What are you doing to deal with the rising cost of groceries?

[Ciel]

This is a good week for fresh stuff for us. Food Basics has strawberries on for $1.67, kiwi $1.67 (about 8 in container) Gala Apples .88LB. My kids love all . Will be restocking the fridge on Wednesday for sure (last day of the sale)

Thanks for mentioning Food Basics-wish to get two packages of 99cents pasta to keep pantry stocked before the sale ends.

[Frugalbigmama]

Except for one or two days when I saw the price dip below $1, I've been seeing $1/l in late afternoons more often at the gas stations.
Many groceries come from somewhere so transportation and currency exchange will be factored into pricing.

After supper last night, I started jotting down some note abouts which reduced produce items work for me and which have usually ended up in the green cart, things I'm not going to buy and to check protein amounts on nutrition labels (and try not to laugh at serving sizes because I rarely follow them). Want to play more with vegetables. Noticed a stuffed tomato recipe using Italian herbed panko crumbs and Parmesan cheese (the prepared tubs at deli are pricey and I know I'd have to use the cheese up within a couple of weeks to avoid waste). I have the regular panko crumbs on hand but not the cheese nor tomatoes-willing to try recipe once to see if I like tomatoes this way or not.

As I have several recipe pages to review as to pitch or not, I'm conscious that some cooking/baking techniques good for cold winter days won't be helpful when temperatures are warmer or muggy (as there is no vent hood over the stovetop), so I need recipes or alternative ways of preparation to have two ways to make a meal plus baking done ahead of need or hunger pangs.

I'm also going to weigh bagged produce just to see how much the scale says the produce ways and compare amount to package number.

Was in a ticked off cleaning mood this morning after breakfast so pulled out the lower food storage drawer contents, wiped drawer clean and stacked like items together because there are too many double packages of rice (at least three kinds), some legumes and such-dropped a list of items in the drawer. Repeated with bottom shelf of pantry and left another list (mentioned the 3 boxes of Corn Flakes).
Fridge-did a couple of shelf cleanups, noticed one old leftover is no longer lurking in the fridge and tossed someone's half-gone green lettuce. Third list on door indicating open jars of pickles, the 2 bottles of juice and one extraneous jarred item that seems to have been inside for months.

I clean the fridge often! I do the same, sort and put stuff together. I fed DS and his friend lunch on Saturday (leftover burgers from Friday night- which was the plan!) I sliced up cucumbers, apples and an orange. All in an attempt to use stuff up (and make lunch healthy!!) They gobbled it all up. I do this often on fridge cleaning day (usually on Sat)

[jasperandchar]

I have been loving shopping at SDM for staples (milk, bread, butter) and they have sugar/flour, sweetened condensed milk on speials throughout the month. I'm earning points and the prices are the same if not lower than our local grocery stores.

I've been having the kids bake during snow days, we leave out enough for their lunches and then freeze the rest for later use. It's sure a lot cheaper and tastier than the pre-packaged granola bars. Yes I buy the granola bars because they are handy but they are expensive.

I've also challenged myself that when I use the oven, I need to bake something. It's been working really well, we're building a nice stock of desserts in the freezers for lunch snacks/desserts.

I'm also making a lot more soups, I keep some out for dh's lunches (in mason jars) and then freeze the rest in 500ml mason jars. Nice and handy & quick for lunches or side dish.

We have pasta once a week either for lunches or a side dish. Supper yummy and filing.

I only buy enough fruits for 3-4 days at a time so they remain fresh.

[jasperandchar]

Last week I purchased 8x whole chicken at Loblaws for $1.88lbs, that's 1 chicken a week for 2 months and the price was fantastic in my opinion.

This week (Saturday/Sunday) I will be buying 12 packages of skinless (bone-in) chicken breasts for $2.44lbs at Independent grocers (ONT) which is also a great price. I love the chicken for making Chinese dishes.

I'm starting to plan for a homemade take-out night per week, I don't know why I ever stopped doing this, I guess I got stuck in a rut. I used to make homemade fried chicken, Chinese, etc and it sure curbed the takeout cravings and it was a fraction of the price. So I'll start that again this coming week (March break) I might even have some helpers (a girl can dream, however, my 14 year old son loves to cook.....so maybe I will get help).

I'm continuing to get my staples & baking goods at SDM and the points are quickly adding up.

[Angela273]

Well inspired by you all I froze 4, 1 cup baggies of sour milk for later use in baking. I already made pancakes and muffins this weekend so will keep for future. A shame to waste it since sour milk works great for baking.

I turned 1/2 a jug of sour milk into cottage cheese curds back in Drcember and it worked great. I used the cheese curds in lasagna. I'd never made it before, but I googled it and it was very simple to make. This is the recipe that I used.
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre...sour-milk.html

[Tweets77]

Except for one or two days when I saw the price dip below $1, I've been seeing $1/l in late afternoons more often at the gas stations.
Many groceries come from somewhere so transportation and currency exchange will be factored into pricing.

After supper last night, I started jotting down some note abouts which reduced produce items work for me and which have usually ended up in the green cart, things I'm not going to buy and to check protein amounts on nutrition labels (and try not to laugh at serving sizes because I rarely follow them). Want to play more with vegetables. Noticed a stuffed tomato recipe using Italian herbed panko crumbs and Parmesan cheese (the prepared tubs at deli are pricey and I know I'd have to use the cheese up within a couple of weeks to avoid waste). I have the regular panko crumbs on hand but not the cheese nor tomatoes-willing to try recipe once to see if I like tomatoes this way or not.

