I take a calculator to the store with me and add up the prices as I go along. I don't go over my budget. If there isn't enough money left for non-essentials, I don't buy them, unless there is some sort of super-duper-hooper-hyper sale on non-perishables.
I only buy store brand, unless a particular item doesn't come in store brand. Then I buy the least expensive brand. I am not brand-loyal!
I do not buy juice. We make our own "lemonade" occasionally from lemon juice, water, and sugar.
I buy my cheese at a restaurant supply store, 2-lb blocks for $4.99. I save over $9 a month on cheese this way. I just discovered today that their frozen peas and corn are a better deal, too.
I shop around. I go to five different stores every time I do my "big" shopping (twice a month). I know which items are cheapest at which stores.
Just this weekend we bought a 50-lb bag of flour for $15. Now I will be making our own bread (in fact, I just stuck my first loaf in the oven not five minutes ago).
I will only buy fresh fruit and veggies when they are below certain prices. For example, the grocery where I do most of my shooping normally sells apples for between $1.29-1.49/lb. Every few weeks they sell them for 99 cents/lb. I stock up then. I also take advantage of buy one/get one free sales on bagged carrots, bagged apples, broccoli, etc. I weigh bagged produce to make sure I am getting my money's worth.
I buy a lot of frozen produce because it's such a better deal.
For the kids' snacks, we do yogurt (which I am going to try making at home), carrot/celery sticks, fresh fruit, toast, peanuts or walnuts, raisins, frozen peas and corn, etc. We do not buy "snack foods." Well, with one exception, we do buy granola bars, but those are a "treat" (read: once in a while), not a snack. And I am going to try making my own granola bars after I have gotten the bread and yogurt down.
I don't buy boxed or bagged cereal. My kids eat oatmeal or toast for breakfast.
My meal plan consists of 3-4 meals per week. I make enough to have leftovers.
We go to Trader Joe's every two weeks, and I buy my kids one each of the "fruit leathers" that TJ's sells for 27 cents a piece. They are 100% fruit and they count as "treats" for the kids. I can get a lot of mileage out of at 54 cents!
I don't go to the store unless it's grocery day (the 15th and the last days of the month). If we run out, we're out.
Our one major budget-buster is Ovaltine. My kids stumble around in the morning groaning "Ovaltine!" like some adults do before they've had their morning coffee. It's $5.99 for a tub of it, which always shocks me whenever I buy it (about once every six weeks) and I feel like a schmuck for doing it, but they love it so much. A serving size of Ovaltine is FOUR TABLESPOONS and has 18 GRAMS OF SUGAR! I give my kids 1 tsp each in a cup of milk. Once a day.
Namaste!
Ps. My other budget buster is Total, which I buy at the discount store for $2.99 a box. My husband has eaten Total for breakfast every day for the past 10 years and he refuses to give it up, even when I told him I would use the extra money to buy organic, shade-grown coffee. I spend $15 a month on that friggin' Total!!
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