Frugal grocery shopping and foods.......

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2007
Frugal grocery shopping and foods.......
20
Fri, 02-20-2009 - 6:04pm

To go along with Ann's post about the high grocery bills we're all paying these days.....


What have you cut out, if anything, to cut down on the grocery bills?


What foods or dishes do you fix to stretch the dollar?


Do you use coupons?


Do you only grocery shop when there are sales on the items you use?


Do you shop at discount grocery stores?


I think we may have talked about at least some of this in the past, but my aging brain doesn't remember..or..it may have been on Joyful Home board. Anyway, indulge me please for I'm open to ideas..LOL!!




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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-12-2003
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 6:21am
Avatar for grammyellen
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2007
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 12:01pm
since i have to travel 25 miles to a grocery store or anything else, i tend to go to wal-mart and it's one stop shopping. plus there are a lot of things that wal-mart has that we like. we only buy bread there. but i look at other stores so when they have good sales i go there.
i love making casseroles. i did a good one a couple of weeks ago. i browned some chicken breast and put it with some mixed veggies. i don't buy cream soups, i make my own and added that to the chicken and veggies. then i made a box of stove top stuffing and put it on top. we really enjoyed it and i plan to make it again this week.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2007
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 12:49pm


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2007
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 12:53pm

Didn't realize, or didn't remember, that you live so far away from the grocery store! That would take some good planning!


Casserole sounds good! I think I'll go over to my recipe site and find some casseroles that will work in with my way of eating. Thanks..CUL!




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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-08-2005
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 3:36pm

Having young kids and being a single mom was when i had to figure out how to save and when.

I worked at the sally ann and the yhad all sorts of info on what to buy and how to save on it. i learneda lot there. Fresh veggies are nice, but don't have the shelf life the frozen does and a good steamer makes them taste great too.
We love banana's here and melons. sadly melons go way up in price in the winter. Grant eats a lot of oranges and apples too. We love juice too. It is easy to buy in bulk. Has john ever had fruit juice with a little bit of sprite in it?? may be able to wein him off pop a bit with it.
One thing i do is buy bulk meats when i can . The places i get them have them in boxes and all individually wrapped. I get that at a grocery(a small one) with a butcher in it. Great cuts at bulk and frozen.Then we have the wild meat we hunt. That is cheap too and very little feat/ We love buffalo burgers too. Need to get that back in the house too. i have an indoor grill that i can cookon. a pain to clean but so good for the health too.
At sally ann we had a cooking program we were about to start. They changed officers then and it didn't go forward , sadly. The program they have in some communities and i loved it. Bulk recipes that we good but what do you do with all that food. Well get a group together and bring storage containers for fridge and freezer too. I would love to get as bunch of people together and do it again.
I still cook in bulk and freeze some of it so when i have a bad day with all my medical problems we can heat it. Works great on days when we are busy too. That and the crock pot stuff too. I have deer chops in the crock pot today. 2 packages. Then we can eat tomorrow or next week again.
I love the buy so much get so much off coupons. They have them at our superstores or warehouse club here. A bit of a drive but often worth it too.They also have the get a $25 dollar gift cards or free food. Last time i got a case of navel oranges free.The free cards they gave out at christmas and before. I gave hem as stocking stuffers for the kids out on their own...just saved them up!
If you can afford a shelved cuppboard(floor to ceiling) for somewhere in your home( mine is in the back porch ...we have three shelving units i want to buy inclosed pine ones)you then can buy in bulk. I save so much . I have mushrooms, corn, brown beans and tons of soup back there. Cereal, porrage, baking stuff, noodles and rices. It is sop nice to have it all. This month grant hardly woked and i just bought milk, bread, and some l;unch meat(bulk! i buy and have my own slicer, so i freeze some).
It is a bit of work ...but so worth it!
Our safeway has a club card i have too. you get extra cents off stuff if they scan it. A great deal!!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-08-2005
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 3:43pm

Forgot to mention

The dollar store is a great place to buy tin foil disposable containers.I soemtimes make extra for our supper and store in those. great to take to a friends place at a moments notice. Also if your friend has a greal meal you love and you have one she does...make extra and do an exchange!

I was going to mention online...but someone already mentioned that too LOL
anyway all the big companies have coupons usually on their site. so make your list and go looking for coupons on what you need. the stores often have coupons on line too.

An other cheep thing to do i cook with soups...almost always on sale or for sale in bulk. recipes on the cans and at the websites.

Also there is a frugal site or two here on ivillage and many on line!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2007
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 3:54pm

I worked at the sally ann and the yhad all sorts of info on what to buy and how to save on it. i learneda lot there. Fresh veggies are nice, but don't have the shelf life the frozen does and a good steamer makes them taste great too. I agree, I only use frozen veggies except for potatoes, onions, baby carrots and cabbage.
We love banana's here and melons. sadly melons go way up in price in the winter. I only buy melons from Farmer's Market as I have a


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-08-2005
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 4:07pm
donna
superstore and warehose club here have the gas coupons too...they also have it so that you can buy gas and get so much off the groceries too. Used to go there all the time when we lived there for gas. To far away now though.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2007
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 4:19pm

The dollar store is a great place to buy tin foil disposable containers. I used to buy some stuff from The Dollar Store..dish soap, tissues, and a few more things. I need to do that again. I soemtimes make extra for our supper and store in those. great to take to a friends place at a moments notice. Also if your friend has a greal meal you love and you have one she does...make extra and do an exchange!


I was going to mention online...but someone already mentioned that too LOL
anyway all the big companies have coupons usually on their site. so make your list and go looking for coupons on what you need. the stores often have coupons on line too. I have done that too, need to do that more. I don't like using printer ink either though.


An other cheep thing to do i cook with soups...almost always on sale or for sale in bulk. recipes on the cans and at the websites.


Also there is a frugal site or two here on ivillage and many on line! Good idea, I have seen those before. Will check that out again too..thanks!


I just sent J to the grocery store with a list


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Avatar for grammyellen
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2007
Sat, 02-21-2009 - 9:55pm
yup it's 25 miles to statesboro and about 45 to savannah.
we are way out in the country.
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