Saving on groceries?

[Princesca]

Last year, I finally got around to putting us on a budget. I sketched out all the categories, and spending limits, and then... the supply chain crashed. Groceries are now insane. We are spending $800+ a month for two adults and a toddler. That doesn't really even include diapers, but does include laundry detergent, etc. We used to have a Costco membership, but it resulted in us spending more because we'd buy more than we needed. We're looking at possibly shifting to Walmart and seeing if we do better there. Our 'usual' store is Kroger, and they've really cut back on the savings and coupons we used to get. We buy mostly store brand.

We do tend to spend a little more to get organic chicken/turkey, but we've cut back on our meat consumption and pretty much never eat red meat anymore (for other reasons).

What are people doing these days to save on the grocery budget? Unfortunately, I don't really have the attention span for something like extreme couponing.

 

[tvguy]

Our meal planning is done AT the grocery store based on what is on sale. But we have always done that. I can't imagine $800 a month for two adults and a toddler. Just my wife and I, and January and February came in at $250 a month or less.
For example, we try and have one fish meal a week. My wife favors salmon, but at $9.99 a pound we skipped the salmon and got Dover Sole Fillets on sale for $6.99 a pound last week. A fresh veggie, zucchini and green beans, both on sale. We had canned peas and frozen corn at home so also used those for meals.

 

[midwestdee]

If you have an ALDI in your location, you may want to check them out. Overall they have good prices. BTW, when my DD’s kids were in diapers- they belonged to Sam’s Club - we belong to Costco- she said the Kirkland diapers were way superior to the Sam’s Club brand. Aside from stocking up during sales, I use the Fetch app. You scan your receipts for points and can use those for a wide variety of gift cards. I know with little kids it can be hard to find the time for that. I also have the apps for all my grocery stores and make sure I clip the digital coupons.

 

[PAsFab5]

We are at $800 a month for groceries/household supplies as well. 2 adults, teen daughter and 3 dogs. This is split between Sams club and Giant. I buy organic chicken and turkey and we don’t eat red meat. We eat every meal at/from home except 1 meal a week we get takeout (usually Fridays), so that $800 covers 80 meals a month, $40worth of dog food/dog treats, paper products, bulk toilettes and bulk OTC vitamins and medications from Sams. I also get about $30 worth of laundry and cleaning products each month from Grove Co.

I have no tips to help you save, I am sorry. I don’t buy extra, only what we need and I am at the same price point at you with the same amount of people Just know your not alone in this!!

 

[DisneyTexan]

We are spending $800+ a month for two adults and a toddler.

Yikes. Roughly where are you located?

I shop at Kroger in Texas, and I get some very good coupons in the mail. Make sure that your Kroger account has your correct home address.

Last week I had a coupon for $17 off a $170 purchase at Kroger. I made sure that I was spending more than $170, and I was so sad when I realized that I had lost the coupon somewhere in the store. I get a coupon like this about once a month...it seems to be 10% off of a "stretch" shopping trip for me. I usually spend $140 or $150.

Read the Kroger online ad when you are setting up your meal plan for the week. I usually start by planning around whatever meat is on sale. If something is cheap, stock up and freeze it, and then you'll be able to skip buying meat once in a while.

 

[Carol_]

YouTube has answers:

 

[robinb]

The best way to buy groceries is to shop the sales.

There is a website called Flipp that has most of my local grocery circulars online and they are all searchable.

https://flipp.com/home
I start there when I am meal planning for the week. Aldi is also a good place to save, but their produce varies between areas and even stores in an area.

