Affording your new lifestyle: tips and tricks for the grocery store!
Replies
-
Wow! That's amazing!!! If you have a save-a-lot nearby they will have huge markdowns on meat. We were able to buy ground beef for $1.99/lb.0
-
arditarose wrote: »Oh okay, maybe it's not that bad then.
I think it's just that it's that bad everywhere
Food prices are ridiculous 
I go for meat on special, because it's nice meat, but feel kind of terrible competing with older people on seriously fixed incomes for a strip of sirloin. People crowd around the meat section, just waiting for the kid who prices the meat to tag their piece. It's messed up.0 -
$5 for a tub of prepared salad?? How much would a lettuce cost?
This is a brand I prefer, and it is one of my "splurges" that I plan for. It's a very good spring mix blend, and I can get 4-5 salads out of one of the bigger tubs. If it is out of stock, I generally buy non-organic, or smaller tubs which are less than $3.
0 -
Th3Ph03n1x wrote: »Great tips I can't wrap my head around the extreme couponing. I know people do great with it but I just don't have the time to devote to this AND pan what I eat, keep up with the kids/cats/house/job and exercise.
One thing I do is comb my stores flyers for sales and plan my menu around what meats/produce they have on sale when I can (it works out really well in the warm months because they tend to put barbecue favorites on sale a lot. That has saved me a bit. Plus I get rewards points DH can use for gas discounts.
Gas discounts are my favorite thing. I have enough points for $.20/off right now; can't wait to use them, especially since gas prices are getting so low!0 -
This is less about buying food than about cooking, but it pays off surprisingly well to find ways to use your scraps and minimise waste, as well as how to actually store some of the foods you cooked.
It may sound a bit desperate, or odd. Truly though, you'd be surprised. Seriously, just about every popular Italian recipe that was exported to the USA was originally a way to reuse scraps, and that includes lasagna, bolognese sauce, and pizza. Trust me on this one.
I figured that there might have been something to it, and gave it a try. As it turns out, I ended up saving an average of 40-50 euros (46 - 57 dollars) per month. On a small budget, that is huge.
A few common things I have found to reuse scraps.
- Keeping stale or dry bread to make bread crumbs out of it
- Vegetable scraps, if not rotten or otherwise inedible, can be cleaned, stored in plastic bags and frozen to make vegetable stock out of them. (Everything except cabbage, if I remember correctly.)
- Same applies to bones. Bone soup by itself is actually quite good.
- Making your own pizza allows you to place anything you want on it.
- If you are making vegetable broth with fresh vegetables, you can actually purée the vegetables to make a sort of vegetable purée. You can eat that with pasta or rice and some cheese, and is quite tasty.
- Pasta leftovers, when there is not enough left for an entire meal, can be turned into a lovely pasta frittata.
In terms of storing:
- Fresh salad is best separated, washed, and then the leaves stored in a plastic bag with a piece of kitchen paper at the bottom. Or in a moist cloth.
- If you are making gnocchi or anything potato-based, freeze them after you cooked.
- Put stuff in front that needs to be eaten first. Actually eat it. -
Also, buying bulk amounts of things you know you can store – flour, pasta, sugar, rice… The same applies when cooking – if you make bulk amounts of food you can store, you will most likely save money.
I don't know if this applies to the USA, but when it comes to fruits and vegetables, buying them according to the season makes a massive difference. It is especially evident with cherries, which are the poster child for fruits that should really only be bought during high season. Since I've been a child, we would put of buying until a month or so after they appeared because the price per kg literally goes down to 1/3rd during that time.0 -
missiontofitness wrote: »
Just got all of this for $10! Huge sale going on at my local store.
Basil is usually about $1.99 per 1oz container, but they had this 4oz container on sale for $2.50 if you bought four qualifying items.
Pays to look at the sale flyer.
$10 for all of that does sound good, but I'm used to getting a big bag of fresh basil for $1 at the Asian store...usually straight from the hands of ladies tearing the sprigs! hehe
Fresh pineapple is one of my must-haves and it's so weird to me that I can get them for $2 and less at Aldi, when they're $4-5 at every other store in my area. Strange.
0 -
seltzermint wrote: »missiontofitness wrote: »
Just got all of this for $10! Huge sale going on at my local store.
Basil is usually about $1.99 per 1oz container, but they had this 4oz container on sale for $2.50 if you bought four qualifying items.
Pays to look at the sale flyer.
$10 for all of that does sound good, but I'm used to getting a big bag of fresh basil for $1 at the Asian store...usually straight from the hands of ladies tearing the sprigs! hehe
Fresh pineapple is one of my must-haves and it's so weird to me that I can get them for $2 and less at Aldi, when they're $4-5 at every other store in my area. Strange.
Even the two stores I mainly shop at (I couldn't pass up this $10 sale today, so I went to this store that I rarely patronize) have wildly different prices. Some items can be several dollars more expensive than if I drove across the street to the other store. I buy Swiffer wet cloths, for instance, and there's around a $3 difference between both stores for the same size. Grapes are also $1 more expensive at one store than the other currently. They're both chains, but one is family owned and one is a corporation, so that's probably it.
