Cutting back on groceries

[cerberusss]

Since me and my girlfriend started living together, we put money into a shared account for grocery shopping.

Our first estimate was, that we required 200 euros. That turned out to be woefully inadequate, so we kept increasing the amount until we hit 400. When I googled for the average food spending in The Netherlands, it turned out to be 350, so we lowered the budget. Totally confident that by decreasing the budget, we'd also spend less.

Actually, our spending increased. Since January, we spent the complete budget of 350, and had to add another 100 in the last week of the month.

I'm sick of this, there's no reason we'd have to spend so much. Thus the challenge is: twice every month, write out a menu for two weeks, and make sure it does not add up to more than 100 euros. One groceries chain will deliver that to the front door, for an added 4 euros. That's total of 208 per month. We won't hit the shop, unless it's for fresh veggies, yoghurt and milk.

That should limit our groceries budget to a maximum of 250 euros.

[Theadyn]

Just some ideas thrown out there.

I'm not sure how it is in the Netherlands for you, so if it doesn't apply, I'm sorry.  What I do is keep my eyes open for sale items on stuff that I already buy.  I stock up on that, buying what I think I will use in the next 6 months.  It does take some months to get items stocked up this way, but you are buying the same items you would have bought at it's cheaper price.  When you have a good stocked pantry/freezer/fridge, another trick is to plan your menu with the items you already have stocked up in your home.  Then you will be meal planning around the items that you bought at its cheaper price.   Fresh food is seasonal and the price reflects that usually, so your fresh food may alternate with the seasons, but you won't be bored that way. :)  I'm a fan of freezing and have a lot of my fresh veggies flash frozen and bagged in the freezer when it was bought at it's cheaper price.

Buying in bulk is another way to save on the grocery budget.  Cutting out meat a meal or two per week is also good.  Soup is your friend!!   I like to batch cook, as well, and freeze the excess.  Really handy when you don't want to cook and will deter you from the thought of picking up some take out food, saving you money.

Are you able to garden any?   I'd really like to try that myself. 

Just some ideas....      :) 

[cerberusss]

Stocking up is a great idea. Currently we don't have enough shelf space for that. But that's a practical problem and I'm going to see what I can clear out, to make more room.

The idea of cooking a batch really appealed to me, but are there complete meals you can freeze?

[footenote]

Easiest way to cook and freeze complete meals: soups and stews. Measure out two soup bowls and freeze each single day's worth in a storage contained (I used gallon Ziploc bags). Soups are among the most healthy, frugal and forgiving recipes.

(Beans and lentils are freezer-friendly and deliver superior nutrition at low cost. Steer away from soups with dairy. If you like cream-style soups, add milk, cream or cheese when you reheat.)

Put each day's meal in the refrigerator to thaw in the morning. Add bread / crackers and salad, and you're done - Good luck!

(There are more elaborate complete meals you can prep and freeze ahead. Soups and stews are the easiest if you are toward the beginner end of the cooking spectrum.)

[FlorenceMcGillicutty]

We also spend a lot on groceries and I'm trying to cut back. I'm challenging myself to eat and cook more vegetarian meals, which is healthier and should help on costs. I'm also going to try and do a better job of using what I have. I don't know about you, but I've got some things in the cabinets that need to be used or I'll have to throw it out. I'm going to get creative with some recipes to use up what we have.

[oldtoyota]

I share your frustration. This is an area I find hard to control, because two of us do the shopping. Recently, DH has been doing more of the shopping. It may actually work really well to have one person doing it. Time will tell.

We're doing the use-what-we-have thing, and it's working well. We've eaten fabulous meals since we stopped going out to eat on May 5 (or so). We've supplemented from the garden too.

Due this greater awareness of what we have in stock, I have found I am automatically thinking a few meals ahead. I see what is in the cupboard and then think of recipes to make.

That said, we had something great happen and had a party. That threw our groceries out of whack for this past month. However, it would have been even worse if we'd not cut back earlier in May.

Tonight, for instance, I saw we had split peas (dal) and decided to make them. I saw they needed to soak for an hour, so I cooked up lentils instead. (I decided to soak the split peas anyway for dinner tomorrow. =-)) The lentil recipe was amazing. I did not have all the ingredients--I subbed green beans for cauliflower--yet the recipe turned out really well.

Hope this helps!

[cats]

We do a batch cook Saturday morning every 4-6 weeks.  It is great, not just for the money but also the TIME savings.  If you work long hours or go out of town on the weekends a lot, having one dedicated day of cooking is a total lifesaver.

