Hellobee Boards

@winniebee: My husband would be picking through the food, asking where the meat was. This kind of effort is wasted on him. I wish it were different!

@winniebee: I can as well, it's not a huge deal to me to eat ground beef tacos made with half beans. But my husband would make so many comments about it that it takes the pleasure out of having saved money!

Woah! Some of these grocery bills are really high! We are a family of 3 (me, DH, 2 yr old), and our monthly bill on average is maybe $200? That includes costco trips. I guess the question is what do you buy?

Here's what I usually do:

I meal plan and shop sales.

produce and fruits at a produce/fruit stand/farmers market type grocery store. Produce at the regular supermarket is way too expensive. We spend maybe about $15-$20 weekly.

Boxed food and milk at regular grocery store. Milk is more expensive at the farmers market type store.

Eggs, bread, meat at Costco. I found that it is cheaper here than in grocery stores. We go whenever we run out of stuff, but we go maybe 1-2x/month.

My kid is only 2, so she doesnt eat a ton yet.

@winniebee: I save a lot of money by getting whole chickens- they are typically $1/lb and I just cut the breast off of them if I want that cut of chicken. If I am doing a quick chicken dish I get thighs or drums since they are cheaper. I make bread for sandwiches and we typically don't eat lunch meat (I use repurposed dinner leftovers like chicken salad/ sliced roast or we have cheaper sandwiches like egg salad, hummus and veggies, or peanut butter). I also have a max price I'll pay for fruits and veggies, and we tend to eat whatever is on sale. I usually shop at CostCo and Kroger with the occasional trip to Fresh Market for ground beef or discount grocery stores/ Aldi if it's convenient (the closest one is 30 minutes). We spend $300-$400 a month

@Pancakes: Here is our meal this week Mon-Fri

Mushroom Risotto + salad - 2x/week
Kimchi fried rice with egg
Ground beef burritos - 2x/week

Loose brown mushrooms were about $2 and I used them to make 2 cups risotto.
Bulk Risotto was about $1.19/lb - and I think I bought almost $3.
We get the large salad mix from Costco for about $4, and that lasts us a little over a week.
Organic eggs from Costco (24 count) - about $7.
Bananas from Costco (lasts us all week)- about $1.50
Blueberries - 2 containers for $5.
(2) 1/2 gallons of milk each week – $8-10
Loose broccoli – about $2 worth
Cauliflower on sale - $1.50/head
Sweet potato – about $2.50
Grape tomato - $1.50/pint
Cheddar/mozzarella stick cheese - $4
Nectarines - $3
Frozen ravioli from Costco - $10
Salmon from Costco - ~ $24
2 loaves of bread from Costco -$6.
Ground beef from Costco - $20 (lasts a few weeks)
Steak from Costco - $40 (lasts a few weeks)
Chicken drumsticks - $6 (lasts over a week)
Tofu - $1/container
Yogurt (varies) - $6

We only buy fruits, vegetables and milk each week. I didn't include other items like onions, garlic which are very cheap and we only get every few weeks.

@MrsSRS: I spend about $75-100 for 3 and we don't eat out very often (maybe one lunch a week for just DD and I where I spend about $10). I meal plan really carefully and make sure to use all of our leftovers. We also have a few meals a week where the meat isn't the main focus of the meal- spaghetti, breakfast, fajitas with lots of beans and veggies. I save a lot of things that are "trash" like carrot peels and chicken bones and use those to make stock, and stale bread goes in the freezer to eventually make stuffing. I buy pretty cheap cuts of meat also- whole chickens, thighs, or drumsticks rather than chicken breast, ground beef and turkey or whole roasts rather than steak. My family doesn't expect a very wide variety of meals from me either- I try a new recipe once every couple of weeks and just do variations of similar dishes for the most part. If clementines are on sale for 2 weeks in a row, we will have clementines with lunch for 2 weeks.

I could save more money in certain areas like buying fewer berries for breakfasts, switching to all meatless and light- meat meals, and switching to frozen veggies but I don't want to because my husband and I are comfortable with our budget

@MrsSRS: at a certain point, I would rather just spend the money than sacrifice healthy and you dinners. Keep in mind a "food stamp budget" is $28/week per person, so you are doing really well!!

@kes18: ooh what is a good recipe you like for veggie burgers? I love them, by mine fall apart!

@caterw: That's true. And now that I think about it about $20 of that is specific to DH's beverage pickiness. So that's something I consider a necessary indulgence. So our food is actually 130/week for four of us, which includes all meals and DH is a huge dude who has a physically intense job so he eats a lot. Maybe I'm being more frugal than is reflected by just looking at my total. Thanks I feel better!

I spend a lot. We eat paleo so off that bat the protein cost is high. We eat 5-6 dozen eggs a week. In my area of CA it's hard to find them less than $2.99 a dozen. I get regular old conventional for $2. We eat about a pound of grass fed/free range/wild caught meat ($6ish?) and a pound of produce ($3ish) per lunch and dinner. That alone would be $830 a month with no seasonings, oil, snacks, milk, etc.

