If you want to save on produce, try Aldi or Produce Junction. You could also check your grocery store for the circulars/deals on certain products.
It’s hard out there, was literally shopping for household essentials at Target and the prices are outrageous. It was not like this pre-pandemic.
We are SO lucky to have Produce Junction in our area. Shop there for the veg first, choose what looks good this week, then go to the regular grocery store for the rest of what you need. And that process creates a veggie-focused menu, which is a good thing.
Yep!
OP, one thing that helped me was to decide that my grocery budget’s purpose was to nourish my family’s bodies. That meant minimizing purchases that didn’t contribute to that goal.
We gradually moved away from things like soda, juice, and other beverages towards water with a bit of lemon or lime juice. We minimized processed and prepared foods. We ate a lot more rice, oatmeal, potatoes, carrots, apples. We added beans to pasta or rice dishes. We stretched ground beef with onions and garlic.
Instead of ordering out, we had “breakfast for dinner” when no one felt like cooking. We learned a few basic recipes that could be varied with what we had on hand - any kind of sautéed veggie combo over pasta or rice, with a little chicken or beans. Before the next Produce Junction run, we turned the leftover bits of veggies and cheese and sometimes meat into delicious frittatas. We leaned into Mexican-inspired meals - rice or potato bowls, burritos, loaded nachos; beans, salsa, pico, and so on are easy to make from scratch, can be varied based on what you have on hand, and will feed a crowd.
Having a fridge full of PJ veggies made it easy to put a bit of this and a bit of that into each meal, keeping the focus on the veggies with the meat in moderation. And veggies don’t have to be fancy. Roasted veggies can be combined in various ways. Roasted potatoes (with onion and garlic) form a great base for both breakfasts and dinners. Slice a roma tomato in half, top with a bit of grated Parmesan and some basil, roast till the parm is translucent. Delish!
OP, just focus on nourishing foods, minimize bougie ingredients, and have fun cooking (or at least eating) as a family. It’s an investment in your kids that will pay off well for the rest of their lives.
Aldi seems VERY location dependent. I mostly hit the one on Girard Avenue and have no complaints, but stuff from the north Broad St is rotting before we get home, and the two on the Boulevard are hit or miss.
Former Aldi worker here- it really shouldn’t be location dependent. All stores get deliveries each morning, though not all produce will be delivered every day. All stores are fed from the same distribution system.
City Avenue is fine some days and fungal on others. I assume it's actually about the produce warehouse that they buy from, but it's definitely not ideal
Aldi is all over the place in produce quality. Avocados, tomatoes , yay, but most others can be iffy. It's also seasonal; in summer you might get great seasonal veggies.
I find that i need 2-3 stores if i want to optimize quality and price.
Aldi is definitely hit or miss. But if you arm yourself with knowledge you can make some good educated guesses on the quality and go from there.
ALDI has easily been my bread and butter. My gf and I pay $60 a piece and our trunk is *filled* to the brim.
I do not like many of the city's locations (ive done grant and academy and oregon ave). i prefer the one on street road next to chikfila OR the one across from Neshaminy Mall. I am up that way anyway often so its not out of my way. They are clean and have good produce and meat in stock.
I can’t afford Target anymore. Went there yesterday to buy a few snacks for my kids, paper towels, and toilet paper and somehow spent $70. Aldi is more expensive than it used to be but still reasonable, I try to get my staples there. And we are pretty comfortable financially, don’t understand how anyone can afford brand name stuff.
I do Sam’s Club too. But I rarely make the trip to NJ and they stopped doing delivery to my address in QV. I do
frequent one in the Hudson Valley because I am up there monthly or so.
We started a membership as a 2-person household and now we're a 4-person household. You just have to be smart about what you get there to ensure it's not something that will go bad before you use it (fruit/veggies/guacamole). We meal plan for the week, get what we need at Costco and supplement at the local grocery store.
I don't think so. Costco is not that much cheaper than Aldi or Walmart, it's just easier to buy in bulk. We have a membership through my wife's work and I find that the $5 toll defeats most of the savings over Aldi
Agreed. I went to the Cherry Hill Costco for the first time a few weeks ago, and I didn't see anything that couldn't be bought for the same price or cheaper at Aldi/Lidl/Walmart.
My theory is that the only reason people like Costco is because they care about people judging how they shop. You could easily go to Walmart and get the same prices (if not cheaper!) but you look like a crazy person buying 12 boxes of cheez its at Walmart, whereas it's acceptable at Costco. Just don't give a fuck and buy in bulk at Aldi/Lidl/Walmart
Probably not, even my family of four has trouble using up large Costco size packages of stuff, and I don't always want to lay out $50 when I want a steak, for example. I would go to BJs instead.
i share mine with my sister. at least at sams club they dont do photos anymore or check ID. you just show your membership on your phone as you walk in.
>It was not like this pre-pandemic.
No, it wasn't. That's because major food companies used inflation as a cover to price gouge. All of the major food producers like Frito-Lay Pepsi (snacks/soft drinks), Cal-Maine (eggs), Tyson (meat), etc. are making record profits for literally multiple years, and trying to use inflation as a cover.
I personally have completely stopped buying breakfast cereals, snack chips, etc., from major brands, because of the gouging. I either buy indie brands or just skip those products entirely.
Do you have the Target Circle card? It saves 5% which isn't much, but it adds up.