I set up a spreadsheet with the different kinds of dishes we make split by "stovetop", "oven", "crockpot" and "no heat", so that we don't plan to make 5 dishes that require the stovetop on our 4 burner stove.  Usually we will make a big crockpot of soup, a casserole of some kind, a smaller batch of soup on the stovetop, and then things like spicy peanut sauce and bean burgers where all the assembly can happen in advance but the actual cooking will happen at the time of consumption.  We do buy fresh fruit and veg every week but very little else.  Our monthly grocery cost (for 2 people) is well under $300 (this month it will probably be under $250) and we eat really well, I think.

On our last batch cook, we made:
-black bean soup (crockpot)
-black bean burgers (assemble and freeze to cook individually later)
-peanut sauce (mix up a huge batch in the food processor, add to vegetables later for a kick-ass stir-fry)
-eggplant/tomato/feta/white bean casserole
-curried zucchini and white bean soup
-short crust pastry (add eggs, cheese and veg later to make a quiche).
-tom kha soup (a thai coconut milk soup, SO GOOD).

I also made some dark chocolate chocolate coconut almond butter cups and stashed them in the freezer to have as an after-dinner treat in the evenings :)

We do rely a lot on bulk purchasing of dry foods at costco, not sure if something similar is available in the Netherlands.  We live in a small studio apartment and do not find storage to be a big problem.  Our fridge/freezer are not especially large, usually on the day we do the batch cook we totally fill the freezer and then have a week's worth of meals in the fridge.  I still cook some fresh vegetables most evenings but our main course comes from the big batch of meals in the freezer.

[footenote]

Cats - Wow - I never thought of a multi-device-method Saturday: brilliant! I'm going to crib from you...  mille grazie

[cerberusss]

I'm challenging myself to eat and cook more vegetarian meals, which is healthier and should help on costs.

My girlfriend is a vegetarian, so I only eat meat during lunch (i.e. on my sandwich). Thus when cooking, we use those veggie burgers, or seasoned tofu or what have you.

But when I started looking at the grocery receipts, it turns out that seasoned tofu costs between 15 and 17 euros per kilo (US$ 9-11 per lb) which is double the price of chicken breast here.

So if you're going to make vegetarian meals, be sure to not just use these pre-seasoned meat replacements. I'm now looking into "real" vegetarian recipes.

[cerberusss]

We're doing the use-what-we-have thing, and it's working well.
(...)
The lentil recipe was amazing. I did not have all the ingredients--I subbed green beans for cauliflower--yet the recipe turned out really well.

Dal soup is really amazing, yeah. And when I started making a menu, I found out I could actually have three dinners right from the fridge/cupboards, no need to visit the store just yet :-)

We do rely a lot on bulk purchasing of dry foods at costco, not sure if something similar is available in the Netherlands. 

There's a Lidl store five blocks away. It's one of these amazingly cheap German-run stores. They've succeeded invading the country sixty years later, but now with their friendly cheap groceries :-P

Your recipes don't match my taste but the idea of pre-freezing meals sounds so good that I googled a bit, and found some amazing pasta recipes for that: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/baked-penne-chicken-sun-dried-tomatoes-recipe-mslo1010

[footenote]

But when I started looking at the grocery receipts, it turns out that seasoned tofu costs between 15 and 17 euros per kilo (US$ 9-11 per lb) which is double the price of chicken breast here.

So if you're going to make vegetarian meals, be sure to not just use these pre-seasoned meat replacements. I'm now looking into "real" vegetarian recipes.
[/quote]

We rely heavily on beans in made-ahead dishes. If they agree with you (ahem) dietarily, they are an outstanding source of protein that's far cheaper than tofu or chicken.

Although I sometimes fall back on Costco tinned beans if I didn't plan ahead, I use dried beans most of the time (http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/07/19/dry-beans-or-canned-beans-a-cost-effective-comparison/). 

Our local grocery that caters to immigrants has both great diversity of dried beans and the most popular dried beans in bulk (driving cost even lower).

[oldtoyota]

I like the idea of OAMC (once-a-month cooking). That is ambitious for me at present--and give how little tupperware I own--but I could start out with once-a-week cooking. I've tried that before. If I miss a Sunday, though, it all goes to heck.

I am making a Swedish soup tonight with yellow split peas. If I can, I'll get pizza crust started tonight for tomorrow's dinner. I'll only be a day ahead this week, which is not the most relaxing way to go about it.

=-)

[cerberusss]

The Asian store is a great idea, in fact: we've got one of these right around the corner.

As an aside; the girlfriend at first wasn't on the same page, saying things like "saving is fine by me, but we do have the money, you know?" And: "yeah well, I like to treat myself every now and then".

But apparently sometimes you gotta let it soak in, because I just heard her tell a friend "yeah we're looking at our spendings on food, it's been getting out of hand"  :-)

So that's already a small victory :-)

[oldtoyota]

Glad your GF is getting on board. =-)

I'm pleased to report that our grocery bill is only $300 or so, and we had a party AND had five additional people over for a brunch. Despite the entertaining, we came in way under our previous spending levels.
=-)

[cerberusss]

I'm pleased to report that our grocery bill is only $300 or so

Wow, that's really good! How big is your family?

