Saving on the grocery bill?

[BillysWife]

I went grocery shopping and my bill was the highest it's ever been. I want to cut it down as much as I can, but I'm not really sure how. I've tried using coupons but most of the coupons are for name brands so it's not much of a saving. I shop at a store like Save-A-Lot, so a of things are cheaper. What are somethings you do to save money at the grocery store?

[Donna]

I have a set amount that I put aside for groceries each week. I purchase what I call staples at Sav A Lot or Aldi's....canned vegetables, ketchup, mayo, salad dressings, frozen stir fry vegetables, cookies, fruit juice, butter and anything else that I have tried and found to be good.

I purchase my meats and other items at a local larger chain BUT only when they have a large sale. For instance, this week they had 2 qt of apple juice for $1.00 ..usually $2.69.

Paper products are purchased at a warehouse store (Sam's / Costco)

The biggest thing that I do, is put money aside. For instance: If I have alotted 100 dollars for groceries and I only spend 80, I now have the extra 20 to stock up on the basics for my pantry.

If I had to, I could go several weeks without hitting the grocery store except for Milk...and then I do have a reserve of powdered just in case.

This large pantry has given me the opportunity to share with others when there is a need at a moment's notice.

Hope that helps

Donna

[lisa]

Some things our family does is shop at sam's club. We have a bulk food store by our house that sells bulk food such as flour, oatmeal, brown rice and such for a better price. we usually buy 25 or fifty pounds at a time. One thing that is a big savings is to grow as much of your own food as possible. We do not have enough land for a cow so we buy half a cow from our neighbors every year. This is a lot cheaper than buying from the store plus it does not have all the hormones that store bought meat has. We buy our milk two dollars a gallon from neighbors that have cows our eggs are 1.00 a dozen from neighbors.

One big savings is not buying junk food or processed food. nor only are these foods not healthy they are so much more money than wholesome food.

[benshelpmeet]

"Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without."

This is agreat thought povoking post, just last week a ister I met in town e-mailed me and asked what our family does to save money on food cost. I am going to share here what I sent her.

I would be glad to share what we have done to save money.

First we shop at cost cutting stores:

* Aldi, Milk is $2.29, Sour Cream is .99 cents , real Butter is $1.49 a lb, Corn Chips .99 cents a bag ( we eat alot of Mexican food because we lived in Texas a long time,) They have good prices on dried cereal, ketchup, mayo mustard, spices (great deals on spices), they have good coffee too, yogurt .49 cents, eggs .89 cents right now (Lg eggs,) I do not prefer their hot dogs, but they have great cheeses and lunch meats,they have cheap prices on their self rising and plain flour $1.59 and we get their brown sugar, and powdered sugar, coconut, 3 heads of leaf lettuce is $1.89, and carrots, onions 3lb for $1.49, they have great deals on vegetables, big head of cauliflower for $1.69 , we buy frozen veggies here too ( they have a small selection but they are good,) Frozen Turkey $1.19 lb, Toilet Paper is .79 cents for 4 rolls( I've checked it out it is a good deal, we buy the whole box for about 20.00, think it's 96 rolls.) they have good kitchen trash bags, zip lock bags, bathroom spray.

*Save a Lot: we buy canned veggies here, Mexican goodies like Tortillas, refried beans (you can make your own,) Noodles: (shell, elbow, angel hair spaghetti, spiral, ziti, lasagna,) bacon, hot dogs, corn meal, really good brownie mix ( you can make your own home made too), buttermilk, frozen veggies, sour cream, cottage cheese. I do not like their fresh chicken, I buy leg quarters at Wal Mart in 10lb bags for 6. something???

*Day Old Bread Store : they have good ''Sara Lee Whole Wheat'' bread for .80 cents a loaf, I get their jars of jelly for $1.99 the jar has a handle and makes a great drinking glass. The jam taste great too.

*Wal Mart has V05 shampoo, and conditioner for .99 cents , Family size Cream Of Mushroom and Chicken now is $1.69, we get things at Wal Mart I can't get at my other stores. I do not really like to have to shop at Wal Mart though.