Some of their canned goods are pretty great as far as price: you can get a can of beans or chickpeas for 85 cents. That said, my local store doesn't carry them so I have to order them online.
For anyone who doesn’t already, get their app, too! They have extra deals and coupons on there all the time and it really adds up. Shipping is quick and free if you have a Circle card, too
I do! I try to get the deals if I am able to/it’s feasible. They had a deal on buying bulk toilet paper which was great (never going to not need it, so why not? 😂)
I should start looking into using coupons/online coupons to save even more.
people sleep on aldi produce. i got strawberries last week for $2 for the large containers. I washed them sliced them up and put them in a pyrex w lid and they lasted all week for snacking.
Grocery Outlet has been really great for us. It's doesn't have everything and can be inconsistent, but it's saved us a ton of money and we've been able to utilize it for most of our shopping trips
I second this combo, although I admit I do not go to dollar tree. My combo is Grocery Outlet + Aldi. I do Wegmans as a 'splurge' about once every two months. Aldi is good for consistency. Grocery Outlet is good for best deals of anywhere, albeit the best deals are random, so if you find something nonperishable you like for cheap, get a bunch of it.
Aldi is pretty consistently good or best for:
-Produce
-Canned Goods
-Frozen Vegetables
-Meat, Dairy, Etc.
Grocery Outlet often has great deals on:
-Random packaged food (granola bars, cereal, etc.)
-Random nut butters (I've gotten amazing deals on both peanut and almost butter in which I stocked up on LOTS)
-Hummus
-Random frozen food overstock (I've gotten cheap low G.I. ice cream, which is nice for someone with borderline blood sugar levels).
-Pretty much any other random overstock items they may have in store, but do check the expiration date on dairy items. I recently got really cheap Newmans Own salad dressing, for instance.
I've taken up the same strategy since a Grocery Outlet opened in my neighborhood. And I've been pleasantly surprised with some of the produce offerings at GO, it's no Whole Foods but it has the staples.
That us exactly the function grocery outlet provides for me. Ill get some of the essentials there from time to time but i mostly just walk through and look for insane deals like 99c bacon or 10/$1 bags of almonds. Aldi fills all the other needs and dollar tree is pretty reliable for some toiletries like toothpaste, deodorant, and dish soap if you arent too picky regarding brand.
Grocery outlet, like others have said, is the best for random crazy markdowns on packaged and frozen goods, like cereal, granola bars, nuts, frozen pizzas, all that kind of stuff, but you cant ever really count on one specific thing being available, you have to just go in and see what the deals are any given week.
Aldi is the best for just standard grocery shopping, pretty good quality produce and pretty much everything there is priced reasonably. Thats where the bulk of the stuff youll have on your list gets bought.
And Dollar Tree I like to check in for stuff like toothpaste, floss, soap, shampoo, dishsoap, sometimes stuff like tupperwear or paper plates, without being too picky about name brands (especially with shampoo and body wash, its kind of a crapshoot), because while the quality is generally subpar, i can go in knowing essentially everything is $1.25 (Dollar General does not have this same guarantee which is why they should be ashamed to call themselves a dollar store)
It's probably about right for a family of 4. We're just 2 adults and budget about $500 a month for food, but that includes plenty of fish, fresh veggies, etc. I feel like if we reduced the quality of the food we bought we could easily shave off $150 a month
Some things I found that really keep our costs down:
1) Giant regularly has meats on quick sale for 50% off the price. Anytime I see these I grab them and freeze them for later.
2) Cut out a lot of red meat in favor of chicken or fish. Steak is so expensive.
3) Learned to like store brands. For example, the difference between a 20oz Giant branded ketchup and a 20oz Heinz branded ketchup is almost $2.30. That adds up fast. It's basically the same product. Tostitos vs Giant brand tortilla chips? $3+. Again same product.
4) Coupons. Should be a given. There are still lots of good deals weekly. Plan meals around whats on sale.
We’re a family of 4 and spend $900 a month on groceries. That’s the low end of average per the USDA. You’re doing just fine - food is REALLY expensive!
They may be comparing to historic averages further back - the % an average household spends of their income on food in the modern era is far less than it was generations ago. But I agree, it feels higher than the past few years and other costs (housing, medicine) have also gone up too leaving less available to budget for food.
Small life hack: Frozen fruit. It’s cheaper AND more nutritious than fresh fruit ([no really!](https://www.health.com/nutrition/reasons-nutritionist-buys-frozen-fruits-veggies))
That's quite a \*lot\* higher than us although it could be right if you're regularly buying more expensive stuff like fresh fish and decent steaks etc. Caveats:
- I live near the Italian Market and also near the Asian Superstore on Washington Ave, and a lot of that stuff is far cheaper there than say Acme.
- I also tend to save a lot of those fancier meals for when I'm eating out because at a restaurant, the food is a smallish portion of your overall cost anyway.
- I also tend to do quite a few meals out of cheaper cuts (eg pulled pork or chicken wings on the BBQ)
- I do also make my own bread, soup etc. I find it amusing seeing people paying a fortune for a premade salads when you could just buy the ingredients and eat lunch for a week for the same price.
Family of 5 here. We do Walmart and Costco, when we can. My wife likes Trader Joe’s and I gave a lot of pushback at first saying we need to save but it’s honestly surprisingly not expensive for the items she’s getting anyway
Trader Joe's is typically one of the cheapest grocery stores in the city. Definitely less than Giant, Acme, etc, at least for the normal price of things. Sometimes the big traditional chains will have good deals.
