Groceries

[Inbred Chocobo]

Okay, so lets say you need to buy some groceries, but you don't have a lot of money. Alright forumers, describe to me the best ways to budget a grocery list. If you are curious about my situation, well I only have to feed myself but we are looking at probably about 50 a week, maybe a little less.

[Jagos]

Milk, bread, Hot Pockets and Pizza Rolls.

All 7 food groups.

Seriously, you can get by on ramen, bread, the occasional bag of chicken (about 5 dollars) mac and cheese or rice and a snack or two. You cook the bag of chicken and you have meals for days while it's something fulfilling.

Living with roommates it's a great thing when you can cook and learn a few new ways with Spam also.

[Lumenskir]

If you are curious about my situation, well I only have to feed myself but we are looking at probably about 50 a week, maybe a little less.

Just by yourself, 40-50 a week is plenty. I'm surviving on about half-ish that very comfortably (with comfortably being measured in enjoyable food and dessert).

First off, which supermarket do you go to? I used to go to Walmart, but while it's always just cheap I switched over to Publix where they always have a bunch of deals going on and coupons on their website. The gold standard is Sams or Costco, but the membership fee might mean you would have to shop there a lot to get the most out of it (but then again, bulk is great).

Concerning food, always go with the store brand if there is a store brand version (which there probably will be). Same exact stuff, without the label.

Think in terms of meals, and shop like that, that always helped me. Like, if you buy an oven-pizza, assuming you eat it by yourself, that's about two meals. If you're just buying for yourself, most of your shopping items will be a dinner meal and then a lunch leftover.

Pasta is cheap, tastes good, and goes with everything. For some reason Publix would have 2-for-1 pasta sales every other week, which means about 4 meals for $1.39 assuming you don't eat a pound of pasta a meal. Same thing for rice.

Once you have your meals planned out, don't be ashamed to get snacks. Bulk is good for snacks, but if you not just keep going generic or what's on sale.

Get a water filter. Probably the best single investment I made going to college.

Basically, don't worry too much about budgeting, you should be more than good as long as you don't have sky-high needs.

[Flarecobra]

Ok, this may sound girly, but Coupons are your friends. Also keep an eye on sales. I've seen someone using this method get about a week or two worth of groceries for less then 20 bucks.

[Wigmund]

I say push it for one week and buy large packages of thin-sliced beef, pork, and chicken and also large packages of ground meats. Stuff keeps forever in the freezer after you divide em up into ziploc bags and you end up saving money because of the bulk buying. They go great with those cheap pasta sides packets for lunches or quick dinners, or with eggs for breakfast.

Also: bulk cooking is good, cook a large meal at the beginning of the week - package immediately for a week of decent meals.

[Bells]

Thanks to the power of the INTERNET i just went to a Online Supermarket and made a Week's grocery list on $50 bucks:

black & gold clear honey round pet 750g - $7.51
bolletje pumpernickel rye bread 500g - $2.74
bananas - lge - ready to eat - kg - $3.23
beef - chuck steak - kg (approx (4-5 per pack) - $9.89
Hoki fillets (Fish) - frozen 500g - $6.26
imperial taste jasmine rice 1kg - $3.52
black & gold corn flakes 500g - $2.42
caffe aurora medaglia d'oro ground coffee all' italiana italian style 250g - $5.89
antonio amato spaghetti #5 500g - $2.27
ardmona pizza sauce 140g - $1.28 X3
black & gold reduced fat milk (no preservatives) uht modified 1ltr - $1.35

Subtotal $48.92

2 types of meat, Rice, Pasta, Sauce, Milk, Bread, Honey (doubles as sugar too), and Fruit (Bananas go a long way).

I really doubt you can eat all that up in just one week, so you can switch stuff out on the next week and get some Butter/Cream Cheese/Soft Drinks/etc

[Krylo]

Nah, man, I spend about seventy bucks a week eating out every single day. I'm pretty sure you can get a week's worth of good food for fifty without any real trouble if you're doing actual shopping.

My advice--buy an indoor grill before you do anything, while you still have money to burn. Why? Because you can buy like ten million circus dogs (cheap fucking hot dogs), some decent buns, and condiments for under fifty bucks... and even the cheap ass hot dogs taste good grilled. Ramen is gonna be your friend, too. Other than that... I really don't see where you'd have much trouble.

Just make sure you'll actually HAVE fifty dollars every week after rent, internet, cable, and whatever else isn't included in rent. Not to mention enough left to put aside for emergencies.

[Bells]

Originally Posted by Krylo

What the hell's a honey round pet?

It's a big bottle of honey!!



No, seriously, i had to live on that sort of Budget before... since Honey (when natural) Can't go bad, and it's something you can double as sugar (and it goes great with Banana and Corn Flakes) it's really handy.

That, and a 2Kg pack of Hotdogs... that got me two weeks!

[batgirl]

Like others have said, bulk buying is your friend. You can bulk buy and freeze stuff for months. If you can't due to membership fees and such, here are some tips:

Rice and beans- They cost next to nothing and fill you up.

Ramen- While not exactly the best for you, it is cheap.

Canned food- While I tend to stay away from it since fresh stuff is always better, canned food lasts forever. You can get canned pretty much anything too.

Potatoes- Cheap, filling and yummy.

Coupons are awesome. Don't be afraid to look for them in your catalogs for the week.

Grocery stores generally put "slightly bruised" fruits and veggies on sale. You have to get lucky with finding decent looking stuff, but you can snag some bargains.

Cooking and portioning out foods for the week is a great idea that was mentioned.

50 bucks is absolutely doable. That was pretty much what I spent per week when I was living in my apartment, and I was completely ok.

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by Krylo

Nah, man, I spend about seventy bucks a week eating out every single day. I'm pretty sure you can get a week's worth of good food for fifty without any real trouble if you're doing actual shopping.

heh, this explains where all my money after bills goes too, it's probably not healthy and definitely not thrifty.

gonna have to save this thread.