when will the grocery bill come down

[Anonymous]

now everything is on sale, the gas price is down but the grocery bill still high.
I am so scared of going into grocery store now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:now everything is on sale, the gas price is down but the grocery bill still high.
I am so scared of going into grocery store now.

Gas is down from $4 but it is back up to $2. Summer is coming so the prices are going to rise. I easily spend $100 every 4 days at the grocery store on milk, veggies, fruit, and meat. I think the prices may get a little better in the spring when fruit/veggies come back into season. Do you use coupons? I look online for coupons and clip what I really use.

For instance the Horizon Milk website lets you print out $1 off coupons. I clip chicken stock coupons, bread coupond, canned/frozen veggie, household cleaners coupons. If I can get to Shoppers during a triple coupon week I save a lot.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the pp that you really have to look for sales and stock up then. For example, the other week Harris Teeter had all of its beef 1/2 price. And last week, Safeway was offering buy 2 get 3 free of Betty Crocker items. So, if you are like my son who wants to make cookies and cupcakes a lot, I stocked up on! I also had a coupon for icing and cookies by Betty Crocker so I saved another $1.80 off the sale price. It takes some work and some combing through of the circulars on Wednesdays, but good deals can be had.

[Anonymous]

I got the Washington Post delivered, mostly for the coupons. The coupons are just not as good as they used to be, and rarely are they for anything I actually use. If they didn't give me $60 in Sam's Club gift cards, I would have felt really ripped off, but $80 for a years worth of papers isn't bad. However, that is way off topic.

I found it is just better to go to Costco or Sam's to do my grocery shopping, and get the little things I can't get there at the grocery. I am spending $500 a month on groceries, and if I used a traditional market, it would be twice that. At the wholesale club I can get two loaves of bread, or what I would pay for one at the grocery. I buy huge bags of frozen, skinless, boneless, chicken breasts, for $13, and I could only imagine what that would run me in Safeway.

When I do have to go to the grocery, I usually go to the Super Grand (Asian Market) because the prices are good, and the produce and fish are the freshest around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got the Washington Post delivered, mostly for the coupons. The coupons are just not as good as they used to be, and rarely are they for anything I actually use. If they didn't give me $60 in Sam's Club gift cards, I would have felt really ripped off, but $80 for a years worth of papers isn't bad. However, that is way off topic.

I found it is just better to go to Costco or Sam's to do my grocery shopping, and get the little things I can't get there at the grocery. I am spending $500 a month on groceries, and if I used a traditional market, it would be twice that. At the wholesale club I can get two loaves of bread, or what I would pay for one at the grocery. I buy huge bags of frozen, skinless, boneless, chicken breasts, for $13, and I could only imagine what that would run me in Safeway.

When I do have to go to the grocery, I usually go to the Super Grand (Asian Market) because the prices are good, and the produce and fish are the freshest around.

Super Grand scares me.

[Anonymous]

While general prices are still high, I've found that the sales have been wonderful. Even Harris Teeter - which normally doesn't have good sales - has had crazy sales on chicken breasts. Often $1.99 a pound (often non-advertised, you have look at the signs near the meat). Giant is finally have good sales again also.

So I just look for sales, stock-up when I can, and then only buy meat that is on sale. And while I prefer to only go to one store, my husband will scan the sales and make an extra trip to another store if the sale is good enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got the Washington Post delivered, mostly for the coupons. The coupons are just not as good as they used to be, and rarely are they for anything I actually use. If they didn't give me $60 in Sam's Club gift cards, I would have felt really ripped off, but $80 for a years worth of papers isn't bad. However, that is way off topic.

I found it is just better to go to Costco or Sam's to do my grocery shopping, and get the little things I can't get there at the grocery. I am spending $500 a month on groceries, and if I used a traditional market, it would be twice that. At the wholesale club I can get two loaves of bread, or what I would pay for one at the grocery. I buy huge bags of frozen, skinless, boneless, chicken breasts, for $13, and I could only imagine what that would run me in Safeway.

When I do have to go to the grocery, I usually go to the Super Grand (Asian Market) because the prices are good, and the produce and fish are the freshest around.

Super Grand scares me.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone tried the Glut Food Coop in Mt. Rainier?

[zumbamama]

I found Shoppers Food Warehouse has better prices on meat than Safeway.

