Weekly spend at the grocery store - Family of 4? And a vent...

[Anonymous]

Another idea, if you're having trouble getting your husband on board, is it track spending on a site like Mint.com. My husband used to make a couple of those $20 trips to the grocery midweek too, until I showed him how much they were adding up. Once he saw the numbers, he changed his behavior without any more cajoling from me.

[Anonymous]

ditto on Aldi. Love their meat - just bought a frozen duck there for ~$13. Don't like their fish (its all frozen and not very good). LOVE their produce. Only downside is the lack of selection for produce. However, what they do have is very good (i.e. Whole Foods caliber for less than half the price). Just wish there was an Aldi closer to me - I would be there every week.

[Anonymous]

New poster == What is so special about Aldi? I just googled it and see it has very limited hours. Is that one way they keep costs down? Is there anything else that's different about it from a regular grocery store?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those like the PP who shops at Whole Foods -- our purchases are organic/free-range/gluten-free, few packaged foods except snacks for my kids, never soda (I have health issues that require as clean a diet as possible.) We try to buy as much as possible at Trader Joe's, with other stuff from MOM's, Whole Foods, or the organic section at Wegman's. Where do you do most of your shopping, and how much do you spend? I am trying to figure out a way to reduce our grocery bills without really changing what we purchase.

I also shop at the exact same places and spend about $1000 to $1200 a month for my family. It's horrendous but I put a high value on quality food. Is there a way to reduce? We buy mostly produce, milk, some meats, yogurt, a few processed foods like breads, cheese, crackers, etc but that's it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much do you guys spend on fruit? While I have all the frustrations of high grocery prices (we cook at home, pack lunches, no pre-packaged etc), we eat a lot of fresh fruit. Damn those fruit prices. We buy them at costco during this time of the year but still fruit amounts to a third and more of our grocery bills.

I easily spend $50 a week on fruit, so $200 a month just on fruit alone.

[Anonymous]

Aldi produce is super cheap! Last week, bags containing 1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper were $.99! Pineapples $1.99 each, bananas are $.29 / lb., 6 pears for $2.79. I agree that it's not the freshest(ie, you can't keep it around for 7 days, but that's not a problem in our house). Also, since most veg are going to get cooked, I don't really care if they aren't super crisp after a few days in the fridge. In my perfect world, the selection would be better, but when I look at the bill and the amount of healthy food I buy at ALdi, I am content. They recently started carrying organic milk (although only 2%).

I don't buy a lot of meat, and meat isn't Aldi's strongest suit. I do like the wild salmon filets (frozen).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much do you guys spend on fruit? While I have all the frustrations of high grocery prices (we cook at home, pack lunches, no pre-packaged etc), we eat a lot of fresh fruit. Damn those fruit prices. We buy them at costco during this time of the year but still fruit amounts to a third and more of our grocery bills.

I think fruit takes up the majority of my bill! Fruit, meat and milk is SO EXPENSIVE

[Anonymous]

This time of year, I use a lot of frozen bag vegetables. Steamed, mixed in stews/soups, etc. They are almost nutritionally equivalent to fresh, and you can buy organic. But they are cheaper.

Same with frozen fruit, although I don't use much of that. Good for smoothies, though.

And eating meat-free several times a week also cuts down bills.

[Anonymous]

Aldi's grosses me out. I'm not willing to skimp on the quality of food I give my family. Buying some things organic or local really do matter to me. I follow the EWGs dirty dozen and clean 15 (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/the-dirty-dozen-and-clean-15-of-produce/616/) I agree with the PP who recommended frozen veggies for some recipes.

I've made friends with a couple of the farmers at our local farmers market and have bought boxes of their produce when it's available (last week I bought a huge bag of tomatoes for $7!). I keep some in the garage (potatoes, cabbage, carrots, etc) and I make sauces or whatever and freeze them for use later. It's cheaper to buy in bulk and the food is great.

In my opinion, I'd rather spend more money on quality food that I feel good about than on clothes or whatever. I mostly buy clothes at the thrift store or things like furniture off of craigslist for this reason... it's all about choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This time of year, I use a lot of frozen bag vegetables. Steamed, mixed in stews/soups, etc. They are almost nutritionally equivalent to fresh, and you can buy organic. But they are cheaper.

Same with frozen fruit, although I don't use much of that. Good for smoothies, though.

And eating meat-free several times a week also cuts down bills.

Almost all the veggies we eat are frozen. BUt frozen fruit is gross! And fruit is mega expensive!

[Anonymous]

Aldi's is super far away from me. Where do you all go to your Aldis? The closest one to me is Manassas, and that is a haul. So, I've been there once or twice, but it's not really worth the trip. So, I watch the sales and buy loss leaders at all the stores: Giant, Safeway, Shoppers. Also, no one has mentioned Walmart or Bottom Dollar. Then, I make my meals out of what I have purchased thru the loss leaders. I don't make a meal plan before shopping; that would cost me more!

[Anonymous]

someone explain to me why everyone says processed foods are more expensive. Poor people tend to buy them b/c they are actaully cheaper than buying raw fruits, veggies and meats. I find that buying whole foods is WAY more expensive than buying frozen meals or processed, pre=packaged foods. Where are people shopping that meats, fruits and veggies are CHEAPER than a box of frozen mac and cheese, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:someone explain to me why everyone says processed foods are more expensive. Poor people tend to buy them b/c they are actaully cheaper than buying raw fruits, veggies and meats. I find that buying whole foods is WAY more expensive than buying frozen meals or processed, pre=packaged foods. Where are people shopping that meats, fruits and veggies are CHEAPER than a box of frozen mac and cheese, etc?

You are comparing two different things. Prepackaged stuff is generally more expensive than if you purchased individual ingredients and made them from scratch. One serving of homemade mac and cheese is far cheaper than one serving of boxed mac and cheese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aldi's is super far away from me. Where do you all go to your Aldis? The closest one to me is Manassas, and that is a haul. So, I've been there once or twice, but it's not really worth the trip. So, I watch the sales and buy loss leaders at all the stores: Giant, Safeway, Shoppers. Also, no one has mentioned Walmart or Bottom Dollar. Then, I make my meals out of what I have purchased thru the loss leaders. I don't make a meal plan before shopping; that would cost me more!

No Walmart or Bottom Dollar near me, but Target groceries are super-cheap compared to other traditional grocery stores. Pepperidge Farm Whole Wheat Bread is $3.29 a loaf instead of the $4.59 I would pay at Giant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aldi's is super far away from me. Where do you all go to your Aldis? The closest one to me is Manassas, and that is a haul. So, I've been there once or twice, but it's not really worth the trip. So, I watch the sales and buy loss leaders at all the stores: Giant, Safeway, Shoppers. Also, no one has mentioned Walmart or Bottom Dollar. Then, I make my meals out of what I have purchased thru the loss leaders. I don't make a meal plan before shopping; that would cost me more!

No Walmart or Bottom Dollar near me, but Target groceries are super-cheap compared to other traditional grocery stores. Pepperidge Farm Whole Wheat Bread is $3.29 a loaf instead of the $4.59 I would pay at Giant.

OH yeah, I did forget about Target! You are right that you can get great deals there! Last Easter I got a huge ham for $13 and just took it out of the freezer about a week ago and we've been enjoying the delicious spiral-cut ham. Then I made soup out of it as well as a ham & noodle casserole, and ham salad for sandwiches. We got a LOT of use out of that one ham!