Ugh. Rising food costs are KILLING me. and my wallet.

[lecale]

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[Darth Penguin]

I wish I could predict the shoe sizes of my children for next winter ...actually knowing what size I need for next week would be a bonus..Kids' feet grow in such strange bursts that I'm sure all 3 of mine have missed at least one size or have neede that size for a week or 2..

[Shwa Girl]

Doritos are a regular 1-2 day special at SDM at that price. WM's 3/$8 special is $9 tax in so it's really not that special of a special.

Either way, leftovers make great pureed soup (or roast squash, onion, carrot, sweet potato and puree that, thinning with chicken stock) or can be diced and cooked up with split lentils and curry powder for another great combo.

Every kind of onion is on sale and you can get the big 7-10lb bags now for $4. With carrots cheap and celery still cheap-ish, you have the foundation for any kind of soup or stew. )

With eggs at $1.50 (SDM: $1.99 less $1WUB2) French toast (with syrup or stuffed with ham and cheddar), western sandwiches, fried egg sandwiches, are all on the menu.

There is always a never ending supply of coupons for everything dairy, including milk, cream, sour cream, cream cheese, cottage cheese, hard cheese, yogurt.

Zehrs, Food Basics and others have frozen cod, haddock, sole, basa, tilapia on for $3-4/lb this week (common sale price)

Food Basics had pears of all varieties for $.88, apples and celery are cheap so that just screams Waldorf Salad to me.

Cabbage is cheap, $2 for a massive one and begs to be made into slaws, chopped salads (think shredded carrot and cabbage, red and green peppers, celery green onions, can of faba beans with a balsamic vinaigrette)

I don't find my grocery bill is any higher, just that we have adjusted to different veg.

Great post. Nice ideas. Thanks.

[krrosell]

I have half of my sons summer wardrobe already purchased. I wait for the end of season stuff to go on sale, I bought 4 pairs of shorts at less than $4.99 a pair and his shirts were under $4 each. I always am buying for the next year so it is very rare that I need to buy anything for the current season. That should keep your clothing budget low.

[krrosell]

also check out haltonfreshfoodbox.com, not sure if you are in the Halton region but you can link to other programs similiar to this. It is $17 for a family and you cannot buy the amount of produce you get in the stores and it is all seasonal and within 100 km of your area. A great boost to the veggies I already buy. I normally only buy fruit and veggies on sale. Also if you have a costco membership- a great way to get cheap fruit. I always find that their fruit (strawberries, raspberries, etc) is cheaper than the stores unless there is a good sale.

[CrazyQT]

Very informative post, lecale. Thank you!

[trishka]

OP, I totally understand what you mean. I usually just stick with buying whatever is on sale and plan my week's meals based on that but it still seems to add up. It is also difficult to keep your grocery bill at a decent price when you have dietary restrictions. A 4L bag of lactose free milk is almost $9 whereas the regular milk is $4.

[torontogal12]

I agree 100% except for the buying shoes at the end of the season. I was once a 9 year old girl with feet that have grown to a huge size. My mom would buy me shoes during winter clearance and my feet would grow so much over the year that I couldn't use the winter boots next year and they'd be a size that no one could use.

I hear ya! We buy what is in season and what's on sale and stock up. Like the squash is $0.59/lb so we are buying and storing in a cool dry place. And apples are 4 lbs for $3, so we can keep these chilled and they last.

We are looking for whatever good sale is on healthy food and trying to combine coupons, points and rebates to keep the costs low.

And love those pink sticker deals where you can freeze food you saved on.

About the boots, save now for the end of season sale so your daughter can get boots for next year, at a rock bottom price. Coat, sweaters, mitts and hats - works for these too

[Patty Smyth]

I pretty much stopped using coupons except on H&B and cleaning stuff.

