O/T Groceries
 

Can some of our American or UK members advise me as to the approximate cost of a grocery bill for a weeks worth of groceries?This includes if you had to go back for example running out of a few items?


Just out of curiosity I'd be intrested to know how much a family of 2,3,or 4 would need to spend in a week in America?

If you have a family of four, that family can go to a place called Costco, or the Price Club, or Sam's Club and buy everything in bulk.

You can save big time that way.

But if you are on a budget and let's say there are two people in the house, first you have to tell me if you want to eat healthy, or if you want to fill up on Cereal, macaroni and cheese, and frankfurters.

You can eat for a few bucks if you eat stupid, or you can spend $100 a week and eat chicken, fish, fresh veggies, and salad (just like Alan and I do). But you have to know how to shop, where the best price of chicken and fish is per pound. You have to know where the best produce store is and buy your lettuce and veggies on sale, (especially tomatoes).

See, it's all about what kind of food you are into. And I didn't even include BEEF in that scenario. Alan and I do not eat any red meat or beef.

We get our protein from chicken, fish, turkey burgers and we combine that with a low carb lifestyle.

But if you like spaghetti, well, that costs peanuts and you can LIVE on that for a week. Add eggs for breakfast with some rolls. And you can do this on $25.00 a week. Make your own home made sauce and you're good to go.

If you need recipes for muffins, let me know.

lol
Melody

P..S. If you have kids in the house, you have to add milk to the equation. And probably Soda. We don't drink soda, but kids love it.

Yes Mel I do need the muffin recipe!
 

I decided to get a bit of advice in this area due to my situation. I have been keeping a tally the last few months on my outgoings for food. It seems that I am spending an average of $1000 + this month,and still have another week to go.

Last month I spent $1409.

This is a combo of grocery store and take away food. The problem I have is that I get home at about 5:30 pm. My husband gets home at 7-7:30 from work. I have tons of chores to do when I get home,and I also have to help with homework,reading,bath,dog, and hopefully 10-15 minutes on my treadmill. When I cook, I also do all the washing up, and I actually get in bed at 9 pm,exhausted from all of this.

The one thing I can skimp on is the cooking now and then. Sometimes I'd rather outlay 60 dollars on takeaway or chinese, than do the cooking.


Unfortunately I am a one woman show as they say. I do ALL the chores and work a full day too. So I need ideas,recipes to make cooking easier,simpler etc. My husband is also a big eater unfortunately and gets rather cranky with me when there isn't a dinner for him. So I try really hard to make dinner or have dinner ready every night. If it were up to me I'd have a cup of noodle soup now and again with a piece of fruit and me tea, I would be sweet all night!

But with 2 men in my life, food...food...food.... is all they seem to want from me!!

SIZE="7"]HELP!![/SIZE]

What's a working mother to do these days?

The other issue we have in Australia is that there is a monopoly in the supermarket situation. Coles and Woolworths control everything here in Sydney. Not too long ago banannas had gone up to $15.00 a kilo. Food is getting real expensive. Just 2 or 3 years ago I was spending $130 at grocery store,now its like $170 for the same stuff.

We don't have "Costco" bulk buying places here, (as yet that is), everything from America is slowly making it's way to Sydney so I am sure it's only a matter of time.

Any advice on recepies or what to cook that's quick would be great.

Thank you

I guess the part I forgot to mention is...
 

that this constant food preparation thing is stressing me out! The constant worry about what to prepare for dinner is neverending.

I know how that is.
 

The worst question in the world is "What's for supper"?

After being married for 22 years, and with an 8-year-old son, I am convinced I have tried every known option. Most of them multiple times.

My wife works a standard 9-5 schedule, and I'm the one who works afternoons/nights/weekends with considerable ability to set my own hours. So it's my responsiblity to decide what/how to feed the family as she commutes home. And I admit to being inordinately fond of take-away--especially as where I live, in Queens, NY, we have more international ethnic food nearby than probably anywhere else on Earth. I realize, though, that all this stuff is probably not best from a nutritional, or economic, standpoint.

Since this is New York City, we have a lot of services that can prepare hot meals and have them delivered, either for immediate consumption or for re-heating in the future (such as Fresh Direct). The food quality with these is generally good, though of course one gets hit in the wallet quite hard.

Added to all this is the reluctance in the summer months to cook and heat up the whole house, and then spend even more money air-conditioning it.

I try to do things such as salads, fruit and vegetable combos, and even "breakfast for supper" scenarios with omelettes, (gluten-free) pancakes with various fruits and toppings, and the like, but I ran out of orginality several thousand suppers ago. This is even despite the fact that our gluten board here is a treasure trove of interesting recipes (though many of them take a good chunk of time to prepare).

I often get so bored with the whole thing that I'd rather make a meal out of a yogurt, a pear, and a handful of walnuts, but I do have the Daddy guilt thing that I shuold try to get a more proper meal on the table--even if it's ordered out--for the commuting spouse and the always hungry child (who, all 60 pounds of him, eats like a construction crew).

