Ways To Make This Less Expensive?

[norahsmommy]

My grocery bill is getting higher and higher. I can't leave a store for less than 100 bucks anymore for a family of 5. I really need the bill to go down, somewhere around 75 bucks a week for EVERYTHING, toiletries, and anything else we made need for the household. I was thinking buying gluten free flours and grains would be cheaper in bulk online from amazon? I found a good cracker recipie and will try to make our crackers at home. I already make our tortillas at home as well as bread now and then. I did buy some udi's bread and bagels to try because the bread I made was not great at all. I can't really think of anything else I should be doing. I have already cut back on the amount of pasta we eat, now only 1 time a week or so. But dh insists on organic potatoes since we eat alot more of them now and those cost alot more! Fresh veggies are filling our plate alot more than they used to but those are expensive too! For those that think they are not, we used to buy the .79 cent mac and cheese, generic can soups that all seem to contain wheat, generic rice a roni and things like that mostly for sides and comparativley its alot cheaper than fresh veg. I know we are eating healthier now but I just can't afford to keep spending like we do. Dh work is seasonal and we are in for a long winter of no work soon!

[GFreeMO]

  On 11/22/2010 at 6:31 PM, norahsmommy said:

My grocery bill is getting higher and higher. I can't leave a store for less than 100 bucks anymore for a family of 5. I really need the bill to go down, somewhere around 75 bucks a week for EVERYTHING, toiletries, and anything else we made need for the household. I was thinking buying gluten free flours and grains would be cheaper in bulk online from amazon? I found a good cracker recipie and will try to make our crackers at home. I already make our tortillas at home as well as bread now and then. I did buy some udi's bread and bagels to try because the bread I made was not great at all. I can't really think of anything else I should be doing. I have already cut back on the amount of pasta we eat, now only 1 time a week or so. But dh insists on organic potatoes since we eat alot more of them now and those cost alot more! Fresh veggies are filling our plate alot more than they used to but those are expensive too! For those that think they are not, we used to buy the .79 cent mac and cheese, generic can soups that all seem to contain wheat, generic rice a roni and things like that mostly for sides and comparativley its alot cheaper than fresh veg. I know we are eating healthier now but I just can't afford to keep spending like we do. Dh work is seasonal and we are in for a long winter of no work soon!

I understand where you are coming from. Some of the things that I do is use a lot of canned veggies and fruits. Things like green beans and corn etc. I just bought 3 cases. They were really cheap at Target. Applesauce is cheap and a big jar goes a long way. You can make rice chex treats using the chex and marshmallows and things like Jello and pudding are cheap too. You dont really have to buy the special flours and things. Get a box of Gluten-Free Bisquick. You can make anything with that. Pizza crust, biscuits, pie crust, muffins, etc.

Shop the sales and stock up when you can!

Udi bread in my opinion is a must. It's good and quick and easy. By the time you buy all of the stuff to make Gluten-Free bread, you have spent more than the Udi's and it doesnt taste as good.

[missy'smom]

Have you checked asian markets and international aisles of regular grocers for things like rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch and potato starch? They often sell for less than $1 per bag in our area.

We also buy our rice at the asian market in 20 lb. bags. Over 10 years ago we invested in a good rice cooker and it is still going strong!

Buy popcorn in bulk and a cheap air popper and you've got a cheap and easy snack.

[MacieMay]

The fresh and fruits and veggies can really add up. I am not a big fan of canned veggies we do a lot of frozen, especially in the winter months when nothing is in season. Strawberries off season can cost a small fortune here.

We've just learned to live without the bread. It's not that great anyway and weren't eating a lot to begin with.

Have you tried the sam mills corn pasta? We like that much better than the rice pasta and it's less expensive. I've seen it at discount stores (Ocean State Job Lot and the X-mas tree shop) for 1.45 a bag. My girls love the elbows.

Another option is beans instead of meat. Canned beans are pretty inexpensive, taste good and high in protien. We do a lot rice and beans.