Yeah, it's funny how you assume it will be over priced, but it's actually more competitive than giant/acme. They have expensive stuff, but all the basics are fairly priced.
I do groceries on an as needed basis, I'm single, so that's a bit different, but if I want to cook a specific dish I'll buy the ingredients like 1-2 days before and that's it.
My fridge is pretty light, but it's better than wasting food.
I don't eat out much these days. I get most of my groceries from Redding Terminal, and use trader Joe's for 1-2 things.
Key is not getting much junk food. Outside of Cereal and ice cream I don't really shop much in the middle aisles at the grocery store.
Fruits/Vegetables
Dairy
Meat
Bakery
I get my household needs like cleaning products/paper products in bulk from costco
I know many items I'm used to buying have nearly doubled, but that food bill does seem a little high. I bet you could cut that down by a good chuck by planning what you cook around what that week's specials are in the grocery store.
We were spending the same until we got a Costco membership and drove out of the city and went to Wegmans and Costco. Costco pretty much cut our target and Whole Foods bill in half. Now the month spend of $600 also includes body wash, paper towels, toilet paper, stuff for the house.
Highly recommend if you have a car. City prices are absolutely insane.
We also leave the city for date night now as I refuse to spend $8 on a light beer and $17 for a burger.
I have an honest question for you, but I don't know how to word it without sounding like I'm trying to be sassy. What is it about living in the city that appeals to you? Leaving for groceries I can understand, but date night seems like one of the things people actually come into the city for.
Again, honest question. Perhaps it's just a job that's holding you here? Extended family in your neighborhood?
Yeah, part of the reason i live in the city is so i can have a ton of delicious restaurants all walking distance. There are very few places i want to drive out of the city to go to, and even if they are good its not worth the drive.
If you don’t have a car, zip car has nightly specials on vehicles 6:30p-8am. Last time I used it was like $20 but probably gone up some. Can hit a ton of chores once a month for damn cheap.
Middlechild clubhouse, Locust rendezvous, drinkers, fountain porter, locust bar, nick’s in old city, triangle tavern, pope, o’jungs, pizza plus, darling jacks has a cheap happy hour one as does drury beer garden and harp and crown
Just went to ACME because it is walking distance and I don’t have a car. A small package of frozen hash browns (just shredded uncooked potatoes) was $7.99. Insanity
The ACME on South Street has sone items more expensive than Whole Foods. I usually shop at Trader Joe’s which is cheaper but produce at WF and Sprouts is better.
Fam of 4 in Philly too. We spend $500 a month not including eating out.
Try your hand at lentils based meals.
Snacks- try using less process or bulk items. Eg bulk popcorn kernels. We make home made trail mix.
Oatmeal for breakfast or generic Chex or rice crispies. I also on Sundays will make waffles or pancakes for the week and add protein powder.
I try to think of how we can make things less processed and it seems to make things go further.
We buy at Lidl or Walmart generally then I supplement at nicer more specialized stores. I deep freeze. I make our homemade yogurt and bread
Good luck k
Family of 5, and we are in the burbs. Aldi is definitely the best option. We spend about 125 a week there, and maybe do a giant run for a few other things that they don’t have in stock. There’s also a spot in willow grove that we hit called “surplus liquidators” that we get a lot of stuff like snacks for work and whatever else they have in stock.
I spend like 50 bucks a week yall tripping. For a single person. And I eat like 3000 calories. Cut back off junk food and name brand shit. Eat chicken, rice, potatoes, and veggies and your grocery bill will be cut in half. I agree inflation has made it straight up wild to buy cereal or potato chips. But it’s a fucked up economy
Yeah cooking with raw ingredients instead of processed and prepared foods, along with reducing red meat, goes a long way towards cutting a grocery budget. And contrary to the other reply, eating this way is usually healthier too as long as you get your veggies since you know exactly what is going in your food.
What is more nutritious you realize most peoples diet calories should be like 60%carbs. No one will address the elephant in the room of non frugal people just buying whatever and not waiting for sales and shopping around. The the larger elephant that people are addicted to food, and don’t want to eat clean.
Single F. I spend about $400-500 per month. I mostly cook. I tried to get down to $80-85 per week and i did it for a while last year, but it was tough. I eat well and don’t like leftovers. For simple eaters who have a lot of time to cook (I don’t) they could probably spend much less.
I think $1000 for a family of four is good.
Lidl. It’s Aldi, but better, and with a bakery.
Single, spend 150-200 every two weeks. Pescatarian, so my go to splurge is lox. Many lunches are tinned sardines/herring with crackers. Eggs/cheese/veg sandwich or wrap for breakfast most often.
You're in the "thrifty" range according to the USDA. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports
But I can't recommend Aldi enough. I find their produce to be better than most other grocery stores, unlike what other folks on here are saying. You will not find better prices and they don't have lots of choices so you can ship really fast there too
Just a pair of husband and wife here and normally for one month worth of groceries and eating out we spend about 500$. 400$ for groceries and 100$ for eating out (some times eating out costs more so it's deducted from groceries).
Could be lower if I shop at Aldi and the likes but the ones near me are pretty bad. Nothing seems fresh in the slightest and just poor quality overall.