*As far as menu planning, I'm still learning about that. We do not really plan our meals, I just buy groceries for the best deals I can find, and fix what we like, with what we have on hand. It works good for us.

*We eat very little dry cereals (they cost too much.) We make granola and we were buying powdered milk for $14.98 at Wal Mart, but the reg milk prices went down so low we just buy it now. We drink very little milk. Maybe 1 gal a week for 9 people.

*We drink lots of water!

*We use real butter, raw sugar ( I get it in the Mexican section at Wal Mart,) we use olive oil, we know these cost more but it is better for you than other refined sugars, and oils. We use Corn oil instead of other veg oils.

*We eat sweets only on Sundays, tea also. It is healthy for us and costs less.

*We make casseroles with only one lb of meat, that feeds our family of 9. This is very important! We knew a family of 7 who only used 1/2 of meat in casseroles.

*We make our own mayo now and love it. I'll share the recipe!

Homemade Mayonaise

1 egg, 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice, slight 1/2 tsp of salt

Put in Blender mix well on high about 30 sec, then add 2 cups of oil we( use corn oil.)..Note: slowly drizzle in the oil, when the oil is all in , continue to mix about 30 sec to one min until no oil is seen , and it is thoroughly mixed in. This is really good.

*I buy this all purpose cleaner for under $2.00 called Spray Power by Crown ( this is great! stuff.) at Wal Mart.

*We make our own laundry detergent ....we really like it!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 bar of soap grated ( I use Glycerin Dial soap ''White Tea and Vit E,), heat in pot with 4 cups water, just until dissolved, do not boil.

1 cup Borax add to soap when dissolved, mix Borax until dissolved.

1 cup Washing Soda add to soap when dissolved, mix Washing soda until dissolved.

In a 5 gallon bucket add soap mixture to 2 gallons of warm water, stir well.

Let set over night. Stir well. Use 1 cup per lg load.


* Shop at scratch and dent stores.

*Ask for the beef bones from your local butcher, boil and make delicious, healthy beef broth...Feed the bones to your dog or cats.

*We buy 10 lbs of Chicken leg thigh quarters at Wal Mart and we boil the chicken:

Save the broth in freezer zip locks for soups.

Pick meat off the bones cut up and freeze in freezer zip locks for future meals.

Save skin and bones and boil and save for stock.

Give left over bones and skin to your cats.



* When we boil veggies we save the broth ''even Spinach'', for future soups.

*We grow a garden.

*You can check at your grocery stores to find reduced meats and take them home and bag them up in meal portions in freezer zip locks. You can look for reduced cheese, butter, yogurt etc...and freeze them as well.

*Stretch your meals with rice, potatoes, and noodles. Cook lots of Veggies.

*Take a look at your over all spending, not just your food bill.

*Use rags to wipe up spills, use cloth napkins.

*Cut out the News paper, magazines, etc.

*Keep your heating costs down by wearing a sweater and socks.

*Boiling a pot of water for a few min adds heat to the air.

*Use regular 40, 60, and 100 watt bulbs bring alot of heat, and light the room at the same time.

*To save water let small children take turns bathing in the same bath water...no it's not gross.

*You can use left over bath water to water plants.

*Fill a wash sink and a rinse sink, when your finished washing empty the wash sink, leave the rinse sink, next time you do dishes add detergent to rinse water and wash dishes in that water, use other sink to make new rinse water.

*Use a close line instead of a dryer.

*Make your own cleaning products.

*Plan your trips to town, only go once week Also plan your route, do not zig zag from one store to the other waisting gas, plan your trip, write down where you need to go and use your gas wisely.

*Take a cooler to keep frozen things cold.

*For babies make your own cloth diapers and make your own baby food.

*cell phones , buy a ''Go Phone'' ( at Wal Mart) for $19.00 to $35.00 and buy min for approx 15.00 a month per phone. No frills. No Contract. I think they have roll over min too.

