Budget Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning

[Myron's Mom]

We always just had cabbage and noodles by itself. Grandma and mom never served anything else with it. More “peasant food”full of love. Corn and cottage cheese sounds interesting. Not something that we ever had, but we are Croatian. My grandma always made her own noodles. She always made square ones for the cabbage. Mom always bought “fancy” noodles usually bow ties but sometimes the small shells.

 

[Lori K]

I grew up eating cabbage and noodles. But we also had corn and cottage cheese with it. I thought my Polish grandma had a name for it. But I forget.

I believe you're thinking of halushki. My ex-DSIL's mother would often bring it to Christmas Eve. In her family's tradition, it was served as a reminder to how blessed we were. And of course they'd also serve a fish dish to honor her traditions, as well as ham, etc. for our side of the family.

 

[Holiday_Mom]

I need to sit down and read this entire thread cuz I about had a heart attack at the price of candy bars for the stocking stuffers!

Last weekend Aldi's brand of a dark chocolate bar was still going for $2.00. That's been the same price for a number of years. Unfortunately, one with nuts was picked up. One without nuts was needed. I ran to the closest grocery store to get a chocolate bar. The name brands like Lindt, etc. were going for $3.20 a bar.

I'm now shopping at various stores for specific items that are priced right. Before Thanksgiving, 1 lb of frozen spinach was $2.50 at one store but $1.79 at another. Now that other store has raised their prices to $1.99 for a pound of spinach. In some ways, I feel like I'm back to the days of those first few years of post-college living on a super strict food budget in order to pay the bills.

Oh, and fast food... I usually eat a meal before running errands. Last weekend, I didn't eat enough and before I knew it, I was feeling sick. I stopped off at McDonalds for a cheeseburger. I thought they served me only the roll. The burger was thin and about 1/4 inch smaller than the bun. One slice of cheese and ketchup was on it. It was the saddest burger I had seen in ages.

 

[halimer]

Another thing I've noticed that may impact our food budgeting is that there are hardly any coupons for food anymore. Mostly for make up and drugs.

 

[Myron's Mom]

Ran up to the little meat market. Beef roast the same cut 3.99/ pound vs the grocery store 7.99. Pork roast 1$ less a pound.
I started taking my own coffee from home. My yetti holds 1 1/2 cups and if I preheat the mug will keep hot for a few hours in the cold weather. I also have crackers and trail mix in the car to keep me out of McD etc.
The NICU kept a coupon bin in the staff lounge. Everyone would bring in their excess coupons. I loved it, was a money saver for sure. I was constantly going through it.

 

[jampss]

@Lori K Oooo, looks good. I looked it up. Here is a video of the dish ... with BACON! https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/222509/easy-and-quick-halushki/

 

[teachermomof2]

We shopped today. Prices are crazy. I had been buying pizza dough at WM or Aldi for convenience, but decided to make my own like I used too because it went up in price 78 cents! That's a 78% increase. Many other things were up in price too.....cheese, meats, canned goods, some items are smaller and more money. It's having an impact in our household for sure.

 

[Holiday_Mom]

We shopped today. Prices are crazy. I had been buying pizza dough at WM or Aldi for convenience, but decided to make my own like I used too because it went up in price 78 cents! That's a 78% increase. Many other things were up in price too.....cheese, meats, canned goods, some items are smaller and more money. It's having an impact in our household for sure.

This reminds me of something we experienced in October. Back around Halloween, we were going to get a couple of pizzas for my dd's party. Part of one would be for dh and I. The rest of that pizza and another pizza would be for the friends. One cheese pizza cost $18! So we did one pizza for the friends and dh and I used the Aldi flatbread to make our own "pizza." The flat bread at the time cost $3.59 for a two pack. Dh and I liked it and decided that instead of ordering pizza for a party, we'd do "flatbread pizza" instead of take out. The way my dh figured, if we had 8 people over for dinner and bought two cheese pizzas, it would cost $36. If we bought 4 two-packs of flatbread, it would cost about $15 plus the cheese and sauce. That's around half the cost.

 

[jampss]

LOL

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Another thing I've noticed that may impact our food budgeting is that there are hardly any coupons for food anymore. Mostly for make up and drugs.

We don't get coupons here, it is just not a thing. I have noticed though that the supermarket 1/2 price specials are less focused on food and more to make up, hair products etc.

 

[Minta]

I feel like each week the prices of eggs goes up and up. Not seeing prices go up as bad on anything else. Actually the grocery store has whole turkeys on sale for 69 cents/lb and spiral hams for $1.49 lb starting this weekend. I am going to rearrange my freezers to make room so I can snag a couple of each

 

[Holiday_Mom]

I have noticed though that the supermarket 1/2 price specials are less focused on food and more to make up, hair products etc.

I wonder if that is for us starving folks look better. LOL!

 

[teachermomof2]

@Lori K Oooo, looks good. I looked it up. Here is a video of the dish ... with BACON! https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/222509/easy-and-quick-halushki/

I always make my haluski with bacon. My mom did not, but we really like the flavor with the cabbage.

 

[AnnieClaus]

I bought a smallish spiral ham- Almost $30.00.
It was the cheapest one at the store.

That seemed expensive to me.

 

[teachermomof2]

Annie...that seems so high. I'm debating about getting one this week. I like to have ham available for guests who pop in. I'll check Aldi when I shop on Friday.

 

[Lori K]

Got everything I need, except perishables, for Christmas dinner. Meijer had hams for $0.69 (butt) and $0.72 (shank), and spirals for $0.89/lb. I got a small spiral and paid less than $10 (whew!). Wanted to also get a small turkey breast, and I found out that ham is my SIL's least favorite meat. Whatever leftovers I have will get used up, so not concerned about adding turkey. BUT there were no turkey breasts to be had. They had maybe 6-8 whole turkeys, but no breasts. Will check another grocery store this week, if my regular shop doesn't get any more in. Also, got store brand green beans for the casserole for 0.39 a can, and 2 packages of a very well known soup mix in the clearance cart. Expiration date is late 2023, and I know they'll be used up before then. Today is baking day, and I'm thankful I got all my baking supplies earlier in the year.

 

[Lori K]

Cleaning out the refrig, to make space for Chrismtas meal prep. Found a bunch of celery that was getting a little long in the tooth and a green pepper that had started to change colors. Was just lamenting the cost of Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese for my morning bagels, and I really hate throwing out food. OK, let's chop it all up and dehydrate it to use in homemade cream cheese spread. 3 trays of chopped celery and 1 1/2 trays of chopped pepper are in. I'm planning on dehydrating some onion, as well, and can grate up a carrot or two, as needed. I've already got dried chives from my summer deck garden and have a jar of minced garlic. Think I've got most everything on hand.

 

[Myron's Mom]

Lori, what a great way to save stuff.
Picked up my ham, 3.98/lb up .20/lb from last year.
Ran through the grocery store to pick up produce and dairy items. Very surprised to be stopped by the store manager, he gave me a 10$ gift card! Made my day! Every little bit helps at the check out counter.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Off to the shops today to get bread, milk and strawberries. That is about all I need for now. Will reevaluate when DS gets home and see if there is anything he specifically wants.

 

[AnnieClaus]

With the extra spending for the holidays,

I decided to do a Katrina challenge of "no spend" for the next two weeks.

Particularly eating out- NO eating out.

I feel very resolved in this. I track what I spend on food and with my trip to Vegas in Nov and another trip up to Phoenix, early December, I was appalled at what was spent on food.

Annie