My grocery shopping habits have not changed a lot. I've never bought a lot of premade foods, I've always shopped sales, and I've been pretty faithful to my list.

I'm working my menu a bit better - always a work in progress for me.

What has changed is I'm not making the little trips. I do a big shopping trip out of town once every two weeks and then I visit our local store once, maybe twice, during that off week. If I don't have an item, I make do. That alone probably saves us $40 - $50 a week.

I'm also not wasting as much food. We're eating our left overs and I'm stretching meats to cover 2 or 3 meals instead of just one meal. I actually had a $10.00 package of chicken that went for five meals.

I try to buy as many generics as possible. It has been helping alot. I also never buy prepackaged snack bags anymore. I just divy portions up into little snack baggies.

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I haven't really changed much.....
Mainly trying to not go as often, so I don't spend as much.
My DD keeps saying "mom you really need to go to the store!" because we are out of her favorite cereal, well in the past I may have picked some up while I was out, but now I'm like hey eat something else and I'll get it when I get it....they've gotten kinda spoiled that way...me always trying to have at hand what they will eat....so hoping this will change that.

I've always bought generics, and bought larger bags of stuff instead of individually packaged stuff. I have a pretty set list of groceries that I go by...I guess if it gets really bad I'll start to cut more stuff out or replace with a cheaper alternative.

I do alot of the things mentioned here:
I have cut down on sodas, I buy some for dh to take 1 to work each day, and that's it
I have cut out alot of juices since it's just dh and I
I have learned to make more things from scratch like pancake/waffle mixes, chicken and beef rice-a-roni mix, mac & cheese, etc...
I try to buy store brand or generic when possible
I rarely buy any snacks like potato chips, I do keep popcorn on hand though!

We are cutting out coffee when this container is gone so I will save on coffee, creamer, and sweetner/sugar (all non-nutritive). No more diet soda for me either. I will be drinking more water and iced tea when I want a treat. DH has agreed to stop binging on crackers so that 2 boxes will last a month instead of a week and a half. I have stopped buying animal crackers and vanilla wafers for DS and am making homemade shortbread and whole wheat peanut butter cookies.
We wanted to start eating a more nutritious diet but I was having trouble making the budget work until we looked at all the food we spent money on that added no value to our diet. Just in cutting out coffee and all the add-ins we will save $10/month.

Here are the changes I made lately:

- I realized I did not need to have everything on hand all the time to please the kids. For example, I used to buy 3 or 4 differtent kinds of Yogourts and cookies (very expensive I tell you!!). Now I buy whats on sale and we eat that. If ice cream is finished then we write it on the list but I do not go to the grocery store to get some. Kids can have something else.

- I cook more desserts. Buying cookies and ice cream can be very expensive. If I make a cake it will last a couple of days and it's very cheap to make from scratch.

- I have cut the amount of milk my kids get. This was getting ridiculous.

- I started using meat less like a main dish but more part of a meal.

- We eat leftovers as we go so I don't waste anything. If I know it's something we don't like eating in leftover I try to make only enough for one meal.

- I make soup more. It's great for lunches & to have a soup and grilled cheese dinner.

- I buy fruits and veggies that are on sale, even if it can get boring in the winter (apples, oranges and bananas - kids don't seem to complain)

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Marie - SAHM of DS Benjamin (april 2004) and DD Rose (march 2006).

The things we have done include:

Cut down on soda (by about 75%)
Cut out some of the "snack" kind of stuff that isn't really healthy anyway
Plan meals more carefully so we don't have to rely on convenience foods
Eat up every leftover that we have (for lunch, or have a bit of this and a bit of that for dinner)
We're eating more oatmeal and less cold cereal
Purchase only fruits and veggies that are on sale
Put a firm cap in place for the amount per pound we're willing to spend for meat
I'm using more coupons
Using CVS more

We will continue to look for additional ways to cut back so that we can replenish one savings account that was pretty much used up last year.

Michelle

I am working on cutting my diet pop addiction - I am down to one a day. So I feel good about that.

I am buying about 75% of our groceries from the Amish salvage store that is down the road from us. Because of this store, I can get things I would normally get and still stay within my budget. I can even get things that I would "love to get but without a coupon wouldn't be able to buy at Meijer". I can get a box of Ghiradelli brownies for 60cents! But even their prices are starting to go up.

Anyway, with some frozen food sales I am trying to match sales with store coupons and manufacturers coupons to stock up. This way I do have a couple of convenience foods that are cheap for those nights where I need something REALLY fast.

We no longer buy papertowels. I cut up our older bathtowels into kitchen sized. This has saved quite a bit as we were going thru a roll a day. Also better for the enviroment!

I changed to a cheaper brand of dishwasher detergent and it works just as good.

I have started a price book, though with the constant increases it is hard to keep up to date.

And Wal-mart opens today!! I am hoping that helps with our grocery budget. We are going to check it out tonight!

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"God determines who walks into your life…
it’s up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay and who you refuse to let go." - Anonymous

1. Started shopping at Aldi's
2. Shop our local grocery store on Monday mornings, when they mark-down the meat.
3. Buy dry foods at local bulk food store.
4. More meatless meals.
5. More breakfast foods for dinner. Last night was pancakes.
6. Mostly drinking water (from the faucet) or tea.
7. Stock up if something is a good deal (I budget $20 just for stock-ups).
8. Buy dry milk powder for use in baking.
9. Make homemade cream-of-whatever soup mix & bisquik-type mix.
10. Make homemade cocoa for DS - don't buy the mix.
11. Water down the DS's juices (even more)
12. More bulk cooking & baking
13. Saving things I never used to save (like broth when cooking chicken, stale bread to make crumbs)
14. Make my own cleaning products
15. Water down soaps, shampoos, detergents so we all use less.
16. Buying less paper products.
17. Don't buy boxed cereal. Just oatmeal from the bulk food store.
18. Keep things in the freezer for quick breakfast - HM pancakes, waffles, egg muffins, HM granola bars, etc.
19. Reconsidering everything on my list (do we really need it? is it worth the money? can I make an inexpensive substitute that will fly with DH and DS?) In general - How can I spend less without embarassing my family too much?