Grocery store a money pit?
 

Does anyone else feel that their grocery bill is getting outrageous?.....

I used to go to the grocery store once a week and it worked out fine...

I don't know what is going on in this past year but I'm there several times a week now and the bill is huge, DH is not happy and I don't blame him...

I've tried coupons but I usually end up just spending more trying to save, the coupons make you buy 2 giant jars of spag. sauce just to save 20 cents....there's no coupons for meat and produce....and the coupons expire to soon now....

I have a feeling it's probably the convenience foods that's a big contributor....

Well, Im out here in California right now, and BOY did I get a big shock when we went grocery shopping!:eek: First of all Im from Huntsville, AL and we have Super Wal-Marts, and Super Targets....not here. People told us the cost of living was higher here, they weren't KIDDING!!!! I was in shock at the prices of things! It's crazy! :confused:

Our grocery bill is out of control and thankfully there is just 3 of us. I am going to start using coupons. My Husband doesnt like me to buy generics in food so thats some of the cost plus convenience foods.

Your right! Food is outragious.
Sugar free, fat free items are even more so. Just another way of
making more$.
Who would have thought chicken would be 3.99lb when not on sale:eek:
Fish too, expensive.
You really have to watch for sales. I hate going shopping. I now go
every two weeks and do it all for another two weeks. Of course milk
etc I buy as needed. I feel so bad for those of your with large families.
I have no idea how you do it.

I go grocery shopping monthly and for a fmily of 5 we spend about 400-450 when we go. Its very expensive but you gotta do what you gotta do lol

man chicken here is like $4.99 a lb. We wait for it to go on sale and then my a few packs and freeze them. I just went shopping at Kroger on Wednesday and before the card it was $201.00 and after the card and all my coupons I got it down to $131.00. I thought I did pretty good. This is just for my fiance and I and it will last a few weeks.

I agree! I just ran to the store to get a pork roast for dinner and I walked out spending 34.00 and I have to go back tomorrow and do my weekly shopping. Plus I didn't buy any unneeded things, oh wait I could have done without that cadbury candy bar!!

I've heard of people doing this but I just can't imagine doing this...everyone would eat everything up in the first two weeks....

Don't you just love watching that amount going down at Kroger when they swipe that card!!!....I don't want to give it to them until they scan everything but some of the cashiers will ask for it up front so I stall like I can't find it ;)

I wish we could get that good at coupons....I never had such luck....

I'm not kidding, my grocery bill is larger than my mortgage payment :eek: , it's so gross.....

I agree! We go to Super Wal-Mart now and it's much cheaper. Some generic things I don't like so that doesn't help. We buy for 2 weeks at a time. Our problem is we eat all of our snack foods within the first week and the second week we are complaining we have no snacks. Sometimes we get into our suppers. :rolleyes: We are really bad about that.

I am desperately missing super wal-mart for the great value and equate prices, lol.

My grocery bill is decent. I spend about $100 each trip and it last me at least two complete weeks, usually I still have stuff left but have to make another trip to get stuff like fruit and veggies. Montly I spend maybe $200.

Of course I only buy for me, and I don't really eat much. I try not to buy many snack items and make meals big enough to where I can eat them more than once. For example I bought a box of lasagna hamburger helper for $1, added ground turkey- $3, and then cooked it and divided it into 3 containers and froze them. Each container gives me 2-3 meal, so for $4 I get at least 6 meals, if not more.

Grocery prices here are out of sight. Someone said if they put a sign up for milk like they do the gas prices and they would see just how much it changes every day, people would scream. Cherries did come down from $6.95 a lb. last yr. :D and I guess they should. A penny a day on one item is 30 cents a month and think of all the items we buy.

I think I could eat cheaper if I ate the 99cent menus all the time at BK, Wendys, and Mickey D's -- course not the best choice but my grocery was almost 200!!!

Turkey Meat is 4.09lb .... Yikes!

I've seen a couple of posters say their chickens are $4.99 lb..wow! it's that much if I get an organic chicken like Bell & Evans but a regular old salmonella chicken is only about $1.29lb....

I just spent $300 this week :eek: for 4 people...I really have to start taking in a calculator or someone has to quit stuffing their face here....

Milk is almost 4.00 a gal here right now:eek: thats crazy, sometime 7/11 will have for 2 for 3.00 thats a good deal, if you have meijer near you they are having there meijer brand sale next week, it will last for 2 wks, thats when i stock up, we really like there brand stuff.

Milk here is 4.59...crazy! we go through a gallon in a day and a half!