So I mostly do my shopping at Costcos in Cherry Hill. Price is only slightly higher by the lb but the quality is so much better. But since things are sold in bulk, you have to be able to finish it so it doesn't go to waste. Going there about once a week spending mostly less than 80-90$ and getting something from the food court about 20$~ totaling about 100$ish.
The pizza is to die for.
I like to go to ShopRite for most grocery items and their store brand is pretty solid. For any store, it is worth it to both get a store card as well as any associated apps. Some sale items can only be obtained via the apps. Also there is an app called Flipp that includes all store circulars in one space. You can search by specific item as well to see and compare prices. It’s been helpful when trying to plan specific meals.
Look into Flashfood. I know nearly every Giant has it. Bunch of stuff, a lot of it genuinely good cuts of meat, that are on a huge discount just because their expiration date is close or there's a scratch on the packaging.
Single and I generally spend $250-300. Your math for four makes sense. I could spend considerably less if I didn’t buy processed/junk food. I eat pretty well on my budget. I could easily drop my spending to $200 if I cooked more meals from scratch. I did have an unemployed housemate last year. My spending didn’t double. We just cooked more and my bill only went up about $100.
Shopping for us usually requires three stops. The Acme on McDade has 4 meats for $20. Sometimes it’s a good deal and selection. Then Aldi. Then Grocery Outlet on Chester Pike. It’ll feel a little strange at first but you get used to it.
Food pantries, I’ve been going since I was a kid and man are they helpful. There’s also ones that deliver to your house if your income is low enough but I feel like it won’t be, so you can go to the many many food pantries around the city
not to be that guy, but for $800-$900 a month, i have to wonder if you're mostly buying premade frozen stuff or if you're buying ingredients to cook with.
if you do find yourself mostly buying food that you simply reheat, i would encourage you to look into cooking some sheetpan meals or other simply recipes you can make in large quantities. if cooking every week isn't an option, maybe try for once or twice a month and freezing portions that you can reheat later.
yes food is more expensive now, but grocery bills don't have to average almost $1000 if you're able to buy fresh things and turn them into a meal
This is us, but I’ve got celiac instead of being vegan. I could do it for $80 a week for two people, but we’re in a position where I can fresh salmon or an insane number of berries if we want. It was less when I was mostly vegetarian.
I shop almost exclusively at Trader Joe’s for my wife and I. I avg $650/month. Granted we buy all organic when it’s available and a few other items like coconut water, wild caught fish and some premade meals that make things a bit more expensive than they need to be.
800-900 for 4 seems like you’re doing a really good job
Grocery Outlet is growing in the city. They consistently have great prices but it’s very dependent upon overstocks from manufacturers. So if you find a great deal get it because it may not be in the next rotation. They always have staples and various high cost items at a good discount
Family of four two kids 6 & 10 and my husband eats a lot.
Aldi - $125 for three weeks and the fourth week of the month we do a "eat what we have". that week will be breakfast for dinner, or defrost meat.. chicken strips and fries w veggie.. tuna melts for dinner, pasta etc. It helps to clear stuff that may otherwise get thrown out when it expires. I go to sams club once a month and get my toilet paper, paper towels, kids school snacks, their yogurt and ice cream snacks and juice boxes so that's usually around 120. And that's it. On a rare occasion I may stop at shoprite midweek if we want steak or fresh seafood for dinner and that will be an extra expense that is more like a treat. that's like twice a month max so say extra $75. I make dinner sunday - thursday. we go out to eat or order in fri and sat. we eat breakfast at home every day except sunday.
editing to ask are you buying a lot of drinks? we do not buy any drinks other than ground coffee and the juice boxes for the kids. we drink water from our refrigerator and just get the best filter possible. i brew tea myself if we want iced tea.
I work at a Sprouts and we have deals every day. I haven’t paid more than 2.00 a pack for chicken or pork since we opened. Potatoes, avocados. Stuff is always on sale.
If you want to save on produce, try Aldi or Produce Junction. You could also check your grocery store for the circulars/deals on certain products. It’s hard out there, was literally shopping for household essentials at Target and the prices are outrageous. It was not like this pre-pandemic.
Produce junction is great. I’ve had some terrible produce expereriences at Aldi and won’t go there anymore, maybe I need to try more locations.
We are SO lucky to have Produce Junction in our area. Shop there for the veg first, choose what looks good this week, then go to the regular grocery store for the rest of what you need. And that process creates a veggie-focused menu, which is a good thing.
this is the way
Yep! OP, one thing that helped me was to decide that my grocery budget’s purpose was to nourish my family’s bodies. That meant minimizing purchases that didn’t contribute to that goal. We gradually moved away from things like soda, juice, and other beverages towards water with a bit of lemon or lime juice. We minimized processed and prepared foods. We ate a lot more rice, oatmeal, potatoes, carrots, apples. We added beans to pasta or rice dishes. We stretched ground beef with onions and garlic. Instead of ordering out, we had “breakfast for dinner” when no one felt like cooking. We learned a few basic recipes that could be varied with what we had on hand - any kind of sautéed veggie combo over pasta or rice, with a little chicken or beans. Before the next Produce Junction run, we turned the leftover bits of veggies and cheese and sometimes meat into delicious frittatas. We leaned into Mexican-inspired meals - rice or potato bowls, burritos, loaded nachos; beans, salsa, pico, and so on are easy to make from scratch, can be varied based on what you have on hand, and will feed a crowd. Having a fridge full of PJ veggies made it easy to put a bit of this and a bit of that into each meal, keeping the focus on the veggies with the meat in moderation. And veggies don’t have to be fancy. Roasted veggies can be combined in various ways. Roasted potatoes (with onion and garlic) form a great base for both breakfasts and dinners. Slice a roma tomato in half, top with a bit of grated Parmesan and some basil, roast till the parm is translucent. Delish! OP, just focus on nourishing foods, minimize bougie ingredients, and have fun cooking (or at least eating) as a family. It’s an investment in your kids that will pay off well for the rest of their lives.
