Whats your weekly grocery bill?

I always disliked budgeting, it is time consuming and it gives you a good picture of you'r retail therapy habits gone wild. Who wants to be faced with the reality that you really didnt need that many pairs of shoes if you the electric bill got "passed over" a few extra days?
However, being inspired as to Sheilla's obvious budget savviness I decided to give it a try. Some of you members made me curious how much I was spending on food a month for a family of 3 if single people were scared of what they were spending!
So Nick and I on a perfectly normal Sunday went to the checkbook, smoke came out of our ears when we totalled up the 1900.00 we had spent on groceries for the month of January!
i am glad to report after a menu was made and shopping was done tho we are well on our way to cutting the weekly budget down from nearly 500.00 to 250.00! What a savings! Who doesnt like that these days????? Here are a few ways we got super savvy!
1.) Protein- this was a little easier for us at my house because Nick and I Zone so we knew how much protein we would need for the week. I made a menu of large dinner ideas that we could eat for the week like meatballs, an 8 lb bbq ( look for the recipe soon!) etc..The Coop has the best prices on Humbolsdt Grass Fed beef and they have 80,90 and 95% available. The 80% is 2.49 a lb if you buy ten lbs or more. The 90% is 3.49 lb which is 1.50 cheaper per pound than Eureka Natural Foods. The 95% is 3.99 a pound which is still 1.00 less than the Nat Foods 90% price. That being said, Eureka Nat Foods has the groung turkey breast that is 99% lean for 4.69 lb, Coop doesnt carry this in the meat case. That ground turkey is great for meatballs and recipes like Sheillas breakfast quiche. Add extra fat though because it is so lean. We found that the seafoods run about the same give or take so its a convenience matter at that point but I urge you to check out the Woodley Island Marina docks for fresh cheap seafood and as always Mr. Fish is a great local source. Costco has in the past carried Free Range and Organic chicken breasts but is out at the moment I am told. Chicken thighs and breasts in my opinion are the best from Eureka Nat Foods under the brans name Mary's. They are air chilled and so juicy. "Natural" will run about 6.99 lb and "Organic" 7.99 lb which is cheaper by a buck than Coop.
Eggs. We buy the Rock Island Veg Fed eggs from Winco for 2.39 a dozen. Costco has a good deal on the DHA Omega eggs. If you are going to splurge and buy Alexander Farms pastured eggs ( there is nothing like those dark yellow yolks!) then buy them from Nat Foods not Coop. They will be 5.39 doz as opposed to 6.49.
Veggies- Since in season veggies are lower and all the yummy Farmers Markets havent started up yet we have been buying bags of frozen veg from Winco for around 1.28-2.10 a pop. These are great wallet savers and time savers too! The fresh stuff we buy is generally gonna be broc slaw and brussell sprouts. In season shopping can save you import prices and reduce the environmental impact too. Sweet potatoes and hard winter squash is a go to for us right now.
Fruit- The tropical fruits like Mangos and Papayas are in season ( there is a beach somewhere with the sun and my name on it!) and pears are a good choice for cheap fruits.
Fat- Costco has cans of Macadamias and bags of pecans, walnuts, pine nuts and sliced almonds for a great price. Also jars of Maranatha Almond butter. Winco has a fresh nut grinder to buy bulk almond butter of dry roasted almonds for 1.48 lb. Winco has a pretty good selection of raw bulk nuts for cheap such as Brazil and Cashew pieces. The Grocery Outlet has the most wonderful yet random deals so dont forget to take a quick inventory next time you run in there, Sheiila mentioned the applesauce and I found huge bags of Organic frozen broc for very cheap. They often will have Organic spinach and frozen fruits.
Amazon is a great place to buy staples like coconut oil and nut flours. Coconut milk goes on sale at Nat Foods and Coop all the time so keep an eye out and stock up, the sale price even beats Wincos regular price. there is no need to spend the extra money on Organic labels of stuff that has a shell also, like coconut milk. Oh! Costco carries the Lindsay Naturals Olives in cans now as well. Hope this helps, share your shopping experiences and watch for more deals to come!
Meredith