As I have several recipe pages to review as to pitch or not, I'm conscious that some cooking/baking techniques good for cold winter days won't be helpful when temperatures are warmer or muggy (as there is no vent hood over the stovetop), so I need recipes or alternative ways of preparation to have two ways to make a meal plus baking done ahead of need or hunger pangs.

I'm also going to weigh bagged produce just to see how much the scale says the produce ways and compare amount to package number.

Was in a ticked off cleaning mood this morning after breakfast so pulled out the lower food storage drawer contents, wiped drawer clean and stacked like items together because there are too many double packages of rice (at least three kinds), some legumes and such-dropped a list of items in the drawer. Repeated with bottom shelf of pantry and left another list (mentioned the 3 boxes of Corn Flakes).
Fridge-did a couple of shelf cleanups, noticed one old leftover is no longer lurking in the fridge and tossed someone's half-gone green lettuce. Third list on door indicating open jars of pickles, the 2 bottles of juice and one extraneous jarred item that seems to have been inside for months.

Wow! Good job Ciel! I am jealous of your gas prices tho! "Only" $1.10 to $1.12 around here.

[Ciel]

@Tweets77 -noticed the local Petro-Canada station had the $1 price visible this afternoon when I was in the area.
Suggest you seek Warner Bros contests that offer Petro-Can gas cards as secondary prizes. That was the reason I entered a January contest, because I was thinking ahead to lawn cutting time for gasoline purchases.

Fortinos has the PC Blue Menu sparkling water cases priced at $4.99 and had my favourite flavour in stock. Price is not a good one for me. Shoppers had the same product line on sale for $2.99 per case or 2 for $5 (Sat./Sun. special)-only mandarin orange was in stock. Will wait for another day and stock price to be better.

I bought two packages of lentils last week due to a points offer and am not super keen on having it for rest of March but it's protein and maybe I can play with them to make something other than curried stew.

Not buying eggs until closer to Easter as Mom is not eating them. Baking will motivate us to buy eggs for raisin bread and other sweet things about one week ahead of Easter.

Today the 50% off baked goods rack was very lightly stocked in the afternoon-mostly buns not loaves and a few treats. Will try again in the morning for discounted sliced bread.

Personal care items that I favour don't seem to be showing up as sale items of late or in flyers. Need two particular items restocked this month. If I don't make a habit to check the dept in each grocery store, I do not know if there is an in-store special price or not.

[jasperandchar]

bump

[Silk]

I made a big pot of lentil curry with mini-carrots this weekend. The ingredients cost approximately $2.50 (after using a $1 coupon) and it made enough for 4 meals. Put a jar of it in the freezer for when I'm too busy or tired to cook

[saundyl]

We dont seem to be buying as much for groceries. We eat alot of leftovers and with my saxenda/victoza my appetite is half what it was so i seem to end up eatjng the other half of my supper the next day for lunch.

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[Frugalbigmama]

Shopping the sales/planning meals from the sales.
My boys are hungry all the time. I have stocked up on cereal for both of them. (each has a fav kind) Trying to tell my oldest to have a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night.
Freezer is pretty stocked and I have a good assortment. Keep my eye on the deals. This week I have PC PTS offer of 200 pts per $1 spent and 5000 pts when I spend $50 so will be hunting for beef deals at No Frills/RCSS. (I could use lean ground beef)
My mom bought a huge tenderloin and cut it into steaks and wrapped each one. She gave me a bag of 8 so that will be a nice treat soon.

[Arjon]

It has gone in fits and starts, but I've been gradually reducing how often we eat large pieces of meat for a few years now, since long before I started paying much attention to saving. In addition we've shifted toward a larger proportion of the meat we do eat being chicken, turkey and pork, meaning less beef. This has primarily been for health / dietary reasons, but saving some money is a nice secondary benefit.

We also eat only a small fraction of the fast food we used to. It was never all that much, but here again, we save some money even though that's not the main goal.

Also a few years ago, I set monthly limits on various types of snacks like chips, cookies and granola bars. Once again, the goal wasn't monetary. It just happens that many types of fruit cost less per serving.

More recently, like Frugalbigmama, I've increased my focus on attention on planning meals around what's on sale and what I bought on sale to freeze. I've also significantly increased my use of coupons, and I price match somewhat more than I used to.

[cath007]

Like others mentionned check the flyers and planning meals with sales,Price matching what I can ,using coupons accumulate PC points to pay for grocery check the clearance and reduced items,planning meals ahead and trying to have a full freezer.When I have coupons I dont need I trade them for coupons I need,that help too.

[lilo0003]

@Arjon the idea of a specific amount for snack foods is brilliant. I just lumped them into groceries but it they were separated maybe it would be easier to just say no.

[greentires4me]

Groceries were expensive here in BC already I didn't see much of a price change except in goods like personal care items. It's an expensive province and 250$ last pay day covered majority of the groceries I have now in my cupboards and freezer! And I do check the RCSS flyer all the time. As well as no frills.

But I guess just take it all in stride!


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