In an effort to cut down our grocery bills, tell me... - Page 2

[lightheart]

At one time they were cheap but have creeped up in price, Red Gold tomato produts, yellow label, red and green wording/picture are the best!

[my6beans]

[QUOTE=wifty;8111982]They aren't a full grocery store, but Targets brand, Archer Farms.....is excellent and usually is better then name brand. Their sodas, bread, ice cream, soup come to mind but I haven't tried any of their things that I haven't loved.

I completely agree that the Archer Farms brand tastes very good. My kids don't know the difference.

I have noticed the canned raviolis and spagetti o's when we buy them do not taste as good as the name brand ones!

[Mom2Joseph]

Just wanted to add that the Archer Farms wheat bread is awsome!! It is the only wheat bread we have found at a regular store NOT made with corn syrup (which my kids are allergic too). This brand ROCKS!

[becoming]

We buy generic everything from...Wal-Mart. Great Valu is the label name, and I think everything tastes the same as the regular-cost brand. And I'm a fairly picky eater.

[xmysticprincessx]

i second the coupon idea. i cut TONS of coupons, mainly because i send a priority mail envelope full of expired coupons every few months to a military friend to use at the overseas commissary. i end up with quite a few of each coupon, so i stock up when its on sale. for things we use a lot of, i "buy" coupons on ebay or from thecouponclippers.com.

ETA- if you are interested in sending expired coupons to the military, here's a couple sites for more info/addresses:
http://www.ocpnet.org/
http://thecouponclippers.com/forum/v...cde9531412c1d3

[Nursingnaturalmom]

i second the coupon idea. i cut TONS of coupons, mainly because i send a priority mail envelope full of expired coupons every few months to a military friend to use at the overseas commissary. i end up with quite a few of each coupon, so i stock up when its on sale. for things we use a lot of, i "buy" coupons on ebay or from thecouponclippers.com.

I am wanting to do this also. Does your friend have a friend that might want/need expired coupons to use overseas? I just hate tossing my expired coupons when I could be sending them to families that will use them.

Pm me if you want
Chandi

[sabrinat]

I almost shop exclusive store brands/generic...I don't even know what the brand products taste like anymore. I also shop at Aldi's alot. There's just a few things that I've found that weren't as good...I'm sure there's an equivilant out there, but I haven't found it yet. I have a large family and we enjoy eating a variety of great food so I have to save where I can

[Scribe]

I really like the generic organics, like some of Archer Farms stuff, and (here) HEB Organics, etc. It's nice to have those options. I don't generally buy generic otherwise, though, as it's not organic.

[Electra375]

I think you are doing super w $75 to $150 per MONTH!!! I haven't done that since we were without children.
Be thankful you are not shopping for food allergies, intolerances or food related diseases!
I can do Giant's off brand cereal on occassion, it's good. My dad found it shopping with me after my last baby in Jan. It was a fabulous find given that Cocoa Puffs has returned to using wheat starch. I continually look at store brands to see if they might be a good alternative, but frankly we eat a more whole foods and less processed food diet.
Off Brand soups are out, shoot Campbell's is out - organic and expensive if I want my kids to eat it. I make soup on occassion store brand dried beans.
When I bought things like muffin mix, I found the Wal-Mart brand of corn muffin mix just as good as Jiffy. I have found the Wal-Mart extra creamy mac and cheese to be better than plain Kraft. Now I just by the cheap b/c I'm using the packet of powder with GF elbow noodles from corn or rice. I give away the gluten noodles.
I buy bulk flours for baking. www.frankferd.com might deliver to your area, single items allowed.
Giant has it's own line of organic produce, sometimes it is cheaper, some times it isn't. It is good, no complaints.
I end up buying a lot of organic products to stear clear of gluten, HFCS and additives. It's going to come to chickens soon as I see my ds2 reacting to it.
Many Celiacs are "lactose intolerant" it is my opinion that the truth is many are more likely reacting to gluten in the cow's milk from the cow eating a wheat grain based feed. It's no wonder my children are no longer milk intolerant after we switched to local, grassfed, raw dairy. Which isn't cheap.
I have trouble managing $450 per month for 5 people! (dishsoap, laundry detergent, trashbags, that is in there too and I do not find generic to be good at all)
FYI - generic meds have a lot of fillers, I have not found them to be as effective when I've used them, especially the allergy meds, don't know why they read the same
A good LOL -- Generic BCP got me pregnant w our 3rd child! First time I'd tried a generic, went back to the pharmacy w the pack and was assured it was the same. It was the last time I used any form of BC.

[mamamoo]

I can't imagine being able to sepnd so little, that is what we spend a week averaged out, the fruits and veggies is what kills us!!

[apple_dumpling]

I think you are doing super with your budget too.. I only wish ours was that cheap, we are only a family of three too :

I second the pp that said they didn't like the generic tomato stuff though.. me too. ketchup, tomato sauce, soup, etc. I have to get brand name. I don't know what it is, but I just don't like the generic (and I have tried a few different generics)

Most other stuff we get generic, unless I have a coupon for a brand name and a store is running a sale so that I get the brand name for much less than the generic. I use the grocery game website, it does cost a little to use the website but a friend showed it to me, and now I'm hooked! Plus they list everything that's on sale at each store and what the coupons are in the paper, so I don't have to do that.. sometimes I just don't have time. Certainly you could do it yourself and save even more $$!

[Electra375]

I personally don't find that I buy much that I can use a coupon on, coupons are usually for processed food items and chemical cleaners! Everyonce in a while I will find at our local grocery store $5 of produce purchase of more than $5 which is easy to do. Or 20% of total over said amount. Those are more useful than 50cents off Mr. Clean which I don't use.
I stopped heading for the weekend paper for coupons when I realized I was buying stuff I didn't use and and didn't need just b/c I had a coupon! Same with sales, it isn't a sale if I don't need it or don't use it.
I have my list of items I buy regularly and where I buy them for what price. It took a while to compile it together.