Grocery shopping just got more expensive!

alifer

I dont agree that it's more expensive. I bag of potato chips is $3 or $4 here vs.10 lbs of potatoes for the same $ amount. You can do so much more with 10 lbs of potatoes. I have also found that since I am only eating 1 serving size of things instead of 2 or 3 servings that saves also. Also I used to drink soda pop alot, now it's water (that change alone pays my gym membership each month). I think it is a matter of changing your thinking. Not to mention decreased medical and prescription costs.

MrsJax11

I buy my fruits and veggies at local farm stands and the Publix...I buy a 2-3 day supply at a time or find that we don't eat it all...
I buy what is in season and what is on sale...
also, if I find a great deal, I will freeze things. For example, the farm stand had yellow and red peppers for 50 cents each...so I bought six of each, ate four total over two days and then froze the other 8 for winter when they will be at a premium.
All together, though, we are spending at least $40 a week on produce, and $20 a week on yogurt...which are main staples of our diets...
we used to spend at least $30 a week on convenience eating (Pizza, Thai, subs) so I still feel like I am getting a better deal!

jujubean1992

Mine is the same way...he say's that he'll pay for lipo suction...lol But I keep telling him that the 60-90$ a week we spent on delivery pizza does not happen anymore, so now it cost less in groceries...if you think that it use to cost me between 130 to 150$ a week plus pizza (let say 60$ is twice in a week) so realy it use to cost us 190 to 210$ a week and now it's only 160 to 170$...so I save. I just keep telling to shut up at least he's eating good food!

Good luck!

He doesn't really care about the cost at all. He actually hasn't even said anything about it.
I'm just wondering how to make it cheaper =P I went from buying everything as cheap as possible (great value brand for the most part), to getting everything as healthy/low cal as possible. The less calories the more expensive lol!
When I got shopping I leave my husband home now for sure, Ha!

i buy great value brand EVERYTHING! (excpet peanutbutter, pasta & chips because well... the great value brand is gross.) moderation! in season fruit! cans of tuna are like 60 cents a piece great value brand and tuna is a very versatile protein, cheese, tortillas, salsa, lettuce tomato & you got tacos. every thing can be great value brand. it usually has the same amount if cals as the name brand AND they do have low fat/ low cal great value brand things too!

myiceisonfire

I never understand when people say that. If you shop for basic ingredients and prepare your own foods it is way cheaper than buying anything prepared, healthy or unhealthy.

For people who are telling me that it's "BS" or they "never understand":

That's okay, because YOU know how to shop for healthy foods for cheap, but please tell ME how to do it instead of just disagreeing with me. I'm new at this, and I'm learning.

Dmax12

See whats on sale that is healthy and plan meals around sale Items rather than planing what you want to eat that week. Buy in bulk when able, this works well for whole grains, oils, and sugars. Learn what is in season, find out what fruits and vegetables ripen in your hemisphere, this lowers transit costs and therefore price.

Big chain stores don't always have the best price for organic and health foods, look at farmers markets, health food stores, or join a food co-op. The sales you can find at these locations often beat out or match big chain stores

jujubean1992

I can't comment on meat, since I won't buy meat at the grocery store.

me either i get a higher quality a bigger quanity (that i break down in to servings to stick in the freeezer then take out how many servings i need that night) and sometimes even cheaper at k&j house of meats. boneless skinless chicken breast is usually around $1/lb. at wal-mart i'm usually looking at 1.90-2.20 /lb.

myiceisonfire

It might seem like that at first but I really think the key is planning. You want to avoid wastage. Do your shopping weekly based on meals you've planned. Processed food is more expensive. Pasta sauce made from tinned tomatoes and fresh garlic is always going to be cheaper than a bought pasta sauce. Same with homemade soup. Once you get into the habit of cooking and eating healthier the shopping will get easier. Also don't always try and buy low calorie or diet foods - just use good produce in small amounts, eat seasonally, eat less meat, eat more pulses. You can work out the calories for anything with MFP. Use your freezer - I spend a lot on a buying a whole free range/organic chicken and joint it myself - I make a stock to make soups/broths/risottos. Invest in some good cookbooks - try Cook Yourself Thin. If time is short cook in batches and freeze stuff. It can be done. I am a self funded student and really get a kick out of eating well within a tight budget! I bore people to tears going on about it. Good luck!