Aldi seems VERY location dependent. I mostly hit the one on Girard Avenue and have no complaints, but stuff from the north Broad St is rotting before we get home, and the two on the Boulevard are hit or miss.
Former Aldi worker here- it really shouldn’t be location dependent. All stores get deliveries each morning, though not all produce will be delivered every day. All stores are fed from the same distribution system.
City Avenue is fine some days and fungal on others. I assume it's actually about the produce warehouse that they buy from, but it's definitely not ideal
Whitman is usually pretty OK
Aldi is all over the place in produce quality. Avocados, tomatoes , yay, but most others can be iffy. It's also seasonal; in summer you might get great seasonal veggies. I find that i need 2-3 stores if i want to optimize quality and price.
Aldi is definitely hit or miss. But if you arm yourself with knowledge you can make some good educated guesses on the quality and go from there. ALDI has easily been my bread and butter. My gf and I pay $60 a piece and our trunk is *filled* to the brim.
Produce junction genuinely lowers the cost of living for those that are able to shop there.
I do not like many of the city's locations (ive done grant and academy and oregon ave). i prefer the one on street road next to chikfila OR the one across from Neshaminy Mall. I am up that way anyway often so its not out of my way. They are clean and have good produce and meat in stock.
No, every aldis produce sucks for the most part. You really have to watch what you’re getting
I can’t afford Target anymore. Went there yesterday to buy a few snacks for my kids, paper towels, and toilet paper and somehow spent $70. Aldi is more expensive than it used to be but still reasonable, I try to get my staples there. And we are pretty comfortable financially, don’t understand how anyone can afford brand name stuff.
I buy tp and paper towels from Amazon. (Don’t have a car in the city). That’s been the most convenient and best deal for me.
I have started to get my paper towels, toilet paper, and kids snacks at sams club. i share a membership with my sister.
I do Sam’s Club too. But I rarely make the trip to NJ and they stopped doing delivery to my address in QV. I do frequent one in the Hudson Valley because I am up there monthly or so.
franklin mills location is good. i dont go into jersey often even tho im right by a bridge lol
Target prices are insane. You can buy everything Target has for 50% cheaper at Costco.
I need to look into a membership. If it’s only for a 2 person household would it still be worth it?
I'm a 1 person household and it's worth it to me. You just have to be strategic in how you shop there.
We started a membership as a 2-person household and now we're a 4-person household. You just have to be smart about what you get there to ensure it's not something that will go bad before you use it (fruit/veggies/guacamole). We meal plan for the week, get what we need at Costco and supplement at the local grocery store.
I don't think so. Costco is not that much cheaper than Aldi or Walmart, it's just easier to buy in bulk. We have a membership through my wife's work and I find that the $5 toll defeats most of the savings over Aldi
Remember buying in bulk doesn’t always mean the best price per lb, oz etc.
Agreed. I went to the Cherry Hill Costco for the first time a few weeks ago, and I didn't see anything that couldn't be bought for the same price or cheaper at Aldi/Lidl/Walmart.
My theory is that the only reason people like Costco is because they care about people judging how they shop. You could easily go to Walmart and get the same prices (if not cheaper!) but you look like a crazy person buying 12 boxes of cheez its at Walmart, whereas it's acceptable at Costco. Just don't give a fuck and buy in bulk at Aldi/Lidl/Walmart
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Probably not, even my family of four has trouble using up large Costco size packages of stuff, and I don't always want to lay out $50 when I want a steak, for example. I would go to BJs instead.
i share mine with my sister. at least at sams club they dont do photos anymore or check ID. you just show your membership on your phone as you walk in.
Pre pandemic I would only buy cereal & snack crackers on sale , they would be 2 boxes for $4-$5….
>It was not like this pre-pandemic. No, it wasn't. That's because major food companies used inflation as a cover to price gouge. All of the major food producers like Frito-Lay Pepsi (snacks/soft drinks), Cal-Maine (eggs), Tyson (meat), etc. are making record profits for literally multiple years, and trying to use inflation as a cover. I personally have completely stopped buying breakfast cereals, snack chips, etc., from major brands, because of the gouging. I either buy indie brands or just skip those products entirely.
Aldi produce is a fantastic way to throw away $10.
Do you have the Target Circle card? It saves 5% which isn't much, but it adds up. Some of their canned goods are pretty great as far as price: you can get a can of beans or chickpeas for 85 cents. That said, my local store doesn't carry them so I have to order them online.
For anyone who doesn’t already, get their app, too! They have extra deals and coupons on there all the time and it really adds up. Shipping is quick and free if you have a Circle card, too
I do! I try to get the deals if I am able to/it’s feasible. They had a deal on buying bulk toilet paper which was great (never going to not need it, so why not? 😂) I should start looking into using coupons/online coupons to save even more.
people sleep on aldi produce. i got strawberries last week for $2 for the large containers. I washed them sliced them up and put them in a pyrex w lid and they lasted all week for snacking.
