Grocery bill and eating low carb

[rozy]

I went shopping on Friday for my first week of eating low carb. I didn't have a real plan in mind as far as what I was going to eat so I ended up buying quite a bit of everything. $215 later I realized I have to have a grocery list LOL.
I went home and made a excel spreadsheet with a main list tab, a recipes tab (with recipes I have found so far) and a calendar tab. I have a list of the main things I will buy either every week or often on the main grocery list. Then I will copy over ingredients from any recipes I want to use that week to the main list tab and I will go into my calendar for the week and plan out my meals for 7 days. I will then print out my grocery list and go to the kitchen and mark off stuff I already have. I used to do this when my husband was going to college and it saved us alot of money.
I about fainted when I saw that bill and we only budget $150 max for the week and we rarely ever hit that. Hope this is helpful for anyone else

[not2late]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

I went shopping on Friday for my first week of eating low carb. I didn't have a real plan in mind as far as what I was going to eat so I ended up buying quite a bit of everything. $215 later I realized I have to have a grocery list LOL.
I went home and made a excel spreadsheet with a main list tab, a recipes tab (with recipes I have found so far) and a calendar tab. I have a list of the main things I will buy either every week or often on the main grocery list. Then I will copy over ingredients from any recipes I want to use that week to the main list tab and I will go into my calendar for the week and plan out my meals for 7 days. I will then print out my grocery list and go to the kitchen and mark off stuff I already have. I used to do this when my husband was going to college and it saved us alot of money.
I about fainted when I saw that bill and we only budget $150 max for the week and we rarely ever hit that. Hope this is helpful for anyone else

I look through the store circulars for sales or specials. I buy the "family packs" of meat: I divide the packs into smaller servings and freeze them. If I run across a good sale on say, chicken thighs or turkey legs, I buy several packages.

I also compare the prices at various stores. For example, I know I can get eggs more inexpensively at a small "discount" grocery store than at the larger chains. So I buy a few dozen at a time.

For vegetables, I tend to splurge: if it's good and fresh looking, I'll buy it. I also buy frozen vegetables when they are on sale.

[Sheepie]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

Our grocery bill has gone way up too. I also buy family packs of meat and buy when it's buy one get one free. Your spreadsheets sound awesome! Care to share?

[rozy]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

I don't mind sharing - email me at rosanne.clark @ gmail.com (delete the spaces) and I will send it.

[fatty mcfatison]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

We plan meals for about 5 days in advance and make a shopping list. I have found we are saving money on the WOE. Before, we ate out atleast 3 times a week with a family of 5 that added up quick. Plus I ate out every day at work. Now we are able to double recipes so we can have lunches and dinners. I would save we save on an average 150 bucks a week atleast. Makes it alot easier to stay on plan when you get to lose weight and have more spendable money.

[OzLover]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

I don't go to the store without a grocery list. Have also found that it is easier to cook extra & use that for lunches. As I'm not using prepackaged items my grocery bill has gone down. Careful planning & checking sales flyers are important.

Glenda

[susan423]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

I think just deleting the candy bars and junk from my groceries have saved me money.

[hopejoy]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

Also... eat before you shop! lol!
liz

[apple]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

My OCD grocery shopping:

Make list 2 weeks early and during last week
I wear my Nike Air "running" shoes for my BIG shopping

[*Wendy*]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

Rozy,

What a great & organized way to go about your shopping! When I first started I had a wild splurge too, and ended up trashing most of it. (Especially those expensive Atkins bars and shakes - ended up giving those away once I read from others around here how they can trip you up!).

For the last few weeks we've been eating out for EVERY meal because the dishwasher has been broken, but now that it's fixed I've got no excuse not to cook & dirty up those dishes! So I'm definitely going to try your worksheet method.

Thanks for sharing!

Wendy

[montanaman]

Re: Grocery bill and eating low carb

We "thought" our grocery bill went up quite a bit too. Then we looked at the whole picture. Sure, the grocery bill was higher, but that was because we hadn't been buying a lot from there. Eating out for lunch and dinner meant we weren't spending at the store. After looking at how much we were saving from eating out, we figured we are actually spending about the same.

I also buy the family packs of meat when they are on sale. Usually by the time we get through one pack, a different store has something else on sale.