For those that have successfully lowered grocery bill

[Anonymous]

Ozempic.
I’m not being facetious. Both DH and I were prescribed for diabetes and our appetite and interest in food have drastically diminished. I mostly cook for the kids now.

[Anonymous]

Seafood once a week max, turkey, tofu, and ground beef the rest of the time.
Canned tuna with olive oil and balsamic is a quick easy protein meal.
Even if the grocery bill is higher, cooking most of the meals brings the total cost lower.
Wegmans house brands are good and cheaper than name brands even if more expensive than Aldi so a trip to Wegmans where I can get it all done is worth it in the long run if I can't get myself to do the other stops.
I also bake some kind of quick bread and make some kind of baked dessert on Sundays. This has a trickle down effect to reduce the cost of snacks/lunches out during the week.

I've been tracking expenses carefully since. June 2024. Should have been doing it longer. The thing that has the biggest effect is not what I pick at the grocery story, but the act of meal planning and cooking at home instead of doing prepared foods or even fast casual has the biggest effect. This is the sum of Groceries, snacks (vending machine swipes at work), lunch (one adult would do a sandwich shop almost daily during the week), and dinners out in June and then last month.

June: 2373.55
Jan: 1687.57

[Anonymous]

Eating less meat is huge. We eat a variety of grains and legumes, which we buy in bulk. The cost per serving is so low it’s practically free. If you buy an instant pot, you can cook beans with virtually no effort.

Same with buying produce in season. Again, visiting Asian markets or Costco makes this really inexpensive.

Can’t emphasize enough the no waste idea. We have nearly no food waste. We compost our veg scraps, but they could also be made into stock easily.

[Anonymous]

The biggest seller of organic food in the US is actually Walmart. Their prices are good, too. Obviously it depends on the size of your store, but the bigger/newer ones with groceries have a good selection of healthy food at a good price because many of their items are loss leaders.

[Anonymous]

If the price really goes up on an item, don't buy it or eat it. Change up your menu. Eggs went up,.so I make things that don't involve eggs. Junk food, which we don't need anyhow, went up so I no longer buy junk food.

Kids without food issues can adapt.

[Anonymous]

Get away from the American slabs of meat. Buy meat on sale. Eat more ethnic dishes - they have wonderfully complex flavor that makes you more satiated vs. just eating a lot.

[Anonymous]

I posted upthread but I want to thank PP who mentioned kids with food issues because I have one of those kids — food allergies and restricted eating. And with the allergies we often have to buy very specific items to manage cross contamination/contact issues and so we have to find other places to cut costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use leftovers, even small amounts. A little leftover salad gets saved and put in a tortilla with deli turkey for someone’s lunch the next day. A little leftover rice and a piece of chicken gets saved and I put it on the salad I bring to work. I’ve had friends laugh at me for saving small amounts of food, but it adds up to real food and real savings.

I also love this because you aren’t wasting food. Wasting food gets expensive but it’s also sad and a shame.

[Anonymous]

Walmart delivery

[Anonymous]

Found a lot of recipes for preparing tofu on YouTube. I didn't realize tofu was so versatile. And my picky eater likes it because I think they disliked the texture of meat

[Anonymous]

Wow, thank you to all the PPs for these great suggestions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meat on sale in bulk. Increasing use frozen veg where possible (do not recommend frozen broccoli — gross). Stretching ground meat-based entrees with legumes. Getting *really* good at estimating the amount of meat a meal will require. Cooking meals to freeze in advance (shepherd’s pie, spaghetti sauce, taco meat are great to keep on hand). If you haven’t subbed white grains with whole grains, do that too and cook rice and pasta and other grains in advance to quickly put meals together.

Aldi runs for periodically stocking up on meat. Costco runs for things like laundry detergent etc. and shopping loss leader sales.

The thing that is the hardest is that none of this is easy or convenient with full time jobs and kids etc., especially if you have any chronic illness issues or little family support. It is extremely time consuming to save money — you can’t just do a Wegman’s pick up once a week — and to do it well you really have to go multiple places and you need to have the space to store things if you shop loss leader sales.

I LOVE frozen broccoli- especially the stems. I buy the cheaper bag of broccoli cuts (not just the florets) and get mostly stems. YUM.

[Anonymous]

Ugh Aldi has terrible meats and produce. I would rather eat less but eat organic and good produce than eat anything from Aldi's or Lidl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The biggest seller of organic food in the US is actually Walmart. Their prices are good, too. Obviously it depends on the size of your store, but the bigger/newer ones with groceries have a good selection of healthy food at a good price because many of their items are loss leaders.

I would rather not shop at a super MAGA shop, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The biggest seller of organic food in the US is actually Walmart. Their prices are good, too. Obviously it depends on the size of your store, but the bigger/newer ones with groceries have a good selection of healthy food at a good price because many of their items are loss leaders.

I would rather not shop at a super MAGA shop, thanks.

The fact of the matter is that our current landscape sucks. We have to buy groceries where we can afford to buy groceries, period. You can’t eat your outrage unfortunately.