Grocery Costs

[mandy2552]

Hi all!

I live in Northern CA and the cost of groceries is pretty high. Does anybody out here have any tips for lowering costs (i.e. certain stores, types of foods that are cheaper, but healthy etc). I usually shop Costco and like to buy Organic fruits and dairy for the kids.

Thank you!

[Michael]

Here is a similar thread: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28265

[hwichlaz]

cook from scratch, only serve one serving of the protien, let them fill up on sides. I shop at Safeway because I'm rural and still manage to almost feed them on my FP money. We don't have a Super Walmart or a Costco in our county.

[hwichlaz]

This menu is pretty affordable and includes shopping lists..

https://daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?p=645929#post645929

[Leigh]

I cut my grocery bill by 40% by having groceries delivered. I get them delivered from a store that is more expensive than the one I used to shop at!

No more impulse buying. I'm not talking chips and candy, but even just fresh ingredients that I wind up not using. I plan my meals, enter my order, and they bring it to my door. We eat healthier (I don't buy junk food, and when I plan my meals, I plan them healthier than when I would open the fridge and pray that I'd find something that I wanted to cook!).

[daycare]

Home made meals. Nothing processed.
I only shop Costco and my farmers market.

I can spend $85 a week to free 12 kids daily. 5 days week.

[Josiegirl]

Home made meals. Nothing processed.
I only shop Costco and my farmers market.

I can spend $85 a week to free 12 kids daily. 5 days week.

Wowsa! WTH am I doing wrong? :confused:
I think the best advice is plan your menu, shop sales, no impulse buying(where's the fun in that?? ), stick to basic, substitute meat meals with eggs, beans, etc.. Do you have an area where you can grow some veggies, even just a few pots?

I find I do so much better when I write out the menu plan but also find it a difficult thing to adhere to.

[daycare]

Wowsa! WTH am I doing wrong? :confused:
I think the best advice is plan your menu, shop sales, no impulse buying(where's the fun in that?? ), stick to basic, substitute meat meals with eggs, beans, etc.. Do you have an area where you can grow some veggies, even just a few pots?

I find I do so much better when I write out the menu plan but also find it a difficult thing to adhere to.

I meant feed. I don't have any hostages that need to be free. Lol sorry for the typo

[Josiegirl]

I meant feed. I don't have any hostages that need to be free. Lol sorry for the typo

Pretty cheap for hostage money!!

[daycare]

Some staples I use a lot are rice, potato, beans, lentils, Quiona, oats and TONS of vegetables. I guess. I do serve processed whole wheat pasta noodle from time to
Time. I don't know how to make noodles. Lol. I hate noodles of any kind. They taste like rubber to me, well that's what I imagine rubbber would taste like.

I also grow zucchini, egg plant, peppers and basil. My kids eat all of it. Some don't even know. Let the blender be your friend. I make egg plant, spaghetti sauce that the kids eat like candy.

[LysesKids]

Home made meals. Nothing processed.
I only shop Costco and my farmers market.

I can spend $85 a week to free 12 kids daily. 5 days week.

Now I have managed $60 for myself & 4 kids, but $85 for 12; what am I doing wrong

[Blackcat31]

$85 for 12 is great shopping for sure! Especially in Cali!

I live in an area where the cost of living is super cheap and even I spend more than that on groceries... !
Not much but more. I usually spend about $100-150 a week. Veggies are cheap!

I do NOT however buy staples such as rice, potato, beans and lentils as we eat VERY few of those things.

We mostly eat vegetables and proteins. We eat very little carbs and not much fruit either. NOT because fruit isn't good for you but because I know fruits are very rarely the issue when trying to get kids to eat well.

Most kids like fruits easily and without much pushing.

Veggies on the other hand are usually hard for parents to get their kids to eat so I focus heavily on them here.

We grow aLOT of the veggies ourselves (kids investing in the process are more willing to eat the product) and most the proteins are bought in bulk at Sam's or Costco type stores.

[daycare]

Now I have managed $60 for myself & 4 kids, but $85 for 12; what am I doing wrong

Maybe I'm adding wrong, but that's what my cost breakdown was last two weeks when I shopped. BUT I guess I didn't calculate for the fact that I used a lot of already stored veggies and meat. I freeze most veggies when I have a large amount so I guess if I accounted for that it would increase the cost. But I know I'm pretty close to that, maybe a few dollars.

[daycare]

$85 for 12 is great shopping for sure! Especially in Cali!

I live in an area where the cost of living is super cheap and even I spend more than that on groceries... !
Not much but more. I usually spend about $100-150 a week. Veggies are cheap!

I do NOT however buy staples such as rice, potato, beans and lentils as we eat VERY few of those things.

We mostly eat vegetables and proteins. We eat very little carbs and not much fruit either. NOT because fruit isn't good for you but because I know fruits are very rarely the issue when trying to get kids to eat well.

Most kids like fruits easily and without much pushing.

Veggies on the other hand are usually hard for parents to get their kids to eat so I focus heavily on them here.

We grow aLOT of the veggies ourselves (kids investing in the process are more willing to eat the product) and most the proteins are bought in bulk at Sam's or Costco type stores.

I wish I had your yard for veggies. I'm sure you would laugh if you saw my garden.

Also about 25% of my kids are vegan and about %40 percent vegiterian. I am almost 99% vegan so this is easiest for me. I let parents decide. And yes I only make one meal.

[Blackcat31]

I wish I had your yard for veggies. I'm sure you would laugh if you saw my garden.

Also about 25% of my kids are vegan and about %40 percent vegiterian. I am almost 99% vegan so this is easiest for me. I let parents decide. And yes I only make one meal.

Hey a garden is a garden!
You grow things where and when you can!

I like meat too much to ever be a vegan/vegetarian ::

The two categories I can pretty much live without are dairy and carbs. But NOT all... I love wild rice, steel cut oats, whole wheat crackers etc but don't eat much bread, pasta or potatoes at all.

I 'used' to be a addict to those types of foods. I couldn't imagine a world without potatoes or pasta but now the thought of eating them boggle my mind... !

The up side of it though is that since cutting those things out of my diet (a few other things as well) and I immediately feel healthier and lost 40+ lbs I'd been hanging onto for year!

Sadly though even as I strive to feed the DCK's a healthier diet than I know they get at home it's disheartening to see that the habits don't always stick.

I took a couple of my previous DCKs a couple days here and there over the summer and I was disappointed to see that some of them (previously the biggest veggie eaters here) were now turning up their noses at some of their favorites..... apparently a year or two in school/being offered more appealing (sugar/carb heavy foods) options over ride years of healthy eating.

But atleast I know I did my part while I had them.