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I have been juggling stores to get the best prices on groceries.

My grocery bill has increased more then 50%. The fact my husband is working from home is not a factor. I packed his lunch.

I have found nutritional yeast is 6.89 at the grocery stores. Trader Joe’s is 2.99. We buy Fairlife milk for my daughter. I go to Warehouse store, it is 75 cents less a bottle. Buying my dry goods flour etc at Aldi is a vast difference.

I have been using dry legumes such as chick peas, to make our plant based diet. Daughter is eating meat.

Anyone else have tricks?

Aldi - they are the best for dairy, and meats as well. At least in my region the meat is fresh.

Plus they deliver in my area, and its only $5.00 per order to deliver. I live out in the country so that has been life changing for us.

I will go the big chain grocery store once a month to get the stuff I can't get at Aldi. It's crazy how expensive some stuff is.

I also get a lot of decreased cost fresh produce, and flash freeze things like green beans for winter when you can get them fresh.

I have noticed that prices have skyrocketed. There's a lot i just won't buy anymore.

Stocking up on the things i can freeze too at farmers markets, beans, peppers etc.

The pandemic has disrupted supply chains across a wide variety of markets. Grocery stores, which operate on very thin margins, are having to adjust prices like everyone else. Frustration abounds!

A few things....

1. My wife plans our weekly meals (I get some input). When we shop, she is careful to get just what we need. No joke, she will buy only 1 mushroom if that's what's needed.

2. We shop at a WINCO store with a massive bin section so we buy a lot of bulk items. Really controls cost.

3. We have cut out a lot of snacky things.

4. We cook our meals. Go out about twice per month.

There are just the two of us now and we spend $175 per month on groceries.

Thatbpguy, I have a new Winco store about 12 miles away. I plan to make that my first grocery buying trip. What I like is they are 24 hours open and I'm a night owl, so when I get to go, I will go after midnight to encounter less people.

The store by me, it's just crazy with their increase in prices! And daughter says the shelves are empty and it's a large store. Reminds me when a friend lived in DC, down by Columbus Circle. He would get up very early to get to the small, local Safeway store because bread would sell out in 10 minutes. He called it the Soviet Safeway.

I'm a 'brand' person on many items so I make a list for my daughter and she comes home with something different because they are 'out' or can't get it right now.

I fear a food shortage in our country if this virus doesn't let up. We don't know about food shortages unless there are people here who were alive during the depression, which I doubt. We are spoiled.

Jeanie, I to fear a shortage. I have bought rice, different kinds of beans and spices. I just got a dehydrator my daughter likes those dehydrated green beans. I dehydrated some mushrooms and plan to do some kale as well.

I have a friend who has a youtube channel cooking show.  She's lives outside of Atlanta and grows huge gardens.  She is warning about the shortage coming.  It's definitely for lack of farm workers, no one to pick the veggies.  Tomatoes are at a premium price here due to shortages.  My friend is urging people to dehydrate veggies.  She grows those large, wide green beans and actually hangs them on sewing thread in her garage and pantry to dry. She says they cook up so good in the winter time. 
 
If we have a food shortage, we will see desperate people do desperate things.  A grandfather of one of my friends tried to get his Grandfather's arrest record expunged because he had been convicted of cooking two of his neighbor's chickens who wandered in to his yard --- because his kids were hungry.

She says the hanging dry green beans are named "Leather britches" .... But hey, she's a Southern Woman

My covid housemate and I shop at Aldi. We are mostly eating plant based. Our combined food budget not including eating out is about $50 a week for 2 people. We eat very well.

My suggestions are:

Zero waste recipes and habits

A no buy/minimal buy use what is on hand in the pantry etc say once a month

Shop in season and on sale and bulk/ freeze/vacuum bag

Consider a victory garden and/or growing microgreens

I have epically failed this year due to the drought.