Things I do insist on--there is no soda in this house, and any juice is pure juice. A lot of fruit smoothies get blended here, too. (And very few cookies/cakes/pastries and the like--I'm gluten-free and couldn't eat most of these, anyway.) There does tend to be too much ice cream, though. :)

Part of the rise in food prices, I think, is more the rise in oil prices. Many fertilizers are petrochemical in nature, and we do not eat what is grown locally in most parts of the Western world; too much of our food is shipped from long distances, and that shipping cost is really being jacked up. Another argument for reduced dependence on oil.

I tend to spend about $75-85 American dollars a week for a family of three; I try to shop the sales and buy in bulk when I can.

It would be at least $80 - $90 per person were i am in OZ, and thats being carefull, bulk buying when prices are discounted, helps, as i live on the bay a local fishermam sells pretty cheap fish, so thats not to bad at all.
Safeway and Coles are the big players down here in groceries game and in the last 4 months i would say for certain we are spending at least 40% more for the same amount.
The fruit we get from these two major players are mostly imported and frozen, bananas last about 2 to 3 days if you lucky before going brown, the fruit isn't tasty at all, i can't remember when i enjoyed the last piece of fruit i have had, its a joke, that our farmers have to bulldoze their crops back into the ground because one of the grocery giants will only offer a pittance for their crop, so in come the import fruits, i blame our goverment for this, they should raise the import tax up high enough that imported crap isn't an option anymore and give our own farmers a go.

Aussie - why don't you make Saturday and Sunday self service days, i know someone that does this and it works fine she said, a few BBQ's thrown in during the week might help, as the man normally cooks them, and definatly one washes the dishes and the other dries, [if that will work ;) ]
good luck
Brian :)

Hi, this is what you wrote:

"Unfortunately I am a one woman show as they say. I do ALL the chores and work a full day too. So I need ideas,recipes to make cooking easier,simpler etc. My husband is also a big eater unfortunately and gets rather cranky with me when there isn't a dinner for him."


THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM IN A NUTSHELL and I'm shocked no one has even brought that up. EVERYTHING IS OBVIOUSLY ON YOUR SHOULDERS.

I used to be like that. I would do everything, clean everything (Alan didn't know his way around a kitchen and wouldn't even try).

When we both worked (20 years ago), no one cooked at night, we did chinese takeout or some other takeout but THAT ADDS TO EXPENSE.

So when we both worked, I made Sunday, (that is if you don't work on Sunday), I used Sunday to make all my chickens, (we ate beef way back then), I used to make Beef Stew, I made all the meals, popped them in the frreezer in serving trays. And when we came home, we took out the trays, microwaved them. and I would then micro a potato and we had our dinner with a baked potato.

BUT..... all that changed when I had to stop working (because my son had so many problems in school), I had to become a stay at home mom.

So what did I do??? I became a home typists for laywers and judges.

Now try cleaning the house, cooking, and typing all day long. I wanted to kill Alan because, even though he worked, he would think "well, she's home all day long"...

Want to know how I STOPPED ALL THIS NONSENSE!!!

First, believe in yourself. Second, your husband MUST GET INVOLVED with helping you around the house, doing laundry, and most important, getting in the kitchen with you. It's not enough (in 2007), for both of you to do a full time job, and the woman comes home and cooks and serves the guy.

That kind of thinking has to go out the window. You'll get a stroke and you are not well to begin with.

So how did I do it.? Well, I stopped making him breakfast and lunch. That was for starters. One day, he got up and said "what's for breakfast". There were the cereals all lined up on the counter. He knew where all the bowls and spoons were. He knew where the milk was and he knew where my muffins were (all ready under my cake thing).

So I said "where is it written that because we are both home, that I do everything and you get served"? Tell me where it's written!!!!

He looked at me and said "you mean you want me to make breakfast?"

I said "There's the cereal, you know where everything else is,if you want to eat, GO AND DO IT". He grumbled a bit, but that was the first day.

Then lunch came. I used to make him salad greens with lovely grilled chicken.

Lunch time came and he said "what's for lunch". I said 'you can make it or you can starve". He said "what?? but I made breakfast". and I said "WELL WHOOPDY DOO FOR YOU".

Guess what he did. He made cereal and ate a muffin.

Then I looked him dead in the face and said "No, too many carbs, make a power shake. He did so. So now he makes his own cereal and most times he makes a power shake. I will, now and then, make him the grilled chicken thing. But HE ALSO DOES THE LAUNDRY ONCE A WEEK, FOLDS IT AND PUTS IT AWAY.

Supper is my domain. I'm a good cook and he couldn't bake a stone in he tried.

That I don't mind. BUT, I get him to mix the muffin batter. and if I make meatballs (using ground turkey), I put everything in the bowl, and I go over to him with a big potato masher and I say "you're much stronger than me, please make these". He does, (after flexing his muscles).

I could never go back to the way I used to be. I did EVERYTHING and he reaped the rewards.

