With the price of groceries, how are people supposed to make it?

My husband kept getting upset with me because week after week our grocery bill would keep going up. Finally, I sent him to the store. He couldn't believe how expensive things were!! It really is getting ridiculous. We have a family of 4, with 2 small children, and we're spending a small fortune. I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better.

I shop the specials and have been shoping more at my local grocery store than at the big chain. The other day my local store had an unadvertized sale on hotdogs...$.49 a pack...so I bought 10 packs. Not that we're big hot dog fans but they are usually $1.77 so that was a huge saving and the grandkids want them whenever we're cooking on the grill. When canned goods are on sale, I stock up on those, too. I also switched from canned sodas to the litre bottles, which are cheaper and there's less waste. I got tired of finding half empty cans of hot soda all over the place, especially on the weekends. We've been increasing our use of pasta in our meal planning, since it's still relatively cheap and goes a long way. I still buy pet food and some other things at Walmart but, for the most part, we're shopping closer to home.

i make a lot of soup which we eat during the summer, we buy fruit crystals for juice, we go to a butcher for our meat and grocery shop at a discount place. we are pretty careful what we buy.

I use to love to go grocery shopping, but anymore now I just so upset about the prices. So now, when I go if the price of something is too high, because somethings are just not worth what the price is, I don't buy it. Sad to say, I think one of these times I am going to walk in there and come out empty handed. Karen

I have had to cut back on several snack foods and have also started using more cupons than I used to.

I totally understand where you are coming from we are a family of six and when i go to the grocery store which is usually once every 2 weeks I spend about $300.00 and about $100.00 a week for things we run out of so I guess I spend about $800.00 a month and barely make it. I buy a lot of grond beef it seems to be the cheapest meat and can make many different things with it... I tend to make a lot of casseroles too, not the healthiest food but who can afford to eat healthy. I also but a lot of chicken as it tends to be on sale a lot. I shop for what is on sale thats all I can do prices are ridiculous, $4.00 for a gallon of milk needless to say we don't use a lot of milk anymore..$2.00 for a dozen eggs, who can bake these days? I wish I had a solution but it seems prices are going up every day soon maybe we wont be eating such a sad and stressful thought especially when you have kids.

I don't know what we are going to do. Our budgets just don't stretch enough. There are 4 of us and we are eating alot of casseroles and cheap things. As for having steak, what is that? I buy only what is on sale and make it work. So far they are not complaining, but they will soon.

We buy more of the store brand items instead of name brand. I buy the bigger packages of meat and divide them up into 2 or 3 meals. We buy our milk at Braums. Their milk tastes better and is cheaper than the grocery store. We also use coupons as much as we can. A few pennies here and there do add up.

i have been trying to be more aware of the things that i buy at the grocery store. i make a list of things that are needed for the home posted on the refrigerator so that i can write down items as they run out. i bring my list with me along with any coupons that i may use- and i stick to it. i allow for one impulse snack buy for myself if its in the budget. i check the sales papers every week to see what deals i can get. try browsing your local stores often to see who is really cheapest for what items. a lot of people make the assumption that just because you go to a discount merchandiser or a wholesale place that they're getting a bargain, but that's not always the case. i find that its best to go through the receipts that i have each month and analyze what i'm buying. if something shows up repeatedly on several trips, then try to budget for additional the first time. keep an eye on cleaning supplies and how often you need to stock up.

I use coupons as much as possible, and thankfully I recieve WIC for myself and my daughter. I try to buy the off brands, and I only shop at one store, because my husband works there and we get a 10% off discount on all store brand foods, which is nice and can lower the price of my groceries by a few dollars by the time I'm done shopping, which is always great!

i feel for you. im from australia and we dont get food coupons. im a single mum with 2 kids. im on the pension and for 1 week of groceries it costs me $150 (if im tight and get the basics only). the petrol in australia is up to $1.60 per litre and by christmas they say we will be paying over $2 a litre! if things keep going up those of us who struggle are going to suffer the most and im sure there will be more homeless. in australia our interest rates keep rising also, so mortgage and rent (thats me) keep going up too! thank god i have my parents to lend me a hand. otherwise id be in a really bad 1 bedroom apartment with my two kids eating tinned spagetti and sausages 7 days a week. we all just need to hang in there and pray that it will get easier for us. i feel sorry for our kids growing up in a world like this. goodluck to you and your family. hopefully america is kinder to you with your petrol costs.

