Little secret
Buy bulk online. Not just warehouse stores. Everything is getting really expensive so do that soon.
First thing you do is build a pantry. And do shelf life homework. Learn how to store and what kind of bags you need. Storage bags and freezer bags are two different things.
It's not that hard to do and takes very little time. Very much worth the time. If I can do it so can you. Almost everything I ordered I did it late at night. Not even an hour of time. So it doesn't eat up your personal family time. And it comes to your door. No going out, no confusion, no making time to shop. Just fill that pantry. Once you get used to doing this it will all fall in line. The Fed Ex man knows my name. LOL.
Target
Walmart
Krogers
Wherever.
They all have something to offer.
Sometimes there are items on sale that are only online. I built two pantries with online sales. The only thing we go to the store for are cold/frozen items, meat, fresh vegetables or fruit.
Learn to freeze items. You'd be surprised how long some things can be frozen for. And what you can freeze.
Good luck. Don't wait. You need to get on this now.
Oh and buy water. Whether you drink it or not buy it. CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.

Buy on sale and plan your menu around the on sale items. Buy as little prepackaged as possible, those snacks cost a lot of money.

Oh, PP at 18:13 here ... all the references to tofu reminded me of the delicious NYT recipe that I made last week that was my first foray into tofu. They were soooo good, go heavy on the cabbage: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024956-sweet-chile-grain-bowl-with-tofu?unlocked_article_code=1.RE0.KQHq.hxaG1nUHZDka&smid=share-url

Also, I forgot to mention -- I have been watching a lot of extreme budget meal videos on Youtube. A lot of what you see there isn't great (lots of canned soup in stuff, yuck-- we are trying to be healthy here) -- but I got super inspired watching one woman make her own pierogis for like nothing, and now I make my own pierogis and they are the most delicious thing ever.

I've been working on our food budget, too. The focus it has required has not only helped us save money, we are eating healthier and better as well. I've had to learn to cook a lot more than I did though -- I'm not sure why you are spending more than you feel you should, but for us a lot of the money was spent on expensive prepared stuff.

Some budget meals that have been working really well for us have been omelets for dinner, homemade soup and bread (I made the NYT Baked Potato Soup last night -- it might have cost like $2-$3 per serving), homemade baked beans are amazing -- it's like they aren't even the same food as the canned stuff, I have a Moosewood recipe for "Skinny Tuesday's Red Beans" that is one of my favorite things to eat and it costs so little to make. But really the big thing for us has been eating what we have; one of the reasons our food bills were too high was that I'd buy stuff and then be too tired to cook, and it would go bad. To avoid that, I'm going to the grocery store more often to avoid buying a bunch of aspirational groceries on Sunday that I intend to cook later in the week that I never end up cooking and stuff goes bad. Huge waste of money. And I'm trying to be good about using everything; we had a rotisserie chicken this week and one night we ate chicken with mashed potatoes, and then I pulled the leftover chicken and used it with some leftover veggie chili to stuff enchiladas (easy -- spoon some canned enchilada sauce in a casserole dish, warm up corn tortillas, spoon filling in, roll up, place in casserole, cover with enchilada sauce and cheese, cover with foil and bake until it is all melty). Then I put the chicken carcass into a bag in the freezer, and today I put the part of some green onion tops I didn't use for the topping on the baked potatoes and two little garlic cloves that weren't worth using into the same bag. I'll keep adding veggie scraps until the bag is full and then make a stock. For use in delicious soup. So using everything has been big for us.

Also, I finally caved and got a Costco membership. There are some things that we eat a lot of that have made it worth it (for example my DH eats a Chobani yogurt almost every day and we save a ton buying a big carton at Costco ... but yogurt is good for that, it lasts a long time).

Shop at Aldi. That's the main thing. We have no problem staying under $150/week for a family of 4, including a pretty hungry tween, this way. We do make a trip to another store with different selection every couple months but I'd say we are generally under $800/month total.

I like to buy online and then pick up (to avoid delivery fee) because it enables me to keep discipline and avoid impulse purchases that I seem to make when I go into the grocery store. It also enables me to leverage sales strategically and buy more of my regular items when they are on sale.

Anonymous wrote:I will be the voice of dissent and say i think you’re doing great at 1200 a month or 13 dollars a day per person for all meals (does that figure include household goods like paper products?)

