Groceries Are Killing Me

Bump for later

My grocery bill has almost doubled as a result of my new eating habits - and I'm eating far less food overall! I look for coupons and special deals; I try to buy in bulk where possible; but there is no getting around the math. Healthy fresh food just costs more, at least where I live. If there's a secret I'm missing, I would love someone to clue me in!

Maybe what we need to do is have some example grocery lists and receipts.

I don't have anything in detail to hand, but some examples:

Buy often or in large quantities:
- 1% milk, yogurt
- Cheese (American for "staple" use in sandwiches)
- Wheat crackers, multigrain bread, oatmeal, store-branded cereals
- Rice, beans, flour, nuts
- chicken (fresh if it's on special, frozen skinless breasts otherwise), sausages, store-brand deli lunch meats
- Apples, bananas, whole carrots, heads of romaine lettuce, whole cucumbers, heads of celery, heads of cauliflower and broccoli, strawberries when they are on sale, frozen peas and corn (store brand, nothing added).
- Dark chocolate chips (our primary "sweet" in the house)
- Store-branded salsa
- Morningstar veggie crumbles (pricey, but cheaper and healthier than ordering a pizza when we work late and are in a hurry)
- Salad dressing (I like Marie's Super Bleu, my wife uses balsamic vingear)

Buy for "once a week" eating
- Red meat, olives, brie or another "fancy" cheese
- Baked corn chips, sun chips, or similar
- Frozen pizza dough, canned pizza sauce, veggie pepperoni, and shredded cheese


Examples of "hurried" or "splurge" meals (our most expensive, since they use the most expensive ingredients):

- Roll out pizza dough on stone, smear with canned sauce, throw cheese and pepperoni, slide into oven.
- "Mexican Salad": Chop up lettuce. Heat up veggie crumbles. Toss in a little frozen corn and heat that up. Serve plates of lettuce with veggie crumbles on them along with some salsa and yogurt, and a small handful of baked corn chips.
- Baked Brie (take a small wedge of brie, put tinfoil on the sides, throw some chutney or even jam on it, bake. Serve with olives, olive oil, and wheat bread. Start with a salad (romaine and dressing).

Staple meals would include things like chicken soup (a few frozen chicken breasts, chopped carrots, chicken bullion cubes, water, and pasta), rice-and-beans with yogurt, chicken-and-veggie stir fry over rice or pasta, a couple of sausages and a salad, or many and varied combinations of any or all of: chicken, sausage, rice, beans, pasta, cheese, yogurt, olive oil, salsa, vegetables, and various sauces. Breakfasts are homemade pancakes with sausage and real maple syrup (we buy two gallons a year, our big annual food splurge at over $100!), or low-sugar cereals or oatmeal, or eggs.

Not counting alcohol and our one meal a week out, I think our family of three eats on something like $100 a week. We could cut that back considerably by skipping the red meat and fancy cheese and olives.

I have learned that it is cheap to be fat......being healthy is quite costly. In fact most countries you tell who is poor because the are skin and bones. Our country is probably the only one where you have to pay to be skinny. You have afford surgery to be skinny! Health food is 3x's the cost of junk food. I constantly see news stating the obesity problem in country yet if our government was really concerned about health and obesity they would turn the tables. Make all healthy foods affordable and jack up the prices on junk and fast food. Healthy should be affordable for everyone, everywhere! Ok that was my first little rant.....hehehehhe Have a fantastic day everyone!!!!

I agree with this, I can barely afford to eat as clean as I would like. So sometimes i just can't do it every week. I would suggest walmart and costco or bj's for better priced stuff. Bj's has CHEAP milk, bread, tortilla's etc and you can freeze them. I know the grocery store by me sells 2 1/2 dozen eggs for about $3 so I rather by that then a dozen for $2. You just really have to shop around and when stuff is on sale buy as many as you can and stock up

I went to Whole Foods last weekend to buy some No Hormone/No Antibiotics beef and chicken. The cheapest beef I could find was $14 a pound, and the chicken was $8 a pound. Obviously, I walked out without any meat.

Either you pay for it now in quality food costs, or you pay for it later in medical bills.

Oh my gosh! My hubby says that to me all the time.. including this morning when I was hesitating on spending almost 12$ on two loaves of low GI sprouted bread

Well you can always bake your own bread. What's the saying..."buy the butter, bake the bread."

I also don't buy $12 bread but we do splurge on good food in my house. I'm known to buy a $12 salad once in a while if it's good local ingredients. Homemade cheese and local veggies, and grains.

oh I bought the bread..I dont have the time or energy to attempt sprouted bread with a low GI, I was only going to buy one loaf though lol ....I dont eat it much so its enough to last me at least 10 days or a bit longer. I've just learned to buy the best I can but eat less of it. So I also buy the pricey Liberte Greek yogurt I love, the 6$/dozen farm eggs from a local farm. Sometimes its hard to stretch between paycheques but I have lots of frozen veg and brown rice for those times too

I am really lucky that I live in Phx. While growing anything can be a challange they have the 3000 club that hosts market on the move. For a $10 donation you can get up to 60 lbs of produce. You are limited to whatever is available but I always stock up and freeze anything that we are not going to use quickly enough. While it happens almost every saturday I usually go every other or so depending on what I found and what is in season. Money has gone from tight to almost non existant in my house right now so we have been cleaning out the cupboards and freezer. Really hope that something will give way soon though so I can go to one again soon as my freezer is almost empty.

God my fiance lost his job now til next Friday I am left with only $80 for groceries and next month will only have $300 for the whole month between gas and groceries.

Aldi is a fantastic store! Also, believe it or not, I get a lot of good stuff at the dollar tree and family dollar. It takes a little extra time searching through th junk food they have, but I can usually score some organic applesauce and low sugar cereals.

For fish, I buy frozen bags of talalpia and swai at Target that have 5-6 fillets in each. It costs way less than salmon, and less than half of what the individually packed thawed fillets do. For poultry, the best fiscal way is to buy a large bird, bake it, chop it up, and freeze it in bagged portions. Store brand cheerios have the same nutrition, but cost way less. Also, for granola bars I sometimes cruise the "clearance" shelves and snatch up the latest failed granola bar types for 10-20% off.

I think what hurts us the most as dieters, is that we like preportioned packages so we can easily track our intake. Those portions ramp up the costs. Buy bigger containers of food and portion it yourself. Also, shop at different stores. Here there are 3 main stores 1)publix, 2)super target, 3)walmart. They all sell some things cheaper than the rest, but then charge more for others to make back that difference. I've learned which items are the cheapest at which stores and then do a quick loop and stock up. Also, go to farmers markets for vegetables and fruit - that alone has saved me $20-40 a week.

1) Bulk buying

2) Stocking up on what's on offer.

3) Reduced aisle - this has saved me loads recently in meat. Buying meat which is on the last day it can be sold (use by is a day later) If you're not going to eat it right away, freeze it.

4) Frozen foods. Buying veg, fruit, meat that is frozen is a lot cheaper than fresh. I still mostly buy fresh because I prefer it, but if I needed to cut back even more on spending I'd go frozen. I already keep a frozen bag of peas, and mixed veg in the freezer, mostly because when I run out of fresh, I need something if the shop is shut!

Sadly it does cost more to eat well. Froot Loops cost much less than actual fruit.

WAIT...are you saying Froot Loops don't ACTUALLY contain fruit? I need to sit down...:noway:

Oh GOD That made me giggle =D