$250/month on groceries?

[Anonymous]

It's just DH and me. Paycheck to paycheck at the moment. One of our biggest issues is food spending. We very rarely eat out, and never get take-out, we pack our lunches, don't buy coffees, etc etc.
Our issue is not planning our grocery trips and not sticking to the list. We pick up random items. We do mini-trips to the store that adds up. Sometimes I look back and we seem to have spent $400-500 on food for the month, and that's ridiculous for just two people.

Starting now, I am taking control of the grocery store trips (DH is on board). I am going to go every two weeks and spend $125; so about $250/month. Here is what I plan to buy---
Note: All of these prices are pretty accurate. I pay close attention on each trip to the store and have almost memorized the prices of certain things.

Four (1/2 gallon) almond milks- $12 [We both drink almond milk, but different flavors. About 1/2 gallon per week each. They last over 3 months. They are 2/$6 usually]
Two breads- $5 [We usually do this as they are usually a two-for deal. We stick one in freezer]
18-pack carton of eggs- $4 [We do eggs a lot]
Meat- $20 [We tend to buy "whatevers on sale." With a $20 cap, I'll buy as much as I can of whatevers on sale- usually chicken and ground turkey, but keep it under $20]
Cereal- $12 [2 boxes per week, $3 each]
Paper products/cleaning/soaps- $20 [TP, paper towels, detergents]
1 lb. Deli meat- $7
Rice/beans- $10
Frozen veggies- $8
Coffee- $4
Snacks/Misc.- $20 [Granola bars, bananas, chips, pancake mix, etc]


I realize this is not the healthiest/organic diet, but as we're on a budget, we're focused on just getting good deals that will last (for now- we're generally good eaters but we have to put the better quality stuff on hold for now).
The reason I am writing this all out is to see what you guys think- do you think it's do-able? Am I forgetting anything?
A few notes- We have a TON of pasta in the house, as we stocked up a while ago when it was on sale. Same with soups, and some canned veggies. We have a ton of "essentials"- flour, sugar, oils, dressings, spices, broths, etc etc.
I would say about once a month I do a CVS trip and buy shampoo/cond., toothpaste, face lotion, deodorant, etc- maybe $40 total and I bring coupons/buy on sale.

I am also thinking about just doing Peapod/online grocery shopping- that way I WON'T be tempted with all the impulse buys- mostly snacks; AND I can see how much I'm spending as I go along.


Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Replace cereal with a huge container of quick-cooking oats. Way cheaper and lasts longer. You can add your own flavorings, like a (small) amount of sugar, honey, cinnamon, frozen or fresh berries, or even canned pineapple

I'd buy at fresh veggie -- whatever is on sale.

Pancake mix is convenient, sure, but look around online for homemade recipes -- it's basically just flour and baking soda, I think.

CVS is expensive for toiletries -- even with coupons and ExtraCare rewards. Look at the supermarket or Target for better prices on these items.

[Anonymous]

oops, 13:10 here

meant to say I'd buy just *one fresh veggie if you can

I try to make sure my snacks can also work into meals -- chips and salsa accompany taco night...sliced cheese and crackers bc you can you use the cheese for sandwiches and burgers, and there are always crackers on sale...

[Anonymous]

Isn't peapod more expensive? Are there delivery costs? Something to consider.

What grocery store do you go to?
For a lot of the items, you might want to consider Aldi or Giant?

Do you have a lot of freezer space? Check out this blog:
http://www.lovingmynest.com/learning-activities/freezer-crock-pot-cooking-day/

She made 34 meals (some of which had leftovers) in one afternoon for less then $150.

If you're committed to planning, and have some time (maybe on the weekend?) to cook, it can definitely be accomplished.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you. Oh, I LOVE steel-cut oats. I think it's $5 per canister and I get about two weeks worth. I do hate buying all that cereal- but that's one thing we really eat a lot. I could try to just limit it (we should anyways).
Peapod is free for new customers for the first 60 days ($7 delivery fee after that). Even with the fee, I'd still be saving a LOT (I estimate I spend an extra $50 on impulse purchases).
I am in Massachusetts. We have Stop and shop, shaws, market basket (but MB is far away from me)

[Anonymous]

This will sound off but...

Buy cheap cereal from places like aldi or discount stores. Buy in large bulk.

Buy whatever you find cheapest - oat flakes, crisps, bran based stuff etc, rice puffs.

Preheat oven to 300F

Lay down mixed cereal. Drizzle honey on top.

Bake.

Viola, kilos of mueslix.