Now when his neuropathy was really bad and he was on the fentanyl patch, of course I did more....... but once he saw Dr. Theirl and he got better, then why on earth would I let him sit in the living room chair watching tv, when I am cooking, cleaning up etc.

He doesn't do dishes. But he will take the Swiffer and go around the rooms.

And you should see the look at his face when I tell him "Cmon, it's time to turn the mattress around and fix the bedroom.

But he did it. See he realizes how much I take care of him and he has to do MORE FOR HIMSELF because what happens when I'm not arround anymore (if god forbid something happens to me).

He always used to say "man if you die on me, I'll starve to death".

Guess what??? He won't starve anymore.

Try this (in small doses) and see what happens.

Then pm me and I'll give you my muffin recipe.

Melody

Thank you
 

I am very happy to see that I am not the only one with "food troubles". It just doesn't stop. What to eat? What to make? Stop off at the store after work? Gees, I've given myself a headache!!

If we lived around ethnic food like NY, my husband would go nuts! The most ethnic around my neighborhood is chinese food or a doner kebob!:D LOL!!

I don't mind paying money for the groceries, but like Brian said $100 dollars over here is just for one person. I spend $160-170 a week and run out by Wednesday. Our fruit does suck,and it's tasteless. All I eat are bruised apples and bannanas that go off in 2 days. No wonder the fruit flies are attacking me! :cool: You can't even find apples that aren't all beat up anymore. It's shocking!

My husband doesn't get home till late,if I had to wait for him to cook, we'd starve. I guess I am a bit frustrated at not being able to whip up fast healthy meals. I am a bit tired of having the entire responsibility of cooking,and I am a little angry at myself for wasting my money on greasy chinese food. I am also disappointed in our gov't for not giving us choice and we are at the mercy of 2 huge supermarket chains with overpriced food, and inferior quality products.

Mel, I will PM for muffin recepie, thank you.

As far as the husband goes...
 

Yeah I have gotten a bit tired of doing all the chores. I've done them all for 10years. I remember after I had my back surgery, I couldn't even move. The house was crumbling around me and there was 3 weeks of dirty clothes for washing. He didn't do a thing. Spoiled he was from his mum.

She used to iron his socks and undies too. I love his mum, god bless her soul, but spoiled he was and so has he remained.

I thought I married someone domesticated! LOL!:D

Dead On
 

Aussie99,
Mel is dead on w/ her assessment - you've got way too much responsibility for one person. My wife and I both have long commutes and work long hours so dinners can be a real adventure at times. Vicki is a wonderful cook and baker and loves to do both but time is at a premium.

Like Mel we do a lot of "bulk cooking", particularly smoking or slow grilling. Every weekend possible we grill multiple dishes simultaneously so we have dinners and work lunches for the following week. For example, it's not uncommon for us to do a beer-can turkey or chicken and fish or portabella mushrooms and a pork roast. We do beef but much less frequently and we grill all of the vegi's too. I've tried some fruits but I'm still getting the hang of it but I don't mind eating my mistakes either.
We shop multiple grocery stores for specials on everything we can and do the Costco or Sams Club trips too. I laugh at times at Vicki and her coupons but it saves it saves us a ton of money. We budget pretty carefully and spend ~$100-120/week unless we go out for dinner which many times is to a local Greek diner where we will share a Greek salad or some evenings just an omelet - a real treat if we can get can get grits instead of potatoes but up North here that's not common.
We do divide up the "chores" but Vicki still has the greater share - we're working on that, for example, nights that she does yoga she gets home ~7:30 or 8:00 which is just before my day usually ends so I'll make dinner usually from what we grilled over the weekend - maybe somewhat boring or repititious to some people but we can get pretty creative and are always experimenting.
All in all once we still have convenience for us but now much healthier and flavorful.

Alkymst

Aussie:

I know it's hard on you because your husband works and comes home late so he really has no desire to go and learn to cook and do stuff in the kitchen.,

Now let's talk about chinese takeout. The BEAUTY OF CHINESE TAKEOUT IS THAT YOU CAN ORDER IT "YOUR WAY".

When I dont' want to cook (and that's rarely) because we live on a fixed income, but let's say I was at Cornell all day long in NYC and I come home at 7.p.m, I might phone Alan from the Access-a-ride and tell him to go around the corner and pick up some chinese.

Want to know what he orders?

Steamed Chicken and veggies. You can tell them "no salt, just steam the chicken" and then you can say, "with baby corn, with carrots, with mushroom". You can say "no sauce". YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU ORDER IT. It's very hard to eat this way because most people are ordering Spare Ribs, and Chicken with Broccoli, which is made in a brown sauce THAT'S LOADED WITH SODIUM.

But Alan can't have any sodium so everything has to be steamed for him.
Now when I roast a chicken in my oven, I put everything on this chicken (BUT NO SALT) . I put garlic powder, I mince up some onions and sprinkle them. I use something called Cumin and sprinkle it. Then I put some extra virgin olive oil and put it in my clean hands and rub the whole chicken.