Thank you!

myiceisonfire

I can honestly say that I've never thought of planning meals ahead of time. Usually what I always did was make of list of all the things in the kitchen that were almost empty or that I didn't have. And I'd go from there. So thank you all who gave me that amazing idea! It will help A LOT I think with shopping! And then I won't have anything go back either.

photorific

Oh - you may or may not find value in this, but I'll put it out here anyways... Some of her foods look amazing and they're mostly pretty healthy meals, and on a very low budget.

Poor Girl Eats Well Blog
http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/

pickenslmc

See if Bountiful Baskets is in your area, www.bountifulbaskets.org it is $15 for a basket of 6 different types fruits and 6 types different veggies. I buy one every week, and then mostly just buy meat at Costco. I don't do much starch or any bread, but do buy it in bulk for my sons. Rice, quinoa, and potatoes are all cheap to buy in bulk. I also buy whole wheat bread for my sons from the bakery outlet-it is about $1 cheaper a loaf than the grocery store. Good luck on your journey.

Benji49

I think one of the things about gaining weight is that junk-food is so cheap!

But now that I joined MFP & I'm eating healthier, grocery shopping got a lot more expensive.

Does anyone have advice from their experiences?

It is cheaper to eat junk.

Don't shop hungry! Make a list and stick to it!

I try to go grocery shopping with a list - after sitting at home and working out a menu for the week. That is the PLAN! Unfortunately, the plan doesn't always work and the menu isn't done and I make my list on the fly before I go shopping. PLAN meets REAL LIFE!

Anyway I sort my list into Dairy, Meat, Bakery, Vegetables/Fruit, and Dry Goods. I start at one end and go all around the outside of the store to get the main components of the list and then I only hit the middle to get whatever dry goods I need. I buy canned goods and condiments once a month at the same time as I buy tp, paper towels, cleaners etc.

I don't wander up and down the isles unless my hubby is with me and then my grocery bill really goes up because he finds all these new "cool" things he wants to try.

NewLeafEats

I never noticed eating healthy being more expensive unless you fill your cart with all organic items. (or full of processed diet food or things labeled "low-cal", but I don't consider those healthy...)

When you look at all the money you spend on food, whether groceries or restaurants, eating unhealthy is far more expensive. I don't buy junk food; I consider junk food really expensive! Shop the perimeter of the store, eat produce that's in season, and don't depend only on animal products for protein. Mix it up with eggs, beans, and yogurt. Makes the cost of eating healthy a lot more reasonable.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

the produce at our local farmers market is a fraction of the cost than that of the grocery store. Also, I found that I'm eating less food, so our grocery bill hasn't really budged because I don't necessarily eat the volume of meat. I buy whatever lean meat is on sale, get produce at the farmers market, and eat as little processed foods as possible. If I want a baked good I make it.

hbrekkaas

I find that it is way more expensive to eat junk food, but it may be because of where we live. A box of fruit loops is $8, a bag of oatmeal is $3. A bag of chips is $4, same as a bag of apples. We definatly get more for our money by buying healthy instead of buying crap or fast food.

For our family to go for a fast food meal it costs at least $30, usually more. For that same price we could buy an entire chicken, ($10) a bag of salad, ($3) 2 bulk russet potatoes ($1), Gravy ($2) Angel food cake ($6) , strawberries ($3) and whipped cream ($3). It feeds us an amazing meal, and there are leftovers for the next day. Sure beats a tummy ache from the McDonalds.

