it to get the jam off the sides. Then freeze the milk in popsicle molds. My kids love them.

Namaste!

[Boobs]

Great ideas!

[obiandelismom]

Ok. There are actually two recipes for the Refrigerator Muffins. One is healthy, and one tastes good. Isn't that always the way? I'll post both, and maybe one of you more adventurous types can "fix" the healthy one so that it tastes better (it ends up unbelievably heavy, dry, and unsweet).

The Healthy One (from the Bob's Red Mill website)
2 c boiling water
5 c bran
5 c whole wheat flour
5 tsp baking soda
1 c wheat germ
1/4 c ground flaxseed
3 c raisins
1 c vegetable oil
1 c honey, molasses or brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten
4 cups buttermilk

Pour boiling water over bran and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Add bran and raisins, and combine. In a seperate bowl, mix eggs, buttermilk, sweetner and oil. Add to dry mix and stir til JUST wet - if you overmix you will have cement muffins!

Bake at 400 for 15-20 mins.

The Yummy One (from Southern Living cookbook)

1 15-oz box wheat bran flakes with raisins (I know, $$$, but the store brand is cheap and works just as well.)
5 c flour (I use 3 all-purpose and 2 whole wheat. I've also sub'd oatmeal for some of the flour, and it was fine.)
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 c ground flaxseed
4 eggs, beaten
1 quart buttermilk
1 cup shortening, melted (I use 1/2 shortening, 1/2 cup olive oil)

Same deal as above - mix all the dry ingredients together, then mix the wet together and just blend the two. Again, don't overmix!

Bake at 350 for 20 mins - with the extra sugar content, if you cook at 400 they get too hard.

Supposedly you can bake these in the microwave, but I haven't tried that yet.

Enjoy!