We are drastically scaling back our household income and need to do a better job at managing our grocery spending. I currently meal plan and include 1-2 meat free meals, but I feel like I could do a better job at saving money. What is your approach? Apps you use to watch prices and sales? Couponing? Something else?
Post by imojoebunny on Mar 28, 2015 22:33:39 GMT -5
My approach is to minimize meat to about 1-2 pounds a week. I buy what is on sale, starting with the expensive items, then meal plan around that. I buy things like coffee, snacks for the kids, nuts and peanut butter, and other shelf stable items when they are 2 for 1 at Publix.
I have not found couponing very helpful, since we only eat a few things that are processed, cherrios, frozen pizza, the occasional stoffers on sale. I buy fruit when it is on sale and freeze it. I got strawberrries for $1.25 last week for a quart, so I froze 5 quarts. That will be most of our fruit for the month, other than oranges which are also cheap right now. In season veggies are a great way to save money.
I buy spaghetti sauce when it is 2 for 1 and only buy the kinds that don't have all that extra stuff in them. Same for spaghetti. We do a lot of beans, rice, and I often get salad greens and bread on the managers special, since they are about to go out of date, lowering the price.
Edit: I find costco to be a budget killer. Maybe if you have a large family, but for my picky family of 4, few things they sell are worth it. I have 6 packages of beats from costco in my fridge now. I thought they would be a great snack, but they are not all that good, and no one will eat them. They come in packs of 8 for $6, but now $5 is waste.
Another hint is to buy just what you need if your making something your unsure about or dont want to eat often. A lot of stores have bulk bins, so you can get 1/2 cup of couscous or wild rice, rather than some larger more expensive pack, you don't need.
Seeing what's on sale, meal planning, and then buying only what I need for those meals helped me reduce our monthly grocery bill by around $150-250.
Buying certain items (bacon, organic ground beef, cheese, etc.) in bulk at Costco also made sense for us, but it took a bit of research & comparison to figure out which ones those were.
Post by polarbearfans on Mar 28, 2015 23:00:07 GMT -5
So far we mainly coupon and use apps for rebates such as ibotta, savings star, checkout 51, snap, jingit, shrink, berry cart, and shopmium. Sometimes product comes out free depending on how many different apps have the same offer and sales. I only buy food we already plan on purchasing, or something we want to try. This is not immediate results since most apps have a minimum $ amount to cash out, but it just goes to my Paypal and I transfer to our bank account every so often.
Stores do their sales on cycles, so stock up on staples/frequent buys when the price is good as long as product expiration dates work for your consumption. I always put items in pantry with soonest expiration up front.
We do cash only now to stay on budget. We make several grocery trips during the week for produce or fresh meat, so it keeps us from impulse shopping. We don't buy a lot of produce at once so we don't forget and waste. Once the money is gone, it's gone. It didn't take us too long to learn to live within that budget. Yeah, we were scrounging the pantry a few times, but we learned that little impulse purchases leave us not able to control meals. Like no chicken for the pesto pasta :/
I have started printing a few coupons from the coupons.com and smartsource.com sites. I don't have time to plan my whole trip around coupons but these two sites are easy to click what I want and not have to do a ton of work. If I have extra time I will check out the printable coupons section of krazycouponlady.com. The coupons are alphabetized so I can write my menu and grocery list and look at their site to see if there is anything that matches up.
I have also recently started using that Ibotta, Shopmium, Snap by Groupon, and Checkout 51 apps. On these apps you can get "coupons" without printing anything out. The items change every Wednesday and if you buy any of the items on the site you just indicate which ones you purchased and take a picture of your grocery store receipt. Between the four apps I got $8.25 back on a $116 shopping trip which I don't think is bad for about 5 minutes worth of work. Oh, and on the Ibotta app you have to scan your items as well as taking a pic of the receipt but it still wasn't that big of a deal.
Post by alleinesein on Mar 28, 2015 23:36:24 GMT -5
Costco can be your friend and you can easily get a months worth of meat for under $100 and not have to cut back on meat consumption unless you want to. You can typically get a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $20-$25 and you can easily get 8-12 meals out of it (Its got 6 pouches that contain 2 huge breasts so you can easily feed 2 people from one breast or make both and have leftovers). Pork chops (pack of 9-10) are usually $15. They have been carrying a pork roast 4 pack that runs around $16. Likewise they usually have some type of beef roast (rump, round, etc) in a 2 pack for $16.
