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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Groceries
Is it me or has everything, even food prices, gone up and up? It is just DH and I and i try to cook as much as possible to save $. How often do you couples go to the grocery store? How much do you usually pay per trip? I usually go once a week or so, and spend anywhere between $75 and $200.
Anyone have any recipes for economic meals? We are getting really sick of spagetti.
TIA
Re: Groceries
I noticed it a while ago... nothing real new. They definitely are going up. We usually spend about $50-100 a week and we go either every week (which is when it is $50) or every other (when it is closer to $100).
I have a bunch of recipes that aren't too expensive to make. Here are two of them:
1. Chicken Casserole
2 Boiled chicken breasts
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1/2- 3/4 of a bag of egg noodles
bread crumbs
Boil chicken breast and then shred it.
Cook egg noodles until they are done
Combine in a casserole dish with the cream of mushroom soup and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
Either microwave it for 5-7 minutes to make sure it is hot the whole way through, or bake it. I usually microwave it so I don't know how long the baking will take. Just make sure it is hot the whole way through.
2. Shepherd's Pie
1lb of ground beef
2 cans of tomato soup
5-6 potatoes made into mashed potatoes
vegetables (I use carrots, peas, corn, and green beans... you need enough to intersperse throughout the dish so that you have an even amount... 1-2 cups of each I think. I usually just judge based on eyesight)
1. Make the mashed potatoes (with milk and butter... don't season)
2. brown ground beef
3. if the vegetables are frozen, cook them
4. combine vegetables, ground beef, and tomato soup in a casserole dish so that it is mixed thoroughly.
5. put the mashed potatoes in a thick layer on top
6. bake in the oven at 375-400 degrees until it is hot the whole way through (approx 1/2 hour)
We probably spend about$ 150 every 2 weeks.
Make a list/plan meals and stick to it. This is so much easier when DH isn't along throwing slim jims in the cart when I'm not looking!
We try to make stuff that will last at least 2 days like chili, lasagna, cassaroles, etc.
Go to Amelia's or Sharp Shopper for things like breakfast bars, gatorade, etc. Just pay attention to expiration dates. We save soooo much money by going there first before going to the regular grocery store.
Food has definitely gone up. We live a mile from our Giant so I don't usually do big trips to stock up and I just run down quick when I need something or I'll buy a bunch of stuff with meals in mind. I know the spaghetti sauce brands I usually buy have gone up about since last summer so now I only buy them when they are on sale and I'll stock up and get a few jars at a time if we are getting low. I also look for items that are buy one get one free if they are things we routinely buy.
We buy our chicken, toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and Byron's dog treats at Costco and since those things are in bulk we only need them every 2-3 months or so.
I would say I spend anywhere between $35-50 a week at Giant and then we spend about $75-100 every couple months at Costco.
In the past two years or so, it's definitely gotten more expensive, especially with the increase in the cost of gas.
We try to buy on sale, use a lot of coupons, and buy in bulk when possible.
What we've started doing the past couple of months is keeping a list of the foods we have, breaking things down into meals if possible, and then cross the stuff off the list as we go. It really helps to see just how much we really have at any given time. We also shop with meals in mind to cut down on over-buying or making nonsense purchases, we make a list and try our best to stick to it! I also use a lot of coupons and shop w/ a store flyer in hand. We've also started going to a local farmers market every other week to stock up on produce vs. buying it at the grocery store - we go w/ $20 and that's our limit, and to be honest we get a TON of stuff and usually still come home w/ $5 left over. Produce is way cheaper (and fresher) at the farmers market!
Since we've been doing all of the above, we've found that we can go almost a month on 1 big shopping trip... anywhere from $175-$200. We'll make a quick trip every other week or so to get milk, bread, eggs and anything else we've ran out of (maybe $15-$25 each trip?). And then we have our trip to the farmers market every two weeks at $20 a trip. I think we do pretty well for around $300/month.