Every time I go somewhere like Target, I'm surprised by how empty it is. Yet the grocery stores appear busy. I guess we still have to eat But what about the types of food we're eating, has it changed? Do you have diet specific foods that you're avoiding right now? Are you more careful with your food dollars, or are you still willing to spend more on healthier foods? On the same note, are you dining out less and cooking more?

I have noticed the cost to emptiness as well. I find that depending on the cost of the strore brand and the name brand and what the product is. i have been buying more cheaper stuff on some things food wise.

It's only really begun to hit me in the purse. I find I'm buying less of things that people have recommended only because right now I need to be sure I'm going to use all of the food I buy. It makes me kinda sad, actually... I LOVE to try new things...

I am having a hard time buying any kind of food, much less healthy foods

My gracious food is terribly high lately. I was at the check out the other day and the lady told me, "$163.00"...i looked at my buggie that was not even half full and said, "really?" and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "yeah, i do this all day long and i find myself looking at the price i say to people twice, cause it just doesnt look like they bought that much". I was just shocked. I mean $163 bucks for feeding a family of four some cereal, lunch for a couple days, and dinner for two days?!?!?! and there was not a big ticket item in my cart...i kept thinking...did i buy a big bag of dog food or something and nope...very depressing. So it hit me like a ton of bricks. OUCH! I am paying almost $6 for a gallon of milk...it must have gold in it.

Usually i just buy whatever i am in the mood for...until this passes or i win the lottery, i will be buying whatever is on sale.

I've started buying the store versions of product name-brands to save money.

I was always kind of a brand-name snob before, but that has gone out the window along with the economy.

Suzanne - the grocery stores are NOT as busy as they normally are for the season, at least in CT (I work in the grocery industry)

as far as my personal grocery habits - they certainly have changed. the more i'm spending in gas, the less I have to spend at the grocery store, and I'm on a VERY tight budget as it is.
i'm buying less meat, poorer quality cuts than I would prefer, and shopping sales almost exclusively. I am buying almost 100% frozen vegetables because i can stretch them further, and i have cut "treat" nights out of the budget (my bf and i used to have a wine and cheese night about once every two weeks, but at $40 just for fancy cheese and crackers, it just isn't happening right now)
I have a budget of about $150 every two weeks for groceries now, and while we are not starving, that is for three meals a day each for two people. i'm lucky enough to get free lunches at work about twice a week, and that makes a difference. i usually take leftovers from dinner to work, while he will take cans of soup and cereal.
for a couple who prefers whole, fresh foods, few starches, and nice lean cuts of meat we are definitely suffering. lots of ground beef and chicken, while we would definitely prefer specialty cuts of beef or bison, and fresh fish.
I am still cooking healthy foods but the quality has definitely changed, and a number of things i am buying are items i would not normally make a part of my plan, so i am cutting portions on "danger" foods and while i am not going hungry, i definitely don't have the luxury of not being concerned about portion size at the moment, which when i am eating the foods i prefer on my plan, i don't think about as much.
we just filled our oil tank, and while it will last until november, it cost close to one THOUSAND dollars. for the record, we live in CT, we rent, it is just the two of us and a cat, i don't make much money but he does and our combined income is just about six figures, we're very frugal and rarely eat out if ever (birthdays and the occasional pizza night) neither of us are in considerable debt (we both do have car payments, i have a student loan and our combined credit card debt is about 2k) we're trying to live on just what we make and not make it worse. we have a decent savings but are both employed and would rather sacrifice luxuries right now than touch that money. we both have secure jobs - people will always need to eat and have electricity, but you never know what is going to happen. i changed jobs recently - for a pay cut - but it was a good move as 4 months later my former place of buisness closed thier doors for good.
he travels over an hour to work every day, and my commute is 20 minutes. most of our money is going toward some kind of fuel right now just so we can work and be warm. we take vacations at home. we live on a golf course and he loves to golf but only does it here now where it is free rather than traveling the state and enjoying other courses. we both drive fuel effiecient vehicles and buy "regular" gas but "regular" is almost $4 a gallon.

oh, i neglected to mention.. i get a 20% discount at work, and while i do work for whole foods, that still makes the food cheaper than anywhere else and i am still having this trouble... i have also always been a GREAT bargain shopper..I don't want it to sound like i've been whining because i can't buy my expensive cheese... I can fill my cart at almost any grocery store and come out ahead... but it used to be $40 for a full cart and now it's $100.