FWIW, I spend what you do on groceries and other home items but I do buy a lot of meat. I could NEVER eat on only $80 per week.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Two adults here. Shopping at Aldi has really helped our budget. We are open to trying anything there as their money back guarantee is excellent. We abandoned being brand name loyal about anything except for maybe a few items where we just can't make the switch. We average less than $400/month but do eat out at least once a week which I don't count in the grocery budget. My husband brings lunch to work 4 out of 5 days and I work from home so no meals out there. One thing I've been paying attention to is portion size which helps stretch the budget.
We do have a BJs membership but are very careful with what we buy from there. Luckily it's in the same parking lot as Aldi so we can run in for just 1 or 2 things at a time rather than doing a giant run once a quarter (which is what we used to do). We have been more careful with leftovers and mindful of not throwing out food where possible. It also helps that for lunches at home I'm pretty flexible about what I eat so I can kind of cobble together a meal out of a little of this and that. DH is more particular about what he takes for lunch and I'd rather spend a little more and know he will eat it than buy something cheaper and it just sits around while he gets lunch out.
Lastly we just cut some things out. My husband used to drink one RedBull every morning. Too expensive now even at BJs in bulk so he makes coffee at home at night and throws it in the fridge so he can have iced coffee on the way to work which he enjoys just as much. We keep some bottled water on hand but now use reusable cups and brita water with a little flavoring if we feel like it.
I'm sure a lot of these things are obvious to most, but for us it was a series of little incremental changes that really helped keep control of the budget while also acknowledging there were certain things we weren't willing to do or that didnt' work for us so it was a waste of money to try.

 

[RamblingMad]

Fry's coupons help out a lot. I used a lot of them for stuff I eat anyway. My SO is impressed by them actually providing coupons in the mail for stuff we actually eat.

 

[georgina]

Another Aldi fan here. I buy lots of fruits and vegetables there, as well as eggs, milk, cheese, canned goods. We don’t eat much meat, each week we have pasta and vegetables, beans and rice and vegetables, and eggs with mushrooms and spinach. I do buy organic chicken at Costco in large quantities. We like Costco soups and will have them for dinner with a salad.

 

[MillauFr]

I just shifted my grocery shopping away from the Pike Place Market and more towards Costco to save money

 

[TwoMisfits]

Last year, I finally got around to putting us on a budget. I sketched out all the categories, and spending limits, and then... the supply chain crashed. Groceries are now insane. We are spending $800+ a month for two adults and a toddler. That doesn't really even include diapers, but does include laundry detergent, etc. We used to have a Costco membership, but it resulted in us spending more because we'd buy more than we needed. We're looking at possibly shifting to Walmart and seeing if we do better there. Our 'usual' store is Kroger, and they've really cut back on the savings and coupons we used to get. We buy mostly store brand.

We do tend to spend a little more to get organic chicken/turkey, but we've cut back on our meat consumption and pretty much never eat red meat anymore (for other reasons).

What are people doing these days to save on the grocery budget? Unfortunately, I don't really have the attention span for something like extreme couponing.

Depending how you eat and where you live, that's not insane. Groceries in every category type are up a ton (either in actual price increases or package decreases, so you have to buy more to get the same amount) since September of last year. And if you're eating all 21 meals in on your own dime (no free school lunches, no meals out not in the budget, etc), that adds up.

As for what I'm doing to save. I already had most of my strategies down before this mess, so not much. For me, I'm also sucking up a huge budget increase, although one thing I do is to refuse to buy certain proteins and products above certain prices. And I do more multi-shop shopping. And that helps some. But this all sucks...

 

[lanejudy]

Several years ago I switched to doing grocery shopping every-other week. I found that when I shopped weekly, I was buying stuff we didn't always use up. By shopping less often, it's a bigger order but I find I end up spending less in the long run. We do make about 1 or 2 quick stops during the week, and have learned to make those very specific like milk. I spend about $600/month for 2 adults and a teen.

 

[amylevan]

Ibotta and Fetch are quick ways to at least make some money back on what you spend. I upload my receipts as soon as I get back from the grocery store each week. Some weeks are better than others, but it helps a little.

Meal Planning, buying what’s on sale, and using leftovers are the best ways. Having said that, our budget is now $1000/month for a family of 4, and that doesn’t include red meat because we buy a quarter cow straight from a farmer and use that. But we also do not eat out, and we have a teenage boy, otherwise known as a human garbage disposal.

 

[jacksmom]

Another Aldi fan here. We attempt to eat healthy, mostly whole Foods. We eat some fish and chicken, husband and son eat limited red meat, I eat chicken or fish once or twice a week only. I buy a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, mostly from Aldi, along with milk and almond milk and a few other items. I check grocery adds and stock up on meat and bottle water when on sale. I buy bread, can goods, certain condiment items at Walmart. I buy paper products and detergent items from Sams monthly.
I still spend about 225/a week for 3 adults, but we eat 95% of meals from home.