Despite the big cost I do try to save where I can. I buy a lot of what DH calls 'old meat' from the half off section, but store brands where available, bulk section when cheaper, I make almost everything from scratch. I buy a lot of cheaper tough meat, organ meat, etc. I plan to buy meat in bulk soon but I haven't found any that would actually reduce my spend much and I haven't to learn to cook from the freezer. I also learned to cook really simply and showcase the quality of the meat & veggies. At this point I believe the investment is worth it for my family. Time will tell.

@Bibliolove: I think all of these are pretty good, things I've made more than once. No need to do all the toppings if you don't want to. I will say that it takes some practice, as a lot of recipes I have tried (way more than these) I end up tweaking. Sometimes they still fall apart (and a lot of times I will just eat those as is with avocoado- no bun). I like to lightly fry mine so they have a crust and then finish them in the oven if I need to. You can practice by frying one or two and then if they seem like they are falling apart add something else (usually I add extra eggs or a gain/bread- rice, bread crumbs, etc). I sometimes make them every sunday or every other week. If I remember correctly, I like these the best because they taste good but the recipes are pretty strong as is (meaning they shouldn't be crumbling apart). I've had good luck with these, but sometimes I even f up other recipes still and mine end up a little more delicate than I would like. But then I usually end up serving them as cakes! But I probably have 3-4x as many recipes saved of just veggie burgers + a veggie burger book!

http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-chili-burgers-wbaked-cheddar-beer-onion-rings-fried-egg/
http://millionmoments.net/2014/01/sweet-potato-veggie-burgers.html
http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/epic-crispy-quinoa-burgers-topped-sweet-potato-fries-beer-caramelized-onions-gruyere/
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2013/10/crispy-autumn-veg-burgers-with-apple-cider-slaw/
https://foodblogandthedog.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/butternut-squash-and-chickpea-cakes-with-salsa-raita-and-red-onion-maramalade/
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/black-bean-cakes-0

@looch: I think you have to shoot for a day average. So divide your monthly by 30 and then you can see. Breakfast and lunch are so much cheaper than dinner.

@Pancakes: I definitely buy prepacked snacks, but I buy them on sale, and don't think they cost very much. I give my LO a lot of fruits for snacks, so I always make sure there are some berries, or cut up mango or something. Since they are in season right now, its cheap.

Goldfish on sale $2
z bar or other bar type snack on sale - $3
Annies cheddar bunnies/squares on sale -$3
pouches - on sale $1.50?

The snacks last us quite a while since LO is at daycare and we only need them on weekends. If we are going out for the day, I pack a simple cream cheese, or PB&J sandwich for her along with the other snacks, and I will offer her the sandwich before offering her the crackers. She'll usually eat it.

We do have some meat heavy weeks, but I still don't think our grocery bill is over $200/month. I really like steak, and we buy it from Costco. It is great quality, and the price beats any supermarket price. The pieces are huge, so I cut it in half and DH and I each get half. If I make stir fry, I make sure to get lots of vegetables in there - its good for flavor and nutrition. I'm pretty generous when using ground beef, but it is always accompanied by something else, so you end up not consuming as much as you think you would.

@looch: both DH and I work outside the home. For breakfast we have toast, yogurt, maybe some fruit + tea. LO has the same + 1/2 banana+ milk, sometimes we have eggs. We only have breakfast meat on weekends. Both our employers provide lunch, so I only need to take care of LO's lunch which is usually some steamed vegetables + fruit + a main dish (pasta, or dinner leftovers).

We have times when we splurge, but this is our average. I once tracked my total food spending for 2 months, and I was horrified about how much I was wasting, so it lead me to be more intentional about what we eat, and how we spend in general.

We have a deep freezer and I buy 2-3 of meat products when they are on sale, like sausages. We buy frozen meat from Costco - bags of boneless skinless thighs and 90% lean ground beef in five 1lb chubs - and that is our main protein. I also buy chuck roast, drumsticks, pork chops, and pork shoulder when it's on sale. We eat a lot of eggs but we get the organic ones from Costco.

We eat a lot of rice. I'm Asian and DS just really loves rice and it's easy for him to spoon up as he learns how to use utensils. So that stretches meals quite a bit.

We eat a lot of frozen veggies and eat simple fresh veggies - peppers, corn, and squash in season, baby carrots, cucumbers, salad greens. DH has gout so we don't eat dark greens or crucifers much anymore so I get that stuff frozen for DS. Costco for bulk things, a big local wthnic warehouse grocery store that has a lot of cheap fresh produce.

We eat a TON of fruit because DS is a fruit bat like his mama, but again we generally eat seasonally so we can get good deals. Costco is most affordable.

Then I meal plan and freeze a lot of entrees. We eat half and freeze half and over time we have a good variety to pull from.