Grocery Bill Rising?

[langfam]

Is it just me or have you noticed your grocery bill getting higher and higher?? I can't seem to get my weekly bill below $190. It used to be about $160 a week, but it's slowly crept up, but since January it's been very noticeable. We are a family of 7. Do you all spend less? How can I save $$. Any suggestions?

[mull-berry-ish]

The price of wheat is rising. This is partly due to farmers changing over to corn to be used for fuel.

Consequently, the rise in wheat prices affects a lot ... basically anything with flour.

[Mrs. H.]

I hesitate to post how much we actually spend on groceries per week, because it is highly changeable depending on where you live. I do know that dh hunts and fishes, so we get our meat for free, we grow our own vegetables (in season), so pretty soon our produce costs will go down, and we recently planted 14 fruit trees, so in about 3 years, hopefully we won't be buying fruit anymore. Those three things can go a long way in reducing your food costs, but these are not overnight methods.

For quick-fixes: cut back on pre-packaged/convenience foods, cooking most things from scratch. Buy at a warehouse club, but compare prices to make sure you are getting good deals. Keep a price book, and shop loss leaders to stock your pantry. Make your own cleaning products, thus eliminating the need for store-bought cleaners. Use cloth napkins, cloth diapers, and real plates instead of paper to cut back on those costs. Cut out sodas, chips, and cookies, opting instead to make snacks at home.

[Dana in OR]

Things are getting quite high, I am thinking because of the cost to ship items anywhere. The price of gas is getting alarmingly high. It does not help that we only have one grocery store in a 75 mile radius. I do not think they are really taking advantage of that, it's just that everything seems to be going up at once. I *think* I am saving by baking my own bread and pizza (no more going out for pizza). But those savings are quickly getting eaten up by the rising price of everything else. I need to find a few more major ways to economize.

[Basketmaker Amy]

We save a lot using the Grocery Game. (www.thegrocerygame.com) We have more food in our house and we are saving at least 40% each trip to the store. You could sign up for a 4 week trial (use my e-mail as a reference, please!)

For a family of five (with 3 growing boys), our grocery budget is $400-450 a month (includes everthing...paper products, personal hygiene products, etc.) We were spending probably twice that before.

Hope that helps.

[one l michele]

A couple months ago were spending ~ $160 a week (this includes all HBA, cleaning, etc.). We now average ~$120 per week for the five of us. My youngest potty trained, so no more diapers and wipes. Dh and I gave up diet soda (the kids never drank it), we now drink water or hot tea. We also cut out the remaining processed food items we bought for lunches (due to food allergies we were buying hot dogs, pepperoni, prepackaged lunch meats, summer sausage, etc. regularly). We are a dairy free family so that helps. I also started to plan a weekly menu instead of wondering what we'd eat for dinner that night. I've also been trying to prep what I can the night before after the kids go to bed and always have things in the fridge we can simply heat up or eat cold for lunch.

Next big step will be cooking double batches and freezing one - we need to wait a month or two before buying an upright freezer.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

I have to admit I didn't think about this connection much until I read Animal Vegetable Miracle. We are try to eat more locally grown food and also are growing a huge garden this year. When I shop at the market I try to buy items not prone spoiling in bulk (ie rice pasta etc) We eat a lot of rice and pasta. We buy very few convinience foods or prepackaged mix foods (ie no mac and cheese in a box mix, no hamburger helper, no chips or packaged cookies) I also buy meat in large packaged and split it up and freeze when I get home. I make most items from stratch. We don't eat out much and get Chinese take out about once every other week. We put the money we used to spend going out to eat toward groceries and this seems to be working for us. Our one treat at the moment is buying bread at Panera. Actually their bread is not that much higher than the grocery store.

[Jenny in Atl]

I have not noticed much of a change in our total, but then we are a "special" diet family and many of the items that are more expensive we don't eat (most grains, processed foods, etc). My food bills are crazy expensive to begin with, so I hope things don't get much worse.

[Gigi]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/CouldWeReallyRunOutOfFood.aspx

I tend to purchase bulk food and prices have increased a lot the last year. According to this article it looks like there will be even more increases.

[Elisabeth in IL]

Yes, I'm buying the same sort of stuff and my bill always seems to be about $20- $40 more every two weeks. I'm going to have to increase my budget or really buy just what we need, not what we want.

[T Baer]

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[Cadam]

Prices for anything made from any grain, or grain fed are rising..... That is pretty much everything!. My eggs have doubled in the last year. I will be growing a lot of vegetables this year and canning as much as I am able.

[lynn]

We switched to a healthier diet just about the time food prices began rising rapidly so I started spending more anyways. I have noticed since I make my own cookies, cut out lunch meat actually most meats and upped the veg, beans, cook with more tofu, brown rice 1. we feel so much better, 2. the kids get fuller fast don't want to snack as much 3. We have not been to the doctor for illness since we started eating better. It kind of all just evened out. It is only going to get worse so the choice is to either evaluate everything you buy and decide what you can live without or increase the food budget.

[langfam]

I mill flour and make my own bread and the wheat prices have just sky-rocketed! We try to eat healthy, no soda, chips, processed meats, etc. It's the dairy that's really gone up. We go through 6 gallons of milk a week at $4.99 a gallon. Then there's cheese and yogurt! Fresh produce too has gone up. Fruits and vegetables just cost so much. I'm thinking we need to cut back, but don't know where. It's so expensive to eat healthy. I don't even do organic that much. Help...:eek:

[j.griff]

Yes the prices have gone up, and we shop at the commissary. I am so sick of spending so much money on food, we are just going to HAVE to change the way we eat- less bread (the kids eat white bread anyway) and meat- more brown rice and beans. My problem is that 2 of my DC just do NOT eat beans. I am trying to change this slowly- I make them eat three bites every time we have them in the hopes that after trying them x many times their tastes will adjust and they will start to like them. I need to kick the diet soda habit too, as does DH.

[karne]

The price of eggs and milk has gone up considerably. Overall, our grocery budget has increased. Add to that the increased price in gas, and we really feel the pinch. Seems that once things go up, they rarely ever come down.

[Liz CA]

We save a lot using the Grocery Game. (www.thegrocerygame.com) We have more food in our house and we are saving at least 40% each trip to the store. You could sign up for a 4 week trial (use my e-mail as a reference, please!)

For a family of five (with 3 growing boys), our grocery budget is $400-450 a month (includes everthing...paper products, personal hygiene products, etc.) We were spending probably twice that before.

Hope that helps.

Can you give a quick summary - and does it work nationwide?

[BMC]

it raises the prices on everything. Everything.

Who can blame the farmers for switching from wheat to corn? Or selling the corn to the fuel producers instead of the dairy and beef producers if they get a better price?

And to add insult to injury - my mpg has gotten worse too.

[Excelsior! Academy]

Check out E-mealz! We use them. They try to keep their weekly totals to about $75. This does not include breakfast, snacks, or lunches, but is plenty of (dinner) food for our young family of six.

[Lorna]

It has been quite a shock how expensive things are here. Most of the food is at least twice as much as anywhere else in Europe. Last week, for example, I bought a reel of dental floss and it cost 700 krone (which is about 14 dollars at today's exchange rates) :eek:. (that sounds like I eat dental floss, which I don't!).
I am very glad we stocked up on toothpaste etc before we left England. There is 25% VAT here but that really doesn't explain completely the huge price differences. It is 17.5% in England.
Also, we live in central Copenhagen but I haven't found one shop which sells writing paper. I know letter-writing is a dying art but I find this incredible.