Grocery Shopping

babe2331

I went grocery/food shopping on Sunday at the Acme, and I spent $93.00 and literally walked out with a few bags and I am only shopping for two people.  This was only a week's worth of lunches and dinners. I also bought items that were "on sale."   Now, I don't mind spending $93.00 at the supermarket, but I just feel like I didn't get enough bang for my buck.  My mom says I may have to go to a few different stores for certain items.  I have a BJs membership but I don't think their prices are so great at times.  I don't know, maybe I am just crazy or I really stink at food shopping.  I honesly don't know how those of you with kids do it, and I commend you :-) 

lachute

We meal plan b/l/d for a family of three buy from whole foods and on average spend 1100-120 a week. Quality of food is important to us. We also eat a lot of meatless meals. 

Santorini2011

I feel the same as you.  I spend $100 for a week's worth for 2.  I use coupons and buy sale items but it seems like it's blah.  BJ's is great for things that don't expire (paper products, granola bars, etc) but it is hard to shop for 2 there.  Unless you have a HUGE freezer.   Sometimes, I wonder if it is better to order out.

lachute

We meal plan b/l/d for a family of three buy from whole foods and on average spend 100-120 a week. Quality of food is important to us. We also eat a lot of meatless meals. 

erbur78

lachute:

We meal plan b/l/d for a family of three buy from whole foods and on average spend 1100-120 a week. Quality of food is important to us. We also eat a lot of meatless meals. 

Us, too. I allow us a budget of $135/week. Organic all the way, in season or sustainably sourced. The mister's lunch of tuna or chicken salads are $2.79 - $3.50 a can.  

NewQueen

Santorini2011:

I feel the same as you.  I spend $100 for a week's worth for 2.  I use coupons and buy sale items but it seems like it's blah.  BJ's is great for things that don't expire (paper products, granola bars, etc) but it is hard to shop for 2 there.  Unless you have a HUGE freezer.   Sometimes, I wonder if it is better to order out.

Our BJ's membership just expired and we will not be renewing it. With just the two of us, we were mainly using the membership for products that do not expire or have a long shelf life. We have an Amazon Prime membership now and use that for what we were purchasing at BJ's. The Prime membership is a little more expensive but with the free two day shipping, the lower prices and the benefits I get on my Kindle, the membership price in more than worth it. We stock up when items go in super sale (I probably have enough detergent and toilet paper to last the entire year) and spend about $50 a week on fruits, veggies, dairy and other perishables. Our system isn't for everyone, especially if you don't have the space to store a years worth of TP, but it saves us money.

tracyd21

I wish I was better with doing a weekly food shop.  I have no idea how much we spend on groceries.  We always have a ton of stuff in the freezer so we usually pull from that, unless it's last minute and I forgot to defrost something.  Those days I will run to the store or we will have pasta of some sort.  

Now with my m/s lasting all day, our shopping habits are just awful.  Most days I will have cereal, grilled cheese, or pasta with butter/parm.  DH is left to his own devices, which is usually a crap-load of meat that he will defrost and cook and decide he doesn't want to eat it or realize that he has work dinners or hockey games and won't be able to eat...but it's always after he's cooked a bunch of stuff.  I have thrown out so much food this past month it's ridiculous.  

The only things we are really spending money on at this point are organic fruits, veggies, milk, bread...which all adds up very quickly.  I do go to BJs for cereal, yogurt and some other essentials like body wash, tp, and paper towels, but that's once in a blue moon.

JenD1018

erbur78:

lachute:

We meal plan b/l/d for a family of three buy from whole foods and on average spend 1100-120 a week. Quality of food is important to us. We also eat a lot of meatless meals. 

Us, too. I allow us a budget of $135/week. Organic all the way, in season or sustainably sourced. The mister's lunch of tuna or chicken salads are $2.79 - $3.50 a can.  

