I went grocery shopping at the cheapest grocery store today and used $16 in coupons. However, my grocery bill was still (around the usual $100)... today $115. I realized today that I have a fear of not seeing food or having the feeling of being low on food. So, I seem to always be around $100, buying the two for ones etc. I am not sure if it is my habit of spending the $100 (ish) per week or if that is really what a normal family of 4 spends per week? So, what are you grocery totals per week? What are the usual/regular cost saving meals? By the way, I tried Hamburger helper tonight for the first time, but used ground turkey since it was on sale. It was pretty good and my husband said that he'd like it again. We also had fruit salad and biscuits. I think the total meal was less that $2 per person.
What are your normal weekly grocery prices?
February 21st, 2011 at 01:44 am
February 21st, 2011 at 01:55 am 1298253315
February 21st, 2011 at 01:56 am 1298253390
February 21st, 2011 at 02:51 am 1298256669
I finally hit upon the ideas of writing my list from flyers/adverts and filling out my menu planner at the same time. It relieves me of the 5:00 p.m feelings of panic of what to feed the hungry mob [my family] and flexible enough to change meals around to suit.
February 21st, 2011 at 03:02 am 1298257377
I am a self admitted food hoarder because I don't like an empty pantry. I try to keep on top of the pantry and fridge so I don't throw stuff away and waste it. I try to buy things on sale and use coupons.
I make casseroles or soups and stews on the weekends to heat up after I get home from work so we aren't tempted to get something out.
February 21st, 2011 at 04:31 am 1298262672
February 21st, 2011 at 06:19 am 1298269166
February 21st, 2011 at 01:11 pm 1298293862
Using one item for two meals - buying a rotissiere chicken for one meal and using the leftover chicken for say chicken taco's, chicken nacho, chicken chili, etc. the next day.
Or making ground beef tacos and using the rest of the taco meat the next day for chili. Taco meat makes great chili.
February 21st, 2011 at 02:04 pm 1298297081
February 21st, 2011 at 04:40 pm 1298306453
February 21st, 2011 at 04:43 pm 1298306629
Our cheap strategy is to shop sales and know which stores have the best prices. It's not always the onesd you think. We don't shop the traditional "cheap stores" but we stay the hell away from Safeway any more (pricey!). The local high end grocery chain has the best prices (& high quality food). I am sure we could save a few cents going to some discount Food store, but the quality would suffer for the fresh produce, meat, etc. As far as big warehouses, buying bulk just doesn't work for us.
The best stores changes with time. Safeway was one of the best a few years back (for bulk purchases), but now the prices make us cringe. So we swithced stores. We haven't noticed an uptick in prices with this strategy. (I mean - don't get me wrong - prices are up - but we just shop differently to keep our bill the same. Primarily buying sales at this store works pretty well). Then again, we get a lot of stuff at Target now, too. More bulk stuff there (has replaced Safeway, for us).
We eat pretty well. We just try to keep it home cooked. Obviously we don't eat steak and shrimp every day, but we eat a fair amount of meat, buy a fair amount of treats, and splurge on more expensive fish about twice a month. Pasta, hamburger, chicken, rice, we seem to buy a LOT of. Potatoes, eggs, bread, too.
February 21st, 2011 at 04:45 pm 1298306703
February 21st, 2011 at 04:46 pm 1298306772
February 21st, 2011 at 04:46 pm 1298306788