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

[lecale]

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[pamjcoupon]

I know. DH and I both take salad with chicken for lunch everyday-that's about 7 heads and then if we have 1 salad during the week...we like our lettuce I guess

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.

[Midnightly]

i do the sale clothing for my kid.. i'll admit to having bought shoes that are 3 sizes too big for her simply because they were a great deal and she will grow into them same with super clearance jeans..

food is a tricky one.. we can't control the prices we shop sales but sometimes things go up and they don't come back down or go onsale what they used to.. (it's getting harder and harder to find campbell chunky soup 3 for 5, and now safeway has stopped carrying turkey flavor i'm annoyed at them and i'm down to only 1 store that sells it) and produce gets expensive.. sometimes you have to wait 6+ months for something to be in season again and it sucks

[krysta lynne]

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..

it's insane how fast feet grow!

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.

i try to buy at end of season but it seems the kids keep skipping sizes lol, my three year old is in size 5 and 6 clothes, my nine year old daughter is so tall she is in twelve year old clothes, and both are growing so fast

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.

my feet are 11 and their father is a size 13 lol neither of the kids stand a chance of having little feet lol

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 agree, pretty veggies dont matter to me either, im also a vegetarian, but the rest of them eat meat so i cant cancel it out of the budget. i'd have a mutiny on my hands lol

i do the sale clothing for my kid.. i'll admit to having bought shoes that are 3 sizes too big for her simply because they were a great deal and she will grow into them same with super clearance jeans..

food is a tricky one.. we can't control the prices we shop sales but sometimes things go up and they don't come back down or go onsale what they used to.. (it's getting harder and harder to find campbell chunky soup 3 for 5, and now safeway has stopped carrying turkey flavor i'm annoyed at them and i'm down to only 1 store that sells it) and produce gets expensive.. sometimes you have to wait 6+ months for something to be in season again and it sucks

ive been known to buy things that are way too big simply because i know they will grow into them. i also try to sell old clothes in different fb groups to recoup and put toward new clothes.

shoes are trickier. arg.

[krysta lynne]

ANNNND just found out tonight that I am getting a puppy tomorrow. O_o lmfao! i definitely need to get my hands on dog food coupons. filled out the mypuppy request form yeah free puppy food!

[DolceBella]

I was telling my husband at the end of September how incredibly frustrated that I was having such a hard time staying within budget for food. We have a $110/ week budget and eat very healthy. I was finding that most weeks I was spending close to $200 to get what we needed. To me that's too much to spend (it's my husband, myself, my 3 year old and 22 month old). My husband challenged me to spend only $60 a week through October. At first I thought no way, never can happen, but I did it every week, while still eating healthy. We swapped half the greek yogurt we eat for regular yogurt (I was spending $20 a week on greek yogurt), we stopped buying pop, we made vegetarian meals at least twice a week and stopped making multiple trips to the grocery store in a week. I was amazed at how much I was saving by making a few little changes. I told my husband for November I was going back to the $110 budget and to my surprise I spent $60 again last weekend. I now don't feel frustrated by the budget, I feel as though I have tons of wiggle room.

[krysta lynne]

I was telling my husband at the end of September how incredibly frustrated that I was having such a hard time staying within budget for food. We have a $110/ week budget and eat very healthy. I was finding that most weeks I was spending close to $200 to get what we needed. To me that's too much to spend (it's my husband, myself, my 3 year old and 22 month old). My husband challenged me to spend only $60 a week through October. At first I thought no way, never can happen, but I did it every week, while still eating healthy. We swapped half the greek yogurt we eat for regular yogurt (I was spending $20 a week on greek yogurt), we stopped buying pop, we made vegetarian meals at least twice a week and stopped making multiple trips to the grocery store in a week. I was amazed at how much I was saving by making a few little changes. I told my husband for November I was going back to the $110 budget and to my surprise I spent $60 again last weekend. I now don't feel frustrated by the budget, I feel as though I have tons of wiggle room.

i try hard to stay in budget. it just gets overwhelming sometimes. i feel as though there is no wiggle room for me most of the time. my son will only eat specific foods, im vegetarian, and my daughter and fiance are not. I basically cook/prepare three different meals at dinner time. Not always, sometimes I can get a good meal from their sidings of vegetables and such, but most nights I just make myself something separate. It can be frustrating.

[lecale]

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[avoncallingu]

Thanks everyone for the GREAT suggestions! Lots of good ideas here!

[Minou]

So glad to have my sons' winter coats and boots already bought on clearance. I feel a little bit sick when I walk into stores and see all the new winter clothing and new holiday-themed stuff for sale at close to full price. Maybe time is moving faster as I'm getting older, but it seems like they were just clearing that stuff out! I'm kind of feeling like I should grab the few things I still need for Christmas gifts and then stay out of the stores until January at least! I'm feeling very jaded!

Grocery prices being high or not, I'm finding my biggest challenge these days to be having the energy to make supper at the end of the day! Wish someone sold really healthy frozen meals!

[roseofblack25]

I know. DH and I both take salad with chicken for lunch everyday-that's about 7 heads and then if we have 1 salad during the week...we like our lettuce I guess

Ah that is why so much lettuce! I mainly use it on my sandwiches for work...I don't eat a lot of salad during the cold months, and maybe eat one 3x a week in the summer depending on how warm it is out and if I feel like cooking or preparing something.

[Insane]

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..

Tell me about it!! I bought my preteen 3 sets of shoes in the space of 6months. Everytime I'd go up a size (well like 2!) he'd need 3 pairs of shoes-indoor, outdoor and court shoes. Poor kid was afraid to tell me his shoes were hurting him the 3rd time cause I'd just bought him new shoes 2months ago! Fortunately, I think his shoe size is starting to stabilize. He's wearing a men's 12! But I noticed the other day he's starting to outwear his sneakers before he's outgrowing them.

My grocery budget has ballooned too. I find it is impossible to keep it under $200 a week now. A year and a half ago I could keep it under $200 and sometimes around $150. Usually it's $230ish. I'm not sure if it's the preteen eating me out of house and home, the toddler who eats table food or the fact that we eat healthier now. More organic, no more pizza pockets/pogos, ect... My inability to keep the grocery budget under wraps actually causes me a fair amount of stress.

[trishka]

Iceberg is great as a stir-fry vegetable so if it starts to look rough, I fry it up with oyster sauce, salt and pepper. For an all in one dish I stir fry in cold rice, and maybe scramble in an egg. Very authentic Chinese dish. It's is a great way to use up a bunch fast, before it turns.

Was going to suggest this too. Romaine does cook as well and tastes similar to spinach when cooked. I've also chopped lettuce and used it in soups.

[scrapbookingoasis]

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.

I love the pink sticker bread too! Family of 6 so we go through a lot - disappointed today that they didn't have any but I think Thursday you seem to see pink stickers more so I may have to go back later. I only bought enough for this week in bread since it wasn't a pink sticker. When they have pink stickers I buy at least 10 loaves.

[hollyquaiscer]

I purchased a small bag of green grapes the other day....$7.56 I almost cried. I wanted to put them back, but both y grandson, my dh and myself love the huge ones that are like golf balls and they are hard to find. AND, yes it was worth it, they were gone in 1 evening. I agree though, I usually purchase what's in season, but every once in a while it's nice to have a treat. It's hard to keep the bill down when you're trying to eat healthy. I don't have access to a root cellar or even a basement so it's hard to buy in bulk. So I shop every sale and the farmers market. Also, I make everything from scratch that I can, it is definitely cheaper.