How do YOU beat high food prices?

I try to buy basic, versitile things like flour, sugar, eggs, butter. I can spend the same on those ingredients and get way more breakfasts than if I bought a box of cereal. Plus I feel better about breakast for dinner if its pancakes or an omlet rather than a bowl of cold cereal (which does have its place as a dinner item too, especially it you are trying to teach independence to an six year old )

Grow my own, plus I have a tangerine tree, so I have plenty of fruit in the next few months. If I owned my own property, I'd get a few chickens to take care of the eggs. In Europe, they grocery shop every couple of days, buying only what's necessary as their refridgerators are very small compared to U.S. Plus, their philosophy is to eat natural foods, which don't keep long, and in small portions. You should have seen my German neighbors when I'd pull up with 400.00 worth of groceries in the trunk...unload...then go to the local German market & return with another trunk load. They became use to it, but as I got to know them more in depth, they let me know I was forever a source of amusement--my shopping style. Don't even get me started on when I would go garden shopping & pull up with the backseat & trunk loaded to the hilt with flowers. They'd all come over & help unload (Germans are truly gifted gardners)...but would laugh, shaking their heads (they grow most of their gorgeous gardens from seeds...not already blooming plants like I had)....

Anyhoo, with this price of food situation, it's going to be difficult for many, but the way everyone eats will have to change so their pocketbooks aren't so drastically effected. Even the military commissaries--which usually have bargain prices--are being hit with increases.

I shop with a shopping list with the weekly specials in mind and (ususally) I don't deviate from it. I plan meals around my shopping list and factor in leftovers for lunch or subsequent dinners. I stay away from prepackaged foods; they're more expensive. I make snacks like cookies and cupcakes and brew iced tea (trying to break my family's soda habit).

I get my eggs from my friend's chickens and grow my own herbs as well as arugula and spinach for salad. (We eat a lot of salads.)

If I decide not to go back to work (I'm between contracts right now) I'll have my DH plant veggies this year in our garden since I'll have the time to properly tend it. We have terriffic soil which means overnight the weeds can reach three feet high!

From years of being a SAHM, I'm very good at squeezing a dollar. I can do a week's worth of grocery shopping and keep a running total in my head over how much I'm spending. It's a skill I've honed with years of practice. <g>

Most of these are things that I've always done but here we go:

1. Never shop without a list.
2. Make a list using the weekly ad and plan menus around the loss leader items (loss leaders are the sale items, often on the front page of the flyer, that the store actually loses money on but are good enough deals to draw customers into the store)
3. Buy on sale - pay shelf price ONLY when you must
4. Stock up on sale items and good buys whenever possible
5. Maintain a well stocked pantry. If I didn't buy groceries - other than perishables like milk - for at least two weeks, my family would still eat and eat well.
6. Buy in bulk if you can. I've been a member at Sam's Club for years and in the last six months, I've been doing more planning, making a trip to Sam's about every six weeks. I save money doing this.
7. Plan meals in advance and do it using what you have on hand, cutting out impulse trips to the store
8. Use coupons but ONLY when it is a item that you normally buy or something new you want to try
9. Cook from the most basic state possible - i.e. fresh if possible, make your own breads/desserts/etc, cook plain rice and season it yourself instead of buying packaged rice mixes (like Rice-A-Roni)
10. Don't think that you can buy groceries only at the supermarket; sometimes places like Dollar General have lower prices on basic items if you check
11. Buy a meat bundle from a butcher that you trust; if you can, raise your own beef/pork and have it processed (or if you have a relative that lives on a farm and raises stock ask if you can go halves on an animal)
12. Have a small or large garden, even a window box with veggies if you can; use local farmers markets for cheaper produce in the spring and summer months.

One new thing I'm about to do is to use Angel Food. It's a non-profit group that allows people to pay $30 for a large box of groceries. Menus vary from month to month and you can also pay more for extra purchases. There are no income guidelines and it is not a charity. Instead, it is a ministry that allows more buying power (with everyone's $30) to buy fresh, new, grocery products at a large discount. I haven't tried it yet - missed this month's sign up - but I'm thinking about giving it a try for next month.

This month's menu - for $30 - included:
May 2008

English Menu
1.5 lb.
Bacon Wrapped Beef Filet (4 x 6 oz.)
2.5 lb.
Breaded Chicken Breast Filets
1.5 lb.
Bone-In Pork Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)
28 oz.
Salisbury Steak Dinner Entrée
2.5 lb.
Beef and Bean Burritos (10 x 4 oz.)
2 lb.
Popcorn Chicken
9.5 oz.
Stouffer’s Flat Bread Pizza
16 oz.
Cauliflower & Carrot Blend
16 oz.
Corn Niblets
16 oz.
Green Beans
2 lb.
Fresh Onions
29 oz.
Pears
32 oz.
Borden 2% Reduced Fat Shelf-Stable Milk
9 oz.
Breakfast Cereal
8 oz.
Corn Muffin Mix
16 oz.
Bean Soup Mix
1
Dozen Eggs
1
Dessert Item

Angel Food is in 17 states, easy to look up and see if it's in your area!