[Anonymous]

I am admiring people that can spend $500 a month to feed a family. We have a family of 4, and we spend about $250 a week at the grocery store. I mostly go to Giant and Harris Teeter because they are closest to me. How does everyone manage to juggle work, children, maintaining houses and cars plus go to multiple stores and clip coupons? I hope I'm not the only one overspending due to time constraints. And I have trouble even getting to Target or Wal Mart some weeks and end up buying household staples like paper towels at the Giant. What a budget buster that is.

[Anonymous]

I've always had a split personality grocery wise (Whole Foods and Costco), and find my bill is really NOT going up. I watch for sales and use coupons (even shopping at stores I never went to like Shopper's for triple coupons and Kmart for "super doubles"). Even though I prefer organic brands, I can find coupons at Whole Foods (Whole Deals flyer), mambosprouts.com, and even in the Sunday paper. If you have favorite brands, sign up for their mailing list - I get e-newsletters from Kashi, 7th Generation, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, etc., and sometimes they include links to printable coupons. I buy meat when it's on sale, often in bulk (Wegmans vacuum seals theirs in realistic portions so I don't have to repackage to use some/freeze rest). I splurge on mostly organic produce, but cut costs by buying whatever's in season/cheap (seen a lot of inexpensive citrus and avocados lately) or frozen.

To cut down on paper towels, one item I did seem to be spending more on, I bought a bunch of cloths to use instead.

For diapers/wipes, I've always used Amazon's subscription service, but I was psyched recently to discover the brand of organic breakfast cereal I like. They were offering an extra 15% off that category that month, so I got 4 boxes for about $10 w/free shipping. Most people don't think of Amazon for groceries, so it was a nice discovery, and now I make sure to check them out every so often...

[Anonymous]

My grocery budget for a family of 5 averages $115 per week. I found that milk did come down by almost 50 cents at Costco. But that's about the only price reduction I saw. Also, I saw that one shopper buys bread at Costco, but this is one item I find cheaper at the grocery store if you buy the store brand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am admiring people that can spend $500 a month to feed a family. We have a family of 4, and we spend about $250 a week at the grocery store. I mostly go to Giant and Harris Teeter because they are closest to me. How does everyone manage to juggle work, children, maintaining houses and cars plus go to multiple stores and clip coupons? I hope I'm not the only one overspending due to time constraints. And I have trouble even getting to Target or Wal Mart some weeks and end up buying household staples like paper towels at the Giant. What a budget buster that is.

Im with ya dear. I average 250 a week for a family of 3....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am admiring people that can spend $500 a month to feed a family. We have a family of 4, and we spend about $250 a week at the grocery store. I mostly go to Giant and Harris Teeter because they are closest to me. How does everyone manage to juggle work, children, maintaining houses and cars plus go to multiple stores and clip coupons? I hope I'm not the only one overspending due to time constraints. And I have trouble even getting to Target or Wal Mart some weeks and end up buying household staples like paper towels at the Giant. What a budget buster that is.

Im with ya dear. I average 250 a week for a family of 3....

This is really where Sam's, Costco, or BJ's really pays off. You only have to buy laundry detergent and paper towels every few months, and for a much better price. Sam's and Costco don't take coupons, and BJ's does, but I don't find it motivation enough to join, since we already belong to the other two. Produce is better at Costco, but diapers used to be $10 cheaper at Sam's (now the same price) and I had two in diapers, so I kept both memberships.

The two of you can do it, you can cut your costs. If you don't have storage space for Costco purchases, you can find a friend to go in on the deals with you. This is actually a popular idea, and I see groups of women going shopping together just for this purpose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got the Washington Post delivered, mostly for the coupons. The coupons are just not as good as they used to be, and rarely are they for anything I actually use. If they didn't give me $60 in Sam's Club gift cards, I would have felt really ripped off, but $80 for a years worth of papers isn't bad. However, that is way off topic.

I found it is just better to go to Costco or Sam's to do my grocery shopping, and get the little things I can't get there at the grocery. I am spending $500 a month on groceries, and if I used a traditional market, it would be twice that. At the wholesale club I can get two loaves of bread, or what I would pay for one at the grocery. I buy huge bags of frozen, skinless, boneless, chicken breasts, for $13, and I could only imagine what that would run me in Safeway.

When I do have to go to the grocery, I usually go to the Super Grand (Asian Market) because the prices are good, and the produce and fish are the freshest around.

Super Grand scares me.

The store itself doesn't scare me. I had never seen chicken feet or some of the more exotic meats/parts that they sell. I was a little thrown off when I passed by them. The produce is great, just don't care for the other odd parts items. They scare me.