Comments on: A peek into my penny-pinching grocery cart

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:22:47 +0000

THanks so much! This is great! question-
what do you do with the “puffed millet cereal” i recently bought some at whole foods, b/c the price was amazing, but boy is it plain.. Do you use it in recipes? Or just eat plain with milk?

By: michaela

michaela — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:45:26 +0000

i so agree with you!!! and i love how you’ve actually shown people what to do. as a country we spend less of our budget on food than almost any other developed country.

did you see the “fruit loops” controversy over on bitten? isn’t so sad that because some ridiculous processed food like fruit loops has vitamin a injected into it that some “health board” is telling american consumers its good for them? i don’t know which is worse, the people putting the checks on the boxes or the people who will be the garbage and consider it food. argh!

By: A@ Please Don't Eat Me!

A@ Please Don't Eat Me! — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:22:36 +0000

This is a great article.. I agree about the processed food being just filler! i dont buy much processed food- tofu is not my friend! haha.. i have a tight as anything food budget with very little wiggle room and am feeding 4 people, so i be as careful as possible.. i dont shop at whole foods but i do buy my produce at hannafords and HF gets their produce locally most of the time and their prices are WAY better than stop and shop.. makes me feel like at least i am doing a small part in supporting local farming!

By: Diana (Soap & Chocolate)

Diana (Soap & Chocolate) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:51:01 +0000

I love and live by your rules #6 & #7! They have been so key to me not bankrupting myself at the grocery store (and that’s a big deal to someone who likes to shop 3x a week–for just me!). This is a great post. I try really hard to live by similar rules and you are for sure better at it than I am!

By: Jonna

Jonna — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:32:34 +0000

I love your tips, and will use what I can. But I think that you may be a bit unrealistic in saying that $100 for a week’s worth of food is “inexpensive!” Since I’m on disability, and my partner got laid off, we’re living on a $200 a month food budget–that’s our Food Stamp allowance. That money goes MUCH farther at WinCo than it ever will at Whole Foods or New Seasons, or even Safeway! And I can (and do!) purchase healthy food at my lower end store, too!

By: kathryn

kathryn — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:26:50 +0000

Great article Michelle. I always love having a sticky-beak in other people’s shopping baskets – virtual or otherwise. Meat does add so much onto the weekly bill and cutting back even a small amount makes a huge difference. I like the way you’ve talked about how you’re going to use the food, as well as what you’ve purchased. Really useful post.

By: Betsy Moore

Betsy Moore — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:58:34 +0000

Awesome post Michelle!

By: Becky and the Beanstock

Becky and the Beanstock — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:09:07 +0000

Perfectly illustrated! Eating healthy is the opposite of expensive!

By: Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet

Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:34:04 +0000

Great post! It’s so true, it doesn’t have to be spendy to eat healthy.

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:44:25 +0000

Such a great post and I love your tips. We stick to a very tight grocery budget and tend to stretch it really far. Since moving abroad our eating has changed a lot and I use very few packaged foods now. I’m really interested to get back to the US and see how this works for our budget. My guess, we’ll be doing better.

I do have to say though that it is really difficult to swallow the produce prices in the US (although, I completely agree that when done wisely healthy eating is cheaper than name brand packaged/processed eating). I wish things back home followed the same pattern as other countries. Here packaged foods and fast foods are expensive, only the middle to upper class can afford them while the produce is dirt cheap and even more delicious.