I wouldn’t try to cut it more because then you are veering into eating so cheap that you end up eating really unhealthfully, e.g starchy carb upon carb like potato soup with day old bread and a slice of american “cheese.”

I guess you could also ask yourself what your time is worth and start doing things like baking your own bread, making your own beans from dry, buy dry milk and reconstitute it, go without for yourself, buy the cheapest coffee and drink it black, make sloppy joes with lentils instead of meat, look for the marked down dented cans at the back of the store, etc. but again? What is your time worth?

I have to tell you, it is 2024, food prices are up 40% from where they were in 2019. It
Is a different world where your old 99 cent/lb ground beef is now 4 dollars/lb if your lucky.

I would concentrate on eating healthfully, less so on pinching pennies, becauee you pay for your diet, one way or another. Save money now, get diabetes later.

Junk food costs more than healthy food like fresh vegetables.

Giant is pretty great.
Where I live, you can get grocery pickup for free, which 1) is a huge timesaver, but also 2) allows me to be very strategic about what I put in my cart and how I meal plan, because I am able to cross reference my recipes online and pantry restock with the week's coupons and sales.

I usually start with looking at their website at what meat and seafood is on sale, because that is often the big ticket item for the day.
If chicken legs and pork shoulder are on sale, I cross reference with my online recipes and then plan out from there.

I usually save $60-100 a week shopping this way, and then I also earn extra reward points by shopping whatever items they are pushing. I usually get an additional $20 off every grocery bill from rewards points.

I tend to impulse buy when I shop in person, and I miss so many deals. The online cart has really forced me to cost compare and I've cut my grocery costs by 1/3.

Anonymous wrote:Rice
Pasta
Potatoes
Beans
Eggs
Oatmeal

Only get fruit you will actually eat, don’t let it go bad, don’t buy organic for bananas, oranges, apples, etc that are not porous. Only buy what is on sale.

Eat all your food before you buy more.

Don’t shop at Whole Foods

Organic is all marketing bullshit anyway.

Best thing you can do is meal plan, including using leftovers if you have them. Also learn to freeze unused portions of ingredients. For years if I used just part of a can of tomato paste or chicken broth, I would end up throwing the unused portion out. Now I measure it out, and freeze it, and label it with the amount. Or only use recipes that use all of an ingredient (full can of tomato paste).

I went to Aldi’s for the first time this weekend. I keep hearing it has cheap and good produce. I found it to be almost as expensive, bad looking produce. Maybe I just hit it on a bad day. Others have said it’s good, so maybe it’s worth a try. Just do not get your hopes up. I expected sparse, and it was still disappointing.

Frozen berries instead of fresh (I nuke for 30 seconds and my kids love them)

Intermittent fast (I skip breakfast; if I have a big lunch, I’ll have an afternoon snack and skip dinner)

I don’t send a snack with my kids to school. It’s a pain with all the allergy restrictions, and they don’t need to eat all day. They can get breakfast and lunch there.

No soda. Make water your main beverage (for the adults). If you need juice, cut it with water.

Anonymous wrote:If you like Campbell's Chunky soup like Sirloin burger or beef w/ vegetables, Giant has on sale for $1 a can (you need to buy 6 cans).

Gross

I will be the voice of dissent and say i think you’re doing great at 1200 a month or 13 dollars a day per person for all meals (does that figure include household goods like paper products?)

I wouldn’t try to cut it more because then you are veering into eating so cheap that you end up eating really unhealthfully, e.g starchy carb upon carb like potato soup with day old bread and a slice of american “cheese.”

I guess you could also ask yourself what your time is worth and start doing things like baking your own bread, making your own beans from dry, buy dry milk and reconstitute it, go without for yourself, buy the cheapest coffee and drink it black, make sloppy joes with lentils instead of meat, look for the marked down dented cans at the back of the store, etc. but again? What is your time worth?

I have to tell you, it is 2024, food prices are up 40% from where they were in 2019. It
Is a different world where your old 99 cent/lb ground beef is now 4 dollars/lb if your lucky.

I would concentrate on eating healthfully, less so on pinching pennies, becauee you pay for your diet, one way or another. Save money now, get diabetes later.

Only buy items on sale. Don't care about brand name.