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Budgeting groceries

Budgeting groceries

LonelyStar
Joined: Dec 2021
Posts: 100

LonelyStar
Joined: Dec 2021
Posts: 100

Budgeting groceries
9/16/2022 at 1:55 PM

I am watching my newphews for a number of months, and there are 6 of us now all together!! (5 of them 9 years old and younger). I do groceries every week, and it is coming to 400/500$ a week. We eat lots of fruit and fresh veggies, not too much meat, but healthy and organic when possible... Is this normal for a family of 6? All food is homecooked and we havent eaten out... I am just wondering how people survive with 2000$ grocery bill each month!!!! Mind you that 500$ i:ncludes everything from shampoo, to toilet paper and dog food.... but still.. That is Nuts!!!
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15660

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15660

Groceries
9/16/2022 at 2:40 PM

Hope you get some deeper feedback from folks with bigger grocery bills, but just wanted to point out credit cards like this one if you weren't already aware. 5% back in rewards on grocery buys that can be cycled back into groceries, travel, etc... soon to be 6% at Sobeys/Safeway (this particular card won't work at Superstore and won't give the 5% at Walmart tho). Pretty good chunk of change every month on $2000 as long as you're paying the card off every month when the bill hits!
https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/credit-cards/american-express/gold-card.html

Theres some more on different grocery-friendly cards here, some that will give pretty good 4% cash back if Superstore is your place:
https://creditcardgenius.ca/best-credit-cards/grocery
WAFFLE222
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 22

WAFFLE222
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 22

.
9/16/2022 at 2:55 PM

I find it hard too, im finding if I try and spend less, then im running out within days! I actually have become frugal with food waste as well, its crazy! i have cut our normal grocery bill for a family of four from 600 bi weekly, to about 400 bi weekly, and these are the things that i have noticed have helped our bills!

Ive tried to minimize costs by doing a few things differently:

-I buy the fresh fruit that seems to hold well, and better fresh (bananas, apples, grapes)
-For more pricey fruit (blueberries, strawberries when out of season) I will actually buy frozen unless on sale, of course fresh tastes best but for now this is what I've been doing!
-I do the same with vegetables, I'm often buying more frozen to avoid the costs.. and keeps well, always prefer fresh but in times like these, its better then nothing!
-Meal Planning has saved me BUNDLES.. and i am not the meal planning type so this was new to me- but this actually worked well when we stick to the plan!
-Meat - actually always had loved fresh chicken however, ive been buying the box from Sobeys compliments brand and its enough to feed our family for a couple weeks!
-Online groceries. I really prefer superstore, however Walmart out beats superstore for grocery pick up. They will replace what they don't have, with what they do and the cost will never change. ex: you order great value chips, but they don't have the flavor so they will give you lays in replacement of that (which are about 2.50 more a bag!) I also like that I can watch my total and go back on forth on whether I actually need "that ice cream" lol

anyways, these are what has helped us over the last few months!
zxymomma
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 86

zxymomma
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 86

also family of 6
9/16/2022 at 4:34 PM

I also have a family of 6 and I spend around between $500-$700 a month depend on if we need pet food and cleaning supplies. But I use the Flipp app to check the sales in local flyers, I have a pc money account as my main spending account and get 10 pc pts for every dollar spent plus the regular pc points through the app. So yearly I get about a few hundred dollars in points to use for groceries. I also do 85% of my shopping through the online pick up options, that way I can have all stores that offer it pulled up at the same time and find the lowest price available and get the item from that store. Walmart,Superstore,Safeway & Co-Op all have websites or apps for shopping online then picking up curbside.
We buy lots in bulk and then breakdown into smaller packages and freeze everything we can and only get in season fruits and vegetables or buy frozen.
HorseyGirl77
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 2

HorseyGirl77
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 2

family of 6 here
9/16/2022 at 8:01 PM

We live in a southern Manitoba town and the local grocery store has quite high prices compared to Walmart or Superstore. It is very expensive to feed our family. Milk and bread alone is a huge cost. I try to stock up on things when Co-op has them on sale and either freeze them (mostly meats) or store them in a second fridge for later use (margarine, cheese, yogurt, etc). I have become very conscious about using every last bit of leftovers now. We also keep chickens and find that eggs can be used for so many meal options. Good luck with your grocery bills. I feel your pain!
RC123
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 835

RC123
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 835

food rescue
9/16/2022 at 9:06 PM

Check out the Brandon Food rescue.