Good luck!

[Juliebove]

To me your food bill is cheap! I spend about that for my daughter and I. But then things are expensive here.

I buy what I can at Costco. Some meat, cheese, canned stuff. Also carrots and apples. We eat a lot of rice, potatoes and popcorn.

[scarlett77]

  On 11/22/2010 at 11:41 PM, Juliebove said:

To me your food bill is cheap! I spend about that for my daughter and I. But then things are expensive here.

I buy what I can at Costco. Some meat, cheese, canned stuff. Also carrots and apples. We eat a lot of rice, potatoes and popcorn.

I try to buy milk, eggs, cheese, bacon, corn tortillas, and meat in bulk at Coscto. One of my family's favorite meals is a simple egg scramble with bacon, cheese, and potatoes. We do mexican a lot too: ground beef or chicken tacos with rice and beans. Amazon. com is not always cheaper shop local to compare whether or not they have a good deal. I do buy Chebe mix from Amazon though. It is $18.XX for 8 packages and comes in handy for making pizza (1 bag will get me 2 8"-10" pizzas).I have been able to find Tinkyada pasta for $3.39 a bag at Target and Whole Foods. Chex cereal I bulk up when it goes on sale (like right now it is $1.99 a box). Obviously cutting bread and specialty products will reduce your costs, but I have found that sometimes it is worth it to buy a loaf of bread or a bag of pasta for certain meals. The trick is to buy in bulk. Most stores will give you a discount if you buy in bulk too. I know that at Whole Foods you can get up to 10% off for buying a whole box of Udi's instead of just a couple of loaves. I can't stand canned veggies, but we do buy canned fruit. Veggies I opt for frozen or fresh and try to plan meals around what is on sale.

[norahsmommy]

  On 11/22/2010 at 7:19 PM, missy said:

Have you checked asian markets and international aisles of regular grocers for things like rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch and potato starch? They often sell for less than $1 per bag in our area.

We also buy our rice at the asian market in 20 lb. bags. Over 10 years ago we invested in a good rice cooker and it is still going strong!

Buy popcorn in bulk and a cheap air popper and you've got a cheap and easy snack.

The nearest asian market or anything like that is about 2 hrs away from us! The international isle at our stores do not carry rice flour or anything like that and they don't sell things in bulk. Booo, when I was in college I could easily find markets that sold bulk items but not now.

[norahsmommy]

  On 11/22/2010 at 8:13 PM, MacieMay said:

The fresh and fruits and veggies can really add up. I am not a big fan of canned veggies we do a lot of frozen, especially in the winter months when nothing is in season. Strawberries off season can cost a small fortune here.

We've just learned to live without the bread. It's not that great anyway and weren't eating a lot to begin with.

Have you tried the sam mills corn pasta? We like that much better than the rice pasta and it's less expensive. I've seen it at discount stores (Ocean State Job Lot and the X-mas tree shop) for 1.45 a bag. My girls love the elbows.

Another option is beans instead of meat. Canned beans are pretty inexpensive, taste good and high in protien. We do a lot rice and beans.

Good luck!

We eat more beans now, my husband has been allergic to them for 10 yrs or so but has recently been able to eat them in limited quantities. I still don't want him to eat alot just in case (his esophogas swells shut and wont allow food into his stomach, not even spit.) I found corn pasta at walmart (heartland pasta) but I haven't tried it yet. It was 2 dollars for a bag of penne. Most of the time I do a veggie pilaf kind of thing with rice or quinoa for a side. We buy our meat when its on sale, post thanksgiving we will be buying up all the cheapo turkies. I hate canned veggies so we do buy frozen alot.

