Seeking Grocery Advice

Someone mentioned The Grocery Game which costs money to join. There is also a website called couponmom.com. It does the same thing with coupons. It tells you everything on sale at the store that week and matches them with coupons. In AZ it is only good for Fry's grocery store. But they also have drugstores, target, wal-mart ect. We have a family of 4 and I pack my husbands lunch at least 3X per week. I am usually able to spend $60/week. I don't buy much processed premade food.

Another cost cutting solution would be to usecloth instead of paper prodects. (just wash and reuse). You pay for it once and use it forever.

www.sistersavings.net is a free website that lists all the specials from the local grocery stores in a spreadsheet. I print them out and highlight the items I want and go shopping. Walmart price matches, so I usually go there so I only have to go to one location to get all the deals. I usually go on Wednesdays because Sprouts, which has the best deals on produce, has double ad day on Wednesdays where the prior week's and the next week's ads overlap. But and even better deal on produce than that is the co-op www.bountifulbaskets.org For $15 you get a laundry basket FULL of fruits and veggies that lasts my family 2 weeks, and we eat a lot of produce. Sometimes they do a theme, and I love the variety. They also sometimes offer organic nut butters, bean varieties, organic grass-fed cows, etc. There is also a co-op that is supplied by a local farm, so all the produce is completely organic and very local. It's more money, but you might want to look into that for the best price for maximum nutrition on your produce. http://www.desertrootsfarm.com/

The more foods you make from scratch and the more foods you grow yourself, either in a garden or on the countertop, the less the foods will cost.

For saving money on paper products, reduce their use! Let's say that you start using cleaning cloths instead of paper towels. It doesn't cost any more money to throw twelve washcloths into your regular load of kitchen towels, but it would cost money if you had used a few rolls of paper towels.

As for supplements, see if you can get a better price buying on the internet. See if you and a friend can get together and buy in bulk. And do you really need all the supplements if you are eating a nutritious diet?

Hi D., We are a family of 5 and truthfully, I'm not sure how much we spend on groceries, I know it's not very much. But I would guess only about $300-400 per MONTH. I am a big shopper at fry's and safeway for the 10 for $10. For example, my very favorite soup is campbells Veg Beef and Bean and Bacon is my fiances. Well...this week they have them 10 for $10 instead of $1.99 EACH!!! So I seriously bought every single can they had. I also like the biscuits, they had them on sale also. I guess I mostly build my menus around the big sales, which saves hugely on the grocery bill. And when our favorite bread is on sale, I buy 3 or 4 loaves and keep them in the freezer til I need them. I also buy all the meat on sale and freeze it til use. And I buy the big 6 pounds of hamburger when it's on sale and then fry all of it at once and put it in freezer bags to use with pasta, etc. in the freezer til I'm ready to use it. So that is some of the things we do. Hope you get some good ideas, I will be looking at all of them too!

Hey,
I'm really bad at keeping track of the little bits here and there but I'd say we spend about $300-$350/month when it's all added together for two adults and one toddler. I try to shop sales-right now Fry's is accepting competitors coupons, even the free stuff Safeway sent for the grandopening promotion, and the $5 of Fresh and easy coupon. I think they're also doubling manufacturer's coupons. I try to package myself more instead of buying prepackaged...for example, I usually buy the big carton of vanilla whole milk yogurt for my toddler, rather than lots of mini yogurts. I buy a big box of cheerios and stick them in a snack cup rather than lots of mini snack packs of something. We rarely buy anything not on sale. And I've gone back to more do it myself prep like grating my own cheese, deboning my own chicken and chopping my own lettuce. Still could do better but it's helping.

I spend about $150 a week for a family of 5. I mostly shop at Walmart so I can ad-match the sales from the other stores. I stock up when things are a great deal. My sister in law does a site where she lists all the good deals of the week for each grocery store. She also gives recipe ideas using the items that are on sale, and so on. Her site is www.sistersavings.net. Another good and free site is www.pinchingyourpennies.com. As far as produce, the bad thing about bountifulbaskets is that you don't get to choose what produce you get. Superstition Ranch Market is an amazing place to get cheap produce. There's one in East Mesa and Apache Junction.

the food bank in Mesa offers over $40 worth of groceries for $16 almost every Friday and one Saturday a month. you get all food groups. also, there is a food bank in Phoenix that offers something similar, but you can choose either a pantry pack or a meat pack.

