Best, Cheapest Grocery Store?

I'm an expert at saving on groceries. :)
Ultra is cheaper for mostly your boxed/canned goods. I've never found their meat/produce to be that much of a savings. I rarely shop at Jewel because even when I've played the grocery game, a lot of the things on grocery game are processed foods anyway. But, you can get that sort of thing cheaper at an Aldi than Ultra anyway. I'm much more of a Trader Joe's type of girl as well. Now, that being said, I can't afford to shop at TJ's for everything either.

I don't know if Wheaton has small, local, cheap grocers...but if you're willing to travel a little way, Westmont/ Downer's Grove has super low prices and great deals. If you take I 355 down to 63rd St and turn left, you can go to Westbrook Market. They've got great prices on produce, meat, fresh bakery breads, and imported foods. Brookhaven is also great. My other favorite is this cute, tiny place at the corner of Cass and Chicago Ave in Westmont. It's called Nature's Best Market and you've never seen produce prices so low. Amazing. I wish I knew more places in the Wheaton Area. I bet West Chicago has some cheaper local grocers.
Best of luck.

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What has helped our family a lot is meal planning. I signed up for e-mealz and they make a complete meal plan along with the grocery list for me every week for just $5/month. It's helped us to stay on budget because we're only buying what we need as opposed to just buying a bunch of stuff and trying to make a meal out of what we have. I tried the Jill Cataldo couponing but found it to be a little overwhelming for me but have friends that have had great success with it. If you want to check out the meal planning website it's www.e-mealz.com. Good luck and hope you find something that works for you!

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I love Caputos. Their produce is really fresh and cheap. You can also find organic fruit and vegetables sometimes at the same price as regular!

Also, I ran into a lady a few days ago, who told me about this site: www.mashupmom.com
You can find tips on there on how to use coupons, combine the store coupons with mfg. coupons and shop for sale items all together saving you tons of money, even getting stuff for free or close to it!
Right now there is a Kraft cheese deal going on at Jewel, where you can get the cheese for free.
I just started using that site last week, stocked up on cheese and have been reading and learning a lot on this site...

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We get toilet paper at Costco and also deli meat and then freeze it in bags to cover a week at a time. Some of our produce also comes from Costco. We shop at Meier for items that can't be located at Costco (and/or the quantity is simply too much for us). Only if we cannot find it at Costco or Meier, then we go to Jewel. I agree that Trader Joe's has some great choices. Our shopping is once a week. I also agree that Aldi is economical choice.

I would also check out Jill Caltados website. She teaches you how to check store ads and combine coupons to get the best deals, even shopping at CVS and Walgreens to get deals better than Walmart and Target on household and beauty products. She also tells you how to stack (double) coupons to get the best deals. She recommends subscribing to the Tribune for coupons and you can also print them online through several websites. I saved over $30 at Jewel using a sale and coupons! She teaches you how to shop to "stock up" not buying everything once a week. She's an avid Dominick's shopper, which I am not since my mom got bad meat from them several times in the past, since they have the best coupon policy out of all the grocery store chains.

I won't buy anything unless I have a coupon, and I typically save anywhere from $15-30 each week using coupons!

I hope this helps! and good luck!

A co-worker's husband sells meat to restaurants, and he says the best quality meat can be found at Sams clubs. My husband always shopped there for his tailgate parties, and the butchers are so helpful. They will cut roasts into steaks for you, & tell you how to prepare/grill/cook everything. I like to buy the fresh chicken breasts and separate them into meal size portions in ziploc bags with seasonings& veggies, and freeze. Then throw into the crockpot directly from the freezer, and by the time I get home from work, dinner is done. Almost as easy as having someone else make dinner for me.

Thanks for asking this question - I've been wondering the same! I'm in W. as well and always feel like I'm missing the deals!

I really dislike Ultra and most of all I dislike their meat dept. I was there once and there were holes in just about all the meat packages. Ground beef was oozing out. Blood from the steak packages was leaking. When I pointed that out to one of the meat dept employees he shrugged his shoulders and kept stocking. Yuck. You also have to be careful with produce there, if I'm not going to eat it within a day or two I don't buy. Ultra is ok for some canned/boxed things although before school started Target was cheaper than Ultra on most snacks.

