Hellobee Boards

We eat fairly simple meals on a regular rotation. It's easier to stock a pantry on the cheap and eat on-sale ingredients when I know my meals will include a pasta, tacos, chili, and chicken in a given week. Or something along those lines.

I buy almost exclusively buy one, get one products and stock up except for fresh produce and meat. We also tend to eat very simple meals except on special occasions.

With the exception of frozen vegetables, pretty much skipping the frozen food section altogether. I rack up the most with frozen junk like soft pretzels, frozen pizza, garlic bread, ice cream and other frozen snack stuff. I try to do a meatless pasta dish every two weeks, that helps a bit since we usually spend $5 on ground beef/turkey.

I will save a fortune when DS transitions from formula to milk.

I always mix cheaper meets into the mix like a pork loin and sausage. It helps balance out the steak and organic chicken. Plus I think mixing things up every week helps because I notice the grapes won't get eaten one week if we just had them last week. I don't have time to do multiple grocery stores for meats, produce, dry goods, etc. plus I've heard you don't really save much by doing that anyway after paying membership fees and factoring in waste from things you end up throwing out because you never got to it.

We buy a 1/4 beef ever year. A couple years ago M butchered a pig with a friend- I won't do that again since we prefer beef. I get bulk frozen veggies like broccoli from Costco- then I can defrost some beef, make potatoes or rice and already have veggies on hand so I don't even need to go to the store. We also do a huge batch of spaghetti sauce and freeze it- corn pasta is on hand so again no trip to the store.

I second Aldi. They are almost a full grocery store. They help me shop seasonally too!

Meal planning and organizing/tailoring my shopping list to the store I'm in. I'm way less likely to buy junk food (or things I don't need) if it's not on my list if I have a well-planned route through the store.

Simple. We don't eat meat! Also, shopping at Trader Joe's.

we switched from boneless skinless chicken breasts to thighs and leg quarters-- which I buy at about $1.20 a pound-- though if I see them below that I usually stock up so we don't have to buy meat much. We don't eat Pork other than bacon and the occasional ham... and we don't eat a ton of beef to save money! We buy beef when it's on sale only!

having a picky toddler who doesn't eat a lot of veggies saves us on produce-- we are able to get buy on just doing a bi-weekly bountiful basket and supplementing with random "approved" fruits if they aren't in our basket already! We split with a friend who also has a small family so that cuts our cost to about $10 every other week (or $20 if we don't split).

I manage to keep our budget between $50 and $80 a week not counting our basket-- the $80 weeks are usually restocking staples or buying extra meet

(we're 2 adults and 1 picky toddler so not a lot of food needs to be bought! we also don't really eat organic-- unless we're getting a good deal or using coupons)

@Bao: We don't do 100% of our shopping there. I probably go there every other week and to a bigger grocery store every other week. There are weird things Aldi doesn't have (enchilada sauce is the one that comes to mind right now). There are also a few brand-specific things we like that they don't carry, although they do have quite a few brand name things in addition to their store brand.

@hellobeeboston: Yes, they're a full grocery store in my area. Although like I said above, there are a few weird things they don't have. A lot of things, they only carry their store brand, but their store brand is good! My husband even likes their coffee and he hates every other generic coffee I've tried to buy.

How does everyone save money when shopping g at Trader Joes? To me they always seem expensive?!

We meal plan every meal (including things like leftovers or frozen meals) and do it for two weeks at a time. I try to make meals using the same ingredients, so nothing gets wasted. We buy mostly items that are on sale.

I use a grocery pickup/delivery service. Not going to the store saves me a lot (no impulse purchases!), and the deals they have are often better than those in store.

@MrsBrewer: @regberadaisy: I agree the produce at TJ is a bit tasteless so I buy that elsewhere. However, when I spend $100 at TJ I leave feeling like I have so much more food and possible meals than when I"m leaving the supermarket having spent the same amount of money.

I make a lot of our sauces. Tomato paste is especially cheap and useful. I like it thinned with water and a bit of spices, sugar, and oil to become a fantastic pizza sauce. Tomato paste with water is just tomato sauce and tomato paste with bouillon, chili powder, cumin, and some cayenne makes great enchilada sauce. You can also thin out tomato paste and add milk for creamy tomato soup with whatever spices you want. You can also make your own ketchup but I don't bother with that. The trick to thinning out the paste is to use hot water and let it sit for a few minutes - it will thicken up and you may need more water. I usually use 1.5-2 cups of water per can of paste depending on the sauce I'm making.

I can also make easy cream of something soups with a little flour, oil, milk and a spoonful of bouillion and spices to in sauces and casseroles. We buy big tubs of Better than Bouillion at Costco - total lifesaver and healthier than the powdered stuff. We also buy a lot of everyday spices at Costco.

I used to cook a lot of dry beans from scratch in my crockpot but stopped doing it because we weren't eating beans as often but I can definitely always go back to that. I always just used water, salt, an onion, and some bay leaves. If it was pintos, I'd also always throw in a chipotle pepper.