Milk and Eggs are usually cheaper at Costco- 2 gallons of milk for under $6 and 18 eggs for $2. A gallon of milk at the grocery store is $4.50 and a dozen eggs are over $2.
Our local grocery store (Vons- part of the Safeway Family) does $5 fridays and they have all sorts of deals each week. They always have some type of deli lunch meat and cheese for $5 a pound. Its also good for stocking up on non grocery items- they like to offer cat litter and laundry detergent for $5 so most of those items are 60% off.
Check the Target Cartwheel- they will occasionally have some decent discounts on food items.
My sister just told me about an app called Favado - it compares the weekly sale fliers for you, which has saved me a ton of time. It also lists coupon match-ups in the app, but doesn't tell where the coupons are found, so I haven't found that feature especially helpful.
Coupons - I don't get the paper but my mom does. She brings me her coupons on Monday and I do my shopping T or Th. I cut out things I need/use and match up based on my store's sales via Krazy Coupon Lady. My store also has online only coupons you load to your store loyalty card. You can stack coupons with the paper coupons. The store also has its own Catalina coupons for $x off a produce/deli/meat/etc purchase of $Y.
I go to Aldi for some items. I go to a farmers market (permanent storefront not transient outdoor market) for produce. I go to the higher end grocery store (Wegman's) for some speciality items bc they are cheaper for them than my regular grocery store, probably bc they sell more curry sauce, for instance, than shop rite does.
For my main grocery store, I shop online and pick up in store. It prevents impulse purchases, I can still use online/manufacturers coupons, usually enough to cover the extra fee. The store stores all of my orders so I can look back and order from there, or I can peruse their online ad and click on the sale items.
I go to Aldi every other week or so. I usually spend about half of what I spend at my regular grocery store, but my Aldi doesn't have everything that we buy, so it is difficult to do all my shopping from there. If I am trying to save money I also stay away from Costco, I think it is a law you can't checkout unless you spent $100.
I also use the Checkout51 and Snap by groupon apps, you can scan in receipts and after 20 dollars get a check for $20. It is pretty slow going collecting the credits, but I can do it while watching TV in the evening.
When cooking I find meat goes a lot further if we don't eat just a chicken breast; our meals tend to be something like chicken stir fry, fish tacos, or sweet potato, apple, and sausage patties w/egg.
Post by illgetthere on Mar 29, 2015 9:03:39 GMT -5
I buy boneless chicken when it's on sale for 1.99-250/pound. Breasts get cut in (nearly) half and feed 1 adult and 1 kid. We get our bread for $0.87/loaf and I get potatoes for cheap. We go through a loaf, 3 pounds/potatoes, and a pack of eggs a week. Meal plan with cheap stuff; I plan 5 dinners each week. We usually do breakfast once a week since it is cheap. Homemade pizza is also cheap. You just have to watch what topping you use. I tend to do bbq chicken and can use 1/2 a chicken breast. We shop at kroger and stock up on kraft products (and a few other things) when they do their $5 off 5 sales. Stack with digital coupons; I recently got cheese for 1.49, bbq sauce for 79 cents, etc. They also send paper coupons in the mail that match with items you buy and send coupons for free items (eggs, frozen veggies, etc). I'm sure our budget could be reduced a little, but we spend no more than 140/week on groceries and restaurants for 4 ($5/day/person). Our budget is 85 for groceries, but I eat lunch out a bit. It comes from my fun money, but I included it here since it does affect the amount of groceries we buy
Honestly, the biggest trick for me was learning to cook the cheap but healthy stuff.
Other things I've found helpful:
Buying in bulk. We buy usually buy a 1/4 of a cow from a local farmer every year instead of buying hamburger/steak from the grocery store. A lot of our chicken/pork comes from the clearance bin. We'll also get pet food (part of our grocery budget) and dry goods like rice in bulk.
