Groceries Are Expensive!

I have been trying to make meals from scratch as much as possible. It does take a lot more work but it does help to save money. I look for recipes that use similar ingredients so that I can buy in bulk. Again, more work to separate and store but this can also save you money. I also save leftover meats and veggies in separate containers in the freezer then use them to make soups or stews.

 

I agree with dissn_it. Cooking from scratch really can save you some money and is healthier for you than many of the frozen packaged meals. Unfortunately, meat is an area that is just expensive! My husband and I are on a mostly Paleo diet, so we eat a lot of meat in a month. Anyways, try as much as you can to shop the perimeter of the store. Also, plain frozen fruits and vegetables are a great way to supplement your diet while on a budget. Beans are cheap and go a long way as well.

 

To help save money on meat we have reduced the size of each piece of meat for everyone eating. Have you noticed the size of the meat included in a chinese meal, there are more vegetables than meat. We are saving money by reducing the portion size of meat at meal time. Also eat more beans and vegetables.

 

It really depends on what you purchase. It's not so much that the prices of groceries have gone up, it's that your dollar is worth less because of the monetary policies of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (in my case, BoC Governor Mark Carney).

Anyway, a fantastic idea is to go vegetarian/vegan for a couple of days a week. My wife and I only eat meat on weekends or a couple of times during the week if there is a special on chicken or turkey. We shun red meat, which is the usually the most expensive meat at the grocery store. Another way to save money is to have a list and find efficiencies in your budget. For instance, instead of buying one pound of meat, buy 0.75. Good luck!

 

I shop around for the best prices in my area...sometimes stores will give you better prices with their store cards, too, which are often free. I could never be vegetarian myself and out of medical necessity, it would not be a good idea for my husband either, but we do have a few days a week that are meatless. Also, look into couponing...you can save a good bit of money without having to do anything too extreme or time-consuming. I like shopping at Target for groceries and they have pages and pages of printable coupons (you can search by department) right on their website.

 

Soup, stew and chili are all very cheap, delicious and nutritious. Cook large batches at a time and you can freeze leftovers to enjoy at a later time. Go online and look for some recipes that suit your tastes. Eggs are an affordable protein and they can be cooked and served in a large variety of ways; for example I like to make a cheese and onion omelette with a side of tomatoes; this meal costs only a few dollars and it's very fast and easy to cook. I can relate to this post strongly BTW, since I am constantly on the lookout for a meal that is easy, inexpensive and that my family is willing to eat.

 

Look around the forums here and you'll see all sorts of tips for how to shave down your grocery bill.

Beans are a great way to stretch foods. Even if you're not a huge bean fan, you can use them in meals without them being the main component. For example, mix black beans in with your ground beef for tacos or burgers. It'll make the meal go farther, make you feel fuller longer, add nutritional value, and make the meal cheaper.

 

One way my family saves money is by buying canned or frozen fruits and vegetables. We live in New England, so we can only get a variety of cheap fruit at certain times of the year, so I just go for frozen fruit which is much cheaper and usually tastes quite good. The only thing I recommend if you so this is to keep a bit of it out of the freezer and in the fridge as you then have some already thawed if you want a quick snack. In addition, our local Stop and Shop has a reduced produce section (i.e. a small cart with produces tha'ts a few days old) that usually has vegetables that are still in very good condition. We then use what we need for the day and freeze the rest, especially tomatoes, which are expensive enough as is, and then use them to make soups or sauces. We also go through the weekly flyers and look for what's on sale, as we may get cherries for $2/lb one week and grapes $1/lb the other. Same goes for meat, as we usually look for a good price while also trying to get organic. Finally, we also have a small garden in the summer which usually gives us a few good vegtables.

 

Cooking from scratch has saved me a lot of money. I also changed to a vegetarian diet. I eat a lot of soup and lentil dishes. They are cheap to make and are very filling.

 

Groceries are very expensive for me also. By the time I get those few items that I need, I have no money left for the wants that I want. What's happening with the Suppermarkets? I kind of don't even want to shop any more, it irritates me so badly. We need to do a march on these stores and there prices.

 

Groceries are very expensive! I try to make healthy meals that please everyone, which is hard of course! I have 4 kids, who had different tastes and likes. And a husband who eats a lot. So trying to buy healthy food, and enough to fill us, and not spend a lot of money...well... it's crazy!
I use lots of coupons. I shop sales. I buy in bulk and freeze. I plan ahead. It all helps.

 

I clip coupons and combine them with store sales. I make stir fried vegetables with a little meat and serve it over rice. I grow my own herbs to cook with. I eat oatmeal in the morning, like an old lady, because it's cheap and good for you. I buy the marked down boxes of blemished vegetables at the farmer's market because my juice machine doesn't care if the carrot is ugly or the beet has a spot on it. I buy a whole chicken and cut it into parts instead of paying more for chicken parts. There are Youtube videos that teach you how to butcher a whole supermarket chicken.

 

Stir Fry's are a great way to stretch meat out, you could make about 4 servings off of one chicken breast for example. I sometimes even throw the ramen noodles in there too (sans the seasoning packet). You could also try using ground turkey or pork which are often cheaper than beef. I see ground turkey on sale quite often when it is getting close to its expiration date. Try making some meals ahead of time too and freezing them for convenience so you're not making impulse buys when you don't feel like cooking or are in a hurry. You can easily make a batch of pancakes or breakfast burritos and freeze them.

 

Unfortunately groceries are expensive and the prices keep rising everyday. There are certain apps that help you relieve that concern because they are meant for you to earn money for your groceries. I have discovered it a while ago and I am honestly say it saved me a lot of money. The app is called Jingit and I hope you all take advantage of it!

 

I can only think of buying groceries when they come up with the buy 1 take 1 promo because the goods are near their expiration date. Or buying those groceries that are specifically discounted. We really can't control how the prices of food go up nowadays, and unfortunately, the price will only increase further in the future.

 

its hard to eat healthy and cheap.... actually pretty close to impossible especially with prices these days... and what people are willing to pay for these days is also amazing...

 

Besides clipping coupons, I wait to shop for food on heavy sales days. Usually, for many grocers, the best sales days are on Wednesdays and Fridays.

As far as hearty meals, spaghetti, stew and baked chicken (plus a side) are substantial. They also have meat cuts that get discounted at a lot of grocers. You have to look for the area in the store where discounted meat is set out for purchase.

 

Regarding OPs sticker shock at the price of ground beef, I've been using ground pork because a package of it is less than $3 and it actually has a great texture. I use it in any recipe that calls for ground beef.

 

This has definitely taken a turn for the worse since the crash. I noticed it in the UK a few years ago; although it was not so bad if you shopped around and stuck to essentials. Since I've moved back to Botswana, it is even worse! The supermarkets are quite similar, so not much comparison goes on. We don't manufacture anything ourselves, it's all imported from South Africa. So a bad situation just got worse. Our weekly grocery shopping is not much less expensive than when we were in the UK. We're a lot more careful with money, and only get essentials, and make food from scratch.