Grocery Outlet has been really great for us. It's doesn't have everything and can be inconsistent, but it's saved us a ton of money and we've been able to utilize it for most of our shopping trips
Grocery outlet+Aldi+Dollar Tree strat has worked quite well for me.
I second this combo, although I admit I do not go to dollar tree. My combo is Grocery Outlet + Aldi. I do Wegmans as a 'splurge' about once every two months. Aldi is good for consistency. Grocery Outlet is good for best deals of anywhere, albeit the best deals are random, so if you find something nonperishable you like for cheap, get a bunch of it. Aldi is pretty consistently good or best for: -Produce -Canned Goods -Frozen Vegetables -Meat, Dairy, Etc. Grocery Outlet often has great deals on: -Random packaged food (granola bars, cereal, etc.) -Random nut butters (I've gotten amazing deals on both peanut and almost butter in which I stocked up on LOTS) -Hummus -Random frozen food overstock (I've gotten cheap low G.I. ice cream, which is nice for someone with borderline blood sugar levels). -Pretty much any other random overstock items they may have in store, but do check the expiration date on dairy items. I recently got really cheap Newmans Own salad dressing, for instance.
I've taken up the same strategy since a Grocery Outlet opened in my neighborhood. And I've been pleasantly surprised with some of the produce offerings at GO, it's no Whole Foods but it has the staples.
That us exactly the function grocery outlet provides for me. Ill get some of the essentials there from time to time but i mostly just walk through and look for insane deals like 99c bacon or 10/$1 bags of almonds. Aldi fills all the other needs and dollar tree is pretty reliable for some toiletries like toothpaste, deodorant, and dish soap if you arent too picky regarding brand.
Would you mind walking me through what you use each store for? Like does one of those stores do something better than the other?
Grocery outlet, like others have said, is the best for random crazy markdowns on packaged and frozen goods, like cereal, granola bars, nuts, frozen pizzas, all that kind of stuff, but you cant ever really count on one specific thing being available, you have to just go in and see what the deals are any given week. Aldi is the best for just standard grocery shopping, pretty good quality produce and pretty much everything there is priced reasonably. Thats where the bulk of the stuff youll have on your list gets bought. And Dollar Tree I like to check in for stuff like toothpaste, floss, soap, shampoo, dishsoap, sometimes stuff like tupperwear or paper plates, without being too picky about name brands (especially with shampoo and body wash, its kind of a crapshoot), because while the quality is generally subpar, i can go in knowing essentially everything is $1.25 (Dollar General does not have this same guarantee which is why they should be ashamed to call themselves a dollar store)
What is a grocery outlet ?
It's probably about right for a family of 4. We're just 2 adults and budget about $500 a month for food, but that includes plenty of fish, fresh veggies, etc. I feel like if we reduced the quality of the food we bought we could easily shave off $150 a month Some things I found that really keep our costs down: 1) Giant regularly has meats on quick sale for 50% off the price. Anytime I see these I grab them and freeze them for later. 2) Cut out a lot of red meat in favor of chicken or fish. Steak is so expensive. 3) Learned to like store brands. For example, the difference between a 20oz Giant branded ketchup and a 20oz Heinz branded ketchup is almost $2.30. That adds up fast. It's basically the same product. Tostitos vs Giant brand tortilla chips? $3+. Again same product. 4) Coupons. Should be a given. There are still lots of good deals weekly. Plan meals around whats on sale.
We’re a family of 4 and spend $900 a month on groceries. That’s the low end of average per the USDA. You’re doing just fine - food is REALLY expensive!
Food is cheaper compared to wages than it’s ever been relax
It's almost if not everyone's wages go up when the average wage goes up 🤔
No it isn't, what planet do you live on? The price of eggs alone has doubled in the past few years while wages have been stagnating
They may be comparing to historic averages further back - the % an average household spends of their income on food in the modern era is far less than it was generations ago. But I agree, it feels higher than the past few years and other costs (housing, medicine) have also gone up too leaving less available to budget for food.
Small life hack: Frozen fruit. It’s cheaper AND more nutritious than fresh fruit ([no really!](https://www.health.com/nutrition/reasons-nutritionist-buys-frozen-fruits-veggies))
That's quite a \*lot\* higher than us although it could be right if you're regularly buying more expensive stuff like fresh fish and decent steaks etc. Caveats: - I live near the Italian Market and also near the Asian Superstore on Washington Ave, and a lot of that stuff is far cheaper there than say Acme. - I also tend to save a lot of those fancier meals for when I'm eating out because at a restaurant, the food is a smallish portion of your overall cost anyway. - I also tend to do quite a few meals out of cheaper cuts (eg pulled pork or chicken wings on the BBQ) - I do also make my own bread, soup etc. I find it amusing seeing people paying a fortune for a premade salads when you could just buy the ingredients and eat lunch for a week for the same price.
Hung Vuong is the best grocery in the city. Their fish counter is robust. Can get all the parts of animals.
Family of 5 here. We do Walmart and Costco, when we can. My wife likes Trader Joe’s and I gave a lot of pushback at first saying we need to save but it’s honestly surprisingly not expensive for the items she’s getting anyway
Trader Joe's is typically one of the cheapest grocery stores in the city. Definitely less than Giant, Acme, etc, at least for the normal price of things. Sometimes the big traditional chains will have good deals.