Then I take fresh parsley and mince it and sprinkel that over the whole chicken. Then I add some water into the tin foil pan. I have the oven pre-heated to 350 and I cook this big oven stuffer chicken (with a pop up timer thingee in it) and I cook it for 2 and one half hours. During this time, I baste it with the juice in the pan.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS COMES OUT!!!!! And there's no sodium. Imagine if you just sprinkle a little salt into it?? mm mm mm

So to sum it up, if you want to eat healthy chinese take-out, don't order spare ribs or anything like Mu Shu Pork (that will kill you, it has something like 70 grams of fat in the dish). Order the food steamed with fresh veggies and BROWN RICE. not white. You'll be good to go. Now it's one thing to get your OWN taste buds to like this way of eating.

It's a WHOLE OTHER THING TO GET YOUR HUSBAND TO LIKE TO EAT THIS WAY. Guys like spare ribs and pork and fried this and fried that.

I mean, IT TASTES GOOD but it's not good FOR YOU!!!

I had to learn this the hard way. I became a diabetic.

I'll pm you the muffin recipe.

Melody

We spend about $150 for 2 (21 y.o. is living on campus @ college), with a beagle hound and a Siamese cat (who are always hungry).
We both work and get home about 6 pm and say "well..what are we gonna eat tonite?" We look in the freezer and decide.
I cook most nites and its a round-robin of chicken (boneless skinless breasts), then (lean) beef, then pork, then fish- but it seems more often chicken - grilled, in sauce (cacciatore), baked with a coating, or in a Caesar salad. Beef is a 1 lb steak (8 oz ea) or a roast, or lean 97%-ground (tacos, spaghetti sauce, chili). Pork is lean boneless loin chops or a trimmed lean loin roast. Shrimp is a usual, too (on the grill, steamed, in jambalaya, garlic sauce & linguine, etc) Salad is a must (low fat dressings), and pasta, beans or rice a usual side. We stick to 4-6 oz (cooked weight) per serving. We use spray oils (Pam) mostly for cooking & on the grill. Olive oil other times.
My wife is a Weight Watchers 'lifer' and counts points, as well as shops - so that is a deciding factor. She also 'brown-bags' her lunches. I take an apple (or other fruit) and granola bars to work, daily. But my wife maintains her (lost 50 lbs) weight, and I seem not to be able to lose - but I'm not as stringent about my diet as she (and being on Lyrica doesn't help matters).

Bob:

I'm coming to your house. A MAN WHO COOKS!!!!!

Heaven


Mel

wow im the spendthrift here, i easily spend over 1000 a month for food for 4 not counting dogs.

Wow, lol

Alan and I, after we pay the rent have to live on $900. And that's for utilities, cable, phone, co-pays, meds. AND FOOD.

And paper products, soap, etc. etc.

Wow, I must know how to stretch a buck!!!!!

lol

Melody

kids get expensive

With unemployment, sickness benefits, old age and disability pensions payments all get paid every 2 weeks, i thought that was to long, but by the sounds of what Melody said, do you guys in the States get paid monthly ? whew, geez you would really have to be careful that it lasted until next pay day.

Anyone that is on any of the above payments, are giving a health care cards so any medication you need only should cost only $4.80 per item, sometimes they could be a dollar or two more but the pharmacies always ask if you want the cheaper brand or not, so should be able to get the inexpensive brands for the $4.80 each, once you have brought 52 items in one year then its all free for the rest of the year.
How do you guys in the US get on for medicines if on social security benefits ?

Thank you guys for the cooking ideas...
 

I am going to make myself a little book of things I can cook quickly. I never thought of making an omellette for dinner Glen, That's a great idea!

Bob, I also make really good chile,and it's winter here now so it would be perfect. I think I will make a weekly menu,and post it up on fridge and try to stick with it best I can. That way I can rotate around the food groups.

I googled up "costco", and beleive me there isn't anything remotely like that here. We definately need one. My customers tell me that they spend an average of $300 per week on food for a family of 4.

So I know something is really wrong when I hear that. I can easily spend $200 and end up with nothing in my fridge. My husband always says, "you went shopping, but there's no food in fridge".

I have to learn to shop smarter,and ofcourse cook easier meals.

As far as the husband goes, I have to start making those baby steps towards liberating myself a bit from this 2nd shift as I call it. But I have to take baby steps towards this. I sware if I left that man to his own devices he would be living like a bushman, with no concept of clean.

When people ask me how many kids I have I always say 2... if you count my husband.! LOL!:D

I just saw this OT thread in the list of New Posts. Being an aussie, I thought I'd chime in if that's alright. :)

Don't forget the exchange rate. Our AUD is not worth the same as the US Dollar.

Aussie, the banana situation I saw you mentioned. I'm a Queenslander so the minute bananas are mentioned I notice. lol When you posted about that problem with the insects following you... I wondered then about bananas and fruit fly too. LOL :D

Heck, that was awful. Almost all of our bananas got wiped out in that shocking cyclone. There are a few pockets like in northern NSW where there are bananas growing that weren't affected and they filtered through to the market at very high prices. The reason the price went up so high also was because instead of buying in cheap bananas from overseas a decision was made to stick it out without them and wait till the new crops started to bear fruit here.

