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

[Arjon]

Neither is completely new to this year, but these are a couple of things I've been more aware of in 2019.

I have pretty much switched to thinking in terms of cost per portion rather than cost per pound or kg. As an example of how this can matter, a 12 oz striploin on sale at $5 a pound costs $3.75, so $7.50 for the two of us. Side ribs on sale at $2 a pound typically cost us more per meal because we eat more than four pounds. We still eat both, but have steak more often and ribs less often than we used to. The savings per meal isn't huge, but another consideration is that steak is quicker and easier to prepare.

I stopped buying ground pork a few years ago in favor of pork loin that I chop in the food processor. The texture isn't exactly the same, but I get a leaner product at a lower cost per pound. This year, I've increasingly partially or completely substituted it for ground beef in various recipes like chili, spaghetti sauce, meat loaf, tacos, etc.

[Ciel]

One part of the rising cost of groceries (not just food but personal care, household items like cleaners or bulbs or green bin bags) is sometimes a product is delisted at one or more stores and then the chase is on to find that product at remaining stores, or find an alternative or travel farther to get said item. (For me, Ozonol ointment fell into the category this summer/fall.)
Add in cost of minimum wages, added carbon taxes on energy/utility bills, rising cost of transportation of items to stores and we all have to help pay those delivery charges, and maybe have less to apply towards groceries unless a certain amount of them are sale/special deals (because I definitely cannot always buy at full price and have money left over for clothing needs or the occasional buy for shoes or bedding etc.
I'm rather surprised online shopping has not dropped in popularity but perhaps shoppers are buying online when they meet the min. buy requirement for reduced or free shipping (or pay the membership fee to get said free shipping).

I keep checking the reduced price areas of stores as part of my regular or restock the pantry grocery runs. Where I have a problem is finding some marked down items (sweets or bakery like buns or flatbread or the occasional flavoured loaf) and getting more than one. Impulse shopping is siphoning grocery money as well as thrift store money. I have to get sterner with my list intentions and attach a $amount and see how realistic my budget is as a result.

[Shwa Girl]

bought some organic crackers at Costco, on sale, which worked out to be 40% cheaper than at regular grocery stores, for the same thing
we keep some in the car and take some to keep in an airtight container at work
whenever we get the munchies are we are on the road, the crackers are great, so you don't end up spending money on snacks

[Edwarder]

Try to increase your income and then shop online, especially online shopping sites with discounts, so you can reduce your expenses.

[alexincash]

Instead of focusing on bulk-buying (Costco) try to spend your money on value items such as a large bag of rice, which can keep you going for a long time

[sweetmomma]

Trying to buy what I think we will eat so we have less waste.

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[Frugalbigmama]

I stocked up on the .50 cent pasta at NF. Figured there are worse things we can eat and happy to have that if needed since it has a long expiry date. I will store it in a Rubbermaid bin in the basement.

[cath007]

Very good question in those covid time.I will try to eat less often take out and kept checking the flyers and redo inventory of the freezer to see what I have to use up...and do menu plans...for sure...but the flyers price just kept going up...

[cath007]

I also noticed less mark down on meat at my maxi those time ...

[Arjon]

Three things come to mind that I've changed since the lockdown. One is that I'm buying quite a bit fewer non-essentials. A top of mind example is that I've only purchased chips once.

Another is that I'm cooking smaller portion sizes when possible. We don't need to eat quite as much because we're less active, which also applies to chips and other snacks.

And thirdly, I'm keeping the freezer and pantry better-stocked by buying more than I used to when there's a deal to be had that's meaningfully better than usual. A recent example was buying lean ground beef even though I had at least a month's worth frozen. I would have passed at the ad price of $2.88 with 200 points per $1 back from my personal beef offer. However, it was $1.20 with over 600 points per $1, so I got enough to stock up to 3-4 months' supply.

[saundyl]

We Stretch our meals - make meals out of leftovers or change the meal from one thing to the other. Meat Sauce can turn into chilli or soup... Leftover meat can turn into awesome sandwiches.

We try to make a point of eating out of the pantry/fridge/freezer on weeks the sales suck.

We live in a "remote" area and food is expensive already but has been going up. Plus currently if we leave the territory we have to plan to take an extra two weeks off work to stay home and isolate per current rules here.

We ARE going out for 2 weeks to take SS1 to college, visit DF's Mom and my mom and then come home. So I've been ordering through Amazon Prime and other places to have groceries - non perishables - that aren't as "expensive" as home shipped to them so we can take them home with us. I'[ve also got a running list of things we need that we will purchase while out of the territory (and use coupons/checkout 51/pc optimum etc).

We also planted a garden again this year - Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Tomatoes, Beets, Beans. Onions. Sadly because it hasnt been as warm/sunny as normal years it hasnt produced as wella s we had hoped but it's still giving us some fresh veggies plus exercise.

I've also taken on a few "odd" jobs like housesitting/pet sitting to bring in some extra money.

[Ciel]

I thought that not buying the smaller garbage waste bags for bathroom trash cans would be a good way to cut back on their cost to offset the 50cent increases on certain regular items that our household needs. I'm noticing that "saving" gets spent on impulse items sometimes.

For me, buying a fruit box for four twice this summer through an online grocery service has helped me get through hot weeks of summer, so I don't risk perishables going mushy on me had I toted them home by cart and by foot in the heat. We've consumed all the fruit except for blueberries in box 2 as I kept forgetting to use them within a week's time. So the berries got fuzzy and I had to put them in the green bin.

My favourite cracked wheat bread is a hit or miss find on reduced price racks but its regular price jumped from $2.19 to about $2.49 in recent weeks. I don't always buy bread but sometimes when the craving for toast hits, I buy bread. I have also sought out wraps on occasion for savoury spreads or lunch meats to have a change.

While I do buy chips on and off (sale for multiples of Lays or Tostitos mostly), I have not jumped on Pop Tart sales as often. The two stores that often have them on sale usually have only strawberry or smores varieties. If I time my sales for Walmart, then I have a few more flavours to choose from.

[Frugalbigmama]

Over the next few days I am getting our freezer ready for winter. BLSL chicken breast and steak will be stocked up on and wrapped for the freezer. Taking advantage of sale prices/personal PC pts. And then I don't have to worry about price increases/shortage/2nd Covid wave/snowstorms.

[Leslie Simpson]

Some of my acquaintances, to "save", buy cheap things that do not serve even 1 season. For me, a reasonable economy is to put aside some amount, buy a good thing that will last more than one year. Well, of course this thing should be on the really necessary list, not just a whim. For example, I liked the chic stiletto heels, but I do not wear high heels, I prefer stable shoes in which you can walk all day and my legs do not fall off. Naturally, I myself will not buy stiletto heel boots, since I will wear them once a year at best, or even less often. As for food, it must be healthy. I do not buy sweets, if I want something sweet, I bake it myself, it comes out several times cheaper. Savings on the quality of food will then translate into health problems.

[Frugalbigmama]

Was given tons of beef jerky, salami and pepperettes. Will use in DS's lunches the next few weeks. Package some up for the freezer to be able to just pop in his lunch down the road.

No shopping until the fridge is given a good clean out and a plan to use up stuff.