A lot of the tricks y'all can do over in North America just don't work here. Our grocery stores don't have weekly specials, there are no sales, coupons don't exist, and the prices are climbing at an unbelievable rate. Food prices are doubling and tripling in under six months. Fish is no longer on our menu because of the cost.

I already cook everything (or close to it) from scratch. Thank the stars for learning how to cook at a very young age. Canned goods, frozen foods, convenience foods, and the like here exist only in small numbers, and when they taste decent, they're imported and the cost is too much, and if they're produced locally, they're generally not worth buying.

I've lately taken up making our bread, but that's partially due to the low quality, poor selection, and outdated bread they sell and also partially due to me discovering the health benefits of sourdough bread over yeast bread combined with discovering no-knead to low-knead methods that don't kill my wrecked joints.

I've also lately started making my own mayonnaise - imported mayo is now at $8 a jar, and even I'm not crazy enough to pay that. Cat food (imported) hasn't been available for several months now, so even the cat has had a change in diet, although he's doing well.

Buying in bulk here is not wise due to problems with bug infestations and high heat and humidity. Stocking up here means having 3kg of white flour and 3kg of wheat flour on hand instead of buying it as you need it.

But the realities here dictate that what we eat on a week to week basis is determined primarily by the quality of the food at the grocery store when we go shop and secondarily by how high the prices for a given vegetable are that week. Produce quality and prices vary wildly. The last two or three months, all the raisins have been bug-eaten, for example, so we've had to forego raisins in the sweetbread. Flexibility is required and knowing how to modify recipes based on available ingredients is a great skill to have.

Food prices here vary according to what stores you visit. There's a greengrocer on every corner and often they have better fruits, veggies, herbs and eggs than the chainstores. One chain called Half-Price stocks all the brands but at better prices: 1.1 lb rice for 2$ instead of $4 at another store. We use very little prepackaged, canned or frozen foods, buy catfood in 18lb bags, a large bag of litter lasts a month since I scoop 2-3x a day. I buy a 1/2 gal each of red wine/olive oil for cooking every 3-4 mo.

When we 'eat out' it's splitting a plate of Chinese stirfry at the mall, sushi, and soup for 15$, a main meal for 2.

We bring our own drinks all the time: 2 bottles in winter, 3-4 in summer so we're not paying for a cola out when we can get 3 for the same price by filling up at home. These insulated bottle carriers help keep things cold too.

HeronW said:

Food prices here vary according to what stores you visit. There's a greengrocer on every corner and often they have better fruits, veggies, herbs and eggs than the chainstores.

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That's somewhat true here, too, in that we do have vegetable stalls all over the place and they do sometimes have fresher produce, but it's really a crapshoot. BUT the big problem for us is that there are no fixed prices, so with me being white, if/when we go to shops without fixed prices, we're charged 3-20x what they'd charge locals, so it ends up being more expensive than the department store with the fixed prices. If Fahim went with himself, he'd get a better price, except that he sucks at haggling. When his mother goes shopping, she gets the best prices, but she's excellent at haggling since everyone's scared of her . But she doesn't live close enough for that to be a practical solution for us.

Wow. You guys put a lot of effort into shopping. We just go and get it over with as quickly as possible.

I just buy generic or store brands wherever possible.

You have to remember, Shadow, one's living in Sri Lanka, the other in Israel. It's the same here, if I shop on the Turkish economy--though Thursdays, they have a farmer's market, which I've heard is lovely.
I miss shopping on the German economy. Oh, they have THE.BEST.PRODUCE!!!!

I've noticed that if I shop when I'm hungry I end up spending about 50% more.

shawkins said:

I've noticed that if I shop when I'm hungry I end up spending about 50% more.

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You beat me to it on this one. The worst thing to do is stop on the way home from work to "pick up a couple of things". After not eating all afternoon, and thinking about dinner, a couple of things can easily begin to include some appetizers and desert in addition to the bottle of ketchup that was the only thing you needed.

I grow a lot of my own and cook what is in season. Prices fluctuate depending on what is fresh and grown locally at that time.

One thing I failed to include in my earlier post...bakery thrift stores.

We don't have one in our small town but when I have the opportunity to be in the "big" town about twelve miles away, I often stock up on bread and other baked goods at a cheaper price.

Surprisingly, most of the products are still within the freshness date - and sometimes are even a fresher date than some of what is on the supermarket shelves.

