Is going to go up, up, up. DD1 is home for the summer.....she is home for 3 months and now I will have to get used to shopping and cooking for 4 again. It is funny how you adjust once one is gone. Main thing I can see increasing is cereal. She and DH are big cereal eaters.....myself and dd2....not so much. I expect to go through more bread, milk, and lunch type items too. Need to get on the bandwagon and really plan meals and shopping a bit better.
I have noticed the last few months that the Sunday coupon inserts have not been that great....at least for food type items. I am finding it harder and harder to consistenly get really good deals. I notice every 3rd or 4th shopping trip I tend to do really well. That is when I seem to get a "good" insert of coupons and I use them all at once and have great savings for that particular trip.
I guess we will see what the future holds....wish me luck!
Grocery Bill
May 26th, 2011 at 04:15 am
May 26th, 2011 at 05:03 am 1306382628
Lots of cereal choices if family is flexible, we've been buying store brand in big plastic bags and mixing it with preferred brands.
I recently went through the pantry to get it more organized and jotted down several items I want to use up. I have two, opened pkg. pancake mix so once a week we'll have something battered like... fish ,apple fritters, clafouti, dumplings for stew, waffles for chicken, beer bread and anything anyone can suggest.
Routines and schedules go off the rails during summer so meal planning is imperative, the easier the better. Anything in a crockpot keeps the house from heating-up, ready to eat for late arrivals, healthier and cheaper than take-out.
Chicken is usually sale priced for holiday weekends and can be stretched with two side dishes, salad and veggies. 4 bean salad stays fresh all week in the fridge, vinegar based coleslaw is better day 2.
May 26th, 2011 at 05:22 am 1306383727
I've gotten DH to learn to make the no knead bread recipe. If you eat a lot of bread, and you want to give one or two family members a summer project, could save you a bit of money
For produce, definitely check out the produce stands, hit the frozen food section. I also don't bother with brands, or at least pick your battle with them, or if you are super duper sneaky, save the brand box of cereal and pour the bag o' store brand cereal in it. Another trick is to check out Walgreens and Fred Meyer, just to see. Sometimes odd places have the cheaper prices. Final tip is to look in the ethnic grocery store - sometimes staples there are slightly lower. No guarantees, but some ideas. And good luck to you, too!
May 26th, 2011 at 01:55 pm 1306414512
May 27th, 2011 at 09:58 pm 1306529931
Jerry