[GlutenFreeManna]

The only way to make it cost dramatically less is to change what your family is used to eating. Pasta and bread are once a month treats for me. I don't buy them or make them very often. We eat mostly food that is naturally gluten free without major substitutions or changes. Tacos with corn torillas, chili, soups, stews, roasts in the slow cooker, grilled chicken, stir fry over rice, etc. I also use coupons and stock up on things like frozen veggies and corn tortillas when they are cheap or free. That way I don't pay full price for them when they are not on sale. I also stock up on meat when it is on mark down. I take note of when the sell-by date is on my favorite free range chicken and I plan to go back to the store that day. Then if there are a lot of marked down items in the case I might even ask the butcher if he can discount it for me anymore if I buy it all (this works best if the sell by date is on a weekday instead of a weekend and you ar ethere at a no-bust time of day). I try to keep my freezer full of marked downs so I don't have to pay full price, but if my freezer gets low I plan my meals around what is on sale instead of what I want to eat. I look at the sales ads for all the stores in my area and I get whichever fresh meat is the best deal (chicken or beef usually since I can't eat pork or shellfish). I do the same with the fresh veg. I buy what is in season and on sale instead of just planning a meal and being forced to pay whatever the price is when I go to the store. With the internet you can see the ads online for most stores and some stores even have online shopping programs that allow to you check the prices before you go to the store. I make a list of the best deals from each store and I choose which one has the most best deals. Sometimes I will shop more than one store, but most of the time I find similar sales at every store and I can choose where to shop that week based on which one has the most good sales make my menu work.

[kbtoyssni]

  On 11/22/2010 at 8:13 PM, MacieMay said:

Another option is beans instead of meat. Canned beans are pretty inexpensive, taste good and high in protien. We do a lot rice and beans.

I buy bags of dried beans and cook them myself. It's about 75% cheaper to do it that way.

[SilverSlipper]

I think you're doing great! We easily spend twice that much however, I try to work in medications with my groceries and my oldest is severely affected by autism so that affects my grocery bill as well (she's quite picky). My middle daughter is the one with celiac and we all eat gluten free.

We buy a lot from amazon. They usually put some gluten free stuff on special each month. There's a page that tells you all the specials and I hit them hard when they roll around. For example, this month Mrs. Leeper's rice pasta is on sale. I forget how much it is at the store, but I used the code on amazon to bring the price down, then signed up in the subscribe and save to save even more (they are super easy to cancel online). A case of pasta gluten free is $20 which is not quite $2 a bag. I bought two cases of the rice spirals (which we love for spaghetti) and one case of the corn elbows (for homemade mac and cheese). I also buy chebe and we use those for breakfast, roll them into sticks and dip them in spaghetti sauce and even make little sandwiches out of them.

We have a big garden in the summer and I can and freeze a lot of items. We don't do well with canned veggies so I've abandoned them in the winter. Our family will eat raw veggies so we have meat, rice or potatoes and a veggie tray (with ranch dressing and hummus). I was worried that it would be too expensive, but celery and carrots are generally cheap and I add a cucumber and one expensive veggie like red bell pepper, sugar snaps, etc. So far, it's working well for us.

I buy Pamela's baking mix in bulk from amazon (it's on sale too this month but still expensive - less expensive than the stores though!) and use it for pancakes, muffins and dessert breads. Peanut butter cookies require no flour. I either buy a pre-made flour mix or use rice flour, tapioca starch flour and corn starch to make cookies. There are some flourless brownie recipes on the internet.

I just bought bisquick and I'm excited to see what can be done with it. Since my daughter is 9, I've been teaching her how to cook so she can help me out in the kitchen as some days I feel i live there!

I agree that Udi's bread is a must and their baguettes are great. I think I'll try another poster's suggestion and see if whole foods will give me a discount if I buy in bulk.

Depending on the area yuou live in, see if anyone near you sells eggs. (We moved to a rural area so we could be closer to relatives and have a garden). Our neighbor sells them to us for $1 a dozen - we scramble them, make hard boiled eggs for snacks, deviled eggs as a side dish and then in baking. I use easily 2 dozen a week and usually 3. The same neighbor lets me pick her 'extras' (blueberries, plums, some veggies). I realize not many people can do that though and neither could we until the past couple of years.