Oh, and I agree don't shop hungry and if you can, don't take the kids. They want to add things to the shopping basket that aren't on the list

cut out processed foods as much as possible. it's so much healthier too.
if you read the label and there are ingredients that you have no idea what they are then put it down and walk away.

skip the junk food, soft drink, and packaged food isles altogether.

don't be afraid to eat the same food all week. make a giant pot of soup, spaghetti sauce, casserole, etc... and eat it every single day until it runs out. or make the giant pot, break it down in to daily portions, and freeze it. you'll be happy you did one... those days when you don't want to shop and need to make dinner quick.

most people can open their cabinets and fridge and see lots of food on the shelves and then say, "there's nothing to eat." don't be that person. there's plenty of food. you're just too lazy to cook. accept it but get over it.

let your kids crying for mickey d's go on deaf ears and/or make them earn a trip to the fast food joint. they learn the value of a meal #4 pretty quick.

Bravo's TV program "Top Chef" just aired an episode where the chefs had to create a healthy, nutritional meal for family of four--with a budget of $10. Maybe they have some tips on the website?

I cook at home all the time. My grocery bills are enormous, but I recently did the math and figured out we're only spending $5 per person per day for food. I'd say that's decent, especially when you figure in that also includes paper products and my kids' school lunches.

Agreeing with Siddow. My grocery bill averages 350.00 every two weeks, with at least two 90.00 pit stops in between (you know, the 'I just need a loaf of bread & milk' stop).
But, my normal grocery shopping includes laundry supplies, cat food/supplies, hygiene/hair supplies, cleaning supplies....so the amount actually spent on food? *shrug* I just pile everything into the cart & checkout. Summertime means the cost goes up. Kids pick out more than what they usually eat during the school year...but the food lasts longer because it's too hot to eat heavy meals. Winter's great to pull out the crockpot--which takes care of dinner and then lunch for the next day.
Yep, a list works wonders to keep the cost down.
I've made the mistake of grocery shopping while starving....man...I bought stuff I'd normally not even look at!
The kids are awesome helpers at the grocery store....it's the HUSBAND that piles in all the extras. HE'S the one I need to leave at home, if budgeting!

Oh, I rarely let my husband do the shopping. You would think he had never looked in the cabinet. He's a sensible man, but he starts buying all kinds of things we don't eat or don't need.

Mine grabs the bag of frozen catfish...clutches it to his chest...'Mine'
Okay, honey. You go ahead and put it in the cart.
Then, as if winning some grand prize, he dashes off for tarter sauce. Only.....only....he returns (mind you, he's been gone long enough that I have to call out to him, and have him follow my voice back into the light) with one of those hand baskets full of: cake mix/frosting, some can of corn, pinto beans mix and says this will be grand over eggs, peanuts--every make, microwave meals he swears are for work (we still have a horde of 'em as if they're those military packaged meals & we're stocking up for the big bang!)...and all sorts of items that he 'just wants to try 'em out and see how they taste....'

I still have a bag of shrimp flavored chips that hasn't been opened. Uber yuck! Shrimp flavored chips, SoccerMom....*shakes head*

I made the mistake of sending my husband to the store once to pick up lunch stuff. On the list was Ham and Cheese. He brought back a bone-in picnic ham and a 3lb block of cheddar. Never again.

My husband came home with whole milk last week when I asked him to stop for me. Whole milk! We've been married five years, and I've never bought anything over 1%. I just smiled and thanked him for going to the store. But still, I wonder if he knows there are different kinds?

johnnysannie said:

One thing I failed to include in my earlier post...bakery thrift stores.

We don't have one in our small town but when I have the opportunity to be in the "big" town about twelve miles away, I often stock up on bread and other baked goods at a cheaper price.

Surprisingly, most of the products are still within the freshness date - and sometimes are even a fresher date than some of what is on the supermarket shelves.

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We have one near us. I haven't used it in a while, but it's great when I do. The reason the products are still within date is because those stores get the excess the bakery produces, and they get it pretty much the day after it's produced.

I usually have a list, but I only put the basics on it. For meat, I shop at a discount grocery store and check to see what's "Last Day on Sale." The "best before" date for this stuff is usually that day or the day after. I take it home, and either cook it that night or portion it for the freezer and freeze right away. I've never had a problem with it, and I eat stuff I'd normally never be able to afford, like prime rib and veal cutlets.

I don't tend to find "store specials" very helpful--they often tend to be pre-packaged stuff I don't eat, but the loss leaders are great. This week, the drug stores (of all places) had eggs at $1.69 a dozen (normally $2.29 here.)

I eat all of my meals on Second Life, which keeps my food bills waaaay down.

In all honesty, I make more dishes at home and eat out less, which is a big change for me.

P.S. Unlike other professions, we can call ourselves "starving artists" as a badge of honor!