We're with the two of us, but a baby is expected next month :-)

[cerberusss]

Update: last ten days, we spent about € 100, plus another 15 for milk/yoghurt/veggies halfway. Extrapolating, that would mean spending 350 per month, which is better than the 400-450 we've been hitting before.

I got groceries yesterday for the next 14 days, and only spent 85. Adding in another 15 for impromptu stuff, we could hit the 300 per month.

Girlfriend did spend € 40 at the pharmacy. A couple of insanely overpriced shampoos and oils for the baby. We split the costs for now, but I told her I won't chip in the next time, unless we get to decide that stuff together. We've had happier conversations but it wasn't an argument or something. I pointed out that we were saving so much on groceries, that she could easily get that € 40 from just her share of the savings. And that did get her interest.

[oldtoyota]

I'm pleased to report that our grocery bill is only $300 or so

Wow, that's really good! How big is your family?

We're with the two of us, but a baby is expected next month :-)

Sadly, I am not as amazing as I thought I was. LOL. The bill crept up to $400. Then...

DH went to the grocery and spent $100+ the last day of the month. That brought us up to $500+.

There are three of us, and we had one party and two brunches.

Hoping to get the bill down next month. On the good side, our eating out costs went down by $200-$300 during May while our usual average grocery bill stayed the same in the $500 range.

[cerberusss]

A little update... last Sunday we did groceries for this week and spent 70. It's looking pretty good so far; we'd be 66% into the month and spent only 48%. Let's be careful with that last week!

[sunnymidnight]

I have two budgets for food.  One is for the day to day items that we require.  The other is for stocking up.  This second budget gives you the ability to really buy items in quantity when they are on sale so that you do not find yourself without any milk money left until the end of the month because toilet paper was such a great deal. 

The more items you have that you bought on sale the more you save in the long run and the less you spend on day to day groceries. 

I started with just $25 a month in the stock up budget but that went very quickly because when coffee is on sale for $6 when it is normally $10 you blow the whole $25.  I now have $100 per month in the stock up budget.  I also keep a book of prices so I know when I am getting the best deal.

[cerberusss]

What do you stock up on? I discussed this with the girlfriend and we couldn't come up with a whole lot:
- Toiletries like deodorant, toiletpaper and maybe shampoo and stuff
- Rice

We hardly eat any canned vegetables and stuff. I do see you can stock up on dry vegetables like beans, but this has an adverse affect on my ability to read the newspaper next to my girlfriend without smelling funny smells :-)

[Rebecca Stapler]

What do you stock up on? I discussed this with the girlfriend and we couldn't come up with a whole lot:
- Toiletries like deodorant, toiletpaper and maybe shampoo and stuff
- Rice

We hardly eat any canned vegetables and stuff. I do see you can stock up on dry vegetables like beans, but this has an adverse affect on my ability to read the newspaper next to my girlfriend without smelling funny smells :-)

Jumping in ... I'm a couponer, so I stockpile. In our food section right now are jars of tomato sauce, cans of tomatoes in various incarnations (chopped, diced, paste, etc.), salad dressings, mustards, ketchup, tuna, and lots of whole grain pasta. We also have lots of frozen veggies in the freezer, which were down to free or $0.50/bag recently.

The non-groceries in the stockpile are the toiletries you mentioned (toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash, shave gel, razors, lotions, feminine products) and office supplies (paper, pens, and batteries).

If it's not free or under $1, I usually don't bother to stockpile it.

[rockstache]

Stan, I don't want to derail this thread, but I would love a separate post devoted to how-to couponing for beginners....if there isn't one already. Do you have any tips? I don't really know where to get coupons without paying for them (except the weekly flyer my grandmother gives me), or how to get coupons for things I actually use. Also I have questions about how doubling or tripling works and what things can be combined etc...

[Rebecca Stapler]

Stan, I don't want to derail this thread, but I would love a separate post devoted to how-to couponing for beginners....if there isn't one already. Do you have any tips? I don't really know where to get coupons without paying for them (except the weekly flyer my grandmother gives me), or how to get coupons for things I actually use. Also I have questions about how doubling or tripling works and what things can be combined etc...

I have a zillion tips. I'm happy to start a thread on it, though I'm not sure where. But in truth, there are 2 great resources for couponing tips: Stephanie Nelson in her "Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting your Grocery Bill in Half" and the "Couponing 101" posts on www.hotcouponworld.com. That's how I learned.