Good luck!

[kareng]

Have you tried Thai Kitchen rice noodles? They are like spaghetti. You could watch for sales or coupons as they are a main grocery item. You can put pasta sauce on rice with a little cheese or hamburger meat. Frozen veggies are supposed to be just as healthy as fresh but often cheaper.

[T.H.]

Okay, frugal thinking cap on.

1. I'd take a long hard look at gardening. There are some ways to garden even inside a house or on a small porch that can save you money. Like hanging tomato gardens and hanging strawberry gardens, even. Herb gardens are a good way to save money and help with flavor, too. And you can often grow these inside during the winter. We've been doing that. Or check with neighbors who have fruit trees but never pick them. Offer to pick if you can keep some of the fruit.

2. Bulk beans and gluten-free grains can be a life saver. Many of the companies may send you grains in bulk, if you contact the company or check their on-line sites. Amazon has been good for large amounts of starches, xanthan gum, etc...

3. We've been using the freezer and saving everything, and USING everything, although perhaps you already do that? we buy kale and make the leaves, and then stir fry the stems. If there is a fruit or veggie in season, we buy a lot if it's on sale and try to pickle/blanch and freeze/make a jelly of it, etc... Making our own broths now, our own condiments, everything, essentially. Some of that, too, is more expensive, until we get our garden to make some of this for us!

[charling]

  On 11/26/2010 at 5:08 PM, SilverSlipper said:

We buy a lot from amazon. They usually put some gluten free stuff on special each month. There's a page that tells you all the specials and I hit them hard when they roll around. For example, this month Mrs. Leeper's rice pasta is on sale. I forget how much it is at the store, but I used the code on amazon to bring the price down, then signed up in the subscribe and save to save even more (they are super easy to cancel online).

I love the subscribe and save on Amazon!

[summerteeth]

I also subscribe & save on Amazon. I like the Oskri bars & the Bumble Bars, but those are very rare treats. You can also get gluten-free Bisquick for just over $4 a box.

Dry beans are much cheaper & have way less sodium. I only buy produce that is on sale - so this time of year, a lot of cabbage, bananas are always cheap around here, apples right now, clementines. I really only shop at the international grocery store (half of it is produce) and occasionally Aldi (Aldi for my non-gluten-free fiance - they do label some items gluten free, too). I found that cutting back on meat really lowered our grocery bill. Same with convenience foods - neither of us eat cereal anymore. Eggs are an easy and cheap breakfast. Since it is just the two of us, and I don't like to waste food, I freeze a lot & try to go at least one week a month without grocery shopping. I also stock up on meat when it is on sale.

I make crustless quiche and crustless cheesecake - that way I don't spend $6 on a box of pie crust mix.

I actually just purchased Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" (not a gluten free-specific cookbook) - that gave me a lot of ideas for cheaper meals - he has a lot of bean and/or rice based dishes. And a lot that are naturally gluten free. I do buy a lot of produce (like I said, only what is on sale) and he pretty much has recipes for every type of fruit & vegetable. Definitely worth perusing through if you are looking to expand your repertoire.

[Jestgar]

  On 11/27/2010 at 6:13 AM, T.H. said:

3. We've been using the freezer and saving everything, and USING everything,

I make what I call 'stem chili' and put in the chard stems, mushroom stems, cilantro stems, etc (along with ground turkey and different sorts of beans and some tomato stuff).

I also throw in any leftover veggies from the weekend of cooking (I do all of my cooking on the weekend and freeze it).

[T.H.]

Ooh, that's a great idea!

  On 11/28/2010 at 4:47 PM, Jestgar said:

I make what I call 'stem chili' and put in the chard stems, mushroom stems, cilantro stems, etc (along with ground turkey and different sorts of beans and some tomato stuff).

I also throw in any leftover veggies from the weekend of cooking (I do all of my cooking on the weekend and freeze it).