In the past we've hit up multiple grocery stores to get the best deals on everything (they're all nearby so there isn't the issue of wasted gas).
Making a list and sticking to it.
Not grocery shopping hungry.
Tallying up the total cost of everything I put in the cart as I go. (I usually round everything up to the next dollar for simplicity sake).
I downloaded Favado earlier this week and used it this morning to figure out which store had the cheapest prices on what was on my grocery list for this week...turns out its a store I don't usually go to. And I think it's a store that's generally regarded to have cheaper prices overall, so maybe just changing that up will help.
I think one of the things I have a problem with is actually paying attention to prices I pay and knowing when a sale price is good enough to stock up on, especially when the per unit prices aren't so easily calculated. I just downloaded Price Cruncher, and am going to attempt to keep track of prices I paid on a per unit basis.
@mrsspunky, shopping online and picking up in store is smart...are the prices higher though? Is there a convenience fee?
I've found that I save money by making a lot of simple things I used to buy like spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, taco seasoning, pancakes from scratch (instead of from Bisquick), pizza dough, biscuits, etc, plus they're usually healthier. For spaghetti sauce, I double or triple the recipe and freeze the rest so I have a quick meal when needed. Ditto for pizza sauce and pizza dough. It requires a little extra planning, but is usually cheaper.
Shopping at Aldi has saved us a ton of $ on groceries. Our store's selection keeps getting better and the produce is better there than any other store in our area. Farmer's market in the summer. I'd love to try Bountiful Baskets, but it's not available here.
@mrsspunky, shopping online and picking up in store is smart...are the prices higher though? Is there a convenience fee?
There is a convenience fee of 10% for the first $150 at 1 location and a flat $9.99 at others (same chain, different towns). Sale prices from the flyer are honored. No other fees. Manufacturers coupons and online coupons usually offset the fee.
One thing we've started doing is grocery delivery. Yes there is a fee, but where I live it isn't bad. This allows us to out things in the cart all week, meal plan and adjust by the total so we are staying within budget. Plus, they bring the bags in to the kitchen if you want. Win win.
Coupons: Target has been great lately-they currently have $3 off $15 or more of perishables, including deli meat/cheese. Otherwise it's Sunday papers, MyPoints and Red Plum
We do a lot of Aldi shopping for produce. Their shipments come in on Wednesdays. DH had to make a run last night because our asparagus went bad but got a bag of mini bell peppers, 1lb asparagus, 1lb broccoli crowns and a large head of cauliflower for $8.
Otherwise I shop sales and markdown meats/seafood. I either freeze the meat or use it right away. Our menu planning is around what's on sale.
Post by tacosforlife on Mar 30, 2015 7:48:46 GMT -5
The number 1 thing that I've found helps our food budget is to not waste food.
I am not going to start eating 95-cent loaves of bread or living on rice and beans.
But we are getting much, MUCH better about actually eating up what is in the fridge rather than getting lazy, ordering takeout, and then throwing out a bunch of groceries that rotted.
We really started saving money on groceries by taking inventory of what we already have in our refrigerator, freezer and pantry each week. We start our meal planning using as much of what we already have as possible. The other benefit to this is it keeps everything clean. We also buy whatever brand is on sale for most items (tuna, frozen pizza, etc).
I haven't had much luck with couponing, and I don't plan meals based around sales.
I try to stretch things as far as I can, especially because I'm not a fan of eating the same meal for 2-3 days in a row. If I buy a roast chicken, then we'll have roast chicken with potatoes and vegetables on the first night, then we'll have other things for the next night or two ... chicken pot pie, enchiladas or tacos, chicken chili, etc.
I use chicken bones for broth. I also freeze the tops of onions, carrots, tiny cloves of garlic, etc.; or produce that's on its way out, like a tomato that's a bit too mushy to use on a sandwich or something.
Again, since I don't really love leftovers, I try to buy/prepare enough so that it makes one meal for the two of us, and possibly enough for me to take to work for lunch the next day. MH typically eats our leftovers but sometimes he can't finish them all.
We have friends with young kids and they don't really cook, so if I make a *huge* batch of pasta or soup then I'll set some aside to give to them.