As for where to get coupons, there are a lot of places but currently I print a lot of them and order them from a coupon clipping service. The weekly inserts in the papers just aren't doing it for me lately. You can usually combine a store and a manufacturer's coupon. For example, if Target has a coupon for $1 off of bread, you can use that with a Pepperidge Farm coupon for $1 off 1 loaf. If Bed Bath and Beyond has a 20% off coupon, you can use that with your Keurig coupon. Even better is if Pepperidge Farm or Keurig have a rebate -- you can then submit your receipt for a rebate, usually for the full (non-discounted) price of the item ;) (I could go on like this all day though; I don't want to hijack the thread)

[Herbert Derp]

I've started replacing some of the chicken breast in my diet with hearts and gizzards. The giblets are around 30% cheaper than breasts, and they are very healthy other than having high cholesterol. I find this is a great way to introduce more variety into my diet while keeping my food costs low.

[cerberusss]

Small update: this is what I wrote earlier this month:

A little update... last Sunday we did groceries for this week and spent 70. It's looking pretty good so far; we'd be 66% into the month and spent only 48%. Let's be careful with that last week!

That's what I wrote about groceries we did on the 9th of June. Turns out that was somewhat optimistic. For some reason, six days later on the 15th, there's a 85 euro grocery bill. And yesterday, I spent 39 euros.

So -- there's 8 days left this month, and from the original 350, there's 50 left. We'll probably make it. But it doesn't sit well with me that I didn't manage to hit something lower than 350.

To give myself some credit, we've accidentally entirely removed fastfood and processed food and I haven't calculated these savings. However, I expected that by making weekly menus and eliminating impulse purchases, I could easily spent 10 to 20% less. It doesn't seem to work like that.

Attack plan for next month:
- Save all receipts and take a good look where the money is going, i.e. split it up in breakfast/lunch/dinner. Then see where I can eliminate.
- Make a list of everything I can stock up on.
- Don't do groceries too soon: if there aren't any snacks in the house, wait a day or two

[oldtoyota]

With a week left to go, I think we're going to make our goal this month.

If you look above, you'll see that I crept over in the very last day of the month last month. We ate on that food for the first part of June. Even though I went over, I was happy because my restaurant costs went way down while the grocery bill stayed static.

This month--mostly due to vacation--we spent around $150 on eating out and around $250-$300 so far on groceries. DH is heading to the grocery store today though. I'm pretty sure we'll get up to $400 or so. I set a limit of $425 or $450 for this month.

[cerberusss]

With a week left to go, I think we're going to make our goal this month.

If you look above, you'll see that I crept over in the very last day of the month last month. We ate on that food for the first part of June. Even though I went over, I was happy because my restaurant costs went way down while the grocery bill stayed static.

This month--mostly due to vacation--we spent around $150 on eating out and around $250-$300 so far on groceries. DH is heading to the grocery store today though. I'm pretty sure we'll get up to $400 or so. I set a limit of $425 or $450 for this month.

Nice work! To give a European an idea, what does a couple spend in US$ when going out eating?

My girlfriend suggested not stopping going out for dinner, but rather go to a cheap restaurant and take a cheaper meal there.

[Rural]

Nice work! To give a European an idea, what does a couple spend in US$ when going out eating?

We generally spend around $20, but we're on the extreme low end in the US because of our very low cost of living area and our habit of drinking water with meals. We also have quite limited choices, but there are several restaurants we both like.

[oldtoyota]

Nice work! To give a European an idea, what does a couple spend in US$ when going out eating?

We generally spend around $20, but we're on the extreme low end in the US because of our very low cost of living area and our habit of drinking water with meals. We also have quite limited choices, but there are several restaurants we both like.

I am not sure of the average. Like rural, we tend to spend little when we do go out to eat. We like to eat Pho, which will run us about $15 +tip for the two of us. We also drink water with our restaurant meals. My "spendier" friends seem to think nothing of spending $50 per person.

My lunch average *used* to be $8 or $9 once per week, and I am down to eating lunch out once per month now.

[Rural]

Nice work! To give a European an idea, what does a couple spend in US$ when going out eating?

We generally spend around $20, but we're on the extreme low end in the US because of our very low cost of living area and our habit of drinking water with meals. We also have quite limited choices, but there are several restaurants we both like.

I am not sure of the average. Like rural, we tend to spend little when we do go out to eat. We like to eat Pho, which will run us about $15 +tip for the two of us. We also drink water with our restaurant meals. My "spendier" friends seem to think nothing of spending $50 per person.

My lunch average *used* to be $8 or $9 once per week, and I am down to eating lunch out once per month now.

I was including tip and tax in my $20 figure, so I'd guess we're about the same. I should have specified. That's for dinner; we pack lunches.

[cerberusss]

That's not bad at all. We found a restaurant where we could spend €7 plus €2 for a drink, give or take €20 total, so that's $26.20. And that's soup/fries/salad plus a locally brewed beer.