Does anyone else find grocery shopping to be an impossible task these days? I am trying SOOOOO hard to feed my family healthy, wholesome, good food AND trying equally hard to save money. And it just seems like these two cannot co-exist. Am I alone here? It is a constant struggle that is played out on each aisle. Do I buy the cereal that is on sale for a dollar but consists of colorful marshmallows and 50 grams of sugar (slight exaggeration, but not much) or do I buy the healthy cereal that costs $4.50 a box? Do I buy the cheap yogurt that has 46 grams of sugar (NOT an exaggeration) or the all natural kind that is twice as much but I can actually feel good about feeding my kids. And don't get me started on the price of fresh produce!!
Last week it culminated in tears, yes, actual tears on the way home from the grocery store and then I really broke down in sobs when I got home. I just felt like giving up. I am really trying to work in a strict budget and just felt like a failure!! Fine, we will eat Twinkies and Cheetos from now on. If that is the only way to save money. Interestingly, Eric and the kids were very supportive of that idea.
But this week I had a better experience. With a lot of planning (time) and effort in the store (time) I was able to buy a weeks worth of groceries for a family of 6 for $80 (total savings of $68 from coupons and advertised sales). And I also managed to buy a few things for food storage too. I'd like to thank http://savvysavingstucson.blogspot.com/ for helping me find online coupons (I got some stuff FREE!) and for http://www.sistersavings.net/ which has the grocery deals for local stores on it each week. Savvy savings has lots of internet deals and sister savings has AZ and UT grocery ads.
So to sum up....I may have lost a battle here and there but I am not admitting defeat and while this war may NEVER end, I am feeling better about my chances of success. I'd love to hear any advice, hints or strategies you all have.
7 comments:
You're kidding about the twinkies and cheetos right? I find that avoiding the fun foods like that is the best thing I can do for my grocery budget. I still have to conquer ice cream though! I'm probably not as health conscious as you are (maybe that comes from constant exposure to mom) but I do struggle with finding the time it takes to search out the savings. I don't like store hopping based on ads, and I've dropped the newspaper and clipping coupons since moving too. For me the best savings comes from buying generic and using the ad at Maceys to help make my list. I also buy certain things at Walmart that are cheaper there all the time. It's frustrating how prices keep going up everywhere though!
I feel your pain. One thing I do is price match everything at Walmart. They will price match any ad. So I go through reams, smiths, albertsons, maceys, harmons and make a list for each store of the items I need and they're sale price. This includes fresh produce. People behind me at check out hate it, but it saves me an average $30-$40 per week.
Wow, I like Wendy's Walmart idea. I also recently saw a lady on Oprah who's "saved $70,000 in 15 years using coupons". Her website is couponmom.com I'm on the email list and some things have been good. the best was a link to restaurant.com?, I think it was, and you got $25 giftcards for TWO dollars. Talk about being able to afford to go out to eat. Good luck-I feel like I fail at the budget/healthy eating thing a lot. As long as the kids eat a fruit or veggie with each meal(even if it's just raisins or applesauce), and if I buy most things on sale or generic- I feel like I win some too.
Way to only spend $80, that is almost unheard of even for our 4 person family. I need to try some of this stuff too.
I actually had a similar breakdown about a week ago when I realized that the Wal-mart 100% Apple Juice that I always buy jumped in price by .65 in 1 week. I just want to know why gas prices have dropped to major lows in the past month (I filled up for 1.87/gal today)but grocery prices are NOT dropping. I thought the whole reason they went up so high was because of the rising cost of gas! YIKES!
I just saw a clip on the news last night where this lady says she saves $50-$200 per month on groceries by using these coupons offered by beer companies. They're intended to give you savings on food that you buy along with beer, but in Utah they can't require you to buy the beer in order to get the savings, basically a "no purchase necessary" clause. So she's getting all this free food without buying beer. She says you have to look for the coupons attached to beer displays in the store. I'm going to check it out. And for those of you not in Utah. . . better move here!
i'm with you, heather. i hate grocery shopping now! :( we do not eat like kings by any means & i've tried to cut back on meat & other expensive foods. i still end up spending more then i want when i go. i feel like it's a losing battle. i guess it's time to put more thought & action into it.
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