Repurpose things. It's easy to toss some leftover meat and vegetables onto a pizza crust, or into a bowl of pasta, or into stir fry with noodles or rice. I'll make sloppy joes and use a cheese grater to grate in some zucchini, to get some vegetables in there plus use it up before it goes to waste. You can also add things into soup or chili to stretch them. I'll freeze leftover chicken or pulled pork, and use them later on - buffalo chicken dip as a snack, or put them on top of corn chips for nachos.
I don't buy much processed food at all and I mainly stick to the outside aisle of the store - produce, meat, dairy. I also buy (mostly) generic.
I have a problem with snacking so I try not to buy chips and sweets. I keep a few baking supplies on hand so that, if I *really* want a treat, I have to get off my butt and make it.
I don't make big shopping trips at Costco, but I stock up on a few things - butter, milk, shampoo, chocolate chips for baking, bacon. I should start buying my eggs there, too.
Look at different cuts of meat to see where you can save money. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts tend to be most expensive, so you can save money by getting a big package of legs, thighs, the legs & thighs attached, or a whole chicken if it goes on sale (I don't buy it unless it's $6 or less ... otherwise I get the $5 rotisserie chicken from Costco).
I make my own pancakes, waffles, pizza dough, pizza/pasta sauce, cookies.
There's a farmer's market store near by office that has good deals on produce, plus better portions (example, the zucchini are way bigger than the ones Shop Rite sells).
If there's a Whole Foods near you, check out the bulk bins - I buy quinoa from them, and I want to start buying dried beans rather than canned beans. I also buy Brussels sprouts there because I can pay by the pound, instead of the little pre-packaged cups that my Shop Rite sells. Plus, it cuts down on plastic and packaging. And Whole Foods gives me a small refund for reusable bags and cloth produce bags.
I keep a few staples on hand at all times - it makes it easier to figure out a backup meal if my original plan won't work out or if it suddenly doesn't sound appetizing. Rice, a few kinds of pasta, tomato sauce, potatoes, frozen vegetables (stock up when they are $1/bag), chicken breasts.
My old town's Stop and Shop had a shelf of clearance produce. That's a good way to save, if you can use it within the same day or freeze it.
I always shop with a list. If I'm not on a strict budget, I spend about the same amount at the store every week, even when I pick up impulse items or snacks. If I *am* on a tight budget, I stick to my list with no extras, and I write down the cost of each item as I put it in my cart, and I always round up (to prevent me from going over, and also to account for taxes), so a $2.50 box of cereal is $3 on my list. I stop once I hit my budget. I'm usually $2-5 under the allotted budget by the time I check out.
We have a spot on our kitchen counter at work where you can leave coupons that you don't need. Like I said, I shop generic, so I get a lot of coupons that I don't use. I drop them off there so that anyone who wants them can take them, and sometimes I find something I can use for myself.
Put in a big garden if you can. My parents never really bought vegetables (other than lettuce in the winter) because we had it all summer and my Mom canned beans, corn, beets and tomatoes and made pickles.
For coupons, I don't cut many anymore. I find that kroger's online coupons are the same ones, plus they send me either digital customer coupons or coupon books for things. I would say about once a quarter I get coupons for free dozen eggs and a few other things, plus $2-$3 off things like produce, deli, meat.
And Whole Foods gives me a small refund for reusable bags and cloth produce bags.
Shop Rite does too, you just have to ask/remind the cashier I think it's 2 cents per bag.
Giant just stopped doing this. I'm so over Giant - I went there yesterday and felt totally cheated. I saved money at Whole Foods relative to Giant. I need to check out Aldi too.
We have been using dinner leftovers for lunch for awhile.
Our biggest money saver has been cutting back on the amount of meat we use to about 1/2lb per recipe (instead of 1lb) and using other sources of protein (like cheese & beans)
1 meatless dinner/week
Make your own chicken stock by roasting a whole chicken (or buy one), using the meat for a few meals and then putting the carcass in a crock pot with water.
Make a list of your commonly purchased items and figure out what store is cheapest for them. For me most items are cheapest at Trader Joe's and I get bulk items from Whole Foods. I also get most of our meat from Costco.