Hi folks....I am sure you've all noticed the drastic increase in food prices of late. Is it affecting the way you plan your meals? Are you skipping any favorites in your plan. How are you adjusting to it.
I am trying to stay with foods I like - but, buying only produce on sale. In fact...really watching sale items carefully. There are certain things I won't give up. But, in reality - a food budget only goes as far as it goes.
We're eating more beans, quinoa and whole grain pastas and less meat. I can't give up my fresh veggies and produce. It took too long to get myself and my family used to eating veggies and fruits. Also, I've switched to making my own househould cleaners and I don't use fabric softener anymore. When I run out of my laundry detergent, I'll be making that, too.
Honestly,
Maybe its the things I buy but I haven't really seen an increase in food prices. I've seen a slight increase in some things from Costco but not too bad.
I shop at an asian market for veggies and fruit, sometimes the farmers market (now that my CSA is over) and sales at Whole Foods. I still buy some fruit/veggies at Costco, especially frozen veggies/fruit.
I buy some stuff in bulk from Whole Foods but also buy some stuff from Amazon.com in bulk.
One thing I've stopped doing is buying canned beans and instead buy bulk beans. I eat a lot of beans and its easy to cook them in the crockpot (in fact a pound of beans is cooking at home right now).
I do splurge on some convenience items but I've become a lot busier so I rather spend a little money on something I'll eat once in a while rather than spend less money/spend a couple hours cooking.
My food costs haven't increased very much, because I'm devoting more time and energy to getting the best prices. For example, my produce comes from a produce stand in the next town over...it costs a bit in gas, but we save $20-30 over grocery store prices on our produce every week. Everything is in season, and most of it is local.
I buy my meats once a month from a local butcher about an hour away from me, where my family has a cabin. Whenever we go up, we bring a cooler and stock up for the month. Meats there are cheaper than grocery stores, in my experience...96% lean ground beef is only $2.50.
The only time we skip the produce stand produce is if we're planning to eat something that week that they sell at Costco...if we're going to go through the gigantic bag of bell pepper or broccoli, or if we're having a salad or two, I'll get produce there. We also buy any packaged snacks (Sarah likes granola bars), popcorn, greek yogurt, chicken broth, and coffee there about once a month.
The only things I get at a standard grocery store are eggs, bread or english muffins, cheese, staples like brown rice, pasta, etc. and my splurge, individual ice cream bars for dessert. I look in circulars for the best prices on those and go to whichever store has the most deals.
I go to the Farmer's Market, sadly the closest one will be ending at the end of the month, for produce. Watching for sales in the store where I shop and using coupons. I also buy large packages of meat and freeze it in smaller packages when I get it home. I used to go to a couple different stores to get the best deals, but found I was spending too much time and money that way--I wasn't sticking to my list and was over-buying at each store.
We just eat out less. I won't compromise on the types of groceries I buy - so we need to decrease elsewhere.
My Fage is more important for breakfast a few days a week than eating at Applebees
I've made way too much progress to go back to processed foods just because they are cheaper. I have gone back to cutting coupons and all non-edibles are the sale brands only - if my hair isn't quite as shiny because I bought an off brand shampoo, so be it - but the food? No surrender on that front
mj5 - You reminded me of one of the most important things I do - Make a list and STICK to it.
I start each week with a grid of my dinners for that week across the top of a piece of paper. Below that, I write what I'll need to purchase, at what store, for each meal. The list is VERY specific, including counts of produce, quantities, etc.
We have our staples (breakfast items, snacks, yogurt) that we get each week, so those go on the list, as well as anything we'll need to cook the dinners listed. The list is organized by section. I never go off-list at the store. Sometimes I'll build a bit of flexibility into the list (like "snack item" or "2 fruits") and go with what looks best or is on sale, but typically, I write lists so specific that I'm sure anyone could pick up my list and walk out with more or less the same cart of groceries as I do.
We just eat out less. It's easier to stay op and saves $$. At check out the two of us spend $70 a week. Which is a lot. Our food bill has doubled since we started eating healthy. It's easier to get coupons for the "bad" foods!
I dont really know what else to do either... we stock up on meat when it's on sale, but other than that it's all produce and dairy, which never seems to fluctuate in price Or when it does, it's right when we have plenty
gah- i'd love to get our bill DOWN to $70/week.
I have tried everything- budgeting, specific lists, meal planning - and we still wind up spending about $100/week. And sometimes we have to go out for supplemental trips that sometimes cost like $30 extra bucks. :C
I am enjoying hearing the ideas everyone has come up with.
Our bill {family of 5} is about $75/week. Sometimes we go higher, if I find a bunch of "clearance" meat at Wal-mart {they mark down the meat 40% the day before it must be discarded}. I've been buying more frozen and shelf stable foods, like dried beans, frozen veggies, etc. I buy meat in bulk, separate it and freeze it.
Luckily, we haven't been hit too hard in my area. Our prices have gone up maybe 5%...so we can easily compensate by using frozen rather than fresh.
I spend $130 a week for DH and I, but I count my groceries to also be paper towels, cleaning products, cat litter, cat food (I have 3 cats!), things like that. SO not just food. I haven't seen in increase in what I've been spending at all. I shop sales, and I clip coupons. I've always done this though, so I haven't had to change anything I do. Also, if chicken breasts (for example) are on sale, I will usually buy enough of them for a month (not just that week). I also shop at 2 stores. I will go to Walmart or Target for non-fresh food items (paper products, shampoo, cat litter and food, etc) and then whichever supermarket has the best deals that week as the other store. Once a month I will go to ALDI or another store that we have that is like ALDI here and buy canned goods, pastas, grains, etc.
We are a little extreme here, but it does make for a cheap grocery bill as long as my husband the junk food junkie doesn't come along. We buy (or trade) a whole beef about every 18 months, (family of 4), a whole hog, about every year, and buy eggs from our neighbor. We also grow a big garden. I can some items like tomatoes and tomato juice, pears and green beans. Freeze apple sauce and cherries and cellar root veggies like onions, carrots, and potatoes. It's a lot of work, and delicious. I didn't get fat on junk food! (unless you count cream and butter as junk food!)
This morning I picked a small bucket of spinach and a bucket of (leaf) lettuce. This is the first time I've planted a fall garden, and I'm loving the greens this time of year. I'm usually buying them in the fall.
High Food Prices - how are you dealing with it?
Is it affecting the way you plan your meals? Are you skipping any favorites in your plan. How are you adjusting to it.
Or when it does, it's right when we have plenty 
