My grocery bill has increased a bit to, at first a lot but now that I know what I want to eat it has lightened up a bit. I think it all comes even eventually though if I take into consideration what I was spending buying lunch out at work and take out dinners.

BTW ladies, I use cloth diapers too Fuzzi bunz, Baybee's and Magicalls mostly... if you are looking for a bullet proof night diaper you should use fitteds and wool, I stick with disposables for night though.

Heather as you can see we all feel the pain of the pocket book. Buying in bulk does save but I am single with out children so for the most part it doesn't work for me. I started shopping at more "ethnic" friendly stores. I live in L.A. so there are lots of Asian and Latin grocery stores. I am not sure if there are some in your neighborhood but I did a search for you so here's a link:
http://www.switchboard.com/Grocery+S..._statewide.htm
I got a brown onion, a bunch of green onions and a head of cauliflower all for $1.89 total at the local Asian market near my house! Hope it helps

Heather your son is a cutie!

I do agree that at first it was a lot more expensive. I have managed to control my grocery bill by buying in bulk. I get a lot of my fish, produce, chicken, turkey bacon and string cheese at costco. I have found it saves me a lot more time and money.

Heather, he is ADORABLE!

Kara

Oh, he's a cutie and he knows it! I know you've got your hands full. My two youngest are 14 months apart. That makes a lot of diapers.

I agree that eating SB is more expensive. Especially out here in West Texas. I'm paying twice as much for produce as I was in South Texas and it's not even fresh! The frozen veggies are sometimes triple the amount in larger cities -- even the store brand! DH and I have always had a vegetable garden, but being that we just moved, we're not in business yet. We'll have a 200 sq ft fall garden and I've found that it helps the pocketbook. Also, we split a cow with friends of ours every winter and they're usually fine with us getting the leaner cuts. The other things I grow are fresh herbs. The only two we get fresh out here are cilantro and parsley (sometimes) and they're usually pretty wilted even on re-stock day. Sigh. The joys of living away from civilization!!

Yes, I've noticed I spend more, too, but I feel so *good* about myself when I get to the checkout at the grocery store and see all that fresh produce that I know I'm going to eat, the lean dairy and just a little bit of meat and whole-grain breads. It sure beats the cheap but lousy stuff I used to eat so much of.

I think there's a sad statement here on what it takes to eat healthfully in our economy. The cheapest foods in the supermarket are often the most processed and least healthy. No wonder there is such a high rate of obesity among the lower socioeconomic classes. They are the ones with the least money to spend, the least time to spend on preparing meals, etc.

Speaking of time... I also spend a heck of a lot more time in the kitchen on SB!

I find it really expensive- but I also am dealing with a few other issues. I live alone in a city (well... with a roommate who is a takeout king and not interested in cooking or having me cook for him) and have no car- so buying in bulk is not an option. Really, it's about where ever the closest grocery store is so I can get it back to my apartment without bags breaking :P Also, I've never shopped for groceries for myself before, and even when I've gotten a few things that differed from my family's plan, they still had all the basics (spices, onions, garlic, cans, etc). My subletter left a few spices, but not much so I've found myself spending a lot of money on spices or spice blends- whichever I find cheaper. I also have no income due to my internship hours and classes on top of that (places won't hire a girl "volunteering" full time and then 6 hours of class a week on top of that :P) so spending more than $2 or $3 on food a day is really rough on my savings.

I feel like it's worth it, but it IS a struggle. I also worry because I consciously eat a lot less to try to save money- which I obviously should not be doing. I'm learning though and I totally second the ethnic market idea. I go to Chinatown and while it's still much more expensive than my suburban home in Georgia, it's scores cheaper than the normal grocery stores. Plus you can find interesting foods- like sweet potato pasta!

I've always spent WAY too much at the grocery store, so I haven't noticed that much difference...used to cook elaborate meals every day...so what I was spending on real cream and real butter and pricey spices and meats etc now gets spent on more healthy stuff.

The only time I know I spend a lot more is every couple of weeks I go to Whole Foods either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge and lose my mind on the produce which is very expensive, but it's so good and I can find things there I can't get at my local stores. Since I only have one child (19) left at home, I'm now just feeding 3 instead of 5 (except when they drop by to be fed!) and my husband and son pretty much eat only SB too and they are both sticks...if they want something "bad" they can have that either at work or my son can get his pizza and chicken wings when out with friends. I do make them brownies, cookies etc for them cause I know they and my son's friends expect it and love it and I don't want to deprive them of their treats just because I can't have them. At first I didn't and my son's friends would come over and just stare at the cake plate on the counter that is usually loaded with treats. I used to bake every afternoon. Now that I have the will power to resist, it's filled again a couple of times a week. My house has always been the place where kids like to hang out (I made sure of that so when my kids were teenagers, I could keep an eye on them!) And when I had 3 teenagers at home, it got EXPENSIVE, but worth it.

But, I figure spending more at the WF every couple of weeks is a lot less than spending it on diabetes and heart meds and orthopedic shoes later on!

We have two stores that carry tons of organic produce, and natural foods, stuff like that, but it's not cheap. We do have a huge farmer's market every Saturday so I am going to check that out and hopefully stock up on some local veggies. Though I'm afraid of being tempted by fruits. Local farmers also sell meat and cheese that they make, which is cool.

I had to just tell myself it was worth the $. I'm a SAHM and my DH works full time and goes to grad school full time so $ is tight all the time. (did I just say 'time' thrice? )