I never buy fresh basil; can never justify the cost + there's not many places to get it where I'm at, other than the supermarket. I should see if the local Asian market sells some...if I can find it in this amount for an inexpensive price, I might buy it more often! This was one of the first times I've ever purchased it, and I'm super excited.0 -
I would love to figure out how all that couponing stuff works, but I honestly don't think we buy much of anything that we could even get coupons for, we seriously shop the edges of the store.
So i'm totally jealous, but not something we could do. Sadz.0 -
I would love to figure out how all that couponing stuff works, but I honestly don't think we buy much of anything that we could even get coupons for, we seriously shop the edges of the store.
So i'm totally jealous, but not something we could do. Sadz.
I recommend the Krazy Coupon Lady's site for beginners. I would definitely recommend checking that out, and seeing if you can learn tricks for necessities like household cleaners and items. I save a fortune on those! Plus, it helps me reroute that money to the edge of the store purchases I like to make.
I currently have enough detergent to do 100 loads in the dishwasher, so that's one expense covered for at least half the year!0 -
That's not bad at all. There's a few things that we might be able to optimize on. I take aleve like candy.0
-
-
yeah, I'm going to start looking.
Good info, Thanks.0 -
I have one tip that I can't see has been mentioned here - make sure you are getting enough nutrients, but without overdoing it. I have a daily goal of around 70 grams of protein, and I prelog to make sure that I hit it, but if I for instance have a big piece of meat for dinner, I'll move the egg to the next day. Same goes for fruit - I aim for three servings; more is unecessary and may interfere with other foods I need to take in.0
-
Oh, yes on the Asian markets, Latin markets have fantastic prices, too, especially on produce, herbs, and spices.
I got so sick of seeing $5-7 tiny jars of whole cloves so I went to a local Indian market and bought an 8 oz bag for $3. Cloves for everyone, all the time, forever. LOL.
Also, DRIED BEANS, people. Contrary to what you might have heard, they are NOT hard to prepare, especially if you have a crock pot. Several days worth of high-quality protein (with bonus fiber!) in every bag...usually for .75-1 US dollar, even in my absurdly high COL area! (Milk? $4.79 a gallon. $7-9 if you want organic)
Finally, check out your local Community Supported Agriculture programs. Mine provides 20 weeks of tons of varied organic produce for around $500 per year. They also offer partial and whole work shares, which means that in exchange for staffing distributions or working a few hours a week in the field (bonus exercise in the fresh air), you can get a share for free. Even with a paid share, it saves me TONS of money, I barely go to the grocery store during distribution season. Plus, having all that produce on hand kind of forces me to prepare lots and lots of veggies because I can't stand waste. During peak times, it's almost too much food for my family of 5, so also consider splitting a share if you are single or a partnered couple with no children/bottomless pits to feed.0 -
Bringing this back from purgatory to say...
My savings equal 75% of my spending so far this year, and we're only 1 1/2 months into the year. Definitely echoing the loyalty programs, and utilizing those register printed Catalinas as well. I also discovered Ibotta tonight, and the privacy policy doesn't freak me out like Apple's does, so we'll see if I can utilize this with my coupons, and get some pocket change back on items I buy frequently!0 -
That's not bad at all. There's a few things that we might be able to optimize on. I take aleve like candy.
This is unsolicited but do be careful with overdoing it with Aleve. My friend was recently hospitalized for several serious health issues...one of which was internal bleeding from taking Aleve daily for her knee pain.
0 -
GingerbreadCandy wrote: »This is less about buying food than about cooking, but it pays off surprisingly well to find ways to use your scraps and minimise waste, as well as how to actually store some of the foods you cooked.
It may sound a bit desperate, or odd. Truly though, you'd be surprised. Seriously, just about every popular Italian recipe that was exported to the USA was originally a way to reuse scraps, and that includes lasagna, bolognese sauce, and pizza. Trust me on this one.
I figured that there might have been something to it, and gave it a try. As it turns out, I ended up saving an average of 40-50 euros (46 - 57 dollars) per month. On a small budget, that is huge.
A few common things I have found to reuse scraps.
- Keeping stale or dry bread to make bread crumbs out of it
- Vegetable scraps, if not rotten or otherwise inedible, can be cleaned, stored in plastic bags and frozen to make vegetable stock out of them. (Everything except cabbage, if I remember correctly.)
- Same applies to bones. Bone soup by itself is actually quite good.
- Making your own pizza allows you to place anything you want on it.
- If you are making vegetable broth with fresh vegetables, you can actually purée the vegetables to make a sort of vegetable purée. You can eat that with pasta or rice and some cheese, and is quite tasty.
- Pasta leftovers, when there is not enough left for an entire meal, can be turned into a lovely pasta frittata.
In terms of storing:
- Fresh salad is best separated, washed, and then the leaves stored in a plastic bag with a piece of kitchen paper at the bottom. Or in a moist cloth.
- If you are making gnocchi or anything potato-based, freeze them after you cooked.