OK, while I was typing that I was looking up the exchange rate.

0.8199 AUD = 1 USD as of last Friday. Haven't seen today's yet.
http://www.rba.gov.au/Statistics/exchange_rates.html

I'm single mum with 2 grown children at home. One is now 20 and other is 18. I can't really give you an amount spent per week on groceries because it varies a lot but I can't really buy what I want to buy anymore. I've had to restrict our diet a lot. If I bought my organic foods and meats and snacks like raw and local nuts, it'd be all gone in an hour. Bummer really because I want to feed us all the very best produce but a lot of the time I just have learned to make do with cheaper items but good cooking skills. I do love to cook so that helps.

Brian
 

Yes in US we do get paid by the month,diability,socail security ect. And
you do have to learn to stretch it out.

Aussie i was lucky my husband believed everyone in the family should
learn to cook,do house cleaning all chores shared. My children are
all married now. And my daughter-in-laws just love the way there
husbands were raised. My daughter found a big guy who's not afriad
to haul the baby around and change diapers while she sleeps.

But to eat healthy in US for 1or 2 people i find it is costing far more
as well. Mel's muffins are very good,i make them up put them in my
freezer so i don't over eat. Yum, Of course Bob girls are good cooks.
This has been interesting Thanks :hug: :hug: Sue

Yes I find that inflation is killing us!
 

In Sydney you can be on a salary of 100k per annum, and still barely manage with a mortgage.

I'll explain, our taxes are incredible, we are one of the highest taxed nations. Mortgage loan interest from your investment property is tax deductable,not your primary residence.

The Average median home price in Sydney is 500k.

A bag of chips for kids costs about $7.40
A small bottle single serve, of water costs $2.50
A powerade costs $3.60
a single avacado costs $2.70 sometimes $3.00
A single lemon costs $1


I go to the grocery store and I see pensioners hardly able to afford basic food such as rice,meat,chicken and veggies. When I am in line behind a pensioner, my heart breaks because I see what they are buying is not enough,and sometimes we talk in the grocery line.

I went to buy some muffin mix today and one box was $5.00
So I thought I'd wait until the weekend when the big giants go to war.

I just don't understand what is happening to Australia.

Worst off, all our clothes are made in China. Also cut small to fit the evergrowing Asian population. I mean the clothes in the shops look like children clothes,but they are meant for grown women?? HUH!

Also the clothes are very poor quality in general. even Ralph Lauren clothes over here are made in China. In 4 washes you have a raggedy garment, that you paid a small mint for.

I know Melbourne has nicer clothes, when I was down there last year I saw better quality stuff.

Maybe I will write a letter to the Peter Costello?

Hi aussie,

First and foremost, it's not, "what's happening to Australia?", but in fact, just what seems to be more obvious in a place like Sydney.

I thank heavens I live where I live.

All Aussies know that Sydney has been over-rated, over-priced and over-accentuated, when it comes to this country and that's a shame.It's ruining a once beautiful city.

I'm in WA and I have NEVER paid anything like the prices you mentioned for groceries. I'm in the bush too, so our prices and choices are more limited.

There are bulk places in OZ, Aussie. The Big cheapie bulk buying place that was based on a no-nonsense approach, adapted from a German Model I think, has been in oz for a while now. It started in NSW and Vic I think? I can't remember it's name. Go a googling :D

Can you get to a markets on a weekend? Well worth the effort.

Don't lose your enjoyment of shopping and food preparation. You will be doing it for the rest of your life, after all ;)

And spoiled or not, Tell that hubby of yours to get off his BUTT!!!!!!
Children are spoiled. Grown men make their own choices.

Sorry had to say it.

:hug: for you Aussie girl. Chin up



Noong

Well I can understand it - sort of?
 

My folks had moved to the USVirgin Islands when I was out of school and the prices there were unreal...a long time ago, but.. Nearly everything food, construction, all other stuff was imported...Australia's a Continent? I fear it's like the US where so much is made and fed to us from off 'continent'. What is made and produced here is exported.
If I say more, it could become political...but what is in folks minds when they say that our food prices are going up because of corn prices going up for 'ethanol'...No It's gas prices...duh? There nuf said.
Nothing is making sense in either the food or the fuel worlds these days. Real estate prices here in good ol Capital City and beyond were going thru the roof and have come down noticably here...first time my prop. values have dropped in the 30 years I've been here. OH well. I've still got equity?
Lemons? Little more here...Water bottled? I would rather buy one of those 'filter thingies' and have it on the side. Avocados? Don't know if they're in season or not now..don't do 'em often. CHIPS? Outrageous? What's the exchange rate? Can I send you a carton? Would that be allowed? Gosh I could get rich on the S& H fees alone...Powerade stuff, doesn't that come in powder concentrates? Far cheaper...
Give me a farmer's market any old day! If you can find any near you you can find amazing in-season stuff! That's what I do...Here the season is early yet, and only some berries and leafy greens are readily available..but anything Home grown and fresh -not shipped from another continent is welcome. If you have one, check it out!