Today I picked up 3 packs of sandwich ham, a bag of crushed smarties (will make cookies), then 1 pk English muffins and 6 loaves of bread - all for $19.

It’s been so tough buying groceries
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15660

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15660

Thoughts
9/17/2022 at 1:59 AM

Some good thoughts here. A few others we tend to keep in mind that have served us well and might work better for some than others…

-brand loyalty will cost you. There will be the odd case where a specific brand makes a variation of a product that just doesn’t work for us, but more often than not for us they're interchangeable and the subtle differences aren’t worth passing up buying the brand that’s on a good sale in any given week… eg yogurt or cheese. There’s some variation between what brands put out, more often than not we use as opportunity to have and appreciate a little variety from week to week. We extend this to daily products like laundry detergent or TP. If it’s capable of doing the job we “hire” it for and it’s on a great sale, generally we go with it.

-in the same spirit, we’re choosey with store loyalty. Some stores sell stuff we like at different value/different sales than others. Some stores are better for the bigger ticket items than others. Most buys are at grocery stores, but aren’t afraid to mix in the dollar store on products we know are good and are priced well, but at same time price doesn’t uniformly automatically work out well just because it’s a “dollar” store.

-Am especially big on points and so tend to do more spending at the stores where I can rack them up the most, but still have to keep it all in perspective… not gonna spend $3 more for something just so can get 50 cents worth of points.

-at the same time, trips to other stores have to be big enough to be worth it. Not driving across town on $3 gas round trip to save $2.

-quantity buys on store-able stuff. If for example the cereal or oatmeal or pasta sauce that gets eaten a lot in the house is on an especially good sale/quantity deal and the expiry dates aren’t super tight, we grab a fistful and stash it knowing we’ll eventually use. Same goes for types of drinks that are cupboard-friendly. It’s a little extra spend up front but we thank ourselves for it in the long run and it’s super handy to have a backlog of stuff in the cupboard. Can backfire with a product we don’t know well that it turns out doesn’t get eaten. Same idea doesn’t always work for junk food, which can end up with just eating the same junk food more often if not careful (good excuse to not buy junk ).

-bananas. Still damn cheap relative to other fruit. Will often stagger and buy two bunches if possible… one that are ready to go right away and one that’s a few days behind.

-whole chickens. Not sure how well the logic scales to larger households, but for us it’s a lot of portions on one bird… we get a supper and a little more to use somehow for lunch the next day. Granted we don’t account for the energy that goes into cook time. Store-cooked roto chickens are great in a pinch.

-luxury items. Life’s short so we mix in the odd fun thing, but big difference between something crazy expensive like pistachios once every few months versus habitually getting all the time.

-we eat almost only fresh with our meat and buy in a way that works out well for us/make enough return trips to our nearby grocery store to make it work… but lots of stories of folks best leveraging the freezer to advantage! One thing we do try to have a good variety of on standby is frozen fruit. Not necessarily a straight up substitute for fresh, but quality on some types in fresh can be so inconsistent and frozen goes great on cereal/pancakes/etc.
-side note, give me back my USA-Canadian dollar parity... or heck something back closer to 85 cents to the dollar. Much more fun than going up and down the aisles of a US grocery store today and doing the math... yikes! Hopefully the spread with US dollar at least narrows soon, it's gotta really sting on imported products especially at the time of year where more produce has to come from further away. This is where nearby greenhouse-grown mini cucumbers have become a staple for us as an easy snack!
Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