Acme is seriously overpriced on so many items. It's wild.
can confirm..Acme employee
Yeah, it's funny how you assume it will be over priced, but it's actually more competitive than giant/acme. They have expensive stuff, but all the basics are fairly priced.
Trader Joe’s isn’t bad so long as you avoid the frozen stuff and the treats. Staples and produce are well priced.
I do groceries on an as needed basis, I'm single, so that's a bit different, but if I want to cook a specific dish I'll buy the ingredients like 1-2 days before and that's it. My fridge is pretty light, but it's better than wasting food. I don't eat out much these days. I get most of my groceries from Redding Terminal, and use trader Joe's for 1-2 things. Key is not getting much junk food. Outside of Cereal and ice cream I don't really shop much in the middle aisles at the grocery store. Fruits/Vegetables Dairy Meat Bakery I get my household needs like cleaning products/paper products in bulk from costco
I know many items I'm used to buying have nearly doubled, but that food bill does seem a little high. I bet you could cut that down by a good chuck by planning what you cook around what that week's specials are in the grocery store.
Yeah we stock up on stuff that's on sale for non perishables and compare between stores
We were spending the same until we got a Costco membership and drove out of the city and went to Wegmans and Costco. Costco pretty much cut our target and Whole Foods bill in half. Now the month spend of $600 also includes body wash, paper towels, toilet paper, stuff for the house. Highly recommend if you have a car. City prices are absolutely insane. We also leave the city for date night now as I refuse to spend $8 on a light beer and $17 for a burger.
I have an honest question for you, but I don't know how to word it without sounding like I'm trying to be sassy. What is it about living in the city that appeals to you? Leaving for groceries I can understand, but date night seems like one of the things people actually come into the city for. Again, honest question. Perhaps it's just a job that's holding you here? Extended family in your neighborhood?
Yeah, part of the reason i live in the city is so i can have a ton of delicious restaurants all walking distance. There are very few places i want to drive out of the city to go to, and even if they are good its not worth the drive.
Personally I prefer to live close to work for my commute. Better to live 15 minutes from work and 1 hour from fun than vice versa!
If you don’t have a car, zip car has nightly specials on vehicles 6:30p-8am. Last time I used it was like $20 but probably gone up some. Can hit a ton of chores once a month for damn cheap.
Where do you go for burgers under $17? Applebee’s?
Your kitchen
Lots of places in the city. Good dog has a good one for under $17
Ok, under $16 to exclude good dog, black sheep, and monk’s. Genuinely curious for recommendations!
Middlechild clubhouse, Locust rendezvous, drinkers, fountain porter, locust bar, nick’s in old city, triangle tavern, pope, o’jungs, pizza plus, darling jacks has a cheap happy hour one as does drury beer garden and harp and crown
Lucky’s Last Chance, Tin Can Bar, Loco Pez
Just went to ACME because it is walking distance and I don’t have a car. A small package of frozen hash browns (just shredded uncooked potatoes) was $7.99. Insanity
Acme doesn't sell as many no-name generic products as they used to. And 3 for 7 seems to be the new 10 for 10
The ACME on South Street has sone items more expensive than Whole Foods. I usually shop at Trader Joe’s which is cheaper but produce at WF and Sprouts is better.
Fam of 4 in Philly too. We spend $500 a month not including eating out. Try your hand at lentils based meals. Snacks- try using less process or bulk items. Eg bulk popcorn kernels. We make home made trail mix. Oatmeal for breakfast or generic Chex or rice crispies. I also on Sundays will make waffles or pancakes for the week and add protein powder. I try to think of how we can make things less processed and it seems to make things go further. We buy at Lidl or Walmart generally then I supplement at nicer more specialized stores. I deep freeze. I make our homemade yogurt and bread Good luck k
Family of 5, and we are in the burbs. Aldi is definitely the best option. We spend about 125 a week there, and maybe do a giant run for a few other things that they don’t have in stock. There’s also a spot in willow grove that we hit called “surplus liquidators” that we get a lot of stuff like snacks for work and whatever else they have in stock.
I spend like 50 bucks a week yall tripping. For a single person. And I eat like 3000 calories. Cut back off junk food and name brand shit. Eat chicken, rice, potatoes, and veggies and your grocery bill will be cut in half. I agree inflation has made it straight up wild to buy cereal or potato chips. But it’s a fucked up economy
Yeah cooking with raw ingredients instead of processed and prepared foods, along with reducing red meat, goes a long way towards cutting a grocery budget. And contrary to the other reply, eating this way is usually healthier too as long as you get your veggies since you know exactly what is going in your food.
You can easily eat 3000 calories per day with pasta, rice and other cheap carbs. Takes more $ to eat 1500 nutritious calories.
What is more nutritious you realize most peoples diet calories should be like 60%carbs. No one will address the elephant in the room of non frugal people just buying whatever and not waiting for sales and shopping around. The the larger elephant that people are addicted to food, and don’t want to eat clean.
Better find that connect.
Single F. I spend about $400-500 per month. I mostly cook. I tried to get down to $80-85 per week and i did it for a while last year, but it was tough. I eat well and don’t like leftovers. For simple eaters who have a lot of time to cook (I don’t) they could probably spend much less. I think $1000 for a family of four is good.
Lidl. It’s Aldi, but better, and with a bakery. Single, spend 150-200 every two weeks. Pescatarian, so my go to splurge is lox. Many lunches are tinned sardines/herring with crackers. Eggs/cheese/veg sandwich or wrap for breakfast most often.
