typical grocery shopping trip
By jdoss23430
@jdoss23430 (379)
United States
July 10, 2008 6:53am CST
I went to the grocery store last night...big mistake. Things around here have been kinda crazy for the last couple of months so I have not actually gotten groceries lately. Sure I would run by and pick up what i needed every now and then, but for the most part, we have been eating fast food. Well last night I went and did my normal shopping and everything was great.....until I got to the checkout ! ! My total was $412 ! ! ! ! Have I been living on another planet or something? I knew that groceries had skyrocketed, but I didnt realize they had actually hit the moon ! ! ! What is your normal grocery bill where you live and how often do you buy groceries?? Have you had to scale back on certain things? Do you have any ideas as to how I can cut my grocery bill back ?? This is CRAZY ! ! !
4 people like this
10 responses
@animegoth666 (20)
•
10 Jul 08
Wow thats an insane amount!? do you feed the five thousand? haha!
I usally do the shopping after some job hunting. My mum works full time so I am the only one in the house that gets to do it really. She usally gives me a set amount she wants to spend and a shopping list. I go in there with a calculater because I suck at adding up in my head haha!
If somethings on offer she says, get that instead of what we usally buy. My mum usally gives me about £50 GBP for shopping. We buy the store brand stuff most of the time so usally the bill doesnt even reatch what she gives me, so she always gets change. (=
Maybe you should shop somewhere else? try a cheaper store, or go for shops own brand its just as good as the expensive stuff, sometimes even better! ^_^
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
14 Jul 08
There is only 4 of us that I have to feed...lol Thats another idea, make a shopping list,but I probably wouldnt stick to it....lol Thank you for your ideas :-)
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
10 Jul 08
Well personally I use coupons. Yep sounds like a pain but since we are a family of 5 living on 1 income it works for us. I track our savings and spending. I spent between $300-$400 a month at the grocery store, but my savings is usually between $2,000-$2,300. The only store brand items I buy is like sugar, flour and oil. Last night I went to the store as well to pick up some cereal, and a few other items that were on sale anyway my bill before coupons was $23 and some change after coupons it was just some change, $0.56 actually.
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
11 Jul 08
Well I get the Sunday paper delivered and if there are good coupons, I will go buy more but I have to make sure that they are good enough to do that. I also buy them off of ebay, I trade on hotcouponworld.com, and I print a ton online. My local store doubles up to $1.00 and then anything over $1.00 is turned into $2.00. To print online coupons there are some good sites: coupons.com is what I like best, redplum.com, and bricks.com.
The thing that really stinks about it is my store will only allow 4 of the same coupon so I usually have to make several trips during the week but it's nice because I can get away from the children for a little while. This week my store has Ragu on sale for $1.25 and I have many coupons that will make it free so it's worth it.
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
14 Jul 08
Loooks like Im going to be following in your footsteps...lol Thank you for all the info. Im heading to those websites as soon as i finish here :-) Have a great day ! ! ! !
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
11 Jul 08
OMG ! You have go to be kidding me ! Where are you getting your coupons????
@bowtieguy (5915)
• United States
13 Jul 08
I have been trying to put of going as long as I can, with the pricesof many items going up so high. I can usualy wait every week and a half. It is just me and my two sons but I still end up around 225-275. I have even started considering other brands and using cupons, something I never though I would ever see my self doing.
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
14 Jul 08
That was what I did (put it off) and now i wish I hadn't..lol After reading some of the responses here, Im thinking that coupons are going to be the best way to go...have a good one :-)
@freedomg (1684)
• United States
10 Jul 08
I have noticed that it has pretty much doubled for our house so I have been collecting thrifty recipes. Ask around you would be amazed how many people out there have them. Mine is Shepard's Pie. I can feed a family of 7 with leftovers for under $10 on it.
Just take mashed potatoes, seasoned and browned ground beef, corn and green beans. Put them down in layers of taters,meat,veggies,taters then top it with cheese. Pop it under the broiler till the cheese is slightly browned. My whole family loves it and it is so cheap.
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
11 Jul 08
MMMMM that sounds good ! What do you season your ground beef with?
1 person likes this
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
10 Jul 08
Hello jdoss23430,
Yes I think is really disgusting how shopping bill goes shyhigh here in the U.K. when we go shopping once a week our bill comes $120. so my friend it is bad, you must have got a shock.
Tamarafireheart.
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
14 Jul 08
OH I did get a shock ! The saddest thing is that it has only been a week since then and I feel like I need to go again :-( Its almost depressing !
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
14 Jul 08
If you go back and read Zephyresuns response you will find websites that she has listed to get coupons that she uses and judging by her response she does quite well by using them :-) have a good day and i hope this helps you as much as i think it will help me :-)
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
10 Jul 08
I usually try to buy the generic brands most of the time anyway. I actually compared some of the prices between brand names and home brands and some of the home brands were even more expensive. No it is not easy I hated grocery shopping before now I like it even less..lol
@kingcrapper (1536)
• United States
10 Jul 08
My wife is really good at shopping for what we need and will often use coupons and sales to get even more leverage out of the monies we have set aside. You mentioned the idea of the price of food going up! Can you imagine with the idea that gas might double in the next year or so what it will cost to transport food to the stores! The cost of your average grocery trip will increase to such a level people will have to rely on less and less to survive.
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
10 Jul 08
Its a very scary thought ! I have thought about that and wonder how in the world people are going to survive. Especially those that are on fixed incomes and those that have very low paying jobs and are berely getting by now as it is. I hate to think about where we are going to end up in a couple years or less.
@cobrateacher (8432)
• United States
10 Jul 08
It's hard to believe how much things cost these days. A friend told me about a 99-cent store near my house that has fresh fruit and veggies, so that will be my first stop next time I shop. I bought only fruit and veggies yesterday, and not all that much, but the bill was $65+! Soon only the megarich will be able to survive approproately, and the rest of us will be homeless.
@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
10 Jul 08
I am buying groceries for just me, so my bill is fairly low. I usually spend no more than $80/month on food (including eating out).
One trick is to avoid convenience foods. Buy foods to cook from scratch.... lentils, rice (brown, preferably), dried beans....
Another trick is to eat little or no meat. Other protein sources tend to be cheaper.
Finally, buy from local farmers. No middleman often translates to lower prices. Plus, you help keep small farmers in business.
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
11 Jul 08
I sure wish my grocery bill was that low ! LOL I like your thinking. Maybe I will go down to the local farmers market tomorrow and see what I can find that I can stock up on. Have a great day ! !
