How does everyone shop to maintain the budget?

[chefrob]

after recently being laid off this is so true..........the day after i was laid off i went out and bought a freezer and then looked for deals. however the way you deal with daily operating expenses will determine your fiscal soundness.

 

[billm75]

We shop the sale ads religiously and buy only what's on sale for a "GOOD" price. Very rarely do I put anything in the cart that isn't on sale that week. Store brands for things that we can get away with.

Also, something I noticed last summer, was that our local Food Lion will discount their meat from the previous week's sale to help get rid of overstock. It's still perfectly fine, but they have to move it out before it passes it's sell-by dates. I call it Ghetto Meat. LOL

Alot of times I can go in there and load up on boneless/skinless chicken breasts for next to nothing. Last week I went in and they had Purdue b/s breasts regularly around $8/package (fresh, 3 breasts to a pack) marked down to around $3/pack. I loaded up. Same with pork loins and steaks. I have managed to get many a good ribeye steak for under $4/ea I try to buy as close to 16oz ribeyes as I can, and normally these things sell for $8+ per pound.

Alot of grocery stores do this, you just have to learn which days they mark down the meats so you can get there before the rest of the city does.

 

[dyce51]

I've been laid off (a seasonal thing) since November and I shop very carefully. The one local grocery store runs deals like Buy 5 roasts or butts for 19.99 and get the 6th one free. I usually go and buy $40.00 worth (12 packages) and each package averages 2 1/2 - 3 lbs (give or take) so we get some good meals and make some sausages and other stuff. Along with everything I grow, can and freeze we do pretty good!

Now that my income tax refund is decent I am going to buy a cow. If my memory is right, my wife said it's $1.75 lb....

 

[jethro]

My wife and her sister are great sale and coupon shoppers. together they clean up. as far as meats go look in the very back of the meat cases before the markets meat counter closes the cutters like stuffing the markdowns in the back hiding them for themselves after work. person hygiene items are always free if you use coupons in conjuntion with in store sales. We haven't paid for bar soap, shampoo or toothpaste for many months and the cupboards are overflowing with the stuff.

 

[chisoxjim]

for folks who shop @ Restaurant Depot, check out the bargain meats shelf if yours has one.

THis last week I got a 2 pack of butts that weighed in @ 20 lbs. for $.91/lb. Tossed them in the freezer.

Previous weeks I saw whole briskets for $1.15/lb,& baby backs for $2.48/lb.

Ive seen whole prime ribs, whole NY stip steaks, top rounds,etc on this shelf as well.

 

[countryboy19]

I shop ads and special. I have a whole freezer full of turkey's from TG time. Walmart ran their special on Jennie-O turkeys at $.40/lb, I bought the limit, several times each at the 2 different stores near me. Yeah, I think they're "enhanced" but at $.40/lb, its a killer deal, and you just have to cut back on that salt used in any sort of rub/injection/marinade/sauce.

 

[venture]

I am pleasantly surprised to see so many budget minded members! Being an older guy, my parents went through the depression and passed on budget consciousness to me. We shop for different things at different stores, all close to home to save gas. Meat is all bought on sale with generous use of the freezer. (as mentioned by another poster, perfectly good meat can be bought cheaper than the sale price the day after the sale ends) Canned veges are bought by the multiple cases when on sale. We have converted a bed room to storage. Multiple shelving there. One whole shelving unit is devoted to spices bought on sale. LOL (gotta make sausage, ya know) We pride ourselves to almost never pay retail or waste gas chasing a sale that does so.

We have found that backing down our wants and our standard of living has actually boosted our standard of living and our culinary enjoyment of life! Eating well does not have to cost a fortune.

Also, growing a garden and eating fresh produce on sale in season helps a bunch. Not to mention that the food from the garden is soooo much better than the garbage they sell in the stores!

 

[captsly]

I wait for the sale flyers also. It seems that when a local BBQ comp is coming up there will be sales on brisket, ribs, and sometimes chicken. I buy extra and throw into the deep freeze. Have 4 or 5 racks of spares I just bought at .98 lb!

 

[jmatterhorn]

you guys are lucky i have 1 store within 15 miles of my house, and a wallmart 40 or so miles away. i have been disabled for 4 years so i have learned to freeze and store anything that can be saved that way, at the start of the month. the good thing is the store down the road actually has good sales on "day old" or freeze today meats that have no real age or off color to them. as for the canned goods we make a day of it every 2 months or so and go down to costco and bj's at the same time as doctor appiontments that i have. if you time things right you can really do some good hunting for deals

 

[badfrog]

We do two things that save us significant cash...
1) we have a big garden every year and can/freeze a LOT of veges (last year:120 qts of green beans, 80 qts tomatoes, 30 or so bags of okra, squash etc)

2) I have a simple spreadsheet that we use to plan a 2 week menu. every two weeks we plan out the menu and then shop for that menu. We have been doing this for several years and there is a noticable cost increase on the rare occasion that we "wing it". on the same spreadsheet is a tab that is our grocery list... broken out by breads, meats, cans, frozen, fresh etc. layed out in the same order of the aisles where we buy most all of our staple products. A third tab is menu ideas that we change and add to all the time and a fourth tab is family favorite recipes. We watch the sale ads and tailor our menu to what we find deals on. We still like to keep some basics on hand for those times when whats on the menu isn't convenient (sometimes a frozen pizza or a quick pot of spaghetti!).
I also freeze lots of meats, tamale's, lasagna's etc.

 

[eaglewing]

You should just become an SMF distributorship!!!!

 

[smokefever]

Once again we are getting ready for our bi-weekly shopping trip for provisions. Here in Ponca City OK that means:
Aldi's-Discount Foods-Pyramid-or the local meat market-or WalMart. No COSTCO, SAMS or any other outlet within 90 miles, so I shop around.
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If you really want to save big on meats, I would say it is definitely worth the trip to costco or sams. You can't beat the price of their cryo-packs. For instance, I paid $13 for a HUGE pork tenderloin, $60 for 6 racks of Baby Backs, $63 for a whole NY Strip and $49 for beef tenderloin. I bring all that back to my place and cut them in whatever way I want. Usually 1 pork loin that I stuff and freeze and then 18 chops on top of that. I get 18 strips and 20 Filets. So when you compare that to what you pay in a regular market, you will get no better price. Aside from that, you are doing exactly what you need to do, shope the ads and go from there. Good luck!