Grocery Bill Is Out of Control - Need Ways to Lower Without Sacrificing Health!

Hi Kim - I am a seriously frugal momma and have gotten even more so since my husband lost his job 6/08. We get organic fruits and veggies and on occasion milk from Timbercreek Organics. It costs me about $15 a week. We get a 40# box delivered every other week for $30.85 including delivery fees. (call Rita at ###-###-#### and tell her A. S. sent you).

I have started the super couponing and have picked my battles for healthy stuff. There are times I go to the grocery store and leave with a cart full and get PAID to shop. We are dealing with severe food allergies too so.. shopping and saving and maintaining health are super challenging. My husband is not a healthy eater no matter what I do.. so, the two of us have been eating the stuff that is not all the best (cereal, pop tarts, hot dogs, etc... ) and focus on getting healthy stuff in the kids. It is a season of life.. and hopefully it won't last long. If you visit www.jillcataldo.com she tells you how to seriously save. On occaision, Jewel has super deals that include organics. I bought recently 10 boxes of organic rice milk (Wild Harvest) for less than a $1 a box. We have also gotten Wild Harvest organic milk for next to nothing just playing the grocery game. You just have to stock up when stuff is on sale. Hope that helps!

Hi Kim,

We prefer organic too. Doesn't always work out. The Whole Foods by us is 45 min. drive. My husband just got a box of 6 frozen burgers there for $4, beats Mc'D's price, and it's organic! We do buy a lot at Trader Joe's. A few other mom's mentioned JillCataldo.com. I think she's great. 2 months ago I would have never shopped at Jewel, she's rechanged my thinking. However, a lot of the sale items are not organic (sometimes they are). But I use these for pre-school snacks, or when It's my turn to buy for whatever function. Or you can use her methods to save on deodorants, shampoo etc... You can renew your Jewel card and get free water, tp, organic milk & more. Renew two cards and get double freebies. Jill's website has more info.

My suggestions would be find other area's to cut the coupons, and keep doing what your doing w/the food.

I would also suggest doing a search on the message boards for The Grocery Game. Many people on there only buy organic and link to coupons for organics which are fairly hard to find. If you are using organic brands, you can also sign up on their websites for coupons. Every bit helps!!

Hi Kim
I shop at Dominicks and Whole Foods. At Dominicks, I get the items that don't need to be organic (like certain fruits & veggies). Also, Perdu and Tyson have chicken that is hormone and antibiotic free per government standards. The chickens might not be grass fed, but I think Perdu is pretty good, healthy, natural and cheaper then all organic chicken.

Hi Kim,
It is so hard to keep those bills down, isn't it??

I have found that everything seems to be increasing in prices and its hard to stick to the budget that we set just a few months ago when it comes to groceries. I have found that the healthy foods rarely have coupons and you have to really look for those deals. We sometimes shop at 2 or 3 different stores to get the best deals on food.

In the area of toiletries and household products, I have found Shaklee as a great way to keep costs low (and be good to the earth and my family AND keeping things clean) as a way to save money. Shaklee products (household cleaners and personal care products) are concentrated and last longer and are much (much!) less expensive than the store brands. I am also a distributor of Shaklee products. I would love to be able to share with you what we are doing to cut costs and keep to our family budget in that area.

Please let me know if you are interested!
B.

We also eat really healthy. We shop at Woodman's in North Aurora. Their prices are unbeatable and their selection is outstanding. It may be worth the drive twice a month to go out there. We spend about $400/ month for our family of 4. First, I make a meal plan for the entire week and make a list of what we actually need for that week (you could do one or two weeks). Then I make sure I stick to the list and don't do any "impulse buying". I usually accomplish this only when I am by myself, because if I bring the family with me, we buy all kinds of extras. I also don't buy toiletries or paper items at the grocery store. They charge a lot more. I make a separate trip to either Walmart or Target for these items. They are a lot cheaper and are starting to carry organic and green items. I also stock up on items that are on sale that won't expire before I can use them: toiletries, diapers and paper products especially, boxed whole grain pastas and jarred organic spaghetti sauces just to name a few. It's really expensive to feed your family healthily and a lot cheaper to feed them junk. It's so sad. Hope this helps and good luck!

I don't know how much you meal plan, but that can save you quite a bit. Just come up with a menu for the week and stick with it. Look at the sales flyers and try to plan your meals around that.

Plan a night to eat leftovers. Maybe you don't have any since there's only 3 of you, but there are many items you can get more than one meal out of especially if you have left over chicken.

Shop only once a week. It might be hard with produce, so if you have to go back for that, ONLY get that.

Super Target has a whole organic section and it's much cheaper than Whole Foods.

There are usually no coupons for meat or produce, the 2 items I buy the most of, but if you keep your eyes peeled you can find some deals and they are not all sodium-filled foods.

As far as toiletries go, NEVER buy those at a grocery store. Stick to Target for them. Sometimes you can find a deal at CVS and you can use a coupon on them.

