NWMR: Best strategies for reducing grocery bill.

[jlaok]

We are a family of 4 and our monthly grocery bill is out of control.  I probably spend $700/month including groceries, household items, toiletries, diapers/wipes for DD, and pull-ups for DS.  We live in a low cost of living area and I never feel like I'm buying excessive items.  I really want to reduce it but I just have no idea how to go about doing that.  I probably cook 5-6 times a week, DH and I always pack a lunch, and DS and DD eat lunch at daycare during the week.  Help!  Any ideas for me?  What works for you?

[pitta12]

$700 actually doesn't sound bad to me for all of that, but granted I am in a HCOL area. It may sound counterintuitive but ordering groceries (we use Amazon Fresh) saves us a ton of money because I am forced to plan the meals for the week, and then I stick to my list better. We may still pop into a store for a few things mid-week but as long as we have the bulk of what we need it avoids impulse buys or just grabbing extra. Also it helps that when I'm shopping online and adding things to my cart I can see the prices and the total cost tallying up as I go, which often reigns me in.

[twinmomma]

If that's including pull ups, diapers, and household stuff, I'd say that's actually great! We're right around there when all is said and done, but we're in a HCOL area. Meal planning is my #1 money saver. I map out the week and rely heavily on eating leftovers for dinners so that we don't throw food away.

[sudokufan]

Buying bulk - I don't have a membership to costco or anything, but we try to buy in bulk as much as possible. For example, I currently have 15 rolls of paper towels. Found them at Lowes for a song. Diapers and wipes we get from Amazon after comparing price per ea. locally at the usual suspects (Walmart, Target).

Chest freezer - this lets me buy meat and frozen items in bulk too. Bought a 9ish pound pork loin for 40% off, cut it into 3 lb roasts and froze. Any time we see a real deal on meat, we stock up.

Know your stores' strengths - we have two local grocery stores to choose from. Small local owned one a block from the house; their dairy prices are HIGH. Cream is $7 a pint there, but $3.5 at the big chain store 2 miles away. On the other hand, when a brand name goes on sale, the small local store generally has it at a deeper discount than the big place.

Generics - I used to be very, very brand loyal. Now I question them all and try the store generics; I've found many to be quite good. There are some things where taste matters to me more than cost, and those I stick with.

[CoverGirl82]

I'm in the $700/month isn't bad club too. One thing I do to save money is buy meat that is on sale because it's almost at, or is on, the "sell by" date, and buy an amount that will work for multiple meals. You could also start buying your laundry and paper supplies on Amazon.com using Subscribe & Save. If you have 5 or more items in each order, you get 20% off. Not sure what grocery stores are in your area, but the grocery store I go to has a perks program that helps me earn rewards and I can clip in-store coupons in addition to the manufacturers coupons I use.

[xanthepants]

I think $700 doesn't seem too bad for your size of family. We are just 3 and out of diapers so we are close to $550 a month. I signed up for manufacturer's coupons for formula and diapers and continuously watch for sales on those back then. I try and go meatless 1-2 meals a week to bring down that cost. I also meal plan but don't necessarily coordinate it with my local grocer's coupons. So I usually add 1-2 other options that can be made with a different cut/type of meat in case something is priced outrageous. It would probably be easier to just coordinate rather than act as I do on the fly. I also check out websites that have dinner on a budget type ideas and try and incorporate 1-2 of those in a week. A lot of processed food, particularly snacks, are overpriced in my mind for what you get. So I try and limit those. Other ideas might be to try a discount place like Aldi for some items or to buy in bulk other things you know you will use.

[jlaok]

You guys have brought up great points about buying in bulk and storing. We sold out house and have been in an apartment for the last 8 months. Not only did I lose storage space (can't buy bulk) and I also lost my deep freezer. I didn't even attribute those things to the rise in our grocery bill. We will be in our house in a couple of months so I probably need to re-evaluate our bill once we can go back to what we were doing.

Also, it makes me feel better that $700 doesn't seem over the top. The kids may be small but they sure do eat a lot.

