I know we are all doing different things. Pills, shakes, certain food plans and such. Has your diet caused a hole in your wallet, or has it helped fix a hole?
For me it has actually helped. We are on a low cal diet. And we cut out hamburger and pork all together. Uped the veggies and fruit, even changed the bread to whole wheat.
I thought the cost of fresh foods would kill us, or they would get thrown out and not eaten. But we are only getting what we need and what we really want. I still buy some canned veggies of course.... but where i dont buy the Little debbie, the hamburger... the oil for frying! I have really saved money.... and lost weight...
We take vitamins, that is the only pills we take.... but even those are inexpensive.. womens/ mens one a day.
I have found we are spending much more for groceries. My husband and I have been on weight Watchers for 14 weeks (this week) and the cost for leaner selections in meat and almost everything else is in some cases twice as much. We haven't really given up anything we are just subbing what we normally get with lower fat. It's crazy but worth it
Tiffanie
Except for ground beef, leaner cuts have always traditionally been the least expensive ones (because they're also the toughest), and thankfully in our area they still are (I would imagine in urban areas where there are alot more dieters this has changed). Our Walmart has great meat and fish (they have to in this area, as all of the grocery stores have great meat and good fish deparments). We're learning the mark down schedulate at Walmart, because you can save 30% (more on the family packs, which we just break down into smaller pieces). Then we just freeze it right away. We found out recently that the jerky cut beef goes on markdown on Saturday night. We can get lean thin slices of beef, for under $3.00 a lb, and it makes great stir fries, sandwhich steaks, and of course jerky.
We also buy the Walmart rotisserie chickens (because they're only about .50 more than whole raw chicken). After we eat the meat, we use the carcass for soup, so we get about 5 or 6 meals for two out of one chicken.
I find that while I'm spending more on fresh or special items and shopping more I'm eating a lot less, so I think in the end it evens out for me or I end up saving money because I'm eating out a lot less.
While our grocery bill has gone up a bit, I think we're ahead because we don't do the drive-thru, take out, and delivery thing multiple times each week. It's amazing how that adds up at $20-$30 a shot.
For me, dinnner's pretty much a wash...I am spending more on fresh fruits and veggies, but less on junk, of course. But definitely saving a boatload on lunches because I am bringing my lunch rather than buying it every day. The calorie and cash savings are substantial! (Not to mention the cash savings from cutting back on my Starbucks habit)
I loved what Katrina had to say about the high cost of future medical bills ~ so true. I know that we spend less as we don't buy a lot of prepared meals or junk food. Our grocery bill is high in comparison to a lot of households but we rarely eat meals out. DH takes his breakfast and lunch to work each day which is another big savings. Do any of you have a Trader Joe's near you? It's my favorite store! Excellent food and the prices are reasonable.
Before my freezer was packed with processed foods, frozen pizza, pot pies, chicken nuggets.... french fries!
Well my sons birthday is sunday, and i bake cakes sometimes... and this year i am doing a 3D Spiderman bust cake.... it is best to freeze them then sculpt them .... well never in my 10 years of cake baking have i had room in my regular freezer ( not a deep freeze) for 4 cake layers made of 2 mixes.
and in moving around what little is in there, i found an old pot pie! i think i will save it to shoot at for target practice on the day i have my party at goal!
I'm calorie counting and eating a whole foods diet.
For the most part it has stayed the same. We don't eat as much meat and if we do the portion sizes are smaller I've switched to getting an organic produce box delivered every 2 weeks and that's enough to feed us until the next box. The box costs as much as me buying non-organic at the supermarket. But the savings is offset by the whole grain products I buy and other organic products I pick up from the health food aisle/store.
Ours has definitely gone up, but I'm trying to be better about using everything I get. I don't know...in our area it seems that all the items to prepare fresh meals all the time come out to more than cheap convenience foods (like Hamburger Helper, Zatarains, etc). If it gets to be too much to handle, I'm not sure what I'll do.
You know, I think we are saving quite a bit. We used to go out to eat WAY too much and have stopped that. But we used to spend about 150-180 a week on groceries (including diapers and dog food). I am doing most of my shopping at Sams now and cutting everthing up into portions and freezing. Doing lots of crock pot meals and things like that. We now are spending half of what we used to spend doing this. I have always been a shopper. Thinking nothing of going into a store and dropping $400 on stupid stuff at Target. I am cutting back on everything now (due to a HUGE investment in our business) and really watching my spending. I am amazed at how much food we were wasting as it rot in the fridge or went past expiration unopened. I am planning a menu for the month, sticking to it, and saving a bundle.
Ours has gone down a little. Prob. not significantly, but a little. I used to buy pop tarts, tons of sweets etc. I'm trying to find healtier alternatives for the kids. So today I bought fresh grapes, apples w/ fat free caramel dip,pudding with splenda. I still want the kids to have things to enjoy. I hope I'm doing the right thing. We NEVER hardly eat out, so that's never been a problem. We will order pizza maybe once a month.
I do what you do Laurie. I make a "meal sheet" to hang on the fridge. Buy all the things necessary for those meals. Then each morning it's easy to look at choose a meal for the day and know that we have all the ingredients for it. That has helped me tons at the store. THen I always keep sandwich stuff.
Dieting and your grocery bill
I've switched to getting an organic produce box delivered every 2 weeks and that's enough to feed us until the next box. The box costs as much as me buying non-organic at the supermarket. But the savings is offset by the whole grain products I buy and other organic products I pick up from the health food aisle/store.