We have three grocery stores within a five minute drive of my home. I actually take the time to look through the sale papers to find the best store to shop at that week and my coupons. There are stores where I go just because they are having a meat sale or something I buy alot of is on sale. Also all the local stores have 10/10 sales on alot of convenience items like pasta/tuna fish/canned soups etc. Those two things usually decide what store I go to that week.

To me - my eating is the most important thing. We don't eat out often anymore anyway, so the food I eat at home has to be stuff I really enjoy.

We have cut down in other areas - less driving, being frugal with electricity, shopping at Goodwill, etc.
Food won't be one of those areas. Although I do stock up on my favorite things when they are on sale. Just makes sense

I've been splurging on food ever since I changed my life in 2004, but recently I've started economizing. Today, I had to really think hard about cage free eggs (up to 5.29) vs. plain old eggs (2.29). I went back and forth, thinking about more chickens in cages and finally bought the cheapest version of cage-free eggs available (about 4.00). Last year at this time, I wouldn't have thought of and just blissfully grabbed the 5.29 eggs.

I'm very glad the local markets will open soon. Probably the first of May. Local produce! Were also networking to find drug free meats for the freezer... locally.

Yes........healthy food was already expensive enough,now I don't even hardly go to that section unless I really have to get it..

I have definitely started researching recipes that do not call for meat and perhaps beans instead for protein. I have also started clipping coupons and only use them if there is also a store sale on the item as well. Mostly I'm really switching over to store brands even more so now before half the stuff I bought was store brands but now my basket is more store brand as opposed to name brands. I am also preparing my pantry to be able to cook from scratch even more so than what I have already been doing like making my own spaghetti sauce instead of buying a jar of spaghetti sauce and I am finding that my own homemade stuff is even more delicious lol. I am learning also how to cook tougher versions of meat as opposed to getting the best and more expensive cuts of meat. I'm still in the process of educating myself on how to do all of this but two weeks ago I paid $100 dollars for not very much stuff at Walmart and I actually found myself in the parking lot in my car after unloading the basket going over my receipt very carefully to see if there had been some mistakes made like perhaps she double checked some items but nope there was no mistake made. So since then I've been devising a plan of action and have bought and checked out several cookbooks from the library. I have already informed my husband to prepare for perhaps several meatless dinner nights. And now in my area gas just went up to 3.39 from 3.19 yesterday. I'm starting to feel a bit of a crunch myself now and am starting to get a little worried. We also are definitely cutting down on dining out to perhaps once a month. My husband has a job that is among the first to usually be affected by a sluggish economy since usually when a sluggish economy starts up then people don't buy new cars or trade in their gas guzzlers for example and people start bringing in their cars less to the mechanic shop and then add the fact he pretty much works on commission only so we're battening down the hatches to be on the safe side.

I have actually spent more money as of late because I have bought some appliances that will help me save money in the future. Changes I have made

• Shopping sales more frequently - I currently have 53 bags of steamer veggies in my freezer
• Cooking more from scratch - bought a rice maker and stopped buying little bags of pre-cooked rice that you nuke ($2.00 a bag vs. 15 cents for rice AND spices)
• Soy milk - bought a soymilk maker and non GMO soybeans
• Making bread in the breadmaker (using the okara from the soymilk maker for protein )
• Dragged out of storage - pasta maker, yogurt maker, air popper
• Bought coffee pods off ebay
• Shopping Amazon grocery sales much more frequently (Balance bars, India Kitchen products, Gen-soy bars, ww couscous are all recent sale items)
• Cooking beans from scratch - rather than buying canned (my pressure cooker came out of storage for this one)

Non-grocery changes - I'm walking more and driving less. And I'm considering a scooter or other small motorized transportation.

Yes! Everything is much more expensive now, not just healthy food but everything! It's terrible. I went to the grocery store the other day to get a few things. I spent 98.00, and I only had two bags (they weren't even full bags!) I couldn't believe it. To top it all off gas by me as of today is now up to 3.70 a gallon! Somethings gotta give here