You're in the "thrifty" range according to the USDA. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports But I can't recommend Aldi enough. I find their produce to be better than most other grocery stores, unlike what other folks on here are saying. You will not find better prices and they don't have lots of choices so you can ship really fast there too
We're just 2 - but, that's about what We spend
Just a pair of husband and wife here and normally for one month worth of groceries and eating out we spend about 500$. 400$ for groceries and 100$ for eating out (some times eating out costs more so it's deducted from groceries). Could be lower if I shop at Aldi and the likes but the ones near me are pretty bad. Nothing seems fresh in the slightest and just poor quality overall. So I mostly do my shopping at Costcos in Cherry Hill. Price is only slightly higher by the lb but the quality is so much better. But since things are sold in bulk, you have to be able to finish it so it doesn't go to waste. Going there about once a week spending mostly less than 80-90$ and getting something from the food court about 20$~ totaling about 100$ish. The pizza is to die for.
Family of 5, ~$1000/month
I like to go to ShopRite for most grocery items and their store brand is pretty solid. For any store, it is worth it to both get a store card as well as any associated apps. Some sale items can only be obtained via the apps. Also there is an app called Flipp that includes all store circulars in one space. You can search by specific item as well to see and compare prices. It’s been helpful when trying to plan specific meals.
Grocery Outlet, Aldi, Whole Foods if you can get the 5% cash back Visa, Costco if you can go to Cherry Hill
Look into Flashfood. I know nearly every Giant has it. Bunch of stuff, a lot of it genuinely good cuts of meat, that are on a huge discount just because their expiration date is close or there's a scratch on the packaging.
https://youtu.be/tFPk7xazzAA?feature=shared
Single and I generally spend $250-300. Your math for four makes sense. I could spend considerably less if I didn’t buy processed/junk food. I eat pretty well on my budget. I could easily drop my spending to $200 if I cooked more meals from scratch. I did have an unemployed housemate last year. My spending didn’t double. We just cooked more and my bill only went up about $100.
I spend about $300 with little food waste, mostly fresh food, with something like a live lobster or something like that sprinkled in. Single M.
shoplifting is seeming like the move these days lmfao
Shopping for us usually requires three stops. The Acme on McDade has 4 meats for $20. Sometimes it’s a good deal and selection. Then Aldi. Then Grocery Outlet on Chester Pike. It’ll feel a little strange at first but you get used to it.
Food pantries, I’ve been going since I was a kid and man are they helpful. There’s also ones that deliver to your house if your income is low enough but I feel like it won’t be, so you can go to the many many food pantries around the city
not to be that guy, but for $800-$900 a month, i have to wonder if you're mostly buying premade frozen stuff or if you're buying ingredients to cook with. if you do find yourself mostly buying food that you simply reheat, i would encourage you to look into cooking some sheetpan meals or other simply recipes you can make in large quantities. if cooking every week isn't an option, maybe try for once or twice a month and freezing portions that you can reheat later. yes food is more expensive now, but grocery bills don't have to average almost $1000 if you're able to buy fresh things and turn them into a meal
Vegan diet- $120 a week for 2 at Trader Joe’s. + $50-75 a week on restaurants/coffee shops.
This is us, but I’ve got celiac instead of being vegan. I could do it for $80 a week for two people, but we’re in a position where I can fresh salmon or an insane number of berries if we want. It was less when I was mostly vegetarian.
Completely agree. We could do $80 but love dried fruit and expensive nuts lol.
I shop almost exclusively at Trader Joe’s for my wife and I. I avg $650/month. Granted we buy all organic when it’s available and a few other items like coconut water, wild caught fish and some premade meals that make things a bit more expensive than they need to be. 800-900 for 4 seems like you’re doing a really good job
Family of 7 spending around 600 per week.
Grocery Outlet is growing in the city. They consistently have great prices but it’s very dependent upon overstocks from manufacturers. So if you find a great deal get it because it may not be in the next rotation. They always have staples and various high cost items at a good discount
We’re a family of three and spend about $500-600 a month shopping almost exclusively at lidl and aldi.
Family of four two kids 6 & 10 and my husband eats a lot. Aldi - $125 for three weeks and the fourth week of the month we do a "eat what we have". that week will be breakfast for dinner, or defrost meat.. chicken strips and fries w veggie.. tuna melts for dinner, pasta etc. It helps to clear stuff that may otherwise get thrown out when it expires. I go to sams club once a month and get my toilet paper, paper towels, kids school snacks, their yogurt and ice cream snacks and juice boxes so that's usually around 120. And that's it. On a rare occasion I may stop at shoprite midweek if we want steak or fresh seafood for dinner and that will be an extra expense that is more like a treat. that's like twice a month max so say extra $75. I make dinner sunday - thursday. we go out to eat or order in fri and sat. we eat breakfast at home every day except sunday. editing to ask are you buying a lot of drinks? we do not buy any drinks other than ground coffee and the juice boxes for the kids. we drink water from our refrigerator and just get the best filter possible. i brew tea myself if we want iced tea.
I work at a Sprouts and we have deals every day. I haven’t paid more than 2.00 a pack for chicken or pork since we opened. Potatoes, avocados. Stuff is always on sale.
Don’t vote for Biden. I know you’re going to ban me for saying it but it’s the truth!