College Student Grocery Budget

flcaoh
flcaoh Posts: 444
edited September 18 in Food and Nutrition
I'm getting pretty frustrated as my grocery bill keeps getting higher and higher. I use coupons, shop at discount stores, and am constantly looking for deals. But because my budget is already pretty tight, rising gas prices are cutting into my grocery budget, and food prices are rising too. Ugh. It is cheaper to eat less healthy... but I don't wanna do it cause I know I will only pay higher medical bills later. What's a self supporting college student to do?

Replies

  • flcaoh
    flcaoh Posts: 444
    I'm getting pretty frustrated as my grocery bill keeps getting higher and higher. I use coupons, shop at discount stores, and am constantly looking for deals. But because my budget is already pretty tight, rising gas prices are cutting into my grocery budget, and food prices are rising too. Ugh. It is cheaper to eat less healthy... but I don't wanna do it cause I know I will only pay higher medical bills later. What's a self supporting college student to do?
  • abbychelle07
    abbychelle07 Posts: 656 Member
    Can you shop at one of those bulk places and split the products among friends?
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
    Your best, thats all you CAN do! will mom and dad help with bills at all?
  • flcaoh
    flcaoh Posts: 444
    Your best, thats all you CAN do! will mom and dad help with bills at all?

    ROFL... my mom calls and asks me for money, my dad is a lost cause. It's a sad long Jerry Springer/Oprah Winfrey story, but I won't go into it. So, no... mom and dad can't and won't help. I'm pretty much doin it on my own.
  • abbychelle07
    abbychelle07 Posts: 656 Member
    I try to buy the basics and make my meals from scratch as much as possible, if I have time. So not as many side dishes in the packets, or other ready-made foods. If you really stock up on rice, potatoes, flour, etc. you can make a lot of things like pancakes and stuff really cheap. Also, I notice that if I make more vegetarian meals, my grocery bill is lower.
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
    lol, sounds like my family!

    Here are some things I do to save on groceries:

    -Buy frozen veggies. They are much cheaper and just as healthy.
    -Watch for sales, and when they hit, stock up! Canned goods are constantly going on sale around here!
    -Look for "no name" and store brands, they are cheaper, and usually have the same or very similar nutritional information!
    -Chicken breasts always kill me with their prices! Buy the kind with skin and bone, you can debone and remove the skin at home and save money!
    -Be a coupon clipper! NEVER be embarrassed to use a coupon.... hey, 50 cents is 50 cents, save it.
  • areay
    areay Posts: 463
    A lot of the frozen food sections have big bulk, resealable products that you can buy. There are at least 6 servings in a bag. 6 meals for about 4 bucks ,you can't be that! Pasta dishes are the best ones
  • Shannon023
    Shannon023 Posts: 14,529 Member
    Can you do a co-op with other students?
  • Bekah
    Bekah Posts: 71 Member
    Read the following article for great advice on how to keep your grocery bill to a minimum.

    http://moneycentral.msn.com/community/message/thread.asp?board=smartspending&threadid=649515&GT1=33009
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    Well, it sounds boring, but buy the same simple stuff, and buy in bulk. I have had to shop just to fill macros and ignore my taste buds, and my shopping list was:

    oats
    brown rice
    whey protein
    chicken breast
    tuna
    natural peanut butter
    apples
    frozen spinach
    omega 3's and 6's (supplements)

    I've got complex carbs, lean proteins, fats. Yea it's boring, and day-old chicken tastes like a dirty gym sock, but it costs almost nothing....that's $30 and it can last me about 2 weeks.
  • barracudamuscle
    barracudamuscle Posts: 313 Member
    Well, it sounds boring, but buy the same simple stuff, and buy in bulk. I have had to shop just to fill macros and ignore my taste buds, and my shopping list was:

    oats
    brown rice
    whey protein
    chicken breast
    tuna
    natural peanut butter
    apples
    frozen spinach
    omega 3's and 6's (supplements)

    I've got complex carbs, lean proteins, fats. Yea it's boring, and day-old chicken tastes like a dirty gym sock, but it costs almost nothing....that's $30 and it can last me about 2 weeks.

    This is what I like to call " Five star dining at an affordable rate!" :bigsmile: You shop like I do, I spent 30.26 at walmart the other day and was happy as hell! I got a bulk package of chicken breasts, couple bag of knock off frozen veggies, a box of 100 cal peanut butter thingys, a bag of frozen chicken breasts from tyson, bananas, apples, 12 pk of diet root beer, some 100 cal puddings and a 60 cal banana fudge supreme pudding ( Ok I eat splenda, after all the anthrax shots and stuff I get its the least of my worries!) That should hold me over for almost two weeks.

    Being I'm deployed state side for my job I get 39 a day for food to live off, you can bet I'm pocketing that for house money, flying money, wedding money, I'm a cheap *kitten* some times but I think it pays off in the long run. I have no reason to eat anything fancy, its just me to impress and anything hot is good for me!

    As everyone else was saying be on the lookout for sales and specials. I remember in college mondays were the best days togo because they were all left overs from stuff not sold over the weekend. Man I was poor then, I barely had enough money to put gas in my old jeep to drive from college to the dock, work till 3am then drive home then get up and go back to college at 7am. It will be worth it in the long run! My food shopping list of choice my room mate and I would do( friends from H.S) was a box of 100 frozen hamburgers from samss, a knock off bag of ceral ( big sized ), milk on sale, bread on sale, sugar, and the must have koolaid. I'd have ceral in the morning while making a burger for lunch topped with free mustard from the fastfood joints, then after class Id have either a burger or a bowl of ceral which ever sounded better. Every other Wedsday we'd goto sonic :)

    My parents and my better half can't believe how we lived but hey, times were rough. I remember my mom lost it when she came to visit and the fridge was bare ( in her eyes)

    There were some discount mexican grocery stores that had good deals, like I bought a big container of old nesquick from the late 80s for about a buck. Wow I ate like crap looking back at it now!
  • flcaoh
    flcaoh Posts: 444
    Thanks everyone! Great suggestions!
  • kerikitkat
    kerikitkat Posts: 352 Member
    It was SO hard to eat remotely healthy in college, I feel ya! Especially the way grocery store prices keep going up and up right along with gas. I literally heard the girl at the checkout bi**ching today about the price increase the just had and how crazy it is. :grumble: We're not as po' as we were in college, but we're still on a tight budget.

    My boyfriend's Sam's card saved our butts in college. We would go and spend maybe 70 bucks, which was a LOT, but it bought an incredible amount of bulk food. Chicken breasts, pasta, sauce, rice, tuna, etc. I always was dying to buy more fresh fruit, but I had to limit myself to apples most of the time because I just couldn't afford it.

    Just do your best! Eat a lot of canned tuna. :glasses:
  • Eve23
    Eve23 Posts: 2,352 Member
    I would definately do as many things from scratch as you can. Peas, lentils, beans, rice those are all relatively inexpensive compared to many things. They can be cooked in the crock pot while you are at school so it isn't to much extra effort. Personally I would suggest buying roasts, or whole chickens because it is cheaper then cut them down to the portions you need. The more processed foods are going to be more expensive to buy. You can make your own granola mix or protien bars and save money. I know time can be of the esscense but you can make it through this.

    Good luck:flowerforyou:
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