Hellobee Boards

Food is expensive where I live, I have tried going to local or ethnic grocery stores and the prices aren't any better than at the big chains.

We don't eat a lot of beef, but if we did, we'd get a half cow or something, I think that's where there is a potential for savings if you're into ground beef.

We also don't garden, but my parents have a nice plot and in the short growing season, they don't buy any vegetables at all. My dad harvests for seeds as well, so year over year, they don't even spend anything on their seeds, it's amazing.

For toiletries, I am only brand loyal to my body wash, but everything else, I'll get whatever is on sale.

I make zero effort to use coupons or find sales and it shows...I would estimate we spend around $1000-1200/mo on groceries for me (pregnant and hungry), DH, 4 yo DS and 2 yo DD. We also host a ton and have weekend visitors about 33% of the time.

Family of about 3.5.... one is a newborn, but I do eat more when pregnant or breastfeeding. In October I switched over to shopping exclusively through Fry's (Kroger) ClickList and Amazon Subscribe & Save. ClickList is free the first 3 orders, and by then I was hooked. It is SO much more efficient and cheaper. We've cut our monthly groceries/personal care budget from $650 down to $500, and I think I'm getting close to about $450 a month.

- I can see a running total of my "cart"
- I can compare prices with amazon
- I can notice trends over time
- The "sale items" and "coupon" section learns your preferences and shows you most common items first
- In the coupons section, you add the coupon and it shows you the items that match so you don't pick out the "wrong" item (you can "add to cart" directly from the coupons section)
- The produce has always been fresh and good-looking
- The few times items have been unavailable, they usually take off the $5 ClickList fee or add a small discount to the order

Also, it helps me save on gas. Every $1 on groceries is 1 fuel point, 100 fuel points is a 10 cent discount on gas. Besides grocery points, they do gift card promos where gift cards are 4x points. I buy a lot of gift cards to places I know we'll go, or gifts for occasions that are coming up, or Southwest gift cards to pay for summer travel. So, for example, in the months of Nov, Dec, and March, DH & I filled up twice together, and each of those times (6 time) our gas was $1 off per gallon.

We spend about 650-800 a month, including one $200 trip to costco. That includes paper products, food, and alcohol. Doesn't include diapers (though we mostly cloth). Also I have celiac disease, and I order bulk gluten free flour through amazon, as well as some other specialty gluten free items, and usually cleaning supplies.

I'm pregnant now, nearing the end of my first trimester, and I spent 1000 last month, because every time i set foot in a store i bought whatever sounded good. but usually i'm more restrained!

we do the big costco trip for our standards, and then typically order groceries to pick up. This has been a huge cost saver for us, well worth the $5.00 convenience fee. I meal plan and then order what we need- so I'm not throwing in extra stuff randomly.

we don't eat meat every night, typically 3 meals or so are vegetarian. we do buy our chicken and the small amount of pork that we eat from local farmers in bulk (we go in on the chicken with several other families, its raised at someone's house, and then we all help with slaughter. obviously this isn't something thats easy to just set up!), which is a significant cost savings for us.

we have a garden in the summer. probably the most significant cost savings from that is that we grow a ton of basil and make/freeze pesto to have on pasta/pizza. we also forage wild leeks on our land, and make a pesto out of that.

we have raspberries on our land. so we picked and froze blueberries, strawberries and then our own raspberries last summer and still have some. we made all our own jam last summer. we also tapped 4 maple trees on our property this year and made about 2 gallons of maple syrup which will last us the year.

so- we do a lot ourselves, but its a hobby and I don't know how much it saves us. I have accepted that food is just something we spend a lot on. and right now, since we started ordering groceries online, we are spending less than we have before. food is expensive. I think it feels like a flexible part of one's budget, so we always feel like we should be spending less.
I read the frugalwoods blog because I couldn't figure out how they spent so little while eating local, organic foods. I realized that they cook one pot of soup or a batch of rice and beans, and eat very small portions of that for dinner each night, along with maybe some hummus. I really can't eat the same thing each night, and I have zero interest in eating rice and beans for dinner for a week. And we all have fairly big appetites. I try to take pleasure in buying groceries and preparing healthy, tasty foods for my family, and if that means spending less on something else, its worth it.

ETA I forgot we have 6 chickens who lay about an egg a day each. We eat a lot of eggs!

