Over the last three years our grocery bill has soared from about $350 a month to $500 a month. Part of that is the addition of a young lady who is still in diapers. Her diapers run about $40 a month on average (we go through a case every three weeks or so and they are about $30 each). And yes, we have to feed her, but her food does not equate to a $110 a month.
It's driving me nuts. I know part of it is because the cost of food has gone up dramatically over the last few years, but I hate it. I've started searching out coupons whenever I can and we plan a weekly menu using the fliers from the two big grocery stores in our neighbourhood. When we lived in the Blue House, we only had one grocery store but we had a produce store that we shopped at. I've started planning my trips to one of the grocery stores around the hours of the produce store across the street, but quite frankly, on my last two trips I think I spent almost the same amount, ±$1.00, as if I'd bought the same things at the grocery store. And it took longer because I had to go two places and wait in two lines.
I'm not sure what to do to bring our bill down. I stick to my list. We don't eat a lot of meat. I buy the store brand whenever I can. We don't eat a lot of prepared food - some fresh pasta, occasionally perogies and in the winter fish and chips as a treat (fresh fish is so much better!) but no tv dinners or that kind of thing.
And I think it's the veggies (and fruit too) that are eating up the biggest chunk of our bill. And for obvious reasons I'm not eliminating them. I feel guilty not buying them at the produce store because they're less likely to be local, but I just can't afford it. We try to only buy things that are in season too....And it used to be so much cheaper to buy food at the produce store.
Any suggestions? Anyone else experienced such a large change in their grocery bill?
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