[tas1883]

I only do major grocery shopping once a month and then go about every other week and only pick up milk and bread for H. Costco is also once a month. It seems like a fortune when I go but if I think about it still is cheaper than if I spent half that every other week. Plus by not going I'm not picking up extras like ice cream (weakness).

Also buy bulk and take advantage of coupons at Costco. Toilet paper, laundry soap, Kleenex, swifter's, dishwasher soap all gets bought at Costco and I get a 8 pack of paper towels at like Wal-Mart. All this stuff lasts months if not closer to 6 months on some. So again I'm not running into the store to get tp and then buy $50 worth of other stuff too.

My chest freezer gets used just like sudokufan,. Buy double large bag of shredded cheese and one gets frozen, huge pork loin gets brought home and cut into meal size pieces, tortilla shells are the same. I actually just bought 10 1.5lb packages of omega 3 grass feed beef (hamburger) from a farmer for $5 a package so that is stocked in my freezer and should last me the rest of the year as we don't eat beef all that often.

[callmeKD]

lots of great suggestions. I also don't think $700 is very high considering that it's not just food and I know you meal plan. (ie think how much higher it would be if you ate most of your meals "out").

we also buy certain things in bulk - meat (we buy from a local farmer and stock our freezer), paper products and diapers. (I watch for sales at Target and then stock up on diapers).

Make sure you know what's in your pantry and cabinets. (I'm famous for buying another can of beans, tomatoes, etc. because I don't think we have any). I've started a list of what we have and how much so I don't buy unnecessary canned goods.

[sudokufan]

Feb 18, 2015 12:31:17 GMT -5 tas1883 said:

My chest freezer gets used just like sudokufan,. Buy double large bag of shredded cheese and one gets frozen, huge pork loin gets brought home and cut into meal size pieces, tortilla shells are the same. I actually just bought 10 1.5lb packages of omega 3 grass feed beef (hamburger) from a farmer for $5 a package so that is stocked in my freezer and should last me the rest of the year as we don't eat beef all that often.

That's a great price!  We buy grass fed beef too, as often as possible.  My husband says it makes even Chilimac taste good, LOL.  And that's another good point - we have two local butchers that will give you a discount for buying bulk, and wrap and hard freeze, so you can get good quality meat.  In the summer, one has whatever whole beef primal it is that you get new york strip steaks from - you have to buy the whole thing, but you save 30% and they cut and wrap the steaks to your specs. 

Another thing - I don't buy any herbs, spices, black pepper, or vanilla at the grocery store anymore.  We order from the spice house in Chicago.  They're cheaper AND better.  This is one thing you can buy in bulk even in an apartment since it doesn't take up too much space.  My spices/etc. come in plastic baggies and I just use mason jars or recycled jars to store them.  I signed up for their mailing list and we order whenever they offer free shipping.  There's a bulk place in town that sells herbs/spices too, but they're not as cheap and they don't do the same turnover so I found the wares weren't as fresh.

[shakinros]

Yep sounds pretty great to me. We spend an embarrassing amount of money in comparison. For groceries, toiletries, diapers, alcohol and eating out, we spend about $1200 per month. Family of 3 here.

[GlitchSQ1]

Ditto to PP. The only thing I'd add is to check your recipes. Are they complicated and have a lot of ingredients or spices in them? It can cost more to cook something with 10 ingredients instead of 6.

[queenbabee]

I wish that was our grocery budget. Family of 3 here too.
ETA we spend way more

[sandandsea]

I think that sounds really good. Some ideas to help cut (I haven't read the PPs):
- buy in bulk when on sale and freeze extras
- shop at discount stores like Aldis, Walmart, etc.
- buy fresh fruit when it is in season (cheaper) and can it or freeze it
- try gardening (if you like it, I could never make it work, but have friends that love it)
- Make simple meals with fewer ingredients
- buy store brand items or clip coupons for name brands
- some areas have double coupon day, though nothing around me has this
- meal plan and make a list - stick to the list
- meal plan from advertisements for that week
- don't buy soda, juice, etc. and drink water or coffee/tea that you make at home
- some stores have milk clubs where you get the 10th or 11th gallon free or a gas rewards program where you get 10-35 cents off per gallon with grocery purchases
- Don't buy paper products/toiletries at the grocery store as they're generally more expensive that places like Walmart/Target/Amazon
- Use amazon subscribe and save and get at least 5 items/order so you save 15%