I just looked for March, we spent about $500 exactly. That is only at grocery stores (Publix and Aldi). I occasionally buy some cleaning products/toiletries there if they are on sale or on special, so that does include some stuff, but doesn't include most diapers or toiletries (that stuff I usually get at Target). We are 2 adults, a two year old (and I'm pregnant).

The best way I save money on groceries is by shopping at Aldi for staples and getting only stuff I can't get at Aldi or stuff that is on sale at Publix.

My mom has a Costco membership so I go with her occasionally, but I would end up spending more money. I don't really find it to be a money saver, I can get stuff cheaper at Aldi.

I could definitely shave down on my spending, to be honest, and probably should, but I'm really tired and really busy and... yeah.

@Silva: we also raise our own meat chickens and keep chickens for eggs and if anyone has a yard meat chickens are so easy and fast!! We take ours to a butcher for processing though. It costs us around $3/bird which is worth the convienence

I save a lot by doing click and collect, because I just get what I need and don’t impulse-throw things into the cart. I spend between $600 and $800 a month, probably, for two adults, a two year old, and a four year old.

We spend a lot... I'd guess around $800-$1k per month for me, DH, and a two year old. We almost never eat out (including lunch) and we have big appetites.

@cake2017: A lot. It’s embarassing. Whole Foods at least twice a week + a lot of wine = $1000 or so a month. 🤦‍♀️

I am in a stage in life where I am spending more on groceries than I used to during our hardcore budgeting days. But back then, the way I saved was always taking leftovers for lunch for me. DH didn’t like having leftovers the very next day, so I made him sandwich kits each week. I would package up 2 slices of bread, then pack cold cuts with pickles in baggies and roll lettuce leaves in paper towels. I would make 5 of these kits each week, plus a bunch of baby carrots, and DH would grab a sandwich kit, carrots, throw a bottle of mustard in his lunch bag and grab some granola bars or a piece of fruit for lunch every day.

We meal planned based on a menu template. Meatless Monday, Pasta Tuesday, Crockpot Wednesdays, Leftover Thursday, Pizza Friday, etc. That made it easy to grocery shop the sales because I could fit something into that template with whatever is on sale. On the weekends we would eat leftovers. We never bought coffee out at Starbuck’s or anything like that. I also made 1 breakfast and 1 dessert each week. So I’d make a big batch of crockpot steel cut oats or I’d buy a big tub of yogurt and throw granola and fruit on it. Desserts could be as easy as a batch of cookies or making an ice cream pie with a graham cracker crust, some chocolate chips, and whatever ice cream is on sale.

Anything we could freeze I made huge batches of. Pulled pork, taco chicken or beef, spaghetti sauce, chili, etc. And I always kept a stash of frozen veggies on sale to throw into anything. We also had a deep freezer and if there was a deep sale on meat we stocked up.

Doing this we were able to eat for $150 a month including soda, good quality coffee at home, a little booze, and lunch dates out every now and then.

With kids, that got trickier. Both our kids are fruit bats so we go through an enormous amount of produce, plus they go through a lot of organic dairy - cheese, yogurt, milk. Plus I have to pack lunches and snacks for both each day, so I end up buying a lot of individually packaged things. We do get them snacks on sale and I have them largely eat seasonal produce, and I always save all their half eaten or browned bananas and make banana pancakes or banana muffins for them to eat for breakfast. So I save where I can.

@looch: once i read more than one or two blog entries I was out. It was actually kind of nice, and a little validating, because I had been feeling some guilt for food spending. I read their blog and decided I'd rather spend what we spend than live like that!

@looch: I'll join you on team filet mignon

$400 - $600 a month is about what we spend. I think I could shave $100 off that by not buying stuff "for later" for a few months (things like jam and canned food that sit on the shelf in case they're needed in a pinch). I could probably also save by making more rice/noodle based dishes, but those go stale pretty fast so I'd have to make smaller batches more often. I'll give it a try when I'm home a little more.

400-600. I tend to lump household items into the same bucket.

Looks like I need to check out clicklist...

I mostly focus on buying groceries that are versatile and as my convenience-easy meals, we actually do a lot of cereal. Since they are big brand names, I can always find coupons for them and they go on sale a lot. I never pay more than $2 a box. It is fortified with lots of vitamins and minerals, and my kids never say no to it. Actually, neither does DH, haha