Do NOT GET ME STARTED on TAXES? This isn't the place for it. tho...Hugs to all! - j

Hi Noone, Your might be thinking of " Alders " their a German owned company, i had been told that it was super cheap to shop there, so just out of curiosity we went into town to Alders to have squizz, we were surprised really that it wasn't any were near as good as we were getting told, if you don't like eating nourishing food i suppose it might be ok, cause the main stuff in there was a lot of pastry items, frozen pies, pasties, sausage rolls, pizzas, dohnuts and all the muck, and a very weak display of frozen vegetables, so was the red meat section very limited, no fresh chicken fillets only frozen crumbed crap, the fish was the same, we walked out with nothing and went back to Safeway.

Sunday markets are the best and only way of getting fresh fruit and veg's,
as we live in the seaside/bush and there is a bit of seasonal local grown veg's and fruit around, it tastes 20 times better than Safeway's frozen crap.
all the best
Brian :)

Its the same in Vic to Aussie, supermarket prices are exploding, getting beyond a joke, doesn't matter if its Coles or Safeway, there both the same, EXPENSIVE.
If you go into Kmart all the clothes are cheap imported stuff, you might get some better quality stuff in Myres if ya lucky, , most of our own manufacturers have either closed up or moved to Asia were the labour is cheap as.
The Australia that i grew up in, is not the same country as it was.
all the best
Brian :)

:D
Ah thanks brian. I hadn't realised it was so bad. Blechh! Obviously cheap imported rubbish. What a shame.

I'm a market girl myself.LOVE MY GREEN LEAFIES


Noong

P.S. Still waiting for that Tango Brian. The "New Hip Tango" ;)

:D :D The Tango !! :) thats a real easy one to do now, i reckon i could just about give them a run for their money on " Dancing with the Stars " these days
:D :D

Aussie:

You said this:

A bag of chips for kids costs about $7.40
A small bottle single serve, of water costs $2.50
A powerade costs $3.60
a single avacado costs $2.70 sometimes $3.00
A single lemon costs $1
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Now here's what I would do:
MAKE YOUR OWN POTATO CHIPS. Slice potatoes super thin, put them in hot frying oil, fry them up, add some salt and there you go.
Now I would never do this, too fattening, but if you are skinny and like chips, you will save BIG TIME doing this. I did this over 30 years ago and when I went outside to show my son and his friends, the neighbors grabbed the chips so fast, there was nothing left over for my son and his friends. We laughed our heads off. You can sprinkle onion powder and garlic powder.
Also, instead of frying, you can thin slice the potatoes, sprinkle on salt, garlic powder and onion powder, layer them on a big sheet and bake them.
Now you'd have to make a lot because everybody will be gobbling them up.
But you wouldn't be paying anything near $7.40 for a bag of these.

While you work, maybe hubby can learn how to do this???

--------------------------------------------------------------

Don't buy water. Unless the water that comes out of our faucet is undrinkable, then I'd use THAT WATER. IF not, buy a filter and use the water out of your tap and just filter it. There you go, that one out of the way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't know what a Powerade is. If it's a sports drink. DON'T BUY IT AND STICK TO WATER. Now we just saved some more money right??

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

An Avocado cost HOW MUCH!!!!! I wouldn't be buying avocados. That's it on THAT subject!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A single lemon costs $1.00. I would plant a lemon tree in my backyard and grow lemons. As a matter of fact, I'd grow EVERYTHING in my backyard (that is if I had a backyard).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOW LET'S GET TO THE BOX OF MUFFIN MIX. $5.00 for one box??????

Over here the muffin mix is a 7 oz box of muffin mix. Cost is 45 cents.

Of course, I can use Jiffy baking mix which is 40 oz and I got it on sale for $1.50. The day I spend $5.00 on a box of muffin mix, well, shoot me, and I obviously won't be making any more muffins.


So you have a couple of choices. Grow stuff in your backyard (that is if you have one), only go shopping when stuff is on sale.
Or Find a different city to shop in, take a whole bunch of money with you, take some cold keepers (so you can buy frozen stuff and it will stay frozen on the drive home, I've done that plenty of times).

Or you can move to Pennsylvania where everybody has a backyard, everybody grows everything themselves and you can bake fresh bread and drive yourself crazy withe the aroma of fresh baked bread all day long.

I could never do that because I don't eat bread and the smell alone would raise my blood sugar. lol

I never knew how expensive it was to live in Australia. I always thought Japan was the most expensive place to live. I once read that a pound of peaches cost $22.00 in Japan. YIKES!!!!

Melody

Grocery spending tips
 

Hi Melody:
Thanks for your sensible tips for buying groceries. Many of us here in this country could benefit from following them when grocery shopping. I have read that drinking "designer water" from bottles is not as good as drinking the tap water in our cities, since fluoride has been added in most places. Kids growing up on non fluroride bottled water have more cavities, according to one article I read recently.