Ditto, ditto.  We budget close to $125/week for the two of us.  Buying in season definitely helps to keep costs down but that trades out for some of the more expensive local products I buy ($3.99 for a 1/2 gallon of local milk in a glass bottle vs. $5.29 for a gallon of WF milk in a plastic jug).

eSynergy

We spend about $150/week but try to do less. The things that help me are:

- making lists ahead of time and sticking to the lists, and

- not going to the grocery store hungry 

jessica0602

eSynergy:

- making lists ahead of time and sticking to the lists

This is key for me with food shopping, especially since my hubs tends to wander when do.

I also stock up on chicken breasts when they are on sale and then split them and bag 2 to a bag as soon as I get home.  Since only DH and I eat solid foods (ha), it's so much easier to pull out one or two servings to defrost on a weeknight, rather than try to use an entire pound which is way too much food.  Plus I eat chicken the most so it never goes to waste.

ericanandy

We do weekly shopping too. Actually I do 10 days vs. 7. Using 2-3 meals as leftovers or repurposing. The last few weeks I've actually SAVED money using Shoprite's shop from home feature. Although it costs an extra $10 to have them get my groceries (you pick up at store) I can see all the prices at once without any store distractions or needing to rush because of my toddler. So our grocery bills have actually been 10-30 bucks cheaper.  I then do my produce shopping at produce places to get more bang for my buck.

meldot

In an effort to make meals that require minimal prep on weeknights so the 3 of us can eat together, I've started buying larger quantities of meat when it's on sale and cooking "freezer meals"-use the crockpot for chicken, make turkey meatballs, or sometimes a lasagna or baked ziti. We end up spending less this way as well...

We also follow the store sales and match them up to our coupons as best as possible. Things that I know are cheaper elsewhere (like Max's vegan waffles at Trader Joe's) I make a special trip for.

If you really want to go crazy, you can try thegrocerygame.com.  It's a service you pay for where she tells you what coupons to use when to save the most. We did it for a while, but it's too much for us to handle, ha. I will say that when we used it, we would save at least 50% off of our bill. 

NewQueen

ericanandy:

We do weekly shopping too. Actually I do 10 days vs. 7. Using 2-3 meals as leftovers or repurposing. The last few weeks I've actually SAVED money using Shoprite's shop from home feature. Although it costs an extra $10 to have them get my groceries (you pick up at store) I can see all the prices at once without any store distractions or needing to rush because of my toddler. So our grocery bills have actually been 10-30 bucks cheaper.  I then do my produce shopping at produce places to get more bang for my buck.

I tried Genuardi's home delivery and it was pretty fabulous. The first delivery was free and I got a promo code in my email for another free delivery about three weeks later. I think they send you at least one code for free delivery per month. At most, delivery is $12.95 (if you spend under $150 in groceries and want delivery to be withing a 1 hour time window) but if you spend over $150 and have the ability to wait around in a 4 hour delivery window, it's as low as $3.95. I'll continue to use the service each time I receive a code for free delivery. I hate having to go to the grocery store!

laptopprancer

Through menu planning and making and sticking to lists I've managed to keep our last four grocery bills (I shop every weekend) under $115.  I shop at Whole Foods for nearly all of our food/beverage groceries and will occasionally supplement at Target (frozen meals for lunches, TLC Bars, coffee) and Superfresh (frozen veggies, Smart Balance spread).  We buy paper products at Target but I am about to make the switch to Amazon Prime - am also hoping to use that for cat food/litter.

I am considering a pantry cleanse challenge in which I will be able to purchase nothing other than meat, cheese, fresh veggies, milk and yogurt.

I've also been making 1-2 large meals a week that will produce leftovers.

But imo it's all about the smart menu plan and sticking to the list.

 

shoelover1

My H and I usually spend around $50-$60 a week for the two of us. We limit our meat to ground beef and chicken. We only eat it at most 5x a week. We shop at Giant and always buy off-brand. We eat pretty healthily and stay away from junk foods like chips (which are ridiculously expensive), over-processed foods like lunch meat, and expensive treats like ice cream.

OctoberBabyH

For three ppl, we spend $200/week easily. We shop at Wegman's and Trader Joe's. We always have fresh fruits and veggies and buy a lot of organic. I know it seems like a bunch, but like some PPs have said, the quality of food is important to us.