Healthy Groceries for around $100/month

SezxyStef

I live in Canada..I don't even want to talk about food costs...:sad:

ETA: since summer is coming why not try some container gardening..you can grow 1 tomato plant and 1 cucumber plant in a big bucket easily....along with lettuce in a window box. Hanging basket of cherry/grape tomatoes and a pepper plant.

you can easily get enough food from that to feed you a fresh salad every day all summer long esp with the lettuce which can be sown more than once or if you choose leaf lettuce or a mix the more you cut it the more it grows..

seltzermint555

I got big into coupons to save money on whatever I could, but that takes a bit of time and effort that you may not have depending on your work situation, but even just being able to stock up on toothpaste and toilet paper with a good discount meant there was just that much more I could spend on food when I needed to.

Skipping the grocery store and going to a farmer's market or CSA for produce saves a *lot* if you have that option available. Along those lines, anything you can grow rather than buy saves as well (dried herbs are expensive, snipping them right off your plants is heavenly.)

I baked my own bread and made my own tortillas, too. Which not only saved a lot of money (it's like pennies to make both) but gave me a chance to experiment.

I'm also big on coupons too. We usually spend about $200 a week on groceries/eating out but it's me, my boyfriend, my 20 year old daughter and my boyfriend's mom. I do all the grocery shopping. I'm trying to get everyone to eat healthier. They aren't always on board.
We do go to the farmers market on occasion but I don't know where everyone else lives but they are almost always more expensive than the grocery stores. They do have a lot of great looking produce but I spend $40 on two bags of produce last time I was there.
I would love any bread or tortilla recipes you would like to share.

Thanks for sharing Fatalis_vox!!

Same here with the farmer's markets. Everything is "artisan" or "heirloom" with very dear prices! Even produce is at least twice (if not more) the price it would be at a supermarket. I'd actually say most items are twice the price of ORGANIC produce at the supermarket and 3-4 times the price of non-organic.

Low cost farmer's market sounds like an oxymoron to me...for my area anyway!

JoRocka

Good basis, I think. But yeah, all that stuff costs more here too... 3 chicken breasts will be $9 here and once you remove the fat, there's enough for 4/5 meals maybe. Salmon is typically $11 a pound so I guess it's pretty close though (but catfish is typically $7 a pound and sometimes cod is too). Cheap veggies are pretty much $2-3 a pound here.. You're often better off buying frozen veggies on sale at $1 a bag. 5 pounds of apples would probably be $5 or something. I'm in NJ. And the farmer market is just as expensive here.

I spend like $160 a week for 4, and that's including overpriced snacks and yogurts for my 6yo twins (and organic milk). I can almost never find coupons on things I actually buy sadly though (and buying the Sunday paper hasn't seemed worth it just to save $3 on things I actually use).

I'd definitely add some beans, lentils and eggs to your list though... but again I'd need variety.

It makes me absolutely stark raving mad when people say "go to the farmers market for produce" because yeah- here in the dirty jeresy- it's just as expensive if not MORE expensive.

And I had to drive out of my way to go get it- so I just do all my shopping at shop rite.
(speaking of Birsall was on sale 2/5$ at Shop rite I think)

and- no- they never have useful coupons- always for soda's and stupid crap like that I don't use/drink.

And 1 pack of chicken is about 7-9- I cook and separate into 6-8 oz- and I can usually get about 6-8 tupperwears- depending on how much I ate out of if when I first made it.

My weekly average is about 50$... typically 40-70 depending on what I need to stock up on. Jersey sucks for food LOL

Francl27

Good basis, I think. But yeah, all that stuff costs more here too... 3 chicken breasts will be $9 here and once you remove the fat, there's enough for 4/5 meals maybe. Salmon is typically $11 a pound so I guess it's pretty close though (but catfish is typically $7 a pound and sometimes cod is too). Cheap veggies are pretty much $2-3 a pound here.. You're often better off buying frozen veggies on sale at $1 a bag. 5 pounds of apples would probably be $5 or something. I'm in NJ. And the farmer market is just as expensive here.

I spend like $160 a week for 4, and that's including overpriced snacks and yogurts for my 6yo twins (and organic milk). I can almost never find coupons on things I actually buy sadly though (and buying the Sunday paper hasn't seemed worth it just to save $3 on things I actually use).

I'd definitely add some beans, lentils and eggs to your list though... but again I'd need variety.

It makes me absolutely stark raving mad when people say "go to the farmers market for produce" because yeah- here in the dirty jeresy- it's just as expensive if not MORE expensive.

And I had to drive out of my way to go get it- so I just do all my shopping at shop rite.
(speaking of Birsall was on sale 2/5$ at Shop rite I think)

and- no- they never have useful coupons- always for soda's and stupid crap like that I don't use/drink.

And 1 pack of chicken is about 7-9- I cook and separate into 6-8 oz- and I can usually get about 6-8 tupperwears- depending on how much I ate out of if when I first made it.

My weekly average is about 50$... typically 40-70 depending on what I need to stock up on. Jersey sucks for food LOL

Yeah it's much cheaper typically to buy the big packs of chicken breasts - ends up being like $1.99 a pound instead of $3.25 or something. So it's typically what I get.

conqueringsquidlette

I've found that, in Florida, you can get really amazing deals at unexpected places. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of grocery store competition down here, we basically have Publix, Wal-Mart, Target, and the occasional Food Lion or Winn-Dixie. Wal-Mart is the only reasonably priced store pre-coupons, and because there isn't much competition, there aren't many coupons that can be put to use here (or the rules are really stringent). Anyway, I was looking for new food options and wandered into some cultural stores, like Indian, Hispanic, etc, and I've found that their prices are MUCH cheaper than any big store, even after coupons (unless you're an Extreme Couponer). You'll be slightly limited if you intend on doing your shopping at these types of shops because they're catering to speciality meals but the prices are just unbeatable. $3.99/lb cashews! at the Indian stores. At the Latino grocery stores the fruits and vegetables are just jaw droppingly inexpensive. Where I'd normally spend about $100-$150 on groceries from Wal-Mart I spend about $50 for the same quantity and sometimes better quality produce.

I'm also pretty big on rice which is cheap regardless of where you buy it (I think - I usually go for the 50lb bag at Sam's Club). You can do amazing things with rice and vegetables. Rice is a great food in that it'll be pretty good regardless of what you pair it with.

Oh yeah, this too. Hooray for Meximarts!