 

[afan]

No aldi here but I shop sales at our kroger (Fred meyer) and then look at safeways add each week for thfor sales which haven't been that good in months. They are overpriced so I only buy sale stuff or if freds is out of thr veggies I need. Those are pretty much our store options aside from the few things we get at target or Costco.

It comes down to knowing the price you're ok paying and then waiting for sales if the reg price goes above it. Stock up when it's on sale but only what you'll eat before it goes bad.

 

[DLgal]

$800 is actually pretty good if that includes household items. We are at like $1500 as a family of 4 with 2 teen boys.

Keep your Costco membership and use it with more discipline, only buying needs. Their prices on fresh meats, fish, produce, dairy and cleaning supplies/toiletries/OTC meds cannot be beat. Go more often and buy fresh foods there, and don't get sucked in by impulse buys.

 

[potterfanatic]

We are a family of 5 + dog. Kids are 17,15, and 12. We eat out once a month and we’re at $1,300 a month for groceries and household goods. I our closest club store is 60 miles away, 50 for our closest Aldi. I switched to curbside pickup once a week and have shaved nearly $100 a week off just by not being tempted to impulse buy in the store.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Kroger shopper here. The coupons via mail really help. My usual is $7 off $70. Meat is bought in quantity when on sale. Also shop Meijer when the ads are good-they have had great produce prices lately(berries .99 etc). They also send coupons based on what I buy-that also helps. I use their mperks and lately they have been adding $5 off anything, $2 off anything, etc at random. While I am seeing crazy price increases on everyday prices, the ad prices aren't too bad and it seems like the coupons being spent are offsetting the rest of the increase, so I'm not spending much more than I did before. I'm not much of an Aldi fan as their prices aren't cheap enough to go out of my way to shop-they only have 3 locations within 50 miles in an area of over a half million people.

 

[figaro2tigger]

A few thoughts:

Kroger also has Kroger Cashback (located under savings), in addition to digital coupons and sales.
Combining sales with Ibotta, Fetch, occasionally Swagbucks all add up.
Shop Costco, Meijer, Kroger, Walmart, Fresh Thyme, Whole Foods, CVS depending on sales.

Groceries go on cyclical "super" sales.
For example, Kroger will have 8oz cheese on sale for a limit of 6, then the 16oz a week later (this week in fact), every 6-10 weeks. The use by dates on the last sale were between Aug and Oct
There are two of you, if you will eat that much cheese ,before the use by date, buy the MAX.
For at least the next month or so, instead of spending double the amount for a single package, you will have it on hand for half PLUS you have the money that you would have spent on cheese that week available for other groceries.
Do you like frozen pizza? Mike's Screamin Scicilian PIzza is bogo this week at Kroger.
Breakfast foods (including protein bars) definitely are cyclical. Cereal and breakfast bars have huge discounts in late July/Aug in particular, including non GMO, organic. There are super sales every 3 months as well.
Noticing that your $5 box of cereal is on sale for $2.50 and Ibotta has a $1-$2 rebate/box limit of 5 is a reason to stock up if you will use it before the use by date.
Spending $12.50 for 5 boxes of cereal minus the $5-$10 rebate, so $7.50-$2.50 out of pocket during one week, instead of $25 over multiple weeks. Two adults, if you need more, both buy or go twice or even more. You won't be buying cereal for a few weeks/months, so the saved money is available those weeks for other groceries.
Kashi, Cascadian Farms, Red Mill, Quaker, Post, General Mills, Kelloggs and more all do this.
Whole Foods has rotissere chickens on super sale a few times a year, buy and freeze a few.

There are many ways to save. Figure out what you buy on a regular basis, what your "cyclical stock up price" is and you will be amazed.

Buying what you will USE between sales isn't hoarding, it's why your parents/grandparents had pantries.

Btw, you will quickly notice that razors, toothpaste, laundry detergent etc are very inexpensive on these cycles also.

No time? Do you watch tv? You'd be surprised how easy it will become to load those coupons, click on those rebates, review those ads, during commercials.

Even if you just pick a few things to stock up on between sales, you WILL notice a difference within a month. Keep watching a few items more each month and after 3 or 4 months, your budget will be 20-30% lower AND you will be able to eat out more or "treat yourself" to extras.