[Anonymous]

Costco?
Meat can be super expensive so eat more vegan.....
Pasta, salads...
Beans are cheap....

[Anonymous]

Good for you. Just a couple of things to consider, it might be worth it to buy a case of Almond milk. Some places will give you a further discount if you get a case.
I think $20 for TP/paper towels is a lot every two weeks. If you can swing it, I'd go to target and buy a huge package of TP. I've also trained my husband to use fewer paper towels (more for environmental reasons but helps with the bill!) We now use washcloths for most everything in the kitchen, I got a 10 for $5 at ikea.
I'd also consider buying one nice dinner a week. The problem with crash savings is it's hard to maintain for a long time. If you know that you can still have Chinese take out or pizza or steak one night a week, I'm sure you'll stick to this plan longer.

Another thing that helped me was using those check out scanners as you walk through the store (safeway and giant have them). I could scan each thing as I placed it in the cart and then I knew what the total was adding up to.

[Anonymous]

You have nothing budgeted for staples like flour, sugar, etc. You can bake and reduce the snack expenses. Even if you don't bake, there are a lot of things that go into making meals. E.g. you need butter or oil to make pancakes. Same for eggs usually.
IOW: you don't have any allowance for all of the ingredients that transform a piece of meat into a dish. Will it all come out of misc? If so, you need to increase that a lot.

[Anonymous]

OP here again. We don't regularly buy take-out, even when we're not on this strict budget, so I don't think we'll need to necessarily build that in. I agree on the $20 for paper goods- We usually buy the big packs (8 rolls of PT and 12 rolls of TP- usually $7 each on sale)- but then there's also dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent- another $3-4 each (again, the cheap stuff)- but then again that's not necessarily every 2 weeks.
I am LOVING that crock pot website. We do have a CP that we don't use enough. Although it's just 2 of us, I would love to have a bunch of meals in the freezer ready to go.

Questions--
Can you freeze tofu? If I cube it and put it in a sauce, then when we want to eat it, we'll thaw out and then pour it all into the frying pan? (which is what we do now, minus the freezing step)
Do you guys actually keep the crock pot on when you go to work? I am starting a new job in the next few weeks where I'll be leaving at 9am and not getting home until 7pm. We have the "switch to warm" programmable one- so we could do low 8 hours, then switch to warm, but even that's a LONG time. And I always feel our crock pot runs a little too hot/cooks too quick,.
Although, DH only works 3 days/week so I could limit it to the other days since he'll be home.
Oh yes, stop and shop has those scanners too.

[Anonymous]

OP here again. 13:38- We currently have almost 2 bags of flour, a full bag of sugar, two boxes of butter, and 1 big bottle of just-opened oil.
This is still kind of an experiment, and short-term (although, if sustainable, I would like for it to be long-term), so I didn't really include those things that we currently have stocked up.
And we rarely bake or use those things. Oil and butter, yes.

[Anonymous]

I was tired of buying paper towels, so I bought 20 .79 cent towels from ikea, the ones with the red stripes. I wash a bat h about once a week. We also use these in lieu of napkins.

[Anonymous]

If you freeze tofu, it thaws with a very different texture-spongy and tougher. I use frozen tofu in certain recipes, but definitely test a little bit out first to see if you like it.

I think you'll also have to test out the crock pot. I have a non-fancy one and find that if I turn it on before work and work the whole day, it overcooks the food, but having it on warm for a few hours may solve that problem for you.

I think your budget is doable (the only big thing I see missing is fruit), but having done a super low food budget, I'll say that it is really hard to have the self-control to maintain it, particularly if you really like food.

One good cheap snack I like is home popped popcorn. Buy the big generic bad of kernels. Put a 1/4 in a paper bag in the micro for 2.5 minutes, and you have popcorn.

The only issue I see with the way you want to see things up, is that if you buy the same stuff every week, you aren't stocking up when things are on sale. If our favorite cereal is on sale, I'll buy 10 boxes and save a good amount of money (of course you need to be able to ration, otherwise you aren't saving any money).

[Anonymous]

If you like salad, fresh whole cabbage is a good thing to buy. I like to buy red cabbage because of the antioxidants. I chop it finely, and to me it tastes better than lettuce. About $1/lb, so a whole head is $3. Last for weeks without going bad. Provides at least 10 medium salads. I eat it for health, but it's cheap too.

[Anonymous]

The complete lack of fresh produce would kill me. No fruit at all?

You could see if amazon has better prices on some of the things like tp/paper towels/detergent etc.