ETA:  Eat veggie one night a week - meats are generally more expensive

[liziz]

That sounds really reasonable, and I'd echo what PP said about meal planning. If you're only going to use half an onion, figure out what recipe you can use onion in later in the week, etc.

[rach]

We do pre-planned leftovers/fend for yourself night 1-2 nights/week. We use that as a chance to clean out all the leftovers so nothing gets wasted. If we don't have enough leftovers or someone just wants something different, they make it themselves. (That "something different" is usually a sandwich, cereal, salad or a quesadilla. My 6 year old can handle making all that too!)

If you are brand loyal to something, write the manufacturer. They will usually send you (really good!) coupons. I cut way back on couponing because of food allergies. It still saves me some money on things like toiletries though. Believe it or not, drugstores can be the best bang for you buck with cosmetics and toiletries.

I really don't think you are doing too bad for the size of your household and not shopping in bulk! I would re-evaluate once you are back in a house and can bulk shop.

[2chatter]

I spend over that, we eat out 1-2 nights a week and there are five of us.
I think it costs more to eat well - for instance, if I make asparagus for the five of us as a side, I have to buy two bundles. That means a side dish is $6, the same as the cost of meat for one meal, generally.
Fruit for our family is at least $30/week alone.

Non-food items add up - DD uses overnight pullups, DS overnight diapers, DH blows through a roll of paper towels every two days, the kids have to take snacks to school and only about half the time are they willing to take whole foods (like an apple or banana) so that means I am buying things like Wild Oats crackers at Walmart.

I need to decrease the variety of things offered and that will decrease waste (one honeycrisp apple, plus three halos, plus one stem of grapes, plus one kiwi, plus one banana adds up in terms of waste cost).

[texasmomma22]

Maybe look at amazon mom for diapers and wipes and start using coupons.

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2015 10:59:47 GMT -5 2chatter said:

I spend over that, we eat out 1-2 nights a week and there are five of us.
I think it costs more to eat well - for instance, if I make asparagus for the five of us as a side, I have to buy two bundles. That means a side dish is $6, the same as the cost of meat for one meal, generally.
Fruit for our family is at least $30/week alone.

Non-food items add up - DD uses overnight pullups, DS overnight diapers, DH blows through a roll of paper towels every two days, the kids have to take snacks to school and only about half the time are they willing to take whole foods (like an apple or banana) so that means I am buying things like Wild Oats crackers at Walmart.

I need to decrease the variety of things offered and that will decrease waste (one honeycrisp apple, plus three halos, plus one stem of grapes, plus one kiwi, plus one banana adds up in terms of waste cost).

We try to eat very clean and I agree that it costs. But we consider it an investment in out health.

[callmeKD]

The same discussion is happening on my local moms FB group. someone posted this link which I thought was interesting:

www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/usda_food_plans_cost_of_food/CostofFoodJul2014.pdf

[erinshelley21]

We buy our beef and pork in bulk in the fall. For reference, 2 adults and a one year old can make 1/2 pig and 1/8 cow last a year. I buy large bags of frozen chicken breasts at SAMs along with their bulk canned chicken. I don't coupon much on food. Just buy what's on sale and try to use ingredients twice in the week. My big savings is on toiletries, diapers and wipes. Cvs is great for this if there is one near you. I buy diapers when there's an extracare bucks deal. Then I'll use those extra bucks to buy something that's on sale that I know I'll need. Shampoo, body wash, deodorant. And sometimes those purchases will generate more extracare bucks. I never buy this stuff at the grocery store, target or other places.