The tips that I have learned over the last few years (and I feed 5 people, so this will be different if you are just cooking for yourself)
-Look through the flyers before you go to see sales and make a list
-Chicken thighs and legs are much cheaper then chicken breast. I take off the skin myself and we get 2 meals out of each $10 pack of legs/thighs.
-Make your own sauce. Its really very easy and you can control what goes into it.
-We always make a little bit extra at dinner so that my husband has leftovers to take for lunch the next day. it really doesn't add much to the cost of dinner, and it cuts down on the cost of sandwich supplies.
- Bake! I bake all our treats. I don't have a choice with allergies in our house, but I would do it anyway. In the end its much cheaper to bake 3 dozen cookies then it is to buy a bag of oreos.
-frozen veggies are cheaper and last longer then fresh. Same with fruits.

LeahBeah12

I meal plan every week, and stick to only what I need. Then a lot less is wasted.

I also shop at Aldi for a lot of basics like milk, eggs, cheese, chicken breasts, hummus, frozen veggies, and they have a lot of good produce.

I also try and find coupons for what I actually eat and use them. I also buy the store brand if it's available.

My fiance eats entirely unhealthy, and since he went back to work and I buy all his junk food (oatmeal cream pies, fruit snacks, fruit roll ups, nutty buddy bars, slim jims, oke doke, doritos, etc.) I think that our grocery bill has definitely gone up. All of those snack foods add up!

elliecolorado

I don't spend any more eating healthy than I did before. But I also used to eat take out pretty often and drink 2-3 energy drinks a day ($2-$2.50 each).

I stock up on things like chicken when it's on sale, it was $1.90/lb a couple of weeks ago and I bought 20lbs. Yes that was about $40, but it will last quite a while. I put 2-3 breasts in bags and freeze them and thaw as needed.

I get fruits and veggies depending on what is on sale that week. Can's of tuna are pretty healthy and cheap. You can also do frozen veggies instead of fresh ones and big bags of them are usually pretty cheap. I eat tons of greek yogurt and I just eat the kroger brand because it is almost 1/2 the price of the other brands. I eat a lot of eggs (whole eggs) they are cheap and you can do lots of different things with them. I eat lean ground beef which isn't terribly expensive.

I spend on average $30-$40 per week on groceries (for just me).

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I can honestly say that I've never thought of planning meals ahead of time. Usually what I always did was make of list of all the things in the kitchen that were almost empty or that I didn't have. And I'd go from there. So thank you all who gave me that amazing idea! It will help A LOT I think with shopping! And then I won't have anything go back either.

I meal plan, but I stat with what's in the kitchen. I don't go to the grocery store set in what I'm going to buy, just a general idea so that I can buy what's on sale. My list literally says "fruit, veg, meat, chicken, fish?, rice cakes, chex, eggs, milk." and I try to get the produce from market anyway. Ground meat is one of my staples for a quick meal so if I find 99% lean turkey or 93% lean beef on sale we buy a crap ton and freeze it. I always look for a roast of some sort or a whole chicken on sale to crock pot, and then just buy what's inexpensive, lean, and looks good. We also buy our snacks (gluten free) every 2 or 3 weeks, we just don't go through them very quickly and some of them we have to go to a special store to get.

Good luck!

Hearts_2015

It really isn't more expensive... It is at first, but then you learn little secrets and it gets cheaper and cheaper and eventually cheaper than eating crap.

junk is easier and quicker to buy, it certainly isn't cheaper..

There are tons of posts already in the forums.. search for them and you will find lots of hints.

I absolutely agree! I spend FAR less now than in the past when I was going the fast food route and eating packaged crap! If one really sat down and figured out how much was spent on fast food, pre-packaged foods, all the junk purchased before, I think it would far exceed the cost of eating healthy food!

Plus in my experience healthy food makes you feel sustained much longer and not crash and burn an hour after eating it..

scarletfever2005

In order to help off set the cost we started our own garden a couple of years ago. We grow a good variety of veggies and always have enough to eat all summer and then can some for the winter. We bought a small green house last year and were even able to grow some veggies over the winter here. That has been a real money saver. We also bought some laying hens and now have fresh eggs everyday.

The garden has also given us a family hobby as the kids have their own plants that are theirs to grow and tend and they have really taken to it.