* Make your own mixes.

Hope that was helpful!

Love ~ sister Darlene ~

[Tammy]

These are all great money-saving tips, ladies! Darlene, your mayonnaise recipe sounds good - I think I'll try it.

A few months ago I started planning our meals, and it REALLY cut down on our grocery bill. It was a little difficult to do at first, but I had my family help me think of meals we have had and I made a master list of meals to choose from.

Now, I just take a few minutes on Tuesday morning to plan a week's menu, looking at my master list AND what I already have in the pantry/fridge. Then we use that menu to write out the grocery list, and we do the shopping on Tuesdays. (Of course, you can adjust that to your shopping day.)

It really helps!

[BillysWife]

Wow, thank you all for all the tips! I think I will have to print out this thread and put it with my cookbooks to look over when I plan the grocery list!

I would love to have a garden this year, but probably won't be able to since we live in a camper and don't have land yet.

Thanks again for the very useful tips

[benshelpmeet]

Dear sister Naomi,

I was thinking you could have a container garden, Bro George did that...I wish he was here he could tell you what he did.

I'd get 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot or Wall Mart they cost about $3.00, then by some good Organic soil '' Miracle Grow '' a 20lb bag costs about $5.00 at Wal Mart, you can plant pepper plants, tomatoes, okra, even cucumbers and squash and zucchini, you will have to vine them up trellis. You can plant herbs in smaller post, and flowers, these are easy to move.

When we lived in a travel trailer I bought myself a Bistro table and lots of potted plants and I would have tea outside and do my devotions or read a book, just relax up under the shade tree. It was a nice get away from the four walls of the trailer. The three children would play happily outside, it was great. You could put a swing outside under a tree to relax in.

I think a container garden would be great for you.

You can find great garden pots and supplies at Big Lots if yall have one there.

Just a few thoughts I had, I hope they were of some help to you.

Love, ~ sister Darlene ~

[Deleted]

things we do to save on grocery bills.... I am in a bulk buying food coop and that is where I buy my beans, rice, grains, wheat berries for grinding and raisins.

we grind wheat and make our own mixes. I will look over the forum for where to post my cereals. We make granolas and wheatena and maltex hot cereals.

We use cloth things like sanitary pads and bathroom wipes. I buy TP to have on hand for guests though. I use my flannel scraps and sew up diaper wipes and we make a spray cleanser to make the cleansin wipes moist.

I dry canned fruits into gummy snacks for the kids

we watch for good produce prices and dry extras whenever we can

no tv so no cable bill

we eat simple mostly vegetarian meals with dried beans almost every day for fiber.

we shop from a list!

grandmadee

[michelle]

I do a lot of my own mixes. Especially flavored rices. I also make my own seasoning packets.

[rachel4]

I would second what others have said about planning your menu, it helps a lot. Also, I try to make soup twice a week, its nutritious, cheap, and easy to throw into the crockpot while we work on school or other chores. We can eat on a pot of soup for a couple days, some days for dinner, some for lunch.

[beverlya]

I cook from scratch and really watch the sales.

This month I got all our meat for less than $100.00, that's having meat once a day. One of the stores had good sales on burger, pork loin and chicken breasts, then they had $2.00 off coupons attached to meat that was close dated, so I purchased some nice quality sausages and more chicken breast. And they had whole chickens for .88 a pound, so I bought 4 to put in the freezer. We're a family of 3, so a chicken will make about 3 meals each.

We also buy in bulk and keep snacks for special occasions. Popcorn is our staple snack as it's cheap and filling.

I don't use coupons much because I have found coupons are usually for brand name convenience foods that we don't use or expensive cleaning products that we also don't use.

[rachel]

Well, I think the main thing my family does to save on the grocery bill is to grow lots of veggies at home. We grow things like corn, tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, beans, beetroot, potato, and carrots. And we have a rather large herb garden which makes the food taste even better.

