Is your grocery bill out of control

Also maybe buying shelf stable foods like beans and rice can save you money and you get protein and fiber. Try and buy things on sale and use coupons. I mainly shop at WAL MART also but I like HEB too.

Buy fruits and veggies when they are in season that helps to keep prices low. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy caned foods and they may even be more nutritious.
 
amyshulk said:
What is depressing is that all of the good for you foods are so expensive, and the cheap stuff is why we have an obesity crisis!!!

I just got back from my bi-monthly shopping trip - 2 carts full and an empty bank account :cry:
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That's why I have such a cranky shopping trip. I make most of our meals and I'm not one to serve a bunch of boxed junk for supper or any other meal for that matter.

I don't know if any of you are into canned veggies. They're not exactly my favorite, but I have supplemented some of our veggies with canned veggies which has saved us quite a bit in that department. I bought a 6lb can of Green Giant corn for $2.39 the other day @ Big Lots. I rinsed it, drained it, divvied it up, and froze it. Sav-A-Lot has green beans, kidney beans, mixed veggies, corn, cream corn, sauerkrat, sweet potatoes, tomaotes, you name it for cheap as well. Even the no salt added canned veggies are very reasonable.
 
I don't know if this works all the time but those coupon dispensers that give out coupons, usually the item they are giving out coupons for will be going on sale soon, so grab the coupons and save them for next time instead of using it right away.

One thing I learned with the grocery game is that there are phantom sales and rock bottom sales. If you wait until it's rock bottom pricing and then use you're coupons, you'll save a lot more. Sales also go in cycles. When it's at rock bottom, stock up and buy enough to carry you through to the next rock bottom sale so you never have to pay top price for the things you have to buy anyway. I do this with shampoo, conditioner, tooth paste, toilet paper, paper towels, deodorant, lotion, or anything non-perishable or freezable.
 
Wal-Green has good sales also...I know they have a good coupon game going, but I haven't learned all the rules yet ~ lol!! Anyone have a copy??? I see people all the time posting about Wal-Green sales and how they got even more off, but I haven't learned exactly what they are doing yet :scratch:
 
ping1970 said:
Wal-Green has good sales also...I know they have a good coupon game going, but I haven't learned all the rules yet ~ lol!! Anyone have a copy??? I see people all the time posting about Wal-Green sales and how they got even more off, but I haven't learned exactly what they are doing yet :scratch:
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JZ is good at posting their $5.00 off coupon in the coupon section when any are available. Also, there are nine freebates this month some of which do have coupons floating around out there. So, you can get free products and a few extra dollars in your pocket.
 
I wish more coupon internet sites didn't make you download that stupid coupon installer thingy! I caught a virus one time from doing that and it leaves behind all sorts of messies. I love printing coupons off of the computer, though. I usually find some pretty good ones.
 
A good place to start is your local phone book. They will list your local wholesalers under meat or produce. Most will sell to regular consumers if you buy a large order.

If you live in an area that does not have a major city, go to 411.com. Under business listings, type in meat wholesaler. It will list all the meat wholesalers in a wider area.

Good luck
 
Miki, we don't have the "pick 5 for $20" at our Sav-A-Lot but I wish we did! I spend $30+ alone on meats. I try and hit Kroger on their Meat Madness sales. I can get almost twice the amount of meals with those meat sales.
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You have to go through it really good to find decent packs of meat, some of it looks awful. They are also a LOT smaller now than they were so really, if you look carefully at the sales you can buy more meat for that $20 but, I try to at least get 2-3 a month. Didn't have this special in CA either when I lived there.

I'll tell you, the best deal I ever got was a roast for less than $2 at kroger, it was a mistake but, she sold it to me anyways.
 
I'll tell you, the best deal I ever got was a roast for less than $2 at kroger, it was a mistake but, she sold it to me anyways
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I know the feeling! Kroger had angus roasts marked down to $5 last month and I bought 4 of them!!

Thanks for the info, Wolfie!! I'm thinking bacon, chops, burgers, steaks, roasts, and ribs!!
 
Anytime.