- Put stuff in front that needs to be eaten first. Actually eat it. -
Also, buying bulk amounts of things you know you can store – flour, pasta, sugar, rice… The same applies when cooking – if you make bulk amounts of food you can store, you will most likely save money.
I don't know if this applies to the USA, but when it comes to fruits and vegetables, buying them according to the season makes a massive difference. It is especially evident with cherries, which are the poster child for fruits that should really only be bought during high season. Since I've been a child, we would put of buying until a month or so after they appeared because the price per kg literally goes down to 1/3rd during that time.
So true. Thanks for the detailed post.
0 -
There's a store by me where I try to only go to when I'm desperate...they have a small container container of blueberries priced for $8.99! Regular size almond milk for almost $7.00! A 4 pack red apples for almost $12.50! Oh and they also prepare amoothies/juices and a small ( more like two fast gulps ) cup will run you almost $10 ! Seriously, I am pretty sure those are illegal prices!0
-
That's not bad at all. There's a few things that we might be able to optimize on. I take aleve like candy.
This is unsolicited but do be careful with overdoing it with Aleve. My friend was recently hospitalized for several serious health issues...one of which was internal bleeding from taking Aleve daily for her knee pain.
Always best to talk to a doctor for an aspirin regimin. 0 -
For college students saving is really important for most, so I think the best way is using coupons and deals websites like Thescount.com and many more if you google it.0
-
samantha1242 wrote: »Wow - bananas at $0.39/lb. Jealous!
Great post.
39 cents a pound for bananas???
Where are you?
0 -
missiontofitness wrote: »That's not bad at all. There's a few things that we might be able to optimize on. I take aleve like candy.
This is unsolicited but do be careful with overdoing it with Aleve. My friend was recently hospitalized for several serious health issues...one of which was internal bleeding from taking Aleve daily for her knee pain.
Always best to talk to a doctor for an aspirin regimin.
Sorry about your friend.
I've been doing it for years, and my doc keeps an eye on it. For now it's fine.0 -
samantha1242 wrote: »Wow - bananas at $0.39/lb. Jealous!
Great post.
39 cents a pound for bananas??? Where are you?
I'm up in New England. They've been holding steady at that price for months!0 -
I do miss Russo's and Market Basket.0
-
I've had good luck at Trader Joe's. I always use to go to Whole Foods but was told TJ was cheaper and it is. Granted, it's not as huge as WF, but I can get several days worth of meals and individual items that I can use to mix and match for meals.0
-
I've had good luck at Trader Joe's. I always use to go to Whole Foods but was told TJ was cheaper and it is. Granted, it's not as huge as WF, but I can get several days worth of meals and individual items that I can use to mix and match for meals.
I'm personally not a huge fan of TJ's, in regards to regular shopping. They go by a per item flat cost; which I do like; but it's not helpful if I only need a small amount of an item, and I still need to pay a flat rate. That, and I've noticed their selection can be limited compared to my local grocery stores.
However, I am a huge fan of their flower bouquets, their peppermint patties, and the quality of their produce when I do buy items there.0 -
What a great thread! Whilst we don't have coupons for food items in New Zealand, many of the other tips (such as checking out the specials for the week) would definitely help lower the food bill... and food here is very expensive! Thanks, OP, for starting this discussion, and thanks everyone for posting your super saving ideas!0
-
Another good tip is take advantage of Walmart price matching. I have them match the lower end stores and get great produce for real cheap. today I bought 5 lbs of onions for .99 3 lbs of red bell peppers and green for. 99 5 avocados for $1 5 lb bag of potatoes .99
Family size pack of romaine lettuce .99
And so much more I compared the prices to the grocery store and the savings are huge. Bell peppers are 1.50 each I was able to get 3 lbs for. 99 cents I got 5 lbs of tomatoes for .99
Take advantage0 -
lailadahdal wrote: »Another good tip is take advantage of Walmart price matching. I have them match the lower end stores and get great produce for real cheap. today I bought 5 lbs of onions for .99 3 lbs of red bell peppers and green for. 99 5 avocados for $1 5 lb bag of potatoes .99
Family size pack of romaine lettuce .99
And so much more I compared the prices to the grocery store and the savings are huge. Bell peppers are 1.50 each I was able to get 3 lbs for. 99 cents I got 5 lbs of tomatoes for .99
Take advantage
Watch out with their produce though...they generally get the lower quality items. I bought produce there a few years ago, and my bell pepper had liquefied and exploded in my hand, and my blueberries had molded over as well, even though they were both stored properly and I had them less than a few days.
I haven't purchased produce there since.0 -
What a great thread! Whilst we don't have coupons for food items in New Zealand, many of the other tips (such as checking out the specials for the week) would definitely help lower the food bill... and food here is very expensive! Thanks, OP, for starting this discussion, and thanks everyone for posting your super saving ideas!
No problemo! I am sad you live in a coupon free country (though I am jealous that you get to call New Zealand home!), but definitely go the route of checking the specials, and stocking up when you can. It'll save over time!0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions