Author Topic: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018  (Read 121283 times)

SproutingStacheHK

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #550 on: October 12, 2018, 08:26:59 PM »
Buy an Instant Pot and make your own yogurt. Go to youtube and watch some video's on people who are very frugal shoppers and stretch their grocery money in interesting ways! Watch videos on youtube on freezer meals like cook for a day, eat for a month. Good luck to you in HK!

Looking into it, Roadrunner53!  Thanks for the tips - and it turns out I have been overestimating the cost of living re. food.  I'm half-way through the month, just did a grocery shop that I hope will take me all the way through this coming week, and I'm just touching HK$1500 (US$191). And that includes all household items & toiletries, and a US$30 water filter. Ugh - facepunches to self for the wasted months believing the HCOL for food story, and for shopping at Marks & Spencers. No more! 

FamilyGuy

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #551 on: October 13, 2018, 11:01:06 PM »
I am shopping predominantly at Aldi and Walmart to reduce my grocery expenses. Also I am planning to list everything in the pantry and plan and make dishes out of them. That is my next mini project.

mountain mustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #552 on: October 14, 2018, 07:14:04 AM »
I am shopping predominantly at Aldi and Walmart to reduce my grocery expenses. Also I am planning to list everything in the pantry and plan and make dishes out of them. That is my next mini project.

This is my project also for next weekend. I have a deep freezer full of food, and a pantry full, but I need to take an inventory of everything so I can purposely meal plan

FamilyGuy

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #553 on: October 14, 2018, 09:18:54 AM »
With you !! Let’s make it happen.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #554 on: October 16, 2018, 07:39:56 AM »
I am shopping predominantly at Aldi and Walmart to reduce my grocery expenses. Also I am planning to list everything in the pantry and plan and make dishes out of them. That is my next mini project.

This is my project also for next weekend. I have a deep freezer full of food, and a pantry full, but I need to take an inventory of everything so I can purposely meal plan

This. I need to purposefully weave in the freezer items into our menu, and know what's available. I bailed yesterday (was out of town all weekend) & picked up some Trader Joes options. Better than takeout, not as good as making something from the freezer. But, my goal is to inventory everything & make it happen this weekend.

SproutingStacheHK

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #555 on: October 20, 2018, 12:37:30 AM »
A new low (or a new budgeting high) - just finished this week's grocery shop: HK$250 (US$31); I'm expecting it to last until next Saturday's shop.  So far this month: 1-7th: HK$950 (US$118); 8-14th: HK $700 (US$87); 15-21st: HK$250 (US$31).  I went through the freezer and pantry to account for all the leftovers and stored food, and came up with some meal plans for the week ahead - before I went shopping. Like the comments above, I'm determined not to buy until I've used what I have. Thanks for the inspiration, FamilyGuy and company! My monthly aim of HK$4000 is not even half gone: I'll have to revise the number way down for next month.  Side bonus: all this careful watching of what I buy and consume is having an amazing effect on my weightloss goals.

Laura33

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #556 on: October 22, 2018, 06:20:18 AM »
My sloth and frivolity continues.  Currently at $472 food, $40 household.  $80 of that was (i) beer from the farmer's market, and (ii) tea from Amazon (thus killing both my grocery and gazingus pin challenges in one swell foop).

The overall trend is better, though.  Even though we are still shopping at Wegmans, the last two weeks have averaged $120 each for the actual groceries, which includes kids' and my lunches.  I have been avoiding the farmer's market, which helps a LOT, and DD has been good at sticking to the list.  So clearly, the lesson is to avoid the temptation of what seem like one-off little treats -- I think at close to 20% of the food spend, we're beyond the meaning of the term "treat."

mountain mustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #557 on: October 22, 2018, 06:24:02 AM »
I did my freezer inventory (which was really cold, btw!! haha) and made a spreadsheet, because everything needs a spreadsheet. It was so nice to see everything I have, and reorganize as well. I took out a bunch of stuff I know I've had for a while, and it also helped me make a Costco list for things I need to stock up on.
I made 4 different dishes for the week using older ingredients I had forgotten about in the depths of the freezer. And I only spent $18 on groceries for the week!

Roadrunner53

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #558 on: October 22, 2018, 07:40:13 AM »
I did my freezer inventory (which was really cold, btw!! haha) and made a spreadsheet, because everything needs a spreadsheet. It was so nice to see everything I have, and reorganize as well. I took out a bunch of stuff I know I've had for a while, and it also helped me make a Costco list for things I need to stock up on.
I made 4 different dishes for the week using older ingredients I had forgotten about in the depths of the freezer. And I only spent $18 on groceries for the week!

Good for you and the spreadsheet! I am too lazy to do that but it is an excellent idea. My freezer broke about 4 weeks ago! EEEEEEKKKKKK!!!! Called all around town to find a quick replacement and NOPE no one had anything in stock. All told me about 3 days. I did not want to lose a whole freezer full of food and was in panic mode! Even checked Craigslist for a used one and NOPE nothing listed was suitable. By chance I went on line to Sears website and found an upright freezer and they advertised next day delivery! OMG! So I bought a jumbo upright sight unseen and hoped for the best! They also had free shipping but did charge a little extra for overnight delivery. It was very cheap and I have already forgotten what it was. The freezer was just under $1,000. They gave us a window of delivery time and were even early! All my freezer items were saved! Nothing lost except maybe one bag of OLD veggies! We kept the freezer door shut, no peeking and unloaded it about a half an hour before they came to deliver! WHEW, what a crazy two days!

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #559 on: October 22, 2018, 09:28:24 AM »
@mountain mustache - I thought of the freezer inventory, & got ready to attempt it & my dry erase boards wouldn't come clean. Lamest excuse ever. I moved on to another task, and completely forgot about it. But, need to make it happen! Thanks for the reminder

jim555

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #560 on: November 01, 2018, 01:19:31 PM »
October $185.75.

SproutingStacheHK

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #561 on: November 02, 2018, 07:14:29 AM »
October HK$2160 (US$275) - not nearly as good as the rest of you, but something I'm really happy with after the horrible blowouts of my early months in Hong Kong!  Aiming for under HKD$2000 this month.

thesavoryhello

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #562 on: November 04, 2018, 01:40:03 PM »
We have been working on the same goal this last year! We went from (yikes) 900+/month early on in the year to $360 in September for two adults. It went up again last month (to $506) as we adjusted to a new diet for health reasons, but hopefully once we figure this new diet out it will be back down in November.

My favorite way that we've saved money on produce is that we started buying from a huge wholesale produce warehouse that typically sells to grocery stores and restaurants. We split up the boxes of produce between 5-10 friends to manage the minimum size requirements that you have to meet when buying at that kind of place. We also made our gas money back, which was nice. We love avocados and berries, so it saved us a ton of money to get huge boxes of avocados for <$.50 per avocado, <$1 per box of berries, etc.

Roadrunner53

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #563 on: November 04, 2018, 02:08:40 PM »
October HK$2160 (US$275) - not nearly as good as the rest of you, but something I'm really happy with after the horrible blowouts of my early months in Hong Kong!  Aiming for under HKD$2000 this month.

Did you invest in an instant pot to make yogurt or a yogurt maker? If I recall, you mentioned yogurt was expensive there. I made one batch in mine and it came out awesome. The only trouble is that it takes a long time. I have to make sure I get up early to start it. Takes about 1-1/12 hours in the morning to steam the milk then cool it down, then it has to incubate for 8 hours. I want to be able to take it out before bed and refrigerate it. I am attaching a youtube video. This video shows one jar in the Instant Pot but I used...I think...5/ 12 ounce jars. The yogurt came out thick like the youtube demo. I used Greek yogurt, plain, unflavored. Some other video's show a need to put the yogurt in a strainer overnight to strain out the liquid. The procedure I am attaching did not require that step.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtXnaP17D4Q

If you decide to use this recipe I would suggest you watch and write down every step. I wrote down everything and for me it was 27 steps but I wrote everything including buttons to push. I watched it again yesterday and picked up another tip I missed the first time.

SproutingStacheHK

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #564 on: November 05, 2018, 07:10:49 AM »
Not yet - I just didn't buy yogurt, which worked just as well!  But I'm on the lookout for three key pieces of kitchen equipment when they come up cheap in the asiaexpat classifieds - a bread maker, and instant pot, and some kitchen scales.  This, and messing about with them in the kitchen, will be my Christmas present to myself, since I can't visit home this year.  Thanks so much for the video - filed away for when I get my pot!  I do LOVE a good Greek yogurt, so I'm really looking forward to trying out the recipe.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #565 on: November 05, 2018, 07:43:59 AM »
Finished October with $670 in groceries. Our budget is $625. Our freezer is completely full, so I'm hopeful we can get through November under budget. *fingers crossed* We shop on Saturdays, and there were five Saturdays in October, so not totally unexpected.

Roadrunner53

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #566 on: November 05, 2018, 08:01:08 AM »
Not yet - I just didn't buy yogurt, which worked just as well!  But I'm on the lookout for three key pieces of kitchen equipment when they come up cheap in the asiaexpat classifieds - a bread maker, and instant pot, and some kitchen scales.  This, and messing about with them in the kitchen, will be my Christmas present to myself, since I can't visit home this year.  Thanks so much for the video - filed away for when I get my pot!  I do LOVE a good Greek yogurt, so I'm really looking forward to trying out the recipe.