We don't penny pinch. We don't buy stuff that would use a coupon as a general rule. We do cook. We belong to a natural foods coop. We plan meals generally around stuff that is on sale.

We invested in expensive but used kitchen tools off of marketplace like knives, burr coffee grinder, pressure quick cooker, cooking blender etc. We make our own gluten free flour and almond milk and sometimes soymilk (not my favorite but passable using a soy milk maker).

I am happy to help anyone who wants to lower food costs using any of these suggestions.

We also bought half a grocery bag of organic peppers, zucchini, cucumbers etc for $5 this week from a farm stand advertised on fb marketplace this week.

They are glorious..yummy!

It is not only the pandemic, the drought and heat in the Central Valley of California will also be a factor.

Meat is super expensive and the price of gas is now 4.20 a gallon out here in my area. In other areas gas is up to 5.00. Inflation is a sorry bitch.

I truly hope that the supply chain holds. Truckers and grocery store workers and medical people are my heros!

I think having a basic pantry of stuff we will really use is a great idea!

I noticed this week that prices really varied widely from store to store. So I am factoring this in. My housemate stopped at one place to pick up some cream cheese and paid DOUBLE what it is at another :(

Now keep in mind I am a bit data driven..but bear with me...

prices for certain other things too were double some places compared with others.

My covid housemate and I are going to keep a spread sheet of things we buy often grouped by price and store. Things like Tamari, oatmeal, the cashew dressing from trader Joe's, wine etc. That way we will have some baseline data when we shop.

We also got two free store cards this past couple weeks: a Target red debit card and a certain gas station's loyalty card. This amounts to a 5 percent and three cent a gallon savings respectfully.

Also we do one week a month or so as basically a "no buy" week where we use up stuff we have. We could pivot and spend that week on some pantry staples when things are on sale and might do that...

Thanks for posting this. I do know which stores have the best prices. I also you the free shopping pick up at Target, Walmart and Warehouse store. It prevents impulse buys. I have been exploring new recipes on the internet. I also buy 6 bottles of Fairlife milk at the beginning of the month (lactose free).

I think our biggest problem the various food issues we all have my chronic vomiting, my daughters lactose intolerance, her gastro paresis, my soon to be son in laws lactose and IBS. Oh and my husband’s see food diet.

My cupboards look like I am a poor college student. A couple packs of Ramen noodles....a box of Mac & Cheese, bulk bag of jasmine rice, etc.

I am blessed to live in an area where folks put their garden surplus by the road with an old coffee can to buy stuff. So I will drive by and see what is available (usually cukes, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, zucchini and squash....yum).

I am an empty nester so I am not very good at planning meals for one.

Sounds like I need to at least hit Aldis to stock up on some basics though.

Even

I think planning really helps.

Even asking for input from people who do this sort of thing on the regular.

An example is fixing up surplus peppers into baggies and freezing or planning several meals around (small...not the giant ones) zucchini like spiralized zoodles, zucchini bread, diced z sauted with butter and herbs as a side dish to be frozen in single serve portions.

I have some stuff I bought off of Facebook marketplace and got inexpensively that makes this sort of thing easier..single pampered chef silicone containers with lids, a quick cooker, good knives.

The bulk rice is a great base if you have a good rice cooker that cooks it for you.

Then there is gazpacho, homemade tomato 🍅🍅 bisque etc. Now you've got me thinking!

We can do this rising food price thing and still enjoy life to the fullest!

And oops about the double evens. I am not good with the new site yet 😃😃

Prices are higher (just noticed my fake meat is $1 more!). And i am finding things out of stock.

Aldi is good for most staples in my opinion. Especially fruit and vegetables. Drinks, too.

Doing grocery pick up instead of going to the store lets me stay within budget a little easier. (No impulse buys)

Unfortunately, i am trying to eat healthier and thats expensive. I did have a garden with cucumbers and squash this summer! That was not very cost saving but if i had planted more it might have been!