As a child of the Great Depression, I have always been very frugal about buying food. We don't buy chips for instance. Any exotic fruits are out of the question. I use prepared foods as little as possible. Many of us need to rethink our buying and eating habits.

Shirley H.

Mel,
I live in the city but have a small 10'x14' garden.
I have black thumb, but my wife puts in bell peppers,
eggplant, tomatoes, okra, squashes (zucchini) ,sometimes snow peas,
leaf lettuce, etc. Depends on which starter plants she gets, sometimes from seed.
Summertime is sliced beefsteak tomatoes, stuffed eggplant, eggplant on the grill, bell peppers & zucchini on the kabobs, cheaper meats marinated in cubes for the kabobs, chicken breast (I like bone-in for the grill), ribs (seldom), roasts on the grill- I have a habit of running out of propane in
the middle of a marinated (just some soy, Worcestershire, garlic powder, black pepper & red wine vinegar for a coupla hours), bottom round roast (sometimes wish I had charcoal again, but went 'gas' a coupla years ago cause the grill was on sale- love it) cause its hard to gauge when the tank is low. So we 'finish' in the oven.
Cheaper meats marinated, flank steak, bottom round (instead of top), and others. We buy on sale & we'll buy a 5-6 lb roast and have cubes, roast(s), julienned for stir fry. We wait for fish on sale (love shrimp) and freeze our portions so we get more than one or 2 meals out of it. Each pkg is about a pound to a pound and a half (I use a scale). I do the cut-up butchering of the larger pieces or whole poultry.
When the college kid is in town, we double our consumption- he eats as much as we do together. Plus what we usually don't have, sodas, chips, snacks, nuts.....junk food. But pre-portioning saves waste and keeps costs down. If we have leftovers its usually less than 1/2 a portion, so its a next day snack (or a pet treat).

Oh god, a man who not only cooks but cuts up meat into cubes and knows how to make kabobs!! My Alan wouldn't know his way around a kabob if you shot him!!!!

And you have a GARDEN. And you can grow Beefsteak Tomatoes?? Oh, I'm so jealous, I could spit (but that wouldn't be ladylike).

Oh I have to tell you what happened last night. I have 3 windows that face out into the street. On the window sills of these windows I have lovely chinese vases in which I put fake flower arrangements. Looks really pretty as a person passes in front of my home and they look up and see the pretty flower arrangements and the beautiful chinese vases. I got them for $5.99 in the dollar store and believe me, they look expensive.

So my husband, every night before he goes to bed, checks that all windows are closed, locked, etc. I have told him OVER AND OVER, don't close the window over the flowers. They'll crumple and you might knock over the vase. And since I'm the one who usually closes the windows, my vases have been safe.

UNTIL LAST NIGHT!!!

I went to bed (11:00 p.m) AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME, I DIDN'T TAKE MY ALPRAZOLAM. I had said "oh good, tonight you don't have to rely on a pill to get you to sleep. So I was drifting off into la la land, when all of a sudden, I hear this yell from the Living Room. I groggily get out of bed saying out loud "for crying out loud, I was sleeping", and Alan is responding "I have neuropathy, I can't move, I can't walk". What do I think?? His legs gave way and he couldn't walk". I immediately woke up and said "what, you can't walk???? what??? what??. I walk into the living room, and there's Alan, standing stock still, in the middle of my broken chinese vase, and he's YELLING AT ME TELLING ME "didn't I tell you, you can't trust me to close this window, didn't I tell you I would knock over the vase, that I can't see in the dark when I close the window".

I didn't move a muscle. I simply said "there's a light switch directly to your left, why didn't you turn on the light when you had to close the window. Why are you such a MOOSE when it comes to closing windows??"

He just stood there saying "but, but but, I told you I can't close windows if you have vases in the window sill, I'm too clumsy".

I said "no, you arent' clumsy, you are clueless because you just went over and with your two big hands, you just closed the window over the flowers, and knocked the vase off. It has nothing to do with ME!!!! You should have turned on the light, opened the verticals, moved the vase, AND CLOSED THE WINDOW. That's how I did it every night".

So he's yelling at me that it's all my fault. So there I was, getting my broom, carefully cleaning up around him because he's yelling at me "I have neuropathy, I'm not moving until all the little pieces of the vase are removed".

I wanted to take the broom and swat him one.

So after we finish, he goes into the bathroom and starts yelling "you left the water running in the bathtub, WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES NOW DON'T WE"???

We laughed our heads off. That's why we've been married for 27 years.

I don't take crap from him and he overlooks my leaving the water running.

lol Melody

I think you are probably doing the best you can already.

You can have 'make your own sub night'.

Hardboil a bunch of eggs...

Have yogurt in the frig.

Tuna is versatile.

Slow cookers, filled up with soup or stew fixings the night before, give you a hot meal the next day when you get home.

Put a bar stool in the kitchen to sit when you cook.