.
9/17/2022 at 7:28 AM

A great way to save a little money on meat is to have a local butcher/processor put together a variety freezer pack for you. This way you will get better quality meat than store bought, have it cut in the portions suited to you and you can get enough and a variety to last for a few months or even a year.
Horizon Meats at Maryfield has a promotion on right now and also in the spring. Others will put together a package upon request and you can often buy a quarter or side of beef or a pig and have it cut as you desire.
Also it’s getting late in the season but buying fresh fruit and vegetables from the trucks can provide much higher quality produce than store bought at a decent discount. Some of it can be canned or vegetables blanched and frozen at home. It all helps to save a little and sure helps with your meal planning.
Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Groceries
9/17/2022 at 11:54 AM

We're a family of 7 (2 adults, 2 teens & 3 kids ranging 4-11), and if you i:nclude the meat we consume, we're spending about $400-450 a week on average. We buy our meat separately, so we're spending about $300-375/week in store, plus cost averaging out our meat. That i:ncluded all our cleaning supplies, dog food etc.

I find the cheapest way to buy meat is in bulk through the butcher or farmer. Usually the cheapest chickens are whole chickens. I do stock up on the small fryers on BOGO when Sobeys has them (I buy large roasting chickens from the farm). The legs & thighs also go BOGO sometimes, so I'll buy those for quick meals. I usually buy beef by the 1/2 or 1/4 - front quarters are still a heck of a deal. We don't eat pork due to allergies, but it was still super cheap for a 1/2 pig last time I was in the butchers.

We don't eat meat every day for our main meal. Yesterday, for example, we had black bean soup and corn bread. The whole meal cost under $5 and there's lots left over for lunch today. We had egg fried rice earlier this week. It had a dozen eggs in it, which you can still get for $3/dozen if you stock up on sale (eggs last about 6 weeks in the fridge)! Plus I used up veggies I had languishing in the fridge. It was about $6 to make, and we all had supper and a couple people got lunches out of it.

I try to buy more seasonal/on sale produce and plan around it. We eat a lot of frozen veggies. I can/dry/freeze what I can off the garden or what I can buy cheap. Like Adam says, bananas are still cheap! Don't throw produce out. Put it in soup, make a stew, bake with your apples and bananas etc.

Don't buy more than what you can reasonably eat. Don't over buy. When I buy grapes (not very often), the 2 lb clamshell disappears very quickly. However, if I buy 2, the second doesn't get finished. So I buy expensive/highly perishable things as treats. Berries too. The routine/staple things I buy all the time are either cheap or store well.

We buy a lot of store brands for things. We can't always do that, again due to allergy, but probably 90% of what is in a package is store brand unless the name brand happens to be on sale.

Like others have said - meal plan. That looks different for everyone. But the basic premise is use what you have and only buy what you will use.

And don't be afraid to say no. I tell my kids no all the time when it comes to food. I'm not buying that because it's expensive/not in season/not healthy etc. Offer a more reasonable alternative (I won't buy those Very Expensive Strawberries, but we can buy these fabulous oranges. I can't afford the fresh ones, but how about on sale frozen and we'll make smoothies with the yougurt at home?) Part of adulting is learning to make those kinds of choices, and learning begins in childhood.
vegimite
Joined: This month
Posts: 639

