Okay ladies, I have been very good the last few years with our food budget. I have always meal planned and worked from that, minimized shopping trips, etc. BUT now, I seem to be having trouble. DH is making a lot more money and I seem to be spending a lot more money as well ...almost double what I used to spend. Seems wasteful and I am buying quite a few convenience items when I usually cook/bake from scratch. I don't mind spending more on better ingredients and even the occasional exotic ingredient, but this is ridiculous!! Any ideas how to get back into control...a grocery diet of sorts. Should I cold turkey go back to my old menus and lists or start new with some new menus and lists and add in a few treats?? Ideas?? Thanks

One idea that I use .... take all the grocery circulars for the week. Make a list of the loss leaders that you will actually use (the things they advertise on the front page that they actually take a loss on to get you into the store).

List all the different stores & loss leaders on one piece of paper (include the dates of the sale). Carry it in your purse all week, when you pass the store (to save gas) stop & only buy the loss leaders. Then plan your meals around those with what you already have on hand.

I can go weeks w/o buying anything but loss leaders. I never spend more than $150 a month for the 3 of us, and its usually much less.

HTH!

ETA: We don't eat junk either! Nothing boxed, and I try to get organic when I can afford it. No ramen noodles, MSG, trans fat, frozen meals, etc. The only frozen item I buy is veggies to have on hand when I can't find or afford fresh (and of course the rare Ben & Jerry's or Godiva ice cream, but that is only every 4-6 mos or so). The only thing canned I buy is tomato paste (can make sauce very cheap with bulk spices/herbs from the HFS), crushed/diced tomatoes (usually organic, on sale) & beans (for quickie chili, etc). I try to stick to the perimeter of the store as that is where the healthier food "resides" :p

Well i would guess it would depend on how much your time a lotment has changed. If it hasn't changed at all then go back to baking and cooking.

You could start making larger meals and making your own TV dinners for later. You can freeze all sorts of things, like bread, garlic bread, cinnamon rolls, cookies, meats, pastas, ect.

A lot of the frozen convenience items at home and then store them in the freezer for later. Cookie dough is great for that, Make your favorite Recipe and form balls and pop them into a freezer bag in the freezer then take how ever many cookies you want and bake them up as directed. You can have fresh hot cookies every day and not have all the mess and left overs .

Since your hubby is making more you could possibly spring for a few more special items in your cooking and baking so you might want to make a new menue. So you might be able to add something extra special once a month or week depending on how expensive the item is ( instead of going out to dinner stay in and cook) like a steak, shrimp, bbq, or Jumbaliah( my personal Fav ).. something you love, but can't have often because it's expensive to make (and would be even MORE expensive if you ate out).