Speaking of Target - I've been getting some really good deals on meat at the W. Target and the meat is better quality than at Ultra or Jewel (even though the meat is on sale because it is nearing the end of its shelf life). Target also has online coupons and I have been able to save a bunch (go to target.com and at the very bottom of the site in small print you'll see a link for coupons). Right before school started I was able to save around $26 just with the online coupons!

Butera has great prices on produce and deli meat. I haven't been to Caputo's in several years, but in my opinion, the quality of produce was inconsistent. Butera consistently has good quality. We go to the one in Roselle, but there is one on North Ave. in St. Charles

Try the Village Market at the corner of Geneva and President in Wheaton/Caarol Stream...They have wonderful produce which is ridiculously cheap for the most part. Great selection...good deli and everything..Not a big fan of their meat tho

Hi J. V,
The place I love to shop at is Caputo's, They always have great price's and their meat department is wonderful. I am the sameway, I try not to go over budget when it comes to grocery shopping. I'm sure if you look up Caputo's you may possibly have one near you. I even buy beef tenderloin from there, on sale at times ranging from $1.99 to $2.99! Which is awesome! Give it a try and do the comaprison your self..

We go to Aldi's all of the time. You do not get bags unless you buy them. The food is perfectly fine, they have cosmetics, toilet paper, laundry items and I swear I am saving about 80 percent of what I would spend at a Jewel or other stores. Their soups are not name brand, like Campbells, but are perfectly fine, we use a lot of dried onion soups for recipes and those are cheap. I am sure there are some around your house. Check it out. They do not have famous name brands, but they are everything we need. Oh and for meats and produce, try stores like Jimenez for instance. You may have to take a family outing but well worth it.

not sure what the grocery game is lol. But we do shopping at Aldi's for all boxed and canned goods. They are all really good and a lot cheaper than jewel, dominics etc. For all my produce stuff I go to Caputo's they have the best prices and selection.

Not sure where you live, but I find the trip out to Woodman's on I88 and Orchard to be well worth the trip. I'm not a coupon clipper, but I love how a coupon fairy goes around and tapes coupons to lots of items! Also, the produce is excellent, the meat is just fine. I live much closer to Ultra but don't like it. Woodmans is cheap and huge. Lots of organic choices and ethnic foods as well.

You've got to get to a Super Couponing Class with Jill Caltado. She gives free seminars all over the Chicago area. I started doing this last October. Let me first say, that I didn't save a ton of money at first. However, I got twice the amount of stuff I typically get and it lasted me several months. Fall is a great time to stock up on tons of stuff that you use year round. Anyway, to make a long story short.....I can spend up to $200 a week on groceries IF I'm stocking up on stuff. However, a more realisitc average for me is $100 per week. There are some weeks I only spend about $50, or don't even go at all. We are a family of 4, and I own a home daycare. So, to me that is pretty awesome. Jill's philosopy is that the bigger stores-including Dominick's and Jewel run more deals. So, at these stores you can usually get things way cheaper. But you have to 'play the game.' I was never a Jewel shopper because I was too scared of the prices. But I only buy the stuff there that is part of the deal. Look into it. It has really saved our life. The other thing that has made this really nice is saving on some of our regular needs has allowed me to start buying more organic things for my family too. Good luck, and check out Jill Cataldo's website.

Woodmans is so totally worth the trip from Wheaton. They have a large organic food section and their prices are close to that of Aldi. Just down the road a bit at Rte 31 (Lake Street) and Indian Trail is another grocery store called Cermak. They have really cheap produce and from what I hear, their meat is really cheap and good quality (we're vegetarian and don't buy meat, so I can't vouch for that). Cermak is also in the same strip mall as a Jewel. Take I-88, exit at Rte 31 (Lake Street), make a right and follow the street down about a half mile until you reach the shopping center on the right. Good luck!