We are also primarily vegetarian, and that's what keeps our costs down as well. Dried beans are cheap and make many servings at a time. I started using my pressure cooker alot more this winter and I'm loving it.

Can someone share their shopping list for one example week - specific quantities if you can? Rough menu.

I'm just amazed by this - grocery store purchases are our biggest budget offenders.

I realize I'm getting exactly the wrong message from this thread, but it's making me starving!

Anonymous wrote:Oh my, OP here, yes that's a typo, I mean $200 a week, would like to trim to $100 a week. Also, I spent some time online today comparing Wegmans "regular" prices (they don't seem to do a weekly flyer) to Giant's regular and sale prices. (I usually shop at Giant.) For all my regular weekly items (organic milk, Fage, Sabra hummus, wheat thins, etc.) Wegmans was cheaper every single time. And a quick check on meat prices, even against Giant's sale prices, Wegmans was still cheaper. It's about a 25 minute drive, but perhaps it's worth it, at least 2 times a month to stock up. Thanks for all the idea!

I spend $100-125/week. Family of 2 adults, 1 child, 2 cats. That number includes cat food and litter. It does not include DD's school lunch, which is about $85/month.

We eat almost exclusively vegetarian at home. DD and I are not fish-eaters, but DH is. He will get tilapia or salmon if it's on sale - buys 2, freezes 1. For a while we were going to H Mart and he was getting his seafood fix there. Was also a cheap source of produce. However, the quality of the produce was a little dicey - things would go off a lot faster than they would from Giant or HT. I also found that it was a lot easier to stick to my budget if we only went to one store.

I plan 6 meals for the week. They are not restricted to particular days and sometimes they overlap (same pot of black beans can be used for tacos as is used for soup, tomato sauce can be used in various ways, etc.). I have a few things available for breakfasts. I only buy things I know that we're going to eat.

I also indulge in Wheat Thins, but I recognize that buying a big box of them adds $5 to a bill. If you're trying to reduce your weekly bill, cutting a lot of "nice to have" $5 items like Wheat Thins or making your own (like hummus, which you can make for about $2/cup with a food processor) will reduce it by that much. As one PP pointed out, not buying meat (even on sale) helps keep expenses down. Buying things like black beans, red beans, etc. dry rather than canned helps. Buying blocks of generic cheese and then grating them is often cheaper than buying pre-shredded cheese.

In the winter, we eat a lot of soup. Vegetable soup. Bean soup. Tomato soup. Butternut squash soup. In the summer when there are cheap fresh vegetables, we eat a lot of those. Roasted. Grilled. Raw. Salads (sometimes yes, the dreaded tacky pasta salad!).

Anonymous wrote:Doing weekly grocery at trader joes has drastically cut our bill.

This, combined with meal planning has reduced our bill from about $200 to $100 a week for a family of 3 without any real effort to save money.

We are mostly vegetarian, and I typically rotate proteins each night - lentils, chickpeas, black or kidney beans, white beans, seitan or meat substitute, eggs, and chicken or fish one night. I usually buy beans and chickpeas canned, as I don't like taking the time to soak them. Starch is mostly brown rice, whole wheat couscous, whole grain pasta, and potatoes. We do lots of veggies with each meal, both fresh and frozen. DH and I usually have leftovers for lunch the next day and I buy mostly whole wheat bread, turkey, cheese, hummus, yogurt, peanut butter and fruits and veggies for DDs lunch. I usually buy one snack item, such as granola bars, but otherwise try to avoid most processed foods. We use lots of herbs and spices (mostly dried herbs in the winter), and we grow our own herbs and many of our vegetables in the summer, which helps reduce costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of 4 here.. We spend about $60-$80/ week. Mostly that is produce, meats, dairy. We typically create our menu based on the produce & meats/seafood on sale.

The rest I buy on sale with coupons & stock up. Most coupons are on a 6 week roatation, and about every 3-4 months the sale matches the coupons. So stock up what you need for 3-4 months. I pay less than $1 for cleaning stuff, toiletries, paper products, pasta, etc. Our grocery store accepts competitor coupons which also helps.

OMG! PP where do you shop? I can barely feed a family of 4 for $150 a week. We do lots of produce, fruit, and organic when feasible.

HT... I don't buy everything organic. Just milk/dairy products, chicken, and generally dirty dozen produce. I also buy the large packs of snow peas & Brussel sprouts from wegmans. I use abt $30/week in competitor coupons.

Anonymous wrote:Since I cook from scratch, very very rarely is anything I buy "on sale" and NEVER have I had use for a coupon.

Really? Produce, meat, and dairy all go on sale. So does flour, vinegar, sugar, baking soda, etc. etc. etc. If you don't WANT TO or NEED to pay attention to sales, that's your prerogative, but please don't tell me that because you cook "from scratch" you couldn't be saving money.

Aldi Aldi Aldi. All day.

Since I cook from scratch, very very rarely is anything I buy "on sale" and NEVER have I had use for a coupon.

Anonymous wrote:How much cheaper is ricotta on sale? 30 cents? Some of this seems overboard.

Agree! If hubby wants baked ziti, how much will you actually "waste" by fulfilling his craving?

How much cheaper is ricotta on sale? 30 cents? Some of this seems overboard.

Pp here, we buy all organic so was turning out v.expensive in other places

Doing weekly grocery at trader joes has drastically cut our bill.

Aldi and buying on sale.

We're at about $125/week, for a family of 4. We eat well, with a variety of meats, btualso sometimes eat convenience foods. It's really all about meal planning with the grocery ad in front of you, and stocking up when things are on sale. Not the stocking up as in 20 pounds of chicken at one time, but buying a couple of extra packs of chicken and freezing the rest, or buying meat that is marked down and using it the next week.

Some of it is planning in advance, but some of it is a feeling in the store - oh look, here's porch chops marked down, I have X or y to use as a side, and can go back and grab brussell sprouts or broccoli to round it out to a dinner.

Or my husband said, before I left for the store, how about based ziti this week, we have all the ingredients except ricotta. Well, I replied, i'll see if it's on sale, because I hate to buy it when it's not. Nope, not on sale, so didn't buy any, so the pantry staples can wait until I notice ricotta on sale and then pick some up.

We also cook a big stew on Sunday and have at least 1 night, if not 2, for leftovers. And Friday night we eat frozen pizza.

So for me, it's more getting into a groove and then it's easier.