OH my!!........ I haven't really been "grocery shopping" for awhile. We actually make a "Sam's Club" trip and spend about 4-$500 on frozen foods and also meats. I buy freezer bags by the case and load up the freezer.... and it really saves us some money. Then I will stop and get a few things (milk bread butter......) so I never have a big weekly grocery bill. The freezer is starting to get a little low, and I am due a trip to the store..... but I am trying to hold out until we can go to Sam's..... especially with the prices that you all have mentioned!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

We are pretty limited as far as grocery stores go around here since one of the main chains closed. Now there is just one chain left, and that's Giant Eagle. Their prices used to be pretty good, but they are going up and up all the time. We have a store here called "Marc's" and I've been going there for most of my groceries. Shopping there is a huge savings!

Milk here is $4 a gallon too lately...

I try and make a list on Friday afternoon or Saturday mornings of the meals I'm going to cook that week for dinner. Then I add in the things we need for breakfast/snacks, and any entertaining we're doing that week. Then either on Saturday morning or Sunday morning, I make my run to the grocery store-usually SuperTarget or SuperWalmart, since I usually end up needing laundry detergent, bathroom/cleaning supplies, and other stuff too. Then, I go to the store, and STICK TO MY LIST!!! I take a pen and cross off as I put things in the cart. It's so hard, but in the end, I can make it :)

Another little trick I try is to add things up in my head as I shop. It keeps me focused on shopping, and not all the yummy or interesting things around me. If something is expensive, and isn't necessary, or I know it's cheaper elsewhere, I circle it and buy it later when it's cheaper.

Forgot to add that I had to start doing this because we're trying to stick to a budget...before I was married, and before we had our house and two dogs, I bought whatever whenever. It's amazing where money can go-and most of my spending was at Target or the grocery store!

Went to pick up some FF milk at the local store.... they had boneless skinless chicken breast for 1.99lb!!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

:thumbup: ;) Gotta love Sams Club and Costco. (i get all the stuff there that we use more frequently, and freeze some of it also.. not to mention the quick/easy frozen meals/treats i get there too!! hehe) so i go to the grocery store, only for the stuff i am out of/needing at the time. (or for stuff i dont get at Sams/Costco)
i knew cost of living was expensive(house prices alone are crazyyyy!!) but i didnt know food/groceries/etc. were that much higher??-interesting!! can you give me some examples of what you found.. just curious-hehe.:p


oh and i too give a BIG:thumbdownthumbs down to milk prices!! haha.:rolleyes:

I've been doing around 85/week. I've found that I can get a few meals out of 4-5 chicken breasts and ground chicken/turkey/beef.

I'm trying to save so I am seriously shopping the sales :)

food outa site!!
 

I have been in the grocery business for 30 years. Some of the major causes for price increases are shoplifting, employee theft, operations expenses, and dwindling farms. On a dailey basis at just one grocery store, at least 500 dollars walks out the door without being paid for.Multiply that by thousands of grocery stores in the US. I have seen baskets of over a thousand dollars worth of merchandise go out the door at one time. Theft is a big racket. People are "paid" to shoplift high dollar items and deliver the goods to a broker, who then sells the items. Most stores have "beer" runs nightly also. One person puts liquor close to an exit door. A few minutes later, another person watches when nobody is looking and runs out the door with it. Customers that bouce checks are "stealing" as well. This is a common occurance around a thousand dollars per month, per store.(or more depending on the area) Employee theft is very common as well. Most are not easy to catch and its not only theft of merchandise, its company theft of time clockings as well. Its a common occurance for an employee to clock in for work and then leave. We had one gal just recentely going to the doctor and Christmas shopping all the while she was "clocked in" and should have been working. Operating expenses are huge!! Here in Arizona, a monthy electric bill is over ten thousand dollars per month. Then there is trashpick-up, gas bills, repairs, trucking and buying the product to sell. Wages and health insurance arent cheap either. Farming is a dieing business. In the ten years I have lived in this area, All the dairy farms, alfalfa, cotton, corn, orange groves, etc are gone.The Phoenix area was one of the major agriculture producers in the US. Now its 90% houses. I think its a crime. Once its farm land, it should stay farm land. It wont be long until all of our food will be imported from Mexico. Milk is expensive because cows are expensive to maintain. Dairy farmers have to get hay further and further away from home because the alfalfa fields are being turned into houses at 200 acres per week. The cost of gas to ship the hay to the farm is so expensive that I am surprised that milk isnt 8 dollar per gallon.
Please think about this as you shop. It will be easier to see why everything is so darned expensive.

i live in california also me and my fiance ae 18 soon to me 19 next month and 19 so we dont really care bout gettin the top of the line stuff and we useually shop at ralphs and walmart and spend les then $50 every week becasue we look for the $1 sales on food lol we go to diff markets if they having the $1 sale lol grocery shoping for us is fun lol if you dont ming me asking where in cali are you staying im in los angeles

Yes, it's just outrageous. I'm so proud of me when I can go and come out for less than $50! :p Same here. I know generics save; but, some of the veggies are just not good. And, life is too short to save pennies on food you either have to make yourself eat, or end up throwing away :rolleyes: Try over $5.00 for whole! And, my daughter won't drink anything but milk. :eek: We average about a gallon every two days.