vegimite
Joined: This month
Posts: 639

There are
9/17/2022 at 12:45 PM

lots of meals that are simple and reasonable, Cauliflower cheese with a slice of ham plus whatever veg you want. Poached or scrambled eggs on toast, maybe with baked beans or spaghetti. A dozen eggs and a loaf of bread would feed 6 quite easily.
It's coming up to cooler days so milk puddings, soups. Stale bread and some dried fruit will make a bread pudding , or you can make a bread and butter pudding.
Carrots, leeks and potatoes are in season so make a large batch of soup and reuse the margarine tubs for freezer storage. We love carrot and ginger soup, thick and warming. Leek and potato likewise. Green Pea and potato soup cooked with an ham hock is flavourful. Have a slice of bread or crackers. Cereals like Weetabix or Shredded Wheat are often on 2 for $7, as others have said generic brands are just as good and often made by the same firms. Porridge is filling and good for the heart.
Dried beans make a great Chilli or bean pots. Use a pound of mince and lasagne in a 12x9 pan, dried pasta is one of our larder staples along with pulses.
Tinned fruit is as good as frozen and given the distances the store fruit travels, just as tasty.
Bananas going overripe, slice them onto bread with marge/butter sprinkle some brown sugar on top.
Fried egg sandwiches are protein and fibre packed especially with wholewheat bread.
I try to make sure that for a main meal at least three quarters of the plate is vegetables.
Stews are great as they mean you can use the cheaper cuts of meat, Neck, skirt with beef, scrag end of lamb. Breast of lamb stuffed and rolled. Use the cheap cuts for making meat pies and puddings, does not take much to make pastry, freeze leftovers.
Explore the internet, there are many great ideas out there.
Maybe Adam could start a favourite recipe section where we can upload things we like for others to try.

Edited by vegimite, 2022-09-17 12:46:58
Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Veggies
9/17/2022 at 1:23 PM

10 lb bags of root veggies (rutabaga, beets, carrots & onions) are 4.49 each limit 2. Even after limit at 5.99 they're a good deal. Assuming there's stock, of course.
Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

.
9/17/2022 at 2:17 PM

And unfortunately start preparing for further food price inflation.
I was just reading that potato stocks in North America are very low and this years production is expected to be average or below average . Processors already shut early this summer to perform maintenance as they were out of stock to process.
Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Link?
9/17/2022 at 7:27 PM

Farmergeorge said "And unfortunately start preparing for further food price inflation.
I was just reading that potato stocks in North America are very low and this years production is expected to be average or below average . Processors already shut early this summer to perform maintenance as they were out of stock to process. "
You got a link? I'm curious about this but I'm coming up empty-handed. The only info I can find even remotely related is PEI potatoes not going to the US earlier this year, and being processed in Taber instead. But exports to the US have since resumed.
Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

.
9/17/2022 at 7:29 PM

Abbysmum said "You got a link? I'm curious about this but I'm coming up empty-handed. The only info I can find even remotely related is PEI potatoes not going to the US earlier this year, and being processed in Taber instead. But exports to the US have since resumed. "
The article is in this weeks Western Producer.
vegimite
Joined: This month
Posts: 639

vegimite
Joined: This month
Posts: 639

here is a link
9/17/2022 at 8:13 PM

https://www.producer.com/news/potato-supplies-look-tight-in-north-america/
TOOTSIE

Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 574

TOOTSIE
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 574

must be nice
9/20/2022 at 6:38 PM

Lucky if we are able to afford 150 dollars a month for groceries lucky we to get one meal a day out of that
So glad went longer have kids around
Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4860

Awesome
9/20/2022 at 7:40 PM

vegimite said "https://www.producer.com/news/potato-supplies-look-tight-in-north-america/ "
Thanks!
Snowball
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 425

Snowball
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 425

Tough
9/25/2022 at 2:12 AM

It's been really tough when you can only eat certain foods because of dietary reasons and costs of daily medications have of course risen as well.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15660

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15660

Points
9/25/2022 at 9:19 AM

Just to follow up on the point re rewards points. Sobeys started their Scene Plus thing this week. When I combined their “spend $100 Get $10 worth of points” coupon with my credit card's 5% back with individual points promos they had on products I ended up with about $27 worth of points on a ~$177 spend at the store. Still gotta be a little choosey with what I buy to make sure getting best value, but even if every trip doesn’t do quite that well it’ll all add up pretty quickly to spend on groceries, travel, etc.