Go to JillCataldo.com and see how she does her bargains! You would be amazed!

M.

I spend about $400-$500/month for a family of 4. However, I do not shop for organic foods, so I know that can make a big difference with cost. Lately, I really watch all the sale ads, and when I see products on sale that I use on a regular basis - (juice, cereals, etc..) I buy a large amount. Of course, some things you can freeze and others last longer cause they are not fresh. I also rotate stores depending on the sales - Jewel, Meijer, smaller mom & pop stores, Sam's (more for Bulk toiletries), and Aldi's. I am really shocked with items at Aldi's that you can get even 50 cents cheaper than Jewel. Every penny adds up. Milk - $1.50/gal, butter 69 cents - at Jewel it is $3 gal, $1.00 min for butter. It really is a science to try and save money.

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That's about what we spend on food, and I too buy mostly organic. As of late, I have been saving money by doing a better job of shopping the sales for toiletries at multiple stores and by changing up the recipes I use.

In terms of groceries, one thing we do that saves a bunch of money is to buy whole chickens and then butcher them ourselves. I also buy a lot of stuff at Trader Joes. It isn't as good as Whole Foods, but it's organic and reasonable.

We've been eating a lot more pasta and Mexican food as of late. It's healthy, satisfying and cheap. So my approach has been more to find new, cheaper recipes than to change what I buy. Also, things like making your own pizza can save you a fortune.

make a menu and stick to it, use alternate forms of proteins for cooking. You dont have to become a vegan but I have found organic meats to be the most expensive and if you can find alternate forms of protein to make meals out of you can save. ( bean burritos,eggs,nuts, tofu)I always find coupon clipping difficult because typically they are not what I need or for healthy food. hope this helps

It sounds like your are buying the same kinds of things we buy in my family. We too have been trying (albiet unsuccessfully) to lower are grocery bills significantly because our income has decreased dramatically this year.
I've decided after trying lots of strategies (including shopping at more ethnic grocery stores and shopping around all day long to find better prices) that we are still ultimately better off buying what we can at target in terms of household supplies and cereal, whole grain crackers and a few other things... and then doing the bulk of our grocery shopping at whole foods. While there, I buy only what is on my list, and I pre-plan meals for the week (like 3 meals plus breakfast & lunch stuff for the kids) and I really watch for what's on sale. For example, saturday I went there and noticed that whole chicken legs were on sale for less than $2/pound. So great... we're having bbq chicken on the grill tomorrow night. And then I just try to buy the produce that I know that we will eat and nothing extra. If we run out of strawberries or bananas, for instance, I just walk to my local store and pick up some more.
I too believe that there is nothing more important than the quality of the food we eat. My son is a very picky eater so it's especially important to us that the few things he does eat of the highest quality. And I just don't have time to run to 4-5 different stores every week. I tried that for a couple of months and didn't save any money because I was just buying more and wasting all that extra time...
I say cut out all the extra stuff (like the organic chocolate milk boxes that my son LOVES are now an occasional treat) and then also cook extra veggies and meat so that you have leftovers for lunches or a quick dinner when you don't want to cook again during the week. These strategies seem to be working for us, and we are definitely spending less than we used to while still eating the same quality foods. I'd say we've gone from spending $200-300 a week on groceries and household supplies to spending $150-200. So a pretty significant savings (we're a family of 4).
While the other suggestions are nice, I don't think they are buying the kinds of foods that you and I are buying: organic milks, whole grains, nitrite-free meats, some organic produce.... you get the idea. I also don't buy any boxed kinds of foods (except maybe mac-n-cheese) or much in the way of snacks or desserts...

My last suggestion.... I gave up expensive shampoos and other fancy toiletries a long time ago. That saves a fortune. I hate that I have to use Pantene instead of the Bumble and Bumble I used to use long ago, but times are tough! I buy skincare products at whole foods (good quality but costs less than department stores). The only real splurge is makeup... I still use an expensive brand but otherwise I'd have skin disasters...
I'm sure if you look at the items you buy every week, you'll find a few more ways to save.

I also started buying Target brand papertowel and TP. Both work great! And Target sells Seventh Generation laundry and cleaning products, often on sale for much less than the whole foods prices.

I just discovered Sam's club sells Milk,not using any Hormons etc, for 1.49 a Gallon,that is a great price.
Otherwise I shop at Vallie's and Aldi's,we couldn't afford Organic free,with 5 people in the house.
I do grow veggies and fruits in the garden,at least in the summer I get some organic food.

Oh, honey. I spend $1200 a month at least. You are doing really well. I have two little boys, my husband and myself. I have tried every way in the world to get it down but no luck.

I shop at Jewel because I just can't make myself do the Walmart thing... just not ethical. But I probably could save a bit over Jewel if I went there. But I won't do it.

We do at least one farmer's market a week, and eat lots of fresh organic food. I know it's so hard in this area.

You can try Trader Joe's if you have one. they are supposed to be cheaper.