We have saved a lot of money by shopping at Fresh and Easy. Unlike other grocery stores, when something there is about to expire or be taken off the shelves, they mark it down to 50% (or more) off. So while it takes more time than a once a week grocery trip, I go there 2-3 times a week and get fresh stuff, a lot of which has been marked down. I decide what we're having based on what's on sale. If you go in the morning, they will have a better selection of stuff that is marked down. And you can stock up on meats that have been marked down and simply freeze them! They also have coupons every week for $5 off a $20 purchase. And they will let you use up to 3 at a time-- so you can also get $10 off a $40 purchase, or $15 off a $60 purchase. It IS a different kind of grocery store and at first I didn't like it, but I'm telling you, we have cut our grocery bill in half shopping there. There have been weeks I've only spent $70 for the two of us and our toddler. Best of all, they have a lot of organic stuff, things with no preservatives, all natural, etc.

There are some things F&E doesn't have that you might have to get at a regular store. So I simply watch the sale ads, stock up on stuff, and clip coupons from the Sunday paper!!

One great source for bread is Alpine Valley Bakery on Southern west of Country Club in Mesa. They are only open M-F 9:30-4:00. Their bread is sold at Costco for about $3.00 per loaf, but you can buy their day-old bread for $1.00 per loaf or older bread/rolls for 2 for a $1.00. They have all kinds of bread--white, wheat, spelt, 9-grain, sourdough, white, marbled rye, etc and some of it is even organic or specialty (like cranberry/orange). It freezes well and I have never been disappointed, not even in the 2/$1.00 bread. It's really delicious.

Hi D. - Looks like you ot a lot of good advise. I just wanted to add one more for you. I use www.thegrocerygame.com it is really simple and only takes me about 30 minutes a week to print the deals then cut my coupons. I now save 50-60% each week on my groceries. Also, the bountiful baskets is a great idea too!

Good luck.
E.

I have a husband and 2 little girls (2 & 4) and we spend $200 a week. I just went on couponmom.com and you can print coupons to use. Also Frys will accept competitor coupons until Oct. 28, that means you can use the bashas "shocker coupons there" and the fresh & easy "$5 off coupon" there. They also double or triple coupons. I agree it's very hard right now with the rising food prices and continue to eat healthy. Who has time to go from store to store? One of my friends is involved in a co-op I think it's called bountifulgifts.com (not sure if that's right) but you pay a fee and grab vegetables at a certain time on the weekend. Hope this helps.

Hi D.~
We are not big coupon users (actually don't use them at all). But, we have found that we stay within a budget of about $170-200 per week for a family of 8.
We have 2 adults/15yo/8yo/5yo/3yo/2yo/5mo...and a little boy I watch during the week who is 4yo.
The only thing I can give credit to our budget is making a monthly menu and sticking to it! We will also buy extras if something we buy [often] goes on sale.
If you are interested I can email you a copy of our rotating menu. We typically make for dinner what we are having for lunch the next day & just account for leftovers and add different side dishes.
HTH.
~D.

Hi,

It sounds like you got a lot of coupon advice, which is great. Also remember that when the other stores arent offering extra coupon stuff, Walmart ad-matches, so you can go one place and get all the sale prices. Also, I get my fruits and veggies from a co-op, bountifulbaskets.org. After the first time, its 16.50 for a whole lot of produce, and they have pick ups every 2 weeks. check it out. :)

D.,

I stock up on sales (I have a freeezer and vacumn seal meats) so I can't say exactly what I spend each week. Ways I save...

Costco for basics - butter, crackers, milk, cheese, etc
Boutiful Baskets co-op - for fruit/veggies or Food City
Use coupons and shop sales.
Typically, won't purchase unless on sale at grocery stores.

We eat a small amount of processed foods like boxed pasta...otherwise always fresh vegetables (whatever is cheap) and we grill most meats.

Hope you find ideas out there that help you lower your grocery bill.

D

Hi D.: Glad you asked the question so I could see where we are budget wise. My food
budget is 300 every two week ($150 a week) and we are a family of 5 - (3 teenagers).

What I found to save money is to make a menu plan as others suggested. If you go to flylady.net, or savingdinner.com there is sample recipes for a week or more. What helped me in the past with time and money is the once a month cooking book. They have two books now. I need to get the second one. They have some pretty decent recipes and they use stuff
you normally have and know where to find them. I hate it when I buy a book that has ingredients I've never heard of and don't know where to find. Anyway, I would cook about two weeks worth of meals one day on the weekend and freeze them. The nice thing is then you are going like I do every night, "what should I make for dinner." Then if you want to spend time with the family, go work out, etc. you will have much more time on your hands.

I hope this helps,
K.