I gotta tell you… I’m awfully bummed about grocery shopping these days. Naturally, with having just had a baby, I’m short on time for doing coupons as much, and I haven’t been using as many as I used to for quite awhile. But, I’m not even motivated to use many coupons these days, because there just aren’t that many good deals on things we need!
And then, there’s things like this:
I bought Breyer’s “ice cream” last week and realized that two out of three flavors that I bought aren’t ice cream anymore – they’re frozen dairy dessert! Cream is no longer on the ingredients list, and I’m bummed. I’ve literally hated Dreyer’s “ice cream” since they changed it a few years ago to frozen dairy dessert. Like hated it so much I’ll skip dessert if that’s the option.
I know it seems like such a silly thing to be upset about but we are talking about ice cream here, people! At least the Triple Chocolate variety was still ice cream – for now.
And then on that same trip where I discovered that Breyer’s appears to transitioning to not-ice-cream, I bought grapes and they were packaged in a Disney princess bag. Do we really have to have cartoon characters on fresh fruit?!
Gah.
I feel like I’m spending more than I “should” but discouraged that prices are rising so fast right when my kids are starting to eat a ton. I’m really enjoying cooking these days and we’re eating pretty healthfully, but can’t shake the fact that I’m having a hard time staying within a $150/week budget. (Ugh.) I’m thinking about switching to a cash-only grocery budget for awhile and maybe posting here about what I’m spending just to get some accoutability (or maybe commiseration).
So, I’m bummed about the state of my grocery shopping these days. Is anyone else with me?
$1.25 for Lucerne (half gallon) at Safeway, Fri-Sun Only
I am so with you! I have not had the motivation either because I have been so busy at my job. I do still use some coupons but don’t have the motivation like I used to. At King Soopers I am lucky if I save 30-40% these days. I used to save 60-70% regularly!
Too bad about the ice cream thing too. That is a bummer and I agree – it should be the real thing if you are going to use up the calories on it! :)
You’ll get your mojo back I am sure, but you are right, prices are crazy on some things!
I don’t even look at my percentage savings anymore. And I used too EVERY trip. Part of it has to do with not having as much time to shop around anymore (takes me forever with a newborn + four kids) so I’m buying most of my groceries at King Soopers these days, even if it’s not the lowest price in town.
Glad it’s not just me!
Yeah I do all my shopping at King Soopers now because there is one within about 3 minutes of my house and I figure now with the cost of gas, even if the item is more, it’s worth it to not waste my time and gas to go to another store. I only have one child so you must have a struggle with 5!
So, so with you. I have been working updating my price book this week and prices have really gone up over the last year on practically everything. It is so hard to stay in budget for me (and I do a cash only budget for groceries!) -don’t think you are the only one in that boat :)
Uh huh! It’s been hard to rate deals lately because not only have prices gone up, the frequency of good sales and coupons have gone down, so I think we’re seeing higher sale prices but even less often, if that makes sense!
I think my husband is frustrated…he went to the grocery with me this week, and I think it bothered him that I kept saying, “no, that’s too expensive.”
I know the feeling. My husband is like, JUST BUY IT! :) So, I’ve started to just bite the bullet and buy it even if I cringe knowing I’m paying twice as much as I’d like. Eating is one of those things we *have* to do. :)
It is so frustrating to go shopping anymore. I have a weekly budget of $100-$125 for my family of 7 and am realising that this is no longer possible. It seems like every week there are only 1 or 2 things on sale that pair with a coupon that we use. The coupons aren’t very good and the sales prices aren’t really even sale prices. I used to get 2 carts full on most mega sales at King soopers/City Market. This last sale I got 10 things, and 6 of those were vitamin water. :(
I haven’t even clipped coupons in 4 weeks! They are just whole inserts stacked in my binder. I figure why clip them if I’m going to use 3 or 4 coupons out of each insert.
Oh, and the ice “cream”, that’s just gross. All of this engineered junk doesn’t even taste that great. It’s all about how companies can make more money. I guess the joke about the city kid who thought hamburger came from Safeway and not a cow isn’t too far off anymore.
I’m with you too. We are a family of 7 and I using my whole $150 a week. I have been encouraged by more costco coupons lately, and honestly, I am saving more there than I ever have in the past. I used to stock up only at King Soopers and Safeway sales. Now I can find cereal, juice, butter, etc. at Costco for even cheaper than combining a great sale plus coupons at my local stores. Still stock up on all produce at Sprouts. That helps.
It’s not only higher prices and lack of coupons, you have to worry about. It’s whether it has pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, free range, etc…
It was much simpler when you could go to the store and trust the products you were buying were ok to eat. I can’t afford to buy everything organic, and local so it is very frustrating.
I too am increasingly frustrated! I agree with Jennifer – I’m shopping more at Costco. I make almost everything from scratch and if I’m not going to find basics for a great price at Kings I might as well just buy a whole bunch at an average price and call it done. The occasional free roll of paper towels here and there isn’t enough to make me want to bother with coupons. It’s discouraging. I’d love to fill out my pantry with 15 boxes of free pasta from some amazing deal like I did last year….but when is the last time we saw that? And who knows if we will again?
I’ve toyed with getting a Costco or Sam’s membership for a year or so now. Every time I’m ready to buy one, someone else has a great deal on something I would buy there (like canned tomatoes or flour) and then am able to put off purchasing a membership. For me, it’s not even the membership cost, it’s just the knowing that I would end up buying things there because they are “cheaper” but still not really cheap. (We would eat 10x the amount of raisins if I bought them in 4 lb bags at Sam’s!)
But, the idea of just going in and buying stuff that we need is getting really attractive to me – I’m going to end up getting a membership *one of these days*.
Thank you for your post – because I’m feeling this way too!! Not that its good to hear everyone is struggling, but I’m glad I’m not the only one! I’, thinking of going the cash route as well to help – but it just feels frustrating to skimp on EVERYTHING…Let’s try to keep the faith and do our best – that’s all we got!!
It is frustrating to skimp, especially if you really enjoy cooking and eating! One thing I’ve been doing is trying to make sure we have good side dishes with each meal. There is no way (aside from truly HAVING TO) that my husband would want to cut out meat to save money, but we eat less meat if we have a couple of side dishes, so that’s my strategy for reducing that cost. It’s obviously more work to make several side dishes but we are getting by on less meat – or I should probably say, I’m not having to increase our meat purchases at the same rate that my kids are eating more!
I have a love-hate relationship with coupons. I believe in them, but it stresses me out trying to match coupons (that I will actually use) and sales. We have a choice of King Soopers, Sprouts, Safeway and Costco in Parker. I would say all the grocery stores are about equi-distant. Normally I prefer King Soopers and Sprouts for produce. Costco produce is nice to look at but I have been “burned” by frutis that never really ripened, etc. I have started doing Bountiful Baskets every other week. It’s sort of like a co-op. I prefer organic, so I haven’t been getting the regular boxes, but the regular boxes of produce (a mix of veg and fruit) are $15. I think the prices are reasonable. They are definitely attracting a following in Parker. I agree about Costco being a good default though….especially for dairy.
I have just started feeling this way too!!!! So glad you said something. I just had a baby 5 months ago (and have a 3 year old) and keep thinking if all the time I spend on couponing is worth the stress. Plus I find we eat so much more processed food than produce with our tight food budget. I probably buy so much un-needed things just because I get good deals on them too.