The wealth gap is becoming extremely serious,and what we are worried about seems doesn't affect the rich ,

With the rising price of oil and effecting to the rise of food price, this trouble is not ending yet. I think everybody in the middle income class around the world are feeling the same pain as you are. The same amount of money get less and less everyday, not month or year anymore but days. I think there are two things can you can do, reduce consumption and make extra money. Those two are like the instant patch for the problem and I don't think any other solutions better than those two. Just try either one and pick what fit your condition. Sorry, that is all I can say, I also have the same problems in here.

We are a family of 4 The only way we have been able to make it is to plan our meals each day and plan them so we get the most bang for our buck. For instance, when chicken is on sale we take advantage and bulk up. Chicken is versatile. I will grill most of it and then we freeze what we don't eat. This is great for them making Chicken tortilla soup one night and Chicken chili another. Since it's frozen we don't have to eat it every night but can spread it out over the month all from that original purchase of discount chicken. We also carefully watch prices at the wholesale places. Penn Dutch is famous for having 1lb tomatoes and they often have sales on meats and other items. We also frequent Big Lots. Big Lot's always seems to have cereal and other items for much less than retail. Lucky Charms for $1.80 a box last week. Quite a savings over Publix at more than $4 a box. Walmart is also a big value. I try and not buy the meat as it's shipped in and always has a lot less of a shelf life than the grocers meat as they butcher and package their product. It's hard staying on top of this crisis. It is a crisis and it's going to get worse. the best thing anyone can do is prepare for it by practicing being thrifty now. BTW, our container grown tomatoes cost us 99 cents for the seeds. We salvaged the containers from a painter for free (5 gallon paint buckets) and we filled them with dirt from the back yard. We have a dozen full grown plants bursting with tomatoes and buds. and the tomatoes we get we use for sauces and soups. Saves a ton of money. Bug control is even cheap. Mild dish detergent and water once a week has kept them bug free. The point is that you need to be proactive and force savings instead of searching for them. The pickings get slimmer each day.

Actually, I'm OK with groceries, as I am a single guy, but even I feel the pinch with these outrageous price increases these days... My suggestion if to learn how to buy online, and in bulk, all those staples, and non-perishables items, too-- like school supplies and the like... Folks are find great buys online for frozen meats and such... You have to adopt an attitude that makes you consider more and different options that you have ever had to do... Cooking meals and snacks at home and freezing them in bulk, buying huge sacks of stuff from box stores and co-ops... I am giving you the link to Daytipper, when you can find a lot of tips to help you out-- you can also make a little bit of extra money there by providing some tips of your own, but they are strict about the quality of tips, and there is no affiliate program: http://www.daytipper.com I am an affiliate of an excellent online dollar store wholesaler, who has a great reputation, and has been in business for years-- He accepts everyone, and charges no fees for people to buy wholesale from his business, if you would like the link, please let me know! :)

I'm hearin you horserule! Its absolutely AWFULL! I do my shopping weekly and i was so stressed this week trying to get everything I needed. A couple of weeks ago I spent 260 for one weeks shopping-up about $80 from usual. I've since resorted to making a list and sticking to it as much as possible. Even the specials aren't any great deal! I have a daycare and have to buy food for all the kids too. With the price of oil, food, and everything else going up, I'm gonna have no choice but to raise my price per kid at least $15/week. I try to keep my fee low, and haven't raised them in 5 years, but I really have no choice now. :(