We do buy some vegetables at the shop, like peas. We make our own bread but we have to buy the raw ingredients (minus the eggs). A lot of the other things we buy at the shop we get from the discount racks. If something's going for a good bargain, we usually buy lots and lots of it and freeze most of it. We shop every fortnight to get essentials like loo rolls and milk and meat, and we plan out what meats we need before we go so that we get just enough until the next shop and we don't end up eating the same thing too many nights in a row. We usually buy enough so that we don't quite eat it all in one meal and can have some for lunch the next day. When we're at the shop, we keep our eye out for reduced-priced food, too.

Another thing is we keep chickens. Which I'm sure most people here do. We get eggs from the chickens. My father wants to get some meat birds to raise as egg birds taste horribly dry and stringy to eat after they've lived out their lives laying eggs (seriously, we tried to feed it to the cats and even they wouldn't eat it). Chickens also give us a steady supply of fertiliser for the veggie garden.

The area I live has a lot of farmer's markets as well as the organic market which is open all week. Most of the people around grow a lot of their own food, too, and it's not unusual to go to church or the homeschooling group and have someone bring along thousands and thousands of squash or apples or whatever because they have a surplus and want to give them away free. Naturally enough we get that, too. My father belongs to a home produce co-op which meets once a month and trades home produce, strangely enough. So if one person has tomatoes and wants oranges and another has oranges but wants eggs and yet another has eggs but wants tomatoes, they'll just swap it around so they all have what they want. Which works well because we're trading with people who live in completely different climatic zones so that have stuff that we can't grow and we have stuff that they can't grow and both of us would otherwise have to go to the shops and spend lots of money buying it.

Another thing we do is make a lot of our own cleaning items, like toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, disinfectant, soap, laundry detergent, et cetera. You can make a lot of this stuff from things that you'd otherwise find collecting dust at the back of your cupboard or simply lying around the house. A lot of it involved bi-carb soda so it's fun to make. There's a lady around here who runs courses in making that sort of thing at community venues and she's written some book-guide-things with recipes in which is very useful.

I think that's just about everything. Oh, the website for the homemade-cleaning-products-lady is www.theshoppe.com.au. A lot of the cleaning product and other recipes are on the website. It doesn't have so much to do with grocery shopping but I think it's sort of related to this thread.

From Rachel.

[Sister Penny]

I also buy in bulk, I compared prices from a local Old Order Amish store, sugar was $41.68 for 50 lbs, plain white sugar, Sam's was $33. Flour was the same way, I use several flours when I am not milling my own, I get a general all purpose flour, a bread flour and a pastry flour for my pies...I store this all in plastic buckets I got for free at an ice cream place that just recycles them. You can also store them in ziploc freezer bags, its a lot more work. Mine are in a dark cool room and I just recently read about "oven canning" for dry beans and rice..you will have to do a google search but it seems to work great..

Stock up on the essentials, bathroom products you can make yourself, with the exception of bathroom tissue..Scott is the best value and its easier on your septic system.

Cleaning products and laundry soap are easily made and many recipes and sites are online.

I raise a big garden and also go out and pick fruit, I just canned up 23 pints of peaches and 21 pints of peach jam, I have about 15 more pints of jam to can up today, I will sell a lot of it at the fall crafty shows.
During the hunting season they sell carrots and sugar beets in huge bags, 100 lbs for $10, the carrots are odd ball shaped, but you can peel and can those and also make your own sugar out of the beets if you are up to it. I can potatoes, I get them $10 for 50 lbs of nice white ones..they save money, pick up fallen fruit if the orchard is not a regulated one, make canned apples for pies, breads, etc and applesauce is great in place of oils for baking.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Sister Penny

[richshelpmeet]

Penny;
I used to buy carrots bulk like you mentioned. I got mine at a roadside market in either Newaygo or White Cloud, right on 37. It was a blessing as I was able to put back enough carrots for a year, plus some to share with others in need. We love carrots around here and add them to lots of recipes. And you are right, this is the time of year to buy these particular carrots. (Hunting Season!)

Sister Ellen