You know what else I do, for milk. If I can't get to Costco, I buy it at a convenience store. For some reason they are at least $1.75 cheaper per gallon
 
They recently opened up a meat shop here for some reason and have wonderful price and really good quality beef. The more you buy the better deals you get. For some reason I always think about Sam the butcher on The Brady Bunch when I go in there even though that isn't what it looks like ~ lol! Anyway ~ I will go in and buy ground chuck in 10 or 15lb (they always fresh cut it for you) and either pat it out in hamburgers and freeze it or put it in freezer bags to use for cooking in recipes. I have gotten it for $2.49 a pound like that and it is angus beef also. We have also bought a whole sirloin cut up in steaks and got it for $5.99 a pound. We were in hog heaven over that one! We love to grill!!
 
Another great way to save is to hunt and fish. You'll have meat in the freezer. That's the only way our family had so much growing up. Because we would fish and hunt. Today we do the same crawfish crabs and shrimp. In hunting season we eat deer duck rabbit and squirrel. I don't like squirrel too much though lol.
 
When I was young, you went to the butcher for your meat and had your milk delivered and left in the milk box on the front porch.

I stock up and freeze meat when it's on sale. This week, boneless chicken breast is $1.59/lb. at the one grocery store which is the lowest I've seen in awhile. I won't buy any meat for over $1.99/lb. with the exception of rib roast when I buy it for Easter, Christmas, or a special occasion. Then I will pay no more than $4.99/lb.

My husband does bring home seafood for free that friends we know may give him when they've been out fishing, clamming, etc.

There's no hunting out here, but we don't like the taste of wild game anyway no matter how it's prepared.
 
I remember a lot of things like milk delivery and having gardens and with 10 kids we had to get real creative with food. We had tons of beans and rice. It's strange that back then people had more kids and they managed to make it. And we know they made a lot less money. Honestly I don't know how they did it but I guess times sure have changed.
 
cin said:
I remember a lot of things like milk delivery and having gardens and with 10 kids we had to get real creative with food. We had tons of beans and rice. It's strange that back then people had more kids and they managed to make it. And we know they made a lot less money. Honestly I don't know how they did it but I guess times sure have changed.
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They didn't eat out like people do nowadays, and they didn't buy boxed convenience food to make meals. They cooked from scratch.

My parents once and awhile might buy us each a Swanson tv dinner that came in the aluminum tray back then when they had to go out somewhere; but we rarely ever had them, and I really didn't like them anyway--still don't.

Once we move, I'm going to reestablish a garden again. Despite what else I might grow, I always grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, parsley, and chives.
 
Yeah no convenience foods and I remember we could only have one glass of milk with dinner. Now that I'm grown I drink all the milk I want lol. My mom cooked a lot but we had to divide any big piece of meat between all of us. I love having a garden. Now since my girls are grown I don't cook very much because DH doesn't mind. I never went to a McDonnalds until I was probably a teenager.
 
We have a huge garden every year. I keep telling Jimmie to quit playing around with things that we won't eat and just plant stuff that we will though ~ it doesn't matter if he can grow a 100lb radish if no one will eat it, right? So plant tomatoes, potatos, onions, corn, green beans, squash, watermelons(really good crop this year!) and pumpkins so we didn't have to buy any for decoration. Everything went really good this year except our onions. It is a good thing that we had plenty that I had cut and frozen from last year left over. Hopefully it will last through the winter...
 
Also, although we didn't have all the different varieties or brands that we do now, we had all kinds of junk food back then too--cookies, chips, crackers, candy, etc. Junk food is also very expensive.

Back then parents didn't make those items normal staples of a shopping trip. They were occasional treats, and you weren't allowed to sit there and eat the whole bag or box either. I remember we would eye the stuff when my mother bought it, but we didn't dare touch it without permission. When my mother did allow us to have some, she would say how much we could have.
 
Jimmie buys a lot of junk food...I think it is because he was never allowed to have it growing up...he tries to keep it put up, but that makes the kids want it worse. So I do try to buy them some healtier stuff. Ashelyn loves string cheese so I will buy her that instead of chips and both of the girls love crackers (Austin PB) so I buy those instead of chips. I also keep Ritz crackers on hand instead of chips. I can't say a lot though, if there are chips in the house I will eat them too, so it helps me also, but if I can have a choice between chips and a good apple I will choose the apple almost everytime! I love fruit!
 
I had a garden a few years back and had lots of tomatoes and bell peppers. Some cucumbers and green onion. It gets so hot here so fast that it is hard to keep a year round garden. Some of the fall veggies are good to plant now I think. Like brocoli and cabbage. I can't wait to have a good garden and I want some chickens so I can have my own eggs.
 
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