Just make sure you find an Instant Pot with the yogurt button! Not all have them. Yes, the video is good. Whoever posted it did an excellent job.

jim555

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #567 on: December 01, 2018, 04:42:05 PM »
November is in $203.31.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #568 on: December 01, 2018, 09:29:48 PM »
$545 on groceries in November, for a family of four. My almost 13 year old boy is eating an exceptional amount right now, so I'm investigating cheap snack options to keep him full. Goal is $625, but we were on vacation for almost a week, and ate out quite a bit. (Considered as the vacation budget). Either way, I'll take it as a win.

middo

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #569 on: December 02, 2018, 03:38:55 PM »
I just found this thread, a bit late in the year.

We started 2018 spending $1028 in January on food.  My goal was to get it down to under $700 per month.

Last three months average has been $506, with November coming in at $413.  December will be a little higher as Christmas goodies will tend to inflate it a bit. 

My biggest change has been to stop buying the most expensive cuts of meat and fish.  They may be nice, but slow cooking and a bit of thought can make cheaper cuts (and smaller serves) just as interesting.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #570 on: December 02, 2018, 09:10:02 PM »
Wow, @middo - that's a huge change! Congrats on the drop & all of the improvements.

mountain mustache

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #571 on: December 02, 2018, 09:52:30 PM »
I am really happy with my progress for this year, getting my spending around $300 a month for my groceries(VHCOL area). November ended up being a stock up month for me, which means I spent about $550.00 (two trips to Costco, 1 trip to Sprouts, 1 trip to Trader Joes). I don't get to stock up super often because I live really far away from anything but a really terrible Safeway, but I had two trips in November to towns with the "good stores". I'm stoked to go into December and January with a stocked freezer and pantry...my goal is to end the year with a $200 grocery month in December!

Zola.

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #572 on: December 03, 2018, 03:59:02 AM »
Mine has been chaotic and terribly inconsistent :/

Laura33

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #573 on: January 01, 2019, 01:24:46 PM »
Hi guys -- been incommunicado because I was traveling a lot and so really lost track of everything in November-December.  I am pretty sure we were in the $600-700 range both months (higher in November, lower in December, but that's because our vacation spend goes on the vacation budget and so there was a lot more eating out). 

I've also just sort of lost interest.  My behavior has demonstrated that I am willing to make the changes to get the spend down from its original @$1200 to the $600 +/- mark, but I am not willing to go below that.  I am also finding that next year I want to focus on the quality of what I eat (cholesterol/weight), and mentally my desire to be cheap gets in the way of that.*  For example, there are a couple of services that do delicious portioned meals with balanced nutrition and such, but I have refused to buy them because they are like $10/meal.  I have decided to try some of those in January to see if we can have some better "I don't want to cook" options on hand, and hang the expense.  In addition, I have tried a new produce service that uses produce that would otherwise be thrown away; the prices are ok, but not ALDI level, and there's a $5 delivery fee -- but I like what they are trying to do to minimize waste and get some additional cash to the farmers, and so I have decided to keep doing that.

So, in any event, this challenge has been very enlightening over the past two years, so thanks for starting it and for all of the encouragement folks here have provided (and the vindaloo recipe!!).


*Yes, I know it is entirely possible to eat much better than I currently do for much less money, but I am dealing with my own psychology and habits here.  And my habit is to set big goals, like "I'm going to learn to make delicious things with lentils!" -- and then never getting around to it.  And so when I am in the store, the $1 mac and cheese ends up more tempting than the $5.99 ground turkey, because I fret that the healthier option will hit the budget harder.  So I sort of need to give myself express permission to spend more money on the healthier option.

jim555

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #574 on: January 01, 2019, 07:10:18 PM »
$203.02 December 2018

middo

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #575 on: January 01, 2019, 09:05:28 PM »
My 2018 grocery spending:

Next year the aim is to be under $500 every month.  I'll see how we go.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2019, 09:09:06 PM by middo »

pancakes

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #576 on: January 01, 2019, 11:32:21 PM »
Reducing my grocery spend was not a priority towards the end of 2018 and probably won’t be for 2019 either.

If you think there is enough interest and someone else is willing to start a new thread for 2019 I am more than happy to pass the baton.

haypug16

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Re: Reduce your grocery spend - 2018
« Reply #577 on: January 03, 2019, 02:38:37 PM »
My average for the year was $264.77 per month. I'd like to trim this a little in 2019 while at the same time reducing my Dining Out expenses ($198.39 average p/month) This may be tricky but I just need to get better about finding sales, not wasting food, etc.