Someone else mentioned farmers markets and they are a GREAT place to get fresh food cheap. I highly recommend them. Sometimes you can find a farm that offers a "CSA" where you pay a set price each month and they provide you with a weekly package of in season veggies. That is usually a good value too.

oBirdieo

I've found the opposite is true -- our groceries bills have gone down by about 50% since we started eating healthier. We also don't go out to eat as often and are saving that way, too.

I think planning is key. I plan a week's recipes (breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts, and snacks - I actually do a nerdy little grid and my husband loves to check it to see what's for dinner that night!) on a Thursday and do my shopping on Friday. I only buy what we need and nothing else. It's easier to plan ahead for leftovers this way, too.

I buy individual items whenever possible. For example, if I need two red peppers for the week's menus, I buy two red peppers instead of the "value" bag of 6 or 8. We're guilty of wasting a lot of food in our house and those extra peppers would probably just turn to mush in the fridge before I used them all up.

Cdcaldwe

Think about it this way. Spend more money on groceries now and get healthy or....... Spend much more on medical bills later.

happydeer

Just wanted to second the CSA (community supported agriculture) share and farmers market ideas. The great part about either is you may be able to make friends with the people growing your food.

Since you asked for a method: I don't talk about my weight loss goals specifically, but I'm very vocal about trying to get healthier overall. I'll say things like "wow, those potatoes look great, you know, we've been trying to do healthier eating for less cost lately, and I bet those would be a nice addition." Often the farmers will share healthy recipes and point out what else you should or should not pick up at the market that day due to price or freshness.

We're still pretty new to our new location (Midwest) but on the West Coast we regularly attended one farmer's market. There some of the vendors started telling us up to six weeks in advance what would be coming in at good prices and providing us with recipes!

Persipan

I think the reason my grocery shopping is perhaps a teeny bit more expensive while I'm losing weight is that as I'm aiming for a pretty low calorie intake (1200ish), I'm pretty ruthless about not eating the kinds of things I would normally base meals around (like lots of pasta or bread or potatoes). There's nothing at all wrong with those foods and when I get to where I want to be and switch to maintenance I'll definitely want to include more of them (within reason, but my problem's never been what I eat for dinner so much as what I eat between dinners...), but it means that right now, instead of a go-to dinner of, say, pasta with a spoonful of pesto and a load of fresh tomatoes stirred in, I'll probably eat something like a big bowl of roast veg, or a piece of baked fish with lots of salad and veg, and those things are just a bit pricier than dried pasta is. That said, I'm getting my fruit and veg in cheaper shops and so I'm not doing too badly, price-wise.

Minoesh

Mine is the same way...he say's that he'll pay for lipo suction...lol But I keep telling him that the 60-90$ a week we spent on delivery pizza does not happen anymore, so now it cost less in groceries...if you think that it use to cost me between 130 to 150$ a week plus pizza (let say 60$ is twice in a week) so realy it use to cost us 190 to 210$ a week and now it's only 160 to 170$...so I save. I just keep telling to shut up at least he's eating good food!

Good luck!

Exactly. I think the whole "junk is cheaper" argument is BS.

I totally disagree! We live in London, UK and don't do takeaways and yet, if we were to live on refined carbs, processed & frozen foods, chips and cheap cuts of meat we would save a fortune. We decided a long time ago though that the benefits of healthy eating by far outweigh the costs!

Minoesh

Think about it this way. Spend more money on groceries now and get healthy or....... Spend much more on medical bills later.

Excellent comment!

Benji49

I think the whole expensive/not expensive issue depends on where you are from. With all the floods and droughts and tornados and hurricanes and wildfires.......some of us can't get inexpensive food because it's shipped 1000's of miles to our stores and the price goes up.

For instance: a dozen corn on the cob - got last year for $6. Just heard from a local farmers market lady and she said the projected price when it finally gets here - fresh - $11 and we grow it 200 KMs away! I don't even want to guess what it will be in the Northwest Territories or Alaska!

In the places where you grow fruit in your backyard it's cheap to buy a bag of apples. Fruit doesn't grow here unless you have a green thumb and a lot of time on your hands. We ship it in from BC or Washington or California or South America.

It is all relative to where you live on this wonderful planet of ours.