Mel's cereal idea worked in our house too...even oatmeal can be made in a microwave.

It is hard to work a stressful full time job, deal with illness and raise kids without help from the spouse. Spouse simply can not do enough either.

We spend about $150-200 and we don't eat out much. We do eat a fair amount of organic or high quality food...in season we can get some pretty cheap veggies. I do drink organic milk which is $3.49 per half gallon, locally produced and packaged. I admit I eat better since I was diagnosed, but at times, Ensure was all I could get down and hubby had to do ALL the cooking and clean up...some days he still has to.

PN is so unpredictable, you never know how you will feel. Give yourself options and some slack.

Don't add guilt to your work load.

That's a cute story
 

I hope Alan couldn't move because of fear of stepping on a sharp bit of vase,and not because he "COULDN'T MOVE!! My heat jumped into my throat when you said he couldn't move.

In my house, it would be me closing the windows,and if I could convince the husband to do it on my behalf, then the vase would have annoyed him and ended up in the bin.

I have a country look, to my lounge room,and on my lounge I have a country teddy bear. My husband sits on it all the time when he parks himself down on the lounge. Even though it's wearing a nice knitted jumper,and you can tell it's not actually a child's toy,but a collectable, he still sits on it and makes a mess of him.

So basically if it doesn't have a functional purpose,it may end up as "collateral damage" in my house.

If I lived on my own I might of been prone to have a collectable teddy on each chair in the house,and maybe a cat with knitted socks.

So at least he saved me from that fate!!!!:D

No, Alan WOULDN'T move because he was scared he would step on a piece of broken vase.

So, NO MORE VASES ON WINDOW SILLS in my house.

That should be my biggest problem right????

mel

Thank you all
 

I have completed my weekly menu. Now I got to try to stick to it. I have received great ideas from everybody, and really do need to rethink my shopping a bit.

I am not using this as an excuse, but I personally am finding it a challenge to be creative when I get home at night, after being at work all day.

I almost just don't want to think anymore, if you can understand what I mean. But we must go on... Right?

I remember my entire life my grandmother lived with us. She was widowed in her early 40's and was displaced after that. Well anyways both my parents worked all day, and when I got home from school the house was always really warm and cosy,and there was always good food cooking, everything homemade. All the washing was always done,and the house was spotless clean. Afternoon tea was always waiting for me, and all I had to worry about was the homework. She even gave massages!

Aaaahhh, to be young again. What a wonderful time that was, no worries in the world!!:)

I don't know if any of you have thought of this or not, but if you do end up with bananas turned brown and are too far gone to eat fresh, stick them in your freezer, until you have enough to make a couple of loaves of banana nut bread...

Cathie

Fast meal
 

This is one we use when we have forgotten to plan dinner. We steam mixed vegetables in the microwave and then stir them into eggs as they are cooking and it winds up being scrambled eggs with veggies in them. Then I either open a chilled can of tomatoes or slice fresh ones if I have them. Toast some bread and voila' a meal in minutes. This is one that is so easy my hubbie can do them too.

Billye

Aussi
 

Wow i'm still tuck at the 5 dollars for the box of muffins,is it like
a very,very big box. Wow again and again,no wonder your tired.
:( :( good gosh Sue

I was so excited I had to come to tell Aussie that there are avocados here 8 for $1 today. LOL

I just went to a supermarket yesterday and paid $2 each and today they're so cheap elsewhere. They're local ones too. That's something I was going to suggest to you too, Aussie. Try to buy local products when you can. I'm not sure if you have any markets near where you live. I'm pretty fortunate where I am for that.

Also try to buy what's in season although I notice that here we're able to grow a lot of fruit and vegies all year around now.

I use that supermarket that I think Noong mentioned earlier on the thread. Aldi. They're great for getting certain things, but I can't do all my shopping there is the problem. Great for pasta and pasata (sp?) sauces and Italian ingredients like cheap canned tomatoes. They also have a really good and cheap organic range of foods which I like.

I grow some of my own herbs too. Sometimes a simple dish can be made special with the right condiments.

If you live in a unit rather than a house with a yard, you can still grow tomatoes and lettuce easily in pots in the right postion on a verandah. Strawberries too. Depends on your climate I suppose. I used to grow my own sweet potatoes and cabbage and beans and tomatoes and all sorts of things. I'd use the crop of beans when they were finished to dig into the ground to make it more fertile for the next lot of vegies. I always had a lemon tree and other citrus. These days we can't really legally water anything so I've taken to growing my things like herbs in pots again.

If you like mushrooms, buy a kit and grow them at home. Same with things like sprouts. We eat a lot of them.

My biggest problem is that I love cooking so much but tend to make too much of everything and I end up eating it. lol

Your so funny!
 

What part of Australia are you from? You are right Aldis is good for pasta sauce and pasta, maybe a carton of milk and frozen peas, but it's hard to be running back and forth to do shopping at different places. I like the one stop shopping, but it's hard to find bargains. I know of a farmer's market, maybe I'll go there.