Since we went vegetarian our food bill has dropped tremendously but I don't shop at regular stores. I find that "ethnic" stores have a much better price. It's about half of what conventional stores charge. We are also willing to buy seconds and day olds this helps a lot. Fruits and veggies don't have to be expensive. Since we changed our view of what real food "has" to look like it helps a lot. What I mean by real food I mean we are not out to find the perfect tomato or the straightest cucumber lol. If a potato has a few eyes then so be it

[lecale]

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[Lyssia510]

I hear you OP. I try price matching at RCCS as much as possible for fruits and veggies, since they seem to be the killer on our grocery bill right now but half the time they never have the right fruit in stock so I end up at Zerhs paying a crazy amount of money for them. My NF,FB and Freshco never have good looking fruits and veggies, they're almost always bruised or rotting.
I try to stock up on meat when it's on sale, but its still expensive.
Most of my savings come from buying clothes with a coupon. I don't like buying stuff at the end of season for next year unless it's something like jeans or a tshirts that can be worn year round because I find my kids are never in the size I think they will be and never end up wearing it.

[roseofblack25]

So true. So we go for frozen veggies now. Like at RCSS, the PC frozen veggies are on sale for $1.89 and the regular price is $2.99. Plus I remember coupon mummy's brag with free Arctic Garden frozen veggies bought on with the online coupons offered on Tuesdays.

It's possible to eat well off season.

That is what I do. I can get 1kg of mixed veggies for like $4 at No Frills and that does me quite a long time being single and just cooking for myself. I also buy frozen fruit too because when it goes on sale it's cheaper than buying fresh.

[Patty Smyth]

My mother always bought a 50 lb bag of carrot 'seconds' every fall from a local farmer who delivered them to her at work. She was so charmed by all the absurdities in the bag that she would did out the ones that looked like little men and gift them to her coworkers before she took the rest home lol. In 50 lbs of carrots you can bet that there were a few rude ones too. Those were for the boss.

lol I just got a bag 50lb bag of "rude" carrots last week at the market for $6

I also got a 50lb bag of potatoes for $8 because the bag was ripped and a few fell out.

[roseofblack25]

I hear ya. It can definitely be frustrating at times. I say do the best you can and be happy with what you do save. I don't care what the price of lettuce is-we eat 7-8 heads of romaine a week...I'm buying it. If it is on sale, great, if not...I'm still buying it and maybe won't buy raspberries that week. In a week, I probably only use 2 coupons, if that. I find now my biggest savings is PMing and stocking up on meat when it is on sale or other things I can freeze. I don't freeze veggies. I just like fresh better. Good luck with eating healthier OP. In my opinion, I would take healthy over cheaper groceries any day.

Wow that's a lot of lettuce!!! I'm single and it's just me so I find the tips of the lettuce starts to go a bit before I can finish it. I find iceburg lasts longer and doesn't go bad before I can eat it, but of course it's not as healthy as romaine. I bought alfalfa sprouts though instead of lettuce this week for a change and am doing tuna sandwiches with lots of alfalfa sprouts.

[roseofblack25]

I pretty much stopped using coupons except on H&B and cleaning stuff.

Since we went vegetarian our food bill has dropped tremendously but I don't shop at regular stores. I find that "ethnic" stores have a much better price. It's about half of what conventional stores charge. We are also willing to buy seconds and day olds this helps a lot. Fruits and veggies don't have to be expensive. Since we changed our view of what real food "has" to look like it helps a lot. What I mean by real food I mean we are not out to find the perfect tomato or the straightest cucumber lol. If a potato has a few eyes then so be it

I live for those "day old" bags at No Frills! Seriously...The last time I got a huge bag of apples for .99. A few of them had some brown spots, but I made two apple crisps with the apples that had spots that I needed to cut out, and I kept the good apples without brown spots to just eat for snacks. I've also bought onions like that too since now that I'm in my new place my onions seem to last forever in the cupboard. The cart with .99 "day old" things is my first hit when I walk into No Frills just to see what is on sale. I also normally get the pink sticker bread too. The last time I was there the cashier pointed out the pink sticker and asked me if they were okay...Um of course! I stick bread and buns in the freezer anyway as soon as I bring them home and just thaw what I need at a time. Being single I don't eat enough of that stuff to go through a whole loaf of bread in a week anyway. I just wish we had a larger freezer so that I could buy more pink sticker things when I find them because I am really limited by having a bottom freezer with those pull out drawers and I only have half of it since my roommate has the other half.