Other thing to keep in mind. I’m definitely no replacement for a financial advisor that can advise of best risk vs reward with everything that’s going on right now, but if a person happens to have extra cash sitting around I’d do more digging on banks’ high interest savings accounts now that rates have woken up. Eg Westoba’s online arm Maxa is up to 2.6% and many of the big banks are offering promo rates North of 3-4% on shorter terms. If have an account with banks’ online brokerages, rates are anywhere from 2.8-3.05% on most at the moment. If a person is in a place to commit to a bit of a term and won’t need the money right away, GICs over 4% are all over the place. Still quite a bit lower than inflation but at least has money making money! For anyone into this sort of thing, I find this site does a decent job of comparing even if they don't go into banks' shorter term savings promos: https://whatbank.ca/
tlr
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 552

tlr
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 552

Adam
9/25/2022 at 9:45 AM

Good advice, and info!
Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

Farmergeorge
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1824

This crisis is only just starting.
9/26/2022 at 9:33 AM

Reuters:
Droughts and Ukraine war pushing global grain stocks to worrying lows.

Edited by Farmergeorge, 2022-09-26 09:36:16
Simonwalcal
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 811

Simonwalcal
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 811

Food
9/26/2022 at 9:52 AM

Though I only shop for 2, I’ve certainly noticed the difference. Beef and fish has been pretty much eliminated from the budget short of a good sale/discount. As for veggies, I’ve never been good about using fresh on time to enjoy the peak freshness so I generally settle for frozen or canned. Frozen mainly for stir fry’s, and canned for days off when I have time to make a pot of home made soup but don’t have fund for (or don’t feel like going out for) fresh ingredients.

I could probably benefit by cutting even more meat from the budget. And p probably will be forced to at some point. But it’s like other big life changes. A tad hard to fathom.
vegimite
Joined: This month
Posts: 639

vegimite
Joined: This month
Posts: 639

This
10/27/2022 at 12:19 PM

on the BBC website today. May give folks a few ideas, click on the meal heading for recipes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/budget_family_meal_plan_for_four#xtor=CS8-1000-%5BEditorialPromo_Box%5D-%5BNewsEditorial_Promo%5D-%5BNewsEditorial_Promo%5D-%5BPS_FOOD~N~~P_budget_meal_plannerFP%5D
sammy
Joined: This month
Posts: 8699

sammy
Joined: This month
Posts: 8699

groceries
10/27/2022 at 2:36 PM

2 adults and 4 daycare kids…it’s scary how fast and how much prices have risen already. Definitely have had to adjust how I buy groceries and am more conscious about food waste now. For the kids, my biggest tip is start small. If they want more food, then by all means yes but I’m throwing less food out, now that I don’t give them a big portion to start with.

Soups, stews and casseroles are always great to use up the odds and ends in the fridge. Meat goes much farther in these type of dishes too

We get the bulk of our meat from Henry’s, just outside of town. This is one area I know we could decrease more but we like meat haha. I *try* to eat lower carb so I feel like meat, cheese and veggies are the things we spend the most money on.

I spend $20 on 5 dz farm fresh eggs, delivered right to my door. Breakfast for lunch or supper is a favourite for us all.

Cheaper cuts of meat are great for slow cooker or instant pot meals.

We’re not really picky on name brand stuff except for a few things so we’ve been trying more and more of store brand items. Some of them are actually much better than the name brand stuff anyways!

We have a freezer so stocking up on meat and bread and other things comes in handy.

I had to laugh at Adams pistachios comment. Last week I ordered the Kirkland brand bag of pistachios from Amazon and it was like a treat the day they came in! Things like that, that we used to buy without caring about the price has definitely changed!

I also agree with abbysmum…just say no. It’s also a great way to teach budgeting to your kids!

Good luck everyone! We’re all feeling the pinch these days unfortunately